From: Craig Preston
To: CITY CLERK
Subject: New Business Item 1. CLIMATE ACTION AND ADAPTATION PLAN (CAAP) Date: Monday, February 2, 2026 8:31:23 PM
Dear Honorable Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and City Council of Costa Mesa, I give my Strong support for a strong CAP. This is our chance for Costa Mesa to lead and show other OC cities that we understand the opportunities for a clean energy future are here and now. Clean, Reliable, and Affordable energy can benefit us all.
Green House Gas pollution is unseen but can be measured. The effects are seen. I am aware of more intense wildfires (over $250 Billion from SoCal JAN 2025 fires), droughts, rain storms, floods, heat waves, migrations of vectors like ticks with Lyme Disease, and human climate refugees on the move because their homeland is affected.
Please be sure to have measurable
targets. Let's lead the way with a strong stance on
sustainability for our local environment and to model a sustainable future.
Cheering us all on,
Craig Preston
Costa Mesa Resident since 2007.
Co-leader of Citizens' Climate Lobby OC
(
714) 473-2798 [email protected]
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From: Sean Drexler
To: CITY CLERK
Subject: Public Comment O.B. #2
Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2026 11:48:52 AM
Hello Mayor and City Council,
I am writing to thank you as a Costa Mesa resident, gig-worker (delivery apps), and customer for your votes last week in support of the self-checkout ordinance. Please get this pro-worker and pro-customer legislation across the finish line and make history as the second city in the country to adopt such an ordinance! Thank you!
Best regards,
Sean Drexler
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February 3, 2026
The Honorable John Stephens
Mayor, City of Costa Mesa
77 Fair Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
RE: Self-checkout Ordinance
Dear Mayor Stephens,
On behalf of the Costa Mesa grocery industry, I write with deep concerns about the Self-checkout ordinance as cproposed. It has already been proven in Long Beach that this policy is essentially a ban on the use of self- checkout. It overregulates operational specifics and, separately, intentionally promotes litigation based enforcement which could be easily abused. As we have stated previously, we oppose this ordinance and ask Council to not move forward with a Long-Beach based self-checkout ordinance.
Through verifiable data and real-world experience, we have fully addressed and dispelled the reasonings and arguments that have been provided in support of self-checkout regulation. We have shown that there is no impact on retail theft and that Costa Mesa does not have a significant retail theft problem. We have proven that consumers demand the convenience of self-checkout and will make shopping decisions based on convenience and availability of self-checkout. We have also provided data showing Costa Mesa shoppers are not bound by city limits and frequently shop grocery stores in neighboring jurisdictions, which would remain unregulated.
During deliberations concerns for the use of new technology, despite self-checkout being a decades old tool, has been mentioned as a reason to regulate. Attempts to vilify the use of self-checkout at brick-and-mortar grocery stores is both misplaced and short-sighted. The real competitive threat to brick-and-mortar grocery stores and the workers in those stores is the dramatically increasing adoption by consumers of Click-and- Deliver grocery shopping.
The top sellers of grocery items in the US are increasingly not brick-and-mortar focused retailers. Consumer data shows constantly increasing use of Click-and-Deliver with 20% sales volume of all grocery items now being purchased on-line. Trends and recent announcements have provided a clear crystal ball that the future of grocery shopping is fully convenience-based with the consumer shopping from their couch – not in the store.
As consumers migrate digitally brick-and-mortar grocers will need to respond with increased convenience to survive. Self-checkout as an option is brick-and-mortar grocers’ best path to long-term sustainability.
Complicating SCO use to the point of prohibiting its use is short sighted for Costa Mesa consumers and grocery employees.
February 3, 2026
Mayor John Stephens
PAGE 2
The false concept of worker-less grocery stores is an unrealistic and unfounded option. Brick-and-mortar grocery can fill the need of a personal and tactile shopping experience with consumer demanded convenience, if self-checkout is an available option, that on-line only grocers can’t provide. Secondly, recently ratified Collective Bargaining Agreements between UFCW and grocers across California does not allow for self-checkout to operate without employee supervision. Additionally, if the concern is an only self- checkout brick-and-mortar grocery store the Council can regulate that specific scenario without overregulating operational minutiae or creating exposure to litigation abuse.
Often lost in this policy discussion is the fact that the advocates for this ordinance, specifically UFCW, negotiated and its members ratified a Collective Bargaining Agreement with grocers in all of Southern California and beyond that already regulates self-checkout through 2028. Asking for an ordinance with this level of operational regulation and complexity within a few months of an already agreed upon employer and employee solution appears both odd and disingenuous. The Collective Bargaining Agreement already covers employee staffing, employee duties, consumer usage and requires full service checkout remains available – all of the components Costa Mesa is being asked to regulate.
The real decision this policy places in front of Council is why would Costa Mesa supersede the employee and employer already agreed to self-checkout limits in the Collective Bargaining Agreement while placing Costa Mesa brick-and-mortar grocers at a further disadvantage to increasing competition from Click-and-Deliver? Additionally, why would Costa Mesa choose a proven failed policy model instead of starting from an already existing employee/employer agreement with the Collective Bargaining Agreement? Please protect brick-and-mortar grocers in Costa Mesa and the workers they employ by rejecting the currently proposed ordinance. If you still feel a level of regulation is necessary, which remains unproven, begin from a point of mutual agreement not from a model of failure.
Sincerely,
Tim James
Director, Local Government Relations
California Grocers Association
cc: Councilmembers, Costa Mesa City Council
Bricks Meets Clicks – January 22, 2026
Emphasis Added
U.S. eGrocery Sales Surge 32% YOY to a
Record $12.7 Billion in December 2025
“Online share of total grocery spending reaches 19% as order frequency rates continue to climb with more than half of monthly users placing 3 or more orders during December.”
“Structural shifts in shopping behavior drove much of eGrocery’s growth in 2025, and this will create stiffer headwinds in 2026 – especially for regional grocers.”
“Order frequency, which measures the average number of orders completed by monthly active users (MAUs), climbed year-over-year (YOY) for the 16th consecutive month in December, increasing 8% versus last year.”
“MAUs completed an average of 2.9 orders during the month, and more than half of MAUs completed three or more orders, breaking the record set last month.”
“The core 30-44-year-old group posted the biggest increase, jumping 17% versus last year and completing an average of 3.2 orders during the month.”
“Ship-to-Home posted the strongest gain at 14%, boosted by the continued rollout of Amazon’s same-day fresh grocery service.”
Source: https://www.brickmeetsclick.com/presses/u-s-egrocery-sales-surge-32-yoy-to-a- record-12-7-billion-in-december-2025
Dear Council Members,
I value and enjoy the convenience of the self-checkout. I will be very disappointed if the proposal to ban self-checkout passes.
Please keep in mind that self-checkout is very popular. I hope you are able to stand up against those council members who are in favor of this, and prevent its passage.
Vince McDonough
232-B Ogle St
Costa Mesa
949 722 8107
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