Budget Approved and "Tank Commander" Surfaces
BUDGET PASSED
Last night the Costa Mesa City Council - on a 4-0 vote with Mayor Bever absent again - approved the proposed budget, thereby authorizing the expenditure of $145,000,000 of your tax dollars during the 2008-2009 fiscal year. The approval was not unexpected - the staff had done their usual excellent job of preparing the budget based on the guidance provided by the council earlier this year.
CART RETRIEVAL UPHEAVAL
Mayor Pro Tem Allan Mansoor - running the meeting in Bever's absence - made a feeble attempt to derail the renewal of the $48,000 shopping cart retrieval cost, but didn't get support. His limited grey matter apparently caused him to forget that the contract as negotiated is subject to cancellation with short notice.
CAL TRANS PUSHING
The council rejected the hastily prepared request to spend $300,000 for monument markers along the 55 Freeway - a good move, in my view. The city was being pressured by Cal Trans to fund the creation of the markers this year after nearly three years of delays from the original request by the city.
ENTER THE
"TANK COMMANDER"One speaker before the council last night expressed much displeasure because the council was unwilling to follow his instructions to buy what he describes as "barracks-style" apartments, raze them and turn them into parks. He suggested using eminent domain and just "banking" the land for a greater use. He described these "offending" buildings as being similar to the barracks during his days as a Marine. He subsequently told us he had been a "Marine Tank Commander" - visions of Michael Dukakis in the tank immediately popped into my mind.
ROEDER SETS HIM STRAIGHT
Fortunately, City Manager Allan Roeder - prompted by Katrina Foley - set the record straight on what can and cannot be done with land purchased by the city. Of course, the Tank Commander had been lying through his teeth, but Roeder cleared that up. The Tank Commander posted the same lies on his blog this morning - never letting facts deter him from his goal of expunging the Latinos from our midst.
AS DOES RON SMITH
During another rant about graffiti in the city he fabricated other "facts". Again, Foley requested clarification from Costa Mesa Police Captain Ron Smith, who cleared up that bit of misinformation.
THE LIAR "TANKS"
I've throttled back my comments about the Tank Commander recently, but such overt manipulation cannot pass without being addressed. He stands before the council, criticizing and pontificating and manufacturing issues and "facts" as he goes. Fortunately, there is at least one person on the council smart enough to see through his bluster and willing to call him out. Good for Katrina Foley.
WHO WILL HE SUPPORT?
It will be very interesting to see where he throws his support this campaign season. He's undoubtedly unhappy with what he feels is the ignorance of the current council. You can define that as their unwillingness to follow his mantra like zombies. I suspect he will support more malleable candidates - those willing to follow his lead on issues. We'll see...
Labels: budget, Liar, Tank Commander
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 6/18/2008 12:08:00 PM
12 Comments:
You continue to equate H. Millards anti-gang rambling to mean anti-Hispanic. Are you trying to say all Hispanics are gang member? That sounds pretty intolerant.
I know for fact we aren’t. There are good people in the Hispanic community so quit inferring the entire Hispanic community are criminal. k?
john, yes, I do equate his anti-gang comments to mean Hispanic. If you read his stuff you will draw the same undeniable conclusion, too.
No, I am not trying to say that all Hispanics are gang members. Neither am I saying all gang members are Hispanic. I have NEVER, EVER said or implied that the entire Hispanic community is criminal. Quite the contrary! My point is that HIS goal is to expunge all brown faces from our city and is using those in our community who are here illegally as his primary target. When he talks about demolishing "barracks-style apartments", he's not restricting his ideas to those here illegally.
Regarding gangs, the Tank Commander has repeatedly denied the presence of White Supremacist gangs in our city, yet the CMPD has huge files on them and a couple years ago 20 were picked up at 17 Costa Mesa locations during an inter agency sweep.
Quite honestly, I'm trying to figure out how you interpreted what I've written as an indictment of the entire Hispanic population of our city. Please show me what I've written that offends you so I can more fully understand your view.
Geoff it's simple, these people keep reading into what we both write and reading this comment saying your one of the people who think all gangs are hispanic? PLEASE! john, please do some homework on Mr. West & you will find he is very tolerant of all & speaks truth and honesty time and time again, he does not me to stick up for him, but see you suggest that he is implying anything is well irritating.
Geoff please fill me in on the Tank Commando movie script writer actor bigot was corrected on or can i see it somewhere?
would really like to know what captain smith corrected him on. I'm sure he was excited to finally go into the meeting with an actual photo of gang graffiti.
CMTRUTH,
You can view the replay of the City Council meeting of June 17th on Costa Mesa TV, Channel 24 right now, or on Friday, the 20th at 3 p.m.; Saturday, the 21st at 9:30 a.m. and Sunday the 22nd at 4 p.m. Or, you can watch the streaming video archive at the city web site. Thanks for your comments. I sure don't understand john's comment - hopefully, he will respond to clarify.
Barrack style buildings? I don’t even know what that is. If you mean the old crappy apartments then props to him they are shitty anyway. A building is a building not a person. You think i dont want to live in a new aprartment? sign me up man. Just because the building changes dont mean we have to move that would be racist and u cant have a law like that. I see his blog and yours. What I got a problem with is how when anyone say soccer or slum or gang you n they say that its anti-hispanic. they are not the same. Noy all of us live in fear of la eme. the dude has some crazy logic but if my neighborhood gets better we benefit too. So let him try to get rid of us. We stayin right here. But till then quit grouping us with a bunch of pinche pendejos.
see thats what i mean brown faces? listen to yourself.
john, what we obviously have here is a failure to communicate. You apparently don't understand what I write and I'm sure as heck having a hard time deciphering your comments. Let's try one more time. I do not, repeat, do not, lump every Latino in Costa Mesa into the "illegal" bucket! Never have, never will. The other guy has, for most of this decade and earlier, systematically attempted to make the lives of EVERY Latino in our city miserable by shutting down much of the support system that exists, including a nearly successful but failed attempt a couple years ago to close down the Orange Coast College Swap Meet.
That "barracks-style apartments" comment is his, not mine. He uses it all the time to define what he thinks should be leveled. One of his favorite phrases, when referring to people in town he thinks should be ousted is, "The way to get rid of alligators is to drain the swamp." By that he means that if you close the charities, bulldoze the apartments, etc. the residents will go away.
John's writing looks very suspicious to me. I wouldn't be surprise if he's the same person who provoked institutional discrimination measures in CM.
Humberto,
Please define "institutional discrimination measures" as you see them.
Closure of the job center and ICE enforcement proposals are NOT discrimination, so please let me know what you are talking about.
Also, I have purchased your book on Amazon, and look forward to reading it. I have not yet had the time to do so. I hope that we have a forum and opportunity to discuss it in the future.
Pot stirrer i didn't know u could read in spanish so put up with my english k?
whats more correct when talking about gang n criminals alligators or brown faces? i dont like his new term tan clan tho.
check this dude out. he was from cm. says peni deals with surenos. they are b oth bad news. and bad for oc. So I ask u who is worst a bunch of ignorant meth addicts or la eme supplying it?
http://www.ocweekly.com/features/features/white-power-with-a-lisp/27294/
john, I've read that piece from the OC Weekly. I've written about those guys. To answer your question - both are evil, dangerous elements in our city. Both need to be dealt with. The CMPD is working the problems - both of them.
A note: To the knucklehead who tried to post anonymously with foul language on the blog today - ain't happening, pal. Take your filth elsewhere. If you don't like what you read here simply don't read it.
Rob,
Thanks for ordering my book. As I said before, I welcome comments and feed back. In my book I look at the Costa Mesa issue from a different perspective (could call it minority perspective), and I also try to understand why a majority in the local government has pursued a radical agenda during the last four years (you may not think this is the case. It is OK with me. As I said, it is only my perspective). As far your question, to me “institutional discrimination” is any of those social and institutional arrangements or practices that tend to favor one racial, ethnic, national group (class and gender) over another. For the most part those arrangements and practices (ordinances in the case of Costa Mesa) are conscious and deliberate. The Paularino Park issue is a clear example of institutional discrimination. Since you’re reading my book, I will ask you to take a look at this issue on Chapter 2, in which I look at the CM political actors.
Humberto,
Thanks for the response. It is difficult for me to see things such as the Paularino Park issue as discriminatory, simply because neighbors other than the chief instigator had problems with soccer being played there. Other examples of aleged institutional discrimination may have been initially raised by one person or a small group, but they also impact a broader segment of the population. Where it gets tricky is when the demographics of the differing groups are different. Then the motive of the complainer and not the merits of the complaint becomes the issue.
Of course, I am only a distant spectator, and my opinion on the Paularino Park issue are based solely on my reading of news coverage. I do look forward to reading your book and discussing it with you on this blog or another.
Thanks!
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