A Sad State Of Affairs

QUITE A ROLLERCOASTER RIDE

For more than a decade I've written on this blog and elsewhere about Costa Mesa and the politics of this city.  During that time there have been many, many highs and certainly a few lows, too.  For example,

EVEN CLOWNS ELECTED
We've seen people like the chronically-inept Chris Steel elected to City Council after trying nine times before.

THE SEWER OF RACISM
We've seen the political discourse driven, from time to time, by a notorious racist.

BENITO ACOSTA
We've seen a Latino activist dragged from a City Council meeting and arrested.  The costs for the ensuing lawsuit continue to show up on Warrants to this day, ten years later.

THE LEADER OF THE TAKEOVER
We've seen a carpet-bagging political opportunist move to town and almost immediately be appointed to a prestigious commission in repayment for campaign support by a re-elected council member.  That provided him with the political platform to be elected and re-elected (barely) to the City Council.

PROFITS BEFORE SERVICE

He led a cadre of wrong-thinking individuals in a take over city government and attempt to "run it like a business", forgetting that a municipal government IS NOT a business - it exists only to provide services to the populace, not produce a product for profit.

ACTIONS RESULT IN LAWSUITS
That group immediately created chaos in City Hall by attempting to - illegally - layoff nearly half of the members of the Costa Mesa City Employees Association - the so-called Miscellaneous Employees.  That act resulted in one young distraught employee to leap to his death from the roof of City Hall and a lawsuit that remains unresolved to this day, more than 4 years later.

ANTI-PUBLIC SAFETY BIAS

We've seen the two top elected city officials actually sue the men and women of the Costa Mesa Police Department, while gutting that once-proud department by imposing unrealistic staffing levels and spending hard-earned tax dollars filling potholes instead of providing public safety.  The toxic atmosphere they created caused experienced officers to retire early and/or seek jobs with other venues.  They forced the delay in replacing those officers, putting public safety in jeopardy by reducing staffing levels unseen in this city in more than two decades.

UNNECESSARY COMMITTEES

We've seen those same men create a list of unnecessary new committees and stack them with cronies as payback for political support.  These unnecessary committees sucked up thousands of valuable staff hours performing analysis and reports at a time when their skills were required elsewhere.

THE CHARTER, TWICE!
We've seen them attempt to change the basic structure of municipal government by jamming a Charter down our throats, only to have that scheme overwhelmingly rejected TWICE by the voters.

PLACING BLAME, BUT TAKING NO ACTION
We've seen them vilify municipal employees because unfunded pension liabilities have created fiscal complications, but they refuse to take any positive steps to resolve that issue.

GREASING DEVELOPMENT SKIDS
We've seen ordinances passed that dissolve protections for the residents in favor of greasing the skids for developers, who will build projects then never been seen again, leaving residents to deal with the aftermath of overtaxed infrastructure.

SQUEEZING OUT BUSINESSES
We've seen ordinances passed that penalize business owners for calling public safety organizations to receive protection from unsafe and/or illegal situations at their establishments.  The goal, as stated unequivocally by elected officials, was to force those business owners to take a more "realistic" view of the value of their businesses by pummeling them with fines to encourage them to sell out to developers.

PITTING NEIGHBOR AGAINST NEIGHBOR

We've seen ordinances passed that almost seem designed to turn neighbor against neighbor.  Simultaneously, they have created and implemented a smart phone app that encourages that same behavior.  In fact, one of our top elected officials may be the biggest proponent of this app and regularly snaps photos and reports folks who have allowed their lawn to grow too long and other similar minor infractions.

SPECIAL ENFORCEMENT CADRE

They created a cadre of special Code Enforcement officers outside the normal structure who report directly to the Executive Offices, and they've been used as a personal enforcement unit by the City Council majority.

VILIFICATION AND THREATS

During recent years we've seen political discourse sink to, perhaps, the lowest level in any one's memory.  We've seen critics increasingly step up during meetings to present opposing views, only to be chided by members of the City Council.  We've seen members of the public admonished and threatened by officials for speaking out.  We've had members of the public warned against speaking out by staff members.

FREE SPEECH QUASHED

We've seen Freedom of Speech placed in jeopardy by procedures implemented which are specifically designed to discourage participation by the public.  They have institutionalized stifling of dissent.

STRANGLING DISCUSSION
And, this stifling of dissent has spread beyond the walls of City Hall.  A social media site has been created that crows about being the "best source of news about Costa Mesa" and invites all-comers to join in the discussion.  Several elected and appointed community leaders actively participate in the discussions, expressing their opinions on important issues and openly criticizing opposing views.  But the out-of-town rabble-rousers - with no vested interest in the future of Costa Mesa - who administer it block dissenting voices by either refusing to admit them to the site or by ousting those already on board if they dare to express an opposing viewpoint.  In addition, they troll other competing sites and expel members from their site if they dare to post a critical comment.  And, despite their claim of being a superior news site, non-members may not even observe and read that "news", much less particpate in the discussions.  It is a site for insiders only, where like-minded individuals chatter back and forth, agreeing with each other and presuming their views on important issues are the correct views.  This kind of strangulation of public discussion reeks of WWII Germany.  It shouldn't be too surprising, since the aforementioned racist is a major driver of conversations on the site.  How very sad for those folks who joined up expecting more, only to find discussions framed by an internationally notorious Nazi sympathizer.

A NEW LOW
This weekend, though, we may have seen the bar set at it's lowest point.  It has been widely reported that during what has historically been the City's favorite family event, the Lion's Club Fish Fry at Fairview Park, two prominent members of the public - one a former elected and appointed official and the other an activist and former candidate for City Council - got into a heated disagreement that ended with one spitting in the face of the other after being mocked about his disability.  The other man then retaliated with what was described as a "sucker punch" to the face.  We are told that it ended at that point.  To our knowledge, although there apparently were several witnesses to the event, no charges have been filed.

A SAD COMMENTARY

From what I know of this situation, there likely was fault on both sides and was the result of long-simmering animosity between the two participants, but there is no excuse for that behavior.  Unfortunately, this only further demonstrates how the political process and attendant discourse has declined in our city during this current regime.  The incivility on social media comment threads, including the threads on our two local newspapers, seems to have emboldened bad behavior on both sides of the important issues facing our city.  That bad behavior finally manifested itself in physical confrontation this weekend.  It's a sad, sad commentary on political life in our city.