Shawkey Finally Out & Hispanic Population Grows

CHRIS SHAWKEY RESIGNS
Tuesday afternoon I wondered why Joseph Serna, Daily Pilot reporter par excellence, was a little late to the city council study session. When I finally got home from the meeting later that evening I found out why. Serna had been putting the finishing touches on his article titled, "Costa Mesa Police Chief Resigns". Yikes! You can read Serna's article HERE.

CURIOUS CASE IS NOW EVEN MORE SO
So, after all these months of being on paid administrative leave Chief Christopher Shawkey has finally resigned. In a case that has been curious from the very beginning, the timing of his resignation only two days after the retirement of City Manager Allan Roeder is one more example. Shawkey earned more than $200,000 in salary and his benefits package had him at nearly $300,000 in total compensation.

NO REASON GIVEN
It is unlikely that we will ever know the reason for his leave and subsequent resignation, which only leaves the rest of the police department and the residents of this city scratching their heads. This is yet another top department manager who has dropped off the roles under strange circumstances.


SEARCH IS ON - GOGERTY STAYS AT HELM
According to Serna's article, CEO Tom Hatch will immediately begin a search for a replacement for Shawkey. Meanwhile, captain Les Gogerty will remain as interim chief.

CENSUS RESULTS MAKES ME SMILE
Then, in an adjacent article in the Daily Pilot online, I found a piece by Managing Editor, John Canalis titled, "Census: Hispanic Population Grows In Newport-Mesa" and just had to chuckle at the reaction this is going to evoke in a certain Mesa North household at the crack of dawn when a certain community gadfly and our racist laureate stumbles out to the front lawn to grab his Daily Pilot. He's going to flip that page open, take one look and probably go into shock. Sorry, but I just can't stop smiling...

NOW NEARLY 36%
According to Canalis' article, HERE, Costa Mesa's Hispanic population increased from 31.8% in 2000 to 35.8% in 2010. Newport Beach saw a greater than 50% increase in its Hispanic population, from 4.7% to 7.2%.

DECADE OF ANTI-HISPANIC RHETORIC WASTED
So, after a decade of ranting and raving about the brown skinned folks among us, and writing essay after racist essay and blog post after blog post, our old buddy, The Mouth From Mesa North, finds himself surrounded by even greater numbers of Hispanics than when he began his methodical campaign to expunge them from our borders more than a decade ago. This irony is just too, too sweet. It looks like the only way he's going to get any peace of mind is to move to some part of the country where the Hispanics represent a much smaller percentage of the population. Might I suggest Idaho, where he could cozy up to like-minded folks like the Aryan Brotherhood? I'll buy the one-way bus ticket.

COSTA MESA GREW SLIGHTLY - NEWPORT BEACH UP 21.6%!
Canalis also mentioned that Costa Mesa's total population grew only 1,236, from 108,724 to 109,960 (1.1%) and Newport Beach jumped 21.6%, from 70,032 to 85,186 - due mainly to the annexation of Newport Coast and Santa Ana Heights.


THE BALL'S IN OUR COURT
What these census numbers mean is that, rather than trying to force the Hispanic population into some kind of sub-class in our local society, we'd darn well better be working on ways to help them assimilate. We need to do a much better job of educating all those young brown people because they are very soon going to be the majority in this state and they're going to vote.

HOW WILL WE MANAGE THESE CHANGES?
It's going to be very interesting to see how our communities react to these census numbers. How, for example, will the Newport Mesa Unified School District adjust their teaching methods to educate a growing Hispanic population? How will our new police chief handle what will likely be a growing gang presence in Costa Mesa? And, how will the new Economic Development Czar (when he's finally appointed) try to market Costa Mesa with a shrinking white population?

Hispanics Among Us - Managing The Tsunami

A NEW PEW CENTER REPORT
Last week the Pew Hispanic Center, a Pew Research Center Project, produced a new report for our consideration in which they tell us that Hispanics account for half of the U.S. Population growth since 2000. Mull that fact over just a little, then click on the link, HERE, to go to the site.

A WEALTH OF INFORMATION
Once at the site you will find a wealth of information and links to other segments of this report, including some fascinating interactive maps and interactive databases that provide demographic information about Latinos in each of our 50 states and 3141 counties.

DRAMATIC GROWTH REFLECTED
For example, in 1980 the 14.6 million Hispanics were heavily concentrated in the 47 (out of 3141 counties) that had Hispanic county populations of at least 50,000. In 2007 the 45.5 million Hispanics cover a much wider area and the data provided on some of their maps detail 57 counties that have large Hispanic populations or rapid growth in their Hispanic populations in the new century.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY #1 - NO SURPRISE!
The interactive maps present a very interesting mountain of information. For example, Los Angeles County Ranked #1 in total Hispanic population, with 4.7 million or 47% of the total. It also ranked 1st in growth of the Hispanic population (850,971) from 1990-2000 - 27% and 1st (435,198) from 2000-2007 - 10%.

ORANGE COUNTY #6
The same information for Orange County shows it ranked at #6 in total Hispanic population with just over 998,000, or 33% of the total. It ranked #7 in growth of the Hispanic population (310,751) from 1990-2000 - 55% and 15th from 2000-2007 (122,453) - 14%.

NUMBERS 2-5
It won't surprise many to learn that Harris County, Texas (Houston) is ranked #2 nationally and that Miami-Dade County in Florida is ranked #3. I was shocked to learn, though, that Cook County, Illinois (Chicago) is ranked #4, ahead of Maricopa County, Arizona (Phoenix) at #5.

CALIFORNIA NUMBERS ARE INTERESTING
In California Hispanics represent 36% of the population, have a median age of 26 years and represent 47% of all K-12 students. In the 12 month period prior to the survey there were 236,000 births to Hispanic women ages 15-44. 26% of Hispanics 17 and younger live in poverty while only 9% of Non-Hispanic Whites live in poverty. These are powerful numbers, and that's only the tip of the iceberg in the Pew Center Report, as you will see when you visit the site.

CONTEMPLATE AS YOU VOTE
As we think about casting our ballots in the pending election - many of us may have already mailed ours in - I think it's important to contemplate what these numbers really represent. We here in Costa Mesa share our city with a Hispanic population estimated to be in excess of 35% of the total. If history bears us out, most of those folks won't vote, but will certainly be impacted by the votes cast on November 4th.

MANAGING THE TSUNAMI
The Hispanic folks in our community are a growing proportion of the residents of this city. There are those in this city who have done their very best to make life miserable for our Hispanic neighbors, including some folks on, or running for, the City Council. As I have written many times before, this wave of Hispanics - mostly immigrants - is the "wave of the future" in our little part of the world - a de facto tsunami. If we don't figure out ways to manage this wave we are destined to be drowned by it.

BEWARE THE RACIST RANTS
There are those who will react to this information with proclamations that those who wish to consider it are "soft on crime" and/or "lefties", intent on making our city another Santa Ana. Horse manure! The fact is that the Hispanic population of our country, and our region in particular, is growing. Those who wish to pull their heads back into their shells like some misguided turtle and hope it all goes away are delusional and just not facing reality. It's time, in my opinion, to elect leaders that understand the realities of life in southern California today and are prepared to deal with it like leaders, not vigilantes.

Hello, Stranger - Where Are You From?

Buenos días. ¿Hablas español? Si no, debes aprender rápidamente.

Did you get that? I said, "Good Morning. Do you speak Spanish? If not, you had better learn fast". At least, that's what my translation software says I said.

In an article in the Orange County Register today by writer Brian Joseph, he tells us that Hispanics will become Orange County's ethnic majority in 2034 - seven years earlier than predicted. It also predicts that Hispanics will account for 50% of the population in the state by 2042.

Joseph goes on to tell us that, by 2050, California will be 52% Hispanic, 27% white and 13% Asian, and the total population will be 59.5 million. Yikes! My initial reaction was not so much about the changing demographics, but wondering where all those people are going to sit - or stand, for that matter. The phrase "Up close and personal" takes on a whole new meaning! You think we have a water problem now? Just wait until nearly 60 million people flush their toilets every day!

So, your friendly correspondent - who, for the past thirty years, has been telling friends that their children should learn Spanish if they expect to communicate with the people around them - turns out to be a prophet. It kind of reminds me of the lyrics to that old song..."Oh lord, it's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way!"

Actually, it didn't take a prophet to see what's been happening in our state and region over the past several decades. Continued prosperity in this state, shifting geopolitical realities and a virtual open door on our southern border combined to create this situation, with no "relief" in sight. Soon, not only in Costa Mesa, but thoughout our area, if you don't "habla Espanol" you won't be able to "habla" with most folks around you. Trying to communicate with your neighbors in a couple decades is going to make our current perception of Babel seem like a Sesame Street episode by comparison.

...DUST TO DUST
This won't make much difference to me personally. By the dates quoted in this article I'll be long gone - only the brass urn full of ashes, jammed into a nice, decorative piece of granite at a local cemetery, will be all that's left of this old carcass. But, what about you? What's your plan for living in a society where the majority of your neighbors don't speak English? How will you handle being in the minority? What is your plan for living in a state where the population will double in your lifetime?

POTATO, POTAHTO
I know some of my Latino friends are smiling as they read this entry. I don't blame you. Some might say, "What goes around, comes around." By the way, did you notice that the O.C. Register refers to those of Latin extraction as "Hispanics", while the Los Angeles Times (and the Daily Pilot) uses the term, "Latinos"? I fought that battle with the Daily Pilot editors several years ago, as they changed every submission I sent them. Finally, I just gave up since it was their ball game in which we play by their rules.

There are those who rant and rave about "sending them all back" where they came from - an asinine, impractical and impossible solution, bred by fear. There are those, like me, who feel our borders should be made secure as the first step in national security. That may never happen if the lack of resolve we see on the part of our national elected leaders is any indication.

SOLUTIONS?
So, what's your solution? Seriously, I want to know. If you don't want to post your ideas on the blog, just send me an email. I'm curious and I know some of you who read this blog can come up with some good, rational solutions to problems. I want to hear them on this subject.