THE EVENT
Tuesday evening I trekked over to the Norma Hertzog Community Center to attend the Youth Council Candidate Forum hosted and moderated by SOY (Save Our Youth). It played before a packed house. I estimate well over 100 people attended.
INVITED CANDIDATES
SOY - a primarily Westside Costa Mesa organization - invited six candidates running for 3 offices that directly affect their locale this time around. They were:
FOR COSTA MESA MAYOR
Councilman Mike Buley
Councilman Loren Gameros
FOR COUNCIL DISTRICT 4
Planning Commissioner Angely Andrade-Vallarta
Arts Commissioner Fisher Derderian
FOR NEWPORT MESA UNIFIED SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE AREA 7
Grace Danino-Hickock
Andy Godinez
Despite confirming her intent to participate earlier that day, Danino-Hickock was a no-show.
THE FORMAT
After a brief introduction and welcome to the packed house by Board Chair Mary Cappellini (I estimated more than 100 people attended) two bright young SOY members laid out the ground rules. The candidates would be given 2 minutes to introduce themselves and explain why they are running. Then there would be a series of 8 questions/concerns presented to them for response. For fairness, the order of response would be rotated. At the end each candidate would be given 90 seconds for a closing statement.
THE INTRODUCTION
I had hoped to present a short 8 minute video of the self-introductions by each candidate, but technology got the best of me. Each person took less than the full 2 minutes to introduce themselves to give the eager audience a sense of who they are and why they are running.
A CRISP, EFFICIENT EVENT
Let me state right up front, this forum ran like clockwork! They began on time, no candidate appeared to be rushed while replying and the meeting wrapped up 20 minutes early! The moderators moved things along and each SOY member charged with presenting issues to the panel did so with clarity. WELL DONE!
THE QUESTIONS
The questions/concerns presented to the candidates involved:
1-JOBS
2-WAGES AND HOUSING
3-FOOD SHORTAGES
4-LACK OF ACCESS TO BOOKS
5-GRAFITTI
6- ICE
7-E-BIKES
8-TRANSPORTATION
I’m NOT going to give you every response to every question by every candidate. Once again, my feeling is “If you want to know, you gotta go!” I WILL give you summaries of responses and comment on differences of opinions (there were few) as I see fit. To my knowledge there was no official audio or video recording done of this event. I did notice a person doing real-time English to Spanish translation.
JOBS
This dealt with the scarcity of jobs for the youth in the community and what kind of collaboration is available to help kids find good jobs.
Angely spoke of workforce development.
Fisher spoke of opportunities in small businesses.
Andy mentioned the Carpenter's Union and expressed the view that all Westside schools should be bilingual.
Mike spoke of small businesses, internships and Public/Private partnerships
Loren spoke of pre-apprenticeship programs, the departure from the workforce of older workers and Costa Mesa's local workforce hiring policy.
WAGES AND HOUSING
The combination of low wages, high inflation and high cost of housing have caused housing insecurity. What solutions do you have?
Loren mentioned that the city has housed 530 people and referred to the Bridge Shelter.
Mike also mentioned the Bridge Shelter and suggested a recently-rejected proposal before the City Council of a "Rental Registry" sounded like a good idea.
Andy agreed with those comments and told old us of growing up in the Shalimar section of town and, due to financial constraints causing his mother to rent out a room to cover costs, he was forced to do his homework on the bathroom floor.
Fisher suggested the amount used on the Bridge Shelter might by used to help folks avoid homelessness.
Angeley observed that 64% of District 4 residents are renters and mentioned Project Home Key as a possible solution.
FOOD SHORTAGES
The question revolved around the possibility of creating food pantries to help families suffering from food shortages.
Andy agreed that a food pantry is a good idea. He also spoke of personally joining a group that distributes food to those in need. He also suggested regular Farmers Markets.
Mike echoed Andy and told us he and his wife also participate in food distribution to the needy.
Loren spoke in generalities and agreed with the others.
Angeley told us that, as a Planning Commissioner, she was aware that District 4 was an "Environmental Justice" site and spoke of the value of co-ops.
Fisher mentioned his use of "business waste" - culling leftover food from restaurants ad days end and seeking grants to help fund food insecurity reduction.
LACK OF ACCESS TO BOOKS
Asked by a student at Early College High School, who explained they have no library so the availability of books to help expand their education is problematic.
Fisher agreed that lack of access to books is very problematic for our youth. He also addressed "book banning" briefly.
Angely told us libraries were her favorite haunt. She also briefly mentioned "book banning". Mike stated that reading can be "a secret weapon or superpower". He mentioned AI, stressing the need to educate oneself. He is opposed to "book banning", suggesting age appropriate guidance in schools.
oren agreed that lack of access to books is a bad thing.
Andy agreed with all of the above and is also against "book banning" and agreed with Mike.
GRAFITTI
How to manage graffiti in and around schools and Westside neighborhoods?
Mike suggested using our 311 app to report graffiti for quick removal by city staff. He suggested stronger penalties.
Loren also suggested stronger punishment.
Angely agreed and suggested Project Hope Alliance as a resource. She suggested an 'inventory' of stakeholder partners.
Fisher also agreed that harsher punishment is necessary and that the City may have unused Arts Funds to be re-allocated with this issue.
Andy agreed and suggested a program of mural placement where grafitti is predominant to give a sense of community pride.
ICE
What can be done to control the incursion of ICE officers in the Westside?
(This was a real hot-button issue and, ironically, that very morning there was an ICE apprehension less than a quarter mile from the Community Center.)
Andy was first up on this one He acknowledged the trauma among Westside families but didn't have a solution.
Mike acknowledged the problem and suggested that California is a "Sanctuary State", which makes Costa Mesa - a General Law city - a 'Sanctuary City'. His point was unclear.
Loren's opening remarks will be handled at the end of this post. He suggested we "fight it legally".
Fisher questioned what the City can do since it's federal law.
Angely suggested the City already provides legal aid and should do more to provide food to families losing their breadwinner to ICE. She mentioned the event that morning and stated that the Costa Mesa Police Department should not collaborate with ICE in their incursions.
E-BIKES
Concern was expressed about the rules governing the safe use of E-bikes for students in middle and high schools.
Angely told us she had communicated with the Police Chief on the need for courses on E-bike safety, including "rules of the road". She also suggested expansion of the bus system. Fisher called for greater enforcement on misuse of E-bikes. He said there are laws available that should be enforced.
Andy referred to the recent School District decision about E-bikes on elementary and middle school campuses and agreed that better education is needed. He also mentioned offending adults riding E-bikes.
Mike agreed with all of the above and said a comprehensive collaboration between the City and School District is essential.
Loren suggested a license be required and agreed to the need for better education.
TRANSPORTATION
Concern about lack of adequate transportation for students to and from distant schools and to accommodate participation in extracurricular activities.
Loren responded to this one first. He said "We are car people".
Mike agreed and suggested "Active Mobility".
Andy mentioned the difficulty many kids have getting to and from distant schools - Horace Ensign and Newport Harbor, for example. He suggested working with Cal Trans for safer streets where appropriate.
Fisher generally agreed with the above.
Angely called for greater collaboration with the School District.
THE WRAP
My take on the forum... It was outstanding. All of the candidates were prepared and did a good job of fielding the questions. Many of the responses were shared by most of the candidates. The replies were courteous and, for the most part, thorough. The format, questioning and the replies all were excellent. It was very clear that the staff and students of SOY focused hard on preparation for this event. Quite honestly, it ran much more smoothly than an earlier similar event conducted by adults at the same venue a couple weeks ago.
I was generally impressed by the thoughtful replies to the questions by the candidates. However, I cannot close this without mentioning something that, in my view, is VERY IMPORTANT AND CONCERNING.
When replying to the question of ICE agents in our neighborhoods, Councilman (and mayoral candidate) Loren Gameros opened his comments on this issue with these words - "F*C K ICE!" And, as he began to expand his views on the subject he said, "THAT'S BULLSH*T!"
While many of us might share his viewpoints and that kind of language may be appropriate when hanging out with your buddies, talking politics or world events, in my view, it was completely inappropriate when addressing a room full of children! We hear enough of that kind of stuff when watching the national political reporting - we sure don't need it here, and especially not with an audience of children! I was stunned and VERY DISAPPOINTED. That character flaw certainly makes me question his worthiness for the position of mayor of my city.
LEARN ABOUT SOY
If you want to learn more about SOY (Save Our Youth) and the good works they've done since 1993 please click here: https://save-our-youth.org/
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