Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Budgets and Boneheads
Tuesday night's city council meeting was great theater and
very enlightening.
The main event, the discussion and eventual approval of the 2006/07 municipal budget, provided some very entertaining moments and some that left me more than a little concerned for the future of this city under what currently passes for leadership.
Perhaps the most fascinating and telling moment came about three hours into the proceedings when Mayor Pro Tem Eric Bever was in the midst of trying to explain why he wanted his fellow council members to allocate the $12,000 they removed from the budget that had been earmarked for the hibernating Orange County Regional Airport Authority to the Costa Mesa Historical Preservation Committee, to which he is the council liaison. As Bever attempted to convince the council that they should provide that amount, which he apparently considered "found money", as "seed money" to the committee as an incentive for them to proceed with their plan to place markers throughout the city at the locations of important and/or historical sites, he got into a little conversation with his buddy, Mayor Allan Mansoor, who wanted to know the criteria for establishment of the markers. Mansoor's preference would be to have the criteria established and blessed by the council before any money was allocated to the project. Bever, in his own special boneheaded way, remarked to the mayor - in full view of the camera and very audible on the tape and in the chambers - the following statement: "I don't think they're planning on putting one where the Dyke March went." You could hear the gasps from the crowd as our municipal loose cannon once again tripped over his tongue.
The "Dyke March" to which Bever referred was the Orange County Dyke March, which was "celebrated" for a couple years in Costa Mesa after previously appearing in Garden Grove. It was celebrated in name only, since it was poorly attended both years. Of course, it did rankle many residents in this city - our now-mayor among them.
Some context is important here. Our young jailer/mayor found himself embroiled in controversy a few years ago when, while he was a member of the city's Human Relations Committee, he posted an article on the now-defunct Concerned Costa Mesa Citizens web site from Focus on the Family which was critical of the homosexual life style. That site was the focus of a three-part series in our local newspaper of record, the Daily Pilot, because it was the repository of some very controversial postings by some members of the community - including some from a community activist who very much resembles my theoretical character, Your Neighbor. In fact, the Orange County Human Relations Commission got involved and very shortly thereafter the site folded up their tent, blocked it's more than 6,000 posting archive and basically disappeared from view like a cockroach scurrying away from the light.
A year ago Mansoor led the council in the move to close down the city Human Relations Committee - a group of volunteers that had served the city for more than 16 years. If you think you're seeing a pattern here, you're right. You can draw your own conclusions.
One of the more entertaining moments of the evening came when the light finally went on in the cranium of our young jailer/mayor and he realized that he had absolutely no way to stop the funding for lights at The Farm Sports Complex from being retained in the budget. Even though Councilwoman Katrina Foley had left the room during the discussion because she lived close to The Farm and therefore had a conflict, Mansoor apparently didn't realize that it took a majority vote to remove the light funding from the budget - and he didn't have three votes. Had the council voted, the resultant 2-2 tie would have meant that the item remained in the budget and would be part of the overall approval vote later. The look he had on his face when he finally realized he was trapped was reminiscent of former incompetent councilman Chris Steel - that old "deer in the headlights" look that we saw all too frequently. I loved it. The Farm lights were not voted on separately, saving Mansoor and Bever some additional embarrassment. Too bad, because they deserved to have their noses rubbed in this one.
Lame duck Gary Monahan resurrected some ten-year old plans for a skate park at Lion's Park and attempted to ram through funding for that location to become the site of the second skate park in the city. Apparently, no one on the dais had a clue he was going to pull this one out of his hat. One speaker criticized him for attempting to cement a legacy for himself before he is termed out the end of this year. He and Foley had a couple of heated exchanges about this site - she apparently feeling it wouldn't accommodate a large enough park and he with his teeth firmly clenched on his plan. It was like two pups tugging on a sock.
After all was said and done we have an approved budget - a couple million dollars richer than the staff recommended, which means dipping into the old "fund balance" to make it work. The mayor got his couple hundred grand to fund the currently approved cross-designation scheme, assuming the Sheriff's plan is approved and we do, in fact, piggyback that plan.
Foley got her gang elimination plan funded - a good thing, for sure. Councilwoman Linda Dixon got funding to light the Bark Park, which is also probably a good thing.
At the end, Bever floated down again from whatever planet he's living on and attempted to have a million bucks allocated for more asphalt, despite rational, well-reasoned explanations by the staff about why more consideration is needed before such a move should be considered. He just doesn't get it!
So, dear fellow residents, you can breath just a little more easily now. The funding is there to keep our ship of state afloat for another year. Hopefully, by the time the next budget is presented next year there will be a different mix of players on the dais and this process will be much less a soap opera because the adults will be in charge once again.
11:42 am pdt
The main event, the discussion and eventual approval of the 2006/07 municipal budget, provided some very entertaining moments and some that left me more than a little concerned for the future of this city under what currently passes for leadership.
Perhaps the most fascinating and telling moment came about three hours into the proceedings when Mayor Pro Tem Eric Bever was in the midst of trying to explain why he wanted his fellow council members to allocate the $12,000 they removed from the budget that had been earmarked for the hibernating Orange County Regional Airport Authority to the Costa Mesa Historical Preservation Committee, to which he is the council liaison. As Bever attempted to convince the council that they should provide that amount, which he apparently considered "found money", as "seed money" to the committee as an incentive for them to proceed with their plan to place markers throughout the city at the locations of important and/or historical sites, he got into a little conversation with his buddy, Mayor Allan Mansoor, who wanted to know the criteria for establishment of the markers. Mansoor's preference would be to have the criteria established and blessed by the council before any money was allocated to the project. Bever, in his own special boneheaded way, remarked to the mayor - in full view of the camera and very audible on the tape and in the chambers - the following statement: "I don't think they're planning on putting one where the Dyke March went." You could hear the gasps from the crowd as our municipal loose cannon once again tripped over his tongue.
The "Dyke March" to which Bever referred was the Orange County Dyke March, which was "celebrated" for a couple years in Costa Mesa after previously appearing in Garden Grove. It was celebrated in name only, since it was poorly attended both years. Of course, it did rankle many residents in this city - our now-mayor among them.
Some context is important here. Our young jailer/mayor found himself embroiled in controversy a few years ago when, while he was a member of the city's Human Relations Committee, he posted an article on the now-defunct Concerned Costa Mesa Citizens web site from Focus on the Family which was critical of the homosexual life style. That site was the focus of a three-part series in our local newspaper of record, the Daily Pilot, because it was the repository of some very controversial postings by some members of the community - including some from a community activist who very much resembles my theoretical character, Your Neighbor. In fact, the Orange County Human Relations Commission got involved and very shortly thereafter the site folded up their tent, blocked it's more than 6,000 posting archive and basically disappeared from view like a cockroach scurrying away from the light.
A year ago Mansoor led the council in the move to close down the city Human Relations Committee - a group of volunteers that had served the city for more than 16 years. If you think you're seeing a pattern here, you're right. You can draw your own conclusions.
One of the more entertaining moments of the evening came when the light finally went on in the cranium of our young jailer/mayor and he realized that he had absolutely no way to stop the funding for lights at The Farm Sports Complex from being retained in the budget. Even though Councilwoman Katrina Foley had left the room during the discussion because she lived close to The Farm and therefore had a conflict, Mansoor apparently didn't realize that it took a majority vote to remove the light funding from the budget - and he didn't have three votes. Had the council voted, the resultant 2-2 tie would have meant that the item remained in the budget and would be part of the overall approval vote later. The look he had on his face when he finally realized he was trapped was reminiscent of former incompetent councilman Chris Steel - that old "deer in the headlights" look that we saw all too frequently. I loved it. The Farm lights were not voted on separately, saving Mansoor and Bever some additional embarrassment. Too bad, because they deserved to have their noses rubbed in this one.
Lame duck Gary Monahan resurrected some ten-year old plans for a skate park at Lion's Park and attempted to ram through funding for that location to become the site of the second skate park in the city. Apparently, no one on the dais had a clue he was going to pull this one out of his hat. One speaker criticized him for attempting to cement a legacy for himself before he is termed out the end of this year. He and Foley had a couple of heated exchanges about this site - she apparently feeling it wouldn't accommodate a large enough park and he with his teeth firmly clenched on his plan. It was like two pups tugging on a sock.
After all was said and done we have an approved budget - a couple million dollars richer than the staff recommended, which means dipping into the old "fund balance" to make it work. The mayor got his couple hundred grand to fund the currently approved cross-designation scheme, assuming the Sheriff's plan is approved and we do, in fact, piggyback that plan.
Foley got her gang elimination plan funded - a good thing, for sure. Councilwoman Linda Dixon got funding to light the Bark Park, which is also probably a good thing.
At the end, Bever floated down again from whatever planet he's living on and attempted to have a million bucks allocated for more asphalt, despite rational, well-reasoned explanations by the staff about why more consideration is needed before such a move should be considered. He just doesn't get it!
So, dear fellow residents, you can breath just a little more easily now. The funding is there to keep our ship of state afloat for another year. Hopefully, by the time the next budget is presented next year there will be a different mix of players on the dais and this process will be much less a soap opera because the adults will be in charge once again.
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