Thursday, January 19, 2006
Contentiousness Continues
Tuesday, January 17, 2006, saw yet another contentious city
council meeting in our fair city. Once again, the plan by our
young jailer/mayor and his cronies to have Costa Mesa law
enforcement officers cross-designated to be able to screen for
immigration violations was hotly debated during the public
comments portions of the meeting.
Once again, the mayor chose to cut off the dialogue at 7 p.m. sharp so as not to inconvenience folks present to speak on agenda items. This time, however, he decided to complete the public comments portion following the last agenda item - which turned out to be 10:55 p.m. The meeting finally adjourned at 11:29 that night.
Some interesting numbers evolved from the public comments portion. 20 people spoke before the break. 13 spoke following the resumption at the end of the meeting. All but one of the speakers were there to address the immigration issue. Only the perky Judi Berry was there to address another issue. As a side bar, after "laying down the law" to the attendees about proper decorum during the meeting before the public comments section started, he allowed his pal, Mrs. Berry, to violate the rules and speak on a subject that was on the agenda later that night, apparently because she had "two more meetings to attend that night." Once again, our mayor demonstrated that he has no trouble at all applying a double standard when it comes to his supporters.
On to the numbers. Disregarding Mrs. Berry - as if that's possible - there were 32 speakers who addressed the immigration enforcement issue. 59% (19) spoke before the break and 41% (13) stayed around to speak between 10:55 and 11:29 that night.
Of those 19 who spoke before Mayor Mansoor cut off the testimony at 7:00, 52.6% (10) spoke in favor of Mayor Mansoor. 47.3% (9) spoke in opposition. Of those who stayed to the bitter (a very appropriate word) end, 100% (13) spoke in opposition to Mansoor's plan.
Only 31% (10) of the speakers were from Costa Mesa, but 90% of those spoke against Mansoor's plan. Of the remaining 69% (22) speakers who were not identified as being Costa Mesa residents, 41% (9) were in favor of Mansoor's plan, with the other 59% (13) opposing it.
All totaled, 69% of those who spoke opposed the mayor's plan. Just as was the case during the previous meetings, including the debates on the closure of the Job Center earlier this year, approximately 70% of the speakers opposed these ill-advised attacks on the Latino population in Costa Mesa.
Although no one to my knowledge was hauled out of the chambers and arrested this time, there was plenty of rancor to go around. We heard our police chief compared to Hitler a couple times - a completely inaccurate and malicious portrayal. We saw lame duck Councilman Gary Monahan heckle a speaker as he left the dais after the speaker delivered a stinging rebuke to the majority on the council. Monahan waved as he taunted the man with the words, "bye-bye, see ya later, bye-bye". That's certainly not the kind of decorum we expect from our elected leaders, but I guess it's what we will likely see from Monahan as he limps to the end of his less-than distinguished twelve year career on the council. We saw the council warned that they had better wise up and realize that the Latinos are the future of this region, so they had better find a way to work with them.
One particularly articulate speaker presented a request to the City Attorney for an investigation of Mayor Mansoor's conduct at the last meeting, citing violations of specific sections of the municipal code, and threatened to take the matter to the Grand Jury. Oh, it was a fun evening.
I was uneasy because a few of the speakers required a translator. Each of them purportedly had been residents of this country for more than 10 years, yet had no command of the English language. In my opinion, hereby lies one of the real difficulties facing the Latino population in this battle - their apparent unwillingness to assimilate and communicate. They only know what they are told by translators. Conversely, we only know their opinions as translated for us. I know a little Spanish, so I realize that some of the speaker's words were neither completely nor accurately translated last night. This is a big problem.
One note of interest for me was the appearance of several black speakers, - apparently imported from such exotic locales as Compton and Los Angeles - to support our mayor. One of these was the ubiquitous Ted Hayes - the self-styled homeless activist - who praised the mayor for his courage. Hayes said that the immigrants were taking jobs from "his people" - meaning the black population - because they were willing to work for "slave wages". Funny, I sure don't remember any demonstrations by blacks, eager to pick our lettuce and strawberries, mow our lawns, wash dishes, etc. What a crock! Hayes should take his rastafarian hair-do and cruise on back to "help" the homeless in Los Angeles and stop trying to foment civil strife between the blacks and Latinos. What's next - Jessie Jackson muttering banalities on the steps of City Hall?
It was very interesting that all of Mansoor's supporters somehow managed to speak before the break, when the media was present and their faces were almost certain to make the ten or eleven o'clock news. Those who spoke at the end of the meeting four hours later were obviously there because of the passion they felt for the issue - not to get their photos spread all over the news. Of course, we realize their efforts will be ignored by the mayor and his majority, whose minds are made up and no facts will change them.
As each such meeting passes it's becoming very clear that our young jailer/mayor is in way, way over his head. He demonstrates no leadership skills as he fumbles and stumbles through the meetings, permitting his supporters to bend the rules, but holding the line with those who don't share his viewpoints. He's the perfect example of what happens when we elect small people to big jobs - they just can't handle them. Worse than that, they are easily swayed by others with an agenda of their own. These weak leaders have the power and have demonstrated that they will use it for personal political gain.
Such is life in our city today. The actions of our leaders have made Costa Mesa appear to be the worst case example of a dysfunctional city, displayed by a voracious media for the world to see. What a shame.
12:18 am pst
Once again, the mayor chose to cut off the dialogue at 7 p.m. sharp so as not to inconvenience folks present to speak on agenda items. This time, however, he decided to complete the public comments portion following the last agenda item - which turned out to be 10:55 p.m. The meeting finally adjourned at 11:29 that night.
Some interesting numbers evolved from the public comments portion. 20 people spoke before the break. 13 spoke following the resumption at the end of the meeting. All but one of the speakers were there to address the immigration issue. Only the perky Judi Berry was there to address another issue. As a side bar, after "laying down the law" to the attendees about proper decorum during the meeting before the public comments section started, he allowed his pal, Mrs. Berry, to violate the rules and speak on a subject that was on the agenda later that night, apparently because she had "two more meetings to attend that night." Once again, our mayor demonstrated that he has no trouble at all applying a double standard when it comes to his supporters.
On to the numbers. Disregarding Mrs. Berry - as if that's possible - there were 32 speakers who addressed the immigration enforcement issue. 59% (19) spoke before the break and 41% (13) stayed around to speak between 10:55 and 11:29 that night.
Of those 19 who spoke before Mayor Mansoor cut off the testimony at 7:00, 52.6% (10) spoke in favor of Mayor Mansoor. 47.3% (9) spoke in opposition. Of those who stayed to the bitter (a very appropriate word) end, 100% (13) spoke in opposition to Mansoor's plan.
Only 31% (10) of the speakers were from Costa Mesa, but 90% of those spoke against Mansoor's plan. Of the remaining 69% (22) speakers who were not identified as being Costa Mesa residents, 41% (9) were in favor of Mansoor's plan, with the other 59% (13) opposing it.
All totaled, 69% of those who spoke opposed the mayor's plan. Just as was the case during the previous meetings, including the debates on the closure of the Job Center earlier this year, approximately 70% of the speakers opposed these ill-advised attacks on the Latino population in Costa Mesa.
Although no one to my knowledge was hauled out of the chambers and arrested this time, there was plenty of rancor to go around. We heard our police chief compared to Hitler a couple times - a completely inaccurate and malicious portrayal. We saw lame duck Councilman Gary Monahan heckle a speaker as he left the dais after the speaker delivered a stinging rebuke to the majority on the council. Monahan waved as he taunted the man with the words, "bye-bye, see ya later, bye-bye". That's certainly not the kind of decorum we expect from our elected leaders, but I guess it's what we will likely see from Monahan as he limps to the end of his less-than distinguished twelve year career on the council. We saw the council warned that they had better wise up and realize that the Latinos are the future of this region, so they had better find a way to work with them.
One particularly articulate speaker presented a request to the City Attorney for an investigation of Mayor Mansoor's conduct at the last meeting, citing violations of specific sections of the municipal code, and threatened to take the matter to the Grand Jury. Oh, it was a fun evening.
I was uneasy because a few of the speakers required a translator. Each of them purportedly had been residents of this country for more than 10 years, yet had no command of the English language. In my opinion, hereby lies one of the real difficulties facing the Latino population in this battle - their apparent unwillingness to assimilate and communicate. They only know what they are told by translators. Conversely, we only know their opinions as translated for us. I know a little Spanish, so I realize that some of the speaker's words were neither completely nor accurately translated last night. This is a big problem.
One note of interest for me was the appearance of several black speakers, - apparently imported from such exotic locales as Compton and Los Angeles - to support our mayor. One of these was the ubiquitous Ted Hayes - the self-styled homeless activist - who praised the mayor for his courage. Hayes said that the immigrants were taking jobs from "his people" - meaning the black population - because they were willing to work for "slave wages". Funny, I sure don't remember any demonstrations by blacks, eager to pick our lettuce and strawberries, mow our lawns, wash dishes, etc. What a crock! Hayes should take his rastafarian hair-do and cruise on back to "help" the homeless in Los Angeles and stop trying to foment civil strife between the blacks and Latinos. What's next - Jessie Jackson muttering banalities on the steps of City Hall?
It was very interesting that all of Mansoor's supporters somehow managed to speak before the break, when the media was present and their faces were almost certain to make the ten or eleven o'clock news. Those who spoke at the end of the meeting four hours later were obviously there because of the passion they felt for the issue - not to get their photos spread all over the news. Of course, we realize their efforts will be ignored by the mayor and his majority, whose minds are made up and no facts will change them.
As each such meeting passes it's becoming very clear that our young jailer/mayor is in way, way over his head. He demonstrates no leadership skills as he fumbles and stumbles through the meetings, permitting his supporters to bend the rules, but holding the line with those who don't share his viewpoints. He's the perfect example of what happens when we elect small people to big jobs - they just can't handle them. Worse than that, they are easily swayed by others with an agenda of their own. These weak leaders have the power and have demonstrated that they will use it for personal political gain.
Such is life in our city today. The actions of our leaders have made Costa Mesa appear to be the worst case example of a dysfunctional city, displayed by a voracious media for the world to see. What a shame.
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