Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Lancing The Boil & The Mayor Reaches A New Low
Last night, during the Public Comments portion of the Costa
Mesa City Council meeting, a couple of the "usual suspects"
spoke, criticizing members of the council - Mayor Mansoor
specifically. This has become a regular, and distasteful, ritual
most of this year.
However, one speaker - long time Costa Mesa businessman and occasional speaker, Tim Lewis - stood at the podium and related a story of a Costa Mesa resident and customer of his who recently told him he may have to move his family to Mexico. When Lewis, aghast, asked why in the world he would consider that move, his friend told him his wife - an undocumented resident of this city - felt it was no longer safe in Costa Mesa.
Lewis decried the circumstances that have created such an atmosphere in Costa Mesa, then asked the following questions of the council: "What devil amongst us has stolen the soul of Costa Mesa? Who of this council are responsible for tearing this city's heart out? And will this failure to respect every person as an equal member of one human family become the tragedy trophy of Costa Mesa?"
With those three direct questions Mr. Lewis has pierced the festering boil that has infected this city for several years - the treatment of the Latinos, legal and illegal, among us.
For several years I've flogged this issue in commentaries published in local newspapers and on the pages of this web log. Most of my thoughts on this subject can be found as you scroll through the archives. To summarize my views as concisely as possible, I offer the following comments: I firmly believe, based on my observations of some city leaders and certain activists for most of this decade, that there has been an orchestrated movement in this city to expunge the Latino population from our borders. Players in this drama have been elected officials and activists with an agenda that reaches far beyond the borders of this city. I think the current majority on the council has been a willing tool of this scheme as proven by their systematic destruction of financial infrastructure, facilities and policies that have provided support for more than 30% of the residents of this city in the Latino community.
I encourage each of you who read this blog to re-read Mr. Lewis' questions, and to try to answer them for yourselves.
***
Near the end of last night's council meeting Mayor Mansoor astounded even me, a guy who watches his movements with a critical eye and had thought he'd seen it all. Not so - last night was a new low. Last night, in the most arrogant, self-serving act I can remember, the mayor requested to change the meeting date of the regularly scheduled November 7th City Council meeting so he could go out and party with his supporters on election night!
Over the strenuous objections of Councilwoman Katrina Foley, and despite the fact that it will mean placing an extreme strain on the staff to prepare for a meeting on that date, the male majority on the council went along with this move and voted to re-schedule the meeting to coincide with the Study Session/Joint meeting with the Redevelopment Agency on November 14th. I wasn't surprised that Gary Monahan went along with this idea - his gin mill will be jumping on November 7th and he admitted that he probably wouldn't be at the council meeting because his bar would be too busy.
This is just one more example of how Mansoor puts himself ahead of the welfare of the city and one more reason to throw him out of office. It is my fervent wish that he is forced to use this time on November 7th to cry in his beer about having lost the election. What poetic justice that will be!
12:54 am pdt
However, one speaker - long time Costa Mesa businessman and occasional speaker, Tim Lewis - stood at the podium and related a story of a Costa Mesa resident and customer of his who recently told him he may have to move his family to Mexico. When Lewis, aghast, asked why in the world he would consider that move, his friend told him his wife - an undocumented resident of this city - felt it was no longer safe in Costa Mesa.
Lewis decried the circumstances that have created such an atmosphere in Costa Mesa, then asked the following questions of the council: "What devil amongst us has stolen the soul of Costa Mesa? Who of this council are responsible for tearing this city's heart out? And will this failure to respect every person as an equal member of one human family become the tragedy trophy of Costa Mesa?"
With those three direct questions Mr. Lewis has pierced the festering boil that has infected this city for several years - the treatment of the Latinos, legal and illegal, among us.
For several years I've flogged this issue in commentaries published in local newspapers and on the pages of this web log. Most of my thoughts on this subject can be found as you scroll through the archives. To summarize my views as concisely as possible, I offer the following comments: I firmly believe, based on my observations of some city leaders and certain activists for most of this decade, that there has been an orchestrated movement in this city to expunge the Latino population from our borders. Players in this drama have been elected officials and activists with an agenda that reaches far beyond the borders of this city. I think the current majority on the council has been a willing tool of this scheme as proven by their systematic destruction of financial infrastructure, facilities and policies that have provided support for more than 30% of the residents of this city in the Latino community.
I encourage each of you who read this blog to re-read Mr. Lewis' questions, and to try to answer them for yourselves.
***
Near the end of last night's council meeting Mayor Mansoor astounded even me, a guy who watches his movements with a critical eye and had thought he'd seen it all. Not so - last night was a new low. Last night, in the most arrogant, self-serving act I can remember, the mayor requested to change the meeting date of the regularly scheduled November 7th City Council meeting so he could go out and party with his supporters on election night!
Over the strenuous objections of Councilwoman Katrina Foley, and despite the fact that it will mean placing an extreme strain on the staff to prepare for a meeting on that date, the male majority on the council went along with this move and voted to re-schedule the meeting to coincide with the Study Session/Joint meeting with the Redevelopment Agency on November 14th. I wasn't surprised that Gary Monahan went along with this idea - his gin mill will be jumping on November 7th and he admitted that he probably wouldn't be at the council meeting because his bar would be too busy.
This is just one more example of how Mansoor puts himself ahead of the welfare of the city and one more reason to throw him out of office. It is my fervent wish that he is forced to use this time on November 7th to cry in his beer about having lost the election. What poetic justice that will be!
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