Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Undergrounding Buried and Your Neighbor Harried
Watching the late proceedings at our City Council meeting
Tuesday night was a little like riding the Tea Cups at
Disneyland, as Mayor Allan Mansoor and his runnin' buddy, Mayor
Pro Tem Eric Bever, kept trying to apply spin to the results of
the survey the city commissioned on the subject of possible
funding mechanisms for the placement of utility wires
underground throughout the city.
Despite the fact that the survey amounted to a "push poll" - one in which the initial premise was so heavily weighted in favor of undergrounding the wires that participants might assume the decision to do so had already been made - the results actually showed that the vast majority of those polled couldn't care less about undergrounding. As was so clearly and accurately pointed out by Councilwoman Katrina Foley, despite the fact that this item had received very significant coverage by the press prior to the meeting, there were very few people who showed up to voice an opinion one way or the other. Apathy doesn't even come close to describing the lack of interest in this issue.
Those facts notwithstanding, Mansoor and Bever charged right ahead, reaching into the bowels of the poll for a glimmer of hope. They took the fact that a high percentage of those polled would choose an increase in the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) as a funding mechanism IF the decision was made to underground the utilities and ran with it. They tried to spin that isolated response into a mandate to move forward with undergrounding. Of course, there is no mandate.
The debate was almost comical at times, as Councilwoman Linda Dixon's off-hand remark about setting up some kind of a "slush fund" had City Manager Allan Roeder almost leaping out of his seat to catch those words and somehow stuff them back into her mouth - but the damage was done. He did manage to "save" the moment, though - as always.
The upshot of the discussions was to receive and file the results of the poll, but to recommend that more "education" is needed for the residents of the city. That means a propaganda campaign to try to convince people that a project that will cost well over $1 billion and take somewhere in the area of 80 years to complete is a great idea. Good luck with that one, Mr. Mayor.
For an increase in the TOT to be placed on the ballot in November, the council must make a decision to do that within the next 6 weeks. It doesn't seem likely that will happen considering the almost complete lack of interest in the issue by the residents of this city.
Once again, Mayor Mansoor has demonstrated that he is out of touch with the true feelings of most residents of this city and is being guided by his small knot of supporters, including some with very questionable motives. When he tells us that he's "heard from the community" on an issue, what he really means is that some of his pals have provided him with guidance. As one wag recently put it, "His 'community' would fit in his living room".
Another highlight of the meeting for me was to see a resident who very much resembles my theoretical character, Your Neighbor, step to the speaker's podium so flustered that, for the first time in memory, he was almost not able to speak. It seems he didn't particularly like being called out by earlier speakers, who continue to use his presence and obvious influence on events as a target for their displeasure with the current council majority. Most observers cannot recall this particular speaker ever having been so rattled in the past. It's about time he got a dose of his own medicine. For years he has stood at the podium and pointedly criticized anyone with a viewpoint divergent from his - including many past and current council members. He's used his "little newsletter" - now a blog - and his many essays on far right wing web sites to slice and dice opponents. It's nice to see residents speaking up about his bullying. Humberto Caspa, for example, gave us a great impression of Howard Beale, the character in the movie NETWORK for which actor Peter Finch won an Oscar, as he stood at the podium and said "we're not going to take it any more", referring to Your Neighbor's intolerant influence in city matters.
Perhaps the mayor's immigration plan has finally awakened the slumbering majority in this city. Perhaps enough will begin to actually pay attention to what's going on and decide that they, too, aren't going to take it any more. We can only hope.
During the Public Comments portion early in the meeting fewer people stood to speak for and against the mayor's plan to cross-designate police officers. Fewer Minutemen appeared, but we were graced by the presence of the Grand Pooba himself, Jim Gilchrist, who again encouraged the mayor - his anointed one - to stay the course. Once again, the most articulate presentations were from Costa Mesa residents, not the outside agitators like Gilchrist, who have no real vested interest in the issue in our city.
The clock ticks and the election season approaches. I can hardly wait...
11:47 am pdt
Despite the fact that the survey amounted to a "push poll" - one in which the initial premise was so heavily weighted in favor of undergrounding the wires that participants might assume the decision to do so had already been made - the results actually showed that the vast majority of those polled couldn't care less about undergrounding. As was so clearly and accurately pointed out by Councilwoman Katrina Foley, despite the fact that this item had received very significant coverage by the press prior to the meeting, there were very few people who showed up to voice an opinion one way or the other. Apathy doesn't even come close to describing the lack of interest in this issue.
Those facts notwithstanding, Mansoor and Bever charged right ahead, reaching into the bowels of the poll for a glimmer of hope. They took the fact that a high percentage of those polled would choose an increase in the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) as a funding mechanism IF the decision was made to underground the utilities and ran with it. They tried to spin that isolated response into a mandate to move forward with undergrounding. Of course, there is no mandate.
The debate was almost comical at times, as Councilwoman Linda Dixon's off-hand remark about setting up some kind of a "slush fund" had City Manager Allan Roeder almost leaping out of his seat to catch those words and somehow stuff them back into her mouth - but the damage was done. He did manage to "save" the moment, though - as always.
The upshot of the discussions was to receive and file the results of the poll, but to recommend that more "education" is needed for the residents of the city. That means a propaganda campaign to try to convince people that a project that will cost well over $1 billion and take somewhere in the area of 80 years to complete is a great idea. Good luck with that one, Mr. Mayor.
For an increase in the TOT to be placed on the ballot in November, the council must make a decision to do that within the next 6 weeks. It doesn't seem likely that will happen considering the almost complete lack of interest in the issue by the residents of this city.
Once again, Mayor Mansoor has demonstrated that he is out of touch with the true feelings of most residents of this city and is being guided by his small knot of supporters, including some with very questionable motives. When he tells us that he's "heard from the community" on an issue, what he really means is that some of his pals have provided him with guidance. As one wag recently put it, "His 'community' would fit in his living room".
Another highlight of the meeting for me was to see a resident who very much resembles my theoretical character, Your Neighbor, step to the speaker's podium so flustered that, for the first time in memory, he was almost not able to speak. It seems he didn't particularly like being called out by earlier speakers, who continue to use his presence and obvious influence on events as a target for their displeasure with the current council majority. Most observers cannot recall this particular speaker ever having been so rattled in the past. It's about time he got a dose of his own medicine. For years he has stood at the podium and pointedly criticized anyone with a viewpoint divergent from his - including many past and current council members. He's used his "little newsletter" - now a blog - and his many essays on far right wing web sites to slice and dice opponents. It's nice to see residents speaking up about his bullying. Humberto Caspa, for example, gave us a great impression of Howard Beale, the character in the movie NETWORK for which actor Peter Finch won an Oscar, as he stood at the podium and said "we're not going to take it any more", referring to Your Neighbor's intolerant influence in city matters.
Perhaps the mayor's immigration plan has finally awakened the slumbering majority in this city. Perhaps enough will begin to actually pay attention to what's going on and decide that they, too, aren't going to take it any more. We can only hope.
During the Public Comments portion early in the meeting fewer people stood to speak for and against the mayor's plan to cross-designate police officers. Fewer Minutemen appeared, but we were graced by the presence of the Grand Pooba himself, Jim Gilchrist, who again encouraged the mayor - his anointed one - to stay the course. Once again, the most articulate presentations were from Costa Mesa residents, not the outside agitators like Gilchrist, who have no real vested interest in the issue in our city.
The clock ticks and the election season approaches. I can hardly wait...
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