Why?
Why do we do it? Why do we skip dinner, put on our thinking caps after a long day and go to a city council meeting? Why don't we just stay home? Why do we sit there and pore over staff reports, scribble out what we hope makes sense, turn a card in so we can speak, and then stay past midnight to put in our 2 cents about Fairview Park? Why?
Because, we care. We love this city. We care about Hank Lloyd and his great tennis program which for Costa Mesans is affordable and convenient. We care about the City Council budget and the reserve fund. We want the Council to put more than $500,000 towards the unfunded pension liability. We don't want to see our city, blessed with probably the biggest shopping center in the world, go bankrupt.
We love this city and are prepared to do whatever it takes to get it back into the hands of people who really care about people and are not just interested in reimaging out city from one end to the other and changing the rules so developers can make more money and then give some of it to the politicians who helped them.
We've never been in this place before. We stopped TWO dumb charters, stopped Big League Dreams, elected Sandy and Katrina, but our backs are still against the wall without a majority.
But last night's council meeting was a doosy! We actually beat back the sports fields because people got up and told the council we don't want no stinkin sports fields at Fairview or some crazy survey that is skewed to tell the Council Costa Mesans want sports fields. (No data has EVER been produced by the recreation department to prove we NEED more sports fields or lighted sports fields).
Earlier, we watched as Gary divulged confidential information about the CMPOA---totally breaking the Brown Act by stating the POA turned down an offer. Tom Duarte's answer was so wishy washy. Katrina did an awesome job of calling him out.
So if you are reading this and thinking you don't need to pay attention to what is going on at city hall, I have to tell you that you are wrong. We need more people who love this city and are willing to sacrifice a few comforts to continue to confront the City Council on issues that impact the future of our City.
In a few minutes I'm off to College Park School to a forum on sober living homes put on by College Park residents who are enraged that a neighbor's home was broken into by someone who lives in a nearby sober living home. The kids were asleep and the dad got up and chased him out! He was arrested later, thank God. How has the sober living home market been allowed to saturate our city? Why don't we have enough police to patrol our neighborhoods?
It may be everything is just fine on your street, but with police staffing down below 100, and plan underway to close Fire Station 6 up by South Coast Plaza, it's only a matter of time before you realize you need to come down to City Hall and make your voices heard to the City Council too. It's not too late. Those of us who go don't want our city to be just a memory. We want to preserve it for the future so that others can enjoy the blessings and quality of life we have enjoyed.
