RON DAVIS -- Through My Eyes

I can see it in people’s eyes and feel it in their mannerisms. Folks

huddle together and stop talking when I enter a room. Little kids and

adults point at me and murmur to one another. One person wonders to

another, “Does he have some contagious disease? Is he cruel to small

animals?”

Then another person lowers his voice and screws his face into an

expression of repugnance and disgust and whispers, “No, it’s even worse

than that. He ...” and then he pauses for emphasis, lowering his voice to

underscore his complete and utter revulsion, and with a sickening sneer

says, “He supports o7 eminent domainf7 .”

The aghast listener covers his mouth in stunned horror, anxious to get

to a telephone and spread the rumor.

Most people aren’t interested in an intelligent discussion on the

subject of eminent domain. Their friends believe it’s an ugly power, and

that’s good enough for them. Indeed, it is an ugly power -- a power

designed to be used sparingly in exceedingly narrow and ugly situations

and only after all alternative courses of action have been exhausted.

But, once someone supports the use of that power, the negative labeling

and whispering begins.

My hearing’s not as good as it used to be, and maybe your’s isn’t

either, so I’ll write it out loud: I supported and continue to support

the use of eminent domain in connection with the renovation of Huntington

Center.

After years of fruitless negotiating, begging and cajoling, Huntington

Beach still isn’t going to get the mall the city insisted was needed and

the residents apparently wanted. Why? Because the City Council refused to

consolidate the ownership of the mall into a single owner with a single,

comprehensive vision.

Let me illustrate the problem this way: What do you get when you hire

three different artists to paint a painting, all with varying abilities

and who can’t agree on the color of paint, the texture, the theme or even

the subject matter of the painting? A hodgepodge on canvas? Well, what do

you expect to get when you allow three different businesses, each with

different visions, objectives and abilities to produce a mall? A

hodgepodge on land? We certainly can’t expect a center produced as a

result of a comprehensive renovation overseen by a single owner with a

single vision.

I am reminded that a camel is merely a horse designed by a committee.

So in keeping with that notion, we should call the future mall “Camel

Lot.”

Asking Democrats and Republicans to agree on the voter intent of every

dimpled and pregnant Floridian chad has more likelihood of success than

expecting three businesses at the mall to produce a mall that will fill

the high expectations of the city and the community. In my judgment, this

Camel Lot, which we might also call “The Cursings,” won’t be measured on

an upscale, but a gray scale.

Three members of the Huntington Beach City Council bought into the

negative reputation of eminent domain and the legally unenforceable

podium-promises made by Burlington and Wards. Promises prompted by the

threat of eminent domain that will evaporate now that the threat no

longer exists. Ask those members of the City Council who opposed eminent

domain how the city intends to enforce these podium-promises. Ask them if

they can enforce them legally, or if they have to rely on the good faith

of Wards and Burlington.

The refusal of some members of the City Council to take the next step

of consolidating the mall under one owner with one vision, through a last

resort use of eminent domain, sentences this city not only to Camel Lot,

but condemns our future residents with the curse of wrangling over the

same problem. A problem that will never be solved until the property is

in the hands of one owner.

And when this mishmash of a mall is built and is devoid of the upscale

restaurants, entertainment and shopping we’d hoped for, don’t blame

Ezralow. They will try. Blame those on the City Council, who determined

that they’d rather have a mall by committee. Of course, there’s good news

in all of this. At least three council members won’t have to hear people

snickering that they supported eminent domain.

*

* RON DAVIS is a private attorney who lives in Huntington Beach. He

can be reached by e-mail at o7 RDD@socal.rr.com.f7