A most unwelcoming pattern

FLO MARTIN

The sign just down Newport Boulevard from our house reads “Welcome to

Costa Mesa.” So why is it that the Costa Mesa City Council keeps

shutting doors?

Recently, the council voted to restrict parking on Fordham Drive,

Joann Street and Wake Forest Road. Apparently, too many residents

from around the corner (College Drive and Wilson Street) were causing

problems.

The restrictions, the neighbors also hoped, would get rid of the

folks who spent daylight hours lounging in Wilson Park and nighttime

in their trucks and vans.

Then I read in the Daily Pilot that what I call the Testosterone

Triumvirate on the council voted to close the Job Center. What on

earth for? What so-called problems will disappear? Are the neighbors

complaining?

The area around 17th Street and Placentia Avenue is commercial,

not residential, right? Does the trio plan to evict other businesses

in that neck of the woods? The boat yards? The small-business parks?

The auto shops? The SOS buildings? What is this call for

“revitalization” of the Westside? Is Costa Mesa going to throw out

the baby with the bath water?

What sorts of Job Center laborers does this trio think will go

looking for jobs in other places? How do Costa Mesa residents in

general perceive the folks who currently live or work in the western

area of Costa Mesa?

Who are these people seeking a better life for their families? Why

do we call them “aliens” taking away “our” jobs and “our” schools?

In this move to revitalize, will we restrict the use of Lions Park

or Wilson Park and other public facilities to “legal” people? Will we

demand that park goers show identification and be photographed? Will

police officers also patrol the parking lots in front of the Home

Depot stores on Harbor and MacArthur boulevards and arrest loiterers?

Will I have to show my passport or citizenship papers while waiting

for my husband to come pick up the big plant I just bought? Crazy!

How many of us living in Costa Mesa have walked in the shoes of

immigrants trying to survive? How many of us have been homeless or

gone to bed hungry?

I have. My mom and dad and their little girl begged for food in

war-torn Germany after World War ll. My family was homeless and

stateless.

“Displaced persons”, they called us. (Reminds me of “collateral

damage.”) In 1948, the U.S. Army forces stationed in a town south of

Munich found my folks and other local homeless families some rooms in

an apartment building in the area. My dad went to work as a janitor

on the base. My mom and several other women worked as kitchen help.

No one worked for money. Money was worthless.

The hot-ticket items on the black market were eggs, butter, flour

and cigarettes. Everyone worked for food.

My mother would come back to our room at night with her apron

pockets laden with food. So did the others who worked in the

commissary. If any food delivered to the Army base was left over at

the end of the day, the Army cook would give it away.

“Why didn’t your family go back to Bulgaria after the war,” you

wonder?

Well, for one thing, my dad was a political refugee and had been

sentenced to death in absentia. Go home and you lose your life.

Secondly, Bulgaria was now Communist. Going “home” was not an option.

Later, we became boat people -- the Cunard steamship, White Star.

The Canadian government hired bunches of “displaced persons” to

work the farms of Manitoba. We ended up in Quebec. My father did

manual labor for quite a while, and my mom was a daytime nanny. We

got our Canadian citizenship papers just in time to be offered work

in California.

So, we packed our meager belongings and lived five more years as

immigrants in this land of fun and sun. All tolled, my family

struggled to stay alive for over 13 years.

Now, back to the question of removing the loitering workers and

bringing in new life to the Westside.

If the undocumented-workers issue is what the Costa Mesa council

wants to address, then let’s find a better solution. Let’s start

levying huge, and I mean really huge, fines on the employers who

break the law in hiring them. Costa Mesans who want to get cheap

labor will think twice before driving by the park or the Home Depot

for a pick-up.

Let the senior citizen who needs a ride to the doctor’s pay for a

taxi or take the bus. Let the gal who needs yard work done hire a

gardener. Let the fellows who need help with housework go to the

Yellow Pages, the Pennysaver or the newspaper want ads.

There would be no worries about driving the worker home in my car

and having the worker in my house.

Better yet, if you need your house painted, give me a call.

I have a friend who did a great job on my home, twice now. If you

do, plan to pay him over $2,000. That’s what I did.

FLO MARTIN is a 38-year Costa Mesa resident.