COMMUNITY COMMENTARY:City now like an angry old drunk

Costa Mesa is different these days. Not in a good way.

As Costa Mesa wrestles with the many issues and circumstances that confront the everyday lives and futures of its 113,000 residents, I regret that the city’s demeanor more often reminds me of an angry old drunk held captive by a narrowing mind seated in a rigid ideological wheelchair.

It wasn’t always this way.

In 1993, my wife and I chose Costa Mesa as the town in which we would continue raising our four children. At the time my fondness of Costa Mesa was rooted in many of the city’s traits and odd quirks, many of which aligned with my fiscally conservative/socially moderate political compass.

For instance, I was romanced by the city government’s laissez faire tint; that it was more comfortable staying out of the way and out of the lives of its residents and its entrepreneurs. I enjoyed that Costa Mesa was home to more neighborhood merchants than faceless corporations; that it was one of the few cities left that hadn’t confiscated from its residents the great American tradition of a front-yard fireworks show. I was wooed that its neighborhoods had an eclectic character, and that its population was equally diverse in occupation, culture, ethnicity and faith.

I liked that Costa Mesa seemed to be a town of live-and-let-live people; that you could improve your property without sparking a neighborhood revolt, or park your RV in front of your house. It was good to be part of a town that had a fish fry and a parade; that it had thriving Little League, Pop Warner and American Youth Soccer Organization programs.

But what struck me most favorably about Costa Mesa is that its government seemed remarkably free of partisanship, ideological spats and politicians willing to divide the city in an autocratic pursuit of an agenda.

On the last point, I can’t say it’s that way anymore. And that’s why I’ve enlisted in the Return to Reason movement.

In recent years ? the last two in particular ? the construct of the Costa Mesa City Council has fomented an atmosphere of government by dictate. The architecture of our city government is today driven more by ideological fiat than public discussion and consensus building. Broad community needs are ignored or jettisoned to grease the grinding wheels of individuals who don’t want a soccer field by their home, or people playing in their neighborhood parks.

I don’t want to be led by a city council that should you disagree with its policy, or have a different view of how an issue should be handled, smugly chides that you aren’t in favor of upholding the law.

I don’t want to be led by a mayor so enamored with the headlines of his ideas that he fails to vet them with his colleagues or the community. I want to be led by a mayor with the wisdom and the humility to recognize that there is usually more than one solution to a problem.

I don’t want to be led by a city council that believes kids playing on a field are a burden to the neighborhood. I want to be led by a city council that recognizes parks and recreation essential parts of Costa Mesa’s infrastructure; that appreciates city-supported recreational programs as a vital component of the social health of our community.

Most important, I want to be led by a city council that is acutely aware that it does not have all the answers, and that the best city government is the product of deliberation and inclusive dialogue striving to achieve a better way of life for a majority of its constituents.

I want Costa Mesa back. So does Return to Reason.