EDITORIAL:Spark of hope gone in a flash

Today we tell the tale not of two cities, but of one city with two tales.

The first is a tale of compromise and hope, the second one of pettiness and hopelessness.

Let’s start with the story that has a brighter ending.

On Tuesday, the Costa Mesa City Council seemed to emerge from much bickering and political gamesmanship and agreed to create a youth-in-government program.

No, it was not the program originally envisioned that would have 18 teens advising the council. Instead, what emerged is a meeting of the minds. The council majority, led by Mayor Allan Mansoor, agreed to create the youth program as a civic-minded group.

All of that seemed just fine to the teens involved.

Councilwoman Katrina Foley, who originally brought the idea to the council, will team up with Councilwoman Wendy Leece to put together the nuts and bolts of the program, which now has unanimous support by the council.

The results of this tempest in a teapot heartened us because it showed that even a council that is so ideologically divided can work for the common good.

Well, at least for a few minutes it did.

The ink wasn’t even dry on this compromise before the next tempest brewed as Mansoor asked Councilwoman Linda Dixon to move her seat, her physical seat, on the council to the other side and allow the newest councilwoman, Leece, to sit closer to City Manager Allan Roeder.

Dixon declined the suggested move, and Mansoor reacted that he would bring the item back for a formal council vote.

We urge Mansoor to do no such thing.

The agreement reached on the youth-in-government debacle proved that the council can act as one body — not a divided, embittered group.

Getting into a fight over who should sit in which chair is unbecoming and leaves the council members looking childish.

While the council members’ politics may differ, reasonable minds agree that all five of them are spending their precious time on the council for one thing: the betterment of the city of Costa Mesa.

And from where we are sitting, they can do that together — no matter what chair they are in.