SOUNDING OFF:

If you think the discussions and votes this Tuesday at the Costa Mesa City Council meeting are just about a skateboard park, the Fish Fry, a new building for the model railroad engineers, Lions Park and Fairview Park, then you don’t really understand the local political scene.

This is also about the municipal election next year. Terms are up for Mayor Pro Tem Eric Bever and councilwomen Linda Dixon and Katrina Foley. The way they vote Tuesday could turn off or energize their voters if they seek reelection. Maybe even decide the election.

In fact, Tuesday could give us some local equivalents of the much publicized Hillary Clinton moment in the recent Democrat candidates debate when Clinton waffled on several issues, and most notably on whether she thought it was a good idea to give driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. One pundit believes Hillary’s chances of winning the general election dropped from 80% to 50% because of her waffling.

On Tuesday, the council members — even those not up for reelection — may decide their political futures by what they say and how they vote.

Keep in mind the council majority of Mansoor, Bever and Leece generally have the support of the Improvers who are mostly conservative. Foley and Dixon, on the other hand, have the support of the Return to Reasoners (Returners), and similarly disposed voters, who are mostly liberal.

Here come the difficulties. Many of the Improvers want Fairview Park to remain as natural as possible. You read that right. Many conservatives are the tree huggers in Costa Mesa.

While many Returners are probably strong environmentalists on a worldwide scale, a la Al Gore, they seem to be less so here locally. An indication of this came in the last election, when they supported Mike Scheafer for City Council. In fact, some of the Returners are actually out-of-town industrialists who want to keep their factories on the Westside Bluffs and who generally deny there is any pollution from their operations. They backed Scheafer because they believed he would help keep the Bluffs industrialized.

Scheafer is also known locally as Mr. Fish Fry. On Tuesday, the council is going to decide whether or not to put a skateboard facility in Lions Park where the Fish Fry has been for years. If the skateboard facility goes in, it may keep the Fish Fry from being there.

In an attempt to stop the skateboard facility from going into Lions Park, Scheafer had a column in the Pilot recently in which he called for the skateboard facility to be put in Fairview Park. This put him at odds with those who want the park to be kept as natural as possible — including, as already mentioned — many Improvers.

If the majority on the council goes along with Scheafer, they’ll alienate many Improvers and other natural park enthusiasts. If they don’t go along with Scheafer, they’ll alienate many fans of the Fish Fry.

So, what’s going to happen? It appears there is already a whisper PR campaign afoot to have the public believe Fairview Park should be considered as two separate areas, with man-made developments, including a skateboard park and sports fields being OK for the east side of Placentia while the west side will be more natural.

To Improvers who have looked at such a prospect, this is not acceptable.

They see Fairview Park as one whole. Some even want Placentia Avenue to be removed from the Park — just dead end it on the north and south. They also see any developments — skateboard facility, large parking lots, new building for the model railroad engineers, more restrooms, more asphalt and concrete, sports fields in the park — as a camel’s nose under the tent.

They believe if a skateboard facility, sports fields, a new building for the model railroad engineers or anything similar is allowed in the park, that pretty soon the whole camel is going to be in the tent and Fairview Park will be forever ruined as a natural park.

M. H. MILLARD is a Costa Mesa writer.