KIDS THESE DAYS:

If you live in Costa Mesa and are sick and tired of the divisiveness and petty squabbling that has been the hallmark of the current City Council majority, you may want to thank the Parks and Recreation Commission after the November elections.

To recap, after weeks of proper due diligence, the Parks and Recreation Commission voted to recommend to the City Council that 28 city parks change status from “active,” in which teams may play on the grass, to “passive,” where there are conditions on team play.

The change in status will prohibit teams of 10 or more wearing cleats from playing in any of the 28 parks.

Teams of 10 or more wearing cleats will have to play at the Farm or at the Balearic Community Center.

Let’s be honest here. First of all, the teams that are being targeted are made up primarily of adult male Latinos playing soccer. Anyone who offers you another target is insulting your intelligence. Unfortunately, the ban does not single out just the adult teams, so kids suffer, too.

Second, the commission is not entirely at fault. With more input from those who did not want to change the status quo, they may have made a different recommendation, or none at all.

But you and I weren’t there to point out what a horrendous message such a recommendation sends not only to our children, but to all our citizens.

So the commission spoke for us.

It is difficult to believe a city as enlightened as Costa Mesa, one with a world-class performing arts center, several colleges and indoor plumbing, could even consider throwing kids under the bus by converting nearly every public park to “passive” status, but that is what could happen.

On second thought, however, if the City Council majority approves the recommendation, those who want to improve communication in the city and end the self-centered pettiness of the current majority may be better off doing nothing.

That’s because such an imperious decision is the straw that could break the camel’s back this fall. Finally, when we enter the voting booths in November, we will vote to put into power those who have the greater good in mind, not the slim agenda that has divided the city.

Finally, we will elect people who are less concerned with where their City Council colleagues sit on the dais and more concerned with where they stand on the issues.

Finally, we will be rid of at least one childless council member who shamelessly posed with children to get re-elected, then put boulders in Paularino Park that prohibit teams of kids from playing there. (Those boulders did not just stop adult male Latinos from playing soccer; you see, they also prevented kids from playing, too.)

The city needs more places for teams of kids to play — not fewer.

So if you don’t like the recommendation, don’t tell the City Council. Don’t tell them there are better alternatives to the recommendation, such as following the successful program that separates surfers and swimmers in the ocean by setting fixed times for each activity.

No, don’t tell them.

Instead, express your support for the recommendation. Yeah, that’s it — tell them it’s a good thing and long overdue. Tell them an approval of the recommendation is a bold and courageous step that will restore order to the chaotic team play we witness every hour of every day in every park.

Then, in the weeks leading up to the election, you can attend a candidate forum and ask any one of the new prospective candidates what they would have done.

And if he or she says “nothing,” you’ve got your candidate.

It’s a strategy Karl Rove would love.

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Send story ideas to dailypilot@latimes.com.