THE CHECKERED flag is waved as two pushcarts race into the finish line at the bottom of “Springdale Hill” for the 10th Annual Cub Scout Pushcart Derby in Garden Grove on March 20, 2011 (File photo).

By Jim Tortolano

The biggest discussion at Tuesday’s meeting of the Garden Grove City Council concerned the west side of the community, but it probably wasn’t on the topic people expected.

What has normally been a routine matter – spending $5,100 to co-sponsor the annual Cub Scout Pushcart Derby – this time brought about over a half-hour of conversation, led by District 4 Councilman Phat Bui.

He questioned why – at a time when the city is contemplating a 5 percent across-the-board budget cut – the council was considering subsidizing the derby. He wanted instead to cut the city’s contribution by 5 percent, with the remaining $250 to be paid by Cub Scout Pack 271 and its organizers.

“One of the parts of the Scout Oath is to be thrifty,” he said, and helping financially to back the event would be in that spirit, he added. Bui even offered to help start the idea of non-profit organizations by personally paying the difference.

But his motion to require the 5 percent died for the lack of a second. District 1 Councilman Kris Beard – who within his district the event is held on “Springdale Hill”  – called the derby “a legacy event” popular in West Garden Grove. Other council members felt putting the 5 percent requirement this non-profit at this time of the year was unfair.

At the end of the discussion, the council voted 7-0 to pay the whole $5,100.

Also on Tuesday night, a resolution to designate the western part of the city as the “West Grove Business District” passed on a 7-0 vote. An earlier version of the resolution by Beard led to controversy over some of the language, which certain residents found “divisive.”

The version approved on Tuesday focused on economic development and moved the eastern border of the proposed district from Western Avenue to Beach Boulevard.

The council also approved on second reading the ordinance approving the mixed use project on Garden Grove Boulevard east of Brookhurst Street at what’s called “the rusty skeleton.” The vote clears the way for the unfinished building to be completed primarily as senior citizen housing.