PEOPLE COME to Huntington Beach for the beauty. Will they stay – or stand –for the politics? (Flickr).
Oh, it just gets better, doesn’t it?
That is, if you’re the kind of person who enjoys train wrecks and traffic accidents.
I speak in these vague terms about Tuesday’s meeting of the Huntington Beach City Council, wherein some members continue to support the community’s emerging image as the new “Arkansas By the Sea.”
As you may have read or heard, the tail-end of the council meeting was ensnarled in a controversy over proposals that affirmed a) the sky is blue and water is wet and/or b) that the council feels really good about the U.S. Constitution and especially the parts about free speech and guns.
Councilman Dan Kalmick proposed (and later withdrew) the first one, and Mayor Pro Tem Pat Burns the second one. On that proposal, the three liberal members of the council – Kalmick, Natalie Moser and Rhonda Bolton – walked out, leaving the other folks to vote it in.
I’m not going to try to debate the relative merits of the resolutions other than to point out that the sky is not always blue, especially during “June gloom.”
I refer mostly to events earlier in the meeting when the council dealt with the importance of tourism to the city, and the municipal budget.
Long story short, the city is heading toward a financial crash and a pond and – soon after– a lake of red ink. At the same time, the council heard a report about how much black ink comes in from tourism.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, almost all of what the outside world has heard about Surf City has been “Tito Ortiz, no pride flags, protests against vaccination, book censorship and library outsourcing.” Fair or not, public opinion “out there” may be hardening toward an impression that Huntington Beach is turning into an inhospitable place for the hospitality business. Conventions, vacationers and locals may decide to spend their per diems and luxury budget in another town.
From a strictly economic standpoint, the council majority – if it cares a fig about the city’s financial fitness – will ixnay the dustups – and get down to business.
You don’t woo the fair maiden by kicking her dog. Or, as Plato said, “take a chill pill.”
Categories: Opinion
Absolutely nailed it on this article. The council majority is so far out of control and completely deaf to their constituents it’s hard to fathom. Van Der Mark’s tenure as Mayor has to be the most inefficient of any Mayor in city history. I wouldn’t be surprised if that ends up being surpassed by Mayor pro tem Pat Burns, a crude unhinged Maga disciple. No city governance whatsoever. Just national culture wars. Tito Ortiz incompetence times four with weekly black eyes delivered to the citizens of Huntington Beach all in the name of sticking it to the libs.
I think it’ll get worse under Burns. At the last council meeting, he could be heard calling the three sane members [profanity] I’ve lived in HB since ’78 and have never seen such partisanship. The city has been divided by culture wars a time devoted to privatizing our libraries could be put to better use.
The Huntington Beach City Council majority is doing a GREAT Job, and I, as a HB citizen fully support the current direction of the city. Regretfully, the author of this article does not appear to be an objective journalist.
I love the Idea of sticking it to the left. But business is business and it sounds like the city council needs to get to business and make HB a healthy vibrant city or get out of the way for a council with a smart business leader to get it done. Come on council, focus and make us proud or go do something else.
Should we talk about a real financial crash? Gavin and his gangsters had a nearly US$100 billion surplus as recently as 2022, then in less than 2 years poor leadership and wasteful spending turned it into a $74 billion dollar deficit. We have third graders running California. Now open your wallets and pay for liberal Democrat failure.
Whine about a Conservative city council in the OC, meanwhile, California state auditor’s report found that despite roughly $24 billion spent on homeless and housing programs during the 2018-2023 fiscal years, the problem didn’t improve, according to the state auditor’s report. In fact the homeless population has grown substantially. Among other things, the report found that the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH), which is responsible for coordinating agencies and allocating resources for the homelessness programs, stopped tracking whether the programs were working in 2021. We have 3rd graders running the State.
Classic “whataboutism.” When you can’t debate on the subject, change the subject. Well played. We’re discussing the complete ineptness of the fascist four council majority. Please stay on topic.