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.
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.”