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It’s important to remember that AT LEAST TWO MEMBERS of the new Anaheim Council have always opposed our beloved democratic reform of district elections, indeed they squandered $3 MILLION of your money and mine in a losing legal battle to prevent them from happening – that’s New Mayor Harry Sidhu and his sidekick pro-tem Lucille Kring. (Along with former members Kris Murray and Gail Eastman.)
Two of their more newly-elected allies, Steve Faessel and Trevor O’Neil, elected under that system, I don’t remember having a position on it. And I hope they think more originally and critically tonight when it comes to item 29 – that would be so refreshing. But on almost every other matter I remember those two voting lockstep on the same side as Lucille, Harry, Kris and Gail, so it’s hard to be hopeful.
(As I’ve detailed at length, the record of Democrat Jordan Brandman on districting is much more mixed and ambiguous, but as the lone Democrat on a 5-2 majority, it frequently won’t matter much how he votes – he “gets a pass.”)
Cuz what they’re proposing with #29 tonight is a partial castration of districting – taking away a councilperson’s ability to freely appoint people to Boards and Commissions by requiring majority approval of any appointment. This is unmistakably their first step in removing the appointees of Jose Moreno and Denise Barnes, appointees whom they find troublesome with the points they make and also possible future rivals – Planning Commissioners Steve White and John Armstrong, as well as Benita Gagne, Ed Lopez and Mark Daniels – commissioners who were going to be in the minority anyway, but now must be gotten rid of.
I have yet to hear Sidhu’s justification for this anti-democratic move – probably something mealy-mouthed about “togetherness” – but let’s show up and do our best to talk Steve, Trevor, and Jordan out of this. It’s not a good look to be sabotaging district elections.
And that’s not all!
Meet Item 28. First, December 18’s meeting – the first regular meeting under Sidhu – was not that rowdy at all. The main issue discussed that night was the Rainbow Flag, which most audience members supported and which won a majority on council. But people clapped a little after especially good speeches. And every time, our new grimacing Mayor would lecture us “DO NOT CLAP.” And what do you think happened, we clapped even more! Seated next to him, tiny Lucille nearly rose out of her seat to back him up. “DO NOT CLAP. THIS IS A BUSINESS MEETING.” Huh? How is a meeting about hoisting a Rainbow Flag “business?”
For years now Anaheim Council meetings have been slightly rowdy affairs, and apparently during those years Harry sat at home sullenly watching and grumbling that he’d like to do something about it. Well, tonight he’s going to try. (And then afterward we’ll see if his measure stands up in court.) Harry proposes to:
- Instruct persons in the audience to refrain from disruptive behavior including ‘making loud noises, clapping, booing, hissing, or engaging in any other activity in a manner that disturbs, disrupts or impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting.’
- REQUIRE SPEAKER CARDS – never a requirement before – and they must be turned in by an hour before the meeting (4pm) which will also be a new hardship.
- Shorten speaking time in a way that I can’t really understand from the staff report, but obviously the intent is to make it harder for the public to communicate. (And there’s more.)
How is Mayor Sidhu going to deal with my FIRST MUSICAL COMMENT ABOUT HIM? (Not written yet.) Kris and Lucille used to squeal for me to stop, but Tom Tait would laugh “This is Vern’s free speech!” How will Mayor Sidhu deal with Fitzgerald’s frequent obscenities, or Reverend Cecil’s increasingly colorful presentations, or the Tales of Bryan Kaye?
Citizens and residents of the area, it feels like time to push the limit.
Oh and Then…
We knew this was coming, and we knew we were being had, when just before the election, when Harry’s race was looking tight, the Angels’ billionaire owner Arte Moreno announced he was pulling out of his contract with Anaheim. And WITHIN MINUTES Harry was out telling us if we elected him Mayor he would “DO ANYTHING” to keep the Angels in this town!
We were hoping voters didn’t fall for that, but enough of them did. Five years ago this klepto crowd was proposing to (practically) give away the stadium lot to Arte for 60-something years, and also gave him a few years lease extension. TONIGHT HARRY WANTS TO ADD ANOTHER YEAR TO THAT LEASE EXTENSION IN THE DESPERATE HOPES ARTE WILL STAY, while he figures out what the hell else he can give him to keep him here.
And now Klepto-scribe Matt Cunningham has a new piece purporting to ridicule us for “hysteria” over the move. There’s plenty of nonsense and bullshit to respond to in Matt’s piece, which I’ll get to soon – time to get ready for the meeting!
I wonder how long it’s gonna take for the Irvine Troll to begin touting the goodness of letting the Angels rape the citizens of Anaheim?
On the Public Comments thing, one cannot legally require disclosure of one’s identify with speaker cards, so the staff report says they can be submitted as “anonymous.” Now tell me how we separate the “anonymous” speakers from one another? What happens when more speakers are lined up than cards submitted? How does one prove that anonymous card was mine and not the guy who pushed ahead of me? Do we write on peoples’ foreheads, “Anon #1” and “Anon #2″…?
Vern, I think you may have misunderstood one issue though. I believe the speaker cards have to be submitted within an hour of the meeting starting, meaning AFTER the meeting has begun, not before. For those of us (like me) who watch from home and then run over as the cards are winding down, I will be left out of the lineup. So we now have to show up within the first hour of the meeting, submit a card, and then wait to be called. Yes, Anaheim’s meetings often exceed one hour of Public Comments period, because people are PISSED, and since the feel like they are not heard, they get LOUDER. Harry clearly did not think through his new system, which adds to the number of now-hostile people stuck in Chambers waiting to speak. Also, they are separating the speakers for agenda items in the front of the agenda item (required by law, they HAVE to let us speak out prior to voting on agenda items) but general business items are reserved for another comment period at the end of the meeting, Harry just ADDED another speaking opportunity! Where we once had to selectively curate comments to get it all into our 3 minutes, now we can go after agenda items up front and follow up with other issues later. Again, how does this streamline the system and make the meetings shorter?
The number one thing that used to delay and disrupt the meetings was the CONSTANT interruption from Council members who lacked the maturity of a toddler in their ability to wait for Council Communications before getting the last word in. “Mr. Mayor! Mr. Mayor! I have a Point of Personal Privilege!” Hands down, the most abused parliamentary nonsense ever in history. While that has come to an end (thank God!) we have the constant banging of the gavel for the slightest “disturbance” Harry wishes to object to. The man gives megalomania a bad name.
To be fair, I have long been bothered by the constant applause, not because it was disruptive (it wasn’t, and I have never seen a speaker unable to begin their remarks because the public is still cheering the past speaker) but because polite applause has become the participation ribbon handed out to all who speak, which reduces the message of approval for those who provide an extraordinary proposal or solution to the public discussion. Much like the way theatrical or musical performances all now receive a standing ovation, even when not of superior quality, then what does one do for a perfectly executed ballet or symphony?
What a mess. What a giant mess. Has it ever occured to these folks that the number one way to make people stop showing up and yelling at them is to LISTEN to their constituents? What a concept.
The first time there is a motion to adjourn the meeting prior to the second round of public comments, then if Sidhu doesn’t rule it out of order there’s a lawsuit. I suppose that it’s time to set up a GoFundMe.
If people keep making Harry bang the gavel, it will lead to one hell of a compilation video at some point. Can he keep a beat? Oh, doesn’t matter — it can be fifed in editing.
The Angels suck! Send them to Vegas immediately!