A start at seeing the real issues in Costa Mesa

Finally, after months of waltzing around the issue of the Orange

Coast College Swap Meet by residents and community leaders, a writer

to this newspaper may have hit the nail right on the head.

William Pezzullo, in his letter published Thursday, may have

distilled all the rhetoric from the past few months into a few key

phrases. In his letter, he says, “... we will never be able to change

some community members’ minds about our swap meet. They are the

hard-core ones who try to hide their hatred behind parking, traffic,

trash and other superficial issues.” Later, he states: “Our hard-line

critics don’t like Mexicans, and that’s the bottom line. I know

because I have spoken to many of them and when they say ‘we don’t

need that element in our community,’ I know they are not referring to

Norwegians or Scotsmen.”

His observations have ripped the scab off a festering wound that

underlies many issues in this community. Just as the infamous

Huscroft House became a metaphor for City Council ineptitude and

inaction, the Orange Coast College swap meet may have become a

metaphor for racism in this city. Intentional or not, the turmoil

around the swap meet since last summer resulted in depriving a

significant portion of the populace of a venue for shopping and

social interaction. That group was primarily Spanish-speaking.

When “Westside redevelopment” is discussed, we are talking about

an area that houses a predominantly Spanish-speaking population,

which accounts for almost one-third of the residents of this city.

Depending on where you draw the boundaries, 60% of the Westside

residents are Spanish-speaking. As part of that dialogue, critics

espouse abolishing the Job Center and charities on the Westside

because they are “magnets” for people deemed to be undesirable. The

populace served by these entities is in great part Spanish-speaking.

At a recent City Council meeting, a speaker accused novice

Councilman Allan Mansoor of being a racist because he advocated

measures to control the traffic headed to the swap meet from the

north -- Santa Ana. I don’t necessarily think Mansoor is a racist,

but a more savvy politician might have found a less overt way of

identifying the problem. Candor can be refreshing, but it can also

get you into trouble.

The swap meet issue has been flogged for months and has been

resolved, albeit temporarily, as we await a reassessment by the City

Council in a few months. In the meantime, Pezzullo has lanced this

boil and it needs to be drained.

Many years ago, I lived and worked in Santa Ana, near Main Street.

At that time, the area was a thriving upscale retail and financial

center surrounded by neighborhoods of clean, well-kept homes. Since

that time, Santa Ana has changed -- not for the better. The decay in

those once-proud neighborhoods is obvious. As I drive the streets of

the Westside of Costa Mesa today, I see the beginning of the same

kind of decay.

If, as some suggest, the core of the problems on the Westside is

the burgeoning Latino population, how do we address it? Do we create

our own foreign policy, line up the buses and send every person

living on the Westside illegally back across the border? Do we close

the Job Center and somehow manage to force all the charities and

social service entities out of the city and assume those using their

services will quickly follow? Or do we acknowledge that these are

unrealistic approaches and take a different tack? Do we create an

environment where all the children in this community, including those

of immigrant parents, receive a quality education and a fair chance

at success? Do we embrace the rich, positive cultural differences the

Latino immigrants bring with them and work to help them assimilate

into our own culture? Do we help them understand the laws of this

land and make a special effort to help them comply? Do we create

alternatives to gangs and all the problems they represent? If so, who

takes the lead?

As I said in a letter many months ago, this is a time for

enlightened leadership in our city. Our leaders cannot just toss this

hot potato into the lap of the Community Redevelopment Action

Committee and expect it to come up with reasonable solutions without

some clear direction. While Vice Mayor Chris Steel has made his

position clear over the past two years, where does the rest of our

City Council stand?

Does Mansoor have a solution to “the problem?”

Does Councilman Gary Monahan, with his ties to the

Spanish-speaking community through his affiliation with St. Joachim

Church, represent the interests of that part of our community? I have

seen nothing specifically that leads me to believe he does.

What about Mayor Karen Robinson? What are her plans for the

Latinos in our midst?

And what about Councilwoman Libby Cowan, who stirred up the whole

swap meet issue in the first place? Does she have a plan for the

integration of the Latino population into the mainstream, or does she

agree with those who feel they are “the problem” and must go? If so,

how and when? Does Costa Mesa become a model for successful

assimilation of this growing population or does it become South Santa

Ana?

Once again, we face the issue of leadership in this city. Who will

provide it? Who will step up to this challenge and make the right

choices for the citizens of this community?

GEOFF WEST

Costa Mesa