Today marks
one of the most significant City Council meetings to be held in Anaheim since we
recalled the KKK members off our Council in the 1920s. You could not pay me to
be Mayor Tom Tait today, and yet, many of us are glad it is he that sits in the
center seat on that raised platform, Chairing tonight’s meeting. Tom Tait has
become Anaheim’s symbol for “Keep Calm and Carry On,’ southern California
style.
On tonight’s agenda, which is a Special Meeting called on an otherwise non-Council meeting
date, the City Council, with Councilmember Gail Eastman scheduled to call in
from Michigan) will consider two contentious agenda items,
previously postponed when “civil unrest” disrupted the Council meeting on July
24th.
A possible
ballot initiative to allow Anaheim residents to vote on future subsidies of
Resort hotels using TOT revenues, will be the first item considered for vote.
The second
decision is whether or not to place on the ballot an opportunity for voters to
change the City’s Charter to create Council Districts, dividing the city into six
distinct areas, each with its own Councilmember responsible to, and elected by,
the residents of that District or Ward.
As if these
two items were not enough to pack a Council meeting, the business will take
place following public comments to allow residents to share their views on
community tensions and violence, following recent Police shootings.
In light of
the expected crowd, the meeting has been moved from the usual Council Chambers
at City Hall (with a capacity of roughly 200) to the Cook Auditorium at Anaheim
High School, where at least 1,000 might be comfortably seated. It stands to
reason that the City needed a larger venue, centrally located for the audience
expected to speak from the Anna Drive area, and something that was not already
booked with previous events. But those of us with a passion for history cringe
at the idea of folks wearing bandanas over their faces storming into a Depression-era
historic landmark when they have shown little signs of respect for property to date. We can only hope that a
better crowd attends tonight’s meeting.
The surrounding neighborhood is
already bracing for impact, with storefronts being boarded up, and private
security hired along Lincoln, by business owners reluctant to join others
further east. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t, the Mayor and Council have
no choice but to continue the meeting previously interrupted, take as many
precautions for security as possible, and we all hold our collective breath
until it is over. (Perhaps if we keep Lorri Galloway in her seat where she
belongs instead of out front cheering on protesters we can maintain some level
of dignity.)
As far as
anticipating votes tonight, division is the name of the game.
The TOT
Initiative is not expected to pass. The signature gatherers did not collect enough
signatures for the ballot, and there is no legal obligation to let them slip
this in. Yes, I know there are plenty of reasons for the shortfall, ranging
from the City Clerk’s miscommunication of the requirements (to be fair she is
reported to have told the Take Back Anaheim group to hire a lawyer to advise
them, not her fault they didn’t!) to an alleged “deal” cut between Nick Berardino’s
OCEA and Carrie Nocella/Todd Ament somehow representing the City’s negotiating
team. While I have heard from plenty of people claiming to be close to that
negotiation who insist a deal was made, and the timing certainly appears about
as suspect as an email from an African Prime Minister, nobody can provide proof
that the private sector and labor unions cut a deal. Even if proven, the
existence of a deal between Berardino and the business community would still only negate the funding for
Galloway’s Take Back Anaheim Initiative, but would not impact whether the City
had a legal obligation to place it on the ballot. One would have to assume that
further funding might have gained the required additional signatures, but there
is no way to prove the allegation. That the Council is willing to consider
putting this on the ballot at all is a courtesy. Frankly, I do not see that
Initiative being successful even if it did make it to the voters, Galloway
seems unable to galvanize the public into any cohesive force for positive change.
Look for that one to lose, by a 3-2 vote, if not 4-1.
The District
issue has become the most divisive of them all, and with George Kalogridis
taking an official position on behalf of Disney in favor of the Districts, we
have a whole new ballgame. Kris Murray has been the most vocal Council
opponent arguing against putting the issue on a ballot. Sidhu and Eastman have
been rather quiet, Sidhu has no horse in this race as he is termed out, (and
his political career is over) and Councilmember Eastman typically waits until
the last minute when she has heard staff input and public comments before
making up her mind, a style she developed while serving on Planning Commission.
Galloway and Tait have come out in favor, which Tait’s political enemies claim is further proof of an
unholy alliance between the two. In reality they are in favor of the issue for
completely opposite reasons. Galloway appears to be pandering to the same
groups she always plays to, claiming to give a voice to the disenfranchised in
impoverished neighborhoods. While interviewing residents in some of those areas
following the recent protests, many of those folks have Lorri’s number-some
have accused her of exploiting them when the TV cameras are running, without
fostering any real, lasting change for their lives.
Tait has made
it clear that he wants to be sure that residents have a say in how they are to
be governed, and the best way to do that is to put in on a ballot and let
people vote. I think he may also be trying to avoid paying out on a messy
lawsuit, filed by the ACLU, which Anaheim is pretty much guaranteed to lose. As
Rod Pacheco points out in the California City News “Since California enacted the Voting Rights
Act, lawsuits have been numerous and against all types of subdivisions. The plaintiffs
have won every time, and costs have been significant.”
With $15
million dollars and legal fees on both sides paid by the loser, and a precedent
of not a single school district or municipality ever winning against the ACLU
in a battle over the California Voting Rights Act, I have to agree. While I
detest the idea of Council Districts and the tit-for-tat deal making sure to come
with fiefdoms, I detest even more the idea of being forced into them AND
writing a check for tens of millions, payable to the ACLU. Should voters choose
to reject Districts at the polls, then the City will have a mandate to fight,
and we will take our chances with that. But the only way to really know what
the people of Anaheim want is to put it on the ballot and let them vote.
Sadly, some
leaders are convinced they know best, pushing instead for a citizens group to “study”
the issue. But a focus group does not appear to stop the clock ticking on that
ACLU lawsuit. It is a question I intend to ask the City Attorney tonight. The
only benefit I can see to a focus group is stalling long enough for a few
incumbents to be re-elected before the new rules take effect and force Anaheim
Hills candidates to compete against each other for smaller slices of the same
pie, rather than running roughshod over the entire City with copious amounts of
Chamber-raised money. But then, that is just me.
The big “IF”
in this debate is covered in today’s OC Register announcement of Disney taking an
official position in support of Districts. This is rare in that while Disney
likes to write checks to their favorite candidates (or at least the candidates
most likely to win based on polling numbers) it is rare for Disney to take
sides in a City-wide issue, in fact they have not done so since 2007-2008 when
they sued over the SunCal development. That leaves the
Disney-Chamber-SOAR “jobs team” leaders potentially working against
the stated desires of Disney. I know a few staffers on both sides of the 5
freeway who are likely slugging bottles of Maalox at their desks today.
So tonight
Anaheim will be hosting the circus, which is odd since Ringling Brothers left
town last week. All we can do is sit back and watch the votes (and the
personalities behind them) play out in an old historic theatre, where hopefully
guests will be respectful of the 90-year-old environs, as well as the innocent nearby
homeowners and small businesses that had nothing to do with the issues that
activists are angry about.
I am off to
pick an outfit that goes with a Kevlar vest. I think stiletto heels may not be
my wisest choice for tonight.
In the early hours of the morning, Anaheim Police and Federal agents descended upon a number of gang-controlled areas, including the neighborhood in Central Anaheim that has long been infested by the Eastside Gang. Yep, that would be the same Anna Drive / Acacia Street area that has been in the news lately. It seems the cops had very good reason to suspect that some men were into illegal activity and were worth questioning. That suspicion appears to have less to do with racial profiling, and everything to do with the fact that law enforcement has been watching the gang in that area for roughly a year! Those cops knew who was dealing drugs, who was dealing guns, who needed to be questioned, and frankly, who to fear might be carrying a gun. In fact, the OC Register reports that "Among the mugshots of suspects displayed at the news conference was one of Manuel Diaz. His death July 21 was the first of two back-to-back police shootings last month that touched off nights of protest." 
