The residents of Costa Mesa who oppose the gutting of Costa Mesa for purely idealogical reasons are on the right road. These people want a city that is livable, vibrant, and constantly attracting new residents and businesses. They want the summer concert in the park with their kids and neighbors, enjoying the ocean breezes as the sun sets. They want to walk to the OC Fair every year, eat too much, stay too late and go back the next day and do it again because it's just fun! They want their sense of community, history and pride.
And the current City Council hates that. They want the majority of residents to suffer so the well connected minority can benefit. They want to put people out on the street by cutting their jobs and then turn around and give a fat check to businesses lining up for the work. Did anyone notice that no city staff gave a report on the work performed by the departments up for outsourcing? There was no report from the Fire Department about EMS or paramedic services, but the representative from Care Ambulance was cued up and ready to go. The Voice of OC has a great article about how the meeting and process was highly biased.
The residents of Costa Mesa are on the right road in pushing back against the City Council who is working against them. They need to follow the money and find out who is going to benefit from the outsourcing. They should also find out if any of the City Council members are taking any of the benefit package (health care, CalPERS) that they so decry and want to deny the workers. If they are, they need to be called out for it.
And, the residents should not be shy about talking about how the City Council is on the wrong road. They should share this openly and talk with the friends and neighbors about how to get back on the right road. They should support their City employees during the upcoming battle, because it's the employees who are going to bear the day in, day out brunt of abuse from the higher ups at City Hall. And, residents need to ride herd on any legal bills coming out of this fight. Stay on the right road, Costa Mesa.
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