Letters to the Editor: Huntington Beach takes wrong road with lawsuit against ‘sanctuary’ laws

At Monday’s meeting, the Huntington Beach City Council members were presented with an incredible opportunity.

At a time when so many elected officials find themselves struggling for credibility and relevance, our council members were put center stage under a glowing spotlight. Residents were hoping to see their strength of purpose, pragmatic problem solving and sound leadership on display. Instead, H.B. locals got an all-too-familiar serving of political folly.

I guess Huntington Beach council members simply couldn’t resist the political “shiny object” of immigration. Rather than constructively focusing on actual issues impacting our city, Mayor Mike Posey and his cast of political hucksters did little more than host a pep rally for professional agitators and out-of-town haters.

For years, the residents of Huntington Beach have been bombarded with scary tales of our city’s financial demise. City services, staffing levels and a variety of individual budget items have been debated and re-debated ad nauseam. At this point, those who follow our city’s politics just kind of assume the city will be in financial ruin within six months and shortly thereafter silently slip into the Pacific. So with this as a context, one must ask: Why is it important for the city of Huntington Beach to “invest” in filing a duplicative lawsuit against the state of California’s Senate Bill 54? (SB 54 is already being challenged by the federal Department of Justice.)

If the council wishes to state its position and bark at the moon on SB 54, it should simply pass a resolution. Why the lawsuit?

While I’d personally strongly object to the content of such a resolution, I’d prefer the City Council only waste the council’s time rather than our city funds and resources.

To be clear, the city of Huntington Beach has real challenges: homelessness, growth/density, maintaining infrastructure, pension liabilities, etc. These are real local issues impacting our city and citizens and they are not going away. Currently these are our most pressing issues, and logically these are the issues our City Council must address.

Until someone can provide credible statistics proving that undocumented immigrants pose a real and significant threat to public safety in Huntington Beach, I’ll consider this entire exercise little more than an ill-conceived political stunt.

Residents of Huntington Beach should expect our elected officials to be better.

Our country and communities are struggling to find common ground, and it’s clear that a certain amount of unity among residents would be helpful in productively moving our community forward. Unfortunately, the Huntington Beach City Council’s actions (or inaction) on Monday did little more than inflame negative emotions and disrupt the fabric of our community.

This is not positive civic leadership but rather a wayward detour into politics that takes the city of Huntington Beach nowhere.

Steve Shepherd

Huntington Beach

SB 54 has benefits for local law enforcement and community

There seems to be a common misconception about the meaning of “sanctuary cities.”

In the epic novel by Victor Hugo, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” Quasimodo rescues Esmeralda from a mob and carries her into the cathedral and yells “sanctuary” and the crowd is prohibited from entering the cathedral and attacking them.

This is not what sanctuary cities means, and illegal immigrants are not automatically protected, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement or local law enforcement are not prevented from taking them into custody.

The Huntington Beach City Council meeting Monday was not to withdraw from being a sanctuary city but to discuss whether the city attorney should file a lawsuit against the state to object to the passage of Senate Bill 54.

The manner in which Senate Bill 54 is applied is that local law enforcement is not obligated to automatically assist ICE in the apprehension of illegal immigrants in the absence of an emergency. The jurisdiction of local law enforcement is limited to state penal code violations and local ordinances. Cooperation with federal immigration authorities is permitted as long as it does not violate local law or policy.

Therefore, in order to avoid exposing local law enforcement to liability and/or injury when participating in activities not related to local issues, it becomes necessary to limit its enforcement of federal immigration laws.

Members of the immigration community who may be victims of crimes or a witness thereto may not approach a local police agency to report a crime if they fear they are placing themselves in jeopardy since the local police are entangled with federal immigration authorities. If you were a victim of a crime witnessed by a member of the immigration community, would you want to deter that person from aiding you or reporting a crime?

Richard C. Armendariz

Huntington Beach

Newport city manager doesn’t have a lifetime gig

Daily Pilot opinion columnist Barbara Venezia recently wrote that Newport Beach City Manager Dave Kiff should stay as long as he wants.

I disagree.

No one in the private or public sector receives nor deserves a lifetime no-cut contract.

Venezia also needs to be reminded that the city manager doesn’t work for the public, he is an employee of the City Council.

Taxpayers pay him handsomely to implement policies adopted by the City Council.

In 2016, Kiff made $353,000, including benefits, according to Transparent California.

If the City Council members decide to make a change, it’s their call — not the community’s.

Venezia presumptuously pretends she is the voice of the “community.” She is not. She is only one voice — hers.

There are 85,000 Newport Beach residents — it’s hardly a reflection of the community when 15 people show up, two from Costa Mesa, at a council meeting with an opinion on Dave Kiff or anything else.

The feedback I am receiving from the community supports change.

Bob McCaffrey

Newport Beach

Helping the homeless is everyone’s responsibility

Contrary to Orange County’s reputation, we have a large and growing population of homeless people. The problem has been in the news lately, with stories about large numbers of indigent people without shelter at the Santa Ana Civic Center, and as county authorities removed a large encampment of several hundred people from the Santa Ana River trail in February.

This past week, tentative plans to house some of those who were relocated drew angry protests at an Orange County supervisors meeting, and various city councils, including those in Irvine, Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa, voted to oppose hosting these people, citing fear of crime and drugs.

One angry homeowner was quoted as saying, “Who cares? This is not our responsibility.”

As members and churchgoers at Irvine United Congregational Church, we want to affirm that we do care. Jesus himself was a homeless wanderer who told us to love our neighbors and care for “the least of these.”

This is a multifaceted problem. The focus tends to be on the personal failings of the homeless. But it is also clear that there is inadequate funding for low-income housing and other social services for the poor (including for mental health and addiction issues), growing economic inequality, soaring rents and other costs (for necessities like food and medical care), particularly in expensive Orange County.

Behind the loud protests about “dangerous homeless people” and fear of declining home values lies a difficult and complex problem. We need creative leadership and a public awareness that solutions are not always cheap. And we need moral witnessing from the faith community to awaken people’s consciences in order to redress the suffering.

Helping these people is “our responsibility” — they are our neighbors. We want our political leaders at the city, county, state and federal levels to take action. We call for compassionate and welcoming approaches that allocate adequate resources to bring about real solutions for homeless men, women and children in Orange County.

David A. Smith

Irvine

Koll Center Residences condo plan seems out of place

I used to work in a four-story office building in Koll Center Newport and still have friends there who’ve been worrying lately about a new project that is being proposed next door called the Koll Center Residences.

It is apparently three very large condo towers that will be put where the parking lots have been for the offices. They will tower over the next-door business properties and force workers to park farther away in another bulky parking garage.

Even though Koll Center Newport is a fairly intense business complex by previous Newport Beach standards, it was well laid out and provides a pleasant place to work with an open feeling that is a big relief from maneuvering around Los Angeles.

Putting three bulky 160-foot-high luxury condominium towers in this location seems out of place, out of scale and out of order. Are the people who work there going to be able to live in these very large luxury condos?

It makes me seriously wonder who thinks up these things.

Tamara Watt

Newport Beach

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