Costa Mesa Council: Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight

I’d hate to see the Costa Mesa City Council get into an Old West-type gunfight--they’d probably shoot themselves in the foot trying to draw. That’s what happened this week when the council attempted to disarm an escalating controversy over city funding of arts groups--then immediately started playing favorites with who is or isn’t subject to its new law governing how arts groups can spend city money.

The council deserves some praise for rejecting one proposal that was impossibly vague and frighteningly far-reaching. It would have precluded anyone getting city arts money from doing anything to “visually (or) verbally, deliberately denigrate anyone’s race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical handicap, marital status, sex or age.”

Instead, on the recommendation of the city attorney, the new law restricts the groups from using city money “for the conduct of any religious or political activity.” (I wonder how long it’ll take for someone to raise a ruckus about all those religious cantatas and such that choral groups are always doing. Singers: scratch your Bach.)

The measure also contains a clause--whiplash from all the clamor over the National Endowment for the Arts having funded a couple of controversial photography exhibits--outlawing grantees from using their money for “obscene” matters and defining “obscene” in accordance with the state penal code.

The council could have gone one step further and made sure that it would be up to a court of law to determine what is or isn’t obscene. As it is, the American Civil Liberties Union has voiced concern that any citizen who raises a question about a given artwork may just try throwing the issue back at the council members for a ruling. The city attorney pledges that this won’t happen.

The real gaffe here, though, is the selective application of this new “standard.” Affected will be the 13 local groups that have been approved for 1990-91 city grants, from South Coast Repertory and Orange County Philharmonic Society to the Master Chorale of Orange County and Opera Pacific. This adds up to $175,000 in Costa Mesa dollars.

But city officials said the anti-obscenity, anti-politicking, anti-proselytizing law will not apply to the $400,000 they recently handed over to organizers of the Festival of Britain--Orange County, essentially a number of arts events to help draw attention to a big retail promotion based at South Coast Plaza.

Hmmmm.

Think it has anything to do with the fact that the city of Costa Mesa is a co-sponsor of the festival, whose main aim seems to be to boost sales at the mall?

The city says there is no double standard. The reason, officials say, that the new law won’t be applied to the BritFest is simple: That money came out of the general fund, not the special fund set aside for cultural arts groups.

Oh.

It certainly wouldn’t have anything to do with not wanting to cross the rich and powerful Segerstrom family, which owns the mall. Could it?

Naaaaaaaaaah.

The most mind-boggling thing about this whole episode is that some of the same groups that have been awarded city arts grants will also be receiving BritFest dollars for participating in that event.

What happens if some citizen complains about something that South Coast Repertory or Opera Pacific stages during BritFest--and don’t think those moral watchdogs won’t have their eyes and ears cocked and be ready to jump on any potentially offensive word or image.

I guess if any Costa Mesa cultural arts grant dollars are involved, they may be in trouble, but if it’s subsidized by city BritFest dollars, they are in the clear. Talk about the need for creative bookkeeping.

Where’s the consistency or logic here? (If anyone spots a shred of either, call toll free, 1-800-LA-TIMES, and explain it to me, OK?) But then, this is the same city that passed a law making it OK to arrest people who looked like they might be thinking about maybe soliciting a (gasp!) job .

It makes anyone who thinks that the arts are a good and noble component of a city’s image want to hang his head in shame--especially when you consider how Los Angeles officials, in announcing $3 million in city grants recently, forcefully and unequivocally voiced their support for arts activities.

“I’m very proud of these grants,” Los Angeles Councilman Joel Wachs said. “They represent the cultural pluralism . . . and the widest range of viewpoints and beliefs which we originally envisioned in proposing the L.A. Endowment for the Arts. The grants (demonstrate) our recognition that artists have something to offer our city . . . and should be valued and compensated for that.”

It’s a far cry from the Costa Mesa councilwoman who expressed disappointment that even stricter limitations weren’t placed on city arts grants.

Seems like when it comes to the arts, the Costa Mesa City Council is digging its heels into the dirt, putting both hands on its six-guns and saying, with a sneer, “This town ain’t big enough for both of us.”