Two Steps for Santa Paula

How can it be that Santa Paula, where Latinos make up 68% of the population, has only one minority member on its City Council?

That’s something Latino residents have been asking for years.

Now, so is the federal government. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether Santa Paula’s method of electing its council members violates the rights of Latinos under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The inquiry began in early 1998 and could develop into a lawsuit. That might force the city to change its method of electing council members from at-large districts, the format used in every city in Ventura County, to a district system under which voters in five different geographic areas of the city would elect one council member apiece.

After recently receiving a letter from the feds accusing the city of violation of voter rights, City Council members last week did what they do entirely too often: They retreated behind closed doors to discuss the matter in secret. They voted 4 to 1--with lone Latina Laura Flores Espinosa dissenting--to spend $10,000 to hire a civil rights legal expert to advise them. And then they refused to discuss the matter with the residents they were elected to represent.

This penchant for government in the dark has contributed greatly to the suspicion and mistrust between the city’s elected leaders and a large portion of its residents. Previous decisions made more controversial by the council’s secretiveness include a 1997 plan to sell City Hall and adjacent Veterans Memorial Park to the Alberston’s supermarket chain for a store site and this year’s initial reluctance to appoint Bob Gonzalez police chief.

Whatever the outcome of the federal investigation, The Times urges the Santa Paula City Council to conduct its business in the public eye. Habitually behaving as if it has something to hide only fuels the widely held perception that some of the council members are pursuing policies that are not in the best interests of most of the city’s 27,000 residents.

At the same time, The Times urges all legal citizens of Santa Paula to register to vote and to exercise that right at every opportunity. Local Latino leaders concede that too many residents are not engaged in the political process and that a strong effort is needed to get more people--especially young people--registered and involved.

Whether or not Santa Paula is illegally restricting representation of its minority residents, those residents who are not using the rights that are open to them have no room to complain. A more involved electorate and a more open and responsive City Council would get Santa Paula moving toward better government--with or without a push from the feds.