Commentary: Costa Mesa City Council has a message for residents: We don’t care what you think

Wednesday morning, our Costa Mesa City Council passed a resolution opposing Senate Bill 54, “the California Values Act.” This issue has been making the proverbial rounds this spring within Orange County — Los Alamitos, Fullerton, Huntington Beach and the county all considered responses to SB 54.

As Costa Mesa Councilman John Stephens poignantly asked, “Who is the audience for this resolution?”

It appeared to give Mayor Sandra Genis pause, as if she had not considered the audience. Now, I’m no policy wonk but, I’ve heard that when you pass a policy, you pass it because you want to communicate something to someone — that’s basic Public Policy 101. That audience should likely be the first thing on your mind when you take a stand.

I had a political science professor at UC Irvine whose words always stuck with me: “Policy is the authoritative allocation of values for society.”

So, to Councilman Stephens’ question: What is being communicated to whom by this resolution?

From where I sat in the audience, this was what I took away from council’s decision.

To the engaged residents of Costa Mesa, we don’t care what you think. We got all of your letters, we heard your overwhelming comments asking to either do nothing, “receive and file” or to pass a resolution in support of SB 54.

But, alas, none of that mattered. Next time, simply stay home, and definitely don’t bring your kids to learn about how to be engaged, thoughtful citizens — it won’t matter.

To the immigrant community of Costa Mesa, we definitely do not care if you live in fear. You have no sanctuary here and, please, continue to be traumatized daily if you are undocumented. Be fearful walking your kids to school. Be sure to never have a taillight out on your car. And definitely do not call the police if your husband is beating you. No one is coming to save you.

To the state Legislature, we need you to know how much we dislike Sacramento and your values. When we ask you for help on our sober-living home (SLH) crisis, for state regulators to be placed in our county, or for anything else that we may need to keep our residents safe from the scourge of the SLH crisis, please ignore us. We have essentially flipped you the symbolic bird and want to ensure that you feel slighted by us and have no desire to prioritize an essentially Costa Mesa issue (SLH). Stay angry at us, Sacramento.

To the Trump administration, we love where you’re headed with this. Thanks again for bringing the Make America Great Again (MAGA) troupe to our town; it was great show, so many patriots. We don’t want to pitch in for the lawsuit financially, but we want you to know we’re here for moral support. We wish we had the cash to help, but we’re a bit strapped, so please, know that we’re here to cheer you on.

I love Costa Mesa and our community has so many wonderful people. It is tragic to see a manufactured crisis be brought to town, detracting from all of the real issues we face. It was tragic to see the 3-2 vote on the wrong side of history.

LEAH ERSOYLU is a Costa Mesa parks commissioner and business owner.