The left-wing coalition led by UNITE-HERE and OCCORD won a complete victory tonight: the city council not only voted again for the coalition’s preferred district map, but retreated from its earlier vote to put the two West Anaheim and the two Latino-plurality districts on the ballot this year. Instead, the council voted unanimously to ditch West Anaheim’s District 2 and put District 3 in central Anaheim on the ballot instead.
Racial politics carried the day, borne along by an avalanche of ridiculous rhetoric elevating an election sequencing dispute into the “major civil rights issue of our generation.” Anaheim now has a council district map intended to advantage candidates of a certain ethnicity. What a proud day for America. We’ve certainly come a long way from the bad old days when electoral rules were fashioned to advantage candidates of a certain ethnicity.
The clamoring and posturing of “People’s Map” advocates sometimes bordered on comical. As a commenter here pointed out, District 3 could still wind up being on off-year seat under the terms of the settlement with the ACLU. How does one take seriously their insistence that putting District 3 (the Latino-majority seat) is a huge civil rights issue when they are willing to subject it to a coin-toss?
At least Councilwoman Kris Murray questioning of Jose F. Moreno made clear that the sequencing being touted as “the civil rights issue of our generation in Anaheim” wasn’t really considered by the plaintiffs in the Moreno v. City of Anaheim lawsuit – giving lie to claims by “People’s Map” proponents that spirit of the settlement necessitated putting District 3 on the 2016 ballot.
The outcome become plain after Mayor Tait moved to adopt the People’s Map (no one seemed to notice that this directly contadicted his angry complaining a few hours earlier that City Manager Paul Emery was preventing him from bringing the Reyes Map up for a vote). Councilwoman Lucille Kring moved to amend Mayor Tait’s motion to place Districts 1, 3, 4 and 5 on this years ballot. Apparently, Councilman James Vanderbilt’s announcement last month that he was parachuting into District 2 after living in central Anaheim for 20-plus years solves the issue of providing representation to that part of West Anaheim – despite the fact he has never lived in that part of town. A few weeks ago, “People’s Map” advocates hooted at Kring assertion that Vanderbilt’s long-time residency in what is District 3 meant that area of the city would have representation on the council, but there were no complaints when the same logic was applied to Vanderbilt’s move to District 2. After all – why let logic and consistency stand in the way of achieving one’s political goals? The ends-justifies-the-means is SOP for the Left; all the “neighbors electing neighbors” talk was just pabulum for an electorate that would be unresponsive to racialism of districting coalition.
On the bright side, at least the matter is resolved, promising at least a temporary reprieve from overwrought leftist windbaggery at council meetings – until the next political objective becomes the “civil rights issue of our generation.”
Nice pic of Comrade Moreno and Comrade Tait arm-in-arm. Our mayor is the best thing that’s ever happened in Anaheim for the Democratic Party. When Comrade Moreno and his friends take over the City Council and start passing the left wing policies our “conservative” mayor supposedly opposes, Tait needs to own up and take responsibility for helping it happen.
You forgot to list “photo credit by Cynthia Ward. Stolen without permission from her FB page.” You go ahead and use it,. Matt. I have more. Happy New Year.
I’ll add that phot credit…and then await your criticisms of your blog pals for doing the same thing.
Nah on second thought go ahead and leave it out, I don’t want my name anywhere near something officially posted or sanctioned over here. Need to run for some more Purell. Actually wandered over here by accident when my web history filled in the address instead of the Anaheim.net I was aiming for to check a fact. The beginning of the end has begun. Not because we have districts, although that is part of pulling the iron grip of the permanent political aristocracy from around the windpipe of my city and letting the old girl breathe. That outcome was certainly unexpected, I had already left the meting, not feeling great and frankly one of the few times I became discouraged enough to think nothing any of us says will change their minds so why bother. I usually don’t let myself get that cynical. Every time I show up it is with the hope that this is the week they stop hearing through the filter of assigning blame, answering with defensive posturing that shows they didn’t really hear the message, and maybe just this once HEAR what people are trying to tell them about how they see the city we love becoming worse under their leadership. I gave up. Not my finest hour. Was thrilled to then get dressed to race back to City Hall in time for the vote. Better than New Year’s Eve.
See what you don’t get Matt, what the Council majority fails to get, is how tired we are of it. We see what is going on, future revenues being committed to businesses that take the money “home” to other cities where we don’t see it again. The days of a the Resort feeding Anaheim residents because the owners if the little ticky-tacky motels and restaurants (Walt hated I know) were owned by locals who often lived on site are over. The massive corporate subsidies will go to far off headquarters of the five or so hotel chains that own every luxury “flag” that might get built in Anaheim. Yes jobs will be created, low wage labor jobs. Or we can hang into the TOT even if there is less of it by the computations of those with an active stake in the game, and use it to improve Anaheim (at prevailing wage for municipal works projects that don’t require us to offer food stamps etc to underwrite the low pay of more jobs created) while those improvements also help our property values and eventually property taxes, which in the end are far more reliable and less subject to the whims of the travel industry than TOT as a revenue base. It’s not right or left or right or wrong it is basic math. And when our leaders don’t do the math it’s hard not to think they are serving another master other than the taxpayers. When we come to a city hall we are demonized for having the audacity to speak up. This is our government and representative democracy has a two way street. Yes we elect leaders to act on our behalf, but why does the law give us a microphone and a Constitutionally protected right to petition our govt for the redress if grievances if our leaders refuse to hear what is said there? Even when we come respectfully we are ignored, told we are “misinformed” and leaders go on to do as they please. If we are misinformed and the information is supposed to come from City Hall then whose fault is that? When we come with information, including emails in which staff is admitting to cooking the books on projects to get them done, then we are dismissed as politically motivated, and ignored again. If council spent a fraction of the time hearing what we are trying to say to them, even if they did what they wanted after all, but let us feel we were heard and got a decent explanation, there wouldn’t be the raw hate and resentment spewing across that microphone as often as it does. When people don’t feel heard, they get LOUDER.
You can blow off the importance of Tuesday all you want. The fact is it happened. And that does not stop the big money from buying District votes but it gives the little guy a chance to get to the table, instead of cowering beneath it waiting for crumbs to be dropped by the masters. No, what matters is the WAY Tuesday happened. 5-0 inexplicably and even more inexplicably the sequencing requested was approved without objection. The attack dogs were called off by a whistle the rest of us couldn’t hear. The people of Anaheim rattled the cages of those who give orders to those at the dais. Yes I know what happened behind the scenes and I won’t let it take the win from the people,who deserve to take a bow for their work. YOU know too, because it is your job to cry sour grapes on behalf of the leaders who can’t say it without looking foolish. Someone from your side has to spit in the food of what should be a buffet table at a celebration party. Tuesday night implemented a fair and equitable (mostly) result of what an overwhelming number if voters from every precinct and every walk of life and every political view voted for overwhelmingly November 2014. So you go ahead and fuss and fume at the outcome that hasn’t been to your liking since the voters, all the voters who chose to participate, weighed in. But given how hard the corporate overlords must have yanked the leash I hope they go one step further and pull the plug over here so we can get on with the important business of moving Anaheim forward in a way that has been expressed by a majority if it’s residents, and I don’t care that an Orange resident in the payroll of the a chamber (self reported) doesn’t like it and wants to throw a tantrum. Those with a stake in this community who are trying to make things better don’t need your blessing or assistance to do what needs to be done. You sit by your keyboard, I’m gonna go grab some trash off the street on the way to a volunteer gig where I quietly put in time every week to backfill a program the city can’t afford to pay for while they write checks to their friends. Happy new year, Matt. And Todd and Todd.
I’m not going to bother with your oft-stated delusions about me and others; they are dear to you and I doubt you’ll ever relinquish them. Perhaps you need something and/or someone to hate in order to function as a person, and if you don’t have real objects for your hatred, you’ll conjure them up.
I know that you and your comrades and OCCORD and UNITE-HERE are “tired of it” — “it” being policies with which you disagree. But you are not “we”; you do not represent the citizens of Anaheim. You do not personify them. You and your friends like to complain about the arrogance of your imagined “corporate overlords” when the real arrogance is you and your allies referring to yourselves as “the people” and “the community.”
I couldn’t agree with you more. Thank you, Matt.
A couple of other points, Cynthia.
Of course we have the right to petition our government (although you only seem to care about that right when it comes to your pet causes). But you seem to think that unless the city council grants your petition, then your right is being denied. We each have the right to vote – but we do not have the right to have our chosen candidate(s) win.
Secondly, your claim that I “blow-off the the importance of Tuesday” is astonishing…as in, astonishingly ignorant. I have been writing for years now that the shift that was finalized on Tuesday is critically important. It is the culmination of a deliberate, planned campaign by leftist political interests to alter the election rules to produce left-of-center majority on the Anaheim City Council. And this will have negative political repercussions for conservatives and Republican in Orange County. You and your Anaheim Republican Assembly friends and the mayor know this, but despite that knowledge you have worked diligently to aid and implement this leftist political enterprise.
I sincerely hope my concerns are unfounded. But if they come to pass, and the leftist policy and political chickens come home to roost, perhaps you and the other collaborators will experience a “Bridge on the River Kwai” moment. Somehow, I doubt it.
First of all, you “accidentally” wandered over here, but left three extra long paragraphs of diatribe behind . . . right! Also this “When we come to a city hall we are demonized for having the audacity to speak up. This is our government and representative democracy has a two way street. Yes we elect leaders to act on our behalf, but why does the law give us a microphone and a Constitutionally protected right to petition our govt for the redress if grievances if our leaders refuse to hear what is said there? Even when we come respectfully we are ignored, told we are “misinformed” and leaders go on to do as they pleas” says Cynthia Ward who watches City Council meetings from the Mayor’s Office. Please don’t try to sound like the Anaheim residents/citizens that you pretend to represent that disagree with you. As Matt said “you are not me and you do not represent me.” Get over yourself.
I’m surprised to see her back here. I thought all those rants on VOC about how wonderful unions are would be taking up all her time.
Cynthia, please re-register and take Tait with you when you do. Thanks.
-Jack
Cynthia, we can’t wait for your next frivolous lawsuit! We are so excited with anticipation!
Hi
You have a lot to say
You need your own blog too
S
Cynthia, do you have any photos of Jose Moreno riding a horse in 1848!
Please forgive typos above, working on portable keyboard looks like I hit I when aiming for O and A when trying for cap.
You really should put a cap on it!
Just saw this and –
I thought I read the Republicans were for the Reyes map and sequencing and the Democratic leadership spoke in favor and the Christian leaders and the Jewish leaders and the Muslim leaders and the and the and the.
So to single out a few people seems unfair you need to blame them all for the victory, “heck”, blame the entire world if that is the case as they all seem to be on the same side in this instance except for a guy named Matthew and 3 others.
And 3 came over with the rest of the known world…
“I thought I read the Republicans were for the Reyes map…”
That’s incorrect. The OC Republican Party took no position on the Reyes map. A few members of the Anaheim Republican Assembly (ARA) spoke in favor of it; however, keep in mind that Mayor Tait’s political supporters took over the ARA in the run-up to the 2014 council elections, and it has functioned as an auxiliary of the OCCORD/UNTE-HERE coalition – serving primarily to provide the veil of bipartisan support.
On the contrary – most OC GOP leaders and activists see this effort for what it is: a well-funded (primarily by out-of-town political interests) and organized political campaign to pull Anaheim city government to the Left.
Furthermore, claims by you and others that Reyes map has broad support among Anaheim residents is unsubstantiated. “The known world” consists of the same left-wing activists some misguided GOP collaborators) who have been driving this project from the beginning. Sorry if I do not fall in line with the largely supine and boosterish media coverage of this endeavor.
Also, one pastor spoke and a Jewish rabbi in favor of the map. Both don’t live in Anaheim. I’d hardly call that broad support. 100 west Anaheim residents signed the petition. Why did they not get support? Probably because they didn’t resort to mob rule antics. But I guess shutting down a meeting and screaming is the way to go these days.
It’s surprising that all these people that were on this supposed “other side” were there to voice there honored opinions. NOT.
100 signatures in an online petition and no one cares enough to speak?
That reminds me of my friend that is very vocal about his political position. And yet, he is not even a registered voter.
The 3 council members must have had a lot of pressure from all sides to change their votes. They did not just say to each other “Hey, Mike sent me an email and asked me nicely to change my vote so let’s all go along with it”.
M
A fair point as far as it goes, Mike. I wish residents of West Anaheim had shown up to speak up for putting Districts 1 and 2 on this year’s ballot.
At the same time, that doesn’t confer the title of “representative of the people of Anaheim” on the OCCORD/UNITE-HERE coalition – regardless of claims to the contrary.
Furthermore, you should not underestimate the how the behavior of this coalition is a deterrent to other residents with a different view, and aren’t speaking as part of a well-organized political effort. Candidly, the OCCORD-UNITE-HERE forces tend to bring their more aggressive union picket line attitudes into the council chamber. In recent weeks, this degenerated into mob behavior – including intentionally disrupting a council meeting in order to force it to shut down, and then threatening more of the same – or worse – if they didn’t get their way. Do you think the average citizen finds this an incentive to come and speak – especially if their opinions are at odds with the mob?
I know that several advocates of the Reyes map and OCCORD/UNITE-HERE’s preferred sequencing have rationalized the mob behavior, which is unfortunate. The public lesson is that mob behavior and threats are the path to working one’s political will in Anaheim.
There was a rep from West Anaheim that spoke on residents behalf. Most residents in west Anaheim don’t have the time to spend 8 hours on a Tuesday night at a meeting. They are holding down one or two jobs and have families to raise. Second, how many of the speakers that were pro Reyes Map and excluding district 2 were actual residents? Occord and unite here aren’t residents and they are earning a paycheck while attending. I feel for the residents who are impacted by STR’s, but do you really think they’re helping with the STR issue because of YOU or YOUR neighbors? They’re not. They have their own agenda and you sir, are merely a pawn. If my info is correct, you live in district 2 and you sold out your own area and your fellow residents for their agenda. How admirable of you.
A fellow who goes by the name of Philmore wrote this at the VOCea:
PHLMORE WROTE:
“Community” map ??? HILARIOUS! HOW MANY of 350,000 residents ( only 127K registered, with 258K over age 18!)will get their FIRST news of this when opening their 2016 Election Sample Ballot? Will the “community” get a vote on it? Nope. Did the “community” get a dedicated mailing about it? Nope. did the “community” see any of the precinct walking, etc. aluded to in the hubris of activist groups, ( for those OUTSIDE of areas in-play for constructing Latino majority districts? ) Nope. And the cherry-on-top is that 2 “lucky” districts (yet to be picked) will get NO VOTE until 2018 – hows THAT for 1/3 OF THE CITY now being “unable to elect the representatives they desire” for two years ?? Will THOSE “underrepresented” have to file a lawsuit? (GOOD LUCK getting the ACLU’s attention for THAT! It was part of Measure M that voters approved! Next time read the fine print! )
“The Plan that we are forwarding to the City Council has received the overwhelming support of residents who testified from throughout the City at our 10 public meetings held in various locations in the City.”
“OVERWHELMING” ???? Well, ALSO from the Committee’s own report, THESE are their “Overwhelming” numbers-
Meeting 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10
Date 5/12- 5/27- 6/4 – 6/9- 7/1- 7/8 – 8/19-8/26-9/8 – 9/16
# Pub Atnd 25 – 45 – 38 – 35 – 74 – 45 – 130 -120 -115- TBD
# Pub Spkr 8 – 14 – 16 – 6 – 19 – 16 – 22* – 22* – 26*- TBD
These numbers are of 350k residents and of 127K registered !
* the report notes that “Many of those who spoke were speaking in support OF THEIR OWN SUBMISSIONS” (Caps added) And how many spoke at most or all meetings ?
WELL 22% (typical turnout?) OF 127k REGISTERED VOTERS IS ALMOST 28,000! (45K voted on measures L and M.)
What beyond hubris could call the meeting numbers above “OVERWHELMING Support” ???? I guess it LOOKS BETTER when compared to the FIVE informed(?) votes that WILL be cast instead of 28,000 – 45,000 + that SHOULD BE!
Anaheim CONTINUES its heritage (following the Angels’ Team Name fiasco, the Disney Parking Structure Giveaway, etc.,) of hubris, chasing its “goals” unimpeded by pauses for thought of the unintended consequences. (Such as the fact that the (fairly) demonized Tourism Industry now has ITS election spending (under Districts) cut by 1/2 to 1/3 vs whole-city elections, or can CONCENTRATE the overage! ) I plan to vote early this time around – WITH MY FEET.” End Of Comment.
Let CATER, OCCORD, Los Amigos and the other invisible lobbyist push, while the common resident is left to wonder: Who is CATER? Who is Greg Diamond, Jeff Letournueo, Cynthia Ward Janet Sosa? One has to wonder………