Through My Eyes

Ron Davis

I just can’t wait for Wal-Mart to get into town. It looks like they’ll

probably have a sale on hoses once they finally get settled in. In fact,

as a special gift to those of you who signed the petition attempting to

force the Wal-Mart issue to a special election, the Wal-Mart proponents

on the City Council have just delivered a special hose to the Crest View

folks.

Here’s how this special Wal-Mart hose works.

Under the law, the anti-Wal-Mart foes, or even fools like me who aren’t

anti-Wal-Mart, but have real reservations about plopping the big box in

Crest View’s backyard, signed the petitions with the expectation that a

special election would be called on the subject -- an election where the

only issue on the ballot is the petition issue -- in other words,

Wal-Mart, yea or nay.

But four members from the garden department of the City Council, who just

happen to be the same four members who are determined to shove the

Wal-Mart down the throats of the Crest View residents, have made the

special election, really, really special.

On Sept. 8, when the petitions were certified as requiring a special

election, the council advocates for Wal-Mart located a provision in the

law that allowed them to get a “report” about the impact of the proposed

ordinance, should it become law. This allowed them to delay, by 30 days,

selecting the date for the special election, which would have been held

in December.

Actually, getting this report was merely a ruse, scam or sham designed to

give the Wal-Mart proponents enough time to restock their shelves with

the fireman’s friend so that the special election could be watered down.

At the 11th hour, Councilman Ralph Bauer submitted an item for the

council meeting of Sept. 20, calling for a special election on an

“advisory” item for March 7, 2000.

What that little garden special did was to allow the four council members

to deprive those signers of the petition -- 22,000 of them -- of their

right to a special election in January, so that that election could

combined with council’s last minute, slanted, dirty politics “advisory”

election in March of 2000.

This “advisory” election is a scam, and the fire-hydrant special is

clear.

First, it’s advisory. Meaning whatever the outcome, the outcome can and

will be ignored.

Secondly, it’s designed to stack the deck in favor of Wal-Mart, and

against the Crest View residents.

The “advisory vote” asks us whether we want to spend 50% of “the sales

tax income from the Crest View site” -- which is currently zero -- on

sports fields for soccer, football, softball and other sports or to

“improve neighborhood parks and tot lots.”

Who wouldn’t want to spend the revenue for such lofty goals? What it

ignores is whether we want to generate that revenue by replacing a site

which could have served as sports fields, a neighborhood park or tot

lots, with a Wal-Mart.

What kind of pretzel logic is it to say that we’ll destroy an ideal site

for such uses, so that we can build a huge store, and then maybe use the

money for such uses.

This “advisory vote” is perhaps the most disingenuous piece of

politicking I’ve seen by the council thus far, and is designed not only

to deprive those who gathered the signatures and those who signed the

petition of their right to a separate election, but to shaft the

neighborhood by enticing people to vote for Wal-Mart believing that the

revenue might contribute to the kinds of facilities that the very

construction of Wal-Mart would destroy.

The Wal-Mart issue is no longer an issue about Wal-Mart, but an issue of

right or wrong; democracy or manipulation.

I won’t be voting to support the Wal-Mart, not because I dislike

Wal-Mart, or Arnel or refuse to support the school kids, but because I

believe 22,000 people were entitled to more than this from this council.

The “special election” in March will truly be advisory -- my opportunity

to “advise” the council that this form of politics is completely

unacceptable, and to advise them to return the hose for a full and

complete refund.

Ron Davis is a private attorney who lives in Huntington Beach. He can be

reached by e-mail at [email protected].