RON DAVIS -- Through My Eyes
I can see it in people’s eyes and feel it in their mannerisms. Folks
huddle together and stop talking when I enter a room. Little kids and
adults point at me and murmur to one another. One person wonders to
another, “Does he have some contagious disease? Is he cruel to small
animals?”
Then another person lowers his voice and screws his face into an
expression of repugnance and disgust and whispers, “No, it’s even worse
than that. He ...” and then he pauses for emphasis, lowering his voice to
underscore his complete and utter revulsion, and with a sickening sneer
says, “He supports o7 eminent domainf7 .”
The aghast listener covers his mouth in stunned horror, anxious to get
to a telephone and spread the rumor.
Most people aren’t interested in an intelligent discussion on the
subject of eminent domain. Their friends believe it’s an ugly power, and
that’s good enough for them. Indeed, it is an ugly power -- a power
designed to be used sparingly in exceedingly narrow and ugly situations
and only after all alternative courses of action have been exhausted.
But, once someone supports the use of that power, the negative labeling
and whispering begins.
My hearing’s not as good as it used to be, and maybe your’s isn’t
either, so I’ll write it out loud: I supported and continue to support
the use of eminent domain in connection with the renovation of Huntington
Center.
After years of fruitless negotiating, begging and cajoling, Huntington
Beach still isn’t going to get the mall the city insisted was needed and
the residents apparently wanted. Why? Because the City Council refused to
consolidate the ownership of the mall into a single owner with a single,
comprehensive vision.
Let me illustrate the problem this way: What do you get when you hire
three different artists to paint a painting, all with varying abilities
and who can’t agree on the color of paint, the texture, the theme or even
the subject matter of the painting? A hodgepodge on canvas? Well, what do
you expect to get when you allow three different businesses, each with
different visions, objectives and abilities to produce a mall? A
hodgepodge on land? We certainly can’t expect a center produced as a
result of a comprehensive renovation overseen by a single owner with a
single vision.
I am reminded that a camel is merely a horse designed by a committee.
So in keeping with that notion, we should call the future mall “Camel
Lot.”
Asking Democrats and Republicans to agree on the voter intent of every
dimpled and pregnant Floridian chad has more likelihood of success than
expecting three businesses at the mall to produce a mall that will fill
the high expectations of the city and the community. In my judgment, this
Camel Lot, which we might also call “The Cursings,” won’t be measured on
an upscale, but a gray scale.
Three members of the Huntington Beach City Council bought into the
negative reputation of eminent domain and the legally unenforceable
podium-promises made by Burlington and Wards. Promises prompted by the
threat of eminent domain that will evaporate now that the threat no
longer exists. Ask those members of the City Council who opposed eminent
domain how the city intends to enforce these podium-promises. Ask them if
they can enforce them legally, or if they have to rely on the good faith
of Wards and Burlington.
The refusal of some members of the City Council to take the next step
of consolidating the mall under one owner with one vision, through a last
resort use of eminent domain, sentences this city not only to Camel Lot,
but condemns our future residents with the curse of wrangling over the
same problem. A problem that will never be solved until the property is
in the hands of one owner.
And when this mishmash of a mall is built and is devoid of the upscale
restaurants, entertainment and shopping we’d hoped for, don’t blame
Ezralow. They will try. Blame those on the City Council, who determined
that they’d rather have a mall by committee. Of course, there’s good news
in all of this. At least three council members won’t have to hear people
snickering that they supported eminent domain.
*
* RON DAVIS is a private attorney who lives in Huntington Beach. He
can be reached by e-mail at o7 [email protected]
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