Like the weather, local politics unusual

HUMBERTO CASPA

A popular saying reminds us that after stormy weather calmness sets

in. Costa Mesa and the rest of the cities in Orange County have

experienced a rare rainy season. It set new records, damaged roads,

destroyed some houses and irritated many people. As spring moved in,

the storms have gone away and left us with an odd-looking but green

wasteland.

Like the weather, politics in Costa Mesa has been unusual -- full

of contradictions since a majority of the City Council decided to

close down the Job Center. As a result, there has been growing

animosity but also discussion on local politics on a daily basis

(although a few found it inappropriate to talk about it during Easter

day). Most importantly, though, the outcome has set the course for

the emergence from the Latino population of a new breed of actors in

Costa Mesa politics.

Unlike the weather, this political crisis doesn’t seem likely to

go away, even though the final resolution of the Job Center is still

pending in City Hall. Councilwoman Katrina Foley has asked her

colleagues to revaluate their ruling, which could happen on April 5.

I only hope that Mayor Allan Mansoor and Costa Mesa City Councilmen

Gary Monahan and Eric Bever set ideological reasons aside and think

more in terms of the good of the community rather than a few interest

groups.

In the meantime, while shopping in a local market on Harbor and

Adams, I found another reason why the Job Center should stay open. I

ran across a black and yellow brochure called El Directorio. It is an

advertisement for a Latino yellow pages, which is scheduled to show

up in Costa Mesa in May. The idea behind this telephone directory is

to create a bridge between the business community and the growing

Latino market.

Inside the brochure, I found several interesting economic

indicators. For instance, it says that currently Latinos in Southern

California have a purchasing power of $123 billion. That is about $60

billion more than five years ago. By the year 2010, Latinos are

expected to increase their purchasing power to $200 billion.

I called the 800 number listed on the page to find out if they had

same data available for Costa Mesa. The owner of the business, Martin

Gundra, told me that he didn’t have it, but would try to find it out

and let me know later. He also said that his economic indicators came

straight from statistical sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the

Selig Center of Economic Growth, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of

Commerce, and the U.S. Hispanic National Publisher’s Association. All

of them are mentioned on the brochure.

My interest about finding out the Latino purchasing power in Costa

Mesa grew more as I hung up the telephone. I drove immediately to the

Costa Mesa City Hall, walked out of my car and ran inside the

building to the planning department. When I got there, Rebecca

Robbins, an assistant planner, told me that the city didn’t have that

sort of information. I left disappointed. My efforts didn’t pay off.

However, the brochure offered other indicators to make some

interesting assumptions. For instance, it says that the medium age

for Latinos is 25.8 compared to 35.6 for the total U.S. population;

the average Latino family is 4.1 people versus the non-Latino family

at 2.9; Latinos are eager to establish new credit and are

cash-oriented individuals.

Those are all features of an ideal customer. Since a large portion

of the population in Costa Mesa, particularly in the Westside, is

consistently turning more pluralistic both politically and

ethnically, it makes more sense to welcome this formidable market

than to push it aside.

I’m confident that businesses in Costa Mesa -- as The Directorio

demonstrates -- are well aware of the positive impact of Latinos on

our local economy. This doesn’t mean, however, that everything coming

from Latinos is favorable. They do have some limitations and

weaknesses.

Nonetheless, it is clear the contributions of Latinos greatly

outweigh the negative outcomes. Our city will grow stronger and

better only if we work together and not debate issues separately. Our

political leaders have a chance to rectify a decision that threatens

to tear our community apart. They should vote to keep the Job Center

open.

* HUMBERTO CASPA is a Costa Mesa resident and bilingual writer. He

can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].