Funny things happen on the way to the forums

Geoff West

In a journey akin to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, I dodged potholes between

my home on the far Eastside and the Neighborhood Community Center

near Lions Park before I finally arrived at the first City Council

candidate forum last Wednesday evening. It was a trip worth the

effort. You -- and most of the other 112,000 residents of this city

who stayed home -- missed the first opportunity to see 11 of the 12

candidates for City Council in one place, answering tough questions

posed to them by the moderators. Candidate Terry Shaw was absent.

Many thanks to the sponsors of this forum, Mesa Verde Community

Inc., for putting on quite a show for the overflow crowd of about 200

people. They gave us our first good look at most of the dozen

candidates eager to convince us that they have a better way to run

this city for at least the next four years. About halfway through the

proceedings, the temperature in the Victoria Room began to climb and

gave the saying “Holding their feet to the fire” a whole new meaning

for the candidates. I shouldn’t really complain, though, because a

sauna experience like that usually costs a lot of money. For those of

you who subscribe to Comcast cable, good old Channel 24 will televise

taped replays at least seven times between today and Sept. 12, so you

can watch the proceedings and make your own judgments about the

candidates.

Although the format was a little cumbersome at times, it did

provide us with a good opportunity to see how well the candidates can

think on their feet, so to speak. It was refreshing to see tough

questions pitched to the candidates for a change. To continue the

baseball reference, some of them made solid hits, some bunted feebly,

and some struck out every time.

In previous years, most of the questions were softballs. This

time, though, they got right to the nitty-gritty. Unfortunately,

because of the format and time constraints, each candidate did not

have the opportunity to respond to every question. We did learn that

most of the new candidates failed to do their homework and showed up

unprepared to answer even those few questions posed to them.

Surprisingly, some of the old hands on the dais even had problems.

One can only hope that, during the interval between this forum and

the next one Sept. 15 in the City Council chambers, each of those

unprepared will take advantage of the time to bone up on current city

issues. If they’re not willing to do that, they should drop out and

make space for candidates serious about serving this city.

Among the many questions not asked of any candidate was their

position on the CenterLine project.

So, we’re off and running. In the next few weeks, the field will

stretch out, and the front-runners will try to open a lead over the

rest of the pack. In the meantime, we all need to pay attention to

what these candidates have to say on the issues. If the opening forum

is any indication, there will be a good deal of scrambling among them

for the three positions available.

Please don’t take my assessment at face value. It’s just one man’s

opinion. Find a way to interact with the candidates to hear their

views firsthand. Try to view the tape of the forum and form your own

opinions of the performance of each candidate. If you enter the

voting booth in November and simply stab arbitrarily at the names on

the machine, you will serve yourselves and your community poorly.

As Robin Leffler recently pointed out in a Daily Pilot commentary,

every vote counts, so please do your part to make your votes informed

and well-reasoned. The men and women you will consider for these

three positions will affect your community and your lives for the

next decade. September and October should be very interesting months,

indeed.

* GEOFF WEST is a resident of Costa Mesa.