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Costa Mesa: An assault on working families

Community member and former Costa Mesa Mayor Sandy Genis speaks to the Costa Mesa City Council in April.

The Costa Mesa City Council voted in February to lay off nearly all non-police City employees, including fire and paramedics, and outsource the services they provide. They did this without conducting one study to assess the cost, evaluate changes in services and plan for the unintended consequences that would result from their vague plan.

On March 17, a 29-year-old City maintenance worker was called in to receive his pink slip. He jumped off the roof at City Hall and died. (Click here to read a tribute by Huy Pham, written by co-worker Doug Lovell.)

Four of the five members of the City Council ignored repeated urging from the community and voted to outsource the city: Mayor Gary Monahan, Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer, Councilman Steve Mensinger and Councilman Eric Bever.
Since then, the community has organized to oppose the City Council’s politically motivated plan and urge them to rescind the layoff notices. OCEA, which provides representation for about 200 employees in the Costa Mesa Municipal Employees Association, has played an active role in this coalition, called Repair Costa Mesa.

The budget numbers this City Council is using to justify outsourcing don’t add up, outsourcing will cost the city more, and their plan is filled with so many loopholes because it is a political play – not an honest attempt to save money. So Repair Costa Mesa quickly began airing television commercials to expose the failure of leadership that has become this City Council’s defining attribute. (Click here to view Repair Costa Mesa video releases.)

On June 21, interim Costa Mesa Police Chief Steve Staveley resigned from the department, saying the council has created a fiscal crisis by moving around budget numbers.

"The council majority plays fast and lose with the law and ethics and I am certain as individuals they will step over the line and it won’t be long before the DA or more likely the AGs office comes knocking on the door," Staveley wrote.

To that end, Orange County Employees Association has called for State Attorney General Kamala Harris to investigate the charges made in Costa Mesa in Staveley's resignation letter.

"As representatives ofCosta Mesa's city workers, it is with deep concern we note the resignation of Costa Mesa's top law enforcement official, Costa Mesa Police Chief Steve Staveley," OCEA Spokeswoman Jennifer Muir told the Daily Pilot. "The seriousness of these charges and the potential harm to the city require the utmost attention." (Read June 21, 2011 links for more coverage.)

These are challenging times for public employees. The state budget remains in limbo. All across the country working people are under attack. Costa Mesa is ground zero for that attack in California by people who would like to take away our collective voice and the rights of working families everywhere. We must remain united and vigilant against these attacks. Together, we will prevail.

To find out how you can help the community effort in Costa Mesa, visit repaircostamesa.com, facebook.com/repaircostamesa and twitter.com/repaircostamesa.

The headlines themselves tell much of the story, but to learn more about the situation in Costa Mesa, view links to media coverage about the ongoing situation below (items in bold denote national coverage):