Hey everyone, pissed off yet? No? Well, some people haven’t stop being pissed off.
Like the activists and organizations that spent weeks lining up for public comment to have their say at numerous Santa Maria City Council meetings regarding the new district map, only for the council to ultimately choose the map drawn up by National Demographics Corporation over one suggested by residents.
The outcry from groups like Citizens United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) was palpable (more on that from CAUSE’s Hazel Davalos on page 14), but even Councilman Michael Moats wasn’t happy about choosing map “N-1,” casting the only dissenting vote. The concern is that the new districts stretch Latino voters across too many districts, taking away their voting power.
From the other side, there are plenty who were mad about the prospect of district elections in the first place. They’ve called it democracy “at the barrel of a gun,” saying that failed City Council candidate Hector Sanchez was a sore loser, invoking the California Voting Rights Act to get his way.
And maybe some of those other councilmembers are mad too. Part of what has made the fight over district elections so volatile is the cultural divide between some members of the council and vocal residents from the north and west parts of town.
Etta Waterfield said she resented being called “the wrong kind of Mexican,” and Mayor Alice Patino said she was “tired of hearing” that she wasn’t from the northwest side of town, both at a meeting months ago where the issue of district elections were raised.
The council’s critics have claimed that the chosen districts favor the current councilmembers’ seats. That very well may be.
At the end of the day, what we have here are two sides that are both upset with the outcome. Sounds like democracy to me. But time will tell who won out in the districts, and it may be the subject of future fights.
And speaking of fights: How about the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office trying to smack down the Civil Service Commission’s reinstatement of fired jail deputy Robert Kirsch?
Kirsch was fired by the Sheriff’s Office after he gave inmate Charles Owens one too many knees to the chest. Court docs say that Kirsch landed two “sets” of knee strikes. How many strikes to a set of knee kicks is it again? I flunked my metrics exams back in school.
And while I’m glad that the Sheriff was quick to remove someone who was too ready with a knee strike, what has he done about the inmates who keep dying in the Santa Barbara County Jail? An elderly inmate died of a heart attack he suffered at the jail in December last year, Santa Marian Hector Higareda died in the jail of an apparent suicide in October, and then there was the 56-year-old Santa Barbaran, Joel Huerta, who was barely booked into the jail before he became unresponsive and died in early August last year.
I’m not sure that’s the kind of problem you can fire yourself out of, but it’s definitely one that people get pissed off about!
The Canary wants to know what you’re pissed off about. Send your thoughts to [email protected].
