The leaders of our City Council do not listen to the people of Santa Maria. Everyone who spoke to the council on the re-creation of our voting districts supported a change to four clear quadrants, so we could easily know our district and council person. Alice Patino and Etta Waterfield voted “no.” The mayor asked what would happen if the council made no changes to district maps. Legal counsel said what everyone else knew, that the city would be breaking state law. A clueless mayor serves no one well.
Mayor Patino and Ms. Waterfield demand the status quo. In creating new districts, the council had an opportunity to right the wrong they did in creating the current districts. Back then, council broke state law to ensure that they would be safe in the district where they lived. This created the “Waterfield Worm,” as it is called, that weaves from the far south to the far northwest, a district that is heavily conservative, just like Ms. Waterfield. Because of their recent vote against four clear quadrants, the “Waterfield Worm” lives on. Question: Does Etta Waterfield even live her district anymore? I wish the Sun would investigate that so we know if she should be voting at all.
Why ask for input and listen to public comment at City Council meetings if you have already made up your minds? This is one way to kill democracy. Anyone who has ever addressed the council knows that democracy is dead in Santa Maria. Council leadership has killed it, and we have allowed them to do it.
Gale McNeeley
Santa Maria
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 7, 2022.