If a federal agency told you one of your policies was discriminatory, would you keep it?
Well, if you’re Santa Maria Mayor Alice Patino, the answer is, “Hell yes!”
“For the feds to say we’re being discriminatory really, really bothers me,” she said.
Yeah, it totally sucks when your city passes an ordinance that potentially violates discrimination policies after it spent a year’s worth of time and tax dollars trying to create something that pleases all sides. And then two years later, a federal agency pops up and says you might want to change that.
That’s what happened with the city’s “employee housing” ordinance that requires a conditional use permit to house H-2A agricultural workers in single family houses. I guess the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development saw right through the term “employee housing,” which was used in the ordinance as a way to say “H-2A worker housing” without actually saying it. The ordinance definitely targets agricultural workers who come to the area to legally pick our fruits and vegetables.
That’s specifically what residents were complaining about at the time: H-2A workers who they were worried would wreak all kinds of havoc on single family residential neighborhoods.
In May, HUD notified the city that it “must” repeal the ordinance.
So at a June 1 City Council meeting, council members voted to do just that! Not.
They actually voted to keep the ordinance, thanks to Patino and Councilmember Carlos Escobedo, who voted against repealing it. With Councilmember Gloria Soto absent, it was a tie vote—which anyone who’s been serving as a public official should know means the status quo stays as is.
Although, Patino, who’s been the city mayor forever, seemed surprised that the vote meant Santa Maria kept the ordinance in place. So, was she trying to save face and do the right thing at the same time?
I guess it backfired because HUD responded with the threat of a $400,000 fine!
How’s that for you, Patino? Way to take a stand! Now the city has to talk about the ordinance again—more time spent on it, more taxpayer dollars—on June 15 and hope to repeal it.
Not only that, HUD is requiring the whole City Council has to complete sensitivity training because of the discriminatory ordinance.
“Don’t forget, we’re going to have to take diversity training,” Patino reminded everyone on June 1. “We’ve got five of us with Hispanic ethnicity, and we’re gonna have to do diversity training.”
Clearly not understanding that classism is a form of discrimination, as is discriminating against immigrants for being immigrants—regardless of whether they come from Mexico or somewhere else. Which is exactly what the “employee” housing ordinance does.
Why do you believe your heritage means you can’t make discriminatory policies? As a relatively well-off American citizen who grew up in the United States, Patino, your life experience isn’t the same as the “employees” you’d like to stay out of single family residential areas in your city.
It sounds like sensitivity training is exactly what you need.
The canary is sensitive but sassy. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 10-17, 2021.