Jim “Don’t Point Those Finger Guns At Me” Mosby is sick of seeing Lompoc rise from the ashes of its once derelict City Council to actually increase funding for things like public safety.
In the year and a half since the council’s been freed from his toxic grasp, the city has made real progress—and he’s here to tell you he could have done better, even if his previous record says exactly the opposite.
He’s back to show all those voters in the city’s 4th District, who decided Jeremy Ball could do a better job representing them on the dais, that he would be a better mayor than Jenelle Osborne. He lost to her once in 2018; what do you say we give it another shot?!
“I’ve been paying attention and I’m invested in this community, and I see it drastically stepping backwards,” Mosby said.
Seeing as how he served on the City Council from 2014 to 2020, it sure seems like he had a chance to make a big impact on the direction the city is headed. And the city is grappling with the same issues it’s been grappling with for a very long time: increasing gang violence, low city revenue, and homelessness.
And Osborne, for her part, isn’t mincing words when it comes to her opponent. She believes Mosby’s a naysayer who isn’t solutions-oriented.
“My opponent created many of the problems we are struggling to overcome, and I want to make sure that attitude doesn’t return to the council,” she said.
His answer to problems involved poop emoji bumper stickers with his perceived enemies’ names on them. Regular Sun columnist Ron Fink can attest to that!
But Mosby’s never boring! And he’s not really a wallflower when it comes to expressing his opinion either.
You know who is silent? The Santa Maria City Council. At least they were when it came to Councilmember Carlos Escobedo’s comments during a recent vote on a proposed development project.
“Before I make my vote, … there’s a conflict that I’ve come across,” he said on Aug. 16, after three of his colleagues had already voted on the issue.
He said he was conflicted about approving a project that could cost the city money “while not allowing 75 percent of our community to have access to this information.” He, of course, meant that Santa Maria offers inadequate translation services for Spanish speakers during its government meetings.
“It’s just not acceptable,” he said.
Here, here! I mean, it’s an odd time to make a statement like that—in the middle of a roll call vote—but whatever.
Well, that little show of defiance was met with utter silence from his fellow council members. Even from Mayor Alice Patino, who was quite concerned about another segment of the population earlier in the hearing. She said it would be wrong to build a new development that would affect the plaque memorializing a fallen firefighter.
“You know, I don’t think you do that to our firefighters. That really bothers me,” Patino said about having to remove the memorial.
Not to worry; the developer and Fire Department will build a better memorial if the development is approved.
Yet After Escobedo spoke up for Spanish-speaking constituents, she simply cast her vote and moved on.
Which really bothers me.
The Canary isn’t a wallflower either. Send flower seeds to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 25 – Sep 1, 2022.