Mailbag: Nothing ‘alluring’ about proposed library plaque
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Re: Huntington Beach commission approves ‘MAGA’ plaque for Central Library 50th anniversary, Daily Pilot, Feb. 12: It is apparent from the wording on the Community and Library Services Commission’s proposed plaque marking the 50th anniversary of the Huntington Beach Library that the intent is to commemorate the current City Council and its members’ ideology rather than to pay tribute to the library. Considering the current council’s intent to censor the materials available there, I find it ironic that the wording includes “… and free to grow.” Perhaps, it should read … “and free to grow as long as it is within the constraints of our ideology.”
Furthermore, I find it obscene that the use of taxpayer money is to be used to monumentalize the MAGA acronym in a thinly veiled tribute to the library. The support system for the library needs to be nonpartisan, allowing the library to truly function in an independent and free manner. I strongly request the message on the plaque be reworded to focus on the attributes of the library and not the self-aggrandizing City Council.
Bryan Ballard
Huntington Beach
I have been attending and speaking at public meetings in Huntington Beach for the better part of 25 years, and yet, the Community and Library Services Commission meeting on Feb. 11 took the cake for the most abject and pusillanimous display of civic cowardice I have ever seen on the part of all the commission members in dealing with a pet MAGA project on the agenda. It was a proposed bronze plaque celebrating the 50th anniversary of the modern central library facility completed in 1975.
Instead of focusing on the merits honoring the officials who helped build the library in conformance with other milestones, including the dedication one, the plaque design for the 50th anniversary was vulgarly partisan and spelled out in acrostic fashion in the center of the plaque an acronym spelling MAGA.
A sizable crowd attended the meeting with about 40 residents speaking in public comments. Fully 80% of the speakers opposed the project in no uncertain terms. In addition, over 330 communications were sent in on the agenda item, probably with the same proportion of opposition to support.
Although all of the commissioners were appointed by the new 7-0 conservative City Council, the opposing speakers were on-point and passionate. They included library staff, volunteers, patrons, and residents who simply thought politicizing their crown jewel civic institution in this manner was wrong. Especially since all of the City Council members and commissioners named on the plaque had been uniformly critical of the library and its role in serving the community and had callously supported privatizing its operational management.
While it was widely expected that the commission might rubber stamp the project, it was nevertheless jolting to see such overwhelming opposition ignored. All of the commissioners went into duck and cover mode, with the only criticism of the design and content being that it was “busy.”
Now this project goes to the City Council where it will undoubtedly be “bronze stamped.”
It was sad to see democracy disgraced in such a whimpering manner. It will be sadder when the public realizes that it will be suffering this highly visible “plaque psoriasis” for quite some time.
Tim Geddes
Huntington Beach
Attention Huntington Beach City Council: Your mismanagement is out of control! You orchestrated a reckless airshow deal that squandered taxpayer dollars, forcing the city taxpayers to cover police, fire services and an environmental impact report — costs that should have been the vendor’s responsibility. This was a million-dollar giveaway, a blatant misuse of public funds.
And make no mistake — this issue is not going away. A full investigation is coming at both the civil and state levels. The courts have the power to control your actions, while we, the taxpayers, are forced to foot the bill for your mistakes.
Enough with your national political grandstanding. Your job is to run this city, not posture for national attention. Fix the potholes. Stop meddling with our library and trampling on 1st Amendment rights. Your shameless attempt to invalidate petitions is yet another glaring example of your incompetence.
And let’s talk about your latest absurdity — this ridiculous plan to “light up” Central Park.
Huntington Beach is not the Riviera of the O.C., and no amount of artificial lighting will change that. What it will do is disrupt residents, especially those on Nimrod Street, drive away wildlife and damage park infrastructure, all in the name of yet another reckless money grab.
Stop wasting taxpayer dollars on frivolous lawsuits under the delusion that you’re the smartest people in the room. Spoiler alert: You’re not.
Kathleen Bunge
Huntington Beach
A young news consumer
My grandson was visiting us on Balboa Island and when it was time to read my Daily Pilot, I had to wrestle him for it! He has very good taste!
Mariellen Bergman
Newport Beach
Parallels to WWII?
Orange County’s focus on immigration dates back decades. Beginning in the early 1960s, when the John Birch Society was a political powerhouse, local elected officials railed against what they characterized then as an uncontrolled “migrant invasion.”
The issue became a national story when the OC Republican Party was forced to pay more than $400,000 for illegally posting guards near selected Santa Ana polling booths in 1988, or when Proposition 187 was drafted to crackdown on providing public services to undocumented immigrants in 1994.
Today, President Trump’s call to deport as many as 15 million immigrants in the country illegally coast to coast is being hailed as a victory by many people living here.
For those who oppose rounding up 1,500 people a day nationally, their recourse is to fight Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in court and/or establish sanctuary cities. Both of which, in my opinion, will force hundreds of thousands of men, women and children into hiding, just like in Europe leading up to, and during, WWII.
It was there, a young Jewish teenager and her family hid for two years in an attic in Amsterdam before the Nazis discovered them and shipped them to concentration camps. The young girl’s name was Anne. She did not survive the war, but the journal entries she kept while hiding eventually became known to the world as “The Diary of Anne Frank.” To date, it has been published in 70 languages and remains one of the most widely read books ever.
With this backdrop in mind, my question is this: Will another teenage girl, hiding somewhere in O.C. with her parents, become the next Anne Frank? I don’t know the answer, but my guess is a young teen named Maria, Antonia or Selena, for example, definitely could be. If this happens, then my hope is her new diary will help Orange County finally put its past immigration hysteria to rest. Now, wouldn’t that be something?
Denny Freidenrich
Laguna Beach
Porter for president
Where is Katie Porter when you need her? After giving up her Congressional seat to run for the Senate, she went back to her teaching position at UCI. But you can find her almost any day on social media offering valuable insight and suggestions for trying to understand what is going on in Washington today.
During her six years in Congress representing districts 45 and 47, the latter serving Irvine, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, she became nationally famous for forcefully questioning corporate heads and cabinet members while taking notes on her famous whiteboards. In two of her more notable encounters, she revealed the Postmaster Gen. Louis De Joy’s lack of knowledge about postal details and she sparred with Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin over COVID-19 relief funds. In short, she became famous for her strength, her brilliance and her unrelenting search for the truth, not always appreciated by those whom she challenged.
Katie would certainly be a valuable asset to those of us who have concerns over the new administration. I am not alone in feeling this way. Several of her fans on social media agreed with me, adding some of the following opinions on a recent post: “We need you front and center,” “You should run for president in 2028” and “Your voice must be heard again. Your whiteboard is your superpower. We need you.”
Lynn Lorenz
Newport Beach
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