LISA HAZELTON, San Clemente
At the last San Clemente City Council meeting, all of our City Councilmembers, with the exception of one brave councilmember, Steve Knoblock, voted to divide our sleepy little beach town into “voting districts.”
The other members, by a 4-1 vote, caved to the legal threats from Sacramento.
They will state that their rationale is justified by their fiscal responsibility to save our city the tax dollars that would be lost in fighting against Sacramento. Their decision was not to do the right thing, not to do what the city elected them to do—to represent We the People, the citizens of San Clemente.
We will now be itemized to facilitate these yet-to-be determined district parameters. Sadly, we may be categorized by our income, our ethnicity, our proximity to the ocean or some other arbitrary attribute.
The council authorized a payment of $65,000 to do all of this data-mining, because “Sacramento said so,” yet again usurping local control. “At-large” elections have been working well for us; no one argued on the merits of the districts, just the ramifications if we did not comply.
It is easy to extrapolate how this information will be used to further undermine our freedoms. We need leaders who are willing to fight for “We the People”; we are thankful for the one that is. If it is coming out of Newsom’s Sacramento, it is most likely nefarious.
Is this in San Clemente’s best interest? This was expressed so appropriately in public comments that night by a fellow San Clemente resident when he emphasized, “United, We Stand. Divided, We Fall.”
