MARTINA MCBURNEY-WHEELER, San Clemente
After a very polarizing year of federal, state and local elections, various protests, demonstrations and riots across the nation, and the social and economic effects of COVID-19, there are opportunities for residents to come together, if we will just heed the call.
Do we want to be a laid-back beach town or a bursting metropolis and throughway city to connect to the I-5, with a huge e-commerce building and another gas station along the way? If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck; and it appears these ducks are lining up.
The city is in negotiations of selling some of its (our) assets to the highest bidder, coupled with pushing out long-serving local operators such as Rod’s Tree Service or Edie from the T-street snack bar from city contracts or city-owned venues.
Do you support the city selling the land by Vista Hermosa/La Pata to a developer who will put in a gas station? Regardless if it’s coupled with a car wash, convenience store or fast food-type establishment, it’s a blight to our community that will have irreparable damage to the land.
Do you support the city letting the former council chambers fall into (alleged) disrepair to keep citizens out, at the same time as they are trying to sell the building? (Ironically enough, one councilmember in favor of this also stated on their FB page that the land was unstable).
If you are concerned about what’s happening in our city, it’s imperative that you write to the city council, city management and make your opposition known.
Having said that, talk is cheap; it’s important for citizens to hold their government and themselves accountable. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “The government you elect, is the government you deserve.”
