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Mailbag: COIN should have been kept out of charter

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I have read “County COIN proposal hits roadblock,” in the July 19 Daily Pilot, and the article explained two important things that cause concerns about the proposed Costa Mesa city charter.

First, the article explained the gaping loophole in Costa Mesa’s COIN (Civic Openness in Negotiations) ordinance and why we haven’t heard more about the ongoing city employee contract negotiations. Evidently COIN requires that only formal proposals be made public, while supposals (e.g. Suppose you agree to A and we agree to B would that be acceptable?) have no requirement for public disclosure.

This is a problem because there are many more supposals than there are formal proposals, and those can be enlightening about the parties’ process and intent. As Supervisor Todd Spitzer said about the county and Costa Mesa’s COIN, they represent a “farce” of transparency.

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It is now clearer why Charter Committee member and current City Council candidate Harold Weitzberg voted against the proposed charter, and was against putting COIN in it. I also opposed the inclusion of COIN, but was absent for the final charter vote.

Weitzberg argued that COIN was already a city ordinance, and it was new and might require revisions. Revising an ordinance would be easier than amending the charter because the amendment would have to go to the voters for approval and that would be expensive and time consuming.

The majority of the Charter Committee members wanted to put COIN in the charter anyway. The result is that, if voters pass the charter, we are likely to need to amend it before the ink is dry due to changes to COIN. Because of its newness, COIN changes are likely to continue for quite some time and these could result in even more expensive charter amendments.

It is clear that Weitzberg and I were right: COIN should have never been included in the charter.

I am not sure that I can support the current or a revised COIN ordinance, but I am certain that the inclusion of COIN is just one more reason why we should vote no on the charter.

Mary Ann O’Connell

Costa Mesa

The writer is a member of the Cost Mesa Charter Committee.

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Innocents keep dying

Some 298 innocent civilians suffered horrible and gruesome deaths when a missile brought down an airliner over Ukraine. Putin blamed the tragedy on the government of Ukraine. He claimed that this would not have happened if the government of Ukraine had agreed to a cease-fire. And the Republicans, in unison, immediately blamed President Obama for this tragedy, for not having been tough enough on Russia, whatever that means.

Almost 1,000 innocent Palestinian civilians, including hundreds of children, are torn to shreds by missiles, or crushed under crumbling rubble from bombs, in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blames Hamas for continuing his savage carnage on the grounds that Hamas did not agree to an unconditional cease-fire. Sound familiar? Is he taking lessons from Putin? And the Republicans and Democrats, in unison, proclaim Israel’s right to defend itself.

Putin has no soul, the Republicans have no shame, the Democrats have no spine, and Netanyahu has no scruples! The world has been silently watching the brutal collective imprisonment of 2 million human beings for the past eight years for their crime of having elected into office the only entity that has dared to fight for their freedom. Of course we in the West call them terrorists. And that gives everyone the moral cover to slaughter them.

Jamshed Dastur

Balboa Island

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