The Santa Clarita City Council meeting (Aug. 26) was a masterclass in municipal mayhem. I am ap- palled and utterly shocked at what I saw and I am counting down the seconds until we can vote out these City Council members for new people who pos- sess at least a shred of intelligence, decency and deco- rum. And I am not alone.
Let’s start with Mayor Bill Miranda. Dropping expletives from the dais and crowing about kicking Denise Lite’s “ass” in the 2022 election? This was low- level, unprofessional drivel you’d expect from a reali- ty TV reject, not a public official who barely got 2,000 more votes than Lite after years of public service. What professional speaks like that? Apparently he does, just like he did July 13, 2021, at a meeting when Mayor Miranda (yes he was mayor back then also) told concerned citizen Steve Petzold to “sit down and shut up” when Petzold raised concerns about trans- parency with this same council minus Patsy Ayala.
Yes, you can watch that 2021 Miranda Meltdown on video. Despicable.
Tuesday’s council meeting also featured Miranda’s unhinged personal attack on his council colleague, Councilman Jason Gibbs, who Miranda shockingly dubbed a “wanna-be congressman.” How on Earth did we get stuck with a mayor who publicly belittles Gibbs for having the courage to step up to serve and represent all of us (Miranda included) in Congress? The Miranda Meltdown continued with the mayor actually accusing Gibbs of shady dealings to funnel benefits to KHTS within the Hartwell deal.
Uh, hello: Gibbs didn’t even vote on the Hartwell issue, so how exactly is KHTS benefitting via Gibbs NOT voting? The answer is it’s not.
And after all that accusatory brouhaha, Bill voted in favor of the project himself! I mean, seriously! It has become obvious over these last several months that nuance is completely lost on the mayor and many of the council members with their rambling di- atribes and deflections. Maybe Mayor Miranda could untangle his conspiracy theories or, I don’t know, perhaps fact-check himself before spewing illogical, defamatory falsehoods in a public forum.
The Miranda Meltdown worsened — hard to be- lieve, I know — with the mayor attacking private citizens like the Goldmans (Carl and Jeri) with false claims of impropriety, when KHTS did exactly what Miranda told them and Serrano Development Group to do a month ago.
The council’s norms and procedures that should govern these meetings were set ablaze. Miranda and Ayala couldn’t resist turning the meeting into their personal gripe sessions, taking turns lobbing attacks at former Planning Commissioner Lite for daring to bring transparency to the Hartwell project before she was booted, compliments of Mayor Pro Tem Laurene Weste. Apparently, shining a light and asking ques- tions about development deals is a cardinal sin, but yammering on incoherently about non-agendized items in a flaccid attempt to re-write history is A-OK.
And all the while Weste sitting pretty — quiet and recused from not one but two items on the agenda — letting Ayala and Miranda do her hit jobs for her.
But wait! There was more! Mayor Miranda decided it was also a great idea to call applicants like Jason Tolleson standing before the council “stupid.” Real classy. Nothing screams “professional governance” like name calling and insulting the people you’re sup- posed to serve from the dais.
Overall, the meeting can be best classified as a bona fide 100-alarm temper tantrum for all of the Santa Clarita Valley to see.
But the cherry on top? Our esteemed mayor seri- ously fretting more about his dwindling “Facebook friend count” than the actual implications of the Hartwell project — like, say, parking, which he didn’t bother mentioning once during the entire meeting.
When our city’s “leader” is focused more on his social media clout and counting Facebook friends than actual professional governance, and when other council members desperately try to rewrite recent history to avoid accountability for their votes, we’re not just in trouble — we’re in DEEP, DEEP doo-doo.
Anna Meeks
Valencia
