$1.5M Artificial Turf

Long Beach City Council once again proves Forrest Gump was right about our council members: “Stupid is as stupid does.”

Frank W. Lloyd

The world is in chaos. We are in a frightening pandemic that has the capacity to annihilate millions of people. We are in basic lockdown with multiple closures and extreme measures. Untold numbers of businesses have been shut down, citizens are losing their incomes, scores of families are wondering how they’re going to eat and pay their bills, many elderlies are in fear of being triaged to death, and the list goes on. A targeted segment of the population (housing providers) is being forced to give away their services and become charities without compensation. Bottom line, we are in extreme crisis.

Yet, our “Chicago by the Sea” mayor and council are continuing their irresponsible spending on frivolous items such as Councilmember Mungo’s $1.5 million artificial-turf field that her constituents do not want or need. Let’s not forget District 3’s pet project, the $85 million pool scheduled to be built on a previously-condemned earthquake fault site.

At the March 17 council meeting, a Measure A multi-million dollar “surplus” was doled out to various projects not previously budgeted. We would be remiss in not mentioning a recent vote to give all commissioners a monetary stipend (historically most have been voluntary positions). Did I comment about the ongoing upkeep of the million-plus dollar giant big screen TV in the city hall lobby? They just can’t seem to spend it fast enough. After all, it’s not their money.

Ever looming in the background of all this are the horrendous, bloated, unfunded pensions for public employees that are now even more depleted because of the recent stock market crash. Rather than addressing it, they just continue kicking the can down the road.

As if the above were not enough, the local politicians have slush accounts that are funded by developers and other entities who benefit from their decisions. Rather than use this money to benefit their districts, oftentimes they use those funds to contribute to campaigns of people who are willing to be their loyal lap dogs. It’s a vicious, corrupt game of pay-to-play; the citizens are the ones who lose.

No matter what, there will never be enough money for this mayor and council. They are addicted, and it shows. And for those of you who voted in favor of the recent Measure A, the elected officials and public employee unions that funded the slick mailers promoting it are laughing at you, behind your back, all the way to the bank. Tax, tax, tax, spend, spend, spend.

Diana Lejins