So long suckers

Well, it will probably surprise no one that I have become this person. The kind of person who attends city council meetings and argues with elected officials about the sanctity of natural habitats versus some idiot version of Orange County cookie cutter neighborhoods. Yes, that’s me, the Enemy of Progress.

I live in Costa Mesa. This is, in my entirely biased opinion, the best city in the county. I mean, of course it is not perfect. We have more than our allotment of people wearing skinny jeans and glasses for which there is no prescription, listening to Bon Iver. Sure, but we have diversity, we have almost all the good restaurants, we have actual theaters, we have a museum, and we have a wonderful park that is a nature preserve and it happens to be at the end of the street where I live. It is beautiful, it’s where I run, there are concerts in the park, and there are actual animals living in their own habitat without anyone hurting them. They recently irrigated the lower section and now it’s green and lush and there are big ponds. Sounds pretty good, right? So naturally the city wants to put in a 42-car parking lot and a children’s playground – AT THE END OF MY STREET.

It’s a nightmare. I can literally (according to the OED) hear my property value dropping as I type. And even though practically the entire city showed up to the meeting to discuss it, and I did not hear one person speak FOR it, they are moving ahead with it, because obviously there is a buck in it for someone. Must be the same reason that fireworks are still legal here even though not one resident (probably, or I’m just really into hyperbole today) wants them to be. I can feel myself relating to Joni Mitchell, and it’s terrifying. Please send help.