These are such loopy instances that when I discovered myself determined to cowl some excellent news amid deportations and Trump overreach, I visited … Huntington Seaside?!
MAGA-by-the-Sea? The Orange County metropolis that after elected MMA legend Tito Ortiz to its governing physique, which at the moment consists of guys named Chad and Butch? The place Mayor Pat Burns presides over council conferences with a small white bust of Donald Trump in entrance of him?
The coastal neighborhood that’s been a hotbed of neo-Nazi exercise for many years? Whose manufacturing facility setting is whiny gringo rage? Whose former metropolis legal professional, Michael Gates, sued California to maintain out of his hometown every part from sanctuary state insurance policies to inexpensive housing mandates and is now a deputy U.S. assistant legal professional basic for civil rights, which is like placing a butcher in control of a vegan picnic?
Can that Huntington Seaside educate the remainder of us a factor — or thirty — not nearly find out how to stand as much as despotism, however find out how to beat it again?
Yep!
Earlier this month, Surf Metropolis voters overwhelmingly handed two poll initiatives addressing their libraries. Measure A nixed a father or mother assessment board, created by the Metropolis Council, that will have taken the facility to pick youngsters’s books away from librarians. Measure B barred the privatization of the town’s library system, after the council had thought of the thought.
It was a powerful rebuke of H.B.’s conservatives, who had steamrolled over metropolis politics for the previous two and a half years and turned what was a 4-3 Democratic council majority three years in the past right into a 7-0 MAGA supermajority.
Among the many pet initiatives for the brand new guard was the library, which council members alleged was little higher than a smut store as a result of the younger grownup part featured books about puberty and LGBTQ+ points. Earlier this yr, the council accredited a plaque commemorating the library’s fiftieth anniversary that may learn, “Magical. Alluring. Galvanizing. Adventurous.”
MAGA.
“They went too far, too quick, and it’s not what folks signed up for,” stated Oscar Rodriguez, an H.B. native.
We had been at a personal residence close to downtown H.B. that was internet hosting a victory celebration for the library measures. The road to get in stretched onto the sidewalk. An indication close to the door proclaimed, “Not All of Us in H.B. Put on Crimson Hats.” A banner on the balcony of the two-story residence screamed, “Shield Our Children From Chad,” referring to Metropolis Councilmember Chad Williams, who bankrolled much-ridiculed “Shield Youngsters from Porn” indicators towards Measures A and B.
“Look, Huntington Seaside may be very conservative, very MAGA — at all times shall be,” Rodriguez continued. We stood within the kitchen as folks loaded their plates with salad and pizza. Canvas baggage emblazoned with “Shield HB” and the Huntington Seaside Pier — the brand for the coalition that pushed for the measures — hung from many shoulders. “However folks of all politics had been lastly disgusted and did one thing collectively to face up.”
Folks line as much as enter a home in Huntington Seaside that hosted a victory pary for the passage of Measures A and B, which addressed points with the town’s library.
(John McCoy/For The Instances)
“On election night time, I used to be leaping up and down, as a result of it was taking place right here,” stated former Councilmember Natalie Moser, who misplaced her reelection bid final yr and volunteered for Shield HB. “It creates pleasure and enthusiasm, and I hope others can see what we did and take hope.”
There was no chatter in regards to the ICE raids that had been terrorizing swaths of Southern California. A Spotify combine blared “Don’t Worry the Reaper,” AC/DC and the ever-annoying “Hey, Soul Sister” by Practice. The group of about 90 volunteers was principally white and boomers. Quite a lot of bore tans so darkish that they had been browner than me.
We had been in Huntington Seaside, in spite of everything.
And but these had been the parents that fueled Shield HB’s profitable marketing campaign. They leaned on social media outreach, door knocking, rallies and a nonpartisan message stressing the widespread good that was the town library.
Christine Padesky and Cindy Forsthoff staffed tables across the metropolis within the lead-up to Election Day.
“Time and time once more, I had folks come as much as me say, ‘We’re Republican, we’re Christian, we voted for this council, however they’ve gone too far,’” Padesky stated.
Forsthoff, a Huntington Seaside resident for 36 years, agreed. She had by no means participated in a political marketing campaign earlier than Measures A and B. “After they [politicians] take such excessive steps, folks will come,” she stated.
The bro-rock soundtrack light out and this system started.
“My gosh, we did this!” exclaimed Shield HB co-chair Pat Goodman, who had been checking folks in on the door only a few moments earlier.
“I don’t assume these neighbors know who we’re,” cracked Shield HB co-chair Cathey Ryder, hinting on the uphill battle they confronted in a metropolis the place registered Republicans outnumber Democrats. “Present them you’re a supporter of fine authorities.”
She led everybody within the tacky, liberty-minded chant that had impressed volunteers all through the marketing campaign.
What can we need to do?
Learn!
How can we need to learn?
Free!
We had been in Huntington Seaside, in spite of everything.
The speeches lasted not more than seven minutes complete. The volunteers wished to benefit from the brisk night and collect round an out of doors fire to make S’mores and revel in a beer or two. Apart from, they deserved to revel of their accomplishment and talk about what was subsequent — not simply in Huntington Seaside, however find out how to translate what occurred there right into a replicable lesson for others outdoors the town.
The important thing, in accordance with Dave Rynerson, is to simply accept political variations and remind everybody that what’s taking place on this nation — whether or not on the Huntington Seaside Metropolis Council or within the White Home — isn’t regular.
“As dangerous as issues could seem, you’ll be able to’t quit,” the retired techniques engineer stated. “It’s a must to remind folks that is our nation, our lives, and we have to care for it collectively.”
Mayor of Huntington Seaside Pat Burns listens to audio system talk about the town’s plan to make Huntington Seaside “a non-sanctuary metropolis for unlawful immigration” in the course of the Huntington Seaside Metropolis Council assembly on the Huntington Seaside Metropolis Corridor in Huntington Seaside.
(James Carbone/For the Each day Pilot)
Huntington Seaside isn’t going to show into Berkeley anytime quickly. It’s one of many few California cities that has declared itself a nonsanctuary metropolis and totally in help of Trump’s immigration insurance policies. The architect of MAGA’s Huntington Seaside takeover, Tony Strickland, was elected to the state senate earlier this yr. His acolyte, Councilmember Gracey Van Der Mark, plans to run for meeting subsequent yr.
However feeling the happiness on the Shield HB dinner, even when simply for a night, was a much-needed balm at a time when it appears nothing can cease Trump. And assembly common folks like Greg and Carryl Hytopoulos ought to encourage anybody to become involved.
Married for 50 years and Surf Metropolis residents for 44, they personal a water pipeline safety service and had by no means bothered with metropolis politics. However the council’s censorious plans for the library made them “outraged, and this was sufficient,” stated Carryl. “We would have liked to make an influence, and we couldn’t simply sit idly by.”
They outfitted one among their work vehicles with giant poster boards in favor of Measures A and B and parked it across the metropolis. Extra crucially, the couple, each Democrats, talked in regards to the situation with their neighbors in Huntington Harbour, an unique neighborhood that Trump simply gained in 2024.
“After we defined what had been the stakes, they listened,” Greg stated.
Carryl smiled.
“There’s a quiet majority that, when provoked, can stand up and save the day.”
