Geovanni EsparzaThe decisions made by public officials directly impact you and your neighbors. Whether or not you attend public meetings, your tax dollars are being spent. So it’s your responsibility to attend public meetings and keep democracy alive.
Elected officials are public servants; their job is to serve the people. And it is the responsibility of the city’s residents to remind them where their loyalty should lie.
During the Public Comment section of a meeting, you can address the governing body directly and hold them accountable for their actions or lack thereof.
People have spoken up during public comment and shamed, criticized and yelled at the governing bodies. Once you are elected, you have been thrust into the vortex of public scrutiny, and people will press you.
Since the ICE raids began this past summer, people have been attending public meetings to speak on behalf of their friends, family and peers who were afraid to leave their homes because of the presence of immigration agents in their communities.
I get it. People have jobs, families and other responsibilities that can make it difficult for them to attend the meetings in person.
You can easily get a recording of the meeting or play it in the background like a podcast, and when you hear something you think is important, you’ll start to pay attention.
A prime example of why local politics matter is the movie JAWS. The mayor, who knew the beach was not safe because of the shark that was eating people, was still the mayor in JAWS 2.
If everybody stopped showing up to public meetings to hold governing bodies accountable, nothing would get done, and nothing would change.
If your mom never punished you when you misbehaved, would you have stopped?
At the June 17 Santa Ana city council meeting, attendees lined up for six hours and shamed the mayor for not condemning or even addressing the presence of ICE and the National Guard in the city.
It is no coincidence that two days after the meeting, Santa Ana, Mayor Valerie Amezcua posted a video on the city’s Instagram stating that she and the council “stand united against the presence of ICE and the National Guard in the city.”
If your elected officials stop serving the people, remind them they can be voted out as easily as they were voted into office. We decide who gets to serve us.
If you have something to say, then say it. Be an active member of your community and attend public meetings to hold your elected officials accountable.
And if you don’t have something to say, take some of your friends to a meeting and watch government officials speak strongly worded emails to one another because the only thing better than watching reality TV is seeing government drama unfold right in front of you.
