Consternation Over Invocations

* It is not only the fact that the Irvine City Council voted to open its meetings with an invocation (Feb. 28). It is the way that such a contentious subject found its way to the agenda to be quickly approved.

The Feb. 25 meeting was the fifth of the new council. Reviewing the summaries of the previous four meetings did not give any indication that such a topic was high on the priorities of the council members. It was claimed that it only took one letter and one comment (not impressive enough to make it to the minutes) to put the topic on the agenda.

When was the last time that a comment by a citizen resulted in an immediate action? Did the city manager and council members desperately want to start a meeting with an invocation, but realizing the nature of the subject, decided to act covertly to present us with a done deal? During the meeting, Mayor Christina L. Shea mentioned “a study,” without further clarifications. When was a study conducted, for what purpose, by whom, on whose authority, and what were the findings?

Clearly, there is more to putting on an agenda the item of invocation beyond a “simple reply to comments.” We, the citizens of Irvine, are entitled to an explanation of how the newly elected council came to approve such a topic without adequately providing us with enough time to respond.

HANNA HILL

Irvine