THROUGH MY EYES -- RON DAVIS

Have you heard of the Calgary Stampede? Calgary is in the province of

Alberta, in Canada, and every July, Calgary hosts a 10-day rodeo called

the Stampede.

Over the course of the next several months, Huntington Beach will host

its own stampede. But unlike Calgary, instead of riding bulls, we might

be hearing bull. Rather than watching people on bucking broncos, we’ll

probably watch people beating a dead horse.

Our stampede will occur as a result of proposed 5%, across-the-board

budget cuts. The stampede will take place in the City Council chambers as

soon as some of the residents realize that 5% budget cuts don’t mean that

every program will be cut by a mere 5%, but that some programs will be

eliminated entirely, so that each city department can reduce its budget

by 5%.

As an example, the city will look at decreasing the Police

Department’s budget by 5%. When we hear that, most of us do a so-what

shoulder shrug. We don’t recognize that when we have a problem, the

Police Department can’t send out 95% officer. The department doesn’t

drive 95% of a car and cops don’t carry 95% of a gun.

When the Police Department budget (about $40 million) gets cut by 5%,

whole programs get eliminated. The community still requires whole cops,

with whole guns and whole cars. That means that sacred cows (a little

rodeo humor!), like the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, find

themselves slated for the glue factory.

And that’s why many of those opposed to eliminating the DARE program

stampeded the City Council at Monday night’s meeting.

The distress created by the suggestion that the DARE program might be

eliminated, is only the beginning. At best, the potential elimination of

DARE represents only $400,000 of the $6.5 million worth of programs and

services Huntington Beach will have to cut annually. And, that means the

residents who are affected by the services and programs considered for

reduction or elimination will attack City Hall like mosquitoes on bare

skin.

Many of those who spoke against the potential elimination of the DARE

program begged the council to “do the right thing,” and produced studies

validating DARE as a worthwhile program. But, those comments and

arguments miss the point.

The point is not whether having a program designed to reduce drug and

alcohol usage among the youth of our community is “the right thing,” or

whether the program has value. The issue is the comparative worth of one

program or service to another. It is not the fault of the Huntington

Beach City Council that the city will not have $6.5 million to spend on

these programs in the future. We, the taxpayers, control how much money

the city has to spend. And, the taxpayers have decided that they want the

city to spend $6.5 million less annually. And when that happens,

something has to give.

Over the next couple of months, I expect to see countless long-faced

residents at the podium telling the City Council why their favorite

program should not suffer the indignity of the guillotine. And, implicit

in their argument is the notion that someone else’s unnamed program ought

to suffer the fate of the ax. This is the kissing cousin to NIMBYism.

You’ve heard of the Golden Rule, I call this the Lead Rule: Do it to

someone else, before you do it to me.

The problem is that those who oppose cuts in their favorite programs

or services, seldom if ever identify the specific program or service

which should be cut instead. In my view if you think there are programs

more deserving of the ax than yours, identify them. Tell the world and

the City Council why your program is better than some other program.

In the world of rodeo, not all entrants can be winners and in local

government spending, not all programs and services can be funded. In

Calgary, the winners will not only have to prove they are good, but

they’ll have to prove that they are better and more deserving than

someone else.

Is it too much to expect those who support specific local programs and

services to demonstrate not only that they are needed or valuable, but

more needed and more valuable than something else?

* RON DAVIS is a private attorney who lives in Huntington Beach. He

can be reached by e-mail at o7 [email protected]