Scott does not speak for Southeast area

Tim Geddes

I take great exception to the Sounding Off diatribe by John Scott

(“Southeast committee doesn’t represent area residents” April 10.)

First and foremost, John Scott does not represent the Southeast area.

Yes, he was the founding chairman of the Southeast Huntington Beach

Neighborhood Assn. and still serves on the Executive Board (a

circumstance he declined to state in his article and the Independent

neglected to mention.) However, his views reflect only one faction of

the diverse opinion base in our neighborhood.

Scott does not speak for the association (our current chairman, Ed

DeMeulle, is our official spokesman), and, because I also serve on

the association board, I will disclaim speaking for it also.

My outrage is my own, although I suspect there may be others in

the homeowners association that share it. Scott has been an ardent

and implacable foe of City Hall for many years, and he erroneously

ascribes the fallacies and foibles of past City Councils to our

current Southeast committee.

By all measures, the current council committee (Mayor pro tem

Cathy Green, Jill Hardy and Dave Sullivan), like its immediate

predecessor headed by past mayor Debbie Cook and current mayor Connie

Boardman, has been open and responsive to the needs and priorities of

Southeast residents. The members of the current council committee

were three of the four top Southeast vote getters in last November’s

election, and they have been nothing but supportive of the reasonable

needs of our area.

It is Scott who is either blinded by his own moonbeams or

delusional in his vision of Southeast Huntington Beach that ignores

the real world choices that Southeast residents must make in pushing

for the best possible future for our area.

Our residents cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and pout about

what happened decades ago or cry about the decisions that have to be

made here and now. We must move forward and be actively engaged and

constructive in our input to the decision-making process.

Yes, redevelopment has been a divisive issue in our neighborhood,

but as many community leaders supported it as opposed it. Will

development benefit the Southeast area? It will if the Southeast

community is dedicated to making it work (despite the dissembling of

die-hard detractors like John Scott).

Of course, Southeast residents must be diligent in holding City

Hall to its promises and representations. But, let’s be reasonable in

our requests and ready to do our utmost to take advantage of

opportunities that come our way. We must be realistic in projecting

our goals, our priorities, and our vision of what is feasible for our

area.

Now that City Hall is actually listening to us and willing to work

with us, let’s show we can be good partners in building our future

for this part of the city. We owe it to ourselves.

* TIM GEDDES is a Huntington Beach resident. To contribute to

“Sounding Off” e-mail us at [email protected] or fax us at (714)

965-7174.