MAILBAG:

Dear Mayor Mansoor,

In the wake of the case of the City of Costa Mesa vs. Benito Acosta being dismissed, I have some questions for you.

Since we will never know the verdict a jury might have rendered, and since your testimony as reported by you and the news media are at odds with each other and yours is at odds with the video record, what steps, if any, will you take to ameliorate the perception that you testified with only a self-serving version of the events, not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

Will you now attempt to reach out to our Latino community and attempt to rebuild the bridges you destroyed?

Since, through your actions, the city now faces a potentially huge fiscal hit if Acosta’s federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the ACLU is successful, will you and your majority on the council recommend to the city’s legal counsel that a prompt settlement be made? If not, why not?

Have you learned anything from this experience that will make you a better public servant? Specifically, have you learned that elected officials must be even-handed in the application of the rules by which our public meetings are conducted? Have you learned that even the most strident voice of opposition to your views has the very specific right to be heard at the appropriate time and place without interference or censorship?

There are those in the community who are very concerned about the cost of this fiasco, both in image and treasure. Can you please tell us what you, as the elected leader of this city, plan to do to rehabilitate the image of our city? Also, and equally as important, will you provide to the voters and taxpayers of this city an accounting of how much, specifically, the pursuit of the Acosta case has cost us? Since this case has been in the works for more than a year and a half, with numerous pretrial hearings and depositions of witnesses, and since it was dismissed because of a huge mistake by our contracted legal counsel, will you provide us with the details?

Will you seek recompense of some costs from the law firm, Jones & Mayer, for its egregious error that caused the dismissal?

Thank you, Mayor Mansoor, for the opportunity to present these questions to you. We, the voters of Costa Mesa, await your reply.

GEOFF WEST

Costa Mesa

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