Costa Mesa faces the challenges of diversity

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- Ethnic diversity is apparent in many ways throughout the

community -- in its food, art, language, ideas and, of course, its

people.

Costa Mesa residents have backgrounds from the far reaches of the

globe -- Africa, Asia, Europe and the Pacific Islands -- as well as from

Latin America, the ancestral home to about 44% of the community,

according to a 1997 survey.

And while most residents say they generally live in harmony with their

neighbors, the election in November of a controversial city councilman

has some worried that his policies and ideas could hurt the town’s

ethnically diverse image.

“I’m concerned there is an undercurrent of fear and hatred that is out

there under the surface,” said Costa Mesa attorney and community leader

Bill Turpit, a member of the Latino Business Council.

“I don’t think it’s large. I think it is kept alive by some key

advocates and also by a common characteristic of ignorance and lack of

familiarity with other people.”

Despite Turpit’s fears, many cultural opportunities are available for

residents to take advantage of and a multitude of service organizations

help channel goodwill between those of different heritages.

But there still is room for improvement, said Oscar Santoyo, director

of the Save Our Youth after-school program.

“I really feel that this city is trying to do some outreach and

improve the relationships and understanding between different cultures,”

he said.

“But no matter where you go in this country, you are going to see some

type of prejudice or stereotyping.

“It’s just part of life and we have to try to deal with it by

informing ourselves and by trying to understand each other’s cultural

backgrounds. Just because it’s good right now doesn’t mean we can’t do

more and do it better.”

Santoyo said he thinks the issue is culture, not race.

Similarly, while many community leaders worry that racism is alive in

Costa Mesa, they don’t really think it’s doing that well.

Still, a few people say evidence of growing racial tensions are there

for anyone who wants to see.

UNDER THE SURFACE

Newly elected Councilman Chris Steel seems to be the center of the

community leaders’ concerns.

Steel ran his campaign on the premise that the largely Latino

immigrant population on Costa Mesa’s Westside has been the major source

of the city’s problems with crime, overcrowding and schools.

This month he followed through on part of his anti-immigrant campaign

promises by announcing plans to request citizenship screening for members

of city committees but not without ruffling a few feathers along the way.

Steel dropped the idea, however, after the city attorney’s office

found that parks commissioners already are required to be registered

voters. The councilman said the matter was not an “issue” for him.

Steel is quick to point out that his actions are not racially

motivated in any way.

Still, some worry that tensions are growing.

At last week’s City Council meeting, Mayor Libby Cowan said although

she has always thought of Costa Mesa as an open, accepting community, she

has heard comments that reveal small pockets of discrimination in the

community.

“Some things that concern me are things I consider social justice

issues, discrimination issues, somewhat of a bashing of Costa Mesa,” she

said.

“I get the feeling that some of the people who speak to us really want

to be somewhere else . . . We must reach out and accept all people

because everyone has hopes and dreams.”

Jean Forbath, founder of Share Our Selves, said she has seen prejudice

wear a disguise.

“Just reading some of the letters that get into the papers have been

red flags that things are being stirred up a bit,” she said.

“I’m very sad at what has been happening recently. A lot of it is

under the guise of beautification of Costa Mesa and is sometimes hidden

under a lot of euphemisms, such as, ‘Let’s make sure we have more

single-family homes and do away with overcrowding and multifamily

rentals. Let’s lower the density.’

“Some of the things people are talking about are hiding some of their

real feelings.”

Janice Davidson, chairwoman of Citizens to Improve Costa Mesa, one of

the groups leading the charge for improvement of the Westside and a

strong backer of Steel, said she thinks the truth is the other way

around.

What appears to be racism, she said, is really just concern about

overcrowding.

For example, she points out a survey of about 300 Westside residents

done by her group shows an overwhelming majority of the respondents cite

diversity as their favorite Westside characteristic.

“It isn’t about racism,” Davidson said. “It’s about people. Too many

people in too small an area.

“Race gets mixed up with the discussion about illegals because . . .

most of the illegals here are from South America. That’s how race creeps

in, but the issue has nothing really to do with race.”

POSITIVE EXPERIENCES

Turpit said he began seeing signs of racial tension about two years

ago, when public discussions began about plans to improve the Westside.

Councilwoman Linda Dixon, however, said she thinks Costa Mesa has not

changed for the worse in the last few years.

“I think the community is really a warm, open community that is

working very well with the diversity,” she said.

“Aside from special-interest groups, I think the community is very

accepting.”

Hiro Matsunaga, owner of Ooiso Restaurant and an immigrant from Japan,

said he thinks the community has grown more tolerant of diversity since

he moved to Costa Mesa 20 years ago.

“Then, when I took my wife and kids to a restaurant, people would look

at us because you never saw Asians, blacks or other races aside from

white,” he said.

“Now I’m more comfortable because there are many races living here and

I never feel that way anymore.”

But many residents, including newly elected Councilwoman Karen

Robinson -- Costa Mesa’s first African-American council member -- said

although they know discrimination exists, they have never been personally

affected.

Nelly Rubinov, a Moscow Deli employee, said her Russian accent is the

only disadvantage she has felt in being from another country.

“Otherwise, I am proud to come from another country and to have

adapted,” she said.

“I think this is a very accepting community. So many different people

from all cultures come to the store to enjoy food and conversation

because it’s always a benefit to learn something new and a different

culture is something new.

“I have always been interested to learn different cultures because you

can adopt things from others and give something to others too.”

Maria Elena Avila, owner of El Ranchito Mexican Restaurant, was one of

a number of restaurant representatives who said they have not suffered

from any bias or unacceptance.

“I love Costa Mesa and have had nothing but positive experiences

working with the community,” she said.

“As a whole, in my experience, I think city officials want to bridge

communication with the Latino community so we can really make Costa Mesa

a model city in how it is dealing with its demographic changes.”

She said work on the Westside Specific Plan was a landmark model of

different cultures working together, particularly when the city realized

the plan did not have Latino input and actively sought it out.

Avila said she has witnessed some discrimination, however, from a

“small segment of our population that is very vocal but does not, in my

experience, represent the community.”

“That is not what our community is,” she said. “Instead of attacking

us, they should work with us and help us. We all want the same things: a

safe, clean community, a good place for children and success for our

businesses.

“As we plan for the future of Costa Mesa, we can either be reactive

and divisive with that small segment or we can really be a model. The

Latino community needs a sense of belonging.”

PREJUDICE WITH A DIFFERENT FACE

A number of Costa Mesa residents agree that prejudice is an issue but

that the bias is based on issues other than race.

Tom Egan, an active Westside resident, said the real issue is not

racial diversity but “the transient versus the stable.”

He said some people have an issue with illegal immigrants -- many of

whom happen to be Mexican -- because of the idea that they are not stable

members of the community.

“I don’t think Costa Mesa would have problems with anybody, even green

men from Mars, as long as they were stable,” he said.

“We have a large Latino population with a lot of stable citizen

Latinos and I think Costa Mesa really does accept anybody who wants to be

a stable member of society. I see a lot of intolerance for anybody who is

perceived to treat us as a waystation.

“I personally am not troubled with this legal versus illegal

immigrants stuff. If this country was really troubled with illegal

immigrants, we wouldn’t have them. It’s pretty clear we want them. I

think people are talking from both sides of their mouth when they talk

about illegals and yet we have them.”

Dixon said although she thinks “people need to take legal steps to be

in this country, just because someone is not yet a citizen doesn’t mean

that they don’t have good ideas, doesn’t mean they are not working to do

the best possible for the community [and] doesn’t mean they are not

loyal.”

Another issue is money.

“It’s not just racial prejudice but also prejudice against the poor

and the homeless,” Forbath said. “Even the names they give them, like

transients, as if they’re not people who live here.”

Officials at the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen, which serves hot meals to

the poor, said they have seen that prejudice.

Some assume the poor are, by nature, transients.

“People say that people are coming from other cities to the soup

kitchen, but it’s not true,” said Merle Hatleberg, founder of the

charity.

“I’d say well over 80% of the people who eat here are from the city of

Costa Mesa. They are Costa Mesa’s poor people.”

George Neureuther, the charity’s development director, said it’s a

misconception that the majority of the people who eat at the soup kitchen

are Latino.

“It’s all races,” he said. “It’s anyone who’s hungry and that’s all

races. It’s not only homeless, but also senior citizens, the working poor

and the mentally challenged. It’s a sample of what we have in the city.”

Egan’s wife, Eleanor, chairwoman of the Westside Improvement Assn.,

compares Costa Mesa’s situation to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

“It was a sudden influx of poor people that had an impact on

communities,” Eleanor Egan said. “Yes, the migrants in the Dust Bowl

spoke English and were American, but they had a hard time because they

were not welcomed.

“The bottom line was that they were poor. Unfortunately here, a small

part of one city [the Westside] is bearing a big burden and getting no

help from anybody.

“When people do put down roots and get on their feet financially, they

are displaced by poorer immigrants. We would eventually be able to absorb

it if it weren’t for the constant turnover.”