Handed out 10,000 postcards (to be mailed in Februrary), handed out over 200 signs, had 30 volunteers for community chats and 28 volunteers to canvass!  See below for more volunteer opportunities.

HB CITY COUNCIL IS PROPOSING THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION AT ITS OCTOBER 17 MEETING Regretably the resolution below passed 4-3 despite a majority of public comments against it.  The reality is that no one quite knows how it will be implemented.

LA Times Editorial Board, 10/30/23: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-10-30/editorial-huntington-beach-panel-censorship-city-libraries 

Daily Pilot in LAT, 10/14/23 by Matt Szabo: www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/story/2023-10-13/huntington-beach-city-council-to-consider-review-board-to-stop-some-books-from-hitting-public-library-shelves 

Click here to send your emails:  city.council@surfcity-hb.org and supplementalcomm@surfcity-hb.org  

On September 14th, the Huntington Beach City Council held the first of four planned special meetings to “discuss“ several proposed charter amendments. What a farce! Public speakers were given just 90 seconds to express their concerns. There was a staff-created powerpoint to outline the public comment process. Mayor Strickland decreed that there would be no discussion from the council members. 

Then, after Councilman Kalmick insisted, the public once again had 90 seconds to speak. There were 39 speakers, and only five of them supported the ad hoc committee's proposed city charter amendments.The vast majority of email communications were also opposed to the proposed amendments.

Coming up this week, there will be two city council meetings that we need people to attend. 

Tuesday (9/19) will be the regular meeting, with 17 items on the agenda. There will be a report on the success of the Navigation Center for the homeless. Item #10 contains an annual report on the Community Block Grant, which provides funding for community development and housing. It should be very interesting to hear how the majority responds to this report. 

Thursday (9/21) at 6:00 p.m., please plan to come to the council chambers for the second Proposed City Charter Amendment meeting. This is where we really need you to take action. Send another email, attend the meeting, prepare public comments, and be bold enough to go to the podium. 

WHAT ARE THE MOST PRESSING ISSUES?

One of the proposed amendments is a change from elections being run by the OC Registrar of Voters (one of the top ten registrar offices in the nation) to city run elections. This would create myriad problems.  See questions below.  Has a cost analysis been done?  Was there fraud in the last election (which brought the F4+G)?  Is this a solution in search of a problem? Or is this another part of the power grab?  

Below is a letter from Rob Bonta, CA Attorney General informing the HB City Council of the implications of changing elections protocols.  

What can you do about this?  

Attend the meetings and voice your opinions.  If you can't attend in person, call, write or email the city council members repeatedly if need be.  You will find their emails at  www.huntingtonbeachca.gov/government/elected_officials/city_council/

 Also, keep up with what the press coverage is by going to our internal page: sites.google.com/view/orange-coast-huddle/voter-engagement/from-the-press 

Friends of the Huntington Beach Library have been actively supporting HB library since 1971. The recent threats from the HB city council shines a spotlight on their efforts to educate, organize events and raise funds benefiting our community treasure. Members of the Orange Coast Huddle are pleased to share their link in support of them. Please visit their site and more importantly their store in the library to help. 

Learn about the issues re church and state from this thoughtful and lengthy article from the Anti-Defamation League:la.adl.org/news/me-southern-california-church-leaders-pushing-political-extremes/ 

HOLDING ELECTED LEADERS ACCOUNTABLE

In February we sponsored a program on this extremely timely topic.  HB is a hot spot right now, but other governmental entities are also vulnerable.  In any case, the right thing to do being concerned citizens is to keep informed and act on issues we care about on behalf of ourselves and our community.  The program slides are available by clicking here.  Learn how to

•  Find your city council's agendas and subscribe to them

•  Offer comments at meetings 

•  Contact your representatives and more.

Thanks as always for your activism. Hundreds of emails were sent to the city council, and the chambers were full of folks ready to speak (and support other public speakers)!

And we made a difference:

-The libraries will not be closing, and hours will not be reduced.

-Beach and park maintenance will not be compromised. 

-The popular Circuit downtown shuttle service will continue through 12/31, and possibly beyond if they receive grant funding.

-The police will get a 3 year contract that includes a 5% salary increase each year. Competitive salaries will hopefully help fill the current 30 vacancies in our HB Police force.

-The City Attorney will add 4 employees to his office.

-The City Treasurer will get $100,000 to remodel the office.

-The city will be increasing fees and fines. Other revenue sources will be considered as well.

The next meeting will be July 18, which means we have a few weeks to rest. We will keep you updated on any further developments.

CITY COUNCIL AGENDA

Agendas are available at huntingtonbeach.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx  City Council meetings are broadcast live on YouTube. Search for the live session or the archives. The city website is www.huntingtonbeachca.gov/ 

We Need To Do Better Next Election

The votes are counted and sad to say many of the candidates we supported didn't win. Even though Republicans are in the minority in Orange County, they showed up to vote. Their candidates had access to more money and were willing to use deceitful tactics to win at any cost. We will all take a break, spend time with family over the holiday season... then we will come back next year and start planning. We will brainstorm ideas on how to engage and motivate voters to show up. We need volunteers that want to help with those ideas. We can never assume that our candidates will win or that their seats are safe. Together we can make a difference. We can create the message and be the voice... but we will need a lot of voices. Join the Orange Coast Huddle and help take on 

Big Issues with Local Action!

Join the Voter Engament Team

Same Grassroots Action

New Huddle Name 

In February 2017, after the first Women’s March, a group of strangers responded to the call, “First we march, then we huddle.”  We were united in our goals to become more politically active and to counteract the actions of the newly elected president.  We agreed upon the issues we would focus on and formed our action teams.  We persisted!

Since that time, we’ve continued to pursue our goals and have learned that the challenges that concern us are best corrected by electing like-minded officials and providing community service opportunities.  We are most effective when we work together to educate the public and encourage the electorate to vote. We have determined that a PAC is the most appropriate structure for our organization.

For archived issues of our newsletter go to: us15.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=fefda7d67dd51caf8aad96c88&id=b4f9961904     SIGN UP FOR THE NEWLETTER BELOW.

We actually have two state senators: Dave Min until 2024 and Janet Nguyen through 2026.  The explanation from a Dave Min staffer is below:  

Due to redistricting, Senate districts have a unique issue that Assembly and Congressional districts do not have. Of the Senate districts established by the Citizens Redistricting Commission in 2011, only the odd-numbered districts went into effect for the 2012 election cycle. The new even-numbered districts will go into effect for the 2014 election cycle, and the even-numbered districts previously established by the 2001 redistricting will continue to exist until 2014. These unique circumstances create some areas of overlap between the old and new districts (“accelerated areas”) and some areas without coverage (“deferred areas”). For the 2013-14 Regular Session of the Legislature, each accelerated area essentially has two Senators representing the area and each deferred area has none. The Senate Committee on Rules will assign a Senator to provide appropriate constituent services to each deferred area. This is a normal consequence of the redistricting process.

Michelle Steel  US Representative 45 – Republican

Janet Nguyen  CA Senate 36 – Republican

Dave Min         CA Senate 37 – Democrat

Diane Dixon     CA Assembly 72 – Republican 

Tri Ta                CA Assembly 70 – Republican 

ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

Doug Chaffee, Chairman, 4th District:  Brea, Buena Park, Fullerton, La Habra, Placentia, Stanton, portions of Anaheim, and unincorporated communities.  

Donald P. Wagner, Vice-Chairman, 3rd District: Anaheim (portions of), Irvine (portions of), Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Orange (portions of), Rancho Santa Margarita, Tustin (portions of), Villa Park, Yorba Linda, and the Unincorporated Communities of Modjeska, North Tustin, Silverado, Trabuco Canyon and Williams Canyon

Andrew Do, 1st District, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove (portions of), Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos, La Palma, Seal Beach, Westminster, and the Unincorporated Communities of Midway City and Rossmoor

Vicente Sarmiento 2nd District. Anaheim (portions of), Garden Grove (portions of), Orange (portions of), Santa Ana, Tustin (portions of), and the Unincorporated Communities of North Tustin

Katrina Foley, 5th District, The Cities of Aliso Viejo, Costa Mesa, Dana Point, Irvine (portions of), Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Newport Beach, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, as well as the unincorporated areas of Coto de Caza, Ladera Ranch, Las Flores, and Rancho Mission Viejo

FOUNTAIN  VALLEY CITY COUNCIL

Kim Constantine, Mayor, Term expires 2026 

Glen Grandis,     Mayor Pro Tem, Term expires 2024 

Ted Bui,               Term expires 2024 

Jim Cunneen       Term expires 2026 

Patrick Harper     Term expires 2026

NEWPORT BEACH CITY COUNCIL

Noah Blom, District 5,         Mayor, Term expires 2024

Will O’Neill, District 7,          Mayor Pro Tem, Term expires 2024

Joe Stapleton, District 1,     Term expires 2026 

Brad Avery, District 2,          Term expires 2024

Eric Weigan, District 3,        Term expires 2026 

Robyn Grant, District 4,       Term expires 2026 

Lauren Kleiman, District 6,  Term expires 2026