KIDS THESE DAYS:

If you did not attend the Costa Mesa candidate forum hosted by the Mesa Verde Homeowners Assn. last Thursday night, it will be hard to imagine how boring it really was.

But I’ll help you try.

One of the most visible problems with the evening was the crowd, which was thin. My guess is there were a lot of people on vacation, a lot of people watching the Angels and even more people watching the Olympics.

Those have to be the reasons for the light crowd, because there is one issue facing the city that should have brought a mob with pitchforks and shovels. More on that in a moment.

The moderator, Jay Humphrey, tried but failed to get any mojo going and forgot several times that to be heard in a large room, it helps to speak into the microphone. I’m not sure why Peter Buffa was not brought back, but I think he did an excellent job two years ago.

Also, there was the lack of direct audience participation. Instead of being able to ask questions from a microphone, residents were asked to fill out questions on blank cards.

The response format was bad, too. While two minutes for an opening statement was fine, answers to questions should have been limited to one minute. With two minutes for each answer and nine candidates, it was almost 20 minutes before a single question was answered by everyone on the dais.

The biggest issue facing Costa Mesa is the looming budget deficit. Without more revenue, there is no money for more of anything, particularly more places for kids to play, which is a frequent subject in this space.

Unfortunately, both field use and the budget deficit were barely mentioned last week. The big subject seemed to be development, which is an important topic. All the issues facing the city are connected in some way. We’d like more fields and our gymnasiums open on weekends, but there may not be any revenue to participate with the school district in such a program.

We’d also like more police on the streets, but there may not be any money for that, either. And we’d welcome the addition of a central library, particularly for the city’s kids, but, you guessed it, there is no money for that.

So, you see, all the issues come back to the revenue we don’t have. But listening to the candidates last week, one would think we’re flush.

The subject of raising cash was not entirely avoided. The proposed increase in the transit occupancy tax, a tax levied on hotel guests, did come up, but because the format did not allow for follow-up questions, we never really got into a healthy discussion.

I am opposed to an increase in the TOT unless it is the part of a larger fiscal policy. That policy has three components: healthy investment, judicious development and fiscal restraint. Without these controls, the TOT becomes a short-term solution to a long-term problem.

And without these controls, we do not increase the chances for more field use, more gyms and a central library for the city’s children.

Events such as last week’s forum are a golden opportunity for the new faces running for office to assert themselves.

Instead, most of them wasted it on showing us how ill-informed and unprepared they are.

The lone exception was candidate Bill Sneen, who had clearly done his homework and sounded as though he’d been on the council for years. Sneen is a successful business executive who has managed large budgets, and he is a parent, too.

So consider one of my votes already accounted for.

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Send story ideas to [email protected].