DANNY MOGG
GOOD EVENING,
I am writing to you this evening to at once, thank the Mayor and Council Members for agreeing to add to the agenda the matter of the ad hoc committee on immigration, and at the same time expressing my disappointment regarding the length of time, and amount of effort that it has taken to reach this point in the process. All good governments are responsive to their constituents, and the City of Santa Maria, is no exception. Over the past five months, the citizens of Santa Maria have presented moral, economic, and practical evidence for the formation of such a committee, so I would hope that this information would be helpful, and enlightening to the Council in their deliberations. The benefits of such a panel are multiple. At a recent town hall in my neighborhood, I posited two basic questions to Councilmember Flores. First, what is your position on the ad hoc committee, and secondly. What is your rationale for your vote on this matter? Councilmember Flores deferred by stating that she had no position, and that she needed additional information. What is the purpose of the committee? Was one comment as I recall? I responded by explaining that such a panel of citizens and local government officials would build a bridge between the community, and the city government by providing accurate, real time information from citizens and the immigrant community on the impact of actions by the federal government. The discussion ended with the two of us agreeing that much more needs to be done. In the interest of accountability, I would ask that all councilmembers who oppose such a panel, provide a clear rationale for their opposition. From a practical standpoint, this is a reasonable ask. An informed city government can and must do everything possible to keep our community safe, citizens and non-citizens alike.
Political expediency notwithstanding. In this context, The Immigration ad hoc Committee makes perfect sense. In the words of one well informed speaker during a recent public comment period “If not an ad hoc committee, then what?”
RESPECTFULLY,
DANNY MOGG