By Brooklynn Wong
In a relatively short Anaheim City Council meeting that ran just four hours and 35 minutes, a range of topics was covered.
The City Council ticket policy has generated some controversy lately, but brought a surprisingly small amount of speakers to the dais. The Council also covered the Meet on Beach event that had taken place the weekend prior, and gave an update on the Angels negotiations.
Here is a brief rundown.
Meet on Beach
Meet on Beach took place on Sunday, November 17. It was a campaign to revitalize Beach Boulevard, and several cities along the historic thoroughfare participated. It was a street fair for which part of the road was shut down, and walking and biking was encouraged, and there was entertainment, workshops, education and neighborly fellowship all along the way.
Resident Mark Richard Daniels said he had walked from West Anaheim to Buena Park’s portion of the celebration at Independence Hall at Knott’s Berry Farm, and called Meet on Beach “a real special day.” There was largely positive feedback on the event, which was the inaugural, and may become annual.
Angel Stadium negotiations
The City Attorney announced that the city’s Angel Stadium negotiating team was scheduled to meet with the representatives from the Major League Baseball team on that coming Friday (November 22). The negotiations that will decide whether the Angels will continue to call Anaheim home or relocate to Los Angeles or elsewhere are ongoing. Councilman Jose Moreno asked if there’s an estimate on when the appraisal will be ready. An estimate on the worth of the land that the current Angel Stadium sits on has been in the works for some time. No clear answer was given.
Ticket policy
A story came out in OC Weekly earlier this fall that investigated the Anaheim City Council’s ticket policy, suggesting that the council members may be abusing their privileges, and invoking political patronage.
The City Council announced that after the story came out and generated some buzz, a resident came forward and asked that the City Council agendize the item for discussion. The Council wanted to take this opportunity to clarify the policy.
They each are provided with tickets to certain events at Angel Stadium and the Honda Center and other venues in the city. Most of the council members elaborated on how they handle the tickets, which most said more often than not they simply do not have the time to use, and they gift them to city employees or volunteers, and pushed back against the suspicion surrounding this policy.
There was one resident who said he thinks the “ticket policy needs to be completely overhauled.” But another who made a point of approaching the dais to say that he has no issue with the policy at all.
The Anaheim City Council will next meet on Tuesday, December 3 at 5 p.m. Following that, there will only be one remaining meeting for the year, on December 17.
