Circle it on your calendars, friends: We may have an absolute car crash of a City Council meeting on our hands come November 17, the very last one evah for this set of council members.

We already knew that the City Council was going to get an updated set of terms on November 17 for its contract with Flock Safety. The last time that contract was under discussion back in July of this year, over 75 speakers took to the podiums/commented via Zoom, and public comment lasted for more than two-and-half hours.

Now, courtesy of last night’s Fairview Park Steering Committee meeting, we now know that city staff is also planning to bring back the Fairview Park Master Plan Update for final review and adoption at the November 17th meeting. The last time that item was up for discussion almost a year ago, public comment also hit the two-hour mark as the conflict between conservationists and active-park-use-enthusiasts, particularly the glider fliers from the Harbor Soaring Society, spilled out into public view.

As I wrote this past weekend, these are two of the hottest items on the campaign trail, too. I understand that candidates have been dogged with questions from activists and concerned residents about the city’s Flock contract almost daily. And City Council candidate for District 5, Steve Smith, has made maintaining activities like glider flying and Concerts in the Park in Fairview Park a cornerstone of his campaign, going so far as to hold a rally on Fairview Park’s bridge over Placentia Avenue:

So my question is:

Can the City Council even hold this meeting?

My honest opinion is that managing both of these items on the same night simply is not possible. Hundreds of residents on radically different topics are going to be there, and one set is going to have to wait through hours upon hours of presentations, comments, discussions and questions before they get a chance to hear the item they came for. That seems egregiously unfair to whatever item draws the short straw and has to go second.

But which item gets the boot? I suppose the City Council could hold a special meeting on another day to get some more time, but, given this is the week before Thanksgiving, getting to a quorum could get tricky.

Honestly, I think the “right” answer, which nobody reading is going to like, would be to postpone the discussion on Flock and proceed with the Fairview Park Master Plan Update discussion.

Here me out. Yes, the “harms” of our imperfect Flock contract are, to the extent they exist, ongoing. But the members of the next City Council, not this outgoing one, are the ones that are going to have to live with a decision on the Flock contract either way. The candidates for those offices already have the issue constantly top-of-mind. And truthfully, they’ll be in as good a position to render a judgement on the topic as any person alive. Candidates have to go door-to-door and speak directly to residents for weeks. Sitting City Council members, unless they are seeking office themselves, do not. So, personally, I would rather have someone who has talked to hundreds of people in the city about this very controversial issue making the decision than someone who sees their own time in office quickly coming to an end.

With respect to the Fairview Park Master Plan Update, on the other hand, the current City Council members have a gigantic advantage over their soon-to-be successors. The fight over Fairview Park has raged for years (decades, almost), and there have been many twists and turns along the way. Mayor John Stephens, who has been around the City Council for the longest of the termed-out members, understands those issues probably as well as anyone else active in city politics. And Council Member Arlis Reynolds, who was so personally instrumental in securing Randall Preserve as an extension of Fairview Park’s and Talbert Regional Park’s natural open spaces, can speak to the conservation interests like few others can. To lose that wealth of knowledge on the dais and then have the new members vote on the update seems like a huge waste.

ON THE OTHER HAND…

It’s pretty clear which item the residents want addressed first. Flock is everywhere, and, with the mainstream media constantly amplifying stories about how AI is going to both cure cancer and kill us all, it seems impossible to shove AI-enabled cameras off voters’ minds.

Meanwhile, it’s also pretty clear which item City Hall wants to go first. I think the Costa Mesa Police Department would be satisfied if the Flock contract never came up ever again. And it seemed pretty clear, to me at least, at the Fairview Park Steering Committee meeting that the staff shepherding the Fairview Park Master Plan Update feel more confident of getting an approval from the current group of council members than whoever might be waiting for them after November 3rd.

So the City Council, if they have to choose between these two items, will have a tough choice. Tell the public, which already feels burned from their July 2026 meeting, that they’ve punted Flock again? Or, tell the staff that the project they’ve been working on for three + years will now land in the hands of an entirely new Council?

See, kids: this is what happens when you procrastinate.