Latest news with #HuntingtonBeachCommunityandLibraryServicesCommission
Los Angeles Times
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
‘Magical, Alluring': Huntington Beach panel approves ‘MAGA' plaque for city library
A political controversy has erupted in an Orange County city that's celebrating the 50th anniversary of a library, and at the center of it is a plaque that reads like an acrostic poem and spells out 'MAGA.' On Tuesday night, a Huntington Beach city panel approved by a 6-0 vote the design of the plaque, which is intended to be installed in its Central Library. 'Magical, Alluring, Galvanizing, Adventurous,' say the words centered in the plaque. The well-known 'MAGA' acronym is used by President Trump and Republican supporters and translates to 'Make America Great Again.' In front of an overflow crowd of about 100 people, the members of the Huntington Beach Community and Library Services Commission had fairly little to say on the item itself, after hearing public comments from 40 speakers against the plaque and six in favor of it. Many of those against it booed the commission after the vote was cast. More than 300 residents also sent emails to the commission critiquing the plaque, questioning the use of a political slogan on a commemorative decoration as well as the use of 'alluring' in describing a public library. Resident Barbara Richardson said Tuesday during public comments that she thought she was being punked when she first saw the plaque's design, calling it divisive and embarrassing. 'It turned out, the joke was on me, because this plaque really is the real design,' she said. 'From far away, it looks like the plaque is celebrating 50 years of MAGA, as the word is dead center in the middle of the plaque. This is where one's eye is drawn, to a political slogan. Are political slogans even allowed to be installed on city buildings? Why shouldn't the city be neutral?' Chris Kluwe, also a resident of the city, spoke with more fire as he referred to the design as hideous. 'If you go forward with this plaque, you are putting MAGA front and center [in] our city,' Kluwe said. 'It is really important that you understand that MAGA as an ideology is destroying our country, OK? MAGA is the idea that trans people shouldn't exist. MAGA is the idea that you can let a billionaire come in and run our government and take our Social Security numbers to do who knows what, because there is no oversight.' Huntington Beach Deputy City Manager Jennifer Carey said that City Council member Gracey Van Der Mark, who swore in three new commission members at Tuesday's meeting, proposed the idea of celebrating the 50th anniversary with a dedicated plaque. 'The plaque's design was a collaborative effort, incorporating input from various City Council members and the community,' Carey said in an email Wednesday. Only Community and Library Services Committee Chairman Austin Edsell and Commissioner Jeanne Paris had comments about the design among the six commissioners, each of whom was appointed by a member of the all-conservative Huntington Beach City Council. The bronze plaque would be installed outside the library and has up to $7,000 budgeted for it, according to a staff report. Edsell said during the meeting that it was expected to be paid for through private donations. 'It's a great library,' said Edsell, a past president of the Orange County Young Republicans, adding that he grew up visiting it. 'Honoring it and celebrating it in this way, I think it's very fitting for us.' Paris said she recommended cleaning up the plaque a tad, though she was fine with the 'MAGA' in the center of it. She added that the council could also make changes to it. 'It's a little busy, that's all,' she said. 'I like the idea of MAGA. Making America great is not a racist comment.' But former council member Natalie Moser called the plaque political propaganda disguised as a celebration. 'Libraries are spaces for knowledge, community and inclusion,' she said. 'They are not tools for political messaging. ... History warns us about what happens when public spaces are manipulated for political purposes. In many historical moments during authoritarian regimes in times of intense social control, symbols were placed not to celebrate shared values but to assert control and rewrite history. These tactics are well-documented and studied in history books for their dangerous impact on free societies.' Moser called the plaque a distraction and urged residents to pay attention, adding that the council has made efforts to politicize the library, censor books and challenge citizen-driven petitions. 'These aren't just attacks on the library, they are attacks on our freedoms, on civic engagement and democracy,' she said. The plaque design is expected to go to the City Council for final approval next week.
Los Angeles Times
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Huntington Beach commission approves ‘MAGA' plaque for Central Library 50th anniversary
The 50th anniversary of the Huntington Beach Central Library has suddenly turned into a political battleground. On Tuesday night, the Huntington Beach Community and Library Services Commission approved by a 6-0 vote the design of a plaque celebrating the anniversary with 'Magical, Alluring, Galvanizing, Adventurous' in the middle. Together, the words equal the 'MAGA' acronym used by President Donald Trump and Republican supporters as 'Make America Great Again.' The four letters are displayed vertically in bold font on the plaque. In front of an overflow crowd of about 100 people, the commissioners had fairly little to say on the item itself, after hearing public comments from 40 speakers against the plaque and six in favor of it. Many of those against it booed the commission after the vote was cast. More than 300 residents also sent emails to the commission critiquing the plaque, questioning the use of a well-known political slogan on a commemorative decoration as well as the use of 'alluring' in describing a public library. Resident Barbara Richardson said Tuesday during public comments that she thought she was being punked when she first saw the plaque's design, calling it divisive and embarrassing. 'It turned out, the joke was on me, because this plaque really is the real design,' she said. 'From far away, it looks like the plaque is celebrating 50 years of MAGA, as the word is dead center in the middle of the plaque. This is where one's eye is drawn, to a political slogan. Are political slogans even allowed to be installed on city buildings? Why shouldn't the city be neutral?' Chris Kluwe, also a resident of the city, spoke with more fire as he referred to the design as hideous. 'If you go forward with this plaque, you are putting MAGA front and center [in] our city,' Kluwe said. 'It is really important that you understand that MAGA as an ideology is destroying our country, OK? MAGA is the idea that trans people shouldn't exist. MAGA is the idea that you can let a billionaire come in and run our government and take our Social Security numbers to do who knows what, because there is no oversight.' Huntington Beach Deputy City Manager Jennifer Carey said that City Council member Gracey Van Der Mark, who swore in three new commission members at Tuesday's meeting, proposed the idea of celebrating the 50th anniversary with a dedicated plaque. 'The plaque's design was a collaborative effort, incorporating input from various City Council members and the community,' Carey said in an email Wednesday. Only Community and Library Services Committee chairman Austin Edsell and commissioner Jeanne Paris had comments about the design among the six commissioners, each of whom was appointed by a member of the all-conservative Huntington Beach City Council. The bronze plaque would be installed outside the library and has up to $7,000 budgeted for it, according to a staff report prepared by Ashley Theel, director of community and library services. Edsell said during the meeting that it was expected to be paid for via private donations. 'It's a great library,' said Edsell, a past president of the Orange County Young Republicans, adding that he grew up visiting it. 'Honoring it and celebrating it in this way, I think it's very fitting for us.' Paris said she recommended cleaning up the plaque a tad, though she was fine with the 'MAGA' in the center of it. She added that the council could also make changes to it. 'It's a little busy, that's all,' she said. 'I like the idea of MAGA. Making America great is not a racist comment.' But former council member Natalie Moser called the plaque political propaganda disguised as a celebration. 'Libraries are spaces for knowledge, community and inclusion,' she said. 'They are not tools for political messaging ... History warns us about what happens when public spaces are manipulated for political purposes. In many historical moments during authoritarian regimes in times of intense social control, symbols were placed not to celebrate shared values, but to assert control and rewrite history. These tactics are well-documented and studied in history books for their dangerous impact on free societies.' Moser called the plaque a distraction and urged residents to pay attention, adding that the council has made efforts to politicize the library, censor books and challenge citizen-driven petitions. 'These aren't just attacks on the library, they are attacks on our freedoms, on civic engagement and democracy,' she said. The plaque is expected to go to the City Council for final approval next week.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
California city approves $7K ‘MAGA' plaque for library's anniversary
Despite hundreds of attendees voicing opposition to installing a plaque referencing President Donald Trump at the Huntington Beach Central Library, a city commission voted unanimously to proceed with the gesture. The plaque, which is meant to commemorate the library's 50th anniversary, features the slogan Magical, Alluring, Galvanizing, Adventurous. Arranged in the style of an acrostic poem, the slogan reads 'MAGA,' the acronym synonymous with President Donald Trump and the Republican party. The not-so-subtle allusion to Trump appears to be a wholly new slogan created specifically for the plaque, with no ties to the official verbiage or brand identity of Huntington Beach or its public library system. A search for the phrase on the city's website yielded no relevant results. After news broke about plans to install the plaque during an event honoring the library's five decades of service, outrage spread online, mobilizing opponents to attend Tuesday's meeting of the Huntington Beach Community and Library Services Commission. Matt Szabo, a reporter for the Daily Pilot, which is published under the umbrella of the Los Angeles Times, was in attendance for Tuesday's meeting and described a scene of overwhelming opposition for the city's motion. 'More than 300 emails were against this,' Szabo wrote on Bluesky. 'Most of overflow crowd is, too.' Among those speaking out against the city's plan was former councilmember Natalie Moser, who described the commemorative plaque as 'political propaganda disguised as a celebration.' 'Libraries are spaces for knowledge, community and inclusion, they are not tools for political messaging yet this plaque inserts division, exclusion and control into a space meant to foster learning and unity,' Moser said. 'The use of a 'MAGA' acrostic injects partisan ideology into a public institution that belongs to everyone, not just a political movement.' On Reddit, in the dedicated Huntington Beach subreddit, one user shared their message to the commission voting on the plaque: 'Although not everyone in this room may lean towards either side of the political spectrum, at the very least, we can all agree that the term 'MAGA' is divisive language. Our local leaders wish to spend $7,000 of your taxpayer money to create a plaque that a large portion of the city will hate.' Messaging aside, the cost of the plaque itself was also a topic of concern for those who opposed the city's plan, with some questioning if the money spent on the design, fabrication, and installation would be better spent on the library's overall mission. Tuesday's vote marked the latest clash between the Huntington Beach City Council and its library system. Last year, the council considered outsourcing library operations to a third-party company. In 2023, the city mandated that librarians review children's books and relocate those containing 'sexually explicit' material. Reporting from LAist found that most of the flagged books focused on health, the human body and puberty. Despite the council's arguably antagonistic relationship with the library system, the plaque includes the names of current council members, and those on the Community and Library Services Commission who had the final say on its installation for the library's 50th anniversary. After public comment, the board approved the plaque with unanimous support. Dispelling any notion that the use of 'MAGA' on the plaque was simply coincidental, Jeanne Paris, a member of the Community and Library Services Commision said, 'Make America great is not a racist comment.' The overflowing crowd of opponents booed that sentiment, Szabo said. KTLA has twice reached out to the City of Huntington Beach media team for comment, including whether the slogan has been used previously in an official capacity. On Wednesday, the following statement was provided to KTLA: The proposed library plaque was approved by the Community & Library Services Commission at their meeting last night. The item will be on the February 18, 2025 City Council agenda for their approval. Jennifer Carey – Deputy City Manager Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
