Courageously standing up for freedom in Moreno Valley

The Press Enterprise has provided continuing coverage of hot issues that continue to plague Moreno Valley. At stake are environmental, logistics transportation, and economic issues. Heavy campaigning is evident from both sides: Residents versus the special interests. The former is uniting to take back their city through an intense recall campaign. The latter is pouring big money to maintain the status quo.

For the record, The Transit Coalition does not endorse the recall election. As a non-profit organization we are forbidden to do so. We take positions on the policies themselves. We support clean air, properly planned growth, and efficient transportation infrastructure. We also back a robust economy which pays for the transit system. We certainly support the freedom to assemble and organize, voice our position, and engage in robust debate.

It is without question that whenever a governing body begins to encroach on our liberties and the republic, standing up and defending such freedom is a patriotic duty. Believing that the City of Moreno Valley has fallen under the power grab of the special interests of logistics development to the possible point of illegal corruption, its citizens are peacefully fighting back to reclaim their city.

There's growing evidence that City Hall is behaving badly in a number of ways. First, elected officials are stonewalling valid World Logistics Center criticism at public meetings. As currently planned, WLC is an example of undesired urban sprawl. By definition, elected officials serving in the republic must reflect the values of the people they represent. That can't happen when officials try to block or ignore residents' valid concerns of proposed projects by plugging their ears against their voices. A second controversy was the failure to at least conduct a public interview process to replace Marcelo Co on the Council. That is a complete disgrace to democracy and the U.S. Constitution. The Founding Fathers would never have allowed the city to appoint Yxstian Gutierrez the way it did. And the continued pandering to developer Iddo Benzeevi, possibly illegally given the ongoing investigations by the federal government, weakens the power of Moreno Valley's people. Again, such pandering goes against the principles of the republic.

The controversies taking place in Moreno Valley is clearly not about jobs versus the environment. It is about a group of concerned citizens' desire for freedom and claiming back what they believe has been unjustly taken from them. Countless men and women have shed blood on the battlefields to give we the people the freedom to assemble, unite, and to fight back peacefully. The groups that have formed all over the city and on the social networking sites have plenty of reasons to believe that they are losing freedom to the power grab of the special interests and money. Citizens grassroots organizations have awakened and declared that they will not allow this to happen in the valley "Where Dreams Soar".

Special interests may have the power of money, but they better watch out. As more and more concerned citizens unite, history has shown that their one voice dominates. History from all over the world has shown that if enough people unite for a common interest such as declaring that they will not be ruled by special interest pandering, they can overwhelm the spending power of the few. Will Moreno Valley's history state likewise? Will Moreno Valley's future generations learn from their history class that their ancestors fought to preserve the intentions of the very people who have sacrificed everything for this country and for all of us? 

To be continued...