Earlier this month, Placentia councilmember Chad Wanke–the politician who can't be bothered to show up to OC Vector Control board meetings like he's supposed to, or offer an excuse–made a little girl cry.
The scene was during a city council meeting, during which residents–children and their parents, mostly–implored councilmembers not to close down community centers or parks while the small city figures out how to close a six-figure budget deficit.
Wanke's solution? Screw over the city's Mexicans, just like every previous generation of pendejo politicians in the city have tried.
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Of course, Wanke didn't say this out loud. The Orange County County Register reported that Wanke “believes the closures of the Gomez and Whitten community centers
would allow the city to invest in recreation in the north end of the
city, which is overdue for an upgrade.” Whatever young college graduate the Reg now has covering Placentia obviously doesn't know the area's history, and would've grilled Wanke for his blatant racism.
A Placentia history refresher course for the rest of Orange County, who only gives thought to Placentia when wanting to go to the Bruery: it's historically one of the most segregated cities in Orange County, with the majority of Mexicans situated south of Chapman Avenue (where the old orange packing houses used to be) and with the city pouring millions of dollars into the richer neighborhoods north of Chapman (where most of the gabachos traditionally lived) over the decades. South Placentia has been willfully neglected by city fathers, in order to declare it blighted and gentrify the area–but the residents of the barrios from here have successfully fought off idiot councilmembers over the, oh, past 60 years, ever since Placentia's many World War II Latino vets came back and beat down segregation.
So when Wanke talks about improving the north and proposing to neglect the south, it's all code for “Fuck the Mexicans.” But in a way, this is a positive thing: For Wanke to openly declare a closure of the south (Wanke and his allies want to completely fence off Santa Fe Park, which is right in the middle of a barrio) is fighting words against the city's Mexicans but also any people of good conscience, the type of people who staged the county's only true people's revolution nearly a decade ago (you upstarts in Fullerton have NOTHING on Placentia people power). Be warned, Wanke: the dustbins of Placentia are filled with politicians who tried to mess with the South Side, only to get the pimp hand at the ballot box. Congrats! You're now on my radar of idiots to keep tabs on–stay tuned…
