1-14 angels forumIf there’s a groundswell of public anger out there over the city’s negotiations framework with the Angels, it wasn’t in evidence at last night’s community meeting on the Angels negotiations.

There were around 60 people there, about half of whom were wearing Angel red and were there as part of the “keep the Angels” effort.  I think there were four critical speakers, and basically the same people who have been critical of the negotiation framework from the very start. Cynthia Ward was there, naturally, trying unsuccessfully to trap Tom Morton with as series of “gotcha” questions. At one point, she claimed the city shared in the Angels television revenues prior to the 1996 deal (which I don’t think is correct).

In any case, last night’s meeting made it pretty evident that the “anger” over the city’s negotiation framework is more or less confined to small number of council meeting regulars, and is not a widespread feeling among Anaheim residents. If they’re angry, they’re doing a pretty good job of keeping it to themselves.

It reminds me of how single-member district proponents relentlessly claims “the people” want districts, and yet throughout the Citizens Advisory Committee process and city council meetings on the subject, it was always the same group of OCCORD and UNITE-HERE Local 11 members and select gadflies and out-of-town bloggers who constituted “the people.”