Editorial:

Just when you thought the scrum over a Santa Ana-based basketball league renting the Costa Mesa Neighborhood Community Center on Sundays couldn’t get any loonier, along comes Mayor Allan Mansoor to transform the ridiculous into the outrageous.

Bad enough that Costa Mesa Councilman Eric Bever felt that his city, which faces a multimillion-dollar budget deficit that could deepen as the state takes money from cities, has the luxury to delve into such petty issues. His objection alone fueled whispers that his opposition was racially motivated.

We won’t join that speculation and hope that Bever is leveling with us when he argues he thinks it’s unfair that the basketball league was given preference over the 22 or so players who drop in for pick-up games on Sundays when the traffic to the gym is slowest. We’re not mind-readers, and it’s unfair to level such an accusation without palpable proof.

Besides, you don’t have to resort to personal insults to crush Bever’s argument. The facts alone accomplish that. First, he’s wrong when he says outsiders are given preference over Costa Mesans. Many of the players in the Santa Ana league live in Costa Mesa, and league officials say they will give preference to Costa Mesans who seek to join the club. Complaints about league officials making a profit are just silly. Of course they are. That’s the American way.

City officials who advise the council say Costa Mesa also stands to make a profit — about $40,000 more than it usually does with the pick-up games. Obviously that won’t put a dent in the budget deficit, but it’s important to take every measure to regain the city’s financial health, no matter how big or small.

Still, Bever’s failed logic pales in comparison to Mansoor’s move to re-name the Aztec Basketball League to the Costa Mesa Weekend Basketball League. What was he trying to accomplish? He didn’t want anyone to think the league was exclusively for Latinos.

Where do you even start with that one? Should we re-name Costa Mesa because it sounds too Latino? We wouldn’t want anyone from Newport Beach to get confused and think they went the wrong way and ended up in Mexico. Besides, we don’t think Coast Table has the same ring to it.

This is micromanaging on a level that’s beyond comic. It’s foolish and insulting. The city has real problems. The council doesn’t have the luxury of manufacturing or encouraging controversies where none should exist. Best to leave the management of basketball leagues to the Parks and Recreation Commission and city staff.