RIGONOMICS:

We all know the story of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Jimmy Stewart plays George Bailey, who runs the family-owned Bailey Building and Loan. The nemesis of the movie, Mr. Potter — played by Lionel Barrymore, owns the local bank and wants to put Bailey’s Building & Loan out of business. He does not like the Building and Loan, which lent regular folks money to buy their own home instead of renting from him. Potter finally gets his chance to shut down the Building and Loan when George’s absent-minded Uncle Billy misplaces an $8,000 bank deposit.

Once George finds out what happened he goes into a complete panic. With the bank’s examiner on his way, George is sure they will close the Building and Loan once they see the money is missing. In a moment of complete despair he decides to take his own life. He thinks everything he has worked for was a waste, and he wishes he had never been born. This is interrupted by Clarence the Angel trying to earn his wings. Clarence takes George back through his life and lets him see that this town, Bedford Falls, and the people of Bedford Falls would be much worse off if it had not been for George.

This brings me to the life of Donn Hall and the effect he has had on Costa Mesa and the people of Costa Mesa in the four decades he donated his time and talents to the leadership in this community.

I spent the last two years with Donn as a member of the Planning Commission, of which Donn was chairman. There are some who saw Donn and I vote opposite on development projects and thought we may have had issues with each other. Donn may or may not have had issues with me, but the truth be told I did have some issues with him.

Donn runs a very tight ship when it came to a Planning Commission meeting. I was not the only person to get on his bad side when it came to how he ran the meetings. Donn always made sure that you knew that everything ran though the chair. In his meeting you did not utter a word unless you had the recognition of the person chairing the meeting. Anyone who knows me understands that I am not the type who likes to ask permission to talk. Donn’s rigidity did not sit well with me.

But over time an amazing thing happened; what I learned is that it had nothing to do with Donn being the chairman and had all to do with the process. He taught me that in order to have the public’s trust, you need respect for the chairman, meaning the position of the chairman and not the person. He also taught me and many others that you will not have the public respect you for your decisions, if they do not respect the process. Whether someone agrees with your vote or not is not as important as them knowing the process was fair. In a world where everyone tries not to offend anyone, Donn understood that respect for process was more important than someone’s personal feelings. It was not that he did not care about your feelings when he abruptly cut you off — because he did, he was a very compassionate man — but he also knew it was more important that the decisions from the body were respected.

Another thing about him that I remember was that no matter which side of a vote you were on, after the issue was voted on, it was over. He never carried any small-minded grudges because you did not vote with him. I remember one time after a bit of a heated debate the final vote was 3-2. Donn just looked up and said, “Nothing like a good 3-2 vote to keep you on your toes.” He told me that a good City Council or Commission needs some 3-2 votes to let the public know you put thought into every decision. He said, “If all you had were 5-0 votes, why even have a meeting; just have staff make all the decisions.”

Donn Hall came from a generation that held respect for position — a respect for authority. Only a man like Donn Hall could remind me of those time-honored traditions.

There are a lot of people that Don Hall affected in the four decades he gave freely of his time and talents. Thousands of people came before him and got their three minutes at the podium to air their grievances or support their position. Just like in Bedford Falls, many thousands of people’s lives were changed for the better because of Donn Hall. I would know: I am one of them.

A memorial for Donn will be held 2 p.m. today at the Estancia Adobe, 1900 Adams Ave.

JIM RIGHEIMER is a Costa Mesa planning commissioner, a local developer and a GOP activist. He may be reached at [email protected].