Elections 2007: Rounding the first turn
It's election season in Riverside for sure and with the primary election less than two months away, the candidates are campaigning and walking their respective precincts. The League of Women's Voters is gearing up for its upcoming candidate forums. Candidates in each ward are searching for endorsements from individuals and organizations including the city's labor unions.
The Riverside Firefighters' Association has already endorsed all the incumbents, which means that apparently its members have recovered from being low balled by the city in the last round of contract negotiations that took place during the long, hot summer in the city's employment ranks or they are playing it safe.
The Riverside Police Officers' Association hasn't officially announced its endorsements but people have said that it's likely that it will largely endorse incumbents as well and some believe that it will or already has added Councilman Dom Betro to its list. If true, that would be one of the more strange partnerships in the arena of Riverside politics in recent history, but if you've been noticing Betro's silence on well, certain issues in recent months, this development would make more sense.
The general unit of the recently expanded SEIU is still conducting interviews with political candidates. As for the Riverside Police Administrators' Association, it is attending political events and forums as well and shopping for candidates to support, as this union has recently moved to register a political action committee after being relatively quiet on these issues for a long time.
The more the merrier, in election 2007.
But the question mark is who will garner the most support in Ward five, which is an "open" seat. It appears to be a contest between business owner Chris MacArthur and credit union vice-president Donna Doty-Michalka as to who will draw the most support both in the campaign coffers and in the votes.
Right smack in the middle of the season, Riverside has also unveiled what it calls its great new plans for development in the downtown, according to an in depth article in the Press Enterprise this morning. Only this time, the target area is to the south of the downtown proper and the focus, Justice System Row, which should see thousands of feet of new office space, an expansion of the federal court system and the construction of more businesses in that area.
What they really need there is more parking. Parking for jurors and those who have business in one of the downtown's many courthouses. Not to mention addressing the number one shortage on Justice Row which is Riverside County Superior Court judges.
An upscale vision for downtown
Councilman Dom Betro and Asst. City Manager Michael Beck waxed enthusiastic about the plan to renovate the pedestrian mall, expand the convention center, put up a new hotel and fill Market Street with condos and businesses that will keep people downtown around the clock.
But the plan has its critics who raise the kind of issues that if you raised them at a public meeting these days, you might get kicked out.
(excerpt)
But will the transformation happen?
For their part, city officials and their backers say times have finally changed for Riverside.
The city Redevelopment Agency is wielding its power on behalf of developers, using eminent domain or the threat of it to acquire properties from small car dealerships and other businesses that they say do not conform to city leaders' vision.
In the past two to three years, the city has laid out about $30 million to acquire downtown properties and to help relocate displaced renters and businesses. About $20 million of that sum is expected to be recovered by reselling properties to developers.
When the city states that they were ridding the downtown of businesses that didn't conform to their idea of what the downtown should be like, they were targeting businesses that were predominantly owned by Asian-Americans and Latinos, the majority of whom have businesses located outside the pedestrian mall. These business owners had payed a percentage of their earnings as a business tax into the coffers of the Downtown Neighborhood Partnership for years, even when the partnership board voted on increases. However, even though the partnership also promised these business owners that they would see the benefits of the improvements near their properties, it spent the lion share of the tax revenue on building up Main Street. It then turned around and said in comparison to the pedestrian mall, the other areas of the downtown were a "blight".
At least one longtime community activist I talked to for a historic perspective wasn't at all surprised by the behavior of the Downtown Neighborhood Partnership because of a letter she had uncovered at City Hall that later disappeared. The letter, written about 30-35 years ago stated that the only purpose of the partnership was to better the financial objectives of the Mission Inn.
But did the Downtown Neighborhood Partnership and the Greater Chamber of Commerce ever advocate for the targeted businesses which were included in the membership roster of their organizations? Did they ever assist these businesses in terms of having their rights upheld? Did their board members speak at the city council meetings on their behalf?
No, neither did. In fact, both organizations sold these mostly Asian-American and Latino business owners down the river, by speaking in favor of the city's decision to use eminent domain against them.
If you've ever wondered why Riverside has several different chambers of commerce within its boundaries that are defined by race, there shouldn't be any doubt about why that is anymore.
What is also interesting about this section of the article is that it contrasts with statements that Betro made about the use of eminent domain at the April 3 city council meeting. As is customary for city council members these days, Betro waited until the completion of public comment(which itself is near the end of the meetings these days) to issue a claim that the only time the city used eminent domain to seize property in the downtown area was the Fox theater.
Oh, I can't wait to see all the displaced small business owners who had their land seized either under eminent domain or threat of eminent domain show up at the city council members to address Betro's claims.
First, city council members like Frank Schiavone issued a challenge to city residents to correct their assertion that the city had never used eminent domain to seize a single-family home for private development. When four individuals did just that on Feb. 27 at the Redevelopment Agency meeting, they were "escorted" out by Riverside Police Department officers and banned from the evening meeting.
Well, except for Marjorie Von Pohle,89, who heads the Friday Morning Group. She told the two police officers who came for her that they would have to carry her out. Apparently the city council and City Manager Brad Hudson apparently tried very hard to get the residents arrested and charged, but Deputy Chief Dave Dominguez was credited by members of the community and the police department for handling the situation in a way that didn't lead to arrests. And according to some including those who spoke at the meeting on March 27, Dominguez is the individual in the department's management staff that is fighting to keep his job. Go figure.
Now, you have Betro saying that the city's only used eminent domain once downtown. Yeah, right. Maybe Betro's contributions to this thorny topic is a sign that he's aware that eminent domain just might be a campaign topic.
Riverside Land Grab, an informative and often hilarious blog on local politics by an unknown author(s) addresses both the contentious issue of eminent domain and also what various city council members have said about Riverside's use of it.
There's plenty of articles posted on the city council members particularly those belonging to what has been called by community activists, the BASS quartet. This new quartet consists of Betro, Schiavone, Steve Adams and lame duck Ed Adkison.
Here, Betro's campaign ties to two major developers who are proponents of eminent domain are revealed. Councilman Art Gage's problems that he's encountered during the unveiling of the Magnolia Plan's "L shaped corridor".
The Press Enterprise article interestingly enough interviewed former city manager George Caravalho, who was fired it states because he couldn't spur development in the downtown area. Here's his response.
(excerpt)
"Where's the money coming from? That was the big issue," Caravalho recently recalled. "It almost never penciled out."
Interestingly enough, the city suddenly has the funds and is spending hundreds of millions on this new project. Though some have said that it's like the city manager's office is treating the city coffers like a piggy bank that he shakes to see what will fall out of it. The Sewer fund which was originally set up to address sewer construction and repairs was depleted after monies were pulled from it to purchase the businesses on Market Street on land that was seized to make way for Riverside Renaissance's downtown.
Gentrification has reared its ugly head in this equation as well, and amazingly enough, it was discussed in the news article. The city and its development consultants for Riverside Renaissance and the University Avenue reconstruction have denied that gentrification is their motive. But no one who's smart ever claims it as a motive, it just happens, they say.
How this project will impact poor people who live downtown, the majority of whom are Black or Latino remains to be seen and hasn't received nearly the attention it deserves from the same community leaders who have marched lockstep with Riverside Renaissance because it has included funding for their programs if not others. As far as housing costs, the prices for the condos, which will be the housing of choice in the downtown area, ranged from $400,000-$900,000, far beyond the means of people living on more limited income. That's if they will even sell for those prices which is no guarantee because they'll be sitting next to freeways and on top of businesses including restaurants as part of the plan for mixed use on several streets that run through the heart of downtown.
Betro and other council members have insisted that there will be a push for affordable housing downtown, but so far no such projects have been approved by the city council.
In fact, projects that have been approved either by the city council or the development committee(which is chaired by Betro) which have required about 15% or more of the involved residential units to be earmarked for those living with a limited income have been shunted for construction outside the downtown area to parts unknown. The city council members clearly have stated through their actions that there will be no room for those living on a limited income in the "new" downtown.
(excerpt)
The market forces associated with gentrification inevitably will push out lower-income earners, who, in many instances, are people of color, said Dana Cuff, a professor of architecture and urban design at UCLA.
Blacks, Latinos, Asians and other minorities make up 60 percent of the 13,000 downtown residents, according to 2006 census data.
"The people who are really disadvantaged are the people living in the downtown getting improved," Cuff said. "In the 1950s and 1960s, I would say that was segregationist and racist. Now, it's economic."
Some would and have also called it racist given that Black and Latino residents as well as business owners have been the most adversely affected by the city's resolve to reinvent itself. But considering how the city has traditionally treated its workforce from the Black public works employees who faced a hostile work environment since the late 1980s to the Black police officer who filed and won a racial discrimination, harassment and retaliation law suit, it shouldn't be surprising that it's also behaving in a similar fashion to community members who are Black or Latino.
Money spent towards maintaining let alone increasing the city's basic services to match the tremendous growth it is facing haven't been a priority. The city withdrew 20 promised police officer positions late last year and bailed on building a new headquarters for the city's dispatchers. And it's done little to address the aging utilities facilities including substations which led to numerous blackouts all over town early last summer. The demand for more electrical power in the region clashed with newly proposed environmental requirements at a recent meeting held at City Hall.
According to an article in the Press Enterprise, the region is in a race against time to construct a power plant before rolling blackouts begin in 2009. However, the pollution in the Inland Empire particularly the particulate levels are the highest in the nation, so to build the new power plant, the region will have to add $10 million to the costs, which will be passed onto utility customers including those living on a limited income.
Helicopters have been added to the tools used by police officers in San Bernardino, according to a recent article in the Press Enterprise.
Helicopter program started in San Bernardino
Mayor Pat Morris and San Bernardino Police Department Chief Mike Billdt said the helicopters have been instrumental in reducing the crime rate that made San Bernardino the 15th most dangerous city in the country only several years ago. It experienced a 14% decrease in violent crimes last year.
Members of the city council agreed.
(excerpt)
City Councilman Rikke Van Johnson said he's willing to accept some added expense for an air wing that concentrates on San Bernardino.
"Crime is down across the city, and you've got to attribute some of that to the helicopter's presence," he said. "We know it costs more, but the people in our city are worth it. They're worth the best protection we can give them."
Critics however, question whether or not the city having its own aviation unit is useful enough to justify the expense or ask if instead, the city should continue to rely on helicopter flights provided by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department instead.
(excerpt)
"We have to be sure we know what we're receiving when we pay for this helicopter" said Robert Rego, president of the Inland Mountain Republican Assembly and a leader in the opposition to Measure Z, a voter-approved tax hike to hire more police and fund crime-prevention programs.
"Is the helicopter program worth what it costs? What is the return on investment, and have we really looked at other alternatives that might give us a better return?"
The New York Times Blog Talk stated that the New York City Police Department would be opening a police academy in College Point, Queens, the same region where five of its police officers shot and killed Sean Bell last November.
Just in: New police academy will be in Queens
Police officers in New York City are also facing issues with being among the lowest paid people in their profession in the nation. However, department representatives claim that officers are not leaving that department in droves. The New York Daily News published several articles on this ongoing issue.
No exodus out of NYPD
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that he rejects the opinion expressed by the department's unions that officers are leaving the ranks of the city for jobs in suburbia. Currently, recently hired NYPD officers make about $25,000 a year.
(excerpt)
"There's no question it's easier to be a police officer outside of the NYPD than in," Bloomberg said on his weekly WABC-AM radio show. "The NYPD is the most demanding police department in the world. That's why it's the best."
Bloomberg said a "handful" of cops leave each year for suburban police departments, but he insisted neighboring departments are too small to absorb a large number of city cops.
"If [suburban departments] pay so well, people that get there aren't going to retire," Bloomberg said. "So, this business that everybody is leaving for these other police departments is just a bunch of PR."
The Patrolman's Benevolence Association leader struck back with an opposing view point and said that 4,000 officers have left the department(which employs about 40,000 officers) in the past five years and officers are refusing promotions to sergeant because there's not enough of a pay raise. Salary negotiations have broken down and are currently in arbitration.
NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly discussed the minor pay increases, saying they would have "significant ramifications" especially in terms of their impact on the sergeants' pool.
(excerpt)
"What's happened is all the raises have been compacted. They've been stretched out. So the desirability...of moving ahead in the ranks has been, I think, impacted," Kelly said.
Of the 20,867 officers eligible to take the Feb. 3 sergeant exam, only 3,856 sat for the test - and just 255 passed.
By comparison, 7,154 of 22,927 eligible officers took the test in December 2003, the last time it was offered before the current police contract was imposed. From that pool, 1,729 became sergeants.
And common sense will tell you that if you can't find experienced qualified officers who even want to be sergeants, who serve as the front line supervisors, you're pretty much in trouble. Apparently, the higher positions up the ladder are also facing similar difficulties.
The Riverside Firefighters' Association has already endorsed all the incumbents, which means that apparently its members have recovered from being low balled by the city in the last round of contract negotiations that took place during the long, hot summer in the city's employment ranks or they are playing it safe.
The Riverside Police Officers' Association hasn't officially announced its endorsements but people have said that it's likely that it will largely endorse incumbents as well and some believe that it will or already has added Councilman Dom Betro to its list. If true, that would be one of the more strange partnerships in the arena of Riverside politics in recent history, but if you've been noticing Betro's silence on well, certain issues in recent months, this development would make more sense.
The general unit of the recently expanded SEIU is still conducting interviews with political candidates. As for the Riverside Police Administrators' Association, it is attending political events and forums as well and shopping for candidates to support, as this union has recently moved to register a political action committee after being relatively quiet on these issues for a long time.
The more the merrier, in election 2007.
But the question mark is who will garner the most support in Ward five, which is an "open" seat. It appears to be a contest between business owner Chris MacArthur and credit union vice-president Donna Doty-Michalka as to who will draw the most support both in the campaign coffers and in the votes.
Right smack in the middle of the season, Riverside has also unveiled what it calls its great new plans for development in the downtown, according to an in depth article in the Press Enterprise this morning. Only this time, the target area is to the south of the downtown proper and the focus, Justice System Row, which should see thousands of feet of new office space, an expansion of the federal court system and the construction of more businesses in that area.
What they really need there is more parking. Parking for jurors and those who have business in one of the downtown's many courthouses. Not to mention addressing the number one shortage on Justice Row which is Riverside County Superior Court judges.
An upscale vision for downtown
Councilman Dom Betro and Asst. City Manager Michael Beck waxed enthusiastic about the plan to renovate the pedestrian mall, expand the convention center, put up a new hotel and fill Market Street with condos and businesses that will keep people downtown around the clock.
But the plan has its critics who raise the kind of issues that if you raised them at a public meeting these days, you might get kicked out.
(excerpt)
But will the transformation happen?
For their part, city officials and their backers say times have finally changed for Riverside.
The city Redevelopment Agency is wielding its power on behalf of developers, using eminent domain or the threat of it to acquire properties from small car dealerships and other businesses that they say do not conform to city leaders' vision.
In the past two to three years, the city has laid out about $30 million to acquire downtown properties and to help relocate displaced renters and businesses. About $20 million of that sum is expected to be recovered by reselling properties to developers.
When the city states that they were ridding the downtown of businesses that didn't conform to their idea of what the downtown should be like, they were targeting businesses that were predominantly owned by Asian-Americans and Latinos, the majority of whom have businesses located outside the pedestrian mall. These business owners had payed a percentage of their earnings as a business tax into the coffers of the Downtown Neighborhood Partnership for years, even when the partnership board voted on increases. However, even though the partnership also promised these business owners that they would see the benefits of the improvements near their properties, it spent the lion share of the tax revenue on building up Main Street. It then turned around and said in comparison to the pedestrian mall, the other areas of the downtown were a "blight".
At least one longtime community activist I talked to for a historic perspective wasn't at all surprised by the behavior of the Downtown Neighborhood Partnership because of a letter she had uncovered at City Hall that later disappeared. The letter, written about 30-35 years ago stated that the only purpose of the partnership was to better the financial objectives of the Mission Inn.
But did the Downtown Neighborhood Partnership and the Greater Chamber of Commerce ever advocate for the targeted businesses which were included in the membership roster of their organizations? Did they ever assist these businesses in terms of having their rights upheld? Did their board members speak at the city council meetings on their behalf?
No, neither did. In fact, both organizations sold these mostly Asian-American and Latino business owners down the river, by speaking in favor of the city's decision to use eminent domain against them.
If you've ever wondered why Riverside has several different chambers of commerce within its boundaries that are defined by race, there shouldn't be any doubt about why that is anymore.
What is also interesting about this section of the article is that it contrasts with statements that Betro made about the use of eminent domain at the April 3 city council meeting. As is customary for city council members these days, Betro waited until the completion of public comment(which itself is near the end of the meetings these days) to issue a claim that the only time the city used eminent domain to seize property in the downtown area was the Fox theater.
Oh, I can't wait to see all the displaced small business owners who had their land seized either under eminent domain or threat of eminent domain show up at the city council members to address Betro's claims.
First, city council members like Frank Schiavone issued a challenge to city residents to correct their assertion that the city had never used eminent domain to seize a single-family home for private development. When four individuals did just that on Feb. 27 at the Redevelopment Agency meeting, they were "escorted" out by Riverside Police Department officers and banned from the evening meeting.
Well, except for Marjorie Von Pohle,89, who heads the Friday Morning Group. She told the two police officers who came for her that they would have to carry her out. Apparently the city council and City Manager Brad Hudson apparently tried very hard to get the residents arrested and charged, but Deputy Chief Dave Dominguez was credited by members of the community and the police department for handling the situation in a way that didn't lead to arrests. And according to some including those who spoke at the meeting on March 27, Dominguez is the individual in the department's management staff that is fighting to keep his job. Go figure.
Now, you have Betro saying that the city's only used eminent domain once downtown. Yeah, right. Maybe Betro's contributions to this thorny topic is a sign that he's aware that eminent domain just might be a campaign topic.
Riverside Land Grab, an informative and often hilarious blog on local politics by an unknown author(s) addresses both the contentious issue of eminent domain and also what various city council members have said about Riverside's use of it.
There's plenty of articles posted on the city council members particularly those belonging to what has been called by community activists, the BASS quartet. This new quartet consists of Betro, Schiavone, Steve Adams and lame duck Ed Adkison.
Here, Betro's campaign ties to two major developers who are proponents of eminent domain are revealed. Councilman Art Gage's problems that he's encountered during the unveiling of the Magnolia Plan's "L shaped corridor".
The Press Enterprise article interestingly enough interviewed former city manager George Caravalho, who was fired it states because he couldn't spur development in the downtown area. Here's his response.
(excerpt)
"Where's the money coming from? That was the big issue," Caravalho recently recalled. "It almost never penciled out."
Interestingly enough, the city suddenly has the funds and is spending hundreds of millions on this new project. Though some have said that it's like the city manager's office is treating the city coffers like a piggy bank that he shakes to see what will fall out of it. The Sewer fund which was originally set up to address sewer construction and repairs was depleted after monies were pulled from it to purchase the businesses on Market Street on land that was seized to make way for Riverside Renaissance's downtown.
Gentrification has reared its ugly head in this equation as well, and amazingly enough, it was discussed in the news article. The city and its development consultants for Riverside Renaissance and the University Avenue reconstruction have denied that gentrification is their motive. But no one who's smart ever claims it as a motive, it just happens, they say.
How this project will impact poor people who live downtown, the majority of whom are Black or Latino remains to be seen and hasn't received nearly the attention it deserves from the same community leaders who have marched lockstep with Riverside Renaissance because it has included funding for their programs if not others. As far as housing costs, the prices for the condos, which will be the housing of choice in the downtown area, ranged from $400,000-$900,000, far beyond the means of people living on more limited income. That's if they will even sell for those prices which is no guarantee because they'll be sitting next to freeways and on top of businesses including restaurants as part of the plan for mixed use on several streets that run through the heart of downtown.
Betro and other council members have insisted that there will be a push for affordable housing downtown, but so far no such projects have been approved by the city council.
In fact, projects that have been approved either by the city council or the development committee(which is chaired by Betro) which have required about 15% or more of the involved residential units to be earmarked for those living with a limited income have been shunted for construction outside the downtown area to parts unknown. The city council members clearly have stated through their actions that there will be no room for those living on a limited income in the "new" downtown.
(excerpt)
The market forces associated with gentrification inevitably will push out lower-income earners, who, in many instances, are people of color, said Dana Cuff, a professor of architecture and urban design at UCLA.
Blacks, Latinos, Asians and other minorities make up 60 percent of the 13,000 downtown residents, according to 2006 census data.
"The people who are really disadvantaged are the people living in the downtown getting improved," Cuff said. "In the 1950s and 1960s, I would say that was segregationist and racist. Now, it's economic."
Some would and have also called it racist given that Black and Latino residents as well as business owners have been the most adversely affected by the city's resolve to reinvent itself. But considering how the city has traditionally treated its workforce from the Black public works employees who faced a hostile work environment since the late 1980s to the Black police officer who filed and won a racial discrimination, harassment and retaliation law suit, it shouldn't be surprising that it's also behaving in a similar fashion to community members who are Black or Latino.
Money spent towards maintaining let alone increasing the city's basic services to match the tremendous growth it is facing haven't been a priority. The city withdrew 20 promised police officer positions late last year and bailed on building a new headquarters for the city's dispatchers. And it's done little to address the aging utilities facilities including substations which led to numerous blackouts all over town early last summer. The demand for more electrical power in the region clashed with newly proposed environmental requirements at a recent meeting held at City Hall.
According to an article in the Press Enterprise, the region is in a race against time to construct a power plant before rolling blackouts begin in 2009. However, the pollution in the Inland Empire particularly the particulate levels are the highest in the nation, so to build the new power plant, the region will have to add $10 million to the costs, which will be passed onto utility customers including those living on a limited income.
Helicopters have been added to the tools used by police officers in San Bernardino, according to a recent article in the Press Enterprise.
Helicopter program started in San Bernardino
Mayor Pat Morris and San Bernardino Police Department Chief Mike Billdt said the helicopters have been instrumental in reducing the crime rate that made San Bernardino the 15th most dangerous city in the country only several years ago. It experienced a 14% decrease in violent crimes last year.
Members of the city council agreed.
(excerpt)
City Councilman Rikke Van Johnson said he's willing to accept some added expense for an air wing that concentrates on San Bernardino.
"Crime is down across the city, and you've got to attribute some of that to the helicopter's presence," he said. "We know it costs more, but the people in our city are worth it. They're worth the best protection we can give them."
Critics however, question whether or not the city having its own aviation unit is useful enough to justify the expense or ask if instead, the city should continue to rely on helicopter flights provided by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department instead.
(excerpt)
"We have to be sure we know what we're receiving when we pay for this helicopter" said Robert Rego, president of the Inland Mountain Republican Assembly and a leader in the opposition to Measure Z, a voter-approved tax hike to hire more police and fund crime-prevention programs.
"Is the helicopter program worth what it costs? What is the return on investment, and have we really looked at other alternatives that might give us a better return?"
The New York Times Blog Talk stated that the New York City Police Department would be opening a police academy in College Point, Queens, the same region where five of its police officers shot and killed Sean Bell last November.
Just in: New police academy will be in Queens
Police officers in New York City are also facing issues with being among the lowest paid people in their profession in the nation. However, department representatives claim that officers are not leaving that department in droves. The New York Daily News published several articles on this ongoing issue.
No exodus out of NYPD
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that he rejects the opinion expressed by the department's unions that officers are leaving the ranks of the city for jobs in suburbia. Currently, recently hired NYPD officers make about $25,000 a year.
(excerpt)
"There's no question it's easier to be a police officer outside of the NYPD than in," Bloomberg said on his weekly WABC-AM radio show. "The NYPD is the most demanding police department in the world. That's why it's the best."
Bloomberg said a "handful" of cops leave each year for suburban police departments, but he insisted neighboring departments are too small to absorb a large number of city cops.
"If [suburban departments] pay so well, people that get there aren't going to retire," Bloomberg said. "So, this business that everybody is leaving for these other police departments is just a bunch of PR."
The Patrolman's Benevolence Association leader struck back with an opposing view point and said that 4,000 officers have left the department(which employs about 40,000 officers) in the past five years and officers are refusing promotions to sergeant because there's not enough of a pay raise. Salary negotiations have broken down and are currently in arbitration.
NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly discussed the minor pay increases, saying they would have "significant ramifications" especially in terms of their impact on the sergeants' pool.
(excerpt)
"What's happened is all the raises have been compacted. They've been stretched out. So the desirability...of moving ahead in the ranks has been, I think, impacted," Kelly said.
Of the 20,867 officers eligible to take the Feb. 3 sergeant exam, only 3,856 sat for the test - and just 255 passed.
By comparison, 7,154 of 22,927 eligible officers took the test in December 2003, the last time it was offered before the current police contract was imposed. From that pool, 1,729 became sergeants.
And common sense will tell you that if you can't find experienced qualified officers who even want to be sergeants, who serve as the front line supervisors, you're pretty much in trouble. Apparently, the higher positions up the ladder are also facing similar difficulties.
Labels: business as usual, City elections
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