Only in Riverside: Depositions and downtown
Plans are being discussed for the future development of the downtown area of Riverside, according to an article in the Press Enterprise.
What the current small businesses are essentially being told by Development Director Belinda Graham is keep up with the city's plans or get out of the way. That's clearly been the case with small businesses on Market Street, many of which were owned by Asian-American and Latino families. Unfortunately, white-washing that avenue wasn't enough for city officials as they took that drive all the way into the Wood Streets where they pushed the Guans, an Asian-American family to sell their business, the Kawa Market to the city. Actually, it wasn't much of a choice for the family because if they didn't take the deal, they faced eminent domain.
The reason for doing this? To stop the flow of traffic involving men, women and children of color who walked to the market to buy the food and other supplies not sold in their neighborhood on Olivewood. And if you want to blame the presence of people of color in a neighborhood that apparently is for Whites-only, it's helpful to be able to point the finger at a business owned by a family of color.
The emphasis does appear to be on attracting big chains to downtown. The aforementioned Starbucks and Coffee Bean attest to that.
(excerpt)
"You will see that more of them in the restaurant arena than in retail. I don't think we'll have Crate & Barrels and Williams-Sonoma. They will draw to a different area of the city," she said. "It's restaurants where you will see the real shift."
To keep from getting pushed out, independently owned businesses will "need to be mindful of shifts in the market," she added. "Someone doing business downtown today won't be doing business the same way in three to five years."
The response from the newly drawn up simian-free zone in the downtown area was semi-enthusiastic at best. Smart Park has kind of already dampened the joy of doing business in the downtown area. As for restaurants, few of them have survived even those like Toad in the Hole which had its rent subsidized by the city.
Still, individuals like the proprietor of Tiggy-Winkles, where a huge sign could be erected stating "no shirt, no shoes, not human, no service" in response to her unsettling visit by the strip-teasing, sign-toting gorilla last month.
(excerpt)
"We could use a few more stable businesses, but we don't want to be a destination for stores you can go anywhere for," said CeeAnn Thiel, owner of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkles on Main Street. "Character and creativity matter. We hope that is what we'll get."
As opposed to greed, corruption and more overpriced parking? We'll see.
The city council in Riverside will meet together to vote on a lot of consent calendar items, discuss a couple of discussion items and host several presentations. Apparently, Councilman Steve Adams won't be at the meeting. He's on vacation until early July according to his office, but the other council members including those who will face off with challengers on runoff elections this autumn will be in attendance.
What also is on the agenda for discussion is the plans by Walmart to open one of its "supercenter" in Riverside. The issue of the environmental impact study is included in a lengthy report on that agenda item. Discussion on what is expected to be a controversial development project has been delayed several times but all reports indicate that it will take place at tomorrow's Redevelopment Agency session being held at 3 p.m. at City Hall.
Cassie MacDuff, the columnist who writes on San Bernardino County issues wrote about how no matter how many times she's viewed the video tape which is the centerpiece of an ongoing criminal trial there, she still continues to be shocked by it.
The video in question, is that depicting former San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department deputy Ivory J. Webb shooting Elio Carrion while Carrion is complying with his orders to get off the ground.
(excerpt)
All of the testimony was consistent: Webb ordered Carrion to get up, then shot him.
Webb's primary attorney, Michael Schwartz, does his best to undermine witnesses' credibility, picking out the smallest discrepancies between what they've said in court and what they told investigators immediately after the incident.
But how does he overcome that videotape? The jurors have seen and heard it for themselves. All he can hope to do is show that Carrion and the driver, Luis Escobedo, disobeyed Webb's commands to shut up and keep their hands visible and still.
Minutes tick by after the shooting, five, six, seven on the video's time stamp, as Carrion writhes on the ground in pain before sirens can be heard and backup arrives. Valdes and the neighbor say they wondered why it took so long.
It's a miracle Carrion survived, with a bullet in the chest.
In Eugene Oregon, the police department's labor union is filing a grievance against the city's auditor, Christina Beamud to get her to stop reviewing complaints against police officers, according to the Register-Guard.
The city's form of civilian oversight has faced many battles in its tenure. This is its latest one.
(excerpt)
The union in March filed a labor grievance alleging the city violated a deal in which Eugene officials agreed to review with union leaders the new police auditing system before implementing it.
Beamud said she began processing complaints shortly after beginning work last October.
City and union officials will discuss the dispute during a bargaining session scheduled for today.
"We need to sit down with them to see what their specific problems are," city Human Resources Manager Helen Towle said.
The dispute is the latest wrangle over the post of police auditor. The position was created by popular vote in the wake of scandals over abuses by two Eugene police officers. Before the city hired Beamud, the City Council and City Manager Dennis Taylor fought over who should supervise Beamud. Each side wanted to supervise the auditor, and the council won.
But the Eugene Police Officers' Association asserted that the city violated a 2005 Memorandum of Understanding.
(excerpt)
The MOU gives the union the right to reopen its labor contract with the city and discuss the auditing plan as a matter of collective bargaining. The auditor position is not represented by the union.
"We believe in the (bargaining) process," Edewaard said. "All we have is our contract, and we feel like it's been violated."
The grievance asks that the city "cease implementation of any police auditing or citizen review functions" until the dispute is settled.
The Connecticut Post published a story about the NAACP's efforts to demand that the entire membership of Bridgeport's civilian review board step down.
(excerpt)
Craig Kelly, recently elected to lead the civil-rights organization's local chapter, said the board's failure to fire police officers accused of crime, such as domestic violence and drug law violations, creates a chain reaction that leads to distrust of the police and poses a hurdle to officers doing their jobs effectively.
He also lashed out at officers who are punished for criminal offenses but allowed to retire and collect city pensions.
"It doesn't send a good message to the public," he said.
Kelly also had some recommendations that should be implemented concerning the review board.
(excerpt)
To deal with what he calls the condoning of "behavior unbecoming of police officers," Kelly also is lobbying for:
1) the mayor to relinquish the power to appoint the commission members, which is set in the City Charter, and give it to the City Council.
2) City Council's Public Safety Committee to help organize a Community Advisory Council of city residents, which would recommend prospective police commissioner candidates.
3) The mayor distance himself from all matters related to the Police Department's Office of Internal Affairs.
Kelly said he has just begun circulating the petition.
"Hopefully, it will get everyone to look at this situation," he said.
Meanwhile, the deposition given by Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach provided further insight into the dynamics involving the Community Police Review Commission, the department and the city manager's office, especially in the aftermath of the Summer Marie Lane shooting in 2004.
Leach was deposed by attorney Michael Lackie, who is representing Officer Ryan Wilson in his legal efforts to get the CPRC to either reject its finding against him or to change it so that he's found within policy of the shooting.
What's interesting about Leach's testimony, is how his views of the CPRC change once it comes out with a finding that conflicts with one of his own. What's interesting as well is how Leach's feelings towards the CPRC differ with those he expressed to some of the "watch dog" groups which he disparaged under oath. To these groups, Leach appeared to support a CPRC with its own legal counsel and independence from City Hall. People were quite impressed with his observations.
Did he really mean it? Read his deposition and answer that question for yourself.
The community often has discussions on whether or not Leach is what is known as a progressive chief and if it's Tuesday, then that's probably true but today's Monday and the rules are clearly different. Leach's certainly had his moments where he appears visionary and almost ahead of his time but then there are moments like these too where you are reminded that he worked under Darryl Gates in the pre-Christopher Commission LAPD where there was no such thing as civilian oversight and the rules were very different. To be caught between two different worlds, one that is past and one that is present must be very difficult. You may be in a position to be everything to everybody or have to be in what must be a difficult balancing act.
At one point, Leach even refers to the Riverside Police Officers' Association as "my police association", words that you don't often hear in a public forum from a police chief given how many of them stress their independence as management personnel from their department's labor unions. Then again, there's a first time for everything even in Riverside.
There's an adage that may be apt in this situation and that is, he who tries to please everybody pleases nobody."
Here are some choice portions of the lengthy deposition taken in February 2007.
About the CPRC while it served under Bill Howe, as chair:
"It was no harm. It was a good advisory commentary."
When things went sour.
"It was not until they got involved in the conducting of their own investigations of these officer-involved deaths when the communication process broke down."
On Officer Ryan Wilson:
"It hasn't affected his work performance and I hold him in extremely high regard because he's a good officer. But I do understand a lot of trauma he went through regarding the publicity of his shooting."
Whose is the commissioner on the CPRC that Leach wants removed?
To be continued....
What the current small businesses are essentially being told by Development Director Belinda Graham is keep up with the city's plans or get out of the way. That's clearly been the case with small businesses on Market Street, many of which were owned by Asian-American and Latino families. Unfortunately, white-washing that avenue wasn't enough for city officials as they took that drive all the way into the Wood Streets where they pushed the Guans, an Asian-American family to sell their business, the Kawa Market to the city. Actually, it wasn't much of a choice for the family because if they didn't take the deal, they faced eminent domain.
The reason for doing this? To stop the flow of traffic involving men, women and children of color who walked to the market to buy the food and other supplies not sold in their neighborhood on Olivewood. And if you want to blame the presence of people of color in a neighborhood that apparently is for Whites-only, it's helpful to be able to point the finger at a business owned by a family of color.
The emphasis does appear to be on attracting big chains to downtown. The aforementioned Starbucks and Coffee Bean attest to that.
(excerpt)
"You will see that more of them in the restaurant arena than in retail. I don't think we'll have Crate & Barrels and Williams-Sonoma. They will draw to a different area of the city," she said. "It's restaurants where you will see the real shift."
To keep from getting pushed out, independently owned businesses will "need to be mindful of shifts in the market," she added. "Someone doing business downtown today won't be doing business the same way in three to five years."
The response from the newly drawn up simian-free zone in the downtown area was semi-enthusiastic at best. Smart Park has kind of already dampened the joy of doing business in the downtown area. As for restaurants, few of them have survived even those like Toad in the Hole which had its rent subsidized by the city.
Still, individuals like the proprietor of Tiggy-Winkles, where a huge sign could be erected stating "no shirt, no shoes, not human, no service" in response to her unsettling visit by the strip-teasing, sign-toting gorilla last month.
(excerpt)
"We could use a few more stable businesses, but we don't want to be a destination for stores you can go anywhere for," said CeeAnn Thiel, owner of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkles on Main Street. "Character and creativity matter. We hope that is what we'll get."
As opposed to greed, corruption and more overpriced parking? We'll see.
The city council in Riverside will meet together to vote on a lot of consent calendar items, discuss a couple of discussion items and host several presentations. Apparently, Councilman Steve Adams won't be at the meeting. He's on vacation until early July according to his office, but the other council members including those who will face off with challengers on runoff elections this autumn will be in attendance.
What also is on the agenda for discussion is the plans by Walmart to open one of its "supercenter" in Riverside. The issue of the environmental impact study is included in a lengthy report on that agenda item. Discussion on what is expected to be a controversial development project has been delayed several times but all reports indicate that it will take place at tomorrow's Redevelopment Agency session being held at 3 p.m. at City Hall.
Cassie MacDuff, the columnist who writes on San Bernardino County issues wrote about how no matter how many times she's viewed the video tape which is the centerpiece of an ongoing criminal trial there, she still continues to be shocked by it.
The video in question, is that depicting former San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department deputy Ivory J. Webb shooting Elio Carrion while Carrion is complying with his orders to get off the ground.
(excerpt)
All of the testimony was consistent: Webb ordered Carrion to get up, then shot him.
Webb's primary attorney, Michael Schwartz, does his best to undermine witnesses' credibility, picking out the smallest discrepancies between what they've said in court and what they told investigators immediately after the incident.
But how does he overcome that videotape? The jurors have seen and heard it for themselves. All he can hope to do is show that Carrion and the driver, Luis Escobedo, disobeyed Webb's commands to shut up and keep their hands visible and still.
Minutes tick by after the shooting, five, six, seven on the video's time stamp, as Carrion writhes on the ground in pain before sirens can be heard and backup arrives. Valdes and the neighbor say they wondered why it took so long.
It's a miracle Carrion survived, with a bullet in the chest.
In Eugene Oregon, the police department's labor union is filing a grievance against the city's auditor, Christina Beamud to get her to stop reviewing complaints against police officers, according to the Register-Guard.
The city's form of civilian oversight has faced many battles in its tenure. This is its latest one.
(excerpt)
The union in March filed a labor grievance alleging the city violated a deal in which Eugene officials agreed to review with union leaders the new police auditing system before implementing it.
Beamud said she began processing complaints shortly after beginning work last October.
City and union officials will discuss the dispute during a bargaining session scheduled for today.
"We need to sit down with them to see what their specific problems are," city Human Resources Manager Helen Towle said.
The dispute is the latest wrangle over the post of police auditor. The position was created by popular vote in the wake of scandals over abuses by two Eugene police officers. Before the city hired Beamud, the City Council and City Manager Dennis Taylor fought over who should supervise Beamud. Each side wanted to supervise the auditor, and the council won.
But the Eugene Police Officers' Association asserted that the city violated a 2005 Memorandum of Understanding.
(excerpt)
The MOU gives the union the right to reopen its labor contract with the city and discuss the auditing plan as a matter of collective bargaining. The auditor position is not represented by the union.
"We believe in the (bargaining) process," Edewaard said. "All we have is our contract, and we feel like it's been violated."
The grievance asks that the city "cease implementation of any police auditing or citizen review functions" until the dispute is settled.
The Connecticut Post published a story about the NAACP's efforts to demand that the entire membership of Bridgeport's civilian review board step down.
(excerpt)
Craig Kelly, recently elected to lead the civil-rights organization's local chapter, said the board's failure to fire police officers accused of crime, such as domestic violence and drug law violations, creates a chain reaction that leads to distrust of the police and poses a hurdle to officers doing their jobs effectively.
He also lashed out at officers who are punished for criminal offenses but allowed to retire and collect city pensions.
"It doesn't send a good message to the public," he said.
Kelly also had some recommendations that should be implemented concerning the review board.
(excerpt)
To deal with what he calls the condoning of "behavior unbecoming of police officers," Kelly also is lobbying for:
1) the mayor to relinquish the power to appoint the commission members, which is set in the City Charter, and give it to the City Council.
2) City Council's Public Safety Committee to help organize a Community Advisory Council of city residents, which would recommend prospective police commissioner candidates.
3) The mayor distance himself from all matters related to the Police Department's Office of Internal Affairs.
Kelly said he has just begun circulating the petition.
"Hopefully, it will get everyone to look at this situation," he said.
Meanwhile, the deposition given by Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach provided further insight into the dynamics involving the Community Police Review Commission, the department and the city manager's office, especially in the aftermath of the Summer Marie Lane shooting in 2004.
Leach was deposed by attorney Michael Lackie, who is representing Officer Ryan Wilson in his legal efforts to get the CPRC to either reject its finding against him or to change it so that he's found within policy of the shooting.
What's interesting about Leach's testimony, is how his views of the CPRC change once it comes out with a finding that conflicts with one of his own. What's interesting as well is how Leach's feelings towards the CPRC differ with those he expressed to some of the "watch dog" groups which he disparaged under oath. To these groups, Leach appeared to support a CPRC with its own legal counsel and independence from City Hall. People were quite impressed with his observations.
Did he really mean it? Read his deposition and answer that question for yourself.
The community often has discussions on whether or not Leach is what is known as a progressive chief and if it's Tuesday, then that's probably true but today's Monday and the rules are clearly different. Leach's certainly had his moments where he appears visionary and almost ahead of his time but then there are moments like these too where you are reminded that he worked under Darryl Gates in the pre-Christopher Commission LAPD where there was no such thing as civilian oversight and the rules were very different. To be caught between two different worlds, one that is past and one that is present must be very difficult. You may be in a position to be everything to everybody or have to be in what must be a difficult balancing act.
At one point, Leach even refers to the Riverside Police Officers' Association as "my police association", words that you don't often hear in a public forum from a police chief given how many of them stress their independence as management personnel from their department's labor unions. Then again, there's a first time for everything even in Riverside.
There's an adage that may be apt in this situation and that is, he who tries to please everybody pleases nobody."
Here are some choice portions of the lengthy deposition taken in February 2007.
About the CPRC while it served under Bill Howe, as chair:
"It was no harm. It was a good advisory commentary."
When things went sour.
"It was not until they got involved in the conducting of their own investigations of these officer-involved deaths when the communication process broke down."
On Officer Ryan Wilson:
"It hasn't affected his work performance and I hold him in extremely high regard because he's a good officer. But I do understand a lot of trauma he went through regarding the publicity of his shooting."
Whose is the commissioner on the CPRC that Leach wants removed?
To be continued....
Labels: Backlash against civilian oversight, culture 101 business as usual, officer-involved shootings
posted by Five Before Midnight | 8:22 AM
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