Elections 2007: Lining up to start again

Lots of discussions going on about the next round of Election 2007 and who will win the prize of being able to sit on the dais and represent their ward constituents for four years. The fund raisers began this month in earnest as the arduous and highly competitive first round emptied out a few campaign chests.


The consensus appears to be that the Ward One race will come down to who can raise money which usually favors the incumbents and who can go out and knock on the most doors, call the most people and attend the most meetings which usually favors the challengers because incumbents usually rely on others to do that and it makes a much bigger impression if the candidates themselves do this form of outreach.

It doesn't seem to have dawned on the incumbents except perhaps Art Gage that what the first election showed is that people have serious questions about what their city government has been doing. Gage did put that thought out there when the Press Enterprise interviewed him after the election results were tallied in June.

Concerns about the improvement of the city's infrastructure to match population growth, the city's finances and the behavior by city council members towards members of the public are what is influencing this trend. Not to mention the overselling of Riverside Renaissance while not discussing again, how its infrastructure will handle it including one of the most neglected areas, which is the state of the city's major streets in terms of how they handle traffic.

It's not that people don't like the concept of Riverside Renaissance. It's how it has been truncated into five years especially as the city's sales taxes were much less this year than had been anticipated. The economy ebbs and flows and this umbrella of projects doesn't take that into consideration.

A police officer once asked at a meeting, what were the three biggest problems. He answered, traffic, traffic and traffic. And while that issue has been talked during forums by candidates, it doesn't seem to be discussed much outside of election years.

Gage is probably completely aware of his vulnerability at this point in time in terms of the difficult task that lies ahead of him in terms of beating William "Rusty" Bailey to keep his seat. Bailey's got a fundraiser coming up that is being produced by the Michael Williams Company. Former candidate Peter Olmos has endorsed Gage in the next round.

Bailey's heaviest supporters come from the camp of incumbent Dom Betro which makes sense considering how Betro and Councilmen Frank Schiavone, Ed Adkison, Andrew Melendrez and Mayor Ron Loveridge endorsed Bailey before he even filed his papers announcing his intention to run. That of course strongly indicates that those elected officials have kicked Gage out of the club and are seeking Bailey as a replacement.

Some might cheer that action, but it's troubling in that city council elections are supposed to be about ward representation, not city representation. But more and more this is the direction that the elections and the strategies played out during them have been going. These strategies lead to the representation of the development firms and those who have deep pockets to finance campaigns to just plop a few grand in every city council race.

There was even some discussion several years ago of changing the rules of runoff elections to make those citywide. Mercifully that idea didn't amount to much in terms of action.

Wards Five and Seven are tough to call at this point, particularly who will win the runoff to replace Adkison. But there's still months to go before the election and much campaigning to be done.

Each candidate is required by state law to file campaign disclosure statements at the Riverside city clerks's office. Included on these statements are campaign donations that are $100 or higher. Reading these statements does help provide a profile of that particular candidate in terms of who or what is supporting his or her political campaign.

Riverside County is beginning to put similar records online, but the city of Riverside has yet to do so. Maybe that's something city residents should push for in the interest of increasing accountability and transparency in the election process.




I haven't received any more harassing emails. I'm still puzzled as to why an IP address registered to the city was on the header of the email sent Tuesday, July 17 at 6:16:15 p.m. I have a difficult time understanding how it wound up there and the city's not interested in providing any possible explanation. It is just making assumptions that I'm interested in subpoenas and tracking down city employees, when it might not even be a city employee who sent it. I asked them one question and one question only and that's what is their IP address doing on an email sent to harass me?

Still, nothing can really be done about it and I've said my piece. The best thing to do is to just continue what I'm doing and as always, looking over my shoulder wherever I go.

It's hard sometimes to write a blog that seems to have elicited mostly hostility and hatred in its first year of existence. It's only more recently that I've heard more positive words said about it and have received encouragement to keep it going from different circles. But I did go through some examination as to whether or not to do just that. Some of that examination took place on days when I was almost afraid to leave my residence.

It's easy to say, if you put it out there and it gets this type of opposition from those who hate your message and even you, that this is some barometer of effectiveness in what you're doing. It's harder to live in it.

I was thinking about this when I attended the writ on the case of Ryan Wilson v the State of California. I watched the attorneys especially the one representing Wilson, who really was impressive in his oratory skills. His argument was flawed as there exists a better one that might have swayed Judge Dallas Holmes but he chose his words well. However, his passion and belief in his own argument was inspiring to watch and he did make Holmes for a while rethink his position. And that's rare for a judge to do in what's left of this county's civil court system. Even Holmes realized that.

So if you believe in something, it's important to keep going at it.

As for the Community Police Review Commission, it was a win-win situation in a game where there had been many losses so not much was at stake in terms of it with this one decision. And ironically, it was Wilson through his attorney, not the city that believed in its strength.







Contaminated soil at a place where recreational vehicles are stored, will be the site of a massive cleaning job by the city according to the Press Enterprise.

They will have to dig pretty deep to clear out the millions of tons of dirt that includes in its composition a substance called lampblack.

After the cleanup, the city will start its project involving a transit village that has caused much controversy particularly in the Eastside which feels shut out of the process which will include the construction of two private bridges between the predominantly Black and Latino neighborhood to the downtown. Residents of the Eastside which is set up to be divided and parceled out into various redevelopment projects in the future have wanted bridges like this over the railroad tracks for a long time.

Now, the bridges are coming but as is typical, they are reserved for a Whiter, more affluent population of people who haven't even come to Riverside yet.


There will also be a public meeting on this issue to discuss safety issues. Those running the meeting will be taking public comment.



Cleanup meeting

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control will hold a public meeting in Riverside to let residents know about a cleanup near the city's Metrolink station that could begin as early as next month.

When: Monday, 6 p.m. open house followed by 7:15 p.m. public hearing

Where: Cesar Chavez Community Center, 2060 University Ave.

More information: 714-484-5488








One man in Hemet won the first round in his law suit which was to evict two city council members off the dais including the vice mayor, according to the Press Enterprise.

Howard Toungate stated in his law suit that the two elected officials had violated the law in serving more than two term limits. The city defended its politicians and stated in his defense that a state law prohibiting term limits which existed at the time negated the city's own ordinance.


(excerpt)


This week, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Edward Webster overruled a request to dismiss the lawsuit made by the council members' attorney.

"It was a round one win for me," said Tounget, who unsuccessfully ran for Hemet City Council in 1996 and 2000. He praised the judge's ruling and said he expects to win.

Amy Morgan, the council members' attorney, said denial of the motion to dismiss the lawsuit does not bode ill for her clients' chances.

She said the judge did not rule on the merits of the case, but merely determined that it was sufficient enough to proceed.

"I feel that the city has followed the law and confident that we will prevail," she said.









Former San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department deputy, Ivory J. Webb had appeared on the Today show after his acquittal on charges in relation to his onduty shooting of U.S. airman, Elio Carrion.

Now, Carrion is taking his case to the same television program, according to the Press Enterprise.



(excerpt)




Carrion said he was wrong for cursing at Webb during the confrontation, but added that he clearly said he was getting up as ordered when he was shot.

"I don't know how the jury found that it was justified. It seemed like they weren't listening to anything the DA was saying," Carrion told "Today" host Meredith Vieira. "When he approached us he was out of control... Clear as day, he said twice, 'Get up, get up.' Then I pushed my upper body up and I got shot."

After being shot in the chest, arm and leg, Carrion said he still struggles with physical activities. He now works as a desk clerk at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.








The article mentioned that Webb is trying to get his old job back. This comes after comments made by San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod that his department had not wanted to take back Webb and he didn't think Webb would want to work there anyway.



Now, Penrod like a huge chunk of the population in this country knows differently, so what now? Will his department hire back an individual which Penrod told media outlets was a member of its law enforcement family?










A new civilian review board is coming to Corvalis, Texas according to the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Reaction to the new form of civilian oversight appeared to be positive from different quarters.


(excerpt)


“There’s been a move within the community to have someone to bring complaints to besides the police administration,” board member Prudence Miles said.

No single event spurred the creation of the citizen oversight panel, said Council member Patricia Daniels, but several incidents contributed to its development. Among them were a 2003 study of traffic-stop data in response to concerns about racial profiling and the fatal shooting of Richard Dean Townsend in November of 2005 by a Corvallis police officer.

“I have faith in our department,” Miles said. “But I don’t see any risk in having a citizens oversight group.”

Corvallis Police Capt. Jon Sassaman said having a citizen review board is a “best practice” for law enforcement agencies.

“They provide transparency and access to the community and hold us truly accountable for all our actions,” Sassaman said.



Another interesting thing about this article was that the Corvallis Police Department is planning to have the new commission assist it into examining approaches to interacting with mentally ill individuals. A practice that's being done in a lot of different cities since the city of Memphis created its crisis intervention team in the late 1980s.





Back in Columbia, Missouri, the work to create a form of civilian oversight continues, according to this article in the Columbia Tribune. A research committee is being formed and all those who are interested in Columbia are encouraged to apply. It will research the process of complaint investigations in the Columbia Police Department, research various forms of civilian oversight and then report its recommendations to the city council.