We (heart) special elections

Last night's city council meeting was a clash of temperaments as a series of planned ballot initiatives were discussed before the packed city council chambers.

But first of all, there will be a special city-wide election coming to you this November! Wonderful news for the unfortunates living in the even-numbered wards who thought they would have to watch the wonderful soapy saga of Election 2007 from the sidelines.

It was BASS against its former member, Councilman Art Gage who voted against at least one of the planned ballot initiatives and he mixed words with the councilman, Dom Betro who essentially bumped him off of the former formidable if short-lived GASS quartet.

The meeting itself extended past 10:30 p.m. well past the happy hour of downtown's local establishments and city council members looked at ceiling lights, fidgeted in their seats and called for frequent breaks to make it through the arduous evening.

It began when councilman and lame duck, Ed Adkison was supposed to step down from his six month stint as Mayor Pro Tem or King for a Day. But Councilman Frank Schiavone led a motion on the council to anoint him king for life or at least until his term ends in December.

Who says there's no reward for pounding gavels, yelling, "out of order" and ordering police officers to remove little old ladies from the chambers? Whoever said that has never been inside our city limits. The move by the city council fed rumors that they are providing an opportunity for Adkison to prove he has the right stuff to be the city's next mayor. And Adkison let it slip during a later agenda item that he does indeed have a campaign war chest.

Why shouldn't he run? Both Councilman Dom Betro and Gage had planned to run according to the Inland Empire Magazine which was obvious to anyone attending city council meetings watching them go at it. But neither won their reelections outright and both are apparently broke. Politics and campaigns never go the way that they are predicted to go in this city especially when the constituents are in the mood to spank incumbents at the polls.

Besides, Adkison clearly has money if he was going to donate $2,500 from his "campaign chest" to put the initiative involving roosters on the autumn ballot. Any money Betro and Gage raise will have to be spent to get them through this year's election, let alone what's going on next year. The best, quick sources for campaign funds are development firms and the city's employment unions, both of which back these two candidates. Two or three employment unions backed the two councilmen and both will be expected to keep the campaign funds flowing. The development firms probably won't need much encouragement including those who not only have backed BASS's plans for the city but have been the beneficiaries by receiving land through threat of eminent domain in the downtown area for their own personal use.

The city council appears to be losing patience with current mayor, Ron Loveridge's handling of the meetings. While they chomp at the bit to get out of there, Loveridge isn't threatening city residents with arrest for exceeding the time limit set for speaking but just gives a gentle wave of his hand. In fact, he never had done so except on one occasion in 1999 when he shut one meeting down in its middle. But Loveridge who was planning to step down before deciding that he still hadn't been elected or selected as the head of the League of California Cities has apparently decided that even after 12 years, there is still so much he wants to do.

Unfortunately, for his aspirations it is likely that BASS will go with Adkison if he decides to run after all. Witness Schiavone cutting Loveridge off like he was a child when Loveridge had the floor. Loveridge did him one back, treating Schiavone like a child. Pretty classic Loveridge. He has his critics but he squeezes every bit of juice he can out of essentially a powerless if well-paying position and puts it to use, plus he's less volatile than most of those sitting alongside him on the dais.

Most of the crowd including dozens of children appeared for the new pools and diving facilities which will be built at Riverside Community College. However, will RCC which has just had the city subsidize its latest development project share its facilities with the public better than the University of California, Riverside did when given the same opportunity and access to the cash box? We shall see.

The kids went home and then the hard campaigning began as a series of planned ballot initiatives went before the city council.

First up was the trains, and though you have to admire the determination and energy of those including Schiavone promoting the ordinance that will fine the trains owned by BNSF and Union Pacific if it passes the muster of the voters, city residents who spoke on it questioned its enforcement and how it would be done. Many pictured the railroads suing the city at some point and the whole process being mired in court for years. Its supporters said that it would drive the companies to the negotiating table but given that they didn't negotiate in good faith the first time around, how would that change?

Schiavone said that legal challenges to the initiative shouldn't stand in its way. Which is an admirable stance in a stance but then you hit upon a current double standard in how the city handles ballot initiatives.

And that means that you have to really feel for activist, Ken Stansbury who was sued by the city after trying to get an initiative on the ballot concerning eminent domain last year because the city questioned whether it was legal or not. What will happen to Riverside is what happened to Stansbury although the city(for now) has deeper pockets. But the reason the city council doesn't see the connection between what the railroads will do to them and what it is doing to Stansbury with its SLAPP suit against him is because it's not the railroads nor chicken farms that control Riverside as they averred last night, it's the development firms that run this city.

Betro even bought up the issue of whether or not Stansbury actually collected any signatures on his initiative before the city shut him down. Why? Because Betro is running for election this autumn in a runoff with Michael Gardner and didn't want to lose an inch more ground. City Attorney Gregory Priamos chirped that no signatures had been gathered to his knowledge before he vacated the premises for the evening.

However, activist Mary Humboldt said that she knew signatures in the thousands had been collected and more would have been, except for the city's actions against those collecting them. She's absolutely right. I have seen the sheets that this organization had used and yes, there were lots of signatures on the forms. He and other activists would assuredly collected many more if not for the city's actions. And the city knew this which is why it really took the action that it did.

Department heads from the police department, the fire department and the American Medical Response company marched up on cue to play their roles. What they said was true, mixed with other factors like staffing and facility issues affecting three agencies being left behind by the Riverside Renaissance.

Priamos acted like a former medical claims attorney who dreams of arguing in front of the United States Supreme Court. It's hard to imagine him not acting the role of the obstructionist which he play beautifully in other venues but he actually promoted something during the discussion of the agenda item.

So the voters in Riverside will have a chance to stick it to the railroads who will then stick it to the city if it passes. Not that it's a bad effort as is the attempt to get the railroads not to turn their noses at further negotiations at the table, but the irony of it in comparison to the Stansbury situation is too much to ignore. Especially when you have councilmen who support the actions taken by his efforts to let the people decide on an issue who then turn around and push these initiatives on the ballot by saying what else? Let the people have a choice to decide.

This is one funny town.

Councilman Andrew Melendrez voted against the measure. He shook his head and laughed at the end of the meeting when several city residents thanked him for his votes. That is after several walked up to the city council which took a break after the marathon discussion on railroads to ask what was the motion that had been approved since the last time it had been read was nearly an hour earlier.

Gage said he held his nose on the vote but figures it will probably come back to the city council at some point before the fall election.


Roosters were up next. Hundreds of them threatening to take over the city any day now. No, actually one problem rooster farm dictating what will happen in the rest of the city. However, many people see this as a means to promote a development agenda on the city's greenbelt and other rural areas.

The city is urban, the county rural, someone on the dais said. Really? I wonder what people in Moreno Valley, Temecula, Lake Elsinore and Murrieta will have to say about that. In many cities in this county, there's still a mixture of both lifestyles and people gravitate to the ones they choose.

Gage made a speech about individual rights which had people in the audience and no doubt at home cheering. It was one of many campaign speeches that night. He and Melendrez voted this clucker down but BASS and Nancy Hart(who had previously told one city resident she opposed the bill) voted against it so it passed. I guess the adage about Hart voting the same as the last person who spoke on an issue before a motion was made may be true after all.

Department heads dutifully marched up and supported the item, then sat down. Priamos wasn't nearly as excited about roosters as he was in making his legal mark in history through choo choo trains.

As to Hart changing her mind, sorry Nancy, but have you noticed how the percentage of women on the dais changed from the majority(as Loveridge once crowed) to the minority? GASS and its successor, BASS have no room for women folk. In fact, the most famous battle cry against Hart when she ran for reelection is that we had to get the grandmother off of the dais.

Melendrez stuck to his independent roots but Betro made a shrewd move paying him back for his efforts. After a group of about nine young people spoke against a raid by the Riverside Police Department that took place against a medical marijuana dispensary last May, Betro suggested that the city council entertain the medical marijuana issue and recommended that it be sent to the Public Safety Committee. Melendrez who has a son who is a police officer seemed a bit flustered when Betro made his move but recovered, asking for Priamos and Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco to have a sitdown with him on the issue that passed with the state's voters but was shot down by the federal courts.

State Attorney General Jerry Brown has also been informed of what's been going on and is apparently paying close attention to Riverside.

The group also planned to visit the CPRC and considered filing a complaint not against the legality of the action but the behavior of some of the officers themselves. One woman said that an officer told her that he was the judge and the jury.

O-kay. Someone has seen too many Dirty Harry films.

Speaking of Dirty Harry, word is that former officer, Chris Gaspard won't be coming back at least not to this city's police department. And it doesn't seem like many tears have been shed over this one. I can say when it came to complaints by community members Gaspard's name come up more than once. Call it the community's own version of an early warning system but at any rate, Gaspard's career in Riverside is over.

His decision to drive recklessly and evade an officer from the same department he worked for showed an appalling lack of judgment and respect. It's one thing for an officer to break the same laws he or she is entrusted by the public to enforce on a daily basis. It's another to stab your agency in the back by basically flipping its employees the birdie when you break those same laws. The public looks at this and thinks that if this officer had so little respect for his fellow officers, no way in hell is he going to respect the community.

At any rate, Gaspard did less time than socialite Paris Hilton did for the same penal code offense and one councilman objected when I made that point by saying his career was over. However, is that true as long as there are departments like Maywood Police Department, Albuquerque Police Department and even UCLA's police department not to mention the hundreds of smaller agencies in this country struggling to fill their ranks out there. Anyone who doubts that this happen should realize that smaller agencies in Alabama and South Carolina have hired registered sex offenders either because they were so desperate to fill their ranks or they didn't have the resources to conduct effective and thorough background checks and in both cases, the officers did get into trouble.

It speaks to the importance of reforming these situations impacting the smaller-sized agencies who are unable to compete and are often even cannibalized by the larger ones in their regions. It also speaks to the importance of proper screening including background checks and psychological evaluations and also realizing that an officer candidate may pass the tests put before him or her with flying colors before they go out into the fields and that it's important to keep an eye on them when they are in the positions of applying their training to real life situations. What's handed to them with the badge is a tremendous power and also responsibility. The police agencies should oversee those transitions especially if problems appear in their officers.



Earlier that day, the city council or redevelopment agency as it's hard to keep them straight voted to build the grade separation for Magnolia Avenue and yes, a few businesses including Taylor's Pets which offers a petition for its customers to sign at its store will be wiped off of the map for the Magnolia Center.

Later, the city council pulled a consent calendar item about a task force set up to address the development...oops use of Tequesquite Park, the most fought over parcel of land in quite a while. People argued against what appears to be a stacked committee chaired by Betro who plans to send recommendations to the Park and Recreation Commission which is set up to handle such discussions. But when commissions assert themselves too strongly, they get pushed aside.

Gage argued that it was a conflict of interest and after the row between him and Betro played out the second time that turbulent evening, both Gage and Melendrez voted against the measure.





In Urbana, even the city officials want stronger civilian oversight over the police department according to an article in the News-Gazette.


(excerpt)


Aldermen Danielle Chynoweth, Charlie Smyth and Brandon Bowersox said
they thought the proposed ordinance needed more teeth, with Chynoweth
saying the review board should be given the power to subpoena
witnesses, case-specific records and evidence.

"If the civilian review board can't compel evidence, it is completely
worthless – and I won't support it," she said.

Chynoweth expressed a number of other objections, including that
review board members would be required not to talk about board
proceedings and deliberations "in perpetuity." She also objected to a
provision that would allow the suspension of complaint hearings if the
city attorney or police chief determines a civil lawsuit is threatened
against the city.



You read that and think, whoa! Did I actually read what I think I read?



Given the impact that civil litigation against the city involving its police department has had on Riverside's civilian review board in the past year, this is a relevant concern. But it's always interesting to read about a city or county government who actually wants to create a stronger, more independent form of civilian review rather than to pawn off a weaker version. It almost never happens that way.

In Urbana, the vote on the ordinance to create the currently planned model of civilian review has been postponed.


Just like it's interesting to read accounts of city attorneys that actually defend civilian review boards and don't obstruct them. The fight to get the Community Police Review Commission may just come back for another round.

And speaking of attorneys, there are only two candidates left to be considered to fill the CPRC's executive manager position. Surprise, surprise, they are both police attorneys from Southern California. This is the outcome anticipated by many community members who believed that it would turn out this way if it were indeed true that City Hall was trying to undermine the CPRC's operations.

But here's some good news, there will be office space some time during this calendar year for the new managed manager. And no, this news didn't come from Asst. City Manager Tom DeSantis who imposed the silent treatment on me last month, just as the silent treatment against the city's official public information officer continues against the Inland Empire Weekly.

Apparently, the final choice has been left to the CPRC chair, Brian Pearcy who himself is a former Los Angeles Police Department officer turned attorney. City residents await with baited breath for an outcome they had already seen coming for months.