Canary in the Mine: The Welcoming Wagon

The gloves are coming off again among those who sit on the dais at Riverside City Hall and it appears that the ongoing crisis with the increasing electrical rates in this city may impact not just one but two election cycles.

The Press Enterprise wrote this article about how the city council is rethinking the increase in rates for electrical use that it approved late last year.


The proposal which has brought this issue back on the agenda was offered up by Councilman Frank Schiavone and seconded by Ward Seven City Councilman Steve Adams.

It appears that most of those in the city council support the proposal although some wonder whether or not lowering the rates can be done without leaving the city literally in the dark this time next year.

The current increase in the price of electricity impacted people all over the city especially during July no matter what neighborhood they lived in.

However, people and at least one council member have voiced concern that any changes in the current structure which places customers in different tiers charging different rates based on their usage might disproportionately impact poorer people.


(excerpt)


Eastside resident Equilla Edwards said she is fearful a new electric-rate change would shift the burden to the people who can afford it least -- the poor.

Edwards lives in an 800-square-foot apartment with her 17-year-old daughter and three grandchildren. Her electric bill went up $10 to $15 in July, leaving her with less money for groceries, and she is extremely worried it will go up more, she said.

With food prices and gasoline prices already high, "We're stretching beyond the limit," Edwards said.

Schiavone said it's not his intent to make poor residents pay more than they already are paying.

Homeowner Robert Slawsby sees potential political trouble for the three council members facing re-election in November -- Dom Betro, Art Gage and Steve Adams -- over the high July electric bills.

Slawsby lives in a 3,100-square-foot house near Victoria Avenue and Horace Street with his wife and two young children. He said his family used 3,675 kilowatt-hours this July -- about 500 kilowatt-hours more than July 2006 -- and his bill jumped from $297.59 to $778.57.

"If I were running against them, I would sink my teeth into this," he said.




Some say it's clear that those who are running for election this year and next are seeing that this issue could impact their respective election cycles. Others say it's a way to appease wealthier people who use a lot of electricity by shifting the costs to the backs of poorer families.

In November, incumbent councilmen, Dom Betro, Art Gage and Adams will be facing off against challengers in the final round of Election 2007.

Next year, Schiavone is running against the current county supervisor in the first district, Bob Buster for that seat.


Gage had some comments of his own about why the proposal was being submitted. This councilman was unceremoniously evicted from the once reknowned GASS quartet not long after it peaked with its decision to oust former city manager, George Carvalho and Gage was replaced by someone else.


Schiavone and Gage have been trading barbs for quite a while since. At the afternoon session, you could have placed the Grand Canyon inside the space between where they sat next to each other on the dais.



(excerpt)


Schiavone's proposal to re-evaluate rates has everything to do with his race for Riverside County supervisor, Gage said.

"He is looking to make people like him," Gage said. "With people being bombarded with summer rates there's no better time for him to say, 'Let's try to change this.'"

Schiavone said the only reason he is pushing for a re-evaluation of the rate structure is because it's not working properly.

"It just needs to have a much broader look," Schiavone said.

Councilman Steve Adams agreed that it's time to look again at the rates.

"They (the bills) are way higher than acceptable," he said. "We need to re-evaluate this. It's unacceptable. Our citizens can't afford this. I can't afford this. We have to rethink a better way to do this."



Adams is also up for reelection this year and running against Terry Frizzel, a former mayor and councilwoman in the Ward Seven finals. The preliminary round brought Adams who tried and failed to run for a state assembly seat last year about 34% of the popular vote.

But with this issue, it appears the city is once again traveling down a well worn path of late.

Why was this rethinking not done last year when the rate hikes were first discussed and then approved? And what does he mean he can't afford it? Is he stumping for another city council pay raise or does he believe this contentious issue could potentially cost him at the polls?

Why are elected leaders so shocked when they make deals with air freight companies to come into the area to do business on their schedule, 24/7, and then people in the surrounding areas complain about the excessive noise?

Why don't elected officials ever consider at the time a decision is being made the consequences that this decision might have on their constituents? Are they so out of touch with so many of them that outcomes like these to decisions made appear to, excuse the bad pun, shock them?

It is one thing to anticipate that outcome and make the decision anyway, either because it comes down to deciding between two difficult choices on an issue or frankly, because it comes down to caring for some constituents such as the ones who line campaign chests and/or vote and the ones who don't.

It's another to say that the decision was made but that there was no idea among those who made it what was coming down the pike. The interesting thing is that at no time do these elected officials suggested that they might have erred in their assessment or in their decision making process. In fact, to listen to them, they blame their voting errors on everyone else. Why, when it might actually be refreshing for an elected official to stand up and say, "I screwed up with my vote" and I think I can make a more sound decision this time after learning from what happened and what I did and receiving public input on the issue.

If they did that more often, then maybe there would be fewer runoff elections this November.

Still, by the end of last evening, the city council voted 6-1 with Councilman Andrew Melendrez casting the dissenting vote to adopt Schiavone's proposal, stated the Press Enterprise. Needless to say, it was a packed meeting.

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The council vote came after 90 minutes of public comment and council discussion. Twenty-three residents spoke on the issue, with most of them calling for the council to provide relief from the high energy bills.

"You didn't get the facts right the first time," said resident John Robison. "Get it right the second time."

An e-mail Robison sent to Schiavone in July complaining about his high utility bill pushed Schiavone to act.

Resident Mona Perez said her latest electricity bill was so high "I considered throwing my koi out of the pond and turning the pond off."

No one from either the city-owned Riverside Public Utilities or the Board of Public Utilities addressed the council.

With energy contracts expiring, the city also faces a much higher cost of buying electricity, estimated at $15 million more a year.

"The rates are going to go up, but not structured the way they are," Councilman Ed Adkison said.

He made it clear that he believes the city utility's largest customers, including universities, hospitals, distribution centers and even small businesses are not paying their fair share under the rate system that has been in place.

"It has to be more equitable," he said.


Several interesting letters in the Press Enterprise today on civic issues. It's a good place to voice your opinions through either emailing them letters or sending them through the mail.


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Planes trump roosters

City Councilman Ed Adkison has sent me a full-color mailer asking my opinion on an ordinance to limit the number of roosters per household: a courageous stance by a true leader protecting residents from noise disturbances and public nuisances.

I have never been awakened in Riverside by a crowing rooster, but I am awakened every night by the house-rattling roar of DHL taking off over my home in Mission Grove. That is why I urge the City Council to act to protect my family and our neighbors from this nightly assault. The city should sue the March Joint Powers Authority and March GlobalPort to put an end to this public nuisance.

ANN RICHARDS

Riverside

About 40 people welcomed the newly hired Community Police Review Commission executive manager, Kevin Rogan to City Hall, according to this article in the Press Enterprise.

Every elected official except Councilman Ed Adkison popped his or her head in. Some even stayed for the duration of the event. It's funny to see them there when even the CPRC's alleged supporters on the dais have remained mum about the actions of the triad surrounding the CPRC during the past year or so. Gage and Schiavone stayed on opposite ends of the Mayor's Ceremonial Room and some say, City Manager Brad Hudson didn't even acknowledge one of his direct employees the entire time.

Eight of the nine commissioners attended the reception as well. Very few community leaders attended the function. In fact, none did. That's a question often asked by community members is why their leadership is not more vested in the process at least publicly. That's a difficult question to answer in just a few words.

The food was quite good, as the city once again picked a good caterer for the event, which led the event a greater deal of irony. And Rogan seemed personable enough and had obviously done some homework on Riverside and its people. He even read this blog at some point in his research.

One former commissioner spoke out against the antics at City Hall that have served to undermine the CPRC during the past 18 months. A current commissioner who spends an awful lot of time with the city manager's office tried to respond by reassuring people that no such conduct was taking place.


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Bill Howe, a retired police chief, was a member of the commission when it was created. He said he thinks Rogan is qualified for the job, but he has other concerns.

"It'll get things back on track, but it's still going to be up to the citizens to keep an eye on what's going on in that office," Howe said.

Howe and current commissioners say they are worried by a lack of public interest. Most of the commission's monthly meetings are attended by fewer than five residents. And despite great interest in police oversight when the commission was created, public participation has always been a problem, Howe said.

Commission Chairman Brian Pearcy said the commission's outreach committee continues to work on informing residents of the group's job, but it's a difficult task.

Howe said public interest is the only thing that will stop city officials from interfering with the commission, which he said started with the appointment of Brad Hudson as city manager.

As one example of interference, commissioners have said that certain items they wanted to discuss were taken off the agenda by city officials.

In addition, they said city officials discussed prohibiting the commission's investigator from doing any work on a case until investigations by the Police Department and Riverside County district attorney's office had been completed. The commission fought that proposal.

Pearcy said fears that city officials would meddle have been around since the commission was created, but they are now unwarranted.

"I understand and have shared that concern previously," Pearcy said. "At this time, I see no evidence to support that concern."

The problem with Pearcy's comment is that to see how the current city manager's team has treated the CPRC and its last executive director, all you have to do is look back a little ways in time for that answer. And the one thing about old management habits, is that they follow the older adage that old habits die hard.

Rogan took a bit of a salary cut, okay a huge one, from what previous managers have received and the biggest question of course on everyone's lips is how independent he will be from the city manager's office and how long rein that he will receive from City Manager Brad Hudson and especially Asst. City Manager Tom DeSantis.

Like Howe said, people will be watching.





A homicide case investigated by Huntington Park Police Department has been stalled by complications stemming from the prosecution of a series of home robberies committed by individuals including several former Los Angeles Police Department officers, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The head of the robbery ring, Ruben Palomares was the LAPD officer who plead guilty for his role in the robbers and is currently in federal prison. He and other ring members are also primary suspects in the murder case but are key witnesses for the prosecution in its case against two remaining defendants set to go to trial in relation to the robbery ring.


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The ring leader, former LAPD Officer Ruben Palomares, and 12 other people have pleaded guilty and are serving sentences in federal prison, but two others have denied the charges and are scheduled to go on trial next month.

Palomares and two of his cohorts are expected to be the government's star witnesses in the case. But they also are suspects in Mendoza's stabbing death, according to several investigators who spoke on the condition that they not be named because the case is pending.

So prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office find themselves in the awkward position of seeking to shield the three men from the murder allegations despite compelling evidence that they committed the crime.

The prosecutors don't want their key witnesses portrayed as killers -- or perceived as liars, if they deny the allegations -- in front of the jury. Nor do they want defense attorneys to suggest that prosecutors are dragging their feet on the killing as part of an unwritten deal to secure the men's cooperation.




So the alleged and highly suspected killers of Erick Mendoza will likely never be held accountable for their actions because to do so, might make them bad witnesses for the federal prosecutors' case. Defense attorneys for the remaining two defendants apparently won't even be allowed to ask Palomares and the other convicted members of the robbery ring about any role any of them might have planed in Mendoza's killing.




Over 800 jurors were called in to Riverside's courthouse to fill 10 juries which will hear trials conducted by the strike team of judges that is hanging out here for the next four months to deal with the huge backlog of cases generated by the dysfunctional system.


Jurors commented on the chain of events and what greeted them when they arrived to do their civic duty.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)


Nancy Cameron, of Menifee, said she left her home at 6 a.m., arrived in Riverside 45 minutes later and found parking right away.

"I had heard this was going to be a large week in the courts," Cameron said.

Others had a different experience.

"The parking is horrendous," complained Cora Smith, of Riverside, who said she wound up using a space at a professional building that she had access to. Others, such as Susan Katali Wagner, of Moreno Valley, gave up looking and paid for metered parking, $4 for four hours.

"When you're not familiar with the streets, you want to park near where you are going," Wagner said.

Pam Silva, of Riverside, said she spent 20 minutes looking for parking in three or four spots.

Silva said, "The cars were honking behind me, and I was trying to read the print" on the summons's parking instructions as she drove.

"I finally said to heck with it," Silva said.




Having been one of 950 jurors who were called one Monday in early January, I can feel their pain. The previous Friday, they had called in 600, just to tell them to come back next week and hundreds of jurors were forced to walk from the parking lots reserved for them out yonder to the courthouse because the trolleys that usually transported them didn't run on Fridays.

Supervising Riverside County Superior Court Judge Richard Fields offered his apologies when the whole situation was finally straightened out.




And if you think there's a revolving door at Riverside's City Hall, look at what's up with Desert Hot Springs, which lost not one but two city managers in one week.

And guess what? The week's not even over yet.