Election 2007: Renaissance at the polls
UPDATE: As of 5:30 p.m. the tally is as follows:
Dom Betro: 2,139 49.69%
Mike Gardner: 2,166 50.31%
"I want to wash that council's platform right out of my hair"
That seemed to be one message loudly sent by voters in Riverside yesterday, according to the Press Enterprise. The electorate in Riverside sent a very loud message to the city council in voicing its displeasure or at the very least its division in terms of where the city has been going the past several years.
It's not so much "controversial issues" that turned the tide as Councilman Dom Betro claimed. It was the feeling in Riverside that it was trying too hard to surrender what many people felt made it special to be a carbon copy of something else through any means necessary. It was the feeling that City Hall and the city council chambers no longer belonged to the city's residents but to a bunch of power brokers and insiders fueled by developers and many voters wanted to take it back. The vision of elderly women being nearly arrested or escorted away from the podium by police officers this year and last obviously made a lasting impression. And it won't be easy to forget the spank that voters have just given Riverside Renaissance by launching a renaissance of their own.
Before these people are labeled "party poopers" against progress, it's not that people don't like the projects and plans with the city's attempt at renaissance but with some caution and responsibility attached. Before they are told they are being "divisive", "complainers", "part of the problem, not part of the solution", remember this. Riverside and most especially City Hall doesn't belong to voting blocs. It doesn't belong to power players or just players who move candidates around like chess pieces on some grand plan to obtain a bloc. It doesn't belong to those who try to persuade out of ward residents to move into wards specifically to run for election, a practice it turns out which had an ironic twist by election's end. It isn't up for some people to decide that they can scold people about not being "part of the solution" yet closely hoarding those opportunities like precious gems they don't want to share.
Riverside is divided. Every single ward is divided. Divided in ways not shown by the latest round of election results. Divided in ways not discussed or debated in any public forum so far. Instead of punishing people for the obvious, there should be more examination of why this division exists along the lines that it clearly does. But until last night, that division was not acknowledged by the incumbents' camps. One thing should be clear: People want more public participation by all of the city's residents, not less. They want more opportunities for all residents to have to come to the table and be part of this solution-making that candidates' supporters have been tossing around like another sound byte.
They want to work with their elected officials, not play second wheel to other interests, most notably developers from out of town. And whoever wins this election? They don't have a mandate so they need to be extra sensitive to being all inclusive when working with issues involving both wards and cities.
Betro once said something that was interesting but he didn't seem to understand what was really behind what he had said. He complained that rather than seeing his allies knock down his door, he had a long line of developers do that. What he failed to realize is that the former had everything to do with the latter. This dynamic played out in full form during this election. Hopefully, it was a lesson learned by his camp.
Members of the public that I have spoken to are also fully aware that city officials have been acting disrespectful at meetings, bored, disinterested and even petulant. One man I spoke with today said that he always noticed that when Mayor Ron Loveridge called a break, the first person out of his chair was Steve Adams, who would puff up his chest and give the impression this man said, of being pompous. It's easy to see that and think if that guy can't wait to get out of his chair, then maybe he should rethink his career ambitions not not include holding a political position. Although this was the guy who flirted with running for higher office while leaving his ward unattended to in the meantime. That dynamic played into his very narrow lead over Terry Frizzel, who is the Blair Witch Project of candidates.
Blair Witch Project was funded on a shoestring budget, yet became the highest grossing independent film of its time. Meaning that it took what little resources it had, made the most of them and reaped the benefits due to a hard, grass-roots advertising campaign and tremendous word of mouth. That was Frizzel in a nutshell. And when it comes to runoff elections, no one does it better with a lot less than the people she faces off against.
If you talk to people in each ward, it's not as much about individual issues by themselves but about larger ones including most notably the use of eminent domain against small businesses by the city's redevelopment agency. It's about the fate of open space including parks being carved up and sold off to developers, which nearly happened with Tequesquite Park. In fact, challenger Mike Gardner, in the Ward One race, reemerged out of a poor showing in the 2003 election involved in a well-organized, highly successful campaign to save Tequesquite Park. Even Betro's attempts to salvage his own standing on this issue during the summer didn't change his status among voters in his ward who may reelect him by Thursday morning but with a huge caveat attached that even his ego can't mistake.
It's about concerns that Riverside Renaissance will saddle future generations of Riversiders with debt because redevelopment agencies are all about staying in debt and will neglect the necessary expansion of the city's basic services even as the city grows both in area size and population in the next 10 years. It's about wanting to be Riverside, not a "city of the arts"(tm), not Orange County, not at the expense of this city's identity.
There for but the grace of the election schedules went the elected officials in the even-numbered wards, at least some who would have been in similar straits last night. Hopefully, they got the message loud and clear. Whatever trend impacted the election results, it was felt city-wide.
The evening ended early for some candidates. Some still have to sit on their hands and wait for a decision to be made on their fates. Let's hope they spend at least most of that time seriously reflecting on the city's future first, their futures and those of their supporters, second.
William "Rusty" Bailey defeated incumbent Art Gage in Ward Three. Ward Seven Councilman Steve Adams very narrowly avoided succumbing to a late-night charge by rival, Terry Frizzel by 32 votes. Chris MacArthur defeated Donna Doty Michalka, pretty handily.
The only races left in the air include the very contentious Ward One election where only four votes currently separate Gardner from Betro. Gardner was about 43 votes behind Betro until the last precinct was counted. In one season, Betro saw his dreams of perhaps being mayor some day as expressed in the Inland Empire Magazine be dampened by his failure to gain any momentum in his four years in office to sweep the polls. Instead, this year's election was an even bigger hurdle for him even as he spent over $200,000 to try to capture it. Most of that funding was provided by labor unions including the Riverside Police Officers' Association whose candidates had poor showings and development firms including several who have benefited from the city government's threat of or use of eminent domain against property owners downtown.
The Adams/Frizzel contest is still fairly close, even though the Press Enterprise has apparently awarded the contest to its endorsed candidate, Adams.
Maybe that too left a bad taste in the mouths of many voters. After all, a pretty large majority of people in this country don't like eminent domain to be used to benefit private developers and Riversiders clearly fall among those numbers. The city government already knows this because it showed that by filing a SLAPP law suit against Ken Stansbury and the Riversiders for Property Rights simply for daring to circulate a ballot initiative on that use of eminent domain to the city's residents. Many city residents disapproved of this action not to mention the expense it would cost them, which many felt was an additional insult.
So now after a contentious eight months since the election's filing date, the voters wait for the final tally.
The Riverside County registrar of voters must still count a number of absentee and provisional ballots turned in Tuesday. That will be done today and Thursday, registrar's officials said.
"It is not over," Gardner said early this morning.
Betro said his campaign made a concerted effort to get his supporters to the polls, so he would wait for the final tally.
"I know how hard we worked to get those votes, so we're going to remain hopeful," he said.
This shouldn't be surprising to anyone following the campaigns because pollsters in both camps said that the race would most likely come down to the wire. One pollster said that Gardner had made up an amazing amount of ground since the June preliminary round especially in areas of the ward outside downtown. Gardner was outspent about 6 to 1 but countered that with hard work including outreach throughout the ward.
Betro's temperament didn't help matters either.
I saw first hand Betro's temper when I questioned statements he made during a community meeting about a situation involving promises made by the city council in March 2006 and never followed through on until much later that year. Even though I had never had any difficulty with him or given him any, I discovered that temper of his that others even his supporters had been talking about. Gardener's not the strongest debater but one-on-one, it was clear that he knows what he wants to do if elected and he's much nicer.
Bailey's win was a surprise to few people. He narrowly missed winning outright in June, in a race that was actually a rehearsal for this one. His pollsters reported increased support particularly in the last few weeks of the race.
MacArthur's strong showing against three candidates in June was repeated here. Whether his xenophobic campaign hurt or helped his campaign is not clear. His somewhat foggy stance on Eminent Domain and his open support of a more accessible, open government probably helped him in a ward which looks at development projects with an uneasy eye.
The grass-roots candidates of Election 2007 did extraordinarily well, with Frizzel close on Adams' heels towards the end of the count despite being outspent by over 10 to 1. The fact that candidate's didn't raise or have a lot of money didn't mean they didn't have votes. They did have the energy, the drive to at least make a competitive showing of it.
Election 2007 isn't over yet but the message it has sent has been ringing loud and clear.
Did the city vote to to give outgoing Councilman Ed Adkison a goodbye gift by siding with the applicants in an appeal of a McMansion project in what's left of the Greenbelt in Ward Four? I had to go before the final vote was taken but it seemed to be leaning that way.
One of the applicants was Adkans Engineering, which is the company owned by Adkison and one that's been involved in many a development project in the city particularly in redevelopment agency zones.
The appellants, which included the Friends of the Hills were presented with a 75 document only five minutes before the public hearing against them. Crooked, is what one of them called that action. But when you're talking major money that you can receive from developers who wish to buy McMansions in a deflated housing market where hundreds of people in the Inland Empire who own homes are going into foreclosure and others can't sell their homes, you know which way the votes will go. Experts also say that homeowners wish to downsize the space they own and live in because of additional expenses of upkeep related to larger sized homes.
What's interesting is that Mayor Loveridge promotes Riverside as the City of the Green, which is second on the list of its latest titles which includes City of the Arts yet what's left in the city that's actually green open space is being carved up for more Mcmansions in a housing market where the bubble has burst.
The city council looked clearly antsy in keen anticipation and dread of the election results coming in, but it's not all bad even for those who might be getting pink slips because of the parties at among other places, Zacatecas on University Avenue and Art's Bar and Grill in the University neighborhood.
Some interesting events and happenings in Riverside here.
One Goodbye
Capt. Jim Cannon retired about 1 1/2 months ago taking a service retirement after 30 years of retirement. Cannon was only the department's second Black captain and was promoted by Chief Russ Leach amid some complaints by White lieutenants but Leach held firm. His promotion came less than 10 years after the department's first Black captain, Lee Wagner, was pretty much run out of the department.
Cannon served with distinction for 30 years and caused some controversy in 1999 when he forwarded information related to former officer and whistle blower, Rene Rodriguez about racism in the Riverside Police Department including that involving the Tyisha Miller shooting.
When you mention Cannon to city residents whether they live in La Sierra when he was an area commander under the old organizational structure or in the area of the city covered by the East Area Command, where he served as captain up to his retirement, people really liked him.
His retirement came as a surprise, but when I talked with him last, he talked about his love for traveling and all the places he still wanted to visit.
His departure leaves a void which won't be easily approached let alone filled.
The News-Press Editorial Board warns that the police's pressure against a civilian review board in Ft. Myers could backfire but only because the board's against civilian review as well.
(excerpt)
This tactic could very well revive the campaign for an elected review board, which is so far well short of the 2,500 signatures required to get the measure on a special-election ballot.
Drop this idea, Mr. Pendergrass, please.
Orange County Sheriff has gone on 60 day paid administrative leave according to the Los Angeles Times.
(excerpt)
Carona's decision to step away from his job was a quick turnaround from the defiant stance he took last week.
"I will be taking a 60-day leave of absence in order to devote my full time and energy towards battling the untrue and baseless charges made against my wife, Debbie, and me," Carona said in a prepared statement Tuesday.
"This was not an easy decision for me to make, given that I know that the charges against me are without merit," he said.
Carona appointed Undersheriff Jo Ann Galisky, his top aide, to run the department.
Supervisors were angry that Carona chose his own replacement, saying he may have usurped their authority.
"I think he can certainly delegate responsibility, but he can't name an interim department head because the board does that," said Supervisor John Moorlach.
Dom Betro: 2,139 49.69%
Mike Gardner: 2,166 50.31%
"I want to wash that council's platform right out of my hair"
That seemed to be one message loudly sent by voters in Riverside yesterday, according to the Press Enterprise. The electorate in Riverside sent a very loud message to the city council in voicing its displeasure or at the very least its division in terms of where the city has been going the past several years.
It's not so much "controversial issues" that turned the tide as Councilman Dom Betro claimed. It was the feeling in Riverside that it was trying too hard to surrender what many people felt made it special to be a carbon copy of something else through any means necessary. It was the feeling that City Hall and the city council chambers no longer belonged to the city's residents but to a bunch of power brokers and insiders fueled by developers and many voters wanted to take it back. The vision of elderly women being nearly arrested or escorted away from the podium by police officers this year and last obviously made a lasting impression. And it won't be easy to forget the spank that voters have just given Riverside Renaissance by launching a renaissance of their own.
Before these people are labeled "party poopers" against progress, it's not that people don't like the projects and plans with the city's attempt at renaissance but with some caution and responsibility attached. Before they are told they are being "divisive", "complainers", "part of the problem, not part of the solution", remember this. Riverside and most especially City Hall doesn't belong to voting blocs. It doesn't belong to power players or just players who move candidates around like chess pieces on some grand plan to obtain a bloc. It doesn't belong to those who try to persuade out of ward residents to move into wards specifically to run for election, a practice it turns out which had an ironic twist by election's end. It isn't up for some people to decide that they can scold people about not being "part of the solution" yet closely hoarding those opportunities like precious gems they don't want to share.
Riverside is divided. Every single ward is divided. Divided in ways not shown by the latest round of election results. Divided in ways not discussed or debated in any public forum so far. Instead of punishing people for the obvious, there should be more examination of why this division exists along the lines that it clearly does. But until last night, that division was not acknowledged by the incumbents' camps. One thing should be clear: People want more public participation by all of the city's residents, not less. They want more opportunities for all residents to have to come to the table and be part of this solution-making that candidates' supporters have been tossing around like another sound byte.
They want to work with their elected officials, not play second wheel to other interests, most notably developers from out of town. And whoever wins this election? They don't have a mandate so they need to be extra sensitive to being all inclusive when working with issues involving both wards and cities.
Betro once said something that was interesting but he didn't seem to understand what was really behind what he had said. He complained that rather than seeing his allies knock down his door, he had a long line of developers do that. What he failed to realize is that the former had everything to do with the latter. This dynamic played out in full form during this election. Hopefully, it was a lesson learned by his camp.
Members of the public that I have spoken to are also fully aware that city officials have been acting disrespectful at meetings, bored, disinterested and even petulant. One man I spoke with today said that he always noticed that when Mayor Ron Loveridge called a break, the first person out of his chair was Steve Adams, who would puff up his chest and give the impression this man said, of being pompous. It's easy to see that and think if that guy can't wait to get out of his chair, then maybe he should rethink his career ambitions not not include holding a political position. Although this was the guy who flirted with running for higher office while leaving his ward unattended to in the meantime. That dynamic played into his very narrow lead over Terry Frizzel, who is the Blair Witch Project of candidates.
Blair Witch Project was funded on a shoestring budget, yet became the highest grossing independent film of its time. Meaning that it took what little resources it had, made the most of them and reaped the benefits due to a hard, grass-roots advertising campaign and tremendous word of mouth. That was Frizzel in a nutshell. And when it comes to runoff elections, no one does it better with a lot less than the people she faces off against.
If you talk to people in each ward, it's not as much about individual issues by themselves but about larger ones including most notably the use of eminent domain against small businesses by the city's redevelopment agency. It's about the fate of open space including parks being carved up and sold off to developers, which nearly happened with Tequesquite Park. In fact, challenger Mike Gardner, in the Ward One race, reemerged out of a poor showing in the 2003 election involved in a well-organized, highly successful campaign to save Tequesquite Park. Even Betro's attempts to salvage his own standing on this issue during the summer didn't change his status among voters in his ward who may reelect him by Thursday morning but with a huge caveat attached that even his ego can't mistake.
It's about concerns that Riverside Renaissance will saddle future generations of Riversiders with debt because redevelopment agencies are all about staying in debt and will neglect the necessary expansion of the city's basic services even as the city grows both in area size and population in the next 10 years. It's about wanting to be Riverside, not a "city of the arts"(tm), not Orange County, not at the expense of this city's identity.
There for but the grace of the election schedules went the elected officials in the even-numbered wards, at least some who would have been in similar straits last night. Hopefully, they got the message loud and clear. Whatever trend impacted the election results, it was felt city-wide.
The evening ended early for some candidates. Some still have to sit on their hands and wait for a decision to be made on their fates. Let's hope they spend at least most of that time seriously reflecting on the city's future first, their futures and those of their supporters, second.
William "Rusty" Bailey defeated incumbent Art Gage in Ward Three. Ward Seven Councilman Steve Adams very narrowly avoided succumbing to a late-night charge by rival, Terry Frizzel by 32 votes. Chris MacArthur defeated Donna Doty Michalka, pretty handily.
The only races left in the air include the very contentious Ward One election where only four votes currently separate Gardner from Betro. Gardner was about 43 votes behind Betro until the last precinct was counted. In one season, Betro saw his dreams of perhaps being mayor some day as expressed in the Inland Empire Magazine be dampened by his failure to gain any momentum in his four years in office to sweep the polls. Instead, this year's election was an even bigger hurdle for him even as he spent over $200,000 to try to capture it. Most of that funding was provided by labor unions including the Riverside Police Officers' Association whose candidates had poor showings and development firms including several who have benefited from the city government's threat of or use of eminent domain against property owners downtown.
The Adams/Frizzel contest is still fairly close, even though the Press Enterprise has apparently awarded the contest to its endorsed candidate, Adams.
Maybe that too left a bad taste in the mouths of many voters. After all, a pretty large majority of people in this country don't like eminent domain to be used to benefit private developers and Riversiders clearly fall among those numbers. The city government already knows this because it showed that by filing a SLAPP law suit against Ken Stansbury and the Riversiders for Property Rights simply for daring to circulate a ballot initiative on that use of eminent domain to the city's residents. Many city residents disapproved of this action not to mention the expense it would cost them, which many felt was an additional insult.
So now after a contentious eight months since the election's filing date, the voters wait for the final tally.
The Riverside County registrar of voters must still count a number of absentee and provisional ballots turned in Tuesday. That will be done today and Thursday, registrar's officials said.
"It is not over," Gardner said early this morning.
Betro said his campaign made a concerted effort to get his supporters to the polls, so he would wait for the final tally.
"I know how hard we worked to get those votes, so we're going to remain hopeful," he said.
This shouldn't be surprising to anyone following the campaigns because pollsters in both camps said that the race would most likely come down to the wire. One pollster said that Gardner had made up an amazing amount of ground since the June preliminary round especially in areas of the ward outside downtown. Gardner was outspent about 6 to 1 but countered that with hard work including outreach throughout the ward.
Betro's temperament didn't help matters either.
I saw first hand Betro's temper when I questioned statements he made during a community meeting about a situation involving promises made by the city council in March 2006 and never followed through on until much later that year. Even though I had never had any difficulty with him or given him any, I discovered that temper of his that others even his supporters had been talking about. Gardener's not the strongest debater but one-on-one, it was clear that he knows what he wants to do if elected and he's much nicer.
Bailey's win was a surprise to few people. He narrowly missed winning outright in June, in a race that was actually a rehearsal for this one. His pollsters reported increased support particularly in the last few weeks of the race.
MacArthur's strong showing against three candidates in June was repeated here. Whether his xenophobic campaign hurt or helped his campaign is not clear. His somewhat foggy stance on Eminent Domain and his open support of a more accessible, open government probably helped him in a ward which looks at development projects with an uneasy eye.
The grass-roots candidates of Election 2007 did extraordinarily well, with Frizzel close on Adams' heels towards the end of the count despite being outspent by over 10 to 1. The fact that candidate's didn't raise or have a lot of money didn't mean they didn't have votes. They did have the energy, the drive to at least make a competitive showing of it.
Election 2007 isn't over yet but the message it has sent has been ringing loud and clear.
Did the city vote to to give outgoing Councilman Ed Adkison a goodbye gift by siding with the applicants in an appeal of a McMansion project in what's left of the Greenbelt in Ward Four? I had to go before the final vote was taken but it seemed to be leaning that way.
One of the applicants was Adkans Engineering, which is the company owned by Adkison and one that's been involved in many a development project in the city particularly in redevelopment agency zones.
The appellants, which included the Friends of the Hills were presented with a 75 document only five minutes before the public hearing against them. Crooked, is what one of them called that action. But when you're talking major money that you can receive from developers who wish to buy McMansions in a deflated housing market where hundreds of people in the Inland Empire who own homes are going into foreclosure and others can't sell their homes, you know which way the votes will go. Experts also say that homeowners wish to downsize the space they own and live in because of additional expenses of upkeep related to larger sized homes.
What's interesting is that Mayor Loveridge promotes Riverside as the City of the Green, which is second on the list of its latest titles which includes City of the Arts yet what's left in the city that's actually green open space is being carved up for more Mcmansions in a housing market where the bubble has burst.
The city council looked clearly antsy in keen anticipation and dread of the election results coming in, but it's not all bad even for those who might be getting pink slips because of the parties at among other places, Zacatecas on University Avenue and Art's Bar and Grill in the University neighborhood.
Some interesting events and happenings in Riverside here.
One Goodbye
Capt. Jim Cannon retired about 1 1/2 months ago taking a service retirement after 30 years of retirement. Cannon was only the department's second Black captain and was promoted by Chief Russ Leach amid some complaints by White lieutenants but Leach held firm. His promotion came less than 10 years after the department's first Black captain, Lee Wagner, was pretty much run out of the department.
Cannon served with distinction for 30 years and caused some controversy in 1999 when he forwarded information related to former officer and whistle blower, Rene Rodriguez about racism in the Riverside Police Department including that involving the Tyisha Miller shooting.
When you mention Cannon to city residents whether they live in La Sierra when he was an area commander under the old organizational structure or in the area of the city covered by the East Area Command, where he served as captain up to his retirement, people really liked him.
His retirement came as a surprise, but when I talked with him last, he talked about his love for traveling and all the places he still wanted to visit.
His departure leaves a void which won't be easily approached let alone filled.
The News-Press Editorial Board warns that the police's pressure against a civilian review board in Ft. Myers could backfire but only because the board's against civilian review as well.
(excerpt)
This tactic could very well revive the campaign for an elected review board, which is so far well short of the 2,500 signatures required to get the measure on a special-election ballot.
Drop this idea, Mr. Pendergrass, please.
Orange County Sheriff has gone on 60 day paid administrative leave according to the Los Angeles Times.
(excerpt)
Carona's decision to step away from his job was a quick turnaround from the defiant stance he took last week.
"I will be taking a 60-day leave of absence in order to devote my full time and energy towards battling the untrue and baseless charges made against my wife, Debbie, and me," Carona said in a prepared statement Tuesday.
"This was not an easy decision for me to make, given that I know that the charges against me are without merit," he said.
Carona appointed Undersheriff Jo Ann Galisky, his top aide, to run the department.
Supervisors were angry that Carona chose his own replacement, saying he may have usurped their authority.
"I think he can certainly delegate responsibility, but he can't name an interim department head because the board does that," said Supervisor John Moorlach.
Labels: Black city employee watch, City elections, public forums in all places
posted by Five Before Midnight | 4:19 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home