Elections 2007: Are you representing, part two?

We can build a beautiful city
Yes, we can; Yes, we can
We can build a beautiful city
Not a city of angels
But we can build a city of man


---Stephen Schwartz, Godspell



“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”

---Patrick Henry



"A government can't be harmed by democracy."


---Ken Stansbury to the Press Enterprise



David Silva, a writer for the alternative newspaper, Inland Empire Weekly appeared on a tear in his recent article on the decision of the State Court of Appeals to uphold the SLAPP law suit filed against Ken Stansbury and the Riversiders for Property Rights.

If you want to read it, go to Inland Empire Weekly and click the past issues.

The whole journey began for Stansbury when he heard from local merchants that the city had approached them to purchase their business properties for really low prices. If they didn’t sell to the city now, the city would take their properties later for much less money.

After that, Stansbury got an idea.




(excerpt, Inland Empire Weekly)



Stansbury and Riversiders for Property Rights convinced the merchants that the best way to keep their livelihoods out of City Hall's clutches would be to pass a voter initiative barring the seizure of private property for private development. In October 2005, they began gathering signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot.

That move directly conflicted with the goals of Riverside city officials, who at the time were busily drawing up plans to revitalize downtown and other areas of the city. As City Hall revealed when it announced its $1.3 billion “Riverside Renaissance” initiative the following year, central to its plans were the seizing of dozens of local properties, to be handed over to private interests for retail and residential development more to the city's liking.

Stansbury's vision of applied democracy apparently also conflicted with the reelection ambitions of at least two City Council members, Dom Betro and Steve Adams, each of who were at the time grabbing with both hands thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from those same developers who would benefit from Riverside Renaissance.

No wonder City Hall won't return our phone calls.




For a while, it was hard to find a copy of Inland Empire Weekly on city property including the downtown public library. The newspaper disappeared from the circulation area after a series of articles written by Silva about Riverside, including a bruiser about the ordeal faced by several of the city’s code compliance officers who were shipped off to work at the city’s corporate yard for reasons they believed were punitive.

When attempts were made to find out why, they led to the mysterious man in the blue shirt, the man who had no name.

Long before that, the city had lined up its attorneys from Best, Best and Krieger and sued Stansbury and Riversiders for Property Rights. It threatened to charge them with its own attorneys’ fees, an action intended to chill and intimidate him and the organization from circulating a petition to put the issue of eminent domain on the ballot for the city’s voters to decide.

But in Riverside, hiring an attorney is becoming more commonplace. And not just by the rich. The Friends of the Hills activists and others who serve as the city’s watchdogs regarding the enforcement of two voter-passed growth control measures, Measures C and R had to hire attorneys to protect the rights of those who lived in a city where its growth was regulated by those laws.

Stansbury had to hire a lawyer too.

The Downtown Fox Theater that sits on Mission Inn Avenue and Market Street had been the showcase back in the day for movie premieres including Gone with the Wind's uncut version. It became the only property downtown to be seized by eminent domain by the Redevelopment Agency, while other business owners in the area received letters threatening the use of Eminent Domain. The Redevelopment Agency of course voted 7-0 to seize the property through Eminent Domain.

What concerns that business owners had related to Stansbury had come to pass. The seizure of the Fox Theater and the threats of Eminent Domain to other downtown businesses reverberated like ripples in a lake after a rock's been thrown, to other corner malls throughout Ward One. Businesses leasing properties by where Tequesquite Park still stands, began to worry if they too would be forced to leave or face the same fate.

Only time will tell.

The future of the small business in Riverside was beginning to look less rosy, a vision that collided with that huge gamble, known as Riverside Renaissance.

But the battle that took place in the old courthouse at Riverside County Superior Court which still hears civil cases from time to time, had just begun.

Only, it didn't have so much to do with Eminent Domain but the right to circulate a petition to place an initiative on the ballot. That was what was at stake when the city's attorneys filed a SLAPP suit against Stansbury and his organization. His critics made it about Eminent Domain because that's only slightly less opposed than the denial of a right to circulate a ballot initiative. That's the part that goes unsaid in many discussions on the Stansbury case.

As stated in Silva's article, the Court of Appeals upheld the SLAPP suit and undaunted, Stansbury filed his intent to recirculate the petition which could bring the issue of Eminent Domain to the city's voters, as it has in other cities in this state. It's anyone's bet how long it will take City Hall to meet and decide to file another SLAPP law suit against Stansbury for doing the unthinkable, which is trying to circulate a petition to get an initiative on the ballot for the voters to decide on the role Eminent Domain will or will not play in their city.

Who on the dais voted for the SLAPP suit?

Everyone but Art Gage, from Ward Three. Six "team players" and one cast out. One reason why several council members on the dais and their supporters were out shopping for a new "team player" and why one prospect, William "Rusty" Bailey, was enthusiastically endorsed by the "team" before he even filed his papers noting his intent to run for office with the city clerk's office.

Planes, Trains and Roosters

If this year has a designation, one idea might be to declare it the year of the ballot initiatives. Not about planes, but trains. Not about hens, but roosters. Councilmen Frank Schiavone and Ed Adkison, who avow that they are not BBF or part of that hybrid, FRED, had an experience that can only be described as synchronicity of the mind. Meaning that both of them came up with the idea to take ballot initiatives back to the City Council so it could decide to put them on the ballots in upcoming elections.

While this was all going on and even sooner, DHL, the air freight company, was launching its deluxe red-eye flying schedule of flights over portions of both Riverside proper and Schiavone's ward, including the neighborhoods of Orangecrest, Mission Grove, Sycamore Canyon and Canyoncrest. The resultant noise which rattled people's homes and nerves and kept them awake at night

Schiavone had taken some serious heat as a member of the March Joint Powers Commission which many blamed for the rude wake up calls six nights a week. Apparently at some point, Adkison resigned from the commission and at one of the candidate forums, Ward Three Councilman Art Gage had asked Schiavone and Mayor Ron Loveridge to resign as well.

Of course neither did, but Schiavone filed for election to run for county supervisor against incumbent and fellow commission member, Bob Buster, who had cast the smartest vote of all. That was a bit tough for the councilman who was stepping up to a bigger league to compete with, so he started thinking about trains, which have also been creating nightmares of epic proportions for everyone when both BNSF and Union Pacific turned the intersections of Riverside into their parking lots, blocking traffic from minutes to hours.

So Schiavione went to the city council to get support for his initiative which would involve levying fines at freight trains if they stopped at intersections, beginning with $100,000 and then adding $10,000 per minute spent not moving. Anyone who criticized his plan was told that they were impeding the democratic process and preventing the people from deciding at the polls.

More than one person asked the obvious person, if it's good for the goose(in this case, Schiavone) why isn't it good for the gander(the public, in this case Stansbury)?

That question still hasn't been answered.

But the discussion moved on to roosters. Roosters that crow all day and all night, roosters that are being bred for cock fights, roosters, roosters, roosters. Symbols that stand in the path of the city's attempts through Riverside Renaissance to urbanize the outlying rural areas of Riverside, for developers.

Even though only one such operation was discovered in Riverside, now roosters are going off to the ballot, courtesy of a drive by outgoing councilman, Adkison. They might not be best friends forever, or FRED but maybe it's a case of similar minds thinking alike?

Still, the question hasn't been answered. It won't be.

The New Survival Island

During the summer of 2007 which wasn't quite as hot as the one last year, a drama was playing out on the Seventh Floor of City Hall, what would be called the penthouse suite if it was a hotel.

That drama involved one of the city council's favorite toys, the Community Police Review Commission. The city council happily handed it off to the city manager's office most likely in exchange for the super-duper large marquee signs that have been erected all over town. They go something like this.

OUR TOWN NO MORE!

A Brad Hudson/Michael Beck Production!

Starring(drumroll, please)

Councilman[name your ward]

Co-starring [A cast of seven]

Stage Manager played by Brad Hudson

You don't know whether it's a development project or a Broadway show.

There's a marquee of sorts for what's been done to the CPRC, but not one that can be planted in one specific spot and it's not one that any of the key players would want to place their names in lights.

Sometime in July, Commissioner Steve Simpson decided to resign from the CPRC after serving about four months. He said that he had been told during a meeting with Chair Brian Pearcy that he had to "tone it down" or face eviction. Who was Percy speaking for? That part wasn't clear but the conversation had taken place after Simpson had raised some issues about the operation of the CPRC, most notably the wish to place an item on the agenda to discover retaining an independent counsel. Simpson believed that having the city attorney provide legal advice was a conflict of interest, as the city attorney couldn't serve two masters, both the CPRC and the city council.

The city attorney disagreed. As did the individuals who allegedly ordered him to pull it off of the agenda on the city council.

Simpson also said that certain city officials had sent him the same message that he could face eviction if he didn't tone it down. He related his experiences at a CPRC meeting after he had submitted his resignation, but Pearcy cut his speech to the quick at the five-minute mark.

Most departing commissioners get a chance to give parting words. Most departing commissioners have gotten a plaque of recognition.

Simpson, the bad boy, didn't even past five minutes.

His troubles began last June when a city council member approached me on the street and asked me if I believed Simpson was mentally incompetent. I was a bit taken aback because I didn't know where this was coming from. This elected official seemed set that something was wrong with Simpson's mental state. It's not hard if you read the city's charter to know where this was going.

Simpson definitely marches to the beat of a different drummer, something the commission sorely needed but he was as sharp as a tack, probably one of the most intelligent CPRC commissioners who has served since it started.

When I asked this city council member where this concern was coming from, he said that he had been approached by another councilman and a "concerned citizen" who were concerned about his mental state. This was totally confusing because neither had spent any time with him. The "concerned citizen" spent 10 minutes at one general meeting while Simpson was on the commission. So what was this concern about Simpson's mental state being based on?

Still, several weeks the concern about his mental state appeared to have been dropped and were replaced with concerns about his mouth. Several weeks after his "counseling sessions" with Pearcy, Simpson stepped down.

But it's not like he's the only commissioner to do so from the CPRC in the past 12 months. In fact, he joins a growing cadre that includes Frank Arreola, Ric Castro, Bonavita Quinto-MacCullum and Les Davidson. One individual who qualified for the oral interviews of the executive manager position of the CPRC and is under consideration to be hired as a consultant, said that a mass exodus of members off of a commission was a sure sign of problems within.

But if you ask what's really behind the exodus, the answers are many, but pretty much point to one floor at City Hall.

Riverside Convention Center

Monday, Nov. 5, 2007

The Riverside County District Attorney's office is sponsoring a gang conference for both law enforcement personnel and community organizations. Only, as is usually the case, the community organizations do not know which community organizations were actually invited, given that this event sponsored by the District Attorney's office and the Riverside County Gang Task Force.

Many of these people in these organizations have tried to get "tickets" to the event only to be told that select invites were issued weeks ago, leaving many groups in the cold. Proving once again that the District Attorney's office has little desire to effectively partner with the many community groups out there despite the words that they have told community leaders and members about the "outreach" that they do.

The session of the conference couldn't have been too interesting because witnesses said that many of the law enforcement personnel invited left during the first break in the proceedings. And this is during a seminar tailored specifically for them.

Perusual as is the case with the District Attorney's office, the Black-owned media was not included on the "invite" list. But given the comments made about Black media on this site, being everything from an exercise in Ebonics to a coloring book, hardly surprising. "Trash" and "rag" are two other popular names for it.

Perusual, left off the invite list were community members who live with gang violence on a daily basis. The District Attorney's office even with a meeting with both Councilman Andrew Melendrez, from Ward Two and County Supervisor Bob Buster under its belt still refuses to meet with residents in the Eastside who have concerns and questions about the injunction, in the Eastside or elsewhere. He's passed that ball to the police department which can only answered the questions it's equipped to answer.

Area Commander of the East Neighborhood Center Larry Gonzalez was on Charter Communication's Governmental Channel the other night talking about the department's four precinct plan. He made some excellent points about the importance of community engagement and most of all, communication when dealing with issues and situations both big and small. It's the relationships built between community residents and police officers that often define how the bigger issues and situations are addressed.

Pacheco has said how much he cares about the "good" people in the Eastside, but apparently not enough to send a representative from his office to speak with them and answer their questions. The message that he and his office are sending is that all of the Eastside's residents, Black and Latino, are criminals. It's perfectly fine to hold a press conference there to launch an injunction for the media's benefit, but not to come back and answer questions by its residents regarding actions taken in their neighborhood.

Who pays the money to finance the District Attorney's office and the Riverside County Gang Task Force? Not a list of people that's by invitation only.

"It's all about politics," a local attorney said. Tell people something they don't know.

Foot note

One officer.

One man.

One baton.

Many blows.

One night.

Investigation?

I stopped reading Inland Craigslist unless the post looks like it's addressing local information because there's been personal fighting going on between individuals who though unidentified to most Craigslist readers know each other. It makes voyeurs of the rest of us who are not privy to this and didn't ask to be.

I did notice that a post about my site was posted today and then was not there anymore, which probably means that someone or some people did not like my posting yesterday, but I've also received quite a few positive responses on it. Next time someone appeals or cries to me how unfair the "other side" is when it comes to removing posts, I'll remind them of that because posts linked to my site or about my site are regularly removed. In fact, individuals who flagged those posts in the pasts then posted about how proud they were of their righteous actions.



The Screen Writers’ Guild is set to walk out tomorrow unless there’s a last minute reprieve. And in what some call a stunning development, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has offered to assist with getting the entertainment industry back on track.




The United States Attorney’s Office is looking into the 2006 shooting of Elio Carrion by former San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department Deputy Ivory J. Webb, according to the Press Enterprise.

In May, that office will decide whether or not to file civil rights charges in this case. The lawyer for Carrion expects the federal agency to side with Webb.

(excerpt)


In July, attorney Luis Carrillo and several of Carrion's relatives, angry over Webb's acquittal in San Bernardino County, met with Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney George Cardona.

Carrillo wrote that Cardona indicated his office would review the case.
Carrillo pointed out in the same set of documents that Carrion's shooting, unlike the 1991 Rodney King beating by Los Angeles police and the four officers' subsequent acquittal in 1992 in Simi Valley, has not sparked a public outcry that would pressure federal officials into filing charges.

"There are no mass demonstrations in the Latino community for 'Justice for Elio Carrion,' " Carrillo wrote. "Other issues take priority in the Latino community: jobs, health care, housing, crime, education immigration reform."

Carrillo predicted that the U.S. Attorney's Office will decline charges.

"It will probably be that Webb, who shot an unarmed Iraq war veteran, will get away with the crime," Carrillo wrote.



Sheriff Gary Penrod defends his deputy, yet refuses to take him back.

(excerpt)


In the civil suit, Penrod and Webb squarely blame Carrion for causing Webb to open fire.

Webb claims he acted in self-defense.

Carrion "knew or should have known he was being arrested and had a duty to refrain from resisting arrest," the filings say.

Carrion's assault and battery allegations don't apply because he was "engaging in mutual combat, resisting or attacking the defendant," the filings say.
Penrod, in court records, repeatedly denies allegations that his department's policies, procedures and training enabled the shooting.

Penrod states that Webb's actions were "reasonable" in court papers. The sheriff ordered an internal affairs investigation of Webb's actions weeks after the shooting.






At Belo blog, there is a partial list of allegations faced by the defendants in the corruption case involving Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona.



Do you want to comment on the scandal? You can do so here. You might just have to stand in line.



The Chicago Tribune wrote this article about the decision of prosecutors to no longer conduct reviewws of shootings committed by onduty police officers in that city.

It seems they are unhappy with the process especially in light of the recent scandals which have plagued the police department lately.


(excerpt)


Part of the meeting was spent encouraging them to remain involved," police spokeswoman Monique Bond said. If prosecutors left, "it would be a disservice to the legal process and to the public."


She said Wednesday's meeting was an "open discussion on the roundtable process."

Growing concern about the roundtable process has been fueled in the last year by a string of police scandals, including questions about fatal shootings from years past, and other excessive-force issues, that prompted Mayor Richard Daley to announce changes to the Office of Professional Standards this year that included bringing in a new chief administrator from California.

Prosecutors pulling out was only one option under consideration. Some participants suggested that prosecutors begin responding to the scene of shootings, getting involved even earlier, to develop more of an oversight role, Bond said.

Devine's spokesman, John Gorman, declined to discuss details but said that the office has been re-evaluating its role at the roundtable all year, and that changes might be decided "in the next week to 10 days."



In San Antonio, the city council approved a review of the police department's use of force policies by the Police Executive Research Forum.