Riverside: City of Red Bull or just bull?
Press Enterprise Columnist Dan Bernstein asks the question, would anyone like to retire to the Inland Empire? He doesn't seem to be able to come to any conclusions in his sojourn on the internet. But as it turns out, Riverside and the Empire it resides in have performed a few notable feats as late when it comes to being placed on achievement lists.
Bernstein provides several examples in his latest column.
(excerpt)
Last month, the inaugural HealthSaver Caffeinated Cities Survey concluded that Riverside-S'Berdoo is the 11th most caffeinated region in the country (Chicago's tops) and No. 1 when it comes to "most likely to consume energy drinks daily."
This pair of surveys paints a jittery portrait of thousands of amped-up Empirians trapped in their vehicles for hours on end day after day. No wonder so many people dream of retiring here. AOL says don't do it.
Riverside-S'Berdoo is not the No. 1 Worst Place to retire. That would be Florida's Clearwater City, which is not a good place to retire because so many people retire there. (For details, write anyonecandoastudy@doubletalk.doubletalk.com)
Riverside-S'Berdoo is the 13th-worst retirement haven because our home prices continue on their toilet-bound trajectory. This actually suggests that future retirees could get a very sweet deal on a house. But the truth is, they'd be sorely tempted to spend their Golden Years holed-up in their cars, pounding down energy drinks.
And, really, who could blame them?
Bernstein's column never explained why the Inland Empire residents find caffeinated energy drinks so popular. But sure enough, Energy Fiend ranks the nation's cities in different categories in relation to consumption and attitudes about consumption of caffeine.
Riverside is not only the "City of the Arts" or the "City of the Trees", it's also the "City of Red Bull". Will we see the city council vote to pass a declaration and outreach program celebrating this distinction? Is the quantity of energy drinks consumed correlated with the number of civic titles this city council passes to reinvent itself?
While the Inland Empire placed highest on the list for "energy drinks", it also ranked high in awareness that caffeine isn't necessary good for you, which you guessed it, also placed the region high on the hypocrisy list.
As the city council sans energy drinks prepares for a changing of the guard which will take place when three new elected officials are sworn in next Tuesday, the city continues to be an epicenter of many different events.
Yesterday saw a gun battle between a man and an unknown officer, according to the Press Enterprise in the downtown area. Fortunately, the officer, the man and no one else were uninjured after the pursuit, which began at a local financial institution and ended up in some railroad tracks. That's truly a blessing in the holiday season.
(excerpt)
No one was injured, and the man was arrested.
"There is lead everywhere," Riverside Police Department spokesman Steve Frasher said.
Frasher gave this account:
Kyle Lemmons, 19, was inside Union Bank of California on Vine Street attempting to cash checks about 9:15 a.m. when he became agitated and left the bank. A short time later, police received a call from a man with a gun outside the bank.
The man spotted a police officer and fired at him. The gunfight continued as the unidentified officer chased the gunman through North Park near Mission Inn Avenue and Vine Street, just east of Highway 91.
"Eventually, the suspect raced across the park and ended up on the railroad tracks, where he was taken into custody without further incident," Frasher said.
The gun was recovered.
Also downtown, the battle over where to relocate Greyhound continues after the Planning Commission rejected a proposal to move it from Market and University to the Northside, according to the Press Enterprise.
Plans to move it to the Metrolink Station in the Eastside, a recommendation mentioned by the Planning Commission, aren't getting much support. The bus transit service is being evicted from its current location through an Eminent Domain law suit and two councilmen, one current and one-elect seem to be playing a bit of hot potato with it.
(excerpt)
Greyhound would prefer to relocate to the proposed transit center but the company has not been invited, said John Isaacson, the company's director of design and construction.
"We really don't know" why not, he said.
Councilman Andy Melendrez, whose ward includes the Metrolink station and the adjacent Eastside neighborhood, said RTA's downtown bus terminal is set to move to the Metrolink station but moving the Greyhound station there too would just transfer the problems from one location to another.
"The Eastside community is really objecting to that," he said.
City Manager Brad Hudson, who sat in on part of the commission meeting but did not speak, said in an interview after the vote that the Metrolink station is not right for Greyhound.
"We don't believe there's any synergy between Greyhound users and the train station," he said.
However, incoming Ward 1 Councilman Mike Gardner, who will be sworn in on Dec. 11, said he opposes the proposed Greyhound station on West La Cadena Drive.
"We will find something that works," he told a morning meeting of the Hunter Park division of the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce.
This possibly rainy weekend will see the annual walk of Our Lady of Guadalupe which is a ceremony that attracts many people in Riverside from all walks of life on a journey of faith.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
The ninth annual five-mile walk to the top of Mt. Rubidoux sets off from Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Riverside at 8 a.m. Saturday. Other large Inland commemorations include a 32-mile walk from Palm Springs to Coachella, all-night singing at a Corona church and midnight and pre-dawn Masses in San Bernardino.
Pope John Paul II named Our Lady of Guadalupe the patroness of the Americas, but she holds special significance to people of Mexican ancestry.
Martinez said the walk up Mt. Rubidoux is meaningful for him because he knows that Juan Diego, who was canonized as a saint in 2002, was on a hillside when he saw the apparition of the Virgin.
"We want to follow the same example he did," Martinez said. "It's like she would be on Mt. Rubidoux, that we would walk up to see her."
In Riverside, a menorah in commemoration of Hanukkah was lit by a survivor on Schindler's list during an event attended by over 150 people.
(excerpt)
It just takes a little light to push away the darkness," said Rabbi Shmuel M. Fuss, who leads the Chabad Jewish Community Center in Riverside, which organized the event. The courthouse steps were chosen because they symbolize how American justice protects freedom, Fuss said.
"Our strifes, our struggles, our disputes and our crimes ... the light shines on them here -- the light of justice," said Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster.
The anniversary of Pearl Harbor also being remembered in the Inland Empire by those who experienced it first-hand, allowing those who haven't to see it through their eyes and their memories.
In the wake of all these events that define Riverside this week in different ways, lies a changing of the guard on the dais at City Hall. Much anticipation, many questions about what direction the city will be going in the next few years. How will the new members interact with the senior ones. What role will the mayor play in all this drama.
A discussion of sorts here on what happens next with the city council. This discussion is no doubt taking place all over town.
One individual seemed to take particular joy in the prospect of watching outgoing councilman, Dom Betro pack up his office at City Hall in anticipation of the swearing in of new elected representatives this Tuesday.
That comment was condemned by another commenter but that individual also generalized that it portrayed the attitude of all those who supported and voted for Mike Gardner, the new Ward One councilman.
After this comment and that one opposing the initial comment, the person who generalized their comments apologized for doing so in another comment.
The truth is that the supporters of both Betro and Gardner in this election who split down the middle are more diverse than what's seen there. Without asking them each why they cast the votes they did, it's hard to generalize why their votes were cast. Far from it being a one or two issue campaign for Gardner for example, it was a myriad of issues, which in large part surrounded the competing visions for Riverside's future. How much of its past should be sacrificed for its future? Is the future really as written in stone as has often been said? What impact do city residents and the leaders they elect have on the direction of the city?
Some people seem surprised that Gardner hasn't ruined Ward One including the downtown yet before even being sworn in. I don't predict that there will be as many changes as people seem to think there will be, given the division in Ward One and the lack of a mandate.
An interesting comment here by one individual blamed the actions of the city council and the redevelopment agency on the city manager's office, adding that with three new elected officials on the dais, that office will walk all over the city council. That's a common fear and in fact, that's been a fear that has been expressed by various factions from the day Brad Hudson left the Riverside County Economic Development Agency and set foot in Riverside's City Hall. But the bottom line as many people have said, is that this office is directed by the agenda of a city council majority. The bottom line is that no matter how powerful Hudson and his underling Asst. City Manager Tom DeSantis (who incidentally isn't much of a blog fan) may be, they still have to pass the muster of at least four city council members and Mayor Ron Loveridge (who has veto power).
For example, former city manager, George Carvalho was fired by four city council members, who were called the GASS quartet. In order for four members to do so, Carvalho must have lost the mayor's support and it's probably Loveridge who was the most important player in that situation.
And the truth is, they passed the muster of all seven. That was shown through the vote to issue Hudson a large pay raise probably intended to keep him from jumping ship. This was in the midst of many of the same issues raised in some of the comments both at Craigslist and elsewhere that were already being faced.
The three outgoing councilmen were all huge fans of Hudson's. They all cast votes for his huge pay raise earlier this year. They all to varying degrees directed his agenda on all fronts.
Concerns about the city manager's office scope of operation existed way before this current election and all you had to do was listen to what was going on around you to notice it. All you had to do was listen to what was being said by representatives and members of the city's bargaining units including the police officers who as someone wrote on craigslist couldn't be paid enough. During the last round of labor negotiations, there were three law suits filed, one strike vote taken and lots of rallies en masse by members at City Hall including those belonging to the SEIU Local, International Brotherhood of Electical Workers, the Riverside Police Officers' Association and the Riverside Police Administrators' Association.
Last March, there was the issue of the "at will" positions involving members of the Riverside Police Department's highest level of management, with some saying (and writing) that Hudson's office was directly negotiating with individuals accepting these positions. Well, except for one case where that individual for obvious reasons refused to do so. Because this individual refused to do so is a major reason why that individual still is employed today and that should serve as notice that there were major concerns with what was going on in City Hall while the past city council was in power.
Then there was the city manager's office spending the past 18 months whittling down the Community Police Review Commission to a nub of its former self, all of this taking place while the past city council was in power. Blame for these actions was for some reason laid at the door of City Councilman-elect Gardner (who had chaired the CPRC for an unprecedented three years) when in actuality, he hadn't even been on the CPRC since March 2006 in any capacity. He was not on the city council that directed both Hudson and City Attorney Gregory Priamos to act on the CPRC in ways which have severely weakened it and led to a slew of resignations and possibly more political manipulation of appointments than the Governmental Affairs Committee has yet to see.
When it comes to increasing staffing in the police department and the fire department among others, Hudson's answer now is that the city has no money or has to find the funding. That is not the answer that's being given when it comes to financing the projects under Riverside Renaissance. Don't be surprised if in the next few months, there's more noise from the city's labor unions on what they think of Riverside Renaissance, most notably its time frame of five years. Some people who have said that city employees are excessively paid might be surprised at the common ground between city residents concerned about the scope of Riverside Renaissance and the city's employees.
(excerpt, comment)
Many of the problems regarding the council and redevelopment agency agenda come from the City Managers office. My hope is that the new Governmental Affairs Committee will take a close look at the agenda and how it is constructed. It has many problems, and these problems have created the frustration and distrust that is so evident at the meetings.
With two vacancies available on the committee, I hope that Councilman Melendrez will take one of them. Mr. Gardner campaigned on restoring the right to pull items, so this would be a good Committee appointment for him as well - it provides the best opportunity to make good on that promise. But the agenda itself needs reform, please see my earlier post "Compromise?" about possible reforms. It's not perfect, but it's a start, and I welcome any input. After watching the last few meetings, I believe there is a critical need to reform the agenda.
These are some good points. If you want a progressive look at the agenda, you'll need a different chair but a reconfiguration of Governmental Affairs could change the scope of items discussed at that meeting. But what this committee did under chair, Frank Schiavone was not to open up the agenda but pass more restrictions on public comment.
The interesting thing about all this is that the city council knew that this would not make it popular and thus was too politically risky to chance before a contentious runoff election so although the Governmental Affairs Committee approved the latest round of restrictions last March, the city council tabled them until a city council meeting both after the election and before the new city council members would be sworn in. There wasn't much of a window of opportunity to do this and it's true, it had to share this window with several other controversial agenda items including the utility rate increases, but the soon-to-be-passe council got the job done just fine.
In recent weeks, the Governmental Affairs Committee was especially active with two weeks of meetings in a row. This is in contrast to the many months the committee went dark in the past two years.
A probable configuration of what is considered the premier committee will most likely include current chair, Frank Schiavone and Steve Adams, what's left of the quartet that dominated the Governmental Affairs Committee for years. The third appointment is critical. As stated, Andrew Melendrez given his seniority is the logical choice as he's the city council member to really watch during the next couple of years. Gardner is too new and would be a long shot but it's possible as Betro had replaced an outgoing Ameal Moore with only two years experience on the dais. Although if Schiavone and Adams want to stack the committee, look for them to either push for William "Rusty" Bailey (who remember, had the endorsement of the majority of the dais before filing papers to run) or possibly but not too likely Chris MacArthur.
But never fear, it looks like Schiavone and Loveridge have been busy with this reconfiguration of committees. This item is one of several on the discussion calendar for this Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.
Bernstein provides several examples in his latest column.
(excerpt)
Last month, the inaugural HealthSaver Caffeinated Cities Survey concluded that Riverside-S'Berdoo is the 11th most caffeinated region in the country (Chicago's tops) and No. 1 when it comes to "most likely to consume energy drinks daily."
This pair of surveys paints a jittery portrait of thousands of amped-up Empirians trapped in their vehicles for hours on end day after day. No wonder so many people dream of retiring here. AOL says don't do it.
Riverside-S'Berdoo is not the No. 1 Worst Place to retire. That would be Florida's Clearwater City, which is not a good place to retire because so many people retire there. (For details, write anyonecandoastudy@doubletalk.doubletalk.com)
Riverside-S'Berdoo is the 13th-worst retirement haven because our home prices continue on their toilet-bound trajectory. This actually suggests that future retirees could get a very sweet deal on a house. But the truth is, they'd be sorely tempted to spend their Golden Years holed-up in their cars, pounding down energy drinks.
And, really, who could blame them?
Bernstein's column never explained why the Inland Empire residents find caffeinated energy drinks so popular. But sure enough, Energy Fiend ranks the nation's cities in different categories in relation to consumption and attitudes about consumption of caffeine.
Riverside is not only the "City of the Arts" or the "City of the Trees", it's also the "City of Red Bull". Will we see the city council vote to pass a declaration and outreach program celebrating this distinction? Is the quantity of energy drinks consumed correlated with the number of civic titles this city council passes to reinvent itself?
While the Inland Empire placed highest on the list for "energy drinks", it also ranked high in awareness that caffeine isn't necessary good for you, which you guessed it, also placed the region high on the hypocrisy list.
As the city council sans energy drinks prepares for a changing of the guard which will take place when three new elected officials are sworn in next Tuesday, the city continues to be an epicenter of many different events.
Yesterday saw a gun battle between a man and an unknown officer, according to the Press Enterprise in the downtown area. Fortunately, the officer, the man and no one else were uninjured after the pursuit, which began at a local financial institution and ended up in some railroad tracks. That's truly a blessing in the holiday season.
(excerpt)
No one was injured, and the man was arrested.
"There is lead everywhere," Riverside Police Department spokesman Steve Frasher said.
Frasher gave this account:
Kyle Lemmons, 19, was inside Union Bank of California on Vine Street attempting to cash checks about 9:15 a.m. when he became agitated and left the bank. A short time later, police received a call from a man with a gun outside the bank.
The man spotted a police officer and fired at him. The gunfight continued as the unidentified officer chased the gunman through North Park near Mission Inn Avenue and Vine Street, just east of Highway 91.
"Eventually, the suspect raced across the park and ended up on the railroad tracks, where he was taken into custody without further incident," Frasher said.
The gun was recovered.
Also downtown, the battle over where to relocate Greyhound continues after the Planning Commission rejected a proposal to move it from Market and University to the Northside, according to the Press Enterprise.
Plans to move it to the Metrolink Station in the Eastside, a recommendation mentioned by the Planning Commission, aren't getting much support. The bus transit service is being evicted from its current location through an Eminent Domain law suit and two councilmen, one current and one-elect seem to be playing a bit of hot potato with it.
(excerpt)
Greyhound would prefer to relocate to the proposed transit center but the company has not been invited, said John Isaacson, the company's director of design and construction.
"We really don't know" why not, he said.
Councilman Andy Melendrez, whose ward includes the Metrolink station and the adjacent Eastside neighborhood, said RTA's downtown bus terminal is set to move to the Metrolink station but moving the Greyhound station there too would just transfer the problems from one location to another.
"The Eastside community is really objecting to that," he said.
City Manager Brad Hudson, who sat in on part of the commission meeting but did not speak, said in an interview after the vote that the Metrolink station is not right for Greyhound.
"We don't believe there's any synergy between Greyhound users and the train station," he said.
However, incoming Ward 1 Councilman Mike Gardner, who will be sworn in on Dec. 11, said he opposes the proposed Greyhound station on West La Cadena Drive.
"We will find something that works," he told a morning meeting of the Hunter Park division of the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce.
This possibly rainy weekend will see the annual walk of Our Lady of Guadalupe which is a ceremony that attracts many people in Riverside from all walks of life on a journey of faith.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
The ninth annual five-mile walk to the top of Mt. Rubidoux sets off from Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Riverside at 8 a.m. Saturday. Other large Inland commemorations include a 32-mile walk from Palm Springs to Coachella, all-night singing at a Corona church and midnight and pre-dawn Masses in San Bernardino.
Pope John Paul II named Our Lady of Guadalupe the patroness of the Americas, but she holds special significance to people of Mexican ancestry.
Martinez said the walk up Mt. Rubidoux is meaningful for him because he knows that Juan Diego, who was canonized as a saint in 2002, was on a hillside when he saw the apparition of the Virgin.
"We want to follow the same example he did," Martinez said. "It's like she would be on Mt. Rubidoux, that we would walk up to see her."
In Riverside, a menorah in commemoration of Hanukkah was lit by a survivor on Schindler's list during an event attended by over 150 people.
(excerpt)
It just takes a little light to push away the darkness," said Rabbi Shmuel M. Fuss, who leads the Chabad Jewish Community Center in Riverside, which organized the event. The courthouse steps were chosen because they symbolize how American justice protects freedom, Fuss said.
"Our strifes, our struggles, our disputes and our crimes ... the light shines on them here -- the light of justice," said Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster.
The anniversary of Pearl Harbor also being remembered in the Inland Empire by those who experienced it first-hand, allowing those who haven't to see it through their eyes and their memories.
In the wake of all these events that define Riverside this week in different ways, lies a changing of the guard on the dais at City Hall. Much anticipation, many questions about what direction the city will be going in the next few years. How will the new members interact with the senior ones. What role will the mayor play in all this drama.
A discussion of sorts here on what happens next with the city council. This discussion is no doubt taking place all over town.
One individual seemed to take particular joy in the prospect of watching outgoing councilman, Dom Betro pack up his office at City Hall in anticipation of the swearing in of new elected representatives this Tuesday.
That comment was condemned by another commenter but that individual also generalized that it portrayed the attitude of all those who supported and voted for Mike Gardner, the new Ward One councilman.
After this comment and that one opposing the initial comment, the person who generalized their comments apologized for doing so in another comment.
The truth is that the supporters of both Betro and Gardner in this election who split down the middle are more diverse than what's seen there. Without asking them each why they cast the votes they did, it's hard to generalize why their votes were cast. Far from it being a one or two issue campaign for Gardner for example, it was a myriad of issues, which in large part surrounded the competing visions for Riverside's future. How much of its past should be sacrificed for its future? Is the future really as written in stone as has often been said? What impact do city residents and the leaders they elect have on the direction of the city?
Some people seem surprised that Gardner hasn't ruined Ward One including the downtown yet before even being sworn in. I don't predict that there will be as many changes as people seem to think there will be, given the division in Ward One and the lack of a mandate.
An interesting comment here by one individual blamed the actions of the city council and the redevelopment agency on the city manager's office, adding that with three new elected officials on the dais, that office will walk all over the city council. That's a common fear and in fact, that's been a fear that has been expressed by various factions from the day Brad Hudson left the Riverside County Economic Development Agency and set foot in Riverside's City Hall. But the bottom line as many people have said, is that this office is directed by the agenda of a city council majority. The bottom line is that no matter how powerful Hudson and his underling Asst. City Manager Tom DeSantis (who incidentally isn't much of a blog fan) may be, they still have to pass the muster of at least four city council members and Mayor Ron Loveridge (who has veto power).
For example, former city manager, George Carvalho was fired by four city council members, who were called the GASS quartet. In order for four members to do so, Carvalho must have lost the mayor's support and it's probably Loveridge who was the most important player in that situation.
And the truth is, they passed the muster of all seven. That was shown through the vote to issue Hudson a large pay raise probably intended to keep him from jumping ship. This was in the midst of many of the same issues raised in some of the comments both at Craigslist and elsewhere that were already being faced.
The three outgoing councilmen were all huge fans of Hudson's. They all cast votes for his huge pay raise earlier this year. They all to varying degrees directed his agenda on all fronts.
Concerns about the city manager's office scope of operation existed way before this current election and all you had to do was listen to what was going on around you to notice it. All you had to do was listen to what was being said by representatives and members of the city's bargaining units including the police officers who as someone wrote on craigslist couldn't be paid enough. During the last round of labor negotiations, there were three law suits filed, one strike vote taken and lots of rallies en masse by members at City Hall including those belonging to the SEIU Local, International Brotherhood of Electical Workers, the Riverside Police Officers' Association and the Riverside Police Administrators' Association.
Last March, there was the issue of the "at will" positions involving members of the Riverside Police Department's highest level of management, with some saying (and writing) that Hudson's office was directly negotiating with individuals accepting these positions. Well, except for one case where that individual for obvious reasons refused to do so. Because this individual refused to do so is a major reason why that individual still is employed today and that should serve as notice that there were major concerns with what was going on in City Hall while the past city council was in power.
Then there was the city manager's office spending the past 18 months whittling down the Community Police Review Commission to a nub of its former self, all of this taking place while the past city council was in power. Blame for these actions was for some reason laid at the door of City Councilman-elect Gardner (who had chaired the CPRC for an unprecedented three years) when in actuality, he hadn't even been on the CPRC since March 2006 in any capacity. He was not on the city council that directed both Hudson and City Attorney Gregory Priamos to act on the CPRC in ways which have severely weakened it and led to a slew of resignations and possibly more political manipulation of appointments than the Governmental Affairs Committee has yet to see.
When it comes to increasing staffing in the police department and the fire department among others, Hudson's answer now is that the city has no money or has to find the funding. That is not the answer that's being given when it comes to financing the projects under Riverside Renaissance. Don't be surprised if in the next few months, there's more noise from the city's labor unions on what they think of Riverside Renaissance, most notably its time frame of five years. Some people who have said that city employees are excessively paid might be surprised at the common ground between city residents concerned about the scope of Riverside Renaissance and the city's employees.
(excerpt, comment)
Many of the problems regarding the council and redevelopment agency agenda come from the City Managers office. My hope is that the new Governmental Affairs Committee will take a close look at the agenda and how it is constructed. It has many problems, and these problems have created the frustration and distrust that is so evident at the meetings.
With two vacancies available on the committee, I hope that Councilman Melendrez will take one of them. Mr. Gardner campaigned on restoring the right to pull items, so this would be a good Committee appointment for him as well - it provides the best opportunity to make good on that promise. But the agenda itself needs reform, please see my earlier post "Compromise?" about possible reforms. It's not perfect, but it's a start, and I welcome any input. After watching the last few meetings, I believe there is a critical need to reform the agenda.
These are some good points. If you want a progressive look at the agenda, you'll need a different chair but a reconfiguration of Governmental Affairs could change the scope of items discussed at that meeting. But what this committee did under chair, Frank Schiavone was not to open up the agenda but pass more restrictions on public comment.
The interesting thing about all this is that the city council knew that this would not make it popular and thus was too politically risky to chance before a contentious runoff election so although the Governmental Affairs Committee approved the latest round of restrictions last March, the city council tabled them until a city council meeting both after the election and before the new city council members would be sworn in. There wasn't much of a window of opportunity to do this and it's true, it had to share this window with several other controversial agenda items including the utility rate increases, but the soon-to-be-passe council got the job done just fine.
In recent weeks, the Governmental Affairs Committee was especially active with two weeks of meetings in a row. This is in contrast to the many months the committee went dark in the past two years.
A probable configuration of what is considered the premier committee will most likely include current chair, Frank Schiavone and Steve Adams, what's left of the quartet that dominated the Governmental Affairs Committee for years. The third appointment is critical. As stated, Andrew Melendrez given his seniority is the logical choice as he's the city council member to really watch during the next couple of years. Gardner is too new and would be a long shot but it's possible as Betro had replaced an outgoing Ameal Moore with only two years experience on the dais. Although if Schiavone and Adams want to stack the committee, look for them to either push for William "Rusty" Bailey (who remember, had the endorsement of the majority of the dais before filing papers to run) or possibly but not too likely Chris MacArthur.
But never fear, it looks like Schiavone and Loveridge have been busy with this reconfiguration of committees. This item is one of several on the discussion calendar for this Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.
And did I call it? Governmental Affairs as seen here is going to be chaired by Schiavone and membered by Adams and Bailey? Melendrez has expressed interest in an assignment on this important committee that pushes so much of the city's agenda. The rest of the committees are staffed with the newer elected officials taking over the chairmanships of their predecessors.
Why is a more senior councilman being shunned? Is the Governmental Affairs Committee now for "White men" only?
Let the games begin. The meaning and implications for the proposed committee assignments will be discussed in future postings. It's interesting to see that the lines in the sand are being drawn so early.
The Chicago Tribune published an article about how former Bolingbrook Police Department Sgt. Drew Peterson said he's felt shunned in the wake of the publicity about the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacey, and the reinvestigation of the death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
(excerpt)
In a telephone interview Thursday, Peterson talked about why he wouldn't join searches or vigils for his missing wife, and about the friends and former police colleagues who now shun him. He has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.
"It's like they had this vigil for Stacy, and the next thing you know there's a piñata with my face on it," he said. "All these policemen who were my friends, and I would have jumped in front of a bullet for, don't even talk to me."
Peterson has not participated in any searches since his wife disappeared and has contended she ran off with another man.
Miami Police Department officers were caught on video tape punching and kicking a robbery suspect, according to Newsvine.
(excerpt)
The Miami-Dade Police Department is reviewing the response, said Cmdr. Linda O'Brien.
"We are looking at this frame by frame," she said. "The initial assessment is that the officer acted inappropriately."
It was not clear which officer O'Brien was referring to, and the responding officers were not identified.
Given that more than one officer was videotaped in the incident, it's not clear which one was the subject of the comments and why that individual officer was singled out of the group.
When cops shoot was the topic of a Chicago Tribune editorial. It was written in response to a series of articles published by the newspapers involving officer-involved shootings by that city's police department including this forum.
And it was how these shootings are handled that was criticized by the editorial.
(excerpt)
At times, the sole point seems to be avoiding the truth. Off-duty cops are involved in some shootings, and according to the Tribune report, "In some cases where officers might have been drunk during a shooting, officials leading those investigations delayed administering Breathalyzer tests to officers."
If the department falls down on the job, there is nothing to stop the state's attorney from prosecuting bad cops, but State's Atty. Richard Devine shows scant interest. In the last 10 years, his office has not brought charges against any on-duty Chicago cop for shooting a civilian.
Many policies are to blame for this festering problem. Underlying them all is the assumption that the police are always in the right. That's an assumption that too many Chicago cops have refuted with reckless and criminal behavior.
Excusing this kind of misconduct is an offense to the great majority of police who are conscientious, as well as a mortal danger to the public. If new police Supt. Jody Weis hopes to restore confidence in the department, he will have to put an end to this sorry tradition of tolerance.
Labels: battering while blue, City elections, officer-involved shootings, Video police review
posted by Five Before Midnight | 4:18 PM
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