What Mt. Baldy and law enforcement agencies in the Inland Empire have in common
Here's another individual from Murrieta chiming in on the DHL noise problem which still impacts many people who live in the current late night and early morning flight path. This letter writer stated that it will take more than a pair of earplugs to make the situation better. This person's right. This individual also explains the different attitudes neighbors of the base have to military jets flying out during the early morning hours and freight planes, for those who keep saying that those who live or move near the former base should know what they were getting themselves into and stop whining about it.
What's really unfortunate besides the lack of sleep-filled nights for many of those in DHL's flight path of the moment is that even though most of what transpired to bring DHL to March has been publicly exposed, people are so jaded at the actions and words of their elected officials that they don't even blink an eyelid anymore at a situation like DHL-Gate.
But often that's what it is about Riverside as well. News about former Riverside County development managers getting caught trying to pay for personal landscaping from a city capital funds project like the new Magnolia Police Station for example not to mention other things.
But the DHL mess is especially poignant in its own way in that it continues onward. It also reflects a common pattern in Riverside politics. Some thing is passed by an elected body. A group of residents object to it. The elected officials disregard their concerns, label them as "divisive" and "gadflies" and then some analysis, study or report comes out or rolls out from beneath the carpet where it's been stashed and lo and behold, these "disgruntled" individuals are correct. Then suddently, the same politicans who knew everything turn around and say they knew nothing and they're just as much in the dark as the proven-to-be-right residents they had derided and disregarded earlier in the game.
Speaking of the DHL debacle and the March Joint Powers Authority which helped spawn it, committee appointments are also included in this report on one of the discussion agenda items that goes before the city council.
The choices proposed by Mayor Ron Loveridge and Councilman Frank Schiavone are for both of them to remain on the troubled commission and appoint Ward Two Councilman Andrew Melendrez as an alternate.
Due to all the problems with DHL and GlobalPort which manages the March Air Force Reserve Base's airport, Councilman Art Gage while attending a candidates' forum during Election 2007 had asked for the resignations of Loveridge and Schiavone but both either demurred or never heard the requests. Soon-to-be-former Councilman Ed Adkison had already left the MJPA, his work done.
An interesting article about how unsafe it's to build new apartments, houses, schools and say, transit villages along busy freeways and streets according to the Press Enterprise. The elected leaders of Riverside, who traditionally have approved housing projects especially low-income housing adjacent to highways aren't going to be pleased about this news.
(excerpt)
Management District's warnings pointing out that homes and apartments should be at least 500 feet from the nearest heavily used thoroughfare.
The district cites studies showing increased risks of heart attack, lung ailments and other illness among people who live near heavy traffic.
"The health data is clear: We shouldn't have residences, schools, parks and sensitive uses immediately next to larger transportation corridors," said Barry Wallerstein, the air district's executive officer.
At the same time, regional transportation leaders want to establish housing near commuter-train stations in an effort to boost ridership and cut freeway congestion -- and the state has millions in bond funds available to bolster such projects.
Most Metrolink train stations are within 500 feet of freeways.
The article is alarming in some of the information it provides but most likely, in Riverside it will be business as usual.
Mentioned in the article is the transit village of housing and businesses planned to be constructed adjacent to the Metrolink Station in the next few years under Riverside Renaissance. What's fascinating is that city residents have expressed concern about the health and safety involving this type of building choices for months and years and have been treated as being crazy party poopers out to ruin Riverside's inevitable future of overpopulation resulting from the migration of Orange County residents as we know it. But according to the local newspaper and many studies on air quality's impact on the health of individuals particularly children and those with respiratory illnesses, there's definitely reason for everyone to be concerned.
But still these projects will continue unabated without much thought to the impact they may have on the health of their future residents. After all, there's tons of money to be made in building houses even in a market where it's not sure that they'll be bought or sold or even rented out.
(excerpt)
"They are hot and selling in other areas," he said. "But there needs to be one (developer) who breaks it out here and shows it can work."
Such projects have been built in Fullerton, Pasadena, Los Angeles and Pomona, either near a Metrolink station or the Gold Line, a light-rail system in Los Angeles County. Others either have been built or are planned in Santa Ana, Buena Park, Orange and Anaheim.
The Riverside County Transportation Commission has spent more than a year investigating the potential for such developments at stations in Riverside and Corona.
One proposal near the downtown Riverside Metrolink station calls for 427 apartments. The 15-acre site, commonly known as the Food Machinery Corp. complex, is being developed by BRE Properties Inc. of Irvine.
The project would appeal to young professionals who have good jobs but are not ready to buy a house yet, said Tom Hunt, a public relations executive working with one of the site's owners.
"We have got to have younger, white-collar people at least living here," Hunt said. "We really do lack that strong 30-something crowd, white-collar with good jobs."
Developer Alan Mruvka is pursuing another project across the railroad tracks on what is now the station's parking lot.
He hopes to build 415 apartments, some of which will be for sale.
Mruvka estimates that the two apartment developments would bring about 1,000 people into the area.
How diverse are the Inland Empire County law enforcement agencies?
The Press Enterprise asks that question as many have and both the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department are trying to improve their records in this area.
Stanley Sniff, who was "elected" by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors earlier this year, defended his department's record. That's most often the first statement made by many law enforcement management personnel when asked the questions about the percentages of sworn officers or deputies in an agency that are men of color or women. But many also acknowledge in the next sentence that they could do a lot better.
(excerpt)
"When I came into law enforcement in 1975, it was like 99 percent white. There were a few women, and hardly any ethnic minorities," said Sniff, who is still forming his administrative staff. "If you look at where we used to be, and at where we are now, we are doing better. You can't say we have not made progress. But yes, we have some work to do."
Under previous sheriff, Bob Doyle, the department was very White and very male, especially at the top of its ranks as shown by a picture of the department's management team that was displayed in its administration headquarters on Lemon Street in Riverside. Clearly, even though there's a new sheriff in town, this agency has its work cut out for it. Because looking at the picture hanging on the wall is like looking at a picture of Mt. Baldy. The higher you climb both mountains, the narrower and whiter they both get.
Unfortunately, that's true of most law enforcement agencies in this country.
Sniff really doesn't offer much in the way of recruitment strategies and remains pessimistic about promotions of Black and Latino officers even on his watch.
(excerpt)
"This is a slow process," Sniff said. "We need to get more people in the door and keep them on (the promotional) track."
It is something that will take years, Sniff said, and will likely continue under the next administration. In the short term, however, Sniff concedes the mid-level ranks of the department -- where he will likely have to select the next promotions -- are overwhelmingly white.
Sniff said there will be more opportunities for promotions as the department grows, particularly in the corrections division with the planned expansion of jail facilities.
But the numbers are actually better than its neighbor across the street, the Riverside Police Department. The Sheriff's Department is about 66% White to the police department's, 72%. About 27% of its deputies are Latino, which is about eight percentile points higher than the police department. However, its percentage of Black deputies is at 5%, about two percentile points lower than Riverside's own department.
However, Riverside has more Latinos in its management positions than does the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. The assistant chief and both deputy chiefs are Latino men. The highest ranking African-American are lieutenants, due to the recent retirement of Capt. Jim Cannon.
The highest ranking woman is Capt. Meredith Meredyth. who is White. There are currently no women of color higher than the rank of officer, according to a recent EEOC report.
Riverside's personnel and training division has made some dents in the area of diversity in recruitment, having hired seven women in recent months, currently being trained in two different academy classes. And when it comes to bristling and getting its dander up about critical observations of the racial and gender diversity of the police department, those in charge in this area seem far less so than some of the White commissioners did on the Community Police Review Commission, a body even Whiter than the police department.
San Bernardino's county law enforcement agency's numbers are comparable to those in Riverside's and there's no action plan currently being advertised by Sheriff Gary Penrod either.
Even former Riverside Police Department Commander Richard Dana, now police chief in Hemet, was questioned on the issue of recruitment. Given that he's been a defendant in several law suits alleging racism or sexism filed by Officer Roger Sutton and former officer-for-one-day, Kelsy Metzler, there's a bit of irony to that.
(excerpt)
Hemet Police Chief Richard Dana knows the difficulties of trying to diversify a smaller department -- Hemet has 88 officers -- and a larger one. He left the 400-plus-officer Riverside Police Department as a commander in 2006 and helped oversee recruiting during his tenure there.
Dana and Sniff said officers themselves are often the best recruiters as they urge friends and relatives to consider law enforcement careers.
"They are the ones who have contact with people, and they know whether they have the heart for it," Dana said. "Hopefully they convince them to step up.
Dana said another successful way to diversify is to bring officers over from other departments -- known as lateral transfers -- who join the middle and lower ranks. He estimated that about half of Hemet's force are lateral transfers.
"They have experiences that come from working in other communities," Dana said.
No ethnic or racial statistics were offered for Hemet's police department.
Interestingly enough, women of any race including those who are Black or Latino aren't mentioned in this article, nor are Asian-American or American Indian law enforcement officers.
If you have some money and need your Christmas decorations and lights to look just right, you can hire a professional to do the job.
If you do it yourself, here are some safety tips.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
Use a sturdy ladder.
Make sure the ladder is on level ground and locked open.
Wear slip-resistant shoes.
Don't overreach.
Stay centered.
Don't stand on the ladder's top two rungs.
Do not get on the roof.
Make sure rungs are dry.
Inspect holiday lights for frayed wires, cracked sockets, gaps in the insulation and excessive wear.
Do not overload electrical outlets.
Do not leave lights on when not at home.
Consider using an extension grabber to hang lights if hooks are in place.
Sources: Home Safety Council, U.S. Fire Administration, Loma Linda University Medical Center, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here the discussion of fables, poems and songs continue along with the usual angst among those anonymous posters who seem to be concerned about people being able to tell them apart from one another. There's a simple solution to that but it takes more moxie than most of these individuals have even those who are still clearly upset that a candidate they worked closely alongside was not reelected. But there's some interesting points in this posting about who elected officials will and will not listen to, not that the information isn't something many people didn't know or figure out already. Of course, it's different if you're also donating money into their coffers, working on their campaigns, leaders or members of their support organizations, that is what makes a huge difference as well but that's not mentioned at all in the posting.
Some people clearly see that as a great thing, a positive development in politics, the epitome of democracy in action, but should their voices really matter more than individuals who can't or don't do these things? Should their voices really matter more than those who (gasp) criticize elected officials paid generous salaries and given health benefits, car allowances and after five years served, a small pension to do their jobs? Not a bad stint and they're not working at minimum wage either, certainly not for elected officials serving in this state anyway.
It seems that there's some sort of unwritten merit-based system that in order for politicians to take you seriously. After all, I've been told by several elected officials that I'm civil when I speak and know what I'm talking about, even that I have a "good aura", but when push comes to shove, it's no guaranteed certainty that my voice has really even been listened to by the same politicians who say these things. And there's ways to be able to distinguish whether you are or aren't rather than the final votes that are cast. The expressions on their faces and whether or not they are paying attention to those who address them provides very good clues. Are they leaning forward and providing eye contact, like Councilman Andrew Melendrez does? Do they fidget like a Councilman Steve Adams, flip through papers like those sitting in the middle do? Or do they do the latest fad, which is to walk out, often to meet privately during a public meeting with other elected officials and/or city employee?
The thing is, that so many people want to run for office, that if it's clear that there are elected officials who aren't up to sitting through public meetings and being good listeners, it's also clear that there are others out there who are competing for the same jobs on the current two-year election cycles. Maybe that's why so many voters picked as their choices, the newer candidates. This past election fielded a multitude of candidates in all four wards up for grabs. Expect that trend to continue in 2009 and expect amongst them to see more grass-roots candidates emboldened by the performances of the Gardner and Terry Frizzel campaigns.
Does money in the form of campaign contributions truly speak louder than words? The interesting thing is that at the end of the day, the vote speaks loudest of all and you don't have to dump money into the coffer of a political candidate to enjoy that. And for those who don't think their vote matters or counts, Election 2007 should always serve as a reminder that voting does count and it does matter.
It's not surprising to me that this blog attracts a lot of rancor from the Betro camp among different ones. They didn't like seeing it linked at Craigslist at all and don't like reading it, although they visit frequently. It's too bad all that energy couldn't be invested in making Ward One what it can be and being among the first representatives of that ward to assist Councilman-elect Mike Gardner in making that a reality. They would be the first individuals to put their ward and all its residents first rather than simply lick their wounds, upset perhaps because their candidates' losses have put them perhaps at square one. It's a shame because they are intelligent, passionate people who do have something to contribute.
However, it's clear that Ward One has more than enough energetic, intelligent, passionate people working for it thankfully.
I've had more than two years to read on my site and others exactly what people feel about it. I've seen more vile rhetoric than any elected official sitting at any city council meeting has ever seen. The same decorum that is expected of me at city council meetings certainly didn't apply to my blog. It's not one that's going to be well liked in any power structure in this city and that includes among those closest to elected officials. I guess I should be flattered that my writings were worth their time, energy and literary references. Still, it would have been nice if this energy could have gone into working alongside Gardner in ways beneficial, productive and not divisive for Ward One because incoming elected officials need that support. But for all their talk about wanting what's best for their ward, I'm wondering if that will happen soon. It's more than likely they'll focus their time and energy on Ward Three winner William "Rusty" Bailey than with Gardner given the dual emphasis in his campaign and Betro's during the election.
This blog probably doesn't have many fans in the city's ranks. One management level city employee sat in a meeting on the seventh floor of City Hall with his nose to the palm pilot until a city resident mentioned my blog then shook his head. The rumor mill buzzed recently about two other city employees, both long-time readers who were complaining about it for the umpteenth time. Of course, considering the channels this bit of information had to pass through, by the time it reached me, it was naturally, told in the form of a joke.
Still, others do enjoy reading it including those in interesting and often unexpected places and have told me so and to keep blogging. They have told me they get something out of it, while also reminding me that although there are some minds that can never be changed, there are others who have done a lot of thinking based on content posted here. Many people who want to attend public meetings can't, not even the evening sessions of city council meetings, the most common reason given for those interested in attending who don't attend.
So I will continue to blog even as it's always been clear that there are those who dislike that. Riveside is a city where a lot has happened, is happening and will happen in the days, weeks and months to come.
What's really unfortunate besides the lack of sleep-filled nights for many of those in DHL's flight path of the moment is that even though most of what transpired to bring DHL to March has been publicly exposed, people are so jaded at the actions and words of their elected officials that they don't even blink an eyelid anymore at a situation like DHL-Gate.
But often that's what it is about Riverside as well. News about former Riverside County development managers getting caught trying to pay for personal landscaping from a city capital funds project like the new Magnolia Police Station for example not to mention other things.
But the DHL mess is especially poignant in its own way in that it continues onward. It also reflects a common pattern in Riverside politics. Some thing is passed by an elected body. A group of residents object to it. The elected officials disregard their concerns, label them as "divisive" and "gadflies" and then some analysis, study or report comes out or rolls out from beneath the carpet where it's been stashed and lo and behold, these "disgruntled" individuals are correct. Then suddently, the same politicans who knew everything turn around and say they knew nothing and they're just as much in the dark as the proven-to-be-right residents they had derided and disregarded earlier in the game.
Speaking of the DHL debacle and the March Joint Powers Authority which helped spawn it, committee appointments are also included in this report on one of the discussion agenda items that goes before the city council.
The choices proposed by Mayor Ron Loveridge and Councilman Frank Schiavone are for both of them to remain on the troubled commission and appoint Ward Two Councilman Andrew Melendrez as an alternate.
Due to all the problems with DHL and GlobalPort which manages the March Air Force Reserve Base's airport, Councilman Art Gage while attending a candidates' forum during Election 2007 had asked for the resignations of Loveridge and Schiavone but both either demurred or never heard the requests. Soon-to-be-former Councilman Ed Adkison had already left the MJPA, his work done.
An interesting article about how unsafe it's to build new apartments, houses, schools and say, transit villages along busy freeways and streets according to the Press Enterprise. The elected leaders of Riverside, who traditionally have approved housing projects especially low-income housing adjacent to highways aren't going to be pleased about this news.
(excerpt)
Management District's warnings pointing out that homes and apartments should be at least 500 feet from the nearest heavily used thoroughfare.
The district cites studies showing increased risks of heart attack, lung ailments and other illness among people who live near heavy traffic.
"The health data is clear: We shouldn't have residences, schools, parks and sensitive uses immediately next to larger transportation corridors," said Barry Wallerstein, the air district's executive officer.
At the same time, regional transportation leaders want to establish housing near commuter-train stations in an effort to boost ridership and cut freeway congestion -- and the state has millions in bond funds available to bolster such projects.
Most Metrolink train stations are within 500 feet of freeways.
The article is alarming in some of the information it provides but most likely, in Riverside it will be business as usual.
Mentioned in the article is the transit village of housing and businesses planned to be constructed adjacent to the Metrolink Station in the next few years under Riverside Renaissance. What's fascinating is that city residents have expressed concern about the health and safety involving this type of building choices for months and years and have been treated as being crazy party poopers out to ruin Riverside's inevitable future of overpopulation resulting from the migration of Orange County residents as we know it. But according to the local newspaper and many studies on air quality's impact on the health of individuals particularly children and those with respiratory illnesses, there's definitely reason for everyone to be concerned.
But still these projects will continue unabated without much thought to the impact they may have on the health of their future residents. After all, there's tons of money to be made in building houses even in a market where it's not sure that they'll be bought or sold or even rented out.
(excerpt)
"They are hot and selling in other areas," he said. "But there needs to be one (developer) who breaks it out here and shows it can work."
Such projects have been built in Fullerton, Pasadena, Los Angeles and Pomona, either near a Metrolink station or the Gold Line, a light-rail system in Los Angeles County. Others either have been built or are planned in Santa Ana, Buena Park, Orange and Anaheim.
The Riverside County Transportation Commission has spent more than a year investigating the potential for such developments at stations in Riverside and Corona.
One proposal near the downtown Riverside Metrolink station calls for 427 apartments. The 15-acre site, commonly known as the Food Machinery Corp. complex, is being developed by BRE Properties Inc. of Irvine.
The project would appeal to young professionals who have good jobs but are not ready to buy a house yet, said Tom Hunt, a public relations executive working with one of the site's owners.
"We have got to have younger, white-collar people at least living here," Hunt said. "We really do lack that strong 30-something crowd, white-collar with good jobs."
Developer Alan Mruvka is pursuing another project across the railroad tracks on what is now the station's parking lot.
He hopes to build 415 apartments, some of which will be for sale.
Mruvka estimates that the two apartment developments would bring about 1,000 people into the area.
How diverse are the Inland Empire County law enforcement agencies?
The Press Enterprise asks that question as many have and both the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department are trying to improve their records in this area.
Stanley Sniff, who was "elected" by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors earlier this year, defended his department's record. That's most often the first statement made by many law enforcement management personnel when asked the questions about the percentages of sworn officers or deputies in an agency that are men of color or women. But many also acknowledge in the next sentence that they could do a lot better.
(excerpt)
"When I came into law enforcement in 1975, it was like 99 percent white. There were a few women, and hardly any ethnic minorities," said Sniff, who is still forming his administrative staff. "If you look at where we used to be, and at where we are now, we are doing better. You can't say we have not made progress. But yes, we have some work to do."
Under previous sheriff, Bob Doyle, the department was very White and very male, especially at the top of its ranks as shown by a picture of the department's management team that was displayed in its administration headquarters on Lemon Street in Riverside. Clearly, even though there's a new sheriff in town, this agency has its work cut out for it. Because looking at the picture hanging on the wall is like looking at a picture of Mt. Baldy. The higher you climb both mountains, the narrower and whiter they both get.
Unfortunately, that's true of most law enforcement agencies in this country.
Sniff really doesn't offer much in the way of recruitment strategies and remains pessimistic about promotions of Black and Latino officers even on his watch.
(excerpt)
"This is a slow process," Sniff said. "We need to get more people in the door and keep them on (the promotional) track."
It is something that will take years, Sniff said, and will likely continue under the next administration. In the short term, however, Sniff concedes the mid-level ranks of the department -- where he will likely have to select the next promotions -- are overwhelmingly white.
Sniff said there will be more opportunities for promotions as the department grows, particularly in the corrections division with the planned expansion of jail facilities.
But the numbers are actually better than its neighbor across the street, the Riverside Police Department. The Sheriff's Department is about 66% White to the police department's, 72%. About 27% of its deputies are Latino, which is about eight percentile points higher than the police department. However, its percentage of Black deputies is at 5%, about two percentile points lower than Riverside's own department.
However, Riverside has more Latinos in its management positions than does the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. The assistant chief and both deputy chiefs are Latino men. The highest ranking African-American are lieutenants, due to the recent retirement of Capt. Jim Cannon.
The highest ranking woman is Capt. Meredith Meredyth. who is White. There are currently no women of color higher than the rank of officer, according to a recent EEOC report.
Riverside's personnel and training division has made some dents in the area of diversity in recruitment, having hired seven women in recent months, currently being trained in two different academy classes. And when it comes to bristling and getting its dander up about critical observations of the racial and gender diversity of the police department, those in charge in this area seem far less so than some of the White commissioners did on the Community Police Review Commission, a body even Whiter than the police department.
San Bernardino's county law enforcement agency's numbers are comparable to those in Riverside's and there's no action plan currently being advertised by Sheriff Gary Penrod either.
Even former Riverside Police Department Commander Richard Dana, now police chief in Hemet, was questioned on the issue of recruitment. Given that he's been a defendant in several law suits alleging racism or sexism filed by Officer Roger Sutton and former officer-for-one-day, Kelsy Metzler, there's a bit of irony to that.
(excerpt)
Hemet Police Chief Richard Dana knows the difficulties of trying to diversify a smaller department -- Hemet has 88 officers -- and a larger one. He left the 400-plus-officer Riverside Police Department as a commander in 2006 and helped oversee recruiting during his tenure there.
Dana and Sniff said officers themselves are often the best recruiters as they urge friends and relatives to consider law enforcement careers.
"They are the ones who have contact with people, and they know whether they have the heart for it," Dana said. "Hopefully they convince them to step up.
Dana said another successful way to diversify is to bring officers over from other departments -- known as lateral transfers -- who join the middle and lower ranks. He estimated that about half of Hemet's force are lateral transfers.
"They have experiences that come from working in other communities," Dana said.
No ethnic or racial statistics were offered for Hemet's police department.
Interestingly enough, women of any race including those who are Black or Latino aren't mentioned in this article, nor are Asian-American or American Indian law enforcement officers.
If you have some money and need your Christmas decorations and lights to look just right, you can hire a professional to do the job.
If you do it yourself, here are some safety tips.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
Use a sturdy ladder.
Make sure the ladder is on level ground and locked open.
Wear slip-resistant shoes.
Don't overreach.
Stay centered.
Don't stand on the ladder's top two rungs.
Do not get on the roof.
Make sure rungs are dry.
Inspect holiday lights for frayed wires, cracked sockets, gaps in the insulation and excessive wear.
Do not overload electrical outlets.
Do not leave lights on when not at home.
Consider using an extension grabber to hang lights if hooks are in place.
Sources: Home Safety Council, U.S. Fire Administration, Loma Linda University Medical Center, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here the discussion of fables, poems and songs continue along with the usual angst among those anonymous posters who seem to be concerned about people being able to tell them apart from one another. There's a simple solution to that but it takes more moxie than most of these individuals have even those who are still clearly upset that a candidate they worked closely alongside was not reelected. But there's some interesting points in this posting about who elected officials will and will not listen to, not that the information isn't something many people didn't know or figure out already. Of course, it's different if you're also donating money into their coffers, working on their campaigns, leaders or members of their support organizations, that is what makes a huge difference as well but that's not mentioned at all in the posting.
Some people clearly see that as a great thing, a positive development in politics, the epitome of democracy in action, but should their voices really matter more than individuals who can't or don't do these things? Should their voices really matter more than those who (gasp) criticize elected officials paid generous salaries and given health benefits, car allowances and after five years served, a small pension to do their jobs? Not a bad stint and they're not working at minimum wage either, certainly not for elected officials serving in this state anyway.
It seems that there's some sort of unwritten merit-based system that in order for politicians to take you seriously. After all, I've been told by several elected officials that I'm civil when I speak and know what I'm talking about, even that I have a "good aura", but when push comes to shove, it's no guaranteed certainty that my voice has really even been listened to by the same politicians who say these things. And there's ways to be able to distinguish whether you are or aren't rather than the final votes that are cast. The expressions on their faces and whether or not they are paying attention to those who address them provides very good clues. Are they leaning forward and providing eye contact, like Councilman Andrew Melendrez does? Do they fidget like a Councilman Steve Adams, flip through papers like those sitting in the middle do? Or do they do the latest fad, which is to walk out, often to meet privately during a public meeting with other elected officials and/or city employee?
The thing is, that so many people want to run for office, that if it's clear that there are elected officials who aren't up to sitting through public meetings and being good listeners, it's also clear that there are others out there who are competing for the same jobs on the current two-year election cycles. Maybe that's why so many voters picked as their choices, the newer candidates. This past election fielded a multitude of candidates in all four wards up for grabs. Expect that trend to continue in 2009 and expect amongst them to see more grass-roots candidates emboldened by the performances of the Gardner and Terry Frizzel campaigns.
Does money in the form of campaign contributions truly speak louder than words? The interesting thing is that at the end of the day, the vote speaks loudest of all and you don't have to dump money into the coffer of a political candidate to enjoy that. And for those who don't think their vote matters or counts, Election 2007 should always serve as a reminder that voting does count and it does matter.
It's not surprising to me that this blog attracts a lot of rancor from the Betro camp among different ones. They didn't like seeing it linked at Craigslist at all and don't like reading it, although they visit frequently. It's too bad all that energy couldn't be invested in making Ward One what it can be and being among the first representatives of that ward to assist Councilman-elect Mike Gardner in making that a reality. They would be the first individuals to put their ward and all its residents first rather than simply lick their wounds, upset perhaps because their candidates' losses have put them perhaps at square one. It's a shame because they are intelligent, passionate people who do have something to contribute.
However, it's clear that Ward One has more than enough energetic, intelligent, passionate people working for it thankfully.
I've had more than two years to read on my site and others exactly what people feel about it. I've seen more vile rhetoric than any elected official sitting at any city council meeting has ever seen. The same decorum that is expected of me at city council meetings certainly didn't apply to my blog. It's not one that's going to be well liked in any power structure in this city and that includes among those closest to elected officials. I guess I should be flattered that my writings were worth their time, energy and literary references. Still, it would have been nice if this energy could have gone into working alongside Gardner in ways beneficial, productive and not divisive for Ward One because incoming elected officials need that support. But for all their talk about wanting what's best for their ward, I'm wondering if that will happen soon. It's more than likely they'll focus their time and energy on Ward Three winner William "Rusty" Bailey than with Gardner given the dual emphasis in his campaign and Betro's during the election.
This blog probably doesn't have many fans in the city's ranks. One management level city employee sat in a meeting on the seventh floor of City Hall with his nose to the palm pilot until a city resident mentioned my blog then shook his head. The rumor mill buzzed recently about two other city employees, both long-time readers who were complaining about it for the umpteenth time. Of course, considering the channels this bit of information had to pass through, by the time it reached me, it was naturally, told in the form of a joke.
Still, others do enjoy reading it including those in interesting and often unexpected places and have told me so and to keep blogging. They have told me they get something out of it, while also reminding me that although there are some minds that can never be changed, there are others who have done a lot of thinking based on content posted here. Many people who want to attend public meetings can't, not even the evening sessions of city council meetings, the most common reason given for those interested in attending who don't attend.
So I will continue to blog even as it's always been clear that there are those who dislike that. Riveside is a city where a lot has happened, is happening and will happen in the days, weeks and months to come.
Labels: business as usual, City elections, public forums in all places, recruitment, retention and diversity
posted by Five Before Midnight | 8:23 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home