Riverside City Hall: To cut or not to cut isn't a question
I have received some interesting reaction to the posting here on the similarities between city council meetings in Riverside and reality television programs. Some people asked me if it was indeed true that the decisions they had believed were made at city council meetings were actually made before everybody sat down. Sometimes, it's that recycled feel that causes people to wonder if that's indeed the case.
One would certainly hope not and it's not likely that the city council is violating the Brown Act regarding serial meetings but people have been somewhat perplexed and even more concerned because they are left thinking that little is really discussed in public given the propensity of items on the consent calendar and the dearth of discussion calendar items that aren't reports to file away. It used to be that nearly every week, there were discussion calendar items that brought people out to comment on these items providing different perspectives and then witness the city council's discussion and then vote.
Those were the days as some call them. But are they still here or are they gone? If so, that's really too bad because vigorous and open discussion on the items which appear on meeting agendas is vital for a democracy yet this city appears to have been heading in the opposite direction for quite a while in terms of public participation.
People have said that they notice more and more agenda items including those involving $1 million or higher are being placed on a consent calendar that is growing and growing as it has been since the city council voted on July 12, 2005 to ban anyone except for elected officials and city staff members from pulling items from the consent calendar.
Items can be pulled off of the agenda by those at City Hall even before it's officially posted. For example, last March, an item was placed on the consent calendar to create at-will management positions in the police department. The item appeared on what's called a "tentative" agenda that's created by City Hall of items to included on the agenda. This particular item was placed on the agenda by Administrative Analyst Jeremy Hammond who some say, plays a pivotal role in the Human Resources Department which is headed by its directory, Rhonda Strout.
However, by the time the agenda was officially posted the Thursday before the meeting, that particular item was deleted and replaced by written notice that it had been removed on the agenda. If the city manager's office had consulted with the city attorney's office on this item's legality, it probably wouldn't have ever appeared on even the tentative agenda. As it was, City Attorney Gregory Priamos had to explain to a crowd of people at the city council meeting where agendized or not, it came to a head, why the city manager's office was not allowed to do what it had tried to get the city council to permit. It would have been much better and easier for the city government to do its legal background first before proposing it.
To cut or not to cut?
There's been more discussion about the city's alleged plan to have its departments cut their operations budgets for next year by up to 15%, due to fiscal shortages at the state level which have been blamed partly on the foreclosure crisis that is causing an anticipated cut in property tax revenue at the state level. This leaves many cities and counties forced to tighten their budgetary belts as well, which is bad news for Riverside's government. Worse news for the city's employees and residents.
Riverside, being one of the home foreclosure capitols of the country will be impacted whether the much talked about larger recession arrives on schedule or not. Because it's the fastest growing county in the state and one of the fastest growing ones in the country, the housing industry has been very active and will be among the entities hardest hit by the latest downturn in the housing market that's hit this country.
So, the unkindest cuts of all will be made in the city's budget for the upcoming fiscal year. What exactly they are remains to be seen but here are some of the most often mentioned possibilities.
Frozen positions.
Programs possibly cut or curtailed which might also cause delays in accessing services.
Equipment purchases and staffing increases, not met.
Most departments are reporting that cuts are required, including the public safety departments. For example, the most noticeable cut in the police department is its decision not to fill a deputy chief position vacated by Dave Dominguez who is leaving the city to head the Palm Springs Police Department. But the cuts don't end there, they just start there.
Losing staffing positions and losing pace with a growing city which will increase in both area and population is difficult enough, but what if the city decides to make some of those cuts to items like the department's training fund for its officers? If that happens, it will be deja vu because it's the city's history of doing that which led it down a very rocky road to a $22 million and counting reform process. Spend a penny, save a pound.
As for parks, museums and libraries, it goes to the discussion about erecting buildings which is very important and in some cases overdue, but what are buildings without people to staff the services they offer, without the items needed to make those services possible? Even Mayor Ron Loveridge realized that the city may be ill-equipped to continue bringing up staffing to meet the demands of Riverside Renaissance. It's too bad when people raised that issue during the Riverside Renaissance unveiling party at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium last year, they were treated as they were by a city council which appears to want to be praised by its constituents more than anything else.
The city's growing, but basic services will probably not be keeping pace with this growth especially with the budget cuts. One of the intentions of Riverside Renaissance was to bring in new residents to the city, but if they arrive along with those from over a dozen planned annexations, what kind of city services will greet them?
Probably less than last year. But even in this difficult time for the housing market, there will probably be more housing projects especially those on the higher end of the price scale which is one of the more high-risk categories for foreclosures.
Why less?
Because there apparently aren't any or enough revenue streams for these departments to pay for these things or else the city wouldn't be forcing cuts. But that's not the case for everything that's coming out of City Hall. It seems like whatever streams existed for city services have become drought-stricken trickles of water that has to replenish a lot of people while there are rivers worthy of this city's name flowing elsewhere.
As mentioned, A year agoRiverside Renaissance, the massive let's-cram-20-years-worth-of-projects-in-five-years plan was unveiled to great hoopla not at the not-quite-good-enough-for-prime-time city council chambers but at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium. The economic climate was much different then that it is now, although there were a few harbingers of what was to come amidst all the festivities. People raised these concerns but they and their concerns were as welcome as a skunk would be at a garden party.
Riverside Renaissance for all its fanfare probably didn't get anyone on the dais reelected during this past election cycle and may have actually hurt not helped even Councilman Steve Adams' performance in the past election. Less than one year after its gloriously hyped unveiling, two city council members, Dom Betro and Art Gage, were sent packing. What was supposed to be the exclamation point on their coronation for second terms instead may have become a focal point for their departure. Why? Because voters likely saw economic problems in the future and were concerned about the money that the city was spending especially after it was projected to hit the first $1 billion mark let alone the second.
One labor union was allegedly admonished after the election by a City Hall denizen that it couldn't even get Betro into office. But if anyone's to blame, it's those who cast the votes especially the seven who cast them in the favor of Betro's challenger and now successor, Mike Gardner and there are a myriad of reasons why those votes were cast.
Adams did win the race to keep his seat in Ward Seven but only by about 16 votes against a candidate he outspent about 15 to 1. Imagine a race horse carrying only 110 pounds barely nipping a charge to the wire by another one hoisting 135 pounds and you have the Ward Seven contest. Still, a loud message was sent by voters of what they felt mattered now and what they believed could wait for better times.
But those times aren't here yet and before they return, the city's going to do some cutting to its annual budget. Not trimming, but a full-scale cutting. How will this be received? If it weren't for Riverside Renaissance proceeding as close as it could be construed to being full-steam ahead oblivious to the news of a possible recession, maybe city residents would take the news well. But putting millions on top of billions of dollars into projects that ideally would need 1o or more years to complete with a fiscally healthy city, while slashing city services by possibly 15%, isn't likely going to make people very happy at all.
As a result with the next cycle of city elections coming up in two years, it's going to be difficult for any incumbent to sell the virtue of cutting the city's basic services but keeping the Riverside Renaissance in its entirety afloat at its current time line rather than bringing in the projects at a more sensible pace.
In the midst of the budget woes up north, the city's assured and reassured everyone that the revenue streams as it has called them, will continue to fund Riverside Renaissance which has ballooned to nearly $2 billion from its original $700 million. These statements from everyone from City Manager Brad Hudson to Asst. City Manager Paul Sundeen when taken into consideration along with the proposed budget cuts each city department will be facing has led people to wonder whether the city is trying to balance its budget on the backs of its public services. There's definitely worthwhile projects with the renaissance but the pace in which they've been proposed is not taking into account the economic picture which is anything but rosy.
Not everyone in the city believed that Riverside Renaissance would be completed in five years. People even the Development Department figured that if 60% or so of the projects were completed on schedule or perhaps even at all, then the plan was a success. But that was before the city was planning to make budget cuts in its departments.
The departments are currently working on their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year of 2008-09 and some of them will be heading to the finance committee for further discussion before heading off to the city council for more discussion and ultimately, final approval later this year.
How much of a fiscal shortage is the state looking at?
About a $14 billion in deficits will impact the state's annual budget, comes the announcement from Sacramento.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
The state needs to face its "budget demons," the Republican governor said.
"For several years, we took actions that balanced the budget as long as the economy was booming. For several years, we kept the budget wolf from the door. But the wolf is back," Schwarzenegger said, while acknowledging that the Democrat-controlled Legislature and voters have rejected similar ideas in the past.
The governor also pledged to put his administration to work with nearly 100 school districts get in compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind Act, including several in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Neither proposal, though, would help solve this year's major Capitol battle: closing an estimated $14 billion shortfall between spending and revenue through June 2009.
Ways to keep tabs on the budget process for next year, are to pay attention to any budget-related items that appear on committees such as the Finance Committee. Here is where you can find agendas, minute records and reports related to this committee. It's chaired by Ward Five Councilman Chris MacArthur, vice-chaired by Ward Six Councilwoman Nancy Hart and includes Ward One Councilman Mike Gardner as a member.
The city council will also discuss the 2008-09 fiscal budget later this year, and must pass it before the new fiscal year starts on July 1.
If you're concerned about the budget and any cuts, you should contact your elected representative that you can find here as well as other elected officials. Contact information is as follows:
Phone: 826-5991
Mike Gardner: mgardner@riversideca.gov
Andrew Melendrez: asmenlendrez@riversideca.gov
Rusty Bailey: rbailey@riversideca.gov
Frank Schiavone: fschiavone@riversideca.gov
Chris MacArthur: cmacarthur@riversideca.gov
Nancy Hart: nhart@riversideca.gov
Steve Adams: sadams@riversideca.gov
Mayor Ron Loveridge:
Phone: 826-5551
rloveridge@riversideca.gov
It might be an especially time to discuss it with the new city council members if you haven't done so already.
Speaking of the city council, Tuesday saw meetings of governmental bodies in both Riverside and Moreno Valley.
The ballot measure against crowing roosters is coming to an election ballot near you according to the Press Enterprise.
(excerpt)
The municipal code now allows up to 50 poultry in the residential agricultural and residential conservation zones if they are kept at least 100 feet from houses on adjacent lots.
The ballot measure asks, in part, whether the code should be amended to reduce the number from 50 to seven only in the case of crowing roosters.
Former Councilman Ed Adkison proposed the measure last year before leaving office.
"Fifty roosters is a lot," he said. "We don't have multiple problems now in the city, but we have the potential."
The measure, he said, is "a pre-emptive strike."
Some say this measure will combat a serious problem. Others say it's intended to urbanize the city's remaining rural areas, opening them up further to private developers. It's coming to a vote next month.
Fontana Police Department swore in a new police chief.
Temecula's city council has shelved its policy of requiring the Press Enterprise and only that newspaper to put its questions in writing.
Instead it plans to have a meeting with representatives of the publication to discuss how to improve its relationship. How the newspaper should tone down its news coverage of the behavior of Temecula's city officials will probably be at the top of the list like not writing about their relationships with a private development firm.
The oft-delayed Police Activities League may finally be starting in San Bernardino according to the Press Enterprise.
(excerpt)
Some council members say they're troubled that launching the program has taken so long.
"This is supposed to be a youth program and an outreach to the community, and we need it now," Councilman Neil Derry said. "The promises made to the council and the public were not kept, and I find that very disconcerting."
City Councilwoman Wendy McCammack said that she has asked about the status of the program repeatedly in the past year.
"I've received several different answers that don't seem to add up to the same thing, and to this date, I don't know where the PAL program stands," she said. "We were told in February of last year that the preliminary work had already been done."
But Councilman Rikke Van Johnson, who represents the Delmann Heights neighborhood, said Billdt's explanation for the delay is reasonable.
"The PAL program is a very good program. The thing to do is to get it started, period," he said. "It's important to have it on the Westside, but it's more important to have it in San Bernardino as a whole."
The launching of the program comes at a period when in the Westside concerns and complaints have been raised about the conduct of police officers in the wake of plans to expand Operation Phoenix, a program to combat gang violence that was launched by Mayor Patrick Morris.
In Cleveland, the number of officers being disciplined by that city's department continues to rise, according to the Plain Dealer.
About 25 officers disciplined, two fired and three facing criminal charges. The discipline handed out to officers ranged from reprimands and training to suspensions and firings.
The crackdown on officer misconduct comes on the heels of Mayor Frank Jackson's pledge to stand behind officers who uphold the law but to come down hard on officers who break it.
(excerpt)
The message has been repeatedly stated by the mayor and the chief: People should be held accountable for their conduct, Safety Director Martin Flask said in an interview last week.
Jackson and Flask empowered Police Chief Michael McGrath to change the culture of the Internal Affairs Unit, which for years some had criticized as being unwilling to punish officer misconduct.
Several rank-and-file officers attributed the tougher approach taken by Internal Affairs to the appointment of a new lieutenant to run the unit in the summer of 2006.
Lt. James Muhic, a 51-year-old officer with 22 years on the job, took over Internal Affairs after heading the department's Overtime Review Unit.
There, he led an exhaustive investigation that resulted in several officers being prosecuted for billing the city for hours they didn’t work.
An Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer is facing murder charges in relation to an off-duty shooting, according to the Indianapolis Star.
The Denver Police Department should have fired the officer, an independent monitor said, according to the Denver Post.
(excerpt)
"The integrity of internal-affairs investigations should be considered sacrosanct, and a deputy who fails to accept responsibility for his or her actions by making false statements to internal affairs should realize that termination is a reasonable response on the part of the department," the report from Independent Monitor Richard Rosenthal stated.
Rosenthal did not release the name of the sheriff's deputy, and her resignation date is unknown. He noted that the deputy had previous disciplinary problems.His report further stated that gaps of video footage from numerous jail-video cameras the night of the death stemmed from technology problems rather than deliberate tampering.
"As a result of the system's failures, the investigation was unable toconclusively establish when and where rounds were conducted," the report stated.
It said that because of those video failures, there was no way to prove or disprove possible misconduct by seven other deputies in addition to the four deputies who were disciplined.
Will civilian review come to Trotwood, Ohio? It will if city residents have anything to say about it, according to the Dayton Daily.
(excerpt)
The Cleveland-based office of NAN, a civil rights organization founded by Rev. Al Sharpton, raised concerns about an officer using a stun gun on a pregnant woman in November. The police officer used a stun gun after the woman tried to leave after refusing to answer questions about herself and a 1-year-old child she tried to turn over to police.
An internal investigation by Trotwood police determined the officer — Michael Wilmer — improperly used the weapon on the woman's neck, although he didn't know she was pregnant. Wilmer was fired midway through the internal investigation for posting unauthorized photographs of police evidence on his MySpace account and operating a city-owned police cruiser at 120 mph.
Four other officers received lesser disciplinary action relating to the incident.
NAN has called upon Trotwood to show evidence of steps it is taking to address "police brutality and official misconduct" of police or the group will lobby the United Auto Workers and General Motors Corp. to pick another site for its planned warehousing and distribution needs.
The police chief of Opa-locka's department said that he was threatened by a city commissioner according to the Miami Herald.
But it's a he said-she said between the two parties.
(excerpt)
''I feel intimidated and paralyzed in carrying out my constitutional
responsibilities for fear of retaliation . . . and am asking for
your
assistance,' ' Police Chief James Wright wrote in a Dec. 21 letter to
the Miami-Dade Ethics Trust, copied to the state attorney's office
and to Gov. Charlie Crist.
Most glaring of the chief's many allegations is that he was
threatened in a Sept. 23 voice mail left on his cellphone by someone
who identified herself as city Commissioner Gail Miller. In the
message, the caller claims the chief will regret the alleged
mistreatment of her daughter and calls Wright's deputy a ``punk
ass.''
Miller said Tuesday night that she did not make the phone call.
''How dumb is that?'' Miller said. ``That message doesn't even make
sense . . . I haven't made any calls threatening the police chief.''
The Chicago Sun-Times wrote an article about how that city's new police superintendent plans to rehaul the troubled agency's internal affairs division, including improving its investigations of onduty shootings.
(excerpt)
Weis said his No. 1 priority is to strengthen training and implement a system of punishment that's fair, consistent and swift to restore public confidence shaken by allegations of excessive force, barroom brawls involving off-duty officers and an ongoing scandal in the disbanded Special Operations Section.
He talked about rotating investigators into and out of IAD so nobody gets too comfortable or too cynical, and about placing one person in charge of "everything that shapes the culture" of the department -- from training and IAD to field monitoring and audits.
On the hot seat for nearly five hours at his City Council confirmation hearing, Weis promised to fire any officer accused of "lying, cheating, stealing, corruption and brutality." But, he also talked about sweating the small stuff -- by punishing even the most minor infractions.
"All too often, a sergeant or lieutenant may say, 'That's not a big deal. We'll let that go.' It may be a very minor violation. But, that does sometimes set the tone that . . . misconduct is gonna be condoned or accepted. . . . People will then feel free to . . . keep getting a little more bold and a little more bold," said Weis, 50.
One would certainly hope not and it's not likely that the city council is violating the Brown Act regarding serial meetings but people have been somewhat perplexed and even more concerned because they are left thinking that little is really discussed in public given the propensity of items on the consent calendar and the dearth of discussion calendar items that aren't reports to file away. It used to be that nearly every week, there were discussion calendar items that brought people out to comment on these items providing different perspectives and then witness the city council's discussion and then vote.
Those were the days as some call them. But are they still here or are they gone? If so, that's really too bad because vigorous and open discussion on the items which appear on meeting agendas is vital for a democracy yet this city appears to have been heading in the opposite direction for quite a while in terms of public participation.
People have said that they notice more and more agenda items including those involving $1 million or higher are being placed on a consent calendar that is growing and growing as it has been since the city council voted on July 12, 2005 to ban anyone except for elected officials and city staff members from pulling items from the consent calendar.
Items can be pulled off of the agenda by those at City Hall even before it's officially posted. For example, last March, an item was placed on the consent calendar to create at-will management positions in the police department. The item appeared on what's called a "tentative" agenda that's created by City Hall of items to included on the agenda. This particular item was placed on the agenda by Administrative Analyst Jeremy Hammond who some say, plays a pivotal role in the Human Resources Department which is headed by its directory, Rhonda Strout.
However, by the time the agenda was officially posted the Thursday before the meeting, that particular item was deleted and replaced by written notice that it had been removed on the agenda. If the city manager's office had consulted with the city attorney's office on this item's legality, it probably wouldn't have ever appeared on even the tentative agenda. As it was, City Attorney Gregory Priamos had to explain to a crowd of people at the city council meeting where agendized or not, it came to a head, why the city manager's office was not allowed to do what it had tried to get the city council to permit. It would have been much better and easier for the city government to do its legal background first before proposing it.
To cut or not to cut?
There's been more discussion about the city's alleged plan to have its departments cut their operations budgets for next year by up to 15%, due to fiscal shortages at the state level which have been blamed partly on the foreclosure crisis that is causing an anticipated cut in property tax revenue at the state level. This leaves many cities and counties forced to tighten their budgetary belts as well, which is bad news for Riverside's government. Worse news for the city's employees and residents.
Riverside, being one of the home foreclosure capitols of the country will be impacted whether the much talked about larger recession arrives on schedule or not. Because it's the fastest growing county in the state and one of the fastest growing ones in the country, the housing industry has been very active and will be among the entities hardest hit by the latest downturn in the housing market that's hit this country.
So, the unkindest cuts of all will be made in the city's budget for the upcoming fiscal year. What exactly they are remains to be seen but here are some of the most often mentioned possibilities.
Frozen positions.
Programs possibly cut or curtailed which might also cause delays in accessing services.
Equipment purchases and staffing increases, not met.
Most departments are reporting that cuts are required, including the public safety departments. For example, the most noticeable cut in the police department is its decision not to fill a deputy chief position vacated by Dave Dominguez who is leaving the city to head the Palm Springs Police Department. But the cuts don't end there, they just start there.
Losing staffing positions and losing pace with a growing city which will increase in both area and population is difficult enough, but what if the city decides to make some of those cuts to items like the department's training fund for its officers? If that happens, it will be deja vu because it's the city's history of doing that which led it down a very rocky road to a $22 million and counting reform process. Spend a penny, save a pound.
As for parks, museums and libraries, it goes to the discussion about erecting buildings which is very important and in some cases overdue, but what are buildings without people to staff the services they offer, without the items needed to make those services possible? Even Mayor Ron Loveridge realized that the city may be ill-equipped to continue bringing up staffing to meet the demands of Riverside Renaissance. It's too bad when people raised that issue during the Riverside Renaissance unveiling party at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium last year, they were treated as they were by a city council which appears to want to be praised by its constituents more than anything else.
The city's growing, but basic services will probably not be keeping pace with this growth especially with the budget cuts. One of the intentions of Riverside Renaissance was to bring in new residents to the city, but if they arrive along with those from over a dozen planned annexations, what kind of city services will greet them?
Probably less than last year. But even in this difficult time for the housing market, there will probably be more housing projects especially those on the higher end of the price scale which is one of the more high-risk categories for foreclosures.
Why less?
Because there apparently aren't any or enough revenue streams for these departments to pay for these things or else the city wouldn't be forcing cuts. But that's not the case for everything that's coming out of City Hall. It seems like whatever streams existed for city services have become drought-stricken trickles of water that has to replenish a lot of people while there are rivers worthy of this city's name flowing elsewhere.
As mentioned, A year agoRiverside Renaissance, the massive let's-cram-20-years-worth-of-projects-in-five-years plan was unveiled to great hoopla not at the not-quite-good-enough-for-prime-time city council chambers but at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium. The economic climate was much different then that it is now, although there were a few harbingers of what was to come amidst all the festivities. People raised these concerns but they and their concerns were as welcome as a skunk would be at a garden party.
Riverside Renaissance for all its fanfare probably didn't get anyone on the dais reelected during this past election cycle and may have actually hurt not helped even Councilman Steve Adams' performance in the past election. Less than one year after its gloriously hyped unveiling, two city council members, Dom Betro and Art Gage, were sent packing. What was supposed to be the exclamation point on their coronation for second terms instead may have become a focal point for their departure. Why? Because voters likely saw economic problems in the future and were concerned about the money that the city was spending especially after it was projected to hit the first $1 billion mark let alone the second.
One labor union was allegedly admonished after the election by a City Hall denizen that it couldn't even get Betro into office. But if anyone's to blame, it's those who cast the votes especially the seven who cast them in the favor of Betro's challenger and now successor, Mike Gardner and there are a myriad of reasons why those votes were cast.
Adams did win the race to keep his seat in Ward Seven but only by about 16 votes against a candidate he outspent about 15 to 1. Imagine a race horse carrying only 110 pounds barely nipping a charge to the wire by another one hoisting 135 pounds and you have the Ward Seven contest. Still, a loud message was sent by voters of what they felt mattered now and what they believed could wait for better times.
But those times aren't here yet and before they return, the city's going to do some cutting to its annual budget. Not trimming, but a full-scale cutting. How will this be received? If it weren't for Riverside Renaissance proceeding as close as it could be construed to being full-steam ahead oblivious to the news of a possible recession, maybe city residents would take the news well. But putting millions on top of billions of dollars into projects that ideally would need 1o or more years to complete with a fiscally healthy city, while slashing city services by possibly 15%, isn't likely going to make people very happy at all.
As a result with the next cycle of city elections coming up in two years, it's going to be difficult for any incumbent to sell the virtue of cutting the city's basic services but keeping the Riverside Renaissance in its entirety afloat at its current time line rather than bringing in the projects at a more sensible pace.
In the midst of the budget woes up north, the city's assured and reassured everyone that the revenue streams as it has called them, will continue to fund Riverside Renaissance which has ballooned to nearly $2 billion from its original $700 million. These statements from everyone from City Manager Brad Hudson to Asst. City Manager Paul Sundeen when taken into consideration along with the proposed budget cuts each city department will be facing has led people to wonder whether the city is trying to balance its budget on the backs of its public services. There's definitely worthwhile projects with the renaissance but the pace in which they've been proposed is not taking into account the economic picture which is anything but rosy.
Not everyone in the city believed that Riverside Renaissance would be completed in five years. People even the Development Department figured that if 60% or so of the projects were completed on schedule or perhaps even at all, then the plan was a success. But that was before the city was planning to make budget cuts in its departments.
The departments are currently working on their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year of 2008-09 and some of them will be heading to the finance committee for further discussion before heading off to the city council for more discussion and ultimately, final approval later this year.
How much of a fiscal shortage is the state looking at?
About a $14 billion in deficits will impact the state's annual budget, comes the announcement from Sacramento.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
The state needs to face its "budget demons," the Republican governor said.
"For several years, we took actions that balanced the budget as long as the economy was booming. For several years, we kept the budget wolf from the door. But the wolf is back," Schwarzenegger said, while acknowledging that the Democrat-controlled Legislature and voters have rejected similar ideas in the past.
The governor also pledged to put his administration to work with nearly 100 school districts get in compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind Act, including several in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Neither proposal, though, would help solve this year's major Capitol battle: closing an estimated $14 billion shortfall between spending and revenue through June 2009.
Ways to keep tabs on the budget process for next year, are to pay attention to any budget-related items that appear on committees such as the Finance Committee. Here is where you can find agendas, minute records and reports related to this committee. It's chaired by Ward Five Councilman Chris MacArthur, vice-chaired by Ward Six Councilwoman Nancy Hart and includes Ward One Councilman Mike Gardner as a member.
The city council will also discuss the 2008-09 fiscal budget later this year, and must pass it before the new fiscal year starts on July 1.
If you're concerned about the budget and any cuts, you should contact your elected representative that you can find here as well as other elected officials. Contact information is as follows:
Phone: 826-5991
Mike Gardner: mgardner@riversideca.gov
Andrew Melendrez: asmenlendrez@riversideca.gov
Rusty Bailey: rbailey@riversideca.gov
Frank Schiavone: fschiavone@riversideca.gov
Chris MacArthur: cmacarthur@riversideca.gov
Nancy Hart: nhart@riversideca.gov
Steve Adams: sadams@riversideca.gov
Mayor Ron Loveridge:
Phone: 826-5551
rloveridge@riversideca.gov
It might be an especially time to discuss it with the new city council members if you haven't done so already.
Speaking of the city council, Tuesday saw meetings of governmental bodies in both Riverside and Moreno Valley.
The ballot measure against crowing roosters is coming to an election ballot near you according to the Press Enterprise.
(excerpt)
The municipal code now allows up to 50 poultry in the residential agricultural and residential conservation zones if they are kept at least 100 feet from houses on adjacent lots.
The ballot measure asks, in part, whether the code should be amended to reduce the number from 50 to seven only in the case of crowing roosters.
Former Councilman Ed Adkison proposed the measure last year before leaving office.
"Fifty roosters is a lot," he said. "We don't have multiple problems now in the city, but we have the potential."
The measure, he said, is "a pre-emptive strike."
Some say this measure will combat a serious problem. Others say it's intended to urbanize the city's remaining rural areas, opening them up further to private developers. It's coming to a vote next month.
Fontana Police Department swore in a new police chief.
Temecula's city council has shelved its policy of requiring the Press Enterprise and only that newspaper to put its questions in writing.
Instead it plans to have a meeting with representatives of the publication to discuss how to improve its relationship. How the newspaper should tone down its news coverage of the behavior of Temecula's city officials will probably be at the top of the list like not writing about their relationships with a private development firm.
The oft-delayed Police Activities League may finally be starting in San Bernardino according to the Press Enterprise.
(excerpt)
Some council members say they're troubled that launching the program has taken so long.
"This is supposed to be a youth program and an outreach to the community, and we need it now," Councilman Neil Derry said. "The promises made to the council and the public were not kept, and I find that very disconcerting."
City Councilwoman Wendy McCammack said that she has asked about the status of the program repeatedly in the past year.
"I've received several different answers that don't seem to add up to the same thing, and to this date, I don't know where the PAL program stands," she said. "We were told in February of last year that the preliminary work had already been done."
But Councilman Rikke Van Johnson, who represents the Delmann Heights neighborhood, said Billdt's explanation for the delay is reasonable.
"The PAL program is a very good program. The thing to do is to get it started, period," he said. "It's important to have it on the Westside, but it's more important to have it in San Bernardino as a whole."
The launching of the program comes at a period when in the Westside concerns and complaints have been raised about the conduct of police officers in the wake of plans to expand Operation Phoenix, a program to combat gang violence that was launched by Mayor Patrick Morris.
In Cleveland, the number of officers being disciplined by that city's department continues to rise, according to the Plain Dealer.
About 25 officers disciplined, two fired and three facing criminal charges. The discipline handed out to officers ranged from reprimands and training to suspensions and firings.
The crackdown on officer misconduct comes on the heels of Mayor Frank Jackson's pledge to stand behind officers who uphold the law but to come down hard on officers who break it.
(excerpt)
The message has been repeatedly stated by the mayor and the chief: People should be held accountable for their conduct, Safety Director Martin Flask said in an interview last week.
Jackson and Flask empowered Police Chief Michael McGrath to change the culture of the Internal Affairs Unit, which for years some had criticized as being unwilling to punish officer misconduct.
Several rank-and-file officers attributed the tougher approach taken by Internal Affairs to the appointment of a new lieutenant to run the unit in the summer of 2006.
Lt. James Muhic, a 51-year-old officer with 22 years on the job, took over Internal Affairs after heading the department's Overtime Review Unit.
There, he led an exhaustive investigation that resulted in several officers being prosecuted for billing the city for hours they didn’t work.
An Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer is facing murder charges in relation to an off-duty shooting, according to the Indianapolis Star.
The Denver Police Department should have fired the officer, an independent monitor said, according to the Denver Post.
(excerpt)
"The integrity of internal-affairs investigations should be considered sacrosanct, and a deputy who fails to accept responsibility for his or her actions by making false statements to internal affairs should realize that termination is a reasonable response on the part of the department," the report from Independent Monitor Richard Rosenthal stated.
Rosenthal did not release the name of the sheriff's deputy, and her resignation date is unknown. He noted that the deputy had previous disciplinary problems.His report further stated that gaps of video footage from numerous jail-video cameras the night of the death stemmed from technology problems rather than deliberate tampering.
"As a result of the system's failures, the investigation was unable toconclusively establish when and where rounds were conducted," the report stated.
It said that because of those video failures, there was no way to prove or disprove possible misconduct by seven other deputies in addition to the four deputies who were disciplined.
Will civilian review come to Trotwood, Ohio? It will if city residents have anything to say about it, according to the Dayton Daily.
(excerpt)
The Cleveland-based office of NAN, a civil rights organization founded by Rev. Al Sharpton, raised concerns about an officer using a stun gun on a pregnant woman in November. The police officer used a stun gun after the woman tried to leave after refusing to answer questions about herself and a 1-year-old child she tried to turn over to police.
An internal investigation by Trotwood police determined the officer — Michael Wilmer — improperly used the weapon on the woman's neck, although he didn't know she was pregnant. Wilmer was fired midway through the internal investigation for posting unauthorized photographs of police evidence on his MySpace account and operating a city-owned police cruiser at 120 mph.
Four other officers received lesser disciplinary action relating to the incident.
NAN has called upon Trotwood to show evidence of steps it is taking to address "police brutality and official misconduct" of police or the group will lobby the United Auto Workers and General Motors Corp. to pick another site for its planned warehousing and distribution needs.
The police chief of Opa-locka's department said that he was threatened by a city commissioner according to the Miami Herald.
But it's a he said-she said between the two parties.
(excerpt)
''I feel intimidated and paralyzed in carrying out my constitutional
responsibilities for fear of retaliation . . . and am asking for
your
assistance,' ' Police Chief James Wright wrote in a Dec. 21 letter to
the Miami-Dade Ethics Trust, copied to the state attorney's office
and to Gov. Charlie Crist.
Most glaring of the chief's many allegations is that he was
threatened in a Sept. 23 voice mail left on his cellphone by someone
who identified herself as city Commissioner Gail Miller. In the
message, the caller claims the chief will regret the alleged
mistreatment of her daughter and calls Wright's deputy a ``punk
ass.''
Miller said Tuesday night that she did not make the phone call.
''How dumb is that?'' Miller said. ``That message doesn't even make
sense . . . I haven't made any calls threatening the police chief.''
The Chicago Sun-Times wrote an article about how that city's new police superintendent plans to rehaul the troubled agency's internal affairs division, including improving its investigations of onduty shootings.
(excerpt)
Weis said his No. 1 priority is to strengthen training and implement a system of punishment that's fair, consistent and swift to restore public confidence shaken by allegations of excessive force, barroom brawls involving off-duty officers and an ongoing scandal in the disbanded Special Operations Section.
He talked about rotating investigators into and out of IAD so nobody gets too comfortable or too cynical, and about placing one person in charge of "everything that shapes the culture" of the department -- from training and IAD to field monitoring and audits.
On the hot seat for nearly five hours at his City Council confirmation hearing, Weis promised to fire any officer accused of "lying, cheating, stealing, corruption and brutality." But, he also talked about sweating the small stuff -- by punishing even the most minor infractions.
"All too often, a sergeant or lieutenant may say, 'That's not a big deal. We'll let that go.' It may be a very minor violation. But, that does sometimes set the tone that . . . misconduct is gonna be condoned or accepted. . . . People will then feel free to . . . keep getting a little more bold and a little more bold," said Weis, 50.
Labels: business as usual, civilian review spreads, labor pains, officer-involved shootings, public forums in all places
posted by Five Before Midnight | 11:50 AM
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