Caucuses and commissions
At Zacatecas Restaurant in the Eastside neighborhood of Riverside, there was a good-sized turnout to cast votes for 22 delegate candidates to fill two positions, one male and one female, to attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. At the restaurant, speeches were being made and votes cast to serve as a delegate for Barack Obama.
Jose Medina, a local high school teacher was voted to serve as the male delegate with Linnie Frank Bailey as the female.
At Corona High School, a similar process was taking place to pick delegates to represent Hillary Clinton at the convention as was also happening in congressional districts across the state.
More here.
Riverside City Councilman and County Supervisor wannabe, Frank Schiavone has been calling prospective voters to respond to a mailer sent out by his rival, current District One supervisor, Bob Buster. Actually no, it's not Schiavone, but a computerized recording that sounds like him calling from a phone number based somewhere in Massachusetts. The recording wasn't that great so all I know is that it had something to do with developers, millions and lies. Other city residents have received the same phone calls, but some couldn't make out what was being said, some had no idea what the subject was but that it had something to do with a mailer and others hung up.
At first, I thought mailer, what mailer? It's hard to even sort between them because around election time, they flood mail boxes putting the usual mail box stuffers like credit card applications and mail order catalogues to shame. The best strategy to use is to not read them until after the election. Before then, just gather them, keep them in chronological order, staple them together like a book, attach an attractive and relevant book cover and then sit backonce the frantic nature of election fever has settled down into a much lower ebb, read through the resultant saga of angst and ambition of two or more political rivals playing a political game of musical chairs and enjoy, enjoy and enjoy. It's as entertaining as any off-the-rack novel that someone else has paid for.
Refreshments are optional of course.
Phone recordings during election campaigns are crap shoots. Often people hang up once they realize they're not being called by a real person. After all, hundred of people hang up daily on telemarketers who use the same tactic though in their cases, they are required to begin the phone call with a human responding before they flip a switch and have a computer finish their commentary or sales pitch. But political phone calls either just start out computerized or you get the infamous hangups because essentially it's one autodialer calling dozens or even hundreds of phone numbers and as soon as one person answers, it hangs up on everyone else. If the dialer calls and receives an answering machine, it will put that phone number back on a list to be called. Again and again and again.
"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
---Lewis Carroll
More to come on several fronts about ahem, challenges being launched against the CPRC particularly its members along with further discussion about real and perceived biases. One thing that's so fascinating is that a police officer with another agency can ask for one commissioner, Jim Ward, to step down because he disagrees with Ward's opinions and words on an issue when there are commissioners who make blanket comments (similar to this sergeant's in his letters and one of my anonymous past blog visitors, "Joe Citizen") about people who live on University Avenue, yet community members don't demand their ousters.
This sergeant is complaining that Ward is biased against police officers yet the commission itself includes the following individuals:
*A woman who's run for county office and received an endorsement from the Riverside Police Officers' Association's PAC as well as campaign contributions along with many thousands more from other law enforcement unions.
*A man who's managing a company which currently has as it has had for years a public safety contract with City Hall.
*A woman who's got a primary relative employed by the police department as a sworn officer.
*A woman who's a current law enforcement officer with another local agency.
*Two other individuals who are former law enforcement officers with other agencies
But interestingly enough, no letters being written to the city as far as can be known demanding any of their removals or for them to step down, with the exception of Corral but that was same reason, different crowd as compared to Ward's situation. Why? Because even in a commission that's top heavy with Whites along with commissioners with ties to law enforcement and Riverside's City Hall, just because there's disagreement isn't grounds for ousters, according to the city's charter. What a community will do instead of taking upon the role of the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland and yelling, "off with your head", is just check out of the process altogether, which in several neighborhoods has apparently already been done.
At any rate, if this issue comes up for discussion at a future meeting and an invitation has been extended to the complainant and his supporters, it could provide a great opportunity for discussing and debating about several issues involving the CPRC, a dialogue which is long overdue and could be quite exciting and informative.
Real estate agent, Connie Ransom wrote this op-ed piece about the detrimental impact that shutting down Grant Elementary School would have on the downtown area.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
The recent articles and discussions regarding the possible closure of Grant Elementary School have resurrected great feelings of unease for me and my family. In the '70s when the subject of the closure of several schools, including Grant, was being discussed, there were similar budgetary issues and the school's population was very small. I do not know the exact numbers, but as I recall, there was only one classroom of students for each grade level.
In the '70s, the parents of Bryant Elementary School and Grant gathered together to save these precious institutions for our children, but also to preserve Riverside's historic downtown areas. If, in fact, either of the schools had been closed, the beautiful neighborhoods between Magnolia and Mount Rubidoux would have been in grave danger. Instead, young energetic families moved in and renovated and restored Riverside's heritage.
The Wild Burros of Riverside County have been crashing into cars or cars crashing into them on some busy streets. Will these reflective collars help prevent death and injury to burro and motorists?
But first, someone or someones have to get the collars on the burros first, right? That should be interesting.
Press Enterprise columnist, Cassie MacDuff asks how will anticipated growth in the Inland Empire impact the quality of life.
Over 150 people showed up at the dedication of the new fire department's training station in Casa Blanca.
Perris has decided to sell foreclosed homes to low-income families while many cities have noticed an increase in vandalism to foreclosed homes.
The situation involving the investigation into the jails of Orange County is getting worse with news that former Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona and some of his staff members impeded a grand jury investigation into a 2006 beating of an inmate at the jail.
It also turns out that sheriff deputies lied to the grand jury while testifying.
The grand jury had actually met at a federal courthouse because of the close working ties between the county courthouse and the Sheriff's Department. That did little to stop witnesses from comparing testimony and changing their stories accordingly.
(excerpt, Los Angeles Times)
Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas and acting Sheriff Jack Anderson agreed that the testimony painted a deeply unsettling picture of a law enforcement agency that had broken down. One expert said the findings could erode the public's confidence in the department, the second largest in the state.
"A great part of law enforcement is public trust," said former San Francisco Police Chief Anthony D. Ribera, director of the International Institute of Criminal Justice Leadership at the University of San Francisco. "Given the awesome authority that law enforcement has in our society, the issue of integrity has to be totally part of the fabric of the organization."
The California Highway Patrol has recommended that criminal charges be filed against a Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department deputy who struck and killed two cyclists with his vehicle. The final decision will be left up to the District Attorney's office in that county.
The New York City Police Department is looking for other women who have been victimized by one of its police officers who's already facing charges for sexually assaulting two women.
Jose Medina, a local high school teacher was voted to serve as the male delegate with Linnie Frank Bailey as the female.
At Corona High School, a similar process was taking place to pick delegates to represent Hillary Clinton at the convention as was also happening in congressional districts across the state.
More here.
Riverside City Councilman and County Supervisor wannabe, Frank Schiavone has been calling prospective voters to respond to a mailer sent out by his rival, current District One supervisor, Bob Buster. Actually no, it's not Schiavone, but a computerized recording that sounds like him calling from a phone number based somewhere in Massachusetts. The recording wasn't that great so all I know is that it had something to do with developers, millions and lies. Other city residents have received the same phone calls, but some couldn't make out what was being said, some had no idea what the subject was but that it had something to do with a mailer and others hung up.
At first, I thought mailer, what mailer? It's hard to even sort between them because around election time, they flood mail boxes putting the usual mail box stuffers like credit card applications and mail order catalogues to shame. The best strategy to use is to not read them until after the election. Before then, just gather them, keep them in chronological order, staple them together like a book, attach an attractive and relevant book cover and then sit backonce the frantic nature of election fever has settled down into a much lower ebb, read through the resultant saga of angst and ambition of two or more political rivals playing a political game of musical chairs and enjoy, enjoy and enjoy. It's as entertaining as any off-the-rack novel that someone else has paid for.
Refreshments are optional of course.
Phone recordings during election campaigns are crap shoots. Often people hang up once they realize they're not being called by a real person. After all, hundred of people hang up daily on telemarketers who use the same tactic though in their cases, they are required to begin the phone call with a human responding before they flip a switch and have a computer finish their commentary or sales pitch. But political phone calls either just start out computerized or you get the infamous hangups because essentially it's one autodialer calling dozens or even hundreds of phone numbers and as soon as one person answers, it hangs up on everyone else. If the dialer calls and receives an answering machine, it will put that phone number back on a list to be called. Again and again and again.
"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
---Lewis Carroll
More to come on several fronts about ahem, challenges being launched against the CPRC particularly its members along with further discussion about real and perceived biases. One thing that's so fascinating is that a police officer with another agency can ask for one commissioner, Jim Ward, to step down because he disagrees with Ward's opinions and words on an issue when there are commissioners who make blanket comments (similar to this sergeant's in his letters and one of my anonymous past blog visitors, "Joe Citizen") about people who live on University Avenue, yet community members don't demand their ousters.
This sergeant is complaining that Ward is biased against police officers yet the commission itself includes the following individuals:
*A woman who's run for county office and received an endorsement from the Riverside Police Officers' Association's PAC as well as campaign contributions along with many thousands more from other law enforcement unions.
*A man who's managing a company which currently has as it has had for years a public safety contract with City Hall.
*A woman who's got a primary relative employed by the police department as a sworn officer.
*A woman who's a current law enforcement officer with another local agency.
*Two other individuals who are former law enforcement officers with other agencies
But interestingly enough, no letters being written to the city as far as can be known demanding any of their removals or for them to step down, with the exception of Corral but that was same reason, different crowd as compared to Ward's situation. Why? Because even in a commission that's top heavy with Whites along with commissioners with ties to law enforcement and Riverside's City Hall, just because there's disagreement isn't grounds for ousters, according to the city's charter. What a community will do instead of taking upon the role of the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland and yelling, "off with your head", is just check out of the process altogether, which in several neighborhoods has apparently already been done.
At any rate, if this issue comes up for discussion at a future meeting and an invitation has been extended to the complainant and his supporters, it could provide a great opportunity for discussing and debating about several issues involving the CPRC, a dialogue which is long overdue and could be quite exciting and informative.
Real estate agent, Connie Ransom wrote this op-ed piece about the detrimental impact that shutting down Grant Elementary School would have on the downtown area.
(excerpt, Press Enterprise)
The recent articles and discussions regarding the possible closure of Grant Elementary School have resurrected great feelings of unease for me and my family. In the '70s when the subject of the closure of several schools, including Grant, was being discussed, there were similar budgetary issues and the school's population was very small. I do not know the exact numbers, but as I recall, there was only one classroom of students for each grade level.
In the '70s, the parents of Bryant Elementary School and Grant gathered together to save these precious institutions for our children, but also to preserve Riverside's historic downtown areas. If, in fact, either of the schools had been closed, the beautiful neighborhoods between Magnolia and Mount Rubidoux would have been in grave danger. Instead, young energetic families moved in and renovated and restored Riverside's heritage.
The Wild Burros of Riverside County have been crashing into cars or cars crashing into them on some busy streets. Will these reflective collars help prevent death and injury to burro and motorists?
But first, someone or someones have to get the collars on the burros first, right? That should be interesting.
Press Enterprise columnist, Cassie MacDuff asks how will anticipated growth in the Inland Empire impact the quality of life.
Over 150 people showed up at the dedication of the new fire department's training station in Casa Blanca.
Perris has decided to sell foreclosed homes to low-income families while many cities have noticed an increase in vandalism to foreclosed homes.
The situation involving the investigation into the jails of Orange County is getting worse with news that former Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona and some of his staff members impeded a grand jury investigation into a 2006 beating of an inmate at the jail.
It also turns out that sheriff deputies lied to the grand jury while testifying.
The grand jury had actually met at a federal courthouse because of the close working ties between the county courthouse and the Sheriff's Department. That did little to stop witnesses from comparing testimony and changing their stories accordingly.
(excerpt, Los Angeles Times)
Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas and acting Sheriff Jack Anderson agreed that the testimony painted a deeply unsettling picture of a law enforcement agency that had broken down. One expert said the findings could erode the public's confidence in the department, the second largest in the state.
"A great part of law enforcement is public trust," said former San Francisco Police Chief Anthony D. Ribera, director of the International Institute of Criminal Justice Leadership at the University of San Francisco. "Given the awesome authority that law enforcement has in our society, the issue of integrity has to be totally part of the fabric of the organization."
The California Highway Patrol has recommended that criminal charges be filed against a Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department deputy who struck and killed two cyclists with his vehicle. The final decision will be left up to the District Attorney's office in that county.
The New York City Police Department is looking for other women who have been victimized by one of its police officers who's already facing charges for sexually assaulting two women.
posted by Five Before Midnight | 11:21 PM
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