TGIF: When public comment is the highest priority, it's to reduce it

Riverside's City Hall is already setting what topics can be discussed in the process of using a task force filled by Mayor Ron Loveridge to decide how both the library and museums downtown will be renovated.



(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



Five meetings will be held. Today's agenda calls for opening remarks from Mayor Ron Loveridge and Councilman Mike Gardner and an overview of the library/museum situation from City Manager Brad Hudson.

An overview of the task force's process will be given by consultant Jeffrey Scherer, a Minneapolis-based architect and board chairman of the nonprofit Libraries for the Future, which supports innovation and investment in America's libraries.

Next come presentations from three community organizations -- Friends of the Library, Riverside Museum Associates and the Committee to Renew the Library -- and from the architects hired by the city in 2007 to design a proposed joint museum/library expansion that is now on hold.

Library Director Barbara Custen and Museum Director Ennette Morton each will give presentations, then Scherer will present a look at library and museum trends and societal issues surrounding library services.

The meeting will conclude with time for task force members to ask questions and a 15-minute public comment period.

The meeting is expected to last four hours, Loveridge said.



And guess what? Here's an absolute shocker. City Hall has already decided to limit the opportunities for public comment at these meetings. Even though it's technically a Brown Act committee, City Hall has justified placing limits, most likely time and opportunity limits, because there will be plenty of opportunities to discuss it when it goes to city council.


Ladies and gentlemen, by the time it gets to city council, it's pretty much a guarantee that your public comments will have zero or very limited impact given that the recommendations will already be made, with what appears to be limited public involvement. In fact, using the task force model was a mechanism to dilute and limit public input and simply limit it to "discussions" made by its members, many of whom have close ties to Loveridge and in fact, several of them have been picked to serve on other task forces in the past by him and the city.

If people care about these projects, show up, listen to what they say and maybe write down everything you want to say on a large sign and then hold it so maybe the task force members can read it and thus, that's a better opportunity for public input.

Perhaps what will happen is that the city will have its ideas for the project and the city residents will have their ideas. Both will be included as recommendations but the renovation will implement the city's recommendations and when it's time to implement those suggested by city residents, the city will go, oops we're out of funding! If that sounds familiar, it should. Just go back and follow the renovation being done on city parks which underwent the same process.

This is how it will be until the city's residents elect leaders who don't fear public input that's unfiltered through handpicked participatory committees. It shouldn't be lost that one of the first priorities of business before this committee has even met and made this decision itself to announce that limits would be placed on public participation.

Change the leadership to one that welcomes and doesn't fear or dislike public participation including public comment or change the directive given to the city's manager not to make decisions that dilute or diminish public comment. The only reason it's there at all is probably because it's mandated by state law to be included in any Brown Act committee meeting.

In 1999, the mayor convened a panel to address issues in the police department called the Mayor's Use of Force Panel. It didn't fall under the purview of the Brown Act and consequently, public comment was almost nonexistant at its meetings over a three month period. Not that the committee didn't do important work and make valuable recommendations but a critical piece of the process was missing from it at a time when it was especially important to include it.



There's been discussion about the delegate elections being held for those who will represent Barack Obama (at Zacateca Restaurant, Eastside, Riverside) and Hillary Clinton (at Corona High School's cafeteria) on Saturday, April 13.



Hundreds of Riverside students could ultimately be displaced by the closure of Grant Elementary School, according to the Press Enterprise.




Search warrants have been served at the office of San Bernardino County assessor, Bill Postmus.

That can't be good.




A public discussion is needed regarding the departure and severance package given to Hemet's former city manager. So stated the Press Enterprise's editorial board.






Jack Bog's blog addresses the recent departure of the former director of Portland's commissioner and the hiring of the new one handpicked by who else? The city's auditor, Gary Blackmer. Blackmer's been busy criticizing the report submitted by consultant Eileen Luna-Firebaugh on how to fix the Independent Police Review which gets "studied" every few years as a strategy to try to figure out what's ailing it and try to remedy that.

Only what often happens is that there's recommendations, usually the same or very similar ones each time and what happens is that they are shelved. Blackmer's definition of "community" in Portland also seems to only include those who like what the city's doing with the IPR.

But what's ailing it is how it's being managed or micromanaged by Blackmer's office which until recently, was tucked under his office until Mayor Tom Potter seized it away and put it under his office for the time being.

What lies ahead remains unknown at this point but should be interesting.




A vigil was held for this young man who died after being tased multiple times and hit by beanbags.








The Queens County Superior Court judge who is hearing the trial of three New York City Police Department officers charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Sean Bell has declined a motion to dismiss the charges.





"Glass Blowback" and the confusion it might cause during a shooting is discussed here.



Arrested for robbing a bank was a New York City transit police officer.



(excerpt, New York Daily News)



Cop-turned-robber Christian Torres, 21, was collared less than a block away and the loot was recovered, police said.

The bizarre caper unfolded when the transit cop, dressed in a black suit, marched into the Muhlenberg Sovereign Bank just after opening and flashed a silver Glock, cops said.

He demanded that tellers take him to the vault, where he stuffed a white plastic CVS bag with piles of bills ranging from $10s to $100s, authorities said.




Have the stop-and-frisks done by NYPD officers led to the filing of more claims against the city?



(excerpt, New York Daily News)



In general, claims against the city fell slightly in fiscal year 2006, from 25,176 in 2005 to 24,155 last year.

Payouts - for everything from settlements to jury awards to claims - dipped below $500 million for the first time in five years. The city shelled out $496 million in 2006, the report said.

"We look forward to a continuation of such trends," a Law Department spokeswoman said.

The controller, who could not immediately provide a complete breakdown of the allegations, noted with "concern" the climbing claims against the NYPD.

Last year 5,634 notices of claim named the Police Department.

That's a 19% increase over the 4,740 notices of claim filed against the NYPD in fiscal 2001.