DHL and the two other shells in the game

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"


----L. Frank Baum



"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."


---Lewis Carroll




"Stop the DHL Nightmare

---Sign held by city resident





"There is only one thing worse than making a mistake and that's not recognizing a mistake and going back and trying to fix it. You can't un-ring the bell. It's already rung."


---Ward Four Councilman and supervisor candidate, Frank Schiavone




"It's a weak resolution that needs to be toughened up. There is the issue of continuing to do business with Global Port, who they freely admit tricked them."


----Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster to Press Enterprise




"The ban on night flights that the city of Riverside seeks in the guise of a "noise abatement and mitigation regulation" is illegal, and also would result in a breach of the Operating Agreement between DHL and the MIPAA."


---Letter written by Robert Alexander, vice president for Aviation/Commercial Transportation for DHL Express





"No one was bamboozled."


---Catherine Barrett-Fischer, Citizens Alliance for Riverside's Economics and Environment about GlobalPort and the March JPC.





Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Riverside City Hall City Council Chambers




A packed city council chambers greeted the city council in response to the decision by two members of the March Joint Powers Commission who also happen to be two of Riverside's elected officials to put a resolution on the agenda forbidding DHL from expanding its operations and entering into an agreement with Polar Air Express. What it turned into was tears, frustration and begging for relief from the six days a week of early morning flights over the southern portion of Riverside. While the city council's focus was on the Polar Air Express expansion, the city's residents said, what about DHL's current night flights?

There will be further analysis of what happened at this meeting, but suffice it to say, a lot of people haven't slept well in several years in the neighborhoods of Orangecrest, Canyon Crest, Alessandro Heights and Mission Grove which sit under DHL's flight paths. For most of the past few years, their pleas for relief fell on inattentive ears and they were called a wide assortment of names by assorted individuals. The city council proposed a resolution and made some noise about threatening DHL with litigation. Many of the residents of these neighborhoods wanted the city council to go even further and not only ban DHL's early morning flights but to kick the noisy planes out of Dodge. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

But what some people didn't know is that the resolution that was being pushed by two elected officials was essentially a toothless tiger. There was a lot of noise, a lot of saber rattling but what about those sleepless nights?

Deputy City Manager Michael Beck presented a power point on studies done including placing sound measuring devices inside and outside people's homes and individuals who spoke talked about the impact of the incessant noise on people's immune systems and their children's learning abilities. But when it came down to picking out the 800 pound gorilla in the room, the city led them to the wrong one.

How differently it all began.

Once these same elected officials joined the commission in not only bringing DHL to Riverside County on a rolled out red carpet, but in voting for these early morning flights, the die was cast. What these individuals weren't told is that the city can't sue DHL. The contract which was signed between DHL and the other involved parties was held up to by DHL, because it's a freight delivery company and it flies during the night and like many freight companies, it relies on older aircraft including reconverted DC-9s that are too old for most commercial airlines and nearly obsolete but have an extended life carrying air freight. And older aircraft make louder noises as many were made before improved technology and sound-reduction guidelines were implemented. Something any trained pilot should know. Something the March JAC which consists mainly of politicians, didn't know or didn't care to know. At least not then.


Still, no one acted like they did know these things and if they did, they didn't really care at least not several years ago when the complaints started piling up and last year, when it became clear that DHL wasn't reapiing in the big bucks that had been anticipated. City residents who knew what was coming even when the "experts" they trusted apparently didn't, were proven right even though that was the last thing they wanted. And what these residents had seen in their future came true and then some.


Did the March JPC really expect that it would be a fleet of newer, quieter jets (as if they were such a thing) would be used that would glide through the air, barely audible to those sleeping below? It's hard to believe that the members entrusted by the public to serve on this important commission were really as naive as not to know what the outcome would be if they were the winners in the four way courtship between DHL and its three suitors, from Ontario, San Bernardino and March Air Field. The March JPA played hard and it played to win to reel in the big fish called DHL.

While this latest chapter in the DHL saga or what some call DHL-Gate, some of us sat and watched the meeting on the televisions inside the newly opened restaurant at City Hall and we talked about the chronology of this whole sorry episode from beginning to its current chapter. One individual who had followed this saga since it begun said the only action the city could take that would lead to any viable improvement would be to have GlobalPort condemned. The consensus was that a lawsuit couldn't even be filed, this individual said. It didn't even matter that if anyone had breached the contract, the Riverside elected officials were pushing for the breach of it, not DHL. The law suit couldn't be filed, period.

That didn't matter because the elected officials of Riverside managed to do something very well. They managed to shift the focus of anger and frustration of city residents impacted by the early morning flights away from where it belonged which was GlobalPort and the March JPC, and focused it like a finely honed laser at DHL. The one party which really didn't try to pretend to be anything but what it is in the midst of those who tried to woo it for exactly what it was. It's like DHL's a shark and the March JPC including those from Riverside tried to say that it could live on a vegetarian and then seem shocked when it ate meat after all.

DHL is a corporation, doing what they all do which is to maximize its profits and minimize its costs. Of course, it's pretty clear now that DHL hasn't done that well, scoring a $900 million deficit fairly early on in its service. And if it hadn't hemorrhaged so badly with its finances as revealed earlier this year, perhaps this resolution would have at least been postponed. You can't blame it for being confused at having the red carpet rolled out for it, its decision to pick Riverside celebrated and then to have this all yanked away from it. Maybe it feels like it fell down the rabbit hole in the past year or so.

And indeed it did.

But if now the city officials who along with other members of the March JPC brought this down on the residents are trying to make right, even admitting that the once rung, the bell can't be unrung, what they did was only part of what caused upset. It's what they called the city residents who complained about the noise to come, the noise when it did come that was what made what was to these people a nightmare even more frustrating. Do even those from the Greater Chamber of Commerce who show up at these events and walk up to the podium almost like windup dolls know what it was like to have to beg the city council for being sleep at night (literally of course, not figuratively)? The Chamber raises good points, but are its members denied a good night's sleep? One resident said that she could call anyone six to ten times in the early morning hours so that people could know what her nights were like.

The least the members of the March JPC can do is apologize and that might be a start. And it's a great start to admit you've erred and to start again. As long as you do it without your fingers crossed beind your back. You can't blame at least some of those in the audience probably more than would admit it, for being skeptical. As one person put it, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. There's a real need and want to feel hope, but there's a past history to consider as well, hence the reason to be wary. It's the elected officials who have to gain the trust, not the other way around.

What the residents of this city have experienced is years of being patted on the head, patronized, insulted, ignored, called names and told to close their windows or wear ear plugs for the rest of their lives. But it wasn't DHL that told them these things. It was the March JPC and its staff including a legal counsel. It was done by the same people who are championing for their cause now. An election looms and as one resident said, if you get rid of the night flights, you have my vote. If you don't, we'll have to make some other form of arrangement.

Now years later, they finally get a public hearing, albeit just before a critical election for one of the city officials sponsoring the resolution and you have city residents who haven't slept in years, their children wake up during the night and many have experienced illnesses, constant fatigue and have been exposed to pollutants including remnants of air fuel dropping on their vehicles. Several of them begged and pleaded to the city council for redress and relief and it should have never, ever come to that. Others said, it's a start but three years late and not nearly enough.

Heads were nodding when people at the podium reminded their would-be saviors of this fact.

Even as a start, it's not worth much unless there's follow through and will there be after the June 3 election? That remains to be seen especially since there's not much in that resolution that may actually be able to be enforced in regards perhaps not to preventing future added flights, but in terms of addressing the current ones that are keeping people up all night.

Whatever happens, what all these people will have to do is remain vigilant. Keep calling, keep emailing, keep writing letters, speaking out and attending meetings. Embrace your gadfly, it's not the four-letter word that elected officials often make it out to be.

But do so realizing too that it's not just DHL which needs to be held accountable, it's GlobalPort and the March JPA/C including the members on Riverside's city council. Because if this isn't done and since the city most likely has no legal leg to stand on when suing DHL, these crowds of people will probably be returning as they have been for several years now even before they could feel welcome.

There was a lot of talk about how this was not a last minute decision to pass this resolution and they're probably right, but as one woman said, the promises to take action before which arose out of other city council meetings including those the public can't be privy to, resulted in little to no action at all. What makes this time any different, at least one person asked.

What indeed?

I came early as the crowd swirled around the chambers to the outside. Every seat was filled and a row of chairs was placed outside, but it was too windy to stay outside long. A representative of DHL Express came up to me and provided me with a letter representing the company's position. Children fidgeted in their chairs waving pictures of smiley faces before DHL (boo, hiss as the designated villain) and frowny faces, afterward. Most of those in the audience which seemed divided on whether the resolution is enough even to start with, seemed to know a bait and switch when they saw one but most seemed too tired at this point to care.

What the city council voted 6-0 with Ward Five Councilman Chris MacArthur abstaining was to turn that frown upside down. It remains to be seen whether there's anything of substance or any reason to believe that it can stay there.






One Riverside councilman, Mike Gardner's been reading Inland Empire Craigslist and responded to a post about trees that had been previously posted. The author of that post presented Gardner's response here along with his response to Gardner's words and it was nice of him to share that discourse.

The discussions about what was once called the City of the Trees, are always very interesting to follow and if you have any questions about the histories of the city's trees, Marjorie Von Pohle is a very good resource for information.


A doctor is reaching out to children in the Eastside in Riverside in hopes of encouraging some of them to become doctors.



(excerpt, Press Enterprise)


This month, the doctor started giving new laptop computers to 17 elementary, junior high and high school students. It was their prize for competing with their peers to pen essays or produce art that answered one question Valenzuela had set for them: Why do you value a college education?

"I'm not trying to save the world," Valenzuela -- who is known as "Dr. V." to his friends and patients -- said. "But if I can help prevent three or four kids from dropping out of high school, then that's good enough for me."


On May 14, he appeared at an Eastside school, Emerson Elementary, to give away the first six computers, new Dell laptops.

Before the contest's winners were announced, Valenzuela said at back-to-back assemblies that it was important for students to start thinking about studying hard and to dream big. Otherwise, as he put it bluntly, they might end up "flipping hamburgers" for the rest of their lives.

"I'm thankful," said Michael Bauby, 9, a fourth-grader at Emerson, who was awarded one of the computers and had used his grandmother's to do his homework.

Molly Siharath, mother of winner Michelle Sengdara, an 11-year-old in the fifth grade, said the only computer in her household was an old one that had been donated.

"I think it's amazing because it really helps families who don't have much," Siharath said.

"I'm happy because I never won anything like this before," said Michelle, who wants to become a doctor.





Geographically, only Longfellow Elementary School is in the Eastside. Both University Heights Middle School and John W. North High School are located in the University neighborhood. But the city's own maps have been known to expand the neighborhood's boundaries which is how it received funding to construct the University Village in the 1990s. To satisfy the qualifications for the funding, the Eastside's eastern boundary was moved from Chicago to Canyoncrest Avenue.





An elder from the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians has asked people show respect for the individuals who were shot to death by Riverside County Sheriff's Department deputies in response to one letter writer who wrote a letter stating "spare us the pictures of the crying Indians".


(excerpt)



I can only assume that the writer believes that the relatives, by association, also are guilty of engaging the sheriffs in the gun battle. We should be thankful that no sheriff deputies or other innocent tribal members were injured.

Your headline, "Make tribe pay," begs the question: Pay for what? The tribe and its elected representatives, the Soboba Tribal Council, offered to assist the Sheriff's Department and were turned away at gunpoint.

Neither the general membership nor the Tribal Council is responsible for the actions of individual tribal members, and to think or imply that they are somehow remotely responsible is absurd.

I take issue with Larmer's comment about the tribe taking responsibility for its violent member. The general membership of Soboba has already enacted sanctions for tribal members who threaten the peace of the reservation or violate the tribal gun usage ordinances by forfeiting their monthly per-capita payments.

However, this action can't be taken until the tribal ordinance is violated. This is called due process, which is a right that is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.





The director of the Chamber of Commerce in Colton is suing the city joining five other lawsuits against the city, which probably hosts the most interesting political infighting in the entire Inland Empire.



Hemet faces some tough budget choices. Nine layoffs and many frozen positions.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



The positions proposed for layoffs include: an administrative assistant from the Police Department; a senior librarian and three part-time library assistants; a facility services aide at the Simpson Center; a building technician; a street superintendent; and a purchasing assistant.

City Manager Len Wood, who gave the presentation of the proposed budget to the City Council on Tuesday, said Hemet's budget reflects the declining national, state and local economies. The council vote on the budget is expected June 10.

"Severe is the best way to describe the city of Hemet financial condition," wrote Wood in a budget note. "Astonishingly, once our economic woes began, they quickly intensified."



Highway construction projects are now anticipated to cost tens of millions more dollars than anticipated. Seems like this could be a crucial issue in the county supervisor campaign to interrupt the mudslinging and mailer whipping that's been going on in recent weeks. Especially if Ward Four Councilman Frank Schiavone of Riverside plans to bring something similar to Riverside Renaissance to the county if he gets elected. He's planning to do this without the golden goose who's remaining in Riverside for many years, according to those who hired him.

Which are just the comments you want to hear if you're a city manager angling for a pay raise in fiscally trying times. Is that what lies in store for Riverside?






Eight men and one woman are vying for the coveted position of running the Orange County Sheriff's Department, many of them promising renovation plans for the troubled agency, according to the Los Angeles Times. But before anyone can put their plans into action, they have to get hired by the Board of Supervisors in the county first. And then there will be the disturbing issues arising in both the department's corrections and sworn division that have spilled into the spotlight shared by the resignation of former Sheriff Mike Carona who has been indicted on federal corruption charges and is facing trial.

Three are favored by those watching the process including Santa Ana Police Department Chief Paul Walters, but if past history is any indication, he's probably angling for a pay raise at his own department as he was when he put himself in top contention to become the Riverside Police Department's new chief during its last selection process in 2000. So that leaves Jack Anderson, the current interim sheriff and Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Commander Ralph Martin and being an interim doesn't necessarily put a candidate in a strong position to fill a permanent position.

The Inland Empire has one representative in the contest and that's San Bernardino County Undersheriff Richard Beemer.

The board of supervisors have decided to hold a marathon session to make the decision on who to appoint as soon as possible.



Here are the candidates.







Chief William Bratton who heads the Los Angeles Police Department has been quiet lately but has quashed rumors that he had planned a trip to London.



Bratton's memo provided by the Los Angeles Times



There have been several recent news articles indicating that I have been approached and accepted a position to act as an advisor to the new Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

I have had no conversations with Mr. Johnson, I have not spoken with any members of his administration and I have not been approached to act as an advisor as it relates to matters of crime reduction.

As a law enforcement executive I am often asked to share my thoughts and opinions on reducing crime and making communities safer. I have long supported the “Broken Windows” theory of policing that by focusing on minor crimes, more serious offenses can be prevented.

In the past I have provided advice to former Mayor Ken Livingston and have consulted for both the city of London and the national government. I would certainly be willing to do so, if asked, for the new Mayor in my official capacity as Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.




The Galveston County Daily News stated that in order to restore trust by the public in that city's police department, a civilian review board is needed.




The article outlines the history of the department's problems. Here is some of that hisory.


(excerpt)



Here’s how your tax dollars have been at work ...

May 2008: Texas Rangers are investigating the disappearance of about $18,000 in cash and drugs from the GPD property room. The District Attorney was forced to drop 16 cases because of the loss of evidence.

May 2008: Moses Mitchell, a young black man riding his bike home from work, is jailed overnight for an unpaid ticket for an unregistered bicycle. Many saw the incident as one more example of racial profiling run amok.

April 2008: Capt. Phillip Morris is named interim police chief after the sudden resignation of Chief Kenneth Mack, who took over the post in May 2005. The Daily News has requested documents regarding Mack’s unexplained resignation, but we’re still fighting to get everything we asked for. Neither Mack nor city manager Steve LeBlanc will answer questions.

March 2008: After a riot breaks out following a seawall spring-break rap concert, many residents cry foul. The exact same thing happened last year. When the newspaper complained that police should have planned better, LeBlanc defended his troops, saying the riot had occurred after a careful plan. This failed to reassure some people.

Jan. 2008: Two GPD officers are fined and given suspensions for horsing around in the new county law-enforcement center. The two men fired a pellet gun indoors, setting off a sprinkler system that did $170,000 in damage to the spanking new facility.

Oct. 2007: A GPD officer files suit against the city, claiming she had been subjected to retaliation and sexual discrimination after complaining about a racy Christmas party skit from the previous year.

Aug. 2007: Galveston City Council announces a budget showing a whopping increase of 7 percent. The biggest increase went to Galveston policemen, whose pay increased $1.7 million in the budget year. Civilian employees not represented by the politically powerful police union got a 3 percent raise.




The Monrovia Police Department is publicizing its frustration with its contract negotiations. If you live there, look for some billboard advertisements to be coming telling you all about it.






Two more Philadelphia Police Department officers are charged with excessive force this time in connection with the beating of a graffitti artist and falsification of records to provide themselves with alibis. This latest incident comes on the heels of a controversial video-taped incident involving police officers striking and kicking three Black men after a traffic pursuit.