"We're sick of your drivel" and City Hall clashes over hiring employees charged with felonies

"We're doing it all ourselves," he said. "We're doing a lot of clerical work we really shouldn't have to be doing."

---Hemet Police Chief Richard Dana who's lost a quarter of his police officers (though it will be getting four of them back) and his secretary to layoffs. His former haunt, the Riverside Police Department has fared better.

[Above: The city council chambers at Riverside's City Hall undergoing renovation, allegedly due to issues with a portion of building being up to code. Some say that the city council got tired of seeing or hearing protesters outside the back window. Some people asked why the chambers are being renovated while city employees are losing their jobs.]





Police agencies in the Inland Empire are cutting back on officers and equipment as the cities lose revenues including the Riverside Police Department which has taken some cuts in its personnel ranks in terms of positions left frozen after they've been vacated.



(excerpt, Press Enterprise)




Civilian vacancies have also left piles of paperwork untouched at the Riverside Police Department.

Ten percent of the civilian positions are vacant, said Karen Aquino, police administrative services manager.

The vacancies mean residents wait longer to file police reports or receive a copy of one.

Each of those reports has to be entered into a computer to track crime statistics for state and federal reports. Officers also rely on the data.

Right now the department is six weeks behind on data entry, Aquino said. The department is requiring the 40 employees in the records department to work four hours of overtime every two weeks to catch up.

"If that information isn't current, when an officer is out making a stop, they might not know what kind of suspect that is," Aquino said.

Riverside police have taken other measures to cut costs. For example, the department traded a new helicopter for another, less expensive model for a savings of $750,000.


According to a report given by Human Resources Director Rhonda Strout, the vacancy rate of the police department was around 10%, with about 60 frozen positions. The article marked the police department's status on COPs funding as "pending" but city officials announced at the city council meeting on July 28 that the department wasn't receiving a dime from this revived stimulus program.




Betro Backlash


Some anonymous person tied themselves into knots over criticism about former Councilman Dom Betro's latest campaign piece.

(excerpt, Craigslist)




At least Betro is trying to keep the focus on the waste and lack of vision and to keep em honest which is a lot more than anyone can say for you. Perhaps if you'd pull your head out of your own ass (that goes for FBM and her biased, uninformed position on these topics as well), you'd see some light. Or, are you just one of the many now on the take and getting their political/financial rewards? P.S. just watch what's going to happen with the latest parking lot/Main St. purchase. Let's talk conspiracy and waste of money folks! Riverside - City of Arts and Innovation Leading Nowhere.




The relationship between city council member's push for handing land to developers who line their campaigns with money is really so obvious that even people like me who allegedly have our heads up our asses can see the "light". Besides, if you follow this person's argument, then that means the majority of voters in Ward One in 2007 had their heads well...elsewhere.

Keep them honest? Betro once told a community organization which included many individuals who backed him that the city was in the final stages of signing a contract with an independent contractor and the contractor had not only not done so, but hadn't heard from the city for over two months. Then when an offer from proof was asked from him, he had a screaming fit...in public. His quick temper would come back to haunt him during the election cycle more than once.


But then there's this comment warning people not to take this blog seriously. There's nothing wrong with that. Hopefully this blog isn't a be all, end all but a starting or continual point for city residents to become more involved in paying attention to what their local government is (or isn't) doing and that they continue to do their own research. Attending meetings when they can and reading reports on the wide variety of civic issues.


(excerpt, Craigslist)




You heard it here folks, FBM has spoken. God forbid you'd go against her/him, privately or publicly. Chicken @%&*!

Reading today you might walk away with that "you've been educated" feeling. But there's one catch, you are reading the rantings of a someone who has apparent deep rooted wounds of some sort. Rumors abound about that. But for today, please keep all of this in mind. FBM, as eloquent as she/he may be, they aren't reporting unbiased. There's a hatred there - well, duh - that will NEVER be satisfied with anything the City does. Actually, what, if anything, has been said to the positive from her/him? nothing. then why is she/he still here? Good foddar for an "award winning" blog of course. A blog that embellishes at it's author's fancy. FBM'S credibility is falling as fast as the government she/he so passionately opposes.



Hmmm, sounds like I'm not the only one who's "wounded". But hey, it's at least a long-time "fan" because they remember this blog's four Kopax Blogging Award nominations that it received several years ago, which is sweet of him or her.

Who is it? Who cares? He or she is too chicken to own their own words. At least that's not a problem here. And it's pretty disturbing that someone can write something like that and some of the worse comments I've received and think it's absolutely normal behavior. However, what's fascinating it is how the individual complains that I'm too negative about the city government yet in a later sentence, he or she later states that my credibility is falling as fast as the government I oppose.

That tells the reader that the author of this gem is someone who is defending a government that existed maybe about several years ago, but no longer does. It's ironic that this person claims that I'm negative towards city government yet he or she claims that the credibility of the government is falling. So it's very likely that it's a strong supporter of either former councilman Dom Betro and/or Frank Schiavone. Perhaps they take issue with my contention that Riverside Renaissance might just not be popular enough among city voters in at least several wards to get its most vocal proponents reelected. Not the projects themselves, especially those involving infrastructure improvement, but the lack of transparency around a process where it's difficult to trace the flow of money to fund these projects. Including capital projects where the funding source isn't even included on the paperwork handed to engineers as happened on at least one project within the past several years.

And yet another from an "innocent bystander" claiming to be from Pomona. Now there's a blast from the past! My last commenter on my blog before I shut off comments. Called me a whore or something like that after explaining why police officers in the department didn't always turn on their digital recorders. And as an "innocent bystander" said my mother's uterus was "filthy". He's toned down his language just a little bit since then and put some...distance between himself and Riverside.

(excerpt)

I don’t live in Riverside, I could care less about the new or old local government and don’t know who Betro Schiavone or any other person in politics within Riverside. However, as an innocent bystander I will confer with the first poster that whenever you have a post – it is always bashing some politician and reflects very negatively on the city. Heck if I voted in Riverside, I would read your blog and vote for the person you are not supporting. Again, this is just as an innocent bystander because like the rest of us, we get sick of your drivel. And Mary, you have yourself a nice day!!

Hmm, that's one way to cast a vote in a municipal election. Have the other person make your selection for you. I imagine this voting strategy has worked very well in the most recent elections in our fine city.

But this guy does have tremendous stamina because he's been doing this for almost four years now. I'd say that effort might be worthy of an award itself except he may have already received one.

Press Enterprise Columnist Dan Bernstein comes up for new monikers for Riverside's downtown pedestrian mall.

He also tackles the fate of restaurants that have received funding from the city to get started in the downtown. The recent track record? Not great. Maybe spending money from the sewer fund on anything...but sewers puts a jinx on the project.



(excerpt)


The Dump Main Street meet unpholded at Phood, the latest restaurant to occupy that snake-bit space at California Tower, the aging downtown high rise. I hope Phood breaks the chain, but it won't get the help some restaurants got from the city's restaurant assistance program (RAP). The program's now dead (RIP). What did it accomplish? Close to ZIP.

The loan program was created in 2000. Initial source of funds: $1 million from the city's sewer fund. Talk about a bad omen -- and odor -- for downtown restaurant aid.

City numbers crunchers say the agency guaranteed a $440K loan to Mario's Place (making it easier for the restaurant to move downtown). The agency got all that money back. But Toad in the Hole croaked on its $340K loan. The Downtown Supper Club gave the city indigestion by defaulting on its $150K loan.

Public dough dished out to downtown restaurants? $930K. Amount never seen again? $490K.

Care for a mint?

But then Bernstein really does hit it out of the park with an excellent column

on what Riverside's City Hall almost did involving a contract for custodial services.

(excerpt)

Riverside's top bureaucrats, holed up in the city manager's and city attorney's offices, hadn't told the council about the felony charges against Chan Hee Yang, described as "the company's corporate president during this time period" and Bell employee (at least at the time) Andrew Kim. Both pleaded not guilty. Both evidently made their $3 million-plus bail.

Riverside "management," said Gardner, assumed it had taken care of things by: 1. contacting the state "to verify they (Bell) are current with workers' comp insurance payments" and 2. proposing to allow the year-long $272,000 contract to be canceled on a month's notice.

"Management" then slapped the contract on the consent calendar (the slam-dunk portion of the agenda) and awaited council approval. It didn't come.

Tuesday, Gardner yanked the item and the council voted to re-bid the contract. "I can't support just handing them a contract with that kind of cloud over them. If they are innocent, they can still bid and if they are low bidder they'll get the contract. I'm surprised they (city staff) didn't mention to the council there was an issue." Surprised? Come on.

Rusty Bailey: "The city attorney said they had done some due diligence, had done some research and felt comfortable (renewing the contract). That wasn't good enough for the council."

Attorney John Hobson, who represents Bell's Chan Hee Yang, declined to comment except to note a preliminary hearing is scheduled next month in LA County.

Bell will continue to provide janitorial services, mostly for the parks 'n' rec, for 120 days. Then a new contract will be awarded. Will that make it all better? I wonder.

So the city council's attorney and city manager believe it's okay, but at least the city council had the sense to pull the item placed on the "slam-dunk" section of the agenda and bring it up for discussion. Why would a city attorney and city manager remain quiet about an independent contractor's business employees being slapped with felony charges? How could they have missed this in their "research"? Why would the city council's two direct employees feel "comfortable" doing business with people facing felony charges for workman's compensation fraud? The two men charged haven't been proven guilty but criminal charges would seem to offset a low bid in a competitive process that one would assume would be involved with picking a company to do business with.

But particularly for the city attorney to okay a contract in this situation so quickly after the Bradley Estates debacle which he played some role in as legal advisor is a bit disturbing. What does that say exactly? The city council needs to lay out some parameters for contract bidding if it hasn't done so already.

Not to mention the city fired at least one of its own employees who faced similar charges in another county.

Something is wrong with this picture and if people are going to anonymously whine about being sick of "drivel" meaning people who blog or write about incidents like this disturbing one, then what exactly does that say about them? We should ask them what's so great about this type of behavior by those entrusted to do the best for the residents of this city and why their knickers get so tied in knots when behavior like that above is blogged about.

An inmate at Riverside County jail in Murrieta died after being tased.



(excerpt, Belo Blog)



When deputies arrived and contacted Nelson, he tried to run, and deputies quickly chased him down, tackled him and shocked him with a Taser, Lujan said.

Nelson was taken to Hemet Valley Medical Center and later released for booking at the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley, Lujan said. Nelson was booked into jail about 10:15 p.m. and placed in a holding cell but when he tried to harm himself early Thursday by hitting the cell door and banging his head, deputies moved him to a padded "safety" cell, Lujan said.

As deputies left the cell, Nelson became aggressive toward them and grabbed the leg of one, Lujan said. Deputies restrained him and shocked him with a Taser, Lujan said.

Nelson "became non-responsive" and first aid was administered, a sheriff's news release said. He was taken by ambulance to Rancho Springs Community Hospital in Murrieta where he was pronounced dead at 3:15 a.m.

Deputies said Nelson's behavior had been "bizarre," as if he were on drugs or had a mental problem, Lujan said. But investigators will not know if drugs were involved until they receive the results of toxicology tests.






After Riverside County Superior Court announced its reduction of services due to budgets, San Bernardino's court system announced it was doing the same thing.




Riverside Wi Fi Upgrade Update:


The network which was upgraded when it changed management to Wayport a company owned by AT&T has been back online for several days. But for the first day, the network ran as quickly as it did before the upgrade.

On Saturday, Aug. 1, AT&T was fine tuning the Wi Fi network and at least one outage occurred by that afternoon, in some of the areas of the southern part Riverside west of Alessandro. This neighborhood is currently still experiencing this outage as of 7 a.m Sunday morning, nearly 24 hours later. Other areas of Riverside are working just fine. Hopefully, the areas experiencing outages will be back online later on Sunday. If not, call the 311 center and report it and your neighborhood location.

National Night Out events:

Bobby Bonds Park, Eastside Time: Tuesday, Aug. 4, at 5-8

For more information, call (951) 351-6046



University Neighborhood Association Pot Luck Picnic Islander Pool Tuesday, Aug. 4 at 6:30 p.m.-9p.m.


Sign up here.

"I don't know this person, do you?" otherwise known as the Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee meets

Riverside prepares itself for more budget cuts as a result of the state taking money from the coffers of counties and cities to balance its own budget.



(excerpt, Press Enterprise)




The city already has grappled with shrinking revenue, trimming its general fund budget by about $17 million in June and laying off seven employees last week.

"My objective is save as many jobs as we can," said Councilman Mike Gardner during a state budget briefing at Tuesday's night's council meeting . "I'm afraid we'll lose (more) employees."

City officials are still evaluating where to make more cuts, said City Manager Brad Hudson.

City officials are most worried about the state's plan to divert about $1.7 billion in property taxes away from city and county redevelopment agencies this fiscal year, which would cost Riverside an estimated $17 million. Another $4.7 million will be borrowed from the city.

The city now uses the redevelopment funds to fight blight through code enforcement, graffiti removal and the purchases of abandoned or foreclosed homes that often need major repairs.

These foreclosed houses are refurbished and sold to qualified first-time buyers at the city's cost. The city had hoped to acquire hundreds of foreclosed homes.






An interesting letter of opposition against the Community Police Review Commission in the Press Enterprise.

This section was the highlight.


(excerpt



Somebody should advise her that, in cases of deadly force, the courts evaluate an officer's actions based on the circumstances confronting the officer during the incident, not before or after. This is to prevent uninformed persons from passing judgment on the officer's actions months after the fact from the safety of an office.



What does this gentlemen think a trial jury is comprised of? Because he just described one. But actually, it appears that the letter writer is a retired police officer and most law enforcement officers don't like police review commissions. It's kind of like oil and water.

Although one former Riverside County Superior Court judge did once comment on his belief that a Riverside Police Department officer used too much force during his handling of a woman several years ago. That officer was allegedly the recent subject of a claim of damages submitted by an individual for baton injuries. If 10% of the current rumors about him are true, then it's difficult to believe he's being properly supervised, in fact it would be very unlikely.

I wonder if the letter writer would think this judge was as "qualified" to make that assessment as he seems to believe judicial officers are in his letter.



In related news, after reviewing the arrest warrants for the case of former police officer Robert Forman, it was interesting to note that the department's investigators reviewed his recordings from his audio recording device that he like all the department's field division officers received under the stipulated judgment several years ago. According to the warrant, Forman had 30 "missing" recordings for the month of February 2008 which means they were probably recordings which were erased, leaving their tag numbers behind. In April 2008, there were no recordings recovered and when they seized the device as part of a search conducted by the department, they discovered its memory card was missing. So what was erased in February? What wasn't recorded in April?

The department doesn't really audit the recordings downloaded by officers and it doesn't listen to them until a complaint is filed involving that officer or an investigation is conducted internally. So red flags like this get missed until after an investigation is started. Makes you wonder how many other "red flags" there might be that perhaps could be picked up by an Early Warning System of some form. Does that make Forman guilty of any crime? It doesn't in the absence of other evidence but it's a situation that would have been worth looking into if a pattern had been established regarding his use of the audio recorder or rather, his decision not to use it.




Speaking of lawsuits, the city's insurance provider is allegedly a bit ticked because it's settling too many lawsuits and not taking any to trial. Do you seriously believe that after the $1.64 million paid out on the Roger Sutton lawsuit at trial that the city will ever take that chance again?

I think we all know the answer to that question.





But for something that's really interesting, you have to read former Councilman of Years Past Dom Betro's op-ed in the Press Enterprise about private interests sabotaging Riverside Renaissance. You'd think he was running for mayor this time around rather than next time.

He castigates the same staff that he defended while councilman and he talks about "sweetheart deals" without recognizing the irony as an elected official who had one hand out getting campaign donations from major developers like Mark Rubin and the other having the redevelopment agency (read the city council) serving as middle-men in land acquisition by taking it through eminent domain largely from business men and women of color and handing it to these developers. He labels the "Davids" who fought City Hall which was trying to take their land almost as if they had as much power to weld as developers with inside tracks to our city council politicians which is pretty interesting. But if you notice, it's the elected officials who are most closely tied with developers like Rubin and Doug Jacobs who have problems getting reelected.


(excerpt)



The mall moves ahead, but with a new twist of rewarding downtown property owners who have not improved their properties, with more-than-appraised-value purchases of their unimproved properties, and additional city spending for façade improvements not done by the owners. Most property is going for 50 cents on the dollar, but not when it comes to these sweetheart deals.

The downtown fire station and Convention Center continue to be placed on the back burner, even though now is the time to act on these "shovel-ready" projects, and provide more reasons for people to come downtown. Conversely, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on new parking machines and raising parking ticket fees are out of touch with the current realities facing downtown.

Myopic approach

Currently, the Fox Theatre holds the most promise to deliver enhanced and sustained public benefit downtown. It is sad to see a myopic and uninformed approach to this venue. The Fox needs a public purpose to it, preferably in the form of a nonprofit foundation that provides education, theater time, and public use in a significant manner. A model to be considered is the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which competes with higher-profile Manhattan theaters by inviting the public in rather than trying to keep it out.

The Fox public purpose can be extended and turned into an economic engine, by utilizing the adjacent land for a black box theater for community theater groups, a home for the arts and cultural organizations, and street front retail stores. The city can support such complementary uses by reallocating the transit occupancy tax from hotels and the millions targeted to build parking structures. The result will be a leveraging effect, bringing people and disposable income to downtown, generating business for store owners and sales tax revenue for the city. Such a strategic approach will support city arts and culture aspirations in real, financial, historic and innovative ways.



But if you want another look at the relationships between developers, the money and city council officials, you can check out Master of their Eminent Domain. And Betro doesn't tell you that most of these properties were purchased before land values plunged and were paid for at least partially out of the city's sewer fund which appeared to be the city's credit card for a while.

For all its fanfare, Riverside Renaissance must be a tougher sell to city residents than elected officials think because look how many city council members either got voted out or narrowly avoided that by a handful of votes who were the strongest most vocal supporters of the Renaissance. Betro, Councilman Art Gage (now a populist, better late than never) and Frank Schiavone, all handed pink slips by the city's voters since Renaissance's inception and Councilman Steve Adams narrowly won his reelection bid by about 15 votes to a candidate who raised very little money but a lot of questions about the Renaissance program. And a lot of people do have questions about the program including how it will be paid for and how much their children and grandchildren will really have to pay for it.

And if you can recall, when people told the city council that a private endowment was needed for the Fox Theater to have the best chance of being viable as a performing arts center, the reception from council members including Betro wasn't nearly as warm as Betro seems to be stating in the final paragraphs of his thesis on why the city needs him back on the dais. But then he wouldn't be the first elected official to reinvent himself after getting off the dais and preparing to recharge his political career. Sometimes, revelations of different ways to look at issues do come out of the sky like lightning bolts but then again, if you're running against the ultimate insider like Ron Loveridge, you need to portray yourself as an outsider.

"It's not your application; it's who you know or more important, who knows you."

"Do you know this person?" "No I don't, do you?" "Yes I do and..." are some of the pet phrases you hear a lot if you ever attend a Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee meeting in relation to the screening and selection of applicants to either appoint or interview for appointment for the city's boards and commissions. While applicants might fill out applications and even include resumes and recommendations, it's not what you did, it's who you know at City Hall and how you know them that most often determines whether or not a person is interviewed. As unfortunate as it might be to say this, unless you're tied in with City Hall in a good way, it's probably a waste of time to apply. That's a shame because there are quite a few people who take the time to fill out an application and write about what they can bring, and why they want to volunteer their energy and time and many of these applications are pretty much ignored because they might not be close to City Hall.

Mayor Ron Loveridge who's the one common denominator since the committee started screening applications for the CPRC in 2000 and he sets the tone by asking other council members whether or not they know an applicant or not. What's unfortunate is that sometimes it's not clear whether or not the committee members have bothered to read any of the applications submitted. But then when the main criteria is whether you know them or not, or they've been on prior boards and commissions or not, who needs an application?




The applicants to be interviewed for the CPRC are as follows:


Amy Aldana: Urban planner, County of Riverside, resident of Riverside for six months, Riverside Neighborhood Partnership board member.

Wants to serve: "to help build stronger neighborhoods and promote positive relationships between residents and City Hall."



Christopher Lorenz: United States Department of Agriculture investigator, former military and probational officer

Wants to serve: "I want to be able to use my experience for the good of the city I live in."




Barbara E. Marmor: Deputy prosecutor, Riverside County District Attorney's office until 2007.

Wants to serve: "I would like to continue to serve my community and use my background in a useful way. I am lucky to be able to serve as a volunteer."



Joe. R. Vazquez: Employed by Vazquez Security Services, Former investigator with the Federal Public Defenders office, former U.S. Marine Corps.

Wants to serve: "I believe my knowledge and experience will be an asset to the commission and the City of Riverside."


Dan W. Waldo: N/A


Jesus M. Carlos: N/A


Lisa A. Golden (pending ward residency confirmation): Teacher, Riverside Unified School District, Fundraiser for organizations including the American Diabetes Association

Wants to serve: "I feel that ensuring citizen's complaints receive a fair and objective investigation and hearing is vital to continuing public confidence and satisfaction with the Riverside Police Department's policies and practices. These hearings must reflect the needs of all Riverside residents."

Garth Newberry: N/A



The one applicant that pretty much set Loveridge off in the negative category was Richard Chavez who served on the Riverside County Grand Jury and the Mayor's Commission on Aging. The other three council members including his third cousin by marriage, Andrew Melendrez were pretty placid in the wake of his comments.

Already the favorite to ultimately be appointed is Lorenz because he seemed to be the most familiar name to the committee members and that' s usually how it goes.


The mayor and other committee members were asked by several city residents who attended as to what they looked for in a prospective commissioner. Several of them seemed taken aback, even shocked at being asked this question. Loveridge initially tried to deflect it by saying that they all might have different criteria from each other as if that were a bad thing. In a dynamic where everyone has to be on the same page on an issue or be shut out of discussion as has occurred at some meetings and even on the council dais itself, maybe it's a horrible thing.

Anyway, once pinned down to answer this question, the committee members gave the following responses.


Councilman Andrew Melendrez: "Someone who is going to be objective, understand importance of commission. What it means to community.

Fair and objective relate well to other commissioners. Team player. Working within the commission.

Councilman Rusty Bailey: Echoes Melendrez. People skills, objectivity interest in the important work that commissioners do. Could be from another state, country and bring perspective from that to Riverside.

Councilman Steve Adams: objectivity, impartiality, no agenda, life experience

Mayor Ron Loveridge: No prejudices, professional experience, life experience



Notice the words, "objective" and "objectivity" are commonly used in their responses. However, if you look at the composition of the commission now, there's very little of that on it. Appointing for example a high-ranking employee at a major company that contracts with the city to serve on that commission clearly shows that "objectivity" is among the least of the city council's priorities when appointing commissioners.

It will be so in this latest case as well when all is said and done.




Some more discussion about the CPRC needing its own independent counsel. Currently, it is using the city attorney, Gregory Priamos who has two priorities in his job that lead all others. The first is to protect the city council and mayor. The second is to reduce the city's risk of civil liability. Both of these priorities could and probably have conflicted with the mission of the CPRC but then again, since City Hall's priority appears to be to dilute and render that commission unaffective which it has done very well, then it probably makes sense to have a legal counsel represent it in a total conflict of interest.





Budget cuts in Sacramento will result in changes of how the court systems function including the addition of a closure date.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



Both counties have too few judges to serve populations that exploded in the past 15 years. A workload study used by the Judicial Council says Riverside County should have 142 judges and commissioners. It has 76. San Bernardino County needs 147, but has 84.

On Wednesday, the Judicial Council voted to cut from its budget a signed $71 million bill that would have funded 50 new judicial positions. Riverside County courts were in line to get nine judges and San Bernardino County courts were to get eight of the judgeships, according to a Judicial Council projection.

Administrators for both courts said Wednesday they would try to avoid layoffs and negotiate furloughs to keep public impact minimal.

"We have actually been preparing the court for a really bad two or three years of budgets," Riverside County Court Executive Officer Sherri R. Carter said .

She said staff reductions such as dropping some management positions had eliminated about 70 jobs. "We are hopeful that we will not have any additional layoffs," she said.

Riverside County courts have also instituted new fees, such as charging for court documents once available for free on the Internet and establishing a fax fee for attorneys to file documents at remote courts.

Riverside County courts currently have about 1,100 workers, down from 1,200 late last year.

Carter said while some workers may take voluntary furloughs on court closure days, others may choose to work the nonpublic day and catch up on filing and other clerical and paperwork backlogs.

"There is so much work I am worried that if we have one more day off a month we are going to drown and never catch up," Carter said. "We have huge backlogs and we really need to try and at least maintain where we are."



The police chief at Mt. San Jacinto Valley College District is under investigation and being placed on leave.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



The college made reference to the status of Chief Kevin Segawa in a written statement announcing the hiring of an acting chief "while an investigation involving the current police chief is being conducted."

Asked when Segawa was placed on leave and about the nature of the investigation, college spokeswoman Karin Marriott said she could not comment because it was a personnel matter.

Terry Meadows started as acting chief Monday, Marriott said by phone. Meadows is a retired Riverside County Sheriff's Department lieutenant who worked in Temecula.

Segawa and the college were named as defendants in two recent lawsuits. Three former probationary police officers and one volunteer reserve officer claimed they were threatened with termination after witnessing what they considered inappropriate conduct by fellow officers, including Segawa.

Two of the probationary officers were fired, and the other two officers resigned. Their suit alleging wrongful termination, breach of contract and defamation was recently thrown out; a rehearing is scheduled for next month.





Another police chief, who heads the San Bernardino Police Department wants to promote a better image.



(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



Along with rebuilding the department's morale, Kilmer said he hopes the changes give residents -- including those in high-crime neighborhoods who don't trust law enforcement -- a better understanding of police operations.

On the city's Westside, a 2007 clash between residents and officers at a candlelight vigil prompted residents to file lawsuits and request a federal mediator. Subsequent police shootings increased tensions.

At the same time, public disputes between officers and past police administrations eroded the department's image.

"The trust level in some neighborhoods can be built," said Kilmer, who has made time to meet each of his nearly 500 employees and many community leaders. "We need to treat people with respect and with an open ear, and that starts from the inside. Then, when there's a significant trauma, like an officer-involved shooting, we're not going to be playing catch up."



No special election for Menifee.





From San Francisco:


Colleagues,

Last week marked the 25th anniversary of two significant events for civilian oversight in San Francisco (and possibly for the entire oversight profession).

In July 1984, the newly-formed Office of Citizen Complaints monitored the numerous political demonstrations that took place during the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. This may have been the first instance of oversight agency investigators officially monitoring police actions at crowd control events.

The San Francisco police officers assigned to crowd control duties at the convention wore helmets with their star numbers prominently displayed in large, easy to read numerals, the result of the first policy recommendation from the Office of Citizen Complaints that was adopted by the police department. This policy recommendation identified the problem of complainants being unable to accurately identify officers wearing helmets and proposed the size, color and placement of star numbers on helmets, backed by the opinion of a human factors expert on visual recognition.

I would be curious to know whether either of these represented firsts in civilian oversight. Does anyone know whether any other oversight agencies conducted crowd control monitoring at that time, and whether other police departments had any similar policies about the star numbers on helmets?

It was my privilege to create and lead the OCC crowd control monitoring operation at the convention and to write the OCC policy recommendation described above and to shepherd its adoption through the police department. I don't know whether either of these represented firsts, but they are two of the things I am proudest of in my 30-year professional career.

Jayson Wechter
San Francisco Office of Citizen Complaints 1983 – 84; 1998 - present





And from Cambridge:




Cambridge -
The following is a press release from City Manager Bob Healy:

Recently, Cambridge has become a city that many people around the country are associating with July 16, 2009. A day when a police sergeant and a professor met in an unfortunate set of circumstances that did not have a desirable outcome.

I am committed to making sure that our city is not defined by that day. Today is the day to move forward. The mayor, Commissioner Haas and I are pleased to announce that the city has taken significant steps toward that end.

Last Thursday, the commissioner announced that a group of nationally recognized experts would be organized to help us determine what lessons can be learned from that incident. Since then, we have asked Robert Wasserman and Chuck Wexler to convene a committee to facilitate an analysis and develop recommendations that the department can use as guidance in the future.

The mission of this committee is larger than a mere investigation into the events of July 16. While it is important for the committee to understand those events, this committee will not be conducting an internal investigation, nor will it make any official judgments on the actions of officers in the department. Rather, the committee will identify lessons to be taken from the circumstances surrounding the incident and how those lessons can be applied to the policies, practices, and training programs of the Cambridge Police Department. It will examine the organization of the Cambridge Police Department, its current policies, and its relationships with all parts of the Cambridge community.

The scope of the committee's work will include:

a.. Identifying learning points about the interaction between residents and the police by examining departmental policies and training, approaches to conflict resolution, and strategies to defuse difficult situations.
b.. Gauging the spectrum of views and concerns held by the public as well as officers, through focus group meetings with a diverse segment of the larger Cambridge community and officers representing a wide range of ranks and assignments.
c.. Identifying areas where the department can enhance its operations to handle similar incidents in the future in the best possible way.
d.. Assessing how issues of race and perceptions can impact on daily encounters between the police and community members.
e.. Producing findings and presenting best practices to the Cambridge Police Department and the entire law enforcement community.
Bob Wasserman is chairman of the Strategic Policy Partnership and has worked extensively with the federal government and many local law enforcement agencies on issues of police strategy, diversity and management. I have known Bob for some years, as he has assisted many government executives to address complex issues facing policing an urban community. He is a nationally recognized leader in organizational issues and has national respect.

I have asked Chuck Wexler, the executive director of PERF (Police Executive Research Forum) to chair this committee. Chuck is no stranger to Cambridge; I have known him for 20 years and Chuck has worked with me and the city of Cambridge over that time. Chuck is a native of Boston who earned his bachelor's degree at Boston University and a doctorate at MIT. I expect that he will be with us later in the week for further announcements.

PERF has a reputation for providing honest assessments of police departments, for "calling it like they see it." For those of you who may not be familiar with this organization, PERF is think tank in Washington, D.C., that is dedicated to advancing professionalism in policing across the United States. I encourage you to go to the PERF Web site and check out their work.

I have confidence that with their leadership, this committee will help us emerge as a stronger community. Individuals have already been identified to serve on this committee and I look forward to announcing them later this week.





Hate groups are on the rise in the Inland Empire. But these aren't hate groups, these are just gangs. If you look up the legal requirements to be defined as one, they all qualify, yet White Supremacist gangs are hardly ever called that. They are always called "groups" even while committing violent crimes to further their gang and adopting symbols and tattoos identifying themselves as members of that gang. And these "groups" that are apprehended usually turn out to be much more armed with guns and other weapons than your usual social club but oh, they're just collectors. They operate so successfully because no one's really looking for them, especially a few years ago though more aggressive investigations have been done since.

One of the Nazi gangs was recruiting here before getting flagged. And if you read the comments for this article, it's not surprising that these gangs proliferate so well in the Inland Empire.

Borrowing Peter to pay Paul, and how it might impact Riverside

"I'm seriously concerned we're going to lose some employees."


----Riverside City Councilman Mike Gardner at city council meeting during discussion of state budget picture. The city council discussed and even prayed for the laid off employees during the meeting. But what does the future hold?



"He wouldn't be a good member of this commission."


---Mayor Ron Loveridge about a CPRC applicant at the Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee meeting. Who is it? Answer in a future posting.







The state budget signed by the governor up in Sacramento was a big topic at the evening session of the city council meeting in Riverside on July 28. Riverside stands to lose about $23 million at this point and time including $4,688,343 of its general fund monies. The state has to pay back the money it takes in three years with interest but can reborrow so it might be six years until the money is returned. Also being taken will be millions in redevelopment funding and housing funds including those used to finance a new city program of buying foreclosed homes and then selling them to first-time home buyers.

The California League of Cities is getting ready to possibly sue along with some cities over the legality of the taking of redevelopment funding and other issues. No word on whether Riverside is joining in any legal actions.

But the city vows to save Citrus State Historic Park from being closed by Sacramento.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



City officials say they're determined the citrus park won't be aong those shut, but they don't have a specific plan.

"This park is just not going to be closed," Riverside City Councilman Chris Mac Arthur said. "There is too much from the community invested in this park."

Riverside Councilman Mike Gardner suggested the city could negotiate with the state to take possession of the park. Mayor Ron Loveridge said another alternative is a long-term lease under which the city could run the park.

For now, city officials are waiting news from the state and working on a Plan B even as they hope they won't need it.

The state has gone to the brink before and then backed off," Mac Arthur said.



It's great talking and it needed to be said, but one wonders where the money will come from if the city's laying off employees and contemplating laying off more. But the state didn't close it the last time it said it would though these times are a bit tougher.

About a dozen people including museum volunteers spoke in front of the city council to protest budget cuts and the layoffs of employees including two in recent days from the museum's employee roster. This department has been especially hard hit and a point of irony in the "City of Arts and Culture" or is it the "City of Arts and Innovation"? It's lost half of its employees in recent years although other city departments have faced some serious losses as well including up to one-third of positions frozen and in others like the police department, that figure stands at 10%.

But currently there's no plan to "save the museum" though some city council members did say they wouldn't allow the museum to get to the point of closing down.







Federal stimulus COPs funding monies are being given to cities to provide money for law enforcement positions including $20 million in the Inland Empire.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



Six Inland agencies, including San Bernardino police and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, were among more than 100 statewide to be awarded funding. Other Inland agencies requested funds but were turned down based on a combination of economic factors and crime statistics.

The region's biggest winner was Riverside County. Fifty sheriff's deputies will benefit from the $13 million awarded. Statewide, only Los Angeles and San Francisco police received allotments for that many positions.

Though they had requested funding for 75 positions, sheriff's officials were elated by the news. Undersheriff Valerie Hill said that the award, coupled with an early retirement plan, would likely save the department from forced layoffs and allow some new hires.

"The timing couldn't have been better," Hill said Tuesday, noting that the department is down more than 250 sworn deputy positions from what was previously budgeted.

In keeping with the grant program's provisions, the awarded positions will be federally funded for three years. To receive the money, each agency had to agree to pay for the positions for at least one full additional fiscal year.


Other cities which have struggled to keep officers or have lost them like Hemet and Redlands received money but one of the big winners was the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. San Bernardino's police department also fared well in receiving $5.4 million.

Not mentioned in the article was Riverside Police Department which applied for money to fund 15 currently frozen patrol positions but was turned down. The city council and City Manager Brad Hudson said it was because Riverside's finances were "too healthy" and Councilman Steve Adams said it was because crime was declining in Riverside while rising everywhere else. The department patrol vacancy is believed to be around 19 for officer level positions, though freezes in supervisory positions have complicated the situation.

Meanwhile, two more retirements at the middle level will take place. Lt. Brian Baitx in about a week and Lt Bob Meier in September. Meier's position has been filled by Lt Mike Perea while the official word is that Baitx position may or may not be filled depending on the police chief's say. Unofficially, it likely will remain empty leaving two sergeants in the Audit and Compliance Bureau including Sgt. Jaybee Brennan who also wears hats as the department's public information officer and adjutant to the chief.

The department's five-year Strategic Plan that it was mandated to develop and implement by the State Attorney General's office as part of the stipulated judgment is set to expire in December. Leach has said at public forums that a new five-year strategic plan will be developed with community input and be implemented on the heels of the first one which would be excellent planning particularly in the areas of community policing but not much has been mentioned about it lately.








The National Day Laborer Organizing Network is suing the Riverside Police Department over what it alleges is it and Chief Russ Leach's failure to comply completely with the California Public Records Act.



The Networks' brief stated that in January 2009, it noticed that numerous officers had concentrated in a particular neighborhood area in Riverside unprecedented numbers focusing on day laborers seeking work. According to the brief, the police department only detained Latino men to ask for identification or proof of residency. The men being detained or stopped had not committed any legal violations or only infractions such as riding a bicycle on the sidewalk. The Network stated that it found this practice by the police department "unusual" and believed it was a new policy or program in effect. If a person couldn't produce identification or proof of residency, then they were arrested by police officers, the brief stated.



In May 2009, the Network submitted a CPRA request to the police department for information including the following:



1) All records, documents, communications, correspondence, memoranda including but not limited to pre-operation plans "BP Alert" program.



2)Any and all of the above for correspondence between the police department and Board Patrol, Department of Homeland Security and Office of Customs since August 2007.



3) Any and all records of infractions, state and local misdemeanors since August 2007 of total number of arrests, ID of individuals, legal basis, location and time of arrests, nationality, race and gender of those arrested, those offered options of planning to appear and those arrested who offered ID under P.C. 853.5



It asked for the above for all individuals who were cited and released or not taken into custody on infractions and local and state misdemeanors.



On May 20, 2009, it received a letter from Leach on behalf of the police department producing only five pages of requested documents including a list of all department employees by position and a four-page policy on detention of people for determination of residency status. There was no explanation or legal language cited by Leach for failing or not complying with the majority of the request, according to the brief filed by the Network.

Lawyers for both parties will meet in Dept. 10 of the Riverside County Courthouse on Aug. 12 at 8:30 a.m.






Riverside's still looking for that perfect fit meaning finding a restaurant that can actually survive being housed at University and Main in downtown. But actually, no restaurant has survived being housed at Sixth and Main either. Probably because the restaurants housed in both areas are trying to make a living off of more than just the municipal/judicial lunch crowd. Not easy to do in an area of the city that turns into a ghost town after 5 p.m. and on the weekends and holidays.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



Kevin Palmer, assistant development director for the city of Riverside, admitted the site, originally a bank before it was converted to restaurant use, has certainly proved challenging.

Via Veneto Trilussa closed and moved out in February after opening there in August 2006.

Before it, Joe Greensleeves left after seven months, even after the city offered free rent.


Toad in the Hole preceded both, moving to downtown Riverside from Moreno Valley when the city's redevelopment agency offered a loan. The restaurant ended up defaulting on the loan when it left in July 2005.

All three restaurants had fine-dining concepts.

The only incentive offered to Phood's owners was an assurance that elements of the building that could amount to costly repairs -- worth about "10,000 sandwiches," Cohen joked -- would be the city's responsibility during a certain period of time in the lease: for example, an air conditioner breaking down or roof repairs.

The city's restaurant assistance program, which provided the loan to Toad in the Hole, no longer exists. That program's aim was to increase foot traffic, especially at night and on weekends, after downtown workers went home for the day. But signs of life in the city's center at night remain scarce.

Cohen talks about the capital investments at the new location in terms of sandwiches, which cost $3.95 each at her restaurant. The $8,000 to $9,000 spent installing a welded floor and improving the walls and ceiling in a storage room? That's about 2,100 sandwiches.

Phood has moved from the basement of the Mission Galleria swap meet store a block away. There, Cohen heated soup on hot plates and cooked using induction burners that had less wattage then a common hair dryer, she said.

"We've proven we can fill up a hole in the basement of a swap shop," she said of the restaurant's popularity.





Riverside Wi Fi Update: A rocky start to an upgrade

The network is still either up or operating very slow citywide and at times has been out of service, a situation not uncommon in network and/or server upgrades when they are first completed.

According to the 311 center, this is been blamed on the inability of computers using Microsoft Vista to access the new network. Operators at the 311 Center are telling these people to await phone calls from another representative to get instructions on how to "upgrade" Vista wireless cards to be able to access the upgraded internet system for Wi Fi. And some people might just be waiting for that phone call with instructions but it's probably not coming.

Vista, one of the less popular operating systems released by Microsoft gets blamed for a lot of things and some of it's deserved but a network would have serious problems if it couldn't allow access to Vista-equipped computers given the number of them that are out there. So the 311 Center's statements about Vista were a bit perplexing.

But actually, the 311 Center is the only source of this Vista incompatibility and upgrade information and it's unlikely that Vista system users would be unable to access the network at all if there were problems with a component of that system. Microsoft has no such update for this type of situation if it were occurring having only released an update of drivers for one brand of wireless card which had trouble accessing public networks while Vista was in Beta testing several years ago. Common sense would be to look first at a network that recently underwent upgrades for issues if there's problems and what about that network that differs from the one it's replaced.

The network was back up and running by evening but while some pages load quickly, others with ads and widgets continue to load fairly slowly, hanging at the "transferring data" point of page loading and some of them not loading at all.






San Bernardino County's trail of corruption and investigations of corruption continue showing that the only good news is no news.


Former supervisor chief of staff, Jim Erwin alleged that the district attorney's office in that county had targeted him unfairly.



(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



Erwin resigned as Derry's top aide days after his March arrest. The charges against him concern gifts he received in January 2007, when he was working as assistant assessor.

The claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, seeks unlimited damages and includes allegations that Ramos engaged in affairs, sexually harassed a colleague and used county funds to travel to Sacramento to see a mistress. Erwin also repeats allegations he made shortly after his arrest that Ramos retaliated against him because Erwin and Derry did not support budget requests from the district attorney's office.

District attorney's spokeswoman Susan Mickey said the office would not respond to the individual allegations in the claim. She dismissed the claim as "fanciful, inaccurate or outright false."

"The only reason this case was filed was because Jim Erwin violated the law," Mickey said. "We will wait to sort this out in a court of law."

On Thursday, Derry called for the board to hire an attorney to look into allegations that Ramos had engaged in improper relationships with subordinates and colleagues. Erwin's claim includes some of the same allegations. Most of the other supervisors have rejected Derry's call, but he still is seeking to have the issue discussed at a board meeting this month.





No criminal trials will be coming to family or probate courts in Riverside County any day soon. The state appellate court has ruled against the use of speciality courts for criminal trials.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



Tate, who is overseeing the appeal of the case, said Monday district attorney supervisors do keep in contact with trial attorneys to assess last-day cases as they head for court. "I don't think the court has dismissed a serious and violent case that we could not re-file," Tate said

"Others need access to the courts," said Assistant Public Defender Robert Willey of the appellate court decision. "Child custody and support hearings need to be heard in a meaningful and expeditious manner. ... There is a need to protect our elderly citizens when they are at their most vulnerable; there is a need to protect children when they are in abusive or neglectful situations. This is a wise use of court resources for all of those needs."

The district attorney's office has automatically filed appeals in the speedy trial dismissals. The misdemeanor appeals are decided by a superior court panel, and the felony appeals go to the state appellate court.

But prosecutors first pursue the re-filed felony charges in trial court. If they are resolved there, the office drops the speedy trial appeal, Tate said.

In Wagner's case, Tate said prosecutors decided not to re-file the charges. Tate said the decision was independent of his action.

"That was a totally separate decision made by someone else in the office, and it opened the way for me to appeal," Tate said. If the ruling stands, the charges cannot be re-filed against Wagner, the appellate judges ruled.


No word on whether Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco has decided to paper the whole appellate court.






Riverside County's reached an impasse with its labor unions on contract talks.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)




County supervisors approved a budget June 30, saying they would achieve planned labor savings this month through negotiations or else through layoffs. The county has roughly 20,000 employees.

County officials continue to negotiate with the Deputy District Attorneys Association and the probation unit of the Riverside Sheriff's Association. Their leaders did not return calls for comment Monday.

The county will impose the contract on service employees until the end of the fiscal year on June 30 or for less time if an agreement can be reached sooner, county Executive Officer Bill Luna wrote in a letter to the union.

The service union's employee lead negotiator, Catherine Eide Nelson, said the union will seek mediation and further contract talks but has the ability to sue if it chose to do so.

"This was a huge disappointment," she said Monday. "We have been very actively negotiating trying to work toward a solution to the county's budget crisis. We honestly believed today would be an opportunity for us to come to a successful conclusion to our negotiations."

County supervisors have said they want union members to agree to 10 percent cuts to their compensation, but the union says the county's cuts will represent more than 15 percent for many members.

The county plans to impose two furlough days a month and two unpaid holidays on service employees.

The union was willing to accept those concessions, but it wanted written assurances that the county would not increase the number of furlough hours or force employees to work unpaid overtime, Eide Nelson said.



The city manager in Temecula could have his contract extended.



(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



Nelson, 49, has been city manager for more than a decade. The 15-month extension includes no pay raise or additional benefits. Once the contract expires, Nelson would have the option of extending the deal until April 1, 2012.

"If I have my way, he'll stay longer," said Mayor Maryann Edwards, who lauded Nelson's leadership and character.

On Monday, Nelson said that if the extension is approved, "I'm just really honored by it and I'm honored to serve the City Council and the citizens of Temecula."

While he hasn't made a decision about when he'll retire, Nelson said "there's a possibility" this amended contract will be his last.

The contract was set to expire June 30, 2010. Nelson and the city agreed to the contract in 1999, and it's been amended several times since then.

Nelson's salary is $285,854, according to Deputy City Manager Grant Yates.






Do not investigate the D.A.'s office. So says the Press Enterprise Editorial Board.



(excerpt)



Without more solid grounds for an investigation, examining Ramos would serve no higher purpose than to distract both Ramos and the public from the DA's corruption probe. Supervisors should not participate in such a circus. Nor should the county assist a criminal defendant in mounting a smear campaign against his prosecutor.


Ramos' investigation is vital to exposing a web of official misconduct in San Bernardino County, and holding the perpetrators accountable. The DA's probe -- along with an independent report on Postmus' activities released in May -- depicts a county government steeped in sweetheart deals and cronyism, where top officials cater to special interests and use government as a means to attain personal goals at public expense. These allegations transcend a rogue assessor, and cut to the very way government operates in San Bernardino County. One source in the independent report, compiled by attorney John Hueston, described a broad "pay-to-play" scheme involving county land deals and assistance with planning and assessment issues. This type of malfeasance -- collecting payment for county contracts and services -- formed the core of the scandals that devastated San Bernardino County government a decade ago.


Derry and the other supervisors need to let Ramos complete his work unimpeded, not throw up roadblocks and diversionary flares. The public interest does not lie in county scrutiny of what might have happened in an elevator three years ago. The far more pressing questions center around how top officials in county government behave every day.





It's who you know or who on the council knows you



The Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee met in Mayor Loveridge's office to discuss and decide upon applicants to interview for the Ward Two vacancy on the Community Police Review Commission. They picked nine people to interview, well eight if it turns out that one of those chosen actually lives in the first ward.

More will be posted on those selected to be interviewed by the full city council and the meeting itself which was quite the eye opener when each committee member for the first time ever was asked to describe what qualities they looked for in a prospective commissioner.

Interestingly enough, the number one quality cited by them was objectivity. If that's really the case, then why is that the one quality sorely lacking on the embittered panel?

Another wave of layoffs, a network crashes, what does the future hold for Riverside?

**** Riverside Wi Fi upgrade update: Vista computers can't access the system! More to come! ****


According to 311, if you have a Vista computer and try to access Riverside Wi Fi, you're out of luck unless you jump through some hoops to upgrade your wireless card. Actually wireless cards because it's not really the wireless card that's the problem, it's having the most current operating system Microsoft offers and the only one that is pre-installed in most computers. Something you would think any attempt to upgrade a system would have had in mind beforehand.


To be continued...


Riverside waits the news of how much money the state gets from its coffers. Tens of millions of dollars from several sources including property tax revenue are expected to be seized by Sacramento to balance its own budget. This hits Riverside in the wake of seven more employee layoffs and more of at least part-time employees anticipated in the days and months ahead. Hard hit was the city's museum department.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)

Museum Director Ennette Morton noted that museum hours and programs will not change, despite the reduced budget.

"My directive and what we're here to do is maintain programs and services to the public," she said.

But Vince Moses, who retired as museum director in 2006, said the continued cuts make it harder for the organization to fulfill its cultural mission and properly care for the artifacts in its collection.

"(In terms of) intrinsic, historical and scientific value, they're irreplaceable," he said. "The museum's holdings are in many ways much more significant than the general public or certainly, I think, City Hall understands."

Moses said he is worried that the cuts signal dwindling city support that could end in the museum closing its doors.

Gardner said he believes such concerns are unfounded and he would "vigorously oppose" such a move.

Younglove said he still finds it ironic that Riverside officials talk about the city's support for arts and culture, but then they cut a department that is symbolic of those.

"It'd be more honest to say they're indifferent to that sort of thing," he said.

The City of Arts and Cultures, a catchy title that City Hall (representing the City of Catchy Logos and Titles) is still trying to fine tune (though it might be temporarily distracted by its attempts to rename Main Street) is supposed to show the city's support for well, arts and cultures. Which makes the unkindest cuts towards the museum's budget ironic indeed.

Especially considering the libraries, another source of arts and culture, are probably next on the chopping block.

Of course, an interesting discussion about this at the newspaper's Web site.



(excerpts)



In response to "Living in Riverside": I agree the SEIU should not have recommended the general unit vote in favor of the 2% pay increase -- all California municipalities are struggling -- one of the arguments that they used was that the city has a $42 million dollar surplus and that Siobhan Foster took a 13% pay increase. Hello! Somethings out of whack here. My fiance was one of the Public Works employees layed off. Our lives have been drastically affected. The Human Resources Administrator Rhonda Strout told him "if the general unit hadn't voted in the 2% pay increase we wouldn't be sitting here right now." She should have just stuck her thumbs in her ears and wagged her fingers at him. Basically, a "take that!" mentality from the City Manager and his stooges to hard-working dedicated employees. Your loss Riverside!
`


"...see how we(I) can make difficult decisions. Isn't that what I told you voters we(I) could do if you voted me in? See we(I) can do it, because Staff(management) told me it was so and it was needed. They assured me that our debt was to high and we couldn't possibly balance our budget. Our reserves our gone because it was spent,and we didn't invest wisely. But Staff assured us that it wasn't our fault it was the economy." - Council Members

I wonder if after the lay offs and the budget have been passed, and the council is resting on their chamber chairs, thinking "We saved the World" they will be notified by Staff, that similar to the 1996-1997 budget year crises when hundreds of employees were layed off (not retired by choice) Sorry, "Oops we made a mistake, we miss-calculated there was plenty of money to go around. Well at least we got rid of the un-desirables!"




The museum employee and others recently layed off can thank the SEIU. While other City bargaining units and management agreed to not take the annual COLA increase, the SEIU wouldnot agree; they all got a 2% increase July 1. The heads of the local SEIU should hold their heads in shame! More layoffs will come to SEIU employees if they don't agree to a reduction in pay.




Speaking of the "undesirables", men and women of color were overrepresented among those laid off in 1996-97.

And if it's true that Siobhan Foster got a 13% raise (and she was eligible for up to a 15% raise based on the recertification of pay raise ceilings for management employees done last December), while her own employees were being laid off, then City Hall should rethink its priorities during this budget crisis. What would be really interesting would be if the city manager and perhaps his direct employees and some of these directors laying off employees would say, gee maybe since I've got employees losing jobs, I could perhaps take a pay cut from a salary of $150,000 or $200,000 so in light of the budget crisis. Instead, they actually go through the process of raising their ceilings for raises even after news of at least a $14 million shortfall than anticipated earlier in the 2008-09 fiscal budget year. The same month that several city employees including from the Mayor's office and the police department were handed their pink slips. Not to mention the dozens of part-time employees including library pages who were laid off before that. But then when it comes to the part-time employees, they're not really talked about as much or at all, like they never existed. Though it's kind of hard to pretend that the libraries never had pages but City Hall really tries.

Not the right message to send from department heads to their employees, is it? In the environment of broken dreams and struggles to find new jobs, raising maximum salary ceilings shouldn't have even been included in the vernacular of discussing the present when the future was so uncertain except that it included revenue reductions and budget cuts. It's just disrespectful.

Another interesting thing about the new maximum ceiling for raises is that if all the employees got their raises, the police chief at $277, 176 would be making more than his boss, the city manager who would earn a more measly $275,004. How often does that happen?

But it's so interesting that why salaries are being frozen, employees laid off and departments like museums and libraries being cut to ribbons that City Hall one month after it realized it was more in the hole (about $14 million at that time) budget revenue wise than it thought, decided it just had to increase salary raise ceilings for a number of its employees including those in management from what it had instituted in January 2008.






Many states and the League of Cities are planning to sue the state over the planned monies seizures. Will Riverside join the list of plaintiffs? Considering that Riverside is currently suing quite a few cities in Southern California already on different issues, it wouldn't be surprising. But who will pay the legal fees if both the cities and state are going broke?

Stay tuned.






An interesting turn of events in the case of the latest settlement paid out on a lawsuit filed involving the Riverside Police Department which was reported in this article by the Press Enterprise. This account has been provided by an anonymous individual on the newspaper's Web site's comment section.


(excerpt)

Truth is the reporting party called RPD back saying the officer had detained the right person. It's in the dispatch log! The officer would be negligent if he didn't inform the jail that she may have drugs on her. The RSO jail did the strip search, not the RPD officer. 5 years later the civil deposition found the original reporting party was Smith's boyfriend. The travisty is that the officer was the victim of this setup and that Riverside Tax Dollars paid out for this crap. The case was originally thrown out of federal court. The liberal 9th Curcuit Court sent it back down and the case where millions were requested, settled for $36,000 as it was cheeper than legal fees. Too bad the Press Enterprise doesn't care enough about facts to do ANY research.

Then "Shockwave" who's used an assortment of names on "blogs" responds:



(excerpt)




2bme,,thanks for setting this incident straight!! And it makes me sick that the p.e. fails to completely and accurately inform the citizens of what's really happening in our community. They hand feed these police haters, many who blog, crap and slanted reporting, and I honestly feel it's intentional. Now a good, honest cop like this officer, has to deal with having his name printed in the paper like he's the dirtbag.



This from a police officer with a yen for 1970s police shows including that very special one who's been a reader of my site since 2005. But hearing or reading about police officers who say an officer is good doesn't necessarily mean a lot because you never, ever hear them say an officer is bad even one that's been charged with sexually assaulting women or committed any form of misconduct and until they are able to do so, any comments about "good" officers have to be taken with a grain of salt unfortunately.

Because after all, in cases where bad officers were caught red handed, you always hear and read other officers who worked with them and even those from other agencies saying how great they are, but never how bad they are even when they are caught doing serious misconduct. But it's not entirely fair to pick on "Shockwave" here because in some way, he is an exception to the rule to an extent having criticized two police officers, maybe three in the past. But if they compliment their brethren that get into trouble, it makes you wonder why they're so quiet about the officers who don't commit misconduct. They never get defended nearly as much as the naughty ones.



There was the Riverside Police Department officer convicted of robbing post office facilities some years back who was praised as a good officer and person by numerous people including officers and even a city councilwoman who went to the same church that he did.

Not many officers said publicly that former Officer Adam Brown, now a convicted child molester doing 300 years plus in federal prison was a "bad" officer. At the time, the only comment made by the then president of the Riverside Police Officers' Association is that he didn't know him very well even though the union had filed a lawsuit on partly his behalf against the city over the implementation of a police department policy. But how many comments were made beyond that?

None.


It's not likely Brown had any real support in the agency but the silence is still interesting. Maybe they're not allowed to say anything because if they do, they might face ostracism from their own levels or from those above them because those in higher management don't want to any negative opinions revealed. After all disclosure and transparency are not strong points in any law enforcement agency and the Riverside Police Department is no exception certainly not post-consent decree. Maybe they criticize them as being bad as water cooler talk amongst themselves. Most of the public just believes it's the blue code of silence rearing its head once again.


Sometimes the praise of officers might die down as it did in the case of former officer Jose Nazario who tried to get rehired and failed allegedly because of some new revelation that popped out about his past. So when many of us hear officers compliment another as a "good" officer, it's difficult to gauge exactly what that means because all of them are allegedly "good" even the ones sitting in prison.





Having been thrown out on the eve of trial, maybe there were other reasons that the city might have for paying out on a case that you'd think it would try its luck with in front of a jury given that if what this individual said is true, it was tossed out of court on a lessor evidential standard (most likely under the motion of summary judgment or something similar). After all, the standard for allowing a case to proceed to trial both civil and criminal has to be lower than the standard of evidential proof at trial in order for the system to work at all.

But what would come out at trial might be the truth either way in favor of the plaintiff or the defendants, and nothing scares the city more than having that unveiled in a public arena. At least from a legal standpoint, especially one that exposes any type of civil liability or risk held by the city. And perhaps the Riverside Police Department and the city itself are still smarting from the huge payout by jury in the 2005 trial involving Officer Roger Sutton's lawsuit. After all, the city took that one to trial even waiving the five-year rule because it was so sure it would prevail. We all know how that turned out.

It might not actually be about the case itself, or who's right, and who's wrong but the other untidy details that often wind up being unveiled in a public forum rather than behind closed doors. And trials are known for having information revealed on the witness stand that may not be entirely related to the case but could open up doors the city would rather leave closed. Like during the Sutton trial, when men of color in management or supervisory positions testified in depositions or at trial about things at the top level like "Jerry's Kids" and the "exclusionary rule".






The picture of Community Police Review Commissioner Peter Hubbard napping during a recent meeting received a lot of visits. It will be the first in a series on commissioner "styles", with "style" being in the spirit of what was defined by CPRC Manager Kevin Rogan when he attributed commissioner styles to not participating in discussions at public meetings or even not appearing or acting engaged in the process. Of course, that's only intended for those on the commission most loyal to City Hall and just saying that in public makes it clear that City Hall doesn't care how its commissioners appear in public or how they conduct themselves. It's too bad for the city residents but for the spayed and neutered commission, it's business as usual.

Well, since City Hall doesn't care how its commissioners behave, then it won't mind if their "styles" that they bring to the table are exhibited in this blog. In fact, it should actually be proud because this is the standard that the manager of the CPRC on up have set for the commission they oversee as well as micromanage.

Most of the community members and one former commissioner, well actually two former commissioners so far have left the meetings in the middle, unable to take it any more because the conduct is so poor by some of the commissioners. Some ask those who speak at meetings where you find the desire to do so because of the blanket disinterest or even hostility towards city residents who attend meetings.

Of course, the police officers who provide training don't fare much better, because at least at the last meeting, one commissioner, the aforementioned Hubbard, fell asleep, two played with their city-issued computers and others had their backs turned and didn't seem engaged at all while the officers were offering training. Not exactly the first time either.






The Riverside Municipal Wi Fi has been down citywide for upgrades, according to a representative at the city's 311 center. The upgrades may or may not have anything to do with the city's decision to change network administration from being done by one company to another that was purchased recently by AT&T which will be used by the company to focus on wireless services. AT&T is currently the internet service provider for the city's Wi Fi system. AT&T will through this company handle network administration and hardware support services (which had been contracted to another company). People from different corners believe that the changing of operations to AT&T will be a positive development in the situation involving Wi Fi in Riverside.


There were outages in at least one of the city's neighborhood before the citywide outage. Whether that was related to the planned upgrades is not clear. Not to mention outages to servers which are connected to the access of laser fische documents associated with city council and committee reports which might be unrelated.

On the evening of July 24, the new network was launched on the city's Wi Fi albeit at a much slower loading speed for sites than usual. But the problem involving the browsers crashing when loading pages has gone away with the old network. However, five minutes just to get to email for now.


And the internet has gone about 30 seconds to load a page to about 5-10 minutes (and seems to hang when loading ads on sites) to do the same thing before the servers unceremoniously crashed just before midnight.

Hopefully just a temporary situation until the new servers get straightened out.




The recession has hit museums hard including several in Riverside County.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



The Inland counties' repositories of art, science, historic artifacts and local treasures, though their budgets are much smaller, are also feeling the pinch.

At San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, a new wing is languishing until a thaw in state funding can pay for its promised prehistoric exhibit.

The staff of the Riverside Metropolitan Museum, recently hit by two layoffs, has shrunk to nine, about half the number of a few years ago. In an e-mail, Bill Gavitt, president of the Riverside Museum Associates, described the dismissals as "an inhumane way to treat loyal and faithful employees."

KidZone Youth Museum, a Hemet-based museum that served thousands of children throughout Riverside County, closed 1½ years ago because of financial problems.






A Riverside resident wrote this opposition to the closure of a street in the Greenbelt area by the City Council.




Name that Pedestrian Mall.

Why not just give it two names like Magnolia/Market, Chicago/Arlington, Allesandro/Central, Third/Blaine and Mission Blvd/Mission Inn Avenue/Seventh and a host of other streets with more than one name?

But after this latest naming is done, what will be next on the list?


How about name that city? It shouldn't be too hard. Yes, because after all, Riverside's one of the more common name for cities and towns across the country. Maybe it's time for something new.





Press Enterprise Columnist Dan Bernstein speaks out about City Hall's decision to do what else? Rename Main Street in Riverside. It's probably one of the last remaining streets in the city that has only one name.



(excerpt)

How, civic whoozwhooz reason, can a city that just anointed itself a haven for innovation, and is currently pouring $10 million into a Main Street makeover, tout a "pedestrian" mall? (The fourth definition of this word in my Webster's: lacking in vitality, imagination or distinction.)

So the city prepares to walk away from its partnership with podiatry. And replace it with?

"Riverside Main Street" and "Riverside's Main Street" loom as early leading contenders for what city redevelopment official Joel Belding calls "a unique identifier for the area of Main Street between Third and Tenth streets."

Unique identifier? In terms of vitality, imagination and distinction, the distance between "pedestrian mall" and "Riverside's Main Street" is measured in millimeters.

I'm not at all convinced Main Street needs tampering, revision or enhancement. A few years back, MayorLuv tugged an outlandish top hat over his noggin and led a solemn pilgrimage to Alabama, where Riverside was triumphantly crowned an "all-America city." Is there anything more "all-America" than a city with a Main Street? (I mean besides city officials with too much time on their hands.)

I am totally convinced that clumsily grafting "Riverside" or "Riverside's" onto Main Street will induce everyone except the most fanatical boosterheads to expectorate such an indigestible mouthful.

Former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus has plead not guilty to 10 felony counts.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)

Postmus, 38, who faces nine felony counts and one misdemeanor, was taken into custody by sheriff's deputies after his brief appearance before Superior Court Judge Michael Dest.

Postmus posted bail at the courthouse and drove himself to West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga to be booked on the charges. He was released on $100,000 bail shortly after 2 p.m.

Postmus had been free on $11,450 bail since he was arrested on drug violations in January. The arrest warrant for the new charges set bail at $350,000.

Deputy District Attorney Lewis Cope asked Dest to keep the bail at that amount, but Dest sided with Postmus' attorney, James Knox, in setting a lower bail. Dest noted that Postmus had made all his court appearances in the six months since he was arrested and while awaiting charges.

Postmus said little in court, only responding briefly to questions by Dest.

"I am innocent of the charges and look forward to going to trial and proving my innocence," he said in an e-mail statement later. "This is nothing more than a political vendetta that, in due time, will be exposed."

The San Bernardino County District Attorney's office has expanded a corruptions probe towards land in Rancho Cucamonga.



(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



The announcement came a day after Supervisor Neil Derry called for an independent investigation of rumors that District Attorney Michael Ramos had been involved in improper relationships with subordinates and colleagues.

By Friday afternoon, Derry's cause appeared to have little support on the Board of Supervisors, with most of his colleagues standing behind Ramos.

Ramos said he would cooperate if the board decides to launch an investigation of him, but added that he is concerned about the timing.

"An unwarranted investigation of the district attorney may unnecessarily introduce legal issues into our current prosecutions and would interfere with our ongoing corruption investigation," Ramos said in a written statement.
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Michael Ramos

Derry said he fully supported the district attorney's investigations but did not feel his call for an independent inquiry would harm the prosecutors' work.

"Accountability and transparency is not a one-way street," Derry said. "Apparently, some people think it is."





Is it war between the two entities in the very troubled county?


In related developments in that county, District Attorney Michael Ramos has been rumored to have been involved in inappropriate conduct with subordinates and now one county supervisor wants an independent investigation conducted of those rumors.



(excerpt, Press Enterprise)




Derry said he is troubled by rumors that have been swirling in recent months that Ramos may have been involved in improper relationships with subordinates and colleagues, including Public Defender Doreen Boxer.

Derry said he is not suggesting the rumors are true but believes they merit investigation.

"As long as they're circulating, they create an issue where there's a lack of public trust," Derry said.

A statement issued in response by district attorney's spokeswoman Susan Mickey said: "This office is astounded."

Ramos denied the allegations as baseless.

"This has every appearance of being an effort to interfere in our continuing corruption investigation," he said in a written statement. "I will not be deterred from my legal responsibility to pursue these cases."






Public trust in government in San Bernardino County? There is no such thing. Press Enterprise Columnist Cassie MacDuff paints the larger picture of a corrupt county.


But in San Bernardino city, council members are ready to do battle including with each other over the ongoing situation with the fire department.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)





The City Council is scheduled to consider the rival proposals at its Aug. 3 meeting.

Councilman Dennis Baxter said cash-strapped San Bernardino is in no position to lift the hiring freeze on the vacant positions.

"We're trying to save money," he said. "That's what this reorganization is all about. I'd be very happy, once we have the money, to fill those positions."

Councilman Chas Kelley, who also serves on the Personnel Committee, said any cost savings from the reorganization should go to hire more firefighters.

Council members have clashed repeatedly in recent months over Fire Department staffing.

In May, council members voted 4-3 to table Kelley's call to restore four-person crews on nine fire engines. Kelley, McCammack and Councilwoman Esther Estrada were on the losing side in that vote.






Meeting: Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee meeting on Tuesday, July 28 at 2:30 p.m. to select applicants for the city council to interview for the Ward Two vacancy on the CPRC. Should be a happening event. Well it could be, if the members of this committee ever rose above the level of running through lists of applicants, asking each other if they "know" this person and then deciding whether or not to grant him an audience and interview with the full council accordingly.

Oh some day...

The list of applicants is here. Will the newest commissioner be a bonafide contender or another City Hall plant?




At 3pm the same day, the city council will be conducting a public hearing on denying two ambulance companies requests for contracts with the city on nonemergency services.


This public report provides more important information on this ongoing issue. Currently, all ambulance services are performed by American Medical Response. But the two other contenders didn't provide much information. Still, if you've ever hyperventilated over a $1300 plus ambulance bill, it's hard not to think that breaking a monopoly isn't worth at least thinking about. How much money do the EMTs actually see considering that some of them have become police officers in part due to the low pay scale and lack of opportunities to really advance at AMR.

They do give excellent service though but this issue needs some discussion and debate.







For those interested in reading a copy of the minority report submitted by Community Police Review Commission member Chani Beeman on the Joseph Darnell Hill case, go here. No copies of the majority report are available online yet and not much information has been provided to the public about a possible minority report or comments submitted by Commissioner Robert Slawsby.