Riverside's "Other" River Returns and Another Change to the Ethics Code?

UPDATE:

This blog's not on the press release list at City Hall but it doesn't matter because this blog had already posted on the pending hire of the former Maywood Police Department Chief Frank Hauptmann as the new Community Police Review Commission manager under "City Employee Alert"

And now it's official that he's been hired by City Manager Brad Hudson and this hiring has been met with serious criticism.

More to come...

[A tow truck driver removes a vehicle that went off the street and flipped over on Arlington Avenue.]

The photo above was taken some time after an obviously serious car accident on Arlington near Royale where a driver took the car off the road and actually flipped it over on its roof. This picture was taken just after the driver of the tow truck had put it back on its wheels. It's not that far away from where a woman drove her car at high speed off of Arlington near Hawardan Hills Street and crashed into a wall and was killed on a street which has more than its share of crosses and other memorials of people who have been killed on the Chicago/Arlington thoroughfare, with names like Ashley and Chad.

It's always best to drive carefully and not over the speed limit but it's especially true in inclement weather especially when it's not rained for a while on a street. As a person who does a lot of walking, I've seen a trip to downtown turn from four miles to 10 miles (and from 90 minute walking time to three hours), which is eight miles round trip and 20 in recent days due to the closures of Chicago Avenue, Sedgwick and other streets. It's been interesting walking these 15-20 mile round trips although the last few miles are a bit difficult but the RTA clearly moved several bus lines that go through Chicago and it's not clear where they went. After being in cities where similar events have taken place and seeing how much commitment is placed in educating the public about the rerouting of public transportation including temporary bus stops or bus stop closures, it was kind of disorienting to see what was done in Riverside for those dependent on buses for transportation. They should have issued a public service announcement in the newspaper.

Natural disasters are some that everyone faces in their lives and I've experienced my share of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes (which curiously enough are tough to really see up close), blizzards (including sharing a tent with six people in the Rockies) not to mention nearly being killed when a 30 feet squashed a tent I was sleeping in while camping in New Zealand. I've survived a car flipping over and a fire and had a vacation extended by a landslide.

My personal favorite which was kind of fun, was getting stuck on the buckets at Disneyland for an hour during and singing the school song for over an hour with my friends to avoid the fact that we were over 40 feet above the ground somewhere over the Submarines which was better than being stuck for two hours inside the big lake of the Pirates of the Caribbean because it's very warm and humid and the pirates got on people's nerves sitting inside the boats and people wanted to start throwing things at them. The lines at Disneyland that memorable day were much shorter than those which caused the park to be shut down two days in a row recently but that's because they were having electrical issues that day on nearly every ride (though being rescued from Space Mountain was interesting!). So the lines wound up being much shorter than the rides themselves instead of the other way around.

There's a lot of things that can happen and do as nature is truly an impressive element capable of just about anything at any time. It's definitely to be respected because it can turn on people so quickly.

But while natural disasters such as last week's rains are unpreventable, there are things that can be done and that can be prevented and that's to not make an entire segment of Riverside's population including many voters feel like afterthoughts and those are the city's pedestrians. With streets closed off or under water, many pedestrians are at a loss of how to move about parts of the city. It's one thing to tell an automobile driver that they have to take a four mile detour and a completely different matter for a pedestrian and not many people realize that because most people do travel by car. And not all pedestrians are equal, some have more difficulty or challenges than others to navigate their way through the city. Mayor Ron Loveridge once called it a "walkable" city, and the only response to that, is not even close even when the streets are dry and the sun is shining. Because a "walkable" city would have more sidewalks including on large sections of main thoroughfares than is the case in Riverside which though pushing the envelope of population past probably 350,000 people has a transportation infrastructure including accessible thoroughfares to walkers that is lagging behind. And Riverside is one of the most dangerous cities in terms of pedestrian injuries and deaths in the region.

The folks who dealt with the closure of Chicago Avenue clearly didn't think of pedestrians at all when they designed the signage for the areas blocked off on both sides of the 20 foot hole all the way across the street including the sidewalks.

[Signs on Central and Chicago warning that the road is closed to drivers but not to pedestrians, This photo was taken after a vehicle drove into the construction area for some reason and then turned around and drove back out.]

This was apparent on the intersection of Chicago and Martin Luther King when there were signs stating that the southern route of Chicago was closed and there would be a detour. That sign is clearly for drivers only because it leaves the false impression that the north side is accessible when you examine it from a pedestrian point of view. A car can only turn right on Chicago and head in one direction but pedestrians can walk north or south on sidewalks on either side. So this confused pedestrians but nothing more so than the fact that whoever did the signage on this street completely forgot to put up signs about pedestrian access or sidewalks being blocked anywhere from MLK to the "hole" and also on the Central side of the closed portion of Chicago. This is significant because quite a few pedestrians were witnessed walking all the way to the barricades where the 20 foot hole is and were confused because of lack of signage and had to backtrack in some cases three blocks back to MLK.

Then again even though the strip of Chicago had gone into sign overkill in comparison for vehicle traffic, vehicles still actually drove all the way past the "road closed" signs up the barricades before turning around and driving back to Central Avenue. There's not much you can do about what happened to Chicago which was years in the making and the timeline for fixing it but putting up signs that helped alert pedestrians was something that easily could have been done to make a difference.


Two signs warning of closed sidewalks, one on each side close to an alternate route by foot would have been very useful and it's a shame that more signage was placed calling one road "local access only" which involved at least a dozen signs and none were placed to alert walkers and bicyclists to closed sidewalks. Many times even major street repairs take place where sidewalks are unmarred and the Press Enterprise coverage never mentioned whether or not the sidewalks themselves were affected. It was indeed something to see confused pedestrians but it's been very interesting seeing and hearing accounts of what it's been like for them in our city, young, old, many able bodied but not everyone. Most pedestrians are pretty much written off in between speeches by Loveridge and others about how "walkable" Riverside is, because many are youth, seniors and people who aren't affluent. In reality, those who walk around through Riverside are very diverse.

Two Mormon missionaries on bicycles were very concerned because they had encountered a deaf man who had been sitting at a bus stop adjacent to Chicago and the "local access only" road which was used by many other people anyway. They had seen him leave and walk in the direction towards the barricades and at night, it's very dark and hardly visible because the power to the street lights in the vicinity of the construction have been turned off. They spent some time searching for him and hoping that he didn't fall in the 20 foot hole. It was very kind of them and moving to hear of their concern about him and it's nice to see concern expressed about the safety and well being of pedestrians from members of a religious community.

It's not the practice of this blogger to endorse political candidates of any stripe but if anyone running for office next year were to come up with the idea of setting up a pedestrian issue ad hoc task force to examine issues pertaining to the second class populace of pedestrians of all ages, economic statuses, genders and political beliefs and talk about how to make Riverside the more "walkable" or "most livable" city, that might change this practice of endorsement.

[Riverside's river, the Santa Ana after its flooding]

Some people believe that Riverside has no river at all that provided its name and others say yes it does, it's the mostly dry Santa Ana River which came to roaring life during the days and nights of continuous rain.

But during the winter time, Riverside has another river...that could put the Santa Ana to shame.

Sedgwick Avenue: The Other River in Riverside

[What's left of the Arroyo River which appeared every time it rained]

[The damaged portion of Sedgwick Street near Victoria County Club]

[Sedgwick Avenue's concrete on top of the heavily damaged storm channel]

[What Sedwick Avenue looks like for days after it rains at least a half inch in a 12 hour period]

Sedgwick Avenue crosses from Arroyo through Victoria Country Club's golf course into the southern part of the Eastside, bridging together the second and third wards. Although like many of Riverside's streets, it lacks sidewalks, many people transverse it including people walking, with or without dogs, children from the Eastside walking in groups coming and going from a nearby school and people riding bicycles as well as vehicles through the street. However, whenever the weather changes including in the winter the dry city street turns into a raging river any time the rain gauge of precipitation reaches about half an inch within one day. And the river will often rage for days after the original rainfall. There's been coverage in this blog about this ongoing situation including photos of the river that spans up to 10-15 feet across Sedgwick and is about up to six inches or more deep, fast enough so that it most likely could knock people including children off of their feet causing injury or worse and it has flooded and trapped vehicles as well.

The street floods because any rainfall including much, much less than what fell last week and undermined major thoroughfares like Chicago Avenue causes what is already a stream passing through the golf course to overflow, overwhelming an amazingly narrow storm drain that passes underneath Sedgwick. The problem is compounded by the apparently complete lack of maintenance to ensure that the stream isn't clogged with growth particularly around the pipe itself to the point of obstructing it not to mention any flotsum that lodges inside the increasingly narrow storm pipe which the closest analogy of comparison would be to the urethra of a male domestic feline suffering from urinary blockage issues. The water stopped flowing in the pipe and rushes like a wall onto the street, across it spilling to the other side. Last week, the water must have actually been several feet high to completely destroy the chain link fencing on both sides of the stream, not to mention undermining the street itself along with tearing out chunks of concrete and causing them to flow downstream.

Days after the rain stopped, the stream for the first time in memory was completely dried up and devoid of any water. And then it was pretty much left sitting there, with torn up fencing and a crumbling street almost as much as an afterthought as the neighborhood it borders.

Until it rained again, much less than before (because this storm was mostly a force in areas where it turned to snow) and it flooded again, even more than 36 hours after it stopped raining and the only way to stop the Sedgwick is to cut off the water supply because it's more than capable of running across the thoroughfare for days on end.

As stated the stream that turns into the raging winter transverse through private property in the form of a country club golf course on both sides of Sedgwick but it's not clear who is responsible for the upkeep of the stream/spillway whether it's partially the property of the Country Club or the city exercises encroachment rules by running a public works project that goes through private property. It's not clear where the water is coming from because it's not just rain water including the latest flood of water coming through the stream which is much more and much longer lasting than the result of the rainfall that ended 36 hours earlier. Is there water being diverted to the stream from elsewhere either by the city or the golf course itself, and if so why?

Blocking any street to through traffic even a street that's pretty much been forgotten about is an undesirable situation because to block it to vehicle traffic includes emergency vehicle traffic and with Sedgwick also flooding at MLK/14th Street in the major series of storms, it makes it more difficult for those vehicles to get into a neighborhood with meandering streets. Fortunately, it's currently a holiday week which minimizes the number of school children trying to trek across the river on their way to and from school. But given that this street does flood for days on end at the slightest rain, it's going to indeed be a very long winter.

But what do the councilmen in the affected area, Andrew Melendrez (Ward Two ) and Rusty Bailey (Ward Three) done to address this situation not just now but considering that unlike the once in a decade (or hopefully longer) situation with the collapse of Chicago Avenue, this problem has gone on for considerably longer and it's not just a inconvenience and a safety risk, it's getting to be embarrassing. Not much has come out of City Hall except for one individual some months ago who said that the city was aware of it but hadn't done much about it.

[Councilman Andrew Melendrez represents the area where the river runs]

[Councilman Rusty Bailey might find that boat handy on Sedgwick's River which is close to his own ward]



[What is Foster and her Public Works Department doing to address the Sedgwick River? She might not have an engineering degree but surely she can think of something. An elected official said that her department is looking into the problem. ]

It's a shame really that the Sedgwick River has been allowed to flow freely for long periods of several winters at least before this one that might wind up in the record books. It's a shame that people have to warn children not to try to walk across a river that looks deceptively shallow but can stop a car in its tracks or injure an adult let alone a kid. The only access around it is if the golf course opens its gates on either side which have been used by people when they're available. But what has the Country Club done to address the issue, at least in terms of the stream tranversing through the property, a stream that exists outside of service as a storm drain, as it has water running through it yearlong? Why isn't more preventive maintenance done to clear the weeds and plant growth away from the storm drain opening either by the Country Club or the city's public works division? Occasionally there have been city vehicles there looking at it and there have been vehicles that look like they are associated with the Country Club looking at the river too. At this point, it appears that the storm drain pipe has been heavily damaged, crushed by the street on top of it.

Will this problem ever be fixed? Hopefully. But it makes you think about how there's not much money to pay for it given that some of the funding sources for things like sewers and related items has been borrowed against or transferred to other accounts used to buy properties, say some businesses on Market Avenue in downtown Riverside for example. And Melendrez, Bailey, City Manager Brad Hudson and Public Works Manager Siobhan Foster probably drive much more than they walk and they don't frequent that area of the city so maybe they're not aware of the seasonal river lurking there that just might have a city named after it. After all, Hudson was so scared of this area of the city, he had to get a conceal and carry weapons permit when he first arrived.

Public Works had been one of the departments hit with layoffs even as the city had provided increases to some of its management personnel and raised the cap on maximum salaries by many executive and management employees. It also engaged in the rather peculiar practice of relegating its whistle blowers to metal shacks next to toxic substance storage containers at the infamous corporate yard, which had also been the scene of alleged racial harassment in the 1990s according to lawsuits filed by current and former Black employees settled out by the city.

Riverside Hit by Major Power Outage

Earlier in the morning of Dec. 31, a huge section of Riverside was hit by a power outage which lasted over two hours before power was restored. It's not known what caused the outage but because there's been a lot of rain and then wind following that, trees collapsing is expected to be a significant cause of any power outages.

The impacted area was the majority of Canyon Crest towards Victoria Gardens, an area that is hit by numerous outages due to old electrical equipment and infrastructure which make it vulnerable. During the major heatwave last September, this areas of the city lost power three times in one week.

Ethics Complaint Time Limit to be Vanquished?

Riverside Councilman Andrew Melendrez will be proposing an additional change to the Ethics Code and Complaint process which would involve getting read of current deadlines for filing complaints.

It's interesting because Melendrez originally voted along with the Governmental Affairs Committee against their own recommendations that they brought to the city council during the annual ethics code and complaint review. The Committee which also includes Councilmen Steve Adams and Rusty Bailey lost out to the rest of the body which constituted a slim majority. But in the days after that, Melendrez did this kind of tour where he would explain to a lot of different people why he voted like he did which showed he was aware of the controversy of his decision. So now he's doing a 180 of sorts and voting to eliminate the statutory deadline which was made a bit longer. So Melendrez was hit pretty hard on his vote by his supporters including those in his ward, which has maybe in the light of the fact that he's running for mayor in 2012 has made him rethink his position.

Does he have at least three votes to pull off that change? That remains to be seen.

This report details the resolution changes that will be passed by the city council and it remains to be seen whether they were changed or watered down in that process by City Attorney Greg Priamos and it's been placed on the consent calendar but if Melendrez is introducing new language then the item should be pulled from the consent calendar so the public will have the opportunity to comment on it.

After watching what unfolded during the Year of Scandal in 2010, it seems that the ethics code and complaint process has been impacted by it and that the city council made some serious reversals on their positions both on the "24/7" language and the development of an independent panel to hear complaints involving elected officials. There was the ad hoc committee to review the code made up of board and commission chairs along with Group president, Jennifer Vaughn-Blakely and it came up with a list of recommendations which went back to the city council and mayor.

Removing the hearing process from the oh-so-biased Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee has to be done, many city residents have called for this to happen and the timeline needs to be the next to go because its current and past inclusions do nothing about promoting ethics in City Hall except to reward those who engage in covering up ethical violations and misdeeds to keep them covered up as nearly happened with the guns, badges and cold plates scandals. One councilman up for reelection next year, Steve Adams blithly dismissed the scandals as "old news" which is was to City Hall but these were brand new revelations to the public because of the coverups. It's pretty arrogant for an elected official to even make a statement calling the revelations "old news".

But it remains to be seen what the fallout for the elected officials will be during next year's election cycle which is too close to call in light of the upsets in three ward elections since 2007. But the economy and ethics including violations will probably be two critical issues with voters in the city council elections next year. Will one or more elected officials become "old news"? That remains to be seen.

Is "The List" Back?

[Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz in his third round of promotions since he arrived in July goes "by the list" this time]

The Riverside Police Department greeted the holiday season by filling vacancies including a lieutenant's position held by Darryl Hurt which goes off the books next month. Chief Sergio Diaz promoted a sergeant as well (as the vacancy rate in that rank would have increased to seven spots] and at least two detectives. And unlike in his first round of 13 promotions in July just weeks after his arrival, Diaz didn't go by the book perhaps but went by the list. Meaning that the promotions for all three ranks allegedly came from candidates who topped their respective lists.
In previous rounds this year including Diaz' opening act, candidates were taken from different spots on the list, with lieutenants coming from those ranked 2,5, 6, 9 and 12 (out of 13) on the original posted list. The promotions caused quite a bit of a stir because many felt that the list was obsolete and should be done alphabetically rather than by ranking. For the women, it was ironic because for years they were told to have a chance at promotion, they had to top the lists and when they did, they were overlooked.

The promotional process had been under high scrutiny since allegations came out that every person and his mother had a stake in the process including at least one elected official, Councilman Steve Adams who allegedly exercised his discretionary power for either two or three candidates involving the filling of two vacancies. Allegedly he had tried to make "suggestions" to the incoming chief about selections but they weren't heeded. Eyebrows were raised at Diaz' first round of promotions including many officers that had been mentored by either former Acting Chief, John DeLaRosa and his mentor, now Deputy Chief Mike Blakely as well as two who had histories of disciplinary action for sexual misconduct onduty with one of them having criminal allegations of vandalism raised as well.


Some new person to the cast made the observation that the promotional system of excluding the list was interesting but problematic and that it made one wonder why there was a list in the first place. That was a sentiment that was expressed quite often but the most recent round of promotions were different in that respect in that candidates like new Lt. Jaybee Brennan and new Sgt. Kevin Townsend led their respective lists. The detectives operate under the very commonly used practice known as the "rule of three" which governed all police department promotions some years ago. But the promotions above that have more subjectivity including captains who aren't ranked at all, just listed and the captain's rank was probably the most subject to manipulation by outside parties at City Hall.

And the MOA that the detectives branch of the Riverside Police Officers' Association has with the city which is over 15 years old has assured that this rank has avoided the severe depletion that has impacted all the other ranks in the past couple years. The situation in investigations would have been very dire if that MOU hadn't been in place yet it's impacted the staffign levels of the officer level to the point where the 27 promised vacancies (and yes, it is 27 not 15 in case the city suffers a memory lapse) will only partially fill the high vacancy rate in field operations.

What's fascinating too about the promotions is that currently three high ranking members of the RPOA board, President Cliff Mason, Vice-President Brian Smith and now PAC chair Kevin Townsend are all on sergeant's probation with an election for president to take place at the end of next year. Smith successfully won his reelection as the union's vice-president in recent weeks but not too long ago, there was some strife in the association when former president Pat McCarthy was promoted to sergeant and went on probation during his second term in office.

Ultimately he ran against candidate, Det. Ken Tutwiler and was defeated. So far at least three other candidates are flirting with a run for the top spot but none so far have apparently declared. Most of the officers were reelected to the union board with the new addition being Sgt. Gary Toussaint who is now the representative of that rank replacing Sgt. Brian Kittinger who is working in an Internal Affairs assignment. With many city employees working on expired contracts because of the economic crisis, the focus has been on other issues and the union had been busy evaluating and endorsing political candidates in different local and state elections. Lately locally, the RPOA has endorsed incumbents given that they didn't have a very successful record at predicting who would win the often contentious local elections. It's been a difficult year for the police department on different levels and there's hope that next year will be better than 2010.

But the earlier part of this year was necessary, even as blame's been cast at those who delivered the message and not those who wrote the message itself. Years of problematic practices and highly unethical behavior erupted in full force this past year in a chain reaction, it was not pretty but the alternative though it might involve blissful ignorance on the part of the populace of Riverside was much worse and probably even more so than came to light in the media given the lack of transparency at City Hall, one of the reasons why the scandals clustered when they finally did find the light of day and public scrutiny. Without exposure of bad behavior and bad practices, there's not much hope of achieving anything better and the future's hardly bright if an agency is plagued by crises at the top level. Sticking one's head in the sand has never been a useful means of improving a situation after all.




Outgoing Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco strikes back against allegations by an accountant that the books were cooked. But on Jan. 3, he will be leaving his brand new building complete with dome and in will be coming D.A.-elect Paul Zellerbach.

Public Meeting

Tuesday, Jan. 4 at 2 and 6:30p.m. The Riverside City Council will meet again in its chambers at City Hall and will discuss and vote upon this agenda.
The items include this claim filed by Riverside Police Department employee Fred Haller.

Also Police Canine Officer Aldo is retiring and he will be joining his long-time partner Officer Mike Mears in retirement. Mears is the second canine officer to retire in a few months from the police division with probably the highest retention rate.

Happy Holidays to The Inland Empire

UPDATE: The Riverside Police Department promotes at least four officers:

Lt. Jaybee Brennan
Sgt. Kevin Townsend
Det. Chad Chinchilla
Det. David Riedeman

To be continued....all ranked #1 or 2 on their respective candidate's list.




COMING SOON: The Forgotten Street: Sedgwick Avenue





Why it's important to drive safely in inclement weather...

[A car which went off of Arlington Avenue and flipped over is prepared for towing]

[Scene of a fatal one vehicle accident on Arlington Avenue]

[Construction crew is diligently working to tear apart and rebuild Chicago Avenue near Andulka Park due to a broken storm drain pipe which caused the street to collapse]

[The Arroyo River returned flooding and closing off the street]

[Portion of storm channel near Andulka Park collapses]

[Storm drain near Andulka Park peppered with well, fallen Pepper Trees]

[The winter storm restructured the storm drain adjacent to Andulka Park]

Ah, Riverside faced a deluge of rain from the heavens above for day after day, night after night and it left its mark on the "most livable" city with the third highest unemployment rate in the country in the form of downed trees, collapsed bridges and storm channels and flooding including in the pretty much bone dry portion of the Santa Ana River that passes adjacent and through Riverside proper.

Chicago Avenue near Andulka Park collapsed due to a broken storm channel beneath the street and the entire street has been ripped up to both repair the sinkhole and to replace the broken piping beneath it. An estimated time of the completion of the construction is not known at this time.

Many streets were flooded, bridges were damaged including an overpass on the 215 and other damage occurred. Connectivity of the city's Wi Fi system is quite spotty in many places due to wet equipment and possibly burned out street lights.

Riverside City Council and Mayor to Review Salaries

[Riverside's elected officials are set to review their salaries packages on Jan. 18]

The Riverside City Council and mayor will be reviewing their salaries in the wake of layoffs, budget cuts and an election next year. They must know that to award themselves pay raises in this economic climate is akin to political suicide.


The review is mandatory under the charter but many are watching to see what the city council and mayor actually decide to do about how much money they make and other benefits while city employees have been laid off, had their positions frozen when they left and many departments have experienced budget cuts.

Some elected officials grasp the obvious that this just isn't the time for the city government to vote itself a pay hike. Given that some departments had their staffing cut in half and others like the police department have vacancy rates over 10%.



(excerpt, Press Enterprise)



"I think as a council we need to hold steady with what we have," Councilman Andy Melendrez said. "Giving ourselves an increase at this time would not, I think, be financially prudent."


Mayor Ron Loveridge said in the article he wants to look closer at car allowances. Five elected officials use city issued vehicles and three do not including him. This comes in the wake of controversy in relation to both the city's issuance of vehicles to city management and elected officials not to mention the very selective release of information on these issued cars by City Hall.


The hearing's set for Jan. 18 probably at a time few people can attend.

Riverside to Just Say No to Hoffman Mayer McKann Auditing Firm?

Riverside is not going to be hiring any auditors from the firm, Hoffman, Mayer and McKann to do that work for the city, one elected official said. The firm won't be in the list of those to choose from by the city government. This firm gained notoriety for issuing perfect audits to the city of Bell and an investigation by the State Comptroller's office determined that the firm which has audited over a dozen cities in California didn't follow appropriate procedures when conducting the audits. Part of that reasoning was based on the vast experience of auditors being if that they aren't the complete picture or all the documents from a city, they should suspect something is seriously wrong, which is what I said to the Finance Committee last time in response to Asst. City Manager Paul Sundeen's assertion that the auditing firm can only produce an audit and findings with the information it has been given by a city like Bell.

I remember going to Finance Committee meetings and having a former city councilman tell me, see there's some good news when the auditor appeared and presented his findings and I said back to the committee members and the auditor from this firm that there's no such thing as a perfect audit. But they praised Riverside for being in the top four or five cities with its perfect audit but then guess what, so was Bell.

The city should hire from a different firm after a vetting process, put that firm and its auditors on probation for the first one or two audits if the city enters into a long-term contract (maximum five years) and they need to redo some of these past audits or at least extensively review them most especially some of the city's larger departments.

Riverside District Attorney Rod Pacheco Under Close Scrutiny

As the Riverside County District Attorney, Rod Pacheco gets ready to step down in early January allegations were raised that his books were cooked. Some have said this is only the tip of the iceberg for Pacheco and his regime and that the boom will be lowered in further coverage of this situation.

Paul Zellerbach is stepping into office around Jan. 3 and it's anticipated that at least 90 employees in upper management will be leaving. Some including those quoted in the article and Chuck Hughes, an assistant district attorney have already left the building as a wipe out of this county department is anticipated.




Hemet's City Council and what's left of scandal plagued San Jacinto's will be forming an alliance. Let's hope it's a productive one and not an unholy one.

Happy Holidays
and a
Happy New Year!


This blog posting will be updated until after Christmas

It's Not Who You Know, It's Who Knows You and Other Holiday Cheer

[Construction crews work diligently on rebuilding Chicago Avenue near Andulka Park after it collapsed on Wednesday from a broken storm drain. ]

[A portion of the storm channel bordering Andulka Park goes bye bye]


[Storm channel adjacent to Andulka Park collapsed on both sides taking a Pepper tree down too]


State Comptroller's office finds fault with Mayer Hoffman McKann's audits in Bell, stated they were "rubber stamped" by the firm which it alleged didn't comply with standards for conducting audits. Having challenged the "perfect" audits conducted by this firm of Riverside at Finance Committee meetings, I'm not surprised.


(excerpt, Los Angeles Times)


"MHM appears to have been a rubber-stamp rather than a responsible auditor committed to providing the public with the transparency and accountability that could have prevented the mismanagement of the city's finances by Bell officials," said Controller John Chiang in a statement. "Had MHM fully complied with the 17 applicable fieldwork standards, it would have led them to identify some — if not all — of the problems."

But where does this leave Riverside and other cities who hired the same firm to audit their books?

Storm of the Decade?

UPDATE: POWER OUTAGE in Eastside, beginning an hour ago...

"This is one big mother and it's going to have a lot of waves in it."

--Bill Hoffer, National Weather Service

Riverside will be buried in rain because upsetting the applecart of the current La Nina is the Pineapple Express. That phenomenon most often is seen during an El Nino year or an appearance of what's called the Madden Julian Oscillation. Remember the rain season that dropped nearly 30 inches, that was caused by the latter weather condition in the absence of the former. But the Express has lined up at Oregon and branched all the way to Hawaii which means that Central and particularly Southern California is in its sights for five straight days of what would be the heaviest rainfall in some years. Approaching La Nina years generally don't impact rainfall until January.

The rain so far this fall has led to a milder fire season and has brought some more greenery to Riverside, but what will it do to the city's roads and the highways especially since many people aren't careful when they drive in inclement weather and it also will test the constitution of the city's Wi Fi network which it now manages which has seen signal strength and connectivity drop in several areas of the city from the latest storm. Last year equipment including 14 devices were replaced by the vendor after defects in the product caused problems with their ability to control voltage from the street lights which power them causing shorts and outages.


[The city-managed Wi Fi network will get its first real test facing inclement weather this week with five days of the current "Pineapple Express" rain forecast. Several areas are already experiencing lower signal strength and connectivity in the wake of the most recent storm.]





This week connectivity and signal strength has diminished substantially in several locations and the city's currently sending out its management team to weatherize equipment so it will be less exposed to the elements. No ETA of when this work will be completed and when the system will resume full connectivity again but hopefully this will address the weather related issues which last year virtually shut down most of the network for four months.

Otherwise, the same streets that flood and overflow (meaning that the Arroyo River will return) including western portions of the Eastside by the railroad tracks will likely so again, so batten down those hatches!

Will the famed Arroyo River be returning this winter?

And you really can't say there's no rivers in Riverside at least not this time of year.

Will City Hall Pick Its Own Guard for Charter Review?

About 21 people applied to serve on the upcoming Charter Review Committee and their names have been forwarded to the Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee for selection to be interviewed presumably by the city council and mayor. In the last foray into this arduous process about 10 years, appointments had been made by Mayor Ron Loveridge and the city council members.

"Do I know this person? Do You?"

[The Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee prepares to begin the process of selecting the members of the charter review committee and yes, often it does come down to who you know...or rather they know. ]




It's not clear yet what kind of role ward representation will be playing in this process in terms of whether this charter-mandated process falls under the charter amendment added by the passage of Measure GG, but don't be surprised if the appointment process winds up being highly politicized like everything else in this city. But the last round of charter review tossed out recommended initiatives including those which put the Community Police Review Commission and the Ethics Code and Complaint Process in the city's charter where both were readily manipulated by factions at City Hall quickly enough. Also ward representation and the requirement that the city has to change independent outside auditors after five consecutive years. So the process that took place not even 10 years ago (and it comes earlier this year because it's based on some convoluted formula centered on the timing of the mayoral election which switched to 2012) has a history of tremendous impact of course based on voters' response to proposed initiatives and it could be this time as well as the list of items to present to a committee that hasn't even been created yet continues to grow.

One of the items that might be discussed is whether there needs to be changes in what entity the city's auditors report to with their findings. Instead of city management, it could be the city council or mayor instead if this proposal reaches the ballot and gets voted in by the electorate.

And the timing for that last charter amendment is great in terms of the city's current five year contract with the problematic firm of Mayer Hoffman McCann as CAL PERS has decided not to give that company any more business in the wake of the controversy of what happened in Bell. As most people know, Bell contracted with this firm to do its audits which for some reason came out perfect (which is also pretty much what happened in Riverside) even though everyone knows now including the State Comptroller's office that this just wasn't the case at all. Even though Asst. City Manager Paul Sundeen had said at a recent Finance Committee meeting that the city charter provision does allow the city to hire different employees from the Mayer Hoffman McCann firm, at least one city council member says that's not going to happen and that the firm will not be doing business with Riverside. And that's how it should be, show that firm the door and go through a vetting process to select its replacement.

Not much has been said about the problematic ties of the legal firm, Best, Best and Krieger not only with the city of Bell but also Maywood the city that had to disband its entire work force including its problem plagued police department (which has been contractually replaced by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department)though that's mostly involving Attorney Edward Lee. Lee was most recently removed by Downey as its city attorney. But then again, Riverside's own city attorney's office either refuses to produce or can't find contracts between the city and Best, Best and Krieger for legal services that the firm provides to Riverside in different areas as much of the city's legal defense for example is farmed out by City Hall to legal firms including this one. But then Priamos' office couldn't find two labor contracts tied with proposed "at will" contracts in the police department until Hudson found them three years later, so it's not exactly news that they can't find any legal contracts to one of the main law firms used by the city.


But anyway, concerning the ultimate selections of the Charter Review Committee, once the mayor and nominating committee members figure out who they know and don't know, the process will go to the city council for interviews and selection but it's interesting that some of the applicants from the 21 filed have been revealed, including the CEO and publisher of the Press Enterprise Ronald R. Redfern, which will be interesting to see if he's even picked. Will that depend on how naughty or nice the publication has been, or will be? It's just a bit of an unholy intertwining of City Hall with the Fourth Estate but if Redfern gets picked it will be interesting to watch and this isn't exactly unprecedented because included in the last eclectic collection of members last time around was another individual with employment ties to the publication, Marcia McQuern.

And it's interesting that the city's charter gets this kind of reverence every 10 years like it's a very important document, when it seems like too many other times, it's just another piece of paper with writing on it. After all, where was it written in the charter that city officials could involve themselves in the promotional process or apparently help themselves to a city department's resources?

In fact, the charter prohibits that type of behavior punishable by jail time and a hefty fine as City Attorney Gregory Priamos helpfully pointed out to CPRC commissioners simply for challenging Priamos latest interpretation of the charter's provision on the CPRC. But in alleged cases involving some denizens at City Hall, nothing was done at all, except to call it "old news" and to pay a lot of money in hopes that it would go away.

So it's hard not to look at the return of the charter review process without some skepticism because while there's been much preaching and some of it very opportunistic about the importance and sanctity of the city's very own constitution, there's been considerable muddying of the waters in terms of whether or not that's actually true.

Community Services Division Returns to RPD

[Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz has made the re-institution of the Community Services Division one of his highest priorities]



Chief Sergio Diaz has announced that components of the police department which have fallen by the wayside will be returning including what will be the highest priority which will be the return of the Community Services Division which was disbanded several years ago purportedly to decentralize community policing though that didn't really happen. It kind of scattered into some corners including some popular programs that disappeared for a while. Facilitated greatly by a lack of commitment at the top of the hierarchy not to mention the gutting of the police department's civilian and sworn ranks by decisions made that had partly to do with saving budget funds.

This left the department with over 100 vacancies and a 20% vacancy rate on the civilian side and sharp reductions in its sworn side in every division except the detectives' rank which is protected by a MOU dating back to the early 1990s. The lieutenant's vacancy rate went as high as 33% (including 50% at the watch command division) and about 22% at the sergeants' rank. A massive number of promotions, the last wave of them being within weeks of Diaz' arrival softened the vacancy rates in supervision. Lieutenants have two vacancies currently but the vacancy rate at the sergeant's level still looms at six positions.

It's anticipated that a lieutenant's position might be opening as soon as January when Darryl Hurt's position goes off the book as he reaches retirement age which means that it would be likely that two other lower level promotions would take place as well if his position is filled. But the department's in a precarious stage when it comes to tapping into the officer level which has at least 30 vacancies. So the reduction in staffing in the sworn side has led to a delicate balancing act between supervision and those supervised because it's impossible to promote at the sergeant level without tapping directly or indirectly (through the detective's rank) into the officer pool. The department recently won a COPS grant for 15 positions and has started the process of filling them with about 33 in background checks. But the city has also promised the department 12 additional positions back when it found the extra $3-4 million dollars behind the proverbial couch at City Hall, though the city's memory appears to already be running short here already.

Still even with the hiring, it will take up to 2-3 years for the new officers to be more confident and experienced in their positions and the department's rank and file still skews strongly towards lesser experience with only several years ago, the average officer being 23-24 with about 2- 2 1/2 years experience.

Also hit hard by the freezing of vacant positions was the civilian side of the police department which once allegedly had its positions frozen for several months several years ago so that money there could be borrowed against to send to redevelopment. Maybe the sewer fund was tapped out at the time and thus not available for playing ATM but even today the civilian ranks have been greatly depleted in numbers.

The civilian employee shortages have resulted from attrition and freezes which have taken place in most positions except dispatching. Diaz has said he's identified about 20 positions that are important with at least five being critical and has said that he will address these issues with City Hall which is an important step in addressing these critical issues.

Diaz has also listed the return of the Community Service Division as a big priority at public meetings and this resurrected division will be getting ample office space at its new home at the police administration headquarters in downtown Riverside. One way to be able to gauge how much emphasis is being placed on a division particularly a "new" one is how the assignments to that division are viewed by those eligible to put in for them. And judging by the rush of lieutenants who tried out for the head of the Community Services Division, it's quite hot indeed.

Lt. Guy Toussaint previously assigned to the Traffic Division beat out at least a dozen other lieutenants for the position as more than two-thirds of that rank's staffing apparently contested for it. His vacated position will likely go to one of only two lieutenants who applied for a stint leading Traffic. These two lieutenants are an area commander, the other a newly promoted watch commander who applied to head the Traffic Division. It's likely that if it's between these two individuals that the latter will get it because he has prior experience in the division. But it's ironic the popularity of the newly reinvented division with the lieutenants in comparison to actually having a lieutenant try to transfer out of an area command into the Traffic division as the area command posts were viewed by many as a means of getting promoted to captain in the past.

In fact, not too long ago, an area commander was transferred back to watch command and replaced by another lieutenant allegedly because he lacked a degree which wasn't even a listed requirement to be an area commander or even a lieutenant at all. However, the captain's position does apparently require at least a bachelor's degree and some saw it as placing people in area commands who were more viable candidates for captain's positions in terms of satisfying the qualifications for applying.

As for the lieutenant's rank, there were 12 people who passed the test with 11 showing up for the testing date and one other candidate (who apparently did very well) showing up the following day for his own written test. As stated earlier, two tested in the "A" bands, closely together and as it turned out those were sergeants, Jaybee Brennan (who led the previous lieutenant's list back in the era of numerical ranking) and Christian Dinco (a first-time test taker). Dinco successfully reversed the trend of others who tested for the first time, who finished in "B" and "C" band. That raised some eyebrows but the consensus appeared to back him for the next lieutenant's opening in the light of giving him the chance, not surprising considering the current dynamic surrounding the views toward upward advancement plus he's seemed to have successfully avoided the mantra of "some people are just good test takers" that has been in the air. Surprising given his stellar performance his first time out.

The "B" band had eight names in it, as the lieutenant's testing curve was the somewhat well known bell shaped curve often seen in testing environments with the distinctions between "A" and some in "B" band apparently being fairly close to making delineation difficult.

The candidate who appears to be favored in the "B" category is Mark Rossi who went from one special assignment holding the very challenging position of overseeing the Homicide Department to another in Personnel and Training with barely time to breathe in between or time spent in field division. Which is pretty close to how some of the candidates including those ultimately promoted have trended this past year. Are people who finish one special assignment and start another being groomed or mentored, that is often hard to determine but it's in interesting contrast to other officers who put in for special assignments only to be told they have to complete at least a 12 month stint in field operations usually patrol before they are eligible for that coveted assignment.

So far in this year's promotions including at the lieutenant's rank, SWAT experience as well as that in divisions that were under the former assistant/acting chief John DeLaRosa (and the Personnel Division run by his mentor, then captain, Michael Blakely) most notably personnel and training were seen in many promotional selections including those made by Diaz in July. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues under Diaz whose first round of promotions mirrored the favorite picks of two management team members.

Not surprising given that DeLaRosa allegedly had said on one occasion that he favored promoting out of SWAT and it's believed that Blakely likes them very much as well which may give some explanation for the trend though one of the department's most challenging assignments might be attractive for a variety of reasons so it's hard to say. But actually those who ranked higher on the lieutenant's listings were geared more in the direction of a myriad of assignments from the patrol division, to the chief's office, to specialized teams including the now defunct Police and Corrections Team which had been a vital tool in addressing recidivism. Rather than one or two specific areas.

The sergeants' listing process attracted droves of candidates which resulted in around three dozen candidates, whether because the timing was right for so many people or perhaps because more people are willing to try the process again under new leadership given that quite a few potential candidates either opted out of the process due to frustration with the department's somewhat fraternization promotional practices or they removed themselves from listings out of similar frustrations. And who could blame them for that, given that if you went to the wrong church, the wrong party, the wrong strip club or ran with the wrong vacation crowd, you were out of luck. Dissing the wrong elected official could get you bounced out of contention too. Maybe the influx of sergeant candidates is a good sign that maybe people are willing to try out again and see what happens and if all of these somewhat questionable practices are truly of the past.


At any rate, it remains to be seen if any promotions are pending including what if anything will be done about the newly completely vacant lieutenant's position but you just never know in this city. But the commitment by the police department to a division that got dismantled and put in moth balls only several years ago is an interesting twist and hopefully a sign of Diaz' commitment to community policing.

City Employee Alert

Apparently another high positioned African-American employee has been pushed to depart the city of Riverside recently, the final of a list of Black and Latino employees that would be ousted provided to this blogger several years ago. The list correctly forecast the departure of Tranda Drumwright, Jim Smith and Art Alcaraz. This latest employee worked in many of the city's departments including Finance and Development and allegedly a lawyer had been hired at some point in this process initiated by the Seventh Floor. But then there's been quite a few of employee decisions and departures that have attracted quite a bit of attention in the past five years.

This is just the latest.


[Hudson's still in place though rumors suggest that he's departing and how will be relate to his new CPRC manager if former Maywood Police Chief Frank Hauptmann is hired?]




In other news, it's been highly hinted that former Maywood Police Chief Frank Hauptmann is in background as the city's selection for the new manager of the Community Police Review Commission which will also be losing its current chair, Brian Pearcy when he terms out this March. Hauptmann if hired will be an interesting addition to the cast of characters at City Hall and will fill the shoes of the recently departed manager, Kevin Rogan and a commission that's pretty much in disarray since certain denizens at City Hall designated it one of their favorite playthings. Because Hauptmann's ethics have been praised in various venues including the State Attorney General's office which worked with Maywood's police department to institute reforms up to the point where it was disbanded. Without naming him, City Manager Brad Hudson hinted at connections between the city's top candidate (which he didn't name) and that state agency as well as consultants who had been hired by the city to address issues including most likely, police practices consultant, Joe Brann who also worked closely with the State Attorney General's office in Maywood. Hauptmann was viewed by one person as the most ethical interim police chief, which is a great endorsement but given the pool of interim chiefs who preceded him, it's not a difficult competition to win.

If he indeed is to be hired, will Hauptmann clash with his boss Hudson, that remains to be seen but it will certainly be interesting to find out. However, an interesting change is who the liaison to the CPRC from the police department will be. Previously, it was Personnel Captain Mike Blakely who did the job but now Asst. Chief Chris Vicino will be taking over that position. The dynamics between those two management employees might be the most interesting to surface so far, including some intriguing power plays between them at the office. Given their very different personality styles, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

[Asst. Chief Chris Vicino prepared to take over as liaison to the CPRC]

[Hudson's former right hand man, Tom DeSantis has officially left the city]

Former Asst. City Manager Tom DeSantis who had abruptly had his resignation announced by City Manager Brad Hudson several months ago will be officially gone by the end of the month, about four years after he allegedly sent one of the former CPRC managers, Pedro Payne packing (through a "resignation" letter) after a heated disagreement that took place at a meeting. Why DeSantis was asked by Hudson to resign is a matter of intense speculation but apparently wasn't sparked by any of the recent chain of unfortunate events that was unveiled this past year but another alleged incident that involved both Riverside and another city. But DeSantis' departure did alter the dynamic in Riverside both in and outside City Hall and a retrospective to the five-year stint of this figure in the canvas of River City will be provided in a future blog posting.

At one point, the city had approved classifications for one assistant city manager and several deputy city managers but nothing has been done to address whether there will be fewer city management employees or more of them given how the staff of them had mushroomed in recent years.

As has the attention from the public these positions have attracted.




Press Enterprise Columnist Dan Bernstein is issuing updates on the construction of the new parking garage in downtown Riverside. There's actually been chunks of asphalt seen in the location which hadn't seen all that much activity lately.


Three more judges appointed by Sacramento to the Inland Empire's courts.


And a police chief who has lasted 30 years in that position has retired.


Not guilty plea, entered by Earl Ellis Green who is charged with the murder of Riverside Police Department Officer Ryan Bonaminio and the man accused of targeting police officers in Hemet appeared in court.

Tis the season for Christmas and for Controversy

The Riverside Police Department hosted "Cops East" a Christmas event in Riverside which was held on Saturday, Dec. 11 in the Eastside at Town Gate Square mall and the military forces, the California Highway Patrol, the Riverside Fire Department also dropped on by and had booths there along with the Riverside Police Officers' Association which runs a "blue elf" program.

The event was organized by Officer Christopher Carnahan, Officer Neely Nakamura and Officer Phil Sears with Sgt. Linda Byerly and members of the bomb squad, K9 officers Ray Soto and Carat in attendance as well. It was the very successful end result of a lot of organization and planning by those including members of the old Community Services Division which disbanded several years ago and apparently was reorganized to begin again in January when it will be led by Lt. Guy Toussaint. Over 75% of the lieutenants were interested in this position when it opened in contrast to only two lieutenants (including one of the area commanders) filing to replace the vacancy created in the Traffic division from Toussaint's transfer.

Actually as most people know, that division isn't all that new, it was headed by former Lt. Tim Bacon several years ago before it was disbanded as part of an ill-fated effort to "de-centralize" community policing. It's interesting to see its return as something "new" but it will be up and running in January.

[Members of the public inspect the Riverside Police Department helicopter]

[One of Santa's green elves who assisted in the gift giving]

[Santa's sleigh of choice while dropping in on Riverside]

[Friends of Officer Byrd]

[Santa and Mrs Claus hand out gifts in the Eastside in Riverside]

Many people who attended the event including Councilmen Andrew Melendrez and Paul Davis had a good time, and the Santas were certainly very popular with the children who lined up by the hundreds awaiting their turn with them.

Events like this have usually been pretty successful exercises in building relations between police officers and the communities they serve, one of the best mechanisms of community policing in the arsenal. Other events are going to be planned in different areas of the city at different times in the upcoming year.

Finance Committee Meets, Rocked by Tough Questions

[Asst. City Manager Paul Sundeen of Finance discusses the auditing process at a contentious Finance Committee meeting]






[The Finance Committee chaired by Councilwoman Nancy Hart (center) received two reports at its most recent meeting.]



The Finance Committee meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 8 was packed to the walls by people whether city employees or members of the public who came to sit in while the Finance Committee met jointly with something called the Investment Committee to discuss topics such as the city's investment portfolio and both its internal and external auditing processes. As has been stated, the city of Riverside has just finished a five year contract with Mayer Hoffman McKann auditing firm, which if it sounds familiar that's because this firm also handled audits for another city called Bell. Other cities who were clients of this firm including Burbank and Victorville are now playing close attention.

And the firm itself is facing more intense scrutiny from Sacramento. The firm also hired an independent accountant to review its work product as State Controller John Chiang is prepared to issue his assessment of the firm's handling of its audits of Bell which is under investigation by his office.


(excerpt, LA NOW)

"We believe the independent peer review by CRI will provide a fair and neutral evaluation of our government accounting and auditing practice for MHM and its clients, as well as other interested parties in the public sector,” Bill Hancock, president of Mayer Hoffman McCann, said in a statement.

Mayer Hoffman McKann had also given fairly perfect audits on Riverside's own books. According to the city's charter, the city has to change auditors at least every five years but Asst. City Manager of Finance Paul Sundeen said that the city could retain the same firm and use different partners in it.

Still while the city seeks bids for its next auditor, is it really a good idea to simply change auditors in the same firm that's under scrutiny by Chiang's office? Sundeen seemed to attribute the problem with Bell as being related to a "bad apple". But other officials have been adamant that the city won't be retaining the same firm period, which makes sense in that why would Riverside want to be associated with having its auditing handed off to a firm which gave awards to Bell from perfect audits of that city that turned out...not to be so perfect? And the excuses given that Bell wasn't forthcoming with its information to the auditing firm, the problem with that is that if someone or some firm is experienced enough with auditing the books of an agency in the public sector then it should know enough to be concerned or even suspicious when information is given in incomplete form, enough so to ask some serious questions about the integrity of the information provision that's necessary in any successful audit. But that clearly didn't happen here and did it happen in Riverside's own audits?

Questions were raised about why the city couldn't provide a single copy of any business contract it had with Best, Best and Krieger which was also steeped in Bell. There's been some folks who have publicly insisted that Riverside's not Bell and that it shouldn't be grouped in with a city like that. To a point that's true, Bell is Bell and Riverside's Riverside but it's getting more difficult not to notice the parallels between the two very different cities which warrant at least more probing by our city government but then how much probing did the city government do during the Leach incident, or the guns, badges and cold plates scandals (except to dismiss them as old news, essentially in one case patting themselves on the back for successful nondisclosure for several years)? And remember that internal investigation that was done on the Leach incident? Another Best, Best and Krieger attorney, former District Attorney Grover Trask who approved of an investigation later essentially discredited by a Riverside police lieutenant who still remains a lieutenant today...with in hand, a written agreement with the city management never to have to work with one of the surviving parties of the investigation who is now deputy chief of the department.

Lt. Leon Phillips who was never demoted after allegedly proving his allegations against upper management in the police department still is continuing to work through his attorney on his path of exoneration which entertains a lot of questions about the original independent investigation ordered by City Manager Brad Hudson of all the parties...well except those at City Hall.

Meanwhile, Edward Lee, the lawyer that quit had been the attorneys for both Bell and its scandal plagued sibling, Maywood which disbanded its entire workforce including its police department which faced a lawsuit from the State Attorney General's office because of serious problems there.

But also coming up for questions were topics ranging from investment portfolios from the city to the expenditures of asset forfeiture by the police department, to capital projects where millions have been budgeted including one allegedly associated with the police department (though under the city manager's budget) that certainly doesn't exist yet.

Sundeen and some of the other previous separate finance department employees shot looks at each other when some of these issues were raised by those in attendance and issued some flat denials.

City council members including finance committee member, Councilman Paul Davis have asked for any auditor to report to the city council and mayor instead of city management, something that other city officials haven't seemed to warm up to yet. But perhaps in the months ahead as more questions...and possibly answers about the city's financial state and that of its book(s).

Chair and Councilwoman Nancy Hart looked especially harried but now that the Finance Committee has spent more time out of mothballs lately awaiting approval to meet from Sundeen and his boss, Hudson, more and more questions will be raised for those on the committee to answer, particularly as the city prepares for its 2011 election cycle.

City Government to Settle Former Police Chief's Workman's Compensation Claims?

Former Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach will have his workman's compensation complaints decided by the city council at the upcoming meeting. He allegedly filed them after suffering back and neck injuries while climbing up a ladder at work, which had people in different places including the always active (and reactivated after deletion) comment threads wondering why a police chief is climbing a ladder in the first place. But then it's been one of those years indeed when everything's been possible.

The city council and mayor which for the most part have been awfully quiet on the events that have rocked the city and police department in the past year will probably pay these out. But if you journey into the comments thread on this one, best wear the equivalent of asbestos gloves.

Conduct Unbecoming of an Officer?

On Dec. 3, 2010, there was a fundraiser held for Officer Ryan Bonaminio who was murdered last month by a man arrested and charged with his death that was very well attended and successful. However, reports emerged that one of the management team members became intoxicated in the bar area and was flashing his upper body at people and allegedly displaying pictures of naked women on a portable communication device before hitting on some married women of male officers in attendance.

If this is true and what's been going on, then this just seems like more of the same behavior which was involved with the past leadership and management of the Riverside Police Department. It's getting tiresome of being reminded of how the old management culture there viewed women though it goes a long way towards explaining why women apparently don't want to stick around very long in the police department even when they pass probation.

Yeah, it might be on someone's personal time but if you're at a sponsored event to raise money for a fund associated with a deceased member of your department, then is that the best behavior to put on display for the public? The public has seen more than enough of this macho, womanizing culture in the police department and it contributed greatly to the turmoil that it has experienced this year. It pretty much was responsible for damaging people's faith and trust in the promotional process and fostered much of the animosity and antagonism that still surrounds it even under new leadership. What someone does privately may not matter as much but this was allegedly on display in public at an event sponsored by the police department. If it's what happened, unfortunately it wouldn't be surprising at this point given all the conduct that's come to light in the past year but it's very disappointing.

Is it the best display to put on for the female employees, civilian and sworn, who are trying to make it in a department including being elevated through the ranks to higher positions including management if members of management hold women in that light? That they are not really people at all, certainly not professional police officers or civilian employees but are simply objects to be put on display and shared with other men in some intoxicated bonding ritual in that fashion? This behavior doesn't really serve the men well either, except as a reminder that if you want to be up in management, do you need to adopt that kind of behavior too in public?

The department has struggled to hire women who usually opt for the Riverside County Sheriff's Department which just recently appointed its second female under sheriff in a row and a Black female officer to captain and another to lieutenant courtesy of the current leader, Stan Sniff. Whereas the Riverside Police Department has one female captain who allegedly recently announced her own pending retirement within a year and one female lieutenant who was promoted this year. The highest Black female officer is a woman with eight years who did quite well on the sergeant's placing in the top third of a candidate list that boasted over around 35 candidates. Promotional processes even ones where women have topped the lists and been passed over as "lacking" maybe subject to great debate and argument but it should be a given that those promoted into management are to behave in manners which don't diminish them or any other person including many male officers who also struggle in a department because they don't buy into that dynamic which was so strongly held and practiced by the prior leadership and management.

Those higher ranking officers including management are to set the tone by their own behavior to everyone who they manage or supervise, male or female. And how does showing naked pictures at a publicly attended event held in memory for a fallen officer show that to be the case? If lower ranking male officers behaved in this way off-duty they are more likely to get called to the carpet than a management team member but the management personnel shouldn't be using their apparently lack of accountability to behave in frankly such a sexist fashion. But if management is to set the tone for professionalism, how does behaving in this fashion serve that ends? And why should any woman have any faith in the promotional process if it elevates men that devalue them and certainly their contributions as officers?

People ask why female officers attrition out at a rate of 44% female versus 29% men and more fall out at the 2-3 year mark than any other time except probation (which is responsible for the attrition of over 90% of male and female, and slightly higher for female). I received an anonymous email several years ago that discussed the culture of the police department governed by womanizing at the top including the promotional process, and allegations of stripes and bars being given to those who participated. Is that the truth, well this past year hasn't done anything to disprove it and after viewing how two prior incidents of sexual misconduct didn't seem to impact the most recent promotions very much, hasn't really disproved it either. But until it's realized that over 90% of individuals of every gender and race who go out for promotions had virtually no chance under this type of system of buddy-buddy promotions, then there won't be much pressure to change it.

It was interesting to see how the sergeant's candidate list multiplied by three times this round, was that a sign of more people trying out what they hope is a new system to replace the old? That would be good news if the actual practice proved to be worthy of that renewed benefit of the doubt attitude. Still that remains to be seen as it remains to be seen who will actually get promoted including if a lieutenant's position that goes off the books in January is actually filled.

But if incidents like the one above are still going on at the management level, then no not really much has changed, certainly not if you're female and have to work with management personnel who love showing off naked women on their phones to anyone nearby at a bar. And if you're male and you just don't want anything to do with that and you don't believe that's professional conduct either in your management. But if there's behavior like that near the top of the department, then no, it's not much of a stretch to figure out why women attrition out at higher rates, get passed over while leading promotional lists for sergeants and lieutenants and that the process for the ranking of lieutenants changes after the initiation of litigation challenging it and the fact that the three out of the top five on the last list were female, not to mention an African-American male, wasn't kept a secret.

Because if members of management continue to view women as less than human and only objects there to entertain them and put such behavior on display in a public place including that frequented by female officers and employees (who ironically are actually the most powerful class), then it's pretty clear that nothing's really changed but some of the faces at the top. And who knows down the road it might be an issue of tremendous civil liability for the city to address as well because inhouse labor lawsuits where this type of behavior has been shown by management have been quite costly for the cities and counties which have born that cost of settlement or trial verdicts.

The new management needs to do what it has claimed to do which is to set the tone for more professional conduct among its membership and make it clear that the buddy-buddy, womanizing part of management team building is a thing of the past instead of not still an integral part of how the police department does its business.

And the burden of proof is on Chief Sergio Diaz and his management team.



Meanwhile here's a really interesting letter out that I've received on this blog posting which I will share here because this individual is concerned that they don't get a forum to express themselves under the name of "John Smith" which isn't a bad moniker really unless your real name happens to be John Smith of course.

Dear Mary Shelton,

It is very interesting to read your blog. The way you judge people, but nobody gets to judge you. How come you do not allow comments other than "team members"? Are you afraid of being ripped to shreads publically? By the way, why not just mention John Carpenter in the blog instead of alluding to a member of the command staff acting stupid at the Roadhous? You love to demean him anyway.

Get a life. Better yet, just get a job.

No actually, it was the threats of violence, the attempts to publish porn on my site and the overall crude racist (including Ebonics), homophobic and sexist language is what has somewhat discouraged me from accepting comments at this time. No offense but being called bitch, whore, cunt, witch, slut, having people saying my uterus needs to be sewn up, demeaning my mother for birthing me, having my wardrobe described to me while I'm walking down the street and being told I needed to be #1 on the liberal sniper's list just got a wee bit old after a while.

Not to mention that statistically speaking, only about 1% of all readers during the time that comments were allowed even read them and about 90% of those who read them were those who had written comments and the other 10% of those resulted in comments of their own to me that they found them offensive. Not to mention the complaints I got from people reading the comments without a warning label attached that there was naughty words used, explicit descriptions of sexual acts and sexually transmitted diseases and rather nasty vitriol about masturbating on one's keyboard when reading the post. This just isn't the appropriate site for that kind of content, given the massive markets out there that focus specifically on publishing erotica even by amateur writers as some of these clearly were who put inspiration and vivid imagery to prose.

In addition, individuals who either agreed or disagreed with me on issues I wrote about felt too intimidated or uncomfortable to engage in that form of dialogue in the midst of porn posters and people who loved slinging gender and homophobic slurs around and wrote in sloppy ebonics or wrote the "n" word half a dozen times perhaps because they were bored. So more actual discussion was taking place ironically outside of the comment thread to sidetrack the vitriol spewed there which people didn't want to wallow through to get to the actual discussions.

Thank you for restraining from any of the behaviors yourself in your own comment, Mr. Smith. I do appreciate your self control which others have not shown. Your comment has been posted here in its entirety.

And thanks for your input...your advice...Mr. Smith and some clarity regarding the situation and essentially your belief that boys should be boys, not much has changed I see since we last met here. That's one way to look at it, I suppose that this is the way it should be. It was simply disappointing to learn of it and given the last year's antics, it's disappointing to hear about it publicly no matter who it is including an individual that you mentioned that I've actually defended a time or two right here.

Public Meeting

Tuesday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The city council will actually meet and discuss this agenda including whether or not to award Leach with his workman's compensation claims, in addition to a medical retirement he already has received. But the keynote item no doubt will the the next chapter in the saga involving whether or not the gates near the never completed Overlook Passway will be opened, closed or whether there are more chapters on the horizon.

And how's this for a politically charged item? This item on the consent calendar is to set the charter required public hearing to determine whether or not the city council and mayor will get raises. Since the majority of the council is up for reelection five months later in a very strong anti-incumbent environment, if that majority and others go along with wisdom, they won't raise their own salaries while others have been doing more work without increases due to frozen vacancies in many departments as well as layoffs in the city.

If they lack said foresight and vision, then prepare to say farewell to them in 2011 as fed up voters might be compelled then to start issuing pink slips again.