River City Follies

The Day Free Speech Died

2005-07-14T15:12:00.000-07:00

A date which will live in infamy, in Riverside political circles....July 12, 2005 at approximately 8:30pm. The day that free speech died.

Well, not all of free speech of course. You still have your three minutes of public comment at the beginning of the meeting. Plus, you can still comment on the one or two items that have survived the city council agenda purge and are on the discussion calendar. But, with a 6-1 vote, the city council has decided that is ALL you will have, beginning in two weeks.

Interestingly enough, it was the downtown elite who led the brigade towards banning the public from being able to pull items off of the consent calendar. They went up and talked about how sick and tired they were of the "others" ranting and raving at the mike. They were getting so frustrated at watching the city try to do its business. And it must be infuriatingly frustrating for those who prefer to pull strings behind the scenes, and behind closed doors at "private" meetings to have to sit and watch people who put it all out in public fight for their right to keep city business public. Point taken, but when members of the downtown elite believe they have the right to pull strings and claim that it is for the public good, then shame on them for not asking those they were "helping" first.

The Saving of Project Bridge

2005-04-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

Over 40 community members congregated at a city council subcommittee meeting to protest against the termination of a popular gang intervention program and received good news when Project Bridge received partial funding for next year.

"I'm very reluctant to do anything to endanger this program," Councilman Frank Schiavone said.

(He's always reluctant to cut when he has to look in the faces of those his cuts will hurt. Ah, another reason to like backdoor politics...)

His colleagues Dom Betro and Art Gage who chairs the Finance Committee quickly agreed.

Also present and sitting in the front row, were five members:

Pat McCarthy, President
Chris Lanzillo, Vice-President
Christian Dinco, Secretary
Brian Smith, PORAC rep.
Carlos Flores, former negotiations, now Hispanic rep.

of the Riverside Police Officers Association's Board of Directors who pushed instead for more officers, and equipment in anticipation of further growth in the city's population and borders through planned annexations.

(Everyone was surprised to hear them speak. The fact that they did, showed how unnerved they were by the chain of events)

What quickly became apparent was how little things have changed in terms of the relationship between the police department and several of the communities it serves. The community members spoke more of the "seeding" of their neighborhoods, while the officers appeared to focus more on the "weeding." (mostly of minorities, to free up neighborhoods like the Eastside for the University students)

(Otherwise known, as business as usual)

Initially, a dozen people spoke passionately about the program that had made a difference in the lives of many predominantly Black and Hispanic teenagers.
Victoria Jackson, who serves on the steering committee, said that that enough community programs including the Officer of Neighborhoods and the Youth office had been cut by the city already.
"My job is to convince you not to cut any funding from Project Bridge," she said. "Nothing including Park and Recreation can do what Project Bridge did. It's a sucess story."Jackson reminded the councilmembers of the Strategic Plan which the department, city and State Attorney General's office had created to guide the department through the years after the consent decree expires next March. According to that Plan, Project Bridge was to be expanded.

(The Plan approved by the AG, city and department and submitted in Riv. County Superior Court last November lists Project Bridge's expansion as a key componant of preventive policing)

Instead, it faced elimination.

(Because again, consent decree is almost over, time to get back to business)

She added that people had come from Utah to examine the program, and visit with the staff.
Damon Castillo, who is the secretary for the deputy superintendant of the Riverside County of Education, said that the program gave kids a second chance and provided them with "nurturing and supportive relationships with adults." Another program, Operation Primetime, run by the Park and Recreation office, was never intended to be inolved in gang intervention, Castillo said.
Riverside County Probation officer Bill Thompsan who works in the program, talked about successes with kids he placed in the program.
"It's not just about the kid, but the family system," Thompsan said.
Project Bridge provides counciling, job placement and tutoring services for teenagers at risk of gang involvement. It more importantly provides mentorship for teenagers who may not otherwise have that influence in their lives.
Another probation officer, Lynette Jones, talked about her involvement with Project Bridge, primarly with middle-school aged students
"They've made some poor choices but Project Bridge helps them redirect those choices," Jones said.
After listening to about a dozen speakers, RPOA president Pat McCarthy and Officer Brian Smith, who represents PORAC, decided it was time to take the testimony in a different direction and they lined up before people who had been waiting to speak.

(Actually they cut in line. They neither value courtesy, decorum or minorities, or desperation makes one do rash things)

As an officer on the front line(meaning "them" needs to shut up), McCarthy said, he believed that there needed to be more attention played to dealing with expansion of the city's borders through annexations and through anticipated population growth. More squad cars were needed because the department had not purchased one in two years, McCarthy said. After he and Smith had spoken, the police officers applauded, just as the community members had applauded the speakers who supported Project Bridge.
Schiavone asked the consultant hired by the city to oversee the implementation of the consent decree, to comment on the strategic plan and how it applied to Project Bridge. Brann called the program "a true collaborative effort between the community and the police."
"Project Bridge is an instrumental program," Brann said, "It's a very, very important program."
Brann added that he understood that there were budgetory programs faced by the city, but that the Attorney General's office would be playing close attention.
"I will be placing close attention to what happesn to decisions made in this meeting," Brann said.

(As he should be to the department and the city, both colliding with each other in the effort to see which entity can go back to doing things "the old way" first)

Gage thumbs his nose(again) at the CPRC

2005-04-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

Gage thumbs his nose(again) at the CPRC
Okay, a few shots down, because true to form Art Gage expressed his loathing at the CPRC by refusing to apologize at the April 14 City Council meeting:

link to original incident where Art Gage compares the CPRC to trash:

">Gage's snafu

Two weeks later, members of the Riverside Coalition for Police Accountability appeared at the city council meeting to ask Gage to apologize both to the commissioners on the CPRC and the city's residents. Deborah Wong, chair, wrote a letter which was read before the council that explained that Gage's comments violated several sections of the city council's policies and procedures for council meetings.

Art Gage waited until public comment was finished(ergo no rebuttals to HIS comments) and answered the question, are you ready to apologize, in his usual impulsive manner.

NOT IN THIS LIFETIME, he said.

Take that, from Gage, who didn't even have to thumb his nose at the constituents out there who voted to pass Measure II, including the thousands who reside within his ward. He did that clearly with his choice of words.

At a previous meeting, Gage also told a fib. That he did not compaign on the issue of the CPRC. While he was not aggressive about this issue in his campaign, he did respond when asked that he believed the CPRC should exist but not become a permanent fixture. His quotes appeared in several daily newspapers BEFORE the run-off election. He knew ahead of time that the majority of the voters in ward three supported the CPRC, way, way before Measure II was a blip on the horizon. So he had to be careful how he worded it. But after his election, he showed just how temporary he wanted the CPRC to be by trying to cut its funding by up to 95 percent a mere three months after winning his election. After all, when the RPOA interviews candidates for endorsements, it doesn't just ask if you oppose the CPRC, but if you're willing to do your part to destroy or demolish it. Clearly, Gage was ready and willing by the time of his inaugeration.

So which Gage is the real Gage?

the one who says he supports the CPRC for the time being?

Or the one who said on April 12 that it is a piece of trash that he had always opposed?

My feeling, is that the vote of the people only mattered until the election was over, and then the reality of a $13,000 debt that needed to be repaid in kind kicked in shortly after the votes were tallied.

The City Council Drinking Game

2005-04-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, I was thinking back to those drinking games that are so popular in college dormitories. You hear a phrase on a television show, and you empty a shot glass of your liquor of choice. He or she who gets drunk first, loses.

Well, given that Charter Cable airs the city council meetings on channal 31 and you can now kick back on the sofa and watch the antics of our current city council and their puppet staff from the comfort of your own home, it's only natural that some sort of drinking game would evolve.

*Drink one shot glass each time Ed Adkison barks "out of order" at a public speaker. Two shot glasses if his face turns a bright crinsom red at the same time.

Drink one shot glass for each time, the mayor puts his hand out, after a non-paying constituent has exceeded the three-minute speaking limit. Two shot glasses any time the mayor mentions an interesting study involving municipal politics or urban planning, or "visioning" that he's read.

One shot glass each time Steve Adams stands up and leaves the room. Two shot glasses if he has a new hair color at the time.

One shot for each time Art Gage disparages the Community Police Review Commission. Three shot glasses for each time he illegally pulls an item from the consent calendar to promote his agenda.

One shot glass for each time Frank Schiavone counts ceiling tiles. Two shot glasses each time he leaves a meeting early or arrives late. Four shot glasses for every time he bemoans the council's victimization at the hands of their evil (nonpaying) constituents who won't sit down and be quiet.

Three shot glasses for every arrest by a police officer. Four, if the arrests are conducted by any officer except Ray Soto and Carlos Vasquez. Give a toast to the inebriated regular during his weekly arrest. It's legal for anyone to be drunk in public, except for those who really need to be drunk to get through each day.

If you follow these rules, you will be drunk about half-way through the meeting. Then, you can find a designated and very sober driver to cart you down to city hall, where you can then be arrested for being drunk at a city council meeting, especially if you rile up the audience in your corner by comments that you speak during the public comment portion of the meeting. And look on the bright side, you're probably in better shape than your more sober cohorts.

Brad Hudson, city manager of the moment

2005-04-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

Here he comes....

Riverside picked itself a city manager on April 12, behind closed doors when mayor and council voted 8-0 not to hire someone that actually came up in the expensive national search, but someone close to home. After stubbing out their smokes, they announced that Brad Hudson(ex-head of the county's EDA) would be the new city manager.

Hudson will begin work on June 1 and will be tutored by interim city manager Tom Evans, until Evans retires on June 30. He will cash in big time, with an annual salary of $225,000 plus fringe benefits for the next five years, which is higher than his predecessor, George Carvalho. But they had to pay Hudson more b/c he was making $220,000 at the county job. You can't steal from the county without offering that person a huge carrot stick.

Man of the people?
Toothless puppet?
Which category the latest city manager falls into remains to be seen. One thing is certain, on April 12 at 6:31, the city council sure loved their new hire.

They may love Brad today. They might hate him tomorrow. Hopefully, we won't be paying out another city manager's contract after the honeymoon ends. We're heading into the final months of a fiscal year which saw a $200,000 payout to the former city manager, the culmination of one of the most expensive temper tantrums in municipal history.

After the applause died down and the schmoozing moved outside the building, the city council resumed its business of catering to the out of county developers. If you're not a developer from outside county lines(preferably from Orange County) then you do not have a city council representative. You are an inconvenience to your city government. If you open your mouth, you are a public nuisance. During the agenda item in which the council revisited its restrictions on public comment, Councilman Frank Schiavone essentially reminded everyone of these facts. You want your voice to matter with your city government? Better take out your check book.

Councilman Art Gage refused to applaud upon hearing Community Police Review Commission Chair Michael Gardner present the annual report. He wanted to impress on all the people who belong to the police union which richly contributed to his campaign that he was in their corner. Screw the majority of his ward's voting population who passed Measure II! What really matters are two things, $14,000 in political contributions and the 328 members of the Riverside Police Officers Assn. Dom Betro reaffirmed his support for the CPRC, and was joined by Nancy Hart, who said it was important to the city's residents. Art just glowered, while the producer of his weekly television show, Richard St. Paul, filmed the proceedings.

Building a Treasure Chest, pt. 1

2005-04-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

With each new year, comes newly released campaign disclosure statements from elected officials for the previous year. Of course, council members, usually those who receive the most contributions, pooh pooh any talk of buying political favors or votes through campaign contributions. But, isn't it interesting to see how certain councilmen act in the best interests of certain campaign donors right after they receive a hefty check from those donors?

Here are the major contributions to several Riverside City Council members, according to the 2004 financial disclosure statements.:

FRANK SCHIAVONE:

2004 top donors:
-----------------------

Young Homes: $3,500

Riverside Police Officers Assn: $3,000

Tiffany Coach: $2,500

J.E.D. Family Trust: $1,250

Dale W. Sexton: $1,000

V. Gerald Smith: $1,000

American Medical Response: $1,000

Mr. William P. Bratton, Atty $1,000

C.L. Smith, co. $1,000

Janet Gless, rancher $1,000

Gresham, Savgge, Nolan & Tilden, LLP $1,000
-------------------------------------------

ART GAGE:
--------------------------

Riverside Police Officers Assn: $2,500 ($6,000)

Wintec Energy Lmted: $2,500

Young Homes: $1,500

Leigh Schrom, Riv. Plaza: $1,500

Leonard & Glickman: $1,000

John Gless: $1,000

----------------------------------
RON LOVERIDGE:

How do I hate thee? The (non)love affair btwn Art Gage and the CPRC

2005-04-07T17:29:00.000-07:00

Art Gage hates the CPRC, and said he never campaigned on that issue, but that's not what he said before the runoff election when he stated in a daily newspaper that he supported the CPRC but said it should be temporary. It was only after he was safely elected into office by Ward 3 voters that city residents began to see a whole different side to Gage in terms of his feelings about the Community Police Review Commission.

$14,000 is a lot of change, and it came into his campaign coffer courtesy of the Riverside Police Officers Assn, otherwise known as the presidents of the anti-CPRC fan club. Only three months after he was elected, he twice proposed cutting the funding of the CPRC by up to 95%. He failed after two cohorts of his, Frank Schiavone and Ed Adkison refused to support him.

Even though he failed at his attempts to gut the CPRC's budget, Gage has harbored ill feelings about the commission his financial supporters hate. And once again, at a city council meeting held on April 5, he showed it.

"The CPRC is a piece of junk" he announced. A piece of crap, he wanted to get rid of. His words shocked Councilmen Dom Betro and Ameal Moore out of their reveries and prompted them both to condemn his words, through their own. Each time, they were greeted by loud applause from about 40 people sitting in the audience. Most of these 40 people had never campaigned or lobbied for the CPRC, nor its eventual inclusion in the City's Charter. However, these people were drawn together by a common thread, and that had to do with the importance of citizen participation in government, of which boards and commissions were one mechanism available to them(well, actually about 1% of them, but that's another story)

Frank and Volcano Ed were quiet. No surprise there. Nancy Hart was too, but then take one look at a financial contribution received last May, and add that to the fact that she's running againt a certain carpetbaggin' downtowner turned Ward 6 neighbor, next autumn, two reasons to keep one's lips sealed on the CPRC.

Why do all the city manager candidates look like kids?

2005-04-05T17:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, one of the candidates had grey hair, BEFORE he entered the council boardroom. The others looked like they had never shaved in their lives. It should not be a surprise given the hiring criteria the city council put on the recruitment flyer, particularly the psychological profile section. Dan Bernstein, in his column, said it best when he stated that what the city council wanted was a trained seal.

What they got was a lineup of the usual white male candidates, younger because at that age, they are after experience, which they will take with them after they are fired to Orange County where they can earn higher paychecks.

One older white guy, and omigosh, a White WOMAN! I don't think they'll ever even interview a man or woman of color again. The last city manager, George Carvalho, was Latino and they hated him so much, he did not even complete his three year contract, which meant that the highest paid city employee did not do a lick of work for the city this year. He's off earning his paycheck as the administrator of Dana Point Marina and probably laughing all the way to the bank. His former assistant, who quit rather than betray him, is working in Elk's Grove, and the city's only female assistant city manager, Penny Culbreath-Graft is administrator of a city in Orange County called Huntington Beach. Orange County might think the I.E. is filled with trailer trash, but they steal our best and brightest away at a bargain.

They came in 15 minute increments then left, expressionless. Hopefully, they'll have more facial expressions when it comes down to the final pick.

The final test should be to toss out a ball and see who can best catch it with their nose.

Councilman anyone: All right, do this for me...

City Manager: Arf, Arf... *claps fli...hands together*

Volcano Ed v the little old lady

2005-03-18T14:54:00.000-08:00

The city council finally had its way and ordered a Riverside Police Department officer to lay his hands on a person who had committed the horrendous crime of exceeding the three-minute rule. And guess what? The major security threat is an elderly woman!

Witnesses say that a male police officer, standing at least 6'0 tall and weighing at least 250 pounds went up against an elderly woman, who stood about 4'11 and weighed in at under 100 pounds. The police officer walked up to where she stood at the podium, grabbed her sweater above her shoulder and pulled her away. This use of police force was ordered by an irate Councilman "Volcano" Ed Adkison who was furious at the fact that someone was speaking longer than three minutes without paying the required campaign contributions for that privilage. It's not lost on most of us little people how the time requirement is often waived for speakers with multi-word titles and multi-piece business suits.

The little old lady was speaking to the city council about what was happening to her home. Apparently, her property had been flooded as a result of construction being conducted off-site. While contributing to the extinction of Riverside's orange groves, a construction crew had torn out a concrete culvert which served as a drainage system. So, the water(and mud)having no where else to go spilled over onto her property.

This is supposed to be the time when her elected official(her area was represented by Frank Schiavone)is supposed to turn on his mike and offer his assistance, or his business card and say, I'll talk to you at some point about your situation and we'll see what we can do. Or at least, said councilman could have referred her to the appropriate city staff. Apparently, according to witnesses, this did not happen.

Instead, the woman asked someone in the audience to give her their time. The council said that could not be done. So she kept talking and Ameal Moore(stepping in for an absent Ron Loveridge) let her talk. Then Volcano Ed barked, "Point of Order" and called the police officer, who was very embarassed over to deal with this nuisance, otherwise known as an elderly woman worried about the state of her home. So rather than talk to her from one human being to the next, the city council designated a police officer to treat her like a criminal. There are murderers. There are rapists. There are thieves. Then there are little old ladies fighting to protect their homes and being accousted by police officers, who have become bouncers in the eyes of our city council to sic on those who displease them.

Behavior which might or may not be worthy of CEOS in a board room of a major company but not of people elected to be public servants for ALL the residents of Riverside.

Who 's the fairest of them all?

2005-03-09T13:50:00.000-08:00

Mirror Mirror on the wall...
Who's the fairest of them all?

Tonight it was a tossup between aformentioned council members Dom Betro and Frank Schiavone the two former idealists of different corners, who came out of those corners to weld swords at a common enemy.

Business owners and community members showed up enmasse to protest the prolonged contruction project which has made University Avenue virtually unpassable for nearly a year. What began as a 40-day-long street improvement project stretched into a fiscal nightmare for the businesses which line both sides of the street, from Commerce to Park.

The unusual rainy season had served as the scapegoat for the delayed completion of the project. However, the powers that be at City Hall could have avoided this rainy season if they had scheduled the project to piggyback off the completion of the project to improve the portion of University Avenue closest to the University Village. Four out of five of the last winters were drought-dry. Much less money and time could have been spent on the project during any one of those years.

But the city waited and then decided to start the project on the portion of University Avenue which was closest to that other jewel in Riverside(besides UCR)--downtown Riverside. And so the project...aka the nightmare began...

The rains poured. The gas lines ruptured. The 100-year-old(according to carbon dating) water mains broke. 40 days and 40 nights became nine months of misery and deep financial loss to businesses in the affected area.

Susan Medina, who's family founded Zacateca's restaurant was greatly concerned. Although Zacateca's serves really good food, it's also known as the heart of the Eastside and Riverside's abeit small, progressive activist community.

So people came out in droves to speak in support of Medina, Zacatecas and other restaurants and businesses in the construction zone. Which of course, made city council members nervous.

Before the curtain raises...

2005-03-08T18:01:00.000-08:00

Well, another Tuesday night, another city council production!

Who will take home the crown tonight as most persuasive council member on the most agenda items?

Who will be the player? Who will be the played?

Who will keep Volcano Ed from erupting?

Who will introduce their "Black friend"?

Stay tuned to the answers of these and other questions which will be answered(or not) at the city council meeting....

Laughter in the aisles....

2005-03-08T16:40:00.000-08:00

Responsible Development. What a novel concept. For houses to be built in Riverside, which actually adhere to growth control laws including Measures C and R. and respect natural habitats including the Allessandrio Arroyo. It makes sense or does it? That actually depends on who you are and where you are sitting at weekly city council meetings.

Say these simple words to city council members and you will be looking at faces that grimace, contort in distaste and impatience or look pained as if the last bowel movement were a distant memory. Bodies will twist in chairs and fingers will restlessly engage in activities including doodling, flipping through super-important reports or smoothing one's hair back. Eyes will look up, look down or side to side, anything to avoid looking directly at the person addressing them at the podium.

Observing the body language of city council members is always the highlight of every weekly meeting because there is not anything else that happens which will provide much pleasure for the average city resident. Often times, people say one things while their bodies scream another. Yes, we will vote for this, the voices collectively say, while the bodies groan, only because you are making us!

It's more fun to write about it, if only in a blog that no one may ever read. Because there is no attempt to hide incriminating body language, then there must be no awareness of it. No inner knowledge that some part of their bodies are trying to tell the truth, while they spin, what they believe to be true.

Everyone has their favorite council member. Whether it is the one who represents their district, or not, everyone has one that they believe is the one true "real" elected official among the hubris. Everyone seems more intent to find the "real" council member in the pack, especially during election year, which is filled with tired incumbants who perhaps, were "real" once.

The white middle/upper class moderate liberals of downtown cleave to Dom Betro as the Great Hope...but if you're outside that clique, it's hard to see him as anything but a slightly idealistic newcomer who will be fodder for the machine before he hits mid-term. Each compromise made to the ruling faction of the city council chips away at qualities like integrity and honesty and committment, that after a successful grass-roots campaign, you can bring into office, but when you leave, those qualities will not leave with you. Just like fashions which were hot once but are not passe, they were tossed into the recyling bin to make room for a closet of new suits. Though, he has held up pretty well so far.

The conservative republican families who hail from Riverside's "white flight" section of town had their idealist in Frank Schiavone, but three years after serving as council member, you can not even recognize the person that he once was, before he decided to merge with Ed Adkison into the analagous entity nicknamed FRED. Instead of being his own person, he's now played by Ed and both of them routinely play the other members of their voting faction, to an audience of people experiencing a strange combination of amusement and dismay at what passes for theater in the Inland Empire.

Occasionally, amidst usually dull proceedings, the two councilmen who constituted the original idealists, Betro and Schiavone, merge into something that at least is more interesting, though there's no official nickname for this duo. It is difficult to say at this point who is playing whom, when and for what. Then again, perhaps they might actually agree on what they are championing, well at least at that moment in time. Uusually, the best ideas to come forward involve the combined alliance and efforts of these two council members. Abeit, you could fit a couple visits by El Nino into the duration of time expended beween treatises.

The only thing you can say about Art Gage is that there's a better than even chance he may be running for election at mid-term. For months, he proved to be a well-oiled cog in the majority voting bloc, until he started mucking up the works with his flirtations with power during his stormy stint as mayor pro tem which caused FRED to distance themselves from their unpredictable colleague. Richard St. Paul, one of his main backers was at TalkRiverside.com stating that he believed Gage should run for mayor. Although he has not announced plans to run, the rumors are flying that he might take a stab at Mayor Ron Loveridge's throne.

However, those aren't the only rumors currently flying about Gage. Whispers of RECALL have plagued Gage during the past six months. Whether residents of ward 3 have the determination and stamina to pull off a recall election remains to be seen or not.

It would be interesting to see if a council member could pull off running two election campaigns in one chronological year. Entertaining as hell too. Of course, what would the city charter have to say about that?

Of course, you did not read it here.

Who's Who in Riverside Politics

2005-03-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

Riverside

HISTORY: Riverside was, believe it or not, founded by abolitionists including John W. North in the mid 1800s.

TYPE OF GOVERNMENT: City Council/Manager system with an elected mayor who's a traveling well-paid figurehead. The City Council hires, manages and fires the city manager, city attorney and city clerk.

Entertainment Tonight pt. II: Doth though protest too much?

2005-03-03T15:06:00.000-08:00

As spellbinding as the earlier discussions in the city council meeting were, there was an incident that occurred during the discussion of agenda item #33 surpassed even that as an ugly example that racism is not dead in Riverside's City Hall.

Schiavone made some vague references to someone in the audience calling him a racist in connection with some newspaper. But he said he did not want to really get into that now. What he wanted to do was show how he was not a racist by pulling Interim asst. city manager, Jim Smith(African-American) out of the audience so that he could stand in front of everyone in the chambers as well as the viewing audience while Schiavone explained that had he been a racist, there would not be a Black man in city management(pare-the-meat-off-the-bone paraphrase). Smith smiled and went along with, being on display as the "black friend" of Schiavone. After all, that's what he's worked hard during his entire career to do, is to serve to validate his employer's belief that he was not a racist. Hopefully, he gets paid extra for this role in city government on top of the other job responsibilities he has to perform.

I almost addressed Schiavone's almost-allegation but then I thought, since he would be so busy pulling the foot he had wedged so tightly in his mouth, I wouldn't have his full attention.

Entertainment Tonight: March 1 city council meeting

2005-03-03T14:23:00.000-08:00

The curtain raised and sitting in their seats were all seven city council members, the mayor, the interim city manager, city attorney and city clerk. Potty breaks were kept at a minimum.

Note: Councilman Ed Adkison did not have to excuse himself from any votes today. His decibal reading remained at normal levels throughout the evening.

Invocation(separation of church and state be damned) and pledge to the nation's flag

Some awards were given out to people used to getting awards.

The battle over the city council's salaries began in earnest. Frank Schiavone and Dom Betro shared some rare camaradie by declaring that the city council should cut its salary by 5 percent. Betro already takes a huge hit with his annual salary since he refused to accept the 66 percent raise the city council gave itself several years ago.

Their proposal, garnered no support. Self-appointed fiscally conservative watchdog, Art Gage actually had wanted the council to increase the money it is paid annually. He wanted the stipend which is given to each council member for each Redevelopment Agency meeting they attend to be more than the $50 they currently are paid.

The vote was 5 to 2, with Schiavone and Betro holding out on the dissent. But, they do get it both ways, meaning they get to keep their paychecks and they get some PR for the appearance of trying to do the right thing. A smile and a shrug after losing a vote says it all.

So although Riverside might lose most of its crossing guards, and all of its gang prevention programs, the city council has announced that it will be more than happy to force other factions to make sacrifices but will not include itself among those who will do any sacrificing.

Next, the council had to address a pulled consent calendar item, which would transfer $20,000 out of the budget of the disbanded Youth Council Office which was earmarked for the Eastside Youth Action Council, and instead the money would be used to pay the salary of the Youth Council coordinator Connie Leach, wife of police chief, Russ Leach. Previously, Leach(Connie) had served as a volunteer and had shown her competence and willingness to do the job. However, now that her job became a paid position, it should be filled through an open, inclusive and competitive hiring process. Everyone should have the right to put their qualifications and resumes on the table to apply for this job, including Leach. That is how it is supposed to be done in public agencies, however, our city council does not see the city of Riverside as a public agency. They see it as analogous to a private business in which they serve as its CEOs. And as you know in private businesses, it is easier to hire family members and friends in job positions.

In fact, to counter that, Riverside's city charter includes a nepotism clause. Of course, that clause is hardly ever followed in actuality. And it's not being followed here, with the position of Youth Council coordinator. The funny thing is, that so many people say they abhor nepotism in all forms, yet when it came to the youth coordinator position, they were strangely silent, or nodded their heads when people spoke about how well Leach had done her job. Well, that's still no excuse for tacitly supporting nepotism at City Hall.

The sad thing is that Leach is intelligent and capable of doing the job and she would be competitive in the job search process. At least this person thinks so, even if City Hall clearly has doubts. So nepotism rules the day. Ameal Moore and Art Gage ask questions about where the money is going, but Mayor Loveridge weaves a convoluted labyrith of complex terms together and loses everyone along the way. The resultant confusion along with a long-held thinly disguised contempt against those belly-aching folks from the Eastside allows the measure to pass 5, to 2.

Before the Post Parade

2005-02-23T16:16:00.000-08:00

Only nine months remain until election day, when the city of Riverside will hold its latest round of municipal elections. Up for grabs this year, is three council seats and the mayoral spot. It is too early to handicap the races without knowing who's in the field but there has been several early announcements of hats being tossed in the ring....

MAYORAL RACE: So far, it's a two horse race between three-time incumbant Ronald Loveridge, a professor from UCR and current councilman, Ameal Moore. Loveridge spent most of last year sewing up his constituency on the city council, but by doing so, he alienated himself from most of his core votes. Will he win them back by November? Ameal Moore opted out of running for a fourth term as council member in ward 2 and has opted instead to make history by being this city's first Black mayoral candidate. Can he continue to blaze a trail as Riverside's first Black mayor? Stay tuned!

COUNCIL RACES:

Ward 2:

With Ameal checking out of ward two, it's an open field, and no candidate has publicly declared an intent to run for this seat, which oversees the Eastside, University and Sycamore Canyon areas, along with the slice of Canyoncrest which is east of Allesandrio.

Ward 4:

Incumbant Frank Schiavone is currently facing no known opposition, although whispers are flowing from Orangecrest, through Mission Grove and Alessandrio Heights on down through Casa Blanca and Canyoncrest that there's displeasure with his alignment with three other council members and his increasing tendancy to "me too" Councilman Ed Adkison's votes on developmental issues impacting the city. While currently wooing back support from the Riverside Police Officers Assn(who isn't too happy with his failure to eliminate the Community Police Review Commission) as well as the Firefighters' union, he's losing momentum in maintaining his stronghold of support, in Orangecrest and other affluent neighborhoods. This ward is ripe for a challenger, if anyone will step to the plate.

Ward 6:

Nancy Hart is even more vulnerable than Schiavone because of her support of the controversial Rancho La Sierra project and her support of eliminating the NACs. She's currently facing one challenger, the ever mobile politician-wannabe, Ric Costillo who declared his candidacy not in ward 6, but in Casa Blanca which is located in ward 4. I guess with all the moving around he's been doing in the past several years since he ran for the downtown council seat, he's a bit disoriented. If he runs, Castillo will have the built in support of four council members and endorsements from several of the same labor unions who back the current voting bloc on the council. In other words, the voting bloc, known as the GASS quartet, will have the fifth vote they think they need on budget making decisions, not remembering that they pretty much have that vote in the current crowd.