CaliforniaCityNews.org

East L.A. Cityhood Efforts Live Another Day…For Now?

Despite three failed attempts at cityhood in East Los Angeles, a new effort might still have some life left. A proposal to make the area with 130,000 residents a new city needs money to pay for a study in order to examine whether or not the proposal for incorporation is financially viable enough to put the question to voters. As a result, Democratic legislators hatched a plan to bail the movement out when the Senate passed an emergency bill to front the movement the money it needed. Of course, the bill will still need approval by the Assembly and the governor, and many Republicans feel it is a matter that state legislators do not need to be involved in, as it is too local of an issue. The LA Times reports:

“Backers of cityhood have until Thursday to come up with the money or see their campaign die for the year. They turned in enough signatures in January to trigger the financial viability study, but do not have the $45,000 need to pay for the review by the Local Agency Formation Commission. Sen. Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks) said he supports the right of people to form new cities. "However, these efforts must be community-based and have local community support," Cox said. "This is a local process that should remain local. The state should not be a source of funding." Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) said it was not just a local issue.”

Similar efforts to achieve cityhood failed in 1961, 1963 and 1974. The East Los Angeles Residents Assn. turned in enough signatures in January to begin the process for cityhood once again.  Read more here.

Villa Park Council Weighs Member’s Facebook Post: Free Speech or Too Inflammatory?

A debate about free speech erupted in the city of Villa Park in Orange County over a City Council woman’s use of inflammatory language on her personal Facebook page. In response to the passage of national health care, Councilwoman Deborah Pauly wrote, “Applauding this Health Care Bill is like applauding a mugging or a rape. Do you feel sodomized?” As a result, Councilman Richard Ulmer placed the matter on the council’s agenda so that Pauly could be reprimanded because some of her peers and residents thought her words of disapproval were inappropriate and too strong. The OC Register reports that Ulmer said the following about the Facebook post:

“There have been multiple exposures (stories) in various public media, and the e-mails began to come to me saying, ‘What is this?’ Villa Park aspires to be a quiet, civil, peaceful community that doesn't want headlines. I really don't want to see this activity going on and on […] How much of this difficult situation for the folks in Villa Park will be repeated and how often? I can hope for an apology, and I can hope for a change of behavior.”

Despite Ulmer’s sentiments, the majority of Villa Park council members voted not to censure Pauly for her comments. The vote was 3-2, so Ulmer will not be getting any apology out of Pauly who adamantly stated that the post was well within her First Amendment rights. Read more here.

Fighting for the Little Buzzers: Bee Ordinance Examined in Santa Monica

The sound of bees in the air might be back in the city of Santa Monica, as the Council weighs whether or not a study should be commissioned to repeal an old ordinance that prohibits beekeeping. The number of honeybees in California has been dwindling and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has reported that millions of hives across the country have died out, which can spell trouble for crops, such as California’s nut trees. The city of Santa Monica also has a policy of exterminating feral bees and one resident wants to reverse the practice and allow for legal beekeeping due to fears about the drop in colonies and the need for pollination of crops. Councilman Kevin McKeown is supporting the need for a study. The LA Times reports:

“According to the nonprofit Honeybee Conservancy, First Lady Michelle Obama helped propel the beekeeping movement last year when she started an organic garden at the White House, complete with two hives. Since then, amateur beekeepers have been lobbying to overturn city ordinances outlawing the activity. Beekeeping is legal in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver and San Francisco, among other cities. And New York City health department officials recently legalized the keeping of the common, nonaggressive honeybee after proponents argued that hives promoted sustainable agriculture in the city.”

Research has not yet discovered why bee colonies are dying off, but traces of pesticides have been found in beehives so environmental factors are a possible effect. Read more here.

(Photo: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Mobile Pot Shop: City of Norco Seeks to Shut Down Pot-on-Wheels Dispensary

A van traveling around selling chocolate-covered cookies, brownies, and pretzels may seem innocent enough, except all of the products are laced with marijuana as part of the efforts of a rolling marijuana dispensary know as the Lakeview Collective-on-Wheels, comprised of a 1985 Pace Arrow motor home that is operated by husband and wife team Stewart Hauptman and Helen Cherry. Now the city of Norco in Riverside County is seeking to shut down the services provided by the pot-on-wheels team. While the couple argues that they abide by state laws and travel around to supply people who use their products for medicinal purposes, the city of Norco does not allow dispensaries and has sought an injunction to permanently keep them shut down, as they currently are not supposed to run their business until June 1st when there will be a hearing at the Superior Court. John Harper, an attorney representing the city, said the following of the case:

“We don't perceive what they do as a collective. They sell marijuana out of a van. We've seen people, generally speaking, between the ages of 18 and 25 who appear to be in good health lined up outside there to buy marijuana.”

However, the couple insists that their efforts are part of a humanitarian service, as they say they provide many sick people pain relief through their products. They say their client base is not primarily young (and healthy) people, but authorities say they have observed otherwise. The couple’s business has already been cited several times by the city. Read more here and here.

Ruling Gives Pol. Parties in SD Right to Contribute $1,000 for City Office Candidates

San Diego’s City Council recently voted to allow political parties to contribute money to candidates for city office with a limit of $1,000 in order to abide by a federal judge’s ruling. However, the change in the local law is not likely to affect the June 8th election, as the law is not supposed to go into effect until mid-June. Consequently, the county’s Republican Party, which filed the lawsuit against the city, is pushing to be able to contribute towards the June election.  The San Diego Union-Tribune reports:

“That process could be sped up by U.S. District Judge Irma Gonzalez whose ruling in February that parties must be allowed to contribute forced the city’s hand. The local Republican Party and others sued the city saying its restrictive campaign laws were hampering their free speech rights. Gonzalez agreed in part but delayed her decision on party contributions to give the city time to create an appropriate limit for those donations. The party was in court Tuesday asking Gonzalez to lift the stay so it can contribute money ahead of the coming election. The judge said she would rule on the Republican Party’s request Wednesday.”

In the past, party contributions only came in the form of symbolic endorsements, as contributions were banned in 1973. $150,000 has already been spent by the council on the litigation for this case. Read more here.

Sect. of St Releases Voter Stats: Republicans Lose Ground in CA

The Secretary of State released the 60 day registration report for voter registration statistics. You can find all the info at the Secretary of State’s web site but the major points are as follows:

• 44.6% are registered as Democrats. That is up from 42.7% in 2006
• 30.8% are registered as Republicans. That’s down from 34.6% in 2006
• 20.1% are registered as “Declined to State. That’s up from 19.9% in 2006.

Also of note is that of those who are eligible to vote, 72% are registered, which is up from 68% in 2006. Overall, there are 16,897,383 registered voters in California, out of 23,428,023 eligible voters.

At the county level, registration by political party had some interesting results as well. For instance, there were 21 counties with a majority registered as Democrats and now the number is 28. For Republicans, in 2006 there were 37 counties with a majority of Republicans and now the number has decreased to 30.

Counties that are the top Republican strongholds are Modoc, Placer, Lassen, Shasta, and Sutter. Counties with the highest number of Democrats are Alameda, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Marin, and Monterey.  A point of interest is that Orange County is not one of the top ten counties with registered Republicans, as it is often perceived to be a GOP stronghold, which ties into stories we’ve relayed here at California County News about petitioners fraudulently signing young people up as Republicans in Orange County against their wishes or without their knowledge.

Read the stats here and read more here.

City Manager by Day, Crime Fighter by Night…

 

Nassau Bay City Manager Chris Reed in the state of Texas didn’t hesitate to help a woman who was being beaten by her boyfriend in the parking lot of a Best Buy. The City Manager, who has already been shot twice, raced after the man and tackled him to the ground right before police showed up. The suspect didn’t stand a chance against Reed, who is a mixed martial arts master in his free time. KIAH-TV News reports:

“For that reason Reed knows what he did was dangerous and he would never tell others to do the same. ‘I'm not condoning what I did because this time I got lucky,’ said Reed. Reed said even though he was a police officer for years, this is the most publicized arrest he's made. It has garnered national attention in the mixed martial arts community. He said many times the sport gets bad press, so having a fighter use those skills to fight crime has been seen as a victory for MMA.”

The incident took place on April 10th when Reed was shopping for a dishwasher with his daughter. Read more here.

A Breath of Smoggy Air: L.A. Ranked 1st for Poor Air Quality in the Nation

Don’t take too deep a breath if you’re in the metropolitan area of Los Angeles. According to a new report from the American Lung Association, Los Angeles and its surrounding areas are still the smoggiest in the United States. The ranking is based on the 140 days a year of dangerous ozone levels that is typical of the region. The area that is defined as the smoggiest – not only in California but also in the country – also extends to Riverside and Long Beach. As a greater wake up call for the Golden State, the 10 smoggiest areas in the nation are all in California, such as Tulare, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Kern, in addition to L.A. Many California cities and counties are also ranked at the top for particle pollution due to the state’s abundance of refineries, ports, freeways, and power plants. Bonnie Holmes-Gen, the lung association's California policy director, said the following of the results:

“This is not just a nuisance or a bother. Thousands of people are being rushed to emergency rooms. Thousands of people are dying early as a result of air pollution.... It is a crisis.”

Many are pointing to these air quality results as further reason to support California’s greenhouse gas reduction law, AB 32, which is under scrutiny and is the subject of a repeal campaign through a proposed initiative. Nevertheless, there was some good news from the report, as the LA Times points out: “The number of high-ozone days has dropped by 25% in metropolitan Los Angeles and by 57% in metropolitan San Francisco, which includes Oakland and San Jose, since 2000.” If you want to know how the air quality is in your area, you can visit this web site and input your zip code. Read more here.

River Watch: Non-Profit on the Lookout for Contamination of Waters in Ukiah

Failed commitment to the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act + improper handling of hazardous waste = lawsuit against the city of Ukiah? That’s an equation Ukiah’s City Council wanted to avoid, which resulted in a settlement with River Watch of Northern California after the non-profit alleged that the city had poorly cleaned up contamination of the region’s waters. Due to the settlement, the city will cover the legal fees of the non-profit and agree to update a study to investigate whether there is water use in areas that could have been exposed to leakage from underground tanks that spilled gasoline and diesel fuel in 1997. River Watch has argued that when the city discovered the leaks many years after the tanks were installed, it did not do enough to ensure that the site was properly cleaned up and that nearby buildings needed to be tested for vapor. The Daily Journal reports:

“Based on the 2001 results, Rapport said the city doesn't think the updated survey will find any such water users. Also within a year, the city will sample the water in some of the utility trenches in the area, which include places where water and sewer lines run. This winter and next, the city will also sample the water in a trench east of the site after the first heavy rain each year. Councilman Doug Crane wanted to know why, if the city first learned of the contamination in 1997 when the tanks were removed, no cleanup had been done to date.”

It is expected that cleanup will begin sometime this year while the investigation is ongoing. The council set aside money for the process and stressed that it should occur sooner than later. Read more here.

SF Has 1 in 3 100K Earners; Saturday Night Live Does a Send-Up of Pension Benefits in Skit

It has been reported that in the city of San Francisco, one in three of the city’s workers earned $100,000 or more last year. San Francisco has 27,000 city workers and those who have been earning figures in the 100,000 club have been growing over the last decade. Many workers are able to boost their income with overtime and unused vacation. The Chronicle reports:

“The number of city workers paid at least $100,000 in base salary totaled 6,449 last year. When such extras as overtime are included, the number jumped to 9,487 workers, nearly eight times the number from a decade ago. And that calculation doesn't include the cost of often-generous city benefits such as health care and pensions.”

According to Deputy City Controller Monique Zmuda, the average city worker salary in San Francisco is $93,000 before benefits. And in more pension news, if you’re looking for a humorous look at pensions, now the popular comedy program “Saturday Night Live” is weighing in on the benefits that public employees receive. Here’s the skit: