Archive for May, 2011

COUNCILMAN STEVE ADAMS CLEARED: A CORRUPTIBLE SURPRISE

Posted: May 14, 2011 in Uncategorized
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Friday was a good day in River City as Mayor Loveridge’s special panel cleared Riverside Councilman Steve Adam’s alleged ethics violations.  Yes, that’s right, the celebratory smile and giddiness goes along with the pic!  In response to the special panel make-up, Mayor Ron Loveridge states, “These were not personal choices, we chose from the pool that applied”.   Well, I can understand that, but what about City Manager Brad Hudson’s reply to the City’s settlement of Lts. Darryl Hunt and Tim Bacon law suite, well, it was surprisingly as follows,  “…the city would be better off  without those two around, so we paid them to retire”.  Sounds like another law suit Brad, how much money has the taxpayer paid out just in settlements and law suits just because of what you may have said to somebody?  Come to find out the city is not insured, they were dropped back in 2008.  Currently, we are as they call it, “self insured”, that means settlements are paid out using taxpayer money.  The question is, Does Mayor Love’s special panel serve any real purpose, or are they as the English Royalty are viewed, an instrument of perception.   And is it almost possible to say, that we may be able to predict the outcome of any complaint made against City Hall by this special panel?  The city charter says council members should not be involved in personnel matters such as promotions. Rumored allegations are that their was interference by Councilman Steve Adams, who incidently is a fomer RPD Police Officer.

Earlier in the meeting, Melsh indicated and noted that Hudson said in his deposition that he couldn’t recall details of events surrounding the promotions at issue.  That’s a good one Hudson.. Sorry Hudson, no one believes that one! Especially with your track record.

MT. RUBIDOUX: THE PULSE OF THE COMMUNITY

Posted: May 12, 2011 in City of Riverside
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Tuesday’s City Council meeting ended with Riverside City Council passing permit parking within the vicinity of the park entrance way of Mt. Rubidoux.  Councilman Mike Gardner listened to the opinions of community residents, then himself speaking of the pros and cons, then passing permit parking with a review in  6 months.  Whats the solution, sometimes you have to pave a little bit of paradise and just build a parking lot.  There is no doubt that  Mt. Rubidoux will continue to be a destination point for many who live outside of the Riverside vincinity, but it is also our gem to the  community.  A parking lot would be the only solution, instead of having visitors park further away from the entrance.  But another hidden issue regards to the passing of restricted parking is the increase in Latino people who have been utilizing the park withing the last two years.  To some residents this has been the real issue, and to others within that community, it has eluded to the issue and tone of racism, which has allegedly been relayed to Councilman Mike Gardner.   But I digress, ever read city parking signs?  You read them, but still somehow get a ticket because you missed something.  My solution, is taking the properties as shown from 9th Sreet to 10th Street by eminent domain or by purchasing, would allow the city to acquire the land to give to the community and its visitors a place to park so they can enjoy the park, and not scaring them away and making people angry with ridiculous tickets.  We saw this phenomenon with the installation of parking meters into the downtown Riverside area in early 2000 by then Councilman Dom Betro, and currently merchants in Ventura, CA who are also experiencing lower customer visits with newly installed city parking meters.

UPDATE: 06/19/2011: Sunday:

We all pay for the streets, yet only SOME people are allowed to park on them.  That’s just totally asinine!      -Daves Not Here, comment from the PE

MT. RUBIDOUX- The parking conundrum has always been a firey issue.  Public parking already paid for by taxpayers, taken back by government for the benefit of a few?  Or does the city need the parking fine money to pay for the mounting debt that will come due, July 1, 2012.  Therefore the question is, do we hit residents and visitors with $41.00 tickets?  Further, why would one move to the country and complain about the roosters?  The parking issue continues all over the city,  but now the city is nickeling and diming visitors, not to mention residents, with parking tickets and code enforcement violations.  For example,  the issue in the Woodstreets regarding street cleaning signs, and residents being hit with $41 dollar tickets.  Now , if you pay for a landscaper by the month, and you tell him not to show, he still gets paid, but he doesn’t penalize you for not utilizing him.  Well the city does.  As taxpayers we pay for street cleaning, if we decide to park our car in front of home, shouldn’t we not get ticketed for using that service that day?  People maintain the front curb in front of the sidewalk without thinking that the city owns it, should we in turn send part of landscaping bill to the city to be reimbursed for  maintaining it?  Or after a windy day, should we charge the city for not picking up the broken tree and palm branches left on the street?  Left for the Residents to do the job themselves?  These are issues Councilman Mike Gardner will have to deal with appropriately in his new term.  Of course one of the suggestions regarding the Mt. Rubidoux parking was to take the properties closest to the entry way to the main entrance, this may not be a very popular suggestion, but in the long term would provide a solution to the parking problem we experience.  As Mt. Rubidoux continues to be drawing attraction when people visit our city, this would allow them a good experience.

ALLEGED FAVORITISM OF ALBERT WEBB AND ASSOC., NOW A CHANGE ORDER FOR 308,495K

Posted: May 10, 2011 in City of Riverside
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On the City Council Agenda for Tuesday May 09, 2011, it appears we have another request by Albert Webb and Associates requesting an increase in funding via the infamous “change order”.   This is in lieu of multiple allegations by city employees in a PE article two weeks ago involving favoritism by City Manager, Bradley J. Hudson.  What stood out, was that Chief Financial Officer, Paul Sundeen stated that Webb was only selected for 2 projects out of 22 over a 2 year period.  Yes there are a lot of two’s, but when you multiply them geometrically they become this.  I don’t know if it’s my visual impairment or just a little bit of “fuzzy math”, but you will find more than 2 projects over a 2 year period.  We took years 2008-2009, WEBB20082009    To be fair, take for instance 2008 and look 06/02/2008.  There are 12 payouts on the same day; why couldn’t the city just make one check, well we aren’t quite sure.  I understand they could be all be from twelve new individual projects which makes accounting sense, or one past project with twelve change orders (when vendors ask for more money), or several projects with change orders.

The recommended total budget according to this City Memorandum is as follows:

$352,000.00        Webb environmental consulting services

35,210.00        10% Consultant Contingency

24,750.00        Legal Fees

31,435.00        Planning, Fish and Game Fees

15,000.00        Misc. Postage, advertising, printing and mailing

    50,000.00        Staff administration to support the environmental review

$508,495.00        Project Budget Cost

($200,000.00)       Less additional amount approved by Council August 11, 2009

$308,495.00       Additional appropriation required

The key, is that they are claiming no fiscal impact to the General Fund.  Though they would like to finance this cost through funds available in the 2011 Unprogrammed Taxable Bond Account No. 9854800-440446.  This would be like using a credit card to fund the needed requested amounts.  Simply, the taxpayer would have to pay for this in higher property taxes at a later time, not to mention the additional interest.

This has also been brought to you by the usual suspects who are working hard to protect and serve the community at large:

Submitted by: newly christened Tina English, Interim Development Director

Certified to as the availability of funds: Paul C. Sundeen, Assistant City Manager/CFO/ Treasurer

Approved by:  newly christened Deanna Lorson, Assistant City Manager for  Bradley J. Hudson, City  Manager, because the assistant usually takes the fall in case something goes wrong.

..and of course the whole thing seems up to par with the City Attorney, Greg P. Priamos, otherwise we’ll just call Best, Best & Krieger for a consult.

It appears they already received 200K back in August of 2009, what did we get for this?  I hope it was at least a couple of signature pens and a notebook, but I digress.  But I don’t know that as of yet, but I do know they will be at City Council  requesting an additional $308,495.00 to help them do what they know best, continuing to figure what’s best for the Riverside Library with the additional of cost for legal fees, postage, printing, and of course we have to throw in fish and game fees.  What, you didn’t know about the deer hunting and trout fishing within the library.  Planning what you are going to hunt or fish for is one thing, but how much are Fish and Game Fees anyway?,  I can tell you they are not, anywhere near that amount.     Well the jokes on you as well as myself, the taxpayer if this passes, to the extent of $31,435.00 for planning and fish and game fees.   Hopefully will get a few more pens and a couple more cool notebooks this time.

UPDATE: May 10, 2011:  Without community imput, City Council unanimously passed Albert Webbs and Associates request for additional appropriations of $308,495.00  Matt Webb, president of the engineering firm denies charges brought about by Deputy Attorney, Raychele Sterling.  But it appears that sometimes doing the right thing can be the wrong thing, which appears to be the undefinable position the City of Riverside is taking.   Now Raychele Sterling remains on administrative leave.  But many our a little closer in blood lines than we think in River City.  It appears that Councilman Chris MacArthur and Matt Webb are distant cousins!  OK, it’s a stretch, they are not technically, but it’s been cleared by City Attorney Greg Priamos, all by himself and without a BB & K consult,  that there is no conflict of interest.  It further appears that Chris MacArthur’s aunt was adopted by Matt Webb’s grandparents when she was five.  But still no conflict.  Matt Webb acknowledges that he has known Chris for decades. I don’t doubt it considering the close family relationship.  But according to a Press Enterprise article regarding favoritism Matthew Webb, stated that he is a Riverside native with ties to local officials.  He has known council members William “Rusty” Bailey and Chris Mac Arthur for decades and is friends with Hudson.  In my opinion good ol’ boys and cronyism begans with close family ties, and I don’t mean by blood lines.  But what is important, we haven’t heard from City Council why the additional appropriation was awarded and needed by Albert Webb and Associates, and without the scrutiny the council ususally imposes on others requesting the same. 

RIVERSIDE: FIRED EMPLOYEE ALLEGES CITY OFFICIALS AWARDED MILLIONS IN CONTRACTS WITHOUT BID

Posted: May 9, 2011 in City of Riverside, Uncategorized
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About a week after allegations of favoritism hit the City of Riverside, a breaking release by the PE are allegations of improprieties claimed by fired city employee Sean Gill with regard to how city contracts were handled.  It has also been alleged by other indivduals, that the city of Riverside has a close relationship with PE, to the extent of having a worthy opinion before a story is released, as in the case of Chief Russel Leach DUI.  Regardless the suite claims that city officials gave millions in contracts without the contracts going out to bid.  Again the city is denying this claim, but I’ll tell you, it sounding alot like that old bug a boo we’d like to keep under the matt, “Favoritism”.  OK I said it.    But what is quite intriguing and diabolical is that the Riverside City Council was quite aware of this activity with regard to contracts not going out for public bid, this “in an effort to increase their political allies”.   Wow, quite blatent.  None the less, it is shameful time in the City of Riverside, when the atmosphere of trust is non existent toward elected and appointed government officials, that this makes the community have to take another step back.   It is also quite coincidental that Sean Gill’s comment completely disappeared from the comment section of the PE’s article Riverside: City Officials Dispute Favoritism Claims.  Evidently Sean Gill’s comment was as follows, taken from the Five Before Midnight Blogspot:

The city fired me when I tried to make people aware of their corruption. Its been going on for years. Brad Hudson, Siobhan Foster and Tom Boyd all deserve to be fired for their corruption along with half of the city council. People think Bell is corrupt, I hope they keep digging into the City of Riverside. If Ed becomes mayor, wait and see how much more work his firm receives.

—Sean Gill, to Press Enterprise comments

Again, this leaves the City of Riverside scrambling at damage control with the usual response, this time from Supervising Deputy City Attorney Jeb Brown, “We think that the case doesn’t have any merit and we look forward to defending it”.  I’ll bet you do Jeb.  This after Deputy City Attorney Raychele Sterling stated in a email to City Council,  that several city employees told her they were directed to give work to specific firms by superiors.  According to Chief Finance Officer Paul Sundeen the city has retained an outside law firm to do an independent investigation.  An investigation upon themselves? Any guesses on what this independent investigation will cover? Any wagers?  Well, we all agree that mishandling of contracts without bids cost the taxpayer in benefits they expect, and the taxpayer shouldn’t have to be hit with the cost due to the incompetance and quite possibly, fraud, of these city officials.  Besides contracts, I’m also thinking how many law suites have been settled out of court by the City of Riverside in order to cirmcumvent the limelight, but at what cost?  This is another investigation we need to dig into.  But again, we invite to hear from any elected or appointed official, the city of riverside’s side of the story.  We encourage you to comment.

UPDATE: FRIDAY MAY 20, 2011:  RIVERSIDE DEPUTY CITY ATTORNEY RAYCHELE STERLING FIRED!  The reason why the community of Riverside have become complacent to city news, is the type of third world politics displayed by elected and appointed officials within the walls of  City Hall.  Again, the city fires another employee in what appears for no other reason but doing the right thing.  But interesting enough, the City Hall offers her 6 months of paid administrative, yes, 6 months, to go away find another job and probably just be quiet.  You’ll never see this type of offer in the private sector.  But again the city is at a loss of words, especially when the taxpayer should be informed.  In the name of accountability and transparency we receive such responses  as,  “She was an at-will employee sitting at the pleasure of the city attorney, and … I determined that the termination of that agreement was in the best interests of the city”, as stated by City Attorney Greg Priamos.  But no firm reason as to the termination, and we may never know.   Possibly, if you have something on the city, you may receive one of Greg Priamo’s Iron Fisted Gag Orders, which is probably like having your mouth sutured before they place the duck tape on.  Greg, How much is this law suit going to cost the taxpayer?  Will you hire, contract or request assistance from Best, Best & Krieger and possibly good ol Ex Riverside County District Attorney Grover C. Trask?   …And since we do so much business with B,B&K is there any validity to the rumor that they may be taking one of the floors at City Hall?  …And Brad, How much is your ongoing investigation on yourself going to cost the taxpayer?  Not to mention, the cost of institutional memory ?  Hudson has requested an outside investigation to the allegations of favoritism of himself, so he hired Rancho Cucamonga-based law firm Cihigoyenetche Grossberg Clouse to do the investigation which ultimately may take a month.  But it gets stranger, one of the partners of the law firm Brad Hudson retained to investigate the email claims, is also a motivational speaker who specializes in magic,  and is the author of three critically acclaimed and bestselling books, “The Vitruvian Square: A Handbook of Divination Discoveries,” “The Masks of Tarot,” and “Bauta: Betraying the Face of Illusion,” in addition to his oracle/divination cards, “The Deck of Shadows.” This partner specializes in magic, thought-reading, and divination (Tarot, oracle cards, palmistry, astrology, and numerology).  I guess my question to the City of Riverside is, does this get paid through the taxpayer or the other side.  But this may be a good thing in Brad’s world, Cihigoyenetche Grossberg Clouse may be just the thing to take this investigation that one step beyond.

UPDATE:05/13/2012:  PRESS ENTERPRISE ENDORSES FORMER COUNCILMANL ED ADKISON, REGARDLESS OF THE ALLEGATIONS OF CONTRACT TIES WITH THE CITY AND ALLEGATION OF MISTREATMENT OF CITY EMPLOYEES.  MUCH OF THE RELATIVE FINANCIAL REPERCUSSIONS THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE IS EXPERIENCING CAN BE DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE DECISIONS MADE BY FORMER CITY COUNCILMAN ED ADKISON DURING THE YEARS OF 2000 TO 2007.

GENESIS: THE BOOK OF RIVERSIDE POLITICS

Posted: May 7, 2011 in Uncategorized
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It is not a secret that the level of impropriety in government has increase at an alarming rate to the dismay of the taxpayer.  It is our primary purpose to bring news and clarity to the community in regard to complicated tangles of paperwork meant to unreadable to the public, and foremost, bringing transparency to the community of Riverside, no matter what is factually found.  Secondly, it is also our purpose to ask the questions on this site, and in doing so, give an opportunity of our elected and appointed public officials to respond to this site and bring clarity to their actions and decisions.  

Onward we go to Emerald City,  to see Ron, our Mayor and Honorary Wizard of Oz and his Wonderful Council of Munchkins of the Lollipop Guild..

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