July 1, 2003 the children of Ag park were all home for the summer and getting ready for the 4th of July. The neighborhood was filled with the summer noise of children riding their bikes playing in the cul-de-sac on Keating Drive. Unbeknownst to them was the danger lurking in the park, known as AG Park. With no warning, no notification, the children and families of AG Park continued to play, walk, exercise and ride their bikes as if nothing had happened. The illegal grading which led to the toxic sludge spill came about in the middle of June 2003. What’s important to remember is that the AG Park area was never fenced off, it was open to the public, especially the children for their enjoyment. July 4th went on without a concern by those in charge.
On July 18th, 2015, Cassie MacDuff of the Press Enterprise wrote the most compelling story of this year. This Story will have a lasting effect on the way that we do business at the City of Riverside from this day forward, and this story will impact us all. Financially, politically, emotionally and morally, I urge each and everyone please read this very important article. Thirty miles of Corruption has been involved in uncovering this story since 2010. When we became involved in City Politics we had no idea what we were doing or what we were looking at. Someone told us to look at Ag Park. We asked the city to provide us with ALL the documents. They set up a conference room for us and there were so many boxes of information I couldn’t believe it. There were about 4 to 6 of us at any one given time and we went through thousands of pages of documents. I was horrified what we found.
Today we have all come so far and the true story of AG Park A.K.A. Camp Anza, will finally be told. The one tale of this saga that I repeatedly took to City Council was the fact that the City had approximately 15 Street and Sewer workers clean up this dangerous toxic waste dump without any consideration for their health. I knew one of these men had passed away with a rare form of cancer. I have tried to figure out why the city would put their staff in harm’s way. I couldn’t believe that the current council would not even acknowledge this was a problem. I couldn’t believe that the council and executive staff would just ignore the true facts of AG park we were uncovering.
Now I am not an expert in Engineering, City Government, or Municipal Law, I am just a Esthetician with a keen sense of curiosity. I believe common sense would tell you, at the very least to use Hazardous gear to clean up any unknown substance. You have to ask yourself what would you do? How hard would it be for the City to purchase proper attire for their staff? Most importantly, “Why didn’t they just call the Fire Department that fateful day?” We know that many have died, many are sick, and many are upset, over this very unfortunate accident. Why did it happen, what was the motive, and who was to gain?
July 1, 2003, Siobhan Foster was the boss at Public Works, Riverside, California. She’d had to have made the call to force 15 city workers to clean up some of the most toxic substances from the spill and sewer digester in AG Park. Here you will see from this document she wouldn’t even get out of her car. Shameful!
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE
TOXICOLOGIST STATES PCB’S NOT THAT TOXIC!
What was also quite remarkable, a noted UCR Toxicologist, Bob Krieger went on record stating the following when responding to the city workers exposure with the toxic sludge on the AG Park site. “PCBs are not that toxic and they had minimal exposure,” he said, adding no ill health effects would be likely. Neumeyer’s (one of the workers exposed) skin peeling was probably unrelated to the PCBs, he said. Krieger, at the City’s request went to speak to the worker telling them he doesn’t believe they (the workers) have anything to worry about.
What has been told to TMC, is that there was another UCR Toxicologist prior to Krieger, who contradicts his statement. The city didn’t like that particular message and hired Krieger. Was he bought off? Krieger loses all credibility by TMC standards. Why would someone with this amount of education compromise his integrity? We were once told that being close to certain Nevada thermal nuclear explosions was not that bad either, from “experts”… The more that is uncovered, the more of a criminal cover up is revealed.
WORKERS EXPOSURE LIST (CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE) DAN CLOUITER HAS SINCED PASSED.
The EPA states PCB’s cause cancer, especially with effects on the immune system as one of the former workers David Cabrera describe. More troubling is that the breakdown products of PCB’s, the furans and dioxins, which are even more toxic. This story does not mention Siobhan Foster, who was Public Works Director at the time, and “incidentally” had no Engineering experience, license or degree, employees mentioned she did not even know what a pot hole was. Let’s not forget the real cover up culprit, former City Attorney Gregory Priamos, who fought vehemently against the workers claims. Foster, of course, is semi-famous these days for being the manager presiding over the $6.4 million Danny Wooten embezzlement scheme. She was fired WITHOUT CAUSE for the fiasco and has since latched onto the City of Covina, no doubt to spread her curse there.
CITY OF COVINA: MORENO AND HUNTER COMMENT ON NEWLY HIRED PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR SIOBHAN FOSTER. RECYCLED EXECUTIVE TRASH!
Vivian Moreno ask for an appointment to find the truth about what happen at AG Park and who ordered 15 city and sewer workers to clean up a toxic sewage spill or be fired. The workers went in without proper clothing and if the city and developer state they did not know the substance, they didn’t even cal Haz-Mat as required by city policy. Questions lingered regarding a then Riverside City Councilman who’s engineering company was hired by said AG Park developer. The Public Works Director at the time was Siobhan Foster.
Jason Hunter expressed his disdain with reference to “recycled executive staff.” Siobhan Foster left the City of Riverside only to be hired on as Public Works Director for the City of Pasadena, by her former boss, City Manager Michael Beck. Her department then became embroiled in a $6.4 million embezzlement scheme under her watch. She was then fired without cause, therefore receiving severance and health care benefits amounting to $150, 000.00. She was then hired by the City of Covina for the same position by City Manager Andrea Miller, who was also former City Manager of San Bernardino. Miller at one point stated she has already demonstrated to me that she has strong analytical skill or problem solving skills. Analytical skills? She missed a $6.4 million theft! Councilman Walt Adams, the mess in Pasadena was going on long before Foster was there. The majority of the theft happened during Foster’s tenure. Pasadena City Manager Michael Beck stated regarding Foster, “If they don’t have an incident in their city whereby you have a “rogue” employee acting in an illegal fashion, then they shouldn’t be concerned.” Well alrighty now, again no accountability but continued defense of bad decision making behavior.
DON’T FORGET TO COMMENT…COMMENTERS WELCOME!
TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE’S MOST, “LOW CLASS,” “VISIONS OF GRANDEUR,” “FULL OF B.S.,” “IGNORANT,” “MISGUIDED,” “BULLYISH,” “FILTHY,” “SICK,” “PERVERTED,” “STUPID,” “PATHETIC,” “DESPICABLE,” “DISAPPOINTING,” “BELOW THE BELT,” “A NEW LOW,” “SHOCKING,” “OFFENSIVE,” “INAPPROPRIATE,” “HURTFUL,” “MEAN SPIRITED,” “DISTASTEFUL,” “EMBARRASSING,” HORIFFIC,” “SLANDEROUS” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE! TEMPORARILY BLOCKED BY THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE AT PUBLIC ACCESS SITES WITHIN THE CITY, THEN UNBLOCKED. I GUESS YOU CANNOT DO THAT ACCORDING TO THE ACLU. RATED ONE TWO ONE STAR OUT OF FIVE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY APPROVAL RATINGS.. TMC IS NOW EXCLUSIVLY EXCLUSIVELY ON FILE WITH THE COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE (WE BELIEVE THIS WILL END SOON, SINCE THE FOCUS IS NOW ON THE IMPROPRIETIES OF MR. “Z”. WE TRIED TO TELL YOU, BUT NOBODY LISTENED), AND DON’T FORGET WE ARE PROSSIBLY POSSIBLY ON FILE WITH THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE’S POTENTIAL SLAPP SUIT LIST… A STRATEGIC LEGAL MANEUVER THAT CAN BE DONE ONLY IN RIVERSIDE WITHOUT A CONTRACT… AGAIN, THANK YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT! COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOMED, ESPECIALLY SPELL CHECKERS! WE JUST CAN’T SPELL! EMAIL ANONYMOUSLY WITH YOUR DIRT BY CONTACTING US AT: THIRTYMILESCORRUPTION@HOTMAIL.COM
Our Courts have ruled in criminal environmental cases that, omitting information critical to the event under review is a form of lying to the government. Sometimes it is charged as lying to a federal investigator and in other cases it has been a charge of falsifying federal documents or reports.
Leaving out of any communication with your employees or public, the pertinent facts that could way heavily on their health could be charged as a crime. So, lying by omission is what our city did. They left out all the information about the health hazards posed by exposure to all the other hazardous waste ingredients in the sludge. They had the knowledge but, instead hired an “Expert” to tell the employees that PCBs are not that toxic. The obvious question is, “Why are PCBs classified in federal and state law as Hazardous Waste? It is because, PCBs are dangerous to your health and the environment! Congress passed the TOSCA statute in the late 1970s specifically to stop the manufacture and use of PCBs in America! What the city never told anyone is, that PCBs contain other more dangerous chemicals from the manufacturing process called, Dioxins and Furans. These are the toxins of concern in this discussion. There are others to worry about at Ag Park too.
All you have to do is google these chemical names and read about the health impacts from exposure to them. You may even see some articles about Agent Orange and the health impacts on Vietnam Veterans from exposure to Dioxin and Furan. Our city is lying to our government and you about the true nature of this contaminated property to make money on a real estate deal with Mr. Cox. It is all about the money. Not a care for the employees or neighbors of Ag Park. Municipal government is authorized in law solely to protect human health and property. That is why we place such an emphasis on Police and Fire Departments. The City leaders didn’t call the Fire Haz-Mat team as required by law. They instead acted to protect the profits of the real estate deal and not you!
What was our former Mayor thinking? What was our former City Attorney advising? What did our City Manager do? What did City Staff do? Apparently, anything but perform their lawful duties for over two decades. What are they doing today? Who will be the first to perform their duties according to law? All I see from City Hall is resistance to real change. It is all about the $$!