Will the real John Russo please stand up. TMC called it February 19, 2015… a blast from the past. When John Russo was hired, TMC carefully did all the research. It was shocking… we called it. The bobble heads on the Council ignored the citizen taxpayers, and here we are today. We called him a SNAKE. When John Russo set his sights and ego on Riverside the Council was drooling all over him. Interesting that we had Councilman Jim Perry in the picture at the time, stating “I think he’s going to be a high-octane city manager who likes to get things done.” Perry was the council member who threw Russo under the bus. I guess he wasn’t so high-Octane after all!
I bet if Russo were to respond about why he fled Riverside he would say “I believe this a morally corrupt government and I just didn’t want to serve anymore in that capacity.” He would also say “THEY ARE BROKE AND I DON”T WANT TO PLAY IN THE PLAYGROUND ANY MORE.” Mr. Russo will continue to blame every one else except himself. He will never take responsibility for creating the mess he left us in. The problem for the taxpayer is that every city manager that comes into town has their own vision of how we should look. Then he or she proceeds to blow millions of tax dollars, while giving away a piece of the farm bit by bit.
Now interim city manager Lee McDougal is going to have to change that ugly art decco furniture Russo brought in!
The writing was on the wall now the council looks like a bunch of fools with major legal problems. If there is a city out there looking to hire Russo you better think twice. All the information is out there. Do your homework, save your city from more recycled trash! The following is a comment in the February 19, 2015, The Alamedan, by local Riverside expert gadfly Dvonne Pitruzzello:
Well John, since you’ve had experience with morally corrupt city council and mayor in Oakland you’ll do fine in Riverside. Although we are very innovative in the corruption department. You see John the renaissance is but one of the morally corrupt projects in Riverside. Whereby, loaning utility monies and pension obligation money to redevelopment and then laundered to developers. You know the game. We have no one to blame but ourselves for allowing a mayor and city council to bring in a sociopath city manager to enact the scheme putting the citizens of Riverside in billions of dollars of debt. How to pay for all of this, up utility costs till the people can’t afford to water their lawns and cool their houses. Your friend the new public utilities director in Riverside can vouch For this. Oh by the way, Ron Loveridge devised this scheme, Mr. League of cities himself. Good luck you’ll need it, it will test your moral competency.
– Dvonne Pitruzzello
COUNCILMAN MIKE SOUBIROUS BRINGS FORWARD A PAY AND BENEFIT CAP FOR FUTURE HIRED CITY MANAGERS, AFTER THE FIRING OF CITY MANAGER JOHN RUSSO.
CLICK ON ABOVE IMAGES TO ENLARGE
What do you think about this? Will you email your Council? Will you speak at the May 1st evening Council meeting?
Comments can be emailed to: City_Clerk@riversideca.gov
Riverside City Hall – Council Chambers
3900 Main Street
Riverside, CA 92522
But maybe we deserve it, maybe the taxpayers deserve this, because we do nothing to make real change which is relatively easy, but we don’t, so are we simply a bunch of idiots and dirt farmers out here in the City of Riverside in terms of how we vote for some local leadership?
HERE’S THE FEBRUARY 19, 2015 POSTING: CITY OF RIVERSIDE: ALAMEDA CITY MANAGER JOHN RUSSO TO BE RIVERSIDE’S NEW CITY MANAGER! MORE DRAMA, OR JUST A DRAMA QUEEN?
RIVERSIDE CITY MANAGER JOHN RUSSO (CENTER WITH HANDS FOLDED), WHAT WILL THIS MEAN FOR RIVERSIDE? A CITY MANAGER FULL OF EGO, DRAMA QUEEN OR JUST LIKES GREAT SUNGLASSES? OR SHOULD WE JUST “FORGET ABOUT IT?” Are public workers just out of control at the expense of the taxpayer?
OR MAYBE AL PACINO’S VERSION..MAYBE IT JUST MEANS “I’M KNOWN, FORGET ABOUT IT, I’M KNOWN ALL OVER THE FUCKING WORLD, OR ARE WE AS RESIDENTS “JUST PISSING UP THE WRONG TREE.” IN OTHER WORDS IS RUSSO REALLY GOOD FOR RIVERSIDE?
He has been quoted in the PE as saying, “Riverside has an excellent reputation around the state because of its ability to blend a reverence for its unique local history with an aggressive and groundbreaking public improvement program like the Riverside Renaissance.” Well is he in for a big surprise… John Russon (56)will also be the highest paid City Manager in the City’s history at a whopping $295,000.00, will have to check if the benefit package is included in this deal or is in addition to. Prior to taking the position of City Manager with the City of Alameda, he was a Councilman and then an elected City Attorney for the City of Oakland. What people also need to know is that Riverside’s Utility’s General Manager Girish Balachandran was also from the City of Alameda. Is Riverside just getting more recycled employees?
You have to ask your self why Mr Russo left abruptly at the city of Alameda. Story is he was unhappy with the direction of the City Council, I should remind him that the last City Manager in the City of Riverside, Scott Barber was forced to resign over issues with City Council members Mike Soubirous and Paul Davis. Also it is public knowledge that Mr. Russo was in a feud with Mayor Jane Quan, good luck with Mayor William “Rusty” Bailey. One more thing, Mr. Russo need to know that the City of Riverside has the best public speakers that will keep him fully informed. One of the The Oakland A”s owner says he is full of “empty rhetoric” and he wanted to be MAYOR! Be careful Bailey you may have competition. Hopefully he (Russo) won’t get to bored in Riverside. I’m sure we can keep him entertained. I give him two years. Can’t wait to meet. WELCOME MR. RUSSO.
ORIGINAL PRESS RELEASE (CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE).
According to the Mercury News Russo is disrespectful to public speakers…is the City of Riverside just getting a hybrid of former City Attorney Gregory Priamos and former City Manager Brad Hudson with a little asshole on the side? Also mentioned, was that Russo has developed a reputation as someone who cannot let criticism or even minor points go by without a defensive response, and frequently an aggressive one.
In an interview with KQED News, Russo states that the reason he left the City of Oakland to the City Manager position in Alameda, was the following: “I believe this a morally corrupt government and I just didn’t want to serve anymore in that capacity.“
SOME SAID HE WAS ANGRY, ABRASIVE, DISRESPECTFUL AND RUDE IN THIS VIDEO (CLICK LINK TO VIEW YOU TUBE)
A’S CO-OWNER BITCH SLAPS JOHN RUSSO: Guy T. Saperstein, a co-owner of the Oakland A’s, went after Oakland City Attorney John Russo today in an op-ed published in the Tribune. Saperstein accuses Russo of “empty rhetoric” for his op-ed published last week and of being a “grandstanding” politician who simply wants “to be the next mayor.”
xvolincali, commenter on the PE “Worst City Manager in Alameda history. Good luck with this snake. Good riddance.” –An Alameda resident
TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE’S MOST “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
“Little asshole on the side” = Gary Geuss?
I’m confused about how we could be in such a financial mess, when we voted for an increase in our sales tax, which, yearly, was/is a big chunk of money. Yes, bewildered, baffled, mystified, perplexed, and puzzled to say the least. What happened to all that PUC dough these guys had stashed that, arguably should have been returned (but never was) to the ratepayers (us) and now we are told the rates are going up merely because it hasn’t been done for awhile.
Skulldugery seems to be the order of the day for our civic leaders.