TMC: Thirty Miles of Corruption

Do not fret my friends if you missed the show that never ends.  Never fear, stop the tears, TMC has it here…

RPU, the Greatest Show on Earth,  according to their own financial statements as of February of this year, had $333 million in unrestricted reserves at water and electric, that could be spent on anything utility-related with a simple majority vote of the Board and Council.  In contrast the general fund (which is about half the size of RPU) has just over $40 million in reserves.  RPU’s reserve levels are simply outrageous by comparison… and yet our greedy Council still voted to raise your rates.  Why?  Because 18% of the total rate increase is simply new taxes, so this was also a tax increase… without a public vote.  The employees who pushed the rate increase will also get AUTOMATIC raises based on the size of the increase because of the Partnership Compensation Model.  It’s apparently a racket and scheme to deceive the taxpayer.  Again it is not about Infrastructure it’s all about General Fund Transfer to pay Pensions.

What Councilman Steve Adams reveal at City Council was shocking, disturbing and wreaked of deception.  He stated that rate increases were passed and supported based on bogus numbers, according to Councilman Adams.  TMC agrees because we broke the story.  Thank-you and good job Adams!  The rest of the dunderheads especially those speaking for Riverside businesses, such as the Riverside Chamber of Commerce, who simply know nothing of business, and may have been behind the manipulation of figures.  As a result, former RPU General Manager Girish Balachandran was shown the door.  Former City Manager John Russo was shown the entrance of the 91 freeway, and Guess may just be tar and feathered if the District Attorney doesn’t get there first…

Adams goes on to say that in three meetings concerning rate increase he was given ‘bogus numbers.’  Councilman Chuck Condor and Adam’s assistant Sandy also witnessed this as stated by Adams.  After repeatedly being misled by false numbers, knowing the pretense that the former City Manager and General Manager were working under, Adams believed it would be inappropriate and irresponsible to continue any further talks on rate increases until three conditions are met.  One, the new City Manager is in place.  Second, a new General Manager of Utilities is hired.  Thirdly, an independent audit of the utility that answers directly to the Council.  TMC has heard that there has been manipulation or editing of prior audits by the City Manager’s office and staff.  Audits performed by interim City Manager Lee McDougal were apparently edited by a staff member of the former City Manager John Russo’s office, before reaching Council.  In lieu of the new revealing information, the Chamber of Commerce and Members of the Public Utility Board continued to support the rate increases along with Council Members Melendrez, Gardner, Mac Arthur and Perry who passed it.

Councilman Steve Adams states that the former City Manager John Russo gave a ‘direct order’ to former RPU General Manager Girish Balanchandran, quote, ” to ask for the stars, moon and the sky… so that we can raise these rates, fluff up the utility and our reserves, so we can sell it.”  Adams goes on to say that Russo never contacted the Council regarding this, and he had never contacted the RPU Board regarding this either.  This something Russo wanted to do because he believed he could sell at least the Electric part of the utility.

If this was the behind the curtain shenanigans, we could therefore assume Assistant City Manager Alex Nguyen and Assistant City Manager Mariana Marysheva would have also known of the deception.  You would think that Councilman Andy Melendrez would jump up from his seat and ask for an investigation.  Not.  Instead, he voted to increase utility rates based on Councilman Adam’s claim of ‘bogus numbers.’

According to Riverside Tax Advocate and Riverside Resident Jason Hunter states at City Council, “Poor pitiful RPU has no money! This rate increase is base on one thing and one thing only….Deception!  We have electric reserves rising year to year by $20 million!”  This isn’t Hunter’s statement it comes from RPU documents.

Mary Humboldt makes mention on ‘step increases’ which seemingly are a public sector phenomenon, and is never seen in the private sector!  What is that all about?  Well it’s about deception and Union involvement, which continues to be a direct problem and interference with their paid for candidates attempting to be transparent.  Automatic raises!  What about the $275K in Over Time given to an employee.

Does the RPU Board lie again on the reserve slush fund, according to RPU Board Member Dave Austin, it’s all about that San Onofre Bug-A-Boo.  That’s the ticket!  Austin, former Riverside Fire Fighter and Chairman of your Board of Public Utilities may have completely missed the mark on this one.  Taxpayers are now asking the questions… is he a Firefighter for the Taxpayer, or simply an Arsonist, who took part in igniting the flames for higher utility rates?  He apparently didn’t hear what Councilman Adams had to say, or may have been given bogus numbers.  The board chairman didn’t even find it necessary to investigate the allegation of bogus numbers that were used to apparently push the increases through! Where were these numbers coming from?  From former City Manager John Russo and former RPU General Manager Girish Balachandran.  Amazing! That in itself is shocking!  No one seems to be interested in finding the truth.  Because as Councilman Chris Mac Arthur states, don’t think about it logically, think about it emotionally.

RPU Board Chairperson Dave Austin clearly does not know what he is talking about.

What was apparently shocking and disturbing is even after Councilman Adams revealed elements of deception and bogus numbers, the supporter for the rate hike still wanted the rate hike!  Did they hear anything Adams said?  Apparently not.  In many cases truth doesn’t matter, it’s only an impediment in the overall scheme of deception.

YEP..IT CAN’T GET BETTER THAN THIS… ENJOY THE NEW RATE INCREASES ON THE THE PUBLIC UTILITY YOU OWN… AGAIN YOU WERE TAKEN BY THIS DOG AND PHONEY SHOW BY YOUR CITY OF RIVERSIDE REPRESENTATIVES AND STAFF!

TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE REGIONAL COUNTIES MOST, “SCANDALOUS,” “NEGATIVE,” “WARPED,” “RAUNCHY,” “LOW CLASS,” “VISIONS OF GRANDEUR,” “FULL OF B.S.,” “REPREHENSIBLE,” “IGNORANT,” “MISGUIDED,” “BULLYISH,” “INDECENT,” “REPUGNANT,””IMMORAL,” “FILTHY,” “VILE,” “SICK,” “PERVERTED,” “DEFAMATORY,” “STUPID,” “PATHETIC,” “DESPICABLE,” “DISAPPOINTING,” “BELOW THE BELT,” “A NEW LOW,” “SHOCKING,” “OFFENSIVE,” “OBNOXIOUS,” “INAPPROPRIATE,” “HURTFUL,” “MEAN SPIRITED,” “DISTASTEFUL,” “EMBARRASSING,” HORIFFIC,” “SLANDEROUS” “FIT TO BE VIEWED FROM THE REAR” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE! YES WE ADMIT WE OUR ALL OF THAT AND MORE, WHICH IN CURRENT TERMS IS KNOWN AS “UNPOLITICALLY CORRECT.” 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 STAR OUT OF FIVE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY APPROVAL RATINGS.. … AGAIN, THANK YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT! CONTACT US: thirtymilescorruption@hotmail.com