Again The Residents Are Getting Hosed By New Taxes, Not For Services, But For Public Employee Salaries and Pensions!
Our City Council adopted the budget for the next 2 years this last Tuesday June 25th. Wanted to share with my neighbors the 5-year projections. Rough seas ahead folks. Yes, we are staring at a $17 million deficit next year, just years after passing a $50+ million additional sales tax (Measure Z), despite a booming economy. Yes, the deficit is almost exactly the amount our City Council gave away to our public employees as part of the Partnership Compensation Model incentive that was used to bribe our unions into supporting Measure Z. Enjoy the next year, because if we don’t reduce our personnel costs dramatically during the next 12 months (which our electeds have shown no stomach for anytime recently), City services are going to take a massive hit if we don’t drain our reserves severely. Thoughts? I think Councilman Mike Gardner needs to at least tell us what the plan is.
The catastrophe according to the following document is what we see happening in 2021, 2022 and 2023, huge deficits coming! This is all due to Public Employee Pensions folks! What will happen next? These deficits according to the PE, will start eating away at the City’s Reserves, as seen in the document. Under normal conditions city officials try to keep the reserve at or above the 20% mark, but that percentage will start to decrease in the coming years. Reserves will start decreasing below the 20% mark begining in year 4, FY 2021/22! (click to enlarge).
According to the PE, “Other councilmen, though they supported the budget, called out past spending they said was wasteful.” Well its to late now, but don’t say we didn’t tell you so. We told you the pension problem would hit the fan as far back as 2014. Let’s look back at this email I received from Councilman Mike Gardner back in 2011, regarding to the Renaissance spending and corresponding future deficits. (click to enlarge).
This isn’t rocket science, the simple truth is that public employees are being paid to much. Roll back pensions and salaries, we otherwise are rolling toward BK. Don’t forget TMC told you so years ago! Stay tuned for our next posting in couple of days: The Truth About Measure Z: The Public Salary and Pension Tax and also stay tuned for: Another Episode of the Price is Wright: The Story of Former RPU General Manager Dave Wright and City Auditor Vincent Price. You thought you got hosed on this story, TMC will tell you how got screwed in the next!
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
The John Burnard Story, was this a tragic story that had to happen? Was it inevitable? It seems it’s an unfortunate exposure to what all Riversidian’s have experienced in are not so great city when it comes to establishment politics. Riverside’s Own Elitist Organization ‘The Raincross Group,’ the ‘Riverside Chamber of Commerce’ run by no other than Queen Bee Cindy Roth, and her husband, who allegedly padded his law bills to the City of Riverside with no contracts, is now Senator Richard Roth, who prefers to go by…. the Generalissimo … the incomparable General Roth. A General who does not protect his taxpaying troops, but instead throws his taxpaying troops into the line of fire with increased taxes! Yep, directly as a result of a bribe by former Governor ‘Moonbeam’ Brown himself to support his efforts, remember the gas tax? So the question is , was it inevitable that the Riverside church going elitist chose someone as Burnard to replace former Councilman Steve Adams, who also had the alleged issue of domestic violence? Now, from wearing out his welcome with the County of Riverside and San Bernardino, Adams was whole heartily accepted back again to replace Burnard on the Riverside Council seat.
What seems more relevant is the indoctrination of an individual colleague through alleged coercion. Councilman Mike Soubirous, even though he received the wrath of the establishment attempting to frame him for an undue crime, he succumbed recently, and in turn voted for Adams to replace Burnard. Adams who’s legacy will be remembered by allowing his constituents to die do to contaminated soil in his Ward, which he was very much aware of. A law suit on this matter is being taken up by the Brokovich Firm.
A connection between Councilman Steve Adams and the newly christened candidate John Burnard? A rigging of an election?
Burnard was destined to be the replacement for Adams by the Riverside Political Elite. There was no doubt that Burnard’s historical actions were to come to a head. Was Burnard’s grave error that it didn’t happened in the City of Riverside? Where the elite and RPD could have made an attempted cover up as they did in the past, as they attempted to do with former Chief of Police Russ Leach? Some call it s Political Machine. Some call it the Cultural Elite in action. Some call it a Culture of Entitlement. This so called refined group of people are electable not only by default, but by those who have been there historically… those who have been politically ingrained within the political system, hence those who will continue their legacy.
But what concerns me is who knew what and when did they know it? Well they all did and all are to guilty of perpetrating a culture of covering up each others dirty laundry, while supporting the narrative of truth, family, justice, God and the American way. What those in the position of power who have benefited from the taxpayer, must ask what their legacy will be. What will they be remembered for. Did they do the right thing? Did they have the courage to do the right thing? Did they just withered away, and succumbed to the establishment, because it was easier than fighting and sacrificing for the rights of the residents and their tax money.
Riverside Ward 7 Councilman John Burnard with wife Kathy by his side is sworn in to office by The Honorable Cheryl C. Kersey, Superior Court Judge, San Bernardino County Tuesday in Riverside, June 30, 2015.
It’s a real tragedy for this individual, but the real tragedy of is for the taxpayer who always gets the bill. But it’s typical as you can see with the usual suspects when it comes to the elite ruling class subjects who have given there christening and monies to continue there controlled legacy. Is the real tragedy about this sequence of events by those who have power and control to chain of events which the end result would be the rigging of an election? Or is the real tragedy is to support an individual who may not be truly qualified, or is it that they all have known who Burnard really was? Bottom line, they had to. Even Developer Henry Cox supported Burnard!
Even Developer Henry Cox who supported Burnard admitted Ag Park Parcel he planned for a housing development was contaminated as TMC has indicated in past postings. What was he hoping to receive in some sort of support from Burnard? Remember, prior Councilman Steve Adams did nothing. Mayor Bailey did nothing! Remember that in the next election.
The real tragedy is how the City of Riverside have not been good stewards of the taxpayer money, and have not been good stewards of the utility monies, and have negotiated unsustainable union contracts, and caused legal liabilities. All because of incompetence, unqualified and greed only to fill their own pockets when the taxpayers weren’t looking.
Is the real game for this elite culture is to provide an illusion of government that works, but doesn’t, simply because it’s under the guise of a democratic representation? What gives? Is this a system designed to build a financial treasure chest off the taxpayer for two pensions! Maybe yes! What gives? This is what it seems, make no mistake about it. One example is our Chief of Police Sergio Diaz, working on his second pension. In the real world this does not occur under any circumstance. It is simply unsustainable via cost. to retire early only to work elsewhere
What we have is a group of establishment elite who truly believe they know best, but at the same time creating unsustainable union contracts which down the line, as now, cannot be paid for. Cities will continue to go bankrupt directly because of this behavior, and the State of California will go bankrupt as a whole. People and businesses will continue to leave California for this reason leaving them with an economic crash which will not be revitalized. It is unacceptable to continue to tax the residents for a cartel which has hijacked our government.
The purpose of government was to keep an eyeful watch over taxpayer resources, what is the purpose of government when it only benefits elite public worker pensions and the unions? It seems that those within the government system are their to fight and protect their own as oppose to protect the very system that employs them. It seems that that those in the public service realm are their to feed of the taxpayer trough, and to them, it should be vehemently protected, by any means possible.
The Arizona domestic violence trial of former Riverside City Councilman John Powell Burnard, was scheduled for April 9, 2018, has been postponed to July 30, according to Mohave County Superior Court. Burnard, 52 at the time, was arrested July 3, 2017, in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, after witnesses said they saw Burnard choking two women after an argument at a bar; their names were redacted from the police report. Burnard is married. Burnard pleaded not guilty to two counts of aggravated assault by domestic violence. One is a Class 4 felony, and the other is a Class 6 felony. In Arizona, Class 1 is the most serious felony, and Class 6 is the least serious felony. Was this the dirty little secret the establishment status quo ruling class knew about, but exposed itself in an undue fashion?
Is this what happens when those of the ruling class elite completely self assured that no one else will be elected unless you’ve been given their christening? Can this be construed as the rigging of an election? Was this what Soubirous was talking about in this video.
In the City of Riverside on July 22, 2014, Council held a hearing investigating the Councilman Mike Soubirous regarding charter violations and a claim of a hostile work environment by City Manager Scott Barber and Chief of Police Sergio Diaz. What was found was that Council actually violated the Brown Act by holding this meeting, and council voted not to vote, except Councilman Perry, who actually voted in favor of violating the Brown Act a second time. The full circus act is hear for your viewing pleasure below. This has great similarities of how the Democratic based commissions attempted and continued to frame our President Donald J. Trump. As I said before this nothing less than a soft coup d’état at a local city level.
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
In many of his email responses, he responded with his name Emilio, but he did it with a graffitti/gangland font, and of course people were wondering, is this the new City’s version of connecting with the crime ridden city street residents? In other emails, he responded with the epitaph of “Hasta La Victoria Siempre!” Until Victory Always! or Until the Victory Always! or Forever Until Victory! or Always Until the Victory. This was a victory slogan used by Che Guevara during the revolutionary war in Cuba against the Batista regime.
What was Emilio trying to say to his respondents? Was he attempting to impart a revolutionary message or was Emilio simply referring to the plight of the homeless situation, and stating an on going and continued fight to combat the homeless situation in the City of Riverside? I certainly don’t think it was anything nefarious, but maybe his attempt to give this office some style or savoir-fare. Or simply to fit in with the socialist aspects of the New California, whereby the elite make the decisions through central planning and the rest of us must take it on all fours. Welcome to the Peoples Republic of California.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE
Uggh, It looks as if Emilio has already made his mark on the walls of Riverside City Hall….
On the other hand, what about that new homeless office Emilio’s running? What is the plan to solve homelessness, create more homelessness? Is this the new so called industry, the industry of homeless in order to profit? Shouldn’t most of the young able body homeless be working? Is this a cultural change in choice for those “unwilling to work?” A new frontier in simply doing nothing? Or simply the forgotten Americans that succumbed to be victims of the current Democratic and Liberal Policies? Of which the attempt to say…”We can’t help you unless your a victim?”
Well we do have to ask Emilio, while he was under the radiant light of former Governor ‘Moonbeam,’ to help us understand how the homeless problem exploded in the City of Riverside? Brown states he has a new way to keep direct contact with his Attorney General Xavier Becerra, but that is beside the point. Moonbeam gave Emilio a position in the new statewide industrial complex… The Homeless Coordinating and Financial Council.
Then Moonbeam endorsing Emilio…
In lieu of million of dollars potentially going into the coffers of our General Fund through a passage of legal sale of marijuana in the City, interesting enough, the City of Riverside has enough money to launch a new Office of Homeless Solutions consisting of a team made up of former Assistant City Manager Alex Nguyen and 12 other people. With this scenario we asked the question, ” When will the taxpayers receive the services they pay for?” But instead are they really paying/contributing to those that can’t? Is this fair? Of course, those in the socialist limelight will always make the bucks, drink the fine wine, have the walls of security, while the rest of us ‘eat cake.’ We know what happened with the French Revolution of 1789. Many simply lost their heads…literally.
Consider the 80 Unit Apartment Complex proposed across from the Riverside Animal Hospital, next to the RPU substation about a year ago in 2018:
Given the thumbs up by the Development Committee (Gardner, Soubirous, Davis): R.C. Hobbs Company, Inc. has been given the go ahead to develop the 2.06 vacant acres on the easterly side of Magnolia Avenue between Elizabeth Street and adjacent railroad right-of-way for multi-story residential project with subterranean parking garage. The site is contaminated with tetrachloroethylene (PCE) in the soil from a prior dry cleaning business and will require a Vapor Intrusion Mitigation System on the entire parcel. Land was surplus city property left over from the Magnolia grade separation project and will be sold for $1.35 million. Site is currently zoned as commercial and will require a variance to the general plan for the area. I spoke against the project today as I thought it will be a traffic nightmare with folks turning left out onto an already very busy Magnolia going south with bad visibility, and heavily impact our neighbors on Eleanor St. with new residents cutting through trying to get out onto Riverside Ave and Olivewood. It would also dwarf all other structures in the area and most likely negatively impact parking for the hospital. In my opinion, the site needs to stay zoned for commercial; the City has no urgent deadline to sell this parcel and should demonstrate some patience. For the life of me, I don’t know who would want to live directly next to a substation and abut train tracks, but what do I know?
THE NEW HOMELESS INDUSTRY IN CALIFORNIA:
Referring to this new City of Riverside Division, Former Assistant City Manager Alex Nguyen leads the newly formed “People” section of City Hall and oversees the homelessness office.“ Was this what Nguyen had in mind from his Oakland roots?
THE CITY OF FRISCO, MANY OUR JUST LEAVING AND TAKING THEIR HEART BEYOND THE CALIFORNIA BORDER:
Has anyone seen San Francisco lately, you certainly don’t want to leave your heart there. We all know where there will lead us, another third world city such as seen with the implosion of the Country of Valenzuela. Of course, this is the new type of mentality which has created a new industry based on a victimization of people, whereby more taxpayers monies will be thrown to a continually chronic problem. I’m just jumping the gun folks, but don’t you want to continue to be a free people? The only ones getting richer are City employees, and you guessed it, we continue to be footing the bill. So when will taxpayers actually benefit from there taxes? When will representatives actually represent us? This isn’t rocket science folks, we all have to live within are means and what we can afford, why shouldn’t our representative government? The following is a video, it’s not current but still relevant, it was published in August of 2016. This seems to fit Governor’s Gavin Newsom’s contradictory homeless debacle.
ITS NOT OK TO HAVE ORANGE COUNTY HOMELESS NEAR UPPER CRUST AREAS OF OC !!! But its ok to use OC money to farm them out to the Inland Empire ???
As reported in the LA Times @ Tuesday’s Orange County Supervisors Board meeting , Huntington beach resident Mark Smith suggested that Orange County Money should be used to move homeless to areas like the Inland Empire, the ‘Land of the Dirt People’ as described by some. We thought we were elevated to the term ‘Hillbillies’ as inferred by one Riverside City Councilman Mike Soubirous.
HOW DID ALL THIS HAPPEN AND HOW DID WE GET ACCORDING TO THE HOMELESS?
IS THIS WHAT THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE HAS TO LOOK FORWARD TO? FRISCO’S GOT IT… SO FAR THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE HAS FECES INFESTED PARKING LOTS… DRUGS AND PROSTITUTION IN THE WOOD STREETS, BUT NO ONE HAS THE MOXEY TO TAKE IT ON, EXCEPT THE RESIDENTS WHO HAVE TO ARM THEMSELVES, KEEP WATCH AT ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT SIMPLY BECAUSE RPD CAN’T DO THE JOB. MAYBE NOT DIRECTLY THEIR FAULT BUT CURRENT LIBERAL POLICIES WITHIN OUR STATE THAT HAS CAUSED THIS.
HOW MANY ARE STILL READY TO NOW LEAVE THEIR HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO? NOT MANY, BUT IF YOU LIKE LIVING WITH FECES AND SYRINGES ON THE STREET THAT’S THE TOWN FOR YOU. IT’S NOW RECOMMENDED NOT TO LEAVE YOUR HEART IN FRISCO, BUT TO TAKE IT RIGHT PAST THE CALIFORNIA BORDER. IT ALSO APPEARS THAT LOW TAX STATES ARE CALLING TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES ENTICING THEM WITH SAFETY AND LOWER TAXES.
BUT WHAT ABOUT SEATTLE, WASHINGTON? This is a city whereby law enforcement secretly reveals they cannot do their jobs because of City Government. Law enforcement states that homelessness is a side issue, the primary problem is drugs infiltrating our borders and drug addiction. This is a must see video…”Seattle Is Dying.”
WHAT WOOD STREET RESIDENTS ARE SAYING: WOOD STREET’S ARE CONTINUING TO SEE HOMELESSNESS EFFECT THEIR CHERISHED NEIGHBORHOODS AND OUR LAW ENFORCEMENT IS LESS THAN RESPONSIVE TO OUR NEEDS! TMC would like to give a voice that was never heard from Ward 1 Neighbors, this is Councilman Mike Gardner’s forgotten taxpayers:
Late this morning around 11:00 I noticed a man coming from behind the apparently vacant house on the “almost” corner of Home Garden and Brockton. He went straight to the bus stop there but the bus came before I could get a better look. This house has had issues in the past and hope not again. I feel for those without and want to live in peace with others but realize potential for clash of lifestyles exist. I observed a broken down van in front of the former Knollwood (sp?) hospital for several days also. I understand that some of this may be due to the recent actions of Orange County disbanding the encampments down there. Hope not – Next Door, Phil Coon, Wood Streets
Alley behind Briscoe and Rosewood. Be careful there is a homeless man sleeping there. I almost ran him over but I was going slow when I saw him move. He is under a blanket. I honked and he moved. That was yesterday. Today there is an older black two door sedan. I just called the police. Please we need to keep the alleys clean and clear of brush so people don’t setup camp back there.
THERE ARE SEVERAL “NEIGHBORING” CITIES THAT SEND THEIR HOMELESS HERE, AS RIVERSIDE HAS AN OPEN ARMS ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE HOMELESS. I SAW THE ULTIMATE ON MOTHER’S DAY. THERE WAS AN IGLOO 2-MAN TENT SET UP ON THE SIDEWALK ALONG WITH AN ACCUMULATION OF WHOPPING CARTS FILLED WITH “CRAP” AND OTHER MOVABLE “VALUABLES.” HAVE YOU SEEN THE SET-UP ON THE MAGNOLIA SIDE OF THE BUILDING BETWEEN TUXIES AND THE AUTO PARTS STORE? IT’S A BEAUTY!
THESE PEOPLE FEEL THEY HAVE THE ADVANTAGE. LOOK INTO THE MAYOR’S SPECIAL UNIT FOR THE HOMELESS. IT’S NO WONDER THEY’RE SQUATTING ALL OVER THE PLACE. IT’S SICKENING, AND MANY OF THEM ARE DANGEROUS. – Sue Coryell, Wood Streets
Can we say that the Mayor Bailey and his support of the Path of Life to support homelessness is a scam? A creation of a new industry which takes taxpayers monies to a black hole of nowhere?
Three teens were recently walking down our alley on Brentwood between Palm and Brockton and they took our bird dish. When my husband confronted them they said, “ F… you old man.”. It was not of great value but it’s still irritating that they were disrespectful . No wonder my dogs are always barking as they face the alley. Just beware, because they obviously could care less about people’s property. – Gina Gurrola, Wood Streets
Lady came on to my lawn and porch after leaving neighbor’s property where she threw a pot at their window and threatened him. She walked away headed north on Magnolia, police were called. Approximately 5:30AM. She has short dark hair, wearing jacket and holding tote bag. Incident happened on Magnolia at Chapman. – Carmen Long, Wood Streets
I agree but its a huge problem around here because the speeders know that the cops are no where to be found in riverside plus when you do see them they are speeding down the streets as well. There is no control in Riverside and its getting worse…. – Jessica Northey, Wood Streets
According to Joe Frey, Wood Street Resident and Taxpayer. Woke up to this homeless person this morning in our front yard. Called RPD, took them two hours to come out. Guy finally work up, deficated in our front yard and was on his way. Welcome to Riverside!!!!! I have reported this information to the police. Posted on Next Door.Com April 8, 2019.
But then current Councilman Mike Gardner who was running for Riverside County Supervisor and lost, was stating this: “FIGHTING TO KEEP OUR FAMILIES SAFE!” WHAT DO RIVERSIDE RESIDENT DO NOW WHEN WE CAN’T KEEP OUR FAMILIES SAFE THROUGH THE VERY TAXES WE PAY?
LAST YEAR IN 2018 ACCORDING TO THE REPORTS BY THE LOU DESMOND SHOW, THE IMAGE OF THE INLAND EMPIRE IS THE “LAND OF THE DIRT PEOPLE.” A STEP DOWN FROM ONE RIVERSIDE COUNCILMAN MIKE SOUBIROUS ESTIMATION THAT WE ARE LOOKED UPON AS HILLBILLY’S.
ADDENDUM: BACK FLASH FEBRUARY 2018: BUDGET ENGAGEMENT COMMISSION: THE RUSTY FILES: COMMISSIONER JOHN LYELL: In the Rusty Files, Budget Engagement Commissioner John Lyell emphatically states that the spending is out of control and will lead our City to bankruptcy.
“(Former Fired City Manager John Russo) Mr. Russo is knowledgeable but as you stated he accepted the original contract, and if he were to leave the same 100 others would be in line to take his place and what has he done to deserve this?”
The council needs a reminder of who they work for. I couldn’t agree with Commissioner Lyell more, and he is not alone. He continues to state that city staff salaries are approaching or exceeding that of the President and his cabinet.
I know our neighbors in the Wood Streets are livid about how their neighborhoods have deteriorated over the years. Where are thou Ward 1 City Councilman Mike Gardner?
Lyell believed that former City Manager John Russo was taking advantage of our good city and it’s taxpayers! In the video below Commissioner John Lyell ask the question to a very nervous CFO Adam Raymond, if this pension situation is new. Because he just never heard of this when the City was touting the passage of the Measure Z sales tax. Well again, we knew it all the time, but now people as John Lyell and Mike Fine are realizing they were duped and lied to by the City and the Unions.
Big problem if Mayor Bailey intends to seek changes to the city charter to expand the mayor’s power. But that’s how his predecessor Mayor Loveridge ran the City, he never followed the charter to begin with. He had access to city staff and influenced council in many ways. When CM John Russo came, he placed a big stop sign in front of this nonsense, hence the Bailey vs. Russo feud. Russo’s contract outrageous? Mike Fine of the Budget Engagement Committee calls it “an unjustified huge raise!” I see the comparison when comparing Russo’s salary with other city’s but that is like comparing apples and oranges. As in the private sector, did he save money in the pocket book for the chair holders? Nope, he raised our utilities, sales and property taxes. How about this comparison, Governor Jerry Brown runs the whole State of California and according to Transparent CA, his total salary including benefits in 2016 was $270,132.96; City Manager John Russo’s total salary including benefits in 2016 was $454,838.85
LA SIERRA PROJECT HAS TIES WITH FORMER DEVELOPER JEFF BURUM, WHO WAS CHARGED WITH FOUR FELONY COUNTS!
But what is going on with the so called La Sierra Project under Emilio and Councilman Jim Perry? Perry has apparently been hit hard by the pressure of the Riverside District Attorney’s Office last year. Well the yelling continues on the seventh floor of City Hall between Jim and City Attorney Gary Geuss.
What was Jim praying for? A green suit or an orange suit, or simply to be resolved of this whole nightmare?
National CORE is a non-profit developer for affordable housing projects. Hope Through Housing Foundation was created in 1998 as a charitable organization to help people in affordable housing with education programs such as on-site preschools, as well as senior health and debt reduction. Is this the new industry created by Central Planning in the name of Social Justice that intends to use your tax dollars for their utopic vision? Questions arose on this property with a the usual city shell game of now you see now you don’t with regards to the RFP on this property. Of course, the key is that we intend to be more transparent, but with the lack of transparency and answers, we have conspiracy theories. In one instance, regarding some of the details that was removed from our City site, by Emilio in the following email:
The city now wishes to redirect people to offsite training and approve this RFP which is against the tenants.
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
Politicians (Edwards, Clinton) Holding Babies: What else do they have in common?
“Life imitates art”, it was once said. But here in the City of Arts & Innovation we mostly have government-approved art, which is not nearly as creative. And so Oscar Wilde, upon watching events unfold on both a national level and here in the ole’ River City as of late, might’ve instead observed, “Lowlife imitates lowbrow,” … had he not passed away 118 years ago. The Big O, during his days above-ground, may even have heard of Riverside, California, established in 1870 by John North, and the richest per-capita City at one point in all the land…but that was then, and this is now.
The Bernie-crats were outraged at this ethical breach, as it stoked their imaginations as to whatever-else mischief the party elites had conspired to cheat their favorite socialist son out of his proper accession to the throne. In our humble opinion, this event was straw that broke the back of the Clinton-memorial Democratic Party, which has since escalated to the attempted socialist takeover of the DNC, led by entitled millenials like “15-minutes-of-fame” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and company.
California (and Illinois, the Northeast) being the last refuge of political scoundrels these days, while the rest of the country takes at least a momentary breather from progressivism (aka, “we preach tolerance, but hate diversity of thought”) and the nanny-state, we will instead double-down and dive head-first into the socialism pool because … “this time it’s different!” Enter the 2018 mid-term elections, where the Bernie-crats had great success here in the Sunshine State turning Orange County blue and picking up targeted seats, much to the dismay of the RivCo good-ole-boys, in many local elections…which brings us to the Spring of 2019.
Enter Erin Edwards, a relative newcomer to the Riverside scene whose political platform essentially seems to be, “I’ll solve homelessness, support everything good, and I’m a gay woman. Vote for me – I’m a millenial, which means I’ve got it all figured out. Hold my cell phone, while I do some City Council-ing.” Ms. Edwards recently received the endorsement of the local Democratic Socialist Party despite being here for what amounts to a cup of coffee and understanding our particular local issues a little bit better than our neighborhood cat Jakey. (Jakey is decidedly against coyotes and for long naps in the sun.)
Will Edwards learn the Importance of Being Earnest?
Jakey will Make Riverside Great Again by eating all the vermin at City Hall
Now we at TMC do not begrudge anyone because of their sexual orientation or gender – heck, we’re jealous we didn’t think of drag queen storytelling time first – but we abhor the identity politics of the left (“vote for me, I look like you!”), which only divides us more. We also know, as we’ve been sounding the fiscal clarion call for almost a decade now: a) that Riverside is broke, b) Measure Z was a bait & switch designed to keep our public employees atop the food chain, and c) we need leaders willing to make tough fiscal decisions, not placators unwilling to stop the vicious cycle of government taxation and spending, which makes us all poorer and contributes to our Day of the Living Dead homeless problem by increasing the cost of things.
Upon Closer Inspection, “There’s a Wocket in His Pocket!”
Just Another Day Down at the River Bottom
We’ve been told Ms. Edwards is a nice enough human being, but this being Riverside, we also know that quality attracts those with less savory aspirations – those willing to bend a few rules in order to cling to someone with a less-sullied reputation. Those with ambitions: wannabe puppet-masters. And with that long-winded and overly-dramatic intro, we were the least surprised people in Southern California today when we received the following email from the camp of one of Ms. Edwards’ political opponents:
Is this “the smoking gun”? Who is Deep Throat?
Enter Chani Beeman, long-time Downtown Area Neighborhood Alliance representative, likely supporter of whomever is in power locally (or aspires to be), and general do-gooder. Ms. Beeman is an avid supporter of Ms. Edwards, obviously impressed with her extensive background in running billion-dollar organizations like the City of Riverside. Apparently, Ms. Brazile Beeman is such an eager beaver that she is willing to do just about anything to give Ms. Clinton Edwards the upper hand to be the next Ward One City Councilmember, including impugning the integrity of upstanding groups like the Neighbors of the Wood Streets, the Ward One Neighborhoods United election effort, the Downtown Area Neighborhood Alliance, and the League of Women Voters. How? By using her credentials as a member of League and the Downtown Alliance to pre-screen the questions asked of the candidates at last week’s forum at Riverside Community College despite her obvious conflict. In shorthand, she done NOWS, WONU, DANA, and LOWV dirty at RCC.
Ms. Beeman was seen on-stage with friend(?), LOWV President, and moderator Joan Donahue before the event (confirmed by several sources now) reviewing and, gasp, editing the questions for the candidates prior to the forum apparently just minutes after Riverside taxpayer and ratepayer champion, Jason Hunter, handed over the list to Ms. Wasserman-Schultz Donahue. Reached for comment Mr. Hunter stated, “The whole point of waiting until the last minute to hand over the list of questions to the moderator was to prevent any candidate from accessing it to get an unfair advantage.” Poor Mr. Hunter. If he had only been reading Thirty Miles as often as he should’ve over the years, he would’ve handcuffed the list to his wrist until seconds before the forum. But alas, he didn’t and now we are left to wonder how the unlevel playing field potentially created by Ms. Beeman’s actions will bias our future representation in Riverside’s Ward One.
Beeman, Brazile – Sisters from Different Misters?
Would the Real Joan Donahue Please Stand Up?
Did Ms. Edwards get a copy of the questions beforehand so as to be better prepared than the other candidates? Were questions changed to Ms. Edwards’ benefit? Who knew what, and when? Oh the humanity! Where’s Wikileaks when you truly need them? Of one thing we are certain: Ms. Beeman’s continued involvement in either WONU or Ms. Edward’s campaign will alert us as to whether the fix is in …. and also clue us in towards the character of Ms. Edwards herself. On the other hand did the DNC murder Seth Rich because it was necessary for the political narrative?
Whatever Happened to Voting For the Best Candidate? TMC detests identity-based politics.
But hey, at least we know the Bernie-crats are capable of adapting their strategy to accommodate the dirty tricks they once despised. But will they work? Stay tuned for the next WONU forum, currently scheduled for March 27th, where you might catch an Edwards supporter shining laser-pointers in Mike Gardner’s eyes or passing out videos of Phillip Falcone’s crazy antics at his 18th birthday party (just last year?). In any case, we here at TMC are baaaaack, and just in time for our favorite time of the year – the election silly season, where logic ceases to exist and folks no one had ever heard of 12 months ago become the next big thing for “hope and change” in Riverside. Or do voters stick with old Mike, who is like an old sofa that is somewhat comfortable if you sit just right, but really should’ve been replaced 4 years ago?
No man can serve two masters – Matthew 6:24
Is there a family resemblance?
We know we’ll be watching…and reporting for the sake of our loyal 4 readers (and Jakey, who likes to look at the pictures).
Smiling faces, smiling faces, sometimes They don’t tell the truth
TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE REGIONAL COUNTIES MOST, “UNEDUCATED,” “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
TMC UPDATE: 02.13.2019:TMC HAS BEEN TOLD BY KEVIN DAWSON THAT COUNCILMAN JIM PERRY CALLED HIM TO APOLOGIZE FOR HIS UNPROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR WHICH WAS CAUGHT ON AUDIO. PERRY INCIDENTALLY WILL NOT RUN FOR ANOTHER CITY COUNCIL TERM.
Kevin Dawson Community Proponent and part of the Ward 2 University Neighbor Association stated he has been active member for the last 13 years. He went to City Council this February 5, 2019 to address them on the issue of ethical bad behavior displayed by three Councilman (the above video.) He refers to the below February 23, 2016 video of a City Council Meeting: KEVIN DAWSON SKEWERS CITY COUNCIL ON THE SUBJECT OF OUTSIDE LEGAL COUNCIL, by which three City Council Members: Jim Perry, Mike Soubirous and Andy Melendrez refer to this video to mock him prior to being interviewed for a board position.
It all had to do with former City Council Member and former House Cleaner Nancy Hart. Which goes to show you a whole heap of book learning is not necessary to get on Council.
KEVIN DAWSON THEN SENDS THIS EMAIL OUT TO COUNCIL WITH HIS CONCERNS:
Dear Friends,
I want to share a three minute public comments I gave at the City Council meeting last night, along with audio file and link to a YouTube video. The audio file is of the Mayor and City Council conversation right before I was lead into the 7th floor conference room at city hall, to be interviewed for the Charter Review Commission. The YouTube link is to a video of my speaking to the Council a couple of years ago, to which one of the Council is heard in the audio, mocking me.
I had made a records request to get an audio recording of that interview to review a statement made by councilman Adams, and found that the recording included the time before I was brought into the room. They probably thought it was like their closed session meetings and that their conversation would never become public. I’m sure they probably talk like this all the time when they are in closed session. This is the Mayor, and Councilmen Gardner, Melendrez, McArthur, Soubirous, Perry and Adams. Councilman Conder was not in attendance. There was also a deputy City Clerk in attendance, who was there to take minutes and monitor the recording. Voices that can be heard are Soubirous, Perry, and Melendrez. Note that no one, including the Mayor, who is the parliamentarian, cautioned or admonished the attendees to refrain from inappropriate conversation.
While this might seem trivial to some, they were sitting as a full council, in city council, acting in their official capacity. It was completely inappropriate and in violation of the City Code of Ethics. We need our elected officials to act professionally and ethically at all times. We need to know they are always doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. They are supposed to set the examples as to appropriate behavior to City Staff.
Please circulate. I would appreciate emails to the Council, asking for a public apology and a reaffirmation to follow the City Code of Ethics.
Mayor Rusty Bailey rbailey@riversideca.gov; Councilman Mike Gardner gardener@riversideca.gov ; Councilman Andy Melendrez asmelendrez@riversideca.gov ; Councilman Mike Soubirous msoubirous@riversideca.gov ; Councilman Chris McArthur cmacarthur@riversideca.gov ; Councilman Jim Perry jperry@riversideca.gov; Councilman Steve Adams sadam@riversideca.gov
Kevin Dawson
Ward 2- University Neighbor Association
The following is the actual before audio of the above City Council Members Jim Perry, Mike Soubirous and Andy Melendrez mocking local taxpaying resident Kevin Dawson:
Councilman Mike Soubirous stated ‘I hope he doesn’t yell. While Councilman Jim Perry interjects…”Should we yell at him for 3 minutes?” Soubirous then states, “Why are talking to loud,” laughter then continues. Councilman Jim Perry mocks Dawson by repeating the following he said in Council..”I don’t know how many times I’ve told you,” then goes on to state, “I’m angry!” According to Dawson, Councilman Andy Melendrez simply thought the whole thing was just funny.
If you know Dawson as I do, you know he is an absolute person of integrity. But what are we seeing here folks, politics in action? Is this what we are seeing on a bigger level in Washington D.C.? Yes I unfortunately think so, but to be fair, we know these antics happen behind the scenes all the time, the only difference, there was a hot mike.
This mocking is not only disturbing to me, but sets a dangerous precedence in reference to our City Council government and behavior. We have been called wing nuts, nay sayer’s, crazy etc. by Council which leads to the question “Do these public servants think they are better than us?” We are left with illusion that as taxpaying residents, can we believe that are representatives are actually being fair and ethical when it comes to the concerns of their constituents? We are encouraged by them to take part in local city government. We are encouraged by them to express are opinions in public at City Council. But our constituents are telling TMC that we are left on ‘deaf ears,’ when it comes to our concerns. The Downtown Library comes to mind. When the public hears the display by our representatives as in this audio…. We have to ask the question, “Do they really believe what they say?” Or is this simple display of innocent school boy behavior?
Their is a quotation by which I believe and cite often that is attributed to BENJAMIN FRANKLIN—at the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when queried as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation—in the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland’s delegates to the Convention.
The quotation is as follows: “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” Dr. James McHenry states, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
In other words, it is our responsibility of all American Citizens that if we intend to keep our Republic, that we take part in it. But if the reality appears to be as such a display of behavior, what is the next step? The bottom line of what Dawson told me was that he believed, “If more of the public knew and understood, there would be more people down there yelling at them.”
When government begins to work for their side of government, as oppose to commitment to the people, that is the end of government as we know it. This is what we are seeing in local swamps and especially the swamp we call Washington D.C.
TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE REGIONAL COUNTIES MOST, “UNEDUCATED,” “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
There’s a saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” and we can think of no finer example this glorious October morn than the feud currently ongoing over at Moreno Valley between City Councilman and 2018 Mayorial candidate Jeff Giba and City Manager Tom DeSantis, along with his City Hall toadies and enablers including City Clerk Pat Jacquez-Nares, City Attorney Martin Koczanowicz, and of course Big Mama Baca and her boys.
Longtime TMC readers will undoubtedly remember the controversial former Riverside Assistant City Manager, either from his days impersonating a law enforcement officer – complete with cold-plated vehicles, handguns purchased from the Police Department, and intimidation of citizens – or the rumored limited edition bootleg DVD of his infamous backseat romp in a public parking garage with a subordinate in the pre- #metoo days. The totality of his actions became such an embarrassment, a feat in and amongst itself for that time period in the ole’ River City, that he was shuttled out of town quickly and quietly in September of 2010 by City Manager Hustlin’ Brad Hudson, an original gangster in the Riverside Renaissance scheme of last decade that left citizens with $2 billion in debt with no way to pay for it without breaking the bank (i.e. the taxpayers).
Tommy D. would quickly re-establish himself within the municipal world in early 2011 as a contract employee at Moreno Valley, at the whim of City Manager Henry Garcia, who was at the time dating DeSantis’ former colleague at the City of Riverside, luxury girl Human Resources Director Rhonda Strout. As far as we can tell, one of Strout’s primary responsibilities at Riverside was chasing whistleblowers out of town and running interference for senior management to behave like drunken sailors…a DeSantis specialty…primarily by conducting bogus investigations and converting classified positions to at-will so employees could be terrorized if they stood up to executive management abuse.
Tommy’s job at MoVal? Analyzing public works contracts (cue eerie music connoting foreshadowing) – specifically, Highland Fairview projects (Skechers and a health-care campus on 200 acres near the Riverside County Regional Medical Center) being proposed by now notorious developer/political gangster Iddo Benzeevi that were stuck in administrative muckety muck, aka non-compliance with what is commonly referred to as da’ rulz (at least the ones you and I have to play by).
By the Fall of 2011, Garcia had of course canned his Public Works Director, some might say because of DeSantis’ critical reports, and HR Director…and conveniently DeSantis was available to be named as the HR replacement … despite no previous experience in HR that we could find! At the same time, the city’s land development division, then under public works, was shifted to economic development under Director Barry Foster – lo’ and behold, the husband of another of Tom’s former Riverside colleagues, Public Works Director Shioban Foster. Barry would be fired in 2013 along with Garcia as allegations of their involvement with Marcelo Co’s code problems and the rammed-through Benzeevi projects emerged via several successful employee lawsuits, with DeSantis (of course) playing a central role in the drama.
But back to our protagonist/anti-hero DeSantis: Tommy D. would benefit from the Garcia ouster by backfilling Michelle Dawson’s Assistant City Manager spot. He would lay in the weeds until late 2017, when fresh off a new contract, Dawson would be jettisoned for no apparent reason and tremendous expense to the taxpayers of Moreno Valley. Tommy-on-the-spot would be the primary beneficiary on that decision with a promotion to his dream job – banana republic dictator, City Manager – by Big Mama Baca and her boys, which leads us to the present.
Thirty Miles has seen this backstory smoldering for a while, so it came as no surprise to us this past Summer when we saw the following letter as part of an article in the Press Enterprise:
Councilman Giba sent this letter to all city staff, June 26th, with his concerns about the disparate treatment he was receiving at the hands of DeSantis and City Clerk Jacquez-Nares. The letter was in response to purportedly-illegal restrictions on getting information about City affairs levied on Giba only (the supervisor) by the two executives (the supervised). Given the circumstances one might posture that the inmates are indeed running the asylum in Moreno Valley, but we at TMC know who’s really in charge of the game (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), designed specifically to limit transparency and undermine an elected official with a minority viewpoint.
The Buck Stops Here! Let No Sunshine In Big Mama and her boys, “Ick”stian Guttierrez and Ulises Uselis Cabrera
DeSantis/Jacquez-Nares Directives to Elected Official – Only in MoVal!
The current scheme of course could not be pulled off without justification offered from City Attorney Koczanowicz, in his chief role as giving out farcical legal opinions favoring whichever-way-the-political-wind-blows (as seems to be the primary qualification of a California City Attorney these days). You gotta love an attorney who signs off on depriving their boss of their rights to due process and in-turn allows his co-workers to serve as judge, jury, and executioners towards their OWN COMPLAINTS! Can you say Greg-Priamos-wannabe?
But it gets better: DeSantis instructed the email containing Giba’s letter be deleted from the inboxes of all employees with Koczanowicz’ concurrence. Unrepentant and unafraid, Giba proceeded to try to send the very same letters via inter-office mail to all employees. Once again, DeSantis intercepted them, this time with Koczanowicz, doing his best John Dean impersonation, accusing Giba of attempting to violate FPPC (Fair Political Practices Commission) rules on campaign-related mass mailings.
City Attorney Martin Koczanowicz incognito after his recent MoValleywood directorial debut
Undeterred, Giba would seek guidance from the FPPC itself. The FPPC would of course agree with Giba – no violations of law were possible because the contents of his letter were non-campaign-related – proving City Attorney Koczanowicz to be either incompetent or corrupt. Giba would attempt to distribute his letter to employees a 3rd time…and be intercepted again by DeSantis, this time with Koczanowicz determining his letter violated THE VERY SAME ORDINANCE GIBA WAS CITING AS PROOF HE COULD MAKE DIRECT INQUIRIES OF STAFF. Someone needs to inform party-hardy-Marty that only legislators can legislate, and it’s not something that can be delegated; i.e. executives cannot implement their own self-serving policies out of thin air.
Letter from FPPC – “Perceived improprieties in City management function”
We would laugh more if the plot didn’t have a such a sad ending for the stakeholders in Moreno Valley. The best we can hope for is enough residents are awake to usher in change on November 6th and clean house with staff.
Law & Order: MoVal Closed Session, pilot episode transcript of new dra-medy leaked to TMC!
ATTORNEY: Doctor Giba, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
GIBA: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
GIBA: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
GIBA: No..
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
GIBA: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
GIBA: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
GIBA: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.
Part II (coming soon): Mayor “Ick”stian Gutierrez’s direct role in silencing dissent, along with his 2 court jesters
Part III (coming soon): Skate park and amphitheater shenanigans
Part IV: Coming to a theater near you!?
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
Mike Gardner’s voting record and support of relavent issues versus his Campaign Mailer apparently appear to be a contradiction. Whatever the reason Mike, people in our community wanted TMC to bring this issue forward. What did you do to your constituents to make them feel this way? By looking first at Ward 1 Councilman Mike Gardner’s flyer in his campaign for Riverside County Supervisor people who endured his reign in the City of Riverside’s Ward 1 find his positions on issues quite inconsistent, hence, his campaign mailer. The flyer states he is a ‘fiscal conservative.’
According to Resident and Tax Advocate Jason Hunter “the words, “Mike Gardner,” and, “fiscally conservative,” don’t belong in the same sentence. Strike that, book. The City of Riverside has $2 billion in debt and $600 million in unfunded pension liabilities, much of which happened on Mike’s watch. Instead of dealing with bloated personnel costs directly and cutting pet project like the new library, he instead accepts cuts to services for residents and businesses.”
Gardner as a ‘Fiscal Conservative’ voted for an insane 55 year lease for Riverside’s Food Court. He supported the ‘Triple Flip,’ one of Developer Mark Rubin’s projects which costed the taxpayer plenty. Apparently he mentioned to someone who questioned his vote, “they had to do it for the benefit of the city.” Now they have a fiscal crisis with utilities in which rates need to be increased. This was the same situation with the Sewer Rates. He did nothing. A big advocate on fiscal transparency, over and over again he advocated to his fellow council, “Not to air our dirty laundry in public.” What is really the clincher is that when City of Riverside Resident and Tax Advocate Kevin Dawson brought to the attention of the Finance Committee that there were missing contracts when the City of Riverside secured ‘outside legal.’ Councilman Mike Gardner, who was on that board, witnessed Councilwoman Nancy Hart stick her hand in front of Dawson to exclaim the meeting was adjourn. Gardner did nothing in the name of transparency to support the public.
But on the contrary he voted for the exorbitant former City Manager John Russo contract before learning of his contract shenanigans. He supported and voted to place Measure Z on the ballot and he just voted to raise our utility rates, of which 18% are new taxes. The flyer states that he will hold government accountable and improve transparency. In lieu, his Ward 1 has suffered with an influx of vagrants, crime, prostitution, drugs, mail theft, traffic from RCC, and resident services have decreased, such as tree trimming. Raising the rates mean that 18% percent of that will go to the General Fund… yep those pesky pensions.
Mike also states on his campaign flyer that he ‘oppose efforts to increase taxes.’ Gardner just voted to increase your utility rates on a utility you publicly own. If you are the owner of a company and you have to pay more of your money to maintain your company, someone isn’t doing your job. Gardner retired from the utility company Edison, KNOWS AND UNDERSTANDS UTILITIES, should know better, and should be more ‘transparent and accountable.’ Oh heck, that’s on his flyer as well!
According to Tax Advocate Jason Hunter, the guy who brought the $300 million plus unrestricted reserve issue out into the public light for the Council to deal with, stated to TMC that he was ranting and raving about it while he worked at RPU…right before he was terminated without cause. Our Councilmen are giving out bad information he stated. Riverside Public Utilities actually has $477 million in total reserves. Of that amount $140 million is for the things Gardner mentions; they are legally restricted from being used for anything else. Doing the math, that leaves $337 million in a slush fund. That slush fund stood at $296 million back in 2014, which means it’s still growing. Now electric and water are 2 separate utilities. If you looked at them individually, you’d find reserves are actually expanding at electric ($277 million unrestricted) and contracting at water ($60 million unrestricted). Both total amounts are mid-bogglingly high and multiples of industry standards. What all this tells my tiny mind in that the electric rate increase is laughably unnecessary, and that the water increase should be a fraction of what’s proposed. What’s really needed is rate restructuring, but since that doesn’t increase the tax pile proposed for the general fund nor does it automatically raise our public employees’ salaries, it’s not been considered. Instead we getting chippy answers like Soubirous, which is really just a veiled threat over what utility service we can expect should we not give into the City’s demands.
Council voted 4-3 to increase our water and electric rates. The electric rate increase was delayed until Jan 1, 2019. Voting for: Gardner, Melendrez, MacArthur, Perry Voting against: Soubirous, Conder, Adams Not using his veto: Bailey Adams actually said from the dais that many of the numbers he’s received from RPU justifying the rate increases turned out to be misinformation once he fact-checked them. Unfortunately, only a few residents bothered to show up to voice their displeasure. The Riverside Chamber, RPU Board and other local community groups packed the Council Chambers in their support of increasing your utility rates. For those keeping track, since Russo came to town: first they increased your fees, then taxes, and now utility rates.
Interesting enough, Gardner touts himself as a Republican in the campaign flyer above, but the Republican Party of Riverside County calls him a Democrat in the below campaign flyer, at the bottom of the page. They also warn Republican voters not to vote for Gardner. They actually state that Gardner voted for Measure Z, not to mention campaigned for it, ultimately causing a $1 Billion Tax increase to the taxpayers. I can tell you one thing, I’m feeling the pain of that increase.
Hence, the City of Riverside now has the highest sales tax in Riverside County! Was Mike not being truthful of his political positions as well as his political affiliations?
WARD 1 RESIDENTS ON NEXTDOOR ASK COUNCILMAN GARDNER THE QUESTION REGARDING UTILITY RATE INCREASES:
Kelly Webb, Wood Streets-23 May
I knew he didn’t represent my interests when speaking to him in person. People living next street over were having a party blaring loud rock music over huge speakers so loud i had to leave my home. Mr. Gardner stood in my front yard listening to the obsencely loud music told me “sounded fine to him.” Were they his friends or just example of good old boy mentality since i am a woman?
Bee Miller, Magnolia Center-23 May
Mike G told me that Riverside sells our excess water. If we have excess water why do we have to cut back? And if the city sells it excess water use that money for our utilities instead of increasing our rates!
Ron Todar, Magnolia Center-Edited 23 May
And I see that Gardner voted for the utilities rate increase even though Councilman Steve Adams pointed out that there was misinformation in the justification data.
Jay Farrand, Grand Neighborhood Alliance-23 May
Was I the only one who emailed Mike and told him I was against The Council raising water rates. Mike emailed me back and said that he was against raising e the rates and he was going to vote ‘no’. According to the PE, yep, he voted to raise to raise them. FYI, he’s running for County Stupidvisor.
Meghan Hahn, Wood Streets·25 May
I emailed and received this stock answer … “Thank you for writing. I am committed to keeping our rates as low as possible. I don’t know how I will vote until I hear the presentation and all the comments. I am afraid we may need some increase as there has been none since 2010 and the cost of everything has gone up in that time. That includes the price of producing and delivering the water and electricity we all use.”
Paula Wilson, Wood Streets·23 May
I asked Gardner the reason for his YES vote and he responded: “I voted for the increase because I have to do what is best for our utilities, which are key to Riverside’s success, 5, 10 and 20 years into the future, not what is politically expedient today. I have an election in less than 2 weeks and I know my vote will hurt me with some voters, but it was the right thing to do for the long run. Yes it will hurt some of us, but we also added lots of new programs to assist low income and fixed income customers.”
Hmmm….So he admits the increases will actually hurt people, so we will start to subsidize more rates for those that cannot afford it. I’d say it is not only going to hurt the poor, but our middle class! Tax Advocate Jason Hunter states the following on NextDoor.
Jason Hunter, Wood Streets-23 May
Gardner is essentially saying he knows these rates will make a lot more customers dependent upon the government…and he’s good with that.
Additionally, the City has a conflict of interest yet un-resolved. It taxes your utility bill and sets the charges on your utility bill. The maximum General Fund Transfer (GFT) is 11.5% directly from the Water Utility Operating Funds. If the City General Fund needs additional cash, they, the Council, vote to raise the Utility Water Rates thus providing more tax revenue thru taxation by GFT. Therefore, by increasing the city’s water income per the questionable tiered system, which increases water rates atronomically, will therefore increase the amount of money in the fund, therefore increase the 11.5% transfer much more. A little sleight of hand, the constituents are not quite privy to. Further, as much as 75% or your water bill will be taxes. Vote NO on the June 4th measure or initiative and demand your Refund! Los Angeles had recently tried to sneak in a similar measure, but was voted out. The question arising, is why are elected representatives are not representing and protecting their constitutents?
The Utility User’s Tax (UUT) on your utility bill is 6.5%, which goes to city services. You were therefore paying 18% in taxes when you combine the 11.5% and 6.5% for the last 16years without a vote, therefore they voted to tax you 18%.
“The state cannot be trusted to handle transportation projects and tax revenues. But people are asking, can Mike be trusted? You have a proven record? You fought to reign in out of control spending, save taxpayer money and balance the city budget without higher taxes? Come on Mike, we the people our on you, you didn’t do your job!
Mike I think you screwed up along with your pals Andy, Chris and Jim by voting the utility rate increases. If you want higher taxes, fees, etc., and less for your money, by all means vote for Mike for Supervisor.
The Riverside Rate Payers are actually asking what happened to Mike… and “Will the Real Mike Please Stand Up!”
THE RUSSO CONTRACT VOTE:
The Press Enterprise stated Councilman Mike Gardner’s position on the contract extension as follows.
Gardner interprets the charter the same way as the city attorney — to say the mayor can’t veto decisions relating to the city manager — but said the language is ambiguous and should be clarified one way or the other when a committee reviews the charter next year.
As for the contract, Gardner said it’s a good deal for the city, but bad optics. The contract should come in June, after the city has settled its budget, utility rates and marijuana policy, all of which could affect taxpayers’ paychecks, he said.
The total pay is high, but that’s what it takes to hire a good city manager, Gardner said. “They are highly paid folks,” he said. “The difficulty is if you don’t pay what the market is, you won’t keep a good one, and you will hire somebody who may have a lot of talent and a lot of promise, but they’re untried and you don’t know how well they’re going to work out.”
Wow, really Mike, is that how it really works? So are you saying that if we were to get a pallet of $100 dollar bills, we should be able to get a city manager who would solve all of City of Riverside’s financial problems? It didn’t work that way with Russo, we gave him a lot of money and the taxpayer had to pay a lot more money. He and your outfit gave us higher taxes then you gave him the farm.
In response to the comment in the L.A. Times whereby Gardner was interpretated as saying he disapproves of City Manager John Russo’s contract extension, but voted for it anyway, in hopes of avoiding a veto showdown. City of Riverside resident and Tax Advocate Vivian Moreno brought Gardner’s L.A. Times statement right to the man at City Council public comment.
“Those arrested were dealing hard drugs — amphetamine, cocaine, heroin — drugs that kill,” said Riverside City Council Member Mike Gardner, whose Ward 1 district includes downtown. “This is not an activity that Riverside will tolerate,” he said.
The closure of the downtown Riverside bus depot, which had been a magnet for transients and the kinds of narcotics violations involved in the most recent arrests, has had unintended consequences, according to Riverside Police Department Detective Chris Williams. “I think they have spread out a little bit more in the city, especially downtown,” he said.
Williams said he was surprised at the number of narcotic deals outside the Riverside Public Library on Mission Inn Avenue. “That kind of surprised me. … I don’t know why that spot was a spot to hang out,” he said. He said other arrests in the downtown area were near White Park and a shopping center at University Avenue and Fairmount Boulevard.
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
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
ACCORDING TO THE ALAMEDA MAGAZINE, THE PHOTO WAS COURTESY OF JOHN RUSSO (Wow, thanks John!)
TMC Figured Russo out way before the City of Riverside did. We had the all laid out for the City of Riverside, but they relied on their staff. Thanks John for your Riverside legacy, Partnership Compensation Model, Measure Z, 50 year loan lease, Contracts without a Resolution.
Alameda City Manager John Russo, a former Oakland city councilman and city attorney, is headed to Riverside.
Outgoing Alameda City Manager John Russo likes to use sports metaphors. So, when news broke in February that Russo, along with his oversize personality, was leaving the Island for a new opportunity and greater compensation in Riverside, the response from city officials was akin to what small-market baseball teams admit when they land a high-priced slugger in the last year of his rookie contract. “Frankly, we were lucky to have him,” Councilmember Jim Oddie said in the days after the announcement.
Following stints in Oakland, first as a council member and then as city attorney, Russo’s thoughtful wit and razor-like barbs made his hiring as city manager in 2011 as curious as a big fish swimming in a small pond.
By most accounts, Russo’s four years in Alameda were a success. In an understated, yet frank interview, Russo said his greatest accomplishment is not moving along development at Alameda Point, but repositioning the city and public employee unions away from constant back-biting to an atmosphere of shared values and greater economic certainty. There were rumors that Russo’s departure was exacerbated by the surprise results of the fall election, but Russo said the rumors are untrue and that he merely landed an opportunity to fast-track existing plans for moving himself and his family to Southern California. “To the surprise of many,” he said, “I’m not an important person. I am just city manager of a small California city, and later I’ll be a city manager of a bigger city in California.”
However, under Russo’s stewardship, decades of uncertainty over the direction of development at the former Alameda Naval Air Station was resolved following an agreement with the U.S. Navy for the city to limit housing at Alameda Point in exchange for reconveying the land at no cost to Alameda taxpayers. But, Russo said credit does not lie with his actions. “I don’t think I have a legacy,” he said, noting his viewpoint is deeply rooted in his Southern Italian ancestry. “I have a fairly fatalistic view of the world,” he added. “I know no one ever believes this applies to me, but I think I have a fairly modest view of what my role is. This community was ready to make progress at Alameda Point.”
The infrastructure of support preceded him, he said, when the community rallied around an ultimately unsuccessful pitch to lure a new campus for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to Alameda Point. “I didn’t make that happen. That feeling of ‘at long last, we need to do something about the base’ is what drove the process. The public itself was exhausted by plan after plan. Once you get that mandate from the people and the council, it makes it easier to get something done.”
Yet, negotiating the no-cost reconveyance is one of his proudest moments, Russo said, but even then, he believes luck was involved. The Navy’s previous $108.5 million asking price was never going to pencil out for the city, Russo said. Instead, he urged the Navy to erase the uncertainty of the last decade and return to the original offer of a no-cost transfer of the property. “I just wanted to start a dialogue by getting that number down, but they surprised me by saying yes,” Russo said. “With economic development, sometimes you have to throw the line in the water dozens of times to get a bite. We got a bite on the first throw. That was just luck.”
Next, Russo needed to dissuade some councilmembers from being starstruck by large-scale development at Alameda Point, which incidentally, provided an easy stab at legacy-building to a more balanced piecemeal approach. “The city kept swinging for the fences and trying to hit a grand slam by seeking a single entity to develop the entire point all at once,” Russo said. “What I told them is we need a rally of singles, and I will submit that we scored, and we will continue to score.”
Although he said more needs to be done to put Alameda on solid financial footing, Russo said a thawing of animosity between City Hall and public employee groups over salaries and benefits will greatly aid the city over the next decade. City employees now contribute a higher percentage of their salary to pensions and split the additional costs of medical benefits, Russo said. But they also enjoy pay raises when the city’s revenues increase. (Partnership Compensation Plan, whereby salary increases are tied to City revenue, did it in Alameda, he did it in Riverside. Was Measure-Z just another Employee Profit Sharing Scheme?)
“What we’ve done here is created a true partnership for good times and bad times,” he said. “That’s a very foundational change in the relationship that had sort of veered from ‘Let’s do whatever labor wants,’ to ‘Let’s go to war with the people who work for us.’”
On the horizon for Alameda, Russo said, is increasingly higher premiums from the state’s largest pension group, the California Public Employee Retirement System, or CalPERS, and greater demand in coming years for post-employee benefits, both of which he said the city is ready to confront. “Alameda has made tremendous strides that will be very important in the coming five to 10 years in dealing with the two big challenges the city faces,” he said. “We’re on a path culturally to being able to have those discussions about those bigger issues in a way that is very businesslike and partnership-based rather than a bunch of symbols and blame and nonsense.”
Despite the accomplishment, Alameda’s fiscally conservative residents, including many who favor pension reform, rarely view Russo as a crusader for their cause. Russo said he relied on the professional opinions of the city treasurer and auditor and “not those taking positions that are founded in emotion or ideology,” he said. “I don’t use Tea Party-type people as my litmus test of my success, not nationally, and not locally. When I was in Oakland, I used to say, ‘I’m sick and tired of people who are sick and tired.’ That path leads nowhere.” (Russo was not a crusader for the taxpayers of Riverside, remember Russo is part of the Blue Blood Liberal Elite… I’m exceptional due to my background, all others are an impediment. Case in point whereby public comment is seen by Russo as a formality, not part of the Democratic process of community involvement..)
Some of these same people were often outraged by Russo’s in-your-face style during public meetings over the years. “I make no apologies,” Russo said. Instead, he was defending his employees from unfair attacks from the public and, in some occasions, members of the City Council. “When you stand publicly and accuse good, professional people on my staff of being either stupid, lazy, or corrupt, I think you should expect an answer. If you want to play above the rim, then expect to be rejected from time to time.” (More revealing examples of the dark mind set of Russo. Did he simply display the classic case of a sociopath?).
Regrets? Russo has had a few. “I’m wrong all the time,” he said. “I just try to be right consistently more often than I’m wrong.” Specifically, Russo said he overreached on Measure C, the 2012 sales tax increase to fund a disparate wish list of city projects. “I just kind of threw it all in together, saying if you’re going to go to the public to ask for money, it should be a meaningful set of projects,” Russo said. Furthermore, elected officials sought additional projects as a strategy for cobbling together the needed two-thirds majority for passage. A more single-minded approach may have been more successful, he said. “I regret that my judgment there wasn’t as good as it should have been. Then again, maybe it isn’t a regret, because the public just didn’t want it.”
Contrary to popular opinion, the reason for his leaving Alameda has nothing to do with Mayor Trish Herrera Spencer’s slow-growth stance for Alameda. Instead, he said, they quickly forged a good working relationship and keep in daily contact. “This is not about whether Trish and I get along. We get along fine. It’s a very friendly relationship. We don’t agree on everything, but it’s not my job to agree. My job is to implement the council’s direction.”
However, he acknowledged conflict exists among the new city council. “There are clearly issues between the mayor and other council members, and there’s dissension there. That’s politics, and it’s not for staff to talk about. They have to work that out amongst themselves whether I’m here or not,” he said. “But that’s not why I’m leaving.”
Before accepting the job of Alameda city manager, Russo and the-Mayor Marie Gilmore had a “personal pledge,” he said, that if he took the job, he would agree to stay for the duration of her tenure. “When she left office, that pledge was gone,” Russo said, and the opportunity in Riverside arose around the same time. Russo and his family already had plans to eventually move to Southern California upon the end of his time in Alameda, he said. “It just moved forward what the family’s plan was by a couple of years.”
Russo’s bump in pay starting in May as Riverside’s new city manager will definitely help the college fund of his twins who will both be attending college starting in the fall, he said. His $296,000 annual salary in Riverside, compared with his $215,000 base salary in Alameda, is basically the difference between taking out a loan for their education and paying for it himself, he said. “I paid my way through college, and I didn’t pay off my school loans until age 43,” said Russo. “And I’ll be damned if I’m going to be paying loans until I’m 80.”
(Before Russo was fired he cashed out over $100K of taxpayer monies. The traveling snake oil salesman caught the attention of our City, and the taxpayers caught the bite of higher taxes while he skipped town to greener pastures. But still, the issue of both Russo and Guess’s contract have not been resolved. Both current contracts violate City Charter as to not having a resolution passed by Council. If Andy doesn’t put forward an investigation maybe District Attorney Mike Hestrin’s office will.)
JOHN RUSSO STATES HE LEFT JOB AT THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE, I GUESS HE CONVENIENTLY FORGOT HE WAS FIRED…
BLOCK BY BLOCK: RIVERSIDE PUBLIC UTILITY INCREASES: TAXPAYER ADVOCATE JASON HUNTER INTERVIEWED: On a side note, the City of Riverside has made it clear to community groups and local radio stations, they will not participate it Hunter is part of the debate. In fact TMC has been told, Councilman Jim Perry, former City Manager John Russo and former RPU General Manager Girish Balanchandran apparently stated they will not to appear even if they were the only participant.
FROM THE DESK OF COMMUNITY TAXPAYER ADVOCATE JASON HUNTER: Poll given on Next Door neighborhood web site: Do you think Riverside Public Utilities staff should get automatic raises if our rates are hiked (without a vote of the public I might add)? Accordingly in this poll, the Residents of the City of Riverside do not want their representatives to pass this. If they do, it will be political suicide. People in Ward 1 keep on wondering why the so called advocate neighborhood group, NOWS (Neighbors of the Wood Streets) continues to be an ineffective voice within the community.
Jason Hunter wrote this to the entire City Council and Mayor, as he believed the unethical/illegal behavior in this City needs to end, and the ratepayers/owners need to be aware of this conflict-of-interest… apparently the whole scenario seems like a lot of racketeering to me quite frankly. Also, did you know 18% of the proposed rate hike is just plain ole’ new taxes? Please write your Councilmember or show up next Tuesday at 7pm at City Hall to voice your opinion on a measure that is actually greater dollar-wise than Measure Z (2016 $50+ million sales tax). Remember the Riverside City Council will decide Tuesday, May 22, whether to start charging residents more for water and electricity. Get your asses out to City Council on this date!
Ward 7 – Steve Adams 951-826-5991 (office), or 951-826-5024, email: sadams@riversideca.gov
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
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!
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.
According to Councilman Mike Soubirous City Council Memorandum he wishes to bring for Council consideration is the review, development and implementation of salary and benefit setting for City Manager position. He feels it is imperative that the discussion be considered before any further recruiting or hiring of a City Manager takes place. But I always stated that shouldn’t the salary be based on performance as in the private sector and what a city local can actually afford. A City Manager should be able to bring value to the community and residents in the sense of an actual in pocket cost savings to the taxpayer. Not what we have currently seen, raise our utilities (which we own), raise local sales taxes, raise fees, raise property taxes and pass measures that simply do not benefit taxpayers, but benefit union based entities tightly ingrained within the our city. Council needs to be mindful of this, and in future campaigns, turn down dirty union monies which have only set up leadership not to do the work of the people and not to be good stewards of taxpayer coffers. It’s all about politics folk! Now that Mayor Bailey is on a high with the firing of the City Manager John Russo, he is now doing a fund raiser for Councilman Mike Gardner’s campaign for Riverside County Supervisor. Gardner of course voted for the termination of Russo, while supported his good efforts months ago…What gives? Politics. He can give a crap about Riverside taxpayers.
CLICK ON ABOVE IMAGES TO ENLARGE
According to his Facebook Site he states that the compensation matter for City Manager will be discussed (I hope) at the May 1st City Council meeting (evening session). I believe the public’s input on pay and benefits for the City Manager and settling on what is acceptable to the people MUST be resolved BEFORE we hire a permanent City Manager. I worry that there will be a rush to replace and the talks will occur BEFORE the people have weighed in on this and make it very clear what level of compensation they want for Riverside’s next City Manager. Failure to settle the pay will set up the next manager for failure and again possible removal.
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?
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).
That’s okay Alameda resident, some city’s deal with field snakes, here in Riverside we are use to dealing with Cobras…we are snake trainers.
I’m from the City of Alameda CA. It was just announced here today, that our City Manager John Russo has been hired, by the City of Riverside. All that i can advise the Citizens of Riverside is to GET READY. More than likely Mr. Russo will need to hire an Assistant City Manager along with who know’s what else. At our city council meetings he would interrupt speakers and belittle them, should they say something that he didn’t like. Lately he has kept his mouth shut since the election of a new Mayor, who wasn’t going to let Mr. Russo’s mouth run amok. All I can say in closing is (in my opinion) you’ve been had, good luck, your’e going to need it! – Dennis Laine, Alameda, CA, Commenter on the Press Enterprise
“I think he’s going to be a high-octane city manager who likes to get things done,” Councilman Jim Perry said. Well alrighty now Mr. Perry, maybe that’s why he is being recalled. Sort of like the 2 Billion dollar mess former City Manager Brad Hudson left us with.
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 ONETWO 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
Again The Residents Are Getting Hosed By New Taxes, Not For Services, But For Public Employee Salaries and Pensions!
IG
Javier Moreno
TMC: Thirty Miles of Corruption 
