The Real lessons from the City of Bell Debacle

We Don't disagree with the points raised by the LA Times editorial of 7/23 below however there is a broader message: Never trust local politicians (or any for that matter) and always keep your ear to the ground. As Ronald Regan famously said" "Trust but verify" (see more quotes like this on our LAAG quote page) We completely applaud the more recent (7/29) LA times post below and for years have tried to get Sacramento to force local governments to open up their records. The biggest problem with local [city/county] government is that there really are no watchdogs or effective media scrutiny like there is at the state and federal level. No one thinks any fraud or corruption can happen at sleepy little cities yet this is the easiest place to pull it off as no one is even looking. Hell they don't even know where to look or if they did that the city would post anything on line answering their inquiries. Public records requests are useless as the law has no teeth and too many exceptions. All you get is a bureaucratic run around and no one bothers. The scary part is that no one looked at was how it was precisely that the LA Times was able to break this story. It was insider info apparently from the police. Great. Took a city feud to get the info out. See if you can find any mention of the Bell issues on the Lakewood website. Nope not one. See any salaries posted of ANY current city official or elected official? Nope. (a search for "salaries" or "pensions" on the Lakewood website did not pull up one document) Good luck on that. Can Lakewood become the next Bell? Sure. Why not? All cities have the potential to become Bell. Its just takes voters asleep at the switch and the right combination of insiders to get the guts to try to pull it off. Bell had that deadly combination. This website was created out of a frustration with the lack of transparency and action by local government. Nothing has changed. It wont until voters demand it change.

We applaud this latest column from Terry Francke (Voice of OC's open government consultant and general counsel for Californians Aware) as it once again just echoes LAAG's foregoing comments and emphasizes the problems with the current system (and weaknesses in the Brown Act) that allows any city to become Bell with the right [wrong] people in charge.

This ethics outline might be a good thing for the city council to post up in council chambers just to make sure they don't "forget" what they are supposed to do. And LAAG reminds "public servants" all the time, its not that anything "unethical" is actually going on, its that secrecy gives rise to "an appearance of impropriety". Taxpayers have a right to be suspicious, especially now with bell and all the other public pension debacles (back room shady deals) coming to light.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/schwarzenegger-city-salaries-should-be-placed-online-to-avoid-another-bell-scandal.html
Schwarzenegger: City salaries should be placed online to avoid another Bell scandal
July 29, 2010 | 11:29 am

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that if local governments have “nothing to hide” then they should post the salaries of top officials online, citing the growing scandal in Bell as an example of the need for disclosure.

City managers from across California are gathering in Sacramento today to discuss damage control.

The Legislature is also considering several responses to the high salaries in Bell, up to nearly $800,000 for former City Manager Robert Rizzo.

“The people should start asking themselves what are their city officials, what are their county officials getting paid,” Schwarzenegger told a group of business leaders at round-table discussion in San Diego.

Schwarzenegger said outrage over the scandal in Bell has the public calling cities and counties demanding to know what officials are being paid.

But local governments, he said, should go one step further and “put your information on a website so people don’t even have to call.”

-- Shane Goldmacher in Sacramento

latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-bell-20100724,0,1549953.story
latimes.com
Editorial
The lessons of Bell
There's a lesson for all citizens in how the outrageous salaries for Bell city officials came about.

4:06 PM PDT, July 23, 2010
Advertisement

Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo has announced his resignation from his $787,637 a year job, as have police Chief Randy Adams ($457,000) and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia ($376,288), and we wish all three a not-so-fond farewell. Even if they performed their work brilliantly, and even if they believed in their hearts that no one earning less could properly serve their problem-wracked city, their pay was shocking, and so utterly out of step with their counterparts in neighboring municipalities and their own struggling residents as to be inherently exploitive.

The public became aware of the disproportionate salaries earlier this month in reports by Times staff writers Jeff Gottlieb and Ruben Vives. Now Bell residents are angry and want to know why most members of their part-time City Council, which approved the contracts for the three, get an outrageous $100,000 a year when nearby council members get 10% of that, or even less. Prosecutors already are delving into that question, and they will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges.

It would be comforting to be able to conclude that the problems in Bell — or in nearby cities such as Maywood, South Gate, Lynwood, Vernon and Compton, which have all been plagued by exploitation, mismanagement and corruption — originated with a handful of municipal officials who forgot their moral and fiduciary duties to the people they were supposed to serve. Or, perhaps, that the people of those cities brought these problems on themselves by electing such leaders, or by staying away from the polls and allowing themselves to be suckered.

Although there's certainly some truth to both of those explanations, the full reality is far more complex and troubling. Bell and its neighboring communities were built on factory industries and on waves of immigrants from the American Midwest who built their cities' civic institutions. They stayed, and many of their children stayed, but their grandchildren left when the factories closed. Their places are being taken by new waves of immigrants, mostly from Mexico, who are still in the process of rebuilding community and civic institutions — but without the wealth that industry once pumped into middle-class pockets and city treasuries. Unlike the earlier waves of immigrants, many of the newest generation lack U.S. citizenship and can't vote. Those who came here illegally live and work in fear of the law and tend to keep their heads low rather than fight exploitation at the hands of those who win power.

But it's not even that simple. In 2005, soon after the governor signed a bill to cap salaries of city council members in general law cities such as Bell, public officials there called a special election to ask voters to make Bell a charter city. Only 336 voters said "yes," but it was enough. Ballot measures, drafted for purposes not immediately clear in their wording, are unfortunately not phenomena limited to small cities. That's a lesson, in this election year, for every California voter.


Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™ click here to receive LAAG posts by email

illegal fireworks seized from La Puente home

Its the season for fireworks. I guess the Chinese fireworks biz is booming in this economy. Whats funny is that these raids really are a big benefit to the legal fireworks companies. They should get their own private police force like Microsoft used to nab pirates. I am sure Lakewood will be so much quieter this year due to the "heroic efforts" of LASD. Right. This "war on illegal fireworks" has been about as successful as the "war on drugs" while letting "medical marijuana" go on sale with virtually no regulation or enforcement.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/06/500000-in-illegal-fireworks-seized-from-la-puente-home.html
$500,000 in illegal fireworks seized from La Puente home
June 22, 2010 | 8:12 am

L.A. County sheriff's deputies made an explosive discovery this week when they uncovered a La Puente home filled with nothing but half a million dollars' worth of illegal fireworks.

Deputies set up a surveillance operation on a house on a cul-de-sac in the 14800 block of Hartsville Street after receiving a tip that it was being used to sell and distribute fireworks, said Sgt. Russell Boucher of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Industry station.

They stopped a large van leaving the residence just after 9 p.m. Monday and found it loaded with about $10,000 worth of illegal fireworks.

When they went inside to search the home, they found every room stacked floor-to-ceiling with illegal fireworks.

"It sounded like the house was rented specifically for the purpose of housing fireworks," Boucher said. "There wasn't any furniture. Basically every room was filled with fireworks."

Arson and explosives investigators were dispatched to the scene, where they disposed of the fireworks and estimated their value at $500,000.

Three men were taken into custody.

Authorities said the entire house -- and at least several nearby -- could have blown up if any of the firecrackers had ignited.

-- Tony Barboza



Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™ click here to receive LAAG posts by email

L.A. County budget shortfall at more that $500 million

Read the headline below closely..."layoffs POSSIBLE". What private employer in the US would have a $500 million loss and not lay off people immediately? I guess the County administrators flunked math as the total below is like 168 million. So what about the rest? Also note that 1/4 of the total is cuts from LASD, where we all know most of the cost and the fat is located. How does eliminating a vacant deputy postion save us money? Thats fake. Also how much overtime is being cut. Very "broad" picture being painted below. We need to see the details in the story below as we call know the deveil is in the details. Also when these cuts actually happen lets us know. We all hear about "proposed" cuts "in the news" that never really happen. Also lets take a  look at govt. employye job losses vs private sector job losses. There is no comparison. It must be like 700 private sector job losses for every one public secor job loss. Ill bet not one person that was a full time govt. employee in CA before 2004 has lost their job due to budget cuts. I would love to see just one real job cut, that actually really ocurred and by which we stopped paying tax dollars for that position. I challenge any reader to show us some evidence that this has occurred and that a real measurable "budget saving" resulted. I think this is all "press release" generated headlines to generate sympathy were none is needed or to drum up votes for the coming ballot proposition(s) in November. Surely when they run the ads in November for the "Local Taxpayer, Public Safety and Transportation Protection Act" (which they hope to qualify for the November 2010 statewide ballot) they will run these headlines of "proposed" cuts and tell us how the sky is falling.

L.A. County budget shortfall at more that $500 million, layoffs possible
April 19, 2010 | 2:09 pm

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a5267e70970b-800wi

Los Angeles County Chief Executive William T Fujioka said Monday that he is grappling with a $510.5 million budget shortfall and may need to lay off about 100 workers to help close the gap, even with negotiations underway with labor leaders that could yield compromises.

“This will be the worst year,” Fujioka said at a news conference today, predicting that the economic downturn will continue to ease and the pressure on the county will be far less in coming years.

In addition to possible job cuts, Fujioka's proposal to close the budget gap includes shortened library hours, reduced overtime for sheriff’s employees and the elimination of more than 1,000 vacant positions across the county.

Fujioka also cautioned that the cuts might grow significantly worse in the coming weeks because of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $1.5 billion cut to county funding. That situation remains fluid, however, and no state cuts are included in Fujioka’s plan so far.

Currently, his budget proposal for the coming fiscal year totals $22.721 billion, a decrease of $885 million from the current budget. The proposed budget is scheduled to be presented to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday, allowing for public hearings to begin May 12.

Among proposed curtailments:


* Sheriff: $128 million in cuts, elimination of 214 budgeted positions by downsizing the Pitchess Detention Center, deletion of 300 vacant deputy positions, reduction in overtime budget.

* Assessor: $7.9 million reduction and elimination of 22 positions, affecting appraisals, information technology projects and other services.

* Public Health: $7.9 million reduction and elimination of 81 positions

* Public Social Services: $7.4 million and elimination of 383 positions.

* Public Library: $4.8 million reduction and elimination of 9 positions, reducing service hours at selected libraries and elimination of the adult literacy program.

* Public Defender: $4.5 million reduction and elimination of 18 positions.

* Children and Family Services: $4.4 million reduction in programmatic areas.

* District Attorney: $3.6 million reduction and elimination of 25 positions.

-- Garrett Therolf at the L.A. County Hall of Administration

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

Making Lemonaid out of Lemons

This is an example of a shrewd move by LASD. On the news last night they were showing the LASD "hero" dispatcher, and the "hero" boy with a Sheriff hat on. Everything was happy smiles and what a great thing it was no one was hurt. Yep lucky for them. Now lets say the home invaders had shot the family then left? Do you think we would hear much about this 911 call? Nope. The real back story here, not covered by the mainstream media [especially the local TV stations who love to film whats fed to them by law enforcement in cases like this just to get ratings], is when was the 911 call placed and how many minutes later did the sheriff actually arrive at the scene? [this info is tracked by the way] If they were told a description of the car why could they not catch them? Was the LASD helicopter in the air at the time? How long did it take to respond? Was the cars description called in timely? They could not spot the car? If not why do we have two Sheriff's helicopters in the air all the time buzzing our homes at all hours of the day? How close was the closest sheriff's car to the house when the call came in? How far was this house from the LASD substation in Norwalk? [where the LASD helicopter lands by the way] These are the types of questions that should be asked in a situation like this and are not. Why? Most likely as the answers are embarrassing for the LASD. Its more fun to have a media event and hand out sheriff caps. Yep, making lemonade out of lemons. Hats off to the mainstream media for missing the real story and the LASD press spin masters.

We have heard stories of "911" calls before to Lakewood Sheriff's. Like "burglary in progress. I am watching them take stuff right now... Come quick." 30 minutes later a car shows up and asks where the burglars are. We kid you not. We could not make this stuff up. The deputy was told by the reporting witness that the burglars left about 5 minutes after the 911 call. Then the deputy just drives away. No report. Why make a report as that will just make LASD look bad as another unsolved burglary.

Now I am sure the sheriff response to all of the above would be "we need more units/deputies/dogs/radios/helicopters" or "we need more overtime" or "more lucrative pensions" but that is another story. The real issue is we are not getting much bang for our buck. All we get are "puff pieces" like the one below, and worse on the blathering local TV news. Oh and don't forget the stories that end badly or never get reported as their is no cute little boy in the story. Sure this is a "feel good" story, but lets not forget the "real" back story.

Norwalk boy, 7, makes harrowing 911 call during armed home invasion [Updated]
March 9, 2010
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/03/authorities-were-hailing-a-7-year-old-norwalk-boy-as-hero-tuesday-after-he-hid-in-a-bathroom-and-called-911-as-three-armed-at.html

Authorities were hailing a 7-year-old Norwalk boy as a hero Tuesday after he hid in a bathroom and called 911 as three armed attackers broke into his home and threatened his parents.

During the harrowing emergency call, the child pleaded with Los Angeles County sheriff's dispatchers to send help.

"Can you come really fast? Please! Please! ... They have guns. They shoot my mom and dad," the boy said, according to a copy of the 911 tape released by authorities.

The incident began about 8:30 a.m. when the three suspects, armed with handguns, stormed in through an unlocked door and said they were going to take what they wanted, the sheriff's department said.

The boy hid in the bathroom and locked the door.

"There's some guy who's going to kill my mom and dad," he said. "Can you come, please?

"Bring cops...a lot of them! ... And soldiers, too," the boy said.

He told dispatchers that he thought his parents had been shot.

The attackers broke into the bathroom and found the boy. At that point, screaming is heard on the 911 tape.

Authorities said one of the suspects grabbed the boy and asked who he called. "911," the boy responded, according to the department.

The suspects fled without injuring anyone or taking any property, authorities said.

"If not for the brave and educated actions of the 7-year-old boy, this might have ended tragically," said Capt. Pat Maxwell.

[Updated 10:18 p.m.: The boy hid in the bathroom with his 6-year-old sister, according to the 911 tape. Authorities said the suspects fled in a gray two-door Acura RSX.]

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at (562) 863-8711.

-- Andrew Blankstein and Robert J. Lopez

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

Dollar Tree opening soon at South St and Bellflower Blvd

LAAG has learned that the Dollar Tree store in the old refurbished Vons store should be opening around the latter part of March 2010. [finally] Again not a huge success for Lakewood which has a dismal commercial vacancy rate (from all appearances) but it is better than the horrible eye sore that was the dilapidated Vons store for the last few years. There are 10 open stores within 10 miles of Lakewood currently. Of course we could have had a Trader Joe's market in that location had the city had the guts to tell Safeway to can their lease buyout provision. Apparently its required no food stores at South and Bellflower for years to come for fear of real competition in this poor discount food shopping selection we have in Lakewood. More on that issue as we wrote in August 2009.

According to a February 2010 Wall Street Journal article Dollar Tree Inc.'s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rose 28% as the discount retailer continues to fare well during the downturn. Apparently its doing well as customers trade down to cheaper goods during the downturn.

The company in December estimated revenue of $1.49 billion to $1.53 billion with a gross margin of 37 percent.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

Ban on trash in L.A. River

This story below is good news. There was no mention in the story of similar rules applying to the San Gabriel River (where most of Lakewood's storm drains empty to) however we assume similar rules are in force as the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board also has control over the San Gabriel River. See this San Gabriel River report for more detail. This is why we urged Lakewood some years ago to enforce a logical parking ban; so that city wide street sweeping covering all streets weekly would comply with these rules, which will become more difficult over time to comply with without thorough sweeping programs. Next wee need to see storm drains inlets modified (and the catch basins cleaned before storms) to deal with all the trash and other pollutants not collected by the sweeper. Of course the story linked above does not mention which agency is supposed to clean out these catch basins once a week and all during a rain storm so they don't overflow and cause flooding nor is there any mention of the funding mechanism for this after the initial money is spent on installation of these snazzy catch basins. Also we are not keen on delaying this until 2016 but that is the slow pace of local government. I hope federal stimulus money is spent on this and perhaps the work will start sooner that way.

latimes.com/news/local/la-me-trash11-2009dec11,0,6852403.story
latimes.com
Water board moves to enforce ban on trash in L.A. River
Cities along the watershed are required by 2016 to keep all trash out of their storm drains. Those that don't comply will now be in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.

By Bettina Boxall

December 11, 2009

Regional water quality officials on Thursday put some teeth into their long campaign to cleanse the Los Angeles River system of the tons of trash that turn it into a movable landfill after major storms.

Standards previously adopted by the Los Angeles [Regional] Water Quality Control Board give cities along the watershed until 2016 to keep all trash out of their storm drains.

On Thursday, the board incorporated those limits into storm water permits, putting municipalities that don't meet the requirements in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. Until now there had been no penalty for noncompliance.

"It's taken two decades to get to this point," board vice-chair Madelyn Glickfeld said after the 5-0 vote. "If we hadn't done this today, it would have been a signal" to cities "to relax, guys."

During storms, tons of trash and plastic debris wash up in municipal drains that empty into the Los Angeles River and its tributaries. The trash floating at the river's mouth in Long Beach can be so thick that it is hard to see any water. In the unusually wet winter of 2005, Long Beach hauled more than 12,000 tons of garbage out of the river.

Much of the trash winds up in the Pacific Ocean, contributing to huge floating garbage patches. Pieces of plastic can wrap around wildlife and kill birds and fish.

Trash was formally identified as a pollution problem in the river in 1996. Five years later, the regional water board adopted standards. But 22 cities sued to overturn the trash limits, saying they would be expensive and difficult to meet.

The courts found the board had not performed an adequate environmental impact analysis of the new rules, but otherwise upheld them.

After conducting an environmental review, the board readopted the trash standards in 2007.

In the meantime, some cities in the watershed, including Los Angeles, started installing screens and collection systems to keep street debris from washing into sewers. Sixteen cities in the watershed recently received $10 million in federal stimulus money to outfit their catch basins.

Local officials pointed to progress Thursday. "We have taken trash reduction seriously," said Signal Hill Councilman Larry Forester.

Another official showed the board photographs he took after Monday's storm. Parts of the river that have been coated with trash in the past were largely clean.

Local representatives argued that it wasn't necessary to write a target of zero trash discharges into the storm permits, and that doing so would set a burdensome precedent for other pollutants.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

Trick or Treat from the Lakewood Sheriff's Department

The Press telegram reports that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's station in Lakewood is hosting a "Haunted Jail," complete with spooky costumed characters (does this mean deputies?), food and games (do tasers count as games?). The Lakewood Station moved all its prisoners to Cerritos for the event. Odd that the LASD did not send this press release to LAAG.

So are we to believe that no work hours (i.e. tax dollars) were "lost" on all this? Right. Trick or Treat? I think the taxpayers are being tricked. This is the highest and best use of a $20 million dollar new station? I mean we know the LASD Lakewood station does nothing useful for $10 million a year (except try to look busy) but lets not advertise the fact by turning the jail into something out of The Andy Griffith Show on one of the busiest nights out of the year. You want to read about something really scary that really happened in the Lakewood jail read this. Now that real scary episode will be a real "treat" for taxpayers. We'll see if the LASD has any tricks up its sleeve on that one. Likely not. Just some tax dollars for that "trick or treater".

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

The South and Bellflower shopping center saga continues

As we have reported previously the ongoing "former Vons" saga at South and Bellflower lingers on for what seems like an eternity. Just getting the parking lot fixed took over a year. They were finished in August 2009. [read our update to this story here]

Vons/Pavillions is owned by the lovely Safeway people headquartered in Oakland CA. When the current owner of the properly bought it many years ago Vons had a very long term and cheap lease on the building it vacated in 1998. They did not want to let go of the lease for fear that another grocery store would move in there and heaven forbid "compete" with the Pavillions over at South and Woodruff (which has the worst prices of any grocery store in the area thanks to union and other issues...but that's another column). Clearly the Fresh and Easy has not been any competition. We are still banking on that operation to fold up as the novelty has worn off.

The real problems began when the current landlord (Lings Property Management..located in LA) tried to buy Vons lease interest out. Of course Von's wanted to make sure that a Trader Joes market or some other savvy competitor cannot get in that spot. This created two problems. First it harms Lakewood shoppers who have a lack of real shopping choice for groceries (as most cities in the this area, especially Long Beach, backed the unions and disallowed Wal Mart grocery stores). Secondly it reduces the chances of leasing that entire former Vons store due to its sheer size. But the city apparently refused or failed to intervene on behalf of the city residents and encourage Von's (Safeway) to drop that requirement and so there you have it. No competitive food stores in that center for years to come thanks to heavy handed action by Safeway. Quite frankly we feel that is appalling and only hurts residents.

So as it stands now the former Von's store will be subdivided into three equally divided store units. More doors and glass will be added to the front. The building is essentially gutted inside now. As of Sept. 15, 2009 it is supposed to be ready for the build out of the first of three new tenants.

The first will be "Dollar Tree" And of course they will sell little if any "food items" at the store thanks the our pals over at Safeway. It is not clear on who the other two tenants will be but given the glut of commercial space in Lakewood we are not optimistic that it will be leased quickly (especially given the site had had for lease signs up for about 3 years..one actually rotted and fell over!) We are also not at all impressed with Lakewood's very shallow and transparent redevelopment efforts which don't seem to be getting much bang for the tax dollar. Also the city seems to focus all their attention on the mall and second or third tier shopping centers like the one at Bellflower and South and Palo Verde and South languish with years of vacancies and decay. We all know where that leads.

Dollar Tree is one of a number of large chains that appears to be doing well in this 12% unemployment economy.

Here are Dollar Tree's current local stores:

6426 E. Spring St. Long Beach, CA 90815

Norwalk Town Center 13913 Pioneer Blvd Norwalk, CA 90650

8111 E Wardlow Road Long Beach, CA 90808

In related news, in the same shopping center the Hanalei restaurant has reopened after being closed for about a year. No idea what the problem was but its good to see businesses operating as opposed to empty buildings. We know thats not good for anyone.

We also hear that the Movietime Video rental store in the same shopping center is supposed to be subdivided and that a 7-11 will go in on the Bellflower Blvd side. We will believe that when we see it.

Finally the South and Bellflower site is supposed to get a minor facade upgrade for all stores. That has not yet been defined. But anything would be an improvement over what we have now.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

Community Workshop to discuss proposed improvements to the San Gabriel River Bikeway

Today we received a press release (below) from the city of Seal Beach regarding the section of the San Gabriel River bike path that is situated in their city and Orange County. We have complained about the deterioration of the path for years (since June 2006 to be exact). The County of LA claimed they could do nothing as the path was Seal Beach's responsibility by an agreement created in the early 1970's when the path was first built. We argued that that should never have been the case. We argued for OC transportation funds to be used. We argued for federal "Stimulus funds" to be used. All to no avail. Finally it appears that the money that was originally "promised" by the State on Sept. 2008 (then "withdrawn" on Dec. 2008) is now starting to ooze thru the mess that we all know is ongoing in Sacramento (don't get us started on that). Well don't hold your breath for the funds to ever make it into "real" improvements you can ride on. They may all get eaten up by consultants and other types of "pre-groundbreaking activities". But at least this is a good start.

So for those of you that use this section of the San Gabriel River Bikeway (405 south to the ocean) we hope to see you at the meeting on Sept. 10. It is important that bike riders that use the trail show up and provide input (and support) as we are actually the ones that know the problems and how to fix them. Its your trail and your tax dollars. So please pass this along.

Press Release text:

“The City of Seal Beach will be holding a Community Workshop to discuss proposed improvements to the San Gabriel River Bikeway and River's End Staging Area. This project will include repaving the bike trail from the First Street parking lot to I-405, improvements to the First Street parking lot, and remodeling the existing First Street restroom. The workshop will include a presentation of the draft plan for the area followed by an opportunity to ask questions and provide your feedback.

The project is being funded through a grant from the State of California, Rivers and Mountains Conservancy. Funding restrictions through the State had caused the City to place this project on hold recently. However, with portions of funding back in place, the City is pleased to bring this project back online and would like to gather input and feedback from the community and those who utilize the San Gabriel River Bike Trail.

The workshop will be held at the City of Seal Beach Council Chambers on Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 6:30 pm.

For further information regarding this project, please contact David Spitz, Associate Engineer at (562) 431-2527 ext. 1331.”

David Spitz, P.E.
Associate Civil Engineer
City of Seal Beach
211 8th Street
Seal Beach, CA 90740
p - (562) 431-2527 ext 1331
f - (562) 430-8763
dspitz@ci.seal-beach.ca.us


Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

California Proposition 59 - freedom of information or "sunshine" law

California Proposition 59 was an amendment of the Constitution of California that introduced freedom of information or "sunshine" provisions. On November 2, 2004 it passed with 9,334,852 (83.4%) votes in favor and 1,870,146 (16.6%) against.

The amendment adds to the state constitution Article I, Section 3 (b). Section 3 (a) is the provision of the Declaration of Rights that guarantees the right to freedom of assembly, the right to petition the government and the right to instruct ones elected representatives. The amendment added to these rights the following provisions:

(1) The people have the right of access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business, and, therefore, the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies shall be open to public scrutiny.

(2) A statute, court rule, or other authority, including those in effect on the effective date of this subdivision, shall be broadly construed if it furthers the people’s right of access, and narrowly construed if it limits the right of access. A statute, court rule, or other authority adopted after the effective date of this subdivision that limits the right of access shall be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

(3) Nothing in this subdivision supersedes or modifies the right of privacy guaranteed by Section 1 or affects the construction of any statute, court rule, or other authority to the extent that it protects that right to privacy, including any statutory procedures governing discovery or disclosure of information concerning the official performance or professional qualifications of a peace officer.

(4) Nothing in this subdivision supersedes or modifies any provision of this Constitution, including the guarantees that a person may not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denied equal protection of the laws, as provided in Section 7.

(5) This subdivision does not repeal or nullify, expressly or by implication, any constitutional or statutory exception to the right of access to public records or meetings of public bodies that is in effect on the effective date of this subdivision, including, but not limited to, any statute protecting the confidentiality of law enforcement and prosecution records.

(6) Nothing in this subdivision repeals, nullifies, supersedes, or modifies protections for the confidentiality of proceedings and records of the Legislature, the Members of the Legislature, and its employees, committees, and caucuses provided by Section 7 of Article IV, state law, or legislative rules adopted in furtherance of those provisions; nor does it affect the scope of permitted discovery in judicial or administrative proceedings regarding deliberations of the Legislature, the Members of the Legislature, and its employees, committees, and caucuses.


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