(by Dave Emerson) I didn’t make it much past the “Oral Communications” part of Monday night’s City Council meeting, but that was enough for me. Too much, actually.
The meeting began on what were probably the high notes of the evening, then went downhill from their. A simply profound invocation from outgoing Council Member Cat Driscoll, the first victim of the CPLA/LATA/Silvia-led/Briggeman-funded smear campaign our small little town’s been subjected to for the past ten weeks.
Cat graciously prayed that the Council and the community could put that vicious campaign behind them and move forward. She bemoaned the pitting of “neighbor against neighbor” and asked the Almighty for a return of grace, peace and sanity. It was heartfelt and beautiful. A prayer we would all do well to echo in our own way.
Awards
The Kims receive their award.
Then, after a brief report from the OC Human Relations people, Louis and Marie Kim were presented with their “Citizen of the Month” awards for the work done with our youth through their National Hapkido Center based in Los Alamitos. I particularly liked the five points each young member is to affirm weekly:
- I will obey my parents.
- I will do my homework.
- I will brush my teeth.
- I will wear my seat belt.
- I will be polite, sir.
I’m thinking maybe we could hire Mr. and Mrs. Kim to teach those rules to our Council and the Citizens for the Preservation of Los Alamitos. Although on a bad day I might be tempted to skip the seat belt part for some of them. (Humorous reference: Not to be taken literally, my CPLA attorney, sir. Now go brush your teeth.)
Then came the presentation of an award to the city’s Administrative Services Director, Nita McKay, for Outstanding Financial Reporting from California’s Society of Municipal Finance Officers. That’s an impressive award for a city staff member. Don’t think I’ve seen anything positive about Nita from the Sylvia’s and their gang (literally. . . er, no, Mr. Attorney, just a pun, actually. Another attempt at humor, nothing more. No intent to impugn anyone. After all, I will be polite, sir). I do believe she was brought in by the current Council majority, possibly while they were taking a break from raising our taxes, raising their pay, “taking luxurious vacations,” and riding around in town cars at taxpayer expense.
Actually, I guess I’m foreshadowing the scaled-down but turned-up Sylvias and friends show that came during that public comments time. That’s what got my blood boiling.
Oral Communications: Cypress, Gemini, & Briggeman
First we heard from the former mayor of Cypress, who seemingly hasn’t stopped showing up to complain at city council meetings since she moved into Old Town. Not exactly sure who rode her out of Cypress, but I’m thinking the CPLA must be grooming her for a run for Council.
Anyway, Ms. ex-Cypress Mayor decided to bash Gerri Mejia for “bashing” Gemini Forest Products at the last Council meeting. Funny, my memory was that she made a passing reference to Gemini in relating the very unsettling meeting George Briggeman arranged about two years ago with two brand new Council Members (Mejia and Edgar) and Lucy Serlat, the City Manager at the time, who was fired by those two Council Members plus Dean Grose shortly thereafter, allegedly for not cooperating sufficiently with Mr. Briggeman.
Now there are two accounts of that meeting that vary slightly in the details, but according to Gerri Mejia’s version, Briggeman suggested at that meeting, apparently in passing, that Gemini (his tenant) was underpaying their sales taxes, but that was to be kept confidential and not acted upon. When our now-former city manager heard that, she requested a sales tax audit of Gemini, despite being asked not to act upon the information by Mr. Briggeman. Soon thereafter Lucy Sertat was fired, over the objections of Ken Parker and Cat Driscoll. Essentially for doing her job.
That’s the version of what happened Gerri presented at the prior Council meeting. Troy Edgar saw things slightly differently, saying she should have talked with Gemini before doing the audit. That sounded to me a little like the police having a sit down with crack dealers before raiding their crack house–nothing like a heads’ up to the possibly guilty party before beginning an audit. Give ‘em a little time to get their books in order, show ‘em you care.
What I’d like to know is, what ever happened to that audit once Serlat was fired.
The interesting thing was that Gerri, anticipating that Troy would say she got it wrong, had already arranged two possible times that week for both of them to take a lie detector test. Troy was silent about that offer.
Well, that’s a summary of the two versions, as best I remember them. Please correct me, Gerri or Troy, if I got something wrong. (I’ve been told you both frequent this blog.)
So I guess Ms Cypress ex-Mayor, who’s name I can’t spell, thought that was “beating up on” Gemini, and apparently on Mr. Briggeman as well, who had been so generous to the city as to lease his land to Gemini rather than develop it. What’s interesting here is that the word on the street is that Briggeman wants to relocate Gemini to another one of his Los Alamitos properties so he can develop the current Gemini site into a trash processing/recycling center. Gee, that wouldn’t add any traffic congestion to our city, while not generating a penny of new sales tax. Wonder if that might have anything to do with Briggeman apparently throwing well over $100,000 into the current City Council race?
Actually, I think Ms. ex-Mayor may have further pried open a can of worms that needs some serious investigation. But if you, like her, think our Council is being mean to Mr. Briggeman and his tenants, I guess you should be sure to vote for Ms Poe (who took a $1,000 donation from Gemini for her campaign, as well as her share of Briggeman’s support) and Mr. Stephens (who so far hasn’t taken anything from Gemini that I know of, but has Briggeman’s backing).
Good. Let’s start off by bashing Gerri for not supporting Briggeman enough and for telling the truth. I guess that was the kickoff of the CPLA/Briggeman smear campaign against Ms. Mejia’s 2010 reelection. This time we get two years of mud instead of a little over two months? Great!
Tag Team Sylvia
Well, not forgetting that this election’s not quite over, both Sylvias appeared with written campaign statements. . . er, “oral comments,” to double the five minute per person limit and further extend the meeting.
Mrs. Sylvia went first, and believe me, it was a campaign speech. She extolled Poe and Stephens for earning the endorsement of the city employee’s union, apparently in a meeting I never got invited to. She went on and on about how wonderful and unprecedented this was. I spent eight years teaching in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and I know a little about how a union can take over a school board, so I don’t share Carol’s enthusiasm for city employees pounding the streets in favor of Poe and Stephens. But Mayor Parker and I are already up against Briggeman’s tens of thousands, so why not throw an army of campaign workers against us too. Throw in two Council members for good measure.
Then, after some excellent remarks by J.M.Ivlar, it was Mr. Sylvia’s turn, who concocted a bizarre fantasy without a shred of evidence. First, Syliva pointed out that Mayor Parker had taken a campaign contribution from Consolidated Disposal four years ago. I’ve had no problem with that, because Parker obviously isn’t in the trash guys’ pocket, as he’s the one who consistently has wanted to put the trash contract out to bid.
But in Mr. Sylvia’s strange world, the question is, why didn’t Parker bring up his law to mandate the bidding of the 2010 contract a year or two ago? I was thinking maybe because it doesn’t go out for bidding until next year? No, it was far more nefarious than that. Turns out Parker was trying to extort tens of thousands from the trash guys, and when they didn’t pay up, Parker turned against them. And the evidence? Well. . . . gosh, I guess we never really got to that. But Sylvia says it’s so, and he was a Council Member for two decades, and he certainly wouldn’t say anything that his attorneys hadn’t proven, so I guess that’s all the evidence we need.
Well, by that time my blood was boiling, & I offered a bit of a response to Team Sylvia, as well as my outrage over their approach to this campaign. (See “Have you no decency?” and “Please be more forthright.”)
Bottom line:
Last night’s Council Meeting shows the array of forces fighting to regain control of our City Council. Big money Briggeman and his tenants. Two current City Council Members. The City Employees Union. No wonder I sometimes feel like David fighting Goliath. This isn’t exactly the campaign I thought I was getting into.
The only responses I know of are hard work, prayer, and “people power.” Ken Parker and I need you to multiply our efforts. It still isn’t too late. Please call or e-mail voters with whom you might have influence. And please be sure to vote yourself. If you need info on your polling place and hours, or a quick summary of the candidates, check out my prior post, “How to Vote.’
Interestingly enough, the meeting was not televised live, at least not on FIOS. If somebody saw it live on Cable, please let us now with a comment below. I suspect we could have been saved a lot of grief from CPLA fans if they knew nobody was tuning in.
Well, that’s my summary, up through oral communications. I couldn’t watch the rest when I finally got home because it hadn’t been on FIOS, so feel free to tell me what I missed. I had some flyers to pass out, because I can’t afford to bring in outside contractors to do that, like Mr. Stephens.
I look forward to your comments and thoughts. Please try to be respectful and polite. Even if sometimes I don’t quite live up to my own standards. And remember to wear your seatbelt. And vote today!
Related posts:
Dave:
I have enjoyed reading your blog the past few months. I think you have run a respectible campaign and wish you luck today. Just for your information, I was elected four times to the Signal Hill City Council without ever accepting campaign contributions and always being outspent, so I do appreciate your effort this campaign.
Now to comment on this blog item. I agree that Nita McKay has done a fine job for the City. However, the award for financial reporting for the City is not new. In fact the City has been receiving it since 1996-97. What Nita and Dave Rudat deserve credit for is documenting the major financial deficit facing the City and its providing of services to the public. For the current budget the deficit was estimated at over $800,000 before the budget was “balanced” by one-time savings and other budget gimmicks. Whoever is elected to the City Council will be facing an even higher operational deficit that is going to severely impact services in the next two years. This is not unique to Los Alamitos and all local government will be severely challenged because of the current economy.
Now to the rumor that I will be the next City Manager. I am not interested in returning to the City as City Manager so you put that rumor to rest. I think very highly of the City, its citizens and most of its employees. It is troubling to see the poor morale in the City as a result of all the turmoil in the management of the City over the past four years. Although I have a record of success in dealing with organizations in financial and operational crisis (City of Signal Hill and Orange County Vector Control District), I have no interest in returning to the City. I believe it needs an experienced manager from outside the organization who can bring the City Council together and focus on the major challenges facing it in the next two years.
I wish all the candidates good luck. I am confident that the good citizens of Los Alamitos will make the right decision today and that hopefully the City Council will put aside the emotions and politics of this campaign behind it and go forward in addressing its serious challenges.
Hi Dave!
I was a little upset that the meeting was not aired on tv last night. Somebody unplug the camera?? I did just read your comment about it not being filmed live on Fios, so does that mean we will at least get a replay?
Wish you much luck today!!
It was on channel 3.
Sorry but it wasn’t on my channel 3. I have Fios (Verizon) and it didn’t show. Maybe if you have cable they had it showing. I watch it every meeting so was not a happy camper last night!
I caught the first hour via Time Warner; evidently Verizon did not air it. Interesting.
Holy cow. Very touching tribute by Cat, wishing Ken Parker all the best. I wish you could have said all you had to day, Dave; you absolutely should have brought Barb along. Unfortunately you allowed Stephens an opening to seize on a throw-away comment and attempt to carve out a politically correct moral high ground. But I think he found it difficult to walk the high road while slipping on all the mud he’s been throwing. It did make for a nice moment of staged outrage, pandering for the cameras.
The die has been cast; all that remains is to vote your conscience, and pray God’s mercy and guidance on a city and council that has desperately lost its way.
To Everyone Thank You For Your Support,
First I want to thank to my husband and my children who have had to endure a grueling few months and to all my friends for their support. I also want to thank Ken Parker and his lovely wife Kim for being so strong and for being true friends. Anyone close to me knows that it has not been easy for me or my family. However, through the grace of God we have pulled through all that has gone on.
As I stated in my comments last night at the meeting, our City has suffered greatly. I have never, and hope to never see again what we have witnessed these past three months from our community. I never knew that people could be so hateful and so mean as the CPLA. I want each and every one of you CPLA members or supporters of the CPLA to know that I have been praying for each of you. I have asked God to soften your hearts and to silence the venom from your mouths. You may not care or even realize how much your words and hatred can hurt a person, and all for what? I mean really, think about it. Ken and myself aren’t criminals, or murders or out doing heinous crimes against others. We are just two people who care deeply for our City and have tried to do the best that we can to give back. You may disagree with our votes or decisions and that’s okay. We can all agree to disagree, but to go out and purposely want to destroy a persons life and cause them a great deal of pain and even illness is just downright mean.
I meant what I said last night in my invocation about the need for our City to heal. Please everyone, just take a step back and think about what you have done and said and ask yourself, is this something you would teach your child to do, or to behave? Would you encourage your child to ridicule and hurt another child? I know your answer would be no. So why is okay for you to do it? The answer is – it’s not. Remember, after today we are all going to still be neighbors and we will all have to see each other at the grocery store or driving down the street. Remember, we all live in this community because we love it. We don’t live in our community because we want to hate others or hurt others. I want each of you CPLA members or any supporters of the CPLA to know that I forgive you for the hurt that you have caused me and my family. Some may think I am crazy, but the truth of the matter is, that is what God teaches us. He forgives us so we must forgive others.
Well said, Cat! God bless you!
And God help and heal Los Alamitos!
P.S.
Make sure you vote for Ken Parker and Dave Emerson. Nothing against Ken Stephens as I know him to be a good man.
Cat,
While I respect you I am afraid that the bar has been set.
Let me quote from the book the Sylvia’s use. Matthew 7:12 & Luke 6:31
In other religions they have similar “golden rules”
Brahmanism: This is the sum of duty: do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done unto you.
Buddhism: Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful
Christianity: Treat others as you would want them to treat you (Phillips)
Confucianism: Do not unto others what you would not have them do unto you.
Hindu: The true role of life is to guard and do by the things of others as they do on their own.
Islam: No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.
Judaism: Whatever is hurtful to yourself, do not to your fellowman. That is the whole of the law, the rest is merely commentary.
Persian: Do as you would be done by.
Taoism: Regard you neighbor’s gain as your own gain and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.
This is how they feel a campaign for public office should be waged. And by not disavowing these antics Troy Edgar, Dean Grose, and Poe and Stephens seem to feel that what was done was acceptable, and how they should be treated.
So I say, that unto them let be done the Christian thing. As they have sown, so shall they reap!
met00,
Thanks for your words, however; I was reading the entire passage of Luke 6:27. It reads as follows:
27″But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you . . . 6:36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.
This passage has been what has guided me through these difficult times.
and lets not forget “Revenge is mine” sayeth the Lord. We can all rest in knowing that when God evens the score he does a far better job than we do. I do not wish anything bad on anyone, this they bring upon themselves. The natural order of reaping what you sow is active hear as well.
Kat,
You were smart to bow out. Hopefully the voters will get rid of the rest of the trash tonight. I will be there to celebrate the night Porker is excused from the city council. And, please, do not vote for Emerson.
ANONYMOUS WHY DONT TAKE A HOT BATH GET SOME GERITOL AND TO BED AFTER ALL IT 4:30 P.M.