Feb
26
Mayor Grose and City Council welcome visitors to city website
Thursday night update: The 24 hours which ended at 4 this afternoon (midnight GMT) were the busiest in this blog’s short history, with about 1,200 page views, most apparently from local residents. Sometime tomorrow, Friday, I hope to get up a post to get the community discussing specific options for moving forward. ( I briefly mention a few in the comment I added below at 10:35 p.m. 2/26.) I’m bringing this up for the purpose of discussion. Your thoughts and ideas, as always, are far more important than just mine alone. For now, however, I’m going to get some sleep. Hope to see you by tomorrow afternoon.
(by Dave Emerson) Well, at least we’re no longer best known for Cypress’ race track.
In the last 24 hours thousands of comments have been posted on websites across our country decrying the racism of our Mayor and even our city.
“What is Los Alamitos, a white trash town of 400 people?” wrote one commenter on a nationwide blog.
Maybe it’s time for our Mayor and Council to take decisive action that will put this whole ugly inccident behind us all so the city and Dean Grose can move forward.
On most blogs that I’ve scanned, the comments tend to fall into 4 categories:
- What a racist and insensitive thing for a Mayor to do! (about 35% of comments)
- What an incredibly stupid thing for a Mayor to do! (about 30% of comments)
- What an overly sensitive evil thing Keyanus Price did in making the e-mail public. (about 10% of comments)
- What’s the big deal? It was a dumb, tasteless joke, the Mayor apologized, get over it. (about 25% of comments)
Sadly, there’s more involved here than just Mayor Dean Grose.
Grose was elected Mayor by a 4 – 1 vote of our City Council, deliberately bypassing Mayor Pro Tem Gerri Mejia. As best as I can tell, that is only the second time in our city’s 49 year history that the Council has skipped over the Mayor Pro Tem.
Not only was Mejia bypassed for Mayor by our new majority, she was also stripped of her Mayor Pro Tem status. Then the next major action of the new majority was to strip Gerri of her city cell phone, even though she vigorously complained that would make it harder for her to stay in touch with the citizens.
Then Gerri’s name was left off a belated New Years message from the Council that was published in the local “community” paper. Why? Mayor Grose was unable to contact her without her city cell phone.
At the time I felt the Council’s moves reflected an insensitivity to the Council’s only “blue collar” member and detected strong hints of classism. (Gerri”s also the only Council Member with a Hispanic surname, thanks to her husband, Javier.)
Even if the moves against Gerri weren’t classist or racist, they were certainly stupid and counter productive. They certainly ran against the new majority’s oft repeated theme (even “covenant”) of building a team and working together. Actions speak louder than words.
Mayor Grose's e-mail, headed "No Easter Egg Hunt this year"
And now this, from our new majority’s chosen leader.
There’s really very little doubt that it’s both racist and stupid.
As hundreds have written, if the joke’s not racist, it makes no sense.
A Mayor bulk e-mailing that offensive joke makes even less sense.
Including a young African-American businesswoman in the group receiving the e-mail makes even less sense.
And the Mayor’s response to Keyanus Reeves polite rebuke makes even less sense!
Keyanus wrote, “Hey, that’s not nice at all. Not all black people like watermelon. . . you should know better than that.” Not a ranting e-mail to the Regiser, just a friendly correction of the Mayor and her fellow Youth Center Board Member.
I’m pretty sure an apology from the Mayor right there would have been the end of the story. What would you have done if you were in the Mayor’s shoes?
“Keyanus, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. It was a long day, I was trying to work through a ton of e-mail, & I got a little chuckle out of it & decided to forward it to a few friends. Totally stupid and insensitive on my part. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”
Heck, he’s the MAYOR! I just sell real estate, but when I do something stupid and or offensive and a client calls me on it, I backpeddle as fast as I can. Nothing’s quite as effective as a heart felt, sincere apology.
But how did the Mayor reply last Sunday?
“The way things are today, you gotta laugh every now and then. I wanna see the coloring contests.”
I don’t even know what that means.
How are things today? Our first African American President dominating the news?
What is the “coloring contest,” and why does our Mayor want to see it. Isn’t “coloring” a poor choice of words in this context? Fellow citizens, this is OUR MAYOR speaking.
Whatever Mayor Grose meant, Keyanus was not impressed: “That put me over the top because it was no big deal to him.”
Insensitive. Racist. Stupid. Very stupid. Very sad.
I’ve done quite a few insensitive and stupid things myself. We all have. But I’m not the Mayor. Shoot, I’m not even a Council Member. (Thanks to the voters, the C.P.L.A., the City Employees’ Union, George Briggeman, Dean Grose, and Troy Edgar.)
I’m sure Mayor Grose didn’t intend to offend anyone.
But there’s a pattern of less than stellar decisions here dating back to the Mayor’s years leading the Traffic Commission.
There’s a similar pattern that plagues the entire majority, going back to the years when the previous Poe majority expended far more effort sewing local businesspeople and creating the money-draining Base Pool foundation than they ever expended on traffic, planning, or sales-tax generation.
Is it time for Mayor Dean Grose and the 3 other Council Members who elected him Mayor to step down?
Do we really want this group controlling our city for the next two years? Mayor Grose, two Cypress businessmen who only recently moved into the city, and the swing vote in way too many bad decisions during the Sylvia/Bates era. Can’t we find four smarter, more sensitive, more independent, more representative Los Alamitos citizens to replace them? (I can come up with five or six names right off the top of my head. And no, my name is not among them.)
What do you think?
Please keep your comments civil and the language appropriate to our once family-friendly community. Thank you.
Related posts:
- Dean Grose resigns as Mayor but not from the City Council, effective Monday
- Complete Text of Mayor Grose’s “Resignation” Statement
- Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose backpeddles on resignation
- Local businesswoman “appalled” by Mayor Grose’s e-mail
Comments
20 Responses to “Should Mayor Grose and his majority resign?”
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Yes! He along with Edgar have broken their oath to the people and they have turned that ridiculous covenant to the people into a joke!
How can he possibly represent our city at this point. He would be putting the city and it’s citizens needs before his own!
It’s a non-discussion point!
Slither away Grose!
Wow, Over the top Dave…I like it!
Dave – you have always been a voice of reason. You have always given people the benefit of the doubt. You have always been respectful. I think that your post above is dead on and for you to come to this conclusion shows that you have exhausted every avenue of forgiveness. I hope that everyone who knows Dave and this site truly realizes that.
As for Grose, I think we all know the answer to that. There is not one person here who sympathizes with him. The national level blogs are making a bigger mockery of him and our city. He has damaged our city beyond what he could ever do to repair it and he has broken his own covenant. He has written his own history.
The only way for Grose to promote healing and closure for those involved is to do the right thing and resign. I have stated many times before that Grose does not have an ounce of leadership skills and stepping down would be the biggest act of leadership that I will have ever seen from him. I think that everyone should be at the Monday March 2nd meeting to demand that he do so.
At this point in our city’s history, I do not think that we have been any lower. With Dean’s resignation we will have nowhere to go but up. I hope for the sake of our city that that will be the case. It is then that we will be able to recover and move forward.
Orange County Progressive hits the nail on the head with a ink to this blog.
Nice job Dave! It really hits the points well.
I want to avoid a lynch mob mentality here. I want to not seem like we are trying to tar and feather Grose and then ride him out on a rail.
But.
You knew that was coming didn’t you.
When a person heats the tar, pours it over themselves, rolls around in feathers and runs down to the train tracks it’s real hard not to seem like he’s been tar’d, feathered and ridden out the rail by those that have been vocal about his past failures; even when he has done it all to himself.
Yes, Grose has turned the City of Los Alamitos into a national mockery. As someone who is active in politics at a national level, not just local, I have had to deal with Grose-blowback for the last two days.
Yes, the community is largely white, and now thanks to Grose, we are also largely racist. Who couldn’t see that coming?
Now, we all know that he apologized and that should have made it all better. But his first apology was one that said that he was sorry if the other person (or any African-American) was offended. It didn’t say that he was sorry that he sent a racist piece of crap, just sorry that the other person was offended by his racist actions.
Then he followed that e-mail up with his explanation that he was unaware that watermelons were offensive.
Now Grose has said he used “poor judgment” and I think that can best be summed up by this post.
There are two possible actions that can happen now. The first is that Grose can try to pull a Rove. After Rove and Cheney exposed a CIA asset to attack someone who was outing that Bush administration about it’s lies to get us into war, Rove just stood back and let the chips fall where they may. He lied about his involvement. He refused to answer questions. He stonewalled. And even though he committed a treasonous act, he ended getting a job on Fox News. So, for a loyal member of the GOP there is ample evidence that this is the best way to handle the situation. In fact, if he does this well enough there is the real possibility that he can get a job working at Fox News doing the commentator thing.
The second action is that Grose could stand up at Monday’s meeting and say. “What I did was wrong and showed that I lack the leadership qualities to hold the post of Mayor. I have injured this fine city and the only way I can make amends for my actions is to step down from this position and resign from the council immediately.”
Yeah, that’s not going to happen. This is a man who ran three times to be on the city council. There is no way that he will “do the right thing” and step down. He can’t even say he is sorry for his actions, so expecting him to take any action to correct for them if a fantasy.
Do I believe that Poe, Stephens and Edgar should pay for the sins of Grose? No. The fact that “the most trusted voice” just got exposed as being far less than trustworthy should remind us that we can’t trust her. The potential quid-pro-quo with Stephens (the turn into the 24 Hour Fitness) has been killed by the city and the Traffic Commission has indicated that they would not recommend it thereby decreasing the possibility that he can be bought off by a decision in council. And almost everyone in the city knows that Edgar is a raving loon who actually voted against police cars for our department and used his position on council to run a political campaign against a poor landowners building permit just because the tenant was a political opponent (and cost the city and taxpayers thousands in legal fees for the useless witch hunt).
So, while I can see why those of us who care about the city would like to see the three who voted for Grose walk the plank. I don’t see any reason why they would or should do so.
I expect that there will be a nice turnout on Monday to ask Grose to step-down and resign. It’s going to be a long meeting. Edgar should be just overjoyed to know that the man he nominated to the Mayors position has full responsibility for this. Maybe that is the best thing going for those of us who want Grose to step down. Edgar hates long council meetings where he has to sit there and waste his time. Maybe he can be motivated by the thought that as long as Grose is up there on the dais there will be long meetings where Grose is the subject. Maybe his total disgust at having to sit through hour long comments sessions will drive him to put a stake through the heart of our public embarrassment.
OC Progressive–
Thanks for the shout out. Please help me figure out how to post a comment on your blog. My 17 year old I.S. tech is at school.
JHubert–
Thanks for the kind words. I think there’s a place for forgiveness when asked for: We all need mercy, which means we all need to be merciful.
But to me this latest series of very poor decisions is all too typical of what we will continue to get from the current majority until they are gone. For the sake of the city, the Mayor and the Council Members who put him in office should be replaced. They would do themselves and our community a huge favor by submitting a joint resignation, effective upon the election of their successors, then call a new election as soon as possible.
JM–
Well written and thought out as usual. I, however, think it’s well past time for the whole majority to go.
They chose Mayor Grose, throwing aside the long tradition of rotating the Mayor’s office through the Mayor Pro Tem.
The two “newcomers” were elected with strong support from Grose, both financial and physically walking and knocking on their behalf.
The “newbies were elected as a result of (and all four refused to repudiate) the most devisive, expensive, and distorted hate campaign in the history of Los Alamitos (scroll up to “Categegories in the left margin and click on “CPLA and LATA” for some details.).
I don’t even know where to begin with Edgar, but let’s try his waste of thousands of taxpayer dollars on a purely political vendetta against Ken Parker’s landlord, his shameful tirades from the dias, and his striking Cat Driscoll’s letter to the Council from the public record.
The current recession provides a golden opportunity to move forward to make our town all that it should be. Over the last two and a half months, the majority’s taken us in the opposite direction.
Is there any possible doubt that we’d be better off without the Mayor & the four colleagues who put him in office?
I’m not talking about simply a different majority, but what a City Council really should be: A diverse, broad-based group of bright, honest, independent and caring citizens working together to do what’s best for the city and putting their personal interests aside. A real team.
Pretty much what the current Planning Commission and Traffic Commission seem to be. Maybe just pick a couple members from each to replace the current foursome. Including someone representative of the CPLA’s views. Shoot, maybe even let Marilyn stay, given her knowledge of the history of the town and her commitment to our non-profits.
We can do so much better. We must.
The events of the past week prove what most of us already suspected.
It’s our city, not George Briggeman’s or Chuck Sylvia’s. Maybe they should have someone who represents them on the Council, but not a bought and paid for majority. At least not the current one.
The time is now.
A bold and selfless act by the current majority would make our city known for integrity instead of stupidity and racism.
And everybody could move on. . . . together.
It’s what good citizens do. It’s what team players do.
It’s what Los Alamitos desperately needs.
I agree. We need to sweep the mess clean. We need a team that can work together. Both the current Traffic Commission and Planning Commission are great examples for us to look to in order to see what happens when you get teams that can and do work together for the betterment of the community as a whole.
But, just because the last election was filled with wrongdoing doesn’t mean that we should sweep the two that won from office. Just because Troy is an unmitigated ass doesn’t mean that we should toss him out two years early (although his list of non-accomplishments, waste and stonewalling will be a major factor in an election if he chooses to run again).
What they did to Gerri was no different than what the Bates majority did to Ken. It was wrong then. It is wrong now. That is should come back to bite them on the ass in such a spectacular manner and so quickly shows just how bad a decision it was.
Grose has to go. He has blackened the eye of our community. He has shown a total lack of leadership. He MUST step down from the Mayors position. Period. I also believe that he has to heal the rift he has created in the community by his overt racism and close the chapter on this. That can only be accomplished by his stepping down from the Council as well. If he wants to re-run for the position, he should be able to. But this time we will know what we are electing; a known racist. If the people of this city believe having a racist represent them is what they want, then they can re-elect him.
I would say that one thing really bothers me. I would have expected the press to try to contact each member of the council to get their remarks. I know getting Gerri would be hardest as the council took away the one major piece of hardware that allowed Gerri to be reached; her cellphone. But it shouldn’t have been that hard to get Edgar. I mean he is the CEO of a major consulting firm and in the last two days he should have been reachable for a comment. The fact that he has not been able to be reached means that he is ducking it hoping that the controversy will go away. Not very leadership-like. And the one comment that they did get, from Stephens, was as milquetoast as a comment could be. Rather than stand up and show leadership and backbone he ducked it verbally.
While I agree with your sentiment that we should use this as an opportunity to clean house, I don’t believe the facts warrant such a move.
[note for visitors of this blog: It would be expected for me to be 100% supportive of "kicking the bums out" as I stand on the other side of all four of them on every major issue facing the city and I believe that they are damaging to the near and long term future of the city. It kills me to take the position that they shouldn't all be tossed. But, my respect for the rule of law is far greater than my personal opinions and animosity for the gang of four. Thus I believe that only one should resign and we will have to continue to live with three others who I believe shouldn't be there for at least another two years.]
JM,
The Grose Group has to go. All 4 of them. For everyone’s good, with the possible exception of George Briggeman Jr.
Troy nominated him. None of the Grose Group even had the courtesy to nominate Gerri.
All four of them voted to strike from the public record former Mayor Cat Driscoll’s painstakingly detailed history of issues and votes regarding the proposed left turn into Ken Stephens’ business. Marilyn Poe even said she was “thrilled” that Cypress wanted pay to make the modification.
The three men of the Grose Group voted unanimously to strip Gerri of her phone, knowing it would limit the citizens’ ability to reach her. (Marilyn was out of state for that, her first full Council meeting.)
All four of them want to oust the duly appointed traffic and planning commissioners.
New details about the extent of Briggeman’s and Grose’s support for Stephens and Poe in the last election is just coming out. It was concealed from the voters before the election by delayed donations.
Most relevant to the current discussion, all four of them voted to make Grose Mayor.
I respect the law too. The law allows public officials to resign. It also allows the citizens to recall them.
The Grose Group has to go. The sooner the better.
One thing I am very much looking forward to is hearing Ken Stephens comments on this. Back at the Nov 3 council meeting, while he was still running for office, he pounced on a throw-away comment in order to seize the moral high ground as the ‘anti-racist’ candidate. If that was any indication of things to come, Mr. Grose is in for a flaying the likes of which he has never experienced.
So, here’s the opportunity for Mr. Stephens to show he stands for more than just opportunistic rhetoric!
Mayor Pro Tem Pooe:
The important question for you is:
What is currently best for the City of Los Alamittos?
It is not important whether you like Dean, respect Dean, or believe he is a honorable, patriotic guy.
Los Al has received significant amounts of bad publicity, thanks solely to Mayor Grosse. Former CMs and Council members had difficulty attracting good, new businesses to Los Al, even during the good economic times of 2005-2006-2007-early 2008. I am guessing that there are several Los Al-based businesses that are fearing their revenues will be impacted by this bad publicity. Lower city tax revenues will result from Grosse’s actions. I am guessing that currently, city employees are having to react to the hundreds of phone calls and E-mails directed to city hall. These employees are distracted from focusing on high-priority city projects. Los Al might need to pay additional police overtime in the coming days-and-weeks-and-months.
Mayor Pro Tem Pooe: Can you justify allowing Mayor Grosse to be such a distraction? Can you justify harming the city and its residents, in favor of Grosse’s political ambitions?
It is not just one insensitive/rude/racist comment that dooms Grosse. He has a long record of poor judgment.
The city paid for Grosse to go up to Sacramento Jan-2009 for 3+ days to learn all about how to be Mayor. Grosse failed to learn diplomacy and still routinely, intentionally violates the Brown Act. It is quite possible that Grosse and Edggar authorized payment of former-employee Ruddat’s entry fee into the Feb-2009 city manager conference. Grosse and Edggar have not apparently asked for Ruddat’s repayment. Grosse sent the racist message, and has apparenlty made sexist comments too. Grosse’s record goes on-and-on.
An excerpt from an earlier post:
DO I BELIEVE that Poe, Stephens and Edgar should pay for the sins of Grose? No.
If you want to cause significant change in the council actions and thoughts, then these three need to adjust-or-quit. If Grosse steps down as Mayor, what significant change occurs?
If Grosse resigns from the council, then Pooe and Edggar will just select another similar-thinking person to fill his spot.
Paul,
Ken Stephens seems to have painted himself into a corner.
Recently released filings indicate that not only did Stephens benefit from Grose knocking doors and passing out flyers on his behalf during the election, his campaign also received generous financial support from Grose.
As Dig Dug points out, unless 3 out of the 4 members of the Grose Group (Grose Gang?) resign or are recalled, they’ll still be the majority, & there’s absolutely no reason to believe they’ll do any better at picking new Council Members than they did at picking a Mayor.
In the meantime,they’re busy picking our next City Manager.
It’s time for at least 3 of the 4 of them to move on. For their own good, and for the good of the city.
seastar09 wrote:
Oh Dean, Dean, Dean, How did you ever become the Mayor!? I worked for this man years ago and he had nothing but disdain for the people who worked for and around him – he called us “moinks” (as in moo and oink). I guess nobody supporting his campaign really knew him or about the rats he tortured in his garage. Can a mayor be recalled? If so, he is a prime candidate for that kind of action. Glad I don’t live in Los Al.
Dave here: The above was pasted in from a comment on the Register by a LetsFixLosAl reader. I noticed it to. I think we all need to be skeptical of claims like the above, especially anonymous ones. There is enough detail that it appears credible, but I certainly have no way of knowing. There are plenty of publicity seekers out there who enjoy making things up. And we all have enemies too.
Without specific evidence, such as substantiating statements from several people who can prove they were employees, claims like those above need to be treated as rumors or allegations. The same would go for some of the other unsubstantiated anonymous claims I’ve seen about Dean Grose posted in various places around the web.
We’ve seen the e-mailed photo and heard Dean’s explanations, and can draw our own conclusions about those things. But in matters like the above, Dean is entitled to be treated just like we’d want to be treated: Innocent until proven guilty.
I want to know what newsman John Latchem thinks?
Anyone know him?
Let’s not forget that Dean was just sued and lost a court decision for not paying for services rendered…he was served while sitting on the council!!!
After reading all of this, it appears the lynch mob has the rope in hand and they are searching for a tall tree. Are you all for real? While it may be true that Dean Grose is not perfect, Ken & Cat certainly had their problems too. Yes, I believe that Dean should step down for the good of the City. But I also don’t think that Ken P or Cat D did such a great job either. The City spent far too much money on non-essentials, pretending to be big time with recruitment fees, huge severence payments for failed City Managers, bad choices, which sure didn’t help to keep us out of the fiscal hole in which we sit up to our ears. But to tar & feather Poe or Stephens with the same brush as Dean is a lynch mob mentality, which will most certainly not serve the City in any way. Everyone is behaving like rival gang members preparting for a rumble on the streets, acting like ignorant children. Calm down! Take a deep breath! Vent your anger, for it is certainly deserved, but try to act like adults instead of spoiled teenagers. Dean will hopefully see that resigning is the right thing to do for the City, but your name calling is just as rude and unnecassary as his email. Ken & Cat were far from perfect. So is Dean. What our City needs is leadership, not a group of hoodlums. Be the soulution – not the problem. Bring well thought out answers – not more fuel to an already bad fire.
Robert K,
Thanks for the comment. Some good thoughts. I just finished adding the bolded comment to the 4th comment above, which was pasted in from the Register.
At this point the only solution I can see is for Dean to step down, and the sooner the better. The reputation of the city and of our businesses with a Los Al address is at stake. Nothing can be done until Dean has left the Council. But Dean stepping down while leaving the majority that elected him in control would be like gathering the horses back into the barn but leaving the door wide open.
I just can’t see leaving the majority that bypassed the Mayor Pro Tem to elect Grose in charge. These people have known and worked closely with Dean Grose for years (or, in Stephens’ case, at least 2/3 of a year.) They must have had a clue about the problems which are now so public.
(They were also all pretty much bought and paid for by a local businessman who stated in the Register that he put up the money because he owns over 21 million dollars of real estate in Los Alamitos. Much of it is undeveloped. That businessman conspired with Dean, and Troy conspired to have our last permanent City Manager fired when she began investigating the sales tax receipts of one of his biggest tenants.)
You’re absolutely right that Ken and Cat weren’t perfect. When I entered the Council race last summer it was primarily out of frustration with the way Dean and Troy were seemingly being left out of meaningful participation in Council decisions. As I got more deeply involved, I began to see a better picture of all that was going on, but it was the vicious smear campaign orchestrated by Briggeman, Sylvia, and Edgar that soured me the most.
I thought then and I think now that the best Council would be one controlled by neither Ken’s side nor Dean’s, but by independent, honest, caring citizens. (For the record, I do not want to be one of them. There are plenty of smart, honest, independent people out there. Most of them probably don’t want the job, but they could be recruited.)
The current majority has clearly demonstrated that they are far from independent by several lockstep decisions, some even without discussion.
So at least two members of the majority need to go. Hopefully two will understand and volunteer to step aside for the good of the community (and themselves!). Obviously Dean needs to be one of them.
Then at least two independent, qualified, honest, non-politically ambitious citizens need to be either elected or chosen by unanimous vote of the remaining Council Members. Chosen in public, televised session, after a series of public, televised interviews. In my opinion a prerequisite would be a written commitment to serve only two years and not to run again in 2010.
That’s how the city and the Council can not only turn the page, but start to function as a team for the common good and to proactively plan and work for a better future for Los Alamitos.
Anything less would simply be rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. While it was sinking.
Dean Grose steps down as Mayor, but he thinks it’s okay to remain on council.
What a joke of a man! He doesn’t even care about this city enough to step down completely.
Try to defend that one.
Dave here. Details here.
A person like Dean Grose has no place in politics. He should step down completely and go live in a hole with the rest of the ignorant people. I question the rest of the council that knew him so well and still supported him. How could they not be aware?