Cronyism. Undemocratic.
Just some of the words that come to mind as I think of the City Council’s post-election behavior in 2010. First they found a solution in search of a problem: they removed term limits for appointed commissioners. Then they raised to $1,000 the amount individuals could donate to City Council candidates. Again, who was complaining that there wasn’t enough money in local politics? And then, to add insult to injury, the report they presented to Councilmembers and the Public was factually incorrect about other agencies’ campaign contribution limits.
Then take into consideration all the pre-election news from the City Council and staff. The vote to support those ridiculous right-wing immigration bills to appease the know-nothing immigrant bashers and to co-opt David Gauny’s base. The rush to get the Cross Valley Connector opened just weeks before the election. The Newhall Library groundbreaking (apparently the design hadn’t been settled upon prior to the groundbreaking, or so we learned later). The lack of any real substantive talk about the chloride matter until after 4/13/10.
Taking all that pre- and post-election business into consideration and it’s become clear now that this is a City that doesn’t countenance challenges to the status quo very well. It is a city that desires smoothness, cohesiveness and continuity above all else. It is as if the council and the staff are one, and they react as one to perceived threats, scratching each other’s backs for the sake of the other.
“Where the Good life Takes you,” has become “Don’t rock the boat.”
But democratic government isn’t supposed to be like that. Democratic government is about give and take, conflict and competing interests. It’s not supposed to be efficient and business-like. It’s sometimes messy, slow, and inefficient because, guess what, that’s the only way man has figured out how to govern large groups of people with different interests. And in Santa Clarita, there are large groups of people with different interests.
It’s as if the City of Santa Clarita, now almost 23 years old, is devolving into a less democratic organization rather than a more democratic one. We just had one of the closest elections in our history; a normal government might step back and say, “Wow, there’s a lot of discontent out there. Let’s see if we can reach out to these people.”
Not our city: instead they’re making it harder for potential candidates to run (knowing full well that few will donate the thousands required to defeat an incumbent who can just collect 10 or 15 $1000 checks.) And they’re making it harder for interested citizens to be appointed to commissions and committees because there will rarely, if ever, be vacancies on those commissions.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the staff does a great job and is responsive to the public by and large. But you can’t deny that there is a comfortable clique at City hall more interested in self-preservation and smooth operation than in true democratic governance.
Sidenote: Of personal interest to me is how Bob Kellar alternately plays hero and villain in my view of City Hall. Last winter he was the villain, whipping up anti-immigrant fervor out of nowhere and for no particular reason, lending his good name and title to the nuttiest people in a 200 mile radius. Now, summer 2010, I find myself agreeing with him and admiring him for being vocal about money in local elections. Local politics is strange.
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City Hall has become a microcosm of politics at the national level, so you would think devout liberal/Master Blogger – AKA: “Cronyism Terrorist” & “Pedal Soldier”, would have chills running up and down his leg as he reports city hall antics. Ha!
So 5 cents, you prefer eliminating zoning regulations?
I don’t have a veranda nor do I have a view lot. My politics ARE consistent – I expect our elected officials to abide by the rules and not change them willy nilly to save their jobs. Most of our City Council are not conservative – that’s a big problem in the State of California.
Wake up and smell the coffee!
Thanks!
That should be: “Whatever helps you sleep alone at night, Bill.”
Why does everyone act so shocked when people act in their own self interests? Frank Ferry has concluded (rightly or wrongly) that he almost lost because he mailed in the re-election effort, so the incumbents are just going to make it easier for themselves when they decide to expend the effort to raise money by hiking the limit. On the other side, the opposition would not be against it if they thought they could take advantage of the $1000 limit, since that would also make it easier for them.
No one is shocked, Tiny Tim. Their track record is clear.
Someone needs to call them on it. I’m not alone in this the Signal says the same thing in their editorials.
Really!? Please provide an example.
So Jeff, are you indicating that Mr. Kellar does not vote based on the opinion of others? He took is finger out of the wind long ago!
Kellar votes his heart and his conscience not someones payroll. When the going gets tough the vote goes 4-1.
When the going gets rough, Bob Kellar hires and/or blames a Mexican.
ZING!
Nope, I’ve seen him mow his own “lawn”
I’m in agreement that we need new folks, but it always ends up that the folks who want the job aren’t people I would vote for.
It does seem ludicrous that the appointed positions will have no limits. Next up is probably some sleight of hand that the person can appoint their successor if they want to leave.
Jeff – Do you really think the government should be slow and inneficient? Does that mean teachers should be slow and inneficient, police departments, courts? Next time you’re at Jury duty sitting around all day doing nothing, let us know how you feel. Don’t you enjoy the automation that has sped up lines at the DMV?
Work smarter, not harder.
So things are not so rosy in the City, eh?
You don’t hear those things about Town Councils…
Where fine guys like Dave Bossert make nonbinding and nobody cares. Sure.
Bob Kellar demonstrates more integrity and thought than anyone else on the counsel. He is the only one on most occasions that I see actually listening to folks input and looking at things from more than the “if its good for business then I must vote for it” angle. I think he actually considers the impact to folks who live here on most decisions unlike the groupthink we get from the rest of the City Manager\City Council figureheads.
so awesome when he threw the cops under the bus during the black tar hysteria tour 2010.
Maybe they deserved it. While arrests are up quite a bit, no one knew. Shouldn’t LASD be communicating crime information so the community members can be aware, educated, involved and proactive? Perhaps Gail Ortiz can comment on why we aren’t getting full crime reports from LASD!
Kellar over-reacted and I think the facts bear this out.
But to the wider issue, I agree. LASD isn’t half as transparent as it should be. It’s true, we ought to be seeing the daily crime reports. IIRC correctly, a couple of years ago, Ferry grilled LaBerge and told him to stop giving out that info. I don’t know if the council ever took formal action.
What’s the matter, Jeff, did you have a “case of the Mondays?” In the past you’ve written about how well the city is run, how when you look around you don’t see a place that is one big shambles, and how people need to curb their inchoate rage. But now you’r whining that the cross valley connector was finished and opened before the election? Huh? And being upset about a groundbreaking for the library project when they have obviously started site work? Should they have done the ceremonial groundbreaking AFTER they had already “broken ground.” Yes, the council pivot on the immigration five bills was smart politics. It blunted Gauny’s xenophbic riding of the immigration issue while actually accomplishing nothing because those bills won’t get out of congress or be signed into law by Obama. Isn’t it typical though that the good politicians are the ones that succeed in, um, what do they call it, um, oh, right, politics? And finally, in a city of almost 200,000 people, couldn’t the case be made that all candidates need to be able to raise more money to be able to get their messages to the voters? I bet both Gauny and Boydston had people who have them the full $360 and would be able to give them a full $1,000 (sort of a rising tide lifting all ships)?
Permit me to quote you from April 8, 2010:
” I have a question: When did SCVTalk.com die and come back as your personal KFI? What gives you the right to call honorable, sitting Councilmembers bums and trash?
Some of you strike me as humorless, feeble-minded, unhappy and insecure little people, and frankly, the tone of your comments makes me reconsider my vote. I’m certain I’d never want to hang out with you in the real world; perhaps I shouldn’t vote along side you either.
Wipe the spittle off your lips, grab a beer, take a deep breath and count to ten. Life is not that bad here.”
So let me get this straight – you would now prefer construction projects that take longer, groundbreakings to occur after the ground has been broken, politicians that aren’t good at politics, and more discord between city council and city bureaucrats? And that would make us more “democratic?”
Huh?
SS
Let’s be honest. The Cross Valley Connector was opened, but not finished (completed), before the election. Even the ceremonial route lead everyone in and out from the west side. Planning for completing Golden Valley Road between Center Point and Sierra and widening the Highway 14 bridge is currently in work and will not be done before April 2011. This was a pre-election dog and pony show for the benefit of ??
It wasn’t perfected, but it was ready. The timing is fishy, sure, but the benefits are clear. Traffic in the Bouquet/Soledad area is much better now.