KCET and L.A. Times Hatchet Jobs against El Segundo, Chevron and Carl Jacobson exposed as propaganda

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Mike

by Michael D. Robbins
Director, Public Safety Project, PublicSafetyProject.org

March 6, 2012

Former El Segundo City Councilman Mike Robbins delivered the following written and verbal public communications for the March 6, 2012 El Segundo City Council meeting, exposing the KCET and L.A. Times propaganda hatchet jobs against the city of El Segundo, Chevron, and the honorable Councilman Carl Jacobson. Robbins served on the El Segundo City Council during the 1994 MRC-Chevron-El Segundo tax dispute legal settlement, and knows first hand what really happened. The settlement was legal, reasonable, and by unanimous vote of the City Council.

Two or more videos on this subject will be produced in the coming days and posted on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/PublicSafetyProject

You can watch the streaming video for this city council meeting, or download the video MP4 or audio MP3 files using the following links.

El Segundo City Council meeting video and audio archives:
http://elsegundo.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2

Watch the streaming video of the March 6, 2012 El Segundo City Council meeting:
http://elsegundo.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1636

Download the March 6, 2012 El Segundo City Council meeting MP4 video file:
http://podcache-101.granicus.com/pstore4/elsegundo/elsegundo_5eaaef9b-6d33-4361-97d3-837be1fc337f.mp4

Download the March 6, 2012 El Segundo City Council meeting MP3 video file:
http://podcache-101.granicus.com/pstore4/elsegundo/elsegundo_5eaaef9b-6d33-4361-97d3-837be1fc337f.mp3

Here is the email Mike Robbins sent to the City Clerk’s staff and all the City Council members:

Subject:    My written public communications for the March 6, 2012 El Segundo City Council meeting
From:    Mike Robbins (email omitted)
To:    Cathy Domann (email omitted); Mona Shilling (email omitted); Cindy Mortesen (email omitted); Eric Busch (email omitted); Bill Fisher (email omitted); Carl Jacobson (email omitted); Don Brann (email omitted); Suzanne Fuentes (email omitted);
Cc:    Mike Robbins (email omitted)
Date:    Tuesday, March 6, 2012 6:37 PM

Here is my written public communications for the March 6, 2012 regular meeting of the El Segundo City Council:

I have had the pleasure of serving for four years on the El Segundo City Council with Carl Jacobson, from 1992 to 1996. I have known Carl for more than 20 years. I have the deepest respect for Carl. He has always been an extremely honest, dedicated, hard-working, and productive member of the City Council, giving much of his time and his life to our community. Even when I disagreed with Carl, I always knew he voted for what he believed was best for the city.

Fired City Manager Doug Willmore tried to shakedown Chevron for $10 million per year, and now it appears he is trying to shake down our city for millions of dollars.

Willmore filed a frivolous legal claim against our City, alleging retaliatory firing and age discrimination. He is demanding the City pay for his psychiatric treatment, even if it is a pre-existing condition.

I urge the City Council, now and in the future, to hold firm and not give Doug Willmore a multi-million dollar payout for his frivolous claim and threatened lawsuit.

There was plenty of good cause to fire Doug Willmore. However, when and at-will employee is fired, no reason is announced, to reduce the City’s exposure to frivolous litigation.

Doug Willmore and his political allies have enlisted anti-business news organizations, including KCET and the Los Angeles Times, to attack and smear Chevron, and Carl Jacobson, with a dishonest propaganda campaign that has no relationship to reality.

KCET producer Karen Fochay and L.A. Times writer Jeff Gottlieb both called to interview me because I was a City Council member at the time of the 1994 legal settlement to the tax dispute between MRC, Chevron, and the City.

I followed up with multiple emails to both of them to ensure they had their facts straight.

I made it clear to them that the 1994 tax dispute settlement was completely legal and reasonable.

But the KCET show on Chevron, and the L.A. Times articles, completely ignored my information because it contradicted their anti-Chevron political agenda and bias.

The L.A. Times even removed my comments correcting Jeff Gottlieb’s errors from their web site.

And now, Doug Willmore and/or his allies have been sending unsolicited SPAM emails to El Segundo residents urging them to watch the KCET propaganda hatchet job on Chevron and Carl Jacobson.

There are many contradictions in the KCET and L.A. Times propaganda pieces.

For example, Jeff Gottlieb’s January 28 L.A. Times article claimed Willmore said he found the threatening note on his car windshield outside City Hall, but KCET has Willmore on video claiming he found the threatening note on his car outside his residence in another city.

I think the El Segundo police department should investigate Doug Willmore for filing a false police report if he actually filed one.

As another example, KCET and the L.A. Times claimed or implied that Carl Jacobson alone approved the settlement. That is not possible. You need a majority. The Council vote approving the settlement was unanimous.

KCET and the L.A. Times implied Carl was somehow crooked because he signed the settlement agreement. But they knew very well that Carl was required to sign the agreement even if he voted against it, because he was the mayor.

KCET used a close-in, wide-angle camera shots to make Carl’s face look distorted and peculiar, while they long-distance telephoto studio camera shots to make Doug Willmore look good. These are standard tricks used in media hatchet jobs.

I would suggest that Carl Jacobson wear the KCET and L.A. Times attacks on his character as a badge of honor. They could not care less about our city or the truth. And all residents should cancel their KCET and L.A. Times subscriptions as a show of solidarity within our community.

If you want balanced news about Chevron, read the March 1 El Segundo Herald news story by Brian Simon, or the Daily Breeze.

Now here is what really happened in 1994.

The 18-year old legal settlement to the tax dispute involving Municipal Resource Consultants (the City’s business tax auditor), Chevron, and the City was based on the legal advice and vetting of then City Attorney Leland Dolley, with Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP.

MRC claimed that Chevron owed the Utility User Tax (UUT) on both the natural gas it burned at the refinery, and on the electricity it co-generated from burning that natural gas. Chevron reasonably argued this was unfair double-taxation on the exact same energy it merely changed from one form to another. The UUT law did not account for co-generation, but it was clear that double-taxation was never intended. The City Council agreed with Chevron, but MRC demanded a 25% finder’s fee for the unpaid second tax.

MRC was hostile and aggressive, and endangered the City’s business retention and attraction program. The City had to restrain MRC from damaging the City’s reputation as a good place to locate a business.

The City was going to get sued by MRC, Chevron, or both, and reached a legal settlement where the City paid MRC a reduced amount, Chevron effectively paid the City the amount paid to MRC, and Chevron’s future tax liability was more clearly defined.

Carl Jacobson was correct when he said it is a farce to charge business taxes based on number of acres. Business taxes should be charged based on the fair market cost of the city infrastructure and services demanded and used by businesses.

Imagine if In-and-Out Burger moved into town, was very popular, and had a high volume business in a small footprint. Then would it be fair for the City to charge all the other restaurants in town the same business tax per acre? Of course not.

Chevron is a unique case due to its massive, self-contained 951-acre piece of land. The City does not pay to provide and maintain all the city infrastructure and services on the massive Chevron property that it provides for all the other business and residential properties in town. These include many miles of roads, alleys, sidewalks, storm drains, water and sewer pipes, street lighting, trees, landscaping, street sweeping, residential trash collection, and police patrols, as well as public parks and recreation facilities. It is not fair to charge Chevron taxes for City infrastructure and services that it does not receive.

El Segundo is a low-tax city by choice, for practical reasons, and as a matter of principle and pride. Therefore, comparisons with high-tax cities are not valid, or all the residents and businesses would be paying higher taxes. El Segundo has a spending problem much more than a revenue problem, and that must be addressed by the next City Council.

Please remember to cancel your KCET and L.A. Times subscriptions.

Thank you.

Mike Robbins
Longtime city resident
(email omitted)

Posted in Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, Doug Willmore’s Great City Shakedown, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on KCET and L.A. Times Hatchet Jobs against El Segundo, Chevron and Carl Jacobson exposed as propaganda

Candidate Ranking – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, March 1, 2012 in the Letters section on page 2. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

Note that there are three open City Council seats out of five total seats in the April 10, 2012 El Segundo General Municipal Election. This election will determine who will be the new majority.

There are also three candidates running for City Clerk.

Lisa Wood is by far the best candidate for City Clerk.

VOTE “NO” ON MEASURE P

Measure P, the firefighter union initiative, will also appear on that ballot. Measure P will eliminate the El Segundo City Fire Department and force the City to contract with Los Angeles County for a greatly reduced level of fire and paramedic service for at least ten years under state law. It will permanently eliminate the city’s three paramedic ambulances and force the residents to rely on private out-of-town ambulance companies, significantly increasing hospital emergency transport times and costs.

CANDIDATE RANKING

Here’s my candidate ranking from best to worst:

1. Carl Jacobson – Extremely intelligent, honest, experienced, dedicated. Independent of city unions, special interests. Votes what is best for city. City’s organizational memory.

2. Dave Atkinson – Intelligent, valuable experience turning around businesses, independent of city unions, special interests. Fiscal conservative.

3. Dave Burns – Intelligent. Early critic of Measure P and unsustainable safety union contracts. Open on issues.

4. Mike Dugan – Intelligent, valuable engineering and business experience, understands city must live within its means. But not committed to any specific city union contract reform.

5. Marie Fellhauer – Worst attendance record on Planning Commission, 32% absenteeism rate in last two years. LAPD police union member, most likely to have strong alliance with local safety unions rather than citizens, and give excessive, unsustainable raises.

6. Cyndee Topar – Urged City Council to emulate Santa Monica and ban plastic bags. No substantive or original ideas, no solutions. Official in militant United AFA union that targeted customers, cancelled randomly selected flights, stranded passengers to create “Chaos” (her union trademarked that name!) for customers, employer.

7. Cindy Mortesen – Absentee City Clerk. Works full-time in Redondo Beach City Clerk’s office, seldom in El Segundo City Clerk’s office.

8. Scott Houston – Absolute worst and least transparent of all candidates. Strongly urged City Council to enact Measure P into law without allowing voters to vote on it (2/15/11 Council meeting). In lock-step with local fire and police unions. Endorsement and large contribution from police union in 2010. Progressive liberal (big-spender).

Michael D. Robbins

Posted in El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Candidate Ranking – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Michael D. Robbins

Herald didn’t validate comments – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Richard Lundquist

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, March 1, 2012 in the Letters section on page 13.

Note that the following conspicuous correction in response to that letter was published on page 2:

Correction
In the February 16 article, “Split Council Fires City Manager Willmore,” we reported that according to Ron Swanson, Continental Development Corporation’s Richard Lundquist called him on February 9 and exclaimed, “What are they doing?” in response to Willmore’s possible termination. For the record, Mr. Lundquist clarified that Swanson called him that day and that he never said, “What are they doing?” We regret the error.

This correction was necessary because the Herald news reporter mistakenly trusted local resident Ron Swanson when he made statements to influence the El Segundo City Council at their special meeting on February 9, 2012, called to fire new city manager Doug Willmore. Swanson, a friend and ally of Willmore, claimed that Richard Lundquist, a wealthy and influential real estate developer and philanthropist with Continental Development in El Segundo, called him and was upset the City Council was going to fire Willmore. Local residents seem to recall this was not the first time Swanson made false statements to the City Council to influence them to help a friend of his to public funds.

Herald didn’t validate comments

While reading an article in the February 16, 2012, edition of the El Segundo Herald entitled “Split Council Fires City Manager Willmore,” I was quite disappointed to see my name mentioned. The article states that I called Ron Swanson to discuss the issue. I did not call Ron Swanson; he called me. It continues to say that I exclaimed “What are they doing?”[Italics original]. I said no such thing.

I am surprised that your paper made no attempt to contact me to corroborate or validate my participation in the assertions made by Mr. Swanson at the City Council meeting.

From our perspective at Continental Development Corporation, Mr. Willmore seemed to be going a good job. We found him to be accessible and responsive. We recognize, however, that he was employed at the pleasure of the City Council and obviously the majority of the Council has chosen to make a change.

I respectfully request that this portion of the article be retracted and that future quotes purported to be mine be checked and validated prior to printing.

Sincerely, Richard C. Lundquist

Our sincere apologies to Mr. Lundquist for our misstatement of facts.
H.M. •

Posted in Doug Willmore’s Great City Shakedown, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Herald didn’t validate comments – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Richard Lundquist

Excerpts from the March 1, 2012 El Segundo Herald Article on Chevron

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Mike

Here are some good excerpts from the March 1, 2012 El Segundo Herald article, “Willmore Files Claim Against City, Suspects Chevron Issue Prompted Firing” by Brian Simon. These excerpts are from page 12, but the article starts on page 1. KCET SoCal Connected TV show producer Karen Foshay and Los Angeles Times writer Jeff Gottlieb had this information but chose to ignore it because it contradicted their anti-business bias and agenda.

Asked about the lack of response to Willmore and if he had formed a legal opinion on the Chevron matter, El Segundo City Attorney Mark Hensley said he could not disclose information due to attorney/client privilege. However, he pointed out that for events “that happened 20 years ago and based on statutes that go back a quarter of a century, the process of reviewing all that is lengthy. There are statute of limitations issues…Had I been asked about something that happened 20 years ago, it would take a considerable amount of time to study it.”

A Council member in 1993, Mike Robbins confirmed that “the City was going to get sued by MRC, Chevron or both—and reached a legal settlement where the City paid MRC a reduced amount, Chevron effectively paid the City the amount paid to MRC, and Chevron’s future tax liability was more clearly defined.” Robbins went on to describe MRC’s approach as “hostile and aggressive,” and felt the firm “endangered the City’s business retention and attraction program.”

Asked to elaborate why the UUT deal with Chevron was fair, Robbins explained that El Segundo is a low-tax city by choice and can’t be compared to other municipalities. He added that Chevron is a unique case because its giant 951-acre parcel is self-contained. “The City does not pay to provide and maintain all the City infrastructure and services on the massive Chevron property that it provides for all the other business and residential properties in town,” Robbins said. “These include many miles of roads, alleys, sidewalks, storm drains, water and sewer pipes, street lighting, trees, landscaping, street sweeping, residential trash collection, and police patrols, as well as public parks and recreation facilities. It is not fair to charge Chevron taxes for City infrastructure and services that it does not receive.”

Meanwhile Councilmember Jacobson, who was El Segundo’s Mayor at the time of the settlement, described MRC as a “bounty hunter” since the company stood to make a 25 percent fee. “They were trying to charge Chevron for its own gas and the Council didn’t agree,” he said. Jacobson maintained that the Chevron UUT settlement was approved in public—not closed—session. “There was nothing secret about it.” Jacobson then also noted that “even though we may have pulled them off the UUT work, we still use MRC [now known as Muni] to this day.”

Posted in Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Excerpts from the March 1, 2012 El Segundo Herald Article on Chevron

Are Chevron’s taxes too high? – Letter to the Daily Breeze by Michael D. Robbins

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the Daily Breeze newspaper Letters section (DailyBreeze.com/letters/) on Tuesday, February 28, 2012 in the Letters section. The Daily Breeze has a strict 150-word limit. Are they trying to model their Letters to the Editor section after Twitter?

http://www.dailybreeze.com/letters/ci_20057598

Daily Breeze

dailybreeze.com

LAX TO L.A. HARBOR

Letters to the Editor for Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012
Posted: 02/27/2012 06:48:46 PM PST

February 28, 2012 2:58 AM GMT
Updated: 02/27/2012 06:58:14 PM PST

Are Chevron’s taxes too high?

El Segundo’s shakedown of Chevron under threat of a $10 million annual tax hike must stop, or the city will suffer long-term damage to its reputation. City Manager Doug Willmore used a deceptive, one-sided analysis for the Chevron property, rather than a cost-versus-benefits analysis. It’s dishonest to compare tax revenues generated per acre by the refinery with that of other local businesses. Unlike El Segundo, land use in other South Bay cities is mostly residential. Willmore ignored the cost to provide and maintain infrastructure and services for all the residents and businesses that would otherwise exist on the Chevron property if the refinery never existed. And he reduced Chevron’s tax revenue per acre by failing to account for the area of all the public streets, alleys, parks, and schools that would be needed.

If an accurate analysis shows Chevron’s taxes are excessive, will the City Council reduce Chevron’s taxes and apologize?

— Michael D. Robbins, El Segundo

Note: Although this letter to the editor is a very short 150 words, it does a good job towards refuting the news media propaganda hatchet jobs against Chevron and Councilman Carl Jacobson by KCET SoCal Connected producer Karen Fochet (March 2, 2012 TV show, “Small Town Big Oil”) and L.A. Times writer Jeff Gottlieb.

(This note was not part of the letter.)

Posted in Daily Breeze Letters, Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Are Chevron’s taxes too high? – Letter to the Daily Breeze by Michael D. Robbins

Video – February 27, 2012 El Segundo Residents Association (ESRA) Candidates Forum

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Mike

Watch the February 27, 2012 El Segundo Residents Association (ESRA) Candidates Forum video here.

Click on the center of the image below.


Get Microsoft Silverlight

2012 ESRA Candidates Forum (01h 57m)

Click on the rectangle in the lower right corner for full-screen mode.
Press the Escape (“Esc”) key near the upper left corner of your keyboard
to return to small size viewing, especially if the video appears slow or
jerky.)

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo News, Videos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Video – February 27, 2012 El Segundo Residents Association (ESRA) Candidates Forum

Video – Shows Scott Houston and Bryan Partlow urging the El Segundo City Council to enact Measure P into law without an election

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Mike

This is a very short version video shows excerpts of City Council candidate Scott Houston and El Segundo firefighters’ union member and Measure P proponent Bryan Partlow reading nearly identical scripts at the February 15, 2011 El Segundo City Council meeting.

Both Houston and Partlow strongly urged the El Segundo City Council to immediately enact Measure P directly into law, without letting the voters vote on it. Then they had the nerve to say that if the City Council would not enact Measure P directly into law and thereby deny the voters their right to vote on it, as their second choice, they wanted a special election as early as possible because the voters had a right to vote on it!

What dishonesty!

An early election in May, June, or July, 2011, as Houston and Partlow requested, as opposed to putting Measure P on the ballot for the April 10, 2012 regular election, would have given the firefighters’ union a huge unfair advantage in winning because the firefighters’ union has much more money to spend and many more campaign workers. The firefighters are on 48-hours shifts and work only two out of every six days. They have four out of every six days off from work, and they get paid to sleep a third of the time during their two work days. This gives the firefighters plenty of time to work on their union’s Measure P initiative campaign.

Scott Houston may claim he changed his mind on Measure P, but he cannot change history and gloss over the fact that he very actively tried to deny El Segundo voters their right to vote on Measure P, the most important item on the April 10, 2012 ballot.

Here is a direct link to the video:

2011-02-15-El Segundo City Council Mtg-Measure P-Partlow & Houston Excerpts
VOTE “NO” ON MEASURE P on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at the El Segundo City election, to save money and lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rllxe7fMZh0

You can watch all the videos at the Public Safety Project YouTube web page at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/PublicSafetyProject

Here is a transcript from the video.

[ To be added in the near future. ]

Posted in El Segundo Election Coverage, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Videos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Video – Shows Scott Houston and Bryan Partlow urging the El Segundo City Council to enact Measure P into law without an election

Scott Houston – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Illeen Joscha

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, February 23, 2012 in the Letters section on page 3. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

Scott Houston

Even if a majority votes “NO” on measure P, as they must to save lives and money, it will take only three union-aligned Council members to unilaterally vote to implement Measure P against the will of the voters.

This is not far-fetched. Candidate Scott Houston spoke at the 2/15/11 City Council meeting, during public communications, urging the City Council to enact Measure P as an ordinance and implement it without allowing the voters to vote on it! Houston read a script closely resembling the script read by Bryan Partlow, the firefighter union member who sponsored Measure P because he is the only union member living in town.

Watch the video at the city web site at ElSegundo.org. Under Links, click on “Video”, then on “City Council Archives”, then on the 2/15/2011 Council Meeting View Video link. Or watch the Houston video at http://www.youtube.com/user/PublicSafetyProject.

Houston has campaigned as a pro-business conservative, yet he is a progressive leftist (ultra-liberal, big tax and spender). Houston was endorsed by the radical anti-business and anti-military group, Progressive Democrats of America when he ran for election as a representative to the California Democratic Convention in Sacramento (source: January 8, 2009 Easy Reader, Letters). They advocate “deep cuts to the Pentagon budget”, outlawing war, and redistribution of wealth where you don’t have to be wealthy to have your “wealth” redistributed.

On April 10, let Houston know what you think of his deception and disrespect for your right to vote, by voting for more qualified candidates.

Illeen Joscha

Notes by Michael D. Robbins:

At the February 15, 2011 El Segundo City Council meeting, during the first Public Communications period at the beginning of the meeting, Scott Houston read a script nearly identical to the script read by Bryan Partlow, the fire union representative who sponsored Measure P because he is the only firefighter union member that lives in El Segundo. Both Houston and Partlow urged the City Council to enact Measure P directly into law without an election, and if not then as their second choice, to schedule Measure P for a vote at an early Special Election within only a few months in May, June, or July 2011.

That would have given the firefighters’ union a huge unfair advantage, because the union can fund and organize their campaign almost instantly, while the residents would be just ramping up their campaign after the election is over. The firefighters’ union can easily raise $100,000 or more almost instantly from among their union members, and they have dozens of volunteers to work their campaign because the firefighters only have to work two out of every six days, and they get paid to sleep.

Scott Houston was clearly upset when he spoke again, at the second Public Communications period at the end of the meeting, because the City Council voted 3 to 2 to schedule Measure P for the next regular election, on April 10, 2012, when the he would run for City Council after he lobbied the Council to enact Measure P directly into law without letting the voters vote on it. Those would be the same voters that he would ask to vote for him!

And Scott Houston had proved by his own actions, that he will represent the fire and police unions rather than the voters and taxpayers.
 

The February 15, 2011, 7:00 p.m. El Segundo City Council meeting minutes read as follows (excerpts):

http://www.elsegundo.org/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=8487

REGULAR MEETING OF THE EL SEGUNDO CITY COUNCIL
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2011 – 7:00 P.M.

7:00 P.M. SESSION

PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS (at the beginning of the City Council meeting, on pages 3-4):

Brian Partlow, resident and Initiative proponent, urged Council to adopt the ordinance or place this item on the likely to be called June 7, 2011, Statewide election.

Marc Renner, resident, spoke regarding the date to pick for an election placing the initiative before the voters. He also spoke about employee salaries.

Mike Robbins, resident, spoke regarding the Fire Initiative and urged Council to not place this on a ballot. He urged Council to schedule it for the April 2012 election date.

Scott Houston, resident, spoke regarding budget restrictions and fire and paramedic protection. He urged Council to adopt the initiative ordinance tonight and if not place it on the earliest possible election date.
 

PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS (at the end of the City Council meeting, on pages 7-8):

Scott Houston, resident, expressed his disappointment with Council’s decision to have the election in April of 2012.

Marc Rener, resident, spoke in favor of the April 10, 2012 election date.

Mike Robbins, resident, spoke regarding a contract of adhesion. He also spoke regarding paramedic transport.

Posted in El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, Firefighter Union Corruption, Letters to the Editor, Measure P - Firefighters Union Initiative, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Scott Houston – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Illeen Joscha

Email – Contact – El Segundo Finance Director Deborah Cullen provided phone/address book (VCF) file for Steve Stark at MuniServices

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Mike

From: Cullen, Deborah
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 7:07 AM
To: Doug Willmore
Subject: Contact
Attachments: Steve Stark.vcf; ATT00001..txt

Steve Stark.vcf (695 B)
ATT00001..txt (292 B)

Hi Doug,

I don’t have Don’s number but MuniServices/Steve Stark would have it.

Deb

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What happened to pay-as-you-go? – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Liz Garnholz

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Mike

The following letter to the editor was published in the El Segundo Herald newspaper (HeraldPublications.com) on Thursday, February 16, 2012 in the Letters section on page 10. The El Segundo Herald has a strict 250-word limit, including the title.

What happened to pay-as-you-go?

In order to pay for 13 Capital Infrastructure Projects the City of El Segundo wants to obtain an approximately $10,000.000 Lease-Revenue Bond using our City as collateral. This $10,000,000 Lease-Revenue Bond over 20 years will cost approximately $15,800,000 with yearly debt service payments of $775,000. Whatever happened to pay-as-you-go?

So why this type of bond? Simple, Lease- Revenue Bonds circumvent Proposition 13’s requirement that taxpayers vote on bonds. These types of bonds are legal gimmicks. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is working to get a bill through the state legislature that would make Lease-Revenue bonds illegal.

Note: a second to-be-constructed swimming pool at a cost of $6,800,000 with yearly maintenance costs of $650,000 is one of the proposed “infrastructure” projects. Infrastructure my eye! Infrastructure projects are sidewalks, roads, tree trimming, maintenance of City facilities and the like, not wish list tickets such as construction of a second pool.

Twice this town has said “No” to a second pool – a city survey study in 2005 and the defeat of Measure Q in 2006.

Liz Garnholz

Posted in Doug Willmore's Great Chevron Shakedown, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on What happened to pay-as-you-go? – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Liz Garnholz