Cardgate

A while ago, former Mayor Greg Hill took a trip to Europe and bought $3,000 worth of fine jewelry for his wife on the City credit card. No one in the back of City Hall caught the abuse. It took a resident to obtain records of the transaction and bring it before Council. Hill commented, "Now that's a watchdog for ya", before sweeping it under the rug and moving on to the next agenda item.

Not too long after that, the Treasurer of the  Redondo Beach's Police Officers' Association, a Police Officer himself, was caught pilfering the till for between $50,000 to $100,000.

And now this:

Redondo Beach City issued credit cards are held by 176 employees, and over the last 2 years (July 2010 to July 2012). Just 6 employees have spent  $41,000 in that time. One of them is the City Manager Bill Workman, the highest paid official in City Hall, making $223,463 a year (that's $18,621.92 a month) who spent $16, 824.88 during that same period. $1,422.46 of Bill Workman's tab was just on food and beverage. His Staff, making over $100,000 a year, also got in on the action.

02/26/2013 - After Steve Aspel and Pat Aust ganged up on Bill Brand for asking valid questions about why his contract was being extended into 2016 a week before the election, my good friend and Campaign Manager Christopher Quain, a.k.a. the Wolf, laid it all out on the table for them. Two corrections for the following videos; Six employees spent $41,000, not just Bill Workman. Also, there are 176 City credit cards in circulation, most of them with a $500  monthly cap, with exceptions for some cards. The TOTAL VALUE of those cards is  $1,056,000.

THE SHORT VERSION:

THE LONG VERSION:

Here is a link to the credit card statements:

http://s1284.beta.photobucket.com/user/ColemanforRedondo/library/

What the heck is the justification for this? 

Stop Government Waste. 

Vote Coleman March 5th, 2013!

On Budget Numbers That Don't Add Up

Roughly half of the city's budget, 41 million dollars, falls under the somewhat vague column of Public Safety.

In the last 15 years crime has dropped significantly; violent crime is down 16 percent, property crime down 50 percent, as the Chief pointed out last week.

Violent Crime & Property Crime

This is page 179 from the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report 2011.

It shows how over the span of the last 9 fiscal years basically all government departments spending has remained the same. Housing and Community Development 12 million in 2003, 12 million in 2011. Cultural Services 6 million in 2003, 6 million in 2011. Public Works 9 million 2003, 9 million 2011. And then we get to this column of Public Safety. 

Public Safety funding has gone from 28 million dollars in 2003 to 41 million by 2011, an increase of  over 40 percent despite the worst recession since the Great Depression, at the same time virtually all government department funding went unchanged. Now to be fair...

The interest on the city's debt did see a dramatic decrease; however, the principle on the debt doubled.

This whole issue comes down to staffing. 

Almost all departments have had cuts. Housing and Community Development has gone from 44 employees to 31, a 25 percent reduction in personnel, Cultural Services has gone from 50 employees to 37, a 25 percent reduction. Public Safety 109 employees in 2002, 96 employees by 2011, a reduction of between 11 and 12 percent. The one bright spot in all this, Public Works during this same period has managed to hire 12 new people, going from 88 employees in 2002 to 100 employees in 2011 with significantly less money than this somewhat mysterious column; Public Safety.

What's also interesting is all departments have had to do more with less.

For instance Mass Transit for instance has not seen a genuine increase in funding, despite the number of bus boardings quadrupling from 90,000 in 2002  to just shy of 400,000 by 2011. 

Under the Public Safety column there have been 3,135 physical arrests in 2002, 2,500 in 2011.

Now that's a 19 percent reduction in physical arrests. 

So, the monies allotted to the Public Safety-Industrial Complex has gone from 28 million to 41.5 million dollars, an increase of over 40 percent... and we've been talking about privatizing ambulance services... No new police or fire stations have been built, or for that matter, no new libraries, parks, or community centers have been built. So, where is that money? Did it vanish? Top cops,? Pensions? Where is it? Where did it go? I mean the last line of the Police Mission Statement is to be fiscally responsible, right?

Also, is that really what we need? 13 more police officvers to drive around our quiet little beach community, looking for ways to justify their existence? I just hope they don't run out of ideas for ways to ticket people. I anticipate a day where scores of Redondo residents will wake up and their cars littered with tickets for not turning their wheels against the curb, much like Hermosa residents had to endure. And while I don't really expect this question to be answered, I would like it asked; are those members of the Police Officers Association, which is a Union, that are walking around door to door, campaigning for candidates, are they on the clock?

For some background and a recap of the Council meetings:

Vote Coleman March 5th, 2013!

Contact/Volunteer/Donate: ericjamescoleman@gmail.com

Vote Coleman March 5th, 2013! 

Contact/Volunteer/Donate: ericjamescoleman@gmail.com

DA-14

http://tbrnews.com/news/redondo_beach/redondo-mayor-candidates-answer-questions-from-the-beach-reporter/article_6a7846e2-76e4-11e2-bdbd-001a4bcf887a.html

Vote Coleman March 5th, 2013!

Contact/Volunteer/Donate: ericjamescoleman@gmail.com

POST AES INTERVIEW & MORE!

Here's the video AES doesn't want you to see...

No joke, this is an email from the No on Measure A people, that was forwarded to me after the above animation was put together:

Five Score and twelve years ago our forefathers brought forth onto Redondo
Beach an electrical generating station, conceived in liberty and dedicated
to the great American ideal of free enterprise and private property rights.

Now we are engaged in a great election, testing whether that great American
ideal, or any ideal so conceived can long endure.  We will meet at the AES
generating station to engage in the honored tradition of knocking on
doors.  We will come to dedicate a portion of our time that this great
American ideal might live.  It is altogether fitting and proper that we
should do this.

But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot
hallow this great American ideal.  The brave Americans living and dead who
fought and struggled for this ideal have consecrated it far above our poor
power to add or detract.  The world will little note nor long remember what
is built here, but it can never forget what our forefathers sacrificed to
keep it here.

It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished
work which they who fought have thus so nobly advanced. It is rather for us
to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from our
honored past we take increased devotion; that we here highly resolve that
those who fought and died for our fundamental freedoms shall not have died
in vain; that this City, under God, shall have a re-birth of freedom; and
that electricity of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall
not perish from this earth.

Only two weeks to Election Day. See you Saturday at 9:00 am at the AES
plant.

Thank you.

- name withheld

Not too long ago there was another group of people who used property rights to justify their nefarious deeds; they were called slaveholders.

Vote Coleman March 5th, 2013!

Contact/Volunteer/Donate: ericjamescoleman@gmail.com

For Just A Few Magic Beans...

One more sacred cow and I would swear I was back in India. When it comes to City Council meetings, there are certain items not open for public discussion. Delicate issues are often shelved indefinitely or merely whispered about behind locked doors in closed session. I guess the people at City Hall wouldn't want us to have a cow.

The following are some of the unmentionable issues:

Tideland funds, monies that are meant to stay in the waterfront area, are being misdirected into the general fund. I guess the cash is always greener on the other side. Furthermore, The Harbor Patrol fits under column of Fire Department in the budget; which is why Fire Department consolidation between the Beach Cities is off the table for discussion . Merging services among the Cities, as was done with SWAT teams, would mean a reduction of middle and upper level management. But, I reckon, why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?

R.I.P Welcome Cafe

Condo developers have way too much weight when it comes to matters of zoning. Mixed-use zoning is a sham, and the commercial properties, below the residential complexes, usually lie vacant or change hands quickly. It's a backdoor condo zoning dodge. And more to the point, why aren't developers being made to build with sound sturdy sensible materials; condos that are built to last longer than 40 years. 

Why is the Chamber of Commerce even considered a legitimate organization? They are such a blatant tool of AES that they have actually been sending out mailers against candidates who let slip an unnecessary power plant in our backyard may not be the best thing for commerce in the City of Redondo Beach. The Chamber is so out of sync with real businesses in the City, they might as well be a cow on roller skates.

Okay, a few more. Why only now are we coming to conclusive results about what killed a million fish March 8^th 2011, and where is the harbor oxygenation to prevent it from happening again? Are bans and restrictions domesticating us like so much cattle? Why are we allowing predator drones to fly over our cities and isn't anyone in government paying attention to the Constitution?!

Just questions. And big, fat, mooing, sacred cows.

It's about time the cows come home. 

Vote Coleman March 5^th 2013!
contact/volunteer/donate: ericjamescoleman@gmail.com

Help Support Our Cause

GET TO KNOW YOUR FUTURE MAYOR

http://news.yahoo.com/no-fun-allowed-l-beaches-ban-footballs-frisbees-212100718.html

That's right, you can't throw a frisbee on the Beach! More fun-raisers are needed, and please don't miss this one- Friday February 8th, 5pm to 8pm, at the Fun Factory:

http://news.yahoo.com/no-fun-allowed-l-beaches-ban-footballs-frisbees-212100718.html

Vote Coleman March 5th, 2013!

 

Contact/Donate/Volunteer: ericjamescoleman@gmail.com

Surprise, Surprise...

Well I didn't get the Redondo Chamber of Commerce endorsement. In fact, in the Mayoral race they endorsed everybody but me. They also endorsed Julian Stern, but I won't hold it against him. Julian Stern is a smart kid and the clearest choice for District 4 City Council. Julian understands that government needs to be transparent, details of the City budget easy to find, and campaign contributions out in the open (speaking of which, check out the large contributions made by condo developers to my opponents). If only transparency and openness were aspects of his press conference, maybe we would have been there for it.

















Our bad actually. Evidently there are two Perry Parks. Here's his press conference compliments of the Redondo Patch:

http://redondobeach.patch.com/articles/chamber-endorses-high-school-student-for-city-council#video-13197690



Now, you might ask, who endorses the Chamber of Commerce? I mean, where do they get all this money for all their projects? Projects like the January 14th debates for the general public, which were held in the middle of the day on a Monday, where sitting City Council members were thrown lob ball questions that allowed for easy self-congratulation, i.e. "What would you do about keeping the LA Air Force Base?" Oh yeah, and don't forget the recent debates between AES's President Eric PenderGRAFT and the co-authors of Measure A: Bill Brand & Jim Light. Yeah, the one where about a hundred and fifty people were turned away and no audio or video recording was permitted. So much for transparency in government. The Chamber of Commerce is all about preserving the status-quo. Rome is burning and all they can do is send the arsonist a thank you card. Another thing, one of the biggest contributors to the Chamber is AES. So I suppose if Measure A doesn't pass and that powerplant begins pumping filth into our air again, maybe then the Chamber of Commerce can change its name to the Gas Chamber of Commerce.

The Status Quo Needs to Go.

Vote Coleman March 5th, 2013.
Contact/Volunteer/Donate: ericjamescoleman@gmail.com

A Treehouse Divided Against Itself Can Not Stand.

In areas, Redondo Beach is overrun with near-sighted condo development. These towering strucco structures, built to last 20 or 30 years, reduce their neighbors'sunlight and seem to crop up at an unsustainable rate. Yet, when a small business wants to expand into the space a door over, they can face a staggering amount of paperwork, fees, and down time. Being shuffled back and forth from one government office to the next, can often be more laborious than knocking down the wall between the two spaces.  As I said in the Easy Reader's Meet the Redondo Mayoral Candidates; "you have to pull a permit even to build a treehouse."

Here's the article:

http://www.easyreadernews.com/64219/meet-the-redondo-mayoral-candidates/

I suppose money talks in these zoning matters; and seems, like many ordinances, to be selectively enforced. Remember 'the Heart of the City' deal that fell through? The people were rightly suspicious of such a large scale redevelopment. The arrogance alone of proclaiming one harbor section of Redondo as the 'Heart' of the City is enough to turn one's ear. What's Riviera Village then, the spleen? Artesia an artery? Wilderness Park a lung? Defense Row a pancreas? North Redondo chopped liver? The infrastructure was to be torn up and three thousand condo units were to be installed along Catalina Avenue. And they almost got away with it. The land grab might have silently passed in the night if it wasn't for the public being alerted to a planning commission report which claimed that traffic would decrease after the addition of three thousand condo units. Two of the three City Council members running for Mayor of Redondo Beach sat on that commission and had the audacity to issue that report. One of them, Matt Kilroy, is now unapologetically against Measure A; the measure to rezone and decommission the unneeded AES powerplant. And who was one of the entities behind this botched 'Heart of the City' land grab? None other that AES. Now I understand that Matt Kilroy stands for the people... the people of Delaware and their large uncaring corporations.

http://articles.latimes.com/2002/apr/29/local/me-heart29

Measure DD came out of this debacle and now we need to make the next step and get rid of the powerplant and especially AES. Time to pull back the curtain Redondo.

Hey AES thanks for the post card, but why did you bill us for the stamp?

Vote Coleman March 5th, 2013 

contact/volunteer/donate: ericjamescoleman@gmail.com

Special Thanks to William Watson for his drawing, Simone Stephens for her copy editing, Sky Coleman for imagination, and Quain for making sure this post is up to code. 

You Heard it Here First: Re-instate the Trolley System

Los Angeles once had an efficient mass transit system of trolley cars.  Then large corporations, with vested interests, bought it up to tear it up. That brings us to the present; clogged thoroughfares and frustrated motorists. 

http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/historic/redcars/

The red cars could supplement our current bus system; which, for a big city, doesn't do enough and has a negative stigma associated with it. A bus system that runs ever hour is barely a bus system at all. If the bus breaks down say goodbye to your job. The key to our Red Cars is frequency, comfort, later runs, service peaking in the summer. These bike rack augmented open air trolley cars would be wheeled, not running on tracks, as earlier models did. Lines would connect the South Bay Galleria, North Redondo, The businesses along Artesia and Aviation, the Pier, Riviera Village, and Metro's the Green Line for starters. Eventually the line could be expanded to include the Dell Amo Mall as well as all the Beach Cities. This project would create jobs; everything from drivers to tour guides, and promote Redondo as a more attractive tour destination.  Hotels, restaurants, and other small businesses are sure to flourish as a result of the increase in foot traffic. The initial costs will pale in comparison to the added revenue over time. As I said in the debates; you have to spend money to make money. 

Read the Reviews:


http://www.easyreadernews.com/63878/debates-launch-the-redondo-beach-political-season/

http://tbrnews.com/news/redondo_beach/redondo-candidates-forum-focuses-on-police-power-plant-and-pier/article_526dfc6c-603d-11e2-a6e7-0019bb2963f4.html


When we revamp the Pier we need to put a system in place that brings people there. The last time we undertook such an effort was after the 1988 Great Redondo Pier Fire. A private investigator discovered that a water main had failed, the city knew about it, and the Pier was allowed to continue operations at the urging of local merchants. Faulty wiring caused an electric short that produced a spark. When the Fire Department arrived to hook up their hoses, they ascertained the water main had the pressure of a squirt gun. Such a trickle could hardly contain the blaze. Simply put, we weren't ready.

The logic behind the Street Festival Freeze is similar; things could potentially get out of hand due to lack of preparedness. However, I have faith in the residents of Redondo to behave responsibly, letting them take pride in their community. No new street festivals can even be proposed in the City of Redondo Beach while this freeze is in effect. Supposedly there's not enough money for public safety. Law enforcement's budget has been stretched thin. I assure you, Redondo, the money is there. One example is; in the City's budget, under the column of Public Safety, there is a three to four million dollar gap. The gap is a result of public officials getting as much overtime as they can, before retirement, in an effort to boost their pensions. Not in my Redondo. Reinvent the Red Cars.

Bring Back the Fun. Vote Coleman March 5th. Contact/Volunteer/Donate: ericjamescoleman@gmail.com

Our Trip to SeaLab's Water Desalination Facility

Candidate for Mayor, Eric Coleman, researches options for what to do with the soon to be decommissioned AES plant.  Incredible thanks to Ron Wildermuth, Ritza, and the West Basin Water District for making this all possible.

Preserve Historic Redondo while Planning for the Future.

Vote Coleman March 5th, 2013! Contact/Volunteer/Donate: ericjamescoleman@gmail.com