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vanguard glendale ca vol vi week of october 10 2010 accountability the government watchdog info@vanguardians.org www.vanguardians.org 818 243 1502 redistribution of wealth vanguardians purpose to inform educate motivate for involvement engagement advocacy your tax deductible contributions support the work we do please help i predict future happiness for americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them ­ thomas jefferson contents news glendale collects s fulton doesn t benefits to envy editorial 1 commentary barry allen bell vs glendale intimidation retribution herbert molano glendale pms he said ­ she said don t blame prop 13 michael fuss state budget advisor does it hurt 2 shout box fire dept wants to be cops advisor s comments 3 public records no appraisals 4 vanguardians involved engaged 5 the insider business friendly 6 the denizens on the dais superior intellect glendale ca ­ city followed up on a vanguard report showing $1,000s of unclaimed revenue at the state controller s office meanwhile the gpd and the gfd are owed money strangely enough $2500 is floating around aimed at the glendale rose float association at their city hall address date 10/5/2010 source int property id number 955240136 owners name glendale rose float association reported owner address management services office 633 east broadway glendale ca 91206 type of property accounts payable cash reported $2,500.00 reported by dreamworks llc 1

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south fulton tenn fire department allows home to burn down over unpaid $75 fee in tennessee a local fire department refused to put out a house fire last week because the homeowner had forgotten to pay $75 for fire protection from a nearby town the firefighters showed up to the scene of the fire and then watched as the home of gene cranick burned to the ground cranick s neighbors had paid the $75 fee so when the fire spread across the property line firefighters took action but only to save the neighbor s property the local mayor defended the actions of the firefighters south fulton mayor david crocker said anybody that s not in the city of south fulton it s a service we offer either they accept it or they don t on monday gene cranick appeared on countdown with keith olbermann gene cranick everything that we possessed was lost in the fire even three dogs and a cat that belonged to my grandchildren were lost in it and they could have been saved if they had been they had put water on it but they didn`t do it so that`s just a loss keith olbermann when you all called 911 as i understand it you told the operator you`d pay whatever was necessary to have the firefighters come put out and prevent the fire from spreading to your house what was their response cranick that we wasn`t on their list philadelphia faced with deep budget deficits and overextended pension plans state and local leaders are increasingly looking to trim the lucrative retirement benefits that have long been associated with government employment public employees are facing a backlash that has intensified with the nation s economic woes union leaders say because of their good job security generous health-care and pension benefits and right to retire long before most private-sector workers in california where an estimated 80 cents out of every government dollar goes to employee pay and benefits gov arnold schwarzenegger r has proposed a two-tier system of pensions that offers new state workers reduced benefits with tighter retirement formulas he also wants state workers to kick in higher pension contributions to help deal with california s staggering deficit new jersey gov chris christie r calls reform of public employee pensions essential to fixing the state s enormous fiscal problems michigan gov jennifer m granholm d recently signed a change to her state s teacher pensions that increases employee contributions illinois has pushed back the retirement age for new employees detailing his agenda for new york democratic gubernatorial nominee andrew m cuomo has said we simply can t afford to pay benefits and pensions that are out of line with economic reality locally a special commission is scheduled to meet thursday in annapolis to examine options for maryland s $34 billion pension fund which is just 65 percent funded and has been called a credit challenge by moody s the state has not yet gone after public employees neither has virginia where the state pension fund is projected to be underfunded in the near future here in philadelphia mayor michael nutter has proposed ending a popular pension enhancement called the deferred retirement option plan which has allowed many city workers to walk away from their jobs with six-figure payments in addition to their pensions government workers are the new privileged class said james e macdougald a retired business executive who formed a research and activist group free enterprise nation to call attention to the financial burden posed by government workers benefits to envy the move to curtail retirement benefits for public-sector workers is fueled both by stark budget realities and by the resentment felt by private-sector workers who have seen their pay diminish in recent years public employment was once viewed as less rewarding than work in the private sector but that has changed state and local government employees earn an average of $39.74 an hour in wages and benefits about 45 percent more than private-sector workers whose total compensation averages $27.64 an hour according to the labor department studies have found the nation s 2,500 public employee pension plans to be underfunded by as much as $3 trillion steep investment losses during the recession have left less than half of the state retirement systems adequately funded according to a recent report by bloomberg 2

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even as they trim vital services state and local governments are devoting an increasing share of their budgets to paying for employee retirement costs meanwhile a long-running series of gallup polls has found slowly eroding support among the public for labor unions which represent many government employees that support dipped markedly in the past two years a decline that gallup analysts attribute to a belief that president obama s policies preserved public-sector jobs while private-sector workers endured punishing cuts a lot of people are saying wait a minute i lost my benefits and these guys who work for the city still have theirs said bill rubin an advisor to the president of the american federation of state county and municipal employees district council 33 in philadelphia and a vice chairman of the city s pension fund.we have to educate people union leaders say their members are being asked to pay for the mistakes made by politicians who chose not to adequately contribute to pension plans and by wall street firms whose disastrous bets led to big investment losses for the rest of the washington post story click here ed ito r ial glendale`s mayor has an opportunity to bring a level of maturity and transparency to city council sessions this coming tuesday its tax time again the mayor has the discretion to adjust the order of the city`s agenda items any way he wishes this is the time for the mayor to bring the item listed last on the agenda up front to prime time so that all residents can tune in and watch councilmen tackle a really important decision the city council is taking up the water rate increases under proposition 218 water rate hikes are considered property-related fees the city report confirms it any increases require a 45-day notification to all residents but the efforts by the gwp have been tepid at best with a dismal record of citizen attendance such failure at communicating a major increase in utility rates would be cause enough to re-schedule such a decision until at least 1 of the voters or rate payers have responded in some way near zero attendance for some outreach community meetings is a testament to the weak leadership and lack of effectiveness of the gwp director for this reason the mayor must re-shuffle the agenda item so that water rates are discussed prominently during prime time those rate increases will allow the continuation of gwp transfers to the general fund it is by any measure a tax under disguise the mayor must act with the highest integrity and transparency he can muster putting the decision after hourslong discussions of historic homes is a major disservice to the public and a blow to transparency vanguardians samuel adams it does not require a majority to prevail but rather an irate tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people s minds vanguardians sponsor do you have a spare vehicle sitting around that doesn`t run is taking up space needs repairs you were going to fix it up and you just haven`t gotten around to it adrian`s auto works has the solution one of their technicians will come to your home or business and give you an evaluation of your vehicle and the best thing is by mentioning this ad the evaluation is free call bob at adrian`s auto works now 626 344 8071 make an appointment vanguard is published independently by vanguardians inc advocating for accountability­ our vision is to live in a community where all people can enjoy accountability integrity effectiveness and responsiveness from our government 3

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1 commentary you may agree or disagree with the views below feel free to comment on them the commentaries do not necessarily reflect the position of vanguardians from the publisher i think it is amazing that the city council doesn t see itself as a clone of the city of bell or temple city where the mayor was sentenced to 16 months in the slammer there is always that stage of denial those council members are well aware of that which i write at the last council meeting a gentleman spoke about permitting for vinyl window replacements and was shown a draft code the planning director explained that even though the code wasn t adopted that is what the council wanted enforced even mr weaver was aghast other members just murmurred think back some months ago when the planning department came to the council to ask them to unring the bell on changes planning had requested as planning had used the wrong outdated code and spent time and money on correcting something that was already corrected where was the city attorney on this or the keeper of the codes apparenly there are so many managers and middle managers and not enough worker bees to do the work thus the city will have to retain consultants to do the work bottom line is that the council has been taken over by a new troika something that some members of the public feared when there were 3 armenians on the council as i recall there was then healthy debate something that is unseen now with more being done in the back room angela vukos spoke about the glenoaks canyon bus situation she used data from the city and really didn t hammer home the fact that the people on the dais have taken the majority of the revenue and fed it to the employees as compensation benefits and pensions with cola attached the difference between glendate and bell is that a handful of people pundits know what is happening and share it with the public while the council feigns interest no different than other agencies legislative bodies the council spent the people s money on employees leaving nothing for the residents and stakeholders in south fulton tennesse the fire department refused to save a house because the owner didn t pay the annual $75 fee for saving his house what angela didn t mention is that 70 of the fareboxes don t work causing a loss in revenue the contractor is required to maintain the equipment one would be suspect as the contract administrator for the city attends some of the parties sponsored by the contactor the city of bell kept financial details quiet and away from the public just like glendale a city that refuses to provide the details surrounding the $1,000,000 in performance bonuses handed out under the direction of jim starbird let s see were some of those bonuses paid out as hush money to payoff employees who were targets of sexual harassment or who were involved in consensual sexual trysts when their spouse found out or were they thank you notes for making sure the employee associations came through on campaign promises the city transfered millions of dollars of taxpayer money to well connected developers without getting and paying for land appraisals are bell and glendale similar on another issue i was sent the following clip from a well known broadcast journalist http www.breitbart.tv/out-of-control-city-councilwoman-bullies-intimidates-and-shouts-down-citizens the title is self explanatory it reminded me of herbert molano making a presentation to the city council they sit there with their fingers crossed that the people watching don`t catch on to the facts being presented as they belittle berate chastise intimidate and otherwise attempt to humiliate not only molano but others who were thinking about making a presentation changing their mind after watching the council 4

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in van nuys there is the president of the neighborhood council that acts as if the council is her fiefdom she makes her own rules and makes herself inaccessible to the constituency as of october 7 2010 the department of neighborhood empowerment website done states the council is 2 quarters behind in providing financial details los angeles neighborhood councils are given up to $70,000 each year by the la taxpayers with little or no oversight it appears the president has suspended the brown act and the public records act and intimates members for compliance citizen government at its worst the da pitched the ball back to the department of neighborhood empowerment done on brown act violations city council members that represent van nuys are steering clear as they don`t want notoriety only votes done wants to do away with any oversight when watchdogs are chained up government goes amuck barry allen ps i met someone the other day who asked what i do i told her then she asked if government accountability was an oxymoron p.p.s one of our volunteers jeff green 29 coincidentally my youngest son was named one of the 20 under 40 community leaders by the toledo ohio business journal the program focuses on individuals who are making exceptional contributions to the community he is also a member of toledo s `brain gain naturally we are kvelling parrot one who imitates the words or actions of another especially without understanding them pundit a learned person someone who by long study has gained mastery in one or more disciplines the penalty good men and women pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men plato most people want the benefits of an accountable government but are afraid to work for accountability or to support those that do often because they fear retaliation or are the beneficiaries of the largesse or corruption of government the mary poppins show why glendale staff is promoting pms if fibbing were an art form councilman weaver and city manager starbird`s senior public works staff could hold a masters class in chicago-style impressionist lying and fibbing recent presentations at the city council and the home owners association indicate the level of outrageous presentations that have little regard for the truth me councilman weaver i just heard from the senior staff that they just purchased a report on the city`s road conditions weaver yes every five years we pay from $50,000 to $80,000 to get a report on road conditions and other key measures me councilman is that the pavement management system report weaver yes how did you know did you also know that it shows i now weigh 138 pounds isn`t that great me excuse me councilman but you still look like you weight about 200 pounds weaver that`s not true this report is over three inches thick and we paid a lot of money for it there it is on page 210 weaver condition is rated a me but i am looking at you now and your pot belly shows you seem to be eight months into gestation weaver what are you going to believe our official report or your lying eyes me is this the same report that shows that glendale`s road conditions are practically perfect in every way 5

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weaver yes our roads are so much better than all our neighboring cities me so if neighboring cities are screwing their residents by ignoring infrastructure repair more than glendale and taking more money for their pay and pensions that`s ok weaver why don`t you just go back to tujunga and live under a rock me hey those are the same words that councilman quintero spewed at me about a month ago during the housing authority weaver yes you deserve it me but now you have the city department directors saying the same thing at the home owners coordinating council meeting last monday steve zurn used the tujunga comparison to disparage my question he then added that glendale roads can last fifty years weaver it`s about time he set the record straight we pay this guy over $100,000 more per year than he earned ten years ago me so his job is to produce the pms report ­ the poppins mary system where glendale is practically perfect in every way weaver that`s not all look at me the report puts me at 130 pounds i may serve as councilman another fifty years me thinking out loud poor guy his father shouldn t have hit him over the head with a meat tenderizer herbert molano click here glendale today meg whitman or jerry brown the legislature needs a new kindergarten cop what are you going to believe political campaign ad a or smear campaign b can your really make a decision on which candidate to pick for governor from the television ads luckily for us california gubernatorial candidates have public records on their respective leadership positions for jerry brown we have the finances for the city of oakland from 1999 to 2007 for meg whitman we have her records as ceo of ebay from 1998 to 2007 we don`t need to guess how to measure competencies we don`t need to pay attention to the television ads or the news stories cooked up to spice the campaign and sway public opinion through knee-jerk reactions we have financial statements and performance outcomes the city of oakland and ebay for the city of oakland we have the comprehensive financial reports and for ebay we have their investor financial statements since ebay was taken public some commentators have made the claim that public and private governance are too different for adequate comparison but government is in many activities that parallel private companies government provides services and has customers who expect a level of service that will maintain or improve their quality of life both have revenue sources expenditures and debt that must be controlled and paid off here is jerry brown fiscal summary legacy as oakland`s mayor 1998 388 136 64 112 163 47 136 2007 417 317 68 412 348 101 345 chg 7 133 6 268 113 115 153 population property tax state tax sales etc local taxes police fire public works city debt 6

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one year after jerry brown`s exit as mayor of oakland the accounting firm of macias gini and o`connel llp reported that for six years the city of oakland had incorrectly reported its actuarial required pension contribution as zero in 1997 the city issued pension obligation bonds to help fund its police and fire pension obligations arguably the top problems facing california are its pension-driven budget deficits deficient education outcomes general unemployment and an irresponsible legislature without a sound and prudent budget there is little chance that we can improve the quality of life of the average californian or our economic future in this regard jerry brown`s legacy as the ceo of the city of oakland shows huge increases in local taxation lack of restraint in controlling public payroll and pensions and a mountain of debt during his tenure when jerry brown left office there were significant housing development improvements in the center of town with large subsidies to developers but he also left a city with the third highest homicide rate in california meg whitman has not had to face decisions about crime incarceration prison guards or quality education issues these are tough issues that require moral integrity and laser focus to evidence-based governance as she likely demonstrated at ebay but you can t tackle the toughest issues by giving in to special interests groups in facing one of the most damaging economic policies facing the state she blinked at the alliance of california law enforcement sfgate.com reports whitman is quoted as supporting the idea of keeping intact the huge pension giveaway to police and fire unions in glendale police and fire pensions make up 50 of the total pension obligation according to jerry brown quoted in sfgate he estimates that safety employee pensions make up 75 of pension costs irrespective of political affiliation any california resident concerned about the economic mess we are in would have little choice but to evaluate each candidate s real record as well as their positions on the pension mess as a significant source for exercising a prudent choice whitman s ebay s financial history is easily retrievable through any major internet search engine but even that exalted record has to be balanced against her position on safety pensions i can t reconcile those two sides of whitman just as i can t ignore the dismal fiscal record jerry brown compiled at the city of oakland the links below will help you drill into the city of oakland s financial reports note the files are big and may take a minute to load i for one will be holding my nose and hope for a miracle as i fill the ballot at next month s election who will keep the legislative rumpus room in check which one has the backbone to roll-back all pension benefits to pre-1998 levels i can t tell oakland references comprehensive annual financial report for 2007 cafr for 2004 statistical section audit statements of 2007 and prior financial statements homicide rate in oakland sfgate article herbert molano click here glendale today thirteen railing against california s third rail touch the third rail of a subway and you`ll be lucky to survive the high energy zapping through your body but attacking proposition 13 doesn`t seem to faze the untouchables the city manager and public employee union leaders were it not for proposition 13 thousands upon thousands of glendale residents would have had to sell their homes and move elsewhere their property valuations during the housing bubble would have caused such a huge rise in their property tax that we would have had only the very wealthy keeping their homes proposition 13 saves the homes of people who worked hard all their lives retirees can afford to pay their taxes as they depend on their retirement income but that fact hasn`t stopped city officials from continually attacking it 7

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leading the charge against proposition 13 in the last few years is glendale`s own city manager as well as glendale`s ex-police chief randy adams i`ve sat at the city council chambers fuming at the audacity of these top city employees complaining about the city`s finances as they themselves had allowed and promoted the worst abuse of the pension system in the city`s history i have personally heard jim starbird glendale`s city manager openly complain about the constrain of the revenues the city gets from property tax while supporting the need to draw more money from the glendale water and power utility what starbird and adams would not say in public is that the valuation of the property from which the property tax is calculated nearly doubled in glendale in the past nine years june 2000 residential and commercial taxable property 10.3 billion june 2009 residential and commercial taxable property 20.2 billion but the tax revenue the city gets from two local taxes and transfers from jacked up utility fees also highlight the increase year end june 30 2009 property tax 77,010,000 utility users tax 28,798,000 transfer enterprise funds 26,100,000 131,908,000 total increase in 10 years 103 in the same ten-year span glendale`s population grew from 199,000 to 207,000 a 4 increase according to the bureau of labor statistics inflation went up by 28.77 but as we all know by now police chief randy adams goal was to land one of the highest salaries and one of the highest pensions in all of california an amount of several hundred thousand dollars per year both adams and starbird stand to gain multi-million dollar pensions as well as hundreds of glendale public employees here are more hard facts from the city`s financial statements total pension costs for year end 1999 8,505,000 total pension costs for year-end 2009 $23,889,000 let`s evaluate the claim that proposition 13 is limiting the city government`s revenues population increase in ten years inflation increase in ten years property tax and other increase pension increases to pub emp 4 29 103 181 what we have had in actuality is a raid on the city`s treasury and the taxpayers it was initiated by the three major city unions ­ police officers association fire fighter`s association and the new employee association ­ the glendale managers association so while city council sessions have become a weekly public relations show highlighting the public concerns with the canine unit no evidence of effectiveness the unity fest no evidence of increased harmony and other wonderful causes cancer autism bullying the real work behind the scenes is the relentless extraction of taxpayer money into the pockets and pensions of public employees the next time city manager starbird gives his poor me or poor us attack on proposition 13 think of the multimillion dollar pensions he and others with help from his cohorts at the city council have extracted from taxpayers and rate payers it`s not proposition 13 that we should worry about it`s the raid on the taxpayers and ratepayers these public players have created it`s enough to wish we could tie them all down to the rails herbert molano click here glendale today year end june 30 1999 27,419,000 16,487,000 20,987,000 64,893,000 8

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state budget proposal more borrowing and deceit to protect the powerful since the 2008 crash dramatic cutbacks were made in the private sector that feeds the state budget the over compensated public employee unions have fought a rear guard action resisting equal givebacks that could have saved social welfare programs for the needy in addition their reluctance to participate equally in the recession has resulted in the largest tax increase in state history as well as draconian increases in fees and fines that have further retarded the private sector that feeds them thus it comes as no surprise that our budget again has gimmicks to cover the holes in state income the present budget that the big 5 in sacramento agreed to this week does a little less than half of what it will take to balance california s budget here are two of the gimmicks that a reasonably educated 5th grader could figure out first gimmick that the feds will rescue california with a 5 billion dollar bail out the us which is beyond broke this year will likely give less than the 3 billion it gave us last year congress is likely to be more fiscally conservative over the next two years as voters in middle of the road have polled against the democrats due to their allowance of historically high deficits there are some other factors that make a larger generous bailout for california a very hard sell they include but are not limited to a other hard hit states in the mid west north east and south have similar needs b other hard hit states have much more modest and defendable public employee compensation packages and budgets c other hard hit states have dramatically lower real estate values hence revenue from property taxes that could be boosted by very modest federal incentive programs expecting california to get bigger subsidy incentives funding than the mid west for example is unrealistic d california regularly gets back a lot less than it gives to the feds second gimmick that our state economy will bounce back all on its own -2.5 billion in projected increased revenue real estate values sales tax receipts and unemployment would need to improve significantly in a year in as much as they are all linked and real estate s low cycle could be with us for at least another few years if not 4 or 5 next year s budget projections are again dishonest a unemployment and sales tax-losses in durable item sales construction retail for example are deeply linked to the home equity lines of credit that have dried up since 2008 many households across the state routinely kept these sectors capitalized spending the supposed equity in their overpriced houses a 40 correction in housing values wiped away most home equity reservoirs and left many of the households that survived the threat of foreclosure burdened with second mortgages that further retards their present buying power b real estate a steady increase in real estate value is key to increasing the property tax revenue that california s budget anticipates getting historically property values increase when the true affordability index for the median priced home remains near 20 for a conforming 10 down loan on fixed interest for at least a few years while there might be very affordable homes in far flung 2 hour commute bedroom communities in places in the san joaquin and antelope valleys as well as the eastern dessert counties like riverside and san bernardino there are too few local jobs in those communities as well as little confidence that these far flung places have hit bottom perhaps this is why the california association of realtors predicts that sales will shrink but that prices will rise perhaps i am reading into that statement that prices in the core cities might rise a nano point or two before quickly retreating and that peripheral cities with massive foreclosures listings will be ignored at best real estate might go sideways in 2011 and 2012 dishonest and gimmick budgets will continue to borrow money the servicing of which will further gut social welfare programs as well as spur further calls to increase taxes fines and fees to new and higher predatory levels that will further dampen economic activity in the private sector that ultimately feeds the public sector it is time for the public sector to accept the math and downsize its compensation contracts so that the state does not have to 9

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borrow and service another 12 billion dollars this year if they do in the long run economic conditions will allow for another private sector boom which they will rightly be able to benefit from michael fuss californians for the right to vote on public employee contracts http www.cavoteonopublicemployeepay.org does it hurt yet while the taxpaying public drowns in excessive government costs it hasn`t stopped the california legislature in its blind pursuit of achieving bankruptcy public safety costs at the state county and local levels have grown yearly by double digits over the past decade due in large part to excessive and unsustainable salaries and benefits turbo charged by the out of control pension costs with talk of getting tough on these huge cost centers the legislature no less continues to not only protect but expand the expense of our already overpaid fire and police personnel beyond any kind of common sense standards for example ab 1651 states that any public safety employees for retirement calculations who are forced to take furloughs shall include credit for service and compensation that would have been credited and paid had that public safety member not been subject to mandatory furloughs this means that even though they did not work for the compensation should they retire at the end of the year their final annual salary used to set their pension will include the pay had they worked the furlough days some could interpret this as a gift of public funds which is supposed to be illegal this bill signed by the governor should not affect many police or fire people because 99 of them have been excluded from public employee groups who have been given mandatory furloughs but one must admire the vigilance of the public safety unions efforts to protect their largesse in the hall of the state legislature another example is ab 2151 this bill specifies that any police or fire employee who happens to be driving his or her private vehicle while on duty ­ driving to a restaurant is considered on-duty ­ shall not report any vehicular accidents to his or her private insurer it also prohibits the employer from doing the same thing this places the employer ­ city county or state government ­ on the hook for the cost of the accident regardless of who is at fault it also mandates any injuries to be covered by state workers compensation laws two more examples are ab 2253 and ab 2397 ab 2253 extends the time a retired public safety employee can apply for work related injuries caused by cancer from 3.7 years to 15 years after retiring half of the general public will develop a form of cancer sometime in their lifetime but only former public safety employees are protected even though they live longer than all other retired public pensioners not only are the costs covered by the employer`s workers compensation insurance 100 they are often entitled a huge cash award and other benefits including those who have been life-time smokers the last example is ab 2397 this bill allows the time a public safety employee is fully compensated while on injured leave from twelve months to twenty-four months it also sets in motion a collective bargaining process between the employer and employee to determine if the second twelve months should be invoked this forces governments to negotiate under the framework of collective bargaining a growing and powerful tool of public safety unions the employee now has another year in which to maneuver before he or she decides either to return to work or take a medical retirement 50 end up taking the medical retirement jh take action ­ get involved ­ be informed ­ share vanguard ­ volunteer 2shout box ed ­ letters published do not necessarily express the opinion of vanguardians vanguard news service the organization or barry allen names are used only when requested initials are used as there are people believe it or not who are concerned with retaliation or have issues before a legislative body letters will be published that are signed and are not hate oriented 10

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i am a fire department chief officer and have a take home car that is well marked to be consistent with the irs code http www.irs.gov/irb/2008-25_irb/ar12.html which says a police fire or public safety officer vehicle is clearly marked if through painted insignia or words it is readily apparent that the vehicle is a police fire or public safety officer vehicle a marking on a license plate is not a clear marking for purposes of this paragraph k being red and having a tax exempt plate isn`t enough one city paid a huge penalty to the irs for not including the plain take home car as income but then glendale with its bc aides is a wealthy city and can afford the penalty just as it did with aqmd then there is the matter of the tinted windows on the fire vehicles also being against the vehicle code there are no exemptions except medical chief comments from vanguard advisors a good issue to pursue the gfd is clearly in violation they have several new large urban type vehicles that have no insignias or other markings showing they belong to gfd tends to support the idea that why because they can i guess nothing should surprise me anymore why on earth would firemen need undercover cars like police detectives obviously they don t want us to know who they are or what they re doing herb molano shows brown s record in oakland which doesn t really look good then refers to whitman s record at e-bay which made a lot of money this attempts to persuade folks to go for whitman but i agree with the guy with whom herb disagreed in that i don t think this is a valid comparison we re not supposed to take sides personally i think that meg s columns don t foot the stuff she wants to do without raising taxes can only happen if we cut stuff like medicaid anyone who thinks california taxes are too high hasn t lived on the east coast where the education is 10 times better js a question and a reminder 1 the city decided two years ago to automatically allow staff to increase all fees and charges by the cpi amount has this happened and how has it affected fees 2 congressman adam schiff is conducting the public inquiry into the station fire this tuesday oct 12 at 9am at the 9th circuit court of appeals located at grand ave and green street pasadena acc 3 public information just the facts city can t provide invoices for land appraisals their response indicates they never made any appraisals and relied on those made by the sellers all truths are easy to understand once they have been discovered the point is to discover them galileo galilei home page of open government in glendale california agendas for the city of glendale ca click to view the agenda city council housing authority redevelopment agency meetings at city hall ch are in the council chambers 2 floor at 613 e broadway meetings at the municipal services bldg msb are in room 105 at 633 e broadway meetings at the perkins bldg pb are in the conference room at 141 n glendale ave phone numbers are in area code 818 unless noted otherwise nd 11

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monday october 11 special meeting ­water power comm 5:00 pm ch 548-2107 comm on the status of women ­ 6:30 pm ch 548-4844 tuesday october 12 housing authority 2:30 pm ch 548-2060 redevelopment agency 2:30 pm ch 548-2005 joint meeting ­ ch 548-4844 special meeting ­ city council re annual services contract for maintenance of grayson power plant and review of professional state legislative representation ­ 2:30 pm ch 548-4844 city council 6:00 pm ch 548-4844 wednesday october 13 planning hearing officer 9:30 am msb 548-2140 special meeting ­ community development block grant committee ­ 2:30 pm ch 548-2060 civil service commission ­ 5:00 pm ch 548-2110 4 vanguardians vanguardians is preparing a brief to prevent the city of los angeles department of neighborhood empowerment done the staff of los angeles neighborhood services from decimating the open meeting law and the public records law they have prepared a draft ordinance that is available from vanguardians upon request vanguard opens its shout box to glendale news press gnp letter writers whose letters regarding city government issues questions and criticisms are not being published by the gnp vanguard editor pauline field received approval from the editorial advisory board to make this opportunity available to all stakeholders your employee association doesn t support you don t support then instead send your union dues to vanguardians as allowed by the meyers-milias-brown act for local public employee organizations vanguard is following these lawsuits the 5 gpd officers in addition to rodriguez gillespie hayn hunter mendoza ovasapyan the cases cited were from the randy adams regime and continue under chief depompa vanguardians needs your continuing financial support please make checks payable to vanguardians mail to pob 11202 glendale ca 91226 your contributions are tax deductible you will receive a receipt for income tax purposes the ralph m brown act mandates legislative bodies to provide each person an opportunity to speak and requires that agendas are posted and meetings are open the california public records act pra is the tool to get information about the operations of government the political reform act of 1974 allows public access to the financial reports of public officials www.maplight.org to follow the money trail from special interests to the policy maker to become more involved in your community to learn how to use these important tools you can call 818 243 1502 5 the insider is written by city employees that care about the way the city is run as they are concerned about retaliation their identities are secret vanguard provides them the opportunity to have this forum the comments are their own whether intentional or through manipulation the council is making the permitting process the most bureaucratic process in the city and one of the most expensive contractors architects and engineers are afraid to complain because the process is so discretionary that they can t afford to make staff upset they also know that ultimately any project may end up in front of the council and if they raise issues they will be punished publicly not a good business move if the economic slowdown ever ends small developments will encounter endless delays while the big projects will just make donations and get moved to the front of the line 12

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6 the denizens on the dais the penalty good men and women pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men plato you can t win an argument with a moron an idiot or a political bigot kraft councilman interacting with pundits the lie-o-meter moves from week to week showing the official telling the most outrageous lies when did it begin weaver 1997 quintero 2001 najarian 2005 drayman 2007 friedman 2009 drayman and weaver terms end in april 2011 email info@vanguardians.org to subscribe to the weekly news on issues that impact you vanguardians encourage and support advocacy involvement and engagement with government vanguard is intended for personal use by recipient and forwarding without change to recipient s personal email list vanguardians is a 501c3 educational non-profit corporation contributions are tax deductible vanguardians does not use commercial fundraisers to ensure you receive vanguard please add our email addresses info@vanguardians.org vanguardweekly@gmail.com and ba@fieldworks.net to your address book or internet service provider safe list annual subscription for email $50 by us mail $75 newsstand $2 per issue to unsubscribe reply with the word unsubscribe in the subject line copyrighted materials used with permission ©2010 13

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