At the City Council meeting of 12/15/09 Mayor Pro Tem Tom Adams, wanted to have the council designate “Retired Mayor Rob Hammond as Monrovia Mayor Emeritus”. 

What a joke and a good example of the Good Old Boys Club in action.  Thanks to Mayor Lutz, Council members Shaw and Shevlin no such honor was bestowed on our less then useless ex- Mayor Rob Hammond. 

His Council buddies Tom and Joe need to realize that Hammond did not retire.  He didn’t serve as Mayor long enough and is not old enough to have retired.  He quit before the community voted him out of office.  He screwed this city up and then jumped ship.

Hammond did nothing memorable for this city during his lackluster terms as a member of the Council that didn’t involve him spending our tax money.  He did try to feather his own nest at the taxpayer’s expense with the Gary Miller land deal and a failed attempt to get himself appointed to a well paying position on the Federal Parks commission, for which he had no qualifications.

A real Bad Joke, Tom and Joe

November 19, Monrovia police arrested Todd Lambert 34, a Monrovia fire fighter on one count of grand theft by embezzlement.

It is believed Lambert embezzled more than $50,000 from the Monrovia Firefighters Association union between July 1, 2007 and August 31, 2009, according to court documents.

This arrest came as no surprise to Monrovia City Watch considering the examples being set for the fire fighters by their own department management and city leaders.

MCW has long tried to stop the Misuse, Abuse and outright Embezzlement of Chipper Grant funds and Hillside Wilderness Preserve Maintenance funds by the management of the Monrovia Fire Department and City of Monrovia.

One question MCW has for the MFFA.  Why didn’t You handle this matter in-house if you really are Brothers and are truly worried about the family of Todd Lambert.  It could have been dealt with without having the authorities involved it’s your association and your funds.

News Central Van

Suzie Suh, reporter, KCBS2/KCAL9 News

 Link to last nights broadcast: http://www.cbs2.com/video/?id=121756@kcbs.dayport.com

In an email from a reliable deep throat I just received additional information on the growing problem within the management of our city and its governance by our City Council.

“Cyrus, I have on good authority that there is one more suit pending regarding Verna’s actions.  The kid is still a minor so his statute has not run, the same attorney will represent him.  The hang right now is the mother is on the fence regarding suing or not.  When the kid becomes an adult he can file on his own.  (My source is someone who has already successfully sued the city for harassment etc., and is in contact with the atty).  I wonder how much that will cost us given what Ramirez just got and there’s aggravated liability.”

On Monday, Sept. 21, 2009, at 7:00pm the City will hold a Community Meeting at City Hall to discuss a planned large rail line maintenence and ops facility for the trains as part of the “mixed use” facility at Station Square.  Currently, our tax dollars are committed to Station Square via an amendment to the Monrovia General Plan. The Station Square plan includes high-rise apts. and hotel buildings, office and “research and development” facilities, plus small retail shops (and similar minimum-wage-level employers).  It is a vast, ambitious project with no prospective tenants.

As we all know, Monrovia has a glut of houses and apartments for rent, with several hundred more under construction on Myrtle; There is also a glut of commercial and retail space available, much of which hasn’t been rented or leased for several years now.  We have witnessed the “redevelopment” fiasco of the Colorado Commmons condos (now apartments), which was promised to “revitalize” Old Town, but has in fact only been more of a burden to Old Town by decreasing parking for customers of local businesses without providing any noticeable increase in their commerce, as was promised.

In the past, local schools, residents and businesses ALL voiced opposition
to the Station Square project, but the City did not heed their
concerns.  There is STILL NO PLAN for the City to provide additional
police, fire, school, water, traffic and street services to the >1,200
additional families they hope to house at Station Square. Plus,
provisions must ALSO be made and funded for the ‘daily-use occupants’, the
businesses and commuters.  Do we now have adequate water, fire, police,
etc. for the residents currently in Monrovia over the next 15 years ?

If you want more development in Monrovia —-more rental units,
commercial units and other multi-story development built on “spec”, with
no tenants in sight—- then please go to this meeting to show
your support for the Station Square project and timeline as planned.

On the other hand, if you would like to see the Station Square
project as planned shelved for the foreseeable future or modified
to a more modest, less overwhelming, more ‘rentable’ and more protectable
size then please go to this meeting to show your opposition to
this tax-subsisized development, a project that was never voted for
nor approved by the majority of the citizens of Monrovia.  

Either way, PLEASE make sure your opinion is heard.  Our
City should not be undertaking such large, permanent changes
without the participation of more Monrovians. 

PLEASE attend this important public meeting to learn more and voice
your opinion about this large project that is impacting our community
and spending our tax dollars.

The official City announcement of the meeting is at: LINK

 

 

Monrovia City Watch found out the settlement amount in spite of the city’s attempt to hide the facts by signing a confidentiality agreement with Ramirez.

Will the police officials who did nothing to stop the abuse be dismissed and sued for negligence?

Will Sgt. Daniel Verna be sued to recover the community’s losses?

In most other cities the answer would be yes but in Monrovia, not very likely.

It’s our $$$ and the city just keeps wasting them and raising our fees and service charges to get more to waste.

 Every year the Monrovia Chamber of Commerce (MCC) receives close to $50,000.00 from the city’s general fund to provide specified contracted services to the city and businesses in the city…(see contract).

 Is MCC fulfilling the terms of that contract?

• The contract calls for a business directory but the MCC only provides a Member Directory.
• The contract calls for a Dinning Guide but MCC only provides the opportunity for restaurants to purchase paid ads in the MCC Publication.

Why doesn’t MCC have a larger membership? 

• Why have non-members and members told me that MCC is a rip-off?
• Why have Community members spoke out at council meetings against MCC’s politics in the community?
• Why doesn’t MCC have 100% of Monrovia businesses as members?

 Maybe the answer to all of the above is a city that doesn’t enforce its contracts and poor leadership at MCC?

Maybe these are some reasons why business in Monrovia could be better but isn’t?

Maybe the leadership of MCC should spend more of it’s time winning the support of businesses and the community rather then acting like a “Mean Drunk” and playing the wrong types of politics for a Chamber of Commerce to play?

Maybe the community’s money could be better spent then supporting a chamber that doesn’t support the community and all business but only supports itself?

Yesterday, Dorothy Kelty emailed the CMF board this report:

 “7/9/09, Dear CMF Board, An incident report was filed with the PD tonight, regarding Lance’s attempted intimidation of me today, by threatening to call the police because I disagreed with his reasoning on withholding the addresses or city of residence on the Membership List and asked him to call his attorney for CMF business.” … Read the entire Email and account…

I have known Dorothy Kelty for years and know for a fact that she is honest, soft spoken, not abusive or threatening. 

Why would Lance threaten Dorothy with police action in a publicly owned and operated studio?

Why did the city recommend and council approve the contract with CMF to run the studio, given the circumstances of its current leadership which was brought their attention during public testimony?

Was the message the city and council sent to this group “We don’t care what you do to this community”?

Is that why Dorothy was threatened with Police?

Will our City Council deal with CMF for the community’s sake or will they allow them to continue to run amok?

At last nights council meeting a group of MFA personnel showed up wearing red T-shirts and not looking very happy. Their union leader went to the Podium to speak after the budget presentation to the council by city manager Scott Ochoa.

The tenor of the statements made by the MFA rep were not ones of friendliness or cooperation and sounded more like a veiled threat if the city dared to lay off any firefighters.  Their message was that the fire chief and city might find themselves liable for any injuries, deaths or loss of property if they allowed the department’s shift staffing to fall below 13 firefighters per shift.  This number was per findings of an agency who’s name eludes me for now which assesses the minimum firefighter staffing levels for communities based on certain facts.

This public airing of what Scott considered dirty laundry clearly angered him and his replying statement was one containing failed threats.

I am hearing rumors of discontent form the MPOA and I wonder how long before the MFA and MPOA are competing for billboard space on the boarders of Monrovia or will they join forces and share billboards and expenses?

It seems that the picture of co-operation within the employee bargaining groups that Scott has been painting for the council and community is out of perspective unless you are wearing Rose Colored Glasses.

City Clerk Linda Proctor announced at last nights council meeting that she would be retiring this October from her job as the City Clerk and the Elected Office of City Clerk.

In a statement to the council Linda said that she had planned to remain in her elected position after her retirement from her employed position but was informed by CALPERS that if she did she would not receive the portion of her CALPERS retirement that was connected to the elected position until she retired from that also.

It’s lucky that our city has the very capable Alice Atkins who has been mentored by Linda for many years.  Alice is intelligent and has attended many classes and received many certificates that make her more than qualified to carry on when Linda departs.  The city would have to go a very long way to find a better replacement for Linda and I’m sure they don’t need me to point that out.

Linda’s departure will leave the City Council with the task of appointing a replacement to the Elected Office of City Clerk.