Comments by Kevin J. Lansing
June 18, 2009
Another disturbing aspect of the City Council's action was the seemingly great effort that was made to hide the City Manager's big raise from the public view.
Here's the cryptic title given on the City Council Agenda for Item #6:
"Retention of Interim Management Staff (City Manager, Finance Manager/City Treasurer and Human Resources/Administrative Officer)"
Why not say "Consideration of an Increase in Compensation and Benefits for City Manager, etc..."? Oh no, that would be too truthful.
The item was placed on the "Consent Agenda" which means it would have been automatically approved with no public discussion if Grady had not objected as he did.
If any member of the public was curious enough to actually read through the staff report of Item #6, then they would have needed to go all the way back to page 7 before there is any mention of changing the City Manager's salary.
On page 7, the report lists the new salary as $15,500 per month plus $3,500 per month in expenses. But the report doesn't give the old salary, which serves to hide the huge percentage increase that the City Council is handing out. Oh and by the way, this salary is for 3-1/2 days per week in City Hall--another piece of information not in the report.
In 2005, both Patridge and McClung ran on a platform of "Transparency in Government." This is their idea of transparency.
June 17, 2009
I tnink somebody needs to "lecture" Naomi Patridge on the concept of fiscal responsibility. Last night, she voted for a [25 percent pay raise for the City Manager at 10:30 pm after everyone had gone home.
][1]
This action follows just weeks after Patridge voted to lay-off City employees to save money in the City's budget.
By the way, how many years has Patridge been on the HMB City Council? Is it twenty years? How much money has she solicited in anonymous donations for her pet projects? How many political favors has she granted to her Old Guard friends over these many years?
Patridge is Exhibit A for why we need term limits for the HMB City Council. I am really hoping she has the good grace and humility to finally stand down and not run for her upteenth re-election in Fall 2009. But don't bet on it, She's likes being the "Godmother" of HMB.
[1]: http://www.hmbreview.com/articles/2009/06/17/news/breaking_news/doc4a397b16c29bb686454394.txt
June 13, 2009
Hopefully, this issue will help convince people that Don Horsley is just another pandering politician who should not be elected to the Board of Supervisors.
Does anybody need to be reminded of the recent financial disaster of the Coastside Community Medical Clicnic, a.k.a. [“Corporate Welfare” ][1] that Horsely now wishes to repeat, once again at the expense of Coastside taxpayers?
[1]: http://coastsider.com/index.php/site/news/3341/#6959
May 31, 2009
The Board of Supervisors, led by Jerry Hill and Rich Gordon, ignored the County Planning Commission's recommendations (which were based on numerous local public hearings) in an attempt to push their own pro-development vision for the benefit of their many realtor/developer friends
It's really imporatant for people to attend the June 16 meeting and/or write letters to the Supervisors urging them to abide by the Coasal Commission staff recommendations--which are are closely aligned with what the County Planning Commission originally approved before the whole thing was corrupted by the Supervisors.
May 20, 2009
One thing you have to remember about lawyers: they will say pretty much whatever their client wants them to say as long as the subject involves some grey area, as most subjects do.
Lawyers are paid advocates for whatever position their client wishes to put forth at the time. Hence, lawyers are not bound by rules of consistency in their arguments.
Last night's meeting (which I attended) was a paid spin-job by HMB's lawyers to defend the decisions of the Old Guard City Council.
First, we heard from Lawyer Anthony Condotti who defended the Old Guard Council's dumb decision not to appeal Judge Walker's unfair judgement against the City. Condotti claimed that as soon as he read Walker's decision in December 2007, he knew that an appeal would be a "tough road to hoe."
That's funny, because back in January 2008, HMB's newly hired hot-shot lawyer John Knox (who was sitting next to Condotti last night) told citizens at a public meeting that HMB's chances of winning on appeal were "very good." Maybe Knox hadn't bothered to read Walker's judgment before he made that statement. Or maybe both Knox and Condotti are just saying whatever their employer wants them to say at the time.
Another thing put out by the lawyers last night was that bankruptcy is not a legally feasible option for HMB because the City will not be rendered "insolvent" by paying off Keenan, i.e., the City has the financial ability to pay off Keenan without sacrificing essential public services.
In fact, the lawyers went so far as to say that HMB could maybe get by with having to pay only about $800,000 in annual debt service on bonds issued to pay Keenan. In fact, the lawyers stated that the City has been awarded an AA- credit rating to issue these judgement bonds.
Wait, weren't we told last spring that the sky would fall if the City had to actually pay off Keenan the $18 million settlement?
Didn't the Old Guard City Council and Police Union rep A.J. Johnson parade before the state legislature in Sacramento last spring and claim that the City would cease to function properly unless Keenan's blank check development bill (AB 1991) was passed?
It turns out that the drama over AB 1991 was all a charade. The latest "truth" that we heard last night is that HMB can easily pay off the $18 million settlement to Keenan by issuing bonds, Maybe somebody should relay that information to Jerry Hill and Leland Yee. It turns out that HMB doesn't need any help from the state to pay off Keenan.
In order to pay off Keenan, all the City really needs to do perhaps is cut back on excessive annual police salaries and benefits, including those of Police Chief Don O'Keefe who recently received a big raise while other City employees were laid off.
May 16, 2009
Didn't anybody on Jerry Hill's staff bother to check the loan limits for parks acquisition set up for the California Infrastructure Bank? Of course not. That would have required some basic due diligence, as opposed to thinking they could just rely on political cronyism to push things through.
If the City Council had any common sense, they would be getting ready to file for bankruptcy.
May 11, 2009
I would say that is a pretty good description of the reality of the situation. Ever since the give-away-settlement was announced on April Fool's Day 2008, the Old Guard City Council has been doing the bidding of their master Keenan.
May 11, 2009
From 2001-2005, when the previous HMB City Council majority was in power, Larimer railed against the so-called "no-growth faction" on an almost-weekly basis in the Review.
Now, even when Larimer's pro-growth Old Guard political allies have been in power for nearly four years, he's still tilting at the same windmills. And he still employs his same classic style of trying to cover about 5 separate topics in one wordy opinion piece.
How can you talk about Beachwood and sewer plant improvements in the same article? And by the way, Larimer has been proven wrong on the latter topic.
May 06, 2009
Apparently, the bill passed in the committee by a vote of 4-2, or by a margin of 66.7%.
That's cutting things kind of close because a 66.7% margin is also needed in the full Assembly before this urgency bill can move to the Senate, where a 66.7% margin is also needed before the bill can become law.
If the bill does go down in flames, then Half Moon Bay still has a pretty good hand to play. That would be an immediate bankruptcy filing so that Keenan has to stand in line like everybody else to get his money.
Of course the bankruptcy scenario assumes that the Old Guard City Council knows what they are doing, which is clearly not the case, given their massive bungling of the entire Beachwood non-appeal/give-away-settlement process thus far.
May 04, 2009
"...We’re not going to be able to reverse consumption of fossil fuels or the warming of the planet by doing away with our little fireworks display..."
That statement is true of just about any single action that any single person or any single community might take. So if everybody uses that justification, then nothing is going to change.
May 04, 2009
I suppose a 100 percent privately-funded fireworks display that pays for all costs including the full clean-up and the full police and fire department overtime might be ok, but I kind of doubt that is what is going to happen. Do we really need to stage our own atmospheric-warming spectacle here on the Coastside? What does this accomplish besides burning up resources?
April 19, 2009
"...I think tou may be headed that way if enforcement provisions and accountibility checks are not made..."
Well, the City did recently lay off the code enforcement officer as way to conserve cash needed to pay larger salaries to the City Manager and the Police Chief. So it would not be surprising to see things going downhill fast in the area of zoning compliance, i.e., more and more single family homes turned into multi-family apartment buildings, etc.
April 13, 2009
"...Harbor Bookstore will attempt to fill the shoes left behind by Moon News later this month when it opens at the Harbor Village shopping center in Princeton-by-the-Sea..."
A perfect example of how predatory pricing in the form of below-market, loss-leading rents could be luring new businesses away from Main Street in Half Moon Bay, thereby contributing to the economic decline of the City.
April 13, 2009
The Pillar Ridge website is a great resource. Here's an additional link that could be included there:
HMB Review Letter to Editor dated December 19, 2008 from former CUSD Board Member Ruth Palmer: Don't lock developmentally disabled out of sight
April 11, 2009
This is very helpful to see the out-scale-character of this huge proposed complex. 3-story office boxes with big parking lots built on the edge of a sensitive habitat marsh.
Whatever happened to the idea of designing something to be compatible with its surrounding environment?
March 28, 2009
"...bail out Half Moon Bay for their bad decisions."
I don't think many can disagree with the idea that the Old Guard City Council has made some really bad decisions. First and foremost being their failure to appeal Walker's unfair legal judgement, followed closely by their decision to waste scarce funds (and time) on the AB 1991 fiasco.
Bankruptcy is something that should be on the table. But the Old Guard City Council refuses to even consider it. They want to hand over $18 million in cash to Keenan and then worry about bankruptcy--which will likely happen down the road anyway.
March 27, 2009
From the letter:
"...We experienced a $600,000 loss the first year and had a loss of at least $400,000 each year thereafter..."
"Why was it operating at a loss?"
"...the CFMC board grappled with major demographic shifts that changed the mix of patients. More underinsured than insured were now being served..."
Again, this goes back to board's failed stewardship. They had a fiduciary duty to operate the center (a valuable community resource) in a sustainable manner. They did not do that. Rather, it appears they did just the opposite. And now the valuable community resource is gone for good. Who is to blame?
Is there some law that says you must operate a community medical center in a manner that will guarantee that it eventually goes bankrupt?
March 26, 2009
It's true that Rich Gordon is running for Assembly in a district that does not include the Coastside.
Still, this fiasco happended on Gordon's watch and it remains unclear what he knew in advance about the closure and when he knew it.
This is certainly something that Assembly voters in the other district may wish to consider about Gordon's record.
March 26, 2009
Steve,
I think this is the real reason why Gordon called the meeting:
http://www.almanacnews.com/news/show_story.php?id=3637
March 24, 2009
Terri:
The quote from the long-time HMB resident on Talkabout was this:
"..Now that has happened [from] all the local restaurants, hotel, motel, growers, retail, service industries, real estate industries, construction companies, painting companies, flooring companies, gardening companies, plumbing companies, termite companies, [and] roofing companies.."
I'm pretty sure he intended "all" to mean "the many." The center had 26,000 patient visits per year and 40 percent of those visits were uninsured, So many of those 40 percent were likely working somewhere on the Coastside.
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