Letter to the City Manager

Here's a letter I wrote to the Ventura City Manager, Rick Cole:




July 10, 2005


Rick Cole, City Manager
City of San Buenaventura
501 Poli Street, Room 205
Ventura, CA 93002

Dear Mr. Cole,

I am writing to you today in reference to your Commentary piece in the Ventura County Star on Sunday, July 3, 2005, page B13.

As I read the piece, I began to have an unsettled feeling. The more I read, the queasier I became, and the less easy it became for me to swallow your hypocritical rhetoric.

I agree that a vibrant democracy requires getting involved. That is why I am very involved in watching you and select members of the City Council. While I am not able to attend every City Council meeting (I don’t get paid $74.52 per hour to attend them like you do, yet you still can’t seem to make it to all of them), I do faithfully watch the video recording of each week’s City Council meeting.

You find the language of our Constitution quaint? Perhaps you think you can update the Bill of Rights with your brand of modern thinking. I guess you would know what’s better for the citizens of America than the creators of the longest standing democratic system of government the world has ever known. By the way, I really like your ultra, post-modern, twice-ripped quote about “government of the people, by the people and for the people”; you truly are pomo!

Your feel good, new-age-speak about moving our city into the 21st Century and being the model of urban growth for a new era may inveigle the ill-informed masses you disdainfully refer to in your Commentary, but I’m not one of them. I’m not swayed by your hypno-talk of unpolished gems hidden within the city. Where? Your (I should say our) new home, that you happen to live in, must be on top of a diamond mine.

It must be nice having your select friends on the City Council authorize the purchase of half your home at $36,000 above the listed price of $639,000, since you can’t afford it on a salary of $155,000 a year (4.2 times the national average; 3.7 times the state average), plus benefits and perks. Mr. Cole, 15 months ago you could have bought a 4-bedroom, 2-bath home in my neighborhood for under $500,000; then, you could have used the $75,000 for a down payment and paid your own mortgage, like the rest of us working stiffs, instead of over-building on your current lot. Or, is it that the “executive housing” that you discourage because it won’t really bring any business to our model city of the 21st Century, should be reserved for only the highest level city bureaucrats, like yourself? By the way, the $325,000+ given to you for your home, could put a 3% ding in the annual $9,000,000 Municipal Budget shortfall you mention so often. Care to help the rest of us out of a tight situation?

While I won’t be trying for City Council this fall, I will be running a campaign this fall: A campaign to inform all the citizens of Ventura about the lack of transparency, the disparaging remarks made by you and certain members of the Council after citizens from the public avail themselves of the time allotted for public comments at the Council meetings, and the blatant violations of state and local laws.

Even though The Ralph M. Brown Act (California Government Code §§ 54950-54962), which the City of Ventura’s own Council Protocols claim to follow, indicates that the proceedings of public meetings be fair, I have witnessed many actions by certain city staff members and particular Council members that are in direct violation of this state mandated law. You can be sure that I will be requesting remedies to these violations, and when those remedies are not enacted, I will be informing State Attorney General Bill Lockyer of the violations here in Ventura. I have also witnessed many violations of the Council Protocol by select members of the Council, which are disrespectful to the proceedings and the members of the public whom are addressing the Council. These will be included in my video-graphic evidence presented during the campaign to clean out City Hall this fall.

I try hard to take an active role in local government. I just find it difficult when no one in City Hall will give me a straight answer to simple questions; it’s really difficult when most of the City Council will not give me an answer at all. Like one of the stated goals in The Basics for a Good Life in Ventura (the “ABC’s” brochure), I aim to increase voter turnout this fall as well, except I intend for the citizens to be informed about the odious activities of select incumbents and why they should be voted out of office. Hopefully, your new bosses will do us all a favor and relieve you of your duties.

I find it repugnant that you even mention the Global War on Terrorism, and the efforts that are underway to instill self-governance and democratic elections world wide, which are currently focused in Iraq. I have a friend serving in the Army; he is stationed in Mosul, Iraq, risking his life, so that you can live here in quiet Ventura and criticize the people (your employers) for not knowing, what you get paid $2980 a week to know, about city governance. My friend is on the other side of the world, fighting Islamic extremists, making sure that we continue to have something to celebrate on the 4th of July.

I’m wishing that you and your family had a restful 4th of July celebration; the nearly constant two-week barrage of all-day explosions and all-night colorful sky displays that upset the dog and frightened the cat disrupted ours. Maybe you could direct the police to respond to calls about a dangerous nuisance, and fire hazard, like illegal fireworks purchased in the City of Fillmore, and then used by residents in a neighboring city where Class C fireworks are illegal. I hope your reference to “lighting fireworks” was not an advocacy of such illegal activities.

What do you think, Mr. Cole? Am I just another ill-informed, self-serving citizen filled with anger, impatience and venom?


Sincerely,

Henry P. Babcock


PS: I’m still waiting for a reply, from anyone at City Hall, regarding the progress of the development of the policy regarding Citizen Generated Content on, what Mayor Brennan called, “the people’s website”. Many of the citizens of Ventura would like to utilize a valuable resource that our tax dollars pay for. It’s been over three months, and no one has answered a single email I have sent requesting information on the formation of this policy, which Mayor Brennan stated was being developed. Even you have not responded to my email, which you said you would reply to during the Westside Community Council Meeting on July 7, 2005. I’m trying not to be angry or impatient, but three months with no response is a long time to wait.

Cc: Mayor Brian Brennan, Deputy Mayor Carl Morehouse, Councilmember Christy Weir, Councilmember Neal Andrews, Councilmember Bill Fulton, Councilmember James Monahan, Councilmember Sandy Smith, Congressman Elton Gallegly, Senator Barbara Boxer, Senator Diane Feinstein, President George W. Bush, Joe Howry, Stephanie Kinnear

Click to see scan of actual letter

Click to see scan of original clipping

©2005 hpb©reations