.
This is exactly what Anaheim needs right now – a public meeting in a much larger venue – and the bold Mayor knows it.
Mayor Tait in thought. Photo Prevatt.
And the decision for this emergency public meeting follows from the meeting he and councilwoman Lorri Galloway – the only councilmembers the Anna Drive residents trust – had with them Monday night, at the home and invitation of Sra. Rojas, the mother of the kid who was bitten by police dogs directly following the fatal police shooting of Manuel Angel Diaz.
As the whole world knows, there wasn’t room at the last Anaheim Council meeting for all the aggrieved residents to speak out about the abuse they’ve been taking from the Anaheim Police Department, and other concerns. The Fire Marshal wouldn’t allow much of the crowd in, Mayor Tait tried to communicate that they could take turns coming in to speak, but by then the crowd was too upset at being shut out and went forth to riot.
As many of you also know, two important (or controversial) questions were also set to be voted on at that July 24 meeting – whether or not to put two democracy-related measures onto November’s ballot for Anaheim’s people to decide:
- Whether to change from 5 at-large councilmembers (all of whom end up being from rich neighborhoods) or 6 councilmembers from different DISTRICTS plus an at-large Mayor – in keeping with what is asked in the ACLU’s praiseworthy suit; and
- Whether to institute a new policy of “letting the people vote” on future hotel subsidies, so that we can make sure the community gets something out of future subsidies (local jobs, investment) rather than them just being giveaways to friendly politicians.
And we know how relieved the three fascists* on the Council (Murray, Eastman, Sidhu) were to not have to cast a vote publicly against those matters.
Well, next Wednesday’s emergency meeting, August 8, beginning at 4pm, at Anaheim High School’s Cook Auditiorium, will go exactly as the July 24 meeting was SUPPOSED to go. This auditorium holds 900, so anyone from the community will get their say. And these two important ballot measures will finally get their public vote from the Council. Hurray for Mayor Tait and Councilwoman Galloway!
Or will this meeting happen? Not if the three fascists get their way…
I was told late last night that there is a CLOSED Council meeting TODAY at 1pm on a few matters – the Register has mentioned it now too. But what I was warned is that the three fascists are expected to try to use phony “safety concerns” to call off Wednesday’s meeting – so that they can once again avoid seeing the public, and keep the democratic measures off the ballot without making uncomfortable public votes.
Sure enough, the Register lists (in their bland way) the three items to be discussed at today’s closed session:
- a discussion on the ACLU lawsuit for district elections;
- an annual review of employees who directly report to the City Council;
- and a discussion with police Chief John Welter about the safety of public facilities.
Let me translate. That is:
- Deciding whether to hire an expensive team of attorneys to defend the town from the heightened democracy of district elections;
- sounds like a purge of Anaheim employees who displease the fascist majority;
- and trying to get the police chief to say that there’s no way he can keep next Wednesday’s meeting safe!
It turns out there are public comments before this closed session after all, they will start at 1pm – in FOUR HOURS. EMERGENCY, ANAHEIMERS! Don’t let the Axis use phony “safety concerns” to call off next Wednesday’s vital meeting!
And oh – ANAHEIM TAXPAYERS??? An expensive team of attorneys to fight democracy? Are you freakin’ Costa Mesa now? And this on top of the million-dollar state of siege these clowns are putting you under each week to try to squelch protestors? Speak out, stop this coup! I’ll see you there in four hours – 1pm, council chambers!
[Update – If you CAN’T make it to council chambers at 1, you can submit comments at cityclerk@anaheim.net. They will be shared with council members and entered into official record.]
*I don’t know, I’ve been trying to come up with a handy phrase for the Murray-Eastman-Sidhu majority. You think “three fascists” is too extreme? I know the word became a little cliched, overused, since the 60’s, but I think it fits here. I tried stealing from Fullerton and Bushala: “the three bald tires,” “the three clogged sinks” … but those just really didn’t fit these guys, the way fascist does. I’m thinking of their complete full-frontal embrace of corporate interests over popular ones, their squelching of democracy once they’re in power; and their reliance on an increasingly militarized police state to keep the status quo. I dunno, what do you think, readers, the Three Fascists or no?
UPDATE: After a grueling marathon (seriously, like 1-7pm) closed session, our heroes Mayor Tait and LoGal somehow prevailed against … what I’ll now downgrade to crypto-fascists because apparently there’s some point at which they’ll give in.
Attorneys will be contracted to fight district elections. Hopefully either two good new councilmembers or a popular vote for district elections will allow us to back out of this wasteful futile fight.
I do not know too many details, except that a certain councilperson got chewed out for giving this blogger too much information, so I will say here that everything I know, I know from Harry Sidhu.
I’ll see everybody who cares a lot about Anaheim, 4pm Wednesday afternoon (I’m sure if you can’t get there till 5 or 6 you can still talk) – Cook Auditorium, Anaheim High School. Agendized – whether to put on November’s ballot the question of changing to district elections, and whether to put on November’s ballot the “Let the People Vote” initiative. Also expect a LOT of public comment on the recent police abuse.
Check out this photo of Murray and her cronies:
I can’t make in time for today’s meeting but I will email them and you should too!
cityclerk@anaheim.net
Whose city? Our city!!!
I would not go with “fascists,” Vern.
But since they’re doing Disney’s dirty work, how about “The Three Slimigos”?
fascits the mayor of l a has that hands down
Oh, because he shut down Occupy? Nah, a lot of other Mayors were much worse.
I am posting this comment for someone else who is afraid that he will face retaliation from the APD.
The Police are intelligent. Whether or not they can individually grasp the concept of good vs. evil due to killing as a job parameter, (of which I am certain is a heavy role to fulfill in our society and must take a toll on an individual’s mental, emotional, and even physical being) the Police still ‘know’ the actions they take.
On Sunday, July 29th, officers in Para-military gear brandished an arsenal of Urban-Military Weapons as supplied by an Arms dealer, “Aardvark” alongside buckling and dehydrated horses, multiple Urban-Military Grade Vehicles, and called in local departments from around Southern California including but not limited to the San Diego Police Department and the SWAT team, all in order to confront the Mothers of Murdered Victims, to confront the Kelly Thomas activists, to confront the dozens of activists who wished to honor the request of the Anaheim community through sworn peaceful demonstration, and to combat their own mistakes. Let me repeat that. The actions of the Anaheim Police Department, and in turn every City Department who is assisting in these measures, is aiding to COMBAT THE APD’S OWN FAULTS. There was no reasoning as to why the Police take hostile measures against their own Citizens other than attempting to create a reason for using what force and violence they deem is necessary, for as long as the Police can incite a violent riot, they will have every excuse in the world to ensure the surrounding onlookers, “See! This is a hostile community! We need to kill people without repercussion or questions because THEY ARE VIOLENT!”
The Police are intelligent and are taking what measures they deem necessary to ensure their own credibility.
The community of Anaheim will not allow for the APD to control the dialogue. They wish for a true sense of Justice.
To the members of the City Council, you must witness the actions of the Police. Please do not turn a blind eye to the injustice of the Police force and their desperate and violent measures to ensure their own protection. The Police must protect and serve the people! Take what actions you can to strip racist Officers out of their positions. Do not allow for murderers to live comfortably behind desks while the grieving families are in the streets looking for answers. Demand alongside your Community for Justice!
Please consider coming out this Sunday from 12:00pm to 2:00pm to help the grieving families face the Police together. We must take great steps together if we are to heal an untrusting community. Please begin by standing in the Streets with the Families, the Communities, and the Memories of the Victims
I came, spoke. Gail Eastman was way back East, man, in Michigan, teleconferencing. Damn teleconferencing! Just think of all the mischief the fascist majority could NOT be causing at this very moment with a bunch of 2-2 votes. I assume she’s far away because she’s mortified about her comment last week, but not mortified enough not to keep causing trouble from afar.
Can’t report on most of the speakers because I was 45 minutes late – but obviously there must have been a lot since it was still going on when I got there. I made a couple of little observations, copped to not being from Anaheim, and yanked out a couple of comments from “my Anaheim friends who couldn’t be here at such late notice, because, you know, they have jobs.”
So I read a short one from Inge, and about half of the one up above. THAT ONE WAS A BIG HIT, lots of people wanted copies of it. Since I couldn’t read the whole thing, I’m sending it in to that e-mail link as well.
Our prejudices are interesting. I know this former school board guy, and frequent council candidate, Thomas “Hoagy” Holguin, a pretty conservative guy. He came up and he spoke against having the meeting because it would be so dangerous – WEAK. (Like JoSo later said, “If you people are afraid of your citizens you shouldn’t be in public service.”)
Then he pivoted to the redistricting question, like so many of us did. He said that it’s not about race, it’s a shame everyone makes everything about race and racism, that it’s about demographics and the council should just “follow the law.” All the liberal pro-redistricting people rolled their eyes – old racist Hoagy was obviously against re-districting. But I wasn’t sure.
So I went up and asked him what he meant afterwards. He is FOR re-districting, because he believes that it’s required by law, and should be about demographics – the poorer areas getting equal representation – and people should stop bringing race into it. I was able to tell him I agreed with him.
I’ll let you all know what comes out of the closed session. Keep your fingers crossed, and your browsers on the Juice!
Oh, forgot to mention a priceless moment…. Gail supposedly on teleconferencing you know?
After an hour of comments the clerk asked, “Are there any comments from the Michigan (teleconference) location?”
No answer.
She didn’t even bother listening to the people’s comments.
I’m sure she will pop right on for the CLOSED SESSION though.
inge must be a ocupoo where do we start so when people are tossing rocks at them they should bo nothing or as you called them PEACEFULL CITIZENS . when stupid i will say stupid mothers who bring kids in strollers to a protest and then DONT FOLLOW ORDERS .. they get shot with rubber bullitts or get gassed .. what kind of MOTHERS BRING KIDS TO A RALLY LIOKE THIS .. they yell n scream POLICE VIOLENCE . your speech above is taken right out of the ocupoo playbook . i saw photos of people yelling and screaming at the police . people kicking cop cars as they drove bye . police taking hostile matters IF YOU DO THESE THINGS WHAT DO YOU WANT THEM TO DO GIVE YOU A CANDY BAR AND SAY THANK YOU ..
TGO, I still laugh at your name. You are SO full of yourself! Yes, you are correct that there were people who threw rocks and kicked cars and callled police names, but that WAS Not what happened last Sunday. If you saw the same livestream I was watching you would see that it was definitely the cops who did the harassing.
Yes, I am LOOSELY affiliated with Occupy. I do not agree with all their tactics but at least they are out there doing something. What are YOU doing to make things better? I am guessing you are a white male. I doubt you have ever been harassed by the police, so you just don’t get it, except maybe if you felt discriminated in the workforce by Affirmative Actiion. Then I am sure cried to anyone who would listen.
I do not have a problem with law enforcement, but I do have a serious problem with renegade cops who think they are above the law. I also have a problem with anyone throwing anything at anyone for any reason. Violence on both sides does not solve anything. But rocks versus real bullets are not even in the same league.
I want to see these cops go to prison. I want ‘bad’ cops weeded out or retrained. This problem is not just Anaheim’s. It seems to be in ALL cities. Corruption and looking the other way at ‘bad’ behavior seems to be the norm, whether its cops shooting unarmed people, or city council members harassing their staff.
All these people need to remember they feed from the public trough. They work for the citizens and I expect better from those we elect or are appointed. Enough already!
Speaking of The Grate One, I deleted four of his comments which were ALL IN CAPS, because Greg and I have gotten tired of diminishing the font on them – that’s too much work! But any of you readers who are close students of his work could easily guess what they said anyway.
Let me guess:
OCCUPOO, MSNBC, FAR LEFT LIB, NOV CAN’T COME SOON ENOUGH, YADA YADA YADA….
Bingo! Go to the head of the class, sir!
*except for the apostrophe in CAN’T.
And the BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAH!
In light of the continuing harassment by law enforcement towards protesters as well as the outright police brutality, we ask that concerned citizens sign the following petition calling on the Obama administration to investigate and stop police brutality and demilitarize local police forces.
http://wh.gov/1S3u
We need 25,000 signatures before August 31, 2012.
It is time for police brutality to stop.
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
investigate and stop all acts of police brutality against civil protesters and demilitarize local police forces.
As citizens of this country it is alarming to witness law enforcement agencies treating civilians engaged in lawful demonstration as criminals. The First Amendment guarantees every American the right to free speech, assembly and to have their grievances addressed by their government.
We have watched law enforcement respond to peaceful demonstrations dressed in military uniforms, utilizing tear gas, rubber bullets, batons and intimidation to disperse legal gatherings and marches.
From college campuses to Main Street, USA the local law enforcement agencies have over reacted with force, making illegal arrests and detaining protesters with exorbitant bail.
We call for complete investigation of all cases of protester abuse and police brutality and to demilitarize our local police.
Go to http://wh.gov/1S3u to sign the petition. We need 25,000 signatures by August 31, 2012.
I signed and shared D’Marie
Of all of those, Item #2 is the most disturbing to me, although it gets the least attention. We are in the middle of a freaking crisis, and they choose NOW to review their direct reports? They have to be receiving thousands of phone calls and emails, and these people have to worry about performance reviews in the middle of this Hell? Something about this stinks to high heaven, like maybe someone was not willing to cave to the business-as-usual attitude on the 7th floor since 2010 election? We will see who ends up out the door. And make no mistake about it, anyone leaving abruptly will be interviewed. Note to Council, the staff does not work for you, they sure don’t work for the special interest you appear to be enabling, they work for THE PEOPLE.