Walt Stanckiewits has had his ah ha moment when the lights came on for him as a freshman council member. As soon as it did he started to ask the hard question, vote against the majority, and talk or educate the citizens along the way. Combined with OLD Fashioned Republican Fiscal Responsibility and the true desire to have all community needs addressed under the right umbrellas of organization and services
Bernardo Sandoval, has studied the past of GT and is ready to move it forward. He has been in the citizen seat, paying attention, and participating in the discussion of the issues in an intelligent and understanding way. He is committed to bring the Management of the Governance of the City of Grand Terrace to higher ethical, fiscal and legal standards.
Sylvia Robles, also has studied the past of GT and is ready move it forward. She has already risked her campaign by insisting the FPPC review issues directly, during the election. She is trained to analyse reports and documents. She will try to require the documents be DONE prior to approval by the City Council. She has both the practical work experience and education to be well prepared to serve Grand Terrace as a City Council Member.
Doug Wilson, Tom Schwab, Bertha A Cortes and Darcy McNaboe have brought us some of the worst fiscal and development management a city can suffer.
Each of them contributed to the poor planing of the Senior Housing and Senior Center Tom Schwab with his unfinished management contracts, and horse trading contract have left the development and operations in a sort of haze that is yet to be resolved. Doug Wilson's aptitude and training as he represented his qualification to be on the Planning Commission indicate a flaw some where. He and his fellow commission members including Darcy McNoboe approved plans that did not stipulate a certifiable commercial kitchen be one of the design and build requirements for the Senior Center.
Hapless Steve Berry and the Notorious Tom Schwab may have horse traded this feature away but, only because they could. It was not clearly called out in the plans or the contract to build.
As to Bertha Bea Cortes. Well, we are still looking to discover how she supports her Mercedes Benz, and life style. That aside, she is the least prepared council member per Mr. Schwab's own assessment, yet she voted nearly for every staff recommendation Mr Schwab or Mr. Berry put forth, without hardly an intelligent question or response to the public for her thinking, or actions, in public or at the council chamber. It is time that the title of Grand Terrace Council Member be stricken from her least she abuse it again and again.
She has tried to stifle citizen speech, and has demonstrated time and time again she is no longer suitable to represent Grand Terrace inside or outside the city.
This week we hope to have even more reasons for not electing Schwab, Wilson, Cortes, McNoboe and McGuire to the City Council. Looking at their history and expecting anything different is fool hardy and would be an injustice to the New City Manager and the Citizens of Grand Terrace.
The Chamber of Commerce's President Sally McGuire, running for Mayor and Darcy McNaboe who is running for City Council both demonstrated a lack of understanding of the need of a separation between the functions of the City Government and Council, and the Chamber of Commerce. Both of their not getting the point should be alarming to citizens who should desire an equal voice at the Podium when addressing issues before the City Council. These ladies don't seem to understand the past relationship and faulty practices of the relationship between City Government and Chamber of Commerce. They both failed to think it was a big deal when it was pointed out to them by the FPPC. A better response would have been, gee why didn't we see that as a problem and fix it prior to the FPPC being alerted.
After all the Citizens and Walt Stanckiewits have tried during City Council Meetings to get some light between the two organizations, and to make the relationship legal, and still complementary to the functions both play in building a community.
No they don't see it. So they should not be on the City Council.
Darcy McNoboe's idea that ever increasing property values is a measure of Community Prosparity is also a flawed governmental and economic concept which causes and relies upon abuses of Debt Financing, Tax Diversions, and creating a business and family enviornment which is guaranteed to eventually fail.
Prosparity is not how much a house or business costs or is valued it is measured by what is produced, what abundance is created. healthy well educated children and families, sufficient time for the arts and fine arts, a contribution to community and society and the creation of things not just an artificial inflation of prices or values.
Stanckiewits, Sandoval, Robles understand that the economic flaws of the RDA and the abuses of it are due because of a faulty short term greed mentality.
Wilson, Schwab, McGuire, McNoboe, and Sternberg collectively will continue to abuse the failing systems until Grand Terrace is full of homes in foreclosures, businesses are driven out due to high rents, and the population becomes either dispossessed, or exclusive to only those who have been able to game other people into economic slavery.
Prosparity for them means or will result in the continued flow of wealth, and capital to the upper 2 percent of the population. They really do not care about how this affects the working people in the long term or tears away at building a sustainable community.
De De Sternberg who is running for City Council. What do we need to say? Read the sides of her painted van and you'll see a string of platitudes and most are not related to the issues before our city. She is ill prepared for this campaign, or service on the City Council.
Richard Loder, is not ready to be on a City Council that is not rock solid with people to guide him as to the proper management of a city's finances and actions. He is a interested citizen, how ever he has not spent enough hours in the study of how our City hall has function and developed a strong enough view as to the necessity to insist upon a change in fiscal management, and contracts management.
