Mon 17 Jan 2011
Commentary: City Council Members laugh at Residents!!
Posted by admin under City of Santa Clarita , Dave Bossert , Local , Opinion , Politics , Santa Clarita Valley [5] Comments
At the Tuesday, January 11, 2011, Santa Clarita City Council meeting there was a despicable display of disrespect towards residents by Councilwoman McLean and Ender. They both actually snickered and laughed at residents speaking that night before the City Council regarding the immigration letter signed by Laurene Weste. Both acted with unprecedented unprofessionalism and lack of decorum towards residents.
City residents should be outraged by the crass and uncouth behavior of these local elected officials. I was not surprised by the unprofessionalism displayed by council puppets McLean and Ender when reviewing the video of the Council meeting. Neither one of these Council members has shown the leadership qualities inherent in a genuine and respectable public servant; both are narcissistic amateurs pretending to play their roles.
As was pointed out here in February 2010, the Beacon obtained substantial documentation from the City of Santa Clarita on Council member McLean’s travel for the last several years. That documentation revealed that there were a lot of staffers who were driving Marsha to and from various meetings and functions. In other words, McLean apparently gets chauffeured around by City staff which is an example of her air of self-importance.
Councilwoman Ender for her part regularly shows her complete distain for residents who have different points of view. She laughs, snickers, ignores and discounts reasonable questions which may counter her views as apposed to listening intently and considering new ideas or fresh evidence on a topic or issue. It’s no wonder most believe she is just a vacuous minion of her master Frank Ferry.
If nothing else, the video from this latest Council meeting shows that neither one of these Councilwomen should be holding office. But they do! That is certainly a statement, in and of itself, on the disinterested and apathetic electorate within the City of Santa Clarita.
At what point will the SCV Patriots or the Canyon Country Advisory Committee or the Benz Road neighborhood or any of the other groups around Santa Clarita stand up and say enough is enough? At what point will the city voters come out in full force to make a change for the better and elect some professional, intelligent and visionary leaders?
The City of Santa Clarita was formed over twenty years ago as a general law city that is managed by a 5-member city council and, for all intensive purposes, is run by the city manager. There doesn’t appear to be much in the way of checks and balances as evidenced by the Golden Valley Connector eminent domain fiasco which costs the City more than $20 Million dollars and is among many other bungled issues.
Its time that the City of Santa Clarita evolve; to grow up and start acting like a professional government organization, it’s time to put a stop to the behavior we have witnessed for years now at city hall. The days of council members laughing at residents; being scripted by city staffers or city management bungling, mismanaging and misleading needs to come to an end.
The City of Santa Clarita needs to convert to a Charter City form of government defined by its own set of governing documents, which will allow for a full time paid Mayor position. This would put in place a critical structure or chain of command similar to a corporation in which the Mayor is the Chief Executive Officer; the City Council is like a board of directors and the City Manager acts like a Chief Operating Officer.
Making such necessary changes will allow for the proper checks and balances to be put in place for the city to be run properly, efficiently and professionally. The current arrangement has bred an atmosphere of cronyism and unprofessional behavior, which appears to be validated and galvanized at each Santa Clarita City Council meeting.
That is the only way you will see one united valley wide city in Santa Clarita. That is the only way those city residents will be treated with respect and decency instead of being laughed at by the amateurish, ill-mannered Ender and McLean. That, my friends, is the only way the Santa Clarita Valley will be able to flourish and live up to its fullest potential!
Dave Bossert- Commentary
Dave Bossert is a community volunteer who serves on a number of boards and councils. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.
January 17th, 2011 at 8:50 am
[...] Council meeting. He says Santa Clarita ought to become a charter city with an elected mayor. WRB This entry was posted in Daily Brief. Bookmark the permalink. ← January 13, 2011 – [...]
January 17th, 2011 at 1:24 pm
My sentiments exactly Dave. General Law provisions, even those written with a responsible, full-time mayor do not allow cities the freedom to establish more or less council members, set a local Prevailing Wage, change the date of elections, or decide the exact method by which city contracts will be bid. Going Charter City would also allow the city to move into a system of council member “wards” of districts. This change would have the dual benefit of reducing the amount of money it takes to run for Council while insuring that all regions of the SCV are equally represented. For more information on Charter Cities, please see the only complete study of California Charter cities which was (full disclosure) funded and written in part by the trade association that I represent. http://www.abc-ccc.org/documents/CharterCityReportFINAL.pdf
January 19th, 2011 at 11:35 am
This issue about Marsha McLean being chauffered around Santa Clarita has been going on for so long that I for one would be curious to have the following questions answered: 1. Does she have a current driver’s license? 2. Does she have some kind of physical problem with driving a car herself? 3. Is she trying to make a public statement about car pooling with her example? 4. Does she share the expenses of her car pooling? There have to be reasons — why be so silent and guarded about this years-old talking point?
January 22nd, 2011 at 10:24 pm
Dear Mr. Bossert,
You say that you want checks and balances in your city? You say that you want to eliminate cronyism at City Hall?? You want Santa Clarita to become a charter city??? Please tell me that today was April Fool’s Day and that you were just kidding us all. Or do you think that Robert Rizzo got a bum rap down in Bell?
With regard to the elected officials of the City of Santa Clarita, you curse them when you should be cursing the people who voted them into office. If you feel that strongly about it, then organize a recall campaign or else wait until the next election and vote for someone else. It’s really that easy.
Regards,
Mark Z.
January 23rd, 2011 at 8:15 am
Mark,
Thank you for your comments.
No its not April’s Fools Day and yes the City of Santa Clarita does need checks and balances! That is quite evident by the numerous examples of mismangement from the Golden Valley connector eminent domain fiasco to recent immigration letter uproar.
I live in an unincorporated area just outside of City limits and have worked diligently at not being annex into the City for the very reason sited in my commentaries. In fact, there is a grass roots effort underway for some of the unincorporated area to form a new city instead of dealing with the ridiculous political theater in the City of Santa Clarita. I personally would love nothing else then to see one united city in SCV but not with the bums running the City of Santa Clarita.
With all do respect to writer Hunter S. Thompson; The City of Santa Clarita is a long plastic hallway populated by pimps and thieves and where good men die like dogs. The leadership at the City of Santa Clarita is mismanaging at the expense of the residents of the entire Santa Clarita Valley. I hope that you vote for some fresh blood at the next election.
Best regards,
-Dave