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Sign This Please: The OC Water District Needs to Livestream its Damn Meetings!
Vern Nelson
– August 27, 2016Posted in: "The OC", Fresh Juice, open government, Poseidon Desal, transparency, Water, waterboarding
Short Version: Sign.
Observant OJ reader John Claxton points out Denis "Billmoredough" Bilodeau arriving typically late in this picture – but the City of Orange is stuck with him, he's got no opponent this year. That blur in the right rear is apparently Steve Sheldon, whose ever-deepening hue of red does not seem to agree with John Earl's camera.
Isn't it interesting, and highly worthy of contemplation, that the members (directors, technically) of the Orange County Water District (OCWD) who consistently vote in favor of moving forward with the Poseidon boondoggle… are the EXACT SAME ONES who consistently refuse to livestream their meetings, so that you could watch them at home if you're unable to attend their 5pm Wednesday meetings in Fountain Valley, let alone the smaller "committee" meetings on odd mornings where most of the real decisions are made?
And the two or three members who are critical of Poseidon, and are trying heroically to put the brakes on, are the ones who WANT to make it easier for you to see the meetings at home, and have voted in FAVOR of livestreaming?
I don't know, that just seems interesting to me at least…
I mean, it gets you thinking, doesn't it?
It presents the appearance that the members who are pushing through Poseidon would rather you didn't see what they were doing, and how weak their reasoning is.
D'oh – looks like Debbie Cook (left) FOUND OUT about their secretive morning committee coffeeklatches!
After at least a year of frustration trying to get the Board to do the right thing and film/livestream themselves as so many boards, commissions, and nearly all city councils do, a few very altruistic activists – John Earl, Debbie Cook, to name a couple – undertook to film and livestream the meetings themselves, on their own dime, with their own equipment.
But they shouldn't have to, and sometimes they can't. OCWD can and it'd cost peanuts compared to what they regularly throw around to make special interests happy.
So the Orange Juice Blog is asking you to sign this petition. Embrace a little transparency, OCWD! Start livestreaming your damn meetings! This is OUR money you are playing with.
Readers, please click here and SIGN.
Thank you. And thank Debbie, John, and Residents for Responsible Desalination for everything they've done so far. I'll have a story up soon on what the hell Poseidon is up to, postponing their Coastal Commission hearing for a few months. Is this a good sign or a bad one? Stay tuned…
PS. Whether this petition is successful or not, we do have an election coming up, in which we can shape the OCWD if we try hard enough, and give it a majority that answers to the people, taxpayers and ratepayers, rather than wealthy and greedy special interests. The following recommendations would all be members both critical of Poseidon and supportive of transparency, and they'll livestream in a heartbeat:
If you live in Huntington Beach, please vote for Clem Dominguez, NOT Cathy Green, who is transparency's worst enemy.
If you live in Huntington Harbour, Seal Beach, Westminster, Cypress, western Garden Grove, that whole area.. re-elect good old Phil Anthony an honest public servant in his fifth decade of service, who's unlikely to be replaced by anyone better (and thanks for your service, sir!)
Up more toward Buena Park and thereabouts, if Roger Yoh is on your ballot, vote to re-elect him – he definitely falls on the honest side of the spectrum.
The next two are more complicated. The OCWD directors for the cities Fullerton, Santa Ana, and Anaheim are appointed by those cities' councils. Fullerton's Jan Flory is the smartest most honest director we have right now, but she is not running for re-election to council. She could still stay on the OCWD, she wants to, and we need her there – but depending who gets onto the Fullerton council this year, she could be removed. I have been asking Fullerton candidates if they would support her staying on the Board. So far I have YES from Jesús Silva and Jane Rands – good reason alone to vote for those two.
And Anaheim's OCWD director Jordan Brandman, a recipient of Poseidon lucre for years before he could really do anything, and now finally able to show his gratitude, needs to be REPLACED IMMEDIATELY, if we get a new council that will do so. At this point my wife Donna Michelle Acevedo in district 5, and Mark Daniels in district 1, have agreed to make that an immediate priority if they get in. Can we please hear from:
Freddy Fitzgerald (district 1)
Angel VanStark (district 1)
Denise Barnes (district 1)
Dr Jose Moreno (district 3)
Linda Lobatos (district 3)
Arturo Ferrera (district 4), and
Mark Lopez (district 5)?
Tags: Cathy Green, Clem Dominguez, Debbie Cook, jan flory, John Earl, jordan brandman, livestreaming, OC Water District, ocwd, openness, Orange County Water District, Phil Anthony, Poseidon, Roger Yoh, transparency, Water
About Vern Nelson
Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official troubador of both Anaheim and Huntington Beach (the two ends of the Santa Ana Aquifer.) Performs regularly both solo, and with his savage-jazz quintet The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.
Sean Paden
Posted August 27, 2016 at 10:59 PM
A council vote for Bruce Whitaker for the OC Water Board would actually be better than a vote for Flory because Whitaker has not conditioned his opposition to Poseidon on majority opposition from the overall council.
How many council seats open this year in Fullerton?
David Zenger
Posted August 28, 2016 at 9:11 AM
Putting Flory on the OCWD was necessary to cement a post-recall, statist council majority. Will anybody keep her around when her political utility becomes non-existent?
I'd say her chances are small, and I don't think that ditching her formerly principled opposition to Poseidon and offering to put her vote up for sale is going to help. Maybe the thinks she can keep Fitzgerald on-board along with two Dems (Chaffee and Silva perhaps) so long as she promises to be a team player from here on out, but I don't see it happening. Fitzgerald probably can't sit on the board herself but it is a plum appointment and she'd rather give it to another council member who can do a favor for her later than a former councilmember who has no more favors to give.
She did what now? Seriously?
You're saying she's willing to contradict everything sensible she's said this past year, just to continue BEING there?
If that's true then we need Bruce or Jane. Vote Bruce, Jane and Jesus!
Ryan Cantor
She did indeed say that. That's how Bruce got kicked off, actually . . .
With that in mind, there's a serious issue with the potential new majority. Chaffee, Fitzgerald, and Bennett will absolutely vote for Poseidon, inspite of the deal being in the worst interest of Fullerton residents and rate payers.
Damn. Sounds like we need Bruce or Jane on the board instead.
Sounds like you guys need to vote for Bruce, Jane and Jesús.
Paul Lucas
David zenger, this is a public utility. Why cannot a citizen sue the ocwd to force them to live stream their meetings like all city councils do? I mean under the auspice of public information or for disabled folks who cannot physically make it to these public meetings?
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