David Christy, the Lodi man who wants to force the city to sell its Electric Utility, tried again today a request to circulate a petition in his effort.
And again, he was turned away at City Hall.
The problem, City Clerk Randi Johl told him, was that his filing still did not meet the state’s legal requirements to kick off a signature-gathering campaign.
Click here to see today’s paperwork. It begins with Johl’s written response, and attached is the paperwork Christy tried to file.
State educators on Monday released its list of lowest performing schools. Nine schools (four from Lodi Unified) in San Joaquin County made the list. We’re still waiting on more specifics on why a school like McNair High was listed.
There were three Sacramento schools on Monday’s list, and while education leaders there weren’t jumping up and down about it, Sacramento schools chief David Gordon told the Sacramento Bee “That’s not a bad showing for this region,”
After all, the Bee reported, the Sacramento situation “is a big improvement over places such as San Joaquin County with nine (schools)…”
It’s been one year since murder defendant David Paradiso attacked Judge Cinda Fox with a shiv in Department 25 of San Joaquin County Superior Court, and was shot dead by a Lodi police detective. (Read today’s stories by Record reporter Scott Smith on that detective being cleared in the shooting, and Fox recounting the traumatic incident by clicking here and here.)
I was one of two newspaper reporters in the courtroom that day. It was a frightening, surreal moment. I have to admit though, I didn’t realize until I picked up the paper this morning that it has been a year.
I’m admittedly bad at remembering dates, but I think in this case the one year crept up on me because I recall every detail of March 4, 2009 like it was yesterday. It does not seem possible that one full year has passed.
Now, as a witness, this event was not nearly as traumatic for me as it was for Fox or some of the other people in the courtroom that day Still, the whole scene remains vivid in my mind.
At tonight’s Lodi City Council meeting, city leaders received a report from the Police Department on stepped up enforcement of code violations at the city’s popular lunch wagons.
The last time the City Council discussed the issue of the roaving restaurants, some council members complained that they frequently found exposed cords, outdoor canopies and other code violations at the lunch spots.
Code enforcement officers, which are part of the police department, now perform quarterly, unannounced inspections of the eateries and issue citations, police officials said tonight. In November and December, 19 citations were issued, officials said.
Councilwoman JoAnne Mounce praised the police effort.
“I see a difference already,” she said. “I’m very pleased.”
There was quite a bit of discussion tonight about a planned new waste storage facility at the White Slough sewer treatment plant off Interstate 5.
Lodi officials asked the City Council to authorize putting out to bid a proposed $5 million bio-solids storage facility at the sewer plant. The money would come from leftover proceeds of a 2007, $28 million bond sale that went toward White Slough improvements in recent years, which have included construction to increase capacity and work to replace a long stretch of pipeline that failed a few years back.
Councilwoman Susan Hitchcock questioned the need for the facility and the need to use the leftover bond proceeds.
City officials said water quality regulators are not mandating that the city build it, but officials think that will come eventually as the state continues to monitor Lodi’s waste storage and disposal. Plus, the city for years has generated more, ahem, “bio-solids” than the sewer plant can adequately store and get rid of.
The council rejected the project 2-3. Hitchcock and Councilwoman JoAnne Mounce voted against it, worried the city was jumping the gun. Councilman Bob Johnson also voted against it.
It doesn’t matter much what the Lodi Unified School District puts on its board meeting agendas these days, the budget has been a giant elephant in the room going on two years now.
Of course, unlike the cliché elephant in the room, everybody’s talking about this one. Tuesday night was no exception.
As reported, there was approval salary concessions between the district and two union groups – the Lodi Pupil Personnel Association and the Lodi Unified Supervisorial Group.
There was also some finger pointing, a little bit of jeering in the audience, and a lot the typical deferral of blame for how this budget mess started in the first place.
Here are some of the highlights:
** Teacher George Neely, who has been quite outspoken against cuts for teachers, questioned the district’s “fair share” policy. The district has outlined, based on employee percentages, how much money it will ask each union group to concede. Teachers make up the majority of district employees, so their being asked to take $17 million in concessions.
Neely says the system isn’t fair, and thinks administrators should take more of a hit, because their jobs are done away from the classroom.
The teacher, who has a military background, also brought up another hot button topic – the district’s cell phone plan.
Teachers have rallied around cell phones, which has been a fringe benefit for higher ups for a number of years. They have Blackberry phones, and the budget calls for a $140,000 payment for them. A rebate though, reduces the cost to $22,000.
** Trustee President Richard Jones made a short speech defending district cell phone plans a as a needed communications tool. The was essentially a message to teachers that the board will not be considering canceling the cell phone plan, and the rebate makes it an affordable expenditure. The district isn’t going to cancel the plan as a good faith gesture, either.
“It’s just not something we are going to discuss this budget year,” Jones said in a phone call today.
** Rick Rogers, husband of Wagner-Holt Elementary Principal Janet Rogers and Superintendent of the Oakley Union School District, spoke to the board during public comment and criticized how the district negotiated salary concessions with the principals group.
Rogers main point centered on the wage freeze principals took. Rogers said the freeze only hurts some princpals and not all of them. Principals that are at the top of the pay scale wouldn’t get the raise anyway, he said.
** Teachers union president Sue Kenmotsu told reporters that she sees a need for the district and union to reach a settlement. She said she is more worried about what will happen if there is not a settlement reach – specifically the number of layoffs. She didn’t elaborate, however, on what would be a proper settlement.
Here’s tonight’s agenda. There will be discussions on sidewalk repairs, whether to accept a sculpture and a report from the Police Department on mobile food vendor code enforcement issues.
I’ll post a few updates from tonight’s meeting on Twitter and Facebook (and of course, the blog).
The Lodi City Council met this morning to discuss, once again, how to best pay for the state-mandated water meter installation throughout the city.
The state has mandated that all cities switch to meter-based billing to help conserve water. Problem is, many folks in newer homes already have paid for the modern meters. Older homes don’t have them. So city leaders have been figuring out how to finance new meter installation in a way that’s fair to residents.
The city has about 13,000 meters to install beginning in 2011. The cost to install a meter will vary from $300 to $2,000.
Today, Public Works Director Wally Sandelin recommended that city leaders adopt payment plans that could extend 3 to 5 years. That could mean, depending on the cost of the meter and the length of the payment plan, residents could have the option up paying as little as $14 a month or as much as $57 a month.
City Council members indicated they’d be interested in longer-term payment plans to make the monthly charges smaller.
Also, Sandelin suggested city leaders consider assistance for low-income residents.
The City Council will vote on a financing plan March 17.
In the meantime, the city has set up a Web page and newsletter devoted to public outreach about water meter installation.
While Wal-Mart is going through quite the legal slog, Costco’s bid to build in Lodi appeared to be sailing through without much opposition.
Click here to read the appeal for yourself.
I’d also suggest you read this. Because of space issues with today’s story, I couldn’t go into as much of the background on the dispute between Charles and Melissa Katzakain and developer Dale Gillespie as I would have liked. The above referenced story will give you a little more of that needed context.
And here are a couple of past Costco stories if you want additional information.
LUSD Trustees call for bus route changes
Lodi Unified Trustees on Tuesday night directed district staff to begin the process of making changes to bus routes, a cost savings of $2 million towards a $27.7 million budget shortfall.
Here are some of the areas where savings will be found:
Trustee President Richard Jones said he preferred not to created “hubs” for students because he fears unsupervised bus stops could lead to students getting into trouble.
“We don’t have money to hire anybody to supervise the hubs,” he said, however the majority of the board disagreed with him.
Trustees did not make a final decision on bus route changes Tuesday night. The district is required to hold public hearings before making transportation changes.