IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
The City of San Bernardino just can’t seem to get a break. Even as Ferguson, Missouri was burning this week absorbing the nation’s attention, San Bernardino’s City leadership just couldn’t resist muckraking and developing its own negative press for the sole purpose of deflecting public attention.
For the record, city leaders, in particular Mayor Carey Davis, have had a very rough November. Measure Q, the Charter Amendment that would have eliminated public safety salary formulas and was heavily backed by Mayor Davis and his supporters, failed on election day.
The Yes on Q campaign started late, was underfunded, and appeared to be a complete afterthought of the Mayor’s leadership team. Apparently, the proponents thought that blaming the city’s bankruptcy on Police Officers and Firefighters was such a winning argument that they didn’t have to make a real one.
The Mayor should have understood early on that any charter amendment that passes the city council on a 4-3 split vote would have problems with voters. That the measure was presented to voters less than a year after one of the most divisive election cycles in San Bernardino history should have raised red flags with the Mayor and his advisors as well. Only hubris can explain it.
Not that the Yes on Q argument blaming public safety salaries was ever truthful anyway. The bankruptcy judge scolded the city for putting all its eggs in one basket with Measure Q. As reported in the Sun Newspaper, Judge Jury stated the following:
“It was never going to be enough,” she said. “Good heavens, the attorney’s fees in this case were probably several years of what you were going to get by adjusting the safety salaries.”
In another black eye for San Bernardino, Judge Jury then proceeded to give the city a 6 month hard deadline to come up with a real plan to exit bankruptcy, which seems to be the last thing city leaders have been focused on. The city has been in bankruptcy proceedings for 28 months already without producing a plan and with the additional 6 months will have been longer than any municipality in history. Detroit, which had far deeper problems was done with its bankruptcy plan in 7 months.
Then on November 19th, a fire in an apartment complex the city had previously closed down killed two children and severely injured the father. The fire, which is still being investigated, was located near Fire Station 224 which recently lost its only water pumping engine to budget cuts by the city. The Firefighters Union has stated it believes that response times for the fire were increased due to the loss of the engine.
In a naked political response that was certain to bring more negative headlines to San Bernardino, the city’s public relations firm Westbound Communications sent a news release on Monday accusing firefighters of “politicizing” the children’s deaths and calling their actions “reprehensible.” The news release was unusually put onto San Bernardino City Fire Department letterhead with the accusatory quotes attributed to Mayor Davis.
The San Bernardino Firefighter’s Union has made no such accusation, other than stating their belief that response times may have been lowered by up to 2 minutes if the budget cuts had not occurred. Both the city and the union have called for an investigation of the matter.
The past nine months of tomfoolery by the new administration points to reactionary leadership more interested in besting perceived opponents than creating good public policy. The Carey Davis regime has made no progress on the bankruptcy plan, has proposed no economic recovery or revenue proposals, and appears more interested in perpetuating internal strife than pulling people together.
San Bernardino was divided in March 2014, when Mayor Davis took office. Her government and population are even more so now.
Even with the small town of Ferguson, Missouri caught in a fury of social strife, San Bernardino has to produce negative headlines. Apparently, they can’t help themselves.
