I was given this a month ago on the 4th visit from an HBDRA member trying to convince me to help them approve permit parking. This write up will be part 1 of a 2 part series. I didn’t want to overload everyone with what I learned today about the HBDRA and our public servants at City Hall. I will write part 2 tomorrow, which may be slightly more infuriating to some than part 1. Today I spoke at length with Huntington Beach’s Transportation Manager, Bob. Bob’s phone number is 714.536.5431. Bob is going to present his recommendation to the City Council that the number of signatures have been received and pave the way for a vote on the issue Monday, October 6th. I believe the City Council is set to approve that permit parking request. I have spoken to several council members and my feeling is that this formality is coming to a conclusion on Monday. It is my opinion and the opinions of others on this board, that this is not following proper procedure laid out by our Municipal Code. I have many problems with this solution in light of other ideas that should be implemented first, but I have two very big problems with how this is being quietly shuffled through. The two most glaring are: 1) The validity of signature gathering 2) Transparency of the process and involvement of those who will be impacted – look for this write up from me tomorrow. The validity of the process: The city code calls for 67% of the residents inside a parking district to approve the petition and bring the issue to a vote from the council. I asked Bob about the process to meet this requirement. Here is what Bob described. Bob only counts ‘Yes’ votes. This is important. If anyone signs from your residence, it is a ‘yes’ vote. With apartments, if the owner OR the tenant votes ‘yes’ to permit parking, then that residence is a ‘yes’ vote. So, even if you go to a property and the resident says ‘no’, they keep going back. The more often they knock on the door, the more likely you will get a ‘yes’ to permit parking from that residence. I was visited on 3 separate occasions -- on the 3rd I made it clear I wanted nobody else to approach me on the topic. On all 3 occasions it was a different person with a different pitch. Now, when the HBDRA came to my street, they told lies and used bully tactics to get me to try and agree with their proposal. Look at the attachment - If we are unable to get the votes, the problem will worsen on 10th street I was told that permit parking was definitely coming to downtown and it was a matter of whether my block would be the only one that was fair game to the drunks going downtown. Did I want to be the only open block or did I want to join up and get safety within the group? I was told that Chief Handy was a proponent and behind this drive. I spoke with Chief Handy who adamantly disavowed any relationship and any preference either way. Chief Handy clearly stated to me that “I enforce laws enacted by the residents, but it is not my role to help form opinion on how the residents form those laws.” So, combined with intimidation tactics and exhibiting all the tact of door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen, the HBDRA has a no risk bid to get what they want -- A gated community without the walls. The HBDRA got the signature form from Bob and then went door to door collecting signatures. These signed ‘yes’ forms were then given to Bob. I asked Bob how these signatures were validated. Bob said that the city doesn’t have the resources to validate signatures as they don’t know who lives at the residences. Bob said that they look at the signatures to verify that they don’t all look similar. I shit you not, this is the validation process as described by Bob and looking to make sure signatures dont look alike is as far as they go. Bob went on to say that if any of the signatures were invalidated, that it would affect the entire group of signatures presented to him, although he didn’t know how that would occur - they are NOT allowed to share publicly who signed the petition and at what residences. So, we have a group run by Kim Kramer, who I’ve come to find out from Chris Epting’s post has been accused of extorting local developers to fund his permit parking initiative, who can simply collect signatures on 400 pieces of paper that aren’t in any way checked or validated to effect a huge change affecting ALL residents in Huntington Beach. Who was actually out pounding the pavement collecting signatures? Even if it was found that some of these were forgeries or obtained by passing out $1 in exchange for beachgoers to sign a piece of paper that could never be tracked to them, could anyone be held accountable? The answer is a resounding NO! It is my opinion that any council members who push this through are complicit to this sham and I will be delivering a copy of both of my write ups to ALL of them, including my friend Bob. All Bob knows is that the HBDRA submitted the signatures all at once – dropped them right on his desk. Bob has the city resources to put up signs, print thousands of permits, charge residents for the permits, hire staff to patrol the permit parking area in the wee hours of the morning, process thousands of tickets, but the city doesn’t have the resources to validate a VOTE? Shouldn’t our community be held to a higher standard when conducting a vote than you would find in North Korea or Syria? I think Bob and City Council needs to hear that no matter what our opinions on the issue, that a fair process governed by LAW needs to be adhered to when making decisions that impact property value and our ability to enjoy OUR property downtown. There is a better way. I will personally pay to send out a letter that is written in an unbiased way to present both sides of the argument – each side can write their own and each side can read the other parties to determine if it is a fair description. I have all of the owners names I got from my title company and I will label them ‘[Property Owner Name] or current resident’. Residents will then use the pre-addressed stamped envelope that will be delivered right to Bob at City Hall. There is no possibility of signatures being obtained under duress and very limited opportunity for fraud. This will be an accurate count of those that live from 7th-9th street. This way the people’s voice can be heard and cannot be questioned. I don’t believe the 81%, I just don’t AND there is no way to prove it is valid with the way they were obtained. Apartment owners are responsible to pay for, manage and distribute permits to their tenants – there is no way that the apartment owners should be burdened by the decision of a tenant that may not even be around when the implementation occurs and as a former pension fund manager that held only large apartment complexes, we would NEVER choose to take on that additional responsibility. I do NOT think that 67% of the occupants in those streets would vote for this -- I have friends on 9th that have no problems with bar patrons parking there and are not in favor of this vote. Bob, has worked here for 13 years and presumably likes his job. BOB WORKS FOR US, but does not look outside the box – I heard Bob use as a defense “We just don’t do it that way”, several times on my call, when presented with reasonable alternatives. Bob owes it to us to see that the LAW is followed in a responsible way before his recommendation on Monday. We need to let Bob know that Kim Kramer cannot dictate what happens in our city and that the HBDRA does NOT speak for all residents downtown. Let’s keep our downtown area the really cool beach town I moved to 13 years ago. Call Bob the transportation manager tomorrow at 714.536.5431 and let him know that he doesn’t work for Kim Kramer, her works for ALL of us. Demand that he discloses the flaws with the system to the council and explain to hm that we demand accountability and validity BEFORE this is taken to the council for a vote.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 07:09:45 +0000
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