Sunday, August 23, 2020
The Pinole City Clerk has replied to the questions posed by P4FG regarding the handling of public comments.
I thank Heather and the City for their prompt response.
Good morning, Ms. Ricco,
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Hope you are faring okay through the smoky conditions this weekend. I wanted to address your questions regarding the current procedures for receiving and distributing public comment for Council meetings.
My practice has been to send any public comments received ahead of a meeting to the full Council, City Manager, Assistant City Manager, City Attorney and any relevant staff based on what the agenda item is. Written correspondence relating to Council meeting agenda items has always been treated in this way and, now, given the remote format of our meetings, this has been implemented for all email public comment. I have not provided the comments to any member of the public ahead of the meeting, however once submitted, they are immediately public record. The placement of the two comments you reference back to back was absolutely by chance. I save each public comment in order of appearance on agenda and by name, and those two happened to align.
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Hopefully this provides some clarification on process and I would be very happy to discuss any further questions you have.
Thank you,
Heather Iopu, CMC
Pinole City Clerk
(510) 724-8928
Tuesday Night’s City Council Meeting has raised serious questions from Pinole for Fair Government.
Are the public comments submitted to the city clerk provided, in advance of the actual meeting, to members of the council and or the public?
We raise this question because the public comment submitted by Chair Ivette Ricco, at 5:15 pm, titled, P4FG Survey, was read under Citizens to be Heard and immediately followed by a counter comment from Jeff Rubin.
Jeff Rubin, President of the Pinole Historical Society and the Pinole History Museum, proceeded to assail and question the validity of P4FG surveys. His comments appeared to be a hasty effort to counter the public comment P4FG submitted.
The average citizen should question the timing of his public comment.
Hummmm. Was this just an extraordinary coincidence? Or was the P4FG survey comment “leaked” to Mr. Rubin in advance? Are there strange things happening at City Hall?
I ask the City Council, the City Attorney and City Manager to answer these questions:
Do members of the public receive information intended for the council and staff? If so, is this appropriate and in keeping with the Brown Act?
Can I, as a member of the public receive advance information on the public comments submitted before they are read into the public record?
Who is privy to the public comments before they are made public?
In the comments submitted by Jeff Rubin, he called into question the validity of the Survey(s) and proceeded to, as is his nature, to use toxic, negative and personal politics to try to make his point by attacking me and Maria Alegria. Why? Why is that necessary?
For the record, Maria Alegria is Not a member of Pinole for Fair Government.
Maria Alegria is the Chair of the Democratic Party of CCC.
I, Ivette Ricco am the founder and the Chair of Pinole 4 Fair Government.
P4FG took on City Hall in 2018 to defeat Measure P, to ensure that citizens’ voices were heard. The measure was defeated in a landslide.
Also, in 2018, P4FG campaigned for new leaders, inclusive leadership, and unity. Both of our candidates won. We campaigned for unity and positive energy. We do not want to revisit old wars and political battles. We want to inform and educate.
After too many years of toxic and divisive politics, our community has shown that it is more than ready to move forward and work together. But, but like a recurring nightmare, on an endless loop, Mr. Rubin refuses to let go of his old battles and prefers to push political buttons by using me and Maria Alegria as his personal punching bags.
It seems as if he just can’t escape from the past while pounding his chest to try and remain relevant. Yet again, Mr. Rubin’s, personal vendettas and negative rhetoric rears its ugly head. Aren’t we all a little sick and tired of his personal attacks? As the husband of our next Mayor one would think he would be more considerate of her position and her constituents.
The nation is aching for unity. Our city is facing difficult challenges, Pinole does not need one man to constantly boost his image and further his personal agenda by demeaning and insulting others.
It may be time for the Pinole Historical Society and Pinole History Museum to seek a new President, someone who is less divisive, more constructive, less polarizing and more unifying, to lead their organizations and help to accomplish their goals.
I, Ivette Ricco, have said that I support the History Museum. In fact, I have donated both money and items to the future museum. Pinole 4 Fair Government does not oppose the Museum. That is an outright lie.
I speak for myself; I speak for Pinole for Fair Government and we speak for The People.
The taxpayer has a right to know what decisions are being considered. The community needs to know what is being done with their money. We are formally asking our City Council to poll the community of Pinole and raise awareness for this proposed Faria House renovation and gain approval from the community. We are in the middle of a Pandemic and cannot begin to understand what services will be needed in our community post Covid-19.
The results of the Faria House Renovation survey are listed below, the Citizens of Pinole have very strong opinions that must be addressed by our City Council.
In the interim, we will continue to promote and expand our outreach and surveys to the citizens of Pinole, so that their voices are heard, regardless of personal and baseless attacks.
I present to you, the report submitted to the council, with the current results of the Faria House Renovation Survey 8/17/20).
Pinole City Council Meeting August 18, 2020
Citizens to be heard
Dear Mayor, Council and Staff
Members of our community have submitted letters in support and also in opposition to the City’s July 7, 2020 decision to move forward with the Faria House Renovation for the purpose of creating the Pinole History Museum.
This decision will not be made by Pinole’s taxpayers, it will be decided by the council.
Pinole for Fair Government is conducting a 5-question survey to ask how much Pinole taxpayers are willing to spend on the Faria House renovation.
Pinole for Fair Government does not support a position, pro or con. Our mission is to inform citizens and get their feedback.
These are the current results based on 122 responses.
Q1: $00,00 - $10,000
Yes: 60 replies 49%
No: 62 replies 51%
Q2: $10,000 - $100,000
Yes: 32 replies 34%
No: 62 replies 66%
Q3: $100,000 - $250,000
Yes: 17 replies 18%
No: 76 replies 82%
Q4: $250,000 - $500,000
Yes: 12 replies 13%
No: 81 replies 87%
Q5: $500,000 - $1,000,000+
Yes: 6 replies 6%
No: 87 replies 94%
Here are some of the Individual Comments:
*Bring it to code and get a retail revenue producing business in it
*To tear it down and sell the land to developers to bring in viable business that generates business taxes for the community
*I feel that the city should bring the house up to code then decide how the house should be used
*Bring the property up to code
*I don’t feel that any funds should be appropriated to the Faria House at this time. There are many other areas within the City of Pinole that could benefit from city funds. The Faria House would be very low on a list of priorities regardless of Covid-19 and the current climate
*One-time expense only for renovation. Not ongoing operational costs.
*I really don’t feel this is the best use of public funds in general, but can’t imagine spending those funds during a pandemic and related recession.
*Do not waste tax payer money to renovate useless non-tax generating property
*Given the fact that the city has plenty of unoccupied condemned property, the focus to even spend another dime in this property is a huge mistake
*Use tax payer funds to help provide small businesses with grants to keep them open is far better use of time & funds
*It’s time to get rid of the OLD decision makers and vote in people who care about to community and not personal interests!
*Take the allocated funds and keep small businesses open, keep children’s programming open so parents who don’t have means to provide home schooling an option so they can work from home or go back to work! Use funds to repair the infrastructure of the city, pay the front-line worker, POLICE & FIRE to keep our community safe & health
*$500,000 - $1,000,000+ over a period of time
*I would rather have money spent on necessary city services (i.e.) safety, senior, youth. *Museum funds should come from donations and not city dollars.
*Zero! The process is unfair to all the other Nonprofits in the City. This is another backdoor deal by the Pinole City Council. Still same old bulls--t!
*Whatever it takes to open the museum
*Only what it will need to maintain the property during this time which is hopefully less than $10,000.
These are the links to the survey results and comments
Comments
Survey
https://documentcloud.adobe.co...
Pinole for Fair Government calls on the people of Pinole to voice their opinions and be heard.
This decision will be made by the council not by you, the taxpayer.
Let’s make sure we spread the word and let the City know that you must be heard.
Take the Survey. WE will report results on a regular basis until the Ad-Hoc Committee reports back to the council on November 17, 2020
Take the Survey
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FariaHouse
View current results:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-5QJDK63D/
www.pinoleforfairgovernment.org
Ivette Ricco, Chair