Another Request for Public Documents
Here is a copy of another public record request form that I submitted to the city on Friday. I don't know why I bother, I suspect that the finance officer is supportive of the mayor, I don't expect her to be too eager to disclose all of the expense records that they have.
Documents that I requested this time are:
1. Proof that the mayor has reimbursed the city for his wife's travel expenses. (2nd request)
2. Expense records showing how much the city paid for the mayor's wife's airfare (2nd request)
3. Current R&F wastehauler agreement. This will be posted to the website to provide evidence against the lies in the anonymous flyer that was circulated around town.
http://www.shafterchevron.com/resources/012706+Request.pdf
posted by Rafael Rodarte @ 10:59 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
Mr. Rodarte,
When will the recall elections be held? After you get your signatures, how long is the wait?
Also, do you or any of your supporters plan to run for these elections.
Thank you for your time.
a concerned citizen fo Mcfarland!!!!!
I believe you will get a run around like I am.
I moved here to Mc Farland ,March of last year.
Something is definately wrong out here! The slumlord landlord refuses to repair the house I rent. His name is Ramiro Sigala. About Nov. 21 I went to the city council and filed a complaint with the code enforcement and nothing has been done.Mr. Sigala says he is not going to fix anything! He seems to think he is above and beyond the law. Though I pay my rent faithfully every month!
Anybody is more than welcomed to come and see the conditions my family and myself are forced to live in. at 949 W. Sherwood Ave.Mc farland, Mold,mildew,rotting walls,plumping,filthy torn tattered carpets,etc.etc.
Nobody seems to care about a disabled person like myself and a 78 year old legally blind lady,and some children.
It is quite obious that the mayors agenda is not the welfare of the people of Mc Farland.There are many other things that need to be done in this community for the best interest of the citizens of this community.we need other things like a community center for the youngsters,and other activities.It is so sad that the mayor was caought spending the communities money on his wifes trip .When there is so many needs uin our community.
To the "concerned citizen" above, here is a brief overview of what to expect in the recall process.
Once all of the required signatures have been collected they will be turned in to the city clerk for verification. The city clerk will have 30 days to verify the signatures. Once they are verified the city council has to set an election date. The election date would take place approximately 3-4 months after the verification of the signatures.
I will not be running for office. We have plenty of intelligent, honest people in McFarland that would make good leaders. Once we get to this point, our organization will consider sponsoring another community meeting where we can invite all of the candidates to answer questions from community members. I think it will be important to interview the candidates and compare them against each other so that we can avoid electing incompetent people like the ones we are trying to remove.
Hello,
To the lady with the slumlord. I believe I could suggest a couple sources that might be able to assist you with those problems with your landlord. These sources could also protect you from any reprisal or retaliation from the landlord for speaking out against him. Contact the County Department of Fair Employment and Housing or the County Department of Housing and Urban Development or "HUD" as they are known. You should be able to find them in the phone book under the County or State government pages. Don't forget to mention that you filed a complaint at City Hall with the code enforcement who should have provided you with these sources or any other source that are able to assist you . It may be a significant to mention this in the event that one of these department sources files a legal claim against your landlord on your behalf. And always keep notes of every date that you have contacted anyone regarding the matter such as the date that you filed the complaint with the code enforcement. This is extremely important because when you file any complaint with a government entity, it will be you that must prove they have credibility. Make sure you keep a record of the exact date that you contact theses sources or contact any source in regards to the complaint. Simply keep a writing pad and everytime that you speak to anyone about the issue, simply write down the date and any significant issue that was said. It might even be a good idea to write the time down or even tape record any conversations to use for your own records which ever is easiest or preferrable for you to keep an accurate record of the events. I can't stress how important it is to record everything because they could lie and don't believe that they won't try simply because it's their duty not to. It may also take some persistence before you actually gain some assistance and if any of the sources I have provided insists that they are unable to assist you, ask them what source could. And last, if the local department sources do not cooperate with you, try contacting the Fresno Departments or the Los Angeles Departments and relay to them that you are unable to gain any assistance from the Kern County Departments and request any suggestions that they may have in regards to you gaining some assistance. There are also sources that may be available online if you have internet availablity. Simply search for sources that can assist in housing complaints or what to do if you have a complaint, etc. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Ms. Mendoza, First of all, what does your issue with your landlord have to do with recalling the Mayor and 2 city councilmembers. You should be calling the housing authority in Bakersfield, they are the state appointed agency to deal with your problem not the mayor. You also just moved here like Mr. Rodarte and you somehow suddenly discovered that our mayor is the problem! get a life. You have the freedom to leave the place you are renting in and move to another location or another city if you are unsatisfied. Secondly, you are asking Mr. Rodarte and his father-in-law, Mr. Ben Garza to counsel you on this matter, when did they become spokesman for the renters of the city. for your information, the local Davis funeral home business recently purchased their building from Mr. Garza. This building contains rental units on the west side. Well,this building was sold to Mr. Davis as is, that is out compliance with building codes built by Mr. Garza. After the purchase Mr. Garza, the former city councilman, called the housing authority on Mr. Davis on the poor constructed rental units Garza sold him. That is why the Rodarte/Garza group responded immediately with the fair housing contact information since they recently Betrayed Mr. Davis. Go ahead! call Davis funeral services for verification! Ms. Mendoza if your so sympathetic towards the handicapped and elderly you should call the state regarding the Americans With Disabilities Act violations at Mr. Garza's Chevron station. If you have ever been there please identify where the nearest handicap parking space is located for us all. We have yet to find one. As a matter of fact that corner is completely out of compliance with its parking spaces and the Mayor should report him immediately.
To the idiot that made the last post. The website was not solely intended to be used to discuss the recall. It was created (back in June 2005) to address any community issues. Ms. Mendoza pointed out issues with our code enforcement department and hopefully she had received some useful ideas on how to confront them. I think you should move out of McFarland, we could use one less stupid person in our town.
Also, I did not post the information regarding the fair housing contact.
Hello everyone!
Let's put some of the hate aside and discuss another topic.
What do you think about the 60,000 auto workers that are being laid off by FORD? What do you think about bush deciding not to help these auto workers?
Concerned Citizen!
Mr. Rodarte,
What are your thaughts regarding the Gang Violence in Mcfarland? What do you think our community can do to help reduce or stop the gang violence in our community? I don't know if you are aware of the young teenager who was shot to death a few weeks ago and the other young teen who was stabbed to death at the gas station on pond road last year.
I am aware of these two murders that occurred recently. I would approach the problem by looking at the measures being taken by some of the law enforcement agencies in larger cities and applying them in our community.
I read a good article in the Shafter Press (about three weeks ago) where they discussed some of the increased gang activity in Shafter. The chief of police was interviewed. He was a former police officer with the LAPD and has experience dealing with gangs. One of the approaches that they have taken in Shafter is to quickly identify who the gang leaders are and go after them right from the start. Once the gang leaders are arrested the rest of the gang members end up being more reluctant to continue their activities. This takes cooperation with the local community in order to be succesful.
"Once the gang leaders are arrested the rest of the gang members end up being more reluctant to continue their activities." (MR.RODARTE)
I like your idea, but what will the gang leaders be arrested for? Do you really think that the other gang members will hesitate to stop the violence?
What can we do to imporve the living conditions of the east side of town? It seems like our community completely forgot about one side of the town. Personally I think that we need more police officers patroling the east side of town for larger time periods. More visits from the gang unit can also improve things. Educating our children about gangs should also be considered. We should also provide boot camp information to parents with troubled children. There are numerous things that we can do to deflate the gang activity in our community. This should be the biggest issue in our cities next elections. Forget about what the Mayor is spending on his stupid trips. Lets get a mayor who will actually improve the living conditions of our community.
What about all the drug activity that occurs in this community. It does not take a geneous to figure out who is selling drugs and where they are being sold. All a person has to do is ask!
Let's spend some of the cities money fixing these problems.
"Concerned Citizen"
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I agree that having a larger number of police officers patrolling the community may help. The council would have to approve the increased expense but they haven't even approved a budget and audited last years financial statements which should have been done in June 2005. Without a firm grasp of what our current financial situation is, it would be irresponsible to approve something like this. Perhaps if we had the $300k that the city had to pay in legal fees and settlement costs because of the mayor's careless actions, we could have paid for two more deputies to be assigned to McFarland.
mr. rodarte, if we had the 300k we used to buy R&F two trucks, we could have had more deputies too!! maybe that money wasn't designated for that but the county could've looked into granting us with some money for it had we not used the $ to give 2 trucks to R&F
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