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Letter of Complaint Filed Against City of Pomona Ethics Commissioner for Violation of Political Campaign Laws
Updated 8/15/2024 | 9:12 am PT
Updated 9/12/2024 | 3:05 pm PT
On August 8, 2024, the law office of Rutan & Tucker, LLP, submitted a letter of complaint claiming that City of Pomona official Ethics Commissioner John Clifford illegally participated in a City of Pomona ballot measure campaign. They directed the letter to the City of Pomona Attorney Sonia Carvahlo; the California State Attorney General Rob Bonta; and Los Angeles’ District Attorney George Gascon.
The law offices of Rutan & Tucker are representing Pomona Kids First, the political committee that supports the ballot measure, Pomona Fund for Children and Youth Act which will be on the November 2024 ballot. They claim that Ethics Commissioner John Clifford “blatantly” violated the law prohibiting government officials from using public resources for political campaigns and submitted copies of his emails that show that the Commissioner used his government email address to campaign for a “no vote” on the initiative, directing his emails to both private individuals and media outlets -including the LA Times - during city business hours.
First email sent by Ethics Commissioner John Clifford the public, including various news outlets.
Final email sent by Ethics Commissioner John Clifford.
According to the Pomona Kids First Initiative website, “If approved by voters, the fund will be used for programs and services that promote health and well-being” for the children who reside in the city. If passed, there will be “an allocation of an initial 2% from the city annual actual unrestricted general purpose revenues that will be transferred into the Children and Youth Fund established by this initiative. Following the initial year of the implementation of this initiative, 5% of the city’s annual actual unrestricted general purpose revenues will be allocated towards this fund with an increase of 1% in the years proceeding until 10% is set aside for this fund. Along with establishing this fund, the initiative will establish the Department of Children and Youth whose primary function will be to oversee the implementation of the Children and Youth Fund and ensure that the Children and Youth Fund meets the goals and requirements outlined in the initiative.”
As stated in his email, Ethics Commissioner Clifford has depicted the initiative as a “money grab,” which appears Clifford wants to preserve the status quo.
Julian Lucas, is a photographer, a purveyor of books, and writer, but mostly a photographer. Don’t ever ask him to take photos of weddings or quinceaneras, because he will charge you a ton of money.
Julian is also the owner and founder of Mirrored Society Book Shop, publisher of The Pomonan.
Miranda Sheffield Candidate for Pomona District 6 Receives the LA County Democratic Party's endorsement
Photo Courtesy of Los Angeles Democratic Club ©2024
Pomona, California. — Miranda Sheffield has received the LA County Democratic Party's much-coveted endorsement. Her list of supporters, which already includes the California Faculty Association, Black Young Democrats, and Teamsters Local 1932, is significant. These latest endorsements only add to it.
Sheffield has made tremendous progress in her bid for the 6th district Council seat in Pomona since her impressive performance in the March 2024 primary election. After her stunning victory over the local political establishment's chosen candidates, Miranda is poised to become District 6's first African American councilwoman.
Vice Chair of the LA County Democratic Party Patt Sanders stated, “Miranda's passion and commitment to helping others will bring new ideas and energy to compassionately solve our homeless crisis, reduce the cost of living, and expand year-round programs and activities for youth in Pomona.”
“Miranda's passion and commitment to helping others will bring new ideas and energy to compassionately solve our homeless crisis, reduce the cost of living, and expand year-round programs and activities for youth in Pomona.”
LA County Democratic Party Vice-Chair, Patt Sanders
Miranda spent the most of her childhood in the foster care system. Pomona is where she found her stability with her second mom. Miranda is a graduate of Cal State LA and Pomona High School. Miranda returned to Pomona to raise her daughter after earning her master's degree in Human Rights Law from SOAS University of London. There, she developed into a proponent of sensible public safety reform and affordable housing.
Miranda is a member of the California Faculty Association, a college professor at Cal State LA, and has served on Pomona's Cultural Arts Commission and Police Oversight Commission.
District 6 in Pomona is a diverse working-class community with historic White and African American communities, and emerging Latino neighborhoods. Pomona is the 7th most populace City in LA County with 150,000 residents.
The Pomonan is the cultural structure, empowering visionaries to propel the global society to the future.
Pomona City Council Candidate Receives Contribution from a Tax Exempt Business
As we are all preparing for either new leadership and or continuing to keep the current. Issues are ramping up both federally and on the local level.
The Pomonan recently accessed the campaign filings for District 6 City Council candidate Lorraine Canales and discovered what looks like a campaign finance violation.
On page 17, Canales discloses a $100 campaign contribution received on 6/23/2024 from PCS Family Services, Inc., a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) business (recognized as such in 2018), which Propublica reports generated $938,000 in revenue.
According to the IRS, (Internal Revenue Service) Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.
We reached out to both candidate Lorraine Canales and PCS Family Services Inc. To date, neither has responded to our request for comment.
It all raises the issue that there needs to be more public awareness about campaign finance laws.
Julian Lucas, is a photographer, a purveyor of books, and writer, but mostly a photographer. Don’t ever ask him to take photos of events because he will charge you a lot of money. Julian is also the owner and founder of Mirrored Society Book Shop, publisher of The Pomonan, and founder of Book-Store.
Investigative Report: Did Current City Council Members Victor Preciado and Steve Lustro Properly Disclose the Campaign Contributions they received from Pomona Police Officers' Association in 2018?
During the 2018 election cycle, the Pomona Police Officers Association PAC (PPOA) made campaign contributions to three Pomona City Council candidates for around $9,000 each - Victor Preciado, Steve Lustro, Christina Carrizosa. Preciado and Lustro won their election that year and are currently sitting members of Pomona’s City Council today.
In recent days, it has come to the attention of the Pomonan editorial Board that these campaign contributions were not properly reported.
In the fall of 2018, the PPOA paid more than $41 thousand to the Freedman Public Affairs for mailers to support the campaign of Victor Preciado, Steve Lustro, who won their election, and Christina Carrizosa, who lost hers.
According to CalAccess, District 2 council member Victor Preciado received a total of $9,689.12, and District 5 council member Steve Lustro received $9.396.56 from the PPOA through contributions and late independent expenditures.
Before assuming office on Dec. 3, 2018, both officials filed a California Form 700, also known as Statement of Economic Interests form, but neither reported the amount received from the PPOA. The form is meant to prevent decisions made by public officials from being influenced by their personal financial interests.
Pomona Ordinance No. 4298 states any person holding a position in Government Code Section 87200 needs to file any required Statement of Economic Interests report online or electronically with the City Clerk.
The PPOA made 83 donations to Preciado’s campaign and 72 donations to Lustro’s campaign of different totals ranging from $72.54, $27.67, $26.86, $1,436.07 and $678.59 from Sept. 2018 through Nov. 2018.
On his 700 form, Preciado reported his salary working with the Kellogg Company and from the San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps as in the range from $1,001 to $10,000, but did not report the amount donated to his campaign by the PPOA.
Lustro did not report any of the donations from the PPOA or any other salary that might influence his decision making. See both Form-700
Under the Pomona City Code, Article II, Sec. 10-34, it stated that a candidate shall not solicit or accept any contribution which will cause the total amount contributed by such person with respect to a single election in support of or opposition to a candidate that exceeds $500.00.
However, Section 10-36 of the same code states that all contributions, including campaign contributions, exceeding $25 needs to be reported.
During the same election, the PPOA also made 72 donations that equated to $9,449.49 to the campaign of Council member Christina Carrizosa of District. Carrizosa was currently on the Council at the time, but lost her position to current Pomona City Council member, Nora Garcia.
The Police Oversight Starts Today (POST), a coalition of Pomona and area residents, filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission in Aug. 2021 claiming the PPOA caused a conflict of interest when it donated sums of money to certain council members and not equally to every potential candidate.
Council member Preciado, recently contacted, said he wasn’t aware of the money. He also stated that, the form does not need to have that kind of payment on it:
“While [the PPOA] have to state who they are using it for, they actually can’t legally coordinate or talk to the candidate about it. In this example I wasn’t aware of this expenditure or what they used it for.”
To date, Pomona city council member Lustro has not responded to this reporter’s request for comment.
Pomona: Primary Election Results
Published 3/11/2024 | 8:10 am PST
Though ballots are still being counted, and the votes for the 2024 primary election won’t be officially certified until April 12, 2024, it looks like there will be run-offs in November between the following local candidates:
POMONA CITY PRIMARY NOMINATING ELECTION Member of the City Council, 1st District candidates Debra Martin (40%) and the incumbent John Nolte (36%).
POMONA CITY PRIMARY NOMINATING ELECTION Member of the City Council, 4th District candidates Guillermo Gonzalez (36%) and the incumbent Elizabeth Ontiveros-Cole (35%).
POMONA CITY PRIMARY NOMINATING ELECTION Member of the City Council, 6th District candidates Lorraine Canales (38%) and Miranda Sheffield (34%).
The Pomonan endorses Miranda Sheffield for the Council, 6th District. With a Master’s in Public Policy, she has served on various Commissions and is a constant contributor at Pomona’s City Council meetings.
The citizens of Pomona once again re-elected incumbent Tim Sandoval (53%) for Mayor.
The citizens passed both Measure P and Measure X, sales tax measures that, according to estimates, will bring $16.8 million and $5.8 million annually to the City, respectively.
Gil Cisneros, a former congressman and Democrat, (23%) will face off against Daniel José Bocic Martínez, a Republican (20%) for the 31st Congressional District seat in November.
For State Assembly, Republican Nick Wilson (32%) will be in the run-offs against the former Assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez’ wife, Michelle Rodriguez (23%). Freddie Rodriguez termed out of his office and ran this round for Pomona Mayor against Tim Sandoval, but came up short. In the Assembly race, Wilson and Rodriguez nosed out Pomona Council Member Robert S. Torres (20%), son of newly re-elected Congresswoman Norma Torres (54%).
Incumbent District Attorney Democrat George Gascón faced considerable opposition in this primary. At only 24% of the vote, he will be in the run-offs against Republican Nathan Hochman(17%).
This primary election was, again, marked by low voter turnout across the county, but certainly in Pomona. Nearby Pasadena, with about 12,000 fewer residents than Pomona, had more than double the voter turnout.
The Pomonan is the cultural structure, empowering visionaries to propel the global society to the future.
Breaking: District 4 Candidate Guillermo Gonzalez Declares other Candidates have Violated Campaign Finance Laws
Published February 26, 2024 | 8:15am PST
Pomona, CA – The campaign committee of Guillermo Gonzalez for Pomona City Council 2024 has learned that both campaigns for Elizabeth Cole and Chara Swodeck are in current violation of Pomona’s campaign expenditure limits. Both candidate’s campaigns agreed to expenditure limits in return for printing a candidate statement. This rule was adopted by the voters in 2022 as part of the charter amendment updates. The city has thus far refused to enforce these expenditure limits, penalize the campaigns of the candidates, or take any meaningful action despite these apparent violations.
We will continue to monitor the situation, but this type of corruption is unacceptable, is contrary to the laws adopted by the city and state and should immediately disqualify these candidates for any position due to their actions. This campaign has reached out to the city and is seeking an immediate remedy. In the interim, the campaign seeks a statement from those organizations and elected officials who have endorsed these candidates to see if they condone such actions and if they will continue to support candidates who have demonstrated a complete lack of integrity and have seemingly violated the city’s campaign expenditure limits. The campaign has also forwarded complaints regarding both campaigns to the FPPC to seek an investigation and immediate remedy.
Organizations or elected officials who have endorsed Chara Swodeck:
Teamsters 1932
Mayor Tim Sandoval
Councilmember John Nolte
Councilmember Victor Preciado
Councilmember Nora Garcia
Organizations or elected officials who have endorsed Elizabeth Cole:
Pomona Police Officers Association
Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 398
Rep. Norma Torres
Councilmember and Assembly Candidate Robert Torres
BizFed PAC
Guillermo4Pomona@gmail.com
Guillermo Gonzalez has a Master of Science in Public Administration from California State University – Los Angeles where he graduated with honors. He has been a resident of Pomona since 2011 and is currently a candidate for Pomona City Council.
Op-ed: Water is Life
Published 02/22/2024 7:53am PST
As a lifelong, vested resident of this community–a proud husband, father, and grandfather who has raised his family here in Pomona, my dedication in protecting our water quality is not just a job to me, it’s personal.
Water is Life and must be safeguarded. It is our job at the water district to continue to provide our retail customers with a reliable source of water, and we pride ourselves in making sure of that, by working closely with the Water Resources Department in Pomona, our tap water is potable and safe for all your daily needs at home. In fact, to this day, I still drink our water from the tap.
Keeping Pomona’s water clean and affordable is no easy feat. One of the most significant fights in doing so was against the Cadiz Corporation plan to extract large quantities of groundwater from under dry lake beds in the Mojave desert from the Bonanza Springs. They are water speculators whose bizarre scheme was to drill for water under California's deserts and sell it to your area, which threatens springs that desert life depends on. This was not the solution to our water management and sustainability issues because Orange County would have had priority access to this water, and this water resource would have been depleted in a heartbeat. That is why I voted against it, even if I was a lone wolf in this decision. Ultimately, with the help of the Sierra Club, Native American tribes of the Mojave desert, community stakeholders and other water district colleagues who supported me in putting the project to rest.
Over the past 12 years of my tenure, the water district also strengthened partnerships with our local retail agencies like Pomona, Walnut Valley, and Rowland Water Districts in joint projects throughout our service area, to educate our community about water conservancy. This entailed how one exactly can become a wise water-conscious consumer through establishing drought tolerant landscaping, using water-efficient shower heads, toilets, and sprinklers in your homes and businesses.
Establishing career pathways, in partnership with other agencies and organizations in the water industry, for our students here in our community led to the initiation of the youth Junior Water Protectors Pilot Program. The goal of this program was to acclimate participants to the importance of water in their everyday life. This is something I will continue to advocate for to give students in communities of color exposure and access to careers that actually pay a livable working wage while tackling the drought issue. Many have joined our apprenticeship program and have gone on to obtain employment at various water districts.
Looking forward, it is imperative for us here at home to shore up our water supplies through stormwater capture and recharge of our basins and aquifers. Water reuse and recycling must also continue to be a priority. As we continue to deal with climate change and its effects on our weather, we must look at all options, including new technologies in desalination. By doing this we will lessen our dependence on imported water and ensure our water sustainability here athome for our community. If elected to the California State Assembly, one of my goals will be to continue this work for a better and safer future for all.
Carlos Goytia, an elected Three Valleys Municipal Water Board Trustee, is currently running for Assembly Member of Assembly District 52.
Op-ed: Addressing Homelessness
Photo Courtesy Chara Swodeck
Published 02/13/2024 | 8:00am PST
Back in 2011, I attended a meeting at Club Nokia (LA Live) hosted by the new United Way and the Downtown LA Chamber Joint Task Force called Home For Good. Their objective was to focus on chronic homelessness and create Permanent Support Housing (PSH).
These organizations spoke of ending chronic homelessness in Los Angeles in 5 years, and they stressed how much more affordable it was to actually house people in PSH, rather than to leave them living on the streets. At that time, they estimated the costs of housing the homeless to be about 42% less than leaving them on the streets.
Their challenge was getting cities to buy into the idea. It required each city in the County to have their share of PSH available (small housing facilities with 6-8 units) in order to house the unhoused in their community while providing supportive services.
These organizations aimed to address the fact that many well-meaning organizations only sought to house, feed and clothe the unhoused, but failed to deal with their mental health, physical health, or career development. Working with the unhoused community in the City of Hollywood, they were successful in bringing organizations together to create pathways not just to housing, food and clothing, but also to long-term mental, physical, and financial health.
These were brilliant ideas, but these were also ideas that relied on the support of communities - and that support was not always there. As time went on, the project had to adapt as city by city refused to allow Skid Row residents to be placed in their city.
Even so, today, this program has raised and aligned more than $62 million in private funding through the Funders Collaborative, leveraging more than $5 billion in public resources while setting new standards for helping people currently living in encampments to successfully transition into stable housing.
During all those discussions with these organizations, I learned that the term ‘homeless’ gets tossed around as a catch-all term for anyone on the streets and rarely refers to families. I also learned the difference between someone who recently lost housing and someone who is “chronically” homeless. In Pomona, we average just over 700 unhoused individuals during our annual counts, but the number neglects the 3,114 children classified as homeless according to the 2023 California Dashboard. When residents and business owners talk about the “homeless” problem, they often only refer to the ones who sleep in front of stores, build fires on street corners, leave trash in alleys and needles in playgrounds, but there are so many more who are dealing with homelessness.
Our local communities must come to understand that part of the challenge of housing the homeless is that we are facing an ever-increasing housing deficit. I personally have worked to help find housing for many families - particularly during the pandemic. I have built a tremendous relationship with Donyielle Holley, City of Pomona Homeless Services Supervisor, and know the very real challenges we face due to limited motel vouchers, long housing waiting lists, and delayed mental health intake. All these challenges are compounded by the fact that our local Hope for Home had to reduce the number of their shelter beds due to COVID protocols, and that there are those who simply refuse to live anywhere else but on the streets.
Everyone’s looking for a solution that is hopefully fast and inexpensive, however most are guilty of throwing the entire homelessness conversation into ‘one large bucket’ - so to speak. In truth, there has to be as many solutions as there are unhoused people. We need to break it down to find sustainable solutions. We need to distinguish programs for recently unhoused families from programs for families who still have housing, but are in danger of being unhoused. We need to prioritize unhoused students and find safe quiet living spaces for them to succeed. We need to take into consideration unhoused Veterans, many with PTSD, severe health challenges, and lack of medicine. We need to realize how it feels for someone with extreme anxiety or paranoia to sleep in a bunk bed in the center of hundreds of other people under a large semi-permanent tent.
I am grateful for Donyielle (CIty of Pomona), Reggie (Volunteers of America), Patty (PUSD Family Services),who do so many others who do everything they possibly can every day to address this overwhelming challenge by seeing, listening, and caring. Mother Teresa once said, “We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty.”
There are so many programs. Some that seem to work, others that don’t. Programs like Pathway Home, which I saw work firsthand recently with 43 unhoused individuals from Holt and San Antonio who were given supportive housing. This program is part of the Los Angeles County’s Homeless Initiative and has funding from Measure H. Other programs like Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court, which seems like an effective idea, but has yet to prove effective. Jerel Ezell, in an article in Time magazine stated, “Going back to the early 18th Century, American prisons and mental health wards have used coercive or involuntary treatment on their populations, while so-called drug courts, invented in the 1970s, often make enrollment into substance use treatment programs, like methadone, a condition for favorable adjudication terms. CARE Courts are presented as a more compassionate and flexible iteration, yet can still involuntarily retain patients under a variety of open-ended scenarios, while their ultimate value in solving California’s problems is very much open to question.”
We cannot continue to utilize blanket solutions to highly specific challenges. We must address clear milestones and programs for each specific unhoused demographic; asking who are we helping and what are the steps needed to provide sustainable progress. We must implement various paths, whether through rapid re-housing, permanent supportive housing, voucher programs, or homeless prevention, coupled with jobs programs, substance abuse support, and basic needs relief. We cannot just keep trying to move people around from corner to corner without building trust and providing stronger mental health support on the streets, in the shelter, and in the motels, camps, and RV Parks. Lastly, but most importantly, we must do this together. This can’t be a problem that we drop on the City’s understaffed departments, or on underfunded nonprofits.
The Pomonan sent an open invitation to all candidates to submit substantive op-eds stating their position on an issue (or issues) that they consider critical to our community.
Chara Swodeck; is a community member of 20 years in the city of Pomona, a wife and mother, business owner, community collaborator, problem solver and dreamer. Chara brings ideas to life with goals, milestones, and conditions of satisfaction. Chara Swodeck is running for city council person District 4.
After collaborating with Mayor Tim Sandoval and 20 local black community leaders, the need for a space to build community came up. This led to a small group creating the African American Advisory Alliance (Pomona4As) and opened the Alliance Cultural Community Center in Downtown Pomona to provide a space for programs and collaborations from the Black community for the entire community.
Podcast: League of Women Voters Hosts Pomona Candidates Forum
Published 02/08/2024 | 9:50pm PST
The League of Women Voters of California is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization working to protect and expand voting rights, build grassroots power in our communities, drive policy change on the biggest challenges facing our state, and ensure everyone is represented in our democracy.
The League of Women Voters of Mount Baldy Area held a forum for the city of Pomona candidates seeking to represent Districts 1, 4, and 6 starting in January. A mayoral forum was also featured in the forum.
Pomona Mayoral Forum
Tim Sandoval, Gustavo Ramirez, Veronica Cabrera, and Freddie Rodriguez
District 6 Candidates Forum
Miranda Sheffield. Glenda Barillas. and Lorraine Canales
District 1 Candidates Forum
John Nolte, Eugenio Diaz, Luis Cano, John Mendoza
District 4 Candidates Forum
Chara Swodeck, Elizabeth Cole, Guillermo Gonzalez
The League of Women Voters was officially founded in Chicago in 1920, just six months before the 19th amendment was ratified and women won the vote. Formed by the suffragists of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the League began as a "mighty political experiment" designed to help 20 million women carry out their new responsibilities as voters.
Op-ed: Government Funds Mismanagement
Photo Courtesy of Veronica Cabrera
Published February 6, 2024 | 11:48am PST
No money will ever be enough when there is mismanagement of city funds. It’s not that different from one’s personal finances.
Governments often outsource public services. Sometimes they privatize public property with the fallacy that it will save costs, but the reality is that with these economic practices, the private sector is the sector that benefits the most. Privatization opens doors to potential corruption, monopolies, loss of citizens' autonomy, and citizens' financial distress.
Cambridge Dictionary defines outsourcing as paying privately-owned companies to get some work or services done for the public. Privatization is selling a service provided by the government to the private sector for their control and management.
Here in Pomona, we can talk about one recent example, the privatization of the city-owned trash company to Athens Co.
Pomona has had its own city trash company since the city was founded, but In 2022, the current Mayor and five city council members decided to transfer the trash service to Athens, a privately-owned trash company. By speaking with hundreds of small business owners, commercial property owners, and residents, I learned that their trash company bills went up from 200% to 400%. In this instance, evidently, Athens Co. charged the citizens more than enough to provide service, they charged them to make a profit, and, in this case, also cover the city’s franchise fees. Athens received an exclusive contract with the City of Pomona. The citizens of Pomona are stuck. Nobody can hire any other trash company apart from Athens, and since the company is not accountable to the citizens, the risk of corruption runs high.
The City of Pomona has not provided a decent explanation to the citizens about how they have created a monopoly, an aberrant practice that violates the antitrust laws. To learn about antitrust laws, click here. The citizens, businesses, and property owners in this transaction have lost the right to have direct contract with those who are providing their service.
The Pomonan sent an open invitation to all candidates to submit substantive op-eds stating their position on an issue (or issues) that they consider critical to our community.
Veronica Cabrera is a resident of Pomona. She is also running for the mayoral seat for the city of Pomona.
Op-ed: Why Transparency is Important and how Pomona Can Achieve it
Transparency is the principle of allowing those affected by administrative decisions to know about the resulting facts and figures and about the process that resulted in those decisions. – ICMA
Published January 12, 2024 | 7:35 am PST
The principle of open government is not new. Throughout our nation’s history we have made progress on making government more accountable and accessible to voters. Yet, many people still feel that government is not responsive to their concerns. This cynicism about government leads to low public participation in elections. In California, 81 percent of eligible voters are registered to vote, and only 41 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. In Pomona, off cycle elections typically see a turnout of 25 percent of registered voters. The lack of voter participation is due to a lack of transparency in decision-making. The voters can change this by insisting Pomona adopt a transparent budget process that engages the community and values their participation.
If you ask any elected official in Pomona if they think government should be participatory, they will likely answer in the affirmative. If you ask these same officials what they are doing to make governing more participatory, you’ll probably get a blank stare. Pomona struggles with finding constructive ways to engage residents in the decision-making process because the city schedules meetings at times that are inconvenient for residents. In 2023 the city announced budget meetings for March 27 at 5:30 pm and another on April 5 at 3:00 pm. These meetings are not accessible to people who work, but then maybe that’s the point of scheduling meetings at times where public participation is not possible. Participatory government is one whose intent is to make itself accessible to residents where they reside and at times that are convenient to them. The metric for these meetings should be the number in attendance, not the number of meetings. Having meetings at times that people cannot attend demonstrates a desire to prevent citizen participation. We should not accept a situation where our elected officials refuse to create forums for meaningful citizen participation.
Government should be collaborative. A collaborative government seeks to find ways to obtain community and stakeholder input on policies and community priorities. It uses an iterative process to inform decision-making. By creating a feedback loop, an iterative process ensures that policies can be adapted to changing conditions or as new information exposes flaws in previous approaches. A collaborative process ensures a dialogue rather than a focus on point-in-time feedback. The City currently employs surveys to obtain resident feedback but does not engage in ongoing discussions about policy implementation, updates on approaches, or alternatives to current approaches. Quarterly and midyear updates and meetings on important city projects should be the norm to ensure that residents remain informed about the status of these projects. These meetings should be more informal than council meetings to ensure that residents have the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with staff and elected officials.
Government should be transparent. Transparency is more than informing the public what the decisions are, it is about informing residents how decisions are made and what factors were considered and rejected, and why. We know the city formulates priorities, but we do not have any understanding why or how these became priorities, or even what issues were rejected and why. Santa Monica employs a budget process where it holds year-round town halls to listen and document community priorities. Through these meetings the city formulates a budget, which is a political document that reflects the values and concerns of the residents. Without question, this is arduous work, but it is necessary towards ensuring a well-functioning and transparent budget process. More importantly, it allows residents to see their participation come to fruition as it becomes city policy.
These ideas are not new, they are part of the core values for Public Administrators and should act to guide elected officials. If Pomona made a sincere effort to adopt these values it would see greater resident participation, greater satisfaction with government, and a city whose policies are more closely aligned with resident values. We must not accept the status quo and must continue to insist that our elected officials agree to abide by these core values; and we must be willing to oust those who are reluctant or refuse to adhere to them.
Guillermo Gonzalez has a Master of Science in Public Administration from California State University – Los Angeles where he graduated with honors. He has been a resident of Pomona since 2011 and is currently a candidate for Pomona City Council.
Community Responses: 2024 Mayoral & City Council Poll
By Julian Lucas
Published 12/20/2023 | 11:15 Am PST
Earlier this month, the Pomonan published an election poll, which included the race for Mayor and City Council Districts 1, 4, and 6. Additionally, the Pomonan asked a series of three questions in regards to transparency, accountability & election promises, and what issues voters feel need to be addressed.
The mayoral poll took a shocking turn when candidate California Assembly Member, Freddie Rodriguez from Assembly District 52, announced his candidacy for Mayor. Mayor Tim Sandoval, the incumbent, leading poll popularity was humbled and Rodriguez took a slight lead at the time of the poll’s closing.
Initially, District 1 City Council incumbent, John Nolte, had an enormous lead, but this lead quickly shrunk when Pomona Library Board of Trustees Commissioner Debra Martin made it known she was also running.
District 4’s incumbent, Elizabeth Cole-Ontiveras continues to lose popularity as voters continue to choose between the two other contenders, Chara Swodeck and Guillermo Gonzalez. Gonzalez has a commanding lead over both candidates.
There is no incumbent for the 2024 City Council race for District 6. The three contenders, Lorraine Canales, Miranda Sheffield, and Glenda Barillas are almost level at this point.
When individuals run for office, they promise to perform certain tasks once elected. Since the poll became active on December 4th voters have voiced their concerns about the functionality of the city. 76.6% of voters feel the leadership has not fulfilled their tasks as promised.
Voters also voiced their concerns about the lack of transparency in government. 76.6% feel there isn’t transparency within the government..
57.8% of voters feel Mayor Sandoval has not addressed important issues such as economic development, city budget management, infrastructure improvements, along with social equity and inclusion. While 20.8% voiced their confidence in the Mayor, but 20.1% said they were unsure.
Furthermore, community members were able to voice important concerns regarding what they’d like to see addressed by city leaders. Many concerns were voiced and the majority of what was concerning was crime, prostitution, and the unhoused situation. We have provided a list of items that are important concerns for the people of Pomona. This list does not include all concerns and many of the responders’ concerns were the same.
The concerns they listed tallied in this order: Crime followed by Taxes, Homelessness, Economic Development and Youth Services.
The poll will close in 5 days, but The Pomonan plans to repoll in the spring and fall. The poll represents 154 people so far. They are responding in a city within a county that are both notorious for low voter registration rates and low voter turnout rates.
The Pomonan sends an open invitation to all candidates to submit substantive op-eds stating their position on an issue (or issues) that they consider critical to our community. No campaign propaganda, please. The Pomonan plans to publish articles where a candidate takes a stand, explains their position and explains how they plan to address the issue.
Julian Lucas, is a photographer, a purveyor of books, and writer, but mostly a photographer. Don’t ever ask him to take photos of events. Julian is also the owner and founder of Mirrored Society Book Shop, publisher of The Pomonan, founder of Book-Store, and founder of PPABF.
