Some More Information Regarding Measure C

When Mayor Tom Long and Mr. John Stammreich support Measure C, everyone must be assured that this is not a left versus right or Liberal versus Conservative issue.

Both men support Measue C and they have widely differing views about politics and issues within and without Rancho Palos Verdes.

But Measure C is a political measure, one dealing with how much governance we allow our local leaders over how much our city and its residents are governed by the legislature of the State of California.

It should be noted here that our residents voted in elections for our area's Assembly member and State Senator.

Measure C seeks to bring more local control AND power to members of the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council.

I feel education concerning what a Charter City is and does must be increased so that our intelligent and savvy electorate have most information available to make and informed decision.

I still remain on the side of the fence supporting the measure, but I have learned some information I did not know and I see more questions arising from my most recent education.

The Web site, RanchoPalosVerdesPatch has an article titled, Charter Initiative Election Could Revamp RPV City Government written by Mr. Bob Pickard.

I gained access to the site through my Facebook page. http://outside.in/rancho-palos-verdes-ca is another way to access the article.


ASSOCIATED BUILDERS AND CONTRACTORS CALIFORNIA COOPERATION COMMITTEE has its:

Are Charter Cities Taking Advantage of Prevailing Wage Exemptions?

2011 1st EDITION

I found one page in the booklet more interesting than I had expected, concerning Charter Cities and prevailing wage laws.

Here is the documentation about how many of the 120 Charter Cities have no, partial, or full restrictions on prevailing wage laws.

Charter Cities with No Exemption

Alameda Albany Alhambra Bakersfield Bell Berkeley Buena Park Burbank Cerritos Chico Compton Culver City Cypress Del Mar Downey Eureka Folsom Grass Valley Glendale Hayward Huntington Beach Inglewood Kingsburg Lancaster Lemoore Loma Linda Long Beach Los Alamitos Los Angeles Marina Monterey Napa Newport Beach Oakland
Petaluma Piedmont Pomona Port Hueneme Redondo Beach Redwood City Richmond Riverside Roseville Salinas Sacramento San Bernardino San Francisco San Jose San Leandro San Luis Obispo San Mateo San Rafael San Ramon Sand City Santa Ana Santa Barbara Santa Clara Santa Cruz Santa Monica Santa Rosa Seal Beach Signal Hill Stockton Torrance Vallejo Ventura Vernon Watsonville Palmdale Woodlake

Total-70


Charter Cities with Partial Exemption

Anaheim El Centro Fortuna City of Industry Fresno Irvine Mountain View Oroville Big Bear Lake San Diego Santee Sunnyvale Truckee

Total-13

Charter Cities with Full Exemption

Adelanto Arcadia Carlsbad Chula Vista Desert Hot Springs Dinuba Exeter Gilroy Indian Wells Irwindale King City La Quinta Lindsay Marysville Merced Modesto Needles Norco Oceanside Pacific Grove Palm Desert Palm Springs Palo Alto Pasadena Placentia Porterville Rancho Mirage San Marcos Santa Maria Shafter Solvang Temple City Tulare City Victorville Visalia Vista Whittier

Total-37

One of the reasons I found this particular information interesting is that many proponents for Measure C state that one very positive reason to support Measure C is to rid the city of the mandate to adhere to prevailing wage guidelines.

My first question I have after reading the numbers is; Why do 70 of the 120 cities have no exemptions regarding prevailing wage guidelines?

58.33% of our State's Charter Cities continue to use prevailing wage guidelines.

13 cities have partial exemptions from prevailing wage guidelines.

Only 37 of the 120 Charter Cities in California, just about 31%, or just less that one third of the listed cities, have full exemptions.

For those who consider supporting Measure C and who have the potential elimination of prevailing wage guidelines as one of several major reasons for their support of Measure C, I think we all need to continue to ask questions about what a partial or full exemption from prevailing wage guidelines truly means. Especially when less than one third of the Charter Cities have full exemptions on their books.

In an earlier post I mentioned several projects that might be allowed to be included as far as prevailing wage guidelines go. They are multi-jurisdictional in nature and they would probably fall under prevailing wage guidelines.

These projects seem to be the most important in our city, right now. From the repair of San Ramon Canyon, the sewer maintenance and replacement issues, and possibly the work on maintaining a safe roadbed in the landslide area of Palos Verdes Drive East, I feel there are important projects and issues in our city that could not fit into new laws regarding prevailing wage guidelines.

All this to me suggests that we need to learn more about prevailing wage guidelines and how, if, or why having R.P.V. as a Charter City would benefit or not benefit with the aspects of more local control of guidelines, such as prevailing wage guidelines.

Sadly, I have also recently learned there are certain individuals in our city who choose not to learn from events and there are still some out there who are uncivil to others, regarding Measure C.

Apparently there are still those who did not learn a thing about the need for greater civility and how to conduct themselves, after the horrific tragedy in Tucson. Shame on 'they know who they are'. There is no place in any discussion or debate regarding Measure C, for the rhetoric and vitriol they are spewing.

There are those on the 'left and the right' who support or oppose Measure C. Since our residents appear to be more intelligent and have more savvy than many residents in other cities, I hope we can have a better discussion period with Measure C than we did with Measure P.

I would like to hope I can find more good feelings about who would be the new members coming onto the Council this coming December. In conversations with others, they tell me I should not worry so much about who might become 'the deciders' if Measure C passes.

Right now if the current Council makeup could remain, I would be much more supportive of Measure C. But term limits sees the makeup of the City Council changing.

Even though I know full well that our residents who seek the three seats up for election are intelligent and would work to benefit the residents of R.P.V., I have not been all that favorable towards past Council members and for that reason, I wish the ballot measure would come up for a vote after we all know who will sit on our Council for at least 2012 and 2013.