08.09.18

PW OPINION PW NEWS PW LIFE PW ARTS
BRIEFS
ANOTHER LOCK OUT
GLENDALE TENANTS UNION LATEST
TO FAIL IN COLLECTING ENOUGH
SIGNATURES TO GET RENT CONTROL
ON NOVEMBER BALLOT
BY ANDRÉ COLEMAN
Another local rent control effort has come up short
on the required number of signatures to qualify for
the November ballot.
Mike Van Gorder
On Monday, the Glendale City Clerk deemed
4,000 signatures collected by the Glendale Tenants Union (GTU) “insufficient.”
The GTU, which needed 10,529 valid signatures to qualify for the
general election, is the latest to fall short in attempts to force a rent control
initiative onto a local ballot.
“That Glendale, Long Beach, Inglewood and Pasadena were all ‘insufficient’
in their signature collection efforts is far more of an indictment of
the voter-led initiative process itself,” GTU member Mike Van Gorder said
in a prepared statement.
In May, officials with the Pasadena Tenants Union (PTU) also came up
short in its efforts to get a rent control initiative on the November ballot. In
May, the group had collected 8,679 signatures, with 12,300 valid signatures
required, according to City Clerk Mark Jomsky.
One month later, the Secretary of State’s Office reported that backers
of Proposition 10, an initiative that would repeal the Costa Hawkins
Act of 1995 prohibiting cities from enacting their own rent-control laws,
had collected far more signatures than needed to qualify for the Nov. 6
ballot. Organizers collected nearly 600,000 signatures, with 365,880 valid
signatures required.
“We calculated that we’d need $60,000 worth of time and money to
collect enough signatures just to ask the voters a question,” Van Gorder
said. The GTU will now attempt to force the Glendale City Council to adopt
their measure — calling for a 4 percent a year cap on rents and a creation
of a board to oversee compliance — and are planning a rally at the next
upcoming City Council meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 14, to demand their support.
“If the City Council fails us again, we will launch another petition starting
with the army we’ve built over the past year. There’s a lot you can do
with thousands of motivated voters that are vocally tired of a city government
that doesn’t protect them,” said Van Gorder.
About two-thirds of households in Glendale are renters, and, according
to the city’s own data, 59 percent of renters pay more than 30 percent of
their income on rent.
“We’re trying to protect the most vulnerable members of the community
who have neither time nor money and needing five figures’ worth of
money to participate in civics is absurd,” Van Gorder said. n
SPEAKING FREELY
ACLU HOSTS FORUM ON FIRST
AMENDMENT RIGHTS
BY VICTOR GARCIA
What right did virtually blacklisted NFL quarterback
Colin Kaepernick and other pro football players
have last season to take a knee during the playing
of the National Anthem?
Another important question is will First
Amendment rights survive the war on the media
being launched by the Trump administration,
John Terhranian
with reporters being called “liars,” “worst people” and “enemies of the
people”?
At the same time, Kaepernick and his colleagues are demeaned,
slandered, called “traitors” and blackballed for expressing solidarity with
young black men killed by police.
How can democracy function without a vibrant press trusted by the
public? And how can society function if citizens are prohibited from
exercising their constitutional rights to free speech?
These and other questions will be answered beginning at 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 14, at Glendale City Church during a forum hosted by the
ACLU SoCal Pasadena-Foothills Chapter.
Among those scheduled to speak at the event are the Rev. K.W.
Tulloss, national regional director of the National Action Alliance, which
has protested the blackballing of Kaepernick; constitutional lawyer and
political activist Stephen Rohde, winner of a long series of appellate
victories in the areas of civil liberties and First Amendment law; John
Terhranian, a constitutional law professor at Southwest Law School;
Sharon Kyle, publisher of LA Progressive an ACLU national board
member; and Jim Nasella, a lawyer with the ACLU SoCal Pasadena-
Foothill chapter.
Glendale City Church is located at 610 E. California Blvd., Glendale. n
THE ‘SUNSHINE’ STATE
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7
Skinner said the restrictions
erode public trust and can allow
officers with repeated incidents
of serious misconduct to bounce
from agency to agency undetected.
“California is an outlier when it
comes to providing public access
to law enforcement records,” said
Skinner in a prepared statement.
“SB1421 is a sunshine ordinance
that will help build trust and
accountability.”
According to the bill, during
an active investigation of an
incident involving one or more
officers, disclosure by police
may be delayed for up to 60 days
from the date the use of force
occurred or until the district
attorney determines whether to
file criminal charges related to the
use of force, whichever occurs sooner.
If an agency delays disclosure pursuant to
this clause, the agency would have to provide a
reason for the delay and an estimated date for the
disclosure of that information.
“The public has a right to know all about serious
police misconduct, as well as about officer-involved
shootings and other serious uses of force,” the bill
reads. “Concealing crucial public safety matters
such as officer violations of civilians’ rights,
or inquiries into deadly use-of-force incidents
undercuts the public’s faith in the legitimacy of law
enforcement, makes it harder for tens of thousands
of hardworking peace officers to do their jobs, and
endangers public safety.”
The California Supreme Court has previously
ruled that some information from confidential police
personnel records can only be released by a judge
with the filing of a Pitchess Motion — named for
former Los Angeles County Sheriff Peter J. Pitchess.
SB1421 is co-authored by assembly members
Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-South Los Angeles), Kevin
McCarty (D-Sacramento), Mark Stone (D-Santa
Clara) and Shirley Weber (D-San Diego).
Weber and McCarty co-authored AB931, the
“Police Accountability and Community Protection
Act,” which could have a major impact on use of
force incidents.
The bill would permit officers to use deadly force
only to prevent imminent bodily harm or death,
and when there are no reasonable alternatives to
de-escalate the situation through verbal warnings,
persuasion, or other non-lethal efforts.
According to text in the bill, if the bill passes
officers would be forced “to attempt to control an
incident by using time, distance, communications,
and available resources in an effort to deescalate a
situation whenever it is safe and reasonable to do
so.”
Under the bill, prosecutors would also be able
to look at an officer’s actions leading up to a deadly
THE COUNT
As of Monday, 2,059 days after the war in Afghanistan ended …
2,224
American military
service members
(0 more
than last week)
were reported
killed in Afghanistan
since
the war began in
2001, according to
The Associated Press.
15
years is how much
time Everitt Aaron
Jameson, a
27-year-old
former Marine,
will serve for
planning a
Christmastime
ISIS-inspired attack on
San Francisco, according to
ABC. The attack never happened.
Sen. Anthony Portantino
use of force, and whether those
actions were “grossly negligent”
and put the officer in danger
unnecessarily.
“We know there’s pressure on
Portantino from law enforcement
groups to either sit on the bill
or water it down,” said LA
Progressive Editor Dick Price.
Price’s wife, Sharon Kyle,
publisher of the website and a
member of the ACLU national
board, participated in a forum
Monday called “Legislating for Our
Lives” at Glendale City Church.
“Part of what we’re doing
here is creating an avenue for
advocacy to support Portantino
to take more progressive stands,
even though at least a part of his
district is fairly conservative,” said
Price.
AB931 was introduced by Assembly members
Weber and McCarty, with Assemblyman Chris
Holden, D-Pasadena, who is also the chairman of the
Legislative Black Caucus, as a principal co-author.
“We should no longer be the target practice
or victims of a shoot first, ask questions later
police force,” Holden said soon after the bill was
introduced.
Law enforcement agencies have criticized the bill,
claiming it would place officers’ lives in danger.
According to Shaun Riddle, deputy director of the
California Peace Officers Association, hundreds of
supporters, including family and friends of people
killed by police, showed up at the senate’s Public
Safety Committee where AB931 was passed by a
vote of 5-2 earlier this year.
“The profession was accused of being racist
and looking for an opportunity to shoot and kill
whenever possible,” said Riddle on the CPOA’s
website. “Due to the overwhelming support by pro-
AB931 activists and legislators in the room, those
comments were not allowed to be challenged.”
Under the recommended changes, at least one
high-profile Pasadena case could have resulted in
charges against a Pasadena police officer. In 2012,
Officer Jeffrey Newlen violated policy by leaving
a police cruiser to pursue unarmed teen Kendrec
McDade without communicating with his partner
Matthew Griffin. The pair believed McDade was
armed due to a call by a man who believed his
briefcase was stolen from his car.
After McDade reportedly turned and ran toward
the car, Griffin opened fire, followed by Newlen
who believed that it was McDade shooting. An
independent probe later ruled the officers violated
policy several times during the shooting.
The city settled the case for just more than $1
million.
Under the bill, prosecutors could have claimed
gross negligence in the incident due to Newlen’s
2
civilians were wounded
on Tuesday in a bomb
attack in Baghdad.
According to CNN,
the civilians were
taken to a nearby
hospital for treatment
and a probe was
opened into the attack.
7
people were injured in a failed
assassination attempt
against Venezuelan
President Nicolás
Maduro. Maduro
was unharmed, according
to MSNBC.
— Compiled by
André Coleman
8 PASADENA WEEKLY | 08.09.18