Why aren’t the city of Inglewood Housing Advisory and Police Oversight Commission Committee meetings not taking place?
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According to the website there have been five scheduled Police Oversight Committee meetings and they have all been cancelled, including last week’s. Mayor James Butts regularly cites “historic” low crime rates yet the city website only lists crime stats up through 2015. This practice of canceling these meetings date back to the fatal shooting of two sleeping people on Mayor Butts’ watch.
Vice Chair Jim Vaughn, who regularly appears at the city council meetings to cheer on the Mayor and council, has yet to publicly bring up his concerns that the commission is not meeting. In fact, when IPD officers killed Kisha Michael and Marquintin Sandlin, while they slept, his public comments showed more concern for the officers. He’s also won one of Councilman Alex Padilla’s chili cook-offs.
Most disturbing is the revelation that the Housing Advisory Commission hasn’t met this year. With rent issues at the forefront of voters minds, and when you have the Uplift Inglewood coalition claiming to not have a well-funded media plan, to get the word out on their petition it would create more of a need to have meetings to see what direction the residents want to go in.
I am also shocked the Housing Commissioners aren’t hosting Town Hall style meetings to ensure renters were included on the annual Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program which allows residents the opportunity to decide if the CDBG money would be earmarked for an increase of housing vouchers. But instead the homeowners vote to repair their sidewalks and fund meals on wheels than to also take single parents into consideration, The funds are designated for low-moderate level families not the families who will increase their home’s value of the money intended to help the most vulnerable.
The Inglewood Housing Authority is funded by CDBG money. He is a commissioner of the Inglewood Housing Authority, and he isn’t publicly advocating for a program he helps make recommendations for, to keep his friends in Inglewood in their housing, by making them aware of the importance to complete the survey? Perhaps he doesn’t have the time or space to make this known to the public because he hasn’t been able to attend a Housing Commission meeting.
This wouldn’t be so troublesome if I didn’t see the Mayor’s Housing Commissioner appointee, Odest Riley, up in Sacramento supporting Steve Ballmer, where people like his friends and employees are being priced out. He has been on the commission for less than a year. Riley tells 2UrbanGirls he supports the Clippers project because it will create jobs.
2UrbanGirls initiated a public records request, because no commission details exist on the city’s website, asking for the last three years of Housing Commission agendas and minutes and the request came back as “non responsive”. According to the City Clerk staff non responsive means the department didn’t provide the information.
The only commission that are regularly taking place is for Planning. New condos are being built on 68th St. an 18 bed community care facility will be erected at 814 N. Market St. (keep in mind the current marijuana ordinance allows for inpatient facility use by special permit only).
Agendas are posted but none of the corresponding minutes with who was present from the commission, how they voted or what the public comment is. Embattled Inglewood Airport Area Chamber of Commerce employee Erick Holly remains a member of this commission, at the mayor’s insistence, despite allegations surrounding his misappropriating funds belonging to his employer.
Another planning commissioner and realtor, Larry Springs, famously tried to get the mayor and council raises during his public comment. (watch video)
Why would the mayor and city council members take the time to elect commissioners, to sit on committees that aren’t meeting?
