Dear 2UrbanGirls,
PLEASE HELP!!!!! The Gardena City Council is out of control with how they are spending our tax dollars. Keep in mind, Jerome Horton spent close to $35,000 to get one of the current members elected. Here’s the issue.
Residents are LIVID and expressed themselves at yesterday’s city council meeting.
The city manager got a Tesla, $70,000 fully loaded, and so did the previous city manager. One ended up trading 7 weeks of time off .. and walked away with the car free and clear just 5 months after the City ordered it.
If your doing your math, thats close to $150,000 out the door. The median individual income in our city is less than $30,000, while a household earns less than $60,000.
We are in a pandemic, revenue continues to fluctuate, and our council is going out business as usual.
By the way, Clint Osorio is also the board Chair of Give Gardena, a charitable foundation that supports the City. In 2019, the organization took in $85,000 with all but $1500 going to the Gardena Jazz Festival, Sen. Steve Bradford’s signature perceived campaign event.
They’ve taken in close to $150,000 since 2019, despite being suspended by the Franchise Tax Board in 2018.
The City Attorney stated the car is part of Osorio’s compensation package, why not give him an auto allowance? Then he can purchase and pay for any kind of car he wants to drive. It’s no different than the Inglewood mayor driving a city vehicle and leaving taxpayers on the hook if they get into an auto accident. Not a smart way to spend taxpayer dollars.
Osorio says the funding came from AQMD funds, not city funds, so taxpayer dollars weren’t used. How do we confirm that?
Please encourage Tasha Cerda to resign.
Gardena observer
6 Comments
When names like Horton and Bradford are involved Jazz Festivals and Charitable organizations should Be those your brain attaches red warning flags to!!!!!!
remember how Horton brought major change to the State Board of Equalization (Those with tax issues met the bequests and sent $$ to City Clerk wife Yvonne’s “Charity” ) yep that shady practice almost ended that career till Bradford and fellow Senate Buddies stepped in…
Considered the votes BRADFORD has cast before you cast yours for him
Don’t let their providing party time give them another term of using your tax dollars frivolously to benefit themselves and their friends.
1.) Most if not all City Managers in their contracts have a car allowance plus mileage or the option for a city car (leased in the city’s name) up to a certain dollar amount per month (varies upon the city).
2.) Not sure if you’ve priced TESLA but I have and you can do so by going to Tesla.com. $70,000 is a long range Model 3 (get more miles per charge) or a long range Model Y both are Tesla base models with nothing extravagant.
3.) What does the median income have to do with the salary of the top executive of a city? Would you rather have an inexperienced, uneducated worker you can get by paying the minimum too?
The people of Gardena would rather see all Executive staff get a car allowance and taxpayers not be on the hook for the price of any vehicle, it’s maintenance, and insurance. We are not a rich city nor a large one. There is no reason for us to provide any Executive staff with vehicles. If they wish to utilize a city owned vehicle while working, let them check one out from Fleet services. I thank Wanda Love for bringing this to our attention. It looks like I will have to pay closer attention to the goings on of our current Council and Executive Staff.
Unfortunately that is not how it works! City administrators bargain the terms of their employment. I’m very familiar with Gardena and if you compare surrounding communities it’s actually a cost savings providing a city vehicle instead of a car allowance. As many meetings that happen in and outside of a community the city administrator could bill the city for each mile driven, fuel reimbursement and maintenance while getting a car allowance. I encourage you to review some surround city city manager contracts.
In this case, there is no fuel involved since its an electric vehicle. The question can be: 1) were the Tesla purchases the best use of funds under AQMD? Why not a more economical car? 2) since when can an employee trade their sick/vacation balance for a car? Sounds like some complaints need to be filed with the DA re: gift of public funds.
Re item 1 ) The city of Gardena less than 6 square miles Yep think that through this city Manager should almost be able to walk anywhere in the city he/ she needs to go !!!!! Let’s get a grip on a bit of truth here performing duties for 6 square miles should largely be done from his office and no he should not need that nice jet or speed oat either !,,,,
How over the top filled with ego are each of the fools in office who permitted / voted for this It is time they find real jobs rather than pretend they are serving the public
Re item 2) website I saw just showed starting price for model 3 – 2022 edition at $44,000. A little more than half the $70,00.00 mentioned hmmmm where’d that extra cash go if not for upgrades?
Re item 3 ) apparently you don’t understand the tax money used to buy these vehicles came out of the pockets of residents. We all pay into AQMD that is why the board members are elected officers from our cities!!!!!!!
To suggest that the experienced and educated “worker” that is hired as city manager can not afford his/her own vehicle would suggest their experience and education is actually more deserving the minimum wage position rather than the are you flipping kidding nearly $300,000 salary he received in 2020.
People of Gardena wake up your users seem to be in competition with Inglewood’s users to see who can get the most from low mod residents by lack of transparency, misrepresentation and throwing jazz parties.