Inglewood voters will take to polls to decide the fate of our City as they decide whether to return the incumbents to their respective seats.
The candidates up for Inglewood Unified School District are insignificant, in my opinion, because they do nothing to support residents who want to know what’s going on in the schools are more importantly use their voices to stop school closures.
We saw them all decline to speak publicly about the closure of Warren Lane Elementary school but can always count on seeing their faces in photo ops, or attending education conferences on the taxpayers dime.
If you are undecided on who to vote for WRITE IN YOUR OWN NAME!
Councilmember Alex Padilla is the most liked member of the Inglewood government as he is personable and is always seen with his wife Estella. They are always warm and welcoming in public, even to this author.
Despite his revelation that the council always unanimously votes in favor of projects, whether they agree behind closed doors or not, is troublesome because residents get the feeling they aren’t voting how residents want but rather how the mayor wants them to.
Councilmember George Dotson is the weakest link of the incumbents. He is visibly in declining health as he routinely veers off track when giving closing comments during council meetings and when asked pointed questions from members of the public he responds “he leaves it up to a higher authority”.
Dotson was a long-time member of the City’s Planning Commission who didn’t approve any significant project until James Butts became the mayor.
Dotson was a small business owner in Los Angeles who was regularly paid out of the Inglewood Police Department’s asset forfeiture funds to replace and/or repair flooring throughout the City.
He ran unsuccessfully for city council multiple times before the mayor pumped tens of thousands of dollars into Dotson’s 2013 campaign against then incumbent Mike Stevens.
Dotson was also publicly reprimanded by the California Fair Political Practices Commission for not properly reporting free tickets he received from the Los Angeles Rams.
Mayor Butts is also paying a hefty sum to have a Hollywood actor read a script practically begging voters to reelect Dotson to the council.
District 1 residents appear poised to replace him with one of his challengers.
Finally, Mayor Butts is campaigning for his life, understanding there is a large number of residents who are fed up with him.
Despite his campaign slogan of “promises kept, results you can see” residents are fed up with his arrogance and ego that he displays when residents question what is going on in the City or how he “gets s*** done”.
The mayor has cost Inglewood taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuits ranging from his driving a city owned vehicle into multiple motorists and nearly killing an LAPD motor officer and also for him sleeping with a subordinate.
Had the mayor not been an elected official, and still working in the capacity as either the chief of police in Santa Monica or at the LAX Airports as an executive, he would have been reprimanded for his behavior which could have led to his termination.
As an elected official, only the residents can fire him.
Butts has had tremendous personal success since his election in 2011 at the expense of Inglewood residents.
He has turned the City into an episode of the ‘Haves and Have nots’ pitting renters against homeowners as who has the right to control the destiny of the nearly 100,000 residents who call Inglewood “home”.
Butts’ radio campaigns tout the City’s rent control ordinance being capped at 3% but he had to be forced to do so.
Butts took away the residents right to control their destiny when he and the council unilaterally denied residents the right to vote on whether an NFL stadium was dropped in the middle of the City with us having to “deal” with it.
We also have no say in whether the NBA arena was approved and there will be mass casualties of small businesses should the City find the remaining billion dollars to build the Inglewood Transit Connector.
There’s a LOT on the line with today’s election results.
Inglewood also has to decide on LA County ballot Measure A which gives the board of supervisors the authority to remove the elected Sheriff for “cause” and if current Sheriff Alex Villanueva should receive a second term.
We contacted County Registrar/Clerk Dean Logan on Oct. 29 to determine how many ballots have been returned by Inglewood residents.
“The count for returned ballots in the City of Inglewood is 3,657. Countywide, 433,152 as of Friday, Oct 28,” replied Logan.
There are 62,545 registered voters in Inglewood with 22,433 of them being identified as those voting permanently by mail.
How tragic.
