Category: Informative

City Council Candidate Questionnaire

by cynmrom, posted in #NoBanNoWall, Environment, Huddle Meetings, Informative, Local Elections, Uncategorized

In August, the HB Huddle Local Elections Team and Steering Team developed a questionnaire for Huntington Beach City Council candidates. The questionnaire was sent to all 15 candidates running for HB City Council. We received responses from seven candidates. The following are their unedited answers to our questions. Their answers are presented here in alphabetical order.

As advocates for informed voting, we hope these responses will educate community members about city issues and where the candidates stand on those issues. The election is coming up on Nov. 6, 2018 and voters will be able to vote for up to four City Council candidates.

1) How would you create affordable housing in our city? Does high density housing fit into those plans? If so where can this type of housing be built?

Kim Carr: READ MORE

Barbara Delgleize: READ MORE

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick: Read More

Shayna Lathus:Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More

 

2) Where do you stand on Regional Housing Needs Assessment issues?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick:Read More

Shayna Lathus:Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More

 

3) What is your plan to regulate assisted living and sober living facilities in our city?

Kim Carr:Read More

Darren Elllis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick: Read More

Shayna Lathus: Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More

 

4) Do you support the establishment of a city sponsored homeless shelter? Why or why not?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick:Read More

Shayna Lathus:Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More


 
5) Per the city website the last Infrastructure Report was completed in 2000. How will you make infrastructure planning a priority?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick: Read More

Shayna Lathus: Read More


 
6) Going beyond the Poseidon controversy, how can the city work with OCWD and what can the city do towards comprehensive management of our water resources?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick:Read More

Shayna Lathus: Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More


 

7) Sea level rise is threatening our coast. What steps can the city take to forestall this problem?
Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick: Read More

Shayna Lathus: Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More


 

8) Do you support adopting the Community Choice Energy Program? Why or why not?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick: Read More

Shayna Lathus: Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More

 

9) What is your plan for abatement of traffic congestion?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick:Read More

Shayna Lathus: Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More


 

10) What is your plan for abating airport noise?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick:Read More

Shayna Lathus:Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More


 

11) What role does the city play in maintaining our wetlands?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick: Read More

Shayna Lathus: Read More

Billy O’Connell:Read More


 

12) What other ideas do you have for making Huntington Beach the greenest city in the county?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick: Read More

Shayna Lathus: Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More


 

13) Do you support having cannabis dispensaries in the city? Why or why not?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick: Read More

Shayna Lathus: Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More


 

14) Do you support SB 54? Why or why not?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis:Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick:Read More

Shayna Lathus: Read More


 

15) What plans do you have to manage pension liabilities?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick: Read More

Shayna Lathus: Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More


 

16) What are your top budget priorities and why?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis:Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick: Read More

Shayna Lathus: Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More


 

17) The recent Janus decision may affect the city’s agency shop agreement with the Huntington Beach Municipal Employees’ Association. What are your plans for this eventuality?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick: Read More

Shayna Lathus: Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More


 

18) How do you plan to stay in touch with your constituents?

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick: Read More

Shayna Lathus:Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More


 

19) Please comment on other issues that are important to you.

Kim Carr: Read More

Barbara Delgleize: Read More

Darren Ellis: Read More

Amory Hanson: Read More

Dan Kalmick: Read More

Billy O’Connell: Read More

April City Council Meeting Recap

by cynmrom, posted in #NoBanNoWall, Environment, Events, Huddle Meetings, Informative, Local Elections, Uncategorized
This week City Council members Mike Posey and Erik Peterson used their non-partisan offices to seek national political attention, when they led the council to a 6-1 vote to have the City Attorney file a lawsuit, and work with other municipalities, to challenge SB-54 the “Sanctuary State” bill. Read the full Daily Pilot article here.
BUT the council also voted to extend the organic turf management pilot program in Central Park. This is the next step towards making our public spaces free of toxins by using holistic turf management methods instead of chemicals. 
_______________________________________

City Council meeting videos are part of the public domain. Here is a clip of four community members speaking out. You can also watch the full video on the City of Huntington Beach website (if you have trouble viewing the video on the city website try using Chrome as your browser). Council Members responses take place around 4 hours and 25 minutes into the video.

 

“I’ve been coming to these meeting throughout my life, and I am repeatedly told that we have limited resources and limited funds…I’m appalled, as a tax payer, that you want to take my tax dollars to litigate something that is already being litigated at a much higher level.”

-Cathey R., HB resident since 1985

 

 

 

“I understand the concerns of some members of the community about the impact SB 54 may have on crime and legality of the of the law. However, repeated academic studies have shown that having immigrants – both documented and undocumented – actually DECREASES crime in a community. I work as a data analyst and have a Masters from Oxford University with an emphasis in statistics, so I know data. Recent academic studies have shown that being a sanctuary county has positive impacts on communities. In addition to increased economic benefits, there are, on average, 35.5 fewer crimes committed per 10,000 people in sanctuary counties compared to nonsanctuary counties. This is largely due to the fact that there is increased trust between immigrants and law enforcement, so they are more likely to report crime and cooperate in investigations.”

-Aubrey R., HB Huddle #NoBanNoWall Team (here’s a link to her sources)

 

“I think there are more of us who are compassionate, who think and who will vote, then there are the hateful ones….be weary of how you vote tonight because your political futures definitely depend on it.”

-Bill M., Orange County resident

 

 

 

 

 

“Our country is so tribal right now, you can feel it in the room, there’s so much fear and there’s so much divisiveness and it’s sad to see city officials wanting to stir that up in their hometown… I hope we can get away from that in the future…”

-Cynthia R., 3rd generation Huntington Beach resident

 

 

 

Here are some key numbers:
-1 City Council Member, Jill Hardy (D), opposed the lawsuit
-$53,000: the estimated cost of continuing the turf management pilot program in Central park, which was approved 7-0.
-70+ postcards delivered to City Officials thanks to the HB Huddle Environment Team
-30+ Huddlers and local activists: the approximate number of folks present at Council Chambers on Monday
-13 Huddlers stayed in Council Chambers after 10:00 PM for the Toxic Free HB agenda item
-6+ hours: the amount of hours Huddlers spent in council chambers

Jump-start Your Advocacy in 2018

by cynmrom, posted in Huddle Meetings, Informative

If you missed our last big Huddle meeting back in November, we have an excellent video of Ana Gonzalez from Planned Parenthood discussing the upcoming Woman’s March and other local advocacy efforts. Here’s the link https://youtu.be/It7mNPHQEqI.

img_0731.jpgOur Women’s Rights Team also presented a $480 check to the Planned Parenthood Community Action Fund from the sales of their “Silence is NOT an Option” t-shirts.

 

We had our first Steering Team meeting of the year on Tuesday Jan. 2, 2018.

Here are the full Steering Team Meeting Minutes: HB Huddle Steering Meeting 1_2_2018-2

Here are some updates:

1 –  The Oak View Youth Soccer League will be our next Community Partner for February, March and April.

2 – The Communications Team is looking for someone to manage the HB Huddle Facebook Fan Page please email admin@hbhuddle.com if you can help. The Steering Team voted to approve funding to upgrade our website.

3 – The Debate Planning Team has been hard at work and the event is sold out. Final logistics will take place next week. Each Action Team will have a table and are encouraged to have materials for attendees. Funds were released to cover all expenses. Huddle t-shirts will be available and pre-orders for Huddle Hoodies will be taken at the debate.

4 – The Healthcare Team is working on the February Huddle. We plan to have a celebration of our 1 year anniversary. Plans for our March Huddle have not been finalized but the Environment Team is in the process of securing speakers for the April Huddle. Carden has been booked for our February, March and April Huddle meetings.

5 – The Local Elections Team members will use Eventbrite to sell tickets for a bus ride to the OC Women’s March on January 20. Here’s a link. Our organization has also been registered for the Women’s March.

6 – Reminders for Huddle Attendance at HB City Council meetings was given. The goal is to have five to six Huddle members in the audience with Action Teams taking the lead on the following months:

January: Local Elections (Tuesday Jan. 16, 2018 moved for Martin Luther King Day)

February: Healthcare (Monday Feb. 5th  & Tues. Feb. 20th moved for Presidents’ Day)

March: #NoBanNoWall (Monday Mar. 5th & Mar. 19th)

April: Women’s Rights (Monday April 2 & April 16)

May: Environment (Monday May 7 & May 21)

7- The next  Steering Team meeting will be January 23 at 6:30 pm at Cathey’s. Topics will include March Huddle format, how Huddle will present down ballot candidates and how we’ll structure Huddle meetings during election cycles.

ACLU People Power Update

by cynmrom, posted in Informative
On March 11th the HB Huddle held a “Resistance Training Event” to launch the ACLU’s new platform PeoplePower.org. One of the first orders of business from the ACLU was to set up a meeting with local law enforcement. Last Monday May 8 a small committee of volunteers met with HB Police Chief Handy.
Below are some notes from the meeting. The next step is for the group to meet again. If you’d like to be added to the email list contact Cynthia: cynmrom at yahoo.com
NOTES:
Purpose of Meeting:
The ACLU has asked us to become more aware of immigrants’ rights under constitutional law and find out what our city’s police department is doing in relation to enforcing immigration laws and working with ICE (the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement). We are concerned that the immigrant community has become afraid and intimidated by recent actions against immigrants. This makes our community less safe as members of the immigration community are afraid to report crimes or go to the police.
The ACLU has given out Nine “Model” State and Local Law Enforcement Policies and Rules to use in discussions with local law enforcement which we used as the basis of our discussions with Chief Handy.
Chief Handy gave us information on his background working with immigrant communities in the past. He previously worked in Phoenix, Arizona policing the West side of Phoenix which includes immigrant communities. He is used to balancing local policing and ICE. While he said that the HBPD has room to grow, he feels that the police department has been effective in policing the Oak View Community in Huntington Beach. As far as questioning local residents about their immigration status his policy is “Don’t ask, don’t care”. In some instances, the HBPD is required to work with the federal government. He does not believe that it is proper to over regulate and over react due to politician’s statements. The goal for the HBPD is to operate professionally and stay out of politics.
Model Policies and Rules
  1. The Judicial Warrant Rule
The ACLU has its own interpretation of the Constitution and local attorneys and cities have their own view. HBPD does not detain anyone solely on the basis of immigration status. In the case of a criminal investigation immigration status does get entangled, for example, in the case of cross border relationships involved in drug and other felony crimes. 
We also discussed how ICE is identified as they frequently have clothing printed with “Police” on the back the same as for police department personnel. Per Chief Handy, this is a universal symbol used by all types of officers to identify themselves as legal officers so they are not mistaken as someone making illegal entries into homes, etc. Per Chief Handy, there is agreement among California Law Enforcement that ICE officers should never pose as police officers or try to make others think they are police officers.
The HBPD does not honor ICE requests to detain undocumented immigrants illegally.
The HBPD operates under the Trust and Truth Acts which are California laws.
  1. No Facilitation Rule
Chief Handy stated that he would not say they had never done this because under some circumstances a judicial warrant is not needed, but that would be if there is reason to believe someone may have committed a crime. Resources in Huntington Beach have been used at times to support ICE. These resources are not directly reimbursed but there are times when ICE will do things to help HBPD. There are limits to HBPD working with ICE as HBPD has declined to assist in any sweeps or round ups as these actions would lower the public’s trust in the HBPD. The HBPD follows policies for California in the Lexipol Policy System.
  1. Defined Access/Interview Rule
HBPD does not deny ICE access to the jail. If ICE wants to interview a prisoner regarding immigration status, the prisoner must sign a form to give permission for the interview. HBPD lets them know of their rights. Prisoners are usually in the HBPD jail for 12 hours or less. The prisoners are taken to the Orange County jail where they receive a medical clearance and they remain there until they are arraigned or there is other court action. The new local prosecutor does not affect where a prisoner is jailed.
  1. Clear Identification Rule
ICE must wear identification in the jail. They must be there for a specific purpose or to see a specific person in the jail, and must be part of a criminal investigation. ICE should not uses ruses when they talk to immigrants.
  1. Don’t Ask Rule
Officers are trained not to ask about immigration status although an immigrant might offer what their status is when talking to an officer during a criminal investigation. Chief Handy said that he did not know of a single instance where an officer had inquired about immigration status since he has been on the HBPD. 
  1. Privacy Protection Rules
HBPD never does this. Most prisoners are out of the jail within 12 hours. 
  1. Discriminatory Surveillance Prohibition Rule
HBPD follows the Trust Act and Truth Act. These kinds of actions are never done.
  1. Redress Rule
Complaints can be made to the Police Department or City Council. The results are given to the initiator of the complaint but not what the form of discipline is. The HBPD is in the process of getting body cameras. There are now 50 body cameras. 
  1. Fair and impartial policing rule
HBPD would not do this as it is unconstitutional. Officers are trained not to ask about immigration status.