Dear Neighbor,
Now that our numbers have grown beyond what we may have hoped for, please sign up for our FREE newsletter here so we can update you personally on the progress with reporting all infractions to the DA, Grand Jury and AG.
In the meantime, read today's update brought to you by our local paper that has so deftly covered the insanity of yielding to blackmail over Valet Parking. Again.
Simply Held Hostage --OJAI VALLEY NEWS UPDATE March 2, 2023
BY Laura Rearwin Ward (because we couldn't have done a better job explaining the idiocy of allow petty tyranny that's strangling Ojai City Council.)
A crisis in ethics is occurring in Ojai as we observe a relatively small group using tools of our government to hold City Hall hostage. The conflict-of-interest crisis came into focus again during the Feb. 28 Ojai City Council meeting when councilmembers took up the non-issue of valet parking.
Exempted from the current discussion are the Ojai Valley Inn and El Roblar Hotel valet operations because they are existing and therefore exempt from any future ordinance. Since Ojai’s Planning Commission reviews and rules on all new parking plans, and there are no current permit applications for valet parking awaiting review, how did this nonsense item make it to the top of the council to-do list? What were they talking about?
Leslie Hess, officer of the Simply Ojai organization, who was also Mayor Betsy Stix’s campaign treasurer, is suing the city of Ojai and its clerk, Cynthia Burrell, for rejecting her submission of signatures on a valet parking ban referendum because it was improperly filed.
Ojai City Attorney Matthew Summers explained to the council: “The settlement that’s on the table, as proposed and under consideration — if the council adopts an ordinance that plaintiffs (Leslie Hess) then accept, they would then dismiss the lawsuit.”
The council was given three choices:
1. Take no action, stand up against the lawsuit, and risk further financial exposure.
2. Create an ordinance to ban valet parking, so Ms. Hess will drop her lawsuit.
3. Approve the improperly filed petition and pay for a special election on a valet parking ban, so Ms. Hess will drop her lawsuit.
What Mr. Summers didn’t explain to the council were the consequences for failing to stand up to bullies.
The consequences of kowtowing to Simply Ojai:
1. Setting a precedent that after $15,000 in expenses (cost to the city for the lawsuit, to date), the city will give away its power, and cave to any demand, no matter how nonsensical.
2. The city encourages Tom Francis, representative of Simply Ojai, that when he stands up next time at the city lectern threatening the city about a referendum, he is most likely to prevail.
3. The city and its taxpayers become a target for future political-conflict entrepreneurs and opportunists.
Why is city staff so anxious to negotiate? Ms. Hess may or may not decide to pursue the lawsuit if the council stands up to her. Her lawsuit may or may not prevail in court. If the city loses, it will pay to provide an election to ban valet parking — something that will not affect any current business operation.
To date, Mayor Betsy Stix publicly affirms she has no conflict of interest with her relationship with Simply Ojai representatives. Though Mayor Stix is obligated to defend the city against them, she has admitted to taking advice from Simply Ojai attorney Sabrina Venskus, on behalf of the city, resulting in the retention of an attorney of Venskus’ choice at taxpayer expense. (The amount of the contract is still being withheld from the public by the City of Ojai.)
Mayor Stix has also forwarded confidential information to Mr. Francis and Ms. Hess from City Attorney Summers, regarding matters against Simply.
Part of the ethical bind faced by Mayor Stix and Councilmember Rachel Lang is from The Levine Act (SB1439) on “Pay-to-Play”' — going into effect Jan. 1, 2024 — that forbids elected officials from being a part of decisions that involve a person who contributed more than $250 to their campaigns. Mayor Stix has received eight times that amount in contributions from Ms. Hess, who was her campaign treasurer.
Councilmember Lang, with $500 in contributions from Ms. Hess, nearly recused herself at the Feb. 28 meeting, when she said: “One way that we can avoid this whole question about, you know, shadow government or collusion or anything is by actually having a parking study ....” What is legally wrong next year is surely a matter of ethics this year.
Who is defending the city from blackmail, the farmer or the foxes? This ordinance in search of a problem can only serve as a campaign bullet point in a false narrative or an I-told-you-so from Mr. Francis. If this council majority — Mayor Stix, and Councilmembers Andrew Whitman and Lang — takes action on a ban on valet parking to appease Simply Ojai, the public will gain another view into who is operating the curtain at City Hall’s — lately nationally famous — theater.
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