Tonight's City Council Meeting Is Loaded With Excitement

A California Songbird

I covered the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department versus the Sierra Madre Police Department issue pretty much to death. It certainly was a fun enough ride, but there isn't much left to be said until after tonight's meeting. I do expect we'll have some additional key insights later this evening.

Gave some similar treatment to the Steve-O Salisian Affair yesterday. I suspect it will end up just like we want it to, though I will be keeping a jaundiced yellow eyeball on that as well. After all, you never really know how these things are going to turn out. It's like Bingo. Sometimes even the most unworthy of all those in attendance gets to take home the antiqued bronze lamp with the Songbirds of California lampshade on it. No matter how many cards you buy, life isn't always fair.

There is one other topic on tonight's City Council agenda that is fraught with anxiety and controversy. For some, anyway. It includes the following staff report information on the possible consequences of getting rid of utility taxes in Sierra Madre altogether.

As you might already know, the petition to get a "Stop the Utility Users' Tax" initiative on the ballot ran afoul of various Los Angeles County bureaucracies. They did not dig it very much because the county also gets to wet its beak in Sierra Madre's UUT take. It isn't only City Hall that gets to order Foothill Village sweet green cash cocktails.

The upshot being that first petition the utility tax fighters submitted to LA County got tossed out for being one valid signature short. And by the time the second one was turned in it was too late to get a Stop the UUT ballot initiative on April's ballot.

As it stands now we might see this one in June, included along with the California Primary stuff. Or November with all of that infinitely annoying Presidential Election balderdash. It might even get pushed to 2018. Nobody knows that for certain yet, though I suspect the City Attorney has an opinion.

But that isn't what this evening's utility tax tango is all about. Rather this agenda item deals with what City Staff thinks will happen should their beloved utility taxes vanish altogether. Which, in their opinion at least, is tantamount to the apocalypse. Or at least having to possibly look for a new job.

Here is that agenda report. The only thing missing from it are predictions of plague locusts.


So that is basically it. Three rather huge items are happening tonight. I'm so excited I took Wednesday off from work so I can go to this meeting and stay right up until all of these momentous decisions have been made.

Or at least discussed. Of course, it could end up being just the usual jargon and process. Though I doubt it. I think the chairs are going to fly. In the metaphorical sense, anyway. As we all know, they are bolted to the floor.

Oh, one additional question. Will there be enough police officers present to insure that peace will be kept in Council Chambers?

Maybe they should bring in the Sheriffs for that as well.

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