The Remaining Members Of The Sierra Madre Police Department Want You To Raise Your Utility Taxes

You may have received some literature in the mail yesterday from the Sierra Madre Police Association. It wasn't from the Police Department itself because that would not have been legal. Government agencies are not allowed to sing for their supper quite like that. Rather it is from the police union and apparently they dug pretty deep into their funds to send this stuff out. This mailing was hardly made up of paper run off on the office Xerox.

And as you can see from the quote from Officer Ken Berry, the Sierra Madre Police Association really does love and care for you. Except when half of its members quit and go elsewhere for more dough. Then the depth of their caring isn't quite as deep as claimed by the President of the Sierra Madre Police Association.

Here is the rest of Ken Berry's pitch.


Personally I'd think a Police Department that is only half-staffed due to so many of its members quitting on this town would represent a far bigger threat to the "welfare of our homes, our loved ones and our families" than bringing in the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. And for the SMPA to claim that they are "vital to the safety and security of you and your loved ones" when they can't even muster up enough cops to patrol the city's streets after sundown? That really is a bit of a stretch.

The big question is can you really depend on these guys? Especially after so many have left this city that they can't even perform the most basic 24/7 responsibilities of a police department without the aid of the far better equipped LA County Sheriffs?

They must think most Sierra Madrean's are not all that smart.

Preserve Sierra Madre's e-mail yesterday

Two big events are coming up on the city election calendar, with one of them being mere hours from this typing. Here is what they had to say:

Dear Supporters:
As we all know, there will be an important election in Sierra Madre on April 12, 2016.  There are three candidates running for two positions on the City Council: Mayor John Capoccia, Councilman John Harabedian, and Barry Gold running as a write-in candidate.

In keeping with our previous policy from the last election, Preserve Sierra Madre will not be making an endorsement in this election. However, we care deeply about preserving our "village of the foothills" and hope that the good citizens of Sierra Madre elect the two candidates who would most support our philosophy. That being said, there are many other important issues facing Sierra Madre including the Utility Users Tax. As with the selection of City Council candidates, we will not be making a recommendation with regard to the Utility Users Tax either and everyone should decide for themselves the impact on preservation with its passage or denial.

There are two upcoming candidate forums that you may want to attend. As many of you know, we have identified a possible housing project at Mater Dolorosa as one of the biggest threats facing Sierra Madre over the next few years.  We also want to make sure that whoever is elected will uphold the new and improved General Plan and the updates that continue to be made to the Municipal Code to bring it in line with the General Plan.

The next candidates forums are as follows:

Sierra Madre Woman's Club
Thursday, March 10th from 5:30 - 7:30 pm
626-355-4379

Kiwanis Club
March 15th at 11:30 am
626-355-0728

We would encourage you to attend one or both of these forums so that you can make an informed decision as to who will best represent you over the next few years.

Thank you for your support.

Steering Committee
Preserve Sierra Madre
Ask yourself this. Out of those three candidates, which is the one that you think would be the most steadfast in helping to defend this town from mansionization? You might want to get out to these events and let your feelings about this matter be known.

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