Deception

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Deception

After the League of Women Voters Candidates Forum and seeing a double page ad for Sojka, I think that there is the need to set the record straight, especially since Steve Sojka claims to be setting the record straight, but instead is being deceptive. Once a person lies to you, how can you trust anything else that they say? What if they admit to saying anything in order to get elected?

Crime Rates

The incumbentsm, Steve Sojka specifically, are pushing that the crime rates are down from 20 years ago and that the current crime rate is lower than in 2003. The reality is that the crime rate from 2009 is higher than it was from 1998 to 2002. It is also true that the crime rate from 2003 to 2009 is higher than it was from 1998 to 2002. Also, the incumbents claim that they have no tolerance for criminal activity, except when it comes to the theft of signs of those running against them.

EVerify

I am sure that the current Council wants the EVerify issue to just go away, but their lack of action on the matter shows that there is a problem with the Council. EVerify was brought up, but the Council did nothing other than to decide to wait and see. Based on what I have seen and heard, there was no "in-depth review" being done. Look at the letter that Mayor Miller wrote to The Acorn in Simi Valley. It was very clear that they did not want to do anything and in fact did not get the real issue. While they claim that it is not accurate, the ONLY real issue is the false negatives. The Council was forced into passing something because the community demanded it and it because a political issue for them do to their lack of action. Michelle Foster tried to claim at the Council meeting that it would be too expensive to implement because of the auditing requirements, but there is NO additional auditing requirements.

The Council also showed that they were just followers, rather than leaders, by attacking Mr. Huber and others and trying to justify their lack of action because others had not implemented it. They jumped on bogus numbers, such as the number of cities using it (actually unknown as a web search only found 15 or so cities advertising that they use it) and the claim that only 2 jobs were saved for US legal workers. It is unknown how many illegal workers did not apply because EVerify was in use. The fact is that EVerify is free and is a good check of the already required documents.

Council Compensation & Glen Becerra

Glen Becerra said in a talk on VoteSimiValley.com that if the public wanted the Council to not have all the benefits that they would get rid of it. Where is the deception? Well, it is deception because so far Glen Becerra has done nothing to allow the public to speak out on the issue, either on the ballot or at the least at a Council meeting. To me, it is dishonest to make such a statement and then do nothing to give the people the opportunity to make their feelings known.

Farmers Insurance Relocation

While a representative from Farmers stated at a Council meeting that it was a business decision, the real question is why was the training facility decided to be placed in Westlake Village. I am sure that Farmers does not want to say anything which would annoy those in power because they are still in Simi Valley and might need something. It is deceptive to try to ignore all of the issues.

Landfill Expansion

The Landfill expansion has been known for several years and on 30-Aug-2010 the Council finally decided to talked to WM about it, a few months before it will go before the Ventura County Planning Commission and the Ventura Board of Supervisors. Only Barbra Williamson has been talking about the expansion. Why has the Council waited so long? I have heard rumors that there are backroom discussions going on to see what they can get for themselves. I have no idea if that is true or not, but what I do know is that the Council should have started talking when the expansion first came up. Steve Sojka is trying to claim that the Council is doing something, but the fact is that for years they have not had any public discussions in the matter and only recently have decided that they should talk to WM.

Barbra Williamson stated on VoteSimiValley.com that if the expansion was approved that there would be 600 more truck trips per day, but the problem with that is that is not possible since it is listed that there is around 500 truck trips currently and that the expansion would allow for around 70 more truck trip, but still less than 900 per day. Barbra Williamson has been on the Council around 18 years and has quite a bit of experience, so when she says "Candidates are going to say what you want to hear"", I tend to believe that is true for herself and those that she knows. It is not true for me and she does not know me. She also said that politicians have egos the size of the room that they are in, including herself. As a side note, anytime I caught her making false statements on VoteSimiValley.com, should would resort to childish comments in order to deflect the conversion

I asked Barbra Williamson if the Simi Valley Landfill Task Force had a web page, so that people could see all of the issues that they were raising. She said that it was too expensive. I responded that there were cheap places to have a web page. She said that she did not have time. I responded that she could get someone else to do it. She said "shoo". It is clear that she does not want to write down what they want as then it would be easy to catch her false statements. I have heard rumors that there are those what are trying to get something for themselves in order to approve the expansion. I tend to believe that since the Council has failed to have any public discussions on the matter.

I have asked the question of those who are against the expansion what their specific issues are, but so far I have not received any honest responses. I personally think that many have been deceived into thinking that the expansion is something other than it is. For example, one of the "negative" issues of the expansion in the DEIR is the creation of new jobs. This is because of the claim that new jobs mean a need for more houses and more recreation facilities. What it neglects to consider is that if there are unemployed workers in Simi Valley, then there is NO need for additional housing or recreation. If a person commutes to work there, then, again, there is no need for additional housing or recreation. Under this concept, it is best to keep the Farmers building vacant as less jobs are better. It just does not make sense.

Glen Becerra Higher Political Office

Ok, this is marginal in terms of deception, but Glen Becerra says that he wants to be a Council member, but admited that he is waiting his opportunity to seek higher political office. At least he admitted what he really wants, which is not to just be a City Council Member. He just does not say that all the time since it would negatively affect his ability to get re-elected.

Attacks against the Community

One thing that bothers me is the constant claim that if people don't attend a Council meeting, then they have no right to complain about what the Council is doing. If everyone has to go to every Council meeting, then we should just get rid of the Council. I think that people should speak out, but I think that it is dishonest to attack the public if they do not attend.

Index for Save Simi Valley

Written: 08-Dec-2010

Updated: 08-Dec-2010

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