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minutes 12-08-99Page 18 of 31
<br />said, you’re in the wrong zoning. You’re in a RA, residential and agriculture. That’s when he said, well, I’m going to get it
<br />changed.
<br />Then I get back to the Planning Department. They knew nothing about this new zoning law that had been processed. So, we
<br />waited on that, and we waited on that. Well, to make a long story short. I mean it’s a long story. It took four years to get rid
<br />of that wrecking yard – four long years, and by that time, a guy over here, on another street over, was putting in another
<br />wrecking yard. So, this is when I thought, okay, I’ve told them how to do it. Now, it’s up to them to get rid of it. And all this
<br />time, the guy was from Tonga, and he knew that I was the head of the trying to get rid of him. He had people working for
<br />him, and I’d go down the road, and you’d have these guys go by me and flip me off and try to run me off of the road. But, I
<br />didn’t give up. That long story, it went on for four years.
<br />But anyway, the zoning law that I showed them how to do, it did go through. They
<br />started charging them by the week. They had a huge bill against the property, but then, like I say, the guy that owned it in the
<br />first place, had the legal on it, he dispersed and he didn’t have to do anything because he had mortgaged it up to the hilt and
<br />just walked off. So then, the bank took it over and they got the bank, and the bank come in and cleaned that thing beautiful,
<br />and got rid of 150 cars and cleaned up the oil, the trash, and everything.
<br />Nobody seems to know what the other person is doing in this government. Like I say, my wife worked in Finance and
<br />Treasury, and she knows how it’s done there. I know how it’s done in the Building Departments. I know how it’s done in
<br />Planning Department, Public Works, you name it. These people have meetings, you know, they all get together and have
<br />meetings, and they let one another know what’s going on, what’s going on. And each department head has a meeting once a
<br />week, and they get their group together. I told the Planning Director, I says, don’t you people have meetings and let whoever
<br />you’ve got working for you, let you know what’s going on? No, no, we don’t do that. I said, you should get yourself
<br />informed. Be informed, and get yourself informed. Well, it’s just one of those things that just ground the hell out of me.
<br />You were talking about the Police Department a while ago. Isn’t that what that was?
<br />RAY: The Police Department and the Police Commission.
<br />J. OTTERSON: And the Police Commission. If that would have been in Riverside, it would have never happened. They
<br />would have never, never got that far. They wouldn’t have all these suits and everything. It wouldn’t have ever got that far.
<br />The Police Commissioner and the Manager would’ve got together, because that Manager, he is the boss. He is the boss of the
<br />Police, the whole damn works. The only ones he’s not the boss of is - you still have the Mayor and the Council. The Council
<br />is the boss of him.
<br />I was just looking through your Charter here, and the qualifications of a Mayor are nothing. It’s right here. I’ll tell you what
<br />he has to do, powers and duties. ‘The Mayor shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the County vested with all the executive
<br />powers of the County except as otherwise provided by this Charter. The Mayor shall have the power to exercise direct
<br />supervision over all agencies enumerated in this Article, and other agencies as the Mayor may deem desirable. Through the
<br />Managing Director, supervise and coordinate all executive agencies of the County except as otherwise provided by this
<br />Charter’. Now, how are you going to get some guy, maybe he’s had a little business or something, and he wants to be the
<br />Mayor, and I’m the Mayor, and I got the power. Maybe he wants that, but for somebody to run a multi-million dollar
<br />business, that you can practically pick off of the street, I don’t understand that.
<br />RAY: Well, the Mayor of New York City, for instance -
<br />J. OTTERSON Pardon me? But, they still have a Manager.
<br />RAY: Well, they do, and so do we, under our Charter, but I don’t think there are any more qualifications for the Mayor of
<br />New York City, probably, than there are in our Charter.
<br />J. OTTERSON: Well, you have a Mayor here. You’d have a Mayor. Like I said, I don’t have any vendetta against this
<br />Mayor, or anything like that. I know, you’ve told me before, that this Mayor’s doing a fine job. But how can he do a fine job?
<br />How can he come in and do all of these things, fresh off of the farm, or whatever? How can he come in without getting all the
<br />Directors together and ask the Director, gee, I’m kind of new at this. Could you help me out? And believe me, that’s the way
<br />it goes. And, okay, this Director hasn’t really been doing a good job as it is, but he’s going to follow that Director, right? You
<br />don’t have to answer that. You don’t have to answer that. And, that goes with all the Directors. So, they’ve been here for
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