Interesting Math

As most of you know, the Watcher is saddened by the cancellation of West Covina City Council meetings on Channel 55. According to city officials, it was due to budget cuts.

However, there was no attempt to kill Discover West Covina, the city's monthly newsletter that goes out to all residents. I have noted on this blog in the past that I would prefer to have the non-edited broadcasts of the meetings than the "Herfert Herald," which is loaded with warm and fuzzy Big League Dreams news and other fluff controlled by the city. Some call it propaganda.

An interesting tidbit, though: Discover West Covina probably costs more to produce than the airing of the Council meetings, according to one of my wonderful readers.

He or she says City Manager Andrew Pasmant stated the broadcasts cost about $150-180,000 a year to produce. However, nowhere have I heard how much it costs to publish the newsletter. So, our friend did some math for us, which is a good thing because the Watcher is not very good at the math. I have the lady in accounting balance my checkbook (I kid.) So, A. Williams is going to break it down for you:

The City manager also acknowledge[d] that the city publishes 35,000 copies of the Discover West Covina magazine every month.

If you conservatively estimate the cost of publishing the Discover West Covina @ approximately $1.75 + .41 postage=$2.16 each. or
35,000 X 2.16 X 12 montn=$907,200/yr.

The City Manager also indicated that they could cut back on the publication, with a 2/3 cut back there would still be a publishing cost $302,400

So... does anyone know how much it costs to publish and distribute the newsletter? If so, I would LOVE to know.

For Those About to Rock....

We Salute You!

And who, exactly, will be doing some rockin'?

That would be the Sangria Band and hopefully lots and lots of West Covina residents at the Summer Concerts in the Lakes Entertainment Center.

The city is kicking off the Summer Concerts TOMORROW at 7 p.m. Every Thursday until August 28, the city's Community Services Department promises another night of rock 'n' roll, but you'll have to get your sex and drugs elsewhere. Maybe Baldwin Park Unified Board Member Sergio Corona knows where.

This Thursday is the Sangria Band, followed by Opa Opa, Chico, Mariachi Divas, Proud Mary, The Answer, Cold Duck and Soul Sacrifice. Not in that order, though. More details are here.

I'm one of those lame people who go to a bunch of these summer concerts with my fold-out chair and blanket and kids. I used to hate those people. Now I'm one of them.

I'm just glad the summer concerts aren't going to be the latest casualty in the budget cuts.

Think Green

This post is Leftovers from City Hall got me thinking. No, I don't praise the council enough on the decisions it makes. In fact, I criticize more than anything else.

But, it did do something a while back that wasn't publicized too much, which considering the state of our planet at the moment, is a bit of a mystery to me, that I whole-heartedly agree with: going green.

As a hybrid driver himself, Mayor Pro Tem Roger Hernandez requested last year that the city create a policy where city purchases, including vehicles, are economically friendly.

It passed 4-0.

Congratulations, City Council. I should have gave you kudos a lot sooner, but I didn't have the blog then. Councilman Mike Touhey likes to think my sole purpose for the blog is to take swipes at the council. That's not entirely true.

It's just a fringe benefit.

Thanks, My Spies

The Watcher is in a bit of a pickle. Maybe just a little depressed.

As I've mentioned, the City Council meetings are no longer on TV or online, so, unless I go to the meetings, I have to rely on my readers to tell me what happened. "Why don't you just go to the meetings yourself, Watcher?"

Well, two reasons: My wife usually works late on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which leaves me with the kids.

Secondly, I don't want to run the risk of people figuring out who I am. The last thing I need is folks scanning the room for an unfamiliar face, and when they see this tall, lanky, pale guy with a goofy haircut and Don Johnson stubble, they'll go into attack mode and who knows what will happen next.

So, this is what I gathered from at least one reader: The city put the brakes on the much-touted golf course. Thank Jeebus! That would have cost a ton. But be wary: Big League Dreams was shelved once, too. That shelving was pushed by its biggest supporter, Steve Herfert, only to be dusted off when the City Council changed.

Secondly, there was some hub bub about vending machines. Councilman Roger Hernandez wanted to make sure city machines were filled with healthy stuff; Mike Touhey said the city shouldn't play Big Brother.

I know these two often have philosophical differences, but this difference, however, can be easily explained by a picture. In fact, a picture says a thousand words:

You guessed it, Touhey's the guy on the left, Hernandez on the right.

Far be it from me to criticize a person on his/her weight. But Touhey, himself, said for him a Mini Cooper would be "An expensive skateboard."

I like the idea, though, that the city of West Covina follow the lead of its neighbor, Baldwin Park, and stock vending machines with nutritious snacks. The reason this country is looking more and more like the fellow on the left is because we are always in a hurry. What better way to help curb this epidemic than to offer quick snacks to go that don't pile on the pounds?

While I'm in a "criticizing pictures" mood. Hernandez, dude, that grin is cheesier than a high school senior portrait. Take it down a notch.

On a side note, the ladies at Leftovers from City Hall are taking a beating lately, and I'm always up to defend them, despite the fact Jennifer McLain wrote a glowing story on Big League Dreams.

People are just nasty to them and all they are really doing is disseminating the news. I don't get half the flack they do and I'm a lot meaner and opinionated than them. I think they're doing a fine job. Keep it up, Ladies.

In closing, I'd like to thank my friends out there with their tips on everything from Satellite Radio to Budget Semantics.

Have a happy, and safe, Independence Day.

Oh, Moe!

Looks like Moe high-tailed it out of his home in Devore.

If you live in West Covina, and you don't know about Moe the Chimp, you haven't been paying attention these last 30 years or so.

Well, LaDonna and the badly mauled St. James Davis have been wanting Moe free for years. Now that he is, I wonder if they preferred him caged where they could regularly visit him?

Since Moe doesn't have any in-the-wild experience, I'm sure the Davises are desperate to find him. Unfortunately, I think finding the simian will be tough in the forest, but the best of luck to Moe and his human parents. Hopefully, the Davises don't file yet another lawsuit against the city for the latest chapter in the Moe Saga.

Disgusting

Although this didn't happen in West Covina, it is an incident that affects all of us: A student thought it "funny" to replace the names of people in the Black Student Union at Charter Oak High School in Covina with names like "Tay Tay Shaniqua," etc. in the yearbook.

What are these parents teaching their children, and how did this not get caught before the yearbooks were printed? The whole thing is vile and I hope the student responsible gets expelled and this incident is a permanent mark on his or her record. In fact, it should be considered as a form of vandalism and the student should be charged with defacing private property. Yearbooks are worth a lot of money. He or she should also be forced to apologize to each and every student hurt by this, including the students in the BSU and the yearbook staff who worked hard all year to have a product of which they could be proud.

We should all be outraged! Let's call for action!

Charter Oak High School is located at:

1430 E. Covina

Covina, CA 91724

Tel: (626) 915-5841

Semantics in City Hall

Remember in the flurry of '90s grunge bands there was this up-beat, hippy-like band called the Spin Doctors? They're biggest hit, "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" seems to be the only song I remember from that era.

According to VH1, the Spin Doctors have since broken up. So where are they now? My money is on them working behind the scenes at the city of West Covina.

We heard a lot the other night about budget cuts, but city officials were proud to tout the fact no full-time employees got the ax. As a reader pointed out to me in an e-mail, "There were people at the meeting that had been let go and Roger Hernandez was going to address their situation. The city brings up the fact that there were no full-time employees let go because of the cuts in the budget. They fail to disclose all of the part-time employees that were let go due to the cuts. I guess if you are not full-time then you are not really an employee of the city."

Why was this little fact not disclosed by anyone at city hall? The first I heard of it is when it was mentioned by Fred Sykes, and even then I did not know ALL the part-time employees were given the ax. I read the entire staff report and the layoffs were referred to as "personnel cuts." No mention of how many, from which departments and how long ago.

These are indeed tough economic times, but the city of West Covina is notorious for partial disclosure. Now that the meetings are no longer airing on cable or the Internets, it will be tough for the average resident to know what is going on, unless they subscribe to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, or regularly read this blog. **hint, hint**

By the way--while the live broadcasts are being cut, the city decided to keep milling out Discover West Covina, the monthly newsletter delivered to West Covina residents. Content is controlled by the city so it is very unlikely the absolute, pure truth will be added. It kinda reminds me of, oh I don't know, Cuba.

Speaking of which, the city's PIO, Sue Williams still has her job. What the hell does she do there anyway? I've rarely, if ever, seen her quoted in the newspaper, and I'm sure the fluffy stories she probably pitches go ignored. How much does she make, and how much does that newsletter cost? I'm sure we could keep the uncensored stuff streaming and on TV if we got rid of those things.

I'm not hating on newsletters, do-hardly-anything Public Information Officers, or good news from the city. But really, if I read one more fluff piece about that goddamn $50 million Big League Dreams ballpark, I'm going to vomit. Speaking of which, has the city looked into grants to pay for that monstrosity? My guess is no, but that's just a guess. All of that development that popped up along Azusa Avenue, including the Target, Home Depot, is going STRAIGHT to BLD, where I'm sure sales tax revenue could be better spent on police, fire, jobs and other parks that you could use for free.

The argument against that, however, is those commercial entities wouldn't be there if not for BLD. I'll call bullshit on that. It's in a prime location on probably the busiest street in the San Gabriel Valley. I'm sure Target and Home Depot would have taken interest regardless of the presence of the pay-to-play ballpark.

Well, it's too late to grumble about it now, but unfortunately I have this vision. My vision is that episode of The Simpsons when Bart gets his license, rents a car and he and his buddies are psyched to got to the World Fair in Knoxville, and when they finally arrive... ghost town.

I'm just sayin'.