(Oct. 6, 2008) -- Charging that parts of Mayor Bob Foster's public presentations haven't been factual, and that City Hall's proposed property parcel tax permits "budgetary money laundering" in which city officials can shift currently budgeted infrastructure sums to other purposes while using the tax to backfill, former LB Redevelopment Agency Boardmember Terry Jensen has urged the defeat of Measure I in November...and moving promptly to put a pared down measure drafted with public input on a subsequent ballot.

Addressing roughly thirty people at a Sunday afternoon (Oct. 5) meeting of the North Long Beach Community Action Group, Mr. Jensen was followed by Kathy Ryan and Tom Stout, co-founders of the LB Taxpayers Association. Ms. Ryan indicated that she agrees with much of what Mr. Jensen said and the pair spoke about the city's pension obligations.

LBReport.com, which provided on-demand audio coverage of Mayor Foster's Sept. presentation to the Wrigley Association (linked on our front page), provides on-demand audio of Mr. Jensen's presentation below.

Some transcribed excerpts:

• Mr. Jensen: I'm not running for anything...I have absolutely nothing to gain by opposing this measure, and perhaps have some things to lose by opposing this measure, but I couldn't remain silent, because it's a very good idea, crafted with a very bad plan.

• When he [the Mayor] implies that if you love this city you're going to support this proposal, well I love this city...but if it's a bad proposal that doesn't make me a hater of this city. And it's a bad proposal. I love this city just as much as he has, and in fact I've lived here much longer than he has.

• What I'm proposing is we say no to this proposal and we craft a better one.

• He says the infrastructure that he has in his list is based on 'need.' Well whose need? His need or my need, your need? We don't know.

• I can't support the program for a few very important reasons. One, it's terribly regressive. The owner of a small, cramped bungalow in the central district of Long Beach pays exactly the same amount of tax as a multi-million dollar waterfront mansion in Naples. That's inherently unfair.

• The Mayor likes to say that everything is guaranteed, that we know what we're going to spend our money on, and that is absolutely not factual.

• The way this is drafted it allows for budgetary money laundering. As broad as this document is drafted...the City Council and the staff can suck every dollar of maintenance and repair as defined in this document from every single budget that is in this document. I mean Parks & Recreation, everything about the infrastructure, maintenance repair, painting, patching, labor, materials...Same thing with Public Works. That could total millions of dollars...They would take the parcel tax money and backfill the Department...I see no guarantees that that's not going to happen.

• The infrastructure plan was crafted behind the scenes by Mayor and staff...There was absolutely no public outreach. There was no transparency...There were no Council study sessions. There were no Budget Oversight Committee open sessions. There were no neighborhood meetings. And there were no public meetings with business groups to discuss the proposal...

• The day after we vote this down, we should be downtown knocking on their door to have them put together a proper plan, so that we can all vote for it next year and start getting our infrastructure back on track...

• Do we really need eleven new community centers? We can't staff the ones we have now. The list really needs to be evaluated more carefully, in public not in private, and we pare the list down to something that we can reasonably afford.

Mr. Jensen said that after the measure is defeated ("we slow this runaway train down"), he favors requiring City Hall, with residents' assistance, to prepare a "comprehensive and detailed plan that includes a pared down and comprehensive list of essential repairs and replacement" and includes a "detailed list of contributions from Tidelands, Harbor, Water, Gas and the General Fund.

He indicated that in addition to considering the possibility of another parcel tax, the possibility of raising LB's utility users tax should also be considered.

Mr. Jensen concluded:

It's time we send a message to the Mayor and Council that we're not going to tolerate any more quick fixes, poorly designed plans, stealth proposals and politicians building legacies and photo-ops that will help them go on to higher office. We need to force them to make substantive changes in how they manage our resources and focus entirely on essential city services until we get back on sound financial footing. We must make it clear we're not going to allow them to borrow one more penny, or float one more bond, or build under any circumstances a civic center without first demonstrating that they've made a fundamental and lasting change in how they manage our money.

To launch on-demand audio, click here (MP3, 18.9 MB, 20:36).

The NLB CAG meeting is [to our knowledge] the first time since the July 22 City Council voted (8-1) to put the measure on the ballot (without prior Council sessions allowing public input on its text) that a LB neighborhood group has allowed opponents to present arguments against the measure (beyond asking the Mayor questions to which he provides the only answers).

At podium in photo, NLB CAG president Laurie Angel

Tonight (Oct. 6), the Wrigley Association will become the second neighborhood group to permit opponents to present their arguments when Mr. Jensen and the LB Taxpayers Ass'n speak at the Veterans Park Social Hall, 101 E. 28th St. at 7:00 p.m.

A number of neighborhood groups have let the Mayor and city management make their presentations on the tax measure without presenting the opposition. [LBReport.com is interested in knowing how other neighborhood groups have conducted themselves on this issues. Readers and/or neighborhood group members/leaders are invited to let us know: mail@lbreport.com.]

Downtown LB Associates and the LB Area Chamber of Commerce both allowed Mayor Foster to speak without opposition but subsequently invited advocates from the measure's campaigns, pro and con, to speak. LB's StraightTalkTV.com is also presenting both sides with the Mayor (pro) and LB Taxpayers Ass'n co-founder Kathy Ryan (con).

An invitation by the LB Press Club to have Mayor Foster and Mr. Jensen present their arguments and rebuttals, and face free flowing questions from as many LB media outlets as wish to be heard, has been accepted by Mr. Jensen.

LB Press Club rep/DistrictWeekly senior editor Dave Wielenga told LBReport.com that as of Oct. 4, Mayor Foster's representative hasn't provided a definite response to the invitation.