June 26 Steering Committee and Board of Directors meetings |
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5PM, the catered truck unloads the gourmet goodies served to the "good Directors" who get assigned to the various Committees. This "steering committee" is like the conning tower on a submarine, directing the behaviour of the great beast below. | |
Notice the place settings of the Steering Committee: only 6 Directors, the rest of the "steerers" are staff members! Does this tell something about who is really running the show? Blake usually runs this meeting with an iron fist, disallowing giggles, guffaws and bellows of laughter from any stray, unwanted public observers; however, you can address them and speak frankly to the real bad guys: talk turkey--or salisbury steak, or chicken parmisan, or whatever else is on the menu. | |
Will anyone come? Does anyone care about the dumping? The security
guards are told, '...maybe no one will come?". But when there is any chance of the Ratepayers coming to one of these things, they always call out the police and put up extra security. One wonders what they are afraid of? After all, we are the ones paying for all of this, and using the facilities. Why the police? |
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OCSD, despite all attempts to baffle and confuse the public,
was attended by about 300 opponents of the sewage dumping at the June 26 meeting. But it won't happen unless EVERYONE shows up on July 17! |
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People started to gather, locked out, milling around the entrance. Security guards allowed people to use the rest room, and allowed one pregnant lady to use the lobby, but everyone else was expected to wait outside. | |
Gathering outside, many familiar faces -- also many new people from all over,
as the Sierra Club and Earth Resource Foundation began to flex the muscle of their massive membership and resources
to focus on the sewage dumping problem. Orange County, outrageously enough, is the largest sewage waiver in the USA -- number 16,024 out of 16,024. Even Los Angeles does a better job. But what is OC's excuse? |
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Some of the people milling around. Everyone was supposed to take a little blue tag, if you did not get one of them, you had to wait outside until your name was called -- then run like heck to get to the podium! | |
Waiver opponents. | |
Security guard watches to make sure the Ratepayer does not act out, supposedly.
The many speakers braved the hostile, threatening environment to upbraid the Board for its poor performance, for the dumping, for the lack
of trust, for the phony
studies, for the hidden
studies, and so on. Not to mention the accounting problems, with the District sitting on hundreds of millions hidden in "reserves" for questionable events -- meanwhile, arguing they can't afford full secondary! |
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Not all Directors feigned boredom, but many seemed to lose affect as the evening
wore on. Next time, they are planning to try to limit all public comment to 45 minutes total -- but not legal, according to the Brown Act! Latest rumour is that they are hiring a Blue Ribbon Panel of USC Biostitutes to testify that it's OK to hide things from the public. $300 per diem, will say anything for cash! |
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The big bosses at the long panel in front. Yes, they look glum, because their empire of sewage dumping is now exposed to Ratepayer scrutiny. |