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What is going on in Paso Robles?

February 15, 2012

Gary Nemeth

OPINION By GARY NEMETH

I attended the council meeting on Feb. 7 as I wanted to receive firsthand information on what the community wanted to convey to the council. I was able to ask questions of both sides, which I found very informative.

My disappointment was that the city leaders felt it necessary to have 1/3 of its Police force there. This is “not occupy Paso Robles City Hall” just simply a showing of a request of fair and balanced investigation.

I had expected a larger turnout at the meeting to promote rebuilding public services and only 40 residents attended. I am not sure if citizens failed to show up and speak their mind because of last Tuesday night’s meeting, that meeting was a sellout crowd, packed by city staff and strong supporters of Chief Lisa Solomon. I believe our council and city manager are out of touch with our community on so many issues and this is but one of the many that shows poor judgment.

On July 5, 2011, I wrote a letter stating App and council knowing best turned away a very wealthy business, as it did not meet the approved Town Centre plan and informed them to look elsewhere. President Obama and Democrats, Governor Brown and Democrats, App and the city council want to increase the tax we already pay even higher.

At home, when your family budget is short, you must make tough decisions. Not so with government. App and council will tell you how bad off they are. They need more of our money to spend because App and council know best how to spend it. They raise taxes and fees and reduce services. The meeting of Feb. 11 confirmed this.

Another example in 2011 where the Paso Robles council/Manger App are following the management style of Pelosi as witnessed in the recent sewer rate and water treatment jokes. The due date passed by the state was Nov. 1 or face $10,000 fine each day if not fixed.

The city hired a consultant; App provided numbers, recommendations and suggestions for years to obtain option for the council. During those years the council asked no questions, received no briefings, and at the last minute prior to deadline had but one option that APP said was the staff option. Two councilmen (one up for reelection) wanted to pass the single option with the statement they can change it later if needed. Just like Pelosi, pass it now and read it later. At the last meeting October 18, App said there was not enough time left to have additional options, cost too much money, and other excuses. The council had years to review the consultant results/ask questions but left it to App.

Who is running our city? Can we afford these poor decisions, blindly following the recommendations of App?

This election year the council/ App want to increase your taxes, they want a meeting to explain the problems they created stating the problems can only be fixed by raising your taxes. We know the problems’ because we live them every day. The council has gotten us into this mess by following App, voting in his recommendations and cuts in programs and services. The council’s number one priority is to provide for health, safety and welfare for its citizens.

As you read the forecast you will understand the concerns did not develop overnight, the entire council was warned about this over the last two election cycles, but they chose to ignore those warnings. Now they want to raise your taxes to get them out of this mess that they voted in at the Feb. 11 meeting.

Now we need 15 police officers, eight fire fighters and 20 general employees, almost all line level and middle management positions.

Why did the council/App agree to these reductions in your safety? Was it so you had no choice but to vote to raise your taxes? Or did they not know how dangerous these reductions would be. This council/Manager App have served long enough to have improved our city, instead they have run us into the ground. Now they want us to pay more.

What can we do? Citizens don’t elect App, attorney Yang, or Solomon. Some citizens elected Picanco, Strong, Steinbeck, Hamon, and Gilman. When changes are made, make them by changing our council, in turn they vote to change top management. Distractions start by attacking those who ask question, the decisions or lack of decisions made, and by following recommendations of App.

Picanco, longtime downtown businessman, eight year planning commissioner, 20 year city councilman, mayor, stated the recent concerns are a complete surprise to him. Steinbeck, when asked by a citizen, stated he agreed with the Bob Cuddy opinion, and with App/Yang recommendations. Strong followed App/Yang written recommendation and if asked on the street will provide you with a copy of the letter he carries with him. Start by asking questions, getting involved and remember who is up for reelection Picanco, Strong, Gilman.

Gary Nemeth retired from the San Luis Obispo Police department following a 30-year law enforcement career. nemeth sat on the Paso Robles City Council from 2000 throug 2008.


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Nemeth rightly asks, “Who is running our city? Can we afford these poor decisions, blindly following the recommendations of App?”


That pretty much sums it up. Jim App has been in charge for a long time. He’s not elected and truly has no one to be accountable to. The City Council, for at least the last 15 years, has been merely an elected figurehead council. They’re like the Queen of England–they show up at social events, smile, kiss babies–but App is the Prime Minister–the guy with the real power.


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Does anyone have any background history on Jim App? What are his qualifications? What was he doing and with who before he became Paso City Manager?


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He’s got degree from Cal State Long Beach, and was a City planner for a long time.


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Great opinion piece!


Picanco has never met a development that he didn’t like and by not doing his job for the city and on LAFCO, he betrayed the public’s trust. Where is all the revenue from these commercial and residential developments. The Fiscal Analysis showed tremendous revenue coming to the city to pay for police, fire, etc. Instead, the people of Paso Robles will have increased water rates and it looks like they plan on implementing taxes to pay for their betrayal and poor judgement.


It is unfortunate that the citizens of PR have become apathetic towards their city government. I hope they decide to come together and get involved as this is the only way to change the direction of the city.


I sincerely hope that some of the other cities are paying attention to this mess, particularly Pismo Beach as they are headed in this direction with the developments they are proposing and inability to service them.


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Duane isn’t a bad guy, but he’s in so far over his head it’s just sad. The really bad thing is…. He doesn’t know it. People close to him should really take him aside and suggest he not run again, for the good of his city.


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Has anybody ever listened to duane speak or listened to any of his sound bites on the radio, with all due respect, the guy is a dimwit. he couldn’t even read a prepaired statement at the last city council meeting without messing it up.


It is unexcusable that us voters have kept putting him back in office as long as we have.


How about instead of hoping he wil just go away, we just quit voting for him.


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Do you have to live in the city to run for mayor? Don’t disappoint me now. Atascadero is fairly close. I will be waiting with abated breath for your answer. Blessings.


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“My disappointment was that the city leaders felt it necessary to have 1/3 of its Police force there.”


Wait it’s been reported that there were more like 3/4 of Paso’s police force there. Since your are in on this, do you know that the city leaders were behind the cops showing up? Who told you?


“President Obama and Democrats, Governor Brown and Democrats, App..”


WTF,,App and Obama,,it’s a conspiracy but you left out the unions.


“App are following the management style of Pelosi..”


OMG she’s in on it too! Maybe she’s advising App and Solomon!! OMG.


“Just like Pelosi, pass it now and read it later. At the last meeting October 18, App”


Is this a joke? Where are the hidden cameras?


Smells like sour grapes. Thanks for the laughs thought.


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There were 7 outside before the meeting, two in plain clothes behind Solomon, the chief herself, and senior Chitty although he is a SLO cop. That would make 10. I hope they send the ot bill to you.


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And for those on here so concerned with the math, that is 10 out of 27 total. That would be 37.03703% to be exact. A little over a third and less than one half.


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Okay, that’s a new figure (re the amount of PR cops). Someone recently posted that they were down to 20 or 21 cops. You all change your stories so much that it’s hard to keep up with you guys.


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Typo. Maybe you should call the police department and ask them yourself, instead of complaining about other bloggers figures.


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The 27 number came from a previous article on this circus. They had as many as 41 some five years back it said.


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Right, I remember reading that but then I thought that someone chimed in and said that now they’ve cut back even more. Oh well, it doesn’t really matter.


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Out of the 27, 9 are supervisors.


WTF!!!


Thats one supervisor per every two employees?


What is wrong with this picture???


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According to some of the posters here there were 10 inside and according to Karen there were ALSO squad cars out side with cops with riot gear on during the meeting. I’m just going by what I’ve heard here.


@Disgusted, I’m trying to resist.


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Typo,


We’re talking about a time period from around 6 to 8 pm. There could have been squad cars outside with police. Then the police may have walked into the meeting itself.


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There were several parking spots “reserved” for the cruisers. The only dressed officer was the chief herself inside the chambers. The rest of her crew were outside getting ready to swing their batons at all the justice seeking, tobacco chewing rednecks that were armed with a hanging noose and plenty of pitchforks.


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Hold the phone, in that other thread from hell about Solomon, post after post said that there were 10 cops in the front deliberately placed there to intimidate anyone that might have wanted to speak. So now you’re saying that this isn’t true? Were you there? If you weren’t there then I’d like to hear from someone that was. If what you’re saying is accurate then there wasn’t uniformed cops placed in the front to intimidate speakers so it makes me wonder why people didn’t get up and speak. Another big complaint by a few here is that all these cops were there off duty but in uniform, some were mad as h%ll about that and thought that they weren’t allowed to do that. So you’re saying that they came down on their own time to stick up for Solomon.


The story changes again.


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I was there. The cops outside were there to intimidate, not to support Solomon. If they were there on their own time, they were ready to swing their batons at a moments notice outside. Would have been a poor workers comp case if one of them happened to tear a hangnail during the fray. Guarantee they were being paid. Public records act can easily prove this.


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Well, I can understand why cops might be there prepared for trouble. I’m just surprised that there weren’t 10 uniformed cops in the front row. So Karen was right about them being outside except she said that they were sitting in squad cars but there wasn’t 10 in the front row. I appreciate you telling me this. I’m just trying to get it all correct so I don’t repeat misinformation.


If there weren’t 10 uniformed cops in the front row to intimidate speakers as earlier stated, I wonder why people didn’t get up to speak. You guys missed the perfect opportunity to get up and voice your concerns. It might be hard to get that many people to another meeting, it’s always good to speak when you have a lot of people there to support you. It would have been powerful for your cause to have speaker after speaker get up to politely confront the council I feel that you guys blew a good opportunity. Just IMO.


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“I’m trying to resist.”


Gotta try harder………………… :)


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Dont forget the slopd women cop standing behind the podium intimidating while citizens spoke. (brown jacket)


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http://media.sanluisobispo.com/smedia/2012/02/07/21/01/nakn.MiSt.76.jpg

I noticed her there on KSBY coverage too when another lady was speaking. WTF is this?


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A women with a brown coat is intimidating? I wouldn’t have even known she was a cop. The people next to here don’t look to intimidated.


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The point is, why is she there? Who asked her to be there? would it be different if she was in uniform. Is she whispering sweet nothings to the speakers? Doesnt it seem odd to you?


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I’m not sure but maybe she was there to support Solomon. If you mean why was she standing there, everyone said that there was standing room only or out in the hall. She doesn’t look intimidating all. I wouldn’t even have known that she was cop if you hadn’t told me.


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She ( brown jacket) is Officer Colleen Kevany is or was in charge of SLO PD SWAT TEAM !! Yep Lisa is calling in all her cronies :((


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Please tell me, Solomon doesn’t still have a SWAT team.


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She is or was in charge of SLO PD SWAT TEAM!! PLEASE?! This is effing crazy !!


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The head of SLO PD SWAT TEAM! Officer Colleen Kevany…


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TQ, he did not say Obama, Brown, Pelosi, Dems & Reps are in on this matter. He was making a comparable statement.


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I know but they are silly and crazy comparisons so I gave a silly and crazy response. I can’t take a remark like his serious.


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Typo,


Please give us some constructive advice or opinion on our situation in Paso. What do you suggest we do.


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I’ve done that over and over, obviously those against Solomon won’t listen. There is nothing you can do until the investigation is complete. What I wouldn’t do is rush to judgement. When the results of the investigation are done then read it completely if the contents don’t’ seem to jive then you go to council meetings but this time you speak up instead of just sitting on the sidelines. But when you speak you use only facts not emotions. If that doesn’t work then you form a citizens action committee and you write or meet with the DA again, only with facts. If you still aren’t satisfied and there isn’t any concrete answers and I mean real answers then you meet with your group and form a strategy. I haven’t looked up due process in a case like this but I would imagine that if the DA doesn’t do anything and there is REAL cause for concern as opposed to just a bunch of people that don’t like her then you would probably write a well formed letter to the state Attorney General and your Senator. If all that doesn’t work then you find people on your side to run for city council and you replace those that are there.


Typed fast lots of typos


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Typo,


I am expecting that only the final result of the investigation will be made public because of privacy laws. If the officers file complaints with state or federal agencies or lawsuits, then we may not know the facts or the results for a year or two.


That is why I have focused on some of the past known incidents involving the Police Chief for which I think she should be fired. The real reason she needs to go is because of incompetency. She does not know how to combat gangs, drugs, and crime in Paso, and this has been proven by the Sheriff’s Safe Streets program whereby they came in and wiped out the growing crime in the North part of the city.


In order to get a new city council and new city manager and police chief, we have to inform the Paso residents of what is happening. Karen Viele’s stories and our responses help us do that.


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I hear what you’re saying and I get it. I feel that people would listen more though if those that want change would sound more rational. Instead of talking about her boobs, how many cops were at the meeting, her sweat pants and all of this salacious nonesense as well as other things that you won’t be able to prove. Focus instead on her job performance and things that you can prove. Trust me, her sweat pants won’t be an issue, cops have a long history of partying hard and getting wild, her sweats are nothing. Use statistics. If the PD is doing such a bad job then it should be apparent to those that live in PR and there should be stats to prove that. Danika has spoken about the crime around her office. She should take pictures and note her complaints and the PDs response. Only address issues that you can prove . These articles prove nothing and I can tell you that most city and county officials will be turned off if you site CCN. I promise you that using CCN won’t help your cause whether you like it or don’t like it that’s just the way it is. Other than Ed Waage it’s no secret that local officials don’t respect CCN.


Find the employee that was fired out of retaliation, listen to her story with an open mind, if she makes sense then get her to help you by having her speak to the council and if nessasary to the DA. I can tell you that a lynch mob turns some people off and will actually cause some to support her.


Unless the investigation comes up with something right away that’s really bad I doubt very seriously that you can get rid of Solomon within the next year. These things can take a long a time and you have to be prepared to be in it for the long run. The best thing is to be vigilant and gather a lot of people to show up at council meetings without being obnoxious like the Los Oso people at the BOS meetings every week. Find people to run for council seats, send out fliers. When council elections come up, if you have a lot of support then you’d see council members flip flopping. They are politicians they will go with the people if they think that majority of voters are against them. Even though you don’t like the council always be respectful when addressing them.


Dig dig dig, go through records, Google Google Google and find out as many FACTS as you can. I promise that you will get no where with gossip or hearsay.


From my experience this IMO are some of the keys to success in situations like this.


As far as these sexual harassment, ticket quotas etc. those issues are out of your hands. You can’t speed up the investigation. The only people with power on those issues are the alleged victims and Solomon’s other coworkers. You can scream and yell but it won’t change a thing on those issues. If the alleged victims don’t follow through then there is no issue. Perhaps contacting the alleged victims and show them that they have a lot of support, that might help motivate them to stick with it.


That’s my 2 cents,,or 10 cents.


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Basically, you’re telling me that I should do the job that Karen Velie has already done: go after the facts, interview people involved in the sex harrassment charges, but as a citizen and not a reporter. Why would my investigation be considered more valid–you would just say it’s gossip.


Statistics have to come from the police department and these are suspect because they are not responding to all the incidents they have in the past, so these incidents are not included in their statistics, particularly drug related incidents, and DUIS.


The reasons given to me by city councilmen for Lisa’s continued employment include “a role model for young women”. Juicy pants and breast bearing , drunken escapes all show that she is not a role model for anyone. That is important in the argument to the city council that she should be fired. They are contending that she’s a role model; I’m saying that she is not a good role model. She has a drinking problem, off duty behavior problem, and a financial responsibility problem.


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I was suggesting that you get those that are making the complaints to fight with you. I didn’t see anywhere in these articles where the people alleging that they were sexually harassed spoke of the details. Maybe they have some type of proof, witnesses etc. that could be used. I thought that you were serious about wanting to go forward with this, not just baiting me. Go before the DA or you congress person and only use these articles to site for your side, see how far that gets you.


Whether the PD responds or not every 911 call is logged.


Did you see the Juicy pants (although I don’t see the big deal with that), the breast bearing, drunken behaviour, do you have any witnesses, pictures, any proof at all? If you go before the city council and especially the DA or congress person with those claims then you need something to back them or risk them simply blocking you out or simply sounding like a high school kid spreading rumors. They do have evidence of her being a role model. I read that she does a lot of service for the community. The only thing that you have proof of is that she has had a bankruptcy. In this economy many self employed people are declaring bankruptcy, I’m not sure how much weight that would hold but maybe it would mean something for side, at least it’s something tangible that could demonstrate a weakness in her character. But from what I’ve read she’s doing a good job at staying within her budget which many departments are having rough time doing so I’m not sure at this point how much weight that carries.


But at this point, I am tired of going around in circles, you don’t really want to discuss this, you just want to attack me. I’m really going to try for the 20th time to stay away from this topic so please don’t write back with more baiting questions. I’m done,,,,,,,,,I hope.


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The investigation is a joke. If you sit on your kiester waiting to get permission from PR City Hall to do anything, you’ll be sitting for a long time.


Or perhaps that is the point of your argument–to convince others to do nothing and let the harm to Paso Robles continue and worsen?


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It’s an OPINION piece and Mr. Nemeth is entitled to his opinion. Something you have a LOT of! He was there and so was I.


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The writer had my sympathy and then lost it by his poor writing and continued harping on partisan politics. Dems or Repos have nothing to do with the crooks they have running thing up there in our ‘back woods’ of paso. The writer has some good points but completely sinks himself by the childish rants against national politicians. He has a serious bad local gig going on that needs serious local attention without partisan whining.


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Yes, Mr. Nemeth was responsible for so many positive changes and challenges to the status quo during his eight recent years on the city council. For example, he … uh … well, give me a little time and I’m sure I can maybe dig up something. He’s certainly no opportunist, using the current situation to his own benefit. I’m sure he’s going to fight this from the outside rather than using this as the beginning of his campaign. Uh-huh.


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Couldn’t help but think the same thing, is gary running? Again?


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Don’t think he is running again. I certainly did lose all hope for anyone that voted for the current fruitloop we have as a mayor.


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This is too typical. They don’t have anything to add to either the subject or to make an intelligent argument,


so just Just assinate their character.


Hey oldned try to stay on subject


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Jim, What is the subject? Nancy Pelosi? Jerry Brown? Barack Obama? If it was something other than that, it’s hard to tell. Oh, that’s right, we need to get rid of Jim App, even though Nemeth apparently didn’t lift a finger to make that happen during his tenure on the city council. You challenge me to stay on subject so let’s go paragraph by paragraph:


1. Nemeth went to the February 7 council meeting and found it informative. (Big news there.)


2. Nemeth was disappinted so many police officers were at the meeting. (It’s a public meeting.)


3. Nemeth expected a bigger turnout and isn’t sure why more people weren’t there. (Now he’s attacking the good citizens of Paso Robles for their apathy.) Last week’s meeting was packed with “city staff” and Solomon supporters. (Funny, he doesn’t mention any anti-Solomon or App crowd.) Nemeth thinks the council and App are out of touch and apparently this somehow supported by his observation that city staff and Solomon supporters were present at the meeting. (I suppose the implication here is that the council and/or App forced these people to attend.) I’ll observe that this paragraph doesn’t really follow the rules I was taught as a youngster about paragraph structure, but I suppose Nemeth’s writing style isn’t one of the “issues” you want me to address.


4. In July 2011, Nemeth wrote a letter (to whom I’m not sure) saying that App and the council “knowing best turned away” a wealthy business. (Huh?) LIberal Democrat, Liberal Democrat, Liberal Democrat. App and the city council want to increase your taxes. (At least that’s what the sentence seems to say. It is a bit hard to follow.)


5. Famlies have to meet therr budgets. (A very astute observation.) App and the city counil want to raise our taxes. (Sounds familiar.) The February 11 meeting confirmed this. (But he’s not going to tell us how.)


6. App and the city council follow a Nancy Pelosi management style. (Liberal Democrat.) This management style is reflected in the “sewer and water rate jokes.” (Who’s laughing now?) The state passed a due date. (Was this under RINO Schwarzenegger or Liberal Democrat Brown?)


7. The city hired a consultant. (Does this relate back to the previous paragraph on the water and sewer joke? Lack fo continuity is a problem.) For years, the council asked no questions. (Wasn’t Nemeth on the council during at least some of these apparently quiet years?) Like Nancy Pelosi (Liberal Democrat) the council didn’t read anything but just passed laws.


8. Jim App runs the city and we can’t blindly follow him. (Nemeth doesn’t discuss his position regarding App during his own tenure on the villainous city council.)


9. Some members of the city council are up for election this year and the council and App want to raise your taxes even more so they can fix problems they created (Actually I”m having a hard time following this first sentence because of punctuation problems. Please interpret for me.) We the people know the problems’ [sic]. The council is supposed to do good stuff for us.


10. The council (Nemeth’s council) ignored (undisclosed) warnings and now there’s going to be hell to pay. They (like Liberal Democrats) want to RAISE YOUR TAXES!!!


11. We need more police officers (Boy, that’s always a controversial stance for someone who may run for office.)


12. The Appcil (App and council) have made this place more dangerous and have run it into the ground. And Appcil WANT TO INCREASE OUR TAXES (just like LIberal Democrats).


13. “Some citizens” elected our council and mayor. (You jerks elected Picanco and not me.) I can’t make heads or tails of the final sentence in this paragraph.


14. You jerks voted for Picanco instead of me. Picanco was surprised by “recent concerns.” (Removal of the olianders in the 101 center mediatn?) Steinbeck said he agreed with Cuddy and App/Yang recommendations on some unknown subject. Get involved and ask questions. (Rah! Rah!)


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Hey Oldned


Good Job, I was afraid your initial attack on Mr Nemeths motive for expressing his opinion on the chronic mis-management of our city was designed confuse people like me of limited intelligence and who are only marginally capable of forming our own opinion.


I can tell by your reply this time you were using some critical thinking in your opinion. I salute you! I value your apprehension and interpretation of the state of politics in our city. But, I personally don’t believe taking a snapshot of city politics when Mr. Nemeth left is an accurate way of judging his motives or performance while on the council.


App was hired along time ago.


It could be when app was first hired he didn’t control things like he does now. Maybe

Mr. Nemeth agreed with some of what was happening and didn’t agree with others. (Seems to be pretty typical of how politcs work). Maybe after all the years of an impotent city council allowing app to take control of our city, Mr. Nemeth was critical of app’s agendas.


I do know after Mr. Nemeth lost his re-election, Paso Robles own little god tzar (app) un-ceremoniously removed him from all the committees he was on and took his seat on the planning commission as well. Leads me to believe Mr Nemeth didn’t agree with much of what was going on in our city government at that time.


Politicians always use the same excuse that alone they can’t make any changes, there always has to be three of them to agree.


Trying to make Mr. Nemeth the only politician responsible for the cesspool on spring street does a dis-service to the discussion going on here.


Only my opinion.


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Jim,


In all seriousness, Mr. Nemeth should consider retaining you as his publicist if he runs for mayor again because you express Mr. Nemeth’s ideas much more clearly than Mr. Nemeth does. I wholeheartedly agree that the city needs leadership changes, but I just as wholeheartedly feel that Mr. Nemeth is not the appropriate person to introduce the changes the city needs.


Honestly, I don’t know who it is the person to lead the city, but I don’t see it being any of the current city councilmembers. Some are fairly effective on the council but they’re not leaders. I know a lot of smart people in the city who would, in my opinion, but much more effective than Mr. Picanco or Mr. Nemeth. Unfortunately, none of them seems very interested in the position. However, this entire mess with the chief and the city manager may convince a qualified person to stand for the position.


I don’t think we need someone who is necessarily young in age, but I do think we need someone, regardless of age, who is a creative thinker and not tied to the old way of doing things. City managers generally have a limited shelf life and Mr. App may well have outlived his. A new mayor with new ideas accompanied by a qualified city manager would be a good start to moving the city in an exciting but secure new direction.


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Oldned,

I totally agree with your thoughts and perspective on the dysfunction of our city.


I have to admit I am probably an example of the typical city citizen. During all the years of this jim app regime, I was busy raising my family and trying to keep a roof over my head. I didn’t pay any attention to who the people we elected were. I made my decision about who to vote for by the colorful professionally produced propaganda that came in the mail at election time. I was a responsible citizen doing my duty, completely oblivious to what was actually happening with our city. Boy was I wrong.


It has only been the last few years I have started to actually look at what is going on (as well as many other like minded citizens). I am completely astounded at chronic mis-management and the waste and corruption that exists in our city government. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to come to that conclusion, you just need to take a look around.


I have been forced many times over the years of having to listen to jim app and the people I have had a hand in electing get on our local radio station lie to all of us, and being the brain dead drone that I have been, bought in to it over the years.


I am done with all that now.


This forum that CCN has created that allows us to actually hear different perspectives about what is happening is invaluable and crucial for us to finally get at the truth about what is happening.


For too long we were only getting half the truth (or somebody’s political agenda).


That is why I may have been critical of your post.


It is what always happens, When the conversation starts to get critical to the power that be, along comes the disinformation, the changing of the conversation, one side or half of the facts get left out of the conversation, and what is typical of this city government, when they can’t substantiate their lies, just trash the citizens character. before you know it, we are not even talking about the same thing any more. And the conversation just goes away.


Oldned, consider me an ally, I will stand with you on your concern about who will be best to run the city. I think it is incredible that us citizens (and voters) are finally having this conversation. I believe as long as this kind of conversation can be had, we will have many responsible citizens willing to stand up and get involved. Maybe, judging by the response to these posts, Too many, We run the risk of watering down our vote with too many good candidates and the same old tired career politicians will get back in, but that another story.


Keep up the good work.


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That was constructive. Thanks for the discussion. Isn’t it amazing how people can sometimes find common ground when they don’t engage in personal attacks? It sounds like we share common goals, even if we don’t always agree on how to reach them.


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Listen, anybody in a position of power in PR, who does not abuse their power against employees, and does not grope employees’ hoo-hoos, is a far piece better than what they have in PR now.


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Thank You Gary for taking the time to go to City Council meetings, and then taking the time to try to educate us citizens.


I have gone to many city council meetings over the years (not so much any more) because I know what a joke they are. Every time I leave one of these meetings I feel dirty.


The city council makes it clear they are doing us all a favor by having to listen to us, but they have already made up their mind what they are going to do.


I was at the city council meeting you referred to and see my observations are still right. city council meetings are a joke.


The meeting was infested with the paso robles city cold toilet seat worshipers brigade.


A few of us citizens are developing a list of Email addresses, phone numbers, or mailing addresses of informed citizens, so we can exchange information that many of don’t get to hear.


Let us know how we can keep you informed or if you have information we all need to see, Send your contact information to the Paso Robles Committee of Correspondence


Email Address: prcommitteeofcorre@sbcglobal.net


The list is growing, but needs to include all responsible city citizens.


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Jim App can take his tax hike and shove it. He is the most worthless pos employed by the city followed right behind by the chief. The dorky Pincanco can ride along with them. We need new blood in this city like yesterday. I think anyone running for council should be asked, “What do you think of App and Soleman?” A negative perception will get my vote.


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Perhaps the turnout was low because the people of Paso knew their words would fall on deaf ears. They listen to no one, act according to their own needs, and feel they are law unto themselves. The only thing the citizens can do is vote in a new council and, hopefully, get rid of those who have created the UNSAFE STREETS policy. I look forward to the day my staff can work behind unlocked doors again.


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