MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2014 - SEPTEMBER 21, 2014
riversideindependent.com
New law requires paid sick leave for California workers by jennifer schlueter According to the governor’s office, “about 40% of California’s workforce — an estimated 6.5 million people — have no paid sick leave benefits at all,” states the Los Angeles Times. This will change July of next year, because last Wednesday, Governor Jerry Brown signed the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (AB 1522). For both part-time and full-time employees working more than 30 days per year, the legislation requires employers to grant them three days of paid sick leave. For every 30 hours of labor, employees can earn a minimum of one paid sick leave hour to recuperate themselves, or assist a sick family member. Unions and worker’s rights groups have long favored the new law and Brown called the bill by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego “real step forward” for, especially middle-class, workers, who had to choose between forcing themselves to work while sick and thus possibly endanger coworkers, or recover at home losing essential income and fearing job loss. The governor added in a statement: “Whether you’re a dishwasher in San Diego or a
The storms made hundreds of Inland families lose power, utility companies told the Press Enterprise. Weather forecasters said thunderstorms were expected to continue into the Monday morning commute, said CynPlease see page 2
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Francisco County was the first county nationwide to adopt such a law for workers within the county. According to the LA Times, the bill exempts not only Please see page 4
Thunderstorms wreak havoc and street closures by Vickie Vértiz Broken cement, flooded streets, several feet of mud, and uprooted trees left Riverside residents with a huge mess to clean after a storm hit the area on the weekend of September 6. According to the Press Enterprise, two of the hardest-hit streets in Riverside were Central Avenue, Canyon Crest,
and 14th Street, which were closed at different points due to the strong rainstorm. The rain so badly flooded those streets that Central Avenue was closed again on Monday because water levels on 14th Street still reached the hoods of two cars that remained stuck there, reported the paper.
City Manager Scott Barber announces intention to retire Scott Barber, who has served as Riverside’s City Manager for three years, last Wednesday announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2014. Barber, who has more than 28 years of experience in local government, has been City Manager in Riverside since Dec. 6, 2011. He previously served as Riverside’s first Community Development Director for six years. “On behalf of the residents and businesses of Riverside, I want to thank Scott Barber for the last nine years of service to our community,” Mayor Rusty Bailey said. “Scott has been a focused and innovative City Manager and Community Development Director who always has looked for ways to improve the City where he lives and has raised a family. I wish him and his family all the best in his retirement.” As City Manager, Barber oversaw the reorganization of City Hall as well as the development and implementation of three balanced budgets during the worst recession in more than 75 years. Under his leadership, the City saw the construction of the Iowa and Magnolia grade separations, the new Fire Station #1, the Riverside Convention Center and Bonaminio Park. During this period, Riverside was named the Intelligent Community of the Year in 2012, the #1 Green Fleet in
Governor Jerry Brown -Photo by Terry Miller
store clerk in Oakland, this bill frees you of having to choose between your family’s health and your job.” After Connecticut in 2011, California has become the second state to grant paid sick leave. Five years prior, San
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Rep. Schiff wants Obama to seek authorization for any continued use of force in Iraq or Syria from Congress Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a senior Member of the Intelligence Committee and author of legislation to sunset the post9/11 authorization for use of military force, released the following statement: “The threat posed ISIS is very real and must be confronted. The President was right to act in Iraq last month to protect American personnel, prevent a humanitarian crisis, and push back jihadists from continuing their campaign of mass slaughter. However, if the President intends to prolong the military campaign in Iraq or extend it into Syria, he needs to make the case directly to the American people and secure authorization from Congress. “All Americans are repulsed and enraged by the gruesome
murders of two American journalists and the horrors committed by ISIS against the people of Iraq and Syria. As the President outlines his strategy to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIS – a plan he acknowledges will take years – Congress must carefully consider what it is being asked to approve regarding a military campaign that will extend from this Presidency to the next. “The Constitution gives Congress the responsibility to declare war, even while investing in the President the power to wage war once declared and to take limited other actions in defense of the country. Since the actions contemplated by the President go well beyond the immediate imperative of protecting Americans at risk, Congress is required to act.”
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Discovery Days September 17 Discovery Days is an ongoing children’s program that takes place on the third Wednesday of every month. The program focused on teaching kids about different aspects of nature and science, which features hands-on activities, live animals and plants, and animal experts engaging kids in the process of discovery. This program is best for ages 3
- 10. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Nature Lab is open from 1:30 - 4:30, so be sure to stop by! And continue the fun with our new Storytime Corner! Location: Riverside Metropolitan Museum. For more information please contact : Patti Shebest, http://www.riversideca.gov/museum/discov, , 951-826-5273
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thia Palmer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego who spoke with the paper. She added that there was a potential for flash floods in valley, mountain and desert areas. Two tropical storms caused the strong downpours, Norbert and Dolly, the latter of which was moving across northern Mexico and into the southwestern United States. “This is a typical late summer, early fall thunderstorm that we get from time to time,” Palmer told the Press Enterprise. East Hemet and a corridor from central and eastern Riverside to central San Bernardino saw the most water, with a bit more than two inches of rain in one hour, according to a flashflood warning from the National Weather Service. Even though city crews worked through the night and pumped out almost seven feet of water from the intersection of 14th Street at Vine Street, 14th Street remained closed during the Monday morning commute, opening up at 8 a.m. Officials advised drivers to turn around and head in the opposite direction when they see flooding to avoid dangerous situations. The Canyon Crest neighborhood still has many piles of branches to be cleaned up. “We probably have another three or four days of cleaning up the mud and debris on
the street,” Riverside Public Works Director Tom Boyd told the Press Enterprise on Monday, September 8. Some Riverside residents, like Dorie Haddy, were pushing water out of the garage of her Canyon Crest home with a broom Monday morning. She told the paper that she had to cancel plans due to the mud; a care nurse was scheduled to visit her husband. “There was no way she could come,” said Haddy. “You needed a 4-wheel drive to get in.” Other than private homes and apartments, some local schools also had damage. A Riverside Unified School District spokeswoman, Jacquie Paul, told the paper that debris had been cleaned up by Monday morning. The paper added that school officials also discovered roof leaks in about 30 classrooms at about one-third of the schools in the district. The Press Enterprise said they ranged from small leaks to significant drips that soaked some carpets. “Our crews worked over the weekend to ensure that everyone was as cleaned up as possible to allow for school to continue as normal today,” Paul told the paper. Luckily, most electrical power was restored to residents, businesses, and schools by Monday night.
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ICE arrests 9 and recovers $65 million in cash in Fashion District bust Federal authorities Wednesday arrested nine people and seized approximately $65 million in cash in a massive sweep of the Fashion District used as money laundering for Mexican drug cartels. The raids, conducted by approximately 1,000 officers with the DEA, ICE, IRS and FBI, were carried early Wednesday morning on Fashion District businesses in Los Angeles The businesses were suspected of using “Black Market Peso Exchange” schemes to launder drug money for international cartels, the Department of Justice said. In one of three cases unsealed Wednesday alleges that the Sinaloa Drug Cartel used a Fashion District business to accept and launder ransom payments to secure the release of a United States citizen who was kidnapped by the organization after the U.S. government seized more the 100 kilograms of cocaine that he was supposed to distribute. The man was held hostage, beaten, shot, electrocuted and waterboarded at a ranch in Mexico. He was released after relatives paid $140,000 in ransom. The other two cases in the indictment involved defendants who worked for or owned businesses in the Fashion District that operated a Black Market Peso Exchange scheme. The peso broker arranges for the illegally obtained dollars to be delivered to the United States-based vendors, such as the stores in the Fashion District, and these illegally obtained dollars are used to pay for the goods purchased by the foreign customers,” officials said. The scheme is typically used by Mexican cartels to collect money from U.S.-based sale without the risk of smuggling bulk amounts of cash across the border. BMPE also lessens the risk of illegal activity
-Courtesy Photo
being detected. “Los Angeles has become the epicenter of narco-dollar money laundering with couriers regularly bringing duffel bags and suitcases full of cash
to many businesses,” said Robert E. Dugdale, the Assistant United States Attorney who oversees the Criminal Division in the Central District of California.
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Governor Brown signs agreement with Ambassador of Japan
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Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. on Monday signed an agreement with Japan’s Ambassador to the United States, Kenichiro Sasae, to further cooperation between Japan and California on climate change, renewable energy, trade and investment, zeroemission vehicles, high-speed rail and water. The agreement calls for the two entities to collaborate on technologies that will support California’s goal of having 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025, as well as innovation related to high-speed rail, water conservation and renewable energy. Last year, Governor Brown met with Osaka Governor Ichiro Matsui and signed an agreement to strengthen cooperation between California and its sister-state in Japan on clean energy, environmen-
tal protection, tourism and other areas. The agreement follows Governor Brown’s July Trade and Investment Mission to Mexico and meetings with Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto in Sacramento and Los Angeles last month. Over the past year, Governor Brown has also signed accords with leaders from Mexico, China, Canada, Israel and Peru to combat climate change, strengthen California’s economic ties, and expand cooperation on promising research. In February, Governor Brown established the California International Trade and Investment Advisory Council to help expand international business opportunities for California companies and appointed former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary Eleni Kounalakis as chair.
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“workers subject to certain collective bargaining agreements and airline flight crews and attendants who are under federal labor laws,” but also 363,000 state workers, because its execution would have cost the state of California more money. The Washington Post quoted a statement of the National Federation of Independent Business in California, in which the association’s executive director John Kabateck inquired: “So the state can’t afford its own mandates, but small business owners are supposed to be able to absorb those costs?” He added: “Our small-business owners, who make up more than 99% of the employer community in California, already face an increase in minimum wage, among the highest taxes and more regulations than any other state. This will only serve to eliminate any plans small employers have to grow and expand their businesses.” Jot Condie, president and
chief executive of the California Restaurants Assn., also argues against the law: “Operators essentially have to pay twice — for the staffer staying home and for someone to take their place,” he told the LA Times. “A one-sizefits-all approach to sick leave is inappropriate and onerous.” Others, such as Los Feliz’ Skylight Books owner and manager Kerry Slattery, who already provides paid sick leave and paid vacation, support the new law: “I think it’s a reasonable thing to do,” Slattery said. “It’s investing in professional employees.” Brown justified his decision to improve working conditions for the middle class with the following statement: “When you look at the power and the wealth that is accumulated by a very small percentage, and then you look at the people at the bottom ... this is the least we can do and there’s more in the coming years,” Brown told the LA Times.
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America, California’s Building Department of the Year in 2013 and one of the coolest towns in America by Forbes Magazine in 2014. As Community Development Director, Barber brought together the City’s Planning, Building and Safety, and Code Enforcement functions into one cohesive department and immediately found success. That department created a National Best Practice in Code Enforcement with Riverside’s Neglected Property Abatement Program; oversaw the completion of two neighborhood plans for the University and Eastside neighborhoods; and implemented one of California’s first “Incentive Based Green Building Programs.” Barber also led the effort to adopt a new General Plan, Zoning Code, Smart Growth guidelines
and implementation matrix for Riverside’s General Plan 2025, which won a Southern California Association of Governments “Compass Blueprint” award for excellence. “First, I want to thank Scott for his service and leadership,” Mayor Pro Tem Jim Perry said. “Second, I appreciate his acknowledgement of the current environment at City Hall and his offer to leave behind the issues of the past and move us all forward. Finally, it will be important that the City Council work quickly to identify an interim City Manager to manage the organization, while we focus on filling the vacancies in both the City Manager and City Attorney positions. I will begin to work right away with my Council colleagues on identifying and attracting an interim City Manager.”