Annual Meeting 2008-2009

 The League of Women Voters of Northwest Riverside County held its Annual Meeting on Saturday, June 13th, with a luncheon at Cask n' Cleaver on University Avenue.  Over thirty members attended this productive and entertaining meeting.

President Ann Kasper began by describing the past year's accomplishments, then smoothly and efficiently moved through an agenda that included an update on local action, reports on the 2008-2010 LWVC Convention, reports from the Treasurer and Membership Chair, acceptance of next year's Program, election of new officers and remarks from our guest speaker, 2008 California Assembly candidate, Grey Frandsen.  The event ended with an entertaining and profitable 'Opportunity Drawing.'

                                                                                       Action

Joan Donahue reported on the League's recent voter service and action efforts. Our candidate forums were well attended, with pertinent questions from both the League and local residents.  In May 2009, The Press Enterprise ran an article on the upcoming forums and followed up by reporting on each forum in detail.

Our new website has had a very positive reception.  We were pleased to add a YouTube page with video of each City Council Candidate Forum. 

We will continue to add video of all League forums and public meetings, updated election information and keep residents informed of our activities.   We hope the site will  become a trusted source for information on a variety of civic issues.

Following our forum on the state of Riverside's public transportation system in January 2009, the City is moving ahead again on the addition of a multi-modal transportation center near the current Metrolink station.  The majority of the questions from the audience concerned the termination of Greyhound Bus Line's service in Riverside. 

In the months since the forum, Greyhound has been invited to join a variety of other transportation modes at the proposed new transit center.  Greyhound will stay at its current site on a month to month basis with an option to move to the transportation center when it is completed.

As the initial agreement between the City and Greyhound to terminate Greyhound's lease was agreed to and voted on in closed session, we were faced with several questions involving transparency.  Why was there no public discussion on not just 'relocation', but the 'elimination' of service?  Why were we not allowed to hear our representative's deliberation on this sensitive issue and how did they vote on the final motion?  At the cost to local taxpayers of $625,000 dollars, why was the action not reported immediately by the City Attorney upon signature of the agreement?   We kept returning to one central question - this may be legal, but is it right? 

For that answer we turned to the Brown Act and the Riverside County Grand Jury.  Initially, we were told by the Grand Jury that they would not be taking the matter up as it involved, "on going litigation."  A subsequent letter from the Grand Jury informed us that they found no violation of the Brown Act, however, no official report has been filed.  As transparency in government is at the heart of our political system, the League will remain diligent on issues such as this.

                                                                              Report on League of Women Voters California State Convention

Over 200 delegates from 65 local California Leagues attended this year's May 14 - 17 convention in Long Beach.  Joan Donahue reported that she and Theresa Birkett attended several workshops, heard from five speakers, listened to debate on the State League's direction for the coming year, learned many new ideas for action and membership recruitment, and made several great contacts.  All of this information was well noted and will be utilized as much as possible in the coming year.

  In brief, State League members should be most proud of the passage of Prop.11, which was sponsored by the State League and will bring about genuine re-districting reform. 

The State League also filed a 'friend of the court' brief in January 2009 which questioned the validity of Proposition 8 and stood by their insistence on the implementation of real budget reform by recommending a 'no' vote on every Special Election ballot proposition for which they took a stance. The State League was also instrumental in educating millions of voters during this past election cycle with Smart Voter, its on-line voter information site, and the very popular Easy Voter Guide publication. 

Theresa Birkett, at left, reported on the State League's Priorities for Education and Action:

Redistricting Implementation—With the approval of Proposition 11 last November, much needs to be done to assure that the formation, selection and performance of a citizens redistricting commission is successful. The State League will be mounting a statewide effort to monitor and assure the success of this reform.

Government Reform - LWVC will address continuing flaws in the state budget process and the need for an indirect initiative process, and inform the public about larger issues such as the possible need for a California Constitutional Convention. They also plan to work with the California Clean Money Campaign and others to support the June 2010 ballot measure to establish public funding of campaigns for the office of Secretary of State.

                                                                                 Business Reports

Secretary/Treasurer Barbara Purvis reported that while we are not a wealthy organization, we have lived well within our means and will enter our next year in sound  financial shape.  Her budget for 2009 - 2010 was adopted unanimously.

Out-going Membership Chair Theresa Hanley, at right, survived her third year as Membership Chair.  With patience and good humor, Theresa leaves us with a total of 66 League members in good standing.

                                                                                                    Program

The Board recommended two local issues for study:

 Recently the Riverside City Council voted to withhold funding for our Citzen's Police Review Commission's investigations of  officer involved shootings and officer involved deaths until the Riverside Police Department has finished their investigation.  This could delay the commission's ability to begin investigations for 6 months to a year.  The Board recommended a study or 'fact check' of the document the Council used to support their decision.

The Board also recommended a study on the feasibility of public funding, or a Clean Money Election System, for Riverside's city-wide campaigns.  A Clean Election System is a voter-approved system of public campaign finance for candidates. Its primary goals are improving the integrity of government, reducing the influence of special interest money and encouraging participation in the political process. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Long Beach, Richmond, and Sacramento all have partial public financing systems and the Board believes a study to implement it locally would be well worth our effort.  Both recommended areas for study were accepted by members.