An APD 'Angel' in the sky

A candlelight vigil took place last night on West Guinida Lane in Anaheim in memory of David Raya and Joel Acevedo, two young men killed in officer-involved shootings not too far from each other during the summers of 2011 and 2012 respectively. Raya's killing was ruled justified by the Orange County District Attorney's office in October. The circumstances surrounding Acevedo are currently under investigation by the OCDA.

At Joel Acevedo's memorial site, Donna Acevedo began to talk about the memory of her son when one of the Anaheim Police Department's 'Angel' helicopters started circling overhead a little after 8 p.m. It was low and noisy enough to essentially drown out her teary-eyed testimony.

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Scary vato...

Early on during the six-hour long Anaheim city council meeting last night, retiring police chief John Welter received a formal recognition from the dais. His nine-year career as head of the force effectively ends tomorrow; deputy chief Raul Quezada--surprise, surprise: a Mexi!--will take his place on a interim basis.

Meanwhile, somewhere behind the OC Register's paywall last week dropped an article about plans by councilwoman Lucille Kring to have the Orange County Family Justice Center--formerly known by its Anaheim identifier--christened in Welter's honor.

But all the adulation doesn't stop there. Jose Moreno--Los Amigos President, Anaheim City School District (ACSD) board member, and a member of the Weekly's 2012 Scariest People issue--wants in on the action, too!

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CAC = Crazy Ass City?

Late last week, Anaheim's 11-member citizens advisory committee (CAC) on district elections wrapped up its final meeting, and its draft report of recommendations set to be delivered to the city council by the end of this month will suggest that the issue be put before the vote.

When the previous Anaheim city council majority passed a resolution in August to create the CAC to study elections, the move was handily criticized. Opponents called it a delay tactic in the wake of an ACLU lawsuit alleging that Toontown was in violation of the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA). It was also seen as an isolating maneuver against Mayor Tom Tait, who wished to put the issue of creating six districts before the November 2012 ballot.

Hell, I even labeled it a "sham" as the way it was to be structured would ultimately give the council majority a numerical and ideological advantage. It was intended to be all those things (and more!) but now that it's all said and done, CAC turned out not to be that whack!

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Not too many did...

As the one-year anniversary of the officer-involved killing of 25-year-old Manuel Diaz in July approaches, Anaheimers filed into St. Anthony Claret Catholic Church last night to see what, if anything, has changed in the city. The East Street Community Renewal Initiative (ESCRI)--a project of former councilwoman Lorri Galloway's Eli Home--played host to the "Voices of the Community" forum held in a church hall just around the corner from Anna Drive, site of Diaz's killing.

About 150 chairs were set up inside the hall. Most of them laid empty, though, as only forty-five people or so showed up for the event co-moderated by Galloway and Los Amigos president (and Weekly Scariest Person nominee) Jose Moreno.

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Anaheim city council meetings have no shortage of circus theatrics. Last evening, the avenue wasn't blowhards during public comment, though, but the dais itself! Mayor Tom Tait took a moment toward the end of the meeting to bash last week's Orange County Register op-ed piece concerning district elections penned by council-pendeja Kris Murray.

The headline "Anaheim Elections: Residents, Not Special Interests, Will Determine Anaheim's Governance" was laughable all on its own given that Murray doesn't move her ventriloquist dummy's mouth unless prompted by the city's Disneyocracy (with strings moved, of course, by Curt Pringle)! It was also her first public statements since the Citizens Advisory Committee, after many months, came to preliminary recommendations that favored putting the districts issue before a vote of the people.

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There were more empty seats and less acrimony inside the Council Chambers of Anaheim City Hall last Thursday evening.

Long the scene of political turmoil over the course of last year during council meetings, the mood was lighter as the location played host for the second-to-last gathering of the citizens advisory committee, a group established after the former council majority passed a resolution during a special post-riot meeting on August 8, 2012 that tasked it with studying and making recommendations on the city's electoral system.

The move countered Mayor Tom Tait's failed proposal at the time to put the question of six council districts on last November's ballot and was seen as a delay tactic by critics.

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Bob Wingenroth

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The last year or so has been muy tough on my beloved city of Anaheim, and not just because of trigger-happy cops and a nation discovering its stratified reality. There's also the matter of an ACLU lawsuit alleging the violation of voting rights against Latinos, a lawsuit I cannot stand by. Not only is the racial argument that Latinos need Latinos to represent them preposterous--as I've said many times before, the best possible politician Latinos in the city can have is longtime activist Duane Roberts--but two of the plaintiffs, Amin David and Jose Moreno of Los Amigos, helped get Anaheim in its current mess by long playing footsie with Dark Lord Curt Pringle. And let's not forget Moreno tried to get Chapman University to pull me as a conference speaker because he doesn't want anyone to think of him as anything else as OC's Great Brown Hope, an assertion as laughable as me becoming a Balboa Bay Club member.
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Chief Welter

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