Here is a snapshot of the City and unions’ litigation leading up to the gathering of signatures to put Prop B on the ballot and subsequent PERB decision:
Ahem, nice try, City, but unfortunately, a “collective grass roots movement” isn’t the same as placing same issue on the ballot and getting said “grass roots petitioners” to vote for it and thus form the “majority” at the ballot box.
And it’s also not the same as the CA Supreme Court deciding to actually hear the matter, lol.
It appears that SD’s own attorneys were the chief defendants here, lol. The opinion was “Certified for Publication” and (wisely, for once) City decided not to appeal it.
Goldsmith and other backers of the proposition have characterized PERB as an agency biased in favor of public employee unions. The city attorney said the ruling was expected.
“I view this with the fact that PERB acted so quickly last February in suing the city, I look at it as somebody at PERB or some group got together and said, `My God, the floodgates are beginning to open,”’ Goldsmith said.
“I think what they look at in this case is an effort to close the floodgates and to not allow citizens initiatives in the future — at least put so many roadblocks in front of it that they’re going to be less likely to happen,” he said. “I think that’s been what this is about since day one.”
. . . It was fiercely contested legally and during the election campaign by unions and a handful of City Council members. Current Mayor Bob Filner criticized the measure.
It was supported by former Mayor Jerry Sanders, Councilman Kevin Faulconer, ex-Councilman Carl DeMaio, the pro-business Lincoln Club of San Diego County and the San Diego County Taxpayers Association.
DeMaio, the Lincoln Club’s T.J. Zane and SDCTA Executive Director Lani Lutar said in a joint statement they will fight for the ballot measure.
Goldsmith is such a political animal. I guess we can’t blame him considering his position with the city frequently puts him between a “rock and a hard place” :=0
He’s clearly missing the reason for the ruling here (or at least “stoically” appearing that he is). Prop B was not actually a “citizen initiative.” It did not originate from the “citizenry” It may have appeared on the surface to have been but the proponents of it (SCTPA and the “Lincoln Club”) have always been well-known shills and strawpeople for City’s mayor and select councilmembers, lol.
City better hope this Decision on their unions’ ULPs never goes to trial in any “real” court of law. It might be better left to die in PERB while City sets up a special room just for “meet and confer” activities.
Even though they later dismissed it in light of finally hearing City’s unions’ ULP’s, PERB was correct to sue City over Prop B. The way that it was put before the voters was a violation of well-settled state law.
LOL. Maybe Goldsmith will be able to talk some sense into city officials.
Thank you for posting this thread, paramount. The City of SD has now been returned to my “lawsuit entertainment watch list” for the most time-and-money-wasting public entity.
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But . . . I’m still in a bit of a quandary here, however :=0.
Shouldn’t Real-Party-in-Interest/straw-plaintiff “April Boling” (on PERB v. City case) be content with her “infamous” unwavering support for Poway Prop C … which will end up bankrupting her beloved City and school district? Why didn’t she just decide to “rest on her laurels” and call it a day after that debacle? :=D