Three further current or former San Bernardino city employees or officials have gone public with accusations against Mayor John Valdivia as of late this week, bringing to a total of five those who have gone on the record to say he grossly mistreated those who worked for him and engaged in further misdeeds, including the misuse of city funds, facilities and personnel, failing to report money and gifts he had received and the reception of what appear to bribes. The three individuals who came forth this week are purposed to join with Mirna Cisneros and Karen Cervantes, who resigned last month and then earlier this month filed claims against Valdivia and the city, in taking legal action. A sixth city employee, one believed to yet be in place at City Hall, has also made contact with the same attorney representing the other five.
Of the three who spoke out this week in full public display in front of currently shuttered City Hall, which is awaiting seismic retrofitting, one is a member of both the Arts and Historical Preservation Commission and the San Bernardino Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission and another is yet serving in the role of Valdivia’s field representative.
Alissa Payne, Donald Smith and Jackie Aboud stepped out from the shadows to join with Cisneros and Cervantes in attesting to grotesque elements of Valdivia’s persona, revelations that come a little more than 14 months after Valdivia acceded to the mayoralty in the nearly 220,000-population county seat following his victory over then-incumbent Mayor Carey Davis in the November 2018 election. When 2019 began, Valdivia, a Hispanic Republican with the backing of the county’s Republican establishment, appeared to be an irresistible political force, as he was drawing to himself substantial support not just from the city’s largely Latino and predominantly Democratic population but business owners and conservative GOP stalwarts, as well. Among those who signed on to assist him in office were Cervantes and Smith, who were active in Republican political efforts in 2018. Both were enthusiastic about working in Valdivia’s administration, and saw doing so as an opportunity to fulfill their professional and philosophical goals. As it would turn out, Valdivia’s self-centered and abrasive style, his ego-driven ambition that had more than a political focus, together with his vulgarisms, short temper and angry tirades dulled their enthusiasm for assisting him in his mission of governance.
Cisneros and Cervantes said that the mayor had subjected them to unwanted sexual advances, innuendo and crude remarks, sought to press them into compromising circumstances, insisted that they perform tasks outside their job assignments, and either sought to involve them in or acknowledged to them his skirting of the law pertaining to the use of public funds as well as his violation of the reporting requirements imposed on public officials relating to the reception of donations, money or services. Cisneros said that Valdivia had pressured her to work on political campaigns while she was serving in her capacity as a city employee, suggesting that she should use the vacation time she had accrued to work on the current campaigns of two of the candidates Valdivia is endorsing, Juan Figueroa and Bessine Richard.
Attorney Tristan Pelayes said his office has been retained by six current or one-time city employees, including Cisneros, Cervantes, Aboud, Smith and Payne,  with regard to Valdivia’s treatment of them. The evidence mounting against the mayor is overwhelming, Pelayes said.
“Over the last few weeks, over a dozen additional individuals have come forward as both witnesses and victims,” Pelayes said. “This includes elected officials, community members, campaign workers, and both current and former employees. Through this, a distinct pattern has become evident, a predatory pattern by Mayor John Valdivia of seeking out young women, people who are vulnerable, experiencing hardships, or just starting their careers in government. This pattern consists of sexually inappropriate behavior, manipulation through bullying and verbal abuse, and quid pro quos by promising promotions and career advancement opportunities. His abuse extends beyond just young females. He mistreated his male staff members as well. One of the most disheartening things that have come about in this case is the lack of action and cooperation by the city. We have proof through written documents as well as victim and witness statements that the city council, [the] human resources [department], and several others in the administrative office both knew of and witnessed the mayor’s behavior, yet they failed to protect these victims. The only ‘action’ – if you’d call it that – ever taken was letters warning him about his hostile behavior and the inappropriateness of him having Mirna Cisneros accompany him on trips. No formal investigation ever took place until my clients retained legal counsel and went public.”
Pelayes said he and his firm had importuned the city to “hire an independent investigator and ensure a fair and impartial investigation.” The city instead has selected its own investigator, he said, and is pursuing what he implied is a whitewash.
Pelayes added, “We have received additional information regarding his illegal campaign activities and quid pro quos with businesses and developers who contributed to his campaign. Due to the nature of those allegations, we are cooperating with law enforcement to investigate.”
As Pelayes was conducting the press conference, which was attended by multiple media outlets including print journalists and no fewer than three Los Angeles area television film crews, a crowd of more than a dozen Valdivia supporters chanted, “Hell, no! The man won’t go,” a pointed response to recent statements emanating from multiple corners in the community calling upon the mayor to resign.
In her remarks to the crowd, Jackie Aboud said, “I worked for the City of San Bernardino as a field rep for the mayor for 10 months. While working for the mayor, I was subjected to verbal and mental abuse, which included screaming, being threatened with termination, belittling in front of others and constant bullying. He took joy in mistreating others, even talked about how much he loved firing people, and would call other employees names in front of me – making fun of them, based on their age, race, and even veteran status. He told me I needed to spend time with him after hours and invest in a friendship with him if I wanted to reach my career goals. He also told me that my job was not to serve the community but to serve him and meet his personal needs.”
Aboud continued, “I was regularly ordered to work additional hours while not being paid, and reprimanded if I didn’t. The mayor doesn’t care about the community, only certain areas that supported him during his election. I was ordered to not help, support, or partner with parts of the community that didn’t support him in the election, like the 4th and 7th Ward. I began to share my concerns with an HR [human resources] employee starting in July of 2019; I was never contacted and nothing was done. I was cautioned about coming forward because he was an elected official and they couldn’t do anything to control him.”
Aboud said, “On January 6, 2020, I was fired without being provided with a reason. I fully believe I was terminated in retaliation because I didn’t respond to his personal demands the way he wanted me to. When I was terminated I again told HR about my concerns related to his conduct toward Mirna, him creating a hostile work environment, and how he would misuse city funds. After graduating from college, it was my dream to work in local government; I have a true passion for serving this community and I thought I could make a difference in a city that so desperately needs it. The mayor turned my dreams into a nightmare.”
Don Smith said, “I am currently employed by the City of San Bernardino as a field rep for the mayor. Prior to my employment, I worked for the mayor on his last campaign. Over the last year and a half, I have been mentally and verbally abused and used by the mayor. He would constantly yell, tell me I was not high functioning and always told me my job was on the line if I didn’t do what he wanted. Even though I was not on call, he would call me and tell me to immediately report to work on days/times I wasn’t scheduled. I would show up to work my regular part-time shift, then would be told to work 10-12 hours running errands – not being allowed to take breaks. Anytime I questioned him, he again would tell me that I needed to do what I was told because he gave me the opportunity.”
According to Smith, Valdivia “ordered me to work extra hours, while not getting paid, promising me a promotion opportunity. He had me run personal errands like getting his car serviced while on the clock for the city. He offered to pay me for side work, then would never pay me fully after I completed the work. He routinely threatened my job as a means to bully me.”
Smith recounted that “When my grandma passed away, I had to take time off. When I returned to work, the mayor was upset and told me, ‘I don’t give a blank if someone in your family dies. I need you to be at work.’”
According to Smith, “The mayor truly believes he is above the law and as a matter of fact, he told me one time ‘We are the law’ when I questioned him about the legal parameters of his actions.”
Smith said, “Coming forward with this information has been difficult as I am struggling as a part-time employee who desperately needs to work and is scared of what the mayor will do, but I cannot let him continue on his path of destruction and victimization. I took this job and endured the abuse because I wanted so badly to help the community and make a difference; I owe it to the people of San Bernardino to help hold him accountable.”
Alissa Payne said, “In October of 2019, I was appointed as a commissioner for the City of San Bernardino for two commissions. I was subjected to inappropriate conduct and manipulation by the mayor. He went as far as offering to provide me an apartment, would tell me how to vote and what to say or do at the commission meetings, asked me to meet him alone in the evening after hours, and promised – guaranteed –  me a seat on the city dais as the 2nd Ward council member.”
Payne said Valdivia made inappropriate sexist comments about Councilwoman Sandra Ibarra and homophobic slurs about a current city council candidate she did not specify.
Payne recounted that Valdvia “invited me to attend a dinner event as his personal guest where he was persistently trying to get me intoxicated, which I declined, and put his arm around me several times, touching my lower back and making me extremely uncomfortable, which eventually led to him pulling me in for an unwanted hug.”
“The mayor was preying on me,” Payne said, and “council members were not only aware but enabled his behavior. Coincidentally, after I didn’t give in to the mayor’s demands and started to become distant with him, my apartment and one of my events for the homeless was reported to code enforcement. I am being retaliated against. I have worked very hard to be a contributing member of my community. I volunteer as much as I can, even hosting and planning my own events out of my own pocket. When city council members and the mayor began to show their support, I felt like I was achieving something, that my hard work was paying off. The more I was around these people, the more I began to realize the truth, and it hurt. The mayor didn’t recognize me because of my hard work and dedication, but because he was preying on me. The mayor wants power and his way at all costs. The mayor knew of my situation as a single mom and preyed on me, used me.”
–Mark Gutglueck

Click on the blue portal below to download a PDF of the February 27 edition of the San Bernardino County Sentinel.

Sentinel 02-21-20

By Mark Gutglueck
Long ongoing attempts by San Bernardino Mayor John Valdivia and a more recent effort by San Bernardino Deputy City Attorney Sonia Carvalho to muzzle City Councilwoman Sandra Ibarra fell short this week, with Ibarra descending from the council dais during this week’s city council meeting to utilize the public microphone to engage in open statements Valdivia has consistently endeavored to curtail.
This week was the second time Ibarra took recourse in utilizing the pulpit normally reserved for members of the public addressing the council during city council meetings. On a relatively consistent basis, Valdivia has slighted Ibarra in the past, refusing to recognize her to allow her to speak during council proceedings, and on two occasions adjourning the meetings and himself walking away from dais as she attempted to summon the council’s attention to an issue. This week, Ibarra’s move carried with it a certain poignancy and gravitas, as Valdivia is under heavy scrutiny and attack based upon legal claims lodged against him and the city by two of his former staff members who resigned last month. Those claims accuse Valdivia of subjecting the two women to sexual harassment and engaging in a wide manner of improprieties, and further allege that the city’s senior management and the city attorney’s office failed to act to curtail his behavior after the women made internal complaints while they were yet employed. Moreover, the claims his two former staffers, Mirna Cisneros and Karen Cervantes, filed on February 13 state that Valdivia sought to involve them in or otherwise disclosed to them that he has misused public funds or received donations of money or gifts he has not disclosed.
Ibarra was elected to represent the city’s Second Ward in 2018, the same year that Valdivia, who at that time was serving as Third Ward Councilman, was elected mayor. After then-incumbent Second Ward councilman and one-time Valdivia ally, Benito Barrios, had finished third in the June 2018 primary to set up a November runoff between Ibarra and Cecilia Miranda-Dolan, Valdivia and Ibarra supported each other once that year’s election season was on in earnest. Upon taking office, Ibarra settled in as a key member of Valdivia’s ruling coalition on the council, joining initially with her colleagues Henry Nickel, Bessine Richard and Ted Sanchez to provide the mayor with sway over the city. Two factors, however, matured over time to manifest in Ibarra’s eventual break with Valdivia.
The first of these was the roiling controversy that had developed over the city’s animal control division, housed in and functioning out of an aging and dilapidating animal shelter building under the management of the police department, which was chaffing at being saddled with that thankless and frustrating assignment. Valdivia’s strategy for dealing with the issue consisted of a plan, which had some degree of city council support, of outsourcing the animal control division to the County of Riverside. A sizable contingent of the city’s residents, however, were opposed to the city offloading the care of the city’s stray, unlicensed and lost domestic animals to a facility in the City of Riverside a good ways distant across the county line. When Ibarra took on the active role of advocating for those resisting Riverside’s takeover, this threatened to untrack what Valdivia considered to be a relatively easy solution to a problem he had hoped to sidestep while he dealt with other pressing challenges facing the city. The second element that fully sundered the Valdvia/Ibarra alliance came in May 2019, when the vacant Third Ward council position that Valdivia had resigned from to become mayor was filled with another Valdivia ally, Juan Figueroa, whom Valdivia had heavily backed and whose campaign was fueled in large measure by funds Valdivia had transferred to Figueroa out of his own political war chest. When Figueroa took his place on the council dais, Ibarra’s support, which was once needed to hold Valdivia’s coalition together, was no longer indispensable.
In a relatively short span, it was clear that Ibarra was migrating away from the Valdivia fold as her votes diverged from those of Richard, Sanchez, Nickel and Figueroa supporting Valdivia’s strategy of governance in the county seat. In time the rift intensified, and Valdivia, confident in his preeminence at City Hall, on occasion rubbed salt into Ibarra’s wounds, using his possession of the mayor’s gavel and his control over the ebb and flow of council discussion to ignore the councilwoman’s efforts to weigh in on numerous items and topics that the council was considering as action items, resolutions, ordinances, ordinance adjustments or during hearings, by failing to recognize her when she would attempt to speak. In a particularly pointed way, Valdivia on occasion would simply bypass her during that portion of the meeting devoted to council members asking their colleagues to consent to the discussion of or action on items or issues at future meetings. On those occasions when issues Ibarra championed made their way into the council’s deliberations, Valdivia often worked to give those matters short shrift.
By the end of Summer 2019, Valdivia was angling with some purpose to render Ibarra into a political irrelevancy and in no small measure succeeding. Casting about for some means of asserting herself, Ibarra at last hit upon going beyond her capacity as a council member, which Valdivia was managing to thwart, by exercising her First Amendment rights as a citizen by filling out a speaker card and then making a statement during that portion of the council meeting reserved for public comment.
Unbeknownst to the public, during most of last year, a scandal was brewing at City Hall relating to the mayor’s comportment. Relatively early in Valdivia’s tenure as mayor, Mirna Cisneros, then 29, had been transferred from her at large position as a resident service representative to the mayor’s staff. Perhaps feeling his political oats, Valdivia was forward with her, engaging in a sexually-tinged innuendo, as when he offered her his credit card and kept telling her to buy whatever she wanted, specifically requesting that she add more high heels to her wardrobe, while telling her that his wife did not need to know about the purchases. He continuously commented on Cisneros’s appearance, made lewd comments about other women, and hinted that he would promote Cisneros to the position of his chief of staff so they could replicate a sexual relationship like that between a member of the California legislature and his chief of staff. Valdivia further insisted that Cisneros accompany him on junkets that were not a part of her job duties, on one occasion telling her as they were boarding a plane that nothing was off limits. In September, Valdivia hired onto his staff 24-year-old Karen Cervantes as constituent representative. Valdivia, as he had done with Cisneros, inveigled Cervantes into accompanying him to after-hours events that were not a required element of her work assignment. At one of these, Valdivia attempted to ply her with gin and tonics, at one point whispering in her ear that “This is not like at work and we can have fun,” that at such events he is “not so strict,” and that he is “cool.” Valdivia further pressured Cervantes to carpool with him, and at one point told Cervantes it was her fault that “we don’t have a friendship.” Valdivia told her she should ‘‘try to have a relationship” with him and that Cervantes “should stay in the office after hours to have friendly conversations” with him, so that they could get to know one another better. Valdivia delved into her personal finances and asked about Cervantes’ mortgage and bills, implying that keeping her job was important, which she took as his effort to get her to “consent to his degrading and unwelcome sexual advances and harassment.”
Cisneros and Cervantes reported Valdivia’s behavior to the city administration but, according to their attorney, Tristan Pelayes, this had no salutary effect. Neither the city manager, the city attorney’s office, nor the city’s personnel department were willing to clash with Valdivia over the issue Cisneros and Cervantes were raising, and the city was not amenable to transferring either of the women to other assignments where they would not need to interact with Valdivia. On January 29, both resigned from the city. Thereafter, with Pelayes representing them, they went public with their stories and on February 13 filed claims with the city, considered to be precursors to lawsuits, in which they laid out a multitude of the lurid details in their experiences with Valdivia.
In Cisneros’s claim, she said, “Each time claimant refused Valdivia’s advances or rejected his behavior, he would put her on the ‘misery program,’ which involved, among other things, humiliating her, forcing her to engage in activities outside of her job description and requirements, and threatening her job.” According to Cervantes,  “Because claimant refused Valdivia’s advances and despicable behavior, Valdivia began to belittle, bully, degrade, and embarrass claimant in front of her coworkers during staff meetings and other gatherings. This retaliatory behavior continued and escalated throughout the next few months.”
In the aftermath of the claims being filed, more than a dozen news and media outlets throughout Southern California picked up on the scandal, including the San Bernardino Sun, CBS, NBC, ABC, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, and the Press-Enterprise, as well as elements of the national media.
Cisneros and Cervantes along with Ibarra were forced to endure not only Valdivia’s genderist behavior but dismissive treatment by top city officials and the city’s contract city attorney firm, Best Best & Krieger.
Before and even after Cisneros and Cervantes reached out to Pelayes, they had been told by senior city officials that nothing could be done about Valdivia because he was an elected official. When Valdivia had used his authority as mayor to preempt Ibarra’s participation in the governance of the city, no one was willing to intervene, as Valdivia’s status as mayor and political power exceeded that of Ibarra, whose authority as Second Ward councilman made her the direct representative of a constituency one-seventh the size of Valdivia’s. In the case of City Manager Teri Ledoux, Valdivia’s position as mayor put her at the mercy of his decision to sway the four votes he was presumed to control on the council that could fire her. Ledoux had never spoken up to assist Ibarra in gaining her footing in the face of Valdivia cutting her off. Best Best & Krieger is an establishment law firm, one that militates on behalf of city officials who have, by virtue of their elected status, become part of the establishment Best Best & Krieger has for generations successfully aspired to represent. Whenever rivalries among those elected officials break out, Best Best & Krieger hews to the side which the firm and its attorney’s calculate holds the political upper hand. Until quite recently in San Bernardino that was the side of the political divide John Valdvia was on. Though Deputy City Attorney and Best Best & Krieger Partner Sonia Carvalho had been witness to John Valdivia’s shabby treatment of Sandra Ibarra no fewer than a dozen times over the last six to eight months, times when the mayor precluded the councilwoman from fully participating as a member of the city council to which she was duly elected, Carvalho had not once stepped in to challenge the fashion in which Valdivia was marginalizing Ibarra.
Wednesday night, during the February 19 San Bernardino City Council meeting held in the Bing Wong Auditorium at the Norman F. Feldheym Library, there was heavy turnout that included dozens of residents bearing placards calling for Valdivia to resign as mayor. Pelayes was there, looking on and sizing up how the mayor was going to carry on in what had to be the most challenging night he has spent functioning as the city council’s presiding officer. No fewer than three television film crews were present to capture the contretemps. Not far from the forefronts of the minds of many of those in attendance was the failure of Ledoux and Carvalho, two women who had risen to or very near the apex of municipal governance and function in San Bernardino, to uphold the city’s standards of decency, fair play and propriety in the face of the caddish and domineering behavior of a man who was abusing his power as mayor. Indeed, for many, a central element of what had befallen Cisneros, Cervantes and Ibarra was the cowardice Ledoux and Carvalho had evinced by their unwillingness to stand up in the face of the bullying their sister employees/officials had been subject to.
Anticipating that things might get ugly during the course of the meeting, Carvalho had arranged that her colleague at Best Best & Krieger, Thomas A. Rice, who is also San Bernardino’s assistant city attorney, be on hand.  As the deputy city attorney, Carvalho is the workhorse who reports to the mayor, city council and city manager on a constant basis, and since Best Best & Krieger was brought in as the city’s contract law firm in 2018 she has attended virtually all of the city’s council meetings.
Rice, who speaks in a clipped British accent, is the city’s legal showhorse. He is rarely present at city offices or functions, but is trotted out when city officials are seeking to put an urbane foot forward to make a superficial impression on those it is dealing with. Such was the case Wednesday night, when Carvalho, Ledoux and Valdivia were hoping that Rice might finesse the crowd and take some of the fire out of those who were present to give Valdivia a piece of their collective mind. Carvalho had Rice address the issue of what the city council had addressed in closed session, which not surprisingly related to Cisneros’s and Cervantes’ progress toward suing the city.
Rice said, “In the closed session, we discussed two claims the city has received from members of staff in the mayor’s office relating to sexual harassment allegations. The  city has strictly complied with its harassment policies, has engaged a special independent investigator who will conduct an investigation. The investigator has asked to be expeditious. Following the investigation, a neutral report will be provided to the city to review, and information will be shared with the public.”
That report is due within 45 days. Notably, Rice’s statement did not disclose which of the council members had voted to disclose the investigator’s findings and which members had voted against doing so.
Any hopes Carvalho, Ledoux and Valdivia harbored that Rice’s statement would quell the crowd were dashed when public comments were heard.
Esmeralda Negrete accused the city council and the city of “looking out for the interest of one person and one person only.”
Sandra Salazar said, “The lawsuits are going to cost the city a lot of money. It is mind boggling. We can’t afford this litigation. It’s ridiculous. Do the city a favor and please resign, John, please. We cannot afford all of your mistakes.”
Barbara Babcock said, “Mr. Valdivia, I think you love this city. And the best thing you could do for this city is step down and resign.”
Tim Prince said, “Mayor, you are an embarrassment.”
Bill Rainbolt told Valdivia, “I want you to think when you look at your little daughter, when your daughter grows up, you wouldn’t want anyone to do that to your daughter. Do the right thing as a man and resign.”
Thomas Fleming said, “Mr. Mayor, I understand. You know, sometimes we go out and drink. I’m guessing you had a little too much to drink.”
Hilda Wendtland said, “Mr. Mayor, I’m speaking to you now because I love San Bernardino. I have 500 people who I’ve asked to put their signatures on mortgages. And I told you this, every time I sell a house in San Bernardino, somebody signs their mortgage to $300,000. I cannot sell a house in a city that is going bankrupt. I love this city. I really do. I am going to speak to you now in a manner you understand, since I understand you were a theologian. When the women argued in front of Solomon in First Kings 3:23, it says ‘The woman said, ‘Please, don’t kill the baby. Let her have it.”’ Are you listening, because this is for you: ‘Solomon said, “That’s the real mother.”’ When you love something, you let it go. Please resign.”
Treasure Ortiz said “How about these two ladies, Karen and Mirna, who have been sexually harassed? All the receipts are out there. And we have to wait 45 days for what? To do what? To figure it out? To cost the taxpayers more money? To be bigger puppets to the mayor than you have been for the last year? When do you start thinking for yourselves? When do you start representing the City of San Bernardino?  When do you protect the employees that work so hard to cover your mistakes?  Why is it that you are so easily swayed and bought and sold by a nobody mayor? That’s the guy that you guys listen to? That’s the guy that you guys do things for? Why? Do you love San Bernardino? Do you want us to be better? Do you have any idea what an amazing city you have been chosen to represent? And yet, you fail us. You may not be responsible for the past. But damn it! You own the present and you will live this legacy in your future. When they Google your names, you will be just like John: front page, sexual harassment in San Bernardino. San Bernardino Council retaliates. San Bernardino mayor calls former city manager corrupt. That’s what you guys want to attach your names to?  Doing the right thing doesn’t require an elected official’s job. It doesn’t require you to make a lot of money. It doesn’t even require you to get out of bed. You’ve just got to make a phone call, and say, ‘You know what guys? We watched it happen, right in front of us. The employees begged for our help, and nothing happened. We did it to the city manager’s office. We’ve done it to other employees.’ That’s all you have to do, is stand up and be people, individuals. What is happening cannot happen anymore. Karen and Mirna lost their jobs because they couldn’t take the mayor’s sexual harassment. If that was your family member, what would you be doing? Sitting there supporting him, or doing the right thing?”
Robert Porter said “Mr. Valdivia, please, you made us look real bad in the newspapers. You made me look real bad for supporting you, a paid supporter of you. I can’t take that. I can’t feel that way. I love San Bernardino more than I love you. The way you made us look, it hurt me. The people in the city are scared of you. We don’t need a bully in there. We need one to check their ego. Maybe alcohol messed you up a little bit. Well, get some help with that. Stop drinking alcohol. I now you’re not going to resign, even though a lot of people would like you to. I think you should do what’s best for San Bernardino and do that, but if you can keep San Bernardino moving forward in good way while you’re still there – but I don’t think it’s going to happen with another election, man. That wasn’t cool what you did, and these girls don’t deserve sexual harassment. They don’t want to be dragged through the mud like that. They’re Republicans, man. You helped pick ’em. How could it be political? I’m just super-disappointed in you, dude.”
When Councilwoman Ibarra left the dais to go toward the public speaking podium, with  Valdivia’s leave, Deputy City Attorney Carvalho took a stab at trying to dissuade her by suggesting that what she was doing was unnecessary and lacked professionalism.
“Each of you as council members have a right to speak under the First Amendment and speak and share your opinions,” Carvalho started, then continued, “I find it highly unusual that you would have an elected member of the council come down to the speaker area. All comments can be made from where you sit, at the appropriate time. It is of course up to you as a council. But I do need to bring it to your attention that we do try to run a professional meeting, and that it is highly unusual.”
Carvalho’s verbal sally at Ibarra did not have the desired effect, as the councilwoman did not turn away from the lectern. From somewhere in the crowd, someone could be heard half-yelling at Carvalho, “Then tell the mayor to quit shutting her down and let her speak.”
As it would turn out, Ibarra was seeking to use the public forum to address an element of the issue – the operation of the city’s animal shelter – which had originally poisoned her relationship with Valdivia. When she got to that subject, she dealt in some detail about the city’s euthanizing of dogs without a hearing, which she said was a violation of the city’s code and was occurring with frequency. She cited the recent putting down of a dog name Bader in illustrating her point.  Prior to that, however, she took up the subject of the scandal permeating the city.
In reference to Carvalho’s attempt to shame her into silence, Ibarra said, “I came up here because I believe last time we were told we couldn’t speak from the dais.”
Looking straight at Valdivia, Ibarra said, “As a constituent who in November 2018 voted for change in our city, positive change for our city, I was really looking forward to that positive change, Mayor. I’m here to ask you – if those allegations are true and only you know whether or not they are true, but if they are true, please [for] the taxpayers and the 19,000-plus voters who put their faith in your hands to move our city forward – step down.”

The repeated refusal of multiple employees within the City of Upland’s planning division to allow one of the city’s residents to file an appeal of the planning commission’s approval of the Amazon Distribution Center project has intensified the distrust with which a contingent of city residents have come to regard City Hall.
Despite the refusal of the top echelon of the city’s administrators and community development staff to allow Steve Bierbaum to make a formal presentation of the grounds for his protest of the planning commission’s action to persuade the city council to rescind or otherwise deny the project approval, after he approached those ranked a bit lower within the city’s executive suite, personnel there consented to accept and file the document.
Though Bierbaum through persistence and by deviating from the protocol dictated by the city as to the proper channel through which to make a request for a rehearing succeeded in slipping his objections to the project into the record, the manner by which city officials initially blocked the filing has served to convince many that the city is engaged in an effort to game its own system.
On February 12, the Upland Planning Commission, with Commissioner Alexander Novikov absent, considered Amazon’s proposed 201,096-square-foot distribution center to be located north of Foothill and south of Cable Airport. In the course of the hearing, the commission, joined by Airport Land Use Committee members Ronald Campbell and Howard Bunte, voted unanimously to enter a finding that the project as proposed constitutes a use compatible with the city’s zoning codes and general plan. The commission voted 4-to-1, with Commissioner Yvette Walker dissenting, to accept the project’s environmental certification, which included the designation of a mitigated negative declaration, essentially a finding that any untoward environmental impacts would be offset by the conditions of approval imposed on the project. The panel voted 3-to-2, with Gary Schwary and Walker in opposition, to recommend approval of the development agreement. It voted 4-to-1 to approve a lot line adjustment for the project, with Walker dissenting. With regard to the project’s site plan, the commission voted 3-to-2, to approve a tortuously worded motion, one which called not for the acceptance of the site plan but rather the rejection of it. Commissioner Schwary, who for a decade previously was the commission’s chairman, endeavored to make clear before the vote that a “yes” vote meant voting down the site plan and that a “no” vote was one cast to approve the site plan. When the votes were registered, the tally was 3-to-2 in favor of the motion, with Walker, Schwary and Linden Brouse prevailing and Chairwoman Robin Aspinall and Carolyn Anderson dissenting. In this way, the commission’s proceedings were recorded as having denied the site plan. Subsequent to the meeting, however, Brouse claimed he had misunderstood the motion, believing that by voting “yes” he was voting to approve the site plan, and he is now seeking to rescind his vote.
The project proponent is not Amazon but rather a company, El Segundo-based Bridge Development Partners, which is seeking entitlement to proceed with the project on the 50-acre site owned by the Bongiovanni Family Trust.
A considerable number of Upland residents are opposed to the project on the grounds that it will generate a significant degree of traffic, negatively impact the city’s roads and other infrastructure, involves diesel trucks and vans of multiple sorts that will generate a significant degree of air pollution, entails internet-based sales which will generate for the city no sales tax revenue, and will monopolize as a logistics-based operation property along the Foothill Corridor better utilized for commercial and service-provision businesses.
As a so-called deal sweetener, Bridge Development had originally offered the city $10 million in one-time payments or other fees which were to include $5.7 million dedicated to road maintenance needs throughout the city at a rate of $370,000 annually; $400,000 to beautify, maintain and enhance four nearby parks, with $100,000 going to Cabrillo Park, $100,000 going to Citrus Park, $100,00 going to Baldy View Park and $100,000 going to Greenbelt Park; $100,000 to each of Upland’s 14 public schools, for a total of $1.4 million; $400,000 to the Upland Police Department to address homelessness; and $50,000 to support local businesses through the Upland Chamber of Commerce’s Shop Upland initiative. That money was to be paid in addition to the $2.25 million Bridge Development is shelling out in development fees.
When opponents of the project pointed out that the money Bridge Development was offering was tantamount to bribes to the city and the city’s institutions, and that over the 50-year life of the lease on the property upon which the project is to be built and the possible 50-year lease extension thereafter that the damage to the city’s streets and infrastructure would exceed a cost of $500 million, Bridge Development increased the $10 million offer to $16 million.
Project opponents noted that the monetary inducements had seemingly compromised the judgment of city officials, including City Manager Rosemary Hoerning, Community Development Director Robert Dalquest and the city’s contract planner, Mike Poland, who were unwilling to look the $16 million gift horse in the mouth. Opponents say city officials have allowed Upland’s municipal regulatory function and land use authority to be compromised, which they say includes the consideration that the city allowed Bridge Development Partners to undertake a much less rigorous negative mitigated declaration on the project rather than doing a full-blown environmental impact report for the project to obtain environmental certification.
Among the project opposition is Steve Bierbaum. On Thursday, he gave the Sentinel  a rundown of what he experienced this week when he sought to ensure that a protest of the planning commission’s endorsement of the project, as far as it goes, was officially registered to make sure the city council considers all of the issues of concern with regard to the project, and to preserve the rights of the city’s residents to challenge the project in the courts if it is given ultimate go-ahead.
“According to the planning commission appeal process on the agenda you need to file an appeal of any planning commission action within ten days,” Bierbaum said. “An appeal is the major remedy. The only other way you can document an objection to what occurred is basically an objection or challenge. After last week’s public hearing on the environmental determination for the Amazon project, I wanted to make an objection and the only way I could do that was to file paperwork with the city. My purpose was to get something on the record should this go to litigation subsequent to the council meeting where this item will be taken up by the city council on the hypothetical chance the city votes yes to approve the project.”
Bierbaum pointed out that the ability to challenge the council’s decision once it has entered its findings and determination is limited, and must take up what was submitted to the council and considered prior to the decision being rendered, such that raising an issue in a legal action after such an approval that is not based on issues considered by the decision-making body’s deliberations would be dismissed on technical legal grounds. “Once the council has reached its decision, any challenge of that action based on something that has not been considered by the council beforehand will be considered null and void and cannot be placed into the court documentation,” Bierbaum said. “By submitting the documents I did today [Thursday, February 20], those issues have to be addressed. I took up certain issues that were sidestepped during the course of the planning commission meeting and in the city’s acceptance of the mitigated negative declaration for the project. Now, what the city can do is just put what I gave them into the round file [trash can], but for the purposes of any litigation that may ensue, toward that end we will be able to bring into our briefs all of those issues, and there will be no way for the city to get around that because we have now put the issues on the books.”
Bierbaum explained what had occurred at City Hall before he was able to get the document filed. “I understood that based upon what it says in the agenda under the public noticing section, if you want to apply for an appeal to the planning commission’s decision you have to contact the planning department, so I showed up for that procedure yesterday [Wednesday, February 19] morning. I attempted to reach out to [Upland Contract Planner] Mike Poland and [Upland City Manager] Rosemary Hoerning to determine what I needed to do specifically to file an appeal. I did not hear back, and based on what I knew, you have ten calendar days to make an appeal. Today [Thursday, February 20] would have been the last day [since the tenth day following the February 12 meeting falls on Sunday, February 22, at which point City Hall is closed]. So, I went to City Hall yesterday [February 19] and after a half hour of hemming and hawing around at the planning counter, [Assistant City Planner] Joshua [Winter] came to the front desk and he said he would not allow me to file what I had. I asked him why, and he said, ‘Here is a document,’ which was highlighted, and if you can visualize this, it was something from an email why this [the planning commission’s February 12 vote] was not a category where it would be appropriate to have an appeal process because the planning commission was not making a decision but was rather making a recommendation, and that the city was therefore not accepting any appeals on the subject despite what it says on the agenda.”
Bierbaum continued. “With Joshua was a young woman from the department,” he said. “So, I asked, ‘I want to know if I show up with an appeal whether that appeal will be filed. It sounds like you are telling me that you won’t accept my appeal. Is that correct?’ He told me, ‘That is correct.’”
That option foreclosed, Bierbaum recognized he would need to maneuver around the city’s planning division.
“I went to the city clerk’s office and spoke with the executive assistant,” Bierbaum said. “I told her that in the planning department they would not accept the appeal I was trying to submit, despite what it said on the planning commission agenda about the ten day deadline. l asked her if I submitted the objection relating to the planning commission’s decision would she accept that document She said they would accept it in the city clerk’s office.”
Bierbaum said that what went to the city clerk’s office thus was “not an appeal in the sense of using the process to overturn the decision. The only thing I was attempting to do was to get information in place that had not previously been provided as part of the record before the city council meets, to make sure they will have that as part of what should be part of the deliberative process.”
Bierbaum said that he did not perceive anything hostile in Winter’s demeanor, but that “When he first came to the counter he let me know ‘This is the position of the planning department. We are not going to take it [the appeal application] from you because this is the position of the city manager.’ But then he said, ‘Let me check to make sure I understand correctly.’ When he came back I asked if I showed up the next day [Thursday], that he was telling me the planning division would not accept what I wanted to file. He told me that was correct.”
Bierbaum said there was some indication that it was “going to cost thousands of dollars to go through the appeals process,” and that Winter and other staff were, perhaps, in some benevolent fashion warding him off as some form of warning that he would be expending his money in vain, as the planning commission’s findings and votes were not binding and only advisory to the city council, and that the council ultimately would take up the issue, anyway. While Bierbaum said the warning was well taken – “I haven’t had very good luck at the planning department because I don’t necessarily see eye to eye with its members,” he said – that missed the point, Bierbaum pointed out, since “It is my understanding that it would be imperative that all items or arguments or response for the case against the passage of the negative mitigated declaration needed to be made. I still believe there is a viable reason in my articulation of why the environmental impact report should be done. The traffic studies, the air impact studies are absolutely ridiculous and inadequate. More than that, the City of Upland purposefully neglected to include significant resident input within the comments on the mitigated negative declaration posted on the city’s website. There were 138 signatures gathered from residents taking issue with the mitigated negative declaration they left out of the packet. When that was brought to the city’s attention, they asked that we give them a couple of days to add it and they didn’t do that. There were engineering professionals who laid out critical numbers that relate to the air quality and health risk issues. Well, guess what? They left that out of the packet, too. The city substituted in its own numbers on the health risk assessment. We wanted that information in there so it will be brought up at the city council meeting. We want all of that included to make sure the city had those documents so they would be eligible for inclusion in civil litigation when the time comes.”
Bierbaum said, “It is my personal observation that this project has been in progress toward being implemented for a minimum of the last two years. This can be shown when you consider that the Bongiovani property has been receiving administrative citations for the clean up of that property. This started occurring during the Marty Thovenell administration.”
Thovenell served as the city’s acting/interim city manager from July 2016 until January 1, 2018.
“Mr. Thouvenell dictated, or reached, a settlement agreement in which he said to the Bongiovanni Family Trust and Dineen Trucking [which operated a building materials storage and transport as well as a rock crushing facility on the site], ‘We will dismiss the citations and the fines if you clean up the property, and we are going to provide you with an additional year from July 2019 until July 2020 if a large development comes in.’ Shortly after that the West End Water Company quitclaimed at no consideration four easements it had on the Bongiovanni parcel to Bridge Development. There was no money involved in that transaction with the exception of $1,000 for attorney fees. This is at least two years before there is any public mention of the Bridge project. In short, Development Services Director Dahlquist has not been straightforward. He and the planning division have gone out of their way to ensure that the property is properly set up for making this project go through. I submitted a complaint to the Environmental Protection Agency with regard to the property, that they were importing new materials onto the property without monitoring it properly and they were functioning without a business license. It was absolutely clear the city was going out of its way in allowing them to function without the proper licensing. The license they had at the time was for a business office in Upland that had nothing to do with a rock crushing operation. The city was aware of that and then lied outright about it. Mr. Dalquest said they were properly licensed. They were not. The development services director has discouraged everyone from looking behind this because those problems would interfere with the project proposal and [the city’s] development service [division] is 100 percent in favor of this project.”
With regard to laying out the data related to the project, the city was not acting as an honest broker of information, Bierbaum said. In the preparation of the mitigated negative declaration, Bierbaum said of the city, “They aren’t the ones doing the work. In reviewing the mitigated negative declaration, [the firm of] Kimley-Horn was the one receiving the comments. The city was supposed to receive them. [Contract City Planner] Mike Poland then sent them to Kimley-Horn to respond to the input. Upland Rock at the site was crushing rock all that time. The city did not receive one dollar in fees from that operation. They were unlicensed. During the mitigated negative declaration process Kimley-Horn was putting together for Bridge Development, they relied upon Upland Rock’s data. They were pointing to that to establish a baseline for doing the air quality assessment in the negative mitigated declaration process. You can’t rely on that data. It didn’t exist! It was made up! They lied! The county has no record of equipment being moved on that property over the years. This is Upland at its finest. This is the good ol’ boys’ way of doing things. They have an attitude of ‘By God, we can make this happen, no matter what.’ And this is going through because Bridge is throwing money around to buy its way into a project approval.”
Bierbaum said, “My fear is the city council will in fact cave on this. It is all about getting a 3-to-2 vote. The mayor [Debbie Stone] will support this, and [Councilman Ricky] Felix will go right along with her. Bridge already has two votes there. The question is who is their third vote. I think [Councilwoman] Janice [Elliott] will say no, unless she goes soft and starts to wobble. So then it comes down between [Councilman] Bill [Velto] and [Councilman] Rudy [Zuniga]. My guess is as soon as they start talking about the $16 million in revenue, Velto will vote yes. Who knows? They all might vote yes. My personal opinion is they will in the end say that the planning commission fronted for them on this and they will take the commission’s vote as a recommendation. Then we will have to try to fight Bridge, which is really Amazon, in court. That is a multi-billion dollar company. They will spend millions of dollars to just outlast us in court.”
The Sentinel sought an explanation from Winter as to his rationale for preventing Bierbaum from filing his appeal. That prompted a response that came directly from Hoerning. She wrote in an email, “The short answer is the planning commission’s determinations on this project are only recommendations to the city council. The city council will be reviewing material, conducting a public hearing where public testimony is heard, and undertaking deliberations concerning the project before taking their final action on the project elements.”
At this point, Hoerning acknowledged, “The city manager’s office has received Mr. Bierbaum’s public comment package, which is available in the city clerk’s office and will be made available for the city council. It would be inappropriate of city staff to collect an appeal fee from Mr. Bierbaum for this item, because this item has to be presented to city council and a city council public hearing is to be conducted before a final determination and action is taken by the city council.”
-Mark Gutglueck