Devereaux
By Greg Devereaux
Posted: 12/07/2012 03:16:42 PM PST
Last week, The Sun and the Daily Bulletin published an editorial and a guest column taking the County of San Bernardino to task for seeking payment of substantial debts owed to the county by the cities of San Bernardino and Upland. What the editorial and column failed to grasp is that when a city refuses to pay the county for a service it used or an impact it caused, it pushes the obligation onto the residents and businesses in other cities.
The county’s landfills are entirely self-supporting and, by law, the county cannot charge more than what it costs to operate them. So when the City of San Bernardino decides to stop paying its bills but keep using the service, the county must charge the other cities, and therefore their residents and businesses, more; shut down the landfill system; or collect what is owed.
What does the newspaper do when a subscriber stops paying their bill?
To read entire column, click here.
Ah… yes…welcome to Inlandpolitics Mr. Greg Devereaux!
I was starting to get restless waiting for YOU… YOU TOO must be assigned a THEME SONG.
I’m running out of songs, allow me a moment to recap to see if anything comes to my mind for you:
Let’s see:
District Attorney Mike Ramos: The Trial, by Pink Floyd
Attorney John Mirau: Death On Two Legs, by Queen
Phil Paule: Twilight Zone, by Golden Earring
Oh…I GOT IT!
“One Night in Bangkok”
(partial lyrics)
Bangkok, just another stop in
The chess world circus — masters drop in,
Play, checkmate, check out and then you
Move on to ANOTHER VENUE.
Like Iceland — or the Philippines — or
Hastings — or — OR THIS PLACE!!!
…
You’ll find a god in every golden cloister
…
ONE TOWN’S VERY LIKE ANOTHER (correct Mr. Devereaux?)
When your head’s down over your pieces, brother.
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between DESPAIR and ECSTASY
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can’t be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me.
Siam’s gonna be the witness
To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
This grips me more than would a
Muddy old river or reclining Buddha.
I don’t see you guys rating
The kind of mate I’m contemplating
I’d let you watch, I would invite you
But the queens we use would not excite you.
So you better go back to your bars, your temples, your massage
parlors…
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can’t be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me.
Wow, Greg Devereaux sure gets hammered in some of the comments on this site.
In this case, he seems to be looking out for the best interests of the county; isn’t that his job?
In a county with a lot of blame worthy targets (Mike Ramos and Jon Mikels come to mind), it seems to me that Mr. Devereaux receives a disproportionate amount of negativity.
Can somebody who doesn’t resort to adolescent name calling or references to the “devil” explain what it is that Mr. Devereaux has done or is doing wrong?
Observer of facts, you have to be part of the Colonies guys since you mentioned badly Jon Mikels. You didn’t get your way with him did you? And #1, I liked what Greg Devereaux had to say in the newspaper and nothing is wrong with the truth. Good job Mr. Devereaux.
Anonymous #3:
No, I am not “part of the Colonies guys.”
I am a 5th generation county resident who has followed local politics for over 40 years, and found Jon Mikels to be a defiant hothead who did his constituents no favors. Even the notoriously slanted Sun and Daily Bulletin ran an editorial essentially blaming him for The Colonies fiasco.
I have also seen Greg Devereaux climb the ranks as a respected City Manager in Fontana and Ontario. He seems extremely qualified to run the county to me, and I do not understand the abuse he takes in some of the comments on this site.
OOF….You are definitely a colonies guy. Devereaux and Ovitt were nothing more than puppets of Dan Richards who Interestingly seems to be the new voice of the colonies. Both Richards and Burum owe their wealth to the manipulation of public officials and no one is buying their antics anymore.
Guest opinion my ass, Devilreaux sits on the Sun’s Editorial Board too!
Anonymous #5:
I should have asked what a “Colonies guy” is. If it’s somebody who does not believe the Mike Ramos bribery theory, I guess I am. I guess that also makes you a “Mike Ramos guy.”
Please explain how the success of the Colonies Crossroads commercial center, which includes tenants such as Home Depot and Target, is the result of “the manipulation of public officials.” Please explain how The Colonies successful lawsuit against Cal Trans was the result of “the manipulation of public officials.”
As to Burum and Richards “antics,” according to an article in The Daily Bulletin, the new phase of the Colonies Crossroads is “expected to generate about $146,000 in property tax revenue and between $687,000 and $702,000 in sales tax revenue.” Is this part of their “antics?”
According to Comment #6, Greg “Devilreaux” sits on the “Sun’s Editorial Board.”
According to Comment #5, Greg Devereaux is a “puppet” of Colonies partner Dan Richards.
If this is the case, how come Dan Richards cannot use his “puppet” to force The Sun to quit writing such misleading and biased articles about the Colonies prosecution?
OOF….If Upland took that sales tax revenue and applied it toward that $102 million dollar corrupt settlement,how many years would it take that city to pay it off? I find it hard to believe that anyone thinks this is a good trade off. Not to mention that Upland is in a horrible financial and political state with the root cause being colonies meddling in the their local politics to ensure their profits by bringing in crooks like Pomierski. In essence, this group of crooks rapes the city and then wants the victim to say thank you for getting me pregnant…..As to filling commercial space next to a freeway, occupancy is a given and so is the winning of court cases when the defendant has millions to defend himself with and plays golf with the judges. O.J. taught us that much. As to being a colonies guy, that means you are probably one of the 70 or more partners that make up the company.
RED, Are you stating that Colonies Partners raped the City of Upland? If so, please explain.
“The editorial suggested the county walk “the three blocks between the county administration center and City Hall, and (try) to work out some accommodation.”"
THE SUN’S EDITORIAL is absolutely correct.
Greggory needed to WALK THE THREE (3) BLOCKS!
LISTEN SUNNY BOY,
you can’t run a county by sitting behind A CONTROL PANEL smoking cigars
(makes your sink yellow) and sipping Scotch (it kills your appetite)
WHILE you shout ORDERS to your stage hands to “SEND AN EMAIL”. or
“PLACE A CALL” to inquire! ALL the while NOT CARING if they respond or
not because you are too hung over with a spitting headache to deal with them!
It’s like attempting to play CHESS via telephone or email” IT’S NOT THE SAME, that takes NO effort, your heart’s NOT in it, and it’s NOT taken seriously.
YOU need: “your head down OVER your pieces, brother.” … AND… “don’t you know that when you PLAY at THIS level, there’s NO ordinary venue”
“GREGORY” …
we are losing our patience with you AND your sissy “LEGAL ACTION THREATS”… blah blah blah… get off your AXX, walk the 3 blocks, and get to WORK and in their faces, or MOVE OVER…
San Bernardino County is fed up with LAZY ADMINISTRATORS and ELECTED OFFICIALS (Hoops/Gonzales/Morris,etc.) tapping their fingers at their desk waiting for the second to SPLIT AND RETIRE….RETIRE WITH A HEFTY LOOT…leaving us masses in a cease pool YOU created by your OWN NEGLECT OF DUTY AND RESPONSIBILITY…IT’S ALL ON YOU!
Anonymous #9
1) Before The Colonies sued the county, they offered to give them the land for the detention basin and pay them $12 Million. The county, led by Jon Mikels, rejected that offer. If they had not done so, the “corrupt settlement” would never have occurred.
2) Raped the city?” The Colonies development actually saved the City of Upland from bankruptcy.
3) The people elected JP Pomerski as mayor. How are The Colonies responsible for that?
4) Your “playing golf with the judges” claim is more of the same old bribed judge theory. In my opinion, its sour grapes from a sore loser.
5) For the record, I am absolutely not “one of the 70 or more partners that make up” The Colonies, and I have no involvement in The Colonies partnership or their development whatsoever. Now, how about an admission from you: are you “BillyJackAttack” posting comments under the “Anonymous” heading?
OOF….to the contrary, go back and read the accounts. Colonies wanted to charge the county $12million for upgrades Mikels claimed could be done for $1million (typical Burum stratagem) Mikels was doing his job by not letting the county get fleeced by Burum as was the mayor before Pomierski. Jp was funded by colonies so they could set an example to those who oppose them and what did Upland get for their lack of vetting? A drunken gangster for a mayor. Upland in bankruptcy? to me they seem to be in a pretty bad financial position now. Burum should have stuck to affordable housing and left commercial development to Lewis who would have avoided all this political upheaval that has damaged the county so greatly.
As far as your sore loser accusation, you are right! I was also a sore loser after 9-11 and felt quite better after justice was served of that terrorist Bin-Ladden. I feel confident I will also feel relief when justice is served on the economic terrorist that are causing harm to tax paying Americans such as those accused in the colonies corruption trial which by the way, our faithful DA has pursued by means of the state supreme court. (HATS OFF TO YOU DA RAMOS) I wonder if Burum and Larson have been playing golf that far up the latter?
BTW, who is Billyjackattack?
Sugar Shane…..Are you the same Sugar Shane that went to Pomona High?
Anonymous #13, I Love You! Your right on.
Anonymous # 13:
Your comment epitomizes the futility of arguing with opponents of The Colonies who are so determined to be right that a rudimentary grasp of economics is beyond them.
Anonymous #15, who claims that you are “right on,” has jumped on board.
Both of you should retake Econ 101.
If Jon Mikels “claimed” that the improvements could have been done for $1 million, he should have immediately accepted The Colonies offer to pay the county $12 million. The county would have been $11 million ahead, and The Colonies would have been the ones who were “fleeced.”
I was not aware that Mike Ramos was appealing his most recent loss in the courtroom to the State Supreme Court. However, I am not surprised. The longer he can drag this prosecution out the better for him, and money is no object, since the taxpayers are funding it.
As I have stated in numerous prior comments, I look forward to the day that Mike Ramos finally has to disclose how much money he has wasted on this prosecution.
It would be poetic justice if he and Jerry Brown were forced to announce it at a press conference.
OOF… Apparently we are both wrong. Burum was demanding $25million for the flood upgrades and Mikels was claiming the work could be done for as little as $3million. However, this is completely contrary to your claims.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_4530717?IADID=Search-www.dailybulletin.com-www.dailybulletin.com
#12 you are on the mark.
Red R u David Ellis?
One thing for sure, Greg is quickly realizing he isn’t the “king of the hill” as he’s been in Ontario. I think this is just the begginning of negativity about his reign.
Sugar Shane….Do you still hang out with Danny Lopez and why are you hanging around this den of inequity?
Annon#20…… I think this is just the begginning of negativity about his reign.
I agree, not to mention his support of imminent domain. One has to wonder who was the true mastermind behind that as Devereaux was only the salesman.
Oh just wonderful now!!!
#20, Monsieur Devereaux wasn’t suppose to be aware of that! Your public revelation may slowly lead him to a nervous breakdown, in his mind HE was “Mr. Burns” around here.
Mr. Burns: “Get going. And answer those phones, install a computer system, and rotate my office so the window faces the hills”.
Lawyer: “Your Honor, my client has instructed me to remind the court how rich and important he is, and that he is not like other men.
LSW: we determined that was a “no”
Sugar Shane…..BTW, at #10, not just Upland, but the whole county.
Anonymous #17:
Your citing of a Daily Bulletin article underscores the fact that many peoples interpretation of the events are based on what the local media says occurred.
My understanding is that, very early on, The Colonies offered to give the county the land and pay them $12 million, 50% of the estimated costs of constructing the basin. I believe that it may have been around the time that they showed Jon Mikels the “book on easements” discussed in the article, and before any lawsuit was filed.
I did note with interest that the article mentions Jon Mikels “hot temper,” and underscores Dennis Hansberger’s attitude of always being 100% right, with everybody else being 100% wrong. I’m glad those two are ancient history.
OOF……Your citing of something so far to the contrary of public record underscores the fact that you are trying to either re-write history, you are a COLONIES GUY or both. Also, Burum’s introduction of the easment book came after his attempt to extract $25million dollars for a $3million dollar project. Thank God for Mikels hot temper! Guess what? I’d have a hot temper too. It’s only too bad that Postmus, Ovitt, and Biane didn’t have the integrity and fortitude of character to become incensed at such blatantly corrupt tactics as trying to bilk public coffers by vastly overcharging for that flood control project. At least two of the three are history and receiving their days in court. As to Hansberger, he also fell prey to the colonies political machine for his failure to support the colonies settlement. You are glad those two are ancient history, but you were just fine when the head supervisor was methed out and in the closet and Biane was drinking up a storm and tearing down the steets endangering the public? You were fine with supervisors calling for ethical behavior and then getting caught in campaign financing scams? That says a lot about you. In your universe Spock wears a goatee and tries to assassinate the captain, but I’m not OK with that happening in my universe.
#16 what Jon Mikels did was, He told Colonies there was not any money in that flood district to pay for what they wanted. So Colonies ousted him and put in their boy. It is as plain and simple as that. Corrupt, corrupt, corrupt, that is all it is.
Anonymous #26:
1) In the link you provided in comment #17, the former Upland City Manager blames Jon Mikels and his hot temper for the breakdown between The Colonies and the county. He was there at the time; were you? Even the notoriously slanted Daily Bulletin ran an editorial essentially blaming Mr. Mikels for the fiasco.
2) According to the link you provided in comment #17, The Colonies produced the “book on easements” in January, 2002. What is the source of your claim that Jeff Burum attempted to “extract $25 Million” before that date?”
3) Can you cite one comment I have ever made where I support Bill Postmus? I felt that he was a disgrace. I’m glad he’s gone, and am very glad I am not basing the outcome of any lawsuit on the credibility of his testimony.
4) I do not know much about Paul Biane, but am aware that he received a DUI in Chicago. Needless to say, I do not condone that behavior.
5) I have recited my interpretation of the Neil Derry prosecution on this site many times. I feel that it was selective and politically motivated, and unfortunately it worked. Mr. Derry is out of office, and James Ramos is now the Supervisor. Don’t forget to check back in 12 months with a report on how he’s doing.
Unfortunately the retired Upland Councilman Ken Willis may have cost the City of Gracious living more money than anyone would have thought possible at the end of the day. His narrow view that the City of Upland would not have supported full development of the Colonies basin area due to the water recharge activities at the site and the need to provide a flood control facility to handle a 100 year storm and public safety issues.
Willis does not agree with the Flood Control District’s contention that they only had a minimal role in the 20th Street Drain. He claims the District was extensively involved with the 20th Street Drain project, and he does not agree that Caltrans and SANBAG had an independent obligation to obtain rights-of-way from Colonies for the discharge of water from the 20th Street Drain. He claims the District guaranteed it had the rights-of-way over Colonies’ property.
Willis is unwilling to testify because there is a protective order in place which prevents the District from obtaining his testimony. The Discovery Referee in this action ruled that plaintiffs were prohibited from obtaining deposition testimony from Willis due to the legislative privilege.
OOF… As I stated, Righteous indignation is a good thing. I would have been indignant if colonies were trying to get me to fork over $25million for a job that was supposed to cost $3 million. I’m sorry to hear that you would have so easily capitulated and allowed colonies to write their own figures on checks coming from public tax payer accounts. There has been so much of that spineless behavior the past ten years that it is no wonder the county is in such bad financial shape. Yet, I believe anon#27 summed it up best, colonies wanted tax payers to fund the project and Mikels told them there was no money in the account so they outed him. As to your question of whether I was there during negotiations, I believe the more relevant question is were you there considering you are reporting information that is “an about face” difference from a story that is a few years old and has never been challenged by the subjects in question who have more than the means available to mount such a challenge.
Anonymous #30:
Thanks for the clarification; I had no idea that The Colonies dispute was so simple.
In fact, after reading Judge Warner’s 50 page Statement of Intended Decision, and learning that the county was represented by 9 attorneys during an 18 day trial, I had thought it was somewhat complicated.
Too bad the county did not have you advising them at the time. They could have only needed one attorney, and had Jon Mikels testify that The Colonies was trying to get him to “fork over $25 Million for a job that was supposed to cost $3 million.” Dennis Hansberger could have testified that “the idea that the county should have to pay for anything related to the drain is farfetched,” and that would have been that.
The trial would have taken an hour or two, the ruling would have been one page, and the county would not have been found to have “continuously violated and repudiated its obligations.”
OOF…. It would have been easier than that, before any dirt on that property would have been turned over, Burum would have known that he and his company were going to cover ALL costs regarding flood control and any other incidentals that would arise and in no way were tax payers going to subsidize (and or) guarantee profits to his company , although I’m sure he would have just done to me what he did with the mayor, Mikels and Hansberger. GET RID OF US and put in yes men like Pomierski and Rex.
Anonymous #32:
I have seen absolutely no evidence to suggest that The Colonies were not prepared to cover ALL the costs of flood control that the development of their property required. However, they were not prepared to deal with storm water that was diverted onto their property from up to 5 miles away.
The county unilaterally diverted the 20th Street Storm Drain flows onto their property, and told them it was their problem to deal with. They did not believe that this was fair, and Judge Warner agreed.
In addition to getting rid of Jon Mikels and the former Mayor of Upland, Jeff Burum is now the one who got rid of Dennis Hansberger? Mr. Burum might be flattered at the power you feel he has, but do you have any idea how preposterous that claim sounds?
OOF……About as preposterous as a mayor strong arming city businesses or a chief county supervisor becoming a gay meth addict and turning his office into a gay ho-down.
Anonymous #34:
Excellent examples; here are a couple of more:
1) About as preposterous as a District Attorney using taxpayer money to selectively prosecute his political enemies, while real crime goes unprosecuted.
2) About as preposterous as a District Attorney refusing to disclose how much taxpayer money he has spent on a selective prosecution based on a theory that doing so would aid the defendants in formulating a strategy.
Thank you OOF. You must tire from having to respond with same facts to the ignorant red one.
OOf….Yes, as preposterous as the hiring of PI’s to dig through supervisors garbage looking for blackmailable info and as preposterous as victory outings in New York with prostitutes after the payoff.
Preacherman….you must be the preacher of unethical ways. Let me guess, your holy book is the Wall Street Journal? You and Observer are a part of a shrinking group of people that see unethical behavior as common place and therefor acceptable. That was Derry’s problem. Campaign finance abuse was so common place that when he got caught he didn’t realize it would end his political career. Time they are a changin.
#33
The county did not divert water from the 20th St. storm drain. Who built the freeway? Who gave the permit to Colonies to build?
Anonymous #38:
Yes, the county did divert the flows from the 20th Street storm drain onto the Colonies property. They claimed they had easements that allowed them to do so.
I recommend that you read Judge Warner’s Intended Statement of Decision. A copy is available on this site.
It will give you some insight, and answer your other questions.
Anonymous #37:
1) As preposterous as a District Attorney using taxpayer money to send investigators up to Idaho to interview (read: harass) the father of one of his political enemies.
2) As preposterous as an intoxicated District Attorney attempting to intimidate sheriff’s deputies who were called out in response to excessive noise at a party.
Get it right Gregory Peckory, the County landfills are a mess, to go along with any confidence the public has in having an unpolluted water supply for the masses. CEO Devilreaux is trying to REINVENT the public service paradigm by turning SBCo. government into a bunch of PRIVATE ENTERPRISES using taxpayer money to do it.
Problem is, the government isn’t supposed to be trying to make MO’ MONEY off of it’s residents and utility users than it costs to provide the services. Devilreaux’s idea of being a good public servant and CEO is to maximize revenues at the expense of our quality of life. What a racket, and the Devil is the master racketeer.
P.S. Observer, you might want to investigate the way the Feds and FEMA required San Bernardino County to bring their General Plan into conformance with State and Federal laws, WITHIN THE LAST YEAR’S TIME, to make County policy and procedure involving development impacts on FLOOD CONTROL by SBCFCD consistent with public policy. CalTrans already paid the Colonies Boyz for the impacts of the new I210 Fwy., to include the diversion of stormwater to the 20th St. drain. But don’t forget, the Boyz are used to being able to DOUBLE-DIP (example: Colonies Xroads & Colonies @ San Antonio + $102M gift = Priceless extortion of Public Trust) just like those big-wig “public servants”, and the extravagant retirement packages that “executive” level bureaucrats and private sector executives are getting these days.
So Sheriff Hoopster’s retirement is just more of the same, to keep that status quo in the IE in place…