Crippled Measure K ("Lowest Priority Enforcement Marijuana by SCPD") meets 6 PM today

Thanks for the forwarded agenda and report, Anita:

A key issue to for your agenda, after demanding that the Measure K Commission's powers be restored, is to clarify exactly who gets to examine the police marijuana bust records. It seems that it's the police and city attorney rather than your commission who are making the determination, according to the third paragraph from the bottom [see report below]. This seems to me to directly subvert the intention of the Initiative (even the damaged one that came out of the May Rice court settlement).

I'd suggest you contact Santa Barbara by phone today to determine whether this is the procedure they use (not that it's necessarily good or legal if they do, but just for comparison). Also it'd be good to contact Kate Horner or ASA to determine if this was the intent of the varous Measure K's throughout the state.

I'll ask Kate again to contact Ben Rice to find out the specifics of the backroom settlement.

I'm sorry I haven't forwarded to you and Theodora the questions I'd suggest for Ben Rice. The most basic one, in case you want to (again!) try to contact him (perhaps with a specific e-mail query), is what specific provision of the city charter prevents "inquiries" to the police, and why this commission doesn't have the same kind of authority to make inquiries that the CPRB (Citizens Police Review Board) did. After all, the City Charter hasn't changed since then.

Want to meet before the meeting?

As I understand it, it's at 6 PM tonight at the Planning Department Conference Room (Room 107 of the City Hall Annex. I see Tricia has again scheduled you back in the inaccessible "doghouse" room where people are less likely to attend without apology, explanation, or (perhaps) permission. I thought the will of the Commission was quite clear on this issue after the first "meeting"--to be publicly accessible and potentially in a place where proceedings could be televised. Again, it seems that Tina is running things according to her agenda, not the Commission's.

Robert Norse


STAFFER TINA SHULL'S CHEERY AGENDA MESSAGE (SENT ONLY TO COMMISSION MEMBERS, NOT MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC):

Subject: Draft Measure K Semi-Annual Report for tomorrow's agenda
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:44:10 -0800
From: TShull [at] ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
To: medex95060 [at] aol.com; erice [at] ucsc.edu; jimkinglaw [at] cruzio.com; l.true [at] comcast.net; mlgoeke [at] unitedwaysc.org

Good morning Measure K Oversight Committee,
In the interest of time, I opted to e-mail the attached draft copy of the semi-annual report for discussion at your meeting tomorrow night. I drafted the report on Friday and sent it to the Chair for initial review but wasn’t able to send it to the full Committee before today because I could not make a copy available to the public (library was closed Sunday and Monday). A copy will be placed in the library as soon as I send this e-mail.
This report was crafted with statistics provided by the Police Department and after exploring the prosecution data collection process with the District Attorney’s office. The item is on your agenda for discussion, revision and approval if the Committee wants to move forward. The item can be continued until your December meeting.
Thanks and I will see you tomorrow night in the Planning Department Conference Room (Room 107 of the City Hall Annex).

Tina

_____________________

Tina Shull
Office of the City Manager
City of Santa Cruz
(831) 420-5015


AGENDA

I can't seem to copy the pdf file directly from the City's website, but the agenda consists in the following:

Oral Communications

Approval of Minutes

Discussion of Publicizing the Commission and Its Work

Discussion of Approaching City Council Regarding Revisiting and Restoring the Ordinance to its Original State and Changing the Meeting Frequency

Semi-Annual Report to the City Council

Establishment of December Meeting

Update from Member King About the Appointment of the Full Committee


SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT

In my current state of technical retardation, I'm not able to reprint or post the pdf file, but hope to have someone do it shortly. The "report", several months late, and done without direct review by the Commission (since the City claims the Commission has no power to look at police reports and attorney Ben Rice has suspended this power in the May court settlement) is something of a farce. Howeer hopefully it'll be on line soon.

The report mentions 387 marijuana busts between December 8, 2006 to November 1, 2007, but claims none of them were within the parameters of Measure K (i.e. they all involved some other crime, behavior on public property, or minors). Whether this is true, of course, only Tina Sholl and the SCPD knows. We can trust them, of course. That's why we have the Commission, right?


FOLLOWING-UP AND BACKGROUND

If you're unable to make the meeting and are concerned with restoring the powers of the Commission or fighting back against this later chapter of Drug War Prohibition Expansion (by crippling a popular oversight commission created by more than 60% of the voters), contact Commissioner Anita Henri at MedEx95060 [at] aol.com.


See related story "Local Medical Marijuana Provider Gets a Year in the Pen--Call Bob Lee and Ask Why!" , buried by indymedia editors (in spite of repeated requests that it be put in the local section), at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/11/01/18457619.php

Earlier Measure K story "Gutted and Depleted Measure K Commission Meets Tonight 6 PM (10/8)" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/10/08/18452900.php