INSIDE INGLEWOOD-The political landscape in Inglewood resembles that of a communist satellite country: close to luxury but cut off from it, a bizarre pride in its glorious leader and former veteran Santa Monica police chief James T. Butts (photo) and near-complete control of the media.
The city’s “official” (quotes are those found inexplicably in the very paper) community paper, Inglewood Today, is said to be owned by Willie Brown but for at least 11 years (from 1994 until at least 2005), it had a contract with the City of Inglewood.That contract paid Brown no less than $111,000 annually, and may have been the reason the California (FPPC) fined the city $50,000 in 2004 after four years of partisan coverage of certain politicians (two of which remain seated: Eloy Morales, Jr., of District 3, and Wanda Brown, treasurer) as well as the loss of several tens of thousands of dollars in postage for mailing out the “news”paper using taxpayer funds.
There is also the remarkable and constantly “positive” coverage of the mayor that is provided with no less than eight and often 10 or more pictures of the mayor in each and every weekly edition. (How many community papers print more than one or two pictures of their respective city’s mayor?)
While there may no longer be a formal contract with the city, the amount of ad revenue paid for with taxpayer funds still averages more than $10,000 monthly for a paper that is distributed heavily in city hall, Inglewood Police Department HQ, the library and a few senior centers and restaurants and found sparsely elsewhere.
Time-Warner (T-W), the exclusive local cable channel apparatchik, is a regular contributor to the Hortons: Jerome, who used to be an Inglewood council member and who can be found in his wife’s office during city council meetings as local elections approach; and Yvonne, who is the city clerk.The Hortons helped finance Butts’ hand-picked council members, George Dotson and former Santa Monica cop Alex Padilla, via a Political Action Committee (PAC) in the 2013 local election.
The PAC spent no less than $30,000 on the tight race, and the result was a run-off in June, 2013. Programming on T-W features only city council meetings, many religious shows and a few other city-approved programs.
And then there is the YouTube channel that the city maintains and is found via the city’s Web site—where city council meetings were formerly found.
Two weeks ago, around the time that Butts starting putting up signs and having local events that were tweeted and announced via social media sites maintained by City of Inglewood Lead Web Developer Joshua Howe (who was paid no less than $3,000 by Butts, (see related story), the city council meetings were made private. they remain as such and there is no method of signing up to view them.
Joshua Howe did not respond to numerous requests via e-mail or his two known telephone numbers. Howe reports directly to City of Inglewood Information Technology (IT) & Communications Head Matthew Chambers.
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Michael Falkow, the assistant city manager/Chief Information Officer (CIO) to whom—according to the city’s organizational chart in the 2013-2014 budget—Chambers reports directly, was alerted by residents soon after the videos were essentially taken off-line in early October. Nevertheless, Falkow, reached via text on his personal cell phone on October 29, stated, “I am not responsible, as I have no oversight of IT.” When asked why he clearly misrepresented that which is clearly exhibited in a document that he signs off annually, he did not respond.
Chambers, reached later in the day via telephone at city hall, was asked why only the city council meetings had been made unavailable for viewing while all the “positive” videos of Butts at various events remained viewable. “I wasn’t aware of that. Let me talk to [Joshua Howe]. He’s out today but I’ll look into it and cal you back.” Numerous calls and subsequent e-mails to Chambers were not answered.
Butts, however, did respond to a request regarding the off-line videos. After a number of personal comments that did not concern this story, Butts wrote, “Thank you for your message. Please don’t email me again.”
(Randall Fleming is a veteran journalist and magazine publisher. He has worked at and for the New York Post, the Brooklyn Spectator and the Los Feliz Ledger. He is currently editor-in-chief at the Morningside Park Chronicle, a weekly newspaper based in Inglewood, CA and on-line at www.MorningsideParkChronicle.com. Mr. Fleming’s views are his own and do not reflect the views of CityWatch.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 89
Pub: Nov 4, 2014
