6th Ward is tight
As of 11 p.m.:
RIKKE VAN JOHNSON 282 44.90%
BETTY DEAN ANDERSON 267 42.52%
STEWART D. CUMMING 72 11.46%
Write-In 7 1.11%
Total 628 100.00%
Johnson surely would prefer to be more than 25 votes ahead of Anderson. Furthermore, Cumming takes a solid - surprising - 11.5 percent of the vote, strengthening the chance that the winner here will get less than 50 percent, which would trigger a runoff between the top-2.
This means Mayor Pat Morris' nightmare is all the more possible: All the incumbents winning EXCEPT for Johnson. If that happened, Morris would be down to two reliable proponents for his policies (Baxter, Estrada) and four stalwart opponents (Anderson, Derry, Kelley, McCammack). Picture the pre-Lincoln presidency: The executive totally subordinate to the legislative branch.
All that said, Anderson may have reached her peak with the absentees. Johnson is probably expecting to do better with the Nov. 6 voters than Anderson, who appeals to conservatives who are more likely to mail in their votes.
How pathetic, 600 or so total voters will go to the ballot and pick the representative for the 6th ward. Lets abolish the ward system.
To all the residents of the 20 block Operation Phoenix:
Anyone reading this has heard many times the paraphrasing that states
The following: GIVE A MAN A FISH, AND YOU FEED HIM FOR ONE DAY, TEACH A MAN TO FISH, AND YOU FEED HIM FOR A LIFETIME.
I would ask the residents of the soon ending Op. Phoenix the following questions. These inquiries are made after the intensification of every and all City resources was brought to bear on your 20 Block mini city Operation Phoenix for the last year. I would hope the Mayor has taught well, but your responses will tell you what we in other parts of the City already know all too well.
If you do not know the answers, please ask Betty Dean Anderson, a true San Bernardino citizen who either has, or knows who has, the answers to any questions it will be in your best interest to know.
My questions are not easy to answer, but you need to know that you will be asking them very soon. The Mayor has received all the free publicity from your area and the additional Police you have had available will again be deployed back to the rest of the entire City. The first series of questions are:
What have you been taught about defending your area from the murderous rampage that threatens to become one of the highest statistics this year for our City? This is compounded by the fact that the Mayor has not hired a single officer to answer the Measure Z requirement, only few replacements for those who have retired or otherwise left the force. Another question is how has the Mayor taught you to defend yourselves against the tide of gangsters, prostitutes, graffiti taggers, drug pushers, druggies, drug houses, burglars, sexual deviant predators, home invasion crews, scam artists preying on seniors and youngsters alike, internet type scams, and other types of criminals? Why is the Mayor stalling the Parolee housing moratorium that top Council persons and the City Attorney have proposed to insure safe, neighborhoods, and also existing safe code compliant parolee homes?
Has the Mayor taught you how, when, and who to report to, and ask for help in keeping up services such as your street lights, street sweeps, street repairs, graffiti eradicators, trash haulers, code violators who have no regard for property values around you, slum landlords, obnoxious loud music, late parties, and other basic services necessary for animal control, junk cars, flooding, tree services, just to mention a few?
Has the mayor promised all of you and all your Church religious leaders in the 20 block Phoenix area a “town hall” type meeting with him 60 days, 90 days, or 120 days after the end of the Police crime suppressed perimeter