West Covina community activists are at it again with an effort to divide the city into five council districts. Fred Sykes and Alfred Williams tried in August to get this approved but tried but failed because of issues regarding the ballot title and summary. They submitted their initiative measure to the city Nov. 24, and yesterday city officials gave the go ahead to the pair to start collecting signatures.
The whole point of the measure, both said, is to make it cheaper for people to run for office and to increase representation for all portions of the city. Currently, four of five council members live in the affluent South Hills. Only Mayor Roger Hernandez lives outside of the area.
Previously, however, council members referred to this as a power grab.
Here is the past article.
Council district proposal fails
San Gabriel Valley Tribune ( West Covina , CA) – Friday, August 31, 2007
Author/Byline: Frank C. Girardot Staff Writer
Section: News
WEST COVINA – A proposal to divide the city into five council districts failed to make the November ballot.
Organizers submitted petitions containing nearly 6,000 signatures to Sue Rush, West Covina ‘s assistant City Clerk, earlier this month. But she rejected the petition on Aug. 10 for several reasons, according to a a statement from the city issued Thursday.
“The most significant (flaw) was the petition’s failure to provide a summary of the initiative on the top of each page signed by supporters,” the press release said.
Rush did not return phone calls.
Supporters said dividing the city into council districts would make running for office less expensive for candidates and give voters more local representation. Opponents of the plan said the divisions could result in uneven distribution of sales tax revenues.
Petition supporter Fred Sykes filed a lawsuit on Thursday asking county Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe to force the city to release the petition to the county Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office and be placed on the November ballot. But the judge declined to issue an order, Sykes said.
“We hoped to get this on the November ballot,” he said. “I thought I would be able to testify, but the judge said he would not listen to live testimony.”
Sykes , who is running for City Council, said it was not likely he would appeal.
“I spent the $3,000 to get this case heard,” he said. “I have yet to try to raise $40,000 to $50,000 for the campaign. It’s probably going to have to stay where it is. It’s a dead issue right now.”
West Covina Mayor Mike Touhey said the ruling isn’t necessarily a vindication for the city.
“It’s a win, but with Fred Sykes , it’s just one issue after another causing the city to spend money on lawsuits,” Touhey said. “I call it campaigning at taxpayer’s expense.”
In their answer to the suit, the city contended that Sykes and fellow petitioners may have misled signers by not attaching a map of the proposed districts and other legally required information.
“I don’t know what they may have told people at their front door,” Touhey said. “I’m concerned what they may have told people when they were gathering the signatures.
“I don’t know if they got 6,000 through straight up information or through biased information.”
Sykes denied the charge.
“Absolutely no way,” Sykes said. “Their position was that citizens were stupid. That’s not the case.”
frank.girardot@sgvn.com
