For months, the Hawthorne City Council railed against the state legislature's late budget and then, once the budget passed, they bristled at its spending cuts and tax increases.
The council decided to step up to the plate and make a public announcement that it is dissatisfied with the legislature's failures. To express its discontent, the council decided to write Assembly Speaker Karen Bass an angry letter.
At a meeting in January, Mayor Larry Guidi described the council's plan as a bold stand against an oppressive state government, saying "It's better to live like a lion for one day than sheep for a hundred years."
A letter was drafted, revised, and then -- on Tuesday -- thrown away.
(Here's the draft letter: Hawthorne letter to state lawmakers).
The council voted 3-0 (Guidi and Councilman Pablo Catano were absent for the vote) on Tuesday to scrap the letter, saying a Daily Breeze story about it already garnered enough attention.
"They did it for us," Councilman Danny Juarez said, referring to the newspaper's article.
The council also abandoned on Tuesday a much-discussed plan to take out full-page ads in the Sacramento Bee and Los Angeles Times, expressing its frustration with the state government.
The original plan to pay for the ads, which would cost tens of thousands of dollars, was for several businesses to donate the money to the Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce. Then, the Chamber promised to give the money to the city to pay for the ads. They didn't announce which city businesses offered the money but, on Tuesday, the council said a letter from Chamber President Pat Donaldson announced that no money was ever collected for the ads.
The letter states:
"The Daily Breeze has reported approval of the legislative budget in Sacramento. Furthermore, a letter generated by City Council was revealed to the Daily Breeze prior to budget approval. Due to this development, we, the Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce declare that no funds were solicited to cover a print ad in the Sacramento Bee from any party, and the events mentioned above occurred prior to realizing any donations. Consequently, we are unable to donate unrealized funds...."
Juarez told the council on Tuesday that he was frustrated with the chamber because he and the rest of the council voted in February to waive the fee of about $1,000 for the chamber to use the Hawthorne Memorial Center for the mayor's State of the City speech, with the promise that the chamber would donate the money for the newspaper ads.
At the February speech, the chamber donated $1,000 -- about the amount the city waived for its use of the memorial center -- to the Mayor Larry Guidi Scholarship Fund.
Here's the story about the letter to Sacramento: Mayor, council members at odds over angry letter.
Leave a comment