Author: Ralph E. Shaffer

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A MODERN FABLE

Reliable but unnamed sources at the state capital insist that AB 46,
Assembly Speaker John Perez’ Vernon disincorporation bill, contains a
secret clause. According to a highly placed aide in the Speaker’s
office, interviewed under an assurance of anonymity, the final version
of the bill will turn Vernon over to Green Dot, the charter school operator, giving a whole new
meaning to "charter city."

Rather than disincorporate Vernon, the city will maintain its legal
identity but will technically be managed by Green Dot. Applying to
cities the Green Dot principle that any one can run a school, a short
list of candidates for Green Dot’s city manager include former LAUSD
Superintendents David Brewer and Ray Cortines.

But former Green Dot executive Steve Barr is favored to be tapped for
city manager. He disappeared from public view following what was
mistakenly thought to be his ouster from Green Dot. In fact, he
secretly entered Eli Broad’s Institute for City Government, a newly
organized training facility to mold municipal administrators with the
proper outlook on city management. The Institute is an offshoot of
Broad’s successful counterpart that indoctrinates "school choice"
superintendents.

A few weeks ago, I published a piece in Fox and Hounds that not only called for the disincorporation of Vernon but outlined a future for that area. The proposal offered a resolution to the uncertainty and fear that both business and labor have regarding life after dissolution of the city. Shortly after the article appeared
here, Assembly Speaker John Perez introduced a companion bill to his AB 46, the disincorporation bill. The new bill, AB 781, would create – guess what! – a Vernon Community Services District, the special district advocated in that article here.

My proposal placed the governance of the CSD in the
hands of a board elected by business owners and workers. As it now stands, the city of Vernon is governed by a self-perpetuating city council elected by 67 voters, nearly all of whom owe their jobs, their cheap rent and their right to live in Vernon to the little clique that has run Vernon for over a century. The people who have the greatest stake in Vernon, the 1800 business owners and the 50,000 workers who commute into town each day, have no voice whatsoever in Vernon’s governance.

In the proposal, the CSD would continue to provide all of
the same services that business now receives from the city. That’s important because one of the main objections to disincorporation is about the loss of city services. Among the complaints are the fears that they will lose their cheap power rates, that the fire department they laud as one that couldn’t be better will be disbanded, and that police protection will deteriorate if the city is dismantled. Under my proposal, all those services would be provided by the CSD. There would be no change.