City Warns Residents About Newsletter Disguised As Official Email

PALOS VERDES ESTATES, CA — A recent newsletter that popped up in the email inboxes of residents of Palos Verdes Estates appeared to be sent by the city but was actually sent by a group created to support the campaign for a City Council candidate, according to Interim City Manager David Ready.

The email entitled "PVE Community Newsletter" was sent by PreservePVE, which was created by Desiree "Dez" Myers to support her efforts and campaign for a seat on the City Council, Ready said. Officials said their main concern about the email is that it could have been mistaken for official communication from the city.

"We want to bring to your attention that the 'newsletter' has been created completely by PreservePVE and reflects their opinions and platform, and not information being sent by the City," Ready said in an email.

According to Ready, Myers and PreservePVE submitted a public records request to get the list of all the people who were signed up to receive the city's newsletter. Since the email was sent, Mayor Jim Roos has contacted Myers to request the list be destroyed and not shared with anyone, but she has not yet responded, Ready said.

Patch also reached out to Myers for comment but has not gotten a response.

In the Mayor's request, Roos emphasized the importance of the community's trust in the city to email important communication and updates about local issues.

"We want to assure you that the City is greatly concerned about this type of communication, which can be easily mistaken for an official city communication — and may mislead people who signed up to receive information from the City and never requested to receive a “newsletter” from PreservePVE," Ready said.

Ready reminded residents that official city emails will always come from an address associated with pvestates.org and will contain the city's seal. Ready recommended residents block the email address info@preservepve.org to avoid receiving further emails from PreservePVE.