Residents Question Choice of Next Mayor

Editor's Note: City Council member Mike Ten is scheduled to take over as Mayor from current Mayor Richard Schneider at this Wednesday's council meeting. The rotation of the South Pasadena Mayor occurs annually at the first City Council meeting in December. In March 2008, the council passed Resolution 6977, which pre-selected which City Council members would serve as Mayor each year until 2011. (Click on the pdf document in photo box to the right to view the resolution and the Mayor rotation schedule). The City Council will discuss the reorganization during the meeting this Wednesday, and it is possible for the council to rescind the resolution. 

The letters below were e-mailed to the Editor of South Pasadena Patch on Monday. If you have an opinion on this issue, please write your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also e-mail Letters to the Editor directly to sonia.narang@patch.com

Janet Ervin, former Chair of Transportation Commission:

At the last meeting of the City Council, three citizens spoke about their concerns regarding Councilman Ten having expressed his personal opinion on the 710 extension, rather than the official City position. I was one of those who questioned Mr. Ten's suitability for being Mayor. I said that he often acted like a renegade cowboy, and had done a number of things that had harmed our community. Since my speaking time was limited to three minutes, I could only mention one of his detrimental actions, that of printing a brochure called "Win, Win, Win", extolling the virtues of a tunnel under South Pasadena, on which he printed the City emblem, the No 710 logo, the Metro logo, and the logos for both the Southern California Council of Governments (SCAG) and the California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS), all without any authorization. Mr. Ten tried to present that brochure in an official meeting with the California Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing. Fortunately, his brochures were immediately collected by another attendee. Unfortunately, one or more were missed, and copies made the rounds here and in Sacramento. 

Mr. Ten has taken other rogue actions that not only embarrased our City, but have been nearly fatal and have had serious financial repercussions. Mr. Ten was responsible for the removal of the crosswalk in front of the Middle School, although he tried to put the blame on Dan Watson, our former Chief of Police. Records show that Mr. Ten tried to get the endorsement of the Public Safety Commission for his plan. He then presented a letter, with the alleged approval of the crosswalk removal by the school district. However, the letter was written on City letterhead, not the SPUSD's. That fiasco resulted in two girls being critically injured, one with life long disabilities, and the payout of $4 million in damages. The City is still on the hook for $100,000 of that claim, and the likely increase in our insurance premiums. 

When the City Council decided not to renew the City Manager's contract, Mike Ten leaked that confidential information to the press. According to Councilman Putnam and others, it is a crime to divulge what is discussed in executive session. In order to avoid a potentially expensive lawsuit, that lapse in Mr. Ten's judgement cost the City a payout of several month's additional salary. 

Personally, I am offended that when I have attended METRO Board meetings dealing with the 710, and there have been many, that Mr. Ten has never sat with his constituents. Instead, he has surrounded himself with pro-710 folks from Monterey Park and Alhambra. For people unfamiliar with the workings of METRO, that may not seem important, but it is seen as a serious affront to our community and to our allies in La Canada-Flintridge, Glendale and the communities of northeast Los Angeles. 

Mike Ten does not deserve to be Mayor of South Pasadena; his record is clear. I urge the City Council to elect another of its members.

Robert O. Cook:

Is Mike Ten the person we want to lead South Pasadena as Mayor for the next year?

Councilman Ten has executed a couple of major gaffes! First, there has not been any explanation of why the city, through our insurance company, settled a $20 million lawsuit for $4 million. Two girls were hit by a car on Fair Oaks. Both the driver and the vehicle had no connection with the city. What liability did the City of South Pasadena incur due to circumstances related to this accident in the police report?  Was Councilman Ten's name found at the end of a long paper trail? Court documents appear to indicate that he failed to follow the responsibilities of his office, operating as a rogue Lone Ranger who single handedly, without council or city manager approval, had the crosswalk removed.

Secondly, Councilman Ten's silence erupted into a full-scale disclosure of closed session dialogue relating to the former city manager. In a front-page story in the 10/1/08 edition of the South Pasadena Review, Ten's name was attributed as the source of many statements that were very damaging to the city manager. It has been stated by a councilman, who is also a lawyer, that revealing confidential information from closed sessions "is a crime." There has been no revelation as to the financial settlement, paid for by taxpayer dollars to the city manager, for Ten's inability to keep his mouth shut!

Confirm or deny what happened here! Our present City Council owes taxpayers a transparent fact sheet regarding these two matters. Failure to provide concise explanations and costs to the citizens in the above situations will end up being added to the growing pile of damaging baggage in the next election!  

Can the city really afford to have Mike Ten be our Mayor?