Dan:

It's easy to accuse the City Council of being afraid of lawsuits and being dependent upon county and state funding, when one doesn't really have a grasp of where the City's money comes from and the mandates they are saddled with.

Regarding litigation, the Council members took an oath to not only support and defend the U.S. and California Constitution, they took the oath to protect the entity known as the City of California City, in so doing by keeping within the law as established in the State Government Code and the City's own laws and policies embodied in the ordinances and resolutions of the city council.

How nice it would be to go on a wild hair and risk the fiscal soundness of the city on some unproven venture.  How easy, and how "out of the box".  They are IN a box, per all of the above that tie their hands and prevent them from doing whatever they want to, up on that dais. They make the absolutely best judgements they can, by majority vote, after examining all the ramifications of what they are planning, and sometimes they get it wrong, but most of the time they get it right.

Mr. Peralta has some nerve preaching to the Council and the City Manager about what they should do, when he hasn't walked a day in their shoes to see the constraints they have to deal with. I'm personally sick and tired of hearing how bad a job they are doing from people who have no clue.  But those folks would rather tear down than build up, conspire against rather than cooperate with, and just make fools of themselves in general. I've seen too many good men and women come on that board with high hopes of making things better for the citizens, and then leave with their work severely criticized and their hopes unrealized, because people won't take the time to talk to them or the staff and find out why they do what they do, or what they are working under.

I would love to see the community come together in a vote of confidence for our leadership, publicly, in a Council meeting; if there's anyone out there getting such a thing together, call me and I'll be there. Thanks for letting me vent.

Helen Dennis