ChrisCruse
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San Diegans Dominate Delinquent Tax List
response to post #12 I know one (at lest): Lin Wurbs. She works for the city of Encinitas. And she gets paid $5000/mo as a consultant for the RSWA (regional solid waste assoc). RSWA is a JPA of a bunch of cities that have EDCO as their trash hauler. RSWA meets about 4 times a year. They are about 6 months behind in posting their meeting minutes on their website, so I can't really say what they have been doing lately. Early minutes show that they contract out for HHW collection sites and have poster contests for school kids for recycling.— April 12, 2010 12:38 p.m.
San Diegans Dominate Delinquent Tax List
response to post#13 Green means money in Poway. Poway is honoring former mayor Mickey Cafagna by naming a section of Scripps Poway Pkwy after him. At lest they aren't naming a vernal pool after him.....— April 12, 2010 12:32 p.m.
San Diegans Dominate Delinquent Tax List
IIRC, Thunderbird Gaming was a company started by Jack Mitchell of Poway. Mitchell was (I think he is not anymore) a lawyer who worked in Rancho Bernardo. He was a consultant to one of the Indian casinos way back, before they got most of their slots. At one time I think he was connected to a mysterious bunch of illegal slot machines that turned up somewhere. By the time the Indians got more concessions from the state, Mitchell was no longer their consultant. He turned to developing gaming machines. The company was registered on the Canadian stock exchange. Mitchell was also John Fitch (former asst city manager of Poway) attorney and drew up Fitch's employment agreement. Fitch's old job of asst city manager was being deleted in a revamp that seemed designed to get rid of John Fitch. Another concession former city manager Bowersox got (by threatening to take a job with El Cajon if he didn't get his demands) was the right to fire and hire city employees "at will". Fitch was rehired, as an "at will" employee in a newly created position- head of redevelopment. Mitchell drew up the employee agreement which spelled out how much severance pay Fitch would get if he didn't like his new job. I expected Fitch to leave at the maximum pay out date, but the city council, extended the terms for another month or so because Fitch was working on the agreement with McMillan to cover the bonds in the industrial park in return for future tax increment money. After that was over, Fitch was out of there. I remember that when Fitch was asst city manager, he also was paid for some consulting work at one of the casinos, I think it was the same one Mitchell worked with. At one time (I think it was when his buddy Fitch still worked for the city), Jack Mitchell tried to get the Poway redevelopment agency to pay to build some kind of roller hockey arena in the industrial park on property that Mitchell had just purchased. Normally, this kind of redevelopment project might have gotten through without anyone noticing. But somebody bragged that it was "a done deal" and incensed the wife of the then (Green Valley Civic Assoc) GVCA president. GVCA, along with other community activists, fought the city redevelopment agency paying for the project and the council turned it down.— April 12, 2010 7:48 a.m.
Buck Howdy's on the Case
In the interest of correctness, the email sent to me was from "Carols by Candlelight" not "Carols for Candlelight". The angels link in the email (http://www.starsconcert.com/angels.html) is now "not found". But I did save screen shots.— November 13, 2009 12:30 p.m.
Buck Howdy's on the Case
I received an email from "Carols for Candlelight" asking me to be an angel and donate between $250 - $25,000 "to keep Carols afloat." I think I have a right to ask how much of the donated money goes into Vaus' pocket and how much goes to a charity. Note: Carols for Candlelight webpage now states that the donations are not tax deductible as "Carols for Candlelight is not a charity."— November 13, 2009 9:20 a.m.
Buck Howdy's on the Case
I admit it, runwithscissors, I am no expert on how charities are run, although I do have a little knowledge about 501 nonprofits. They have to file an IRS form each year which shows how much money they bring in and how they spend the money. So, if Carols by Candlelight was run by a nonprofit group, I would be able to look at their IRS form 990 and see how much money they paid out to the performers and directors of the show. Just because a group is a nonprofit doesn't mean they don't pay out huge salaries and expenses. If someone is contributing to this fundraiser, they can see how much money actually goes to the charity and how much is gobbled up by expenses. I don't actually know if Vaus has a nonprofit group running the show or not. I am hoping Vaus will jump into the conversation and explain how his fundraiser works and how much he pays himself for performing and running the show.— November 12, 2009 5:11 p.m.
Buck Howdy's on the Case
One more thing, Rachel wouldn't say whether that $25,000 included corporate sponsorships or was a separate amount from Vaus.— November 12, 2009 1:07 p.m.
Buck Howdy's on the Case
For the record, I am not a "rexford apologist" and I never signed up for recall info. Steve Vaus somehow got my email address, he contacted me, we chatted and a few days later I got an email asking me to support "Carols by Candlelight". I didn't ask to be on ANY list. Someone took liberties with my email address. I have friends in Poway who also reported the same thing happened to them. I've lived in Poway for 30 yrs and never heard of Steve Vaus before. So when he started pushing for Rexford to resign (and be replaced immediately by appointment), I started to wonder, "Who is this person, and why is he so very suddenly interested in getting rid of Betty and no other aspects of Poway politics or governance?" Kenl, you have raised some interesting questions. I checked on guidestar and could not find any nonprofit group called "Carols by Candlelight". Maybe Vaus uses a different nonprofit??? I also called Make A Wish San Diego and talked to Rachel. She said that Vaus gave them about $25,000 last year, and that she was very happy about it. That's nice, but I am also wondering how much Vaus paid himself for the performance. Just wondering. Wondering if he gets more money that way than if it were just a regular gig. That would be kindof interesting to know. When I go to a fundraiser, I maybe mistakenly assume that the actors and musicians are donating their time and energy. That could be way off the mark. But it would be interesting to know how much Vaus paid himself each year to put on the fundraiser.— November 12, 2009 12:51 p.m.