WhatFinger


Taking on City Hall--Watching Politicians and Bureaucrats Squirm

And a Happy New Year in Huntington Park



In a previous article for Canada Free Press, I reported on the dedicated activism of "We the People Rising" in Huntington Park, particularly for their appointment of two illegal aliens to city commissions. Our relentless demands have so disturbed the city council, they resorted to limiting our time for public comment. They called a last-minute special meeting on December 23rd, with barely twenty-four hours' notice (and the one honest member receiving no notice). The city clerk then informed me through a Freedom of Information Act request that the regularly scheduled January 5th, 2016 city council meeting would be cancelled. Despite the cancellation notice from the city website (which actually displayed conflicting information up to January 4th, 2016) We the People Rising arrived, with festive cheer, ready to celebrate the Christmas season and a Happy New Year. In the well-known Christmas Carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas", January 5th is the Eleventh Day, and on this day, the True Love gets Eleven Dancers Dancing. For We the People Rising, who expected to attend a regularly scheduled city council meeting on January  5th, we saw elected officials, city leaders, and office staff tap-dancing, sprinting, fleeing left and right, seeking to escape from our demands for justice, for the rule of law, and for leadership in Huntington Park which puts Americans first.
While approaching City Hall, I saw Huntington Park Mayor Karina Macias' big white Toyota (or Prius?) in the parking lot. She was there, even though the meeting was cancelled! As more of our group arrived, the city clerk Donna Schwartz came out front. "You probably want to know why the council meeting was cancelled." For the next ten minutes, Schwartz tap-danced around our questions. She first explained that the city manager cancelled the January 5th City Council meeting. "I just followed orders", Schwartz told us. She justified her actions a number of times with this retort. At times, it seemed as if the city clerk was trying to keep contrasting stories straight. "You take orders form the mayor and the city council, don't you?" I asked. "I take directions from the city manager. He's my boss." She then reminded us that the city council tells the city manager what to do. I then asked about Mayor Karina Macias, since she was in the building. "Her office is right over there." the city clerk pointed toward the side of the hallway. While Newman continued questioning the city clerk, specifically about the distorted and inaccurate minutes recorded for previous public comment sections, I spoke to the Mayor's secretary. "Where's Macias? We know that she's here. Her car's outside." "She's not available," the secretary answered me. "She's in the building, but she can't see anyone right now." The secretary then left the office to go look for her, I suppose, although not really. More of us congregated outside of the mayor's office. The whole thing turned sordid and disturbing.

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I returned to the city clerk. "I am not giving you permission to record me!" as she ran off to hide in her office. The city hall is a public building. We do not have to get permission to record. It is amazing to me the lengths that Huntington Park officials will go to in order to silence concerned citizens. When people know their rights, there is no stopping them. We waited outside the city clerk's office for about five minutes. One of the clerk's assistants offered to see if she was available. She was available for fifteen minutes to talk to our team. Then suddenly she runs off and tells us that we do not have permission to record her. I then walked back toward the mayor's office. Suddenly, I saw Mayor Macias walk out of another door down the hallway with the city manager. The City Manager, Edgar Cisneros, was there, too! Macias ran into her office, and Cisneros walked down the hallway toward the back exit. Betty Retama (a long-standing, respected activist in Huntington Park), Robin Hvidston (Director of We the People Rising), and I followed after him, asking why he had cancelled the January 5th city council meeting. "I have work to do," Cisneros answered while fleeing from us. "If you have work to do, why did you cancel the meeting?" I called back. Retama and Hvidston chased him from behind. The flustered city manager fled into the second story of the building, and forcibly closed the door on us, even while Betty had her hand on the door handle. We didn't let one door slammed deter us. We rushed down the stairs and back through the front entrance, with almost ten minutes before city hall officially closed. Running to the second floor, we gathered around one of the city manager's offices. We knocked a few times for someone to answer. John Ornelas, the former interim city manager, came out and asked what was going on. We told him that we wanted to speak to the real city manager. "He's not here," Ornelas lied. "We saw him run down the hallway into the office!" We all fired back. "He's working on something in his office." Ornelas then got huffy, told us not to yell at him. He tried to hide, but discovered that he had locked himself out by accident! Ho! Ho! Ho! After posing in front of the closed city council chambers, we moved downstairs for a picture in front of the Christmas Tree. The city staff began shutting down the building while Mayor Macias fled into her Prius and drove off. Instead of sulking, We went caroling at the homes of the four city council members. Listen to us sing Christmas carols at the home of Jhonny Pineda, who initially appointed the two illegals. Then watch Wes Parker recite the Official Huntington Park Christmas story for Mayor Karina Macias! This holiday season, We the People Rising rejoiced that we continued the pressure on the Huntington Park City Council, and had fun doing it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


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Arthur Christopher Schaper -- Bio and Archives

Arthur Christopher Schaper is a teacher-turned-writer on topics both timeless and timely; political, cultural, and eternal. A life-long Southern California resident, Arthur currently lives in Torrance.

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