Leticia Pepper Letter May 8, 2016 (2)

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Morton, Sherry From: Dvonne Pitruzzello <devopitz @sbcglobal.net> Sent: Monday, May 09, 2016 6:40 AM To: Letitia Pepper Cc: Bailey, Rusty; Gardner, Mike; Melendrez,Andy; MacArthur, Chris; Davis, Paul; Soubirous, Mike; Perry,Jim; Burnard,John; Russo,John A.; Geuss, Gary; Morton, Sherry; Alicia Robinson; Cassie MacDuff; Letters;Thirtymiles Corruption Subject: [External] Re: Update on Corruption Investigation into "Pot Permits" and How They Are Being Issued in the City of Sacramento Don't forget the public utilities director trying to sell off our water to a co-op, monopoly because we have more than enough water and are can sell it at a higher rate. did city council know of this proposition that the public utilities director agreed to, he should have been fired. If the city manager won't fire him over this then the city council should fire the city manager. The history and strength of riverside has been in it's public utility and now we are trying to sell it off by some carpet baggers here for a stop along the way to pension heaven. I think not maybe we need to talk about this. Sent from my iPhone On May 8, 2016, at 11:07 PM, Letitia Pepper<letitiapepper @yahoo.com> wrote: Hon. Mayor, City Council, City Attorney, City Manager and Madame Clerk: I have had three responses to my request for information on who is negotiating letting a limited number of medical marijuana dispensaries open. (i.e., creating an oligopoly which will make prices for marijuana higher, which in turn will fuel the black market). Council Member Melendrez responded that what he said at the Brownie Mary Democratic Club meeting wasn't any different than what he said from the dais when the Council voted to let patients grow 8 plants (I disagree with his memory), and Council members Soubirous and Gardner said that they weren't engaged in any such negotiations. The City Manager has said he's in favor of letting dispensaries open because--and I may be paraphrasing here --the City is broke and could use the money. Would it be okay, City Charter-wise, if he was negotiating such a deal without checking with the City Council first? Have any of you asked him about this? Because if I think it would look suspicious for the City to make such a deal after all the time and money it spent closing dispensaries, working against the citizens' initiative to let 10 of the prior dispensaries re- open, taking a case all the way to the California Supreme Court, and generally acting like Prop. 215 doesn't exist, imagine how suspicious it might look to the people charged with investigating corruption? That's what this update is about. The City of Sacramento just got hit with a letter from a group of concerned attorneys at a large, old Sacramento law firm seeking public records related to the Fox News show on the Green Rush and how "pot permits" are being handed out in violation of that City's existing ordinances. Inquiring minds want to know: what would motivate city officials to violate their own, hard-fought for laws? As if that wasn't bad enough, this attorney request was followed by an in-person visit from the FBI, demanding similar records. In case anyone is becoming more interested in the story about the City of Sacramento, here's the story and the video of some of the Fox show's investigation. On it, you will see the reporter ask a City employee about about a particular situation, and you will see the employee foolishly lie about something that is a matter of public record. As an attorney, let me say you can't pay enough for this kind of evidence of political malfeasance! The City has its hands full with other problems. It's broke, yet its elected officials are asking for not only a significant raise, but the creation of a wickedly expensive duplication of the DA's office. It's been caught trying to turn a Superfund-eligible site into a housing development, inclduig a neighborhood park, in order to help a developer who's give plenty of campaign contributions to--you guessed it--council members.. It's been overcharging its ratepayers, and just got sued over that, with more to come. It 1