I REPORT, YOU DECIDE.
On Memorial Day, a solemn day that our nation honors those that fought and sacrificed so much in order to preserve the precious freedoms we have here in America.
Well this report should question how our city can make arbitrary decisions that seem to fly in the face of those very freedoms that our soldiers have fought to protect for the last 238 years!
This true story starts with the passage of the amended sex offender residency restriction ordinance as follows: Rather than first incorporate the many modifications to the draft amended ordinance that were suggested mainly by me at the May 20 council meeting into a draft ordinance ready to be approved without any further changes at our very next council meeting, the council did this instead. They voted 4-1 to approve the unfinished amended ordinance with the proviso that the city attorney would make all the necessary changes before the 2nd reading of the ordinance in two weeks. Although hopeful that the many changes would be incorporated, I believe that the proper way to get this done correctly, was to first make all the changes to the amended ordinance and then bring it back to the next council for the 1st vote and reading. Rarely, in my experience does the council allow for any changes once an ordinance is passed the first time.
The concern that the city needed to move quickly because of a threatened lawsuit was a very poor excuse to rush this amended ordinance through at the May 20th council meeting.
You see ladies and gentlemen, the city leaders, i.e. Joe Felz, Dick Jones and Dan Hughes were notified that the vagrancy part of Ordinance No. 3149 which deals with keeping child sex offenders out of parks and schools was preempted by state law and that specific part of Fullerton’s law was ruled unconstitutional, according to the case Dermody vs. the people of California filed 4/11/2013. Since the city through our city attorney made no attempt to appeal this decision, the only other thing to do was to go back to council and ask to make the necessary changes to the law to place the entire law back into full compliance with the state. This was totally ignored by our city leaders until May 6th of this year; 13 months after the city knew the law was in violation, due to the Dermody case decision.
They not only squandered 13 months to act, but they unofficially decided at that time to not enforce the entire Ordinance, even though the residency restriction was and still is perfectly good law in full compliance with state statutes. For 13 months they let the council and the good people of Fullerton believe that Sex Offender Ordinance No. 3149 was still being enforced by the city’s police department.
Joe Felz did not have the decency to let my wife and me know the ordinance that we worked day and night on for over 7 months to get written and then passed in 2010 was not being enforced at all for over 13 months and counting. If you think we recently received any kind of apology from Mr. Felz, you would be greatly mistaken.
Why did they knowingly not enforce a hard fought and won ordinance to help protect our children from the worst kind of sexual predators, is a question all of you should ask our city manager, city attorney and our city police chief at the next council meeting?
It is scandalous that they would put our children at risk for their own self-serving reasons.
Finally, I thought Fullerton city laws that were passed had to be enforced unless or until the same council that passed it in the first place officially repealed them. I guess our city has “their own “special” way” to enforce or ignore laws at their own whim. The city IMHO, completely stepped over their legal bounds by arbitrarily and unilaterally deciding not to enforce the major part of Ord. 3149, i.e. the residency restriction as well as the vagrancy part.
Shame on you Joe Felz, Dick Jones, and Dan Hughes.
You do know better and should have done the right thing from the very start. Fullerton, the last time I checked was still a city in the great state of California and California was still part of these United States of America. When did the city decide we became a third rate banana dictatorship where the leaders can pick and choose at their discretion the laws they choose to enforce or not enforce.
If anyone does not believe that the city was not enforcing our Sex Offender Ordinance No. 3149 since last April 2013 through today, all you have to do is go to the May 20th City of Fullerton Regular Meeting Agenda statement. There you would click on the Assessment of City’s Sex Offender Ordinance, Agenda Item No. 7 to get the city attorney’s own write up on this issue, Subject: Assessment of City’s Sex Offender Ordinance, page 10 Item C.1. “The Dermody Decision”. There you will find this quote from Jim Touchstone, our Deputy City Attorney as follows:
“In April 2013, the Superior Court Appellate Division heard the matter and determined that the city’s park exclusion provision contained in the Ordinance (Section 7.150.050) was preempted by state laws and was unenforceable on that basis. Accordingly, the City currently is prohibited from further enforcement of that section of the Ordinance.* The city Attorney’s Office informed the City of this ruling shortly after it was issued. As such, the City ceased enforcement of the Ordinance at that time.” *
Based on the above quoted language, it is clear that we cannot even count on our city leaders to enforce current laws whose sole objective is to help keep our children safe. Remember the city chose not to enforce the entire ordinance when the court only stated that the vagrancy part of the ordinance not be enforced. This is a huge difference and one that the city has never explained to me or to our council either.
Please note that I, Barry Levinson added the bold face and italics for emphasis.
In conclusion, any concerned Fullerton citizen, student, business owner or employee should be outraged at the conduct I described relating to our City Manager, Joe Felz, our City Attorney, Dick Jones and our Police Chief, Dan Hughes.
All of us should attend the next Fullerton City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014 starting at 6:30 PM and demand answers.
Thank you.
Barry Levinson
BARRY LEVINSON
#1 by Lorena on May 29, 2014 - 3:57 pm
Mr. Levinson, I believe you have run for office several times. You drew a significant amount of votes in the last election. You have a very good handle on contentious issues and are very outspoken. I deeply admire your courage and your character. Is there any chance that are you going to be on the ballot in November?