Focus Local: 10 Reasons Why Bell, CA Matters

I like to think that I’m a pretty dynamic individual, but I’ll be honest, there comes a point in every single training I conduct where I bore my attendees.  They start looking around the room, staring at the ceiling, mouths dropping open, drool pooling at the corners of their lips.

Ok, maybe it’s not that bad.  But when I start talking about the importance of focusing locally (holding your own city council, school district and county commission accountable for their actions), most people do zone off.  I get it.  It’s not sexy.  On the federal level, even in state government, there is glitz, glamour, power, intrigue, sometimes even scandal.  On the local level, not so much, right?  Wrong.  To prove my point, here are the top 10 reasons why Bell, CA matters:

10. What happened?  Bell residents recently discovered that their city manager earns $787,637 per year.  By contrast, President Obama earns $400,000 per year.

9. According to the LATimes Blog city manager Robert Rizzo said of his salary figure, “If that’s a number people choke on, maybe I’m in the wrong business. ”  You think?

8. And it doesn’t stop there.  The city council members, who get together for a meeting twice a month, make about $100,000 per year, while the police chief makes $457,000.

7. Bloomberg reports that the tax burden in Bell is heavy, which isn’t a surprise considering the weight of the administrative salaries.  Los Angeles County’s auditor-controller says that residents in Bell pay 1.55% of their home’s value in taxes, while in Beverly Hills (where the per-capita income is almost four times higher than in Bell), residents pay only 1.19% of their home’s value in taxes.

6. The city riots.  Hundreds turn out in protest, pouring into the city council meeting demanding resignations and recall elections.  My favorite quote comes from nine year old Ephraim Martinez, who told officials, “You should be ashamed.”

5. On July 23, the city manager, assistant city manager and police chief resigned from their jobs.  Good news, right?  But the story doesn’t end there.

4. The Los Angeles Times reports that city manager Rizzo will receive a pension of $650,000 per year for the rest of his life- making him the highest paid retiree in the state pension program.  Police chief Randy Adams will receive over $411,000 per year, while assistant city manager Angela Spaccia will become eligible for $250,000 per year once she reaches the age of 55.

3. Now maybe you’re wondering- rightly- if the duties of the job fit the compensation level.  I wondered the same thing.  Bell is a city of about 36,000 people.  Estimated median income is $39,000 per year.  Contrast this to the median income in the state of California, coming in at nearly double: $61,000 per year.  Unemployment in Bell registered at 15.7% in April of this year.  So let’s get our background information clear to start with: we’re talking a small town in a poor area with high unemployment.  Not a highly-populated metropolitan city with citizens living the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

2. By contrast, my hometown of Salina, KS- a town of 48,000 people with a median annual income of $42,400- pays its city  council members $3,600 per year.

1. The number one reason why this matters?  Don’t you wonder… if this is happening in a city of 38,000, what is happening in our larger cities?  If this type of corruption and greed is taking place from within, what other policies or regulations are city council members across the nation taking advantage of?

When I was three years old, I sat on my dad’s lap and asked him if he would vote for me if I ran for president when I grew up.  He said no.  Shocked, I asked why not.  His words still ring true today- “because power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

I know it’s boring when I say that we need to focus local.  But I’m pretty sure if we asked the residents of Bell, CA, they would say the same thing.  Allowing elected officials to get by without being watched, allowing them to make poor decisions without facing consequences, grants them that corrupting power.  Go to city council meetings.  Monitor the actions of your local school board.  Run for county commission.  The only way to clean up the bad in government is to put good people into the system.