Propisition K (Lowest Priority) Commission

[palmspringsbum]

On November 7, 2006 68.33% of Santa Cruz voters passed Proposition K.

Since then the City Council and City Administration have done everything they can to gut the measure and ignore the spirit in which it was passed.

City Money was spent to use the City Attorney to have a court decide that the police department does not have to provide the Proposition K Committee with records of marijuana arrests. This is malfeasance. It is the use of taxpayer money to subvert and thwart the overwhelming consensus of the community as expressed at the ballot box.

It is time to implement Proposition K and time for the city council to stop stone-walling this voter mandate.

[palmspringsbum]

Here find two links for the original version of Measure K:

<ul class=postlist><li><a class=postlink href=http://www.santacruzpl.org/ref/measures/textfiles/2005_2009/2006november/measurek.shtml target=_blank>Santa Cruz Public Library</a></li><li><a class=postlink href=http://www.taxandregulate.org/sc06/Fulltext.htm target=_blank>Santa Cruz Citizens for Sensible Marijuana Policy</a></li></ul>

Below find the changes in the Santa Cruz Municipal Code:

<span class=postbold>9.84.060 Community Oversight</span>

Items (c) and (d) have been deleted:

(2) Responsibilities of the committee shall include:

(c) designing a supplemental report form for Santa Cruz law enforcement officers to use to report all adult marijuana arrests, citations, and property seizures, and all instances of officers assisting in state or federal arrests, citations, and property seizures for any adult marijuana offenses in the city of Santa Cruz; the report shall be designed with the goal of allowing the committee to ascertain whether the lowest law enforcement priority policy was followed;

(d) requesting additional information from any Santa Cruz law enforcement officer who engaged in law enforcement activity relating to one or more marijuana offenses under circumstances which appear to violate the lowest law enforcement priority policy. An officer's decision not to provide additional information shall not be grounds for discipline;

<small><i>Section 9.84.060, above, was amended by Order of the Superior Court on May 22, 2007</i></small>

[palmspringsbum]

Eric Rice and Larry True, chair and vice-chair, were the committee members that resigned from the Measure K committee.

15 Dec 2008 (scheduled for the previous week and canceled two days before).

It takes 6 months to get the minutes of the meeting according to a member of the committee.

<table class=posttable align=right><tr><td class=postcell><img class=postimg src=http://www.palmspringsbum.org/bbs/bin/mlgoeke.jpg title="Mary Lou Goeke"></td></tr></table>Mary Lou Goeke is the new chair. They are all hostile to Measure K. Mrs. Goeke is the executive director of Santa Cruz United Way. Her contact information is Phone: 831.465.2202, Email: mlgoeke@unitedwaysc.org

Larry True

"I joined the committee looking for a way to serve the community ... I feel like the committee is no more than a rubber stamp for the police department."

Prevous semi-annual report, ~120 marijuana arrests. This semi-annual report, 184 marijuana arrests. No breakdown for juveniles, whether during commission of another crime, how many individuals these citations represent.

Anita Henri - "I have served on many boards and never felt less productive and more helpless".

Anita suggests meeting 4 times per year rather than twice per year. Chair shoots it down, blames it on city council.

To listen to a recording of the December 15th 2008 meeting go here: http://www.huffsantacruz.org/brb.html

THEN select the <span class=postbold>streaming</span> option of item <span classp=postbold>9-01-18</span>.

THEN <span class=postbold>advance</span> to about 130 minutes into the stream (recording). Robert's preliminary comments begin about 115 minutes into the stream. The recording of the meeting is about 35 minutes, and if you've read this far you owe it to yourself to listen.

[palmspringsbum]

See: Measure K Oversight committee meeting | 16 Jun 09.