Onnen says 'Not my Job' on Oil Moratorium? Whaa?

There will be another vote by the Goleta Council soon on supporting an oil moratorium off our coast. In reading the Daily Sound the other day -- I was surprised to see Council Member Eric Onnen say that he didn't think dealing with the issue was in his "job description". Last time I checked, his job description had to do with the concerns of his constituents, no? He went on to say that he didn't think the issue furthers the goals and objectives of the city. Excuse me? Veneco has a big plant in the city and the possible environmental impacts of a spill would be enormous to both the city and his good friends and donors at The Bacara. Did I just say that? Doh!

The city receives no monetary benefit from oil processing on its land but takes all the environmental risk. In addition, Veneco continues to make noise about expanding their operations. If Onnen's job isn't to protect the welfare of Goleta's citizens and environment, I'm not sure what it is. Council Member Roger Aceves, who had requested the item be put on the agenda, pointed out that there's nothing wrong with reaffirming the city's stance which is included in the General Plan. I agree. What say you?

The Back Story on Onnen's Absence

To truly understand my approach to Eric Onnen's absence from the last Goleta City Council meeting, one has to review what happened the week before when a vote for employee raises for City of Goleta workers took council to the midnight hour. While watching the meeting, it was clear that Onnen was keeping the meeting going unnecessarily with questions that did not pertain to government but were more suited to his extensive experience in the private sector. He brought up bonuses, for instance, which can't be given to public employees as it would be a gift of public funds. The meeting, it seemed, continued because he did not do his homework.

He and Bennett voted against two different proposals for 3% and then 2% the second year; and, also a 3% and 3% with a review of the retirement system at a later date....City of Goleta employees haven't seen a raise in two years while the cost of living has gone up 5.3%. Bennett, who got a great deal of support from one of the largest unions in the firefighters, couldn't see fit to support a raise either.

Let's do the math. $89,000 would have allowed city workers to get a fair and reasonable raise. Onnen motioned to support $100,000 a year for two years for Girsch Park. A very worthy cause but they had only asked for $75,000 each for two years. There's $50,000. Onnen also pushed for support of funds for the Chamber of Commerce -- whose all too cozy PAC shares many of the same officers as the Chamber itself. That's $40,000. I'm not saying the Chamber wouldn't use those fund well...but a back of the napkin calculation shows that where there is a will, there is a way.

The fastest route to an SEIU stronghold in the City of Goleta (with double the rabid editorials from her man at De la Guerra) is to deny them the basics of what they are due. Unions, as we know from the News-Press debacle, aren't formed unless they have to. Onnen needs to discern the difference between private enterprise and government and realize you can't get the best and the brightest in the same way. I guess I'll give him the benefit of the doubt -- but I have to wonder why he'd miss a major vote that will matter greatly in the next election, especially if city workers will now want to become a union shop.

Absent Eric? Goleta Budget Vote Too Important to Miss...

The Santa Barbara Newroom reports that Goleta Councilmember Eric Onnen missed the big budget vote because he was sick at home. For a rookie councilmember, that's a really tough vote to miss -- especially when there is apparently a movement started to recall the last election. I bet BlogaBarbara will have more on that before you know it. In the meantime, if I was sick and a new councilmember in a new city where I was lucky to be elected, I would wear a mask and oxygen tube -- what do you think?

Interestingly enough, the Santa Barbara News-Press failed to cover the City of Goleta budget vote at all. What's up with that? As Craig pointed out today...maybe it has to do with Goleta Chamber CEO's Kristen Amyx's complaint that the News-Press doesn't cover Goleta issues.

Excuse me? Where is the SBNP PR person? This should have been a slam dunk front page story to show Amyx who covers Goleta IN HER FACE ....the truth is that she is right about the fact that they can't cover Goleta anymore. Go to The Newsroom or The Sound for that from now on.