At last week’s Ceres Planning Commission meeting, Ceres resident John Warren, a senior, complained about the acoustics of the chambers and how he has trouble hearing what is being said.
I, too, am a senior and have also found it difficult hearing in that room and my hearing is fine.
Warren suggested letting the public sit closer than what is currently allowed. This goes back to what I’ve been saying a long time. In the days of COVID, the audience was pushed back out away from decision makers. The pandemic has been over quite a while so what is the purpose of the large gap between the audience and their elected officials? I feel it presents terrible optics to have a barrier between the public and the commission or council.
Warren went farther, in jest, saying, “I know the mayor is afraid someone’s gonna come up there and beat him up up there. That’s why he put the signs employees only could be up in this front area but I don’t think you folks are afraid of us here. I’m 78 years old and I left all my weapons at home.”
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While I’m at it, it would be nice if city IT would find out why there seems to be a hitch with Zoom connections at Planning Commission meetings
And two weeks ago the Zoom link to the council meeting did not function.
Last week the commission opened the hearing on the Housing Element and nine minutes were wasted trying to establish a remote audio-visal connection with the consultant, Kylie Pope of EMC Planning. She started her presentation saying, “Wow, I’m glad we got that cleared up.”
By the way, as much money as the city is paying EMC to craft the Housing Element, why wasn’t Pope delivering in-person than remotely from Monterey? It’s not that far of a drive.
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News that Ceres Mayor Javier Lopez is planning to run for Congress is rich with irony.
His Instagram tag for his 2024 re-election campaign was #imheretostay
Here to stay, huh?
It appears the chief purpose for seeking a second term on Nov. 4 was not to serve Ceres for another four-year term but as a springboard to run for higher office. That should not sit well with his supporters nor the supporters of his two opponents in the last election. But then again, politicians do that all the time for political promotion.
Most congressional hopefuls get their feet wet by running for state Assembly or state Senate. That was true of Gary Condit and Jeff Denham. George Radanovich and John Duarte were able to make the leap to Congress after building support from years of being in agriculture. Radanovich was a member of the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors before leaping to Congress. What Lopez does not have in experience is offset by a monumental ego. After all, Loepz was installing fire alarms and coaching high school football when elected as mayor during the pandemic. He has since been courting Sikhs, Latinos and other voting blocs while not coming across as very verbal at meetings. There’s a difference between being a leader and merely running a meeting.
Lopez is somewhat of an enigma. He refused to fill out the Courier’s candidate questionnaire in 2020. He hasn’t agreed to a sit down Q&A like we’ve done with other councilmembers.
I wouldn’t know if Javier Lopez has conservative credentials since he serves in a non-partisan office. But he’s not acted like a conservative.
Case in point: last year he sent one of his surrogates to the Ceres Planning Commission and vowed to fight Pollo Campero from building a new restaurant on Hatch Road because he felt Hatch Road didn’t need any more chicken eateries. Excuse me, but who died and left him king? There is such a thing as permitted uses in commercial zoning and Pollo Campero had every right to build and the Planning Commission granted approval to the site plan as was appropriate.
Pollo Campero should have said damn the mayor anyway and proceed with development – and sued had he interfered. Instead, Pollo Campero said adios Ceres. Thanks for that, mayor.
I’m no fan of Adam Gray or his Democrat Party but truth be told, Javier Lopez isn’t ready for the big time. He hasn’t demonstrated much in the way of leadership capability. Vice Mayor Bret Silveira, Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra and certainly Planning Commissioner Gary Condit have displayed more leadership.
Let’s dissect Javier Lopez’s tenure as mayor.
February 2021: Newly elected and inexperienced Mayor Lopez presided over a series of deadlocks over who to appoint to the vacant council seat of Channce Condit who bailed his District 1 seat after being elected to the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors. The council found itself in multiple split decisions during four tense meetings that February.
Lopez, with the help of Councilman Bret Silveira, blocked unquestionably the most qualified applicant: Ceres Planning Commission chairwoman Laurie Smith. Lopez and Vice Mayor Couper Condit blocked her appointment, voting in support of any of the other three applicants in separate motions which systematically failed in 2-2 ties.
The meetings were punctuated by traded barbs and periods of silence as members stubbornly dug in their heels over choices. At one point Lopez said he had all night for someone else to change their mind. Because of Lopez’s refusal to support Smith, the seat went vacant for eight months when James Casey was elected in a special election that Aug. 31.
Perhaps Lopez’s biggest lapse of judgment came that October when he supported the unthinkable appointment of John R. Osgood III to fill the vacant seat left on Oct. 11 when Vice Mayor Couper Condit resigned without the courtesy of an explanation or apology to his supporters. Osgood earned a reputation as a hothead and displayed an erratic and hostile attitude toward city officials for years and Lopez was willing to go along with his appointment? The council was served with a dose of reality before Osgood could be seated when audio recordings of his podcast were played at a meeting to reveal he uttered threatening comments and some considered racist. Lopez and others did a quick backpedal.
May 2021: Lopez announced that he wanted to bend the established rules for street peddlers by dropping the requirement for liability insurance when they get a permit and at least two members of the council stopped him. Of course, many of the street peddlers speak little or no English and don’t bother to get business or health department permits or the required liability insurance to protect themselves if they accidentally poison or kill somebody.
Lopez said: “This might cost them too much to have liability insurance and we’d be better off if we removed the liability insurance.” Why would an elected official think that if somebody can’t afford insurance to disregard making them have it?
April 2022: Councilwoman Linda Ryno resigned, citing the stress of dealing with Lopez and Vice Mayor Bret Silveira. In parting she expressed embarrassment over Lopez’s Jan. 21 email to citizen John Warren regarding his complaint about an illegal “pop-up event” at Blaker and Whitmore.
In that email, Lopez chastised Warren, saying, “Let’s be clear. In no shape or form will I continue to allow you gentlemen to disrespect my city staff, with your comments. In addition, in this matter at hand in which you both seem to believe you are the only priority. Regardless if it’s a pop event ‘local business for whom I support’ the real evidence only shows how negative and anti-small businesses you are. In the end I also support freedom of speech and the right to have an opinion. These are yours. Our city council and city staff work day and day out to move this city forward. I’d suggest you be apart (sic) of the solution not apart (sic) of the problem.”
Ryno pointed out that Lopez allowed Osgood to disrespect staff “on more than one occasion and said nothing.”
On April 24, 2023, the way Lopez treated veteran Gene Yeakley raised a lot of eyebrows. Yeakley got up to speak but was confused about when he could bring up his question on an agenda item. Lopez threatened to have him removed from the chambers.
October 2023: Lopez shut down public comment at council meetings via Zoom as a knee-jerk reaction to two back-to-back prank callers. The end to comments via Zoom practice went on for nine months until Silveira, not Lopez, provided the leadership to have public comment by Zoom access restored.
November 2023: While Lopez did get the Hometown Heroes military banner program going, he sparked controversy when he bent the rules which stated banners were for those who lived or once lived in Ceres. His decision to allow Yolanda Whited of Merced to participate with a banner raised the ire of some veterans who in 2022 helped the city draft a policy about who could be featured on military banners. The policy called for proof of Ceres residency for a service member as part of the requirements. Whited requested her banner come down due to the flap.
June 2024: Lopez hijacked the city’s “Bridging the Gap” event intended to provide information to aspiring or existing business owners. He made it mostly about himself.
The mayor served as emcee and conducted a series of head-scratching interviews on stage. The first was with his favorite Councilman Daniel Martinez, which had nothing to do with business. It was followed by a Q&A with Southern California boxer Nate Rodriguez, who would work fine as a motivational speaker at a youth camp – not a business conference. His Q&A with cannabis businessman Jason David was a lengthy plug about medicinal cannabis.
The event saw a dismal turnout of about 12 folks when over 100 attended in 2023.
April 2024: An eyeball roll moment came Lopez made this grandiose entrance at his State of the City address like he was some head of state.
In July 2023 Lopez attended the ICSC Conference in Las Vegas on the taxpayer’s dime when that conference previously only attended by the city’s economic development manager. Mayor Lopez’s expenses came to $1,824.23. A social media post shared his brag about a red sports car which he did paid for.
At a candidates forum held last September, Lopez was asked about the expenditure and he said “I do agree that one should not be spending that kind of tough money.” Presumably because it became an embarrassing issue for him.
At the same candidates forum, Lopez was asked why he supported the city giving $5,000 to South Modesto Business United for a Latino celebration at El Rematito Flea Market. Lopez answered: “It was to support a culture and event that is huge for the citizens of Ceres. The city of Ceres is almost 60 percent Latino and I felt it was important that we did what we could.”
Vierra voted against the expenditure, saying the city couldn’t afford it.
October 2024: Lopez’s participation in a walk-to-school event at Lucas Elementary smacked of political opportunism when he brought what looked like a campaign banner for the school children to hold as they walked. Such shameless self-promotions had no business at a PTC sponsored event.
Let’s not forget his dirty campaign mailer accusing Planning Commissioner Condit and Councilwoman Vierra of promoting homelessness and fentanyl dealing.
Together he achieves?
This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation. How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com
