“It Actually Praised the Work We’ve Done “
Lloyd White ‘believes’ that the Grand Jury’s description of lying to the public and receiving large campaign contributions in exchange for approving millions in bond debt was ‘praise’.
White’s solution for the Developers’ deceit regarding CFD disclosure law violations is to use government money to throw them a party and a ‘workshop’.
‘Conspiracy’, ‘Fraud’, ‘Deceit’, ‘Conflict of Interest’ are State and Federal crimes, not compliments.
“A local City Council, when confronted by its citizens about the extreme indebtedness and uncontrolled development, defended its unchecked practice of approving bonds by stating in numerous meetings; “they could not refuse to vote on the purchase of bonds due to a long term development contract.” When the Grand Jury requested a copy of the document, their legal representative stated that “such a document does not exist.”
“This public comment presents a serious conflict of interest, deceit, and fraud upon its citizens. It could be seen as a conspiracy to mislead the people.”
“Those voting on the CFDs; and in once case those supporting a lawsuit settlement favoring the developer, have received large campaign donations from the very developers whose bond sales they continue to approve.”
1:43:00 Lloyd White: The Disclosure. So I know we have to disclose all of the issues we’ve had including the Grand Jury Report that just was released last night. Is that updated to reflect the Grand Jury.
Stradling Yocca: That has been updated by the Financing Team. The language that we drafted was ‘matter of fact’ that there was a Grand Jury Report that’s been received and the City is under no legal obligation to respond, but is considering its options.
1:47:30: Lloyd White: The Grand Jury Report came out and it actually praised the work we’ve done here. It talks about, in the beginning, about all the ways to do CFDs wrong, which is all the ways they were being done wrong. And then it talks in the ending about all the things that we need to do or that Cities should do to do it right. And that’s all the things that we’ve done and all the things that we’re doing.
1:48:00: Lloyd White: Some people may look at it differently. I look at it as a plus. But I do want to bring up one thing. There was a comment in there about the proper disclosure that Realtors and sales people will give people looking to buy ‘our houses’. I really would like to suggest that we hold a maybe an annual luncheon for Realtors to discuss what’s going on in the market, in the real estate market in our City. But at the same time give them a refresher update on what CFDs are and give them a short workshop because I think that is one of the biggest concerns that I as a CFD purchaser and most people, as I have, that they are not getting the right information from the Realtors. That was brought up a number of times in the Grand Jury Report.
Beaumont City Council Meeting Transcript July 2, 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1_tNrvDjoM
Riverside County Grand Jury Report on CFDs: https://countyofriverside.us/Portals/0/GrandJury/GrandJury2018-2019/CFD_Report.pdf?ver=2019-06-27-131427-510