Final Decision Issued - Settlement a Ways Off

The judge has issued his modified, final decision. Nothing too dramatic. Basically, the only change is that he held that Measure Y technically would authorize recruitment/hiring/academy training expenses for officers who were deployed to Measure Y positions straight out of the academy. But since that's not what happened, then no such expenses were authorized. This does not change the impact of the lawsuit in any material way, and God forbid the City should decide it is now appropriate to start putting rookie cops into Measure Y positions!

We had our second settlement meeting yesterday, and I don't see anything getting resolved anytime soon. But we're still talking, so that's good. If the case does go up on appeal, the City needs to realize that they are taking a huge risk. First of all, the idea that they could reverse the main issues they lost on (i.e. using approximately $15 million for non-Measure Y purposes and the failure to conduct audits) is ridiculous. Those issues are total no-brainers.

The issues that they could still lose on appeal, however, include some really big ticket items. First, this whole idea of what it means that the City "appropriate" funds for 739 officers in order to collect the tax: the City has claimed throughout this litigation, and Charles Pine's litigation, that all that means is that money be set aside, and there is no requirement that the force actually be staffed at 802. However, all the politicians and others told us taxpayers repeatedly that Measure Y guaranteed a force of 802, and even the City's own website said this! If the City appeals, I'll appeal on this issue, which could mean the City would need to return $60 million to the taxpayers. $60 million!!! Hello City - are you listening?

In addition, one of the other issues - an issue the judge totally dodged - is what it means to "hire and maintain" 63 Measure Y officers, including 6 crime reduction team officers. Those CRT officers still are not employed by the City, as far as I know. That means, for fully 5 years, the City has not complied with this clear mandate of Measure Y. What would the court of appeal rule is an appropriate remedy? How about a return of all the funds used by the City for police services when they didn't provide the police services promised? That's probably another $40 million right there. So we're talking $100 million at stake. My settlement demands to the City are totally reasonable, and I sincerely hope the City considers the possibility of a $100 million debt, and certain bankrupty, as well as the fact that their credibility is already in the toilet, while mulling all of this over. We shall see.