September 29, 2009 – Daily Brief

Hart District employee and her daughter arrested in Kern County after offering prostitution services to undercover cop. Craigslist is a dirty, dirty place. Have you ever looked for services in Santa Clarita? Not saying that I have, but just…well, let’s just say they’re available SIGNAL
State agency surveys nearly 8,000 homeowners about Whittaker-Bermite property in Saugus. ” We need to find out what the community surrounding the site knows about it,” spokeswoman Jeanne Garcia said. “A lot of times people don’t know what’s going on around them,” the state Department of Toxic Substance Control said. SIGNAL
Big Tujunga residents call for federal investigation into US Forrest Service management of Station Fire. LA TIMES
2009-2010 SCV High School football a big disappointment, has middle-aged men singing, “Glory Days” as they recall the heady days of SCV football dominance SIGNAL
Neat article on the origins of names, roads, and locations around town. Like John Boston without the hard-to-decipher sarcasm KHTS
Bossert slams Tim Myers after Myers pointed out that Facilities Foundation story is like so 2006 WEST RANCH BEACON
Signal columnist Jonathan Kraut poses various questions to candidates for Hart Board SIGNAL
Good news! Chipotle opening a store in TCD by Edwards Theater!

Comments (21)

Fred ButlerSeptember 29, 2009 at 7:38 am

We’ve found a lot of good furniture on Craigslist. Who would have thought it was such a seedy website?

Timothy MyersSeptember 29, 2009 at 7:43 am

Did you see that picture of the 56 year lady? YIKES!!!! Wouldn’t it be sad and ironic if the only customer they ever got was the undercover cop?

CCSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:26 am

I have to wonder why this woman was doing prostitution in the first place when she held down a job. I wish I could read Bossarts Blow Hard article, but alas the site is blocked for me. Uhmmm, what is “TCD”? I’m hoping it is where Poquito Mas was, but dare I dream?

CCSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:26 am

Town Center Drive?….be still my beating heart.

cashSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:31 am

Chipotle opening! Well they be in the location that was once Poquito mas (sp)

cashSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:39 am

The mouth of the West may be onto something. He may be fighting “City Hall”, but the foundation does deserve to be looked into. Were there is smoke there is usually fire.

navigatorSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:40 am

I’ve sold a couple of high ticket items on Craigslist and it didn’t even take long to do so. Gotta take the bad with the good. You’re right Tim…she was definitely the bad.

Timothy MyersSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:45 am

Cash: I am confident in the current workings of the Foundation because Dan Goetz is on the Board and he is extremely smart, no nonsense and won’t stand for any BS. DB is right on questioning whether an entity should do tricky things to leverage taxpayer money, but this is a case of one person’s thievery is another person’s cleverness. In my mind, this should be the discussion rather than innuendoes about people lining their pockets.

Timothy MyersSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:46 am

CC Why does your surf control block the West Ranch Beacon? Any theories?

cashSeptember 29, 2009 at 10:04 am

Timmy, Such words have been spoken before. If you are correct, the foundation should have no problem opening the books. A person with your background certainly must understand the importance of transparency. I hope DB continues to push on this.

Timothy MyersSeptember 29, 2009 at 10:18 am

Cash: What is DB pushing for, exactly? After some initial reluctance years ago, the FF would now happily allow for an inspection of their records, but it would take months for a forensic accountant to go through everything and no one would cover that cost right now. If there is wrongdoing, the best investigators in the world usually need some insider to point the way. Now this of course indicates the FF should not exist at all since it cannot be practically overseen. That is really the thrust of the argument but nonfinancial people tend to take a simplistic view of oversight. The main point is that DB, like a lot of people, are “used car” policy wonks. New to them but not anyone else.

cashSeptember 29, 2009 at 12:16 pm

Timmy, Perhaps a guy with your background could offer the forensic accountant service pro bono.

SCVTamalemanSeptember 29, 2009 at 12:34 pm

“Bossert slams Tim Myers after Myers pointed out that Facilities Foundation story is like so 2006 WEST RANCH BEACON” Wow, maybe the site should be re-named, I was thinking something like “The Grudge Report”.

Scott ErvinSeptember 29, 2009 at 1:00 pm

Bossert states, “Buying land, developing it for a school site then selling it back to the school district in order to squeeze extra money out of an already cash strapped state smacks of greed.” This statement reveals a basic misunderstanding of how Not-For-Profits work. First of all, how does DB think that squeezed extra money will benefit the organization? There are no dividends to shareholders, board members are voluteers and excessive salaries to staff would be easy to ferret out. So what is to be done with the ill-begotten profits? Well, as a quick trip to the Foundation’s website reveals, the mission statement indicates that any excess profits will be used to benefit other aspects of the Hart district (Boys & Girls clubs etc.) Greedy bastards! The only thing left for DB to “push for” is a fraud allegation or gross negligence. Good luck proving either. Now perhaps I’m naive, but there is an annual audit prepared by a reputable local CPA firm that gives the Foundation a clean bill of health (also on the Foundation Website). Under the new auditing standards, fraud is actively searched for including weaknesses in the internal system that could allow fraud to occur. Apparently that’s not good enough for DB.

CCSeptember 29, 2009 at 1:07 pm

Tim, I’m not sure, but the company started blocking blogs/email/smut but now it is hit and miss.

Timothy MyersSeptember 29, 2009 at 3:14 pm

Cash: The Myers clan has through their weakness gotten used to such luxuries as food, clothing and shelter that preclude that substantial amount of uncompensated work.

Timothy MyersSeptember 29, 2009 at 3:21 pm

Scott: Thank you for pointing that out. Six years ago the Foundation did not have audited financials and they tried some cockamamie story about the “regulation” of non-profits by the Attorney General. Now while the auditors would search for fraud, their mandate and procedures would not necessarily find perhaps slightly higher amounts paid to subcontractors, or adjoining land owned by interested parties that are benefited indirectly from the Foundation’s activity.

cashSeptember 29, 2009 at 3:29 pm

Timmy, Sorry you are having a tough time feeding your family! (: Don’t you think it would be worth while to learn more about entries like the $443,028.00 in annual accounts payable expense the non profit foundation reports. Would more detail, or as the professionals like to say , more “color” be beneficial. The devil is on the details. The audit completed by the local professional firm is pretty superficial and offers little detail. I do not generally agree with the mouth of the west, but I think he needs to push a bit more on this.

cashSeptember 29, 2009 at 3:34 pm

Timmy, “Now while the auditors would search for fraud, their mandate and procedures would not necessarily find perhaps slightly higher amounts paid to subcontractors, or adjoining land owned by interested parties that are benefited indirectly from the Foundation’s activity”. This kind of stuff would never happen in this town, hell no! Timmy you are starting to expose your forensic abilities.

Scott ErvinSeptember 29, 2009 at 4:36 pm

Cash, while the report itself does not offer details, the audit procedures themselves would have been quite detailed. And the fact that the report is superficial is an indication that nothing untowards was discovered. The existence of accounts payable is not in and of itself anything to be alarmed about on a balance sheet with assets over $20 million. They had more than enough cash to cover the AP so it’s presumably just a payment timing thing. Tim, is that what is being alleged? Related parties getting sweetheart deals? I agree, that might not jump off the page during a standard audit, even with today’s higher standards for fraud discovery. The DB article seemed to insinuate that the whole arrangement is de-facto monkey business.

Timothy MyersSeptember 29, 2009 at 4:50 pm

Scott: That is always the accusation and it maddens me because that leaves the organization with the impossible task of proving a negative, which no one can do. The guys like DB NEVER have to prove that something actually was done wrong, they can just throw out complaints. Now I think Cash brings out a very good point that with lots of vendors and subcontractors (hence the payables) something could be going wrong that a normal audit would not be designed to detect this, but that is why one has boards and oversight.

Fred ButlerSeptember 29, 2009 at 7:38 am
We’ve found a lot of good furniture on Craigslist. Who would have thought it was such a seedy website?
Timothy MyersSeptember 29, 2009 at 7:43 am
Did you see that picture of the 56 year lady? YIKES!!!! Wouldn’t it be sad and ironic if the only customer they ever got was the undercover cop?
CCSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:26 am
I have to wonder why this woman was doing prostitution in the first place when she held down a job. I wish I could read Bossarts Blow Hard article, but alas the site is blocked for me. Uhmmm, what is “TCD”? I’m hoping it is where Poquito Mas was, but dare I dream?
CCSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:26 am
Town Center Drive?….be still my beating heart.
cashSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:31 am
Chipotle opening! Well they be in the location that was once Poquito mas (sp)
cashSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:39 am
The mouth of the West may be onto something. He may be fighting “City Hall”, but the foundation does deserve to be looked into. Were there is smoke there is usually fire.
navigatorSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:40 am
I’ve sold a couple of high ticket items on Craigslist and it didn’t even take long to do so. Gotta take the bad with the good. You’re right Tim…she was definitely the bad.
Timothy MyersSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:45 am
Cash: I am confident in the current workings of the Foundation because Dan Goetz is on the Board and he is extremely smart, no nonsense and won’t stand for any BS. DB is right on questioning whether an entity should do tricky things to leverage taxpayer money, but this is a case of one person’s thievery is another person’s cleverness. In my mind, this should be the discussion rather than innuendoes about people lining their pockets.
Timothy MyersSeptember 29, 2009 at 8:46 am
CC Why does your surf control block the West Ranch Beacon? Any theories?
cashSeptember 29, 2009 at 10:04 am
Timmy, Such words have been spoken before. If you are correct, the foundation should have no problem opening the books. A person with your background certainly must understand the importance of transparency. I hope DB continues to push on this.
Timothy MyersSeptember 29, 2009 at 10:18 am
Cash: What is DB pushing for, exactly? After some initial reluctance years ago, the FF would now happily allow for an inspection of their records, but it would take months for a forensic accountant to go through everything and no one would cover that cost right now. If there is wrongdoing, the best investigators in the world usually need some insider to point the way. Now this of course indicates the FF should not exist at all since it cannot be practically overseen. That is really the thrust of the argument but nonfinancial people tend to take a simplistic view of oversight. The main point is that DB, like a lot of people, are “used car” policy wonks. New to them but not anyone else.
cashSeptember 29, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Timmy, Perhaps a guy with your background could offer the forensic accountant service pro bono.
SCVTamalemanSeptember 29, 2009 at 12:34 pm
“Bossert slams Tim Myers after Myers pointed out that Facilities Foundation story is like so 2006 WEST RANCH BEACON” Wow, maybe the site should be re-named, I was thinking something like “The Grudge Report”.
Scott ErvinSeptember 29, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Bossert states, “Buying land, developing it for a school site then selling it back to the school district in order to squeeze extra money out of an already cash strapped state smacks of greed.” This statement reveals a basic misunderstanding of how Not-For-Profits work. First of all, how does DB think that squeezed extra money will benefit the organization? There are no dividends to shareholders, board members are voluteers and excessive salaries to staff would be easy to ferret out. So what is to be done with the ill-begotten profits? Well, as a quick trip to the Foundation’s website reveals, the mission statement indicates that any excess profits will be used to benefit other aspects of the Hart district (Boys & Girls clubs etc.) Greedy bastards! The only thing left for DB to “push for” is a fraud allegation or gross negligence. Good luck proving either. Now perhaps I’m naive, but there is an annual audit prepared by a reputable local CPA firm that gives the Foundation a clean bill of health (also on the Foundation Website). Under the new auditing standards, fraud is actively searched for including weaknesses in the internal system that could allow fraud to occur. Apparently that’s not good enough for DB.
CCSeptember 29, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Tim, I’m not sure, but the company started blocking blogs/email/smut but now it is hit and miss.
Timothy MyersSeptember 29, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Cash: The Myers clan has through their weakness gotten used to such luxuries as food, clothing and shelter that preclude that substantial amount of uncompensated work.
Timothy MyersSeptember 29, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Scott: Thank you for pointing that out. Six years ago the Foundation did not have audited financials and they tried some cockamamie story about the “regulation” of non-profits by the Attorney General. Now while the auditors would search for fraud, their mandate and procedures would not necessarily find perhaps slightly higher amounts paid to subcontractors, or adjoining land owned by interested parties that are benefited indirectly from the Foundation’s activity.
cashSeptember 29, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Timmy, Sorry you are having a tough time feeding your family! (: Don’t you think it would be worth while to learn more about entries like the $443,028.00 in annual accounts payable expense the non profit foundation reports. Would more detail, or as the professionals like to say , more “color” be beneficial. The devil is on the details. The audit completed by the local professional firm is pretty superficial and offers little detail. I do not generally agree with the mouth of the west, but I think he needs to push a bit more on this.
cashSeptember 29, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Timmy, “Now while the auditors would search for fraud, their mandate and procedures would not necessarily find perhaps slightly higher amounts paid to subcontractors, or adjoining land owned by interested parties that are benefited indirectly from the Foundation’s activity”. This kind of stuff would never happen in this town, hell no! Timmy you are starting to expose your forensic abilities.
Scott ErvinSeptember 29, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Cash, while the report itself does not offer details, the audit procedures themselves would have been quite detailed. And the fact that the report is superficial is an indication that nothing untowards was discovered. The existence of accounts payable is not in and of itself anything to be alarmed about on a balance sheet with assets over $20 million. They had more than enough cash to cover the AP so it’s presumably just a payment timing thing. Tim, is that what is being alleged? Related parties getting sweetheart deals? I agree, that might not jump off the page during a standard audit, even with today’s higher standards for fraud discovery. The DB article seemed to insinuate that the whole arrangement is de-facto monkey business.
Timothy MyersSeptember 29, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Scott: That is always the accusation and it maddens me because that leaves the organization with the impossible task of proving a negative, which no one can do. The guys like DB NEVER have to prove that something actually was done wrong, they can just throw out complaints. Now I think Cash brings out a very good point that with lots of vendors and subcontractors (hence the payables) something could be going wrong that a normal audit would not be designed to detect this, but that is why one has boards and oversight.