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While we’ve been sleeping, Chiquita Canyon has been making every imaginable move to round up support for their proposed expansion to the once-sleepy landfill.
Reminiscent of the momentary philanthropy of Waste Management some years ago, their name is appearing as a lead sponsor for events all over town. Many of these organizations have repaid the gesture by supporting the dump expansion, even before the public comment period has closed and the environmental impact report is complete. When they're not donating to charity, they’re getting on the good side of politicians. Our city council, which is famous for fighting environmental hazards around the rim of the city has been nearly silent.
Of course, the residents of Val Verde have a very different view. Just recently, a community group of over 100 residents voted unanimously to oppose the expansion.
Some methods have been more coercive. Last week, the Castaic Area Town Council, a Los Angeles County committee formed to advise the County Supervisors, approved a contract with the dump (on a 6-4 vote) that offered money for programs in Castaic (specifically excluding Val Verde) in exchange for the members’ active support of the expansion. But that’s not the worst part. The money goes away if anyone on the board joins in formal opposition to the expansion. Not just them, but their family members, too. This even applies to the 40% of the council (and their families) that voted against the contract.
I couldn’t believe this when I heard it, but it’s true. They’re compelling publically-elected councilmembers to give up their First Amendment rights. Money quote (emphasis added):
In the event that the CATC, any officer, director, employee or agent of CATC, including any family members or co-habitants or any person or entity whose residence or business is located in the Castaic Area initiates any appeal of any Project approval, or joins in or supports in any way any appeal of Project approvals, including without limitation an appeal to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, or filing any administrative or judicial challenge to the Project or the EIR or any Project approvals including those required by the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA"), this Agreement shall be voidable and of no further force and effect in CCL's sole discretion.
There’s probably a missing comma here, because this can also be read to apply to all Castiaic residents. Either way, the contract is signed. You can watch the video of the meeting here. The audio is rough (I listened with headphones) but it's worth it to see councilmember John Kunak take apart every point offered by Chiquita's lobbyist, John Musella. Kunak, an attorney, voted against the contract.
For a little more reading, see Perry Smith's piece from this weekend, and over at SCVNews, Darryl Manzer was been writing almost daily on the issue.
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How Waste Connections Makes Connections
Earlier this year, Waste Connections (the dump's owner) gave $1,000 each to the campaigns of donations to both Marsha McLean and Laurene Weste. The landfill’s lobbyist/pr rep, John Musella, donated another $500. Musella and Chicquita executive Michael Dean were co-hosts of the infamous fundraiser at Wayne Crawford's house that was also co-hosted by digital billboard lobbyists Arthur Sohikian and Hunt Braly.
Since 2012, Waste Connections and Musella has donated extensively to local elected officals. Some, like County Supervisors, will have a direct say on the dump’s fate. From the others, a little support (or just silence) can go a really long way . Here’s the breakdown:
Assemblyman Scott Wilk: $5,500Supervisor Mike Antonovich: $3,500Senator Steve Knight: $2,750Mayor Laurne Weste: $1,500Supervisor Hilda Solis: $1,500Supervisor Don Knabe: $1,300Councilmember Marsha McLean: $1,000
Conflict of interest on charter school board
Earlier this year, Musella joined the Governing Board of SCVi, a public K-12 charter school located just one mile from the expanded landfill. If that weren't enough, the agenda of the most recent governing board meeting (August 21) shows a discussion and action item related to the landfill expansion, with Musella listed as the presenting board member. I understand that Musella missed the meeting, so the item (minus the action item) appears on the agenda of the board’s meeting today at 4pm.
There is no mention of Musella’s connection with the landfill on his otherwise exhaustive bio on SCVi’s website. Complicating things further is that fellow SCVi board member Greg Kimura also serves on the Castaic Area Town Council. Kimura voted against the contract between Chiquita and the CATC, yet the contract says that Chiquita can pull of its funding for Castaic programs if any of its members participate in formal opposition to the expansion.
So to recap: in exchange for money, Chiquita has demanded that the Town Council actively support the dump expansion and it will pull its money if any member works against them. This is a huge problem when one such member is also a member of a governing board of a public school. This can’t be legal, can it?
SCVi is the school closest to the dump, and closer still if the expansion is approved. If anything, you’d expect the school to be a vocal opponent. But instead, it appears that the school might be considering supporting the expansion. It’s difficult to tell for sure, since their agendas have very little information. With one board member being paid to represent the interests of the dump, and another facing the pressure of the dump’s punitive contract with the CATC, you get the feeling that the deck is stacked.
A public records request to SCVi sent earlier this week has gone unanswered.
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