The air was frosty, the slumping mood was pockmarked with adversarial goosebumps, the crowd was sparse and enthusiasm called in sick at last Monday’s community meeting that County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas organized to update residents on progress he is making toward a regulations settlement for drilling in the Baldwin Hills oil field.
“Hardly any neighbors were present and the information given to us was questionable,” said an unsatisfied woman in the audience at the Junior Blind of America auditorium in Baldwin Hills.
“Who knew the meeting was even taking place? Most of my neighbors were not notified, and a group of us has been involved from the start. What is going on?”
Was This Embarrassing?
Perhaps it should not be surprising since Mr. Ridley-Thomas routinely travels with a large retinue. But, amazingly, the public was outnumbered at the meeting by the supervisor’s staff and his sizable crowd of professional invitees, including the Southern California Air Quality Management District, the Dept. of Regional Planning, the County Health Dept., and others.
“”This is becoming a familiar theme,” said a relatively new activist. The idea, once again was for Ridley-Thomas to surround himself with people so he could deflect all of the questions to them. That way he wouldn’t be pressed for hard information he didn’t have. The only substance of the evening came from the AQMD, and nothing they said was new.”
Still another woman said that “the supervisor’s office or organization looks worse than disorganized. I don’t think they mind at all crowds are getting small. They don’t want the close-up inspection.”
Meetings Interest Waning
Momentum for the monthly meetings has been skidding since Mr. Ridley-Thomas’s first assembly in January when he was strongly criticized for allegedly not leading a community-driven reformation of drilling regulations but, rather, “ignoring” the broad, sensitive subject and for trying to force a premature settlement by residents who have sued the oil drilling company PXP.
Officials complained that the supervisor was “inappropriately” pushing attorneys to disclose confidential negotiations so he could show he was bulldogging talks that have dragged for months.
At best on Monday night, several participants said, the attitude in the room was borderline during the meeting and glum or worse at the end.
Mr. Ridley-Thomas, who appeared bothered by a cold, snapped unexpectedly at several persons during the meeting, and they were shocked he suddenly turned on them. Witnesses said the outbreak was striking because he was asked few questions during the session.
He lashed out at John Kuechle, one of the most active and prominent residents in the room, for asking a question the Supervisor said tartly scolded Mr. Kuechle for insufficiently researching. When Mr. Kuechle had studied the subject further, possibly in conjunction with the supervisor’s staff, then he might be qualified to re-ask, Mr. Ridley-Thomas said.
Even more jolting to the audience was a perceived takedown of PXP representative Candace Salway, a representative of PXP, who was to give a progress report on a landscaping plan.
Said one witness: “Ridley-Thomas told Candace that the next time she spoke at one of his meetings, he expected her to have a power-point presentation since this was standard for all professional presentations. She was contrite. She said ‘okay.’ But he continued to berate her for not having a power-point show. She said if he had invited her more than 24 hours in advance, she would have been more prepared. Then he lit into her again. He said she always could have declined his invitation. He told her no presentation was better than an unprofessional one.”
Critics say the Supervisor has been trying to play catch-up after a fallow period of a year and a half when the subject went virtually untouched by him.
Denying he has been inattentive, Mr. Ridley-Thomas says he has been fully engaged in pushing for a resolution to a bevy of lawsuits filed against PXP.
“If Ridley-Thomas really feels the way he spoke to the girl,” said one man, “I would say no meeting would have been better than an unprofessional one.”
