Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/denise-barnes/)
The Anaheim City Council minority members will now have a tougher time putting their policy proposals before the full Council after majority members decide they don’t want to hear minority-faction proposals more than once in any six-month period.
The Anaheim City Council on Tuesday night could further restrict a Councilmember’s ability to speak out on public policy issues by making it tougher to put items on the public agenda. The move comes in the wake of Councilmembers Jose Moreno and Denise Barnes fighting for months to schedule a vote on releasing the Angel Stadium appraisal and along with efforts to create rent control for seniors, both of which were ultimately cut off by the majority.
Despite nearly eight months of seniors lobbying the Anaheim City Council for help, councilmembers this week shelved discussion of a rent control ordinance that could help seniors living at Rancho La Paz Mobile Home Park, who face looming rent increases.
The Anaheim City Council refused to release the Angel Stadium appraisal and a potential public review period of a final deal Tuesday, when Mayor Harry Sidhu terminated any discussion with a procedural move.
The Anaheim City Council could decide to release the stadium appraisal after residents have been in the dark for months on the value of the land and the status of negotiations between the Angels and the city for the public 155-acre stadium. Council members also may consider sunlighting any proposal submitted by the Angels.
Despite Anaheim’s efforts to keep the stadium appraisal secret, there are mounting questions about whether the value of the stadium has already been leaked.
Despite the previous City Council’s November 2018 vote to conduct an Angel Stadium appraisal and release it to the public, the current Council has denied — for the second time — to release the appraisal.
The Anaheim City Council, on a split vote, decided against wading into a national fight about an impending immigration rule change that would make it harder for immigrants to gain permanent residency status or entry to the country if they receive public assistance.
Mayor Harry Sidhu originally said the reinstatement of the Angels lease was a “one-year extension,” but then said Aug. 27 he knew, along with a majority of the Council, that the January vote was a reinstatement of the 1996 lease and the extension of the team’s termination window.
Anaheim City Council members talked about what they’d like to see in the upcoming Angel stadium lease negotiations over eight months after it voted to reinstate the lease.
