Sweet wednesday March 16,2005

For the first time in nearly 7 years it is good to live in El Cerrito. There is the smell of victory in the air. The little guy went up against Goliath and we think won! In 1991 or 92 El Cerrito imposed an illegal tax, the property transfer tax. On of the recent propositions passed by California voters amd subsequent supreme court decisions declared the tax illegal, yet the city of El Cerrito continued to impose and collect the tax even though they knew it was illegal. In fact the city council made a secret decision to not go public about the illegality of the tax and to continue to collect. The El Cerrito citizens alliance in May of 2003 after investigating went to the city council and openly told them they knew what they were up to and that money was owed.
Well it wasnt until July 4 2003(independence day!) that the local paper , The Journal, published an article about it. Well Cyrill Wyatt-Donelly and her husband who had purchased ther home in El Cerrito in April 2002 thought they ought to apply for a refund of their money. They filed a claim, the claim was rejected. THey went to court and sued. They won their suit and the City appealed the decision, and today in Superior court Cyrill looks like she won! The city claimed there was no disputing the fact that they had collected the money illegally but what the substance of their case was the statute of limitations. claiming their ordinance was superior to California State Law. Well the judge didnt agree! The fun part was also the fact that the city attorney who first claims there is no dispute as to the actions of the city then says it was adjucated as illegal. nevertheless it was certainly wonderful to watch them look stupid. And even more so the claim is only for $3k, and the city attorney has probably billed the city $50K for the work .Nice Job! The sun is shining, the air is sweet and we won a small but vitally important victory.

Welcome to my version of the world!

March comes in like a lamb. Its finally a nice day. If you are visiting this blog you will get my own personal and personally skewed look at what I believe. the stoopid elected officials of El Cerrito, Ca ( Hell Cerrito, Dull Cerrito, what the fuck is this all about Cerrito..) and my personal and emotional release from the continuing stoopidness of my Family of Birth. So as far as today is concerned its enough to get this thing started. Subject of rant I live on a street where the speed limit is 25mph. Not 35. Not 30. Its 25. and the morons in the city government refuse to enforce it. hello idiot 25 is 25. You know why its 25? Because people made it 25 who are smarter than we are. If you are driving faster than 25 on my street then you are a danger to me and my family and my neighbors and I will protect me and my family's safety. this is my home so go somewhere and please die. Just quietly go and die. You are taking up too much room anyway and probably some sort of Chriatian fanatic all wrapped up in Jesus too stupid think. Nice start to my blog dont you think?