The City of Compton is in serious trouble. The upcoming city election in March 2024 may be the last chance to turn the corner to sanity because the last 20 plus years in politics in Compton can be measured in corruption and incompetence which is totally insane. We all have been fooled and duped.
2022 STATE AUDIT TELLS THE STORY
If you are not aware, the State of California in 2022 called for a thorough state audit of the City of Compton because we were ranked dead last financially out of all 482 cities in California for several years in a row.
That’s the reality—our city is a failure.
Voters no longer have to fight or argue with each other over whether the city is making progress and what politician was effective or not. The arguing back and forth was just a cover anyway for politicians hiding the fact they were getting nothing significant done.
The State of California made it plainer than plain. Open your eyes. No politician in the last 20 years and this means Mayor Eric Perrodin, Mayor Aja Brown and now Mayor Emma Sharif have been effective in moving this city significantly forward like surrounding cities. Compton is in shambles and falling further behind after all three mayors and their collective years of effort in office.
A CALL FOR STATE TAKEOVER
The city is in such terrible condition that California Governor Gavin Newsom was placed on notice Compton might have to be taken over by the state to protect your rapidly disappearing taxpayer dollars. Some residents pray for the intervention to happen because Compton taxpayers are literally working for the government and not the other way around.
Our citywide water and sewer system is neglected and on the verge of collapse and spilling into other cities. Our public safety is neglected and no longer dependable according to rank and file Compton firemen protesting their deplorable working conditions. Our city is involved in gross overspending and bloated department budgets while city streets and buildings and even fire stations are notoriously deteriorating. There has been no professional top HR executive and many employees the state reports are inadequate in their positions.
Your past and present leadership is not at all up to the task to turn the ship around. The problem is so severe the state had to impose a step-by-step recovery plan because Compton has neither the talent nor capacity to lead its own turnaround.
Compton City Hall according to the audit is broken and ineffective and our leaders so inadequate the city council need training on what is their duties and responsibilities. They need reminding their basic job is to set policies and priorities and not host events, take pictures and attend giveaways. Fiddling while Rome burns.
PAST DECISIONS AND CONSEQUENCES
So how did we get here when right next door in the City of Carson their Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes just announced their city has a $120 million dollar surplus, paved 234 streets and put cameras in all their parks, all while being known for offering first rate outstanding community services and events.
Carson’s revenue in 2022 was $170.05 million while Compton’s was similar at 168.50 million according to state records. But Compton in comparison to all its surrounding cities looks like a third world country called “Can’t Get Right.” Compton has been left behind to twist in the wind.
So what happened?
After beginning with at least a 23 million dollar surplus, Mayor Eric Perrodin came into office in 2001 pushing for the return of the Compton Police Department. Perrodin left us with a 42 million dollar deficit and passed both a water and sewer bond still on your water bill to this day repaired nothing. Perrodin also had 90 million dollars go missing under his watch California state has ordered the city to locate. The city’s decline had begun.
Then there was Mayor Aja Brown elected in 2013 on the strength of her being a USC graduate with a degree in planning. The only thing she planned was for herself to become a millionaire. The City Of Compton showed no municipal progress during her eight years of decline while in office. Aja Brown focused not on reversing the city’s fortune but her own by pursuing unlimited marijuana and hatching a nonprofit pyramid. She dismantled our historic Parks and Recreation Department and passed Measure P to “Fix Our Streets” which has now taken in and paid out approaching $100 million dollars without fixing the streets or any of the other issues she promised.
Now finally comes Mayor Emma Sharif vying with Aja Brown for “Worst Mayor in the History of Compton” according to many. She has been in office for two years now with her only accomplishment searching for a City Manager. Hopefully, she will get the Artesia Bridge repaired and reopened.
CONCLUSION
Why invest any longer in three Mayors—Eric Perrodin, Aja Brown and Emma Sharif—have failed us or their minions or appointees sitting in the council seats could not honor or protect your right to even vote for your own elected representation.
Compton has only three out of eight rightfully elected officials sitting on the dais. They are Mayor Emma Sharif, 4th District Councilman Jonathan Bowers and Treasurer Brandon Mims.
The City of Los Angeles, in contrast, called for a Special Election when just the one seat of Nury Martinez became vacated.
Not in Compton. Compton has not one but five appointees and six former city employees staring back at you from the podium. The appointed are Councilwomen Deidre Duhart and Lillie Darden, City Attorney and former Mayor Eric Perrodin, City Clerk Vernell McDaniels and Andre Spicer, a still-in-court appointee. All of them in addition to Treasurer Brandon Mims are former Compton employees co-signing not shaking up our broken city hall.
The other problem with Compton leadership is the abundance of orchestrated public relations and social media stunts, sideshows and events like those majored in by Mayor Aja Brown to dupe residents. They will not fix the deep and complex problems the City of Compton now faces.
And neither will any of her disciple politicians like 2nd District Council Andre Spicer or his alleged girlfriend running for the 4th District, Alysia Rivers, who have self-service and events confused with public service and progress. The venom those two expressed and had for seniors and elders on behalf of former Mayor Aja Brown and Councilwoman Michelle Chambers was inexcusable.
ELECTION 2024
Time to move on and try a new formula. The existing model where the faces change but the game remains the same inside city hall is not working.
Continuing to mirror a broken and ineffective city hall in possession of the podium or failed mayors and their disciples is a prescription for continuing failure.
If the Klu Klux Klan had engineered an appointed council like ours in a minority community to capture and keep power, there would be hell to pay for such abuse of the democratic process. Some black politicians need to be ashamed of themselves.
So keep in mind you have two Latino candidates this election time to consider: Juan Marquez in Council District #1 (think Centennial High) and Joel Estrada in Council District #4 (think Compton College). Shared power is people power.
You have two outside candidates for City Clerk to break up any coordinated alleged corruption or cover-up occurring between the offices of the City Attorney, City Clerk and City Treasurer.
Notice how often these three offices are appointed initially and never outright elected initially or seldom change hands. They are the real power behind the throne.
Now it is time for all of us to stop being fooled and duped and REVOLT AND SWEEP HOUSE!
Elections not city hall selections.
Now Wake Up, Compton!