MAYOR WANTS TO TRADE LAND & PARKING DECK FOR A SCULPTURE THAT WILL BE GIVEN TO THE CITY IN 7 YEARS - LATEST SHENNIGANS INVOLVE BACK ROOM DEALS CONCERNING YEARS OF UNPAID RENT BY THE DOWNTOWN LITTLE ROCK PARTNERSHIP AND POLITICAL PAYOFFS

At the agenda meeting last week, last term Mayor Mark Stodola and City Attorney Tom Carpenter were less that truthful concerning the penned deal between the city, the Downtown Little Rock Partnership and the Arkansas Arts Center. 

That deal has the city trading a piece of property it purchased for $500,000  in 1984 and which they then leased to the Downtown Little Rock Partnership to build and operate a parking deck upon. 

The agreement between the city and the Downtown Little Rock Partnership stipulated that the city will take possession of the parking deck in 2025.  That agreement also turns over ownership of a sculpture that the Downtown Partnership purchased for $185,000 in 1979.

That sculpture originally was placed in front of a McDonald's near Capitol and Main Streets back in the 1970's when the city foolishly shut down Main Street to vehicle traffic and bricked it as a pedestrian walkway.  It was later moved across and down the street in 1999 to its current location in front of Union National Plaza at Capitol and Louisiana streets.

The Downtown Partnership has never paid the city a dime and according to city officials the amount of past due rent is somewhere near 1 million dollars.

Why has the city not demanded the past due rent?  Why has the city not taken legal action to take over the parking deck for unpaid rent?

We will tell you why.  The Downtown Partnership is full of developers and members of the Chamber of Commerce and last term Mayor Stodola and troubled City Manager Bruce "Home Wrecker" Moore are board members and in are their pockets.

You will also notice that Director Dean Kumpuris is also a board member. That should make the vote interesting next Tuesday night as Kumpuris and last term Mayor Stodola will have to abstain from voting on the issue due to a conflict of interest.

We sent a Freedom of Information request to the city last week and as usual they are refusing to provide a timely response, if one at all.

They don't want the truth about their shenanigans to come out before they agree to make a foolish trade for something they will obtain free and clear in a few years.

Kumpuris is a vocal voice on the board whining about lost sales tax revenue yet he is working to exchange valuable property and a lucrative parking deck that would bring additional revenue to the city just to get the sculpture before the designated date that it would be gifted to the city and have it placed at the entrance of the renovated Arts Center.

Kumpuris, the mayor, city manager and the rest of the board of directors are not too concerned about the only Confederate statue glorifying an armed take over of a U.S. Military installation which  is located on city property just  steps away from the Arkansas Arts Center.. but that discussion is for another day.

We also contacted the attorney for the Downtown Partnership, David Menz.

Menz told us that all the files concerning the bond and the parking deck were in storage. We found that odd as he and the city had been working out plans to scrap the 1984 agreement to favor the district.

MENZ (ON RIGHT) BOOZING IT UP AT AN ARTS CENTER RECEPTION A FEW YEARS AGO

No doubt last term mayor Stodola wants to make this look like the deal of a lifetime and get that sculpture over to McArthur Park as part of his deal to keep the  Arts Center from moving to North Little Rock.

The Arkansas Arts Center has the sculpture situated as a focal point at the entrance of their re-imagined building posted on their blog.

Undoing the original 1984 deal now and giving up the land and the parking deck is a terrible decision. Especially when the sculpture will be handed over to the city in 2025.  The Arts Center can wait until then to have it displayed.

If the Downtown Little Rock Partnership was really into helping the city and the community instead of the themselves, why are the not volunteering to move the sculpture to the Arts Center with no strings attached?

Because its all about the money, hidden agendas and backroom secret deals to keep certain individual in power that are in the pockets of the white privileged business community. That's why.

#TimeForChange #CleanOutLRCityHall.

 

NEW YOUTUBE SERIES "LITTLE ROCK POLICE GONE WILD" DEBUTS - FEATURES MISDEEDS OF LRPD OFFICERS THAT RESULTED IN SUSPENSIONS OR TERMINATIONS

You asked for it and now its here, we have dropped the first video for our new YouTube series Little Rock Police Gone Wild.

There will be tons more so subscribe to our channel today so you will not miss a single episode.

Episode 1 features the antics of LRPD Officer Brandon "Butterball" Johnson and his abusive and violent treatment of a citizen of color that had too much to drink on his way home near  the old VA hospital on Roosevelt Road.

OUR FIRST EPISODE FEATURES OFFICER BRANDON "BUTTERBALL" JOHNSON

Officer "Butterball" Johnson must be one of the white officers that chooses not to live in Little Rock and must be ignorant of the city and its history to not know that LRPD has a station in the old VA Hospital building that has been on Roosevelt Road since the 1940's. Chances are you can stop anyone in Little Rock, especially East LR, and ask then what that big old building is on Roosevelt and they will says its the old VA Hospital.

Here is the premiere episode.

This is the internal investigation file we obtained from LRPD regarding the August 25, 2017 incident. 

 Little Rock Police Department Internal Investigation Report DI2017-0233 by Russ Racop on Scribd



The full video has Officer "Butterball" Johnson giving his superiors a different version of what happened that what video details and actually occurred.  

Johnson should have also been found to have violated LRPD Rules & Regulations concerning truthfulness and use of force.

But he is white and the victim was black and LRPD takes care of its own.

#TimeForChange #CleanOutLRCityHall

BUCKNERS PRESS RELEASE IS BULLSHIT - WORD IS HE WAS TOLD HE WAS NOT GOING TO BE SELECTED AS CHARLESTON'S NEW POLICE CHIEF

KENTON TREMAR BUCKNER - LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO CALL HOME

We will call it as it is, that is what our readers expect us to do - the last ditch effort by befouled Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Tremar Buckner is pure bullshit, a ploy to try and gain favor of city leaders ready to replace him.

Buckner's use of official LRPD letterhead for a personal statement is itself a violation of LRPD Rules & Regulations.

Citizens posted these comments on LRPD Facebook page where they had posted  Buckner's letter.

We would have posted a comment as well but LRPD has blocked us in violation of our Free Speech Rights.

The week Buckner was in Charleston for a series of interviews we posted this. At 10:30 pm the evening we posted it, there were 29 active users on server registered to the city of Charleston looking at that page when we were reviewing data on Google Analytics. 

Buckner has been on thin ice here for some time and several board members  have told us that it might be time for him to go. Some have even told the city manger, and Buckner toady, Bruce "Home-Wrecker" Moore that he need to be fired.

There have been tense meeting and conversations between troubled city manager Bruce Moore and Buckner as pressure has been steadily poured out on Moore to get rid of Buckner.

There is speculation that Buckner has something on Moore that he uses to "blackmail" him.  It might be another undisclosed nasty home-wrecking incident or one involving some other sketchy activity.

An article that appeared in yesterday's edition of Charleston's The Post and Courier  that hinted that questions about Buckner's abilities were mounting and he was not going to be selected.

A savvy reader there even suggested what we and others know to be true.  The agency that conducted the search for the Charleston position let Buckner know he was out of the running and suggested that he uses the same sort of public relations tactic the city of Little Rock did with the Amazon selection process - pull out when you don't stand a chance for selection and try an use it to your advantage.

Using that private headhunting agency prevents Freedom of Information inquiries as the city of Charleston is "hands off" in the recruiting process and can skirt transparency in the selection process, including giving Buckner a heads up that he was out of the running. 

To make matters worse for the city, the Fraternal Order of Police, mainly composed of white officers that overwhelmingly choose to live somewhere else than the city for which they work, supports Buckner like one of those third-world children you can allegedly feed for a few dollars a month. For example, take a look at what appeared in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette yesterday.

Perhaps it is because that Buckner intends to let officers, like Gilchrest, that are on a purported "liars list" and have been relegated to positions where LRPD will not have disclose that they are Brady Officers, are to be permitted to go back to regular positions perhaps as payoff for supporting him.  Why LRPD keeps such officers will be explored and revealed in an upcoming post.

Certainly the Black Police Officer Association will not let Buckner off the hook so easily if at all.

No doubt Buckner will try and punish Sgt. Davis some more for doing the right thing and speaking out against a corrupt, biased system.

If Sgt. Davis and the BPOA had not made public the complaint about the racist and subversive white police recruit, LRPD would have white-washed the whole matter and swept it under the rug.

Sgt. Davis and the BPOA should be commended for their whistle-blower activities instead of being punished for attempting to make LRPD a better less biased and honest, respectable agency. Something that can never occur under befouled Buckner's leadership.

This is an election year for city leadership and a wave of change is going to wash over the city and clean out the scum. 

It's damn time.

#TimeForChange #CleanOutLRCItyHall

 ***UPDATE  3/9/18***

A newspaper in Charleston revealed the real reason behind pulling out from the job selection process. It was due to the problems with black officers and the issues that they have raised about his failed problematic leadership.

NOT SO FUNNY SUNDAY - #METOO MOMENTS IN CITY GOVERNMENT DESERVE FURTHUR EXAMINATION

WHAT IF THERE REALLY WAS AN AWARD SHOW CALLED THE GRABBIES? WOULD BRUCE MOORE BE NOMINATED?

The skit on Saturday Night Live last night made us think - what if The Grabbies was a real awards show, would troubled city manager Bruce Moore be nominated?

The answer was yes.

We now investigating a third instance in which Moore is alleged to have been involved with a married female.

We detailed the first report here.  Once the other two on-going investigations have been concluded, we will post them as well.

If any city employee has had a #MeToo encounter with Moore or any other city employee contact us.

HANDS DOWN MOORE WOULD WIN THE CITY GOVERNMENT CATEGORY

No doubt if The Grabbies was a real awards show our troubled city manager would win.

An honorable mention might be the Executive Director of the Little Rock Port Authority, Brian Day, who was outed as a member of the cheating hookup site Ashley Madison in this post.

Morally bankrupt individuals have no place on the public payroll and need to move on.

Maybe they can get a job with the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce.

#TimeForChange #CleanOutLRCityHall

LRPD REFUSES TO RELEASE DOCUMENTS UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT UNLESS A FORM IS SIGNED - THERE IS NO SUCH REQUIREMENT IN THE AFOIA

LRPD has recently tried to find ways to avoid turning over public documents requested under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. 

You can read our previous posts by clicking here, here, here, here, here and here.

They first tried to prevent release of documents saying they could not separate exempt from non-exempt information. 

That didn't work because the AFOIA specially states:

Then they would not provide documents in the requested electronic form. Another violation of the AFOIA.

Then when previous attempts to stem or stop FOI requests failed, they issued a proclamation that they would only provide responses to FOI request on CD's or DVD's at a charge of $3.00 per disc. Turns out that the actual cost for LRPD per disc was actually 24 cents for a CD and 32 cent for a DVD. 

That did not last long, and now they are giving away discs at "no charge", at least to us.

Another tactic LRPD employed was to ignore or not provide a timely response to a FOI request unless threatened with legal action. That's another violation.

Think an in-person request to inspect or copy documents might be easier?

Wrong, we tried that and Officer Steve Moore told us he didn't have time, then got up from his broke down, propped up desk and left the room. A violation of LRPD Rules and Regulations, LRPD General Orders and the AFOIA.

Each time, City Attorney Tom Carpenter had to advise LRPD that they were violating the law. 

Our latest FOI flap with LRPD was when we refused to sign a form stating that they had fulfilled our FOI request.

The AFOIA has no such requirement and we told them so. You would have thought we called them a bad name, like mercenary-out-of-town officers.

We had signed those forms numerous times before until they became an issue.

Last week when reviewing a FOI response (CD) from LRPD, we discovered that information placed on that particular disc was not the information we had requested.

We apprised LRPD of their mistake and an all day email squabble ensued.

Ridiculous Email Chain with Little Rock Police Department by Russ Racop on Scribd

So when we asked for the corrected FOI response and the LRPD Officer behind the glass told us to sign the receipt, we politely said no. We told the officer that we had no way to confirm that what was on the disc was actually what we had requested and that we would not sign anything saying that our FOI request had been completed and requested material had been furnished and related what had transpired the previous day. We also apprised the officer that the AFOIA had no requirement that a citizen had to sign a receipt in order to obtain documents requested under the AFOIA.

The officer told us they would not give use their response to our lawful AFOIA request unless we signed the form. The officer told us that they would try and find someone to decide what to do. Our suggestion to call the city attorney was ignored.

While we were waiting for someone at LRPD HQ with decision making power to appear and hand over the material we lawfully requested more that a month before, we decided to call City Attorney Tom Carpenter. We apprised him of the situation and he commented that LRPD writes tickets everyday to individuals that refuse to sign the ticket. Carpenter stated that the officer notes on the ticket that the individual refused to sign, then gives them the ticket and everyone goes on about their business. Carpenter stated that is what they should do with the FOI receipt we refused to sign as the AFOIA has no requirement that before a response to a FOI request is given a receipt for it must be filed. 

After a 20 minute wait and two trips to feed the parking meter with a few dimes we were given the material requested.

LRPD has suffered under the leadership of befouled police chief Kenton Tremar Buckner.

The citizens of this city have suffered long enough under the failed leadership of troubled city manager Bruce Moore and his inability to exert any supervision over Buckner.

Buckner must have some damaging information about Moore (beyond his home wrecking activities) to be able to get away with the things he does with little or no consequences.

It is time for a changes in leadership at city hall, and with those changes Moore and Buckner must be replaced.

#TimeForChange #CleanOutLRCityHall

LITTLE ROCK BOARD OF DIRECTORS DOLES OUT ANOTHER $300K TO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WITH NO REQUIRMENTS FOR TRANSPARENCY

WHERE DOES OUR MONEY GO? DON'T EXPECT AN HONEST ANSWER FROM THESE TWO.

Last night the Little Rock Board of Directors voted to hand out another $300,000 to the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce for "economic development" and "other purposes".

After the resolution was read, Jay Chesshir (pictured on the right in photo posted above and below),  was permitted to address the board. He yammered on for over 30 minutes touting all the alleged good things his organization did for the city and what a great success the embarrassing exorbitantly expensive  "Dear John" letter public relations campaign had been in turning around the bad reputation the city had (never mind the record homicide rate we had last year, a lot of money thrown around will make it fake news).

The publisher of this blog was the lone voice at the meeting expressing reservations and demanding a full accounting and transparency of how public funds were spent.

 

Chesshir was permitted to provide additional comment by his buddy last term mayor Mark, and he claimed his organization was transparent regarding funds

Directors Lance Hines, Joan Adcock, and Doris Wright voted "yes". Director and Vice Mayor Kathy Webb was the lone "no" vote. Director Erma Hendricks and Ken Richardson voted "present". Last term mayor Mark Stodola's "yes" vote made it go through. A review of their campaign contribution disclosure forms will provide a reason for the "yes" votes from these scoundrels.

According to a knowledgeable source at city hall, Hendricks and Richardson should not have been able to vote "present" as that is only allowed if there is a conflict of interest.

In regard to the Chamber being transparent about the previous $300k the city doled out last April and what we can expect to learn about the $300k handed over last night, we don't have to believe the lie Chesshir told at the board meeting.

Back in December 2017, attorney and publisher of the Blue Hog Report, Matt Campbell, sent a FOI request to the Chamber of Commerce seeking :

-Any contract, memorandum of understanding, agreement, or similar document(s) between the city of Little Rock and the Chamber of Commerce regarding Amazon’s HQ2;

-Any invoice or other evidence of expenditure from the Chamber of Commerce regarding (or in reference to) the city of Little Rock’s plans to bid or compete for Amazon’s HQ2;

-Any invoice or other evidence of expenditure from the Chamber of Commerce regarding the city of Little Rock’s withdrawal from consideration for Amazon’s HQ2. (This includes, but is not limited to, payments for the full-page ad, the plane and banner, etc.)

 And one to the city of Little Rock.

The Chamber basically told Campbell to piss off - we won't say how we spent those public funds -  citing exemptions from FOI requests. Here's what Campbell has to say about the response he received from the Chamber.

Campbell posted a piece about his FOI requests and the shenanigans city leaders and the Chamber concocted to keep how the funds were spent a secret.

You can read that post by clicking here. 

Here are the scant amount of documents the city provided in response to Campbell's FOI request. Mot much to see and no information from the Chamber to the city on how that $300k was used. 

CIty of Little Rock FOI Response to Matt Campbell by Russ Racop on Scribd

We also made a request for documents that the Chamber has sent the city and board members as well as a handout given to the board members at last nights meeting. That request has not yet been honored. We will post an update when they are received. *SEE UPDATE BELOW

The Arkansas Times also ran a story about this poor use of public funds and has long expressed concerns about the legality and propriety of using public funds in this manner.

The citizens of this city are entitle to know how their tax dollars are put to use.  

Those board members that voted to hand over public funds without requiring a full accounting of how those funds are used must be replaced next November.

There are and will be individuals running for board seats that will not permit use of public funds without a full and open accounting. The current board knows that and are running scared. And they should be as the wind of change is blowing at hurricane force here in the city.

#TimeForChange  #CleanOutLRCityHall 

************

***UPDATE 02/22/18** 

After yet another argument with a city employee about receiving a FOI response in electronic format and having it emailed to us, we were able to win out and obtain those documents that Jay Chesshir with the Chamber of Commerce claimed detailed you that $300k from last year was spent.  

You will not find many details in this pile of public relations bullshit.

Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce PR BS by Russ Racop on Scribd

LRPD RELUCTANTLY RELEASES DATA REGARDING VEHICLE USE AND COSTS OF FUEL FOR TAKE-HOME VEHICLES

LRPD HAS 136 "TAKE HOME" VEHICLES THAT GO TO HOMES OUTSIDE LITTLE ROCK

The city of Little Rock Little Rock Police Department waged a losing battle to try and keep information about LRPD take-home vehicles and associated costs from the public.

First they violated the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act ("AFOIA") and proclaimed that the only way they would provide a response to a FOI request was by placing the the information sought on a CD or DVD at the cost of $3.00 per disc.  The AFOIA permits citizens to inspect and copy public documents or to request that  copies of the documents sought be provided in any form that the agency can readily convertible with the agencies existing software.

Matt Campbell, an attorney and publisher of Blue Hog Report, found through a FOI request that LRPD's cost per disc was actually 24 cents for a CD and 32 cent for a DVD revealing that the $3.00 fee was another violation of the AFOIA.

Once their sketchy scheme was  exposed. LRPD decided to make the disc's available at no charge. After all of tax dollars were used to buy them in the first place.

Then once their plan to make cash from FOI requests was thwarted,  they tried another failed scheme to hide information claiming the information was not releasable as it would identify undercover officers. Officers like the ones that go to public hearings and openly identify themselves as undercover officers.

LRPD UNDERCOVER OFFICER RAYMOND KOONCE AT AN ABC PUBLIC HEARING ON 02/14/2018

But with our persistent prodding, we forced LRPD and the city to provide the public information.

Here's what we found.

There are currently 590 police officers in Little Rock. 363 are White; 168 are Black; 21 are Hispanic; 4 are Asian; 4 are Other. 366 of these officers choose to live somewhere other than Little Rock while 194 choose to live in the city that they protect and serve.  

 

DATA PROVIDED BY HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR STACY WITHERELL

We asked for further details about residency and race (i.e, how many white officers live in/out of LR, etc.) and Witherell promptly provided it. 

Of the 560 officers that LRPD employs, 366 (65%) choose not to live in Little Rock and be part of the community that pays their salary, while 194 (35%) do choose to live in Little Rock and be fully connected to the community that they serve.

Here is the same information in graphic form:

According to additional data we pried from LRPD, they have 220 vehicles of which there are 136 of them that are driven back and forth to work ("take-home vehicles") from residences outside the city limits of Little Rock. There are 78  that remain in Little Rock and  are driven back and forth each day to officer's residences in the city limits of  Little Rock.  7 automobiles are designated "pool vehicles" and remain at a particular police substation.

Here is the same information in graphic form:

List of Little Rock Police Department Take Home Vehicles by Russ Racop on Scribd

 
We also obtained fuel cost for LRPD vehicles.

2017 Little Rock Police Department Fuel Cost for Vehicles by Russ Racop on Scribd

 
Missing from the fuel cost list are the figures from the 36 vehicles assigned to undercover officers and 4 other vehicles.  We have also requested that LRPD provide the cost for all LRPD vehicles and will post that information in an update when it is received.

The city also balked at responding to a question we posed regarding tax and ethical consideration about LRPD officers using these vehicles to commute to work and when working off-duty for extra income.
 

Current policy allows officers to take vehicles home no matter where they live; the new policy restricts take-home vehicles to officers who live within 25 miles of the city center, with some exceptions.

The new policy, outlined in a May 2017 memo from troubled City Manager Bruce Moore, will allow only officers who live within 25 miles of the geographic center of the city to drive their take-home vehicles home. If they live outside the 25-mile radius, officers assigned a take-home vehicle will be required to park the vehicle in a "secure location" overnight inside the radius, according to the memo.

Yet, more than half of the department's take-home vehicles would not be subject to the 25-mile requirement because of exceptions under the new policy, according to police documents.

Current department policy allows employees to drive assigned take-home vehicles to and from work, regardless of location. One such vehicle is assigned to LRPD Officer Edwin Mark Hollingsworth who lives in Malvern.

BEFOULED LRPD CHIEF KENTON TREMAR BUCKNER AND OFFICER HOLLINGSWORTH

There will be a three-year period to phase in the new policy, according to the memo. But Moore said the phase-in period will not begin until the department has addressed an uptick in violent crime and officer vacancies within the Police Department.

"I think it's a good policy going forward, I just need to delay implementation," Moore said in an interview with Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter Ryan Tarinelli in an article published on May 15, 2017.

Take-home vehicles are an incentive, Moore said, and he decided to delay implementation after considering the morale of the department. He also said he did not want to lose long-term officers. However, the police department's General Order 302, Section V, Take-Home Vehicle Assignment and Guidelines, Item D, Eligibility, No. 2 states:

Another sign that its past time for troubled City Manager Bruce Moore to be replaced.

Back in 2016 meeting, Little Rock Board of Director Ken Richardson said, "We end up subsidizing the public safety needs in these outlining communities as well because you end up having the police cars parked in their driveways."

Richardson said he asked for take-home cars for officers living in the city for years as an incentive and to promote safety throughout neighborhoods.

"During the meeting, Moore gave me a cost associated with that and he said it was five million dollars during the agenda meeting and then the next week during the board meeting that figure rolls to 7.5 million," Richardson said.

Moore said in to response to questioned asked about Richardson statement said, "There is an overall fleet cost that is budgeted per department, but it is not broken out by take-home cars. I am initiating a review with Chief Buckner regarding the take-home car assignments." 

That information was never made public if a review was even made.

Commuter cars are a sign of a deeper problem: That is, most Little Rock police officers don't want to live in the city they are paid to protect, particularly white officers.

Take-home cars would be a welcome sight in the city as a crime deterrent, but fewer than 80 are carried by officers to Little Rock homes. Changes in policy are needed now.

#CleanOutLRCityHall #TimeForChange #ByeByeBuckner