City’s Vote on Funds Stirs Anger

The San Bernardino City Council voted Monday to provide $250,000 to help fund the expansion of a for-profit child-care center, despite the angry protests of the city attorney and other opponents.

Acting as the city’s redevelopment agency, the council voted 4 to 3 to set aside the $250,000 as a guaranty to help Totally Kids Inc. qualify for a $2-million loan. The organization, which cares for mentally and physically disabled children, plans to use the loan to help pay for a 20,000-square-foot expansion of its facilities.

The most vocal opponent of the proposal was City Atty. James F. Penman, who said the money could be used to hire desperately needed police officers or buy more police cars.

He charged that supporters of the measure have “self-serving” reasons to vote for the expenditure. Penman had previously said that Mayor Judith Valles and others had supported the proposal because Valles’ brother, Mike, lobbied for Totally Kids.

“This is wrong, mayor,” Penman said loudly during the meeting.

After the vote, Mike Valles, a retired state legislative aide, said he had urged his sister to visit the Totally Kids program but said he had not been paid to work as a lobbyist for the company.

The $250,000 would act as a deposit on the loan by the Grow San Bernardino Fund, an agency that was developed by the city’s redevelopment agency and the federal government to provide loans to small businesses in the city.

The debate over the funding became so heated that the mayor called for a short break in the middle of the discussion. When the council reconvened, she sternly told Penman to “recognize that I am the mayor, and I ask for your respect.”

Council members Susan Lien Longville, Chas Kelley and Wendy McCammack voted against the funding. Council members Esther Estrada, Gordon McGinnis, Neil Derry and Rikke Van Johnson voted for it. Valles did not vote because the City Council is the voting body; the mayor, however, has veto power.

Derry pointed out that, according to a staff report, the project would create 150 jobs.

After the vote, Kelley said he was embarrassed by the angry exchange between city officials, adding, “This is not what government is about.”