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It is no secret that Mayor Furey has had issues with local reporter Nick Green of the Daily Breeze.  It appeared for some time that he was boycotting the paper altogether and, at one point, he apparently even tried to have Green removed from his post. Those frustrations apparently have not dissipated as they appeared to boil over Tuesday night. Piggybacking on concerns expressed by a resident with regard to the fairness of the ambulance services contract award, Furey questioned the “fairness” of Nick Green’s reporting.

He initially seemed perturbed that Nick Green had sent City officials a litany of questions on the City’s off Friday.  Furey noted that he responded to that e-mail letting Nick Green know that staff would address the questions on Monday. Yet, before staff had a chance to respond, Furey complained that there still appeared a front page article over the weekend that “ran with all that information as a negative thing.”

He continued by saying “I’m just talking about fairness.  He didn’t ask the question of the people that could answer it because they were off that day.”

He also questioned the fairness of a statement in the article attributed to former mayoral candidate Tom Brewer who was quoted as saying that, “McCormick has never been in compliance with the contract.”  Furey rebutted that by stating, “as you can see from the agenda item as well as the supplemental material that they [McCormick] were in substantial compliance with absolutely every term of the contract.”

Furey also took aim at Green reporting that there were only two ambulances stationed within the City. He claimed that was “totally erroneous” as it was his understanding that there are seven stationed within the City even though only five are required per the contract.

He then lauded McCormick for their service to the City including in such dramatic instances as the tragic accident that occurred at St. James Catholic church last December resulting in four deaths and the refinery explosion in February.

He also labeled the article an “editorial” due to its lack of attribution.

Later, after a resident suggested he would like to see more quotes from those on the Council in the local paper, Mayor Furey retorted that “when you’re misquoted and taken out of context that it’s not going to happen.” He then explained that he had met with the publisher, the editor, and the managing editor and explained that to them.

He concluded his remarks by saying, “I will not be played a game like that.”

At the conclusion of Tuesday’s council meeting Mayor Furey announced that they were planning on meeting with the Daily Breeze “to discuss a number of issues.”  That revelation came just hours after the Daily Breeze won journalism’s highest honor – the Pulitzer Prize.

With regard to the Pulitzer, the Daily Breeze Editorial Board released a statement noting that:

“The Pulitzer for the Breeze honors local reporting, which is fitting, since that’s what LANG [LA News Group] does best — watchdog reporting on a local level. While we are extremely honored by the prize, we are even happier that it draws attention to the work that drives us, the communities we care about and our commitment to them.

The Pulitzer is a win not just for this organization, but for communities in Southern California that deserve a good, honest government.”

Prior to mentioning the upcoming meeting with the Breeze, Mayor Furey joined Councilwoman Ashcraft in recognizing the Daily Breeze on the “well deserved” accomplishment. The congratulatory tone marked a stark contrast to how the Mayor has described Daily Breeze reporting in the past.

Indeed, in one of Furey’s first acts as Mayor he directed staff to prepare a solicitation for the next legal advertisement contract claiming that at least one additional publication, other than the current provider the Daily Breeze, had become qualified to meet the requirements.

In a separate council meeting, he publicly cautioned residents about the Daily Breeze exerting them to “consider the source” as the source in question was “generally incorrect.”  He then stated, “so don’t always believe everything you read.”

In another incident that came to light only a few months ago, Executive Editor and Vice President of LANG, Michael A. Anastasi, claimed that Mayor Furey met with a Managing Editor of the Daily Breeze and requested that local reporter Nick Green be removed from his current position. According to Anastasi, Furey then related that if Nick Green was not removed that he would no longer talk to the Daily Breeze. The absence of quotes from him in the local paper suggests Furey has lived up to that promise.

Interestingly, the Council recently took a strong stance against public officials having a personal agenda that goes beyond the scope of their duties when they removed Commissioner Arthur Plourde from his post.

Referring to that action Councilman Weideman commented that, “You can’t have a personal agenda and be a Commissioner, that’s not the purpose.” Councilman Griffiths echoed that thought by stating, “You have to take your personal feelings out of what is being addressed … you’re looking for the greater good of the community.”

How the Council would apply that same standard to the Mayor’s conduct with the Daily Breeze could prove fascinating. Is it within the scope of the Mayor’s duties, for example, to dictate job assignments to the Daily Breeze?

Furthermore, Plourde initially came under fire for advocating, perhaps too fervently, on behalf of an interpretation of California’s constitution he believed would restrict the libraries purchase of materials in foreign languages. With constitutional interpretation issues on the table, one might also wonder how the Council views the sacrosanct precept of the 1^st Amendment prohibiting the infringement of the freedom of the press and how that applies to Furey’s action with the Daily Breeze.

Whether the meeting leads to a thawing of what appears to have been a frosty relationship up to this point is yet to be seen, but at the very least the parties should not be bored due to a lack of issues to discuss.

The Daily Breeze has recently come under fire from City officials in Carson and Lomita. Lomita City administration has apparently issued a “blackout” of the paper while Carson considered a resolution in favor of a city-wide boycott. Recent revelations indicate that Torrance Mayor Furey has also been boycotting the Breeze even though, as far as I’m aware, he has not made public his specific grievances with the local paper.

With regard to some of those complaints, I was just yesterday provided a copy of a letter from the Lomita City Manager to an editor at the Daily Breeze.  I was told the letter revealed “gross negligence” on the part of reporter Nick Green and the DB. That letter, if taken at face-value, does raise significant concerns as it offers seven specific complaints pertaining to the reporting of Nick Green.  A deeper look at the allegations, however, reveals they have very little merit.

1^st Complaint: Daily Breeze “keeps reporting that our bond rating was reduced”

Nick stated in the article in question that, “Since then the city has attempted to blend well water with imported water to improve its quality, its bond rating has taken a hit and residents have received hefty water rate increases to cover the bills.”

According to multiple sources, including this one, that can be easily obtained through a google search Nick’s statement is factually true as Lomita’s bond rating was indeed downgraded.

2^nd Complaint: Nick “keeps using the word bleach in his articles despite many attempts to educate him on the fact that we do not use bleach

Nick did use the word bleach in the article, but it was always in the context of a quote someone had provided to him.  For example, he quoted a resident who complained the water smelled like bleach. He also quoted the Lomita Assistant City Manager Sugano who said, “the issue should subside soon because workers had reverted back to their former method of adding bleach to the treatment plant.”

Whether Nick misquoted the Assistant City Manager is hard to say with absolute certainty, but it’s worth noting that the distinction between bleach and chlorine (which the City does use to treat its water) is a subtle one.  For more information,  I suggest this article.

3^rd Complaint: Nick claims that “residents have received hefty water rate increases to cover the bills”

The letter from the City Manager states, “despite Nick’s assertion that residential water rates have increased dramatically the fact is the blended water has saved the rate payers from steeper rate increases.”

So in essence, the City Manager is not disputing that the water rates have increased dramatically, his complaint is really that Nick isn’t giving the City enough credit for supposedly saving the residents from even steeper increases. So again, Nick’s statement was factually correct.

It should also be noted that according to this article Lomita recently proposed yet another rate increase that would cause water rates to increase 60% over the next several years.  This is on top of the 40% increase they have already had over the past few years.

4^th Complaint: City did not stop flushing the hydrant by Phil Bucy’s house because the Daily Breeze sent the City a YouTube video of Mr. Bucy filming the flushing of a hydrant.

The City Manager here is a referring to an article in which Mr. Bucy claimed that a hydrant was flushing out water into the drainage system daily for 15 minutes at a time. Mr. Bucy thought this was an incredible waste of water given that we are in a drought.

In the article, Nick writes that “City workers removed the device shortly after the Daily Breeze emailed them a copy of the YouTube video Bucy had made showing the gurgling water emanating from the device at the end of the main”.

Nick’s statement does not say the City stopped the flushing because of the YouTube video. He only relates the factual statement that the device causing the flushing was removed after the YouTube video was sent. Again, the City Manager does not dispute the veracity of the actual statement.

5^th Complaint: “Nick also told me that he took information from a Facebook chat room to write this article”

The relevant portion of Nick’s article stated, “Resident Cheryl Slayden Martin, wrote Tuesday on a Facebook page devoted to Lomita that the main areas affected appear to be north of Pacific Coast Highway and south of Sepulveda Boulevard between Western Avenue and Cypress Street.”

Nick clearly identified that the Facebook group was the source of the information so I don’t know how you can fault him for that.

6^th Complaint: Nick wrote that the City began operating the treatment plant four years ago. That is not accurate. He knows full well that the well and treatment system was on-line for only two months in late 2010

Nick’s article stated that, “Operation of the multimillion dollar well and water treatment plant has caused the city repeated water quality and fiscal problems since it began operating in 2010. The city was forced to shut down the plant days after it began operating because of water quality complaints.”

Again, Nick’s statement is accurate. The plant did begin operating in 2010 and Nick even acknowledged that the plant was shut down shortly after it began operating.

7^th Complaint: Nick fails to present both sides

I just don’t see how this is a valid statement given that Nick provided several quotes from the Lomita Assistant City Manager in the article.

The City Manager concludes his letter by stating, “Shame on the Daily Breeze for letting down the community of Lomita and the entire South Bay and for not taking seriously the tremendous responsibility you have to your readers to present information in an unbiased and responsible way so that the community can make informed decisions based on facts and information instead of fear.”

To that I would say, shame on you Lomita City Manager for attacking the Daily Breeze with unsubstantiated claims instead of addressing the underlying facts detailed in the reporting that present very real concerns and challenges that residents in your City are facing.

To all those that would continue to bash the Daily Breeze based on the unproven concerns of local City officials, I would ask that you place yourselves in the shoes of those citizens of Lomita. What if you faced a water bill that was doubling and yet still had discolored water coming through your pipes that smelled and caused your skin to burn while in the shower? What if you went to the local press and they told you, I’m sorry we can’t report on that because we are afraid it might upset the Mayor or the City Manager and we only report on stories that would portray the City governing officials in a positive light? Is that the type of press we want in the South Bay – one that cowers and caters to the powers that be?

Let’s not rush to crucify the local press just because our local leaders tell us to do so.  Are the Daily Breeze and Nick Green perfect?  No. Are they 100% accurate and unbiased? Of course not. But if the Daily Breeze refuses to report on important stories like the water issues in Lomita because they are worried about the backlash from public officials, then who will report on the issues and how would we hear about them?  With no press to hold our government accountable, it will be the public that suffers.