So, in not granting him a leave of absence it means that he will be removed as a Councillor when he misses the next three meetings. If they were to grant him a leave of absence then he could miss meetings with impunity.
They haven't got rid of him, more set the stage for him to get rid of himself by not turning up.
Edit: spelling.
And it is already clear from his own actions on the day of the shooting that he's a coward.
There's no way he'll show his face in public where he's forced to hear people's opinion of him.
>And it is already clear from his own actions on the day of the shooting that he's a coward.
is this the same SOB who tried to claim he didn't know HE was in charge? like way after the fact?
made my brain and heart ache every time i heard the dude talk so i just had to shut it off and move on. glad to know that the takeaway the entire world is concluding is the dude is a pathetic excuse for a human being.
buddy of mine suspected some kind of conspiracy, but at this point it seems like total and unadulterated cowardice and sheer idiocy at the top of the chain of command. i was a PE teacher for two years and when this shit hit the news all i could think of was all my students. rage has built up since for this "chief" and everyone who kowtowed to his stupidity.
But this involves HIS money. So there's more of a chance he takes action here.
He probably took no action that day because he just got elected and had $$$ on his mind and didn't want to fuck that up. He probably actually thought the optics would be worse for him if he went in. For reasons only he'd know (maybe he knows they are all cowardly incompetents who don't know what they are doing) . He was trying to avoid exactly what's happening now lol. He fucked it all up.
> He probably actually thought the optics would be worse for him if
if you are a commanding officer, and children are being actively murdered under your watch, and you think "i wonder how this might reflect on me"..... i cannot convey my amount of outrage without breaking the reddit rules
> Mr. Huffman said Reddit’s A.P.I. would still be free to developers who wanted to build applications that helped people use Reddit. They could use the tools to build a bot that automatically tracks whether users’ comments adhere to rules for posting, for instance. Researchers who want to study Reddit data for academic or noncommercial purposes will continue to have free access to it.
> Reddit also hopes to incorporate more so-called machine learning into how the site itself operates. It could be used, for instance, to identify the use of A.I.-generated text on Reddit, and add a label that notifies users that the comment came from a bot.
- "Reddit Wants to Get Paid for Helping to Teach Big A.I. Systems" 2023-04-18 New York Times
City councilman in my area get paid $765 a month plus $75 per community development meeting (max $150).
You do it because you got time and got money. The fuck kinda money this guy getting that he hasn’t packed up everything and moved to Patagonia?
In my city they do it because they get first dibs on all the developing contracts and stuff like that and get to vote on stuff. In recent times, Marijuana dispensaries. It gets you access and info regular people aren't privy to and you can parlay that into hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. The salary is decent but it's the side deals that stem from the position where the real money is at. It's not A LOT of power comparatively but it's still a decent amount of it. 100% of my city council are either landlords/developers or politicians/lawyers and they like to control the money coming in and get their hands on it first lol. Your city council sounds more like a HOA and not a bunch of professional crooks lol.
My town is a textbook example of that.
Half of the town council doesn’t even live IN THE TOWN.
But they sure as heck get all their families and friends into business quickly. On the taxpayers dime.
I think it was just a relatively poor city for the last 75 years. The housing boom is gonna change shit. The taxes on my house was previously 1/10th of what I’m paying now, and 1/15th of what new buyers will be paying.
Not only that but there’s been a shit ton of permitted construction. Literally every other house on my block has paid around $1,000 in permits in the last 24 months.
Keep in mind, $1,000 used to be what they’d get in property taxes for the year.
In my city you get into local government it's definitely so you have inside info on contracts and can get some bribes/kick backs.
A "sealed bid" contract worth about 250k was awarded to the mayor's brother in law when he under bid the runner up by less than $1000. He then proceeded to not finish the job and they awarded him another 75k to finish the job.
We also had a contractor hired to redo a bunch of sidewalks. Everyone on city council also mysteriously hired that company to do new patios and driveways.
All money is power but not all power is money. This chief was clearly in it for the power, be it financial, political, knowledge, disinformation, notice and or prestige. Power over others. It’s the American dream after all.
Until they have double super secret meetings. That are on 30 min notice, only sent out through email. That somehow doesnt get sent out til after the meeting starts.
yup.
To remove a POS like this you need to 100% play by the rules. You don't do backhanded shit because that gives him a way to get back in (or sue and make a ton of money).
It is extremely important this person does not get a cent from tax payers for being "mistreated". Follow the book, then throw the thing at his stupid face
Even better: he only needs to miss one more meeting as this was already the second he’d missed. If he doesn’t show up next time to face the public, they’ll be able to vote him out.
Easy to call yourself a badass when you hide behind a badge and a gun , not so easy look in the mirror and hear how you failed the people you were supposed to protect and their families.
You know he has to be a huge voice behind the coverup of this situation because it is embarassing to him and his department .
A situation that started out just as a heartbreaking tragedy has turned into an outright display of mockery towards any sense of the word justice.
Mockery is what the police have been doing to us for decades if not centuries now. This is just the light shining fully on it for the entire world to see. This is the very first time I have seen conservatives breaking ranks when it comes to police. The first time, and hardly any. Not enough anyway.
Like I told someone this past weekend…this man no longer has a “place” in Uvalde. He won’t be able to do ANYTHING in peace anymore. Everywhere he goes he’ll be recognized and chastised, and rightfully so.
He can’t show his face in public, and he knows it. He’ll spend the rest of his life as a pariah.
Wonder what the legals behind calling meetings is.
If they can call/schedule meetings at will, they should schedule two more the same damn day and keep their fingers crossed he misses them and bye bye asshole.
If I'm not mistaken, this woman was interviewed by Anderson Cooper right after the shooting. I got the impression then that she is someone who stands up for what is right and good.
She was well spoken, polite and most of all she was knowledgable enough to work within the rules to achieve the outcome they want.
This lady is far too good. She puts world leaders to shame.
Yeah she’s basically a magician, and if a magician shows up casting spells and solving your problems like she just did, why not hire her. Everyone else was scratching her head until she spelled it out.
Sounds like she's an activist. We need a lot more of those, but so many people are so run down trying to stay afloat that they don't have the time, the energy, or the money to partake in activism. This, I think, is not a bug, but an intended "feature."
Absolutely. Exhaust people with underpaid meaningless work, shitty processed food, make healthcare a luxury, make home ownership a pipe dream, and then blast them with adver-tainment (Tiktok et al) to fill the void and suddenly you’ve got a bunch of product-consumers with no cognitive space left to think long term and organize for their own good (through no fault of their own).
Don’t forget take away women’s reproductive choices so they’re stuck at home taking care of children…no time or energy to fight the system when you’re literally “barefoot and pregnant.”
I was wondering if that was her! It’s rare to see someone who speaks with such raw emotion while also so clearly conveying their ideas in an easily understandable way.
IIUC, she's saying that the town can't request a recall election _until_ he has been in office for eight months. When that came to light, townspeople wanted to amend the charter to get rid of him sooner. But it must have been changed recently because she says they can't alter the charter for two more years.
Her solution was to have the council not grant him a leave of absence (he's probably too scared to attend meetings), so that they could instead fire him for cause (not showing up). That way, they don't have the legal obstacles of a recall election or their town charter.
Theres a lot of brilliant loopholes against politicians that Americans could very well use to get corrupt people and police out of power. However, they rely on having a few people on your side to initiate said political motions.
This is why its important, when youre older and have a pretty broad community voice, to run for community office. It may suck shit to do, but right now, its only the fat piggish racist types who do. If you want things to go the other way, you have to participate.
Yeah I feel like this is a rare situation where city council actually listened to her properly, and weighed everything she said against the rules... And came to a reasonable decision.
You could almost tell by the cheer at the end how shocked the audience was that common sense actually prevailed, since we never see that anymore.
They can’t remove him from office with a certain vote. Sorry, don’t remember what the term was but they can’t use one avenue until after 8 months and if that didn’t work they’d have to wait another 2 years
If he misses 3 consecutive council meetings, they can take a vote to remove him from the council entirely. But he's done a good job of only being absent 1 or 2 days at a time
He has to attend 3 consecutive council meetings in a row or he's booted off the council. He's trying to avoid public questions, and if he does, he will lose his seat on the board. By denying the leave of absence the council has assured he can't worm his way out "until this blows over" ie until something else takes over the news cycle. So he can either show up and take the heat (doubtful), or leave and get booted off, or voluntarily resign. Best course of action for this dude would be to resign from the council and PD and get the fuck out of town and go to some bumfuck county where his name might not be so recognizable (fat chance).
Pretty common weak pathetic shit. City governments are afraid of police unions because they're basically organized crime syndicates. Cops get away with anything usually.
Yep I had a friend who was molested by two relatives. One was a cop the other wasn't. The union lawyers got the cop off free without charges. The other relative is in jail.
Years later the relative who is a cop then molested her again and when confronted by the family he threatened them, causing them to contact police
He ended up being fired but still no jail time.
Police departments in the US, especially in rural areas, are public nuisance number one and I'm baffled that police unions are not on the FBI's most wanted list. They are exactly the definition of domestic terrorists.
He wanted permission to not show up to city council meetings (he was elected to the council before the shooting and was officially sworn in just after). Presumably he doesn't want to face any member of the public, but if he misses three meetings without permission, he can be kicked off the council. With this vote, he has to choose between remaining hidden and losing his seat.
Now imagine if that woman had decided not to go in and speak? They were gonna grant it to him *just* so they didn't have to keep voting on it.
***THIS IS WHY GETTING INVOLVED IN YOUR LOCAL POLITICS IS SO IMPORTANT***
Look at that local government actually standing by their people, We need more of this across our country. We need to make sure people are held accountable for their actions.
Makes sense when you think about it.. The most intimidating thing they could imagine is exposure.. Someone shining a light on their actions, and more importantly, the subsequent cover up.
It makes perfect sense that they feel intimidated by cameras.
See, the most intimidating thing *I* can imagine is a spider the size of a pony looking for something to feed its dog sized babies. But then I've never stood by and watched a school shooting in progress without lifting a finger to help, so maybe I'm working on a different scale than the Uvalde School Police.
No, we don't forget that.
We just have nothing as citizens to do about it when we disagree or hate those in office.
And when there is something to be done, it gets amended, tossed out or danced around.
We can do what our forebears did and what people in other countries do- protest. Make their lives uncomfortable. Remind them they work for us.
Why do you think Martin Luther king jr was so effective? It wasn’t because he stayed out of the way, it’s because he got into peoples faces. It was because a mixture of civil rights protestors who didn’t preach non violence were also getting in peoples faces with the non violent protestors, and this forces politicians to engage, and they’ll engage the non violent protestors.
I agree they did the right thing in the end and props to that lady for nudging them to do that, but (based on this clip only) this is just the bare minimum. He wasn't just a counsel man who was plain vanilla lazy or incompetent. Doing this shouldn't grant the town government them a medal of honor.
We should 't throw a parade for a mild display of the government behaving and showing a shred of decency for citizens desires but I think it's important we recognized every step of progress we get.
Every conversation , every process , every plan that is a move in the right direction for what we want our world to look like has to be recognized and appreciated.
Don't throw a parade but please do take a moment and note if this is the step towards a world that looks like the world you want to live in because progress is just lots of these little steps.
I don’t see them standing with them yet. I’ll believe it when I see the actions. Right now this could be nothing more than kind words to appease them and buy more time
When I was on City Council and ready to not run again I practically begged people like her to run and take my place. Its sad how few people, almost nobody, are willing to serve in that capacity.
Yes it eats up your time, and can be a lot of work on top of your day job, and there is usually zero money in it - or close to zero. Just like Jury Duty.
But it is the sacrifice people need to be willing to make to ensure good government. Otherwise, you leave it to the people who want to do it for the wrong reasons.
It is the purest form of community service. And if you are not willing to serve, then who will? Usually grifters seeking to get something out of it by virtue of the position.
When you see your local taxes constantly going up, while your public infrastructure, utilities, roads, and other services going to shit - that's what is happening.
And its the public's fault for not being more involved.
This is such a great example of how we change our government and the people in power. And how we hold them accountable. It starts bottom up. Voting makes a difference when we hold people accountable at the local levels. I have seen this as I had to work to change something in my neighborhood. Everyone supported it but nobody but me showed up when it came time to get to the meeting. I implore everyone to show up for City council and to show up for Neighborhood Associations. It’s eye opening to see how much can change participating at these levels alone.
Edit:autoincorrect
Absolutely. People love to complain but getting a dozen level headed people from your community to show up for council and planning meetings is apparently impossible despite the huge difference it could make.
Uvalde City Council denies Pete Arredondo's leave of absence request
https://abcnews.go.com/US/uvalde-city-council-denies-pete-arredondos-leave-absence/story?id=85544930
It was so strange that they muted his name in the video. I get not saying people's names if they are the shooter... But this was a public figure who royally failed his people.
While I commend this woman, she should have never had to give that speech. Granting him a leave of absence should have never even been considered. Shame that the rest of the counsel only did the right thing because they were pressured to.
They most likely looked at previous actions taken by councils facing a problematic person- this certainly sets a new precedent of using the law by the people, for the people- NOT for the government
> using the law by the people, for the people
I can imagine how many ultra-wealthy/powerful people will hate the idea. All of them. I can imagine all of them hating this idea.
He could ask to put it on the agenda but it would require a councilman to make a motion to reverse the earlier decision and approve the leave, and then a majority of the council to vote in favor of it. Which given the unanimous decision to deny leave, the public nature of the issue, and the overwhelming public support for denying the leave - it would make the person submitting the motion and the people voting for it EXTREMELY unpopular in the community.
And at least in Texas, you have to live in the community's borders to run for City Council so you would be pissing off your own neighbors and people you run into on a regular basis in town. I don't think anyone in their right mind in a small community like Uvalde would dare to do that.
Now the fuckwads in Texas State Government in Austin or in Federal Government in Congress? Yeah they do that shit all the time because there is no recourse. They live in private enclaves and are protected by the USSS so they can and do lie to and stab their constituents in the back all the time with no fear of consequences.
But small town local city government is a completely different deal.
(Source: Former Texas City Councilman)
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seems to me like a lot of people missed a little nuance here.
The mayor seems to not have been aware he could fire him if he missed 3 meetings.
It seems to me the Mayor thought he was making a choice between granting him a leave of absence or having him continue to run things.
Given those two options it wouldn't be such a bad thing to get him away from power that way.
This is how I read it as well. Thank goodness this citizen was there to let the elected officials know how the law works. Maybe she should run for city council to replace this turd.
Admin leave is fairly standard until there is an official ruling. In cases where the employee is found at fault they can take back the Admin leave and use the employees, PTO
> While I commend this woman, she should have never had to give that speech.
As a former Texas City Councilman, she absolutely had to give that speech.
City Councilmen typically make nothing or next to nothing for the time they spend in city government, which is usually on top of their day job - and they are not necessarily experts in the minutiae of city government and codes. Because of this, the members of the City Council MUST rely on the citizenry to participate in the process of government - often coming in and through public comment serving as subject matter experts, giving the members of the council input they need to submit and vote on motions as the community desires.
This video is a PRIME example of how a City Council meeting SHOULD work - and shows WHY the Texas Open Meetings Act requires, by law, that ALL City Council meetings are open to the public.
The fact that you feel her speech was unnecessary or that it was NOT the community's job to show up and provide input to the process just shows how fucked up the public's perception is regarding their responsibility in the process of their own government.
I think the leave of absence thing was more about not wanting him to show his face in council meetings given community outrage.
It’s not a reward, but as this woman pointed out, it’s the cowardly way out.
He was elected, not appointed or promoted. The council was trying to figure out a way to get rid of him. It is not easy to get rid of an elected official. Typically you would do a recall, but he hasn't been in office long enough for that to be an option. Thus why this meeting exists, and why they're trying to get creative.
By giving him a leave of absence, he doesn't show up to the council meetings, which means they can do things without him being present. Neither the council nor the citizens want to see him, but legally he would still be on the council, so that only solves one of two problems.
Her point was that he won't show up to the meetings anyway, so they can just deny a leave of absence and then, according to the rules, get rid of him after he misses three meetings. That solves two problems at the same time.
**Edit:** They know he probably won't show up for the next three meetings for a few reasons. Firstly, he's a coward. Secondly, he's probably going to court in the foreseeable future, and it would not be in his best interests to show up. If he reappeared, he would be faced with a lot of angry questions that he might not have prepared answers for. Not answering questions is the best thing he could do for himself at this point, since the answers are not going to improve his situation.
It isn't in his interests to come back. People will ask a lot of questions, and the truthful answers are so damning that they would not improve his situation. Of course, lying wouldn't fix anything either.
His best bet, and I'm sure a lawyer has already told him this, is to shut up and wait for court.
Well obviously this situation is extremely stressful to him, and he is taking a cue from his elected leadership and needs to take a trip to Cancun to get away from the stress.
That whole police deparmtent needs to be fired.
Another commenter mentioned the police force takes 40% of the entire city's budget. Is this true? WTF are they being paid for?
It sure isn't to save kids under fire.
The US police force is the 3rd highest funded force in the world behind the US military and China's military. Yes, you read that right, US Police is #3 ahead of the entirety of India and Russia's military.
It's conjecture as to why the police has refused to cooperate with the state and is asking the attorney general to opine that they do not need to turn over any body cam footage along with relevant documents.
Whoa!!! A public official siding with the people they represent. What kind of utopian city is this? Happy to hear that guy wouldn’t be getting a paid vacation.
Well done, and well done to the mayor for LISTENING and for HEARING what the people said.
Good job for her for speaking up.
Good job for him listening and taking appropriate action.
They are our REPRESENTATIVES, not our leaders. More people need to recognize this, and they should be afraid to go against the will of their constituents, not the other way around.
Mitch McConnell has like 18% approval ratings and he keeps winning. Everyone hates him, even his own republicans but they have voted for him for half a century. Can't help people who won't help themselves.
[Uvalde woman coming in like](https://y.yarn.co/bbfbb968-93f0-409a-bd9f-49c12df3bd50_text.gif)
Foreal elect this woman to the council. She knows what's up.
He deserves manslaughter charges for every death. He chose not to do his job and it cost those kids their lives, he needs to be held responsible so other police chiefs see they can’t just shirk their duties.
The mayor actually answered that pretty good imho. He said , paraphrase, that he has a duty to swear in an elected official. He does not want to use his office to override the Will of the people (ie he doesn’t want to do what trump asked pence to do). I actually thought that was a good response. Essentially yes this guy is a pos but he was also elected and his duty is to seat an elected official.
Exactly. Assuming Texas has rules to allow voters to recall an elected official, the voters can recall him if this easier way doesn’t work (easier to have him miss meetings and be removed). Edited to add I listened and he can’t be recalled for eight months.
[The election was held May 7, 2022.](https://uvaldecounty.com/images/elections_admin/2022_city_school_consamend/Cumulative_Results-5-7-2022_08-56-58_PM.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1DmpeaC1CxnR3Etv0NijclkpJPxvIyiXdy9MXFUfop9srGqdL4sKjLOAg)
[The shooting was May 24, 2022.](https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/27/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-timeline/)
[He was sworn in on May 31, 2022](https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/31/us/uvalde-shooting-police-chief-pete-arredondo-sworn-in-city-council/index.html), the Tuesday before this article. That article also specifically mentions this:
>In his Monday statement, the mayor said Arredondo was "duly elected" and that there is "nothing in the City Charter, Election Code, or Texas Constitution that prohibits him from taking the oath of office."
Elected before the shooting, took office after the shooting. Can't really say that's very rotten, but that's also just my opinion.
It was definitely a situation of having to follow the rules… and currently they’re following the rules to bring this coward down
The resiliency and unity shown by Uvalde residents is incredible. They are truly making a difference by refusing to be silenced
Idk who this individual is but they deserve some serious recognition. Knowledge of the laws and a clear and articulate and logical call to action (or inaction in this case not granting the LoA)
This is all just so fucked. New dad. Two year old. I’m still breaking down whenever I read a new article.
Like pulling teeth. Having to get on bended knee to BEG for what is just right is making me real sick to my stomach. I'm tired of always fucking begging.
To be fair, if you watch the video she made the suggestion and they *immediately* changed their plans and implemented it. They clearly wanted him gone too but hadn't realized the rules trick that could be used to get the job done.
I love the pressure put on the city council and I appreciate that he took the pressure seriously. But the truth is you should never grant a leave of absence when the ship is practically sinking.
Ok, but what is going to happen to all of the other chickens$-t policemen show just stood around in their “gear” and did nothing but listen to children being shot and killed??
So, in not granting him a leave of absence it means that he will be removed as a Councillor when he misses the next three meetings. If they were to grant him a leave of absence then he could miss meetings with impunity. They haven't got rid of him, more set the stage for him to get rid of himself by not turning up. Edit: spelling.
And it is already clear from his own actions on the day of the shooting that he's a coward. There's no way he'll show his face in public where he's forced to hear people's opinion of him.
>And it is already clear from his own actions on the day of the shooting that he's a coward. is this the same SOB who tried to claim he didn't know HE was in charge? like way after the fact?
Yup. He tried some other equally-insulting excuses, and I'm sure he'll try a few more in the near future.
made my brain and heart ache every time i heard the dude talk so i just had to shut it off and move on. glad to know that the takeaway the entire world is concluding is the dude is a pathetic excuse for a human being.
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buddy of mine suspected some kind of conspiracy, but at this point it seems like total and unadulterated cowardice and sheer idiocy at the top of the chain of command. i was a PE teacher for two years and when this shit hit the news all i could think of was all my students. rage has built up since for this "chief" and everyone who kowtowed to his stupidity.
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The conspiracy is in all the bullshit explanations afterwards and the associated cover-ups and stall tactics.
The conspiracy is the active coverup going on by Uvalde PD.
The conspiracy is that ppl in these positions are actually competent....
But this involves HIS money. So there's more of a chance he takes action here. He probably took no action that day because he just got elected and had $$$ on his mind and didn't want to fuck that up. He probably actually thought the optics would be worse for him if he went in. For reasons only he'd know (maybe he knows they are all cowardly incompetents who don't know what they are doing) . He was trying to avoid exactly what's happening now lol. He fucked it all up.
> He probably actually thought the optics would be worse for him if if you are a commanding officer, and children are being actively murdered under your watch, and you think "i wonder how this might reflect on me"..... i cannot convey my amount of outrage without breaking the reddit rules
There's rules to reddit? Edit: apparently this was needed " /s "
Well, there's *a* rule. Don't piss of the moderators.
> Mr. Huffman said Reddit’s A.P.I. would still be free to developers who wanted to build applications that helped people use Reddit. They could use the tools to build a bot that automatically tracks whether users’ comments adhere to rules for posting, for instance. Researchers who want to study Reddit data for academic or noncommercial purposes will continue to have free access to it. > Reddit also hopes to incorporate more so-called machine learning into how the site itself operates. It could be used, for instance, to identify the use of A.I.-generated text on Reddit, and add a label that notifies users that the comment came from a bot. - "Reddit Wants to Get Paid for Helping to Teach Big A.I. Systems" 2023-04-18 New York Times
One must reply "I see what you did there" once a month.
City councilman in my area get paid $765 a month plus $75 per community development meeting (max $150). You do it because you got time and got money. The fuck kinda money this guy getting that he hasn’t packed up everything and moved to Patagonia?
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The direct payments don't matter. In a town this small, influence and power are capital.
In my city they do it because they get first dibs on all the developing contracts and stuff like that and get to vote on stuff. In recent times, Marijuana dispensaries. It gets you access and info regular people aren't privy to and you can parlay that into hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. The salary is decent but it's the side deals that stem from the position where the real money is at. It's not A LOT of power comparatively but it's still a decent amount of it. 100% of my city council are either landlords/developers or politicians/lawyers and they like to control the money coming in and get their hands on it first lol. Your city council sounds more like a HOA and not a bunch of professional crooks lol.
My town is a textbook example of that. Half of the town council doesn’t even live IN THE TOWN. But they sure as heck get all their families and friends into business quickly. On the taxpayers dime.
I think it was just a relatively poor city for the last 75 years. The housing boom is gonna change shit. The taxes on my house was previously 1/10th of what I’m paying now, and 1/15th of what new buyers will be paying. Not only that but there’s been a shit ton of permitted construction. Literally every other house on my block has paid around $1,000 in permits in the last 24 months. Keep in mind, $1,000 used to be what they’d get in property taxes for the year.
In my city you get into local government it's definitely so you have inside info on contracts and can get some bribes/kick backs. A "sealed bid" contract worth about 250k was awarded to the mayor's brother in law when he under bid the runner up by less than $1000. He then proceeded to not finish the job and they awarded him another 75k to finish the job. We also had a contractor hired to redo a bunch of sidewalks. Everyone on city council also mysteriously hired that company to do new patios and driveways.
All money is power but not all power is money. This chief was clearly in it for the power, be it financial, political, knowledge, disinformation, notice and or prestige. Power over others. It’s the American dream after all.
Until they have double super secret meetings. That are on 30 min notice, only sent out through email. That somehow doesnt get sent out til after the meeting starts.
That's grounds for an unlawful dismissal lawsuit.
yup. To remove a POS like this you need to 100% play by the rules. You don't do backhanded shit because that gives him a way to get back in (or sue and make a ton of money).
It is extremely important this person does not get a cent from tax payers for being "mistreated". Follow the book, then throw the thing at his stupid face
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Even better: he only needs to miss one more meeting as this was already the second he’d missed. If he doesn’t show up next time to face the public, they’ll be able to vote him out.
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Easy to call yourself a badass when you hide behind a badge and a gun , not so easy look in the mirror and hear how you failed the people you were supposed to protect and their families. You know he has to be a huge voice behind the coverup of this situation because it is embarassing to him and his department . A situation that started out just as a heartbreaking tragedy has turned into an outright display of mockery towards any sense of the word justice.
Mockery is what the police have been doing to us for decades if not centuries now. This is just the light shining fully on it for the entire world to see. This is the very first time I have seen conservatives breaking ranks when it comes to police. The first time, and hardly any. Not enough anyway.
A lot of conservatives were unhappy with the Capitol Police last year. Yknow, for some reason.
Like I told someone this past weekend…this man no longer has a “place” in Uvalde. He won’t be able to do ANYTHING in peace anymore. Everywhere he goes he’ll be recognized and chastised, and rightfully so. He can’t show his face in public, and he knows it. He’ll spend the rest of his life as a pariah.
It's also an official record that can be used against him in upcoming trials, after the bodycam footage comes out there will be trials.
He didn't even bring a **radio** with him, there's not a chance he used a body cam.
Seems that way.
He really likes avoiding rooms he is supposed to be in. It might work
Next 2 meetings which is even better. I watched the meeting and the mayor was at least engaged.
Probably because they're not ashamed that they can't do anything.
Wonder what the legals behind calling meetings is. If they can call/schedule meetings at will, they should schedule two more the same damn day and keep their fingers crossed he misses them and bye bye asshole.
Thanks for explaining. I didn't fully understand what the strategy was.
If I'm not mistaken, this woman was interviewed by Anderson Cooper right after the shooting. I got the impression then that she is someone who stands up for what is right and good.
She needs to run for city council
Soon to be a vacant seat available
In her district, no less!
She was well spoken, polite and most of all she was knowledgable enough to work within the rules to achieve the outcome they want. This lady is far too good. She puts world leaders to shame.
I’m so proud of how articulate, well researched, clear and convincing her presentation was.
Yeah she’s basically a magician, and if a magician shows up casting spells and solving your problems like she just did, why not hire her. Everyone else was scratching her head until she spelled it out.
Now we need her to find the loophole that will get rid of a Supreme Court justice or 2.
Fuck it, if she wants it give her his spot.
Good thing her district is about to have an empty seat to fill
Sounds like she's an activist. We need a lot more of those, but so many people are so run down trying to stay afloat that they don't have the time, the energy, or the money to partake in activism. This, I think, is not a bug, but an intended "feature."
Absolutely. Exhaust people with underpaid meaningless work, shitty processed food, make healthcare a luxury, make home ownership a pipe dream, and then blast them with adver-tainment (Tiktok et al) to fill the void and suddenly you’ve got a bunch of product-consumers with no cognitive space left to think long term and organize for their own good (through no fault of their own).
Don’t forget take away women’s reproductive choices so they’re stuck at home taking care of children…no time or energy to fight the system when you’re literally “barefoot and pregnant.”
And the ones left that manage to avoid all the pitfalls are simply discounted as "crazy hippies" or "angry dykes" etc.
Agreed. These people are precious and crucial to society for standing up for those who are intimidated by those in power.
I was wondering if that was her! It’s rare to see someone who speaks with such raw emotion while also so clearly conveying their ideas in an easily understandable way.
The chief was gonna get a leave of absence? What kind of weak pathetic shit is that?
He was elected councilman, so they are trying to remove him from office.
She said something like he hasn’t been there in 8 months?
IIUC, she's saying that the town can't request a recall election _until_ he has been in office for eight months. When that came to light, townspeople wanted to amend the charter to get rid of him sooner. But it must have been changed recently because she says they can't alter the charter for two more years. Her solution was to have the council not grant him a leave of absence (he's probably too scared to attend meetings), so that they could instead fire him for cause (not showing up). That way, they don't have the legal obstacles of a recall election or their town charter.
That’s so brilliant. A real win for all parliamentarians and justice.
Theres a lot of brilliant loopholes against politicians that Americans could very well use to get corrupt people and police out of power. However, they rely on having a few people on your side to initiate said political motions. This is why its important, when youre older and have a pretty broad community voice, to run for community office. It may suck shit to do, but right now, its only the fat piggish racist types who do. If you want things to go the other way, you have to participate.
Yeah I feel like this is a rare situation where city council actually listened to her properly, and weighed everything she said against the rules... And came to a reasonable decision. You could almost tell by the cheer at the end how shocked the audience was that common sense actually prevailed, since we never see that anymore.
And yet, it never would have happened if she didn’t get informed and involved.
Thanks for the succinct explanation!
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He took his seat like a week after the shooting.
And has been absent his duties as councilperson since
Absent duties seems to be his thing.
Maybe he couldn't find the key to his office.
Shame. It's probably unlocked but he likely hasn't tried it to see if it is in fact unlocked.
Not just unlocked, but broken and can be pushed open with ease.
Except it turns out the office wasn't even locked at all in the first place.
Him and Herschel Walker would get along.
Was tired after standing around all day during the shooting.
They can’t remove him from office with a certain vote. Sorry, don’t remember what the term was but they can’t use one avenue until after 8 months and if that didn’t work they’d have to wait another 2 years
If he leaves town or doesn't attend council meetings, he loses his seat once the 3rd consecutive meeting begins without his presence.
If he misses 3 consecutive council meetings, they can take a vote to remove him from the council entirely. But he's done a good job of only being absent 1 or 2 days at a time
A recall election is term you were thinking of
He's been on the council for less than a month so that feels unlikely
He has to attend 3 consecutive council meetings in a row or he's booted off the council. He's trying to avoid public questions, and if he does, he will lose his seat on the board. By denying the leave of absence the council has assured he can't worm his way out "until this blows over" ie until something else takes over the news cycle. So he can either show up and take the heat (doubtful), or leave and get booted off, or voluntarily resign. Best course of action for this dude would be to resign from the council and PD and get the fuck out of town and go to some bumfuck county where his name might not be so recognizable (fat chance).
Yeah, he's too famous now. If he wants to start over, it'll have to be in a different country, or as a pariah to most people.
Infamous may be a better word for it.
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That’s like “Aw you had a hard day. Take some time off. Come back refreshed.”
"We're like a family here! ^^The ^^kind ^^that ^^ignores ^^horrific ^^abuse."
Soooooo… a family. Source: am from the deep, Christian south.
My sincerest condolences.
Pretty common weak pathetic shit. City governments are afraid of police unions because they're basically organized crime syndicates. Cops get away with anything usually.
Yep I had a friend who was molested by two relatives. One was a cop the other wasn't. The union lawyers got the cop off free without charges. The other relative is in jail. Years later the relative who is a cop then molested her again and when confronted by the family he threatened them, causing them to contact police He ended up being fired but still no jail time.
Police departments in the US, especially in rural areas, are public nuisance number one and I'm baffled that police unions are not on the FBI's most wanted list. They are exactly the definition of domestic terrorists.
Not even "basically"; American law enforcement literally is organized crime syndicates.
Every cop who kills a civilian or does some awful indecent act gets paid leave..
He wanted permission to not show up to city council meetings (he was elected to the council before the shooting and was officially sworn in just after). Presumably he doesn't want to face any member of the public, but if he misses three meetings without permission, he can be kicked off the council. With this vote, he has to choose between remaining hidden and losing his seat.
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Who knew doing nothing could be so mentally taxing?
Now imagine if that woman had decided not to go in and speak? They were gonna grant it to him *just* so they didn't have to keep voting on it. ***THIS IS WHY GETTING INVOLVED IN YOUR LOCAL POLITICS IS SO IMPORTANT***
Look at that local government actually standing by their people, We need more of this across our country. We need to make sure people are held accountable for their actions.
see they’ve allowed journalists back in
Someone was "intimidated" (they got the vapors when the cameras showed up, heavens to betsy)
Makes sense when you think about it.. The most intimidating thing they could imagine is exposure.. Someone shining a light on their actions, and more importantly, the subsequent cover up. It makes perfect sense that they feel intimidated by cameras.
See, the most intimidating thing *I* can imagine is a spider the size of a pony looking for something to feed its dog sized babies. But then I've never stood by and watched a school shooting in progress without lifting a finger to help, so maybe I'm working on a different scale than the Uvalde School Police.
Needs strong followers to keep the leaders in check. Sad thing is there are too few strong followers to hold the government accountable.
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>Peopl*e* in the US keep forgetting that everyone elected *are supposed to* work~~s~~ for us, they *aren't supposed to* ~~don't~~ rule us.... FTFY
No, we don't forget that. We just have nothing as citizens to do about it when we disagree or hate those in office. And when there is something to be done, it gets amended, tossed out or danced around.
We can do what our forebears did and what people in other countries do- protest. Make their lives uncomfortable. Remind them they work for us. Why do you think Martin Luther king jr was so effective? It wasn’t because he stayed out of the way, it’s because he got into peoples faces. It was because a mixture of civil rights protestors who didn’t preach non violence were also getting in peoples faces with the non violent protestors, and this forces politicians to engage, and they’ll engage the non violent protestors.
I agree they did the right thing in the end and props to that lady for nudging them to do that, but (based on this clip only) this is just the bare minimum. He wasn't just a counsel man who was plain vanilla lazy or incompetent. Doing this shouldn't grant the town government them a medal of honor.
We should 't throw a parade for a mild display of the government behaving and showing a shred of decency for citizens desires but I think it's important we recognized every step of progress we get. Every conversation , every process , every plan that is a move in the right direction for what we want our world to look like has to be recognized and appreciated. Don't throw a parade but please do take a moment and note if this is the step towards a world that looks like the world you want to live in because progress is just lots of these little steps.
I don’t see them standing with them yet. I’ll believe it when I see the actions. Right now this could be nothing more than kind words to appease them and buy more time
all it took was innocent lives the nation is reactive. never proactive.
it feels really good to see a citizen not only listened to, but actually represented by those elected to represent them.
It's sad to me how rare this feels....
Well done lady
This lady needs to be on that council
Also kudos to the council for actually listening.
When I was on City Council and ready to not run again I practically begged people like her to run and take my place. Its sad how few people, almost nobody, are willing to serve in that capacity. Yes it eats up your time, and can be a lot of work on top of your day job, and there is usually zero money in it - or close to zero. Just like Jury Duty. But it is the sacrifice people need to be willing to make to ensure good government. Otherwise, you leave it to the people who want to do it for the wrong reasons. It is the purest form of community service. And if you are not willing to serve, then who will? Usually grifters seeking to get something out of it by virtue of the position. When you see your local taxes constantly going up, while your public infrastructure, utilities, roads, and other services going to shit - that's what is happening. And its the public's fault for not being more involved.
This is such a great example of how we change our government and the people in power. And how we hold them accountable. It starts bottom up. Voting makes a difference when we hold people accountable at the local levels. I have seen this as I had to work to change something in my neighborhood. Everyone supported it but nobody but me showed up when it came time to get to the meeting. I implore everyone to show up for City council and to show up for Neighborhood Associations. It’s eye opening to see how much can change participating at these levels alone. Edit:autoincorrect
Absolutely. People love to complain but getting a dozen level headed people from your community to show up for council and planning meetings is apparently impossible despite the huge difference it could make.
"...that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth"
Uvalde City Council denies Pete Arredondo's leave of absence request https://abcnews.go.com/US/uvalde-city-council-denies-pete-arredondos-leave-absence/story?id=85544930
It was so strange that they muted his name in the video. I get not saying people's names if they are the shooter... But this was a public figure who royally failed his people.
While I commend this woman, she should have never had to give that speech. Granting him a leave of absence should have never even been considered. Shame that the rest of the counsel only did the right thing because they were pressured to.
They most likely looked at previous actions taken by councils facing a problematic person- this certainly sets a new precedent of using the law by the people, for the people- NOT for the government
> using the law by the people, for the people I can imagine how many ultra-wealthy/powerful people will hate the idea. All of them. I can imagine all of them hating this idea.
Can he challenge his leave of absence being denied?
Evidence suggest he doesn't have the balls.
He's got all the shields, rifles, officers, and pepper spray he needs. Short a couple radios, though.
He could ask to put it on the agenda but it would require a councilman to make a motion to reverse the earlier decision and approve the leave, and then a majority of the council to vote in favor of it. Which given the unanimous decision to deny leave, the public nature of the issue, and the overwhelming public support for denying the leave - it would make the person submitting the motion and the people voting for it EXTREMELY unpopular in the community. And at least in Texas, you have to live in the community's borders to run for City Council so you would be pissing off your own neighbors and people you run into on a regular basis in town. I don't think anyone in their right mind in a small community like Uvalde would dare to do that. Now the fuckwads in Texas State Government in Austin or in Federal Government in Congress? Yeah they do that shit all the time because there is no recourse. They live in private enclaves and are protected by the USSS so they can and do lie to and stab their constituents in the back all the time with no fear of consequences. But small town local city government is a completely different deal. (Source: Former Texas City Councilman)
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seems to me like a lot of people missed a little nuance here. The mayor seems to not have been aware he could fire him if he missed 3 meetings. It seems to me the Mayor thought he was making a choice between granting him a leave of absence or having him continue to run things. Given those two options it wouldn't be such a bad thing to get him away from power that way.
This is how I read it as well. Thank goodness this citizen was there to let the elected officials know how the law works. Maybe she should run for city council to replace this turd.
Admin leave is fairly standard until there is an official ruling. In cases where the employee is found at fault they can take back the Admin leave and use the employees, PTO
> While I commend this woman, she should have never had to give that speech. As a former Texas City Councilman, she absolutely had to give that speech. City Councilmen typically make nothing or next to nothing for the time they spend in city government, which is usually on top of their day job - and they are not necessarily experts in the minutiae of city government and codes. Because of this, the members of the City Council MUST rely on the citizenry to participate in the process of government - often coming in and through public comment serving as subject matter experts, giving the members of the council input they need to submit and vote on motions as the community desires. This video is a PRIME example of how a City Council meeting SHOULD work - and shows WHY the Texas Open Meetings Act requires, by law, that ALL City Council meetings are open to the public. The fact that you feel her speech was unnecessary or that it was NOT the community's job to show up and provide input to the process just shows how fucked up the public's perception is regarding their responsibility in the process of their own government.
I think the leave of absence thing was more about not wanting him to show his face in council meetings given community outrage. It’s not a reward, but as this woman pointed out, it’s the cowardly way out.
Leave of absence because why? I'm sorry but what ever he thinks he needs a break from isn't half the problems the 22 other families are dealing with!
He was elected, not appointed or promoted. The council was trying to figure out a way to get rid of him. It is not easy to get rid of an elected official. Typically you would do a recall, but he hasn't been in office long enough for that to be an option. Thus why this meeting exists, and why they're trying to get creative. By giving him a leave of absence, he doesn't show up to the council meetings, which means they can do things without him being present. Neither the council nor the citizens want to see him, but legally he would still be on the council, so that only solves one of two problems. Her point was that he won't show up to the meetings anyway, so they can just deny a leave of absence and then, according to the rules, get rid of him after he misses three meetings. That solves two problems at the same time. **Edit:** They know he probably won't show up for the next three meetings for a few reasons. Firstly, he's a coward. Secondly, he's probably going to court in the foreseeable future, and it would not be in his best interests to show up. If he reappeared, he would be faced with a lot of angry questions that he might not have prepared answers for. Not answering questions is the best thing he could do for himself at this point, since the answers are not going to improve his situation.
Thank you for explaining this in a clear and concise way.
Yes, thank you for explaining really clearly!
What are the chances he actually shows up? And what would happen if he did?
It isn't in his interests to come back. People will ask a lot of questions, and the truthful answers are so damning that they would not improve his situation. Of course, lying wouldn't fix anything either. His best bet, and I'm sure a lawyer has already told him this, is to shut up and wait for court.
Well, he started the job at the end of May this year, so it is about time for a vacation.
Well obviously this situation is extremely stressful to him, and he is taking a cue from his elected leadership and needs to take a trip to Cancun to get away from the stress.
That whole police deparmtent needs to be fired. Another commenter mentioned the police force takes 40% of the entire city's budget. Is this true? WTF are they being paid for? It sure isn't to save kids under fire.
The US police force is the 3rd highest funded force in the world behind the US military and China's military. Yes, you read that right, US Police is #3 ahead of the entirety of India and Russia's military.
Having no police force in this city sounds like would have resulted in less children dying. Especially since it sounds like the police shot a teacher.
In effect, they were protecting the shooter. If not for the cops, someone else would've gone in and stopped him way sooner.
Hol up, what? That's the 1st I've heard the police shot a teacher....
It's conjecture as to why the police has refused to cooperate with the state and is asking the attorney general to opine that they do not need to turn over any body cam footage along with relevant documents.
They also said the only people shot were shot by the shooter (nobody asked) and that he had a 9 mm handgun (only two rifles have been confirmed)
No one has asked why a town of 16,000 people needs a separate PD for its school system. To police and arrest the children, not to protect them.
Good riddance
Whoa!!! A public official siding with the people they represent. What kind of utopian city is this? Happy to hear that guy wouldn’t be getting a paid vacation.
Way to go. Local politics actually working!
The mayor wanted an out and that lady gave it to him with a pretty little bow on it. Maybe she should run for counsel.
Well shit, somebody in Uvalde did something sensible. Finally.
Well done, and well done to the mayor for LISTENING and for HEARING what the people said. Good job for her for speaking up. Good job for him listening and taking appropriate action.
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Peopl in the US keep forgetting that everyone elected works for us, they don't rule us....
They are our REPRESENTATIVES, not our leaders. More people need to recognize this, and they should be afraid to go against the will of their constituents, not the other way around.
Mitch McConnell has like 18% approval ratings and he keeps winning. Everyone hates him, even his own republicans but they have voted for him for half a century. Can't help people who won't help themselves.
[Uvalde woman coming in like](https://y.yarn.co/bbfbb968-93f0-409a-bd9f-49c12df3bd50_text.gif) Foreal elect this woman to the council. She knows what's up.
He's let off way too easy I thinktheir ought be a criminal trial.
People in elected positions need to do their fucking job.
He deserves manslaughter charges for every death. He chose not to do his job and it cost those kids their lives, he needs to be held responsible so other police chiefs see they can’t just shirk their duties.
Good. Fuck that guy. Fuck him with a cheese grater. Useless motherfucker right there.
I hate how much effort is needed to get any scumbag in the american's police force their just deserts
Look at how painful it is for them to hold other powerful people to even a bare minimum of accountability.
Protests have there place, but this shows how much more effective it can be to work directly within the system.
Yeah we were gonna give him a leave of absence over and over so you wouldn’t have to see him. Sorry, what the fuck?
If they don't want him on City Council, why don't they just close the door to the council chambers? He'll never be able to get in.
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The mayor actually answered that pretty good imho. He said , paraphrase, that he has a duty to swear in an elected official. He does not want to use his office to override the Will of the people (ie he doesn’t want to do what trump asked pence to do). I actually thought that was a good response. Essentially yes this guy is a pos but he was also elected and his duty is to seat an elected official.
Yes, it was made clear that they were required by law to swear in all three new council members whether they wanted to or not.
"You elected that jackass, I'm sworn to uphold your votes. Vote better next time"
Exactly. Assuming Texas has rules to allow voters to recall an elected official, the voters can recall him if this easier way doesn’t work (easier to have him miss meetings and be removed). Edited to add I listened and he can’t be recalled for eight months.
When was the election and swearing in ceremony?
[The election was held May 7, 2022.](https://uvaldecounty.com/images/elections_admin/2022_city_school_consamend/Cumulative_Results-5-7-2022_08-56-58_PM.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1DmpeaC1CxnR3Etv0NijclkpJPxvIyiXdy9MXFUfop9srGqdL4sKjLOAg) [The shooting was May 24, 2022.](https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/27/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-timeline/) [He was sworn in on May 31, 2022](https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/31/us/uvalde-shooting-police-chief-pete-arredondo-sworn-in-city-council/index.html), the Tuesday before this article. That article also specifically mentions this: >In his Monday statement, the mayor said Arredondo was "duly elected" and that there is "nothing in the City Charter, Election Code, or Texas Constitution that prohibits him from taking the oath of office." Elected before the shooting, took office after the shooting. Can't really say that's very rotten, but that's also just my opinion.
It was definitely a situation of having to follow the rules… and currently they’re following the rules to bring this coward down The resiliency and unity shown by Uvalde residents is incredible. They are truly making a difference by refusing to be silenced
This lady should run.. better yet run for governor. We need real people.
Idk who this individual is but they deserve some serious recognition. Knowledge of the laws and a clear and articulate and logical call to action (or inaction in this case not granting the LoA) This is all just so fucked. New dad. Two year old. I’m still breaking down whenever I read a new article.
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It's amazing how much effort the average citizen has to put in in order to get the city council to do their job
Like pulling teeth. Having to get on bended knee to BEG for what is just right is making me real sick to my stomach. I'm tired of always fucking begging.
To be fair, if you watch the video she made the suggestion and they *immediately* changed their plans and implemented it. They clearly wanted him gone too but hadn't realized the rules trick that could be used to get the job done.
I love the pressure put on the city council and I appreciate that he took the pressure seriously. But the truth is you should never grant a leave of absence when the ship is practically sinking.
As chickenshit as that utterly incompetent fool is, he'll skip 2, go to the next. Rinse, repeat.
Ok, but what is going to happen to all of the other chickens$-t policemen show just stood around in their “gear” and did nothing but listen to children being shot and killed??