Civic duty and responsibility: Glendale CA elections and doing my taxes

I fulfilled a civic duty and a civic responsibility recently.

First, I voted in the Glendale, CA city elections. I must say I wasn’t too happy about the outcome. I’m not into city politics, but I did know one thing going into the polling booth: I did not want Ara Najarian to win. Why? Back in late 2007, Glendale made news around Los Angeles County and across the nation for its tree ordinance. A couple named the Collards was fined $347,600 for trimming their oak and sycamore trees. Steve Lopez of the LA Times (“Out on a limb over trimming fiasco,” 28 November 2007) wrote in his column: Ann Collard was seven months pregnant with her third child in June when an abatement notice came from the Glendale Fire Department. She and her husband, Mike, were ordered to clear some foliage and maintain 5 feet of "vertical clearance between roof surfaces and overhanging portions of trees."

The article went on to explain how an urban forester showed up and told them to stop the tree trimming. Apparently, a permit was required to trim oak and sycamore trees due to an indigenous tree protection ordinance. They would be fined. The fine ended up being $347,000. Now my irritation with Ara Najarian isn’t over the tree ordinance or the $347,000 fine. First, a tree ordinance isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Second, sometimes a government makes things overly complicated: like being ordered to trim your trees by the fire department, but then in small print saying you need a permit to cut the trees. Third, sometimes a government comes up with a really outrageous fine that needs adjusting.

What made me wary of Najarian was the following written by Steve Lopez: Only after the tree fine story got some attention did city officials step up. City Councilman John Drayman told me the Collards shouldn't have to pay a nickel. Councilman Frank Quintero called the whole thing a fiasco and an embarrassment. When I got hold of Mayor Ara Najarian, he said I was the first to learn that City Atty. Scott Howard had decided to drop the case against the Collards.

So they're completely off the hook?

For now, Najarian said. But they'll be called in for a conference at some point.

And might they still be fined?

Possibly, he said, but nowhere near $347,600.

How much, then? Maybe $10,000, maybe less, Najarian said. And maybe the tree trimmer should get stuck with the bulk of the fine.

Yeah, and maybe the city should apologize to the Collards, pay their lawyer fees, and clear the deadwood out of City Hall.

To me, this pointed out either the stupidity or arrogance of Najarian. He obviously wanted to collect a sizable fine. Perhaps $10,000 from the Collards and an even larger amount from the tree trimmer – like a tree trimmer could pay a sizable fine without going out of business. I couldn’t help but think that Najarian lacked a certain gene (that I mentioned in my blog about the Texas police), which – if he had – would allow him to understand common sense, discretion and compassion. Since he came in second in the vote tally, I guess not too many others agreed with my opinion of him.

My civic responsibility was doing my taxes. I finally finished my taxes and submitted the forms to the IRS and to California. I’ve never submitted my taxes so late. It seems that each year I submit my taxes later and later. It has to do with the fact that each year that passes, the tax forms seem to get more and more complicated, and I get more and more fearful of making a serious error and getting audited. At some point, which was this week, I decided who cares if I made an error, let them come after me and I'll just pay the fine; and therefore I submitted my taxes.