Tick tock tick Flock

July 13, 2026

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Visalia Police Department Public Records Request – update

On April 19, 2026, I posted “What the Flock?“, my first entry about the proliferation of Flock Automated License Plate Readers in Visalia, California.

On April 24, 2026, I posted “Well, Flock Me!“, about a nearby community (Merced, California) disabling their Flock ALPR system after problems with unauthorized access were discovered. On that same day, I filed a Public Records Request with the Visalia Police Department, about Visalia’s recent installation of Flock cameras. The City had ten days to respond.

On May 5, 2026, I posted “Flock you later“, where the City of Visalia takes advantage of a 14 day extension to provide the requested documents.

On May 11, 2026, I posted “Flock the Lawyers“, wherein the City informs me they have to run it past the lawyers first, and they were targeting June 1, 2026 for release of the documents.

On May 27, 2026, “Flock Me A Little Bit” is the next chapter, in which the City is initially refusing to provide some of the requested documentation, since I was requesting the images in the system of a particular license plate. My license plate. I sent them a copy of my vehicle registration. The next target date for complying with my request was June 20, 2026.

On June 29, 2026, I posted to Facebook, tagging both the City of Visalia and the Visalia Police Department, that they were nine days past their own due date for information. That was at 1pm. By 3pm, I received a “supplemental response to your public records request”, via email. This response stated “The attached document shows the result of a Department audit searching for any monitoring and investigating activity for JJRJR. No data exists.” Except that wasn’t what I asked them to provide. I had no reason to suspect the Police Department deliberately did a search for my license plate, for whatever reason. What I asked for was every instance of my plate being recorded by the system. Those are two different things. They are not going to convince me that my plate has never been recorded by their system.

In that response, they also moved the date again. More information was supposed to be available July 20, 2026.

On July 10, 2026, I received this letter, and a link to a DropBox file with audit logs.

2026.07.10 RB Ltr to J.ReevesDownload

There are tens of thousands of pages (PDF file pages) in response to this part of my request. In case the link in the letter doesn’t work, you can see them at my Dropbox, at this link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/6u6l4w0jwe54w6y1fvllu/AAZ4mAaSF8XPUJfqUpd2lwo?rlkey=iuqasfx1t6r8hhwgz02h36us1&st=qkgkdqht&dl=0

They state “The Department’s staff is continuing its diligent search and review of requested records. The Department’s staff members estimate they will be able to supplement this response on or about August 20, 2026, earlier if able.”

Tick tock tick Flock

Tulare County Board of Supervisors Public Records Request – final update (Proposition 50)

June 30, 2026

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On October 14, 2025, the Tulare County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution expressing Tulare County’s stand against Proposition 50, the ballot measure before California voters to redraw Congressional district boundaries. (The proposition passed in the November, 2025 election at 64.42% in favor.)

On June 5, 2026, I became interested in who requested this item be brought forth before the Board of Supervisors, and filed a Public Records Act request. To it’s credit, Tulare County responded quickly and thoroughly.

In that request, I asked who directed the item be placed on the agenda, and who wrote the suggested resolutions (one supporting the proposition, and one opposing it). After wading through a bunch of emails, and numerous copies of the same documents providing background (everyone seems to forward responses with the attachments), it became relatively clear.

Supervisor Vander Poel, in an email to the Board of Supervisors Chief of Staff, Israel Sotelo, on September 29, 2025, said, “I was approached this weekend regarding Tulare County’s position on Proр 50. I noticed Kern County took a position recently. Can we get an agenda item set for mid October to consider the same?”

On October 14, the item was on the Board agenda, with two drafts presented. One in support of the proposition, and one opposed.

Staff researched the issue, with emails flying fast and furious from hither and yon as they worked on Vander Poel’s request.

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VUSD to remove beloved Oak tree(s)?

June 28, 2026

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Mt. Whitney High School, Visalia, California

Social media sites are buzzing with a rumor that the Visalia Unified School District plans to remove one or more Valley Oak trees from the campus of Mt. Whitney High School, to make room for a new building.

Comments are of three types:

  1. They’re a hazard, cut them down.
  2. They can’t cut them down, there’s an Oak Tree Preservation ordinance in Visalia.
  3. Please don’t cut them down, there are so many memories of that/those tree(s)!

My response to the three comments?

  1. Properly maintained, oak trees are seldom a hazard. VUSD certainly has the resources to preserve the trees safely.
  2. The Oak Tree Preservation ordinance was changed last year. See my previous post about the change.
  3. The trees, as evidenced by their size, have been a part of the Mt. Whitney campus for a long time, possibly there even before the school was opened in the 1950s.

I’ve been unable to determine if the rumors are true. I can find no documentation on the VUSD website about plans for a new building on the Whitney campus. The school district has not submitted permit requests to the City of Visalia.

If the rumors are true, and VUSD does plan to remove one or more oak trees, they WILL have to apply to the city, since the revised ordinance still requires government organizations to get a permit. Whether the City will rubber stamp a request from the District for removal remains to be seen.

I’ll be watching this to see what happens. So far, it’s only rumor.

Visalia Without Oak Trees

June 24, 2026

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“Chainsaws roaring”

If you ask Google “what oak tree is common in the area of visalia, california?” the following are parts of it’s response:

The Valley Oak (Quercus lobata) is the most common and iconic native oak tree in the Visalia area. Visalia is home to the largest remaining stand of native valley oaks in California’s entire Central Valley.

Also,

Because these magnificent trees are tightly woven into the city’s heritage, Visalia strictly enforces a Valley Oak Ordinance. This policy requires public and private property owners to secure official permits before pruning, trimming, or removing any mature valley oak.

That is no longer true.

Something recently happened to change the status of oak trees, which had been protected by City ordinance since 1971.

Visalia’s webpage states: The City’s Valley Oak Ordinance establishes policies for the care, trimming, and removal of valley oaks. Public property owners are required to ensure the protection of these magnificent trees and must obtain permission to remove or prune valley oaks.

Check that bold text. Only “public property owners”, i.e. governments, are required to obtain permits and/or permission to trim or remove Valley Oaks in Visalia.

Here’s what went down.

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Visalia Unified School District – Public Records Request – Where We Stand So Far

June 17, 2026

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It started with “Hate In A Small Town 5 (Visalia Edition)“. In “The Devil Made Me Do It“, I covered how one of the Trustees of the Visalia Unified School District said the incident was simply “A mistake”. The community doesn’t view the incident as a “mistake”.

On April 17, 2026, I initiated a Public Records request. On April 27, 2026, the District sent me a letter acknowledging my request, and saying they would respond by May 18, 2026. On May 18, 2026, they sent a response saying they would have documents no later than June 17, 2026. Well, today is June 17, 2026, and this email arrived:

Letter_06172026Download

After figuring out how to navigate a Mimecast download, I was able to access and download a 40Meg file of emails, and text messages. I’ve scanned through them, and there’s a lot of duplication due to everyone forwarding everything to everybody else. There are also other records still pending, and some they’re probably not going to give me at all. They’re giving themselves another month to comply.

We’ll see how it goes, and I’ll keep you updated as I get further information.

A Tale of Two Cities – 2026 edition

June 15, 2026

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On June 15, 2013, I posted a blog called “A Tale of Two Cities“. I headed it “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

That blog was about the stark difference between two local cities, and how they handled a Pride Month Proclamation. Visalia’s was historic, for all the right reasons. Porterville’s was historic as well, but for all the wrong reasons.

I just left a Visalia City Council meeting. A huge consent calendar, with several items pulled, and five regular session items. The big item on the agenda was the final budget proposal for fiscal years 26/27, and 27/28 (Visalia does a two-year budget cycle).

A $408 million budget for 26/27, and $358 million in 27/28, Visalia manages to have a surplus in it’s General Fund, even after including deposits into the emergency fund (set to maintain a balance of 30% of the yearly budget). Each year expenditures increase, and every year the City is able to either meet the reserve goals, or to only fall short a small amount. A lot of assumptions go into the budget, but Visalia has a history of managing the citizen’s tax monies, and the city, well.

Porterville, on the other hand…

The Porterville Recorder says the 2026/2027 budget for the city is over $37 million, with expenses forecast at $36.6 million. That’s not much of a cushion. The budget also includes $107 million in planned capital improvement projects for the upcoming year. Seems like a gap, but I’m no expert in city budgets.

But all of that is not what I was going to talk about.

In Visalia, the Mayor was absent for the meeting, and the air conditioning failed early in the afternoon. City staff was able to restore the A/C before the evening regular session, and the council moved on with business. With a consent agenda of 37 items, and 5 items on the regular agenda, Monday’s meeting could have gone on for seemingly forever. It did not. Two hours was all it took the Visalia City Council to pull four items from the Consent Calendar, deal with them, and then pass a two-year budget, put contested special assessments on county tax rolls, recertify a sales-tax measure, authorize a zoning change and General Plan amendment to sell some property it owns, and approve new rates and fees for City operations.

Public comments were made by several citizens (including me, twice), only one of which was hostile towards City Council members or the City Manager. One gentleman was not happy about his dealings with the city, and let them know about it. The rest of the comments were general commentary on issues before the City, but at worst were expressing disappointment with some decisions. The meeting ended at 9pm.

A well oiled, well operating machine.

Porterville, however…

Their meetings drag on. And on. And on. Public comments are often angry and upset. Many people in the City are not happy with the current council. Decisions to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on playground equipment (for parks already neglected by the City), a miniature Washington Monument, and bus wraps. $20,000 (edit: $15,000) for a “celebration” of the nations 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, (how watching a MMA fight held at the White House on a big (not that big of a) TV is supposed to celebrate the Declaration of Independence I don’t know) held in a residential neighborhood. Fireworks. In a residential neighborhood. Loud music. In a residential neighborhood. Attendance in the tens (edit: Council member Beltran says about 70 attended) instead of the thousands expected by those on Council who arranged it. Parking headaches in the neighborhood.

In Visalia, public comments are heard by the Council, who sometimes direct City staff to take the speaker out to the hall and discuss the situation to see how the problem can be resolved. I’ve only seen one example (OK, maybe more than once, but they seem to have gotten over that and have returned to a polite decorum most of the time) of a council member chastising the public for comments made.

Porterville Council members routinely chastise the public for being “disrespectful” and “condescending”. Council members demand respect, but don’t show it to speakers. Several of them denigrate people who disagree with them politically and religiously. One council member accused a charity group of being “angry”, because when he (deliberately, no doubt) said “Merry Christmas” to them, someone responded “Happy Holidays”. That kind of thing is a regular feature of Porterville City Council meetings, and something several Council members regularly indulge in. It’s embarrassing.

This blog could go on for pages, comparing these two cities. It won’t. I’ll end it here, with the statement that I’m really glad I live in Visalia.

Tulare County Board of Supervisors Public Records Request – the road so far

June 15, 2026

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On June 5, 2026, I made a public records request of the Tulare County Board of Supervisors, regarding their resolution to stand in opposition to Proposition 50 on the California ballot. I asked for documentation on who requested the Board place the item on the agenda for the October 14, 2025 Board meeting. That request was satisfied later the same day, with the requester being identified as Supervisor Vander Poel. I immediately made another request, the same day, as to who wrote the voted-on resolution, and any emails, memos, or other documentation regarding the wording of the resolution. That request was responded to today, June 15, 2026. In it, they sent me various drafts of the resolution, and documentation from the state regarding the proposition (the same information from voter guides put out by the state of California). Those documents did not reveal who actually wrote the approved resolution, or who requested or influenced that wording. Their response to me today says they expect to have the rest of the information by June 29, 2026.

“As requested, the following documents are attached: Board Agenda Item Packet, Revised Board Agenda Item Packet, Proposition 50 Ballot Title and Summary, Opposition Resolution, Opposition Resolution Draft 1, Opposition Draft 2, Support Resolution and Support Resolution Draft 1.

The Board of Supervisors has completed an initial review of your request and pursuant to Government Code § 7922.535(a), has determined that your request, “in whole or in part, seeks copies of disclosable public records” in our possession. We estimate that disclosable records will be made available to you by June 29, 2026.

Thank you

Here are those resolutions, in draft forms, both supporting and opposing Proposition 50. You’ll notice those in opposition are more fleshed out than the ones in support. Foreshadowing?

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VUSD – favoritism, retaliation, and nepotism?

June 8, 2026

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Image credit: VUSD

The Visalia Unified School District has been in the news a lot this year. Much of it was not good. My own blogging has been this, this, this, and this, regarding not recording ‘Special Meetings’. Then the real mess began, for me, with an incident at Redwood High School on February 12, 2026, when graduating Seniors at class pictures decided to us their lettered tshirts, originally organized to spell out “ALWAYS LEGIT CLASS OF 2026” into a homophobic slur. My blogging on that can be found here, here, and here. Another item, buried in the next School District Board of Trustees consent calendar agenda is here.

That’s only the stuff I’ve been following. Layoffs, cutbacks, and new administration-level hirings have been roiling Board of Trustee meetings for some time now.

I was contacted recently by a person who wanted to remain anonymous, about problems at El Diamante High School. The District, Board of Trustees, the Superintendent, and teachers were sent an email, from another anonymous person (not the same one that contacted me), about the issues at El D. Concerns about favoritism, nepotism, and retaliation are discussed.

Click on “MORE”, for the entire email as sent to the District, educators, the Board of Trustees, and the Superintendent.

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VUSD – $60,000 now, $26.5k every year

June 6, 2026

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Wait, what?

Visalia Unified School District’s Board of Trustees next meeting includes a consent calendar item for a “digital radio upgrade”. The packet includes information that this is a $60,781 “one-time” cost for the hardware upgrade. What the item doesn’t say, but is included in the invoice, is an annual subscription cost of $26,522 from year 2 onwards.

So what is a “digital radio upgrade” you might ask? Well, I’m glad you asked.

From their own agenda packet:


Backup Radios TransportationDownload

They want to ensure the ability of bus drivers to communicate with the District Bus office when they take the buses beyond the range of the current two-way radio system.

Reasonable.

The problem?

They want to outfit 75 buses with these new units, and have 10 handheld units.

Here’s my thoughts on the matter. While being able to communicate with the buses when they’re on what we used to call ‘field trips’ beyond the range of the currently installed two-way radios, they’ll never have a time when all 75 buses are out of range.

$60,000 initially, and $26,500 a year after that, to solve a limited problem, seems a bit pricey.

Here’s a cheaper idea. Check your records. See how many buses are on field trips out of range at once during the past two years.

Once you have that number, you know how much technology you need.

Here’s the solution. Buy that many cell phones, and assign them to the transportation division. When a bus is going out of radio range, give the driver a phone pre-programmed with 9-1-1 and the transportation office phone number.

The proposed “radios” will be using the cellular network, so a bundled cell phone plan should be a lot cheaper.

You don’t need to outfit every bus with the technology needed to leave it’s radio coverage area. And if your solution is using a cellular network to solve that problem, a relatively cheap cell phone works exactly the same way.

Or, pay drivers a stipend to carry their own cell phone with them, and use that when circumstances require communications with base.

And there’s no $26,500 annual subscription fee.

10-4?

Retirement can be dangerous

June 5, 2026

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Image by Gemini AI

It’s dangerous because it gives me time to start digging into things about our local government. Before I retired, I didn’t have the time or the mental bandwidth to pursue the minutiae of government. Now I do. I just submitted my fourth Public Records request. Fifth, if you count the request sent off to the municipal golf course. (It’s run by a private vendor, so I may not be able to get the information I wanted from there.)

The biggest problem right now is to not over-extend myself. I still have other things I want to pursue, but I need to limit my load to what I’ve requested so far.

I’ve got three active requests for public records in at the moment, counting the one I just emailed a few minutes ago. That one is my first to Tulare County. I have one closed and one open request at the City of Visalia, and one at Visalia Unified School District. The open requests are due to be fulfilled by the 18th and the 20th of June, so I’m still waiting.

My next project? Maybe an update to the Visalia City Charter. Lots of things need to be updated there. Starting with gender-neutral pronouns. And library trustees. But that’s for later.

(Final Jeopardy Theme Song here)

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