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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The discussions on the proposed sale of a 29-acre property at 2890 Old Highway 53 and the extension of an exclusive negotiations agreement for a portion of the city’s Pearce Field airport property at 6356 Armijo Ave. and 6393 James St. are the latest in a series of sales negotiations for city-owned properties that have taken place over the past year.
Both properties were topics at a special city council meeting on Dec. 17.
City Manager Alan Flora said that the land at 2890 Old Highway 53, held by the successor agency to the city’s former redevelopment agency, previously had a tentative map for a housing development filed for it but that project didn’t move forward due to the Great Recession.
Recently, however, the previous developer – Robert Adelman – as well as TJG/Summitt Development Corp. expressed interest in developing the land for homes, Flora said.
Flora said both proposed projects are for 20 homes on lots of 1.25 acres each.
Adelman and Mark Flamer offered $100,000 and a five-year option to purchase the property, while Summitt Development Corp. offered a purchase price of $150,000 and an agreement to close escrow within 30 days of the approval of the tentative subdivision map.
Speaking on behalf of Summitt Development, Realtor Dave Hughes said their plan includes building two to three spec homes initially.
He said there appears to be a need for upper-end homes in Clearlake, noting that a 1,600-square-foot home near the subject property sold for $428,000 about a year ago. Hughes added that there is not enough home inventory in the community.
In his presentation to the council, Adelman said, “Our analysis is that it’s going to be really, really tough to build a subdivision now” given the cost of building and site improvements.
Adelman suggested that with building costs now at about $300 per square foot in Lake County, it would be necessary to sell the homes for $400,000 to $500,000 just to break even.
He also raised concerns of market disruptions due to the possible end of the state’s COVID-19-related eviction moratorium and other impacts of the pandemic.
Vice Mayor Dirk Slooten asked if Adelman can get financing to build the project.
Adelman said he could, and that they would want to build the first row of homes along the highway with the least amount of infrastructure possible. If the market can handle it, he said they can finance and build it, but added that the only way to build this project is to build it as cheaply as possible.
Councilwoman Joyce Overton said she was worried about the project and making sure it didn’t stall again.
Flora said the city needs to do creative things to bring housing to Clearlake.
During the discussion, Adelman had referenced the availability of homes with sales prices of up to $500,000 in Lake County. “But we don’t have those homes available in the city of Clearlake, and that’s what we want,” said Flora.
Flora said that it was important, based on some of the new housing statutes coming down on Jan. 1, that the city have an exclusive negotiating agreement on the property before the new year.
He said the agreement the city would put together for the land would have a provision giving the city the right of repurchase if the project isn’t built, which Overton said was what she wanted to hear.
Slooten said he thinks there’s tremendous demand and wants to see the project done as quickly as possible. “Economics do change.”
The council ultimately decided to go with Summitt Development Corp.’s proposal. Overton moved to enter into the 180-day exclusive negotiation agreement with Summitt, which Slooten seconded and the council approved 5-0.
At Flora’s request, the council also considered extending the proposed letter of intent with King Management LLC, which is interested in purchasing a portion of the city’s Pearce Field airport property at 6356 Armijo Ave. and 6393 James St. to develop a hotel.
The council had initially signed the letter with King Management in July and later in 2020 approved another letter of intent with the company in regard to a portion of Redbud Park, where it wants to build another hotel.
Flora said company representatives recently visited Clearlake and looked at the two sites.
He said the company wants to focus on the Redbud Park site first but is still very interested in working on the airport project.
Flora said King Management is interested in extending the letter of intent for another six months.
He added, the hope is that within that time there will be more clarity on the company’s plans for the Redbud Park property and the city will have design work completed for improvements on the airport land.
Slooten moved to approve extending the letter of intent, which Councilman David Claffey seconded. The motion received a unanimous council vote.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The town hall will take place from 7 to 8 p.m.
It will be streamed on Facebook Live via Thompson’s page and will also be held on Zoom.
This is a general town hall, open to questions on all topics within Thompson’s jurisdiction as a member of Congress.
All constituents of California’s Fifth Congressional District and members of the press are invited to join.
Those who want to take part on Zoom must email Thompson’s office at
Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Likewise, the DA has also directed his deputy prosecutors to file peremptory challenges to disqualify and prevent Judge Brennan from hearing any criminal case in which the district attorney has alleged that the defendant personally used a firearm in the commission of a felony.
The announcement comes a few weeks after Brennan’s controversial decision in the case of “Thunder the Wonder Dog.”
Brennan allowed Thunder’s former owner, Katie Rhiannon Smith, 35, of Caspar, have her felony animal cruelty conviction reduced to a misdemeanor and to serve no jail time after she shot her dog in the woods in December 2019, as Lake County News has reported.
Eyster said he also will seek appellate review of Brennan’s decision in the Smith case.
California jurisprudence and statutory law allow district attorneys to refuse to accept a judge on a particular case or certain types of cases if it is believed that the judge is “so biased against the People that he or she cannot be entrusted with the fair administration of justice,” Eyster said.
In issuing his directive, Eyster continued, “The judge currently sitting in the Ten Mile Court in Fort Bragg has betrayed community standards and community trust. He has made it abundantly clear that he has no use for, does not value, and is biased against law enforcement and the community’s ongoing efforts to seek justice against those who victimize animals and use firearms to commit felonies.
“Accordingly, I deem him legally unfit to sit as a judge on the types of criminal cases described above,” said Eyster.
When asked if the peremptory challenges to Judge Brennan will occur only in cases involving animal cruelty or cases where it has been charged that the defendant has personally used a firearm, Eyster said the question of the scope and definition of cases for which Judge Brennan will be disqualified remains an open question being evaluated by the district attorney and his senior attorneys.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The report contains an analysis of the nearly four million vehicle and pedestrian stops conducted by California’s 15 largest law enforcement agencies in 2019.
The report also examines civilian complaint data, provides recommendations from the board, and shares best practices in a number of areas, including on bias-free policing policies, bias by proxy and crisis intervention, and training.
In addition to the board’s latest report, the California Department of Justice is highlighting recently expanded access to RIPA data on stops in schools and search discovery rates through online dashboards on OpenJustice.
Ultimately, this latest RIPA report aims to directly contribute to the conversation on police reform through data and research, policy recommendations, and accountability mechanisms that will help give communities, legislators, and law enforcement tools for innovative and critically-needed action.
Sahar Durali, co-chair of the board and associate director of litigation and policy at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles, noted that 2020 “has shown us that the work of the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board is more critical than ever before.”
Durali continued, “This year’s RIPA report contains detailed data analysis of police stops and searches across racial and identity groups, as well as comprehensive best practices for law enforcement agencies to root out racial and identity profiling in their practices, policies, and culture and be accountable to their communities. I want to extend my deepest thanks and appreciation to the dedicated staff at the Department of Justice and community members who continually show up to RIPA Board meetings and offer us their experiences and expertise for their efforts this year.”
“On behalf of the California Police Chiefs Association, it has been my honor to represent our association alongside the many distinguished members of the RIPA Board. The data in this report will be used by our profession to evaluate our practices as we continue to strive for police services that are fair and impartial,” said Chief David Swing, co-chair of the board and past-president of the California Police Chiefs Association. “We know that successful policing outcomes are founded in strong community partnerships, we hope the information in this report will result in positive outcomes in our communities. I am ever grateful for the peace officers throughout our state who serve their communities with honor, working diligently each and every day to improve the quality of life for those they serve.”
“Another year of collecting RIPA data means a greater opportunity to address police reform with hard data,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. “I want to thank the members of the RIPA Board — and our team at the DOJ involved in preparing this report — for helping make this critical information available to all. The more data we have about policing in our state, the more targeted and precise we can be in our reform and interventions.”
The information collected under RIPA includes data on peace officers’ perceptions of the demographics of stopped individuals.
The purpose of collecting information on officer perceptions is to attempt to systematically document and analyze stops and searches to determine whether disparities can be found across demographics and geographies.
The perceived demographic information collected includes a number of characteristics such as race or ethnicity, gender, age, disability status, English fluency and LGBT identity.
There are a number of methodologies to analyze stop data that can help determine if bias may exist, and the report relies on several well-established methods as reference points.
However, as noted in the report, there are important limitations and caveats for each methodology that should be kept in mind when interpreting the data.
Some of the key findings from the 2019 round of data collection and first full year of RIPA data include:
– Reason for stop: Across all racial and ethnic groups, the most common reason peace officers reported for initiating a stop was a traffic violation (85%) and the next most common reason was reasonable suspicion of criminal activity (12.1%). People who were perceived as Black had the highest proportion of their stops (21%) for reasonable suspicion while those who were perceived as Middle Eastern or South Asian had the lowest (4%).
– Use of force: People who were perceived as Black or Hispanic were more likely to have force used against them as compared to those perceived as White, whereas those perceived as Asian were less likely. The odds of having force used during a stop were 1.45 times greater for people perceived as Black, and 1.18 times greater for people perceived as Hispanic, as compared to those perceived as White.
– Weighted residential population compared to stop data: Using data from the 2018 American Community Survey, people who were perceived as Black were overrepresented in the stop data (+9.3% Points) and people perceived as Asian were underrepresented (-6.6% Points) as compared to population estimates.
– Veil of darkness analysis: This method analyzes stops that were made during the intertwilight period, which is the time of day that can either be light or dark depending on the time of year. The proportion of individuals stopped after dark during this period was compared across perceived racial or ethnic groups. Having a lower proportion of stops occur in the dark compared to people perceived as White may indicate bias. People perceived as Hispanic were the least likely (-1.4% Points) to be stopped after dark compared to those perceived as White. Although not statistically significant, individuals perceived as Asian were the only group that were more likely (+0.2% Points) to be stopped after dark compared to those perceived as White.
Search Rates: Search rates refer to the proportion of stops that involved a search. People who were perceived as Black were searched at 2.5 times the rate of people perceived as White. While officers stopped more than twice as many people perceived as White as compared to people perceived as Black, there were more individuals who were perceived as Black who ended up being searched, detained on the curb or in a patrol car, handcuffed, or removed from vehicles.
Search discovery rates: The search discovery rate refers to the proportion of individuals that officers searched who were found to be in possession of contraband or evidence. Compared to individuals who were perceived as White, search discovery rates were highest for people who were perceived as multiracial (+1.7% Points) and lowest for people who were perceived as Middle Eastern or South Asian (-2.8% Points). Altogether, individuals perceived as Black, Hispanic, and Native American had higher search rates despite having lower search discovery rates compared to individuals who were perceived as White.
For more on the data, members of the public are encouraged to review the online RIPA data dashboards available on OpenJustice.
The dashboards provide a unique look at the data and give the public unprecedented access to information on stops and searches conducted by California’s largest law enforcement agencies.
The two newest dashboards go into greater detail regarding on-campus stops of K-12 public school students and search discovery rates and outcomes of stops. The dashboards currently provide a look into the first wave of RIPA stop data and are in the process of being updated to incorporate the latest round of RIPA data collected during 2019.
For more on the information contained in the 2021 Board report, members of the public are also encouraged to review the fact sheet and report appendices. The report appendices contain tabulated summaries of the data.
A copy of the report is available here.
A fact sheet on the 2021 RIPA report is available here and below.
A copy of the report appendices is available here.
More information about the board is available here.
In addition to the two RIPA data dashboards referenced above, a general dashboard is available on the DOJ website here.
Ripa Quick Facts 2021 01 by LakeCoNews on Scribd