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He Calls BackPublished: Friday, October 26, 2007 9:35 AM PDT Mike Aguirre called back saying basically that he and I were assuming two different things as we talked below. He said all he wanted was for the mayor and police and fire chief to design a plan to evacuate the entire city. He said the evacuations -- and the shelters being set up -- beginning Monday were occurring "willy-nilly." He said he wanted the city to have a better plan and to set up shelters outside the city in El Centro, Yuma, Ariz. and other regional areas. I was working off a different assumption, gleaned from his memo to the mayor (memo via blogger Pat Flannery), and the U-T's original story, that he advised the mayor to implement a plan to evacuate the city. Aguirre says he just wanted to have a plan. Given the current unprecedented wildfire condition which is exacerbated by Santa Ana conditions and the number of people and homes impacted by the fires, it is respectfully submitted that a voluntary evacuation plan of the entire City be immediately implemented. Dictionary says: implement 1 To carry into effect; fulfill; accomplish 2 to provide the means for the carrying out of; give practical effect to; In other words, to me, Aguirre's saying that a plan to evacuate the city must be carried out. He says this actually means he wanted the city to design a plan. "Plan? No Plan. He wanted me to evacuate the city. I told him it would panic the city," said Lansdowne, who told me he had three conversations with the city attorney about it. "He wanted the city to evacuate -- of course he used the word voluntary. I told him it was a bad idea." -- SCOTT LEWIS
47 Comments so far on this story...
Assuming he meant it as a recommendation rather than an immediate implementation, is it prudent to be preparing memos and making these recommendations in the midst of the disaster? I'm sure that on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week, the police chief/fire chief/Mayor,etc. were otherwise occupied. Wouldn't such a memo next week have made more sense. All the cities in the Northern half of San Diego County, Miramar Navy Air Base, and portions of the City of San Diego, the southern half of the County, Chula Vista, etc. have on at least one day this week been under volunteer evacution orders. The City of San Diego declared an emergency and City schools were closed all week. The Chargers left town because practicing outdoors in San Diego would be dangerous to their health. You had a beautiful picture of flames on Mount San Miguel overlooking downtown San Diego. As we wait on the coast in Point Loma we have hacking coughs. Visability is about 2 blocks, 5 days later. References in the memo included the County of San Diego Wildfire Natural Events Action Plan to Minimize Public Exposure to Smoke During Wildfire Events. link The Google Fire Map link shows a ring of_fire around_the City. Sorry, Mikey, that attempt at a further elaboration sounds like doublespeak to me. Reading from above, "Aguirre contends that the memo advocated only that a plan to evacuate be designed -- not carried out." Then, that the voluntary plan indeed be "...implemented..." for "... the entire City..." Now I see where your poor lawyerly 'skills' come from... Does the word, 'resignation', mean anything to you??? If I didn't know that Fred Sainz despises Mike Aguirre and all of his antics, I'd say the Saniz� spinmobile was hard at work on this double speak. But more to the point, when has Mr. Aguirre ever offered JUST a mere suggestion of a plan? His recent actions at the LaJolla landslide, PB Watermain breaks etc etc all show he received his FEMA training at the �Alexander Haig School of I�m in Charge here�. I am not surprised that Aguirre's story is told, retold, altered, and fudged each time he realizes that people are seeing his actions for what they really are: an attempt to exploit the crisis of others for his own political advantage. While the Mayor and city council, emergency response professionals, and volunteers were struggling to make things work, Aguirre was planning to tarnish their accomplishments by voicing his negative, vitriolic poison. I can't wait to see how a crisis-management amateur like Aguirre will Monday-morning quarterback the whole fire and teach San Diego how it should have been done better. After all, he has promised us another "interim report" about what was really going on.... I can hardly wait. Bring it, Mr. Aguirre. San Diegans did a great job and we shouldn't let Aguirre sully that accomplishment! I am not surprised that Aguirre's story is told, retold, altered, and fudged each time he realizes that people are seeing his actions for what they really are: an attempt to exploit the crisis of others for his own political advantage. While the Mayor and city council, emergency response professionals, and volunteers were struggling to make things work, Aguirre was planning to tarnish their accomplishments by voicing his negative, vitriolic poison. I can't wait to see how a crisis-management amateur like Aguirre will Monday-morning quarterback the whole fire and teach San Diego how it should have been done better. After all, he has promised us another "interim report" about what was really going on.... I can hardly wait. Bring it, Mr. Aguirre. San Diegans did a great job and we shouldn't let Aguirre sully that accomplishment! I guess even Aguirre realized, once it was all reduced to print, just how loopy he comes off. Perhaps Bauder and Flannery whispered the right code words into his ear. Now he's trying to backfill and redefine commonly accepted word definitions -- "to implement" now means "to create." His failed legal strategems have suffered from much the same flaws and the courts have been forced to correct his misreading and misapplication of case law time and time again. See the recent CA Supreme Court decision denying his appeal of the award of attorney fees to SDCERS board members. Let's all be glad he's not the mayor. He would have gone forward with his "plan" and who knows how many more people would have died. This man is nor fit for any office. He does not understand his role in city government. He continually imposes himself on policy issues in his insatiable thirst for power. Aguirre is the greatest obstacle that San Diego has to overcome. Let's hope we clear this very high hurdle in the primary election next year. How can anyone, including the courts, take this guy seriously? La Playa -- you are ridiculous, as ever! No. 1, I'm in Point Loma and could see all the way to downtown since Tuesday. It's hazy in the distance, but two blocks? Please! No. 2, I work in emergency services, and we were nowhere anywhere even CLOSE to being in danger. The county erred waaay on the side of caution in the evacs it ordered -- which is fine -- but to suggest there was any reason to think this thing was going to swallow the city is beyond preposterous. Aguirre realizes he revealed his over-the-top paranoia and poor judgment and now wants to reclaim his actions. I hope people take note! The majority of San Diego takes Mike seriously Ken, the people who post here are your basic City employees, who have an agenda. Ha! The only thing funnier than Aguirre's silly rhetoric is his backpeddling over it on the way to Yuma! Have some more rope Mikey! The Mayor, firefighters, media, volunteers and most of all the right thinking and acting people of San Diego were fantastic during a horrible event. Yes, sometimes we get burned, but we always shine! A plea to all San Diego voters. Take heed. You have been given a glaring example of the stability and competence of your City Attorney. Turn it around while you can; vote for someone else in June. Message to City Attorney Mike Aguirre: Did New York City evacuate all five boroughs on 9/11 when two hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center, which subsequently collapsed? Answer: NO. Even despite the uncertainty of that day, the people running New York knew such an unprecedented evacuation would cost money and even lives by spreading unnecessary panic. Same thing would have happened here, bud. It would not have made sense. All you wanted to do was get in the spotlight (what a surprise) as necessary city officials were openly trying to help out our citizens who were losing homes, and possibly their lives. Let us all please vote out Mike Aguirre next June, for the sake of our lives! On October 26, 2007 11:18 AM BBH declared the majority of San Diego takes Mike seriously. Fortunately, that same majority KNOWS better than to take BBH seriously. You're right Billy Bob the city employees do have an agenda. To spend tax dollars on infrastructure and services for citizens, rather than on frivolous law suits and Mikey's campaign antics. Like calling Paul Bloom to say that he will make sure 'this never happens again'. So he is going to single handedly stop the fires. Now he thinks he is Mother Nature. Somebody please give him a firehose and a shovel. BBH, lay it on the table: you have read Mike's evacuation memo. It clearly calls for immediate evacuation of the entire city. Do you or do you not think that was sound advice? Do you or do you not believe Mike's ex poste facto recharacterization of his memo? If you believe it, why? And finally, has your loyalty to him, and your complete belief in him, diminished even a little bit as a result of this memo? Pray tell. You are absolutely right Billy Bob, a lot of people do take Mike Aguirre seriously, that is exactly why they are worried! To: I can't hold my tongue. We are early risers. All morning we were fogged in. We_are sensitive to_smoke. We wrote that we could see only two blocks at the time because it was true. Right now we can make out downtown through the haze, just like you. link Look at the today NASA Natural Hazards Map_for Southern California. link The Satelite photograph shows smoke all over San Diego County this morning. Mayor Sanders and the rest of the County have done a wonderful job through this crisis. San_Diegans have come together. Google maps shows there is_or_was a fire directly southwest of Brown Field next to the border. link The National news is reporting that outside of San Diego, five people have been arrested for arson since wildfires broke out across Southern California this week, but none has been linked to any of the major blazes. In all seriousness (really!), BBH, on what do you base your claim that "The majority of San Diego [sic] takes Mike [Aguirre] seriously..."? How do you quantify or otherwise justify your claim? Just curious (no, really, I'm serious!)... Dan Coffey=makes waves against Mike because he has an agenda-to run against Mike for CA.Dan, listen to what I say- forget about it Dan, this is for the Big Boys , you're still in the Pee Wee league. Please note that Aguirre now says that he wanted to set up shelters outside of Yuma. Didn't he go to Yuma during these events. Was that a coincidence or was he looking into implementing his plan. Did anyone check out his Yuma story??? Ooops, wrong. He said he went to Phoenix. Can anyone check this out??? I hope Dan Coffey and others will run. Right now I'd vote for Spongebob Squarepants over Mikey. Aguirre can't stand the truth. Billy Bob Henry, since you allegedly have no personal or economic agenda, why don't you tell everyone what a great job Aguirre has been doing for the City of San Diego? If running for office is for "Big Boys," did Aguirre get a waiver? By the way, Billy, do you work for Aguirre? Now tell the truth. Aguirre has built his reputation on and is known by his followers and supporters, so don't hold back. Let us know what kind of people support Aguirre. so, La Playa - you blew smoke and somebody called you on it, now it's the fog? Isn't this a lot of fun to slam one targeted personality, like Mike Aguirre? This is entertainment of the highest form. And it accomplishes so much good! It takes one's mind off of dealing with real issues and concerns! So who thinks Aguirre will let the houses within the city limits be rebuilt? Or will he throw up some sort of environmentalist roadblock? Actually, Billy Bob, you're not speaking for everyone. I'm a city employee and I'm DEFINITELY voting for Mike this time around (didn't last time). He's the best thing that ever happened to city employees. God help us if they get a real attorney, they just might succeed in stealing our money! Even Sponge Bob's loyal friend Patrick, is looking better than our City Attorney right now! The link we had to today's satillite photograph above is wrong. Sorry for the mix up. This is the most recent we could find. link Again, everyone did a wonderful job fighting the wildfires and communicating to the public. Sanders, Sainz, Waring/Eck, Lansdowne, Dumanis, the Bowtie Guy (with Jennifer Vigil, etc) and the UT have their agendas. Mike Aguirre, Pat Flannery, Don Bauder and the Reader have their agendas. I'm sorry Scott, but the latter agendas are more honest and sane to me. It's becoming obvious that the voiceofSD and you have chosen Sanders/Sainz agenda a long time ago. Too bad, so sad ... Of course, Aguirre's apologists are going to defend his "voluntary" evacuation request. Talk about irresponsible. This kind of panic causing overreaction has been a hallmark of Aguirre's reign of terror and I don't care how many hacking coughs we hear from Pt. Loma, there is a need to depose any reckless elected official who would make an uninformed request to evacuate the entire City of San Diego. If the health of some is so poor that they have issues breathing, perhaps they should have left on their own accord. The bottom line is that suggesting something of the magnitude of a New Orleans-esque evacuation is exactly the reason why Aguirre should not be Mayor, city attorney or any other elected official in San Diego. The only bummer is voters have to wait until June to evacuate him from elected office!!! Do Not Post!!! The community really does not benefit from bashing one individual ( whether Aguirre, Frye, Schwarzenegger, Santa Claus etc)who steps outside of the bubble some people insist is the only truth. To Frank1: All morning we were fogged in with smoke. Now the air has cleared, the sun is shining, and the skies look beautiful. However, news reports still say the air is unhealthy for some of your fellow citizens. link I am not sure why you wrote this or why you think it is important. I don't have the full background but what you are saying seems pretty pointless. Is this some personal hate thing that you are trying to turn into something with meaning? As I said, I don't get it and I think you and all of us should be turning our minds to more important things. Really, get a life. Greg Duch: Are you some kind of anti-First Amendment, anti-free speech flack? The commenters on this site can say whatever they like, whether you're comfortable with it or not. Welcome to blogging! If YOU don't like it, don't come to this site! You must have the most Spiteful and Revengeful Attitude in this City- 'Getting Mike A.' is so important, it's CONSUMED your life. He must have something on you...I'd hate to have you representing anyone here... Mad Mike has lost it. He is now the expert weatherman, fireman and attorney too. He advises more than over a million people to hit the road. He thinks the Mayor would forget so he reminds him to call ahead to Yuma to let them know we are coming. And of course Mike wants us to evacuate "consistant with local, state and federal policies" but fails to even hint at what such policies might be (but that would be the attorney's job?) I had to evacuate east due to the Cedar fire. No gas or rooms for miles. People sleeping in cars by the road. Did Mike think of the practical problems caused by again jumping to conclusions before properly investigating and consulting experts in the area? To Dan Coffey= I am not Mike. I do not work for Mike. I do not know Mike. I am not a public or government figure. I do not work for the City (I bet that comes as a shock). I am a taxpayer. I resent funding 6 figure salaries and multi million dollar pensions to HS educated workers who do NOT deserve them. I am tired of losers like Susan Golding, Jack McGrory, Dick Murphy and Scott Peters binding me, my children and my grand children to decades of $100K jobs and Cadillac pensions for HS educated government workers- thye majority of whom get their million dollar jobs because of nepotism/croonyism. Mike is the ONLY person trying to correct this scam, and that is just what it is a scam. That's my story- I'm sticking to it. Believe it or not, "bashing" Mike Aguirre during this time of crisis is legitimate and important. He is a major figure in city government, and his actions during a major crisis (and during routine times) hint he has severe problems and should NOT be in a position to make important decisions. For gosh sakes, during a major police and fire action, he's pestering the chiefs of those departments with ridiculous demands, wasting their time. La Playa - that's hilarious. San Diego is often shrouded in fog, as it was yesterday morning. Fog, not smoke. Regardless of the fires, I believe there would have been fog in the county yesterday morning. Billy Bob? If it is true that you do not work or know Mike Aguirre, I believe you. You do however have a problem though. Since you have claimed to be an attorney, I would hope no one finds out your true identity. Mike Aguirre and his schitzophrenic behavior has already taken it's toll on the citizens of San Diego. If the Citizens really knew who you were, and since you are without a doubt the primary and highest supporter of Aguirre, I am sure your business would be affected. Maybe it is time to change professions again Billy? Just an observation It's unfortunate that Aguirre made these statements during the fires. I have strongly supported his actions re: pensions, sunroad, water futures, but I have to say, I don't understand this. But those of you bashing Mike Aguirre with such relish: Please explain the source of your hatred. Is it just this one incident? If not, PLEASE explain how you can support the other view, which basically backs (as another points out) the Susan Golding/Dick Murphy/et al, growth for the sake of growth model - that is, the current plutocracy that we have, with the influental, greedy rich trying to squeeze the region of every last buck for themselves regardless of future consequences. I find this viewpoint completely irresponsible and must applaud Aguirre, or anyone, who stands up against it. The part I found to be particularly hilarious was the one where the City Attorney's Office is standing by (briefcases at the ready, no doubt) to assist in any way their services could best be utilized. "Emergency! Emergency! Send out the lawyers, Code 3!" Also, can Yuma's wastewater system handle the flushing of an additional 1.5 million people? What would Donna Frye say? RobertE.Lee: Bashing a dead horse is as intellectually challenging as chewing bubble gum. It is a form of intellectual "self-gratification" in the seksual sense of the word. I guess that's why people like to do it so much. Greg: I think your last response says far more about your imagined "intellect" than it does about mine... Reader feedback
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