Reports of my demise are well founded. Laid low by some mystery malady (noninfectious) I stumbled through Monday night's meeting / reporting until 3 a.m. and struggled to recover since. Been back at my desk for an hourish now but I feel like a Chinese-made toy (full of lead).

Anyhoo, at Monday's meeting, Jimmy Morris reminded me the city would be coming back Tuesday with answers to the questions asked during the Lashing of the Mayor at Meeting II last month. I planned to go, but my virus said 'No.'

Apparently the Heritage Square kerfuffle turned into a disagreement of whose meeting it is.

Did get ahold of interesting e-mail exchange which includes a response from a pissed off City Manager Cynthia Kurtz to Fair Oaks PAC'r Ishmael Trone:

"I ask that you not rewrite history to serve your purposes at least as it relates to me personally or my carrying out my responsibilities as City Manager."
Cynthia Kurtz

Full e-mail exchange is posted in the full post below. I've taken license to reverse the order of messages to restore the chronology.

First is another provocative message from Ishmael:

From: Rhiomi Inc Trone [mailto:fmbiz1969@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 2:45 PM
To: Altadena NAACP #1092; Robert Barber; DR. WILLIAM BIGGERS; JOE BROWN; Joe Brown; JEAN BURCH; Ron Carter; PASTOR JESSE CHAPMAN; Derrick Dancer; DERRICK DANCER; EDWARD C ELLIS; JARVIS J EMERSON; MARY FREEMAN; Milan Garrison; JULIE & TERRY GILDON; Gonzalez, Vincent; Dante Hall; HELGA; RUTH HOPKINS; DEBRA JOHNSON; NEJUAN JONES; JOHN KENNEDY; NOLAUDA LOVE; Bryant Lyles; DARRIN LYONS; Pasadena Now; Osborne, Lola; ROSCOE OWENS; TERRY REED; ROB ROBINSON; PASTOR BYRON L SMITH SR.; WILLIAM E.L. SYMS; GEORGE TAYLOR; GAIL TAYLOR; Juanita Trone; CHRIS WALKER; RODNEY WALKER; Sonja l. Yates; Tami Devine
Subject: Town Hall Meeting

In an effort to inform the community of the nevents surrounding the Tom Scott Heritage Square project, please see the attached flyer announcing the Town Hall Meeting scheduled for October 30, 2007.

The mayor has forced the city manager into resigning her position. Has demoted Gregory Robinson from the housing department to an unknown position in city hall due to their involvement in the Heritage Square development.

Who is going to be the next city manager?
Who is going to be over the housing department?

Please read the news article entitled "Mayor Cleans House After Town Hall Meeting" in the Pasadena Journal dated Thursday October 25, 2007 to get more details.

Tami Devine of the Pasadena Crown City News will be the moderator for the evening.

We need your support and participation. Come and question your Mayor and Councilmembers regarding your community needs and concerns.

Thanks

Ishmael Trone

Cynthia's terse response:

Kurtz, Cynthia" wrote:

To all those who received the Monday October 29 email from Ishmael Trone, I would like to correct two points.

1. The Mayor nor anyone else on the City Council asked me to resign. In fact, when I presented my resignation to the Mayor, he asked if there was anything that would change my mind.

I have been offered a wonderful opportunity to join a local company which I have accepted. I am excited about the career change. You assertion that it was anything but my decision is incorrect and I am somewhat offended.

2. I and I alone decided to reorganize Housing. This is a decision that has been under discussion for some tine and is not related to the Heritage Square Project. I did not confer with the Mayor or other Council members before deciding to reorganize. As City Manager I am solely responsible for personnel and work assignments.

I ask that you not rewrite history to serve your purposes at least as it relates to me personally or my carrying out my responsibilities as City Manager.

Cynthia Kurtz

And third, Ishmael's rseponse-response:

From: Rhiomi Inc Trone
Subject: RE: Town Hall Meeting Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:29:28 -0700 (PDT)
To:

Thank you for the calrification. My information surrounding the demotion of Gregory Robinson and your resignation comes from the Star News article that was published and information from community meetings.

As a community, it appears that we are uninformed of the events taking place in City Hall that has an direct effect on our community.

Your clarification of this matter gives me the ability to inform the community what is really going on, which is why the town Hall Meeting is being held. For clarification.

I, in know way tried to offend you. The community has been expressing their feelings of displeasure regarding your departure. The community appreciates the service you have provided over the years and know that you care. However, when the community is left out of the process, it must rely on information received from the news media or general public, which is the case.

I personally spoke with Assistant City Manager, Brian Williams last week and asked him to inform you that the community regrets the resignation and to tell you that we appreciate all you have done.

Ishmael Trone

Posted by Todd at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)