Pache.co Information Technologies

During a contentious, 90-minute special meeting Wednesday, Feb. 24, certain San Bernardino City Council members questioned Mayor John Valdivia’s alleged dealings with one of two developers pursuing a contract to overhaul the Carousel Mall property.

With elected officials set to make a decision on the future of the 43-acre downtown site next week, Councilman Ben Reynoso said Wednesday that before he took office in December, Valdivia showed him an eight-minute video promoting the work of Shanghai Conglomerate Group America.

At the time, Reynoso recalled, the mayor told him the Garden Grove firm “builds bridges overnight.”

Councilwoman Kimberly Calvin, who also took office late last year, said she too was shown the promotional video, three times.

In December 2019, SCG America and the team of Renaissance Downtowns USA and ICO Real Estate Group were commissioned to submit comprehensive plans to overhaul the former gemstone of the city’s entertainment corridor.

The two developers presented their proposals to the City Council Jan. 27.

A decision is due March 3.

On Wednesday, Calvin urged city officials and city counsel to investigate SCG America and its subsidiaries for any connections to San Bernardino leaders. She noted that a subsidiary of the firm was involved in a wide-ranging pay-to-play scheme in Los Angeles, where developers bribed city leaders to secure official acts to benefit their real estate projects.

“We need to further investigate developers or anyone else when that information is brought to us,” said Calvin, who also revealed Wednesday that an SCG America representative had obtained her personal cell phone number and contacted her following the Jan. 27 meeting.

Reynoso said the same happened to him.

Valdivia refuted all allegations in a statement Thursday, Feb. 25, and said he is filing a formal request for investigation with the Public Integrity Unit of the District Attorney’s Office and removing Calvin from all mayor-appointed positions effective immediately.

“As our new Mayor, I have fought hard for the residents of San Bernardino and worked to rebuild our City’s economy and quality of life,” Valdivia’s statement read, in part. “Unfortunately, Councilmember Calvin, aided by a handful of City Hall insiders, is refusing to move our city forward. Instead, she is spending her time trying to smear me and tear our community apart.”

In an email Thursday evening, Calvin said she has a “responsibility to all residents to do the right thing and call out issues when they arise.”

“I will not entertain the pernicious temper tantrum of John Valdivia,” she added, “nor will I be intimidated by threats of retaliation with being (removed) from any Commission he has appointed me to on behalf of the people. Why must there be retaliation for enlightening the people who are due transparency, accountability and justice? Retaliation is only used when the accused realize they have no counter to the truth.”

According to a five-page agenda posted on the city’s website ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, council members were to discuss potential conflicts of interest surrounding the Carousel Mall redevelopment project; consider a censure process related to conflicts and violations of the city charter, city municipal code, city code of conduct or state laws; and determine whether real or perceived improprieties warranted a rejection of the current bidding process.

Shortly before the 5:30 p.m. web conference, Valdivia’s attorney, Rod Pacheco, emailed City Manager Rob Field and City Attorney Sonia Carvalho in response to two documents he had obtained that he alleged conveyed the council’s desire to “forfeit the Mayor’s office and literally ban him from City Hall” Wednesday.

Pacheco called such motives “not only grossly unlawful but outrageous.”

In his email, Pacheco said one of the documents – a lengthy letter Calvin sent Field, Carvalho and City Clerk Genoveva Rocha – outlines alleged conflicts of interest on the mayor’s part regarding the Carousel Mall redevelopment.

Pacheco called the contents of the letter “patently ridiculous.” The other document, according to Pacheco, was a resolution that would unseat his client.

Neither document in question has been made public, but copies of Pacheco’s and Carvalho’s emails were shared with this news organization.

In her response to Pacheco, Carvalho asserted: “Neither I nor the city manager had anything to do with advising, collecting, preparing, or distributing the materials” he had obtained.

“They were not prepared by City staff and were not distributed by the City Clerk,” she wrote.

At the outset of the special meeting, Councilman Fred Shorett mentioned that he, his council colleagues and city officials had received an email just before the web conference started that was “legal in nature” and concerned him about potential litigation should discussion continue. While Shorett did not say who sent the email, Carvalho later noted it was the mayor’s attorney.

Carvalho subsequently said that removing Valdivia from office was not on the agenda.

Shorett eventually moved to adjourn the meeting, but before a vote to do so was called, Councilman Theodore Sanchez said many of the potential conflicts of interest up for discussion Wednesday stemmed from the city’s lax campaign finance rules.

“This gem of a project we have in the Carousel Mall,” Sanchez continued, “we’re lucky to do this now, and it’s all been spoiled by zealous fundraisers who saw an opportunity to raise tens of thousands of dollars from special interests while these developers are trying to come through the door.

“This isn’t a coup,” Sanchez said of how Pacheco perceived the objective of the meeting, “but it looks like it. The people have spoken, and I think they were dead wrong when they elected the mayor we have now. But those individuals who voted for the mayor, voted for him to be mayor for four years.”

He concluded: “If you really want (Valdivia) gone, we have to start putting in that footwork to do a recall. Otherwise, let’s move this city forward. This is not the way to do that.”

“Mr. Sanchez,” Valdivia retorted, “you ought to get involved back in your City Council ward because it’s disgusting. It’s a shame.”

Ultimately, a substitute motion to continue the meeting prevailed.

Every council member had a say in the matter at hand Wednesday.

Reynoso, who took office Dec. 16, said that after Valdivia showed him the SCG America video, he stopped meeting with him one-on-one “because I felt as though I may become eventually complicit in something I’m not aware of right now.”

“The conflict of interest is when you’re not showing everybody’s video,” Calvin told Valdivia Wednesday. “You only showed one. If you wanted me to have an impartial view of the two developers we have narrowed ourselves down to, then you would have showed me (videos for) both.

“But that is not what you did.”

Reynoso ultimately suggested the city reopen the bidding process for the Carousel Mall project. But after some discussion, council members Sandra Ibarra and Damon Alexander joined Sanchez, Shorett and Calvin in opting to wait until March 3 to decide whether to choose a developer or start over.

“We don’t have to vote in favor or against” proceeding next week, Shorett said, “but let’s let the process play out.”

Councilman Juan Figueroa and Reynoso opposed.

Following the vote, Valdivia attempted to address the allegations against him, but a motion to adjourn had taken precedence.

After some back and forth, the mayor said he would adjourn the conference unilaterally and left.

The council subsequently voted to conclude the meeting.

“I find myself disheartened by what I see,” Alexander said earlier in the evening. “Not by what I hear, but what I see. We all want to do what’s best for San Bernardino, I believe. That’s why I’m here. I want the city to move forward. If there’s any investigation, by all means, let’s conduct one. …

“I was always trained to praise in public and criticize in private,” he added. “We all are losing here. This is not a winning situation, for any of us.”