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Candidates press for greater transparency after land purchase, trash contract and Placer.ai drew public concern
Summary
During the Ridgecrest candidate forum challengers and incumbents debated city transparency and recent decisions including a contested land purchase, the waste-management contract and use of Placer.ai foot-traffic analytics.
Candidates at the Ridgecrest forum repeatedly raised governance and transparency as a campaign issue, citing recent city actions that some residents said lacked adequate public input.
Tom Witnik criticized how the City negotiated a Balsam Street land purchase and the timing of related public notice. He said a social‑media poll showed 78% opposition to the purchase and argued that substantial land deals should be presented to the public earlier: "How can the people know that they can come down to City Hall and voice their concerns ... when they don't know they have the head availability to do that?" Witnik proposed a policy limiting the discretion of the city's GA representative on major decisions so those votes return to the council for public input.
Witnik also highlighted the waste management contract as a flashpoint: residents, he said, perceive they "got less service" after the contract — citing the change from two cans weekly to alternating schedules and higher rates. Witnik framed these outcomes as a consequence of contractual decisions negotiated and approved by the council.
Placer.ai and privacy
Placer.ai — a vendor providing anonymized location and foot‑traffic analytics — drew public comment in the forum. Witnik said a poll showed strong local opposition and called the contract a "waste of money." Councilman Rajaratnam defended the city's use of the data, saying Placer.ai tracks aggregated GPS location behavior rather than individual personal data and that the information helps planning: "Placer AI only tracks the GPS location of your cell phone ... to have a behavior data so that we can plan for things."
Term limits and civic participation
Witnik argued for regular turnover on elected bodies and defended existing term‑limit language against further changes. All candidates urged more resident participation in meetings and town halls.
Ending
Candidates offered competing fixes: the challenger urged higher transparency and more public processes for major contracts and land purchases; incumbents pointed to improved communication and staff capacity while defending recent policy choices. The debate highlighted several governance issues voters may weigh at the ballot box.
