The Noblest Motive is the Public Good

Or so it says on seal of our County. However I wish the Board of Supervisors would follow more regularly. I'm speaking of course of the Board's failure to allow services to twist in the wind and not have foresight to think of new solutions for the county budget. Apparently the Board didn't get the memo that it's now the 21st Century and looking to the old tired solutions of contracting out and asking our lowest paid social workers, elder care nurses and abused child councilors to get even less pay may not be the best way for County to serve the public good. I mean if this is how they treat their workers how do you think they'll treat us? Oh and by the way they still won't give up their perks like this and they gave their Chief Administrative Officer a 4% raise when the county began to talk up their budget woes. Where's the public good in that?

First Teachers, Now State Employees...Governor Likes Playing Budget Games with Other People's Pay Checks

While we have always known that Governor Schwarzenegger does not think too highly of worker's rights, he recently announced a plan that would make the state's 200,000 employees the lowest paid workers in all of California.

Under the Governor's proposed executive order, which could be signed at any minute, state workers' pay would be slashed to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour until a state budget is passed.

Luckily, State Controller John Chiang has stood up for all of the state's workers by openly defying the Governor's plan. While the Governor states he must do this to bridge the gap until a budget is approved, the Controller contends that the state has enough money on hand to cover bills through September.

In the meantime, state workers are asking for help from all Californians. Members of SEIU Local 1000 will be holding informational picket lines at DMV offices tomorrow starting at 7:30 a.m. If you have time, stop by to support all state workers. The offices are located at:

Chula Vista
30 N. Glover St., Chula Vista
(near N. 4th Ave. & Hwy. 54)

El Cajon
1450 Graves Ave., El Cajon
(near Hwy 67 & Bradley Ave.)

San Diego -- Clairemont
4375 Derrick Dr.
(off Genesee Ave. N. of Balboa Ave.)

San Diego -- Otay Mesa
6111 Business Center Ct.,
(off Hwy. 905 & Corporate Center Dr., 2 ½ miles E. of I-805)

Wednesday - Quick Hits

It is all about leadership on the school board. Article illustrates that schools don't necessarily have to cut layoff teachers in response to budget cuts. UT


Campaign for re-election twisting in the wind, as Mayor Sanders decides to place city workers pension reform on November ballot. UT


Why don't the Padres pay for it? Council approves money to build a pedestrian bridge over Harbor Drive from parking garage to Petco Park. UT


Carlsbad city council took a position to oppose new power plant to be located west of I-5. UT NCTimes

City of Vista drops neighborhoods from its massive expansion of its redevelopment zone. NCTimes

Save our Schools!

MARCH & PROTEST

Saturday, April 19, 2008,9:15 am

• March from Balboa Park to the State Building, Downtown San Diego to PROTEST PROPOSED CUTS TO EDUCATION!
• Meet on the grass at the corner of Park Ave and Presidents way, Balboa Park
• Bring Family, Friends and anyone who cares about the education of our children
• Make signs, wear your school t-shirt and be ready to make a statement!
• Be respectful, obey traffic rules and no profanity

Organized by San Diego Public School Teachers

Wednesday - Quick Hits

Peace activist Cindy Sheehan to speak at CSUSM on Thursday. NCTimes

District-3 candidate John Hartley explains his arrest in campaign mailer. UT

With pay raise vote, council also increased their pensions. UT

Council decides not to hire special prosecutor to look into Sunroad Building, instead kicks the can over the the ethics commission. UT

Witnesses testified for the prosecution in the Castaneda perjury trial. UT

Sign of worsening budget crisis, school districts considering closing schools in an attempt to save money. UT

Wednesday - Quick Hits

La Mesa mayor tries to explain to council last night, the drinking and driving incident from last week. UT

City of Santee set to discuss becoming a Charter City. UT

City council once again cannot say no to a developer. UT

State budget crisis hits North County. Oceanside school district looks to close two schools and Carlsbad school district looks to fire 185 teachers and staff. UT

Still more on the budget crisis, San Marcos schools decides to layoff 120 teachers and staff. NCTimes

Federal government moving forward with $577 million expansion plan for San Ysidro border crossing. UT

More on house crisis, San Diego posted largest drop nationally in home depreciation during Q4 in 2007. NCTimes VOSD

Monday - Quicks Hits

Hypocrisy in action, GOP complains about earmarks but it hasn't stop Representatives Hunter, Issa and Bilbray from securing their own earmarks. NCTimes

Housing crisis continues. Home sales fall to their lowest level in a decade. UT

Cliff erosion is forcing NOAA to evacuate to buildings in La Jolla. UT

State might consider raising gas tax to offset revenue shortfall. NCTimes

Cities of Carlsbad and Oceanside discuss possible land swap. NCTimes

Wednesday - Quick Hits

CCDC president gets pay raise, but loses out on bonus. UT

City Council moves closer to requiring RVs and trailers to have permit to park overnight on city streets. UT

County moves closer to long overdue countywide fire service. UT

The first of seven workshop on Sunrise Power link held last night. UT

New magnet high school opening in Vista may be delayed due to budget crisis. UT

O.C. Board of Supervisors vote to pursue lawsuit to cut sheriff deputies pensions. UT

County home prices fell by 13.4% in 2007, second highest drop in nation. NCTimes VOSD

Monday - Quick Hits

Both Democratic and Republican state lawmakers vow to fight Governor's proposed closing of 48 State Parks. UT

Analysis by SDSU professor finds San Diego jury pools lacking in Latinos. UT

Homeowners who invest in new water conservation equipment can receive rebates from county water agencies. UT

City Council is planning on overhauling the HUD block grant program. UT

Homeless Shelter task force doesn't have anyone who works with the homeless on it. UT

Governor Declares Fiscal Emergency

SacBee has it that Governor Schwarzenegger has just declared a Fiscal Emergency for the state of California. So what does the heck does that mean? It means he's invoking Prop. 58 (passed in 2004):

It will mark the first time Schwarzenegger has used the "fiscal emergency" authority that he asked voters to create by passing Proposition 58 in 2004. The provision allows the governor to declare an emergency when revenues are "substantially below" what was anticipated when the budget was signed. Such an emergency would summon the Legislature into special session.

If lawmakers fail to send the governor legislation addressing the budget problem within 45 days, they cannot take action on any other bills or adjourn until they do so. (SacBee 12.14.07)

I guess that pretty much assures us that no endemic failings in the budget process will be explored or fixed. Not surprisingly, the Governor prefers quick and easy abdication of responsibility to substantive leadership. Thank goodness we dumped that fiscally reckless Gray Davis or we might find ourselves in some trouble right now.

Booze Ban as Bad Governance

On December 6, Mayor Jerry Sanders officially signed the San Diego Beach Booze Ban. On the same day, opponents announced they would organize a petition drive to put the ban on the ballot, where it has failed twice in the past (1991 and 2002). The group has dubbed itself Ban The Ban 3 and is current in the midst of a 30 day window to gather more than 30,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot. I remain ambivalent about the virtues of the ban in itself- I think that the goal of reigning in drunken craziness is laudable but highly doubt that much can change without increased enforcement capacity- but am increasingly coming to support this ballot measure as a way to force into light the underlying issues that actually matter.

Like I discussed in my initial thoughts on the ban, I have a hard time imagining this having a significant effect. If police can't enforce public drunkenness now, then when people just load up at beachfront bars or friends houses then walk/bike/drive to the beach, they'll be just as obnoxious. If anything, it spreads the problem out and removes responsible drinkers from the equation. But that's ultimately beside the point.

Nobody seems interested in asking why these people have no concern about their behavior. Nobody is questioning how San Diego has ended up with a significant population that simply has no investment in their community. Nobody is questioning the develop-or-bust strategy that's turned San Diego into a boom town for young people with new money and no plans to stay beyond a few years of fun in the sun. What was once a community of villages has abandoned that mentality in favor of big corporate money. Neighborhood self-sufficiency has broken down, condo conversions have tightened the rental market has led to increased transience, and people don't develop connections to their neighbors or neighborhoods. I may sound like a Leave It To Beaver revivalist here, but there are tangible and practical concerns involved here. Specifically, that feeling like part of a community leads one to take responsibility for that community. Right now, with no sense of accountability, there's no compelling reason to not get drunk and tear things up. It's not "home," and everything breaks down from there.

California suddenly finds itself wrestling with similar issues at the state level. Senate leader Don Perata is set to block any health care reform because of a $14 billion budget gap next year. Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed 10% cuts across the board for all state agencies and services, a majority of Californians have a negative outlook on the direction of the state (pdf) and the Governor wants to raid local tax revenues to help cover the shortfall. In short, the state is facing a budgetary crisis and absolutely nobody is talking seriously about increasing revenue or re-examining the basics of budgeting. The same problem with different dressing is unfolding in San Diego.

The city has seen fights over unions, fair pay for police and firefighters, condos vs. apartments, living wage, big-box stores, the list goes on and on. Increasingly the arguments over the trees has abandoned any attention on the forest. How do we convince people that a viable community is worth their time and effort? The booze ban doesn't do it- it just increases tension and disenchantment. It blatantly sells out to the tourism industry and more sadly, it factionalizes the city at a time when exactly the opposite is necessary. Just as the state government is reaching a breaking point and must address the failings of its operational infrastructure, San Diego needs to stop reacting to symptoms and look at the root cause of the problems being faced collectively. Pointing fingers and ignoring the bigger picture doesn't help anything. As long as our city government won't tackle the big issues, it becomes incumbent on citizens to force the issue. The booze ban isn't simply about civil liberties or drunk yahoos at the beach. It's fundamentally about whether a piecemeal approach to city government is feasible. It hasn't seemed to be working so well lately if measures like this seem necessary.

There are 21 days remaining for signature gathering. Find a place near you to sign and let's stop talking about bandaids and start talking about solutions.

Be Careful for What You Wish for....

I think Kevin Drum over at Washington Monthly nicely sums up the predicament regarding the state budget shortfall for next year. How a manageable $3 billion dollar shortfall has now turned into a $10 billion shortfall.

Democrats deserve blame for mismanaging California's budget in the early 00s, but it's hard to overstate just how irresponsible and infantile Schwarzenegger and California Republicans have been since then. In 2003, in the middle of an existing budget crisis, Schwarzenegger ran a demagogic and pandering campaign based on cutting California taxes by $4 billion. Then, to fix the shortfall this caused, he supported the 2004 bond measure. The net cost to the state of this GOP flight to fantasy now adds up to $7 billion per year.

If it weren't for Schwarzenegger and his fellow GOP tax fanatics, next year's projected shortfall would be $3 billion — or possibly even less. That would have been manageable. Instead we careen from crisis to crisis thanks to the government-by-temper-tantrum practiced by modern California Republicans. Thanks a lot, guys. [Link]

The Ghost of Prop. 13 continues...

As the housing slumps continues to worsen, a looming $10 billion state budget deficit awaits the Governor and Legislature.[Link] I wonder, whatever happened to the campaign promise by Governor Schwarzenegger to eliminate the structural deficit problem? It is apparent that this problem still exists:

The analyst said $2.7 billion of the state's reserve fund will be eaten up by lower-than-expected tax revenue through next summer. The state will take an additional $1 billion hit on falling local property taxes from shrinking home prices. Additionally, the state must make up for lower property tax revenue so schools will remain fully funded. [Link]

So now that the Governor is face with projected deficits for the remainder of his term, it will be interesting to see which Arnold Schwarzenegger takes the lead in solving this problem. Is it going to be good Arnold who works on a bipartisan basis to comes up with a solution that includes both taxes increases and budgets cuts, or are we going to see the bad partisan Arnold who is only going to propose budget cuts? Which one will it be?