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California Is in Such a Financial Quagmire That There Could Be Municipal Bankruptcies
JF, that report shows that the building industry and developers have a tight rein on SD city hall. This is why Sanders needs to go and thankfully Peters, Maienschein, Atkins and Madaffer will be gone soon. Hopefully, Todd Gloria isnt elected since he's in developer's pockets already.— April 4, 2008 12:54 p.m.
California Is in Such a Financial Quagmire That There Could Be Municipal Bankruptcies
JF, DeMaio is not in office yet. I am talking about elected officials who have been in office while these policies (handouts to developers) have been in place. Maienschein, Peters, Madaffer and Sanders lead the way when it comes to elected officials to take developor money.— April 4, 2008 12:45 p.m.
Dollar flows
Gloria is such a typical establishment candidate who will take special interest money in exchange for favors that will hurt the city and taxpayers.— April 4, 2008 noon
California Is in Such a Financial Quagmire That There Could Be Municipal Bankruptcies
JF, I do agree on the taxes on multifamilies. You can thank the politicians in cahoots with developers (Sanders, Peters, Maienschein, etc.). Check their political contributors and you will see the payments from developers and construction companies, these are nothing more than kickbacks.— April 4, 2008 11:16 a.m.
California Is in Such a Financial Quagmire That There Could Be Municipal Bankruptcies
JF, that $160 million annual pension payment bill would take over 12 years just to get the city to even on the pension. Its like trying to pay off a huge credit card bill. Also, that doesnt include the retiree healthcare which has an unfunded amount estimated at over $1 Billion also. When you say 5% of the total budget that doesnt sound like much but unless you can find somewhere else to cut, that $160 million for the pension (plus the retiree healthcare costs) are hampering the cities ability to provide services within the budget. We do pay for trash, its just not taken out seperately. Its paid for out of the general fund like many other things and so indirectly the money from property taxes to the county goes to the state and is reimbursed back to cities and towns. We also pay one of the highest sewer bills in the country, twice what L.A. residents pay.— April 4, 2008 11:06 a.m.
Award-winner milks Big Bear resort
freelachina, very informative and not very surprising. It seems many smart people choose that route to go for the quick buck and they just hope when they rob Peter to pay Paul that they never have to pay the piper!— April 2, 2008 3:22 p.m.
San Diego plays big role in Field of schemes
Bank of America Stadium and Gillette Stadium were both PRIVATELY financed. The cash flow/depreciation tax benefits for Gillette was enough incentive for the Patriots owners to build the project. Not to mention the appreciation of the franchise values, which is where owners really get rich. Any team owner who tries to use the "cooked books" of operating income/loss as an excuse to require a new stadium or to cut payroll is scamming the fans and the city.— April 2, 2008 1:23 p.m.
San Diego plays big role in Field of schemes
And then after the stadium is built we are told the Padres, located in San Diego (8th largest city in the U.S.) and San Diego County (6th largest county in the U.S.) are a "small market" team and the Padres payroll remains 24th out of 30 mlb teams.— April 2, 2008 1:16 p.m.
Sweet deal
Instead, he took advantage of a little-known loophole in county law that permits employees to take an indefinite leave of absence without pay from their regular positions in order to “accept an unclassified position as staff to an elected official.” Lets close this loophole!— March 28, 2008 12:35 p.m.
Award-winner milks Big Bear resort
86521, you seem to be adamant in defending Mr. Lachina, do you have any knowledge of this case? Don has reported the facts of the lawsuit and Mr. Lachina and his attorney have not responded: "One problem with researching the La China story was the difficulty getting anyone on La China's side to respond to queries. La China's lawyer initially refused to comment. I called 3 of La China's phone numbers and left messages without a response. Finally, after swapping two emails with La China, and telling him I had to have a comment by a certain time, I finally got a statement from the lawyer. I got no cooperation from Big Bear."— March 28, 2008 12:10 p.m.