RE #13:
It took me some searching through the leginfo.ca.gov website, but I finally found out that it was SB 863 that got amended ny Fletcher, prompting the blog post below:
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/encanto-gas…
The bailout language is not only open-ended for eliminating the tax increment cap altogether, but is also changed without future state legislative votes by incorporating future local amendments to San Diego redevelopment plans. In my view, this goes much farther than any proper legislative grant of mere regulatory power to a state agency that acts as a legislative body to create regulations on its own. — October 30, 2010 6:41 a.m.
An Early Holiday Season Arrives With Unlimited CCDC Bailout
The only thing I can add to the last two comments is to make the links active: www.tinyurl.com/20100924 www.tinyurl.com/20100816a http://www.sdop.net/— October 31, 2010 10:48 a.m.
Goat Love: Trick or Treat?
From the video, notice some of the more interesting techniques used, such as bow sticks on strings for a more sinister sound... The suits in the video are almost as good as we were! Since this video drops the last several measures at the 10-minute mark, this performance would have been subject to disqualification in 1976 as well. Wonderful, heartfelt minor then major woodwind solos at the end... then chop!— October 31, 2010 9:09 a.m.
Goat Love: Trick or Treat?
For those who are unfamiliar, put THE WIZARD OF OZ into the BlueRay box and fast forward to Dorothy's escape from her room in the castle... it's the background music as Dorothy runs down the staircase. It's also a major part of Disney's FANTASIA but I forget when it appears in that animated classic. I actually have most of the score for 2nd violin and viola tattooed on the inside of my skull from hours and hours of individual and group practice in the mid-1970s. It was the piece we played competitively to be named Outstanding High School Orchestra on the West Coast in 1976. Here's a shout-out to everybody still around and still vertical who remembers that trip up north to take the prize... even though we should have been disqualified for going over the 10-minute performance time limit by a good 20-25 seconds. Thanx to the individual pre-Prop. 13 music tutoring we got in the Grossmont high school district, we were about as close as one could get to professional as high school musicians. Musically, it is good that triumphs over evil as the first church bell ringing in the town below is what ends the satanic orgy on the mountaintop... just don't ask me at what specific measure in the score!— October 31, 2010 8:59 a.m.
Change of plans to minister to a laid off friend
People who would ordinarily apply to grad school for an advanced degree should forget it unless one can already afford to do it with savings or will be a teaching grad student. I have seen couples split apart from financial stress while one was in grad school and the other was not. If one has a BA/BS degree, then one should have been exposed to research methods and writing skills. If you have time to sit in class for the next 2-3 years for your MA/MS, then fine; otherwise, start doing your own research and self-publish online, turning yourself into an amateur authority in your chosen field (knowledge being one of those Army FM 22-100 leadership traits). If you don't have that kind of initiative (another of those Army FM 22-100 leadership traits), then suffer the anxiety of traveling from interview to interview with the rest of the résumé-clutching pack. Option that has worked for others in hard times: Pretend to be a business-journalism student and interview business leaders as if you were doing business class research (it helps to actually be a student in ANY college class if challenged). At the end of the interview, DO NOT ask about openings but DO ask about somebody else in the field (but at another firm) to interview. At THAT next interview, somehow drop the names of people you've already spoken to ("Well, according to Ms. X and Mr. Z, ..."). At a certain point, if you appear informed and worthy of it, somebody will hire you just to keep you away from being hired by competition... IF you appear worthy (typically from turning yourself into that amateur self-published authority), and that's up to you.— October 31, 2010 1:24 a.m.
Change of plans to minister to a laid off friend
There's a lot of us who do things in an underground economy in Encantostan. Lots of family and neighborhood networking here. People here have owned homes for generations and can afford to carry no-cash relatives for household labor... a lot of us have 3-5 part-time "careers"... Free food lines are long, and from the cut of clothes, not all or even most in line are strictly lower class. People will work for cash AND food or other needed extras. I don't own real property, but owner got driveways, room addition, new roof, etc. at low labor costs so workers had something coming in, and everybody likes the cooking. I'm predicting that if Prop. 19 does pass, then some on the low end will actually pay to work in order to get "medicated." In some cases, that's happening already now that small-amount possession is just an infraction. IF people believe they can write, THEN they can write plans and pitch them or go home. People hiring are either looking for top-quality at the lowest price to give a firm an edge or are filling out a roster for somebody's existing plan to get things done. White-collar types need to offer stellar skills or start looking to do their own thing: be creative and aggressive to find out what others need AND will pay for, then meet that need. I don't know anybody who's hiring people who just expect to punch in, punch out and get paid... unless somebody is running a tax-loss scam. The days of expecting others to be nice and offer up what WE want are over. Labor is big in supply and low in demand while consumers have learned that what's being advertised is not necessarily what's needed or even desirable. Lots of nicely dressed people at the 99-cent store, a trend since 2008. Anyone looking for lots of job OFFERS to choose from is... well... somewhat delusional. Things get worse when ALL of the veterans come home. Start thinking about the real economy and how it really works, not just what the career counselors told you back in school. And if you haven't added up-to-date skills by having been in school in the last 2-3 years, then the recent grads who do have those thought-based internet research-and-analysis skills are your competition; you may have to lower your expectations accordingly to be competitive. My new occupation: voluntarily (meaning minimally paid with tips or not paid at all) running a rescue mission for the academically-challenged. I see the need on the street...— October 31, 2010 12:44 a.m.
Would Spelling Lessons Affect the Library?
RE #23-#25: WE NEED INFORMED CITIZENS TO COMMENT ON PUBLIC ACTS. All of our smartest and most motivated citizens should NOT be in government; otherwise, who watches them? At the same time, I'm fairly certain that either or both SurfPuppy and laplayaheritage would make very good alternatives as write-in candidates, but it would drive the Registrar's office NUTS!— October 30, 2010 10:39 a.m.
Public Records Suggest Southwestern College Used Public Funds Frivolously
It appears that I am in the second century of comments here. RE #98: This only confirms my previous suspicions regarding integrity and credibility of the cited editorial letter. Every community college receives at least some recommendations at some time for improvement over the five years between accreditation self-studies, but comparing Southwestern College's probationary status for decades of stonewalling to the other 45 other colleges receiving recommendations for better WASC compliance is more than minimally disingenuous. It just about crosses the line into fraud by public statement. As far as I can tell, the only California community college that WASC will not grant accreditation to is Compton Community College. As far as I can tell, the only California community college that will no longer be grant accreditation if it does not get itself off of probation by its own efforts in the next five months is Southwestern College. IF Southwestern College does not comply with ALL of the recommendations made by WASC at the end of its two-year probationary period, THEN WASC will not automatically extend that probation period but will instead, at the insistence of the US Department of Education, de-certify Southwestern College as WASC-accredited. Because of its probationary status, SWC has no more second chances left beyond 2011 to get this right, and the clock is running. I repeat: somebody at SWC needs to crack the whip. As Compton College has been to the greater Los Angeles region, so apparently will Southwestern College be to ours. Time will tell.— October 30, 2010 10:30 a.m.
Would Spelling Lessons Affect the Library?
RE #13: It took me some searching through the leginfo.ca.gov website, but I finally found out that it was SB 863 that got amended ny Fletcher, prompting the blog post below: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/encanto-gas… The bailout language is not only open-ended for eliminating the tax increment cap altogether, but is also changed without future state legislative votes by incorporating future local amendments to San Diego redevelopment plans. In my view, this goes much farther than any proper legislative grant of mere regulatory power to a state agency that acts as a legislative body to create regulations on its own.— October 30, 2010 6:41 a.m.
Is Proposition C Just a Green Light for Developers?
RE #19: Thanks for the clarification. I had no idea that the assessment would increase regressively to over $100K by 2015... whether the value of a single family dwelling goes up or down by then. Let's suppose that housing remains fairly flat between now and 2015. What are the odds that people will be flocking to buy up homes where the cost is automatically $100K above the comparable prices in neighborhoods where schools and libraries actually exist? Whoever wrote up the PHR assessment schedule obviously didn't see the Crash of 2008 coming. This is the kind of marginal planning that will be a negative rating factor on all of San Diego's credit rating and individual GO issues, regardless of the legislature's willingness to bail out PHR with the authority to issue bonds or not. With the economic outlook not very good, I'd say by 2015 we could be seeing a political move to allow that kind of PHR bond-issuing authority since it would require another ballot initiative to change that assessment schedule, or I expect to see those future new homes to be auctioned by the developer later, as has been done in many developments in San Diego whether they had access to community facilities or not. It becomes clear what the real agenda in PHR is: lack-of-developer-built-facilities misery enjoys company. No new houses means no new assessment fees on construction, and no GO bond issuance authority now means no new income for facilities that should have been ready and running when residents first started moving in years ago. It doesn't help matters that Prop. C relies on unrevised future estimates of 5% inflation and 4% interest when a current 5-year certificate of deposit investor can expect... 1.5-2.5%?!? I smell a need for PHR bond-issuance. The City Treasurer's holdings for PHR are in no way generating the anticipated interest according to the unrevised overly optimistic developer's projections made before the Crash of 2008. Proposition C does depend on Proposition D, after all. Maybe developer should delay any new construction to get the biggest development bang for the buck until 2021, when the community add-on assessment rises to $135,344 per single dwelling unit. Maybe just building a new stadium there is not such a bad idea after all...— October 30, 2010 6:26 a.m.
An Early Holiday Season Arrives With Unlimited CCDC Bailout
Fletcher's earmark amendment to SB 863 appears to include certain language that deserves an entire blog post in analysis. At this point, the legislator has no clue as to the effect of the CCDC bailout, unless his Mirror Upon The Wall can show him all future amendments to San Diego's redevelopment plan over CCDC.— October 30, 2010 5:21 a.m.