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Last -Minute Legislature Deal Boosts Chances of Massive Chargers Subsidy
RE "Maybe I am totally wrong about this, but given recent Reader reports of moves made to prep municipal deals before letting those deals see the light of day, it is possible and likely that a certain strong mayor was perfectly willing to encourage such negotiations involving the redevelopment tax increment cap increase right before the election. The secretive Sacramento negotiations and resulting legislative proposal RE CCDC and increased TI cap remove that increase at the billion-dollar expense of city general fund revenues as a matter of debate here regarding the financial priorities of our elected city leaders, while those same city leaders seek their half cent tax rate hike on the November ballot, only weeks away." I'm a total idiot. U-T front page yesterday: "The arrangement, quietly advanced ... with the blessing of Mayor Jerry Sanders... eliminates a $2.9 billion cap on downtown redevelopment since 1992." I wish Aguirre well.— October 10, 2010 9 p.m.
Many Opponents to new SDG&E/IOU Proposed WEBA Liability Limit
RE #3: Making SDG&E and Sempra Energy pay for putting all transmission and distribution power lines undergound is certainly within CPUC's prior decision on Sempra's FIRST PRIORITY CONDITION AS A PUBLIC UTILITY HOLDING COMPANY to infuse working and other capital into SDG&E for that infrastructure improvement purpose. Certainly, Sempra Energy just announced the completed asset sale of the RBS Sempra Commodities venture. From those billions comes the recent stock buyback and an announced emphasis on corporate infrastructure, but no plans from SDG&E are forthcoming to move that 2063 undergrounding completion date forward. After the buyback, there should be a billion or more left over? My theory is that SDG&E will only improve its electrical grid components as long as replacing something is the only option left to keep service going to customers. I mean, what's their motivation to fix something that ain't broken? Under that scenario, we COULD get expedited undergrounding, but only as a result of the entire city burning down first?!? Until then, why should SDG&E or any other IOU bother? SDG&E still has at least two other CPUC wildfire-related rate hike applications in the pipeline in case the WEBA case doesn't go the way the IOUs want... and it didn't bother PG&E enough to replace the San Bruno line BEFORE it blew up. Unfortunately and lethally, it seems my theory is backed up by real life.— October 10, 2010 8:43 p.m.
Many Opponents to new SDG&E/IOU Proposed WEBA Liability Limit
RE #2: I am no politician or candidate for office. But I did have to go to a non-commissioned officer academy while I was in the Army (lost a bet and was ordered to volunteer) and I was taught that leaders in an American army unit kept their men well informed of the tactical situation, which helps one from getting shot in the asset from behind when leading up in front. We would believe our civic leaders and the public utilities that exist because of civic franchise agreements were actually putting the public interest first if they were not fertilizing us in the dark and generally treating us like mushrooms for their profit and amusement. What I write is what I find and believe my neighbors should know about because not knowing could hurt them. It hurts us all when corporations and other artificial persons under the law cannot give peace to the customers to whom those artificial persons allegedly provide service by law.— October 10, 2010 8:23 p.m.
Last -Minute Legislature Deal Boosts Chances of Massive Chargers Subsidy
I am not ignoring surfpuppy's call for a recall. I've just been takin' my time thinking about it. I thunk about it. I second the motion. Should debate be scheduled before or after Fitch Ratings does the city council teach-in on debt servicing tomorrow?— October 10, 2010 7:48 p.m.
Haiku - A - Day
1 + 0 + 1 + 0 + 1 + 0 = 3 The digits in 10/10/10 add up to a trinity. 2 + 0 + 3 = 5 The digits in 2010/10/10 add up to 5. 3 + 5 = 8 3, 5, and 8 are consecutive numbers in the Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, ...) and the above equation is the effective computation of the sixth element of the sequence by addition of the fourth and fifth. Numerology, anyone? I bet that Mary person interviewed by CNN for profiling members of al-Qaeda before 9-11 could give us an analysis. Is there a doctor in the house?— October 10, 2010 12:14 p.m.
Many Opponents to new SDG&E/IOU Proposed WEBA Liability Limit
Persons wanting to verify comments quoted above may go to: http://cpuc.ca.gov Scrolling down the page, use the DOCKET CARD link, then click the third quarter button in the 2009 category. Scroll down until you reach Application 0908020 (they are in ascending numerical order going down the page by date/CPUC filing number), then go to the specific Application's document history. For future WEBA filings by IOUs and other parties, one may subscribe and receive document links by email from CPUC directly. Happy Researching!— October 10, 2010 11:47 a.m.
Young Men Cause Aggravation at Mission Valley YMCA
"Even among the living, there is nothing in this world more quiet than a cemetary." When I was living next door to Arlington National Cemetery as an infantryman as part of an Old Guard funeral firing party, it was dead quiet until we fired our three-volley salutes. Even our 7.62 mm NATO-chambered M-14s were not enough to chase away the legion of cemetery squirrels who to this day are still hopping from one headstone to another...— October 10, 2010 11:29 a.m.
Chula Vista to Cash In on Telecom Revolution? Prop H to Decide
RE municipal v. pension debt: Pension debt and retiree healthcare costs are definitely in the mix, and so are many other things. Municipalities float bonds for all sorts of reasons, especially when they need money to do things that simply isn't available through the tax base but on a stretched-out mortgage-like schedule. And why not? The rating agencies get their cut, as do the brokers, the underwriters, and all the rest of the people who otherwise wouldn't get a cent on the bond transactions that didn't happen if city needful things were funded just by collecting local tax revenues... Cities can't print money like the Fed, but they can darn sure issue some more bonds and pretend like they can!— October 9, 2010 10:13 p.m.
Last -Minute Legislature Deal Boosts Chances of Massive Chargers Subsidy
RE "AGUIRRE TO ASk U.S. ATTORNEY IN SACRAMENTO": Some may see Aguirre's involvement as a publicity stunt, but in the mad Sacramento political crush right now to get the budget done right now BEFORE the November elections, it's about par for the course that the entire state legislature violates the open government laws in a wholesale fashion in order to pass a budget that defies a constitutional deadline by a good three months. Now if we could only find a state judge gutsy enough to jail legislators for constitutional contempt until they can pass one to the Governor's Office on time...— October 9, 2010 6:54 p.m.
Last -Minute Legislature Deal Boosts Chances of Massive Chargers Subsidy
RE "Per the existing 1992 Agreement, currently CCDC has to give 13.1 percent of their Tax Increment for Pass Through Payments to the County of San Diego, Community College District, Unified School District, and County Office of Education. Starting July 1, 2011 the Pass Through Payments increase to 30.58 percent (see Page 8) of the Tax Increment in downtown. Instead of keeping all the Tax Increment money for themselves CCDC will have to give over 50 percent away off the top.": This is good payoff information to have. I don't recall if the existing 1992 Agreement ever came to a public vote that year or after, but I sure as hell didn't vote for it, and I was involved in pretty much all kinds of SDCCD budget stuff back in early '92 as a darn curious student rep, especially after that '90 S&L Crisis internship with FDIC HQ in DC... State law clearly specifies that the redevelopment districts keep the tax increment money that results from redevelopment. If this agreement exist, then those deals to local government units are merely expenditures out of the CCDC treasure chest that were included in the four corners of the agreement as a result of the attendant inter-agency negotiations to reach the agreement in 1992, political payouts to protect bureaucratic turf in each of the various government units named. The $2.9 billion Agreement clearly exists, at least until the Governator signs the bill replacing it with the higher cap (at most likely $9 billion unless somebody has a document with another number on it). Draw your own conclusions.— October 9, 2010 6:13 p.m.