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Last -Minute Legislature Deal Boosts Chances of Massive Chargers Subsidy
RE "The mayor wants us to vote for Prop D b/c otherwise the city will go broke and will need to layoff police and firemen. But we can magically find a half billion dollars in the fund to pay for a new stadium????": The money doesn't have to show up all at once. If the tax increment cap increase was from the old cap of $2.9 billion up to the previously-discussed $9 billion proposal, then that's over $6 billion in additional future city tax revenues that will not be used for public safety or anything else by a council vote. It's just a limit on how much total tax revenue will be instead diverted into CCDC, SEDC, and any of their partnerships and ventures with local business improvement districts as those little fiefdoms choose to spend or hoard of their off-city-budget redevelopment treasure chests. As long as that tax increment increase number is out there, developers can simply get clueful friendly investors (AKA "insiders") to put up cash now for relatively guaranteed profits later, with all of them knowing that the tax increment cap acts as their security by preventing the City Council from using city tax revenues for city public safety, libraries, and other needful things rather than on city-funded stadiums for privately-held sports teams. It is possible that the money in those future tax revenues isn't reachable even in the event of a San Diego municipal bankruptcy. It is likely that part or all of any San Diego sales tax increase (if the half cent increase is approved in November) just might get eaten up by the state's tax increment give-away of city revenues to redevelopment agencies if that sales tax is collected at businesses within redevelopment district boundaries. I wonder what our City Attorney thinks about that... In any case, keep your council member closest of all if you plan on coming out of the profit side of those transactions.— October 9, 2010 11 a.m.
Last -Minute Legislature Deal Boosts Chances of Massive Chargers Subsidy
It seems that the local buzz about our local redevelopment politics resulted in the CCDC legal masterminds demanding a change of venue. Of course, it makes perfect tactical sense for CCDC to avoid the relative sunshine of local civic debate in favor of stealing a march to Sacramento and getting things done their way as part of state budget negotiations behind closed doors. 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. If CCDC can't stand the heat, then it just moves the kitchen out of town.— October 9, 2010 9:47 a.m.
Chula Vista to Cash In on Telecom Revolution? Prop H to Decide
The fact that Chula Vista is preparing to vote on this utility user tax AND it has a potential to have adverse economic impacts on the residential taxpayers of Chula Vista IS of interest to credit rating agencies evaluating factors to determine how Chula Vista debt should be rated. The possibility that voters might turn this one down is DEFINITELY a rating factor as to the willingness of residents to raise funds for paying off municipal debt. When I squint, I can see a hand writing something on the wall...— October 9, 2010 9:24 a.m.
Vassallo, Back in San Diego, Shows Up in Court
The current Presto Communications website contains no information about business entity structure, only that it offers a variety of telecommunication services and/or products. The only email address found at the site is apparently for the webmaster or administrator, with no sales contacts actually listed. From the current open SEC complaint: "Since at least 1998, Presto and Vassallo have offered and sold Presto common stock to at least 800 investors in 42 states. The defendants have raised at least $11 million from investors." http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/comp1855… Civil contempt incarceration for SEC violations... what a wonderful concept!— October 9, 2010 8:54 a.m.
San Diego to House Homeless at World Trade Center
On looking at the way this comment thread is going, I am going to start investing in canvas and nylon thread, the raw materials for tents...— October 9, 2010 8:43 a.m.
Post-Crash Summation and the San Diego City Council Session on Debt Servicing
While preparing this blog post, I accidentally managed to remove the original dated October 8, replacing it with the above including the link to the Voice of San Diego piece. Also, while preparing this blog post, I was caught unaware of the October 8 KPBS blurb, "CCDC Spending Limit Raised, Is Chargers Stadium Coming Next?": http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/oct/08/ccdc-spendin… Seems like San Diego's Centre City Development Corporation rolls by getting its tax increment cap increase through the state legislature by statute in closed-door budget talks instead of by San Diego City Council action in the relative sunshine of civic debate here. For rolling like that on the end-around, award 10 Nomic points to CCDC, or more simply, add 250,000 fantasy ballot stuffers in favor of Prop. D... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomic BTW tax increment cap increases are a Fitch Ratings evaluation concern per supporting docs... especially with respect to municipal bankruptcy as to the ability of general obligation bond holders to get paid on their investment in city debt.— October 9, 2010 8:24 a.m.
Our biggest store is a pharmacy
Here in Encantostan, there are no chain stores of appreciable size. We consider Greene Cat Liquor or Howell's Liquor and Deli to be our supermarket representatives in this part of town, clustered around Imperial Avenue and well east of I-15. There are some establishments with the word "Supermarket" in their business names, but one look will tell most observant people otherwise, that it's just an aspiration. Thanks to Carolyn Smith and SEDC, one either travels to Lemon Grove or somewhere else to shop at a distance. For the public transit users, if it doesn't fit on the Orange Line trolley or the Route 4 bus, then that purchase just won't make it home.— October 8, 2010 8:09 a.m.
San Diego to House Homeless at World Trade Center
Develop your plans on tent towns and cities and don't loose them. When things get really lousy in this town, people will come looking for you... for a good reason...— October 7, 2010 6:51 p.m.
San Diego to House Homeless at World Trade Center
RE #8-9 as to why now: It seems that the people who most want to start ticketing the homeless as a civic beautification project again have seen the WTC building as their way to get it done. It is hard to sell downtown condos when more and more of us have to navigate the sidewalks among people without housing, and that condo market will remain soft from poor curb appeal as long as the permanent homeless shelter isn't available to get them out of sight and out of mind. There wasn't anything wrong with tent cities here in San Diego immediately after Saigon fell.— October 7, 2010 3:28 p.m.
San Diegans' Self-Preservation by Keeping an Eye on Council Members
In earlier days, a heist of a few grand was newsworthy. Now, it seems that Bernie Madoff set a high bar, and the race is to see how much can be made with the least amount of effort. Unfortunately, this can't be maintained for any length of time even with bonds-with-civic-nondisclosure and no-collateral creative financing. Here in San Diego, a hiding-in-the-open $6 billion giveaway to various developers' clubs isn't going to happen every day, or even in another lifetime. At that rate, we can only afford a strong mayor and city council combo like this one time, and one time only on the way to the federal bankruptcy trustee of municipalities.— October 7, 2010 3:04 p.m.