Local Government Scandals, High Salaries, Pensions and Prop 22
Timing is everything the old saying goes and that wisdom may apply directly to Proposition 22 on the November ballot. The goal of the ballot measure’s supporters is to set up a wall between local government funds and a voracious state government. The campaign for passing Prop 22, lead by the League of California Cities, describes the problem as state raids and borrowing of local funds jeopardizes public safety, transit and other vital local services.
But, headlines dealing with local governments over the last few months have been about excessive pay for local officials, free tickets to big-time events, and growing pension and health obligations that put a squeeze on funding local services.
Voters might ask if a shortfall in local budgets is due to the state reaching into local government treasuries or if the problem is self-inflicted by city officials voting for over-generous pay and pension plans.
High Speed Rail: Fast Track To Nowhere
Cross-posted at NewGeography.com
Given that Warren Buffett ponied up $44 billion in cash and stock to
take private the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, I wonder why
President Obama is betting that the way to lift the country out of
stagnant growth is to invest another $50 billion, in public funds, to
swing aboard the dream of high-speed intercity rail.
According to the administration, new money needs to be allocated to
such high-speed rail (HSR) projects as those between San Diego and
Sacramento, Orlando and Tampa, and – my personal boondoggle favorite –
the DesertXpress between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, a $4 billion bet
that getting high-rollers to the blackjack tables will lift the U.S.
economy out of its doldrums.
To establish some track cred, I spend much of my life dreaming about
trains, consulting timetables on how to catch them, and plotting trips
that might end up on night trains to Butterworth (the station for
Penang) or Iasi (change in Ungheni, on the Moldovan border).
Counties, Cities Battle ‘Urban Tumbleweeds’
Environmentalists felt a progressive bill was in the bag to make California the first state to ban "urban tumbleweeds" – those ubiquitous plastic shopping sacks.
But the advocates were wrong.
On
Aug. 31, in its end-of-session flurry of horse trading and law making,
the Senate rejected a statewide ban on retailers’ use of throwaway
plastic bags. That came after an end-of-session flurry of lobbying and
advertising by the plastics industry against such a ban.