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The International City Manager's Association will be discussing "The Manager's Role in Moving Communities from Good to Great" at an event in Fairfield April 16. The event is being presented in partnership with MMANC, visit the ICMA website for event details.
CCN has been following SB 344 (Machado), the legislation that would allow local governments to buy back variable rate bonds when interest rates spike, and is pleased to report the Governor signed the bill into law on Wednesday. Reuters has the story here.
This a bright spot in a year that has otherwise spelled financial hardship for cities, the state and just about everybody. As Treasurer Bill Lockyer noted in a statement following the bill signing, "This measure will protect taxpayers from further financial harm by helping governmental entities buy back these bonds and resell them when market conditions are more favorable."
The City of San Francisco is floating a pair of obvious, yet radical solutions to its budget deficit. One is eliminating salaried positions over $150,000, of which the city has nearly 600 (That's 90 million dollars, without benefits, for those of you keeping score at home).
On a darker front, Supervisor Aaron Peskin has proposed a mandatory lights out policy for the city's skyscrapers after business hours, rendering the world famous skyline dark. This latter proposal has the aura of scare tactics about it, the same sort of doomsday plotting which may be behind the governor's proposed 10% across the board cuts in his state budget.
Still, San Francisco -- unlike the state -- must present a balanced budget. So when push comes to shove, some might go right out the door, and into the dark.
A Public Works Director in Orange County was charged with trespassing this week after hiring two day laborers to help him load railroad ties into his truck. The San Jose Merc carried the story, no one here's passing judgement on this one (sounds innocent enough) but illustrates the added scrutiny of working in public life, even if one is unelected.
The Scaramento Bee has begun publishing a database of California State Employee salaries by job title and, in many cases, by name. Interested in seeing what your friend next door who works for the state earns in a year? Want to check on the salary range for a state employee classification? You've come to the right place.
SB 344 (Machado) passed through the Senate yesterday, paving the way for the Governor to hopefully sign the legislation aimed at helping local governments escape volatility in the bond market. The bill would allow locals to buy back their own bonds without "extinguishing" the debt. According to the SacBee, "If Schwarzenegger signs the bill, governments and other bond issuers might also choose to convert the bonds into long-term, fixed-rate securities."
Read the full story here.
The National League of Cities has launched its American Cities 08 campaign, an effort to elevate the voice of cities in this year's presidential contest. Citing that 7 in 10 Americans live in cities, the NLC's stated goal is to "to ensure Presidential candidates from both parties talk about the impact their policies have on cities and towns."
Visit the website here. There's some good reading and talking points on "what cities want" and news clips on cities facing federal issues. Worth a visit.
Voters approved nearly $3 billion in bond monies for affordable housing as part of 2006's Proposition 1C. Now elected officials trying to divvy up those funds are faced with a quandary -- allocated by population, or based upon the quality of proposed projects? This has set up a good old northern-southern state feud, and the LA Times has the story.
The SacBee covered yet another demonstration against Prop 98, the Howard Jarvis-backed Eminent Domain initiative. Noting that "a major secondary effect of the initiative ... is to ban rent control" the article profiles how 98 could impact mobile home parks and other areas where rent control is in effect. Read the full story here.
Cities throughout the country have been stunned as internet provider Earthlink has begun pulling out of deals it negotiated with major cities throughout the United States to provide city-wide wireless internet access...Philadelphia, San Francisco, Tempe...to name just a few. The New York Times reports on dashed hopes and disappointment in Earthlink as cities learn that the company wont hold true to its guarantees.
Especially hard hit will be poorer sections of town hoping desperately for the service. One Philadelphia resident in an impoverished neighborhood summed it up in a sentence: “For us and a lot of people in this neighborhood,” Ms. DeLaRosa said, “the Internet is like a path out of here.”
