CaliforniaCityNews.org

LA's Billion Dollar Plan for Watts

"Urban village" is not exactly the phrase conjured by the Watts district in LA.  Moreover, that area's Jordan Downs housing project -- among the city's most notorious gang strongholds and the setting for the 90's gang film Menace II Society -- does not seem like the likeliest candidate for urban renewal.  Amazing what $1 billion public works project can (plan) to do.

From the LA Times:

"By creating a denser community that serves people of different incomes, officials hope to draw businesses to the complex, such as coffee houses, supermarkets and eateries. Officials believe this would help reduce the influence of gangs in an area that has long been the base of the Grape Street Crips and create better lives for Watts residents. Included in the price tag is a proposal to turn Jordan High School into what officials describe as a cutting-edge model campus."

Read on here. 

Pension Obligations Driving LA Deficit Towards $1 Billion Mark

The declining economy could leave the City of Los Angeles on the hook for keeping its employee pension system afloat.  As reported in the LA Times this weekend:

The budget gap would more than double in the next year because of the troubled pension system. The two-year price tag of that bailout -- the city is obligated to keep the system afloat -- would be enormous, costing $458 million in 2010-11 and $663 million in 2011-2012.

Tack that on to the already widening $400+ million hoile the city is in and the "B" word starts looming in not-so out year projections.  Read more from the LA Times.

And in other pension news, Orange County's legal effort to roll back pension increases given to sheriff's has been thrown out of court.  Read on in the OC Register.

Los Alamitos Mayor to Step Down Over Racial Email

If ever the phrase "think before you hit send" came to mind it was last week.  Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose distributed an email depicting watermelons on the White House lawn, and well, you get the picture.  Public and formal apologies later, Grose announced (also via email) that he would be stepping down as Mayor at the March 3 council meeting.  He will remain on the council, however.

Though Grose did not create the offending email himself (he forwarded it along from somewhere else), in his own words he displayed "poor taste."  No kidding. 

As one of the chief complainants in the incident noted "As a black person receiving something like this from the city freakin' mayor -- come on."

Read more from the LA Times and OC Register. 

Late Update: Grouse has now resigned from the Council as well.  Read in the OC Register.

2/3 Vote, Bicameral Legislature Under Fire in Sacramento

A signficant gathering of opinion and policy leaders from around the state occurred at the Sacramento Convention Center Tuesday.  The goal: fix California's government.  We hope they had a lot of coffee (and hopefully something even stronger).

The verdict?  Calls to eliminate the 2/3 budget vote requirement are gathering steam across the state, and in this room it was no different -- though everyone conceedes the effort would be a "hill to die on" for state Republicans.  Lt. Gov John Garamendi calls the rule "an affront to democracy," and went a step further, saying we should eliminate the upper and lower houses of the legislature in favor of a 120 seat unicameral body. 

Former legislator Bill Bagley, an ambassador from a saner, more productive time in our legislature's history, had this to say about reform efforts: "Politics and physics are very, very similar. Bad things attract. If you put too much in, you'll have all kinds of opposition and you'll be defeated." 

Read more in the SF Chron and the CoCo Times.

Tour of California Bike Race a Boon for Host Cities

The Tour of California cycling race is made its way across the state month, bringing with it big bucks to the cities in its path.  This year featuring international star Lance Armstrong, the tour is putting itself, and its hosts, on the map. 

MSNBC put out a report on the Central Coast cities of Solvang and Paso Robles, noting that while cities had to shell out $100,000 to play host to a stage of the tour, it was well worth it for the exposure and boost to local businesses. 

Read more here. 

IBM Looks to Expand Broadband Access in Rural Areas

IBM has partnered with Internet Service Provider IBEC to bring broadband internet access to nearly a quarter-million Americans using power lines to transmit the signals.  The effort is centered on rural areas of Alabama, Indiana, Michigan and Virginia.  The effort is also focused on areas with 5 - 10 residents per mile of power line. 

Nearly half of the U.S. does not have broadband access, setting off a growing "digital divide" that some liken to 19th Century cities bypassed by the railroad, and hence progress itself.  We go to the Eldo Telecom blog who follows this very issue on behalf of California cities.  They don't hold out high hopes for the IBM venture, get thier take here. 

Or read more on the initiative itself from CNN or the New York Times.

"Death of the California Dream"

We've long been fans of Chapman University-based Joel Kotkin, whose insights into urban life and economies stimulate and force us to think about the hard choices that lay ahead.  Nowhere is this more on display than in his recent piece "Death of the California Dream," which appeared in Newseek and is also avialable at New Geography. 

Kotkin examines the key ballot and legislative decisions that have shaped the policy landscape in this state, as well as the factions that now work to shape and reshape our future.  He speaks of " legislature divided between hysterical greens, public-employee lackeys and Neanderthal Republicans" and the "politics of narcissism."  Something for everyone!

Take a read, it's well written and well worth your time. 

Are Plastic Bag Bans Hitting The Skids Along With The Economy?

Regarded by some as a symbol of consumer culture wastefulness, plastic bags have been blamed for street litter, ocean pollution and carbon emissions produced by manufacturing and shipping them.

California City News has covered the emerging trends of banning plastic bags (as well as their close cousin - the plastic water bottle) since we first went to print. But a funny thing happened on the way to the paper bag factory...the economy fell off a cliff.

Momentum for imposing fees or bans has expanded from a few, often affluent, liberal cities on the West Coast — San Francisco was the first big city to ban plastic bags, in 2007 — to dozens of legislative proposals in states like Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Texas and Virginia.

Read the national news story in the New York Times

New Website Offers Help for Enviromental Regulations, Grants

Need to know what environmental management grants are available to your community? Want to learn how to meet regulations for storm water and other management programs or contact your state environmental office? The newly updated Local Government Environmental Assistance Network (LGEAN), can help.

Managed by ICMA, LEGAN is billed as the "first-stop shop" providing environmental management, planning, funding, and regulatory resources for local government officials.

It's located at www.lgean.org.  Check it out.

State Budget Post Mortem

Senator Abel Maldonado finnaly got enough out of his Democrat counterparts last week and gave the deadlocked chamber the final vote it needed to pass the State Budget.  In case you'd like relive the whole fiasco from last week, the LA Times had a pretty thorough rundown of the "45 hour countdown" over the weekend.  Check it out here.

The signed package brings a host of tax increases (though not as many as it looked like a week ago) and deep cuts to education and social services. As for other aftermath, the Governor skipped the state GOP convention over the weekend, raising eyebrows across the nation, The Economist called us "ungovernable," the 2/3 budget vote is now in the crosshairs of reformers.  And we're still not out of the woods as the whole thing hinges on voter approval of six budget measures now placed on the May 19 ballot.

So now what?  What does the budget mean for local government? 

Questions were answered Friday on a conference call with Governor Schwarzenegger's Director of External Affairs, Bismarck Obando.  In short, Local Governments and Redevelopment Agencies fared very well.   

The budget is comprised of spending reductions, revenue increases,economic stimulus packages and reform efforts to make government moreefficient. Specifically, the budget plans to raise up to $12.8 billion in taxes, cut spending by $15 billion and borrow $11.4 billion - $5billion of that through lottery-backed bonds. The package does not suspend Proposition 1A , nor will it shift or borrow additional funds from redevelopment agencies. Furthermore, it will preserve local public safety funds (COPS, juvenile justice and booking fees). 

The federal economic stimulus proposal is not yet reflected in the budget.  Economic stimulus components of the package provide authorization for design-build methodology for transportation projects and gives authorityfor public/private partnerships. Those construction projects that may have been stalled will start up again and the new budget also ensuresthat previously approved public works project can continue. CEQA relief is included in the package to help expedite about $1.5 billion worth of transportation projects.   

Cities may start to see those empty, new homes start to fill as the budget package includes a $10,000 tax credit for purchasers of newly constructed homes.  COPS and booking fees will see funding at the same level as 2008-09,totaling 502 million. These funds previously came from the state'sGeneral Fund but have now been shifted to .15 percent of the VLFrevenues collected.   

Californians will see an extra one cent sales tax to every dollar spent. This increase sunsets after 39 months. The VLF increase will start May19 and the .25 percent increase on taxable income applies to the entire 2009 tax year. 

You can read more from the League of Cities here.

Many finance directors have been quoted around the state as saying while they don't see direct impacts, the budget could indirectly affect their city via higher taxes and the commensurate declines in sales tax revenue for their cities.

LA NPR station KPCC had LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, LA Supe Zev Yaroslavsky and OC Supe John Moorlach to discuss thier view of the impacts to local government here.