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CA Cities Fare Well on Standard & Poors List of 'AAA' Cities

Here's a odd one... despite the dire financial times, California cities actually fared pretty well in a Standard & Poors report on AAA rated municipalities across the nation.  As the Capitol Weekly reported Monday, "The venerable credit rating agency's latest listing of 169 "AAA" cities includes 25 in California, the most of any state (Massachusetts is second with 21), and 12 of the 25 are new to the list this year."

It's an interesting read, and Standard & Poors notes some interesting conclusions.  While geography and population don't seem to matter much (San Jose was the only large CA city to make the list), one strong indicator did reveal itself: "Profiles Generally Reflect High Incomes And Low Debt Ratios." 

Hmm.  Did anyone in the Capitol read this report?  Take a look yourself here.

Is Jessica's Law Enforceable?

Jessica's Law, the landmark state legislation designed to keep convicted sex offenders away from children and the places they frequent, is under scrutiny for being so restrictive as to become unenforceable. 

A new analysis in San Diego finds that More than 70 percent of registered sex offenders in San Diego County are violating a state law by living too close to schools and parks.  Most cities in the county have over 50 percent out of compliance, and a few unlucky cities have 100 percent of their sex offenders in violation of the law.

Among the problems are questions over who the law applies to, and whether it is retroactive to those convicted before the voters passed the law in 2006.  “The initiative itself was so badly written, no one knows how retroactive it is,” said one clinical psychologist.  Also at issue is the sometimes minuscule space left for sex offenders to reside once the legal boundaries are put in place.  This can impact local ordinances as well, and far from helping the situation, can lead the offenders into homelessness and a decidedly unsafe, transient existence.

Now, several offenders are challenging the law in State Supreme Court, and with near universal opinion that the initiative is well intentioned but poorly constructed, they may have a case.

Read more from CBS 8 and in a good editorial from Sign on San Diego.

Downey Looks to Attract Electric Car Plant

Auto manufacturing is on a long hiatus from Southern California, well, you might say California in general.  Downey is looking to change that.  From the LA Times: "The (Downey) council agreed to a memorandum of understanding with Industrial Realty Group, the manager of an 80-acre parcel where Tesla Motors Inc. is considering building an electric-car plant." 

The city is offering up to $9 million in incentives in the hopes that a plant could generate over 1,200 jobs.  "There is only upside to this deal," Councilman Roger C. Brossmer said in the Long Beach Press Telegram.

Read more in the LA Times and or the Press Telegram. 

LA Times Gives Thanks

The LA Times ran an amusing (if cynical) opinion piece listing what its 'thankful' for as residents of the state's largest metropolis.  Among out favorites:

I'm thankful that the Los Angeles City Council passed a law limiting households to one rooster because this should end whispers that the council is out of touch with the major issues facing a modern metropolis.

I'm thankful to live in a place where I can legally smoke marijuana but can be busted for watering my lawn after 9 a.m.

Read the full list here.

Vallejo Mayor Under Fire for Comments on Gays

If you thought bankruptcy was the only tough issue in the Vallejo, you'd be wrong.  Mayor Osby Davis, who won election in a razor close (two votes) campaign against an openly gay candidate, is now the focus of a national backlash for comments saying gays are "committing sin and that sin will keep them out of heaven."  He made these remarks in an interview with the New York Times.

Davis has attempted to walk back the remarks (see video below), but is now the focus of protests and outcry. 

Read the original NYT article here, as well as the reaction here.  The Vallejo Times Herald printed an a series of letters asking the mayor "What were you thinking" just before the holiday last week, and then again on Friday.

Santa Cruz Regains Upper Hand in 'Surf City' Tussle with Huntington Beach?

The long running 'feud' between Santa Cruz and Huntington Beach is one of our favorite plotlines in covering local government in California, and we've got an intriguing new development.  The Kawānanakoa family, who represent the heirs to the throne of the now defunct Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and descendants of the chiefs of Waimea, have awarded Santa Cruz city officials with a plaque  "honoring three island princes who introduced surfing to the mainland when they first paddled out at the San Lorenzo River mouth in 1885."

The San Lorenzo River, of course, runs through Santa Cruz, and nowhere near Huntington Beach.  Though the legal claim to the Surf City moniker was awarded to Huntington Beach several years ago, Santa Cruz is now saying its regained the 'upper hand.'  Far out.

Read more from the San Jose Merc. 

Is California Forward Becoming California Backwards?

Heralded just months ago as the organization that could pull California from the ills that have befallen it, California Forward has introduced a number of initiatives to the Attorney Generals office to begin the process that may ultimately become a signature gathering effort and ballot measure in 2010. The measures focus on reforming the state budget process and the state and local government relationship. However, after much ado it seems that opinion leaders in the state are beginning to see that there is much there there in Caliofrnia Forwards local government protection measure.

In the words of a San Jose Mercury News Editorial  "The remedies California Forward has proposed so far fall short of that hope — although that probably says more about the magnitude of the problem than the organization's hard work. It's pitching two initiatives for the November 2010 ballot. One would improve the way the Legislature operates. The other tries to address the needs of local governments, but it is flawed."

Local government officials throughout the state have taken pause and considered the weak (if existent) protections California Forwards measures provide cities and counties and increasingly are finding them to come up short. Indeed, there are no protections at all for transportation funds or gas tax monies - certain to be among the first revenues to be taken as the state grapples with a continuing multi-billion dollar shortfall in its budget.

Perhaps of greater concern is that in these politically precarious times the measure calls for a new regional taxing authority - likely a political non-starter - whereby cities and counties could levy a new tax to pay for new services that a majority of the municipalities agree on.

A new taxing authority? Didn't the states voters just send a message to Sacramento that politicians aren't to be trusted with new taxes? 

CCN believes that Californians want REAL protections for local government, not the chimera of reform that preserves the status quo. We believe that the time is now to re-establish the primacy of local government in the lives of Californians and that that reform is better than any that has been put on the table by any group - beyond California Forward - as the last best hope for the Golden State.

Time to go back to the drawing board California Forward - we have one opportunity to make the changes our state needs - we can't afford not to get it right.

Schwarzenegger Taps Maldonado for LG

Governor Schwarzenegger used his favorite venue to make major political declarations to reveal his pick for Lieutenant Governor Monday: the Jay Leno Show.  Republican state Senator Abel Maldonado is the lucky winner, and the pick is long on political intrigue.

Maldonado beat out Senator Cogdill, who may have scuttled his chances when he voiced strong opposition this week to the governor's climate change agenda.  Maldonado, on the other hand, bailed out the Governor and legislature earlier this year when he crossed party lines and lent his vote to the state budget bill.  The Governor may have also made veiled reference to Cogdill's climate change remarks when he called Maldonado a "true partner." 

Regardless, the appointment now sets up a potentially interesting chess match in the confirmation proceedings.  Will the Senate Dems approve a Republican to a seat vacated by Democrat?  Are they willing to lose a potential budget swing vote, and would Abel be willing to help them out again if they scuttle his LG appointment?  Legislative District watchers have long eyed Maldonadno's Central Coast seats as one of the more "swingable" on the California Senate map, if indeed any seat is movable from one party to the other in our fair state. 

If Maldonado doesn't get confirmed, Schwarznegger could leave the seat vacant, which would go a long way towards answering questions over whether we really need a Lt Guv in the first place. 

Read more on Maldonado's appointment in the SacBee. 

2010 Budget & Ballot: There Will Be Blood

Dan Walters forecasted a "bloody battle" for the state budget in 2010 in the SacBee Friday.  "They've scraped the bottom of the gimmick barrel, voters are livid and new taxes are functionally off the table," writes Walters, adding "This will be one of the bloodiest skirmishes the Capitol has ever seen – with the only option being that the most populous state in the nation default on its debts."

Current projections have the 2010 budget already in the hole somewhere between $15 and $25 billion -- depending on who you believe and how cynical you are on an economic turnaround in the next 6 months.  So against this backdrop, and heading into the homestretch of 2009, why don't we take a look at what's in store for the State of California in 2010...

Livid Voters
Walters is right on the mark with that one, and we're not even going to bother looking up the current approval ratings for the legislature.  We all know they're abominable, and what is for certain: voters will have plenty of opportunity to voice their displeasure in 2010.

San Diego Mayor's Task Force Recommends... Bankruptcy?

A task force of local business leaders appointed by San Diego Mayor Jerry sanders to examine the city's financial position has come back with an ominous finding.  If "a series of urgent and drastic fiscal reforms" are not undertaken, bankruptcy may be the city's best option.

Now, this may be the exact leverage Mayor Sanders would like to promote such reforms, but the very suggestion is worth noting.  The VoiceofSanDiego has a copy of the draft report, which cautions "Stop the half truths, unfunded mandates and budgetary gimmicks. We can no longer promise what we cannot afford. The task force herein recommends several near term solutions but we must stay focused on the bigger problem; the practice of making promises that we do not properly fund or pay for -- or history will likely repeat itself."

Hmm, sounds like we could hit 'find and replace' and sub out "San Diego" with the "State of California" in this report.  No offense to San Diego. 

Read more from the Voice of San Diego here.