“Although the city is recovering, we are and will continue to have difficulty attracting and retaining experienced and skilled employees if we don’t achieve a solution now.” Palo Alto City Employee and SEIU Local 521 Chapter Chair, Palo Alto Online, January 14, 2014 This refrain has been heard for over 20 years. It plays out...
Part 2 of 7: City Attorney Kept Sponsors of Initiative from Participating in Defense of Initiative Part 2 of 7: In 1927, the City of Pacific Grove adopted a charter that reflects the principles of “home rule” and provides for local control of municipal affairs (California Constitution, Article XI, Section 3). That is why evidence...
Part 1 of 7: Pacific Grove is a quiet town of 15,000 residents located on the northern tip of the Monterey peninsula, with the larger resort town of Monterey to the east, and Pebble Beach to the west. With windswept white sand beaches, defiant stands of cypress growing out of surf splashed rocks, and one...
Detroit’s emergency manager Kevyn Orr says a pension fund takeover is a “right, if not an obligation” after Orr learned of extra, unwarranted pension payments. Please consider Emergency Manager Weighs Pension-Fund Takeover. Kevyn Orr said in a recent interview that at the current pace, the city’s General Services System pension fund could lose its ability to...
In what may be the most embarrassing California-related headline to appear in a while, Reuters announced last month: Tony resort city mulls bankruptcy, blaming wages, pensions. That supposedly “tony” city is Desert Hot Springs, on the northern edge of the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs. Though it’s certainly true that Palm Springs and many of its...
Now that a federal judge in Michigan has properly ruled pension obligations are not sacrosanct (see Lesson for Union Dinosaurs) the spotlight is once again on union dinosaurs in California. Bankrupt San Bernardino foolishly did not attempt to shed pension obligations in bankruptcy, but perhaps it can now reconsider. What about Stockton and Vallejo? On April...
While today’s municipal bankruptcy news focuses on Detroit, where a judge has just ruled the city can proceed with its bankruptcy filing, tonight a small California city holds a council meeting to try to avoid the same fate. Desert Hot Springs isn’t on the national radar, but its situation is hardly unique. With only 27,000...
On Friday, Salon reported Breaking: Massive Black Friday strike and arrests planned, as workers defy Wal-Mart. Defying the nation’s top employer and a business model that defines the new U.S. economy, Wal-Mart employees and allies will try to oust shopping headlines with strike stories, and throw a retail giant off its heels on what should be its happiest...
One of the biggest unreported, blockbuster stories in modern America is the alliance between public sector unions and the speculative banking industry. It is a story saturated in greed, drowning in delusion, smothered and marginalized by an avalanche of propaganda – paid for by taxpayers who fund both the public sector unions and the public...
Numerous cities have filed for bankruptcy in recent years, and many more cities are on the brink. The reason is untenable union wages, and more importantly untenable pension promises. Sampling of Bankruptcy News Vallejo, California March 2009: Judge Rules Vallejo Can Void Union Contracts Los Angeles, California January 2010: Mayor of Los Angeles Says “Bankruptcy is Not...
Shame on You! I am appalled to see your “quick facts” focus almost exclusively on public pensions. This is not the stuff of an independent, non-profit think tank. It is clear to me that you are pursuing an “agenda includes opposing … health-care and climate-change regulations, reducing union protections and minimum wages, cutting taxes and...
Add Desert Hot Springs, CA to the list of California cities in dire straits due to poor management, union wages, and ridiculously unaffordable pension promises. Please consider Another U.S. city mulls bankruptcy due to soaring wages and pensions A resort town in California warned on Tuesday that it will run out of money by March due...
It is truly pathetic watching politicians flop like fish out of water trying to prevent something that was clearly inevitable long ago. Please consider Moody’s warns of bankruptcy in Scranton as city faces $20 million budget gap. Moody’s warned investors that Scranton could be facing the threat of default or bankruptcy thanks to a $20 million...
When people think of Rolling Stone magazine most only think of music. The reality is that Rolling Stone is very influential in the politics of young people. It is the print version of the Daily Show. One of Rolling Stone’s top political writers is Matt Taibbi. He garnered national attention towards the end of the...