California Dystopia Update, March 2020 edition: How the stage was set for a coronavirus homeless disaster

By Chris Reed
03/19/2020
The debate over homelessness in California seemed to shift last fall, when dozens of local governments supplied or co-signed amicus briefs in a case in which Boise, Idaho, officials urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling that banned arrests of people sleeping in public if they had nowhere else to go....

TAGS: Chris Reed, coronavirus, Gavin Newsom, homelessness, LA County

Gathered for the feast at the Hotel California

By Edward Ring
03/12/2020
Welcome to the Hotel California, such a lovely place… Plenty of room at the Hotel California, any time of year, you can find it here… – “Hotel California,” by the Eagles, 1977 For decades California’s aristocracy has engaged in unsustainable feasting, as they consume the leviathan carcasses of what were for a time the world’s the...

TAGS: affordable housing, Edward Ring, homelessness, LA County, Venice Beach

Oakland trio cleared over $1.6 million in pay and benefits last year, new data show

By Robert Fellner
06/10/2019
An Oakland fire captain, a police officer, and a civil engineer each made over $500,000 in pay and benefits last year, according to newly released 2018 pay data published on TransparentCalifornia.com. The city’s top earner was Fire Captain Lawrence Hom, who cleared $557,655 in total compensation thanks in large part to an agency-high $309,185 overtime payment. Police officer Malcolm...

TAGS: CalFire, LA County

LAUSD’s punishing parcel tax proposal

By Jon Coupal
03/25/2019
America’s most dysfunctional school district has stepped in it again. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), apparently coming to the shocking realization that there was no way they could pay for the horrible deal they just cut with the unions, has hurriedly placed on the ballot for June a new property tax that leaves...

TAGS: HJTA, Jon Coupal, LA County, LAUSD, pensions, teachers, UTLA