California cities going tits up all over

[MadImmortalMan]

Well, we'd get a new lower baseline from the Pentagon out of it.

[Zanza]

Well, we'd get a new lower baseline from the Pentagon out of it.

Won't they find enough "support our troops!" representatives and senators to somehow exempt defense spending?

[CountDeMoney]

Well, we'd get a new lower baseline from the Pentagon out of it.

And I can appreciate that.  However, I don't think this is really the way to do it.  Just ask the UK.

Now, I know the defense industry has a vested political interest in killing the sequestration kick-ins and have acted accordingly, but unless the DOD takes a cold, hard look at how they deal with the procurement process and contractors--not just defense contractors, but the out-sourcing it pays for contractors to provide services--then the budget cuts will hurt harder than they really need to.

[CountDeMoney]

Well, we'd get a new lower baseline from the Pentagon out of it.

Won't they find enough "support our troops!" representatives and senators to somehow exempt defense spending?

They're trying that now.  Hell, the House Republicans tried that play practically the moment the Act was passed.

[Neil]

They'll have time to make a move after the election.  Nothing is going to get done before that.

[MadImmortalMan]

unless the DOD takes a cold, hard look at how they deal with the procurement process and contractors--not just defense contractors, but the out-sourcing it pays for contractors to provide services

That's true of all departments, not just defense. Believe me.

[mongers]

The thread title reminds me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn6Bsg32AI8&feature=related

Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll  -   Blue Oyster Cult

[garbon]

http://news.yahoo.com/san-bernardino-short-term-proposal-suspend-debt-payments-194153400.html

San Bernardino, California, which is planning to file for bankruptcy, would suspend payments on pension obligation bonds and other debt under a three-month proposal to be submitted to the city council on Tuesday.

A package of materials on the city council's website included the plan for July-September of this year.

City staff recommend deferring $3.6 million in debt and lease payments, including on pension bonds and infrastructure bank loans.

"The Council is being asked to authorize City staff to defer payment on the City's debt coming due between July 1, 2012 and September 30, 2012, administratively 'freeze' non-essential vacant positions, curtail spending organization-wide, suspend all equipment purchases, and defer any new Capital Improvement Program projects," the materials said.

The city of about 210,000 people located 65 miles east of Los Angeles would become the third city in California to seek protection from its creditors since late June, after Stockton and Mammoth Lakes, and the speed with which its situation has deteriorated has shocked residents and observers.

In a few weeks the city has declared a fiscal emergency and begun preparing for a bankruptcy filing, revealing a $45.8 million shortfall for the budget year that began this month.

[KRonn]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/31/vallejo-back-from-bankruptcy/

Life after bankruptcy: Problems persist as Vallejo, Calif., touts efforts to bounce back

Vallejo, Calif., does not look like a city on the rise. About half of its downtown retail space is empty. The list of foreclosed properties continues to grow, prompting auctions every day on the steps of City Hall.

And yet, this city of 118,000 northeast of San Francisco believes that after hitting rock bottom in 2008 it is now recovering from three years in bankruptcy.

"Nobody wants to be from a city that's a bankrupt city," Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis said. "And when we emerged from bankruptcy it was like we were having a party. Now we're moving ahead."

Moving ahead slowly.

Vallejo officially came out of bankruptcy in November 2011. The result has been a smaller city government with a noticeable shortage of services and police protection.

"We don't meet all the needs of the city today," City Manager Daniel Keen said. "We have stretched the limits of small police force."

The police department is down from 138 to 93 officers partly because the police union refused to take a cut in pay or benefits. The other three public employee bargaining units have agreed to concessions, mainly in their pension plans and health care benefits. Police officers, meantime, still enjoy free health care coverage for life and the ability to retire at age 50 with 90 percent of their last year's pay.

Vallejo City Council member Stephanie Gomes says the unions were able to negotiate those gold-plated packages because they essentially owned the city leaders, whom they helped get elected.

"When I first ran, I was in an interview with all the unions and the question they asked me was, 'If we endorse you will you stay bought?'" Gomes said.

Gomes never did get that endorsement and has been a critic of the unions and their contracts ever since. She said bankruptcy has been good in that it lays the city's finances open so everyone can see the sacrifices that need to be made.

Vallejo's fiscal crises has been a long time in the making. The Navy closed its Mare Island Shipyard in 1996, draining millions of federal dollars out of the economy. The city managed to get by thanks to rising property values. When real estate values started to tank, Vallejo's tax base was hit hard.

City government has shrunk 25 percent. Two fire stations were closed. Streets have not received any maintenance in five years. The police force is so small the city installed cameras to monitor areas cops could not adequately patrol. The cameras are monitored back at police headquarters by unpaid volunteers.

One of the biggest changes in Vallejo post-bankruptcy is residents expect less from their government and many are willing to do more to fill the void. The playground at City Park is a good example. With the city broke and cutting back on all services, 2,000 residents bought the material and built a sprawling play structure.

Volunteers also clean alleys, parks and remove graffiti. They report city code violations. And they patrol their own streets. The number of neighborhood watch groups has grown from three to well over 300.

Kathy Beistel started a watch group called the Kentucky Street Watch Owls.

"Bankruptcy wakes people up," Beistel said. "You can't just sit back, you need to take care of yourself. Just don't expect everybody else to do it for you."

Beistel's street no longer is infested with prostitutes and drug deals. But across town, business owner Manny Melenbrez is not as optimistic.

"I haven't seen a drastic change at all yet," Melenbrez, who owns Momo's Cafe, said. "People think negative about the city. They don't want to visit because they think the crime rate is high."

While bankruptcy wiped away $32 million in debt, defaulting on its bond payments will make it very difficult for Vallejo to borrow money in the future. Voters helped last November by narrowly approving a 1 percent increase to the sales tax, which will generate $10 million a year.

But the legal bills alone from bankruptcy are $16 million. The bankruptcy court proceedings may be over, but the lingering effects will drag on for years.

"I think Vallejo's story is a lot like other cities in California," Daniel Keen said. "It's a story of excess. We are trying to rebuild confidence in this city."

[Admiral Yi]

The police department is down from 138 to 93 officers partly because the police union refused to take a cut in pay or benefits. The other three public employee bargaining units have agreed to concessions, mainly in their pension plans and health care benefits. Police officers, meantime, still enjoy free health care coverage for life and the ability to retire at age 50 with 90 percent of their last year's pay.

Fight the power.

[CountDeMoney]

The police department is down from 138 to 93 officers partly because the police union refused to take a cut in pay or benefits. The other three public employee bargaining units have agreed to concessions, mainly in their pension plans and health care benefits. Police officers, meantime, still enjoy free health care coverage for life and the ability to retire at age 50 with 90 percent of their last year's pay.

Fight the power.

No shit.  That kind of package isn't generous, it's robbery.  I mean, damn.

[KRonn]

The police department is down from 138 to 93 officers partly because the police union refused to take a cut in pay or benefits. The other three public employee bargaining units have agreed to concessions, mainly in their pension plans and health care benefits. Police officers, meantime, still enjoy free health care coverage for life and the ability to retire at age 50 with 90 percent of their last year's pay.

Fight the power.

No shit.  That kind of package isn't generous, it's robbery.  I mean, damn.

Kind of sad, because if benefits, retirements like this could have been done more rationally then the need for layoffs, or at least radical layoffs, may have been averted. I bet this kind of thing happens often. I often wonder in my own state, when they do teacher or other public worker layoffs if someting like this helps eat up the funds, causing more layoffs.

[CountDeMoney]

Kind of sad, because if benefits, retirements like this could have been done more rationally then the need for layoffs, or at least radical layoffs, may have been averted. I bet this kind of thing happens often. I often wonder in my own state, when they do teacher or other public worker layoffs if someting like this helps eat up the funds, causing more layoffs.

Yup, and they can be, with alternative retirement options like a DROP;  apparently the knuckleheads in the local FOP lodge didnt think of that, despite more police agencies and other public employees going in that direction.

Dont think outside the call box, fellas; go ahead and dicks, and get people fired. Dummies.

[Darth Wagtaros]

The police department is down from 138 to 93 officers partly because the police union refused to take a cut in pay or benefits. The other three public employee bargaining units have agreed to concessions, mainly in their pension plans and health care benefits. Police officers, meantime, still enjoy free health care coverage for life and the ability to retire at age 50 with 90 percent of their last year's pay.

Fight the power.

No shit.  That kind of package isn't generous, it's robbery.  I mean, damn.

Kind of sad, because if benefits, retirements like this could have been done more rationally then the need for layoffs, or at least radical layoffs, may have been averted. I bet this kind of thing happens often. I often wonder in my own state, when they do teacher or other public worker layoffs if someting like this helps eat up the funds, causing more layoffs.

It happens frequently. The remaining cops are likely the older ones who got seniority enough to fuck over the younger guys. The teachers unions around here are infamous for that kind of thing.  In Lowell, for example, the union was given the option of no layoffs and no raises or some layoffs and a decent raise.  you can guess which one the old hacks took.

[Valmy]

In Lowell, for example, the union was given the option of no layoffs and no raises or some layoffs and a decent raise.  you can guess which one the old hacks took.

They chose solidarity with their fellow workers?