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San Diego continues to reward bad behavior
Don, I'm trying to remember.... who was it who set up the SEDC and CCDC? Oh yeah, Pete Wilson. And who was it who got General Retirement members in the SPSP system? Hmmm... Pete Wilson. And if I'm not mistaken, who's the first one who raided the pension system? Yep, Pete Wilson. Can anyone tell me why folks call him our best mayor ever? Fingers point at Susan Golding as starting the downfall, but I feel it was really Wilson. One little point, Don. You've let your hatred for the retirement system get in the way of truth again. Your writing implies that the city pays into DROP. That is not true. DROP is a tapping of the employee's own retirement. That percentage maxes out at 90%. It is not a flat out 90%. In fact a General Member cannot reach 90% at age 55 unless they start working for the city full time at age 19. But hey, what's a little exaggeration to make a point.— October 2, 2008 5:47 p.m.
CCDC Kills 7th and Market Project; Chairman Maas Says Related Group May Be Victim, Attacks Local Developer
Response to post #32: So what you're saying is that the Gaslamp Quarters past as a red light district is still alive and well today? Pretty damn good analogy, I'd say.— September 13, 2008 10:21 a.m.
Eight-Year Saga of Port's Phantom $21 Million for Ballpark Finally Ends. It's a Tale of Typical San Diego Deceit
Interesting. Back in 1991, I believe it was, the city cried poverty. It sent pink slips to about 30 firefighters claiming that it couldn't afford to pay them unless all firefighters took a 5% pay cut. The city promised that if the Port District coughed up money to help the city budget, we'd get the pay cut back. So... we took the pay cut. We went to Port District board meetings. The Port District coughed up $4.5 million. The city used it to buy art. I don't believe we ever did get that 5% back. And you wonder why we don't trust the claims of the city that it is broke and cannot afford to pay us now. Which would you rather see? More firefighters? Or more public art?— September 13, 2008 10:17 a.m.
Local Newsweek Correspondent Pleads to Chargers: "Don't Bolt!"
Doesn't really matter, Don. Day to day - without fires, we're still not meeting the contractual obligations. Drive times are drive times. The contract calls for response less than 8 minutes 90% of the time, I believe. Quick question: How long does a human have without a heart beat before they're biologically dead? Yeah... 4-6 minutes.— September 12, 2008 6:53 a.m.
Local Newsweek Correspondent Pleads to Chargers: "Don't Bolt!"
Incidentally, my understanding is that about half of the fire department was tied up today just on a little grass fire on Route 52. What would've happened if another fire broke? The city is not meeting it's contractual response time obligations north of I-8. We need more folks.— September 10, 2008 8:09 p.m.
Union-Tribune's New Buyout Program Suggests the Company May Be Bought Out Soon, and May Be in Cash Flow Squeeze
You shouldn't talk about Mrs. McCain that way. Or were you talking about Palin?— September 9, 2008 10:01 p.m.
Local Newsweek Correspondent Pleads to Chargers: "Don't Bolt!"
I'm not sure. I believe it was shortly before my time with the city. Either way, I think it illustrates why fire service funding, and the city in general has been in trouble for a long, long time. We're not just trying to correct the errors of the council of the past 10 years; we're trying to correct the errors and omissions of the council of the past 30 years.— September 9, 2008 10 p.m.
Conservative Wall Street Journal Heaps Praise on Liberal Mike Aguirre, Citing His Pension Battle
Just what is the hourly rate for a legal assistant to do your research for you? I need the Social Security quarters... http://www.sandiego.gov/cityattorney/media/pdf/ne… The very bottom of page 1 and top of page 2 covers the part on retroactive increases for MP1. "The actuarial accrued liability for active participants attributable to these (retroactive) increases was $159 million at June 30, 2005. This is the amount of liability created by past service as of June 30, 2005.... Without this liability, the funded ratio would have been 70.72% instead of 68.15%." Note that's for MP1 only. The change for all three big changes (MP1, Corbett and MP2) due to retroactive benefits was 68.15% vs 75.98%. That is a big difference. It's about a third of what the deficit was in 2005. ($451 million) But the deficit is lower now. And the funding is higher. And the folks who received retroactive benefits are slowly fading away. And the city has been paying the full fare for the current benefits for the rest of us for a long time. All told the funding percentage change from those three is about 12% of the total funded percentage at the time. The funding ratio would've changed anyway due to Corbett loss by the city. Corbett alone would've caused a change from 70.00% to 68.15%, according to the document. Another 11% ($143 million) of the deficit was caused by the city not paying the necessary amount into the system.— September 9, 2008 9:57 p.m.
Local Newsweek Correspondent Pleads to Chargers: "Don't Bolt!"
Actually, Don, it was "Why don't you take the older broken down trucks to false alarms and save the new ones for real fires". That gets to the crux of the problem. Oft times, we simply don't know what the situation is, so we must respond with appropriate resources for the worst case scenario.— September 9, 2008 6:39 a.m.
Conservative Wall Street Journal Heaps Praise on Liberal Mike Aguirre, Citing His Pension Battle
Response to posts 42 and 42: Of course accounting is subjective. And Aguirre is no better of a source than the UT or SDCERS. Here's another interesting tidbit. From Aguirre's website, since apparently he's the only "trustworthy" source. You and Johnny have been whining about retroactive benefits. Aguirre has a bit on his website stating that those benefits caused the system to be 2.5% less funded. (From 68.15% to 70.72%) And that was back in 2005 at the height of the issue. The people most affected by retroactive increases are already gone, so that percentage is narrowing. Oh the humanity!— September 9, 2008 6:35 a.m.