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Is Assembly Leader Toni Atkins Cashing in on Homelessness?
Thank you BlueSouthPark!! i appreciate the article you posted!! I think it is great that other people are FINALLY starting to see Atkins for what she really is. She is the Haliburton of homelessness.— March 9, 2011 5:09 p.m.
Is Assembly Leader Toni Atkins Cashing in on Homelessness?
@Clockerbob, believe me I didnt miss that point. I have been asking that question for years. LeSar was not technically "paid' for her work on CCDC which essentially gave her the freedom to turn her connections into big cash w/ her consulting business (at least according the San diego ethics commission or what I like to call the CYA commission). The funny thing is she was running this consulting business back in 2005 and she was on CCDC from 2002 to 2009 and the Ethics Commission saw no problem w/ her doing business w/ the same clients she was working w/ on CCDC....they said "as long as she didnt represent herself as a CCDC board member to them" which of course is absolutely assinine. The real quetion is why arent the Feds investigating this? they should have been on this in 2005 when she started the consulting business and while Atkins was voting on the cash to give to her CCDC clients that were also her personal clients. Again the ethics commission said that because Atkins and Lesar were not "family members" (which was only because gay marriage was illegal because they had been living together for years) that there was no conflict of interest.— March 9, 2011 2:56 p.m.
Is Assembly Leader Toni Atkins Cashing in on Homelessness?
@Founder, those are execellent questions and observations! I totally agree. I have always been stunned at how little we did to help the homeless when some of the roots of the problem were quite easy to solve. 1 of the biggest problems keeping people homeless and unable to get jobs is the simple fact that they dont have anywhere to store all their stuff. They are lugging this shopping cart w/ them everywhere they go and they have to watch it. Another big problem keeping them from getting a job is they dont have anywhere to shower and clean themselves up and as you point out a simple place "to go". So if we started there getting them a place where they could safely store their stuff and a place where they could shower and use the restroom alot of the problem is solved. Granted you still have issues like mental illness and alchohol abuse, but seriously if you are a homeless person you would be so stoked if there was a place you could go take a shower everyday where no one would judge you. They aften dont want anything to do w/ these shelters that pass judgement and make them pass a series of tests to stay. In terms of a place to sleep, again if you are homeless you would be super stoked if there was a giant tent somewhere that just had mattresses on the floor and you could go and stay dry and sleep under some blankets and again a place where no one would judge you. A homeless shelter should feel like a transitory place....it should be a place that keeps you warm and dry but doesnt offer permanence. I guarantee if they build 8000 units for these homeless it will not solve the problem.— March 9, 2011 1:37 p.m.
"Smart Growth Law" for Redevelopment Renders Ca Environmental Quality Act Meaningless
I can't say enough about the gravity of this. These guys single handedly destroyed the most wonderful and important environmental legislation California ever had to fight development in typical fashion....using the words "smart growth".— March 4, 2011 2:54 p.m.
"Smart Growth Law" for Redevelopment Renders Ca Environmental Quality Act Meaningless
Thank you. Yes the 1st clue that this was a bad Bill should have been the support by the Building Industry and the Chamber of Commerce. They would never support anything if it was actually "anti-sprawl". What this Bill really appears to do in simple terms is transfer the enforcement authority of "smart growth" from CEQA to the Lead Agencies which as we know is not a good thing. The Lead Agencies are notorius for rubber stamping really bad projects w/ negative declarations. That is what they did w/ that project on Florida that bulldozed 12 craftsmans that could have easily been converted to affordable housing and the lots were so big additional housing could have been built behind the homes. I have seen some of the most egregious projects receive negative declarations from these Lead Agencies because the Lead Agencies are just shills for the developers. So on paper the Bill doesnt sound too terrible. After all its about the environment right? Well its about removing the environmental protections that were really historic and monumental achievements.....the protections that said we had to treat these historic building w/ the same respect we would treat a wetland and while the developers still won in many cases, it was a very important tool that kept from destroying absolutely everything. So it took all the authority to oversee "smartgrowth" and made it the discretion of these corrupt Lead Agencies. And to add insult to injury it does NOTHING to stop sprawl because it makes it so ambiguous to determine what would require an EIR that it is utterly meaningless. they also gave a Neg Dec to the boulevard project that demos the original 7up bottling plant and saltbox so if these agencies now have all the authority to determine if a project is exempt from CEQA we are in big trouble.— March 4, 2011 2:51 p.m.
Royale Energy on Two-Day Roar
i cant believe its 2011 and we are still completely dependent on oil. i remember being in elementary school and I always chose to do projects on alternative energy if there was a choice. It seemed so obvious and I thought for sure the world was about to change. 30 years later.... PS Don, as you know I have been obsessed w/ the redevelopment scam and its got me thinking about these multi million dollar bonds. I know I mentioned B of A to you before and as you know that is the bank SD does its business w/. I think for sure there is something going on w/ SD and the muni bond market. I think these are junk bonds they have been selling. Check out this recent story on B of A copping to massive muni bond fraud. What did they do that was SOOO bad that they are coming out pre-emptively and gladly agreeing to pay 137 million? http://www.infiniteunknown.net/2010/12/13/bank-of… "Bank of America employees engaged in illegal conduct, including bid rigging, in connection with the marketing and sale of tax-exempt municipal bond derivatives contracts, the department said." All these millions in redevelopment bonds? are they junk? and is that why they are scrambling now to sell more? In the same vein Balboa Park is the center of a controversy as they are going to create a bypass and or parking garage along the hitoric Cabrillo bridge. They are going to sell a bond to do it. They are talking about it like selling a bond is easy and in the bag.....yet there is no way they could pay this bond back charging for parking in a parking garage. There is a big story w/ B of A and SD and I have a feeling we havent even begun to hear the muni bond fraud story.— February 25, 2011 10:05 p.m.
What Redevelopment REALLY Looks Like
Wow, I like that you are so up on all these matters. I just checked the LA Times article you referred to on Don's blog. Good call on that one. Yes and people like Toni Atkins think that because they are using the word "affordable housing" that we are not going to realize this is about 1 thing profit. How can developers make the most money w/ the least effort and the answer is to destroy neighborhoods by building the lowest quality highest density garbage and then charging a premium. I have no doubt there is alot going on w/ this project, like the for profit condos are listed in the mid $500,000s!!!! What year is this??? I dont know what that is about. If maybe they have to say that is the market rate so they can rationalize the $270,000 for the affordable. At any rate Atkins and her wife and their friends are being paid a premium to offer us these depressing housing slums and we better wake up because we are about to get alot more of them all along El Cajon Blvd in the Boulevard of the Arts project....yes this project is part of the Boulevard of the arts.— February 18, 2011 2:29 p.m.
Gary Aguirre Major Source in Taibbi Blockbuster
Afterall look at how fast they got Atkins to be majority WHIP. she is the queen of redevelopment fraud, even making a business of showing developers how to do it. And its not like she was super popular. he had a meager 17000 votes and now she runs California.— February 18, 2011 1:41 p.m.
Gary Aguirre Major Source in Taibbi Blockbuster
Oh wow, it just keeps getting more interesting. I have always believed all the fraud was all rooted in housing. After all a mortgage is someone pledging to give you their labor for the next 30 years of their life. What other financial instrument pays you now for someones labor for 30 years into the future. That is very powerful. God I hope Brown plows through all the fraud quickly and does not allow any of this scrambling to happen. I bet anything San diego is using Redevelopment funds to pay salaries.— February 18, 2011 1:39 p.m.
Gary Aguirre Major Source in Taibbi Blockbuster
Actually Catherine Austin Fitts was Secretary of Housing under Bush. She has alot of street cred in terms of her experience and knowledge. You may really like this video called the "Looting of America". She believes this meltdown has been carefully coordinated. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9dGHuRExiM— February 18, 2011 1:34 p.m.