Here's something you might be interested in.
Mayor Jerry Sanders promised to hold eight community forums to explain the budget cuts that will have to be made. Last night (Oct. 18) he made the first one in University City, but he was a no-show tonight (Oct. 19) at Clairemont High School. Not many citizens showed up either, perhaps because of the rain, although a number of staffers and city labor union members packed the small audience that was there. There is a feeling that the mayor planned to use the forum to scare people into voting for the Prop. D tax increase. However, the mayor's slip is showing. This week, ads started running saying that San Diego needs a tax increase because Sacramento is stealing local funds. Then it came out that the mayor was one of the handful of establishment lackeys who manipulated the slimy, last-minute deal in Sacramento that may doom San Diego to financing a Chargers football stadium for $500 million to $700 million. That ad shot down his attack on Sacramento and may have shot down his chances for Prop. D. We will have to see if he gives any reason for not attending tonight's forum.
Mayor Jerry Sanders promised to hold eight community forums to explain the budget cuts that will have to be made. Last night (Oct. 18) he made the first one in University City, but he was a no-show tonight (Oct. 19) at Clairemont High School. Not many citizens showed up either, perhaps because of the rain, although a number of staffers and city labor union members packed the small audience that was there. There is a feeling that the mayor planned to use the forum to scare people into voting for the Prop. D tax increase. However, the mayor's slip is showing. This week, ads started running saying that San Diego needs a tax increase because Sacramento is stealing local funds. Then it came out that the mayor was one of the handful of establishment lackeys who manipulated the slimy, last-minute deal in Sacramento that may doom San Diego to financing a Chargers football stadium for $500 million to $700 million. That ad shot down his attack on Sacramento and may have shot down his chances for Prop. D. We will have to see if he gives any reason for not attending tonight's forum.
So, he's a no-show at his own community forum? THAT alone tells us all more than we ever needed to know about him, his character, and the snake oil (Prop. D) that he's trying to sell to the gullible citizens of San Diego.
He'll have some reason for not being there; how phony will it be?
Perhaps the realization has been made in the strong mayor's tower of power that we aren't that gullible.
I keep getting this impression that between the back channel negotiations to Sacramento on the CCDC thing, the drag of pushing Prop. D, the bigger drag of planning for Prop. D's failure, and the KESSLER V. CITY OF SAN DIEGO hearings that are not going his way, hiz honor is kind of caught in the headlights...
Response to post #1: Sanders has a whole army of flaks, mostly ex-U-T, who think of alibis for his flubs, major and minor. I will be amused to see what they come up with. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #2: It's not so much that he is caught in the headlights. It's that his real character -- and level of intelligence -- are coming through loud and clear. This was bound to happen. Best, Don Bauder
Sanders is as proud as he can be of himself...he has no shame about his end run around the County Supervisors and City Council and the public. He got a pat on the head by the Governor, and he is no doubt been promised a lovely life after being mayor by his developer friends. Spanos gets a free stadium because you wouldn't want a millionaire use his own money to build the waste of space, and we have an underfunded main library to toss money into with an unwanted high school stuck in the center of it. All in all, Sanders had done a great job of building a legacy for himself...and you can bet he is breaking his arm patting himself on the back for his wheelings and dealings. I doubt if he is done. He didn't go to the public about the library, he doesn't need to go to the public about the stadium, so there's lots of building left to do that the public doesn't need input on (and I don't count these silly after the fact meetings where he patronizes people because he is, after all, the smartest guy in the room). Maybe we should rename the resulting city San Sanders.
To the extent that Sanders is viewed as a strong-mayor role model by other local politicians, things cannot be good for ordinary reasonable taxpaying people who sincerely want to know that their municipal governments are RESPONSIBLY effective. Pushing for Sacramento billion-dollar backroom closed-door deals that would have never passed muster in the light of day here is nothing more that saying that the ends justify the means.
On that basis alone, clever defense attorneys are probably looking at every felony conviction arrived at while our strong mayor was San Diego's chief of police.
Thanks, Mr. Mayor... and thanks to the chief county prosecutor and other politicians who stand with him, in full view of the public or in secret.
Response to post #5: Oh yes, he will be taken care of for life by his developer puppeteers. The city should be renamed Sin Sanders-ego. And incidentally, the Spanoses are billionaires, not merely millionaires. The Voice of San Diego pointed out this morning that the Chargers are being quiet about this thing. As I have long said, they are going down two tracks -- one L.A., which they prefer, and the other San Diego. So they are keeping their options open. Maybe somebody within the Chargers, and/or within the NFL, is smart enough to realize that if the team gets a $500 million/$700 million subsidy without public input, it will also be held responsible by the citizenry for the City's inevitable bankruptcy. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #6: The mayor will consider himself a hero unless intelligent people swamp his office with telephone and email protests. The same should be done to CCDC and to Fletcher. Best, Don Bauder
Did Dep COO Jarrell show up at the second meeting? If so, did he mention again, as in the first meeting, cutting off the Community Plan Updates? From what I've seen of all of the CPUs and the work of their highly paid consultants, that could be money well saved. In all of these CPUs, the City's only goal is to change zoning and ordinances to allow more dense development (infill) in older neighborhoods ringing downtown. The warm and fuzzy kindergarten classroom exercises created by the consultants, at"visioning" public meetings, is pretense. The vision has already been defined by the developers and by ULI.
8 The Mayor will always consider himself a hero. I used to work with him in the police department (at a much lower level, obviously). He has an excellent ego about himself, and has no doubt he knows more than everyone else. I doubt if anything can shake his confidence that only he could pull off the deal for Spanos and his pals....what he misses is that people with integrity and ethics wouldn't want to.
The majority of San Diegans voted against Democracy when they voted to perpetuate strong mayor rule.
Then the continuation of the crashing and burning of San Diego by Strong Mayor Sanders forced him to admit the consequences of his never-ending criminal corruption by producing Prop D. The surprise was that Donna Frye accepted the role of Flimflam Sanders’ marionette which proved that it didn’t matter whether we have a strong mayor or not.
The fact is that the San Diego City Council shall remain San Diego’s worst nightmare as long as the electorate continues to idolize corrupt Mayors like Golding, Murphy and now Sanders who continues to turn San Diego into America’s worst political cesspool.
I think he's a no show because this election much like the last one that got him elected are rigged. Sanders does everything half a&&ed cause he knows it rigged in his favor. In the 2008 election he didnt even stick around Golden Hall long enough to hear he won. He just left mid way saying "Im going home to have some beers".
Just look at who the Board of Sups hired to run things, Deborah Seiler who was the Diebold sales rep that sold us are voting machines (and scanners by the way....every vote goes thru a Diebold optical scanner, scanner cards can be manipulated to count votes as negative). People in Sacramento were so outraged that she was hired up there to run elections they booted her out. of course SD gladly hired her. Then we got Micheal Vu who they snatched straight from Ohio 2004 elections where people under him were convicted of voter fraud and went to jail.
Im telling you this is a big story that the media down here is ignoring. The North County Times however did several stories when they were hired announcing that our elections would now be rigged.
Sorry for the misspellings above and "are" should obviously be "our".
Anyway, yes the mayor has surrounded himself w/ people that will cover for him especially Dumanis who is corrupt and will never investigate any of the real crime here in SD. My uncle was a DA in SD for years and he said Dumanis is corrupt.
Do you know if the FBI is still looking into this?
I mean investigating the Kessler and the HUD situation...
http://www.blogofsandiego.com/Finances.htm#10/19/10
check out Pat Flannerys coverage of the 1st "Town Hall". You 2 guys are the only ones really investigatng this whole scam so thank you.
Pats coverage is brilliant. The mayor is pushing this as the "mushroom cloud" argument that got us into Iraq. If we dont vote to increase our sales tax to 9.25% then we will die. its appalling and his disrespect for the 1 brave citizen that is standing up to him is contemptible. He tells the man to leave several times. The man is pointing out the obvious inconsistencies and hypocrisy of the mayors argument.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbgjIl7Tc6o
They are asking us for 100 mill in new revenue and at the same time they are going to forgive the private developers 280 million in loans from the redevelopment agencies and they just gave away 500 million probably closer to 1 billion to San diegos richest man and George Bush' largest campaign contributor Alex Spanos.
And Sanders assertion that we cant touch pensions is not necessarily true. We could use bankruptcy to renegotiate the pensions. Although the state courts would probably protect the pensions if the case was appealed to the federal Courts the pensioneers risk losing everything and would likely settle rather than risk everything.
Fire Chief Javier Mainar in the university city meeting suggested without the passage of prop d people will in fact die. I find this very offensive. I hope the voters react the same way.
We could use bankruptcy to renegotiate the pensions. Although the state courts would probably protect the pensions if the case was appealed to the federal Courts the pensioneers risk losing everything and would likely settle rather than risk everything.
Federal courts have sole authority over BK cases, no state court involved.
But yes, the federal court does have the power to reduce current pensions in a chapter 9, it has happened in Prichard Alabama already. It could happen here, or anywhere else in the USA.
The public unions got us into this mess with their greed, they should be the ones who lose the most if a BK is filed, and face it, Bk is coming- it is only a matter of when.
If KFC Sanders filed when he was elected 5 years ago we would be well on our way to recoivery right now, even in this downturn. We could have used that $100 million tobacco settlement money on parks, roads, schools or libraries-instead it was wasted by tossing all of it into the pension black hole thta will never ever be filled. There are not enough taxes on the planet to fill the pension gap.
Imagine being able to go to a "Town Hall" meeting and get to ask Budget related questions to the Mayor and his Top Officials! It sounds to good to be true, so what's the catch? Well the entire meeting is scheduled to last only 1 hour*!
What budget questions would you ask?
Here are my top two:
Why are you building a Billion Dollar Stadium Downtown while "Browning Out" the rest of the City and also proposing increasing all our taxes to do it?
Other than protecting your own Big Pensions, why are you trying to avoid Bankruptcy which will quickly "fix" the City's budgetary problems?
http://www.sandiego.gov/home/pdf/fy12...
From http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/oct/13/city-light-pension-woes-san-diego/#c75044
the catch 22 to the town hall questions is that the mayor chooses the questions and has people write them down on paper so he can omit the parts he doesnt want ask like Pat Flannerys question about Kessler. The Town Hall is a joke....such a joke the mayor doesnt even take it seriously enough to show up.
And the Voice of San Diego, should be renamed the "gagged and silenced non-voice of San Diego". they consistently will not post my comments....the same ones I have written here.
Response to post #9: I don't know if he was there. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #10: Sanders's amorality is what endears him to the downtown real estate establishment. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #11: Donna Frye has been San Diego's one honest councilmember. It is a disappointment to me that she is now associating with the thugs around Sanders. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #12: I think I did something on the hiring of those people, but I am sure it wasn't much. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #13: I don't know if any investigators are looking into it. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #14: Oh, I didn't know you meant Kessler and HUD. The FBI file indicates it is an open investigation but I do not know that it is. The FBI and police detective turned it over to Dumanis who refused to do anything -- hardly surprisingly. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #15: Agreed. Pat Flannery's blog is brilliant, as so many of his are. That's why I picked it up. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #16: Voters should call for the ousting of the fire chief for these remarks. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #17: A grand jury member told the rules committee today (Oct. 20) that the City should prepare for BK. The grand jury has already said it, as has a committee appointed by Sanders. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #18: Excellent questions. You might also ask as part of Query 1 about the "blackouts" of five towns that will have no fire service. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #19: The town halls are a joke but with a little luck and fortitude, citizens could have the last laugh on the Sanders thugs. Best, Don Bauder
Of our City Council only Carl DeMaio is at least Promoting a solution to our fiscal problems (I do not live in his District) and most of the rest are just trying to save their Political careers buy staying out of the Fiscal limelight, instead of doing what Carl is and asking TOUGH questions and NOT supporting Prop D for Dumb!!
We have all heard the "$PIN" that "Prop D is not going to solve this problem on its own. But it is the first step on the revenue side equation" but in reality it is just promoting for Prop D (for Dumb) which will only signal a bunch of new Taxes/User Fees which will LOWER the Quality of Life for everyone in San Diego that is not RICH and NOT SOLVE OUR FISCAL PROBLEMS...
Our City Council should be letting US know what SD needs to do to get back on firm fiscal footing WITHOUT CUTTING LIBRARY HOURS AND STAFF!
BTW: If our FF & PD had "guts" their members would collectively take the $72 Million Dollar "hit" and offer to "do it" for the good of THEIR City, instead of waiting for the City to "do it" for them... They sure have enjoyed the title of "Heros" now it's time for them (and their Big Unions) and EVEN our City Council to offer to take a reduction in Pay & Pension and not continue to hold the City of SD hostage any longer, so they can protect their Pensions!
Vote NO on Prop D and Put Our Leaders To Work
Response to # 19: The irony is that Kessler used the same tactic (having attendees write questions on slips of paper), during a public meeting to "discuss" the imposition of an assessment tax in Golden Hill. Kessler ran the meeting and had Mitchell Berner, the CDBG$-paid MAD-formation consultant (propagandist) there to explain it all. Hueso was there, too. So while Hueso and Kessler spun the warm and fuzzy goodness it all would be, Berner sat at a table and openly went through the slips, tossing most into a trash can. He found the few he wanted to answer. Kessler then introduced Berner as a "disinterested" party, and some people stood up and pointed out what Berner had been doing and insisted that everyone be allowed to openly ask questions. No go. The loyal Kessler supporters shouted down the dissidents.
Kessler, as president of the Golden Hill Community Development Corporation in 2000, gave Li Mandri at least $24,000 to conduct a "survey" of GH property owners. Li Mandri included fear questions, suggesting GH would be overrun by homeless due to Petco, and proposed that a private security patrol, paid for by a MAD, would solve the problem. Whose security company do you think Kessler and Li Mandri had in mind? No one has ever examined the actual returned surveys except for Kessler and Li Mandri, but they claimed there was "overwhelming" positive response. Sound familiar? The rigged Mannino survey in the FBI report?
Kessler does not have clean hands, in his time with the city or before, no matter how much everyone wants him to prevail to bring down Sanders and Dumanis. All Sanders has to do is testify that Kessler was fired because of Kessler's numerous lies and conflicts in using HUD $ and in MAD formation, but that would also bring down Bill Anderson. Who knows?
RE "Kessler does not have clean hands, in his time with the city or before, no matter how much everyone wants him to prevail to bring down Sanders and Dumanis. All Sanders has to do is testify that Kessler was fired because of Kessler's numerous lies and conflicts in using HUD $ and in MAD formation, but that would also bring down Bill Anderson. Who knows?":
If Sanders already testified this way in deposition before the recent MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT hearing in KESSLER V. CITY OF SAN DIEGO, then that testimony did undercut City's legal argument that Kessler was let go for budgetary reasons (see Court rationale for not giving credibility to that City Attorney argument in most recent tentative order denying Defendant CITY OF SAN DIEGO's MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT).
If Sanders didn't do that in deposition but testifies that way at trial later, then he opens himself up for impeachment from testimony inconsistent with that already given in deposition under oath. Testimony from an impeached witness can be ignored, in part or entirely, by the judge of fact in a Superior Court civil case in California.
Generally, it would be a classic courtroom example of "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire"...
According to published comments made earlier by others, that would be a rather large amount of flaming polyester and a holstered smoking gun.
There's a really good reason why the City Council has never required smoke detectors installed at City Hall, but this ain't it.
33
Great analysis! We'll see....the other current and related case against the city, which they lost and have appealed, would be hurt if Sanders testified truthfully in Kessler v City. It seems possible that it is a cost-benefit equation: depose/testify truthfully or settle w/SK?
Response to post #31: I don't think you will see labor take voluntary hits unless they have a gun -- threat of bankruptcy court doing it -- to their heads. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #32: I think that blasting Kessler is NOT all that Sanders has to do. He has a lot of explaining to do, and hasn't done it believably. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #33: There is a whole lot of testimony in this case showing that the mayor's office was enraged over Kessler's cooperation with the FBI and police detective, over his relationship with the ethics commission, and a number of other things. I don't even know if the subject of Kessler's competence while he was in government has come up in this case. It may have. I haven't seen the depositions. Best, Don Bauder
RE "It seems possible that it is a cost-benefit equation: depose/testify truthfully or settle w/SK? ":
Horns of this dilemma seem particularly sharp.
In the absence of truthful testimony by Defendant deponents, Kessler's attorney can argue that a settlement offer by Defendant CITY OF SAN DIEGO is not in good faith, where the price to us may jump significantly higher to get any settlement deal done... or we can watch them all get ready to rumble in Court.
IF there is no settlement causing facts to get revealed AND Proposition D does pass by some fluke, THEN the mess may get big enough that council members may act to not implement/rescind/whatever and just float more AA- or lower general obligation bonds, whether Fitch Ratings views that favorably it or not.
After all, the $244 million loan and interest forgiveness thingy to the Redevelopment Agency earlier this year was shelved back then merely on the presence of a couple of snippy Reader blog posts; beyond those, who knew? Apparently not the U-T or any other media source... at least you can't find anything from them on searching online about it.
Response to post #38: It takes two to tango. To float bonds, a city needs an underwriter. And no matter how local media and bond raters look the other way, and no matter what underwriter protections may be built into the bonds, a grand jury and a panel appointed by the mayor have suggested San Diego consider BK. Best, Don Bauder
It takes two to tango. To float bonds, a city needs an underwriter.
It may take two to tango, but it take three to make a bond issue work-you need a willing buyer of the bonds.
And the rate that would be needed to get a SD City bond sold on the open and free market, with BK a step away, would be in excess of 30%....
Jerry didn't show up for the last two town halls because he is busy at home putting on his uniform. The Oct 28 meeting is at the War Memorial Building, and he'll be there in full dress. http://www.sandiego.gov/citycouncil/cd3/pdf/101020.pdf
. http://www.sandiego.gov/citycouncil/cd3/pdf/101020.pdf .
Thank you for the flyer.
It is doom and gloom, and no where in it do I see a cap in salaries, or a reduction in benefits.
You're welcome SP. Note no Planning Dept staff attending these town halls: it occurs to me that staff cuts in DSD and Econ Dev would serve the desired development streamlined free-for-all that underlies the CPUs and their accompanying proposed Land Use Ordinance changes. See the last main section, bottom of the page (esp embedded "Issue Matrix" pdf), this link: http://www.sandiego.gov/development-services/industry/landdevcode.shtml#amend Density, density, density. Pay close attention in the Issue Matrix to "Companion Units." It's an issue the San Diego Assn of Realtors is pushing hard. Want granny flats in every yard, more cars, less parking, more people to fill the local bars. Founder, step up to the plate here.
Response to post #40: With the ballpark bonds, it only took two to tango. The yield was so juicy at around 7.5% that Merrill Lynch kept them instead of selling them. (There may have been another reason -- more revealing -- why ML kept those bonds and didn't sell them.) Best, Don Bauder
Rep;y #43 Right On, (NOT) Funny how some important things got left off the "Reduce the City Budget" Table!
Spend San Diego Money on San Diego, not $panos
BTW: My copy of the above flyer, which was a couple of days old, only had 4 groups, where as this link now has 2 more "groups" that have now been added to the $HORT Change All San Diegan's List!
Why is the Guacamole Bowl and reducing PEN$ION$ not listed?
Again, not providing the complete list is just such "Poor Politics"...
Here is the latest on our Debacle: http://www.sandiego.gov/citycouncil/cd3/pdf/101020.pdf
I'm just wondering how many will soon be writing in:
Vote for Recall, Not Prop D...
Where is Robin Hood, when we really need him?
Response to post #41: McDonald's Redux? Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #42: Those aren't in the cards. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #43: Yes, density is the name of the game now. Best, Don Bauder
Response to post #45: San Diego is Sherwood Forest, occupied by Reverse Robin Hood, who steals from the poor and gives it to the rich. Best, Don Bauder
Reply #49 If that is indeed the case, then Robbing Hood's merry band are also helping themselves to the spoils of San Diego as they seek to sell all in managed competition, in order to "earn" protection from the Ultra Wealthy, who will continue to make more money and exercise their Increased POWER, even after the City is forced into Bankruptcy...
San Diego used to be known as a Navy Town, now it's becoming the Political GRAVY Town!
Maybe Palin will pick $anders for her running mate!
Response to post #50: Managed competition will work in a relatively clean town. But it won't work in corrupt San Diego. The contracts will go to political donors. Best, Don Bauder
Reply #51 Yup, here they now believe in the "Other" Golden Rule: Those with the Gold Rule...
Response to post #52: That Golden Rule used to be communicated only by gold bugs. You are extending its usage. Best, Don Bauder