• Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for March 7th through March 8th

    These are my links for March 7th through March 8th:

    • Redevelopment agencies: California State controller reports numerous failings by redevelopment agencies – City redevelopment agencies improperly shortchanged schools by more than $40 million last year while allocating millions of dollars in public money for such things as a luxury golf course and a lobbyist, state Controller John Chiang said in a report released Monday.

      Chiang's report, adding fuel to the argument that redevelopment agencies are sucking up precious funds with little to show for their efforts, was immediately condemned by redevelopment advocates as politically motivated. A furious battle is playing out between the state and cities over the governor's proposal to scrap redevelopment entirely.

      Cities launched a statewide radio ad blitz and petition-gathering campaign Monday urging legislators to protect the state's approximately 400 municipal redevelopment agencies. Gov. Jerry Brown is recommending that much of the $5 billion a year in property taxes they collect be sent instead to schools, counties and the state.

      One ad called the move "a scheme" that will "put thousands more out of work."

      The California Professional Firefighters and the California School Employees Assn. countered with a campaign on radio stations in Sacramento. "While deputies are facing layoffs, fire stations are closing and local school funding is slashed, redevelopment agencies are spending taxpayer money for stadiums, parking garages and 'mermaid bars,' " one declared.

      +++++++

      Read the entire article.

      California Redevelopment Agencies have been full of abuse for decades. Before there was plenty of tax base to steal from the state, so the California Legislature turned a blind eye.

      No longer.

      I mean look at Thousand Oaks and its blighted Civic Arts Plaza and new City Hall.

      Then, look at the surrounding Thousand Oaks Blvd area which the Redevelopment Agency was formed to help.

    • NPR Executives Caught On Video – Better off without Federal Funding – Later in the lunch, Schiller explains that NPR would be better positioned free of federal funding. “Well frankly, it is clear that we would be better off in the long-run without federal funding,” he says. “The challenge right now is that if we lost it all together we would have a lot of stations go dark.”

      When one of O’Keefe’s associates asked, “How confident are you, with all the donors that are available, if they should pull the funding right now that you would survive?,” Schiller answered this way: “Yes, NPR would definitely survive and most of the stations would survive.”

      That is precisely the opposite answer Schiller’s boss, NPR CEO Vivian Schiller (no relation), gave at a press conference Monday in Washington. “We take [federal defunding] very, very seriously,” she said. “It would have a profound impact we believe on our ability – of public broadcasting’s ability – to deliver news and information.”

      At the Café Milano lunch, Schiller said he’s “very proud of” how NPR fired Juan Williams. “What NPR stood for is non-racist, non-bigoted, straightforward telling of the news and our feeling is that if a person expresses his or her opinion, which anyone is entitled to do in a free society, they are compromised as a journalist,” he said. “They can no longer fairly report.”
      With that, Schiller once again directly contradicted NPR’s public statements. At her Monday press conference, Vivian Schiller apologized for the way it handled the Williams matter. “We handled the situation badly,” she said. “We acted too hastily and we made some mistakes. I made some mistakes.”

      +++++++

      Read the entire piece.

      Defund these idiots and they should fire this idiot for being a moron, especially with regards to Juan Williams.

    • Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Millionaire Michigan Dentist Richard Ludwig Finds Credit Card in Florida Parking Lot, Uses it To Buy Pizza – ARRESTED – Millionaire Michigan Dentist Richard Ludwig Finds Credit Card in Florida Parking Lot, Uses it To Buy Pizza – ARRESTED
    • President 2012 Pennsylvania Poll Watch: Obama 43% Vs Romney 36% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Pennsylvania Poll Watch: Obama 43% Vs Romney 36% #tcot #catcot
    • Day By Day March 8, 2011 – Bean There | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day March 8, 2011 – Bean There #tcot #catcot
    • Wisconsin GOP President 2012 Poll Watch: Ryan 30% Vs Huckabee 17% Vs Gingrich 12% Vs Palin and Romney 9% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Wisconsin GOP President 2012 Poll Watch: Ryan 30% Vs Huckabee 17% Vs Gingrich 12% Vs Palin and Romney 9% #tcot #catcot
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-03-08 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-03-08 #tcot #catcot
    • Capitol Alert: Amazon sales tax bill stalls in Assembly committee – Amazon sales tax bill stalls in Assembly committee – Probably Temporarily
    • Amazon sales tax bill stalls in Assembly committee – Probably Temporarily – Hotly contested legislation aimed at compelling Amazon and other on-line retailers to collect California sales taxes stalled Monday — probably temporarily — in the the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee.

      Committee chairman Henry Perea, a Fresno Democrat, placed the bill on the committee's "suspense file" after a lengthy hearing but the committee's majority Democrats appear from their comments to be ready to approve it. Perea said the vote may come within a few weeks.

      Backed by a coalition of public employee unions and California's brick-and-mortar retailers, including Wal-Mart and The Home Depot, Assembly Bill 153 is patterned after a New York law that is now undergoing judicial scrutiny. State tax officials say it could raise as much as a billion dollars a year if enacted.

      Technically, Californians who buy goods from out-of-state on-line sellers are liable for "use taxes," equivalent to sales taxes, on their purchases, and there's a line on personal income tax returns for reporting such purchases. But very few buyers pay use taxes, and state officials say there's no practical way to collect them.

      The Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that states cannot compel mail order retailers to collect sales taxes unless they have a "physical presence" in the state, such as a store. New York's law contends that when Amazon or another on-line retailer uses "affiliates" in the state to serve customers, it creates a "nexus" that satisfies the Supreme Court decision.

      Amazon, however, warned in a letter to state officials last week that if Skinner's bill, or one of the other similar measures, becomes law, it will cancel its contracts with thousands of California affiliates. Other mail order networks have made similar threats, the committee was told.

      +++++++

      The Dems will pass this bill but since this is a tax increase, they will need a 2/3rds vote to pass the full Assembly and Senate

    • Flap’s Links and Comments for March 7th from 14:53 to 16:13 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for March 7th from 14:53 to 16:13 #tcot #catcot
    • President 2012: Sarah Palin to Forego NBC-Politico GOP Presidential Debate for Colorado Tribute to the Troops | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Sarah Palin to Forego NBC-Politico GOP Presidential Debate for Colorado Tribute to… #tcot #catcot
    • Video: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie – The Choice | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Video: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie – The Choice | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
    • Video: The Game Is On, No, Not for President – Sarah Palin Vs. Kathy Griffin | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Video: The Game Is On, No, Not for President – Sarah Palin Vs. Kathy Griffin | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's D…
    • Flap’s Links and Comments for March 7th from 14:20 to 14:26 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for March 7th from 14:20 to 14:26 | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links for February 23rd from 14:35 to 14:41

    These are my links for February 23rd from 14:35 to 14:41:

    • How California cities invited the death of redevelopment – Last fall, the League of California Cities, which spent $2.5 million to promote a ballot initiative, argued forcefully that property taxes should be used only to pay for essential public services.

      In their official ballot argument for Proposition 22, the head of the association's Fire Chiefs Department and the president of the California Police Chiefs Association wrote that property taxes should be used "to fund vital local services like 911 response, police and fire protection."

      It's the same argument that Gov. Jerry Brown is using these days as he makes his case to disband the state's 400-plus local redevelopment agencies and to instead spend the property tax revenues they now receive on bread-and-butter services for California taxpayers.

      "Redevelopment funds come directly from local property taxes that would otherwise pay for schools and core city and county services such as police and fire protection and care for the most vulnerable people in our society," Brown said in his State of the State address. "I come down on the side of those who believe that core functions of government must be funded first."

      +++++++

      Read it all

      California Redevelopment Agencies have been an abuse that has gone on for decades.

      They are really an attempt to recapture local property tax revenues before they go to the state and are wasted on state spending priorities.

      The State of California turned a blind eye to this money grab by local communities while taxes and spending increased.

      Now, the state is broke and wants its money back.

      The state is right but the repercussions to local cities and counties will be widespread but what does Jerry Brown care – that is their problem.

    • Indiana lawmakers pass immigration curbs like Arizona – The Indiana senate passed a sweeping immigration bill that echoes Arizona's tougher measures on illegal immigrants and despite opposition from some of the largest employers and business groups in the state.

      The measure, passed on Tuesday night by a vote of 31-18, would allow state and local police to ask a person stopped for infractions like traffic violations for proof of legal residency if the officer has a "reasonable suspicion" they may be in the country illegally.

      Another provision would call for, with some exceptions, the use of English only in public meetings, on Web sites and in documents.

      The bill still needs to be adopted by state's House of Representatives, where opponents say they will now turn.

      ++++++

      Likely in more states as well.