Monthly Archives: October 2009

It’s raining prisons

By Michael Fitzgerald | Published: October 30, 2009 | Comments closed
In late news Friday, the state confirmed it is sizing up the vacant DeWitt Nelson Youth Facility east of Stockton for a 1,133-bed mental health facility. Let’s recap. A 3-judge federal panel ordered the state of California to fix its prison system. The solution so far is: –to build a re-entry facility at Stockton. –to build a prison [...]
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Take that, Mr. Kelso

By Michael Fitzgerald | Published: October 30, 2009 | Comments closed
So the battle lines are drawn — the Chamber board voted unanimously last night to take legal action against the prison hospital. And this just arrived from Chamber CEO Douglass Wilhoit. “Just a few moments ago received a voice mail from Mr. Kelso stating: “Hi Doug, Clark Kelso receiver here, just heard you all took a formal [...]
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‘Send us that lemon!’

By Michael Fitzgerald | Published: October 30, 2009 | Comments closed
How differenlty they see the gulag in Kern County.
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Union rep: Cutting costs does not save money

By Michael Fitzgerald | Published: October 29, 2009 | Comments closed
Taking the sort of action needed in Stockton, city managers in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties have decided to cut retirement benefits for new hires, saying taxpayers should no longer have to fund ever-increasing employee compensation costs. As reported here, “Between fiscal years 2000 and 2010, employee retirement costs have ballooned from $240,000 to $4 [...]
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Bad news for Boise

By Michael Fitzgerald | Published: October 28, 2009 | Comments closed
Well, what do you know: Stockton is no longer Ground Zero, reports the Wall Street Journal.
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Building here because they built here

By Michael Fitzgerald | Published: October 28, 2009 | Comments closed
That’s pretty much the message J. Clark Kelso, the federal receiver of the state prison hospital system, gave the local Chamber yesterday — that he is siting the only new prison hospital in the state outside Stockton — dumping on this city again — because a couple prison facilities here stand vacant. Because it’s easy, in [...]
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But not as warm as we’d like

By Michael Fitzgerald | Published: October 27, 2009 | Comments closed
J. Clark Kelso, the federal receiver who took over California’s prison system, and plans to build a new prison hospital in Stockton, is in town today to meetwith the local Chamber. Chamber CEO Douglass Wilhoit, a staunch opponent of the facility, confirmed the meeting with Kelso’s PR person with these words:  “Richard:  Looking forward to seeing you  [...]
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From New York to Stockton, via Stockton

By Michael Fitzgerald | Published: October 27, 2009 | Comments closed
Syd and Mary Lois Thompson write: Today when we went to our mailbox, guess what? We think you will chuckle too. There was a pretty pink envelope addressed to a woman in Stockton … on-Tees, England!   On the back is a little stamp saying “miss you”. The street address number is 29. Our street number is 29. [...]
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Finnegan’s hit with access lawsuit

By Michael Fitzgerald | Published: October 27, 2009 | Comments closed
Finnegan’s, the Irish pub that opened on North Pacific Avenue last March, has been hit with a wheelchair-access lawsuit, owner Tony Mannor reports. Mannor—who was at his other job, and did not have the suit documents before him – was unsure whether the disabled plaintiff and attorney are the same ones that hit Chuck’s Hamburgers in [...]
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Back-story of a boondoggle

By Michael Fitzgerald | Published: October 26, 2009 | Comments closed
I did not enjoy writing this column. That is because I support both redevelopment — in principle, if decreasingly in practice — and Mayor Ann Johnston. But now she and the Council have their own redevelopment albatross, and it appears they dug the money hole the exact same way Mark Lewis turned the arena into a [...]
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