Refuting much of what I wrote in the previous item, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed’s courageous and necessary pension reform initiative appears dead for now, thanks in no small part to pro-labor state Attorney General Kamala Harris. As I predicted, Harris wrote the ballot language of Reed’s proposed reform measure in such a stilted way [...]
The Gravy Train got rolling for public employees after Jerry Brown allowed them to unionize during his first terms as governor. They became the state’s most powerful political force. The Democratic legislature marched in lockstep with them. Now, however, the climate has shifted. The legislature is seeing more “pro-business Democrats. Like Assembly member Susan Eggman, D-Stockton. Why is [...]
Stockton Congressman Jerry McNerney has written Google a letter: “I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to Stockton, which is located in my congressional district, and to tell you about the tremendous resources our region has to offer. “First as you have already discovered is the Port of Stockton, an ocean-accessible hub [...]
It sometimes seems the state decided to solve its perennial conflicts with various cities and regions over new prison siting by deciding to build all future prisons at Stockton. That would simply be unjust. Especially since the L.A. area contributes the lion’s share of felons. There are two ways to stop the state from bulding more prisons in [...]
Believe it or not, a couple groups of public employees sued to assert that the odious practice of pension spiking — inflating pensions in retirement over the salary received during career — is a legal right. A judge just said no. If you want to thank somebody, start with Contra Costa Superior Court Judge David Flinn, [...]
Reader James Estrada writes: “It was very exciting to hear the Google barge came to Stockton. When the rumor first floated I thought, “Port of Stockton should jump all over this and offer them a berth immediately.” I’m glad they did. The Stockton Record articles enumerated many of the good reasons why this lifts Stockton’s [...]
The Google barge reminds me of a postmodern artwork I saw once, a telephone. You picked it up, expecting to hear something. But you heard nothing. This disappointed you. That was the point of the artwork: it symbolized modern technology’s failure to live up to our expectations. Google launched its barge project in corporate secrecy. C/Net got wind of it and [...]
No blogging this morning. I got caught up in the Google barge’s arrival. Was out on a boat, then out at the port. Now writing story. Hope to blog later today.
Stockton faces tough challenges. Crime, unemployment, changing growth strategies, blight, downtown revival, to name a few. And Mayor Anthony Silva has responded – by becoming a mail-order minister. Silva announced last night he is now ordained to marry people. It is unclear whether Silva feels the mayor’s job is not spiritually fulfilling enough. It is clear Silva feels [...]
Another front in the war described in today’s column is density. New plans are calling for more people to live in less space. A county plan calls for doubling the average density of new developments. Single-family homes would decline from 90 percent of housing stock to about 58 percent. Benefits include more walkable (hence closer-knit) neighborhoods, preservation of farmland and open space, [...]
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