San Diego Mayor Bob Filner has been keeping silent about his views on the 2 percent hotel tax. I previously argued that I thought the tax violated Proposition 26. City Attorney Jan Goldsmith pointed out that the city was taking a risk in the comments section on sdrostra. City Attorney Goldsmith cited his office’s legal opinion which finished with this …
A Fine Mess – The Hotel Tax
I find myself partially agreeing with Mayor Filner on the subject of San Diego’s hotel tax. He has stalled on signing the contract that would allow the hoteliers to start using the proceeds to promote tourism and the hotels of San Diego. In an earlier post, I noted that he wanted to use the revenue for “public safety,” but now …
County Pension System Risks vs 401
The U-T has a great article on changes in the portfolio mix of the San Diego County employee pension fund. In 2009, the county fired the fund manager after losses totaling $2 billion in 2008. Assuming that the fund had about $9 billion at the time, that is a loss of 22%, compared withan an S&P loss of 37% for …
Filner’s Start in Office
. . . is not that great. I was happy he is stopping medical marijuana outlet harassment by the city, but is that really a burning issue? Beyond that Filner’s start in office has not made me optimistic. He cancelled new managed competition actions, claiming that more study is needed and that service levels have suffered. The Miramar landfill competition …
Brown Planning Pay Raises for State Workers
At least that’s my take on these comments, as quoted in the U-T article headlined “NOT ALL PROP. 30 TAX HIKE MONEY GOING TO SCHOOLS.” Brown’s proposed $97.7 billion general fund budget assumes no state employee raises beyond those already required in union contracts. But contracts for all but two of the state’s 21 bargaining units are set to expire …
Economy and My Son’s Union Job
After about a year of looking for work, my youngest son (M) got two job offers within a matter of a week. The first was with a fast food outlet and the second with a grocery chain. Signs that the local economy is picking up? I hope so. The alternate explanation is that hiring by local stores, ramping up for …
Hotels, Politics and San Diego
Looking for San Diego news to blog about, I notice the extent to which news regarding rich hoteliers looms large locally. Perhaps because tourism is so important to the local economy, we see so many stories. 1. Evans Hotels was recently granted an extension to the lease of the Bahia Resort land on Mission Bay for another 21 years under …
Progressives Look to Filner to Whack at San Diego’s Economy
Kelly Davis of CityBeat has performed a public service in detailing some areas where Bob Filner’s philosophy will have a negative impact on the city’s economy. Of course, Davis doesn’t take that view, but a review of potential “progressive” action items doesn’t bode well for the local economy. Development. Progressives complain about the city reorganization that saved some money and …
Veteran’s Day – A View of Mount Soledad
Mount Soledad Veteran’s Memorial the morning of November 3, 2012. Happy Veteran’s Day to everyone. I have been taking a break from blogging and taking it easy yesterday and doing research today. As a veteran so it seems a little self serving to thank veterans for their service; so I will say thank you to the Veterans who have served …
A Plescia Campaign Volunteer Stopped by my House
This evening, Justin, a student at Point Loma Nazarene, stopped by my house to talk to me about George Plescia’s campaign for the state senate. My eldest son answered the door, but immediately called for me to take the visit; since Justin was asking about putting up a yard sign. I liked that the first thing he did was ask …
Bilbray’s Call Center Needs an Upgrade
I got a call today from the Bilbray campaign, dialing me up from Del Mar (858-617-XXXX according to the caller id). A young man asked me something that was hard to understand because the voice quality of the call was garbled. I thought he asked if I was supporting Brian Bilbray, but in hindsight, I think he must have been …
Looming Sequestration and Defense – Obama Pressure to Violate the Law
Without taking a position on the wisdom of sequestration, I have it on good authority that it is the official policy of the Department of Defense not to plan for the eventuality; despite widespread belief that it will. In my opinion, this is because the word has come down from the administration to ignore what is happening so that defense …
California Looking for New Ways to Steal Worker’s Money
Well, that’s not what Jerry Brown and legislative Democrats claim their bill would do, but how can we doubt that wouldn’t be the effect. Here is what they are claiming, as reported in the SacBee: The goal is to create a savings program in which workers who have no access to a pension can count on a guaranteed rate of …
Critical Mass and Mob Rule
The news that a police officer was struck in the head by a screw driver yesterday, likely thrown by a bicyclist participating in Critical Mass, isn’t really surprising to me nor to many others. While the goals of the Critical Mass bike movement appear laudable, raising awareness of the unfriendly nature of the urban street environment to bicycles, the mob nature …
Bilbray and Peters Race Reportedly Close
The U-T is reporting that Democratic sponsored polls are showing a dead heat in my home district, the CA-52, in the race between Brian Bilbray, incumbent Republican and Scott Peters, former City councilman and Port commissioner. One poll was at 40-40 and another at 45-45. While these are polls of likely voters, the real question will be what actual turn …
California tea party Conundrum
As a tea partyer in deep blue California, it may seem that we have limited ability to influence elections. Gerrymandering keeps almost all House, Assembly and State Senate races non-competitive. However, ballot measures and local races still provide an opportunity to make our voices heard and to beat the entrenched labor/big-government establishment. Temple of Mut has provided a public service …
ACA Anti-Tax Protest Rally – Bilbray Also Speaks
I attended the Anti-Tax Rally today in downtown San Diego held in front of the County Administration Building. Brian Bilbray was clearly the most famous speaker invited. He is in a competitive district, as I have previously discussed. The rally started with doctors in white lab coats speaking about the harm done to health care under the law. Doctor Gary …
Bankruptcy – No Pension Panacea
In the 2010 San Diego City Council race, and in previous mayoral campaigns, the idea of bankruptcy for San Diego has been proffered. However, neither Vallejo, which survived bankruptcy, nor Stockton, now going through bankruptcy have demonstrated that public employee pensions can be discharged in bankruptcy court, at least in California. In California, after the Vallejo experience, the state passed …
California Tobacco Tax Defeated
In a little noticed report from the AP, Proposition 29, the Tobacco Tax initiative has narrowly been defeated. Although anticipated, this is the first news announcement I have seen on the issue. With about 5 million ballots cast, opponents of Proposition 29 led by about 28,000 votes. The Associated Press analyzed areas where the roughly 105,000 uncounted votes remain and …
Fortnight for Freedom – In Defense of Religious Liberty
Re-posted with permission from the author at W.C. Varones blog, regarding mass at Mission San Diego de Alcala, Wednesday evening. First they came for the Catholics, and I did not speak up because I was not a Catholic… The W.C. Varones Blog stands squarely with American Catholics as they defend their religious liberty from unprecedented assault by the Obama regime. …
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