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This time last week, we Democrats were preparing for the ADEMs. A few days ago, we got the first sounding of how well progressive Democrats did statewide.
(Go ahead, click on that and take a look.)
Really well. Startlingly well. But: a majority of this new term’s party membership? Not likely. “ADD”s (Assembly District Delegates) are only part of the membership of the party. The rest includes ex officio members, both publicly and party-elected, appointees of elected officials, and members appointed by the various state parties. (DPOC alone has enough slots to cover all of the not-otherwise-elected members of the Central Committee, as well as some of its alternates.) So even a substantial victory in the ADEMs doesn’t translate to an absolute majority.
This is part of what critics mean when we say that “the system is rigged.” It doesn’t mean that the outcome is always pre-determined; it means that the procedures, and the selection of who will have a say under those procedures, is deeply slanted — generally for the benefit of incumbent party officials.
We still need some reports from the ADEM races, so if you don’t see your local results listed in the comments to our previous item on ADEMs from a week ago, please send in your own results so we can come up with a final list.
OJB is off to the local swearing-in ceremony for State Senator Josh Newman; we’ll report back on that later — as well as with some thoughts on the MLK2 Day holiday and what it tells us about our current political environment.
This is your Holiday Weekend Open Thread; write about that or whatever else you’d like, within reasonable bounds of discretion and decorum.
*Yeah…has anyone seen the 35 Page Report by the MI-6 Agent on Buzz Feed about Trump? Just wondering?
Um, yeah, this guy has, and even provided several interesting links, including to the original “report” to “evaluate” for yourself. Enjoy.
https://www.corbettreport.com/what-i-learned-from-the-intelligence-report-on-russian-hacking/
*What’s the rumor that some pro was captured wee wee oning The Trumpster
at one of those From Russia with Love Hotels? Per KNX 640…
*It was actually on Handel on the Law on KFI 640..
JM Ivler, Los Alamitos activist, liberal intellectual and occasional OJ contributor, passed away of a massive heart attack on Thursday. His friend Lauren Sommers is planning to write a eulogy which we will print. His funeral info is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1430595993908451/
Here are the two pieces he wrote for us:
How Proposition 13 began to screw us over the years, and how to fix it!
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2014/06/how-proposition-13-began-to-screw-us-over-the-years-and-how-to-fix-it/
And, a description of the educational software he developed and gave out for free to schools that wanted it:
http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2015/06/ivlers-way-great-educad-program-will-help-the-students-in-your-life/
We spoke many times on facebook and the phone, but I only met him in person once, when he and I both showed up at the DPOC meeting to try to stop them from stripping away Greg Diamond’s chairmanship.
I see “Los Al News” has an obituary up http://losalnews.com/in-memoriam-j-m-ivler/
Once again, a Los Alamitos hero has been suddenly taken from us.
I was shocked and deeply grieved to learn Friday afternoon that J. M. Ivler died of a massive heart attack on Thursday.
J.M. was a courageous, smart, and highly committed advocate for the betterment of our community and our schools. He spoke out courageously against corruption and the abuse of power at the local, county, state, and federal levels.
He was a key leader of a small band of local residents who repeatedly thwarted massive overdevelopment and exposed corruption in our corner of West Orange County. Truly a David who defeated Goliaths that outspent him 100 to 1 with his wisdom, commitment, and the truth.
JM got involved in local politics almost as soon as he moved into Los Alamitos in 1992, joining a fight against Race Track expansion and helping a band of populists wrest control of Los Alamitos’ City Council from a small clique too often put the interests of businesses ahead of residents. He never quit pushing hard for what he felt was in our community’s best interest.
JM was also co-editor, administrator, webmaster and a regular contributor to LosAlNews.com and it’s predecessor, LetsFixLosAl.com. He also co-founded and ran Education4Kids (Edu4kids.com), committed to using technology to improve education across the nation.
But J. M’s highest commitment was to his family. He was the committed and loving husband of his wife, Thuy, since 1991, and proud father of their son, Matt, a Junior at Los Al High & their daughter, Brooke, who graduated from Arizona State University last December.
JM is also survived by his mother, Barbara Ivler of Seal Beach. The two of them used to go together twice a week to the local 24 Hour Fitness to work out. Ironically, JM was stuck with the heart attack while waiting at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena while his mother had outpatient eye surgery.
JM’s sudden passing leaves a huge void in both his family and in our community. Hopefully many of us will rise up to fill those voids. As we have proven again and again over the last ten years, working together, we really can fix our communities.
A Memorial Service is scheduled this coming at 11:00 am this coming Wednesday, January 18th, at Temple Israel, 269 Loma, Long Beach.
Please take the time to post a positive memory or comment below. And help us spread the word of JM’s Memorial service using your preferred social media by the links below.
This is terrible. He was a fierce advocate for critical civic causes.
In the right margin, the “A Bubbling Cauldron” post about “Ranking 116 Cities Financial Strength – Chicago, NYC Last ” caught my eye,
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2017/01/09/How-Strong-Are-Your-Citys-Finances-116-US-Cities-Ranked
and I abstracted the following data from the “full study” article. Scrolling further and FURTHER, DOWN the rankings, Anaheim finally appeared, at LEAST above San Bernardino for CA cities but DEAD LAST among similar sized OC Cities. The HORROR !
The Methodology and Weighting of factors (Using 2015 Data) is disclosed
1. the ratio of a city’s general fund balance to its expenditures (40 % weight)
2. the ratio of its long term obligations (including OPEB but excluding pensions) to total government-wide revenues (30 % weight)
3. the ratio of actuarially determined pension contributions to total government-wide revenues (10 % weight)
4. change in local unemployment rate (10 % weight)
5. change in property values (10 % weight).
NATIONAL City Score
Rank/116 of 100
1 Irvine 100 OC
2 Fontana 99
3 Moreno Vly 97
4 Huntgtn Bch 94 OC
5 Santa Ana 94 OC
6 Glendale 96 (also has Municipal Utility)
11 Chula Vista 87
12 Fremont 87
18 Stockton (BK!) 85
24 San Diego 82
25 Sacramento 82
26 Oakland 82
27 Bakersfield 82
33 San Francisco 76
42 Modesto 73
48 San Jose 72
50 Long Beach 71
61 Oxnard 68
66 Riverside 65
69 Fresno 65
86 ANAHEIM 58 OC <<<<<<<<<
88 San Bernardino 57 (BK !)
96 Los Angeles 54
115 New York City 26
116 Chicago 25
HOW CAN THIS BE, when EVERY budget approval, EVERY spending request, is preceded by a chest-pounding chorus lauding OUR marvelous ECONOMIC ENGINE ! Have we been breathing too many of the exhaust fumes? Doesn't this CRY OUT for an explanation by our "Transparency is just another word in the Dictionary" City Manager and our Finance Director, who receive laudable (BUT SECRET !) performance reviews, ( CM 8-30-16 and 9-13-16 and 9-27-16 and 10-18-16 and 10-25-16 and 11-1-16 and 11-22-16, FD )with the FD also maneuvering (June 2014 Measure C) consolidation of the Treasurer position into her office and allowing its hiring/firing by CM besides Council) (WHILE OUTSOURCING MOST OF ITS SIGNIFICANT DUTIES (11-01-16 Item 11))? (11-17-15)
Anaheim's ABYSMAL rank hurts EVEN MORE when you can see the names of SO MANY CITIES recently newsworthy DUE TO FINANCIAL TROUBLE that have HIGHER RANKINGS !!
Public speakers requesting consideration of establishment of "Sanctuary City" status for Anaheim, must be unaware that Anaheim is ALREADY a sanctuary City … for overpaid Administrators of questionable competence!!
January is traditionally the time for resolutions of improvement. This study is a WAKE UP CALL that we NEED SOME for our City Staff.
I might suggest three-
A top-down Management and Financial Audit of the City, with HOUSECLEANING as required.
The City's financial strength "status" and ranking, when used for implicit justification in budget proposals and spending requests etc. should be shown in IMPARTIAL RANKING AGAINST A GROUP OF ITS LOCAL AND STATEWIDE PEERS, NOT MERELY CHERRY-PICKED EXAMPLES OR of ITS OWN CHANGE BETWEEN TIME PERIODS.
The CRITERIA, their WEIGHTING, and resultant RATING of City Administration performance reviews should be REMOVED from the shroud of closed session secrecy and PUBLICLY posted. These are OUR EMPLOYEES who WE ARE PAYING !
WHAT private business tells its CEO CFO and shareholders "ALL our employees are WONDERFUL, and HERE are their bonus checks for YOU TO SIGN, but YOU can see NONE of our grounds for saying so, JUST TRUST US !" NONE !
THIS is ABSURD !
And not to forget the recent moves in (#5 Ranked) Santa Ana to possibly REMOVE its CM. Our PD is dysfunctional (shootings, park harassments) with a toothless ‘Review Board”, “Transparency” is a worsening joke, beyond all the other problems regularly chronicled here, but Anaheim’s CM REMAINS ?????
Fake America Great Again! says the Donald of Trumpster! Fontana Number 2? Come on now….Bethlehem Steel left there at least 40 years ago……didn’t they? What happened and how did they get so bucks up? New housing developments, New Commercial Centers……this would just be interesting to know how they achieved that rating. Irvine, is obvious…….that is Bren World where if inflation doesn’t exist….they just keep creating it. Sort of like the Fed printing more money to dump into the Global Economy. Oh well, hopefully someone knows the whole inside story to Fontana.
“A Charming little Inland Village with a serious drinking problem!”
Meanwhile, it is nice to know we have gone back to the days of Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford…….Saturday Night Live Lives! Keep trucking
Alec “the Great” Baldwin……we love your work! So is it Fake America
Great Again or Flake America Great Again? All too confusing! Or as the Germans might say: “Strucker Alz Smutz!”
Big Box, clearly the criteria used for ranking cities failed to take into consideration the POSSIBILITY of building 4-star hotels. Is that not what defines a “world class city?” Anaheim’s Econ Development lawyer John Woodhead, and Council members Kring and Murray insist a world class city requires monied hotel patrons. Make America Concierge Level again? Doesn’t have much of a ring to it…
Never mind that we are forfeiting massive public funds needed to repair the deferred maintenance left by 2 decades of neglect to the neighborhoods. We keep blindly subsidizing the hotel developers, an action that does NOTHING to lure the 4-star hotel PATRON not getting the subsidy.
JUST IMAGINE if we began aiming public policy in Anaheim toward attracting the 4 star SMALL BUSINESS OWNER. Lure the companies that are the TRUE backbone of the economic recovery, and their better-than-poverty-wages for our residents, by offering their CEO/key employees a nice place to live, where their families want to go to school and shop, and they will bring their businesses (and jobs) here. We keep aiming at the crack cocaine of TOT funds, with its extreme highs and lows, and the result is being at the bottom of the barrel in ranking against other similar cities.
Our City public info office insults out intelligence claiming “It’s Working!” It has been a two decade long FAILURE and it is time to focus on the issues that increase PROPERTY TAX, SALES TAX, and property values, issues that ALSO drive quality of life AND more specifically fit the definition of government policy and not “make work” projects fo non-economists to pretend they are somehow goosing the economy.
Big box, thanks for the article/chart, that is very interesting. Hope you are having a great New Year so far.
Alas, a diligent search (actually several) of http://www.fivestaralliance.com turned up exactly NO 4 and 5 star luxury hotels in 17 of the 20 CA Cities surpassing Anaheim on the list of 116. Of the 20, only San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose have 4 and 5 star hotels while ranking higher in financial stability than Anaheim, and locally only Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Los Angeles were even search hits on the luxury hotel site, the first two not in the group of 116 due to small size, and LA being lower ranked than Anaheim.
Wouldn’t an economic study of the Hotel subsidy have explored that correlation, except I don’t recall that one was undertaken ?
But we have a world class, $200,000,000 multi-modal transportation center!!!
Yes, ARTIC is completely empty now, but it wasn’t planned for immediate success, says Kring.
Good thing they”connected” it to the Santa Ana River trail.
$4,000,000 a year for a building no one uses so no one can use it.
Now its Team Tait’s problem. Here’s the mayor a copuple years ago in Voice of OC:
“I think we need to go back to the drawing board. We have a very unique, iconic building, and we need to get creative on how to energize it,” Tait said. “There are ways to reprogram it, similar to what they did with the Ferry Building at San Francisco.”
Personally, I have no idea how to make this monstrosity do anything except suck up money.
Greg has suggested to use it as an overnight homeless shelter. There will be a few logistics challenges, such as transporting people from the riverbed, additional toilets, partitioning the lobby to keep the train patrons services undisturbed by the temporary occupants.
It’s been suggested that it be converted into a drive-in theater. And then a swap meet.
Breaking Fullerton Martin Luther King Day news! This morning, on the way to work, black activist “Governor Nickolas Wildstar” gets arrested in Fullerton on his way to work, for “matching the description” of a burglary suspect.
Folks are worried because his wife called the Fullerton police and there is no record of his arrest or whereabouts. Does anyone recognize any of these cops?
Another new (only to me ?) online tool I just stumbled across is at http://www.subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org
which is a searchable online database of corporate subsidies from ALL LEVELS of government. Of course my first test was to type in ‘Disney’ which returned many I expected, and some I didn’t. Minutes later I got to wondering why NO LISTINGS appeared for Florida, location of the OTHER park, until I remembered what you can learn by Googling “Reedy Creek Improvement District”, that Disney (by virtue of owning all property and only allowing permanent residency by EMPLOYEES) CONTROLS A GOVERNMENT ! (Sort of like the rarely mentioned SoCal cities of Industry and Commerce ?) so subsidies TO YOURSELF make the issue moot ? Well, FWIW.