The state controller has little or nothing to with
redevelopment, but he has a lot to do with money. And his scathing audit of redevelopment agencies came
at a critical moment, just as the Legislature considers abolishing the agencies
entirely. The LAT's Jessica Garrison reports.
"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."
More on redevelopment from The Thundering Herd: Contra Costa Times, the Sacramento Bee, the Orange County Register and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
The redevelopment agencies weren't the only ones to
get a smackdown: Five Republican senators said budget negotiations with
Brown had reached an impasse, and said the governor refused to seriously consider
their issues. The Chronicle's Wyatt Buchanan tells the tale.
"Gov. Jerry Brown's push to get the Legislature to pass a budget this week,
and to call a special election in June to ask voters
to approve additional taxes, sustained a serious setback
Monday when five Republican senators the governor had
been courting for votes said they could not support
his plan."
"Earlier in the day, Brown himself cast doubt on his
target of getting two-thirds of the Legislature to approve his budget plan
by Thursday, a goal that would allow sufficient time
for a June election. At a meeting of the Board of Governors
of the California Community Colleges, Brown even implored
the board and the audience to pressure Republican lawmakers."
More than just cast doubt: The governor acknowledged he doesn't have the GOP votes, notes HealthyCal's Dan Weintraub.
"Gov. Jerry Brown conceded Monday that he does not
have the handful of Republican votes he needs to place
a tax measure on a June special election ballot, and
he probably won’t secure those votes by his self-imposed deadline Thursday."
Democrats hope to pass what amounts to half the budget
by then — a spending plan with about $12 billion in cuts, mostly to health, social service
and higher education programs. But that plan is linked
to Brown’s proposal to ask voters to extend about $11 billion in temporary tax increases due to expire this
year. And he needs two Republicans in the state Senate
and two in the Assembly to place that measure on the
ballot."
As if the public didn't have enough to worry about,
how's this: The forced furloughs that were ordered to help balance
the budget have resulted in a $1 billion liability from the prison officers alone. The Chronicle's Marisa Lagos has the story.
"Poor management at California's prisons has for years
allowed workers to stock up on generous amounts of
paid time off - a benefit
that employees must either use or cash out when they
retire. But the numbers
swelled when former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger imposed
furloughs in 2009,
forcing prison guards and their supervisors to take
unpaid days off each month
to help save state cash."
"Furloughs are problematic at California's 33 state
prisons, all of which operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and have
thousands of unfilled prison guard positions. Workers
have been coming in on
their furlough days and banking paid time off."
From our "Tales of the HIghway Patrol" file comes the story of the driver who ran into a
house -- on the second floor. No, not California -- Illinois.
"An Elgin man and his 2001 BMW ended up hitting the second
story of a home on the 100 block of River Bluff Road in Elgin Sunday morning
after he ran through a stop sign and jumped the curb
at the intersection of
Douglas Avenue and River Bluff Road, Elgin police said."
"Department spokeswoman Sue Olafson said Heriberto
Estrada, 24, of the 200 block of Spring Street, was cited for DUI, disobeying
a
traffic control device, no valid driver’s license, no proof of insurance and
failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident."
So how many DMV points is this?...
