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thecount
Joined: 10 Nov 2009
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 Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:32 pm Post subject: |
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| I think Chicago is a strong contender. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 5:38 am Post subject: |
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| DIsbell wrote: |
| I'd nominate Phoenix metro area for this. Ridiculous sprawl, awful pollution, major lack of transportation (it got it's first commuter rail last year), meth mecca, crime... and Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Budget problems as well. |
It basically copied LA's development plan: sprawl and big ass freeways. Genius. |
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Pluto
Joined: 19 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:24 am Post subject: |
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| thecount wrote: |
| I think Chicago is a strong contender. |
I wouldn't put Chicago into the same category as SF. SF is a hyperdeomcracy as the article pointed out. Voting on the smallest of issues has made the city's government incredibly expensive and extremely inefficient. The city used to run more smoohtly when it was under the administration of a CAO. By no means was it perfect, but it was better run. In contrast, Chicago's got the Daleys, Madigans and Strogers running things. By no means is Chicago a hyperdemocracy like SF, not even close.
(also if you remember Dicky Sr.'s saying about Chicago - The City that works - oh it worked alright. Yet at least Chicago didn't fully succumb to the urban decay of cities like Cleveland and Detroit.) |
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Koveras
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 12:29 pm Post subject: |
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| bucheon bum wrote: |
| Koveras wrote: |
An article I read the other day shows where the mayor's head is at.
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Newsom said he's headed to Washington, D.C. next week to lobby House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for an extension of the money and to include people without children. He said he wants to see 2,500 or even more San Franciscans hired, and that the majority of California's $1.8 billion pot is still sitting waiting to be grabbed by cities since so few are participating.
"This is limitless. It's just a matter of who draws down the money fastest," Newsom said. "We discovered a pot of gold in the stimulus money." |
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?entry_id=53313&tsp=1 |
You might also want to google "San Francisco Chinatown subway" for a perfect example of gov't waste, compliments of Pelosi and Newsom. |
Thanks for the tip. I like this thread.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/21/BA11V61G4.DTL
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Just the initial math makes your head hurt. Basically it works out to somewhere between $1.22 billion and $1.4 billion for an underground railway that runs for less than two miles and has only three stops. That's not a transit system, it's a model railroad.
When completed, the short spur would run from Fourth and Brannan, under Market Street and up Stockton Street to a station in the middle of Chinatown, a distance of 1.7 miles. Throw in a few of the inevitable cost overruns and this could work out to a billion dollars a mile.
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 1:21 pm Post subject: |
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Muni has temporarily halted use of its biggest weapon against fare evasion -- saturation campaigns in which fare inspectors and sometimes police officers check everyone on a bus or rail car to make sure they've paid up or have a Fast Pass -- because some have apparently mistaken them for immigration raids.
"There was confusion surrounding the uniformed presence," said Kristen Holland, a Muni spokeswoman. "Many misunderstood and thought it might be an immigration law enforcement program." |
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?entry_id=63466&tsp=1#ixzz0ohua0WYr
What to say. |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 3:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Only the wealthy can have anything that aproaches a decent life in the bay area. Lousy string of mayors. Chicago rebuilt its downtown, has good schools, not badly ran at all. I would also vote for Phoenix . |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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| rollo wrote: |
| Only the wealthy can have anything that aproaches a decent life in the bay area. Lousy string of mayors. Chicago rebuilt its downtown, has good schools, not badly ran at all. I would also vote for Phoenix . |
What do you consider a decent life? Oakland and Berkeley aren't too bad, although if you can't afford to send your kid to a private school in Oakland, then yeah, I guess it isn't that great (well, for high school at least). Berkeley has decent schools at least. And some of the suburbs are affordable and are ok. |
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ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 5:56 pm Post subject: |
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heh
Nobody mentioned Baltimore, Newark, or Detroit
St. Louis, Miami, or Dallas.
Cleveland! |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 7:34 pm Post subject: |
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| ThingsComeAround wrote: |
heh
Nobody mentioned Baltimore, Newark, or Detroit
St. Louis, Miami, or Dallas.
Cleveland! |
St. Louis isn't that bad. Not the best city in the world, but certainly not the worst either. And Dallas? What is so bad about it? Detroit, most definitely. Newark, historically, yes, but I think things have slowly begun turning around in the past decade or so. Baltimore, most definitely, but it also has improved as a city in recent years. I think that is in spite of the local government though.
Clueless about Cleveland and Miami. |
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geldedgoat
Joined: 05 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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I have to chime in with a vote for my hometown, Memphis. I've never been to another city that has devolved as viciously in such a short period of time. It's a perfect example of a city's downfall that can't be discussed without devoting a majority of time to racism, as there's no other explanation for why scum like Willie Herenton remained in office for so long.
New Orleans (hell, the entire state) also deserves an honorable mention. |
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kcs0001
Joined: 24 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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Memphis is bad and Montgomery, AL aint no walk in the park.
SF is nice
I like Chinatown & the pier areas when there are not gay pride celebrations .
BTW, this clip is arguably why Newson dropped out of the CA Dem Gov race, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT great stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC5K_0uRNCQ |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 3:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Memphis is horrible and not getting any better. Considering that Memphis has been controlled by crooks for 100 years it isnt surprising. Miami, considering the demographics the mass immigration , is not so bad. Only about 20% of Miami's population was born in the U.s. Baltimore has improved, so has St Louis . Detroit , may be starting to turn around. New Orleans has historically been a troublesome place, it also has a magic not found in other places. Atlanta is a very well run city and without starting a racial debate is a city that is 70% black and has and has had black mayors for 30 years. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 5:39 am Post subject: |
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http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/politics/Miami_Budget_Crisis_Miami.html
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/05/miami-commissioner-says-bankruptcy-is.html
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Miami Budget Begging for Bankruptcy
One commissioner says bankruptcy might be the Magic City's only hope.
The city of Miami is in such financial dire straits that commissioner Marc Sarnoff is using the "B" word, bankruptcy.
"We are not the only city, municipality to be going through this. It looks like Los Angeles sometime next week or the week after will be going bankrupt. It looks like there will be 30 more cities following suit."
Increases in public worker salaries is one of the main reasons why the budget is so tight. The average salary for a Miami city employee is $76,000. The average salary for a Miami city resident is $29,000.
Employee pensions are choking the budget too. In 2000, pension payouts cost taxpayers $16 million. In 2009 that number spiked up to $70 million.
Should the city go into bankruptcy, the commissioners and their politics would no longer be in charge of city finances, the judge would be.
[Sarnoff] "You no longer have 5 people making political solutions. You now have one person who is looking after the best interest of the taxpayer of the city of Miami, without any politics getting into his or her way."
The Judge could order union contracts be renegotiated. He or she could decide what creditors get paid or not get paid.
....
Commissioner Sarnoff offers 3 options to avoid bankruptcy.
1. Renegotiate those union contracts
2. Layoff about 800 city workers
3. Raise your property taxes
In this economic climate that last option is not likely at all
..... |
Miami is building a ballpark.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlins%27_ballpark#Financing
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Financing
* Florida Marlins - $155 million
* Miami-Dade County - $347 million
* City of Miami - $13 million
Total Cost: $515 million
Not included were the extra $10 million that went toward the demolition of the Orange Bowl stadium, the site preparation outside of the construction budget, as well as the parking garage.
The total cost is: $2.4 billion, spread over 40 years, to repay $409 million in bonds that will primarily, though not exclusively, cover stadium construction. Roughly $100 million will refinance existing bond debt and another $9 million goes into a debt service reserve fund. The result is $300 million for stadium construction, financed in two ways. One portion, underwritten by Merrill Lynch totaling $220 million, has an interest rate of 6.4 percent and requires immediate repayment. In October 2010 the county must pay $9.6 million, though there are questions over whether tourist taxes will meet that. Annual payments run through 2049 and climb as high as $71 million per year.
The second portion, underwritten by JP Morgan, is for $91 million, $80 million of that for construction. That carries an 8.17 rate, but repayment doesn't begin until 2025.
Yet that grace period comes with a big price: $83 million a year for three years starting in 2038. Then, starting in 2041, six years of payments totaling $118 million annually. Total cost to retire the debt: $1.2 billion.[22] |
Public salaries are more than twice the norm.
This is no way to run a city. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:00 am Post subject: |
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Cities have spent themselves into insolvency. Unions play a major role. Many cities in the US need to reorganize and bankruptcy is a very useful tool.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/02/news/economy/los_angeles_bankruptcy/index.htm
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California may bar city bankruptcies
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A bill that clamps down on municipal bankruptcy filings is headed for Gov. Schwarzenegger's desk, which is bad news for Los Angeles and other cash-strapped California cities.
It the governor signs Assembly Bill 155, it would place a hurdle in the path of filing for Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy. The bill stipulates that a city may only file for bankruptcy with the approval of the California Debt Investment Advisory Commission, which provides information on debt to public agencies.
"California's taxpayers who rely on public safety, senior, park and library services, as well as those who own and operate businesses in our communities, deserve every effort that state and local government can make to avoid the long-term devastation of bankruptcy," the bill says. |
The goal is to safeguard services?
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| In particular, the bill says it intends to protect retirement pensions and health benefits for public employees, which would be disrupted and renegotiated in the wake of bankruptcy. |
Oh. The unions want the state to protect their pensions. Pensions that are unfunded by billions.
What impact do the unions have on muni and county budgets?:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/29/AR2010052903132.html
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MONTGOMERY COUNTY has just completed a nightmarish budget year. Stressed, squabbling and besieged elected officials savaged services and programs and jacked up taxes to eliminate an eye-popping deficit of almost $1 billion in a $4.3 billion spending plan. Meanwhile, across the Potomac River in Fairfax County, all was sweetness and light by comparison. With a budget roughly equal to Montgomery's, Fairfax officials erased a deficit a quarter as large with relative ease and far less drama.
Virginia law denies public employees collective bargaining rights; that's helped Fairfax resist budget-busting wage and benefit demands. As revenue dipped two years ago, Fairfax officials froze all salaries for county government and school employees with little ado. By contrast, Montgomery leaders were badly equipped to cope with recession. County Executive Isiah Leggett took office proposing fat budgets and negotiating openhanded union deals after he succeeded Mr. Duncan. Then, as economic storm clouds gathered, he shifted gears and cut spending -- while still trying to appease the unions.
Notoriously, one such deal guaranteed almost $300 million in pension benefits over 40 years to thousands of employees based on salary increases they never received. The giveaway became known as "Phantom COLAs," for the cost-of-living raises that were never paid. And even when Montgomery's teachers agreed to give up cost-of-living raises last year, about two-thirds of them continued to receive step increases of up to 4 percent. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:15 am Post subject: |
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| Public unions should not be allowed if you ask me. |
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