State: OJ still owes $1.5 million in taxes

The FTB has just updated its public list of delinquent taxpayers who owe the state more than $100,000 in taxes. You can find it here.

On the top of the list is Pinehill Investment of Rye, NY, which the state says owes $6.1 million.

Number 15 is Orenthal Simpson of Miami, Florida: $1.5 million.

The new suburbia

The Register looks at the question and deconstructs the region's housing construction patterns. One finding: new homebuyers (and regulators) are demanding more open space. Ironically, this is probably going to lead to denser development in the "inner cities" of places like Santa Ana and Anaheim.

One example:

When the city of Mission Viejo was developed in the 1960s, just 8 percent of the total acreage was devoted to open space – a total of 832 acres for 33,000 homes. In the latest development, called The Ranch Plan, three-fourths of the total acreage is being devoted to open space, or 17,000 acres for 14,000 homes.

Recycling in public, pay a fine

Why is it that supposedly freedom-loving places like Santa Monica, Berkeley and San Francisco also seem to have the most intrusive local governments? SF is now issuing $100 citations to people whose city-issued recycling bins are visible from the street.

Micro markets

Home prices haven't fallen far enough to help these folks find a house they can afford in San Jose.

Field on health care debate

It's not a surprise that the public rates the nurses, doctors and consumer groups highest when it comes to the health care debate, according to the latest Field Poll. But it shows how difficult it would be to pass a ballot measure without their support -- even one that starts with the backing of more than 70 percent of the voters.

Tin cup millionaire

Talk about missing the forest for the trees.

UC Berkeley insists "no laws were broken" and all the rules were followed when the school gave a $2.1 million retirement payout to the campus' longtime police chief, and then allowed her to remain in the job. Actually, the school admits it did bend the rules when it discussed future job terms with Victoria Harrison before she retired and when it allowed her to keep 61 unused sick days. But all of that was necessary because Harrison, 54, was already eligible to retire with 100 percent of her salary and she received a job offer from another police agency. Berkeley wanted to keep her.

But the point here is not did UC break or bend some rules. It's why on earth do we have to give campus police chiefs $2.1 million retirement packages or 100 percent of their pay at age 54 in the first place? I can't believe there is no one else out there who has the training and demeanor to do that job without such an extravagent package.

But Harrison says she is actually taking a big risk in accepting the lump sum payment rather than waiting for her pension and lifetime health care benefits.

"When I leave, I'll have to be self-insured," Harrison told the Chronicle. "If I don't do a good job investing all that money, I could be out on the street with a tin cup. I did a lot of soul-searching about whether I was willing to take that risk."

Poor thing.

East Bay mulls water rationing

With hardly any rain or snow having fallen in March and April, East Bay water managers are considering new restrictions on usage. The same thing might soon be happening in Southern California.

The solar debate

Is solar power really ready for prime time? I took a look at the issue from one angle in this column. Now Severin Borenstein, a UC energy expert and critic of solar power subsidies, and Tom Beach, an industry consultant and big supporter of the subsidies, go toe-to-toe in these pieces published by the Chronicle.

Inland Empire job losses

This story from the Daily Bulletin provides a nicely detailed picture of the job losses in the Inland Empire region over the past year. The once-booming region's unemployment rate is now 7.1 percent, higher than 49 states, including California. It is also ground zero in the foreclosure crisis.

Some of the stories:

--AGC Glass, part of Japan-based Mitsubishi, laid off 275 people from a plant that made glass for window manufacturers and wholesalers.

--Jacuzzi Whirlpool Bath laid off 100 from a factory that makes bathtubs. The company consolidated operations with another plant in Valdosta, Ga.

--Colton-based Oldcastle Precast Enclosure Solutions cut 33 jobs when it moved operations to Madera, in the Central Valley. The company makes concrete and plastic enclosures for underground electrical and irrigation connections.

--A Mervyns distribution warehouse in Ontario - the cargo hub for six western states - laid off 200 employees in early April and said it will outsource to a manager of third-party logistics vendors.

Read the whole thing.

Remap measure will pay premium for sigs

Joe Mathews reports on his Blockbuster Democracy blog that the redistricting reform measure Gov. Schwarzenegger is backing appears to be having trouble collecting all the signatures it needs to qualify. Oganizers have just told signature gatherers that the price paid per signature will be going up next week.

Democrats gain 170,000 voters in California

Democratic Party registration is soaring in California this spring, according to the latest figures from Secretary of State Debra Bowen, while Republican numbers are slipping and even the momentum for "decline to state" seems to be slowing.

Since January, Democratic numbers have climbed from 6.75 million voters to 6.92 million, an increase of about 170,000. Republican numbers have dropped from 5.3 million to 5.2 million. Decline to states were at 3.04 million in January; as of April 4 they were at 3.07 million.

As a percentage of the electorate, Democrats rose from 42.95 percent to 43.54 percent. Republicans fell from 33.28 percent to 32.84 percent. Decline to state voters fell slightly, from 19.37 to 19.31.

Will the south rise again?

Steve Levy boils down the March jobs report from the Employment Development Department.. Pretty amazing north/south split:

California is down 12,000 jobs year over year in March.

The regional picture continued to show the Bay Area leading the state, up 19,800 jobs year over year while Southern California recorded a 62,600 loss for the year. The Sacramento region was up 400 jobs while San Diego was down 1,700 jobs year over year.

In San Diego, building permits plummet

New residential construction in San Diego County just about ceased in the first quarter of the year, according to this report.

Taco wars

In Los Angeles, the tradition of the mobile taco truck is under fire from stationary restaurants who claim they can't compete. The county Board of Supervisors has stepped in, passing an ordinance banning the trucks from staying in one place for more than an hour. But some of the mobile taco sellers say they won't comply.

From the LA Times:

"I don't think it's a crime to sell tacos for a cheaper price than the established business," truck owner Eugenio Sanchez told supervisors. "And the people are happy to see us because they say, 'Finally, we have someone selling tacos.' "

Corporate tax payments nosedive

The state's tax receipts took another dive in March compared to projections in the January budget, down more than $900 million. Virtually all of that was due to a massive shortfall in taxes on corporate profits. Corporate taxes were weak in December, but the Department of Finance projected that much of that weakness would be made up in March. Wrong. The low initial payments carried over into final payments. Now the state is down more than $1 billion from the total general fund revenue estimate in the January budget.

Misplaced priorities?

The San Diego City Council votes to increase its own pay by 24 percent on the same day the mayor proposes a budget that would cut 130 jobs, freeze wages for many city workers, reduce public pool hours and cut playground inspections. That ought to go over well.

Taxes in California

Some interesting nuggets in this paper from the California Budget Project on who pays taxes in California. The paper says that, as a percentage of income, the poor pay more than the wealthy, though the paper does not include the raw numbers for how much people pay at various points of the income spectrum. Also: a married couple with two children will have no income tax liability until they earn $49,000.

99.7 percent chance. Is that all?

A 99.7 percent chance of a major earthquake in California in the next 30 years. I would have thought it was 100 percent. Despite the overly precise number, scientists still can't predict when or where the Big One is likely to hit. But the story says pinpointing the odds "is the first step" in drawing up hazard maps that show the severity of ground shaking likely in a given area. Seems as if they could do that without the probability factor, and they have already done it. Everyone who lives in an earthquake hazard zone in California should assume there is going to be another, and should be prepared for it.

Divvying up Prop. 1B

When Prop. 1B was on the ballot in 2006, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and other state leaders lauded it for leaving to the California Transportation Commission the final decisions on how to distribute the money from the biggest transportation bond in history. Rather than earmarking all the money for specific projects, the Legislature and the governor divided it into broad categories and then left to the experts the discretion on how to divvy it up from there.

But since the voters passed the bond, Nunez has taken a different tack: he seems to want all the money to go to LA. When the first pot was divided up, he threatened to pass a bill overruling what the transportation commission was doing. The commission backed down. Now some money set aside for "goods movement" has been handed out, and Nunez is furious that LA didn't get as much as he thought it should. He says the director of the regional transporation agency should resign in shame over the slight.

The commission, meanwhile, says it made the choices it thought were best for the entire state. While the lion's share of goods moved through California do go through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, they also travel on roads and rail throughout the state, and that infrastructure needs help, too.

Retail sales slow in March

Retail sales nationwide were down in March. This LA Times story says March was the weakest in 13 years. But I think they mean the year-over-yeawr growth rate was the lowest in 13 years. Because the same story says sales climbed last March by 5.9 percent over the year before, and this March they declined by 0.5 percent. So this March would have to have been better than March 2006, at a minimum. Anyway, sales were slow.

Latest allocation from Prop. 1B

The Transportation Commission has approved $3 billion from Prop 1B for roads and rail projects to speed the movement of goods. Here's the list.

Silicon Valley economy still hot

Santa Clara County now has the highest average wage in the country, eclipsing Manhattan. Here are some more details from a SJ Mercury story on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Among the 328 largest U.S. counties for the third quarter of 2007, Santa Clara ranked first in wages, with an average weekly paycheck of $1,585, topping second-place Manhattan at $1,544. The national average was $818. San Mateo County was fifth, at $1,322; San Francisco was eighth at $1,286.

Santa Clara ranked third in annual percentage wage growth, with the average South Bay paycheck up 11.8 percent in the year since the third quarter of 2006 - growth that trailed only two large U.S. counties, both in Georgia.

San Francisco, meanwhile, ranked 10th among the largest counties in generating new jobs - adding 18,000 in the one-year period ending in the third quarter of 2007.

Where the money is

The state may be broke, but a lot of local governments are doing just fine. Even San Diego, which seemed to be on the verge of bankruptcy a year or two ago, is giving its police officers a 6 percent raise, on top of a 9 percent pay hike they got last year.

Rental inspections

More California cities are adopting inspection programs -- financed by fees on landlords -- to try to keep homes for rent looking good.

Small Biz council says California is unfriendly

As tax day approaches, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council ranks California's tax system 48th out of the 50 states and DC.

Regulating wine labels

I can understand the consumer protection argument for stopping vintners from claiming their wines are from Napa or Sonoma (or now, Lodi) when most of their grapes come from elsewhere. But I don't get why the state needs to require wineries to put the region of origin on the label when they would rather use a more local, and accurate, description of their location.

Stock up

A decision on this year's salmon fishing season is expected today. Most likely: a full ban.

Pregnant pigs and other farm animals

Secretary of State Debra Bowen says an animal rights measure has qualified for the November ballot:

Treatment of Farm Animals. Statute. Requires that an enclosure or tether confining specified farm animals allow the animals for the majority of every day to fully extend their limbs or wings, lie down, stand up, and turn around. Specified animals include calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens, and pregnant pigs. Exceptions made for transportation, rodeos, fairs, 4-H programs, lawful slaughter, research and veterinary purposes. Provides misdemeanor penalties, including a fine not to exceed $1,000 and/or imprisonment in jail for up to 180 days. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Probably minor local and state enforcement and prosecution costs, partly offset by increased fine revenue. (Initiative 07-0041.)

Give it a rest

Gino DiCaro at the Manufacturers and Technology Assn. blogs here about legislation to redefine when employees are entitled to rest breaks. This is an issue that tripped up Schwarzenegger in 2004 when his administration issued emergency regs, later withdrawn, that favored the employers' interpretation. It also snagged Wal-Mart. The giant retailer lost a lawsuit for denying workers their legally allowed breaks. But employers say the law is fuzzy and filled with unintended consequences, including many that employees might not like.

Hot story

Organizers of the Olympic Torch relay shifted the route at the last minute this morning to avoid massive protests on the San Francisco embarcadero, but protestors may be catching up with the flame as it moves through the city. The Chronicle has the latest.

No smoking in Novato

The town of Novato has declared smoking a "public nuisance" and banned it in nearly evrey place where people might gather.

They know what they like

Should real estate developers be required to pay for public art? The Redlands City Council is considering an ordiance that would place such a mandate on builders, who would have the option of paying a fee equal to 1 percent of the cost of their project to the city.

In LA, can billboards go too far?

The Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight is trying to rally 50 neighborhood councils to lobby the Los Angeles City Council against a proposal for two, 76-foot-high electronic billboards proposed for downtown LA near the 10 Freeway. The coalition fears that approval of the huge downtown billboards would set a precedent allowing the erection of similar signs throughout the city. The campaign is complicated by the fact that some of the revenue from the downtown signs would go toward creating a 9-acre wetland in a park-poor section of South Los Angeles, and neighborhood leaders near the proposed park site support the proposal.

Real estate in the OC shows signs of life

OC real estate blogger Jon Lansner says sales of existing homes have risen above year-ago levels for the first time since September, 2005.

Many of those entering the Orange County market, Lansner says, are first-time homebuyers. But near Madera in the Central Valley, a builder slashes prices on new homes in a golf course community and sells a bunch of them at auction to retirees looking for deals on a place to relax as they grow old.

To spray or not to spray

The backlash is growing from residents who say they were harmed by the recent aerial spraying in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties to combat the light brown apple moth, but the feds say more spraying is planned throughout the Bay Area.

Dyer Straits

The owners of a controversial project to bring downhill skiing to the Mt. Lassen area have filed for bankruptcy.

Snuggle up next to your space heater

Bay Area smog-fighters are considering a ban on wood-burning fires on cold winter nights.

They have a house, and now they have to clean it

Ontario might be doing better at managing its tent city, but in Sacramento, a program that helps people get off the street is creating new households where the homeless help each other deal with the daily stresses that can be part of living in a civil society.

Truckee residents hike their own taxes

Residents of Truckee voted recently to increase their taxes to pay for improved fire protection. The assessment will add $49 a year to the fees paid by single-family homeowners.

A hole in the health care system

Latinos make up a third of California's population but only 5 percent of its doctors. A new report is out on the effects of the state's medical diversity gap.

No coughing allowed

A Ventura County doctor has opened a business in a Thousand Oaks strip mall that offers preventive medicine to the healthy -- annual exams, vaccines, travel shots, and screenings. Think of it as a doctor's office for people who are healthy and want to stay that way.

San Jose's neighborhoods commission

San Jose is experimenting with a new kind of neighborhood empowerment, a commission to advise the city council that is formed from the ground up rather than appointed from the top down. The Mercury News editorializes on the project here.

The scramble is grounded

Downtown Santa Rosa is dropping its experimental "pedestrian scramble," which allowed people to cross in any direction at a busy intersection while all traffic was stopped, then allowed cars to proceed in each direction while the walkers were blocked from crossing. Turns out neither the drivers nor the pedestrians wanted to follow those rules.

Growing pains in the Sierra foothills

It looks as if Nevada County will be facing a growth-limiting initiative on the ballot in November. The Grass Valley Union fires a shot across its bow.

Jam session

Latest NorCal trend: people dropping out of the business world to make and sell their own food products.

'Confessions of a suburban hipster"

The shame of hailing from Dublin (in the East Bay, not Ireland). From InsideBayArea.com.

Those are some gnarly budget cuts, dude

The guy in charge of the lifeguards on the state beaches in Orange County is hoping for a cool spring and urging visitors to stay away, because he can't guarantee their safety with his staff stretched thin by budget cuts. The state beaches, he says, "will be very, very dangerous, and the public should avoid them."

LA port expansion gets 'green' light

The Port of LA has reached an agreement with environmentalists to remove opposition to a planned expansion in exchange for $12 million in contributions to clean-air projects, including the installation of state-of-the-art air filters in local school buildings. The agreement is hailed as a template for other planned expansions at the massive port complex.

Camp Homeless

Facing complaints about the homeless camping in public parks and using streets and alleys for bathrooms, the city of Ontario has begun directing transients to a vacant lot with portable toilets and showers. The result: better conditions for the homeless campers and fewer complaints from the townies. Sounds like more of a Band-Aid than a solution.

Recovery is just around the corner, builders' economist says

The chief economist for the California Building Industry Assn. says the housing market has hit bottom. He should know. But he also has, well, a vested interest in that conclusion being correct.

The wrath of grape growers

Do you like to eat those loose grapes that fall off the stem when you pull them out of the bag, or do you throw them away? It turns out that the question is high stakes to grape sellers and commerical buyers, and there's a big debate raging in regulatory circles about how many loose grapes should be allowed in a bag. The Fresno Bee has the story here.

Holy Guacamole

Rising water prices and shrinking supplies are prompting inland SoCal growers to cut back on production. This is the region where most of California's avocados are grown.

Show up or pay up

The Oceanside City Council has voted to fine kids $250 for missing school without an excuse.

In the darkness on the edge of town?

The Sierra Club is suing the city of Bakersfield to stop what it calls the "worst example of sprawl you can imagine." The project is for 788 homes in an abandoned oil field on the edge of town.

Markets do work

This story from Sonoma County reports an "army of buyers" jumping into the housing market now that prices have declined to levels that more people can afford. We are finally beginning to hear the flip side of the "foreclosure crisis": homebuyers thrilled that they can get their first house or move up by buying property after the bubble burst.

Food stamp caseloads

This New York Times story on the rise in the food stamp caseload to near "record highs" (in raw numbers, not as a percentage of the population) is under a headline about vanishing jobs and rising prices. It also mentions that part of the rise can be attributed to policy changes making it easier to get benefits or reducing the stigma of doing so by shifting from paper food stamps to plastic cards with electronic transfer. It turns out that this factor is actually quite significant.

This UC research paper pins a third of the increase in caseload between 2001 and 2005 on the policy changes. During this period, food stamp caseloads were climbing even as unemployment was dropping, something that had not happened before.
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