Their loss is...your loss

Ahhh we hate to say we told you so..but here comes the bad news (well just for you the taxpayer not for you government workers...and we use the term "workers" lightly). You see as we explained before when "Joe the Taxpayer's" company goes belly up or your 401k drops in value, you learn to live on less in retirement or work much longer. Well that won't cut it for those dedicated government workers on CalPERS. Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer have (are required) to bail them out too just like the fat cats on Wall St. And no you dont get a vote or a choice or a say in the matter. Gotcha! So when you tell little Johnny he won't be going to college (as your 401k just dropped 50%), tell him its okay as he wont need that education. He can get a government job with short hours, high pay, unending perks, free cars, gold plated healthcare for life and a pension that is better than most on Wall St. get. And then if the economy ever hits the skids he can laugh at all the dummies working in the private sector. Obama could solve the recession issue by just giving us all government jobs. Dont ask who would pay for them. Your kid's kids could figure that out later.

State public worker pension fund takes big hit
The market downturn has walloped the nation's largest pension fund.

Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, December 8, 2008

The California Public Employees' Retirement System portfolio has lost 31.1 percent of its value since peaking last fall, a staggering $81.4 billion drop. CalPERS officials say a "rainy day fund" is helping to defray the losses - for now. But if the market slump continues, they will hit up state and local employers for more money. That's a painful prospect as California struggles through a fiscal emergency and municipalities cope with the foreclosure crisis and economic downturn.

The good news for the 1.6 million CalPERS retirees, workers and family members is that their pension benefits are guaranteed.

"Obviously, if there is a downturn, there are going to be ramifications," said Rob Feckner, president of the CalPERS board. "Our job is to make sure we protect the system and the funds that are there for the pensioners."

The CalPERS portfolio hit a high point of $260.6 billion on Oct. 31, 2007. As of market close on Dec. 4, it had fallen to $179.2 billion - almost back to its value in mid-2000.

The portfolio drop comes amid a time of extraordinary financial turmoil, with wrenching contractions on Wall Street that have wiped out trillions of dollars of shareholder value. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped 39.8 percent during the same period that the CalPERS portfolio fell 31.1 percent, for instance.

Unlike many pension funds, CalPERS can require employers to dig deeper when needed. Since those employers are public entities, their funds come from taxpayer dollars. This fall, CalPERS warned that it might ask for more money from the state starting in July 2010 and from local-government employers starting in July 2011.

If the current losses are sustained, CalPERS said the increases could be from 2 to 5 percent of payrolls. That's a hefty rise on top of the 12.7 percent of payrolls employers already contribute to the pension fund. (Employees contribute from 5 to 7 percent of their salaries.) If losses are more moderate, then the potential increases would be smaller. Although it seems highly unlikely, if the fund finishes the year in positive territory, employers could even see their pension obligations reduced.

"We wanted to give an early warning so they had plenty of time to prepare if the worst were to happen," said Pat Macht, a spokeswoman for the agency in Sacramento.
Long-range focus

She and other experts emphasized that CalPERS focuses on long-range planning.

"It's important to remember that public pension funds exist over decades and their liabilities will come due over decades, which provides the time for markets to recover and funding levels to recover," said Keith Brainard, research director of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. "Yes, this has been a precipitous market decline, but because (CalPERS and other retirement plans) have plans and mechanisms to smooth out peaks and valleys, the actual effect is likely to be far less sharp."

The nation's second-largest public pension fund is the California State Teachers' Retirement System with 794,812 members. It, too, has sustained heavy losses in the market downturn. Its portfolio fell 20.3 percent, or $32.9 billion from June 30 to Oct. 31, going from $162.2 billion to $129.3 billion.

CalSTRS' defined-benefit pensions are guaranteed just like those of CalPERS. Unlike CalPERS, however, the teachers' fund does not have the authority to ask for increased contributions from employers. Any contribution changes would have to be enacted by the Legislature and approved by the governor. CalSTRS is funded by school districts contributing 8.25 percent of payroll, the state general fund paying in a tad over 2 percent of payroll, and members contributing 8 percent of salaries.

"As a patient, long-term investor, we're built to make it through these ups and downs," said Sherry Reser, a CalSTRS spokeswoman in Sacramento. "We're a forever investor. There is going to be a recovery; we've done this before."

Both funds use various "smoothing" mechanisms to help minimize the impact of market volatility.

During four years of double-digit growth from 2004 to 2007, CalPERS reserved 14 percent of its total portfolio to hedge against drops, Macht said.

"If we had not done this, it would have been considerably worse," she said. "The impacts of today are being softened considerably."

However, that cushion is largely depleted. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2007, the portfolio was down 5 percent. The "rainy day" funds were used to make up that shortfall and provide the returns CalPERS would have experienced if the portfolio had risen 7.75 percent.

The portfolio fell an additional 25 percent from June 30 to Dec. 4. There are still almost seven months in CalPERS' fiscal year, but if the results are still negative on June 30, then it will ask agencies to ante up.

Hoping for best

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who sits on the CalPERS board, said he is hopeful that market conditions will improve by then so it won't have to ask for more money.

But if agencies do have to dig deeper to fund pension obligations, "this would be an added burden," he said. "It means both state and local government employers would be spending more on retirement than on some immediate program needs. Paying the commitments to pension obligation is a high priority, and it would take precedence over many other spendings." (LAAG translation: we pay ourselves first from the trough and you the tax payer gets less in return for your tax dollar by way of "services")

Where would the money come from? Government has just two choices, Lockyer said. "You either cut some other program expenditures or you tax something."

Critics say that underscores their basic gripe with public pensions: Taxpayers end up footing the bill. (LAAG: There's a shocker!)

"This is another example of why, over time, all public entities in California need to think seriously about changing from the defined benefit to the defined contribution plan," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association in Sacramento. "With defined contribution plans, which can still be quite generous, the taxpayers' obligation ends when those contributions are made. You don't get in a situation like we have right now, where the economy is heading in a downward spiral and you ramp up taxpayer obligations to meet those pension obligations."

Attempts to change public pensions meet strong opposition from government workers and their unions. In 2005, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed reforming California public pensions with a 401(k)-style plan, but later withdrew the idea.

About CalPERS

Mission: Manages pension and health benefits for public workers from about 2,300 California public entities. Pensions, which are guaranteed by law, are defined benefits determined by a retiree's salary, length of service and age.

Members: 1.6 million public employees, retirees and their families (1,126,133 active and inactive members; 476,252 retirees). Members are drawn about one-third each from state government, schools and local government agencies.

Income: Participating agencies contribute an average of 12.7 percent of payroll. Workers contribute 5 to 7 percent of their salaries.

Source: CalPERS
Possible changes in employer contributions

Depending on investment results when the fiscal year ends on June 30, 2009, CalPERS may request additional contributions from employers, which are taxpayer-funded government entities. So far this fiscal year (from July 1 to Dec. 4), the investment return is -25%. Contribution decreases are smaller with larger returns because CalPERS would hold back some gains as a cushion for future downturns.

2008-09 investment return Change in employer contributions as percentage of payroll
-20% 2% to 5%
-15% 1% to 2%
-10% 0.2% to 0.5%
0 0.1% to 0.2%
7.75% -0.1%
10% -0.1% to -0.2%
20% -0.2% to -0.5%

Source: CalPERS

E-mail Carolyn Said at csaid@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/08/MN1314IRLO.DTL

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

What's new...more LASD proposed spending with little accomplished

LAAG does not approve of LA County Executive Officer Fujioka's $400,000 a year salary but I guess he is earning part of it by using some common sense. It looks like he has nixed a so called "gang operations center" which Sheriff Baca was promoting as part of this anti gang "proposal" (polite word for it). Baca has proven before that he is not a manager and not a cost containment or "under budget" guy nor is his department known for that.

Our problem with new "operations centers" for LASD is that they seen to turn into more "relaxation" centers than they do work centers. The $20 million dollar new substation built in Lakewood (with a huge LASD motorhome to go with it!) has not been responsible for one more arrest in Lakewood (nor would taxpayers know as no current detailed crime stats are posted for Lakewood). We need less "palace building" and more "police patrolling". The more you build these "centers" the more likely deputies will want to congregate in them as opposed to being on the street.

Sheriff Baca is also seeking "Patriot Act" types of leeway. Next I suppose we will hear the line that they want to use "enhanced interrogation" techniques. The problem with all this waiving of Constitutional protections is that it does not ever appear to yield to much in the way of real crime reduction and is often abused when placed in the hands of law enforcement with no checks whatsoever (by judges) on its abuse.

Also every time Sheriff Baca proposes something to the county its all take and no give. The taxpayers give him millions and what do they get in return from the Sheriff's?...nothing, well at least no tangible commitments in writing. Just empty promises. Not more work per deputy but more deputies hired with less work now done by each. The old union technique (also used effectively by the teachers unions in their mantra to reduce class size). Here is an example of what we get when we dole out more money to the LASD.

Another thing we dont see is more realtime crime statistics from LASD to back up this need. The devil is in the details as they say.


From the Los Angeles Times
Delays plague L.A. County's anti-gang program
The county's chief executive is expected to announce two pilot programs next month, more than a year after deadline.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-gang30-2008nov30,0,7862190,full.story

November 30, 2008

Los Angeles County leaders, who more than a year and a half ago promised to revamp their $105-million-a-year gang intervention effort, are still months away from a new strategy, hobbled by repeated delays and haggling over details.

William T Fujioka, the county's chief executive, is scheduled to unveil his plan for county supervisors Dec. 16, more than a year after the deadline first set by the supervisors. In contrast, Los Angeles city leaders moved forward months ago and have a dozen programs in place.

After much infighting, the county plan includes pilot sites in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood north of Watts and in the Pacoima area, where Los Angeles County sheriff's officials are working with Los Angeles and San Fernando police to combat gangs.

It remains unclear, however, how they will be structured, funded or monitored. Critics fault Fujioka and his staff for dragging their feet and downsizing the so-called Gangs and Violence Reduction Strategy while residents of unincorporated areas of the county targeted by gangs repeatedly asked for more help.

"It shouldn't have taken this long," said civil rights lawyer Connie Rice, whose public policy group, the Advancement Project, issued a report in January 2007 that called for a massive, coordinated regional effort to fight gangs and spurred a rethinking of both city and county efforts. The $593,000 report was commissioned and paid for by the city of Los Angeles.

Fujioka and his staff have been tight-lipped about details. The presentation has been pushed back twice this month as they met with Sheriff Lee Baca and his staff and supervisors' staffers to hash out details.

At next month's meeting, Fujioka plans to ask for four more months to develop the strategy and cost estimates, according to copies of his proposal released this month to supervisors' staffers.

Central to that draft is a controversial gang emergency operations center proposed by Baca that would allow county staff to waive confidentiality laws and share information about individuals involved with or at risk of becoming involved with gangs.

Late last month, Baca made a rare appearance at a supervisors' staff briefing and spent two hours pushing the center, which he proposed a year ago. He has asked for $3 million in his proposed budget for technology and staff to run the program.

"For every week or two that goes by, we don't know if we could have prevented a gang murder or a crime with the absence of this program," he said.

Supervisors' staffers have been insisting for months that the sheriff cannot waive confidentiality to fight crime. Earlier this month, a shouting match broke out between supervisors' and sheriff's staffers at a meeting to consider the latest draft of the strategy.

Fujioka said last week that the sheriff's proposed center no longer is part of his gang proposal, calling it too costly and unnecessary to the pilot programs. He declined to release a copy of his amended proposal until he presents it to the board.

"I'm not going to support" an emergency operations center, Fujioka said. "I don't see success as contingent on having a center."

Rice said the county's anti-gang strategy is being whittled down.

"Every letter I see, the program gets smaller and smaller," Rice said. The city of Los Angeles, she noted, "is already off to the races."

Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke first called for a reevaluation of the county's anti-gang strategy in May 2007, a month after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the city's new gang reduction plan based on the Advancement Project's report. The day after Burke's call for action, supervisors voted to have county staff review the report, as well as the city plans, and report back in four months with a new county strategy.

The review was hobbled by numerous stops and starts.

Fujioka took over the project after he became county chief executive in July 2007. Two months later, he appointed a committee of city, county and community officials, including Rice. Committee members gave him their recommendations in February, then stopped meeting.

Meanwhile, Gary Hearnsberger, head deputy district attorney, stepped down as the chairman of the county's Interagency Gang Task Force, a committee that is supposed to monitor anti-gang programs. The task force also stopped meeting in February and reconvened briefly earlier this month only to be briefed by Fujioka's staff on the new strategy and select a new chairman, Peter Shutan, deputy city attorney. It plans to meet monthly.

The last countywide spending report on anti-gang programs was released in July 2007. Supervisors requested an update in June but Fujioka postponed it, even after he received supervisors' approval to hire a county analyst to work on the strategy; the analyst is to be paid between $97,000 and $127,000.

Fujioka also postponed a cost analysis of the new strategy, due in June, until later this month.

His staff said they have not started it.

Asked about the delays, Fujioka said that perfecting a new strategy -- one he hopes to expand to other areas of the county at some point -- was not a short-term effort.

"This is not a six-month, two-year program. This is a paradigm shift, changing the culture in the county," Fujioka said.

Most recently, Fujioka said, he postponed unveiling the gang proposal from this month until December "out of courtesy" to new Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who takes office Monday.

He noted that the county continued to develop and fund anti-gang programs while the new proposal was being developed.

"It's not as if the county is completely frozen," Fujioka said.

"It's important that what we roll out works and that we get buy-in from all the different departments," he added.

He said that to blame his office alone for delaying the proposal would be "unfair" and "inaccurate."

Supervisors have been hesitant to criticize Fujioka's effort.

A spokeswoman for Supervisor Gloria Molina said her boss likes what she has heard about the strategy but has questions about how the county plans to hold anti-gang programs accountable for spending.

So far this much is clear: The county's initial plan will be much smaller in scope than what Los Angeles has in place.

Under the city's plan, proposed seven months ago, gang prevention programs are centralized in the neediest 12 gang-reduction zones, neighborhoods where gang violence is four times the citywide average.

Program managers in each zone, the last of whom started work last month, will receive $1 million a year in prevention funds, enough for each to target at least 200 children.

The county efforts are slated to start in Florence-Firestone, base of operations for the rival Florencia 13 and East Coast Crips gangs, and Pacoima, where an injunction is in place against the Pacoima Project Boys.

Fujioka said he chose the two neighborhoods because they are next to city gang reduction zones and will allow for city-county partnerships, and because they will show the new strategy can work in gang-dominated areas and those where gangs are at a tipping point.

"One could always say we'll do it in five areas, the five supervisory areas, but then you run the risk of spreading yourself too thin," Fujioka said. "We want the first effort to be successful."

Supervisors' staff said they "haggled" over which neighborhoods to target first.

Last year, Supervisor Don Knabe asked that the pilots include the Harbor Gateway area of his district, where some high-profile racially motivated crimes have occurred in recent years.

Knabe's staff argued that the area was as much of a "tipping point" community as Pacoima.

Fujioka said he ultimately decided against including Harbor Gateway because the area had not seen as much violent, gang-related crime as Pacoima, based on statistics provided by the Sheriff's Department. Harbor Gateway was also not adjacent to a city gang reduction zone.

The city's newly appointed "gang czar," the Rev. Jim Carr, served on the committee that developed the county strategy and said it would not move forward unless supervisors accepted a formula for placing anti-gang programs in neighborhoods where they are most needed, across district lines. He noted that City Council members compromised and placed gang reduction programs in eight of 15 council districts.

"We'll see if the county is able to also make that jump," Carr said. "I think it's the only way. It needs to be done based on need, not politics."

In Florence-Firestone, Maria Ortiz, a mother and elementary school aide, said she and her neighbors need help now.

"They're scared," she said. "They don't want their kids to join" gangs.

Ortiz began asking the county to intervene a few years ago after her family was intimidated by Florencia 13 gang members living on their block. Now, she said, other parents regularly ask her what steps they should take to keep their children out of gangs.

She directs them to the sheriff's substation. Deputies there coordinate after-school programs and have donated movies for children to watch during summer vacations. They count on discretionary money from the supervisors to run athletic programs.

Capt. James Hellmold, the substation commander, said deputies want to help at-risk youth but are short-staffed. He said they are looking forward to more resources and a plan from the county.

"We're sort of piecemealing these concepts," he said. "It's hard to engage in mentoring a kid in soccer games when you have somebody getting mugged on a street corner."

Hennessy-Fiske is a Times staff writer.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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California moves closer to the egde of the cliff

We are looking for a California debt counter like the one currently on the upper right of our page. I dont think we really need to add much to the statement below which was made on Nov 25, 2008 during the second budget debate this year in the California state legislature. It appears to be code speak for "we have to reform government and get the unions out". State Senator Tom McClintock (R., Thousand Oaks), who is struggling for a Congressional seat in the Sacramento area, ended his state senate seat by stating the following:

"...The recession does not explain why it is that we have spent $11 billion more than we have taken in during this past twelve months...With respect to taxes...the Republican opposition to taxes is not ideological, it is not political, it is practical. As a practical matter, this course has been tried and it was proven to be a disaster. In the first quarter of 1991, the national recession officially ended. In the third quarter of 1991, the Pete Wilson administration imposed the biggest tax increase in the history of this or any state. And in the fourth quarter of 1991, we saw the biggest plunge in retail sales that we had suffered in any time in the prior 30 years. In the following two years, our revenues did not go up; in fact, they declined a billion dollars a year...

The final and most important point that I want to make...is because I want to avail myself of this one last opportunity to try to get through to the majority on this point. I agree with you. Line item reductions, cuts alone, will not bridge this gap. They would have a couple of years ago but we have long past that fiscal tipping point. What we are talking about is redesigning these systems.

Mention was made to the Pat Brown administration. I challenge every one of you to go back and reflect upon what this state produced as services during the Pat Brown administration. We were offering a free university education to every Californian who wanted it. We had the finest highway system in the world...We were producing electricity and water so cheaply that many communities didn't bother to measure the stuff. If you look back at that administration, you will find that we were spending about half, inflation and population adjusted, what we're spending today, about 2/3 as a percentage of personal income of what we we're spending today. You have to look at the way that money was being spent...

We have grossly centralized and bureaucratized and unionized [government's] service delivery systems over the past forty years and that is why we have reached a paradox where despite record levels of spending and record levels of taxes, we can't seem to scrape together enough money to build a decent road system or educate our kids or protect our families from predators...

Please consider that it is not what we are spending but the way we are spending it that has been the problem and that's going to require not reforming these bureaucracies but redesigning and replacing them, and the sooner we get to it, the better.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

Retail update for Nov 2008

We have been assured that regardless of all the problems in Construction that the new Lakewood Center Mall Costco is experiencing (it was slated to open in Nov. 2008) that it will open sometime in February 2009. Christmas will be over and we will be right in the middle of a severe recession so that will be interesting to watch.

The Bakers Square restaurant went bankrupt in April 2008 and closed the location at the SW corner of Bellflower and South St. around that time. We are told that a Denny's will take its place. No idea on an opening date. We assume that Denny's will use the same building. This corner is really starting to suffer from the economic downturn and is starting to look like the one at the NW corner where the old Vons is located.

With respect to the NE corner where the old Vons is located, it appears that the City Attorney is trying to move forward against the landlord who is dragging his feet on the planter and pavement repairs in the parking lot. The former Vons improvement has been going on for at least two years now. Still no anchor tenant in the former Vons even though the Facade and roof were fixed up.

Finally some movement on the Farm Direct Market (5927 South St.) on the NE corner of South and Woodruff. It took out a liquor license in July 2008 and it appears that work is now finally underway on the inside. I would expect an opening in the next 4 months. Not clear on the concept for the store but it appears to be an indoor farmers market. But that was what we thought about Fresh and Easy and what a disappointment it was.

There were rumors of a Sonic Drive-In burger scouting for a place in Lakewood. Sources tell us they think the new site is the SW corner of Woodruff and Harvey Way (the site of a long closed and demolished Arco gas station). No confirmations as of this writing.

Now if we can just get the city bureaucracy to fast track the occupancy and cut some of the red tape. In this economy we need all the new retail we can get. Its beats the alternative.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

Graffiti and illegal use of fireworks lead to more serious crime study shows

This is an article that all cities and counties need to read. It is related to what LAAG has been saying all along. Blight and the increase of "reduced quality of life" crimes (like noise, litter code violations that lead to blight, fireworks etc.) lead to more crimes via a general feeling of lawlessness. This is the biggest complaint we have about the LASD and most cities they patrol. Small crimes and blight issues are not reported and not acted upon by cities and law enforcement and as a result overall crime increases. the biggest problem we have seen in Lakewood is the fact that even more serious crimes are going unreported as residents have totally given up on the LASD even responding at all to calls. Or if they bother showing up it is over an hour after a crime in progress is reported (usually property crimes). The officer responding sees no crime, takes no report and thus the crime statistics published by the sheriff are unrealistically low as most crime is never reported. This also increases the LASD's already dismal "crime solving rate" which they dont like to discuss. Their response to most property crimes is "hope you had insurance". Meaning you know were are never going to solve this.

We think the graffiti issue below is known by cities (which is why Lakewood has had to develop a graffiti program) but they dont like to discuss the connection to crime. Nor do they like to discuss the flip side of the issue: that more graffiti is evidence of (or rather the result of) a higher overall crime rate and as graffiti increases so does crime in that area. Why? Because graffiti is a sign of other criminals getting away with a crime and is a sign to other criminals that they can get away with other related crimes and escape detection and capture as well.

The full article form "Science Journal" is available to purchase online here

Graffiti study bolsters 'broken windows' theory
Dutch researchers find that in the presence of graffiti and trash, people are more likely to commit small crimes.

By Karen Kaplan
November 21, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-sci-graffiti21-2008nov21,0,4825718.story

In a series of real-world experiments, people exposed to graffiti, litter and other cues of lawlessness were more likely to commit small crimes, according to a study published today that bolsters the controversial "broken windows" theory of policing.

The idea is that low-level offenses like vandalism and panhandling create an environment that breeds bigger crimes. According to the theory, authorities can help head off serious violence by keeping minor infractions in check.

Dutch researchers tested the psychological underpinnings of the theory and found that signs of social disorder damped people's impulse to act for the good of the community, allowing selfish and greedy instincts to take over. The results appear in the journal Science.

Community policing strategies based on the "broken windows" theory have taken root in cities across the U.S. and around the world since it was proposed in 1982.

Most famously, New York City saw a 50% reduction in crime in the 1990s after then-Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and then-Police Commissioner William J. Bratton -- now head of the Los Angeles Police Department -- cracked down on squeegee-wielding panhandlers and the like. They credited the "broken windows" approach for their success.

An array of social scientists examined the city's crime statistics, and many of them concluded that factors like the booming economy and decline of crack cocaine were actually responsible for the dramatic improvement.

Kees Keizer, a graduate student at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, thought psychology and sociology could add to the debate. Human behavior is influenced by three competing instincts: to act in a socially appropriate manner, to do what feels good in the moment and to maximize one's resources. Keizer predicted that when there's less motivation to be socially appropriate, the other two impulses would take over.

To test this, he attached fliers for a fake sportswear store to the handlebars of bicycles parked in a shopping area. With no trash can nearby, shoppers returning to their bikes could either take the fliers with them or litter.

A wall near the bicycles had a sign indicating that graffiti was forbidden. When the wall was indeed graffiti-free, 33% of people left the fliers on the ground or attached them to other bikes. After Keizer painted graffiti on the wall, the percentage of litterers rose to 69%.

Keizer said littering jumped because the socially appropriate instinct -- to deposit the flier in a trash can -- was overtaken by the feel-good instinct to let someone else throw it away.

In other experiments, the presence of four shopping carts strewn about a parking lot in violation of posted signs boosted the percentage of people who littered to 58%, from 30%. The sound of illegal fireworks increased the percentage of litterbugs near a busy train station to 80%, from 52%.

To see whether social disorder would induce citizens to steal, Keizer left an envelope containing 5 euros (about $6.26) hanging conspicuously from a mailbox. When the mailbox was clean, 13% of passersby stole the envelope. When the mailbox was surrounded by trash, the percentage jumped to 25%, and when the mailbox was covered in graffiti, it rose to 27%.

"It is quite shocking that the mere presence of litter resulted in a doubling of the number of people stealing," Keizer said.

James Q. Wilson, the political scientist who developed the "broken windows" theory with George L. Kelling, said the Netherlands experiments bolstered his hypothesis.

"If public authorities worry about order, it affects the way people behave," said Wilson, now the Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University in Malibu.

But Bernard Harcourt, a professor of law and criminology at the University of Chicago who has done studies debunking "broken windows," said Keizer's scenarios were too quaint to take seriously.

"We don't care about those kinds of trivial, manipulated delinquent acts," he said. "What we care about is violence."

Kaplan is a Times staff writer.

karen.kaplan@latimes.com

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

What recession?

As the article from the Wall Street Journal below so aptly noted its never a recession for government employees. Although the article picks in NY California is no different nor is any other state or local government entity. Heathcare and pensions get fatter. Their pensions cant ever really "loose value" in the market because if they do taxpayers bail them out. Their healthcare is gold plated for life. I am sure many federal employees voted against Obama not wanting to share their healthcare with the rest of us "little people". Hiring goes on unabated, raises (not for merit mind you) keep piling up year after year, fattening that pension. Oh and lets not forget that you cant ever be laid off or fired unless you basically want to be or shoot your boss. The point is there is no recession for government employees. Oh and remember they dont pay social security taxes. They are too good for that. Social Security is for "po' folk" pensions. So the next time you wonder how your neighbors are struggling in the recession dont ask your government employed neighbors (likely the ones with the newest SUV's in the driveway) I wonder why in Obama's 30 minute infomercial he never ran across a "middle class" government employee (or retired one) that was "struggling". If Obama really wants to fix things he will federalize every worker in the USA like the TSA did. What is ironic is many of the folks likely crying Obama was a "socialist" during the campaign were likely government employees (I can name two; one shoots Moose).

Take a look at these stats right from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov) publication entitled: "THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: OCTOBER 2008"

Table A shows that all sectors are down except for government employees, which are up 23%. Table A-11 shows that government workers (2.3% unemployment) and people in healthcare and education (also mostly government jobs) (2.7% unemployment) have the lowest percentages of unemployment. It is likely unchanged even in good economic times. Well mining is lower but I dont see people clamoring to those jobs. (gotta keep churning out that greenhouse gas!)






NOVEMBER 18, 2008

The Public Payroll Always Rises
New York spends as if the mortgage boom never ended.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122696844505235511.html

As the recession hits home, all across America businesses and families are having to make hard decisions about what not to buy this year, or whether they can afford a vacation or that plane trip home for the holidays. The exception is the government -- federal, state and city.

As a case in point, consider the nearby chart as an addendum to our editorial last week on New York's imploding finances. City and state politicians want voters to believe that they have been careful stewards of taxpayer money, searching out waste far and wide, and genuinely doing everything they can to control government bloat. Ah, no.

New York City did witness a reduction in public employment in 2002 and 2003, during the last period of slower economic growth. But the city quickly resumed its habit of ever-growing payrolls, and they have kept growing rapidly in the years since -- to an estimated record this June 30 of 313,965 employees on the public dime, according to the Mayor's office. That's an increase of more than 40,000 public workers in a year when Wall Street has been enduring historic losses and laying off tens of thousands of people.

Like most of his predecessors, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been reluctant to challenge the public-employee unions that drive ever-larger public employment. Now, amid the current downturn, he is once again talking about a property-tax increase or a new commuter tax along with some modest reductions in services. That is merely tinkering with the status quo rather than using the current crisis as an opportunity to drive major reform. As Rahm Emanuel likes to say, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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Burning through the budget

What is nice about having a catalog of articles that cover a limited range of topics is that you start to see some trends. The first trend is that most people have very short memories and second that politicians NEVER learn from their mistakes or take advantage of "institutional memory". Here is an article from July 2007 that warns of the problems with fire costs and the phony "made for TV" air water drops. Yet we plow ahead with runaway fire costs. True we need to save homes when we can (those that are truly defensible) but when it comes to fires that do not threaten homes we need to cut way back on costs given our current budget tsunami.

editorial
Burning through money
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says Californians shouldn't worry about firefighting costs, but the state's fiscal situation indicates that we should.
November 18, 2008

As fires continued to engulf homes and threaten more Los Angeles and Orange County neighborhoods over the weekend, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Californians shouldn't worry, for now, about the $11 billion that the state has to find in taxes or program cuts in the current fiscal year. Despite the almost incomprehensible budget problem, he said, California won't have to skimp on fighting fires because of a $1.7-billion reserve built into the budget for exactly this kind of emergency. That's enough to keep the water-dropping aircraft flying and the firefighters on the front lines fully equipped.

The "extra" cushion of $1.7 billion is reassuring, but only up to a point. That fund is needed for all kinds of contingencies, and as this year's fires burn through acreage, they are burning almost as quickly through the fund. State fire suppression costs since July 1 already reached $304 million by the end of September, well before the most recent and destructive Sylmar, Freeway Complex and Montecito fires. Compare that with the $206-million cost for the entire year of 2006-07.

Schwarzenegger built this year's reserve on cuts from the general fund. Each of those cuts hurt, depriving seniors, for example, of their full share of renters' assistance and keeping counties from being able to test water quality at beaches. The state now faces deeper and more fundamental cuts. They can be avoided only by raising taxes -- or by leaving the state unprepared for an earthquake, terrorist attack or more fires. The fast-moving blazes that began during the weekend and are still burning should remind lawmakers, now meeting in special session, that they can not simply shrug their shoulders and hope that things work themselves out. Disaster won't wait for the state's fiscal situation to improve.

Deadlock on the budget last year helped divert attention from a Schwarzenegger proposal to fund emergency response with assessments on homeowners through their insurance policies. The plan needed some work, and the governor and some lawmakers were giving it their attention. But with the time-frittering nonnegotiations about whether to tax or cut, the work didn't get done.

California will have more fires. Development continues in fire-prone wilderness areas, and prolonged drought keeps much of the state tinder dry. There have been on average just under 6,000 fires each year in areas served by Cal Fire, the state firefighting agency, but this year there already have been 9,600. The state has to respond with better fire codes and a just way to spread the financial costs. But more than anything, it needs to get its fiscal house in order.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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Verizon FIOS finally arrives in North Lakewood

Many areas of Lakewood CA north of Del Amo now have Verizon FIOS available to them (thanks to LAAG making sure our central office was on the 2008 build list). LAAG was one of the first installations in our area (11/1/08). Areas south of Del Amo have had it since early 2007. We now have the 10/2 speed and do like it. We had the 3.0 DSL speed previously for about 5 years. Dont notice a huge difference in down load speed but it seems more speed consistent from web page to web page than DSL and the upload is better. Email checking is also faster on POP 3 and via web interface on Google than with DSL 3.0.

The most accurate way we determined to see if FIOS is available is to use the Verizon on line checking tool available here

We have been using the service for two weeks and have not had a problem yet with the internet or phone portion. We did have a problem with the aspect ratio on the TV via the set top box with the DVR. We still have not ironed out the aspect ratio issue but the DVR does work nicely. Needs more space (bigger hard drive) for High Definition recording. Eventually with the "M-Cards" you will be able to buy your own DVR (not rent one for 20.00 mo from Verizon) and plug in their card to get your shows. The latest DVR's can use this M-Card.

We are also waiting for femtocells here as well as FIOS digital voice, both of which are likely over a year away from this area.

I will say 4 hrs is a min installation time. Mine was an easy installation. I have seen some installations take 7 hours. I was also thankful I had Verizon employees do the installation and not contractors. I saw some contractor installations and there were some major problems. FIOS and Verizon may end up with a damaged reputation if contractors keep messing up.

I was also worried about the battery back up "BBU" placement. But once the installers got there there was no problem as they placed it in a laundry service area. It cannot be placed outside. The Motorolla optical net work terminal "ONT" was placed in the same area as the old phone service box. I was fearful I was going to have to bring in an electrician to wire in the 110 voltage.

The BBU does power both the phone and the internet connection when the power goes out. (Not sure about TV part as we did not test that part). However you have to have the modem and all the computer stuff on a separate battery power supply, which some do.

One last note, it took some time for LAAG to get the City, Time Warner and Verizon to get the city channel 31 (like on Time Warner) to also be broadcast on FIOS. As of 11/15/08 it seems to be working so now we can finally tape the city council meetings broadcast live on Channel 31. Also for Lakewood FIOS users the city channel is on 31 just like with Time Warner. One problem is that neither the city nor Verizon have coordinated the scheduling menu so that feature is useless. It just say "local programming" for all times and dates. This requires you to do manual programming to record the meetings every two weeks. But of course the city does not want to make it easy to view those meetings as you might learn something, but that is another article.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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Has common sense vanished?

The only good thing about a November 25th reconsideration date (below) is we will likely have the final tally on all the damage from the fires of November (likely hundreds of millions). What is just one of those fires was started with fireworks? Even if they were not is 5 houses burned down worth it just for silly fundraising. NO. This is a case of the fireworks companies embedding themselves marketing wise with fundraising groups to insulate themselves from the common sense vote. Its a good strategy. Vote against your house burning down or poor little Timmy whose parents cant get a subsidized baseball uniform without the fireworks. (of course with the money they spent on fireworks they could have bought the uniform at full price)

Although we dont know who to attribute this quite it is somewhat appropriate here:
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship."
Alexander Taylor, 1778

In other words voters keep voting for freebies (or fundraising subsidies) until they kill off their government (or the environment) from spending. Now I can think of better examples of this in state government but you see the point.

Lakewood was a test case for Fontana. Hopefully Fontana learns from the Lakewood failure how to beat back the fireworks lobby and the groups they use to hide the peddling of their nasty product.

Fontana City Council to revisit fireworks ban
Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Article Created: 11/11/08

FONTANA - Although election season is over, voters here probably will get one more shot to cast their votes on a hot-button issue.

The deputy city clerk has announced that Citizens for a Safe 4th of July collected enough valid signatures in the summer calling for the City Council to either adopt an ordinance that would allow nonprofits to sell fireworks or allow residents to decide.

Sandra Medina, the deputy clerk, said the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters Office would confirm this week that there were enough valid signatures.

The council last year unanimously voted to ban the sale of fireworks, effective July 5, because of the fire danger.

But the ban had another impact. Nonprofit groups such as school clubs and church ministries miss out on a major fundraiser.

The citizens' group, funded by Orange County-based TNT Fireworks, gathered more than 8,443 valid signatures necessary to bring the issue back before the Fontana council and, more than likely, voters.

The ordinance would allow nonprofits to again sell so-called "safe-and-sane" fireworks, with provisions for safety enforcement.

The council will determine Nov. 25 whether to adopt the ordinance, Medina said.

If it does not, the council on Dec. 9 will call for a special election, which must take place between 88 and 103 days from the time of the resolution, Medina said.

The election would take place in February, Medina said. The president of TNT (John Kelley) said Monday that because of little contact with city officials, he doesn't know what to expect at the Nov. 25 meeting, but the cost of an election might impact their decision.

"Certainly, there is a price tag for the city," John Kelly said.

Councilwoman Janice Rutherford agreed but said she supports bringing the ordinance before city voters, adding that there is a trade-off between celebrating July Fourth and public safety.

"As with any policy decision, there's a cost for acting and a cost for not acting," Rutherford said.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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Celerate the wildfires with fireworks!

So let's imagine the marketing discussion at the Chinese fireworks makers US distributors: "You know we can just sell fireworks on 4th of July. We need to make more money. Our Chinese suppliers can make an unlimited amount of fireworks and want us to sell more. We need to shoot off fireworks on every holiday! In fact we should consider shooting off fireworks to celebrate the Santa Ana wind season and opening of high fire season...you know they are so safe we can shoot them off under any conditions.." The the marketing manager gave the guy that came up with that idea a big bonus. Oh and dont forget to issue a phony sentiment in a press release that "our prayers go out to the firestorm victims"

Oh you think we are joking? When you visit TNT's website these are the holidays that they "suggest" using fireworks to "celebrate":

* » April Fools' Day
* » Arbor Day (plant a tree then burn it down with fireworks)
* » Chinese New Year
* » Christmas
* » Cinco de Mayo
* » Columbus Day
* » Easter
* » Father's Day
* » Grandparent's Day
* » Groundhog Day
* » Halloween
* » Independence Day
* » Kwanzaa
* » Labor Day
* » Mardi Gras
* » Memorial Day
* » Mother's Day
* » New Year's Eve
* » Rosh Hashanah
* » Saint Patrick's Day
* » Spring
* » Summer Solstice
* » Thanksgiving Day
* » Valentine's Day
* » Veteran's Day

Fireworks during a fire? A Glendale resident isn't happy
November 16, 2008

The air around parts of Los Angeles was filled with smoke from brush fires Saturday.

The air in Glendale was filled with fireworks smoke.

The Americana at Brand shopping center kicked off its holiday season with a pyrotechnic display that sent neighbors running outside in alarm.

"It was really an inappropriate display. This was not the time to shoot off fireworks," Glendale resident John Barnes said. "The hotels around here were filled Saturday with fire evacuees."

Americana at Brand spokeswoman Jennifer Gordon said the pyrotechnics were part of a Christmas tree lighting ceremony that couldn't be rescheduled. "We weren't trying to be insensitive. My mother is one of those who had to evacuate because of the fires today."

Barnes was watching TV coverage of the fires when the fireworks went off. He grabbed his video camera and shot the display and the smoke the fireworks produced as evidence.

To him, the holiday event ended with a thud, not a boom.

--Bob Pool


Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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