Pasadena Sub Rosa

PUBLIC SMARTER THAN ELITES ABOUT REALITY OF "AFFORDABLE HOUSING"

Re: "Applicants Line Up for Affordable Housing at Haskett Court," Pasadena Star News

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_12806434?source=rss_viewed

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Matt - Placerville
"Low-income" and historic preservation are not a good match. When money is tight, one of the first things to defer is home maintenance. If one really cared about preserving these buildings, they would go to qualified buyers with the highest bids - presumably buyers who can actually afford to care for the buildings.

As to the results of government trying to push home ownership on people who really can't afford it -- we're all living in that nightmare now.

Anonymous
I live in SE Pasadena. In the next neighborhood over from mine, there were several homes recently listed that sold for ~$200K on the free market... roughly the same price as these "affordable" units.

Why should houses be sold below market rate, when there are perfectly good houses sold at market rate for the same price? Sure, these market rate houses are not on California street near the posh South Lake shopping district (hence the lower market value)... but this neighborhood is just down the road from homes that range in the $1M -$4M range, so still a pretty good spot.

Wake up folks and hear the sucking noise of tax dollars being siphoned from your wallet, all in the name of phoney philanthropy.

SMITH & HAWKEN STORE ON SOUTH LAKE AVENUE TO CLOSE

In light of sales that dipped more than 20 percent so far this year, high-end garden shop Smith & Hawken has announced that it is closing down. It is no longer taking orders on its website and gradually shutting the doors forever on its 56 stores in 22 states. For now, head to the nearest one for deep markdowns.

The company posted a message on its website that read, "Thank you for 30 wonderful years in the garden." Though the eponymous store was founded three decades ago by gardeners Dave Smith and Paul Hawken, it has been owned since 2004 by Scotts Miracle-Gro.  700 employees will lose their jobs nationwide.

CALIFORNIA IS LOOKING FLATTER

Democrats Favor Flat Tax? WSJ
Excerpt
But now many Democrats, including the speaker (of the California Assembly), are realizing that what they need is a tax base that will provide steady funding for their programs. In other words, they need a tax base that doesn't count on a large slice of revenue from taxes on a relatively small number of wealthy residents who can flee the state or who are themselves vulnerable to losing a substantial portion of income in a recession.

(some) seemed to favor replacing the state's six income-tax brackets with a single 6% rate. The plan they mentioned would also eliminate corporate and sales taxes and replace them with a business net receipt tax.

MORE POOR THAN RICH LEAVE CALIFORNIA

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The poor are more likely to leave California than the rich, despite concerns that the state's relatively high income tax rate is driving away the wealthy, a new study shows.

The report released Friday by the Public Policy Institute of California determined the poorest 20 percent California residents are twice as likely to leave the state as the richest 20 percent.

Factors such as cheaper rent and home prices outside the Golden State seem to edge out income taxes when people of all incomes decide whether to stay or go, said institute researcher Jed Kolko, who authored the report.

"It does not look like rich people are leaving California in order to avoid income taxes," Kolko said.

Tax critics often claim the state's high cost of living and tax structure drive high-income earners out.

The study found that the rich — those in the top 20 percent of income earners — leave California at only a slightly higher rate than those who arrive. For those with incomes above $200,0000, the departure rate is only 1.09 households for every one household that arrives, the report said.

Meanwhile, 1.73 households with annual incomes of $22,000 or less depart California each year for every one out-of-state arrival.

States with no income tax such as Nevada, Texas and Washington are among the top five destinations for people of all incomes. Texas and Washington also export some of their wealthiest residents to California.

SALT WATER INTRUSION IS OBSTACLE ON PERIPHERAL CANAL

CalPolNews
Scientific Fact:  Build a Peripheral Canal and you kill hundreds of thousands of prime agriculture land--and the State will not pay a dime to reimburse the loss of the land.

How does this happen?  By building the Canal, you create less of a fire wall for salt water from the ocean to seep into the underground water supply.  The salt in the water will then kill the land.  That was the science that helped kill the Canal in the early 1980's.  Unlike phony laws passed in Sacramento, scientific laws cannot be charged or wished away.

This is a boondoggle.  We need to build dams, concern ourselves with people, not fish. Finally, we need to tell the courts they can not kill us.  We need water, it exists, we will use it.  Out of control, arrogant courts can not be reasoned with, they need to be laughed at.  .

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LIBERAL BUSINESS FLEEING L.A. DUE TO HIGH TAXATION

By Rick Newcombe - "Why We'll Leave L.A." - WSJ
Excerpt
If New Yorkers fantasize that doing business here in Los Angeles would be less of a headache, forget about it. This city is fast becoming a job-killing machine. It's no accident the unemployment rate is a frightening 11.4% and climbing.

I never could have imagined that, after living here for more than three decades, I would be filing a lawsuit against my beloved Los Angeles and making plans for my company, Creators Syndicate, to move elsewhere.

But we have no choice. The city's bureaucrats rival Stalin's apparatchiks in issuing decrees, rescinding them, and then punishing citizens for having followed them in the first place.

I founded Creators Syndicate in 1987, and we have represented hundreds of important writers, syndicating their columns to newspapers and Web sites around the world. The most famous include Hillary Clinton, who, like Eleanor Roosevelt, wrote a syndicated column when she was first lady. Another star was the advice columnist Ann Landers, once described by "The World Almanac" as "the most influential woman in America." Other Creators columnists include Bill O'Reilly, Susan Estrich, Thomas Sowell, Roland Martin and Michelle Malkin -- plus Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonists and your favorite comic strips.

From the beginning, we've been headquartered in Los Angeles. But 15 years ago we had a dispute with the city over our business tax classification. The city argued that we should be in an "occupations and professions" classification that has an extremely high tax rate, while we fought for a "wholesale and retail" classification with a much lower rate. The city forced us to invest a small fortune in legal fees over two years, but we felt it was worth it in order to establish the correct classification once and for all.

After enduring a series of bureaucratic hearings, we anxiously awaited a ruling to find out what our tax rate would be. Everything was at stake. We had already decided that if we lost, we would move.

You can imagine how relieved we were on July 1, 1994, when the ruling was issued. We won, and firmly planted our roots in the City of Angels and proceeded to build our business.

Everything was fine until the city started running out of money in 2007. Suddenly, the city announced that it was going to ignore its own ruling and reclassify us in the higher tax category. Even more incredible is the fact that the new classification was to be imposed retroactively to 2004 with interest and penalties. No explanation was given for the new classification, or for the city's decision to ignore its 1994 ruling.

Their official position is that the city is not bound by past rulings -- only taxpayers are. This is why we have been forced to file a lawsuit.

C.A.R.P. BEING REPLACED WITH C.R.A.P.

Letter to Wall Street Journal
Henry S. Rowen almost has it right in "A New York Solution for Bailing Out California" (op-ed, July 8). He labeled the theoretical California Relief Program, CARP. We New Yorkers who have not yet left know about relief and high taxes. It should be named the California Relief and Abatement Program.

Howard Flinker
New York

AIR QUALITY CREDITS WILL COST $2 MILLION FOR HOSPITAL BOILER

"For example, credits for a tortilla fryer and oven would cost $1.6 million, according to AQMD. Credits for a hospital boiler would cost an estimated $2 million."

SENATE BILL WOULD RELEASE AQMD AIR PERMITS STALLED BY COURT RULING
Josh Dulaney, San Bernardino Sun, 7/9/09 

Local agencies are backing a state senate bill that would release South Coast Air Quality Management District permits for businesses and public services now on hold because of a 2008 court ruling.

In November, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ann I. Jones struck down two AQMD policies, one allowing the issuance of credits to power plants and another regarding its credit-tracking system.

Jones found that AQMD did not conduct an adequate environmental analysis of the policies as required under law.

The ruling means that more than 1,200 permits are on hold, with more than 140 in AQMD's San Bernardino County jurisdiction, including 10 at Ameron Steel Fabrication in Fontana, one at the Running Springs Water District wastewater treatment plant and at least two at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa.

SB696 - authored by Senator Rod Wright (D-Los Angeles) - would allow AQMD to issue permits to small businesses and essential public services if safeguards are in place. Also, the bill allows power plants to have limited access to AQMD credits if approved by the California Energy Commission.

Wright's office said Wednesday the ruling could stop about $4 billion in economic activity throughout the state, and it could impact between 40,000 and 60,000 jobs.

"We have a major economic problem in the state," said Stan Diorio, legislative director for Wright's office. "We have stopped the ability to do any growth. It's frustrating."

On behalf of the 29 local elected officials who serve on the county's transportation commission - known as San Bernardino Associated Governments - Jennifer Franco, director of intergovernmental and legislative affairs for the commission, wrote in a June letter of support to Wright that AQMD's inability to issue permits for projects eligible for credits could delay projects and stall economic recovery for the region.

Before a pollution-generating facility can open in Southern California, or before a company replaces or installs pollution-generating equipment, emission credits are needed to offset the anticipated pollution, said Sam Atwood, spokesman for AQMD.

The credits are created when older, less green-friendly facilities shut down or when existing facilities reduce emissions, Atwood said.

The AQMD also has credits from its internal bank that it made available free to public agencies and small businesses.

Otherwise, the credits would need to be purchased on the open market, which can be expensive.

For example, credits for a tortilla fryer and oven would cost $1.6 million, according to AQMD. Credits for a hospital boiler would cost an estimated $2 million.

The AQMD issued credits for free for facilities that produced less than four tons per year of pollutants.

Later, the AQMD made the credits available to power plants.

"Several environmental groups sued AQMD," Atwood said. "They didn't like an amendment that would have allowed the power plants to obtain the credits at $92,000 a pound."

The Natural Resources Defense Council, Communities for a Better Environment and Coalition for a Safe Environment said the credits were going to go to polluters at too low a cost.

Atwood said Jones' ruling not only made it impossible for power plants to get the credits, but for AQMD to provide them for all public facilities and businesses.

The ruling is under appeal, which puts a stay on cancelling thousands of previously issued permits.

Affected businesses include sewage treatment plants, hospitals, schools, fire and police stations, gas stations, dry cleaners, auto body shops, printers and food manufacturers.

Still, many businesses and public services are now just getting word of the ruling.

Ernest Marquez, senior civil engineer of public utilities in Banning, said Wednesday he hadn't heard of the ruling, which may affect plans to go forward with an expansion of the city's wastewater treatment facility.

"I'm not aware of it," Marquez said.

The expansion's design is about 90 percent complete and is scheduled to start construction in about a year, he said.

While AQMD will not readopt its rule to issue credits to power plants, it will readopt its rule on the tracking system, which would allow the credits to be issued to low-polluter facilities.

But that could take months.

In the meantime, no offset credits will be issued from AQMD's internal bank. AQMD will issue permits only to sources that have provided their own offsets in the form of Emission Reduction Credit certificates purchased on the open market.

EL NINO IS BAAAACK!

Above: "El Nino" - Bill Patzert, JPL

WASHINGTON (AP) – El Nino is back.

Government scientists said Thursday that the periodic warming of water in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which can affect weather around the world, has returned.

The Pacific had been in what is called a neutral state, but forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say the sea surface temperature climbed to 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit above normal along a narrow band in the eastern equatorial Pacific in June.

In addition, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center said temperatures in other tropical regions are also above normal, with warmer than usual readings as much as 975 feet below the ocean surface.

In general, El Nino conditions are associated with increased rainfall across the east-central and eastern Pacific and with drier than normal conditions over northern Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

A summer El Nino can lead to wetter than normal conditions in the intermountain regions of the United States and over central Chile.

The forecasters said they expect this El Nino to continue strengthening over the next few months and to last through the winter of 2009-2010.

NOAA officials noted that not all El Nino effects are negative. For example, it can suppress Atlantic hurricanes and bring needed moisture to the arid Southwest.

But it can also steer damaging winter storms to California and increase storminess across the southern United States.

NOTE: WHAT ARE CALIFORNIA WATER AGENCIES GOING TO DO IF THE SO-CALLED "DROUGHT" ENDS BUT WATER IS STILL NOT FLOWING TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DUE TO A COURT- BLOCKADE OF THE CALIFORNIA AQUEDUCT BY ENVIRONMENTALISTS?

SYNTHETIC TREES TO REPLACE FICUS TREES IN PASADENA

July 9th, 2009 by Lisa Zyga FROM PHYSORG.COM 

A synthetic tree could collect carbon coming from small, distributed sources, which is usually very difficult to collect. Credit: Global Research Technologies.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have designed a synthetic tree that traps carbon dioxide from the air in an attempt to combat growing emissions. The device looks less like a tree and more like a small building, but it can collect carbon about 1,000 times faster than a real tree. One synthetic tree could absorb one ton of carbon dioxide per day, an amount equivalent to that produced by about 20 cars, on average. After being trapped in a chamber, the carbon would be compressed and stored in liquid form for sequestration.

NOTE: Maybe synthetic trees could be made to look like below: