January, 2013Oakland hires ‘Stop-and-Frisk’ Bill Bratton to fight crimeMonday, January 28th, 2013 Jan. 29, 2013 By Dave Roberts Oakland’s website prominently touts that it has been ranked by the New York Times as the fifth best place in the world to visit. It beat out every other North American city as well as Tokyo, Florence and Vienna. The Times praises Oakland’s sophisticated restau... ‘New’ Delta plan rehashes old plans from 1950s and 70sThursday, January 24th, 2013 Jan. 24, 2013 by Wayne Lusvardi Just as Hollywood often remakes old movies, water engineers apparently rehash old forgotten plans to refashion the Sacramento Delta. And then the proponents call these plans “new” and “cheaper” alternatives. Water engineer Robert Pyke has gotten a l... Municipal Bankruptcy Can Restore Financial StabilityThursday, January 17th, 2013Jan. 17, 2013 By Todd C. Ringstad The threat of bankruptcy still haunts California. State and municipal finances have been improving, yet last year three cities filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy: Stockton, San Bernardino and Mammoth Lakes. Around the country, Jefferson County, Ala. went belly ... Prevailing wage scams steal from taxpayersFriday, January 11th, 2013Jan. 11, 2013 By Katy Grimes In what strange world do janitors get paid $45 per hour? In California, the land of the prevailing wage. The dirty secret is that janitors often are not really getting paid $45 per hour, but the taxpayers are being charged this amount on public works projects. ... |