Acting with unprecedented haste in response to an apparently specious rumor, local politicians up and down the state are on track to ram through more than $1 billion in special pet projects at the expense of public safety, schools and core services. Local governments throughout California jammed through a blizzard of special projects, creating massive new taxpayer debt with almost no accountability.
This past weekend’s multi-billion dollar spending by redevelopment agencies is drawing mounting denunciation, with one story terming it “the redevelopment equivalent of chugging Hurricanes on Bourbon St.”
The city of San Diego's decision to idle up to eight fire engines daily to save money has had an unintended consequence — revenue from fire inspections by those crews has plummeted.
With criticism mounting about cities’ fiscal protectionism, San Jose officials dramatically scaled back a plan to fast track tens of millions of redevelopment dollars to keep them away from core services.
Firefighters are taking longer to arrive at emergencies since staffing cuts were instituted nearly a year ago, fire Chief Javier Mainar told a City Council committee Wednesday. As many as eight fire engines are taken out of service each day on a rotating basis to reduce costs.