This Is Port City: Big money backs mayor

This Is Port City: Big money backs mayor: Businessman helping Johnston, Fritchen campaigns By Scott Smith Record Staff Writer October 17, 2012 12:00 AM STOCKTON - Big mone...

Stockton Town Hall to unite civilians, city officials in search for solutions

Stockton Town Hall to unite civilians, city officials in search for solutions
Submitted by Linda Park, Community Web Producer

STOCKTON, CA - Disheartening topics about Stockton run as regular headlines on the morning and evening news. It is therefore a common belief that there are limited solutions to the city's problems. Many Stockton residents have questions they want answered and are seeking solutions to the challenges facing their city.

On Sept. 27 at 7:00 p.m. in Long Theatre at University of the Pacific, ABC News 10 Sacramento will host "Stockton in Crisis, Searching for Solutions," a free town hall forum open to the public.

The town hall will present a six-party panel featuring, mayor Ann Johnston, district attorney James Willett, Deputy Chief of Police Rick Salsedo, Eberhardt School of Business professor and director of University of the Pacific's Business Forecasting Center Jeff Michaels, as well as Pastor Glenn R. Shields, community representative and religious advocate. These individuals will comment on the issues facing the city of Stockton, and provide feedback to questions posed by the audience.

"This is News 10's commitment to Stockton," explains Gina Villarreal, segment producer with News 10. "The goal of the town hall is to provide an open dialogue with city officials and key community constituents in order to offer solutions to Stockton."

"Higher education institutions have a responsibility to their students and community to provide forums of discussion," said Ted Leland, University of the Pacific vice president of external relations. "This type of event allows the University to join the dialogue and establish a neutral setting for a constructive conversation about the city's weaknesses."

News 10 will be integrating audience and online questions throughout the Town Hall, allowing community members an opportunity to have their comments and concerns addressed directly by Town Hall participants.

Reporters Tim Daly, Cristina Mendonsa, and Dale Schornack will broadcast live from the forum, and Leigh Paynter will be monitoring a live webcast of the event, fielding questions and comments from online viewers.

For those interested in attending the event in person, please request a ticket on news10.net, or call 916-441-2345 (Limit 4 RSVP's per person).

News10/KXTV

America’s Top 10 Most Dangerous Cities 2012

"Worst City In America!" 10th worst in violent crimes.

> Violent crimes per 1,000: 14.1
> Population: 295,136
> 2011 murders: 58
> Median income: $45,606
> Unemployment rate: 20.2%

In 2010, Stockton had an unemployment rate of 18.4%, among the worst in the nation for large cities. In 2011, the labor market worsened and unemployment rose to 20.2%, well more than double the national average of 8.9% and the highest of any of the cities on this list. Violent crime rates also have worsened, increasing from 13.8 crimes per 1,000 people in 2010.

Stockton, CA Filed for Bankruptcy, but What's Next?

Stockton, California files for bankruptcy

By Jim Christie
SAN FRANCISCO | Thu Jun 28, 2012 11:49pm EDT
(Reuters) - Stockton, California, became the largest city to file for bankruptcy in U.S. history on Thursday after years of fiscal mismanagement and a housing market crash left it unable to pay its workers, pensioners and bondholders.

The filing by the city of 300,000 people followed three months of confidential talks with its creditors aimed at averting bankruptcy.

"We are now a Chapter 9 debtor," Marc Levinson, the lawyer who filed the city's voluntary petition in the Eastern District of California, in Sacramento (Case 12-32118) told Reuters.

Pleadings in support of Stockton's eligibility for Chapter 9 bankruptcy will be filed on Friday, Levinson said.

Stockton, which officially declared insolvency and its desire to restructure its debt, also filed a separate list of its major unsecured creditors.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System, which manages Stockton's pension plan, tops the list. The retirement system has a $147.5 million claim for unfunded pension costs.

Other top creditors include investors holding $124.3 million of Stockton's pension obligation bonds, $40.4 million of the city's variable rate demand obligations, $35.1 million of the city's public facilities fees bonds and $31.6 million of the city's parking garage debt.

Wells Fargo Bank NA is listed as the trustee for the investors.

"We are extremely disappointed that we have been unable to avoid bankruptcy," Mayor Ann Johnston said in a statement. "This is what we must do to get our fiscal house in order and protect the safety and welfare of our citizens."

Negotiations with creditors ended on Monday with Stockton failing to win enough concessions to help close its budget shortfall for the fiscal year starting on July 1. The city will also file a motion to request permission to share information from the confidential mediation process.

HEALTHCARE TO BE PHASED OUT, PENSIONS UNCHANGED

The Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing, a rare event for U.S. municipal debt issuers, was left as the only option to close a deficit of $26 million in Stockton's budget for its the new fiscal year, according to city officials.

The budget approved on Tuesday by Stockton's city council suspends $10.2 million in debt payments and cuts employee compensation and retiree benefits by $11.2 million to help close the deficit.

About $7 million in savings would come from cutting retiree medical benefits for one year.

While the retiree medical benefits will eventually be eliminated, Stockton plans to leave its public pensions unchanged while in bankruptcy proceedings. Attempts to pare them would invite long and expensive challenges.

City Manager Bob Deis said he was out of options to balance the city's budget after deep cuts in recent years to Stockton's work force. City leaders rejected further cuts to the police department as Stockton is experiencing a surge in violent crime.

The city will maintain current levels of public services, although at the cost of Stockton shedding its retiree medical program and defaulting on more of its bonds, Deis told Reuters.

Stockton has already defaulted on about $2 million in debt since February, allowing the trustee for one of its bond insurers to seize a building once slated to be its future city hall and three parking garages.

"We need to spread the pain. What's left are creditors, our bondholders and retirees," Deis said.

Stockton has suffered a sharp drop in revenue since the collapse of its once red-hot housing market, forcing it to cut more than $90 million in spending in recent years.

The housing boom transformed the farming city into a distant bedroom community of the San Francisco Bay area, and the bust put it at, or near, the top of national foreclosure rankings in recent years.

Stockton becomes the nation's most populous city to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. But Jefferson County, Alabama, remains the biggest municipal bankruptcy in terms of debt outstanding, as it had a debt load exceeding $4 billion when it filed in 2011. Stockton has about $700 million in bond debt.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services downgraded Stockton to default from selective default on Wednesday, citing the city's move toward bankruptcy and expectations that it will not substantially pay all of its obligations as they come due.

Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday cut to 'Caa3' various general fund-supported debts of the city, putting the ratings in the "substantial risk" category, one notch above the "may be in default, extremely speculative" grouping. Moody's said its move was based on Stockton's bankruptcy budget.

(Reporting by Jim Christie, Hilary Russ and Joan Gralla; Editing by Tiziana Barghini and Stacey Joyce)

The Future of Stockton is with EVI

Greg Pitsch, and Dale Fritchen Have Realistic Budgets that make "cents"

Dale Fritchen is the incumbent district 6 council member in Stockton, CA. He is running for re-election, and is squaring off against Michael Tubbs. Friday afternoon, he brought forward the only option in my eyes, and that is a financial solution laid out in black and white, a plan to cut back 20.5 million of our nearly 27 Million dollar deficit. Mr. Fritchen has also been dealing with looking for answers for the public while AJ s laughing thinking she fooled the public again. Stand up with Greg Pitsch honoring his endorsement for Dale Fritchen running for Dist. 6, to Unite Stockton as a whole, get rid of several un-necessary and risky spending that has destroyed our economy, costing unemployment to rise above 22% in February 2012.

Many are well aware of how our city was "occupied" again Thursday. A measly 100 people came out, they shut down the surrounding area it and had multiple agencies come assist with riot control. For 100 people?

"Wasted funds are being amassed like we've never seen before, and the people are no longer fighting for there own sake. It almost seems as if nobody cares about the City, and honestly I can't be in any such environment that promotes a negative tone or result, without having the desire to want to fix it.." - Gregory S. Pitsch.






MIKE KLOCKE
June 3, 2012


One person's "occupation" is another person's "annoyance."


Nevertheless, several streets downtown were shut as protesters carried signs and chanted about such things as officer-involved shootings, Stockton's leadership and influential banks.



Much of the gathering was from the much-more-intense Occupy Oakland movement. Buses brought people to Stockton to march.



To everyone's credit, there were no arrests.



Civic protests are an important part of this country's history, and they have led to great and positive changes. You do not have to go too far back in history to realize those truths.

I am certainly in no position to pass judgment on the officer-involved shootings that were such a focal point of the third Occupy event in Stockton. They obviously were on the minds of protesters.

The focus was on the deaths of James Rivera Jr., 16, and Luther Brown, 32. Some protesters carried signs with the names of the Stockton Police and San Joaquin Sheriff's officers involved.

Again, that is fine and well within the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

But before the city is occupied for a fourth time, I would like the protesters to consider rallying against - or for - some other things:

>>VOTE FOR GREG PITSCH<<

» Support the 35-year-old who was hit, threatened and then had the assailant follow her into her house;

» Stand up for the family of the unidentified man who was found dead by the railroad tracks in northeastern Stockton;

» Make signs in support of the woman who reported she was sexually assaulted, falsely imprisoned and threatened by a man in Stockton;

» Plea for justice for the young man whose Camaro was carjacked at gunpoint. Speak out against those who committed the crime;

» Support the Stockton police who had to deal with a hatchet-wielding man before making an arrest;

» Demand justice for the 43-year-old man who had simply just gotten a cup of coffee when his car window was broken with a chain and then he was beaten in the head and robbed;

» Chant demands that the people who fired gunshots into the house of a woman on Airport Way be sought, arrested and jailed before they do something such as this again. Incidentally, it was not the first time shots were fired at the woman's house;

» Rally people against the man who allegedly assaulted a police officer with a knife when he was trying to break up a domestic dispute;

» Decry the criminal who tried to falsely imprison a 15-year-old girl in his vehicle;

» Pray for the 21-year-old man who was shot in the head and left for dead on South Sinclair Avenue. Demand that his assailant be caught;

» Carry signs with strong messages of protest against the two men who beat a 71-year-old man, and the other two men who beat a 63-year-old man in robberies just a few hours apart.




What do you think of these suggestions as matters to protest the next time you show up to occupy Stockton?

The sad thing: each of these incidents happened within the four days prior to the Occupy Stockton visit. So we have not even touched on previous incidents, last year's record 58 murders in Stockton or - to change the direction of a potential protest - the need for more officers.

Occupy our city and call out the criminals. Criticize the people doing the beating, stabbing, shooting, robbing and more.

I could not agree more with the words of Occupy Oakland organizer Christopher Moreland, who told the media: "We're not here to start trouble; we're here to awaken the city of Stockton. We feel their pain and support them in their struggle."

Amen. But it is more than a struggle against officer-involved shootings, city leadership and Wells Fargo Bank playing foreclosure hardball.

It is a struggle against crime. Every day, every hour, practically every minute. For citizens - and definitely for law enforcement.

It is our life, and it is getting more intense - something you certainly know about in Oakland.

So roll these suggestions around in your collective thoughts before jumping on another east-bound bus.

Contact Record editor Mike Klocke at (209) 546-8250 or mklocke@recordnet.com

Where is Stockton's Harry Potter?

Where is Stockton's Harry Potter?

You know, the boy wizard who defeated the evil Lord Voldemort and set things right in the wizarding world. That is exactly what Stockton needs, someone to fight this vicious financial crisis.

Need parallels?

This is what Rufus Scrimgeour (pronounced scrim-ger), the Minister of Magic in the Harry Potter series, said to the people in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows": "These are dark times, there is no denying. Our world has perhaps faced no greater threat than it does today. But I say this to our citizenry: We, ever your servants, will continue to defend your liberty and repel the forces that seek to take it from you! Your Ministry remains, strong."

Well, aside from the reference to "ministry" for government, that statement very well could apply to Stockton.

This is in part what Mayor Ann Johnston said during her State of the City speech a few weeks ago: "This has been a difficult year for all of us with tough decisions. The City Council has made extremely tough decisions, and we're going to see even tougher decisions ahead of us. The fixes to our financial issues will not be pretty, but we're determined to come out of this with the city on a solid financial foundation that will move Stockton forward."

When Scrimgeour made his speech, Voldemort's minions had infiltrated the government and were creating chaos in the world. The threat was active and, in that world created by J.K. Rowling, very real.

In our world, the threat is the city's financial crisis. The recession has hit Stockton hard, there is no denying, particularly housing in an area dependent on real estate-generated revenue.

For example, a bank-owned house in my neighborhood is listed at $115,000, about 70 percent less than what it would have sold for six or seven years ago.

Worse, it seems whenever the city has a plan or economic engine to kick-start a comeback, things sputter and fall to the wayside.

Where is a good wizard when you need one?

Contact Donald W. Blount at (209) 546-8251 or dblount@recordnet.com. The Record senior editors' blog is available at recordnet.com/editorblog.

I GUESS THEY FORGOT THAT I AM "THE WIZARD OF O.Z." Let's take this city back!!

To finish reading this article click here.

California city on bankruptcy brink discovers illegal payouts to elected officials

A California city has been shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal benefits to elected officials, even as the city considers bankruptcy.
The question is now whether the Stockton, Calif., council members who received the money -- totaling nearly $277,000 over more than 20 years -- plan on giving any of it back.
Mayor Ann Johnston told Fox40 in Sacramento that the city is weighing its options.
"We need to fix this. None of the council members or I had any idea that this was the situation," she said.
Fox40 reports that officials learned about the illegal enrollment in the state retirement system after a local newspaper columnist discovered the provision in the city charter and told the city attorney, who apparently determined the benefit was improper.
"At this point, I need to look at what the options are and if I have any choices or not," Johnston said.
But Ralph White, an ex-councilman, told Fox40 the options are simple.
"Weighing what options on what?" he asked. "Whether to give the money back, or keep it? Do you wanna be a thief, or does she wanna give the money back? That's the option."
Stockton has been considering bankruptcy while it attempts to balance its finances. Should Stockton take that step, it would mark the largest city bankruptcy in U.S. history.


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