DISQUS

Well done, Toad! The current list of so-called fart suckers is getting longer by the day. These pinheads are getting more desperate every day. Very sad how Foster is dispatching his surrogates/sycophants, aka fart suckers, to spread the gospel of fiscal irresponsibility. Will there be anything left to suck after Measure I deservedly goes down in flames?

This was actually one of Doug's better columns! Right on the money, so to speak.

It will be interesting to find out who ponies up the cash to finance this hopeless campaign to try to sucker the voters. The financiers will be providing a classic example (on a much smaller scale, of course) of how city hall has pissed away so much money over the years.

<Who's got the "cooler head"?>

The cooler heads belong to those who are rationally convinced that we don't need this tax increase.

I would much rather take Bill Pearl's word for it than to rely on the comments from a bunch of politically-charged hacks at city hall. Those pukes are hell-bent and desperate for this abortion of a tax increase. It's going to get ugly. Follow the money trail of the tax proponents as they spew lie after lie in the weeks leading up to the election. More than likely, they're pissing in the wind, as the voters' cooler heads will prevail.

We obviously have a mixture of folks making comments who have either swallowed the kool-aid or get it. Let's look at some irrefutable facts:

1) Mayor Bob gave it to Colonna pretty hard about his vote to spike pensions.
2) Mayor Bob made a campaign promise not to raise taxes.
3) Mayor Bob lobbied extremely hard to ram through city employee raises, despite his disingenuous campaign rhetoric.
4) The city council places loyalty to city employees above loyalty to taxpayers.
5) City hall has failed to prioritize infrastructure and public safety, going all the way back to the start of Mayor Bev's reign...actually, long before that, but Bev really screwed the pooch. While she pimped, pandered and gave lip service for retail, she and her cronies foolishly chased it away. Oh sure, they accepted COPS grants from the Feds, but they merely used that money to supplant general fund monies.
6) Folks who criticize the UUT cut really don't have a clue. UUT revenues predictably have continued to increase, despite the cut in the rate. The city has had ample time to budget accordingly. The city has had 8 years to plan for UUT revenue, not to mention to plan for projected property tax revenues. Oil revenues have also dramatically increased.
7) The reason for LB's current fiscal condition has to do with politics, and nothing else.
8) The taxpayers will overwhelmingly oppose Mayor Bob's parcel tax scam. BooHoo if you don't like that!

Dick Ray is correct. To approve the mayor's tax scheme, is tantamount to rewarding all of city hall for fiscal irresponsibility. Bankruptcy is looking mighty tasty right now...it would probably be the only way to reform pensions.

Seal, how is Heidi?

I've actually heard that the justifiably deceased perp just might have stolen the sawed-off shotgun from the burglary victim. Coverup?

Mayor Blob was certainly forced to back-pedal on his tax scheme...why? Because he knew it was illegal. Shannon and his backdoor gal, Mahood, knew it couldn't pass the legal sniff test.

Let's face it, all of our local politicians are scrambling for revenue. LA County is chasing after a feckless local income tax increase, the ports are attempting to drive away competition with their global warming scam, and Mayor Blob (and his sycophants) want to stick property owners with an onerous parcel tax...not to mention LB Unified's BS property tax proposal to perpetuate an even higher drop-out rate.

I still have a question to ask about Pat West...was he hired only because he is shorter than Mayor Blob?

jdonline wrote: "how many potholes would $400,000 fix?"

Good question JD! I seriously doubt that city hall could even come close to finding a polling firm crazy enough to come up with a plausible scenario of the mayor's wacky plan passing with a 2/3 majority. I also wonder if any councilmember is lame enough to believe this could pass. For the council to piss away $400K to put this on the ballot would be absolute lunacy and downright irresponsible.

Several good comments have been made here. As for Mayor Blob's fiscal inheritance, what has actually happened is that he inherited a steaming pile of crap, yet he's actually squatted mightily to make that pile higher now than it was when he assumed office.

Gerrie Schipske is on the record as being opposed to any and all tax increases. Since being elected to office, so far, so good. She deserves an atta girl for that. Knowing that her district is overwhelmingly opposed to a tax increase, especially the mayor's confiscatory nightmare of a proposal, it's reasonable to assume that she will not aid and abet the crime of putting it on the ballot.

Apparently, the mayor has either threatened or is planning to threaten councilmembers' staff budgets over this deal. Now how chickenshit is that, if true?

Evidently the mayor is undeterred by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association's public threat to file a lawsuit if Long Beach puts this abortion of a tax increase proposal on the ballot. The city attorney's office believes their own BS that the proposal survives the sniff test. Apparently the mayor is pushing ahead come hell or high water. If he fails to extort or bribe a council majority to declare a fiscal emergency, he'll push ahead with a proposal that would require 2/3 majority voter approval.

The mayor and his sycophants have got to finally come to grips with the raw fact that fiscal responsibility cannot happen without pension reform.

The council is also going to discuss some sort of UUT deal to increase the flow to that revenue stream. Not sure how they're going to do that. Seems to me that the only way to do that would be to go after companies like Vonage, who provide VOIP services, to start collecting taxes on that service. If that's their intention, I call BS. I don't think the city's UUT proposal is as innocuous as many people believe.

Any relation to Shooty Babbitt?

Yes, drnoe's name is Ron. But what's in a name? Wonder what Jenny O now thinks about the Lowenthal name?

Jenny O is wrong. The Lowenthal name carries a lot of water...for good, or for bad. Sorry Jenny O, but a great many of LB area voters are dumbed down, for a variety of reasons. That's not to cast aspersions, but it is what it is. Still, the glaring problem is voter apathy, which is always evident when the final numbers come out...less than 20% voter turnout is pathetic. It's safe to assume that no matter who wins the 54th, it will mean more of the same.

I still think that a Laemmle Theater would be the perfect solution for the Roberts location, and it would certainly attract upscale patrons and new upscale businesses.

Fine with me, but make it a nice, viewer-friendly arena. The Staples Center and the Honda Center require telescopes for the upper tier seating. Put the luxury suites at the top. A good model to strive for would be based on the U. of Utah's campus arena, which is one of the best for hoops. Even the bleeders aren't bad.

Status quo...do we really need that?

Monson was part of a long-term regime that brought success to Gonzaga. Their current coach, Mark Few, has been with the program for almost 20 years, and new USD coach Bill Grier was on the staff for about 16 years. Not to mention the longevity of current ass't coach Leon Rice. Along with this longevity is a solid, long-term commitment to excellence...GU has pumped money into the program in the form of salaries, budget and facilities. GU's out-of-conference schedules are among the toughest in all of Division I hoops...they'll play any team, any time, anywhere. It remains to be seen what LBSU will do in that regard, but they're off to a good start by hiring Monson.

Dave - who got canned?

The best part about the PT is the sports page. Let's hope they don't screw that up. Why not go to an interactive blog format for the sports page to beef up the PT's web presence? If they were to effectively monetize it, they could make some good money with it.

Dave - perhaps I could have phrased that a little better. To clarify, I don't have much faith in the level of competence in our local gov't. There are too many examples to list, but I'm sure you get the point, since you have a good history of reporting some of these examples. You have to admit that our local electeds have clearly demonstrated their loyalty to the unions (as it pertains to salaries, pensions, etc.) and the power pricks over the needs of LB residents. Bloated salaries and pensions have contributed mightily to our city's fiscal woes. Incompetence in handling corporate sponsorship opportunities shouldn't come as a surprise. I'd like to see more time and energy expended to report on the city's budget, with an emphasis on salaries, pensions and city hall's never-ending hunger for the residents to bail out the electeds with a tax increase. Or isn't that sexy enough?

“It isn’t about government running this country, anymore,” Gabelich said disgustedly. “It’s about corporate America running this county.”

While I'm not exactly crazy about corporate America, I certainly don't want government to run our country. Rae does make a good point about the relative secrecy/confidentiality of the contracts. Meanwhile, if Rae and the council are so concerned about raising the quality of life in LB, perhaps they should take an extremely hard look at all the terrible decisions they have made...particularly as they pertain to the budget, pensions, salaries, etc. To add insult to injury, the mayor and council are now comptemplating what kind of tax increase proposal they want to place on the November ballot. For what reason? To piss it away, like they always do? To bail themselves out of financial situation that they caused? Bottom line, a tax increase isn't very neighborhood friendly. What is neighborhood friendly would be to put an immediate halt to being so beholden to the city employees' union. The mayor and council should serve its citizens, not the unions.

Hey! What about me?

93 will go down in flames