October 2008 Archives

According to the Los Angeles Times' L.A. Now blog, a rare contrabassoon (a gigantic version of the bassoon with pitch that is an octave lower) has been stolen from the Coburn School in downtown Los Angeles. The orchestra is set to perform next Saturday night at the Ambassador Auditorium, and will have to do it without the instrument if it is not recovered (it is that rare, apparently.) From the blog:

The Colburn School is offering a $1,000 reward for the safe return of a limited-edition contrabassoon that the music school says was stolen last week from a rehearsal room at Colburn's downtown campus.

The organization based its rankings on how legislators voted on over 20 pieces of legislation, some of which passed and some of which did not. Locally, Ron Calderon ranked worst among the Democrats, and actually ranked as one of the worst Democrats statewide.

Nevertheless, he ranked much better than any local Republicans, with Sen. Bob Margett siding with environmentalists a mere 17 percent of the time. The full local rankings:

Democrats

Ron Calderon- 67 percent
Gloria Romero- 94 percent
Jack Scott- 100 percent
Charles Calderon- 82 percent
Mike Eng- 100 percent
Ed Hernandez- 95 percent
Anthony Portantin- 95 percent

Republicans

Bob Margett- 17 percent
Anthony Adams- 5 percent
Bob Huff- 10 percent

So in short, big surprise, Democrats are pro-environment, Republicans not so much. Consider yourself an educated voter.

You can see the rest of the report card here. Here are the issues that the organization based its rankings on.

Caroline An and Nathan McIntire's reporting on bond money expenditures at PUSD has resulted in a temporary dead end as the district has refused to give them public records they requested, saying it will hamper there ability to conduct future litigation to recover bond money. From the story:

PASADENA - Pasadena Unified School District officials refused Thursday to release invoices, an attorney's report and other public records related to their investigation of at least $80,000 they say is unaccounted for from a 1997 school bond.

[skip]

Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, said the documents referred by district officials to police are public record under the California Public Records Act.

Ask any reporter in this newsroom or over at the Tribune and they have a horror story about getting a hold of public records. Just once, I think, we would like someone to just say: "of course we can get those records for you... after all, you are legally entitled to them!"

For some of our horror stories I refer you to this reproduced entry from the Tribune's Leftovers from City Hall blog:

Today marks the first day of the Sunshine Week, a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Some news outlets have dedicated a lot of time to promoting such dialogue during this week. I'd like to think that every day is Sunshine Week here at the Trib. But I'm not sure that we have anything scheduled to appear in the paper.

I may not have a frustrating experience to tell, but I love South El Monte's excuses for BREAKING THE LAW!!! It's a damn law, people! "I've been busy" isn't a valid excuse under Cal. Gov't Code Secs. 6250 to 6276.48.
March 18, 2008 12:05 PM

The Pasadena City College Courier has the scoop:

`U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff told a PCC audience on Oct. 23 that under a Barack Obama presidency, community college would be "essentially free."

On a related note, I have also heard it is possible to get free health care by volunteering time at hospitals.

Reporters Caroline An and Nathan McIntire have an article in the paper today about $80,000 allegedly stolen from PUSD's Measure Y bond funds. The basic issue behind the article is that the school district had extremely poor records of its expenditures of taxpayer money- not a good thing with another bond measure on the ballot next week. From the story:

PASADENA - A prosecutor who reviewed allegations that a contractor bilked Pasadena Unified School District out of $80,000 said Tuesday the district's records were so confusing, officials could not determine whether a crime was committed.

"Looking at the records they had, we could not conclude what work he did and what work other contractors did," said John A. Perlstein, a prosecutor for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

[skip]

Pasadena police detective Lt. John Dewar, who coordinated the investigation, said detectives "found some serious issues with lack of control and oversight."

[skip]

Meanwhile, PUSD school board member Esteban Lizardo described the handling of work scheduled for Washington Middle School as "a disaster."

"The accountability should have happened," Lizardo said.

Michael Antonovich said in a press release today that an investigation should be opened for the West Hollywood resident that has hung a life-size likeness of Sarah Palin by a noose:

"This is a deliberate hate crime and should be condemned - had this stupid act been done to Senator Obama, there would appropriately have been a national outcry," said Antonovich. "The definition of a hate crime includes insults, or offensive graffiti, images or letters targeting a person because of his or her membership in a certain social group including gender, sex, or political affiliation."

The Times story above suggests that local authorities are already investigating, but have more or less decided it does not constitute a crime:

"The sheriff made this clear: This is a country that has freedom of speech, and we protect that right even when we think it's idiotic and stupid and in bad taste and wrong to do," said Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. "If it is nonviolent and doesn't cause any problems, then they have the right to do it."

Antonovich's press release said he has directed the County Counsel to work with the D.A.'s office to see if any laws have been broken.

The reaction obviously would have been much worse if it were Obama hung in effigy, though the historical reasons behind that reaction would be justifiable. Nevertheless, I think it would be better for everybody if the owner just took the thing down.

From the Armenian News Network:

The Turkish Lobby has targeted Glendale Congressman Adam B. Schiff in the November 4th election, raising over ten thousand dollars for his opponent, Charles Hahn, during the month of September alone. Rep. Schiff's office told PanARMENIAN.Net.

Washington based Turkish Coalition PAC contributed $2,300 of the total at an event in Orange County hosted by Ergun Kirlikovali, who runs a an Armenian Genocide Denial website entitled "History of Truth.com".

Representative Schiff is the original sponsor of H.Res. 106, recognizing the Armenian Genocide, which passed the Foreign Affairs Committee this session despite intense lobbying by Turkey.

"The Turkish lobby will not deter me from my efforts to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Over a million and a half Armenians perished in the first genocide of the last century, and no amount of spending by the forces of denial can rewrite history or discourage my pursuit of recognition."

I've taken a look at Hahn's records, and there are contributions from the above-mentioned Ergun Kirlikovali listed there, though I am not sure where the other thousands of dollars in contributions are coming from.

Obviously though, anyone who believes the World War I conflict between Armenians and Turks was not a genocide (I am not saying what it was- I am a journalist, not a historian, and have not reported on the issue, nor researched it in great depth) would have good reason to contribute to Schiff's opponent for no other reason than he is not Adam Schiff. I have no idea what Hahn thinks about the issue, but I am sure he understands this as well.

I emailed Schiff's office about the contributions to try to get some more details, since it appears that is where the Armenian News Network got the story.

Tonight was the second reading of the tobacco ordinance- usually a formality as far as city ordinances go- but tonight, some bar owners showed up for a last ditch attempt to sway the council's decision.

Needless to say, it did not go anywhere, though some of the proposals from the bar owners were very moderate- an application process for a permit to allow a smoking patio, or a division process to allow one smoker's outdoor area and one non-smoking area.

The owner of the 35er was less in a mood to compromise and blasted the council for not putting the plan on a city ballot to allow people to decide for themselves.

But, also, the usual anti-smoking crowd spoke up and reiterated their desire for a ban. It is now officially over.

If you missed it, I just capped off the week's discussion of the new smoking ordinance with a story about some of the other cities which passed smoking bans in recent years. I didn't get the numbers on Calabasas, one of the cities, until today, but like most of the others (excepting Burbank) the city did issue a lot of citations for violating the ban. From the city's public information officer:

Since the inception of the Calabasas Comprehensive Secondhand Smoke Control ordinance in March 2006, there is a total of 28 official Smoking Violation cases opened by Code Enforcement. The total amount of fines issued and collected is $5,100. However the number of verbal warnings issued is at least 1,000 (no specific count is kept).

So, a lot of warnings, not a lot of tickets. That is basically what Pasadena is hoping for, I believe.

There are a couple of interesting items on tonight's agenda. First, the council will likely approve an $11.6 million staff pay raise- not likely to be any discussion on this item, unless somebody comes in specifically to comment on it. For more details, see this post from Friday.

Next, the city is seeking another grant for river restoration projects along the Arroyo Seco. They are looking for about $3.7 million from a state grant program. One project will develop a stretch of the river along Berkshire Avenue, removing non-native trees, raising the bank, and improving a storm drain so less trash gets into the river. The second will naturalize a dam in the upper Arroyo Seco area to allow a seasonal pond to form and give fish a way to move between the pond and the river, depending on how much water is released. The city would have to contribute $150,000 in matching funds for the project.

The city will also release the count on a ballot process for the Annandale Canyon Open Space District, which would create a new taxation district for neighborhoods around the canyon. The ballots went out last month to 600 households around the area. Janette Williams wrote about the issue here.

Finally, the city has a public hearing on a 2007-08 report for distribution of federal CDBG grants to social programs, including housing and poverty groups.. The report, which is quite lengthy, can be accessed here.

Appearing on Monday's agenda will be approval of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the city and the Pasadena Management Association that adds over $4 million in new salary and benefits this year, and $11.6 million over the next four years.

Considering the raises already took effect earlier this year, I would expect that the council will be approving the MOU.

Below is the list of positions that will receive pay bumps, and the level of increase they will be getting:

In addition, the city will be giving a 15 percent pay differential to certain supervisory positions, meaning their pay must be 15 percent higher than any of their department employees. For a full list see the staff report here.

Other benefit increases include:

• Additional 4 percent pay raises in 2009, 2010, and 2011.
• Higher contributions to employee dental and health insurance, including a guarantee that for every dollar that health care insurance increases, the city will pay 75 cents.
• An increase in the monthly car allowance for middle management from $188 to $275, and for upper management from $212 to $300
• Increase in the city's tuition payment program to $1000 annually.
• A $75 per month payment for eligible bilingual employees

UPDATE: I just spoke with Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard, and he said the council will likely green light the MOU without much discussion since they have already discussed the deal in detail in closed session.

He also said that he felt the pay raises are fair, but that the city would not likely have agreed to such a big deal if they had anticipated the current economic downturn. Since the negotiations began before the economy looked so dire, said Bogaard, the city was anticipating higher budget revenues.

Steve Hymon over at the Bottleneck Blog breaks down some of the measure's top contibutirs:

Museum Associates (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), $500,000

Jerry Perenchio, $200,000

Casden West L.A. LLC, $150,000

Eli Broad, $100,000

Occidental Petroleum, $100,000

Zenith Insurance, $100,000

United Transportation Union PAC, $65,000

District Council of Ironworkers Political Issues Committee, $50,000

Impact rab IX, $50,000

Laborers International Union of North America, $50,000

International Longshore and Warehouse Union, $25,000

SEIU Local 721, $20,000

Head to the post to find out more on the motivation for some of these donors.

A Democratic party associated group managed to get a message against Prop 11, the redistricting campaign, on a Republican flyer, at a cost of $30,000, according to Capitol Alert. The message:

[The campaign got a ]spot on a Republican slate mailer accusing the redistricting measure of having a "hidden agenda to give liberal Democrats lifetime control of Congress."

"Don't be fooled. Read it yourself. Say NO to the ACLU's phony 'reform,'" the mailer reads, citing the left-leaning civil rights group many Republicans love to hate. "Stop their hidden agenda to give liberal Democrats lifetime control of Congress."

The problem? The Democratic party is opposing the initiative, and experts seem to be of the opinion that it will be much more likely to lead to Republican gains in the legislature. The explanation for the group's inclusion on the mailer from the company that sent it out:

The controversial GOP slate mailer, called Continuing the Republican Revolution, went to 800,000 likely Republican voter households, said proprietor Scott Hart.

After the study is completed in December we may have a better idea of how seriously the national financial crisis is affecting local businesses. From the chamber's press release:

USC students John Costa, Alex Fairman, Betty Sapnar, Benedikt Voller and Philip Otto are working with the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce to formulate questions and design a mail-in and online mechanism to gain input from Pasadena businesses

The survey is intended to gauge economic conditions, learn about challenges facing local business and discover how the Chamber can be more effective in supporting our economic growth and development.

I understand that people get a chuckle out of some of the views of scientologists, but this video is pretty over the top. The people hassling them are WAY too serious about the threats they seem to believe Scientology posses to society, and they went to WAY more effort to protest this group than seems healthy to me.

As you can see in the video, they manage to get the scientologists to pack up their booth, even after the scientologists call the police and complain of being hassled. It appears the cop is telling them that without a direct threat of violence there is nothing they can do.

UPDATE: After reading more on the website of the group that apparently was hassling the Scientologists the group seems equally cult-like to Scientology itself:

We are a collection of individuals united by ideas. You likely know Anonymous, although you don't know exactly who we are. We are your brothers and sisters, your parents and children, your superiors and your underlings. We are the concerned citizens standing next to you. Anonymous is everywhere, yet nowhere. Our strength lies in our numbers. Our will as a whole is the combined will of individuals. Our greatest advantage is a knowledge of the fundamentals we share as human beings. This knowledge is a fruit of our anonymity.

From their website, on why they consider Scientology dangerous:

The Church of Scientology, while claiming to be a religion and functioning as such, behaves strikingly like a business and cult. The "fair game" policy, for example, is responsible for the harassment of numerous scientology critics over the years. As L. Ron Hubbard said, concerning suppressive peoples (those who are not in support of scientology):

The Sierra Madre Apartments, a 15-unit building at 350 S. Sierra Madre Blvd, were reportedly sold for $2.52 million to a Temple City-based company.

The apartments were sold at a 5.86 percent capitalization rate, which is the percentage of the sales price that the buyer can expect in net income from the building. According to Wikipedia, 6 percent has been about the average U.S. capitalization rate for apartment buildings since 2005.

This story might be a good thing for MTA to keep in mind as it looks towards a freeway toll lane plan and building a toll tunnel to complete the 710 Freeway extension. Basically, nobody wants to use the toll lanes any more on the 73 toll road through Orange County

As the federal government undertakes the largest financial bailout in history, Orange County's toll road agency is asking for its own hefty government handout.

The situation for the freeway toll lane is different because MTA is not taking on loans to build it, but rather getting a grant from the federal government. Obviously though, the intent of the project is to have demand for those toll lanes to attempt to reduce traffic flow in the non-pay lanes.

As for the tunnel project, the MTA is looking for a private company to take the risk that tolls will pay for construction of the project. However, the agency's idea is to issue bonds on the idea that it will have a private partner willing to fund the project: hopefully the agency is sure it has that partner in place, and that the partner is financially prepared to handle the possibility that demand is not as high for the tunnel as expected.

Apparently, rather than turn in a lengthy "state of the library" report on sheathes of paper, the city library system has managed to sum up the library in text that fits on the side of a canvas shopping bag. From Pasadena Now:

The bag not only promotes the library and its many accomplishments but is environmentally friendly and reusable.

That is what Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian just traveled 3,000 miles to a Washington D.C. police summit to learn, according to the Pasadena police blog. Said Melekian, according to the blog:

"We are in the midst of a financial crisis unlike anything we've experienced in recent generations. Statistics bear out that the amount and severity of crime significantly increases, as the number of homes in a community foreclosed upon increases. While Pasadena has been fortunate not to have yet experienced the decline in the housing market that other communities have, we need to make sure that we are proactively involved with our community to insure that we can maintain our collective successes in decreasing crime in our city"

I'm not sure exactly what the police department can do to stop crime from increasing in tough economic times, but hopefully the Chief learned something at the summit he can apply here, because there are probably still some tough economic times ahead.

The Dervaes family, who grow vegetables and flowers commercially on a small-scale basis and grow a lot of their own food are the subject of a documentary that has just been released. From the film's website:

HOMEGROWN follows the Dervaes family who run a small organic farm in the heart of urban Pasadena, California. While "living off the grid", they harvest over 6,000 pounds of produce on less than a quarter of an acre, make their own bio diesel, power their computers with the help of solar panels, and maintain a website that gets 4,000 hits a day. The film is an intimate human portrait of what it's like to live like "Little House on the Prairie" in the 21st Century.

The family has been featured in the occasional Star News article over the years. For more info on them, check out their website.

From what I can get from the film's website it is not currently playing in Los Angeles, but it appears to be only in limited release at the moment.

I spoke with city staff today for a follow up story to the smoking ban passed this week, and found an interesting little nugget: since the ban on smoking in public parks was passed in 2004, there have been zero citations written for violating the rules.

There were two complaints filed during those years, via a phone number posted on a park sign for anyone found smoking. In both cases, the offenders were unaware of the rules, said staff, and no further problems were had.

Makes me wonder how much of a problem it really was in the first place. Which, of course, makes me wonder how much of a problem smoking in ATM lines, at bus stops, and within 20 feet of public entrances is. I still can't remember the last time I was bothered by a smoker.... so few people actually smoke these days.

About a week after taxpayers fronted insurance giant AIG $85 billion to shore up its failing stock assets, the company held a $440,000 bash at a seaside Orange County resort.

Now, because that sort of timing rightly offends our sensibilities as taxpayers, and also because corporate greed is an easy and popular target this election season, 60-plus members of congress, including locals David Dreier and Adam Schiff, have sent a letter to Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson demanding an investigation to see if taxpayer money has been spent.

From Dreier's press office:

"At a time when many of our constituents have serious concerns about their own financial security, we demand that you ensure that no taxpayer funds were used by AIG to host this retreat," the letter states. It continues, "If taxpayer funds were used, we demand that AIG repay the American people in full. It is crucial that the American people be able to trust the actions of the Federal Reserve and the Treasury."

Nathan McIntire wrote a story for today's paper about county-wide voter registration, and includes the Pasadena numbers:

As of Monday, the Pasadena United Democratic Headquarters on Lake Avenue significantly had out-paced its GOP rival in voter registration by signing up about 4,300 voters since July, said Mark Gonzales, the lead field coordinator.

No big surprise considering that Pasadena leans left, but remember also there are new voter registrations. Pasadena already has a lot of registered Democrats, so getting 4,300 more is fairly significant.

The city does have a very enthusiastic Republican crowd- I attended both the Democratic and Republican headquarters for the vice-presidential debate and the turnout was about the same.

But I do have to give the edge on the cardboard copy battle to Democrats- the picture on the left is the same as the cardboard copy McCain at the GOP headquarters- frankly, he looks kind of slumped over and depressed in this photo

Steve Hymon, over at the Bottleneck Blog, has an incredible story today about how the fiscal crisis may sink the county's Metropolitan Transportation Agency.

Basically, to sum it up, MTA does not own a lot of its own equipment: it has a "sales-lease" model with investment banks and other corporations:

Between the late 1980s and 2003, the MTA sold its rail equipment, more than 1,000 buses, a parking garage and maintenance facilities to investors that included Wells Fargo, Comerica and Phillip Morris in separate deals.

Sale-Lease-back deals are a common way to raise money in the corporate world. A manufacturer, for example, could sell its factory to investors and then lease it back. The manufacturer gets a large chunk of cash and the investors get a steady stream of lease payments, as well as a tax break for their depreciating property.

Metrolink, the Southland's commuter rail agency, also sold most of its train cars and locomotives in four lease-back deals -- three of which involved AIG -- and made a $35.5-million profit as a result, said spokesman Francisco Oaxaca. Metrolink, like MTA, must now find another firm to replace AIG.

That would be the same AIG that recently got $85 billion in taxpayer money last month because of federal concerns that it might collapse. Now AIG has to start paying back investor loans with some of its assets, which include- wait for it- MTA/Metrolink's train cars and locomotives.

What does that mean for MTA? Between $100 and $300 million potentially, if the agency can't find new investors to take on their assets. And what would that mean for riders?

As a frame of reference, Matsumoto said that $100 million equals about 10% of the MTA's bus service. However, the MTA board has not yet discussed what cuts might be made.

"I've lost a lot of sleep over this," said Terry Matsumoto, the chief financial service officer and treasurer for the MTA. He said it was "absolutely" certain the agency would have to cut service if the deals sour.

The agency has started talking to some investors in hopes of getting them to accept terms more favorable to the MTA, but Matsumoto said he doesn't know if investors are willing to renegotiate.

Under a worst-case scenario, Matsumoto said, the bill could rise to $1.8 billion -- more than half the MTA's annual budget for this year.

"There is no practical way we could ever pay that back," he said.

The agency is hoping now to get a piece of the $700 billion bailout deal that congress passed earlier this month:

The agency has met with congressional staffers and asked the U.S. Treasury Department for help, hoping to get a piece of the $700-billion bailout package recently approved by Congress. Some of that money is to be used to buy troubled assets.

"They didn't tell us to go fly a kite; that's hopeful," Matsumoto said. "But I don't know how practical it is. We weren't talking to decision-makers."

MTA Board member Richard Katz said: "The feds need to be concerned. If they bailed out the companies, they also need to bail out the public agencies impacted by the companies' actions."

Apparently, this type of arrangement is not unique, so other transit agencies across the country may be making similar requests.

This is one of two local AIG-related stories- I will post the other one later on.

I turned on the tube yesterday morning to watch some football, and was surprised when I turned on CBS and did not see the Chargers playing, as I expected to.

The reason? Three balloons flew into some power lines in Orchard Park, NY, where the Chargers were taking on the Buffalo Bills, and blew out power to the stadium. The game was delayed, and ultimately officials decided to play without power- no scoreboard, no play clock.

Everyone had a good laugh about Sen. Jack Scott's infamous balloon ban, which was protested by the John and Ken show, watered down in session, and ultimately vetoed, even though the ban had essentially become voluntary. But now, I think the senator gets the last laugh.... I wonder if it could have actually become a political issue if it had happened in San Diego instead of New York state.

In all fairness, I will point out that the media coverage of the event does not say whether the balloons were made of mylar, the kind of balloon material Scott wanted to ban. However, the reason he wanted to ban that type was because they are metallic and are attracted to power lines, so there is a good chance they were.

The big event of the evening should be, based on last week's attendance, the smoking ban ordinance. For more on it, if you have not already heard, read here. This segment of the meeting is scheduled to take place around 7:15, for those who want to attend just for that hearing.

There are a few other items of interest on the agenda, including a contract to clean up four wells in the Arroyo Seco area near JPL. These wells have been mostly off-limits since 1992, though some were operational for chunks of time here and there. They have several contamination issues, including perchlorate issues that come from rocket fuel.

The city will consider a 5 year, $11.7 million contract to clean up the wells, with the money being paid out by Caltech, which helps fund JPL, which I believe is responsible for the contamination. That is what I get from the staff report, anyway. One thing not in the staff report is how long it will take to get the wells decontaminated. It says they will need work for the next 18 to 20 years, but doesn't make it clear whether they will be usable anytime before then.

The city will also vote on a contract for an election services company that will handle its sample ballots, and on a contract for a company that will handle several e-waste recycling events for the city over the next year.

Finally, the city will also vote on whether to extend $25,000 to PWP for a identity theft prevention program that will help train staff on how to protect customers' personal information.

This morning, Frank Girardot reminded me via his blog to check in on Todd Ruiz's new blog, Pasadena: Center of the Universe.

Since I really like random information on campaign donations, I particularly enjoyed two of his posts, one showing that Pasadena has donated $714,000 compared to $295,000 to McCain (big surprise- though from the number of McCain-Palin signs out there around town, if you didn't live here, you might not realize how Democratic it skews).

The next highlight where Pasadena council members have sent political contributions:

Bill (& Claire) Bogaard, Democrat, Mayor
Barack Obama $3,000
MoveOn.Org $250
Adam Schiff $1,500

Sid Tyler, Republican, District 7
No Records Found

Check out the post for some more local politicians and celebrity donations, including Bradley "Josh Lyman" Whitford.

I wanted to emphasize a couple of key paragraphs from my story in today's paper about Pasadena signing a contract to get power from methane gas at an Arizona landfill:

The contract actually would be the smallest of Pasadena's three landfill contracts. The city has one with a company that has two dump sites that generated about 74,000 megawatt hours in 2008. Another one in Santa Clarita is scheduled to begin generating power for the city next year.

By 2011, those landfills are slated to generate nearly twice as much energy as city purchases of wind, solar, and geothermal power combined, according to the staff reports.

Based on the numbers in the staff report it appears that about 12-13 percent of Pasadena's power will come from landfill gases in 2011, with 7 to 8 percent coming from solar, wind, and geothermal.

Funny that in this election year where we have seen campaign promises about solar, wind, clean coal, ethanol, and biodiesel thrown about, nobody has mentioned the wisdom of generating power from garbage. I don't know any national studies about it, but I imagine it could only ever generate the tiniest sliver of our power. Pasadena, I believe, is benefiting from being ahead of the curve on this kind of project- if every utility tried to get landfill power, I am sure there would be much less to go around.

But it certainly is a good philosophy to make use of noxious gases that would otherwise just go straight up into the atmosphere and smell terrible.

I had a conversation yesterday with Ralph Walker, a Democratic volunteer, and the host of "Beyond the Headlines," a Monrovia public-access interview show, and he has concerns about anger towards Obama supporters in his city.

Walker says that people buying signs at the local Democratic headquarters keep telling him they are replacement signs for ones that have been pulled out of the yard, stolen, or otherwise defaced.

He says he also has heard from some people with Obama bumper stickers having their cars keyed.

"This is happening in the well-to-do part of Monrovia, too," he told me. "It's going to blow up if Obama wins."

I would think this is pretty typical election-time behavior that happens on both sides... but then I think about it again- cars being keyed is a little meaner than pulling out someone's sign. There has also been an awful lot of anger at McCain/Palin rallies in recent weeks, so some of that could be spilling over into local supporters as well.

Remember, also, we just saw an Obama sign burned in Altadena.

Still, it's unwise to assume someone's motives in these things: it could be a stupid teenage prank just as easily as it could be someone who is angry for political reasons or otherwise.

It becomes a touchy subject, though, when the candidate in question is black, and even more so if the person who has posted the sign up, or had his car keyed, is black. A sign burning probably shouldn't qualify as a hate crime, but what if someone tied a noose to the sign or hung Obama in effigy? When is the line crossed?

Over at the Weekly. Take a look

I'd offer Eaton Canyon as the real best outdoor recreation area. I also wonder if we need a best museum and a best art gallery entry.

Also, best place of worship? Is the Weekly trying to start a holy war? I'd also ask, is it more important for us to rank our religions or rank our bars? No chance to weigh in on the best watering hole in town? Guess they're saving it for the food contest.

Not a surprise, obviously, but the party issued a statement on their views on the bailout, as well as a chart of congress members they are opposing and how many contributions they received from the financial industry.

Alan Pyeatt, as we outlined in an election profile this week, is running against Adam Schiff this November, and Ted Brown is running against David Dreier. We'll be looking at that race this weekend. The statement:

"We already have a mechanism to sort out the assets and
liabilities of a troubled company-it's called bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy doesn't mean that assets get torched or employees get
blacklisted from all future employment. Bankruptcy just means that
assets and employees are taken away from those who failed to
manage them wisely, and made available for more productive
employment.

"Most importantly, we already have a mechanism to punish the
politicians who worked so hard to help create this mess-it's
called an election. This November, don't bail out the incumbents
who are using your tax dollars to bail out their irresponsible
friends on Wall Street. Instead, vote for the only party in
America that believes people should be free to make their own
choices in their personal and economic lives-and should bear the
responsibility for those choices. Vote Libertarian, and send the
message that Washington should be in nobody's pocket."

=====================================================================
Incumbent 2008 $ From
Libertarian For Bailed-Out
District Challenger Incumbent Bailout? PACs
=====================================================================
52 Michael Benoit Duncan Hunter (R) No $0
53 Ed Teyssier Susan Davis (D) Yes $5,000
46 Ernst Gasteiger Dana Rohrabacher (R) No $8,250
38 Chris Agrella Grace Napolitano (D) No $10,500
49 Lars Grossmith Darrell Issa (R) No $14,500
9 Jim Eyer Barbara Lee (D) No then Yes $15,700
35 Herb Peters Maxine Waters (D) Yes $16,000
12 Kevin Peterson Jackie Speier (D) Yes $19,500
50 Wayne Dunlap Brian Bilbray (R) No $29,000
29 Alan Pyeatt Adam Schiff (D) No then Yes $35,927
16 Steve Wells Zoe Lofgren (D) Yes $36,000
3 D.A. "Art" Tuma Dan Lungren (R) Yes $37,500
14 Brian Holtz Anna Eshoo (D) Yes $46,000
26 Ted Brown David Dreier (R) Yes $113,750
48 Don Patterson John Campbell (R) Yes $143,449
27 Tim Denton Brad Sherman (D) No $146,965
7 Camden McConnell George Miller (D) Yes $148,859
8 Phil Berg Nancy Pelosi (D) Yes $302,600
=====================================================================
Source: OpenSecrets.org

It can't be easy to keep a commercial district booming with increased concerns about the economy and consumer spending dropping like a rock. Although the $15 million property in question, the Lake Avenue Shops, at 505 S. Lake Ave., apparently is either fully occupied with tenants or close to it, the owner might be looking to get out before retail chains start to really suffer from the economic slowdown.

According to the L.A Times real estate blog, the building is occupied by Ann Taylor, Pottery Barn Kids and Talbots.

I spoke with Eric Duyshart in the Pasadena Economic Development department and he said he has "no idea" why the owner is looking to sell. He said the South Lake district has some vacancies and store owners are likely concerned by the economic outlook right now, but is not sure if that is the motive of the seller or not.

Here is the listing with more info on the property.

Reporter Caroline An takes on the subject in today's paper, in response to reports of a $3 billion education cut that is coming for schools statewide.

It appears the district is unsure exactly how it will make the cuts, if it is necessary:

Pasadena Unified School District Superintendent Edwin Diaz said, this time around, teachers and other employees might not be spared as the district struggles to keep any additional cuts from impacting programs. Approximately 85 percent of PUSD's budget goes for salaries.

"We are trying to stay away from programs and schools," Diaz said. "It's tough right now to speculate this early in the process. But here we go again."

Diaz said staffing ratios will be scrutinized in January or February to see if any excess staffing exists at schools where enrollment is dropping.

So in the middle of the school year, teachers may be laid off, and students consolidated into new classrooms. That is the epitome of bad planning to me, and you really can't blame the district for it. The state budget process basically has left districts in a terrible bind: they are legally required to notify teachers about layoffs in March, but they don't have final budget numbers until July at the earliest.

Except lately, it is usually September. And this year, the final state budget was so blatantly overly optimistic that it only took two weeks for it to unravel and for the state to now face the exact same issues lawmakers failed to resolve this summer.

Eerily similar to Wall Street, no? Inflated estimates, declining revenues, troubles borrowing money- and like Wall Street, California's government already made a request to be bailed out by the feds.

We published an article on Sunday about Measure R, the half-cent sales tax measure yesterday, indicating the advocates of the tax had raised about $1 million in campaign funds. The spending began yesterday with the first network airing of Measure R ads (hat tip to Steve Hymon over at the Bottleneck Blog)

The opposition does not appear ready to counter with an advertising campaign at this point... they will have to count on the fact that the tax needs 2/3 of voter support to pass, and that taxes will likely not be popular in the current economic climate

If you didn't already see it on the website:

PASADENA - The city delayed action Monday on a smoking ban ordinance that would scale back the public spaces where people would be allowed to smoke.

The city council chambers were unusually full Monday night, but once the city announced the hearing was delayed, the majority of the people in attendance left the meeting.

Yesterday I wrote a post about a MTA proposal to halt the Gold Line at the Azusa/Glendora border and link it to Claremont with a Metrolink line.

Habib Balian, who heads up the Gold Line Foothill Extension Authority, an independent agency founded to handle the Gold Line project, responded to the post some additional reasons to oppose the Metrolink expansion. In particular, I believe he is unhappy with my characterization of cities opposition as being because Metrolink is less "sexy.":

Metrolink service is: a) less frequent (say once every hour or two in the am and pm not every 10 or twenty minutes throughout the day - in each direction); b) fewer stops probably not less than 5 miles apart (there were to be six stations between Azusa and Montclair - now there may be only two or three); c) forced transfer is a ridership killer; d) greatly reduces development opportunities and community interest with transit as the centerpiece.

It's not about being "sexy" it's about service.

I believe he makes a good point with the issue of how frequent the trains would be, and about forced transfer, though I do have to say that his point on Metrolink reducing development opportunities is pretty much the exact point I was making when I said Metrolink is not as sexy as the Gold Line.

To clarify my choice of words, yes the cities do have a legitimate concern that Metrolink is less sexy, because people legitimately do not want to live next to a train line that creates local pollution.

It does highlight, though, where MTA's and local cities' interests diverge: cities badly want that transit-oriented development, while MTA figures as long as the rail networks link up it has done its job.

Lost amongst a longer article I wrote on Measure R, the half-cent sales tax increase that would fund area transit, was a proposal from MTA chief Roger Snoble that suggests what area politicians have long said: he does not want to build the Gold Line all the way to Claremont.

Snoble spoke to me, on two occasions, in a speculative manner, about the possibility of completing the Gold Line as a Metrolink project, making it a heavy rail line instead of a light rail line:

An alternative plan, said Snoble, would be to build the Gold Line as far as Azusa/Glendora, then build a heavy rail Metrolink line from there to Claremont to link the Gold Line to existing Metrolink lines.

That would be more cost-effective, said Snoble, because light rail is more expensive to power with an electric system than a fuel-based one.

One argument against the line is that passengers would have to switch trains midway through a trip between Claremont and Pasadena. Metrolink is also generally a more expensive fare than the county's subway and light rail projects, and passengers would not be able to ride it with a county transit pass. These problems could potentially be overcome, if the agencies are willing to make some sort of special low fare or special area pass deal that makes it easier and cheaper for people to ride both.

I believe the main concern that area officials would have, though, is that Metrolink simply isn't as sexy. Many cities have been gearing up for transit-oriented development, with high-rise condos and shopping centers huddled around rail lines. Light rail trains don't cause localized pollution, and appear high-tech and futuristic. Metrolink looks like a freight train.

Also, Metrolink trains, justifiably, have a bad image problem right now because of their accident records.

Finally, the MTA would have to get the other area transit agencies that make up Metrolink on board to fund the project. I don't know how possible that is, but Snoble seemed to think that it would be no problem.... it would be interesting to see what the other agencies had to say about that.

Because tonight could be the beginning of the end for smoking in Pasadena....after a delay of several months the city will be voting on a finalized draft ordinance that would severely restrict smoking in the city (remember the old Dennis Leary bit about how it is now only legal to smoke inside your bedroom with the lights out under a blanket?).

The ordinance would ban smoking at outdoor dining and shopping areas like the Paseo Colorado; at outdoor service lines at ATMs, movie theaters and bus stops; at large outdoor public gatherings such as the city's famed Rose Parade and within 20 feet of all building exits and entrances.

I don't know if the same smoking and anti-smoking factions will show up tonight as they did last spring, since based on the preliminary council votes it appears this is already a done deal. I did notice, as I wrote in today's city beats column, that the city put 21 pages of correspondence it has received on the issue online, and it was all against the ordinance.

The smoking ordinance looks to be the main business of the night, but I did notice an interesting little project coming before the council tonight: the city will vote on a 20-year contract to buy energy generated from landfill turbines in Arizona. The turbines run on methane gas generated by the decomposition of the garbage. Burbank and other area cities have similar projects (I think there is another city in the San Gabriel Valley that does this, but I can't remember who). As a matter of fact, city of Los Angeles officials took a worldwide tour to Canada, Israel, Japan, and Europe last May to "learn" how to set up landfill turbines, because it was apparently more convenient to go there than Burbank.

The power will cost more than non-renewable power, so it would be sold under PWP's green power program, I believe. The city has contracted to buy up to 30,000 mwh a year, which by my calculations could power about 3,000 houses for a year. Keep in mind these are amateurish calculations based on googling the average household power usage for a year (10 mwh). I will get a real answer from PWP soon.

Additionally, the city is also looking at landmark status for a local home at 200 La Vereda Road, and the police department is getting a $232,900 state grant to fight drunk driving.

One final note: I will not be attending tonight's meeting because I am working on a politics story... taking my place will be the very-competent Nathan McIntire.

CORRECTION: I will be attending tonight's meeting after all... ah, the fickle world of working at a newspaper.

Just weeks after lawmakers passed a "budget" that most everyone said was a bunch of phony accounting trips.... well, it turns out fake accounting trips leaves the state $3 billion short. That means that education officials are telling schools to brace for massive funding cuts, according to the Sacramento Bee:

"Cuts are coming," the California Association of School Business Officials said in a written statement to members this week. "How big is the question that begs an answer."

Let's see here, tax hikes or massive spending cuts..... seems to me that lawmakers already spent FOUR MONTHS arguing over which path to pursue and ultimately reached a compromise of doing absolutely nothing. Is there any chance that the legislature is going to get together now and agree on either option?

And with no agreement, does that mean that the governor is going to make unilateral decisions about which programs to fund and which not to, if the state simply can't borrow its way out of the problem?

There has been a lot of press lately about an upsurge in congressional polls for Democrats because of the $700 billion bailout vote. Of course, more Democrats than Republicans actually voted for the bailout, but in a lot of cases, Republicans who did vote for it represent districts or states that tend to dislike the plan more.

Based on calls received by congress members it appears the San Gabriel Valley is also strongly against the bailout, and Russ Warner, the Democratic opponent to David Dreier, appears to be looking to attack Dreier for his vote in favor of the package. From the campaign:

David Dreier voted for President Bush's plan to spend $700 billion taxpayer dollars to shore up several Wall Street banks. This is a new position for Dreier, and a significant departure from his claims of fiscal conservatism and statements still published on his campaign website: "I believe we need to empower families to make sound economic choices and avoid taxpayer funded bailouts." http://www.daviddreier.org/economic, 9/29/1008

But Dreier voted to bail out Wall Street without any real taxpayer protections and without addressing our economic problems in any meaningful way - to the tune of $700 billion.

"It's one thing to support a government bailout," said Russ Warner, a small businessman and Dreier's Democratic opponent. "But it's something else entirely to tell people you oppose a bailout and then turn around and give George Bush what he's asking for. But I guess we shouldn't be surprised - David Dreier has a long history of saying one thing and doing another, and he's voted with President Bush over 92% of the time."

Notice, though, that the focus of Warner's criticism is not the bailout package itself but the idea that Dreier switched his view on the package. That may not be a strong enough attack- I think there is something to the idea that you reject long-held believes and change your view if you believe it is the best way to solve a problem.

Warner might do better to attack the bailout directly as ineffective- after all, most economists have taken that view point. The problem though, is that some of us at the paper (the editorial board and myself) spoke with Warner the week before the bailout vote, and he said he was in favor of it. He was somewhat muddled in his support though: I asked him first if Congress should put in new safeguards and regulations for Wall Street before passing a bailout and he at first said no, the legislation was too pressing to hold up.

But moments later he began talking about the importance of regulation, and how the package needed to be altered before a vote.

I think it is about time we started a list of great female Pasadena crime stories... today's naked car chase driver tops the list.

Next up? The woman who two weeks ago attacked her boyfriend with "the club" after suspecting he was having an affair.

The third: I can't find this in our archives any more, but since I wrote the story I have the details. Last Christmas Eve a woman broke into a home near Pasadena City College to get a snack out of the refrigerator. One of the residents caught her and called the police, who arrested her. She admitted to having sneaked into the house for snacking purposes several times in the last month. According to the Pasadena lieutenant I talked to, her food stealing had caused something of a rift between roommates, who were all suspicious of each other for eating all the food.

Anybody remember any more?

As mentioned in the article I wrote for the paper today, there is an earthquake drill coming up in Southern California on November 13. The sponsors, the U.S. Geological Survey, want YOU to participate.

And how would you participate? By practicing the old "duck and cover":

Why is important to do a Drop, Cover, Hold On drill? Just as with anything, to act quickly you must practice, practice, practice. In a big earthquake, there may be very little time to protect yourself before strong shaking knocks you down or drops something on you. Most earthquakes have a sharp jolt a few seconds before the strong shaking, and we need to Drop, Cover, Hold On immediately when we feel the jolt. By practicing we will act quickly, rather than waiting to see if the earthquake will be large. If it is, it may be too late to protect yourself.

It probably is actually a good idea to practice this, but considering the "earthquake" is scheduled to took place at 10 a.m., most people will be at work. It might seem a little strange for people to suddenly duck under their desks exactly at 10.

I would think a better use of your time, preparation wise, would be to go buy a few days worth of bottled water, a fire extinguisher, and some canned food and squirrel it away in the basement.

But here is where you sign up, just in case you are up to try it.

From the Senator's office:

Two groups representing older Californians have given Senator Jack Scott (D-Pasadena) high marks for his legislative work this year. Both the Congress of California Seniors and the California Alliance for Retired Americans gave the Senator their highest rating - 100% -- on the 2008 Legislative Report Card. Only ten of the 40 Senators received a perfect score.

Sen. Scott voted in favor of bills covering a wide range of issues important to seniors including his SB 1216 Long-term Care Prompt Payment Act which would impose a penalty on all long-term care claims that are more than 30 days late. Senator Scott also authored SB 1164 which bolsters the ability of auditors at the Department of Justice to investigate elder financial abuse, Medi-Cal fraud and financial crimes.

I published an entry several days ago that suggested prices had a slight rise based on a theory of a local Realtor/blogger, Doug Willis. Much to my satisfaction, other Realtors got on the blog to comment and offer their own theories. What can I say, I like people reading my blog, and kicking around interesting theories, even if I am not expert enough to know which is correct.

In a related post, another Realtor/blogger, Sam Pritchard (apparently we have a few of those here in Pasadena) confirms Willis' observations about the slight uptick in Pasadena real estate in September, and suggests the market in Pasadena may have hit its bottom and will begin to rise.

Willis had suggested a different theory, the idea that local real estate agents raised the price on their unsold homes just to keep them under a listing category that gives priority to homes that have recently changed in price. Other real estate agents that commented on that post suggested that was unlikely.

Now, Willis is looking at some new data for this month, and believes that whatever caused the slight uptick last month is over, and the market is on its way back down:

If ask to bottom line the current situation in our real estate market, I believe it can be assessed with one word. UNCERTAINTY. Uncertainty is usually not a friend of someone looking to make a major investment. Very few of us have the nerve to take a contrarian point of view and buck the herd mentality. It was also brought to my attention that we just might be experiencing a normal October slowdown. To that I would have to reply, "Slowdown from what?" You have to experience an increase to have a slowdown.

Willis also suggests that the media has potential home buyers spooked about looking into getting a loan:

I also spoke to a lender with a major company in the home mortgage business. It was confirmed to me that money was available to lend, but no applications had been received in the last several days. Apparently, all of the recent news reports indicating a tightening credit policy have been felt in the mortgage industry. If you can meet the increasing standards to secure a home loan, money is available.

Nationally, from what I have been reading, it sounds like a lot more people are going to default on their mortgages before this mess is over.... assuming the local trend is like the national trend, I'd have to imagine that you will see more homes come on the market, and more price drops.

But I'm not the expert, and we apparently have a very active online Realtor community, so hopefully we see some more debate in the comment section. Maybe someone could also explain to me why the word "Realtor" is required to be capitalized.

The Pasadena Police Department now has a page online where you can report crimes.

Crimes that can be reported online are: harassing phone calls, minor hit and run car collisions, lost property, theft if the value is under $5,000, vandalism, vehicle burglary, and vehicle tampering.

I'm all for anything that reduces the possibility you might get put on hold or have to talk to multiple people before you find the right one.

Or have to navigate a automated phone message, like the classic Simpsons episode where Bart breaks his leg ("you have selected regicide...do you know the name of the king or queen who is being murdered?"), Old school Simpsons fans will know what I am talking about....anyone else, disregard.

Being part of the media and getting constant press releases from State Controller John Chiang, it is easy for me to forget that everyday people are not always exposed to just how little the man thinks of the state budget that was passed last month.

With new September figures in that show personal income tax $270 million below budget estimates, sales tax $128 million below, and corporate tax $416 million below, Chiang is now saying that the budget has no chance of coming through balanced, even with accounting tricks that steal revenue from next year's budget.

With the governor looking for a federal bailout, and the treasurer saying the credit markets are too tight to get the state through the next few months, Chiang is suggesting the state get back to work. From his press release:

The first quarter of the fiscal year has just ended, and we already are short $1.1 billion. Revenues are deteriorating faster than expected, and September's cash flows send strong signals that the recently-enacted budget is more out of balance than we feared.

Charles Calderon, D-industry, has been quietly working on a bill all year that would set up a trail version of public financing for California voters. The bill was heavily opposed by lobbyists (for obvious reasons- see below) but it passed the legislature and the governor's desk, nevertheless.

The bill will allow a voter approval of a program to allow public funding for the Secretary of State office in 2014 and 2018. The San Jose Mercury News describes how it works:

Public financing will be voluntary and modeled after financing systems in Arizona and Maine, where it has worked well to encourage more candidates to run for office and to reduce the role of big-monied interests.

Secretary of state candidates who gather $5 contributions from 7,500 voters can forgo private donations in exchange for $900,000 in public money for their primary and general election campaigns. An annual $350 fee on state lobbyists, who nearly killed the bill, would fund the campaigns.

Kudos to Calderon for putting in the work on this bill. Now if we can just get the legislature to keep the state from having a financial meltdown.

At last night's extremely brief city council meeting, the most interesting part turned out to be a group of residents from Northwest Pasadena who alleged that police used unnecessary and excessive force in a raid two weeks ago.

The speakers included several children who hesitantly spoke about having police pointing guns at them, and a city employee who claimed he was beaten by police and had to go to the hospital.

The whole thing is viewable here, starting around 20 minutes in.

The alleged abuse happened during a raid on September 24 where police were apparently looking in two neighboring houses for a criminal suspect. Complaints have been filed with the Pasadena police department, and Barney Melekian and some council members were clearly familiar with the allegations on Monday night.

That is all I know right now, though I will be following up on it this week.

This one is coming in pretty late, but better late than never. The two most significant item on tonight's agenda appears to me to be an appeal against a planning commission decision to license a Goodwill drop-off center in a Northwest Pasadena commercial center on Orange Grove Boulevard and a a new solid waste ordinance.

The Goodwill center was green-lighted by the planning commission about 10 days ago, over the protests of a group of business owners in the Northwest part of the center. The thinking, I believe, is that the area is recovering commercially, and that the last thing it needs is to give up prime real estate to a non-profit company that is associated with poverty. Larry Wilson wrote about the issue recently.

The solid waste ordinance, I am told by Public Works Director Martin Pastucha, is an attempt by the city to clarify some vague rules about who can haul waste, to increase the amount of material that is recycled, and to put new enforcement rules into place for people who are not complying with city rules.

These rules would apply to industrial, commercial, and apartment trash dumping that is done not by city contractors, but by licensed disposal companies. A lot of the issue appears to be construction materials that are thrown away- state law requires that 50 percent of materials at sites by recycled, according to Pastucha. The city is upping the requirement to 75 percent for construction sites.

Additionally, there are a couple of contract over-runs mentioned on the agenda. They don't appear to be related, both in both cases the city did not allocate enough money to complete the project, and additional funding is now required, a total of about $550,000 between the two contracts.

Lastly, there is a closed session real estate negotiation that may be another potential site for the oft-mentioned urgent care clinic. I'm still trying to confirm or dis-confirm this.

UPDATE: The real-estate negotiations are NOT for a new urgent care clinic site. The property in question, is, in fact the former Shakey Pizza's site at 2180 E. Foothill Boulevard, where a fight over allowing a strip club in East Pasadena erupted two years ago when a club tried to buy the property. There was a neighborhood protest, and ever accommodating, the city purchased the property to try to find a more g-rated business to take it over. They may now have found it- the city's closed session tonight is about looking at a deal from a potential buyer.

UPDATE II: According to Mayor Bill Bogaard, the Goodwill store appeal will not be heard tonight, after all. Apparently a formal appeal has been filed with the city, and it will not go to the Board of Zoning Appeals. If that board does not overturn the permit, the opposition can then have the City Council look at the appeal, according to Bogaard.

There has been a big brouhaha recently over the fact that a registered sex offender was allowed to play on the PCC football team. The university, as a matter of fact, put the coach on administrative leave until they decided how to handle the issue.

But that could be changing. The incoming president of California's community college system, Sen. Jack Scott of Pasadena, said Wednsday, according to PCC's paper, that sex offenders should be given the chance to attend the school.

"I'm a strong believer in second chances. If someone has served his time and is deemed worthy to reenter society, a public school should not prevent that person from obtaining an education," said Scott

It isn't a popular stance, but a fully reasonable one: is it better for sex offenders to go live under a bridge only to emerge in the dark of night? Especially considering that community colleges are not exactly teeming with underage children.

Also, I have to commend the paper for getting the story on this- some may know I teach at PCC, and some of my former students work there, so it is nice to see them do good work.

The meeting mentioned in the article that Scott was speaking at, by the way, was a faculty seminar that I would have been required to attend if it was scheduled on a Tuesday or Thursday (my class days). Sounds like Scott said just about the first interesting thing I have ever heard at one of those events.

UPDATE: Thanks to a commenter for pointing out that Scott is, in fact, the upcoming president of the entire state community college system, not PCC. Changed above.

The Open Secrets web site, ran a feature this week that noted that those congressional members who voted in favor of the bailout package received 51 percent more in contributions from financial services industries than those who voted against. The average 'yea' voter in favor received $883,400 in donations from the industry, while the average 'nay' voter still received a robust $586,700.

I decided to apply the model to our local representatives. Here are the numbers for the 2007-08 cycle for how much money each congressman took from financial/insurance/real estate interests. They are much lower than the above numbers, because those correlate to the entire career of the average congressman, while the below ones are just the last two years.

Yea
David Dreier, $254,000
Gary Miller, $152,000

Contributors from those industries are the single largest contributors to both Dreier and Miller's campaigns. Let's look at the 'nay' votes.

Nay
Adam Schiff- $78,000
Grace Napolitano- $18,000
Hilda Solis- $39,000
Linda Sanchez- $36,000

If you are curious, here is who is making the largest contributions to each of the above members, who clearly do not take that much money from financial services interests.

Schiff- Lawyers and Lobbyists, $126,000
Napolitano- Labor, $80,000
Solis- Labor, $181,000
Sanchez- Labor, $119,000

Doug Willis, a local realtor who runs a local real estate blog, noticed this month that, oddly, prices on a lot of Pasadena homes jumped back up in September after dropping for several months. His explanation of the phenomenon has nothing to do with an upswing in the local economy:

The real estate agents were manipulating the price of the homes in an attempt to increase the short term visibility of the property

Willis goes on to say he even saw a home moved down in price from $619,000 to $618,000 just to be able to say that the price has been reduced.

So is there anything wrong with doing this? I'm not sure, but here is Willis' take:

While this practice appears to be acceptable (no bylaws prohibiting it) at least for a while, to me it borders on unethical. Manipulating a home price without the approval of the seller is a violation of the MLS and the California Department of Real Estate.