Sarah Palin Receives Star Status Welcome in Redding, CA

Doug Brady wrote the following, and it is “right on”…and I sat just behind Doug. Here is his take:

Sarah Palin received a rock star’s welcome at the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference where she spoke before the first of two sold-out shows at the Redding Convention Center this afternoon.

That’s 4,000 people who paid between $54 for a balcony seat to $74 for a floor seat. I had a floor seat – second row, so near the tower of speakers that I followed the example of people around me and wadded tissue in my right ear to reduce the volume.

Even so, I heard every word and felt the crowd’s jostling adoration as they cheered and applauded throughout Palin’s speech.

The audience, still euphoric from the Official California Cowboys’ final song, “I’m Proud to Be an American” (where many sang along and shouted “Stand UP!” in unison at the song’s pivotal moment), was already on its feet when Palin was introduced.

The crowd applauded as Palin strode on stage waving and smiling as she took her place behind a lectern before a mammoth American flag in a stars-and-stripes-draped auditorium.

She began by acknowledging veterans’ sacrifices, and asked everyone who’d ever served in the military to stand for a heroes’ recognition.

After that, she read from a prepared speech, heavily peppered with Palin lingo that delighted the audience.

Loud laughter followed Palin’s references to “lame-stream media” and jeers accompanied every reference to global warming. Enthusiastic boos followed a reference to Nancy Pelosi.

She endeared herself to the logging conference crowd by holding her hand up to show what was written on the palm of her hand: “Loggers rock!” – an apparent dig at “lame-stream media” who recently ridiculed her for writing memory prompts on her hand. And toward the end of her talk she complimented logging industry folks when she referred to an administration that talks about green jobs.

Sarah Palin in Redding, CA

What a great night with Sarah Palin as she spoke for the Loggers Conference at the Convention Center. She was much better in person than on TV, for her warmth and true personality came out. Very articulate and well prepared. A truly inspirational and encouraging day for conservatives in Redding and Northern California.

Good News for Downtown Redding

David Benda at the Record Searchlight just reported this, and hopefully this can go through…a boom to the downtown office situation. Lots of good things here, from folks eating and shopping downtown on their lunch break to just helping to use up some of the new office space in town. Here is the full story:

An empty downtown Redding office building once considered a potential site for a new city police station could soon house state employees.

Owners of the WestVenture building are negotiating with the state Department of General Services (DGS) on a lease that would put the California Department of Transportation inside the three-story office at Butte and Continental streets.

Caltrans would occupy about 80 percent of the building, which is roughly 60,000 square feet, WestVenture’s Kevin Mack said Wednesday. That works out to almost 50,000 square feet.

Mack said the state would sign a 10-year lease, but he wouldn’t disclose how much Caltrans would pay each month in rent.

“We are right at the point where we are preparing the lease attachment documents, which is the final step before a lease is signed,” Mack said. “It looks like we could have occupancy about six months down the road.”

After watching the building sit empty for so long, Mack is relieved he is close to a deal.

“It has been a grind; it has been torturous,” Mack said.

Jim Hamilton, Redding’s development services director, said parking around the building would be adequate to absorb the influx of Caltrans employees.

Michael Mayor, a Caltrans spokesman in Redding, confirmed that DGS is negotiating on behalf of Caltrans but couldn’t comment on specific sites.

“It’s just like a contractor for a (road) project; we can’t give any information out until the project has been awarded,” Mayor said.

DGS spokesman Eric Lamoureux also would only confirm the state is negotiating for new lease space in Redding.

Caltrans’ district office is on Riverside Drive in Redding. The agency also occupies office space on George Drive and Mountain Lakes Boulevard in north Redding.

Meanwhile, the WestVenture building has been a significant financial hardship for Mack and his partner, MD Imaging CEO Mike Davis, since the building was completed about three years ago.

Mack and Davis had a deal with former Shasta Regional Medical Center owner Hospital Partners of America (HPA) to occupy about half of the three-story building.

But the deal fell through when HPA went bankrupt and the downtown Redding hospital was subsequently sold.

“We got hit with unforeseen circumstances that nobody anticipated,” Mack said. “Our bank thought we had a great model in place; our perspective tenant stated we had a great model. … The economy got hurt and the medical industry got hurt. We didn’t really make any mistakes. It was the marketplace that betrayed us.”

Interest from some prospective tenants and discussions with the city of Redding about retrofitting WestVenture for a new police station helped Mack and Davis bide time with their lender.

“The bank has been cooperative, giving us an extension on our construction loans … and my development partner (Davis) has been able to keep up with interest payments. Other than that, we have hung on with our fingernails,” Mack said.

Sarah Palin in Redding, CA Next Week

The excitement is building as time draws near for Sarah Palin in Redding. She will be speaking Monday, the 8th at 3 and 7 PM….and the evening is sold out and the 3 PM has a few tickets left.

This is part of the Loggers Conference, which is one of the biggest of its kind in the nation, with folks coming in from all over the States, and the World, I am told.

It all starts with Sarah Palin on Monday…and then the conference runs through Saturday. Put this on your schedule, for this will be a very special week for Redding and the North State.

Status of Redding Convention Center…Not Good News for Me!

This was just reported by Scott Mobley at the Record Searchlight…and I have already heard rumblings saying “no way”. So, let’s get creative and see how we can turn this financial situation around….here is the article:

Redding officials have discussed the idea of closing the heavily-subsidized Convention Center and funneling some of the savings to Turtle Bay Exploration Park, the Record Searchlight has learned.

City Manager Kurt Starman confirmed that officials have discussed closing the 40-year-old civic auditorium, but said there’s no firm proposal to do so at this point.

The city is looking for ways to rebalance its general fund budget, which has again grown beyond a steadily shrinking stream of tax revenue and building fees. The City Council on Feb. 16 will discuss lopping as much as $5 million more from the pool of money that pays for police and fire protection, planning and engineering, parks maintenance and other general government.

In its last round of budget cuts on Sept. 1, the council suspended the city’s $279,000 contribution to Turtle Bay but directed officials to look for other ways to direct money toward the cultural institution.

Starman said he developed the idea of closing the Convention Center and devoting some of that savings to Turtle Bay after talking with Turtle Bay officers and hoteliers.

Mike Warren, Turtle Bay CEO, had not returned a call seeking comment this afternoon.

Running the Convention Center costs roughly $1.9 million a year. Plays, concerts, floor shows and other events at the auditorium bring in roughly $700,000 each year in revenue. The city’s 10 percent hotel tax fills in the rest.

The auditorium’s roof, floor, parking lot, windows and heating and air conditioning system all need work. The repair list totals some $2.5 million, according to city documents.

Cities up and down the state are closing parks, pools and other attractions to concentrate on core services such as police and fire protection, Starman said. The Convention Center, while important to nonprofit groups, churches and private show promoters, counts as a community amenity, he said.

“Given the severe recession and its impact on the budget, we are looking at ideas to reduce or eliminate the (Convention Center) subsidy,” Starman said. “There are ideas floating around. Some make sense, some do not. Some will bear fruit and some will not.”

Some hoteliers have called for redistributing the city’s hotel tax, arguing that Turtle Bay should receive a share since the Sundial Bridge and museum bring tourist dollars to town, Starman said.

Meanwhile, the Community Services Advisory Commission (CSAC) has spent six months studying whether to outsource Convention Center management to a private firm.

Susan Hinz, a Redding attorney who chairs the council-appointed committee, said she has not heard of any plans to simply shut down the auditorium.

No such decision is imminent, said Starman.

“We would not do it without great deliberation,” Starman said.

Council members had mixed reactions to the idea.

Mayor Patrick Jones said he doesn’t think the city will seriously consider closing the Convention Center unless the economy worsens. But he thinks that decision could come later this year.

Jones plans to oppose shuttering the Convention Center for the sake of Turtle Bay.

“There is some justification for TOT (hotel tax) going to Turtle Bay, but not at expense of the Convention Center,” Jones said. “I am not going to pit one against the other.”

Vice Mayor Missy McArthur said she strongly supports both Turtle Bay and the Convention Center, and would have a difficult time choosing between the them.

“It’s sort of like saying which child do you want to knock off,” McArthur said. “We are all going to have to pick among our children. It’s getting to that point.”

McArthur said she’d want to see specific numbers and other proposed cuts before she could decide on a possible Convention Center closure.

Council member Rick Bosetti said he has long questioned the Convention Center’s viability and doubts a private firm will want to take on its operating deficit and deferred maintenance costs.

But if the city must close down the auditorium, all the savings should go into the general fund, Bosetti said.

“If we are going to have to take the drastic measure of shutting down something like the Civic, which serves as many people as it does, for us to put it anywhere but general fund does not make a lot of sense,” Bosetti said.

Council members Dick Dickerson and Mary Stegall both said they’d need to see much more information on closing the Convention Center before they would comment.

“My thought is we’ve got to do something,” Dickerson said. “We’ve got a gap that needs to be closed. We have to explore all possibilities. This is one of them.”

Event at Pio Loco Restaurant in Redding

All friends are invited to join us for our kick off fund raising event at the beautiful Pio Loco Restaurant in downtown Redding, CA on February 18th at 5 PM until 8 PM.  Chef Jeff is going all out with a sumptious buffet and the entertainment will be our own rising country western singing sensation, Summer Schappell. Ron will give an overview of his campaign for Shasta County Assessor-Recorder. This will be a time to connect with others in Redding and Shasta County; to enjoy the ambiance of Pio Loco; to have some great food, and to become part of a winning effort to “bring government back to the people” . Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by calling Patty at 530-223-2695.

Shasta Cares to Aid Haiti Disaster Victims

From: Salvation Army, Redding Corps Office

Re: Special Fund Raising Drive for Haiti Earthquake

　

Major Wayne Wetter, Commander of the Salvation Army Corps in Redding, just announced that a special fund raising effort for the residents of the North State has just been formed to aid the victims of the disastrous earthquake in Haiti. Called “Shasta Cares” this is a cooperative project with the Shasta Area Red Cross, whereby all proceeds raised in the North State for the Haiti effort will be split 50-50% between the Salvation Army Haiti Relief Fund and the American Red Cross Haiti Emergency fund.

The 58 branch offices of the Tri-Counties Bank has agreed to be the recipient of donations, and all checks should be made out to Shasta Area Red Cross- Shasta Cares, which will allow for direct application to the Haiti project for both the Salvation Army and the Red Cross.

Shasta Cares came about after local citizens saw the news reports on Tuesday showing the Haiti devastation and decided to do something immediately that would allow donations to flow from Shasta County and the North State directly to the Haiti relief effort, and contacted Tri Counties Bank to assist the cause as the local bank that could receive the donations on behalf of the Shasta Area Red Cross and the Redding Salvation Army.

According to Major Wetter, “even though the Salvation Army has been in Haiti for many years in projects such as schools and medical facilities, there has never been a tragedy such as this, and over a thousand employees and volunteers are now involved in direct on site relief efforts. Every contribution to this cause from the North State will go directly to the Haiti work”.

Project “Shasta Cares” coordinator is local businessman Ron Largent, and Ron can be contacted at 530-248-5601, or e-mailed at ronlargent@shasta.com

County Faces Hard Decisions

Over the past few months as I have talked with citizens of  Shasta County in my quest for County Assessor-Recorder, I have heard great concerns about County spending, with folks asking “what am I going to do about it?” My platform,  as reflected at   www.largent2010.com clearly explains my views. Today, though, in the Record Searchlight, the following appeared and is very much in line with what I am hearing, and think. This is worth reading and thinking about:

If righteous outrage could refill Shasta County’s depleted treasury, the sheriff’s deputies wouldn’t need to take a pay cut.

The union representing deputies, jail guards and other county officers has lambasted the Board of Supervisors and County Administrative Officer Larry Lees. It’s cried foul that other unions aren’t facing concessions as severe as the Deupty Sheriff’s Association. It’s taken out radio ads blasting – what else? – palm trees.

The anger is no surprise. The county is on track to declare contract talks a failure and unilaterally impose wage and benefit cuts that, depending on who’s counting, add up to between 9 percent and 18 percent of officers’ pay.

None of the indignation, however, deals with the heart of the issue: the collapse of local tax revenues. The supervisors have to cut spending and cut it severely.

Even after the county drafted a pessimistic budget for the current fiscal year – which forced deputy layoffs, the dismantling of Crystal Creek Boys Camp, the closure of one floor of the jail and a drastic reduction in the sheriff’s work-release program, just to name prominent cuts – the economy has exceeded even those grim expectations. Lees has said the county faces a further $7.5 million deficit over the next year and a half, and that’s not even counting the fallout from budget cuts by an equally strapped state.

One major culprit is falling sales taxes. They’re on track to drop 18 percent this year from last, and a total of nearly 30 percent since the 2006 peak. They’re a critical source of financing for the county’s public safety operations, and they’re drying up like a month-old Christmas tree.

To cope, the county is paving the way to impose pay cuts at its Jan. 12 meeting.

The biggest ticket is having employees pick up the 9 percent share of their wages that goes toward funding their pensions. Though officially known as the “member contribution,” the employees’ share has been picked up by the county for decades. Quite frankly, handing public employees part of the burden for the generous pensions they’ll eventually enjoy is a good idea, but for the average deputy it’s just a pay cut.

Separately, the county is imposing new retirement formulas so newly hired deputies and correctional officers couldn’t retire with a full pension until 55, instead of the current 50. Steve Allen, negotiator for the deputies union, complains that this change won’t save the county any money in the short run, and he’s right. It is, however, a step toward taming the long-term disaster of unaffordable pension promises, and there’s no time to start like today.

Imposing a contract, bypassing the usual negotiations, is a tough move – and one that could well have political fallout, with Supervisors Les Baugh and David Kehoe up for re-election this year. But the county does not have the luxury of endless negotiations, especially when unions facing cuts have every incentive to stall.

Let’s be clear: The deputies shouldn’t be asked to take pay cuts that their bosses, including the supervisors, aren’t willing to share. Other unions, when their contracts are up for renewal, should get the same deal.

And in the long run, the county’s leaders need to remember that, with law enforcement as with anything, you get what you pay for. Shasta County’s officers get mediocre pay by law enforcement standards. Deputies earn about 20 percent less than Redding police, before the looming cut, and the jail’s correctional officers even less. Sheriff Tom Bosenko ran for office in 2006 in part on a promise to staff up a department that had endured chronic trouble recruiting deputies. Pay increases since have helped. This move won’t.

But to survive the long run without a detour through U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the county will first have to make it through 2010. And if this unilateral pay cut is part of the means to do that, the supervisors really have no choice.

Part of my reason for becoming involved in local government is to make a differenc,and there will be many opportunities to do just this, as above, and I am ready.

Ron Largent Announces Gingerbread Contest at Spectacular

Ron Largent’s Gingerbread House Contest at Christmas Spectacular (edit/delete)

This was in the Record Searchlight web and paper today:

A Shasta County assessor-recorder candidate is splitting proceeds from a gingerbread house competition with a children’s charity and his campaign, a tactic his competitor says is misleading families by using their holiday goodwill to inadvertently bolster his political war chest.

“Gosh, that’s families, you know,” Leslie Morgan, the incumbent assessor-recorder, said Thursday of Ron Largent’s “Gingerbread Magic” competition at the Christmas Holiday Spectacular display at the Shasta District Fair grounds in Anderson. “It’s going to hit a whole different vein of life (outside the political arena) – you know, the whole ‘here we are sitting on Santa’s knee.’ “

But Largent, a longtime local real estate professional, says the unusual fundraising tactic is completely legal and anyone who participates in the gingerbread competition will know they’re giving to a political campaign.

They’ll also know that half of the cash generated will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Sacramento & Northeastern California, he said.

Documents

• Gingerbread Magic fundraiser flyer

He acknowledges that the tactic is unusual, but that’s one of the reasons it will be an effective fundraiser for both sick children and his campaign, he said.

Such creative thinking also is why he makes an appealing candidate, Largent said.

“I’m sick and tired of traditional thinking,” he said. “That’s why I’m getting involved.”

The gingerbread house competition has a $10 entry fee for individuals and a $25 fee for businesses or groups. The competition runs from today to Dec. 18. Winners will be announced Dec. 19.

Winners will be chosen based on votes at a ballot box at the fairgrounds, through votes on Largent’s campaign Web site, www.largent2010.com, and by “guest judges” who will be announced this weekend, said Terry Barnes, Largent’s campaign manager.

Largent said his campaign has gone out of its way to make sure everything is legal and disclosed, and a participant in the competition must first sign a form that spells out who’s getting their money.

Online entrants using Largent’s Web site must click a box saying they acknowledge they’re giving to his campaign.

“It’s very clearly stated,” he said.

Largent said he also checked with the Fair Political Practices Commission and got the all-clear on legal matters.

“This definitely is an unusual approach to fundraising,” said commission spokesman Roman Porter. “Unfortunately, court decisions don’t allow the FPPC to regulate the content of solicitations, only require that there’s certain disclosures.”

The campaign likewise got approval from Make-A-Wish to include the organization on promotional materials, under the condition that fliers clearly state the foundation isn’t supporting the campaign – just taking the money.

“We asked that the disclaimer be included so that it would be known that no endorsement of the candidate was being made,” said Melinda Carson, the executive director of the Sacramento-based charity, which provides trips or other gifts to sick children.

Morgan said she thought that she originally assumed using a charity as a way to get donors to give to a campaign was illegal because tax-exempt charities generally stay out of political fundraising.

It’s not illegal in this instance, said campaign ethics expert Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies and the FPPC’s former general counsel.

But Stern, who reviewed Largent’s fundraiser flier, said he thinks that “people are going to be very surprised” that by entering the holiday competition they’re also donating to a candidate.

“I’ve been doing this for about 40 years,” Stern said. “I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it.”

Additional details can be found at     www.largent2010.com

CalPERS in Redding, CA …Good or Bad?

This is the question in Redding these days….so here is the latest on the City Council decisions from the Redding Record Searchlight…..

Redding will have to find room in its eviscerated general fund for $1 million more in higher pension costs through 2012.

The city devoted $9.4 million, or about 14 percent, of its general fund to pay for California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) pensions this year, said Steve Strong, finance director.

The general fund covers salaries and benefits for police, firefighters, planners, engineers, accountants, clerks and secretaries, among other workers.

The city has cut more than $13 million from its general fund since 2008 to bring spending in line with steeply declining tax and fee revenues spawned by the ongoing recession.

CalPERS rate increases will add $250,000 in pension costs to the general fund next year, Strong said.

Public safety pensions – the most generous and expensive of the several CalPERS formulae the city uses – account for most of that increase, Strong said.

Climbing pension rates are projected to cost the general fund $800,000 more in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, Strong said. CalPERS actuaries will produce definite rates for 2012 next year.

City Manager Kurt Starman said the city has not identified any specific funds to cover the higher CalPERS rates.

A $250,000 cost increase is not huge in the context of the city’s $68 million general fund, Starman said. But the $800,000 increase projected for 2012 will be much harder to absorb, given the budget cuts the city has already made, he said.

“We will have to deal with that (the CalPERS rate increase) along with other issues that will change for good or bad over the next couple years,” Starman said. “Things change all the time. Unfortunately, over the last 18 months things have had a tendency to change for the bad.”

The steeper climb projected for the 2012 rates reflects the unprecedented investment losses CalPERS suffered in the 2008 financial meltdown, spokesman Ed Fong said.

CalPERS relies on the agencies contracting for retirement benefits – and ultimately the taxpayers – to keep its pensions whole when investments falter.

But instead of asking agencies to make up all of the 2008 losses in a single year, CalPERS will spread those losses over three years of rate increases, Fong said.

Those increases could be smaller than projected should CalPERS investments strongly recover over the next couple of years, Fong said.

CalPERS rates for Redding police and firefighters will climb from 29.483 percent of base salary this year to 30.229 percent next year and to a projected 32.1 percent in 2011-2012, said Strong, the finance director.

The city also pays the required 9 percent employee contribution for its police officers and firefighters. So public safety pensions in 2012 will actually cost 41.1 percent of an employee’s base salary.

Those are some of the highest CalPERS public safety rates for the city on records dating back to the early 1970s, documents show.

But the projected 2012 rates are still short of the 2005 peak, when public safety pensions cost the city 45.5 percent of an employee’s base salary, including the employee contribution pickup.

On the other hand, CalPERS rates (excluding the employee pickup) for public safety were zero from 1999 to 2002, when Redding approved the more generous 3 percent at 50 formula. Pension rates also shot up around that time as CalPERS investments took a hit after the dot-com crash.

CalPERS rates for Redding’s non-public safety workers will go from 13.491 percent this year to 13.794 percent next year, Strong said. CalPERS rates for non-pubic safety or so-called miscellaneous workers will go to a projected 15.4 percent in 2012.

These rates for miscellaneous employees are the highest Redding has faced since the mid-1980s, documents show. But they are short of the 1980 peak, when miscellaneous rates hit 18.523 percent.

Redding also picks up the 7 percent employee contribution for miscellaneous workers. That means the city’s pension payments next year really will be 20.794 percent of a miscellaneous worker’s base salary.

Redding started picking up the employee share of CalPERS in the early 1980s, when the city and its employees stopped paying into Social Security.

The city and its unions negotiated the CalPERS contribution pickups in exchange for larger raises over the years, documents show.

A narrow City Council majority earlier this fall voted to explore the idea of asking voters to pass a ballot measure requiring city workers to pay all or most of their employee pension contribution.

The ballot measure could go before voters in June, should the council give final approval.

But city officials may defer to a statewide measure that would limit benefits for new employees and require them to pay at least a portion of their pension contributions

More info can be seen at   www.redding.com