I attempted to expose a similar misuse of staff time at the Santa Ynez High School in 2014 when they were attempting to pass a 30 million dollar bond despite decreasing enrollment. I had documented proof that the administration office was using staff to fund-raise through a fake “Concerned Citizens” group. All but one of the donors were out of town contractors who stood to benefit financially should the bond pass. I won’t get deep in the weeds with the details but it led to me challenged the SYVHS Board President Bruce Porter in the 2016 3rd District Supervisor Primary. All the usual suspects in the GOP, including Mr. Widroe rallied for Bruce. The Santa Barbara GOP refused to allow me to even pitch for their endorsement. The Santa Barbara GOP even sent out a letter calling me a “RINO”. I am so grateful to see others trying to have election laws adhered to. Don’t get discouraged. Keep fighting the good fight. Nothing lasts forever; not even corrupt enterprises.
Thank you Bill. I have my fingers crossed. I know Trump has a clear majority of voters supporting him, but Democrats have mastered the art of controlling the ballots. Thank God that Elon Musk has provided people a platform that allows anyone to share evidence of shenanigans in real time. I pray Trump’s victory will be “too big to rig” and there is not a protracted legal battle. If that occurs the Supreme Court MUST allow evidence to be presented this time as every single voter has standing.
Like you, I had great parents who taught me to take personal responsibility if I wanted to enjoy freedom. With few exceptions, being a crybaby or a tattletale was a worse offense than whatever misbehavior I attempted to report to my mother. My mother was a Saint who was tough as nails. She had a platitude for every situation. I think about her and miss her every day.
Hang in their Granny, hopefully, the "Trump is soon coming to Town." I will be having conversations with the Trump gang about my experiences and your name will be mentioned, guarantee it. By the way, my mother once told my wife, "Make him behave." I sort of didn't know what my mother was addressing, but now looking back, I've always been a thorn in the side of many.
For the past few weeks, I have worked with Denice Spangler Adams in the fight against SBCC's Measure P. She is an amazing leader and tireless worker. I am full of admiration for her efforts to combat the outright lies and deceptions from SBCC executives and their contractors funding their campaign to deceive voters in order to achieve an increase in taxes of $450million. Yes, SBCC declared the value of the Measure P bond to them at approximately $200 million but not the $250 million of interest on the loan that taxpayers would also have to pay. The main motivation for this bond is to avoid having to downsize the campus facilities and downsize the faculty and support staff, because local student enrollment is down by 35-40%. Also, a very significant number of enrolled students are studying 100% on-line, with no use of campus facilities. A large number of students are studying part-time on-line. SBCC is just another example of city colleges across America that have had to downsize or close altogether because of falling student enrollments.
We all owe Denice our gratitude and support for her magnificent efforts in fighting against Measure P. We need more people like Denice, if we are ever to sever the strangle-hold on power that the Democratic party has on all aspects of life in California
Sometimes I agree with Denice some times I don't. But I have always respected her efforts and appreciate her determination, fairness and sharing of information.
Back in the 1960's, the local elementary and junior high school districts were forced to close down any number of schools sites. The great baby boomer surge of students was over and they now had many surplus school sites. The K-12 school districts downsized dramatically. They were also facing charges of de facto segregation, that were mitigated by combining various student population groups into a single campus.
So down-sizing happens and has happened. Many of the K-12 sites were sold off and some former school sites were converted to SB Housing Authority sites or other private educational operations.
SBCC picked up two of them (Schott and Wake), for their then thriving Adult Education programs, which had also greatly declined in enrollments and offerings after state subsidies were withdrawn under pressures from the state K-12 political powers in Sacramento.
A serious re-thinking of both SBCC facilities and current needs must be initiated first, before more bond money drops into the current bottomless pit.
Santa Barbara used to have a thriving, diverse middle class in the 1960s and what I would describe as a middle class exodus in the 1970s. Remember the Cunningham Brothers? My cousin played on the USC National Championship team with Sam. Santa Barbara’s middle class continues to be squeezed out, creating an unhealthy cultural dynamic. Fewer children, native born residents moving to more affordable places, the arrival of carpetbagging elites and the ever increasing population in the open air mental hospital euphemistically called “homelessness”.
Goleta thrived on government military research contracts, and SB was still known a town of tourism and pensioners according to city General Plans from the time. The shift came after Reagan put this sleepy backwater burg on thee national and international maps. Press conferences in the winter with palm trees waving in the background put us on a path from which we may no longer recover. ".
My memories differ a bit from yours, only in degree. We were a nice community back then, but with distorted demographics. But then we became a global brand community after that national notoriety of the Reagan years, with the very temporary boost from Clinton choice to also be his Western Whitehouse. (I suspect there is a story about that short-lived Clinton detour, that has not yet been told)
But even then we were well on our way to becoming a one-party, company town of today. Slow growth was the key political driver back then. Then historic preservation and design aesthetics. Then we farmed out our grass-roots community engagement to astro-turf politics.
Object is for the so-called, Dem-controlled “institutions,” such as public schools and city government wanting for the general public to hand over as much of your money as possible; it’s a game. The Feds have the opportunity to simply print more money. But lower levels of government have to work harder to steal it directly from the taxpayers. And with the current, end-of-the-world environment we live in, it’s full steam ahead with local governments to take as much as they can. So it’s even worse than what we’ve seen in the past. I’ve seen this kind of mentality also with many businesses out to maximize income without wanting to take any risk in anything they do. Try to get a firm, fixed-price on anything. I know, it doesn’t exist if you carefully read contracts. A so-called quote will have so many exceptions you may end up paying double for work performed. It's really nuts out there!
They must generate new revenue streams, because they are now carrying huge unfunded government employee pension liabilities. Every year those increasing unmet demands erode into present services.
They want to tell us otherwise and hold us hostage, but we know. And we know they know. Own up to what these real fiscal demands are, and how you got us into this mess. Otherwise your current game plan will fail, and you will have pushed us off into a bottomless fiscal abyss.
What steps will these government agencies take to stop these endless rounds of duplicitous grift and taxpayer gouging?
This pension sham will continue up until Calpers becomes insolvent. How long will this take? I have no idea. It’s kind of like the childhood game where you’re looking for a seat when the music stops!
The Courts have made it clear already that there is no legal basis for changing defined benefit plans for government employees.
Gens XYZ carry the burden of paying off these predictable pension shortfalls. Will they vote with their feet and leave the state? Will they rebel, claiming taxation without representation over what was done in their names? Or will they own up to their own history of voting, that perpetuated this mess to land on their own future laps?
I will not be around to see this play out, but when these defined-benefi pension plans were first put in place the actuarial analysis at the time showed them falling off the fiscal cliff several decades hence. Hence, exactly where we are today.
The "Grace Commission" did this actuarial study at the time when they were first put in place, but I cannot find any link to it anywhere today. SBCC President Peter MacDougall at the time tried his very best to get this important message out. I attended many of those programs.
To say Peter MacDougall's warnings fell on mainly deaf ears was an understatement. But pension investments were earning 8% at the time and 20 years seemed so far off. So his pleadings and warnings at the time got the Mad Magazine Alfred E. Neuman response. What, me worry?
The fact that California is not the worst state offers cold comfort, because tax payers across the nation may well be on the hook when Illinois and New Jersey collapse first. How ready will be saner public pension state voters be, to pay off California's pension debts? Will California be forced to sell off its state-owned assets, since it cannot declare bankruptcy?
This "pension tsunami" is a monster under the bed and no one is really paying attention. Just as planned. Term limits insured no one needed to take responsibility for even acknowledging this future public debt. While at the same time Democrat partisans continue to undermine the necessary growth of the US economy, required to boost these promised pension fund returns.
Installing enough partisan forces to keep printing inflationary US dollars is the only current game plan on the table now, to remedy this government pension mess. What say you, Gens XYZ?
How will Trump address this critical now nationwide issue? We know Kamala has already materially interfered with any possible state remedies, when she was AG.
Gens XYZ, you need to be asking serious questions about your own futures right now, in this election. Grow the private sector economy or massively increase more public debt, that now lands on your watch to pay off.
No wonder Democrats want you to be obsessed over "climate change" at some inchoate and unknown future date. They don't want you looking too closely at the very immediate threats they inflicted on you, right now in your own present life spans.
The pension time bomb continues to tick. I feel badly for kids which will have to pay for all of this. My kids, young professionals who were born and raised in SB, left sometime ago and have gone out of state with no desire to return.
I recently read the federal debt to include Medicare and SSI tops $217 trillion! The only way I see paying off our liabilities is a massive energy production revolution topped with massive uptick in manufacturing. May have to also pass a small VAT tax as well to get out from under this crushing debt!
I wonder if mass illegal immigration could be part of the Dems strategy in order to have more bodies to pay for their incompetence!
LT Let’s hope those bodies on payroll rather than most paid in cash to ensure welfare eligibility. Walmart is known to rarely pay any employee a dollar more that the areas maximum earnings for program benefit eligibility. I know gardeners here juggling 2 wives here (plus another in Mexico) for cash flow from benefits to pay truck payments. Most local tree company workers paid a portion on the books and partly in cash by employers. Honest Americans played by government, and both the right and the left wanting open borders.
The city can't produce a revenue stream legitimately because they do not produce a product like in the usual business sector. Industry takes materials and adds value to it. My favorite example of this is when I worked for an instrumentation company, about $35 worth of electronics could generate a device that could create a new experiment ... the device selling for $30,000 ($35 of electronics plus housing it). The city government farms out labor, it's a service organization that consumes taxes to provide services (not products) like fixing streets, paying for a police department, etc. Raytheon pension fund is huge because they produced a product and can easily handle pensions on their own. The country has turned into providing too many services. China provides most of the tangible products that relate to a profit. As LT mentions, the courts haven't a clue (after all, they are made up of lawyers and look at Harris's lack of brain capacity). What would a judge know about capitalism ... they are sponges just like the other government employees without a clue where pensions come from in the business world. Back in the 1960's I'd walk during lunchtime with my older office partner, Sy Horowitz, an engineer involved with early digital computer development. I clearly one day recall Sy talking about the reduction of manufacturing of tangible goods in the country and there were too many service type organizations. One of Sy's son a decade or so later would become an astronaut and commander, Scott "Doc" Horowitz. Sy was a private pilot and when he talked, I always listened to many interesting stories during the development of the first digital computers using vacuum tubes.
Getting these expensive, glossy, deceptive Yes on P mailers on a daily basis (the SBCC fiscal cover-up bond), creates the very queasy feeling they already have too much money and are now using it only to dun voters for even more.
Their real message is they don't need any more money. They just need to spend what they have more wisely.
This proves they are imprudent fiscal stewards running only a generic, out-sourced, astro-turf bond campaign; not a legitimate grass roots community-generated bond campaign.
Clean up your act SBCC. Then come back when you can prove by deed, not just glossy campaign mailers, that you will do better.
Kudos to Denise Adams and others for their steadfast commitment to blowing the whistle on this and other government scams! I personally, have learned much as to the shady Bond industry. We as voters have much more to learn as to how these scams evolve. BTW, I find it interesting that the NUMEROUS athletic recruiting violations occurring at SBCC in order to game the system. I guess they don’t need a new PE building after all because they’re banned from competition!
Special thanks to SB Current for giving our patriot watch dogs a forum to sound the alarm! Seems like other local “News” sights ie Edhat, Noozehawk and the Independent are no more than fake news for the local Democratic pyramid.
I apologize for my frequent typos. During my house arrest I only have access to my small screen device. I shall do better when I’m back in the saddle in front of my trusty 27” iMac.
Thank you, Bonnie, for the update on Measures P and I and also a big thank you to Denice, etc al who are doing their best to bring the truth out. It is an uphill battle and I appreciate all the time and effort that has been put into this.
Thank you for the research - a tip to you as a writer would be to quickly answer what is on people's minds who choose to read. There is a lot of competing information these days on the internet and we as readers barely have time to consume it all. I found it annoying to dig through this and still not have the simple question answered in a concise manner: What are Measure P and I and why are they bad. I found reading all of this to be a waste of precious time. Get to the point, summarize early. If we want details we will keep reading.
As the grass roots people fight against measure P and Measure 5, the notorious and frequent absence of CAGOP from such battles is an indictment of both local and statewide leadership. What we need in California, is to retire the Grand Old Party and build a new and aggressive party in the mold of Maggie Thatcher and Donal Trump.
Think about the FPPC complaint. If even 1/2 of it is true it means board members, and staff have used public money to create and publish pro votes. This is clearly a violation of law, and unethical.
Think about the other issues that have been pushed by government over the years using taxpayer money. This is one time where the voters need to stand and deliver.
My neighbor says “sue them”. Too bad legal system is limited to rich or poor — no access for Middle class complaintants without deep pockets which is an oxymoron. Unless sued to invalidate the election, expect nothing to happen.
From the little I’ve read, FPPC does not fine or penalize public entities including public schools for campaign finance violations using the public treasury. Rather, I read a nice warning letter is sent, and violations swept under the rug. I bet CAGOP Treasurer Greg Gandrud is an informed resource.
No on P needs a final ‘It’s Up To You’ push until Tuesday at 8p. Will 46% vote NO? Prior to authorizing the ballot measure, SBCC’s high paid survey consultants forecasted to Trustees a 75% or more voter approved passage. The daily, courageous dedication of opponents will see Tuesday the ROI of their efforts. Anything over 25% indicates the benefits of activist messaging “truths” to attack SBCC’s “facts” which Proponent Economist Lanny Ebenstein admitted are lies (to win passage because afterall, SBCC is in deficit spending, needs money, is “uncomfortable cutting spending”.)
Of 126,000 registered SBCC District registered, 30,000 are estimated student voters (UCSB, SBCC, Westmont, Antioch-SBCC Campus). In a POTUS general election year, students vote making bond passage a dunk shot. They’re transients, no cost to them.
If you want to find out what a yes vote on any other bond measure in the county is going to cost you (assuming you have property in the district) use the Honest Ballots Voter Guide for Santa Barbara County here:
Click on any of the clickable measure letters for the calculator.
It's easy. The number needed for the calculation is on your property tax bill which just came in the mail.
What nobody is talking about is that every bond measure election in the county is "plainly illegal" because good ol' Joe (your registrar) printed the governments' arguments in favor of the bonds right on the ballots despite law expressly prohibiting that. Our supreme court has held over and over again that the government using public moneys to take sides in an election undermines the entire American electoral system and is not only unconstitutional but a criminal use of public moneys not authorized by law. See Stanson v. Mott (1976) 17 Cal.3d 206. You don't have to be a lawyer to understand what the court was talkin' 'bout. It should make your blood boil. Hopefully, Joe has a bug-out bag.
If any of the measures in the county pass, especially, the ones that impose taxes, there are remedies that are available after an election. There's a whole division of the Elections Code devoted to one of those remedies -- the one the government should fear most.
If a measure loses, there is a five-year statutory period to make the bad actors pay via complaints to the FPPC regarding contributions and expenditures (monetary and non-monetary), which is its jurisdiction.
For the other criminal violations of law, there are at least two ways to proceed.
If you don't know the law, which most people, even lawyers, don't, then you have to find someone who does.
Even though the oversight committee is a fraud run by the district, flooding school and college districts with applications will force them to expose the bias they use in "selecting" the members of the committee. That's just one of the strategy's to put some teeth in a toothless (except in one way) committee.
Can you get 25 people to put in applications in every district in the county. The law (the stuff the districts violate daily) does not even require that you live in the district, despite anything the public serpents or their lawyers say.
Sounds good. Taking action has power and taking the hits is the reward. Let us follow Denice, and Christy and others lead as they courageously stand up and say no, you will not take over unopposed. Take action. Bring suit, write letters and expose the frauds. In a one party Government like CA and SB this includes fighting the one party media that works to subvert truth, print only lies, slander all opposition. Excepting the SB Current there is no other non infected media in our county. So we press on to that drummer and fife of freedom.
Who wants to take new look at all the former NewsPress Travis Armstrong editorials, warning about the shift in political winds in this town?
I believe all pas N-P copies are now housed at the SB Historical Museum.. What did we know back then, when were we warned, and what did we do about it? Much like the deaf ears hearing about t the looming public pension crisis over 20 years ago.
I recall thinking Travis Armstrong was a big meanie, at the time. I was still drinking the Democrat Kool-aid back then. How would I now take his warnings now, with my more politically seasoned eyes?
What did Travis Armstrong see happening to this town, that we could not? Or maybe he did not. A future project for me.
While you were “drinking the Democrat Kool-aid” back then, it appears that Travis Armstrong was drinking the spiked version. The demise of the right wing SBNP soon followed.
Proving we SB Currents members do read widely, listening to all sides, here is a current edhat comment about Santa Barbara Currents participants - names are named, slurs are hurled:
EDHAT: ........"The author has published many editorials opposing Prop P. My favorite is the one in the far right rag SB Current, where the commenters include all my favorite arch right wingers like Thomas Cole, Lou Segal, Bill Clausen, and that old standby CarsAreBasic."...........
Shall we challenge EDHAT regulars to a friendly mud wrestling contest, a tug of war, or just invite them to dine on crow pie in a few more days?
I attempted to expose a similar misuse of staff time at the Santa Ynez High School in 2014 when they were attempting to pass a 30 million dollar bond despite decreasing enrollment. I had documented proof that the administration office was using staff to fund-raise through a fake “Concerned Citizens” group. All but one of the donors were out of town contractors who stood to benefit financially should the bond pass. I won’t get deep in the weeds with the details but it led to me challenged the SYVHS Board President Bruce Porter in the 2016 3rd District Supervisor Primary. All the usual suspects in the GOP, including Mr. Widroe rallied for Bruce. The Santa Barbara GOP refused to allow me to even pitch for their endorsement. The Santa Barbara GOP even sent out a letter calling me a “RINO”. I am so grateful to see others trying to have election laws adhered to. Don’t get discouraged. Keep fighting the good fight. Nothing lasts forever; not even corrupt enterprises.
Thank you Bill. I have my fingers crossed. I know Trump has a clear majority of voters supporting him, but Democrats have mastered the art of controlling the ballots. Thank God that Elon Musk has provided people a platform that allows anyone to share evidence of shenanigans in real time. I pray Trump’s victory will be “too big to rig” and there is not a protracted legal battle. If that occurs the Supreme Court MUST allow evidence to be presented this time as every single voter has standing.
Like you, I had great parents who taught me to take personal responsibility if I wanted to enjoy freedom. With few exceptions, being a crybaby or a tattletale was a worse offense than whatever misbehavior I attempted to report to my mother. My mother was a Saint who was tough as nails. She had a platitude for every situation. I think about her and miss her every day.
Hang in their Granny, hopefully, the "Trump is soon coming to Town." I will be having conversations with the Trump gang about my experiences and your name will be mentioned, guarantee it. By the way, my mother once told my wife, "Make him behave." I sort of didn't know what my mother was addressing, but now looking back, I've always been a thorn in the side of many.
For the past few weeks, I have worked with Denice Spangler Adams in the fight against SBCC's Measure P. She is an amazing leader and tireless worker. I am full of admiration for her efforts to combat the outright lies and deceptions from SBCC executives and their contractors funding their campaign to deceive voters in order to achieve an increase in taxes of $450million. Yes, SBCC declared the value of the Measure P bond to them at approximately $200 million but not the $250 million of interest on the loan that taxpayers would also have to pay. The main motivation for this bond is to avoid having to downsize the campus facilities and downsize the faculty and support staff, because local student enrollment is down by 35-40%. Also, a very significant number of enrolled students are studying 100% on-line, with no use of campus facilities. A large number of students are studying part-time on-line. SBCC is just another example of city colleges across America that have had to downsize or close altogether because of falling student enrollments.
We all owe Denice our gratitude and support for her magnificent efforts in fighting against Measure P. We need more people like Denice, if we are ever to sever the strangle-hold on power that the Democratic party has on all aspects of life in California
Sometimes I agree with Denice some times I don't. But I have always respected her efforts and appreciate her determination, fairness and sharing of information.
Back in the 1960's, the local elementary and junior high school districts were forced to close down any number of schools sites. The great baby boomer surge of students was over and they now had many surplus school sites. The K-12 school districts downsized dramatically. They were also facing charges of de facto segregation, that were mitigated by combining various student population groups into a single campus.
So down-sizing happens and has happened. Many of the K-12 sites were sold off and some former school sites were converted to SB Housing Authority sites or other private educational operations.
SBCC picked up two of them (Schott and Wake), for their then thriving Adult Education programs, which had also greatly declined in enrollments and offerings after state subsidies were withdrawn under pressures from the state K-12 political powers in Sacramento.
A serious re-thinking of both SBCC facilities and current needs must be initiated first, before more bond money drops into the current bottomless pit.
Santa Barbara used to have a thriving, diverse middle class in the 1960s and what I would describe as a middle class exodus in the 1970s. Remember the Cunningham Brothers? My cousin played on the USC National Championship team with Sam. Santa Barbara’s middle class continues to be squeezed out, creating an unhealthy cultural dynamic. Fewer children, native born residents moving to more affordable places, the arrival of carpetbagging elites and the ever increasing population in the open air mental hospital euphemistically called “homelessness”.
Goleta thrived on government military research contracts, and SB was still known a town of tourism and pensioners according to city General Plans from the time. The shift came after Reagan put this sleepy backwater burg on thee national and international maps. Press conferences in the winter with palm trees waving in the background put us on a path from which we may no longer recover. ".
My memories differ a bit from yours, only in degree. We were a nice community back then, but with distorted demographics. But then we became a global brand community after that national notoriety of the Reagan years, with the very temporary boost from Clinton choice to also be his Western Whitehouse. (I suspect there is a story about that short-lived Clinton detour, that has not yet been told)
But even then we were well on our way to becoming a one-party, company town of today. Slow growth was the key political driver back then. Then historic preservation and design aesthetics. Then we farmed out our grass-roots community engagement to astro-turf politics.
We also owe you our gratitude. Your letter in Noozhawk was excellent. You clearly made the case for a “No” vote on Measure P.
Object is for the so-called, Dem-controlled “institutions,” such as public schools and city government wanting for the general public to hand over as much of your money as possible; it’s a game. The Feds have the opportunity to simply print more money. But lower levels of government have to work harder to steal it directly from the taxpayers. And with the current, end-of-the-world environment we live in, it’s full steam ahead with local governments to take as much as they can. So it’s even worse than what we’ve seen in the past. I’ve seen this kind of mentality also with many businesses out to maximize income without wanting to take any risk in anything they do. Try to get a firm, fixed-price on anything. I know, it doesn’t exist if you carefully read contracts. A so-called quote will have so many exceptions you may end up paying double for work performed. It's really nuts out there!
They must generate new revenue streams, because they are now carrying huge unfunded government employee pension liabilities. Every year those increasing unmet demands erode into present services.
They want to tell us otherwise and hold us hostage, but we know. And we know they know. Own up to what these real fiscal demands are, and how you got us into this mess. Otherwise your current game plan will fail, and you will have pushed us off into a bottomless fiscal abyss.
What steps will these government agencies take to stop these endless rounds of duplicitous grift and taxpayer gouging?
This pension sham will continue up until Calpers becomes insolvent. How long will this take? I have no idea. It’s kind of like the childhood game where you’re looking for a seat when the music stops!
The Courts have made it clear already that there is no legal basis for changing defined benefit plans for government employees.
Gens XYZ carry the burden of paying off these predictable pension shortfalls. Will they vote with their feet and leave the state? Will they rebel, claiming taxation without representation over what was done in their names? Or will they own up to their own history of voting, that perpetuated this mess to land on their own future laps?
I will not be around to see this play out, but when these defined-benefi pension plans were first put in place the actuarial analysis at the time showed them falling off the fiscal cliff several decades hence. Hence, exactly where we are today.
The "Grace Commission" did this actuarial study at the time when they were first put in place, but I cannot find any link to it anywhere today. SBCC President Peter MacDougall at the time tried his very best to get this important message out. I attended many of those programs.
To say Peter MacDougall's warnings fell on mainly deaf ears was an understatement. But pension investments were earning 8% at the time and 20 years seemed so far off. So his pleadings and warnings at the time got the Mad Magazine Alfred E. Neuman response. What, me worry?
The fact that California is not the worst state offers cold comfort, because tax payers across the nation may well be on the hook when Illinois and New Jersey collapse first. How ready will be saner public pension state voters be, to pay off California's pension debts? Will California be forced to sell off its state-owned assets, since it cannot declare bankruptcy?
This "pension tsunami" is a monster under the bed and no one is really paying attention. Just as planned. Term limits insured no one needed to take responsibility for even acknowledging this future public debt. While at the same time Democrat partisans continue to undermine the necessary growth of the US economy, required to boost these promised pension fund returns.
Installing enough partisan forces to keep printing inflationary US dollars is the only current game plan on the table now, to remedy this government pension mess. What say you, Gens XYZ?
How will Trump address this critical now nationwide issue? We know Kamala has already materially interfered with any possible state remedies, when she was AG.
Gens XYZ, you need to be asking serious questions about your own futures right now, in this election. Grow the private sector economy or massively increase more public debt, that now lands on your watch to pay off.
No wonder Democrats want you to be obsessed over "climate change" at some inchoate and unknown future date. They don't want you looking too closely at the very immediate threats they inflicted on you, right now in your own present life spans.
The pension time bomb continues to tick. I feel badly for kids which will have to pay for all of this. My kids, young professionals who were born and raised in SB, left sometime ago and have gone out of state with no desire to return.
I recently read the federal debt to include Medicare and SSI tops $217 trillion! The only way I see paying off our liabilities is a massive energy production revolution topped with massive uptick in manufacturing. May have to also pass a small VAT tax as well to get out from under this crushing debt!
I wonder if mass illegal immigration could be part of the Dems strategy in order to have more bodies to pay for their incompetence!
LT Let’s hope those bodies on payroll rather than most paid in cash to ensure welfare eligibility. Walmart is known to rarely pay any employee a dollar more that the areas maximum earnings for program benefit eligibility. I know gardeners here juggling 2 wives here (plus another in Mexico) for cash flow from benefits to pay truck payments. Most local tree company workers paid a portion on the books and partly in cash by employers. Honest Americans played by government, and both the right and the left wanting open borders.
The city can't produce a revenue stream legitimately because they do not produce a product like in the usual business sector. Industry takes materials and adds value to it. My favorite example of this is when I worked for an instrumentation company, about $35 worth of electronics could generate a device that could create a new experiment ... the device selling for $30,000 ($35 of electronics plus housing it). The city government farms out labor, it's a service organization that consumes taxes to provide services (not products) like fixing streets, paying for a police department, etc. Raytheon pension fund is huge because they produced a product and can easily handle pensions on their own. The country has turned into providing too many services. China provides most of the tangible products that relate to a profit. As LT mentions, the courts haven't a clue (after all, they are made up of lawyers and look at Harris's lack of brain capacity). What would a judge know about capitalism ... they are sponges just like the other government employees without a clue where pensions come from in the business world. Back in the 1960's I'd walk during lunchtime with my older office partner, Sy Horowitz, an engineer involved with early digital computer development. I clearly one day recall Sy talking about the reduction of manufacturing of tangible goods in the country and there were too many service type organizations. One of Sy's son a decade or so later would become an astronaut and commander, Scott "Doc" Horowitz. Sy was a private pilot and when he talked, I always listened to many interesting stories during the development of the first digital computers using vacuum tubes.
Getting these expensive, glossy, deceptive Yes on P mailers on a daily basis (the SBCC fiscal cover-up bond), creates the very queasy feeling they already have too much money and are now using it only to dun voters for even more.
Their real message is they don't need any more money. They just need to spend what they have more wisely.
This proves they are imprudent fiscal stewards running only a generic, out-sourced, astro-turf bond campaign; not a legitimate grass roots community-generated bond campaign.
Clean up your act SBCC. Then come back when you can prove by deed, not just glossy campaign mailers, that you will do better.
Kudos to Denise Adams and others for their steadfast commitment to blowing the whistle on this and other government scams! I personally, have learned much as to the shady Bond industry. We as voters have much more to learn as to how these scams evolve. BTW, I find it interesting that the NUMEROUS athletic recruiting violations occurring at SBCC in order to game the system. I guess they don’t need a new PE building after all because they’re banned from competition!
Special thanks to SB Current for giving our patriot watch dogs a forum to sound the alarm! Seems like other local “News” sights ie Edhat, Noozehawk and the Independent are no more than fake news for the local Democratic pyramid.
*challenge
I apologize for my frequent typos. During my house arrest I only have access to my small screen device. I shall do better when I’m back in the saddle in front of my trusty 27” iMac.
Thank you, Bonnie, for the update on Measures P and I and also a big thank you to Denice, etc al who are doing their best to bring the truth out. It is an uphill battle and I appreciate all the time and effort that has been put into this.
Thank you for the research - a tip to you as a writer would be to quickly answer what is on people's minds who choose to read. There is a lot of competing information these days on the internet and we as readers barely have time to consume it all. I found it annoying to dig through this and still not have the simple question answered in a concise manner: What are Measure P and I and why are they bad. I found reading all of this to be a waste of precious time. Get to the point, summarize early. If we want details we will keep reading.
Visit www.NoP4SBCC.com
Kudos to Justin Shores for archiving No on P/ NOPE OpEds & letters from SBCurrent, Noozhawk, Indy, Coastal View, and Newsmakerswith JR.
Did you read this one?
www.sbcurrent.com/p/tax-hike-to-feed-pension-shortfall
As the grass roots people fight against measure P and Measure 5, the notorious and frequent absence of CAGOP from such battles is an indictment of both local and statewide leadership. What we need in California, is to retire the Grand Old Party and build a new and aggressive party in the mold of Maggie Thatcher and Donal Trump.
"Great New Party"¿
Agree Derek! A Grand New Party! Get NPPs, moderate Dems to link up w MAGA or some configuration thereof.
Think about the FPPC complaint. If even 1/2 of it is true it means board members, and staff have used public money to create and publish pro votes. This is clearly a violation of law, and unethical.
Think about the other issues that have been pushed by government over the years using taxpayer money. This is one time where the voters need to stand and deliver.
My neighbor says “sue them”. Too bad legal system is limited to rich or poor — no access for Middle class complaintants without deep pockets which is an oxymoron. Unless sued to invalidate the election, expect nothing to happen.
From the little I’ve read, FPPC does not fine or penalize public entities including public schools for campaign finance violations using the public treasury. Rather, I read a nice warning letter is sent, and violations swept under the rug. I bet CAGOP Treasurer Greg Gandrud is an informed resource.
Activists Derek and Michael continue the counter attack. Letters to Nov. 1, 2024 | Opinions | Noozhawk
https://www.noozhawk.com/__trashed/
Activist Lisa Ostendorf was published in the Voice News opposing Measure P. (Letters; Nov. 1, 2024-www.voicesb.com).
No on P needs a final ‘It’s Up To You’ push until Tuesday at 8p. Will 46% vote NO? Prior to authorizing the ballot measure, SBCC’s high paid survey consultants forecasted to Trustees a 75% or more voter approved passage. The daily, courageous dedication of opponents will see Tuesday the ROI of their efforts. Anything over 25% indicates the benefits of activist messaging “truths” to attack SBCC’s “facts” which Proponent Economist Lanny Ebenstein admitted are lies (to win passage because afterall, SBCC is in deficit spending, needs money, is “uncomfortable cutting spending”.)
Of 126,000 registered SBCC District registered, 30,000 are estimated student voters (UCSB, SBCC, Westmont, Antioch-SBCC Campus). In a POTUS general election year, students vote making bond passage a dunk shot. They’re transients, no cost to them.
If you want to find out what a yes vote on Measure P is going to cost you (or Oprah) use the Measure P Bond Tax Calculator here:
http://www.bigbadbonds.com/rc.cfm?d=nov24-042-65&i=sbc-stb-p-sbc
If you want to find out what a yes vote on any other bond measure in the county is going to cost you (assuming you have property in the district) use the Honest Ballots Voter Guide for Santa Barbara County here:
http://www.bigbadbonds.com/rc.cfm?d=042-24-hbvg=&i=sbc-stb-p-sbc
Click on any of the clickable measure letters for the calculator.
It's easy. The number needed for the calculation is on your property tax bill which just came in the mail.
What nobody is talking about is that every bond measure election in the county is "plainly illegal" because good ol' Joe (your registrar) printed the governments' arguments in favor of the bonds right on the ballots despite law expressly prohibiting that. Our supreme court has held over and over again that the government using public moneys to take sides in an election undermines the entire American electoral system and is not only unconstitutional but a criminal use of public moneys not authorized by law. See Stanson v. Mott (1976) 17 Cal.3d 206. You don't have to be a lawyer to understand what the court was talkin' 'bout. It should make your blood boil. Hopefully, Joe has a bug-out bag.
If any of the measures in the county pass, especially, the ones that impose taxes, there are remedies that are available after an election. There's a whole division of the Elections Code devoted to one of those remedies -- the one the government should fear most.
If a measure loses, there is a five-year statutory period to make the bad actors pay via complaints to the FPPC regarding contributions and expenditures (monetary and non-monetary), which is its jurisdiction.
For the other criminal violations of law, there are at least two ways to proceed.
If you don't know the law, which most people, even lawyers, don't, then you have to find someone who does.
Even though the oversight committee is a fraud run by the district, flooding school and college districts with applications will force them to expose the bias they use in "selecting" the members of the committee. That's just one of the strategy's to put some teeth in a toothless (except in one way) committee.
Can you get 25 people to put in applications in every district in the county. The law (the stuff the districts violate daily) does not even require that you live in the district, despite anything the public serpents or their lawyers say.
Denice and Derek???
Bonnie???
Denice told me she has already been working with you...
Sounds good. Taking action has power and taking the hits is the reward. Let us follow Denice, and Christy and others lead as they courageously stand up and say no, you will not take over unopposed. Take action. Bring suit, write letters and expose the frauds. In a one party Government like CA and SB this includes fighting the one party media that works to subvert truth, print only lies, slander all opposition. Excepting the SB Current there is no other non infected media in our county. So we press on to that drummer and fife of freedom.
Who wants to take new look at all the former NewsPress Travis Armstrong editorials, warning about the shift in political winds in this town?
I believe all pas N-P copies are now housed at the SB Historical Museum.. What did we know back then, when were we warned, and what did we do about it? Much like the deaf ears hearing about t the looming public pension crisis over 20 years ago.
I recall thinking Travis Armstrong was a big meanie, at the time. I was still drinking the Democrat Kool-aid back then. How would I now take his warnings now, with my more politically seasoned eyes?
What did Travis Armstrong see happening to this town, that we could not? Or maybe he did not. A future project for me.
While you were “drinking the Democrat Kool-aid” back then, it appears that Travis Armstrong was drinking the spiked version. The demise of the right wing SBNP soon followed.
https://www.independent.com/2006/05/11/wrong-way-armstrong/?amp=1
Proving we SB Currents members do read widely, listening to all sides, here is a current edhat comment about Santa Barbara Currents participants - names are named, slurs are hurled:
EDHAT: ........"The author has published many editorials opposing Prop P. My favorite is the one in the far right rag SB Current, where the commenters include all my favorite arch right wingers like Thomas Cole, Lou Segal, Bill Clausen, and that old standby CarsAreBasic."...........
Shall we challenge EDHAT regulars to a friendly mud wrestling contest, a tug of war, or just invite them to dine on crow pie in a few more days?