The State of California is taking $350 million from the gas tax, money meant for roads and freeways, to build bike and horse trails. By doing so they will also be causing accidents in cities like Los Angeles, will cause gridlock as the bikes hog the lanes and drivers are afraid of passing the riders for fear of hitting them. This is how the city of Los Angeles will handle it:

“Bicycling is among the healthiest of activities, but as a commuting mode, it is not practical for most of the population. Few people are in shape to handle long commutes through the canyons and over busy streets. Unless you are among the lucky few who live close to your place of work, the car will rule. Auto commuters will be unwilling to sacrifice street surface in favor of bike lanes. One proposal calls for eliminating a vehicle lane along busy Lankershim Boulevard to add bike lanes, even though one already exists on adjacent Vineland.

Now, it appears the city wants to eliminate vehicle parking spaces in new buildings downtown in favor of bike spaces.”

Lanes of Confusion and Parking Exclusion

Written by Paul Hatfield, City Watch, 5/16/14

PERSPECTIVE-The city’s fixation to expand the bike line network in Los Angeles is asking for trouble.

This is not a subject normally on my radar, but I thought about it after the latest tale of woe involving “retired” celebrity Alec Baldwin. Baldwin received a ticket for riding his bike the wrong way on 5th Avenue. He reportedly went ballistic. I hope his daughter did not have to bail him out.

The avid cyclists I know are more aware of the traffic rules than the average motorist. It’s a matter of survival – a right hand turn by a vehicle where a bike lane exists could be a death sentence for a cyclist.

Opening a car door quickly after parking can send a cyclist to the hospital.

One biker I know who tours frequently stated he is more wary of riding in a bike lane than the open road.

Then you have the everyday bikers who cruise around the neighborhoods clueless as to the environment around them. I see them almost every day. Many wear no helmets, have no illumination at night and ride in the wrong direction on streets, even in bike lanes.

Of course, there are pedestrians who act as if bike lanes are an extension of sidewalks. I have seen people pushing strollers down the lanes, most often in the wrong direction.

Skateboarders love bike lanes, too, many riding erratically across intersections.

I saw a man in a motorized wheelchair cruising down a bike lane on Colfax Avenue near Riverside Drive in Valley Village. Again, in the wrong direction. I can’t say I blamed him. There are no sidewalks along that stretch and the house fences come almost to the curb – legally, I might add. The Neighborhood Council checked it out.

What all of this adds up to is a prescription for death and dismemberment, yet Los Angeles is prepared to push forward with an expansion of bike lanes. Heck, the LAPD rarely enforces the helmet law, much less other laws controlling the safe interaction of motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. So, just what are we creating here? Death Race?

Before the city charges ahead, a number of steps are in order. Cyclists and motorists need to be treated equally when it comes to traffic enforcement. Who can use the bike lanes must be defined. The police must be prepared to enforce the laws. Most importantly, the public as a whole must be educated before we add so much as one additional lane.

Bicycling is among the healthiest of activities, but as a commuting mode, it is not practical for most of the population. Few people are in shape to handle long commutes through the canyons and over busy streets. Unless you are among the lucky few who live close to your place of work, the car will rule. Auto commuters will be unwilling to sacrifice street surface in favor of bike lanes. One proposal calls for eliminating a vehicle lane along busy Lankershim Boulevard to add bike lanes, even though one already exists on adjacent Vineland.

Now, it appears the city wants to eliminate vehicle parking spaces in new buildings downtown in favor of bike spaces. This flies in the face of logic. While a downtown resident can get by on most days without a car, there are times when a vehicle will be necessary to run long errands or participate in far-flung events.

The United States and North America in general will never embrace replacing cars with bikes on any meaningful scale.

Instead, let’s teach motorists, pedestrians and cyclists to respect each other’s space and enforce laws regarding safety and safe operation of all conveyances.

Maybe we can use some of the funds for more important roadwork.

 

Yesterday in Europe, in conjunction with American unions, the European unions protested against McDonalds in Switzerland and other nations. We also found out that the Obama administration has been allowing foreign unions to take our tax dollars—and not tell us how the money was spent.

Coincidence? Never. This is one of the ways government have to finance secret actions in this nation and around the world—give grants, then never ask for documentation on how the money is spent. Corruption? Obama wrote the book. This time it is $35 million that is missing.

“The issue with grants lacking proper documentation is not new. The Labor Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report in March 2012 that found as much as $23.1 in funding for contracts that had documentation problems.

“We could not always determine that the department’s procurement actions were proper,” the OIG said at the time.

“Taxpayers should be doubly offended by GAO’s report—not only are millions of their hard-earned dollars being used to support labor unions in foreign countries, those dollars are also being mismanaged,” Alexander, ranking member on the HELP Committee, said. “The pattern of negligence revealed by GAO demands immediate action from Secretary [Thomas] Perez.”

62 Percent of Labor Department’s International Grants Missing Documentation

BY: Elizabeth Harrington, Washington Free Beacon, 5/16/14
More than half of international grants distributed by the Labor Department are missing documentation, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) distributed roughly $70 million in awards to improve working conditions overseas and fight child labor last year. However, 62 percent of these grants lacked proper documentation.

Sens. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) and Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) warned that funds are being misused in light of the GAO report, requested by the senators and released on Thursday.

“Today’s report shows that the lack of internal controls at the Department of Labor means these grants, meant to improve labor standards and to combat child labor, could instead be funding organizations that have actually been banned from partnering with the federal government,” said Hatch, ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, in a statement.

“The lack of documentation on the awarding of these grants to foreign countries is both reckless and irresponsible, especially in the current environment of fiscal restraint and budget cuts,” he said.

For their review, the GAO examined 26 grant award files, and found that more than half were missing documents, and 15 percent had no accompanying documentation at all.

“Lack of readily available documentation causes uncertainty about whether Labor followed all of its procedures,” the GAO said. “Without such assurance, achieved through sufficient internal controls, that Labor is following its grant award procedures, ILAB is at increased risk of not meeting the goals of its programs.”

The grants reviewed represent roughly 44 percent of ILAB funding, and included seven major awards worth $10 million or more.

Missing documents included conflict of interest forms, approval paperwork by the Labor Procurement Review Board, and the “excluded parties list,” which identifies whether an applying organization is prohibited from receiving funding. Eight grants were missing evidence that the Labor Department had searched the excluded parties list.

The senators, citing the GAO report, said the lack of proper documentation increases the chances that projects will fail.

“Internal control serves as the first line of defense in safeguarding assets and preventing and detecting errors and fraud, including ensuring that Labor does not award grants to organizations that have been debarred from doing business with the federal government,” the GAO said. “Without such assurance that Labor is following its grant award procedures, these programs are at increased risk.”

Overall, $56 million in grants from the child labor office, and $13.5 million in technical assistance projects were issued in fiscal year 2013.

Hatch said the government should not be awarding such high dollar contracts if it cannot keep track where the funding is going.

“The Department of Labor should not be dumping millions of dollars abroad without ensuring that the funds are used correctly and responsibly, and I urge the Secretary of Labor to heed GAO’s recommendations on implementing proper internal controls regarding these grants,” he said.

The issue with grants lacking proper documentation is not new. The Labor Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report in March 2012 that found as much as $23.1 in funding for contracts that had documentation problems.

“We could not always determine that the department’s procurement actions were proper,” the OIG said at the time.

“Taxpayers should be doubly offended by GAO’s report—not only are millions of their hard-earned dollars being used to support labor unions in foreign countries, those dollars are also being mismanaged,” Alexander, ranking member on the HELP Committee, said. “The pattern of negligence revealed by GAO demands immediate action from Secretary [Thomas] Perez.”

 

For years Dianne Feinstein has empowered the environmentalist movement, used it for political gain and claimed that climate change is a real issue. Now, her friends are making sure that California farms are closed, jobs move out of State and fish are protected. So, Feinstein is denouncing people who have not changed. In fact, she is the cause of these folks being able to close down sources of water in our former Golden State.

Had she not given them cover, had she not demanded that the environmentalists be allowed to close down businesses and kill the California economy, we would not be hearing her complain about her once close allies and friends.

“Feinstein said environmentalists “have never been helpful to me in producing good water policy. You can’t have a water infrastructure for 16 million people and say, ‘Oh, it’s fine for 38 million people,’ when we’re losing the Sierra Nevada snowpack.'”

But they were helpful in getting her elected to office and keeping her in Washington.

Feinstein Blasts Environmentalists on Drought

by William Bigelow, Breitbart, 5/16/14

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein blasted environmental groups standing in the way of legislation she wants passed that would help California farms deal with the severe drought in the state.

Feinstein said environmentalists “have never been helpful to me in producing good water policy. You can’t have a water infrastructure for 16 million people and say, ‘Oh, it’s fine for 38 million people,’ when we’re losing the Sierra Nevada snowpack.'”

When she was queried if the environmental groups would resent her proposed legislation, she said, “Well, that’s really too bad, isn’t it? I would be very happy to know what they propose… I have not had a single constructive view from environmentalists of how to provide water when there is no snowpack.”

Feinstein’s bill, SB2198, which is also co-sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, would make it easier for farmers and cities to access water from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta. The bill has not gotten through the Senate yet, where it has lain dormant since February, because Feinstein needs all 100 senators to approve it in order to procure a quick vote. She is expected to use a “hotline procedure” next week that would enable her to see who is still voting nay. She said, “We will find out who the holdouts are.”

Feinstein wants to take her bill into conference with the House, because the GOP in the House passed a bill in February that would loosen environmental laws protecting endangered fish so farms could have more access to water.

Environmentalists and Democrats from the bay area are panicked at the thought of Feinstein’s bill interfering with the salmon run. They are telling Feinstein that she’s already done what is necessary by putting pressure on state water agencies to maximize their pumping.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, said, “The truth is, she’s won. There isn’t any need to go forward with the legislation, which could be hijacked by some of our House colleagues and create bigger problems.” He added that Feinstein’s new bill is only confirming what has “been done administratively, because of her involvement and her legislation. So one could argue, as many of us did, that she ought to declare victory and not worry about the bill, but she’s interested in seeing it through.”

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, added, “The real danger I and others see moving forward is that this opens the door to a conference committee with a truly terrible piece of legislation in the House and that can only lead to a worse situation.” Bob Wright, representing Friends of the River, an environmental group, said Feinstein was using the drought to “cater to the wishes of powerful growers in Westlands and Kern County water districts.”

But Feinstein insisted that her bill would “maximize pumping” without circumventing the laws of endangered species protections “for the length of the emergency. And I suspect the emergency is going to go on some time.”

Critics of Feinstein’s bill assert that it would lock in complete diversion of the San Joaquin River until the drought is over, although similar diversions are already permitted during “critical dry years.”

Jon Rosenfield, a conservation biologist at the Bay Institute, said that the diversion already in place is damaging endangered steelhead trout and commercial chinook salmon. If next year is wetter, according to Feinstein’s bill if passed, river flows would still not be increased. Rosenfield said, “It’s either naivete and lack of understanding” of how the present laws work, “or opportunism to lock in low levels of protection even if water supplies increase next year.” He argued that Feinstein was wrong to accuse environmentalists of standing in the way of what’s best for the state, saying, “We’ve all spent vast amounts of time and resources to design a plan to upgrade California’s water infrastructure and increase water supply and reliability.”

 

We have spoken many times about the California jobs and firms moving to Texas. This is also creating jobs in the Texas construction industry. Just ONE Texas town is building as many homes as the whole State of California!

“Houston had more new-home starts last year than the entire state of California, he says, and it will continue to be the nation’s top spot for building for a long time.  “I think it’s going to last for quite some time because Atlanta and Phoenix are the only two that are challenging and they are way behind.”

“Construction is growing much faster here than anywhere else and the economy is much stronger than anywhere else,” says housing consultant John Burns.”

Like North Dakota trying to find housing for its employment growth, so is Texas. At the same time homes in the former Golden State are going for big bucks—mostly for cash, for speculators. Soon we will have another housing bubble while Texas continues to grow.

Boom on! Houston notches more new home starts than the entire state of California

By Ralph Bivins, Houston Culture Map, 4/2/14

Houston’s house building boom is the biggest in the nation – and it’s expected to continue at an even more intense rate.

Houston has more new home construction than any other city in the nation and the building boom is going to get even more intense in the next few years, even though home prices are rising, a national housing consultant predicts.

“Construction is growing much faster here than anywhere else and the economy is much stronger than anywhere else,” says housing consultant John Burns, who heads Irvine, Calif.-based John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

Houston had more new-home starts last year than the entire state of California, he says, and it will continue to be the nation’s top spot for building for a long time.  “I think it’s going to last for quite some time because Atlanta and Phoenix are the only two that are challenging and they are way behind.”

“Construction is growing much faster here than anywhere else and the economy is much stronger than anywhere else,” says housing consultant John Burns.

Burns was in Houston this week to address developers, home builders and real estate brokers at the Urban Land Institute‘s Suburban Marketplace conference at the Marriott Westchase.

Houston’s new-home prices are at an all-time high, Burns says. With the economy strong and the supply of new homes very tight, home prices will continue to go up, probably about 5 percent this year, followed by a 4 percent gain next year.

“With only a three months supply of houses on the market, prices have to go up,” Burns says.

Houston builders could be building and selling 50,000 new homes in 2014, but a shortage of labor and quality lots is suppressing the local construction industry somewhat.

Developers are responding to the need for more lots by creating new communities, such as Pomona, which was recently started by Ross Perot Jr.’s Hillwood company in Manvel, south of Houston.

Burns’ survey of the best-selling master planned communities in the nation shows that 10 of the top 25 are in Houston. “This is the capital of suburban master planned communities in the country,” he says.

Burns projects that Houston’s annual new-home starts will increase about 13 percent annually over the next three years, peaking at 50,000 starts in 2016. The city, boosted by the energy and healthcare industries will have rising employment growth, topping out at 100,000 new jobs added in 2016.

Tough for first-time buyer

Today’s conditions are tough on the first-time homebuyer. Thirty-year mortgage rates, now in the mid-4 percent range will be rising over the next few years, topping out at 6.3 percent in 2017, Burns predicts.

Younger buyers and would-be homebuyers are saddled with student debt that has tripled over the last eight years, Burns says. And inflation adjusted incomes for the 25 to 34-age bracket has been falling slightly.

Fewer apartment dwellers are moving out of apartments to buy homes these days. Only 15 percent of apartment residents today say they are leaving because they are buying a house, down from 25 percent when the starter-home market was at its peak a few years ago.

Houston’s housing market appears to be on a strong run that will continue for at least three more years, Burns predicts. His projections indicate prices will continue to rise through 2017, but will soften slightly in 2018.

Long-term projections are tricky and the future is always uncertain. But for now, it’s a great time to be carpenter in Houston.

Ralph Bivins, former president of the National Association of Real Estate Editors, is founding editor of RealtyNewsReport.

 

Guv Brown is a very confused man. He claims a surplus while the State Controller says we have a $10 billion cash deficit. He says he wants to keep us safe, yet releases 40,000 criminals back to the streets. Jerry says he is fiscally responsible.

But, the LAO, which just info4med us that “balanced budget Jerry” is sitting on a $340 billion DEBT, is killing the budget, for a reason.

“Gov. Jerry Brown‘s budget proposal would result in the California Department of Transportation being overstaffed by some 3,500 full-time employees beginning in 2014-15, at a cost of more than $500 million, the Legislative Analyst’s Office wrote in a report released Wednesday.”

This appears to be another payoff to the unions. The overstaffed employees will pay union dues! This is about campaign funds, not about our roads. Why isn’t this being reported in the media?

State analyst: Caltrans could be hugely overstaffed

Allen Young, Sacramento Business Journal, 5/15/15

Gov. Jerry Brown‘s budget proposal would result in the California Department of Transportation being overstaffed by some 3,500 full-time employees beginning in 2014-15, at a cost of more than $500 million, the Legislative Analyst’s Office wrote in a report released Wednesday.

In his revised budget, Brown proposed cutting approximately $27 million from the Caltrans budget, a reduction of about 3 percent. That proposed budget would not nearly go far enough to address the “significant overstaffing” that would occur “absent a significant, unexpected increase in transportation funding for new projects,” wrote the report’s authors.

Other transportation agencies in California receive contracted workers provided by other public agencies or private consultants, which creates accountability between a project’s lead agency and the agency performing the work. But Caltrans performs both roles, “resulting in a lack of separation and the type of contractual arrangement necessary to provide a system of checks and balances,” wrote the LAO.

Furthermore, the Caltrans capital outlay support program lacks a system to correctly evaluate staff performance. Workload and expenditure data provided to the Legislature “contains errors and appears largely unreliable,” wrote the report’s authors.

This fiscal year, the state of California spent $1.8 billion for about 10,000 full-time Caltrans employees. State workers make up about 90 percent of Caltrans staff; the rest are contractors.

The Legislature could reduce the Caltrans budget to cut the excess staff and redirect the money toward California’s infrastructure needs such as repaving highways, suggested the analyst. Lawmakers could also direct the California Transportation Commission to take on new responsibilities around project approval and oversight.

 

Nurses have gone on strike endangering the lives of patients in hospitals. They did not care, they are UNION. Hospitals and patients have been held hostage to unions. Now the pharmacists at Kaiser Permanente (disclosure—I am a long time member of Kaiser) have decided to stop work due to a union called strike. In my language when workers do not show up, then have quit. In union language it is a paid vacation. To the patients that need the medicine, it is life or death for many.

Oh, this is a strike with NO end date!

“So, what do these pharmacists want (and when do they want it)? They seek the restoration of a pension plan they lost three years ago (they didn’t technically lose it – it was taken from them); health benefits for part-time workers; and new procedures designed to ensure patients’ safety, Robin Borden says. Borden is president of the Guild for Professional Pharmacists, as well as a worker at the Kaiser medical center in Riverside.

The two sides talked Wednesday, with another bargaining session scheduled for Friday.

“If no resolution is reached,” after that, Borden told the Register, “the strike will ensue.”

Kaiser Permanante pharmacists threaten strike

Scott Bridges, L.A. Business Journal, 5/15/14

Get your drugs now. It might be a little bit harder come Monday.

Kaiser Permanente issued a warning to its insured members that they might have to shut down most of its Southern California pharmacies starting Monday, as its 1,400 pharmacists have threatened to strike, the Orange County Register reported Thursday.

So, what do these pharmacists want (and when do they want it)? They seek the restoration of a pension plan they lost three years ago (they didn’t technically lose it – it was taken from them); health benefits for part-time workers; and new procedures designed to ensure patients’ safety, Robin Borden says. Borden is president of the Guild for Professional Pharmacists, as well as a worker at the Kaiser medical center in Riverside.

The two sides talked Wednesday, with another bargaining session scheduled for Friday.

“If no resolution is reached,” after that, Borden told the Register, “the strike will ensue.”

Unfortunately, there’s no magic pill – and if there was – well, who’s going to write that prescription?

If the pharmacists do strike, they will picket Monday at all Kaiser hospitals, including ones in Anaheim, Irvine, Los Angeles and West Los Angeles, Borden said. She also added that there was no end date in mind for the strike.

In addition to saying it has arrangements with seven outside pharmacy chains – CVS, Ralphs, Rite Aid, Target, Vons, Walgreens and Walmart – Kaiser said it sent notices to its members on Tuesday to say that in case of shutdown, all medical facilities will remain open and appointments will not be canceled. It urged people to fill prescriptions before Monday but said they could still do so after that, over the phone, online or at one of the seven aforementioned outside pharmacies.

About 3.7 million Kaiser members in the region could potentially be affected by the strike. That includes over 450,000 in Orange County, 1.7 million in Los Angeles County, and a combined 835,000 in Riverside and San Bernardino, according to the newspaper.

 

Stockton is bankrupt. It has decided to cut payments to all its creditors—except for CalPERS. For instance one bondholder, $35,000,000 worth, is being offered $94,000 (not a typo). Those bondholders are suing—they want the same deal as CalPERS. A judge will now decide who gets how much.

“That changed this week when CalPERS was dragged back into the Stockton case involuntarily. A bondholder that didn’t agree with Stockton’s plan is bringing to the city to court, looking to find out why CalPERS was able to get avoid getting cut.

This resulted in a CalPERS official being summoned to testify in U.S. bankruptcy court in Sacramento. The official, David Lamoureux, told the court that Stockton couldn’t reduce pension contributions without having its pension plan terminated and paying a hefty exist fee of hundreds of millions of dollars. Their employees and retirees would most likely also have their benefits scaled back. On top of all of those consequences, the rest of the CalPERS system could be affected as well, with state and local agencies having to contribute their funds to pay for Stockton’s benefit plan.”

The good news, if they are smart, are the future bondholders. If CalPERS gets treated differently, then future bondholders know they will get stiffed—so won’t loan money to the city—would you?

Judge in Stockton Case to Decide of CalPERS Should Share Losses

California City News, 5/15/14

After filing for bankruptcy, the city of Stockton unveiled a plan to reorganize its debts by spreading them across a host of bondholders. When the plan was unveiled in the fall, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) was spared from baring some of the city’s financial pain.

That changed this week when CalPERS was dragged back into the Stockton case involuntarily. A bondholder that didn’t agree with Stockton’s plan is bringing to the city to court, looking to find out why CalPERS was able to get avoid getting cut.

This resulted in a CalPERS official being summoned to testify in U.S. bankruptcy court in Sacramento. The official, David Lamoureux, told the court that Stockton couldn’t reduce pension contributions without having its pension plan terminated and paying a hefty exist fee of hundreds of millions of dollars. Their employees and retirees would most likely also have their benefits scaled back. On top of all of those consequences, the rest of the CalPERS system could be affected as well, with state and local agencies having to contribute their funds to pay for Stockton’s benefit plan.

Judge Christopher Klein said that although Stockton did not cut any CalPERS payments, it could rule that CalPERS should be treated like the other creditors. He considers the trial a chance to get to the bottom of the court’s role in pension reform, likening the pension issue to a “festering sore” for the state.

In a landmark decision, a judge previously ruled in the case of Detroit’s bankruptcy that government pensions can be scaled back. The bankrupt city of San Bernardino has been reported to owe CalPERS millions in overdue payments, and may be looking to scale back on its pension obligations, but the case is still being mediated by courts.

Throughout all of this, CalPERS has been adamant that pension contributions should not be altered, even if the city is facing serious financial issues.

If the judge does make ruling regarding the Stockton and CalPERS issue, it could set a powerful precedent for other California cities.

Read more about Stockton here.

 

Guv Brown, our very confused governor, has released close to 40,000 criminals back to the streets. Feel safer? One result is that gun sales have skyrocketed—meaning criminals understand the public will fight back. One category of criminal back on the street are those given “life sentences”. If you thought a rapist or a murderer would never see freedom again, with a chance to harm innocent people, you are wrong. Guv Brown has done his best to give a second chance to the most vicious of criminals.

“For most of the past two decades, the odds that a lifer would ever set foot outside prison walls were slim. In 2010, a parole-eligible offender who had committed murder stood a 6 percent chance of leaving prison through the conventional parole process.

Three years later, the prospects for lifer parole had improved dramatically, and now lifers are leaving prison in record numbers. In the first 2½ years of the Brown administration, more lifers were released from prison (1,205) than during the previous three administrations combined (1,168).”

Behind California’s Dramatic Increase in Lifers Freed from Prisons

KQED News Staff, 5/15/14

Options Recovery in Berkeley is among the facilities seeing an increase in the number of lifers on parole needing housing and counseling services. (Jeremy Raff/KQED)

By Matt Levin

Amid the specter of rising violent crime rates and “tough on crime” posturing from both Democrats and Republicans, California voters in 1988 approved Proposition 89, amending the state constitution so that governors could directly intervene in the parole process for inmates sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. The measure, which passed with 55 percent of the vote, allowed the governor to rescind parole for offenders who had committed murder — the most common crime for so-called lifers sentenced to unfixed terms like “15 years to life.”

The political calculus for governors, when reviewing parole decisions, was obvious: No governor wanted to stand accused of letting a convicted murderer roam the streets. Gov. Gray Davis reversed positive parole decisions more than 90 percent of the time, while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reversed 70 percent of the cases that came across his desk. (Gov. Pete Wilson was far more lenient, although he reviewed significantly fewer cases during his two terms in office.)

Timeline: History of California Lifers Up for Parole

For most of the 1990s and 2000s, the state Board of Parole Hearings was unlikely to grant parole in the first place to convicted murderers. When combined with the governors’ high reversal rates, the result was a mounting number of inmates serving life terms in state prison.

About one in five inmates in California prisons serves a life sentence with the possibility of parole — the highest percentage of lifers in a state prison population in the country. As of last year, there were more than 26,000 lifers behind bars.

For most of the past two decades, the odds that a lifer would ever set foot outside prison walls were slim. In 2010, a parole-eligible offender who had committed murder stood a 6 percent chance of leaving prison through the conventional parole process.

Three years later, the prospects for lifer parole had improved dramatically, and now lifers are leaving prison in record numbers. In the first 2½ years of the Brown administration, more lifers were released from prison (1,205) than during the previous three administrations combined (1,168).

Listen to Scott Shafer’s California Report story on Lifer Releases.

 

The unprecedented exodus of lifers in recent years sparks several serious questions for California. What programs are in place to ensure that lifers can make a smooth transition into an outside world radically different from when they were first incarcerated? What are the political implications of this trend in an election year? And perhaps, most importantly, why is this happening now?

Several factors account for the spike in lifer releases in recent years, including landmark court decisions, rising caseloads and shifting attitudes among the Board of Parole Hearings and the Brown administration.

The Lifer Exodus

The number of lifers released from state prison has increased significantly over the past five years, with a dramatic uptick occurring in the last three. The trend began in 2009, a year after a key California Supreme Court ruling limiting the reasons a lifer may be denied parole. From 1991 through July 2013, 2,373 lifers have left California prisons. More than half of that total has occurred in the last 2.5 years.

In 2012, California voters approved Proposition 36, which modified the state’s 1994 three-strikes law. The measure allowed inmates sentenced to life in prison to petition for resentencing and release if their third-strike felony was not serious or violent. While not lifers in the traditional sense (and not included in the chart below), the number of “Prop. 36ers” released since 2012 nearly doubles the count of offenders once facing life in prison who are now set to be released under Gov. Jerry Brown.

Sources: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

*Note: Lifer releases through July 2013. It is important to note that, because of court challenges and the time lag between a parole grant and date of release, individuals paroled under one administration may not be released until a new administration.

Parole Granted More Often

Once a lifer serves the minimum amount of time required by his or her sentence in prison, a parole hearing date is set. A Board of Parole Hearings commissioner then hears the inmate’s case for getting out of prison, basing the decision on whether the inmate poses an unreasonable danger to society upon release. Commissioners are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate Rules Committee.

Starting in 2009, the parole grant rate has increased dramatically. In 2008, the California Supreme Court issued a decision upholding the parole of Sandra Davis Lawrence, an inmate of 24 years convicted of murdering her lover’s wife. The court overturned Schwarzenegger’s reversal of Lawrence’s parole, ruling that decisions on parole grants should be based exclusively on the likelihood a parolee would reoffend. The Lawrence decision, combined with the changing composition of the Board of Parole Hearings since the arrival of Brown, had spurred a marked increase in the number of lifers being paroled.

Sources: BPH Suitability Hearing Summary, CY 1978-2012; BPH Lifer Scheduling and Tracking System; Stanford Criminal Law Center

Notes: Following methodology of Stanford Criminal Law Center, grant rate is calculated by dividing the number of parole grants in a given year by the number of conducted hearings.

Brown Administration Less Likely To Interfere

Because of Prop. 89, California is one of only three states (Maryland and Oklahoma are the other two) where governors have the authority to review and reverse parole board recommendations for lifers. For lifers convicted of first- or second-degree murder, the governor may reverse the parole board’s grant outright. For lifers convicted of other crimes, the governor may send the parole case back to the full board of commissioners for reconsideration.

The higher parole rate for lifers has resulted in a record numbers of parole cases coming across the governor’s desk for review. In his first three years in office, Brown has reviewed nearly 1,678 lifer parole cases, nearly matching the total reviewed by Schwarzenegger over a seven-year period.

Sources: Stanford Criminal Justice Center, Governor’s Office

Note: Reversal rate is the percentage of parole grants for murder offenses reviewed by the governor’s office that the governor reverses. Some parole decisions in November and December 2003 may be incorrectly attributed to Davis because of data limitations. Data through mid-December 2013.

Unlike Govs. Schwarzenegger and Davis, Brown has been much less likely to interfere in the parole recommendations of the board. The reversal rate for Davis never dipped below 90 percent and the reversal rate for Schwarzenegger never dipped below 60 percent, but Brown has reversed less than 20 percent of the cases that have come across his desk.

The Brown administration has argued that the governor’s lower reversal rate stems from a more accurate interpretation of the laws behind parole review. According to the governor’s office, from January 2011 to June 2012, 111 of 158 reversals issued by Schwarzenegger were overturned in the courts.

Comprehensive data on the number of lifers granted parole through the courts is not available.

Lower Risk of Recidivism

While comprehensive data on how lifers fare after their release are limited, most studies point to a very low risk of recidivism. One study found that among 860 murderers paroled in California since 1995, only five individuals have returned to jail for new felonies since being released, and none of them for “life-term” crimes like murder. That stands in stark contrast to the state’s overall prisoner recidivism rate, which has neared 50 percent in recent years.

The reason behind lifers’ presumed lower risk of reoffending is simple: age. Most criminals typically “age out of crime” after they turn 30. The average age of  lifers at the time of their parole hearing was 51.

 

California is an expensive place to live. The more liberal the community the more expensive it is to survive. The more conservative it is, the less expensive. The Bay Area is liberal and expensive. The Central Valley is conservative and much less expensive. Of course, Silicon Valley loves government transportation—but the rich still use their cars—forcing the middle class into crowded public transportation—that they cannot afford to subsidize.

“An analysis released this week by real estate site Trulia defines “middle class” in the San Jose metro area as a household earning $94,077 annually — more than double the median income in Miami and $10,000 higher than the San Francisco metro area.

Despite the abnormally high earnings, Trulia found that Silicon Valley’s middle-income earners still have extremely limited home-buying power. Only about 34 percent of homes on the market cost $484,000 or less, which is the cutoff to keep housing costs from eating up more than 31 percent of income (ostensibly leaving funds for food, medical bills, etc.)”

Any wonder firms are leaving for Texas?

Photo courtesy of 401(K) 2013, Flickr

Silicon Valley’s new ‘middle class’ makes $94,000, home costs $484,000

The number of middle class households in Silicon Valley declined 5 percent from 2006 to 2012, according to research by Joint Venture Silicon Valley. A new report by Trulia shows that the middle class crunch also extends to housing, since the San Jose metro area is the No. 7 least-affordable market for middle-income earners.

Lauren Hepler, Silicon Valley Business Journal, 5/15/14

We already know that Silicon Valley’s middle class is shrinking, but a new report reveals just how how inflated regional incomes and costs of living have become amid a new tech boom.

An analysis released this week by real estate site Trulia defines “middle class” in the San Jose metro area as a household earning $94,077 annually — more than double the median income in Miami and $10,000 higher than the San Francisco metro area.

Despite the abnormally high earnings, Trulia found that Silicon Valley’s middle-income earners still have extremely limited home-buying power. Only about 34 percent of homes on the market cost $484,000 or less, which is the cutoff to keep housing costs from eating up more than 31 percent of income (ostensibly leaving funds for food, medical bills, etc.)

That makes Silicon Valley the No. 7 least-affordable housing market for the middle class. On the other end of the spectrum, Ohio cities Akron, Toledo and Dayton top the list of the most affordable locales for the middle class, which is no surprise given the rust belt cities’ histories as industrial centers that have more recently confronted major economic obstacles.

Silicon Valley’s outlier definition of “middle class” is not a function of Trulia employing suspect calculations. The site simply used 2012 U.S. Census data and multiplied by 2013 wage growth reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in an effort to get more current figures.

A separate report earlier this year by thinktank Joint Venture Silicon Valley defined middle class as residents making $35,000-$99,000. That population shrank 5 percent from 2006-2012 despite overall population growth that helped drive up by 6 percent the number of residents making more than $100,000 annually.

 

To Progressives like George Soros giving black children quality education is racist. In most cities, like D.C. and N.Y. at least a majority of those enrolled in charter schools are black. “A George Soros-backed advocacy group filed complaints in three cities alleging that charter schools are racist.

The Advancement Project is asking the Justice Department to investigate the closures of failing public schools in New Orleans, Chicago, and Newark on the grounds that the closings are racially motivated.

All three cities have black majorities in the schools. Can Soros force other races to attend the schools—or even live in the city? Newark’s black population is 49.7%, Chicago has a black population of 32.9% and New Orleans comes in at 67.25%.   Yes, schools are being closed—mostly because they are failures and no amount of money has saved them. The students going to charter schools succeed and excel—something Soros does not want—he has a Plantation mentality toward people of color. Expect anything different?

Soros-Backed Group Claims Charter Schools Are Racist

Elizabeth Harrington, Washington Free Beacon, 5/14/14
A George Soros-backed advocacy group filed complaints in three cities alleging that charter schools are racist.

The Advancement Project is asking the Justice Department to investigate the closures of failing public schools in New Orleans, Chicago, and Newark on the grounds that the closings are racially motivated.

The group, whose mission is to dismantle “structural racism” and promote “racial justice,” filed complaints under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act on behalf of “Journey for Justice,” a coalition of grassroots organizations supported by teachers unions.

“The coalition has come together because, across our communities, education ‘reformers’ and privatizers are targeting neighborhood schools filled with children of color, and leaving behind devastation,” the organization wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, attached to the New Orleans complaint.

“By stealth, seizure, and sabotage, these corporate profiteers are closing and privatizing our schools, keeping public education for children of color, not only separate, not only unequal, but increasingly not public at all,” they said.

The organization compared charter schools to prisons.

“Adding insult to injury, the perpetrators of this injustice have cloaked themselves in the language of the Civil Rights Movement,” the Advancement Project wrote. “But too many of the charter and privately-managed schools that have multiplied as replacements for our beloved neighborhood schools are test prep mills that promote prison-like environments, and seem to be geared at keeping young people of color controlled, undereducated, and dehumanized.”

The complaint asks for an investigation into “racially discriminatory school closings,” and for the DOJ to stop the closures of five public schools in New Orleans. The group also wants a moratorium on school closings.

The complaint admits that all the schools the Advancement Project is fighting to remain open are failing. On page 10, a list of the schools shows that two received F grades in the 2011-2012 school year, the remaining three received a D+, D, and D-.

The Advancement Project has received nearly $4 million from George Soros’s Open Society Institute since 1999, according to the Capital Research Center, and grants from Open Society Foundations.

Harry Belafonte, who has compared the billionaire philanthropist David and Charles Koch to the KKK and called former President George W. Bush the “greatest terrorist in the world,” sits on the organization’s board of directors.

Journey for Justice Alliance is also allied with the Chicago Teachers Union, American Federation of Teachers, and Teachers for Social Justice.

The Advancement Project argues that charter school advocates used Hurricane Katrina to plot “behind closed doors” to open more charters, independently run schools that receive public funding. Teachers at charter schools are often not unionized.

“The ‘New Orleans experiment’ has failed, and African-American students have borne the brunt of this failure,” the complaint claims.

However, Louisiana posted a record-high graduation rate in 2012 at 72.3 percent, New Orleans leading the way with 77.8 percent of its students graduating. The city has been steadily increasing its graduation ranks since 2004, when only 54.4 percent of its students graduated. New Orleans has the highest charter school enrollment in the nation, at 79 percent.

Gov. Bobby Jindal (R.) touts his state’s education reform, which includes expanding charters and his Scholarship Program that allows students to flee failing public schools and attend private ones with a voucher. The vast majority of voucher awards go to minority students.

Jindal helped remove the cap on the number of charter schools allowed to operate in Louisiana, and increased K-12 education spending from $3.13 billion in January 2008 to $3.44 billion in July 2013. He requested an additional increase of $102.8 million in his budget this year.

The Recovery School District, a special district that manages chronically low-performing schools in the state, is the subject of the complaint. The district defended its policies as promoting civil rights.

“Over the last eight years, the schools in New Orleans have made tremendous progress by any academic measure—ACT scores, student achievement, graduation rate,” the district said in a statement. “In 2005, over 60 percent of our students attended failing schools. Today only 5 percent of students city-wide attend failing schools.”

“It is critical to insist on the civil rights of every child, and there is no doubt New Orleans is closer to assuring those rights than it was a decade ago,” they said.

While antagonistic to voucher programs, the Obama administration has been generally favorable to charter schools, making it unlikely the DOJ will meet the Advancement Project’s demands.

The Department of Education provided $242 million for the Charter Schools Program in 2013, and Secretary Arne Duncan has said that high-performing charters have “irrefutably demonstrated that low-income children can and do achieve at high levels.”

Charter schools also have bipartisan support in Congress, with the House of Representatives passing a bill to expand the charter school program last week.