Poverty Hitting One in Six Californians

The economic recovery in California has not reached a sizable percentage of the population, with more than 16% of Californians living in poverty, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the California Budget and Policy Center.

In most California counties, the poverty rate increased from 2007 to 2014. Of the 40 California counties with available data, 32 had higher poverty rates last year than they did in 2007 before the state's recession began, the study said.

The California Budget and Policy Center is a not-for-profit that conducts independent, nonpartisan budget analysis.

"Millions of Californians continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, even after several years of steady job gains," the study said. "Poverty remained widespread even though the state's unemployment rate declined from a high of 12.2% in 2010 to 7.5% in 2014."

The federal poverty line is about $19,000 for a family of three. The overall rate fell slightly between 2012 and 2014 -- by 0.6% -- but the 2014 level of 16.4% is a full 4 percentage points higher than it was in 2007.

The study highlighted the differences between counties:

• Not only was the poverty rate higher in 32 of the 40 counties with available data from 2007 to 2014, but there was no statistically significant difference in poverty rates in the other 8 counties;
• In Lake County, the poverty rate rose to 25.9% of the population. In Kings County, 26.6% live in poverty;
• In Lake, Kings and San Bernardino counties, the poverty rate jumped by more than 8 percentage points from 2007 to 2014; and
• In 15 other counties, poverty rates in 2014 were 4 to 8 percentage points higher than in 2007. Most of those counties are in the Central Valley and in the Sacramento region.

"Many factors could contribute to the uneven recovery across California's counties," fact sheet author Alissa Anderson wrote. "These include differences in the availability of well-paying jobs and/or of sufficient work hours, as well as changes in county demographics, such as whether large numbers of people who struggle to get by move into a county."

By David Gorn
Via http://www.californiahealthline.org/capitol-desk/2015/12/poverty-hitting-one-in-six-californians

Senate votes down gun curbs in wake of Calif. attacks

WASHINGTON In a pair of symbolic votes that underscored the partisan divide over guns, a polarized Senate voted down rival proposals Thursday that could make it harder for people the government suspects of being terrorists from purchasing firearms. The roll calls came a day after the country’s latest mass shooting.

The votes demonstrated that political gridlock over curbing guns remains strong, despite the recent rash of mass shootings in the U.S. and growing attention to potential threats from terrorist groups like the Islamic State.

By 54-45, senators voted down a proposal by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that would let the government bar sales to people it suspects of being terrorists. Though she initially introduced the proposal early this year, it received attention after last month’s terror attacks in Paris.

Minutes earlier, the Senate killed a rival plan by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, that would let the government delay firearms sales to suspected terrorists for up to 72 hours. Under that proposal, the transaction could be halted permanently during that waiting period if federal officials could persuade a judge to do so.

Senators voted 55-44 for Cornyn’s proposal, but it needed 60 votes to pass.

Both votes were mostly party-line. They came a day after a shooting in San Bernardino, California, killed 14 people and wounded 21 others.

Even had the provisions passed, the proposals were going nowhere because they were amendments to a bill eliminating most of President Barack Obama’s health care law, which he is certain to veto.

Democrats said Cornyn’s proposal was a sham because it would be easy for a lawyer to force enough delays to last 72 hours and let gun purchases proceed.

Republicans said the government’s terror watch lists include people who are included erroneously and should not be used to deny people their right to own firearms.

Via: http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article47813025.html 

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article47813025.html#storylink=cpy

SAVE THE DATE: Riverside Strong Communities Forum September 26th!

Save the Date!

The Riverside Strong Communities Forum is taking place on Saturday, September 26, 2015 from 9 am to 5 pm at the Hyatt Place in Downtown Riverside, California.

We are inviting organizations to share and receive the “best of the best” that community organizations, non-profits, colleges, and universities have to offer in the areas of re-entry, Prop 47 assistance, social services, employment opportunities, post conviction relief, civic engagement, social enterprises, alternatives to jails, and housing options for those who have been incarcerated and are now being released into the community.

We are featuring solutions that include 9 key areas of re-entry and more!

• HOUSING
• PUBLIC BENEFITS
• PAROLE & PROBATION
• EDUCATION
• UNDERSTANDING & CLEANING UP YOUR CRIMINAL RECORD
• BUILDING BLOCKS OF REENTRY: ID & VOTING
• FAMILY & CHILDREN
• COURT-ORDERED DEBT
• EMPLOYMENT

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Marie Smith

Community Organizer, Riverside All of Us or None

Omnitrans Agrees to Remove Potentially Explosive Gas Tanks from Westside Residential Neighborhood

Two 30,000 gallon tanks like the one above were moved into the residential neighborhood several years ago. 

Finally they will be moved them out!

At the July 8, 2015, Inland Valley Environmental Justice Task Force meeting, hosted by the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, Omnitrans’ CEO/ General Manager, Scott Graham, announced that the San Bernardino Transit Agency will remove the two 30,000 gallon tanks of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) from its facility at 1700 West 5th Street in San Bernardino. The massive tanks of potentially explosive natural gas have long been a point of contention with the local residents who were concerned about the storage of natural gas in a residential neighborhood and next to an elementary school. Mr. Graham explained that over the next year they will convert the facility to utilize a pipeline, eliminating the need for the massive storage tanks. Estimates for completing the transition is June of 2015, Mr. Graham reported.

“We applaud, Omnitrans’ action to remove the tanks”, said Teresa Flores Lopez, longtime residents of the Westside and avid critic of the fueling operation. “We are very pleased that Omnitrans has finally listened and responded to our concerns.”

“While we acknowledge that the facility meets all its requirements, we remained concerned about the possibility of an accident” said Ericka Flores, community organizer for the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice and local resident. “ No one plans for an accident to happen but they still do. If a problem occurs with 60,000 gallons of natural gas, it should be in a place where there are few people, not in a residential area with a school across the street.”

Over the last year, natural gas has been gaining use as coal and other fuel use is reduced. As a result more and more reports of explosions and fires have taken place around the country. Residents were concerned that with the storage of such a large amount of gas in one place so close to homes and schools that an accident would result in destruction of homes and many injuries and death.

For nearly two decades the presence of natural gas tanks in the neighborhood has raised concerns. In 1998 residents started complaining about continuing leaks as indicated by the natural gas odors during fueling activities at the facility. Residents filed complaints to South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) under it’s odor nuisance rules each time they smelled the gas. To address those concerns Omnitrans replaced the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) tanks with two massive tanks containing 30,000 gallons each of LNG and removed the odorant, methylmercaptan, which is used to warn of any gas releases. Just this year there were two incidences near the facility, one that require evacuation of the employees at the facility. Residents were concerned when they were not notified and neither were staff at the Ramona Alessandro Elementary School. The Board of Education for the San Bernardino City Unified School District joined in calling for the removal of the tanks in a resolution issued approved last year.

“We look forward to working with Omnitrans during this transition period”, said Penny Newman, Executive Director of CCAEJ who has been working with the community to solve this issue. Members of the EJ Task Force, a multi-agency task force made up of U.S. EPA, Calif. Air Resources Board (ARB); Dept. of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC); California Attorney General’s office; South Coast AQMD; local CUPA and others, have monitored activity of the facility in the last two years and even conducted their own analysis. Using a program called ALOHA, used by emergency response agencies to determine areas that would be impacted they developed a map showing the “Zone of Harm”. The analysis calculated that a population of 1,739 people and 447 dwellings would be affected in a 0.3 miles radius around the facility. The analysis did not take into account the presence of the elementary school, expanding the affected population by hundreds of children.

A recent report conducted for Omnitrans stated, “The facility’s tanks and its operation are state-of-the-art. Explosions are still possible, but extremely unlikely.” It goes on to state that if an explosion were to happen “the 95% potential injury scenarios may extend up to 880 feet from the facility boundary and 95% scenarios with the potential for severe injury may extend up to 175 feet from the facility boundary. “ “That’s our homes and our children”, Teresa Flores Lopez points out!

Carlin Hafitz, Environmental Justice Coordinator for the Southern Regional office of EPA, offered to work with Omnitrans in developing an appropriate emergency notification program for both residents and the school district in case of an incidence.


Via: Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice
http://www.ccaej.org/

JOBS: Amazon to add 1,000 more jobs

Amazon has announced it will create 1,000 more jobs for its Inland Southern California fulfillment centers.

In addition to 1,000 jobs announced earlier this month, takes the hiring roster to 2,000.

Mike Lee, the community and economic development director for Moreno Valley, says he hasn’t seen this many job

s created in such a short amount of time, ever. “This is huge for our region,” Lee said.

Amazon’s announcement was made at the Moreno Valley City Conference & Recreation Center. The hiring is part of a nationwide recruitment effort by Amazon.

“What we heard was Amazon was impressed with the quality of candidates they are getting from the region,” Lee said.

Amazon, in a statement issued Wednesday by spokeswoman Ashley Robinson, said the firm is proud to continue to hire for 1,000 more newly created permanent, hourly positions at the Inland Empire fulfillment centers in Moreno Valley, Redlands and San Bernardino.

Tuesday, the company held a hiring event with about 400 applicants in Moreno Valley, and each received a contingent offer of employment at facilities there, Robinson said.

Asked to comment on the caliber of the candidates on the whole, Robinson said, “We have found an enthusiastic, dedicated and customer-obsessed workforce in the Inland Empire.”

Moreno Valley Mayor Jesse Molina called the recruitment announcement terrific news.

“Anytime a business says that it is hiring this many people it is a big deal,” Molina said. “When it’s coupled with community investment, it means all that much more.”

Thomas J. Goldsby, a business and logistics professor at Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University, said in a Monday symposium for forecasters at Riverside Convention Center that “Amazon is expanding at a pace that is making Wal-Mart very, very nervous.”

Amazon has created thousands of full-time jobs in the Inland region since the first California facility opened in San Bernardino in 2012, Moreno Valley city officials said. Fulfillment centers in Redlands and Moreno Valley began shipping customer orders in 2014.

Amazon is making the news almost daily with innovations like rapid delivery and mail drops with drones, Goldsby said.

Tuesday’s hiring event was an offshoot of the Hire MoVal program and coordinated efforts with Riverside County Workforce Development Agency. Communication networks were shared. Amazon recruitment opportunities were publicized to Moreno Valley businesses.

As an added benefit to Amazon, the company qualifies for a 2 percent discount on electrical rates under the Hire MoVal program if at least 20 percent of the workforce hails from Moreno Valley. The discount rises to 4 percent if the workforce percentage is at least 40 percent.

Fielding Buck contributed to this report.

Via: http://www.pe.com/articles/amazon-771361-moreno-valley.html

Prop 47 Information Clinic In the Inland Empire!

Please bring your rap sheet!

Saturday, June 13, 2015

10:00 am - 2:00 pm

Lifeway Church

7477 Vineyard Avenue

Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730

San Bernardino Community Engagement Plan Roadshow

Attend an Upcoming Roadshow Near You!

Wednesday, February 11, 2015 

at 6 p.m.

Shandin Hills Middle School

4301 Little Mountain Drive

Room 4301

Thursday, February 12, 2015

at 6 p.m.

Arroyo Valley High School

1881 Base Line Street

Cafeteria

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

at 6 p.m.

Golden Valley Middle School

3800 N. Waterman Avenue

Room 3800

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

at 6 p.m.

Indian Springs High School

650 N. Del Rosa Drive

MU Room

Thursday, February 26, 2015

at 6 p.m.

Arrowview Middle School

2299 North G Street

Auditorium

San Bernardino sees more votes amid historically low turnout

SAN BERNARDINO >> Record-low voter turnout throughout the state, including San Bernardino County, had an anomaly Tuesday — significant turnout growth in the city of San Bernardino.

Out of about 77,000 registered voters, the vote on whether to change the city charter’s drew nearly 19,000 votes (all of this election’s turnout numbers will increase slightly as another 15,365 votes are counted countywide, according to the Registrar of Voters). That’s more than 50 percent more than voted in what elections officials thought was a “compelling” but disappointingly ill-attended February election that chose Carey Davis as mayor.

Measure Q still received votes from less than one in every four registered voters — a group that already consists of only a fraction of the city’s 210,000 residents.

“It’s still nothing to be proud of,” City Clerk Gigi Hanna said. “Part of that might be people not feeling connected — but the way to be heard is to vote. It’s so sad that people let this issue, however you feel about it, be decided by such a small number of people.”

But the increase — a large one — comes amid almost universal drops in turnout. The national turnout isexpected to be the lowest in a midterm since World War II. California expects to fall below 2002’s record low. San Bernardino County’s 33 percent is almost certain to be a record low, according to Registrar of Voters Michael Scarpello.

So what’s different about this city, this year?

For one thing, people come out to vote when state and federal offices are on the line, said Fernando J. Guerra, director of the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University and assistant to the president for civic enagement.

“You should have elections where the voters are,” Guerra said. “If people are voting in November of even years, that’s when you should have the elections.”

Guerra was head of a commission charged with finding ways to boost voter turnout in Los Angeles, whose first recommendation this year was to change the LA city charter to consolidate its elections with the state’s.

DIRTY POLITICS EXPOSED IN BANKRUPT CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO

For Immediate Release

Contact: Nicole Wolfe

(909) 886-2994 Ofc (909-277-3825) cell

Date: October 13, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:       

DIRTY POLITICS EXPOSED IN BANKRUPT CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO

San Bernardino, California October 13, 2014 –Time for Change Foundation held a press conference on the steps of City Hall to expose the dirty politics, once again plaguing the bankrupt City of San Bernardino.  Concerned citizens, community activists, spiritual leaders and the homeless joined with Time for Change Foundation (TFCF) to demand that the City Council do at least what the community does for them, VOTE.  The community united in one voice for Honesty, Integrity and Transparency (HIT) within the city leadership holding signs declaring “Stop the Dirty Politics” and “Cheating is Bad for Business.” 

Kim Carter, Founder/Executive Director Time for Change Foundation, addresses
the crowd demanding an honest and transparent City Council.

TFCF, a local non-profit organization, and low income housing developer, dedicated to serving the disenfranchised, has been denied Federal Home Investment Partnership Funds designed to be administered through the City after winning a recent bid competition for their new low income housing development project.  “We won that competition fair and square. This is about the jobs that are going to be created in our community, it’s about the safe and decent housing that we are going to have in our community,” said Kim Carter, Executive Director and Founder of TFCF, “we’re not going to allow dirty politicians to rob us one more time.  We’re here today about the residents of San Bernardino who can’t afford to be cheated out of one more taxpayer dollar in our city.  We need investments in our community and that’s not going to happen if we keep allowing leadership to come in here and play dirty politics.  Is this city open for business or what?“San Bernardino is a city trying to rebuild itself.  No entity will be willing to come to San Bernardino to invest if the City does not hold to the competition process.

The community, along with the hardworking staff at TFCF want answers.  If the City Council went through the pretense of soliciting proposals, having the proposals analyzed by a Proposal Review Committee, publicly declaring a winner, and writing a Resolution to award the funds, the least the City Council can do is VOTE!  Today, the community called for the City Council to place the project item back on their agenda and to VOTE, publicly, yes or no.  The community is calling for the matter to be moved forward according to the democratic process which has been set in place for the orderly conducting of business.

Sergio Luna of Inland Congregations United For Change (ICUC) asserted “this is a fight that every single person in San Bernardino should take…we at ICUC we are standing with Time for Change in every way possible…we will continue to collaborate until we find justice in our community.”  Reverend Bronica Taylor was passionate, declaring “we are the people. It is our vote that can truly make the change. “

HERE ARE THE FACTS:

 üan open bid competition RFP was released by the City for the purpose of low income housing development

 üa Proposal Review Committee declared TFCF the agency scoring the highest in the  competition

 üthe Mayor and City Council issued a Resolution stating the funds had been identified and were available

 üthe Resolution authorized the City Manager and City Attorney to negotiate terms of the development project

 üthe Resolution was placed on the City Council agenda 9/15/14 and then removed

 üthe Resolution was placed on the City Council agenda 10/6/14 and then removed

Concerned community members gather on the front of City Hall steps in support
of Time for Change Foundation.

No one within the City government will publicly state why this development project is not moving forward in the normal course of business.  The community, attempting to pull out of bankruptcy, has been disappointed once again because of the lack of Honesty, Integrity and Transparency within the new leaders they voted into office.  How can you ask people to vote for you during reelection time when you are sitting in the seat and not living up to the promises of openness, transparency and accountability?  If the City was truly moving forward, the transparency and accountability would be obvious.  Kim Carter reiterated: “This is not about me, this is about the process which is honest, integrity filled and transparent … a healthy competition.  Is any business safe to come here and enter a competition only to be awarded but not rewarded? No one likes a “cheater!” 

The next City Council meeting will take place October 20, 2014 and the public was encouraged to attend and demand answers from public officials, from the dais, in that public forum.  TFCF put the matter publicly to the City Council to place the development project item back on the agenda and for every member to publicly vote to approve or disapprove.

###

Join Time for Change Foundation Monday to demand HONESTY, INTEGRITY, & TRANSPARENCY from San Bernardino city leaders!

Moody's warns bankrupt cities they must cut pension debts

Moody's Investors Services, a major bond rating house, warned Thursday that if bankrupt California cities don't reduce their pension obligations, they risk returning to insolvency.

The warning was aimed directly at two bankrupt cities, Stockton and San Bernardino, but Moody's cited the experience of Vallejo, which emerged from an earlier bankruptcy without reducing its pension debt and is once again facing fiscal turmoil.

"In California, particularly for municipalities with pensions under the California Public Employees Retiree System, or CalPERS, bondholders will likely continue to pay a steep price if bankruptcies remain venues for restructuring debt obligations but pension liabilities remain untouched," Moody's Vice President Gregory Lipitz said in a special report on the California situation.

Stockton did not seek to reduce its pension obligations, despite pressure from other creditors, and has nearly concluded a deal with creditors on a recovery plan.

San Bernardino is still in the mediation process with creditors, but has indicated that it may seek pension modification.

CalPERS backed Stockton's approach to bankruptcy but has been fighting San Bernardino's bankruptcy petition, contending that under California law, public employees' pensions are contracts that cannot be involuntarily "impaired."

No California bankruptcy judge has ruled on whether pensions can be altered but the judge in Detroit's multi-billion-dollar bankruptcy has said that pension obligations are debts that may be subject to modification like other debts.

"Vallejo substantially restructured its compensation structure, including significant cuts to retiree health care benefits, but by failing to address its pension liabilities it remains vulnerable to increasing annual payments," Moody's Tom Aaron, the co-author of the report, said in a statement.

Moody's warned that "Vallejo now faces the risk of a second bankruptcy if its finances continue to degrade. In its budget message the city stated it has a "well below fiscally prudent reserve level" of 5 percent of expenditures and that by (fiscal year) 2015 its budget deficit could reach $8.9 million without corrective measures."

Categories: Pensions

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/02/moodys-warns-bankrupt-cities-they-must-cut-pension-debts.html#storylink=cpy

San Bernardino Mayoral Candidate Debate Event

San Bernardino

Mayoral Candidate Debate

Brought to you by San Bernardino Generation Now, 

The Sun Newspaper, and the Cal State San Bernardino 

chapter of the Pi Sigma Alpha Honor Society

When: Wednesday January 22nd at 6:00 P.M.

Where:  Santos Manuel Student Union Theater

(located on the Cal State San Bernardino Campus inside the 

Santos Manuel Student Union)

There will be a $5.00 fee for parking

Seating will be limited so come early.

$4.8M in home down payment aid to San Bernardino, Fontana, other cities

SAN BERNARDINO -- Wells Fargo Co. executives on Thursday announced a $4.8 million program to help people with home down payments here and in Fontana, Riverside, Moreno Valley and Corona.

The funding is the result of a 2012 legal settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, in which Wells Fargo agreed to provide $50 million to fund community involvement programs in Baltimore and seven metropolitan areas identified by the Justice Department as being the most in need of support to recover from the housing market crisis.

This money became the Wells Fargo CityLIFT program, which has helped more than 3,600 people become homeowners in 18 markets where the program has been introduced, said Milton A. Dellossier, a Covina-based Wells Fargo Home Mortgage regional manager.

The program could help place 320 homeowners in properties scattered around the five cities.

"We have all been drastically hit by the financial meltdown of 2007 and 2008," Morris said during an announcement of the program Thursday on the steps in front of San Bernardino City Hall. "During the height of that great recession, we had some 5,000 homes in foreclosure."

"This city has become a city of renters, not homeowners," Mayor Patrick Morris said of San Bernardino. "Renters move quite often and when they move their children go to a different school and then another. ... The effect on the education of children is large. Home ownership is a critical part of stabilizing a community."

The CityLIFT program will provide up to $15,000 in down payment assistance for first-time home buyers.

"Until we get the housing market completely fixed we are not going to get a complete recovery. This is why programs like this are so important," said John Husing, a Redlands-based economist who studies the Inland Empire.

Fontana and San Bernardino are each going to provide an additional $800,000 to the down payment pot, making it possible for someone to qualify for up to a $30,000 down payment, the mayors of both cities said.

Wells Fargo will work with administrators of the five cities and Neighborhood Housing Services of the Inland Empire to implement the program, officials said.

The Inland Empire CityLIFT program will include a free home buyer workshop at 10 a.m. Aug. 9 and Aug. 10 at the National Orange Show's Damus Building in San Bernardino.

Prospective home buyers should pre-register at href='http://www.wellsfargo.com/citylift'>wellsfargo.com/citylift as soon as possible to ensure that they can apply for the down payment grants on the workshop days, The CityLIFT program can be supplemented by individual city programs, said Dellossier.

"It's on a first-come basis," Dellossier said of the $4.8 million program. "We want to get that money out there fast."

The program allows a family of four to earn $76,430 annually and a one-person household to earn $53,550, according to a CityLIFT fact sheet. A four-person household, where annual income is $76,450 or less, could buy a $300,000 to $350,000 house, Dellossier said.

"Everyone I talk to says the down payment is the biggest obstacle (to home ownership)," said Fontana Mayor Acquanetta Warren. "We want to help existing people in Fontana get homes, but we will never turn down a family who wants to move into Fontana. Come on in, you know our motto."

David Edgar, Fontana's deputy city manager, said homeowners tend to maintain their property and become involved in their community. Another plus for home ownership in a city is that there tends to be fewer police calls to areas with high home ownership compared to rentals.

Edgar said that Neighborhood Housing Services and the San Bernardino County are working on an $800,000 grant to enable Fontana to beef up the down payment program.

Morris said that the San Bernardino City Council recently approved the use of a U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant to sweeten the pot in the Wells Fargo program.

In July 2012, Wells Fargo announced a settlement with the Justice Department to resolve claims that some Wells Fargo mortgages may have had a disparate impact on some African-American and Hispanic borrowers.

Wells Fargo agreed to pay $125 million to borrowers that the Justice Department believes were adversely affected by mortgages priced and sold by independent wholesale brokers.

The $50 million for what became the CityLIFT program was part of the Justice Department settlement.

via http://www.sbsun.com/sanbernardino/ci_23729033/wells-fargo-announces-4-8m-down-payment-assistance

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY: Jail expansion tab rises $10 million more

San Bernardino County supervisors are expected to approve a $10 million increase for the Adelanto jail expansion on Tuesday, June 25, because of project costs that continue to increase.

The change order is the latest in a series that have boosted the project budget from $120 million, when the contract was awarded in December 2010, to $144 million.

It also will mean a delay in the completion of the jail, which originally had been expected to be finished by this fall and now is scheduled to be done by late January 2014.

Last month, the board approved an $8 million increase to the jail project budget and in February signed off on a $6 million increase. The item for the latest changes is on the Board of Supervisors’ consent calendar, a list of usually non-controversial items that can be approved on a single vote.

Board Chairwoman Janice Rutherford said she’s not happy with the cost increases but said the county’s focus is on getting the project done by the late January deadline, which is a condition of state funding.

“I hope this is it,” she said. “We’ve said that in the past and additional problems have cropped up so fingers crossed.”

As with the previous change orders, the main reason for the increase was design problems with the smoke control and fire sprinkler system, said Carl Alban, director of the county's architecture and engineering department. Resolving those problems also caused delays that increased costs for other construction on the project, he said.

Another increase was because of a water well that had a high level of fluoride that required additional treatment. The well will supply drinking water to the facility.

The county was awarded state funding for three-quarters of the cost of the project, up to $100 million, as part of a $1.2 billion jail construction bill approved by the state Legislature in 2007.

The latest increase puts the state’s share of the projects costs at the $100 million threshold, with the county picking up the remaining $44 million. Any more increases will be the sole responsibility of the county instead of being split with the state, as has been done so far, Alban said.

The project consists of three four-story housing buildings plus a support building that includes booking and holding cells and a medical clinic.

The expansion comes at a time when the county jails have been dealing with crowding because of the state’s realignment law that shifted to county jails some prisoners who would have gone to state prisons.

Between January 2012 and last week, 6,932 prisoners have been released early because of crowding, sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said.

The county’s four jails have a capacity of about 6,000 prisoners. The Adelanto project will add 1,392 beds to the existing 706-bed jail, but sheriff’s officials plan to move into the new facility in phases. County officials still are working on a plan to pay for the $37.9 million in ongoing costs to staff the new jail.

Via Press Enterprise BY IMRAN GHORI June 24, 2013; 05:20 PM 

http://www.pe.com/local-news/politics/imran-ghori-headlines/20130624-san-bernardino-county-jail-expansion-tab-rises-10-million-more.ece

Bankrupt San Bernardino hires new manager for California city

San Bernardino was forced to look for a new city manager after its acting city manager, Andrea Travis-Miller, quit.

Her resignation coincides with the departure of the city's finance chief. Both had been the key officials overseeing the city's bankruptcyapplication and their departures threaten the city's ability to achieve it. They had more knowledge than anybody else of the city's finances and the experience to answer questions from the court and creditors.

The city council voted to hire Allen Parker to replace Travis Miller. According to his resume provided to the city, Parker has been an economic development consultant since 2006.

From June 2001 until December 2006, according to his resume, Parker was chief administrative officer of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, a federally recognized tribe in California. Before that he was village manager of Maywood, Illinois.

The federal judge overseeing San Bernardino's bankruptcy application said in a court hearing on Tuesday that the new city manager would be confronted with a steep learning curve.

Various creditors are demanding a wealth of financial documents from the city. The city must also produce a detailed bankruptcy blueprint to explain how it intends to deal with its creditors, a key part of proving its eligibility for bankruptcy.

The city council considered two applicants for the job, and voted unanimously to hire Parker.

"Allen Parker brings a wealth of city management experience to San Bernardino," the mayor, Pat Morris said. "I have great confidence in his ability...to guide San Bernardino through the difficult decisions we must make in bankruptcy."

San Bernardino, a city of 210,000 about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, filed for bankruptcy protection on August 1, citing a $46 million deficit for the current fiscal year and little scope to meet its day-to-day expenses. It was the third California city to file for bankruptcy last year, following Stockton and Mammoth Lakes.

The city's biggest creditor, the California Public Employee Pension Fund (Calpers), has opposed San Bernardino's quest to seek bankruptcy protection. Without it, the struggling city will likely face multiple lawsuits in state court for unpaid bills, at a time when its officials say it can barely make payroll.

The city pegs its debt to America's biggest public pension fund at $143 million.

San Bernardino has not made its $1.2 million, twice monthly payment to Calpers since its bankruptcy declaration last August.

No city has ever unilaterally suspended payments to Calpers, which manages pension plans for state government employees and many municipalities and local government agencies around California.

The bankruptcy could be a test case as to whether the pensions of government workers take precedence over other payments in a municipal bankruptcy - a high-stakes issue for pension plans and their beneficiaries, and for the Wall Street bondholders who lend money to governments.

In a statement, Calpers said: "We are very pleased to have Mr. Parker stepping into his new role as city manager of San Bernardino and our executives have already reached out to him personally to welcome him and begin a dialogue with Calpers."

via Reuters