Tag "Wayne Lusvardi"
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Redevelopment is Prop. 13 in Reverse
JUNE 28, 2011 by WAYNE LUSVARDI To California redevelopment advocates, the policy brings the Midas touch to cities, turning everything into gold for the Golden State. Redevelopment fans point to all the beautiful new malls, restored Old Town business districts, industrial
Read MoreBudget Battle Poisons Pesticide Rules
JUNE 22, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Politicized environmental regulation is becoming a protection racket to collect votes. To pass Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget, farmers along the Central Coast of California are having overkill pesticide runoff regulations imposed on them to
Read MoreProp. 13 Split Roll Would Be Ripoff
JUNE 20, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI and CHARLES B. WARREN Democrats in the California Legislature want to repeal the property tax reassessment protections of Proposition 13 for commercial properties under the dubious notion that there is a pot of California
Read MoreBonds Could Sink Split-Roll Tax Increase
JUNE 15, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI California’s convoluted finances, ironically, could preclude a split-roll property tax increase. Such a tax increase would alter Proposition 13 to keep property taxes on homes the same (allowing increases of just 2 percent a
Read MoreBrown Debt Gimmicks 'Balance' Budget
JUNE 14, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Most knowledgeable people realize that California’s debt emperor has no clothes. Even if the mainstream newspaper media continue to clothe the emperor in the robes of an all-wise Buddhist monk who has taken a
Read MoreAB 32 Turning Into Pollution Pork
JUNE 13, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Call it “pollution pork.” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been gone only five months and his most beloved legacy, AB 32, already is being cut up like an Austrian wiener schnitzel. AB 32 is the
Read MoreCA Enviro Plan Channels Pol Pot
JUNE 8, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Remember Pol Pot, the Cambodian dictator and head of the Khmer Rouge? According to Wikipedia, “During his time in power, Pol Pot imposed a version of agrarian socialism, forcing urban dwellers to relocate to
Read MoreBrown Cut Only 1% of School “Earmarks”
JUNE 7, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI The word “mandate” sounds like something absolutely essential and mandatory. However, when it comes to school funding “mandates” in California, it is no guarantee that what is being described is an essential job or
Read MoreSupport for Cuts & Taxes Drops to 40%
JUNE 2, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI There is a mix of old news and new news in the results of a new opinion poll about the budget by the Public Policy Institute of California. The poll found exactly the same
Read MoreWill Crashing Real Estate Kill Prop. 13?
JUNE 1, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI A demogogue is a leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace. And a demographer is someone who studies the characteristics of human populations, such as
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