Governor Pushes For Roll Back to 1999 Pension Levels as Cities Move to Crisis Level
On Thursday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger continued to push for a rollback on pensions back to 1999 levels, prior to the current safety enhancements which have pushed local governments to the brink.
“Our pension crisis is a real problem that gets worse every day. California has $500 billion in unfunded pension debt that, without reform, will continue to grow and crowd out funding for programs and services Californians hold dear such as higher education, parks and environmental protection,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “The state has a duty to ensure taxpayer dollars go to things the taxpayers care about, and that’s why I will not sign a budget that does not include pension reform.”
I still remember where I was when I watched the verdict back in 1992 in which an all-white jury acquitted Los Angeles Police Officers of beating Rodney King. I remember where I was, I remember what I said, there’s going to be riots. Turned out, there already was. I was just a freshman at Cal Poly that year, but I watched transfixed for days to the burning and looting that occurred in Los Angeles.
Recently a Woodland man was sentenced to 31 years to life in prison as part of a three strikes case stemming from a Picnic Day 2009 fight that broke another man’s eye socket. He was sentenced by Yolo County Judge Kathleeen White on June 24, 2010. On March 12, 2010 a jury convicted Steven Hector Martinez, age 35, of Woodland of one count of Battery with Serious Bodily Injury.
The West Sacramento Gang Injunction Trial is set to begin next week, but first they had some pre-trial motions to deal with on Wednesday in Judge Kathleen White’s courtroom. Judge White presided over the preliminary injunction back in 2008 after the Third District Court of Appeals threw out the previous injunction back in 2007. 
Last Thursday, the Davis Redevelopment Agency became the owner of the homes in DACHA. The foreclosure auction finally occurred after legal hurdles were breached when a judge dismissed efforts by Neighborhood Partners to declare involuntary bankruptcy.
Looking Back Over Four Years of Lamar Heystek – 
Last week the Vanguard discussed three possible sites for the Sports Complex as well as the need for such a complex and the cost associated with it. It seems that some believe that the former landfill site is the best of the three locations for such a complex. They view it as relatively close to town, it is closer to a greenbelt hook up for a bike path, it is still a distance from homes, at least to the south (although perhaps not the east), and it is city owned property and would not be contingent on a deal with a developer.
During the last campaign, as reported by this site, an Independent Expenditure campaign launched by Mayor Ruth Asmundson and Marty West attempted to resurrect a flagging Sydney Vergis campaign for Davis City Council. Instead, a series of missteps helped to undermine the effort. But at its core, it represented an attempt by two members of the public to legally circumvent the city’s one hundred dollar campaign contribution limit.
Today we will all pause for a moment in our lives to celebrate Independence Day. Aside from the separation from the British Empire, Independence Day embodies the celebration of our most cherished values – freedom, liberty, and equality. And yet even in 2010, some 234 years after the Declaration of Independence that declared, “we hold these truths to be self-evidence that all MEN are created equal…,” the notion of equality is still a work in progress at best.
This morning the 