Bass promotes, gives raises to 20 staffers on final day as Assembly speaker
Former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass quietly promoted 20 members of her Democratic caucus staff and gave them 10 percent salary increases as she stepped down as Assembly leader.
Bass submitted the pay hikes and they took effect on the same day, last Friday, the Los Angeles Democrat's final working day at the helm of the 80-member lower house.
Bass' successor, Assemblyman John A. Pérez, D-Los Angeles, was sworn in Monday.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/05/2584343/bass-promotes-20-staffers-boosts.html
Schwarzenegger's no-tax-hike pledge turns on definition of a tax
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threatened last week to veto a bill that would reduce a corporate tax break, calling it a tax increase. He says requiring Amazon.com to collect tax dollars already owed is a new tax burden.
But he believes a new surcharge on property insurance is a "fee" that Californians ought to pay.
The Republican governor has pledged not to raise taxes in his final year in office, but whether that holds true depends on what your definition of a tax is. Legislative counsel already has drafted the insurance fee as a tax bill.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/01/2572394/schwarzeneggers-no-tax-hike-pledge.html
Schwarzenegger, Whitman back away from ballot measure to cut pension costs
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1A Last Modified: Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010 - 9:41 am
Despite their full-throated support for cutting public employee pension costs, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the leading GOP candidate to replace him, Meg Whitman, have backed away from supporting a ballot measure that would do just that.
Their decisions, part of the complex calculus of California politics, are the death knell for the initiative drafted the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility. The Citrus Heights-based group had courted both the governor and the former eBay CEO.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/02/24/2560206/schwarzenegger-whitman-back-away.html
Millions cut from school budget
By Maureen Magee, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 12:05 a.m.
San Diego Unified School District teachers, students and parents protest budget cuts at a vigil outside the district's headquarters in University Heights on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010.
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego school district would cut all salaries by 6 percent, impose five furlough days and raise medical co-payments. More than 232 probationary teachers would get laid off. And dozens of programs — including free school bus transportation for some families — would be eliminated in the fall.
To offset an anticipated $87.8 million deficit in next year’s $1.2 billion operating budget, the school board approved $63 million in tentative cuts last night. That leaves a gap of $16.2 million to fill by March 15, when a preliminary spending plan is due. The board has until June 30 to adopt a final budget.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/24/millions-cut-from-school-budget/
Lawmakers send budget bills to Schwarzenegger, but not tax solution
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Buzz up!By Kevin Yamamura
kyamamura@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 3A
Facing a deadline to act on the state's fiscal crisis, lawmakers on Monday sent a handful of budget solutions to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Democrats and the Republican governor remain divided on tax-related proposals.
The governor declared a fiscal emergency in January and called a special session of the Legislature to tackle part of the state's $19.9 billion deficit within 45 days, the last of which was Monday. Schwarzenegger asked lawmakers to resolve $8.8 billion of the gap, while the Legislature on Monday sent about $2.3 billion in solutions to the governor.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/02/23/2557032/lawmakers-send-budget-bills-to.html
S.D. officials not backing Ethics Commission
By Craig Gustafson, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Monday, February 8, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.
LARGEST ETHICS FINES
• City Council candidate Luis Acle: $68,243 for not paying vendors or maintaining accurate records
• Continuing the Republican Revolution: $17,000 for collecting money in violation of contribution limits
• Council President Ben Hueso: $17,000 for raising money for a runoff election that never took place
• Mayoral candidate Ron Roberts: $15,000 for misidentifying the occupations of contributors
• Councilman Tony Young: $10,000 for violations including collecting money past the post-election deadline
Support among the city’s political elite for the San Diego Ethics Commission is at its lowest point since then-Mayor Dick Murphy pushed for its creation in 2001 to follow through on a campaign promise.
The City Council has refused to grant the panel additional subpoena power or make it illegal to lie to commission staff. An investigator was laid off in the latest round of budget cuts, and a commissioner who had been the most outspoken advocate for holding public officials accountable is leaving the panel after Mayor Jerry Sanders declined to reappoint him.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/08/officials-not-backing-city-ethics-commission/
Auditors find fault in county tax office
$8 million in overpayments inappropriately withheld
By Jeff McDonald, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 2:06 a.m.
The county office led by Treasurer-Tax Collector Dan McAllister improperly withheld almost $8 million in overpayments made by taxpayers and persistently failed to address major deficiencies in its operating practices, according to an independent audit.
The findings are part of a 45-page analysis completed in March by the New York forensic auditing firm Kessler International. The county paid $73,000 for the study but did not release the document until yesterday, in response to a California Public Records Act request filed last month by The San Diego Union-Tribune.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/06/auditors-find-fault-county-tax-office/
Stakes high for California in health care reform
by JULIANA BARBASSA
Associated Press Writer
Published: Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010 - 1:04 am
SAN FRANCISCO -- Among states, California arguably has the most to gain from an overhaul of its health care system: it has the greatest number of uninsured residents in the country and the largest public insurance program for the poor, which struggles to serve 6.5 million people while reimbursing doctors at one of the nation's lowest rates.
http://www.sacbee.com/latest/story/2512360.html
Raises urged for mayor, council
A separate proposal suggests the opposite
By Craig Gustafson, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 12:05 a.m.
SAN DIEGO — San Diego City Council members have two proposals coming before them — one that would increase their pay and one that would lower it.
The first option is the latest recommendation from the city’s Salary Setting Commission. The volunteer panel’s analysis shows that Mayor Jerry Sanders should be making $235,000 a year, more than double his current salary, and that council members should each get a raise of nearly $100,000.
Political and economic realities forced the commission to suggest much smaller salary increases for elected officials. The mayor currently makes $100,464 annually, while council members earn $75,386.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/03/raises-urged-for-mayor-council/
Flaws seen in San Diego bonus program
Savings to city were overstated, audit says
By Eleanor Yang Su, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 12:05 a.m.
A bonus program given to about 90 percent of San Diego water and wastewater employees to spur efficiency has overstated its savings to the city by $10.7 million between 2005 and 2008, according to an audit released yesterday.
Since 2006, the city’s Bid to Goal Program has paid out $27.9 million to city employees, including $10.8 million for the last fiscal year. The bonuses are capped at $6,500 per employee.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/03/flaws-seen-in-bonus-program/
Top county official’s e-mail causes stir
CAO Walt Ekard slams term limits in his newsletter
By Jeff McDonald, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.
Walt Ekard
San Diego County Chief Administrative Officer Walt Ekard's memo of Jan. 26, "Bureaucrats Are Human Too" (PDF)
Ekard's response to questions about his use of the memo to advocate against term limits (PDF)
San Diego County’s top administrator used public resources to oppose a term-limit measure on the June ballot that would affect his five bosses on the Board of Supervisors, raising questions about whether he violated state law.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/30/top-county-officials-e-mail-causes-stir/
January 22, 2010
California unemployment: 12.4 percent
The job losses returned to California in a significant way last month. Some 38,800 payroll jobs disappeared, according to figures released today by the state Employment Development Department.
The state's unemployment rate clocked in at 12.4 percent for December. That was unchanged from the revised November figure.
Analysts had been hoping that the job losses in California had mostly run their course.
Sacramento area unemployment fell two-tenths of a point from November's revised figure. The rate for December was 12.3 percent, even though the region lost 3,700 jobs during the month.
In the past 12 months, the state has lost 579,400 jobs. The region has lost 40,900.
In the Sacramento area, state government shed 1,500 jobs, construction fell by 1,300 and the leisure and hospitality sector cut 900 jobs. http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/real_estate/archives/2010/01/california-unem-3.html
While college tuition goes up by 35% the regents give out "pay increases" for people doing ostensibly their jobs!!! Fabulous CA!
UC regents approve $3.1 million pay for top med center execs
Buzz up!By Laurel Rosenhall
lrosenhall@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010 - 12:08 pm
Last Modified: Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010 - 3:07 pm
University of California regents today approved $3.1 million in performance-based payments for 38 executives at the five UC hospitals throughout the state. Seven UC Davis Medical Center executives will receive the awards, with CEO Ann Madden Rice getting a $167,986 payment on top of her base salary of $584,300.
"They're not bonuses, they are incentive pay to get certain behavior," UC President Mark Yudof said during the regents' meeting in San Francisco.
http://www.sacbee.com/latest/story/2479529.html
1.15.2010 Water source for S.D. region put in jeopardy
DARYL PEVETO / Union-Tribune
Trees protrude from the water at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge at the Salton Sea.
COLORADO RIVER PACT
Seven states signed a Colorado River deal Oct. 16, 2003. The agreement calls for California to slowly reduce its take from the river through a series of projects, including a water-transfer arrangement between San Diego and Imperial counties.
SACRAMENTO — A once-reliable water source for the San Diego region grew tenuous yesterday after a Sacramento County Superior Court judge struck down a series of agreements central to sharing the Colorado River.
Judge Roland Candee’s ruling, if upheld on appeal, would invalidate a dozen pieces of the hard-fought 2003 compact among seven states — including the San Diego County Water Authority’s deal to buy water from Imperial Valley farmers.
The case also has exposed an escalating conflict between San Diego’s thirst for water and public-health concerns in the Imperial Valley.
Imperial County officials say the Salton Sea is receding more rapidly because the water transfers to San Diego County are robbing the inland lake of agricultural runoff that has sustained it for years. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/15/water-source-sd-region-put-jeopardy/
1.14.2010
Mayor vows progress on projects and budget
Sanders promises to halt city’s deficits, touts big-ticket civic buildings
Ongoing budget deficits will be San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders’ prime focus for 2010 but that won’t stop him from pushing forward on major civic projects such as a Convention Center expansion and a new stadium for the San Diego Chargers.
“My job is to make sure that the taxpayers’ interests are represented and the risks are fully disclosed,” Sanders said of the stadium in his State of the City address. “And if a deal can be struck, it will go before the voters as soon as 2012 for their verdict.”
Sanders, who delivered his fifth annual speech last night at the Balboa Theatre downtown, promised to come up with a plan within 18 months to stop the cycle of budget deficits caused by city services that cost more than the revenue available. Putting the city on solid financial footing is seen as a must before voters will support any civic project.
READ MORE.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/13/sanders-declares-city-what-he-said/
Wind farm: A damaging blow
Inspections, repairs after last month's storm
By Onell R. Soto, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 12:02 a.m.
John Gibbins / UNION-TRIBUNE
The blades from the 25 turbines at the Kumeyaay Wind project at the Campo Indian Reservation were removed after a storm on Dec. 7 brought winds that topped 70 mph, causing extensive damage.
Photo by John Gibbins - UNION-TRIBUNE
Cranes were used to lower the blades of the turbines. Repairing the wind farm is expected to take a month or two.
Workers are inspecting and repairing 75 wind turbine blades at a wind farm some 60 miles east of San Diego after a storm a month ago caused catastrophic damage to some of them.
“We’re mobilizing equipment and spare parts to the site,” said David Barnes, chief executive of Dallas-based Bluarc Management, which operates the Kumeyaay Wind project at the Campo Indian Reservation.
The last blade from the 25 turbines came down Monday.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/13/damaging-blow/
County treasurer, assessor get raises
By Jeff McDonald, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Monday, January 11, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.
County treasurer, assessor get raises
Budget problems led to layoffs in San Diego County government last year, but pay is still rising for two elected officials.
Assessor-Recorder-Clerk David Butler accepted a 4.5 percent raise in his annual salary this month, to $199,139.
Treasurer-Tax Collector Dan McAllister received a 3 percent increase, to an annual salary of $155,480.
“I realize these are difficult economic times and it’s awkward out there, but I really hadn’t considered (waiving the raise),” McAllister said. “The last time I looked at the numbers, I was eighth in the state (among county tax collectors) and I believe we’re the second-largest county.”
Butler, who was appointed to fill a vacancy last year and is up for election in June, did not reply to e-mail or telephone requests for comment.
ANNUAL SALARIES
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is paid $229,278. She was eligible to receive $240,739 starting this month, but won’t accept it until at least July.
Sheriff William Gore is paid $208,104. He was eligible to receive $218,504 starting this month, but won’t accept it until at least July.
Treasurer-Tax Collector Dan McAllister received a raise this month, to $155,480 from $150,945.
Assessor-Recorder-Clerk David Butler received a raise this month, to $199,139 from $190,569.
Members of the Board of Supervisors are paid $143,031, or 80 percent of Superior Court judge salaries. Although judges have taken a voluntary pay cut, supervisors have not.
SOURCE: Article 3.3, San Diego County Compensation Ordinance
Budget problems led to layoffs in San Diego County government last year, but pay is still rising for two elected officials. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/11/county-treasurer-assessor-get-raises/
Schwarzenegger's ambitious jobs plan faces uphill battle
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Buzz up!By Steve Wiegand
swiegand@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
Anxious to leave a legacy as the governor who revived California's wheezing work force, Arnold Schwarzenegger has laid out an ambitious jobs creation program.
It's a task that will require a lot of heavy lifting, even for a former bodybuilder: The economy is wobbling, the state is broke, there are ample numbers of formidable opponents for each aspect of his plan – and it's even unclear whether state government can directly stimulate the job market.
In his final State of the State address Wednesday, Schwarzenegger proposed a package that includes subsidized training programs; modified environmental rules; tax breaks for homebuyers and green tech industries; and limiting lawsuits against businesses.
"The first priority for the coming year, obviously, is to get the economy and to get jobs back," the governor said in outlining his plan. "Jobs, jobs, jobs."
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2450800.html
Questionable firms getting stimulus cash
Despite probes, state OKs funding
By Will Evans, California Watch
Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 4:01 a.m.
Online: To search a database of $18.5 billion in stimulus funds awarded in California, go to californiawatch.org
Corporations working in California have reaped tens of millions of dollars in federal stimulus funds, despite previous management issues and criminal probes, a California Watch investigation has found.
Watsonville-based Granite Construction received $6.4 million in stimulus contracts to work on airport runways in Salinas and Monterey and repair roads in San Bernardino, Riverside and Butte counties. Yet the company faces three federal probes, including a criminal investigation launched after The San Diego Union-Tribune exposed questionable billing of the city for wildfire cleanup.
AIMCO, a major apartment owner based in Denver, stands to benefit from $13 million in stimulus tax credits to rehabilitate a housing complex in Los Angeles. The company paid $3 million in 2004 to settle a city of San Francisco lawsuit over complaints that it operated mold- and rodent-infested buildings.
The San Diego nonprofit Neighborhood House Association received $4.3 million in Head Start money through the stimulus program despite a history of problems that include unsupervised toddlers wandering away from its preschools. The agency says oversight has improved and it plans to be open about how the money is spent.
To government watchdogs, such contracts raise concerns about the way the $787 billion stimulus program is being administered.
“It is very upsetting that the government doesn’t do more due diligence before it hands money out,” said Laura N. Chick, California’s inspector general for stimulus funds. “We’ve gotten very used to handing out taxpayer dollars and not so good at overseeing to whom are we giving them and how they are being spent
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/10/questionable-firms-getting-stimulus-cash/
Schwarzenegger declares budget emergency, proposes deep cuts
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Buzz up!By Steve Wiegand
swiegand@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Jan. 8, 2010 - 11:40 am
Last Modified: Friday, Jan. 8, 2010 - 12:42 pm
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled an $82.9 billion state spending plan today that calls for no tax hikes but envisions pay cuts for state workers, reductions in services to California's neediest residents - and relies on the benevolence of the federal government.
The governor also declared yet another fiscal emergency, and called for yet another special session of the Legislature, designed to keep a projected $19.9 billion budget deficit from growing by another $2.4 billion.
http://www.sacbee.com/latest/story/2448258.html
Coupal: Californians Are Tired of Bad News
Written by CA Political News on January 02, 2010, 11:39 AM
Californians Are Tired of Bad News
By Jon Coupal, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, 1/01/10
Californians are tired of hearing about governments problems. Because they are struggling with their own crises including record high unemployment, foreclosures and taxes the last thing they want is more bad news from government. But want it or not, the bad news keeps coming.
After approving the largest tax increase in the history of all 50 states last February, the Sacramento politicians told us that the ship was righted and we were on course. When the state budget was back in the red just five months later, we were told that the necessary corrections were made through spending cuts and we had avoided disaster. Now we learn that the state is upside-down by another $20 billion, and this will necessitate further program cuts, new taxes or both. But compared to what is coming down the pike, this is the good news.
http://capoliticalnews.com/blog_post/show/3974
More New California Laws--Beware
Written by CA Political News on January 02, 2010, 11:36 AM
California ushers in new laws limiting trans fats, the paparazzi and more
In 2010, hundreds of new rules will be enforced. Among them, a ban on shortening cows' tails; a $20,000 fine for human trafficking; and tougher penalties for mortgage fraud and watching dogfights.
By Patrick McGreevy, LA Times, 1/01/10
The new year rang in with hundreds of new state laws governing how Californians live and do business.
Starting today, restaurants face strict limits on cooking with artery-clogging trans fats; people wanting plastic surgery in California must get a physical first; dairy farmers are barred from cutting cows' tails; and the law gets tougher on mortgage fraud.
Penalties for betting in office pools are reduced, but there are new fines for watching a dogfight, engaging in human trafficking and providing minors with nitrous oxide.
More New California Laws--Beware
Written by CA Political News on January 02, 2010, 11:36 AM
California ushers in new laws limiting trans fats, the paparazzi and more
In 2010, hundreds of new rules will be enforced. Among them, a ban on shortening cows' tails; a $20,000 fine for human trafficking; and tougher penalties for mortgage fraud and watching dogfights. http://capoliticalnews.com/blog_post/show/3973
Why the Tea Party Movement Matters..
http://biggovernment.com/2009/12/28/why-the-tea-party-movement-matters-obamacare-edition/
Lawsuit demanding fee refunds
Thousands of businesses paid the city’s processing charge
By Helen Gao, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 12:01 a.m.
GETTING REFUNDS
Attorney Edward Teyssier has established the Web site stopfee.org to help business owners and landlords file claims against the city of San Diego to recover payment-processing fees they paid between 2004 and 2009.
One reason he created the site is because former landlords who have sold their property might not be aware that they have to file a claim to get a refund; current landlords automatically get credit on their tax bills.
More than $13 million in refunds could be coming to tens of thousands of business owners and landlords in San Diego if a Mira Mesa business owner prevails in his lawsuit seeking refunds of processing fees the city charged on top of business taxes.
Until a few months ago, the city charged a fee when landlords and other businesses paid their rental-unit taxes or bought annual business licenses. The fee started at $25 per year but was lowered to $15.
After the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled in favor of two landlords who argued the fee was an illegal tax, San Diego dropped it and agreed to refund money collected from landlords citywide over the prior 12 months.
That offer did not extend to non-landlord businesses, and the city would not return fees collected since 2004 — for the entire duration the fees were in effect — citing the state’s statute of limitations.
“We think it’s unfair. We think they got it wrong,” said Eric Schumacher, owner of Swift Frame Picture Framing in Mira Mesa, at a news conference yesterday in front of his business.
Last year, the city collected taxes from 95,000 businesses and owners of 67,000 rental units. Schumacher’s lawsuit estimates that the city netted $13.5 million in processing charges between 2004 and 2009.
Schumacher is being represented by Edward Teyssier, a local libertarian leader and attorney who sued the city on behalf of the landlords to overturn the processing fee.
Teyssier said it doesn’t make sense for the city to repeal the fee for everybody but not refund it to non-landlord businesses.
“I think they are indicting themselves when they do that,” Teyssier said.
He argued the inconsistency is glaring considering that the processing fees charged to landlords and non-landlords were approved on the same day in the same resolution by the City Council as a way to generate revenue to close a budget gap. The council eliminated the landlord fee in August and the business charge in September, shortly after the appellate court ruling.
Yesterday, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith reiterated his position that the ruling applies only to the landlord fee.
“The business charge may have a somewhat different legal analysis as the proceeds were used for city services to businesses, according to the City Treasurer’s Office,” he wrote in an e-mail. “It is certainly a gray area, however, which is the reason we acted to eliminate the charge going forward.”
Goldsmith did not elaborate on the services non-landlord businesses received in exchange for the processing fee. The Treasurer’s Office declined to comment.
Teyssier said a second lawsuit against the city is necessary because he doesn’t believe San Diego should be allowed to limit refunds to a 12-month period. He noted that it took several years for the landlords’ lawsuits to be resolved, and while the case was pending, they had to continue paying the fee.
“If the city in this case is allowed to keep any of the fees it has collected to date, then every other municipality throughout the state would be emboldened to impose similar, unconstitutional fees because they would know they would be able to keep, without penalty, everything they can collect while any legal challenge winds its way through the courts,” the lawsuit said.
Local oranges get no respect
Imperfect looks hurt sales here — ‘Each piece has a little bit of personality’ — but not overseas
By Pat Sherman
Sunday, December 27, 2009 at midnight
Charlie Neuman / Union-Tribune
Valley Center citrus grower Al Stehly walked by one of his Valencia orange trees with his dog, Beni.
Though North County produces some of the sweetest, most delicious oranges around, many local citrus lovers might be missing out on them.
In an age where image is everything, San Diego County consumers have grown accustomed to the seedless, more aesthetically appealing oranges grown in the Southern Hemisphere. North County’s ultra-sweet, slightly acidic Valencia oranges — though revered in other parts of the world — have decidedly less curb appeal here, growers say.
The fruit has seeds, a slight green hue and a thinner skin that is more difficult to peel.
“It’s unfortunate, but consumers quite often will choose the visual characteristics of fruit rather than the taste characteristics, and the supermarkets respond to that,” said Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau. “Our fruit is not as uniformly orange or smooth-skinned. Each piece has a little bit of personality to it. I’m not troubled by that, but the marketplace is.”
Valley Center citrus and avocado grower Al Stehly said the green tint of the area’s Valencias is a natural part of the trees’ maturation.
“As summer progresses, they get a greenish tint on them,” Stehly said. “That doesn’t mean they’re any less ripe.”
County growers produced 95,133 tons of Valencia oranges in the 2008 growing season, but many of the oranges available at chain grocers here are imported from Chile, Australia, South Africa, Brazil and other countries, where water is often more plentiful and labor less expensive. Thus, the price of imported fruit undercuts what local growers must charge, another factor in the popularity of those fruits.
Scott Sanders, a produce manager at Major Market in Escondido, said most of the store’s oranges now come from Chile, Argentina, South Africa and Australia.
Local Valencias are not exactly going to seed, though. What Stehly views as their perfect sugar-to-acid ratio gives the oranges a taste that is in high demand in places like Japan, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates, where consumers don’t mind the imperfections.
Valencias rank ninth in the county for crop value, with a value of $26.9 million last year. Each year, depending on demand and economic factors, between 30 percent to 50 percent of premium-grade oranges grown in San Diego County are shipped overseas, Stehly said. Almost all second-grade fruit, which tastes as good, but is less attractive, is sold at a lower price in domestic markets, where grocers often bag and label it as juicing oranges.
Claire Smith is director of corporate communications for Sherman Oaks-based Sunkist Growers, a cooperative that markets oranges for growers in California and Arizona, including a handful in Valley Center and Pauma Valley.
About 35 percent of Sunkist’s overall citrus is exported. As much as 44 percent of its San Diego County Valencias are shipped to Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, China, Singapore and Malaysia, Smith said.
“California fruit is regarded as some of the best citrus there is,” Smith said. “What is making it difficult right now is the advent of the seedless, easy-peel tangerines and mandarins, which come in to the United States at the same time as the (California) navel” is harvested, from November through April. In summer, seedless Australian navels now compete for a market once dominated by California Valencias, which are harvested from April through September.
“An Australian navel doesn’t hold a candle to a good California Valencia, in my opinion,” Smith said. “But it’s what the (local) consumer wants. It is a huge global market. Things that didn’t use to be available at certain times of year are available now.”
She said Sunkist sells the remaining 56 percent of San Diego County Valencias to the domestic market, which includes Canada and the United States. The oranges go to grocers, wholesalers, restaurants and retailers, such as Jamba Juice.
Several years ago, the San Diego County Farm Bureau created a campaign to market local produce in the county that included a label that read, “San Diego Grown 365.”
“It never took off,” Stehly said. “It just didn’t get any legs for one reason or another.”
One reason may be that the farm bureau’s campaign coincided with a well-funded statewide effort to market California-grown fruit.
“We got trumped by the California-grown label,” Stehly said. “I think the farmers felt that was almost a better deal — when their produce goes overseas there’s a certain cachet to California.”
Stehly sees promise that increasing consumer awareness, fostered by books such as the “100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating,” could translate to greater demand for local citrus.
Pat Sherman is a freelance writer from San Diego.
City hires despite its freeze
Most positions deemed critical
By Craig Gustafson, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Sunday, December 27, 2009 at 12:54 a.m.
CITY HIRES BY THE NUMBERS
873: New employees since hiring freeze began in August 2008
126: Hires that were outside the mayor’s purview
312: Hires in the police and fire departments
189: Full-time, non-public-safety employees hired directly by the mayor
SAN DIEGO — The city of San Diego has been under a hiring freeze since August 2008 as Mayor Jerry Sanders has grappled with two major budget deficits during the economic recession.
But you probably didn’t notice if you were one of the city’s 873 hires during the freeze, including 527 full-time workers.
Most of the positions were determined by Sanders to be critical or essential to city operations, and were filled despite a perpetual budget crunch that has led to sharp cuts in library hours, the elimination of several police programs and roughly 200 layoffs.
Sanders said many of the new workers were needed to replace a large group of retiring police officers and firefighters, and to construct a wide range of delayed public works projects that finally received funding earlier this year.
“Some of these others are positions that department directors felt they simply couldn’t do without,” Sanders said. “The hiring freeze is something that we use just to make sure that people aren’t going out and filling vacancies. … They’ve got to come in and justify.”
The hires include at least three new full-time members of the mayor’s staff (along with four interns), though Sanders said his office has actually shrunk over the past 17 months.
Not all of the new hires were approved by Sanders. San Diego has several independent departments that fall outside his jurisdiction, such as the City Attorney’s Office and the City Council. Each had significant turnover after five new elected officials came into office in December.
That leaves Sanders directly responsible for 774 of the hires, including 441 full-time workers, according to records obtained through the California Public Records Act. Among those filled positions were 175 police officers and recruits, 56 firefighters and recruits, 48 engineers and 23 trash haulers.
Councilman Todd Gloria said the numbers don’t surprise him, given natural turnover in a work force of about 10,000.
“Hiring freeze or not, the needs of the citizens still need to be attended to, and I would suspect that they looked at each individual situation and decided whether or not that service needed to continue,” he said.
One of Sanders’ harshest critics, former mayoral challenger Steve Francis, said the mayor should have instituted a true hiring freeze when he first took office in 2005 to avoid many of the painful cuts made earlier this month to close a $179 million budget deficit.
“So when I hear that they actually have hired people when they say they have a hiring freeze, that doesn’t surprise me at all,” Francis said.
Larry Stirling, a former councilman and state senator, said he would have preferred that the city overhaul how it hires for certain jobs, such as police officers, but couldn’t fault the city for the number of new employees.
“It sounds like they’re doing a good job keeping it low,” Stirling said.
The hiring freeze began Aug. 6, 2008, as the city braced for an expected raid of funds by state lawmakers. Jay Goldstone, the city’s chief operating officer, imposed a “soft” freeze that allowed the city to continue hiring public safety workers. In a memo, Goldstone said he would be “making exceptions on a case-by-case basis.”
Not counting police and fire, Goldstone approved the hiring of 400 workers — 189 of which were full-time — after that freeze began.
Goldstone said two key factors drove the hires. First, the city restored its credit rating and was able to borrow more than $850 million earlier this year for deferred water, sewer and street projects. He said he had to allow the hiring of engineers, surveyors and laborers to get the work done, as the city had cut back in those areas in previous years.
Second, Goldstone said the city needed to replace some of the nearly 620 employees who retired in the first half of this year to avoid reduced retirement benefits that took effect July 1. The city typically loses only about 250 workers each year through attrition.
Goldstone said the hires represent a “very small number” compared with the roughly 1,400 vacant positions the city has eliminated from its payroll on Sanders’ watch. The hiring freeze kept additions to a minimum and saved taxpayer money, Goldstone said.
“They were, in my judgment, key positions and/or critical positions,” he said.
In September 2009, Goldstone issued a second memo calling for a “complete and absolute” hiring freeze for the city. The only hires that could be made without his approval were police officers and firefighters currently going through academy training.
In an interview, Goldstone said that “hard” freeze would continue indefinitely. Still, 31 non-public-safety employees who are under the mayor’s purview have been hired since September. That group includes full-time mechanics, librarians, grounds maintenance workers, property agents, technicians and an electrician.
Craig Gustafson; (619) 293-1399: craig.gustafson@uniontrib.com