Bullfight

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October 31, 2008

Wassup

Change. That's wassup.

This is the last weekend to mobilize voters with get out the vote (GOTV) efforts before election night.

Based on new party registrations, it's pretty clear local Democrats have been much more successful than local Republicans over the past several months.

Democratic Action Club of Chico and other Democratic organizers have organized an election night party at Sierra Nevada's Big Room.

The after-party is at Duffy's Tavern and/or the local Democratic headquarters on Main St. There will be drinks of joy or sorrow at Duffy's on Tuesday night.

The local Republicans, I suspect, are meeting at their usual election night gathering spot - The Holiday Inn. I never get invited, but I hear the food on election night is not so bad.

For years, former City Councilor and current Assemblyman Rick Keene and his allies "borrowed" the City of Chico's video projector for their partisan election night party.

In other words, tax dollar-purchased equipment was used by local Republican activists to enjoy watching voting returns on a big screen.

Thankfully, that "borrowing" practice stopped a few years ago when someone with better sense finally said, "uh, that's not an appropriate use of City equipment. Go get your own video projector somewhere else."

I don't know why local Republican party organizers didn't see the irony of relying on a "government subsidy" to project voting returns for their election night party when the "free market" or private enterprise could sufficiently meet that demand.

But maybe Keene and his friends just assumed in the past that the video projector was in the "public domain" for them to use, even for partisan purposes.

Happy Halloween!

Today's Scrabble word is pawl, a hinged mechanical part.

Posted by dan_nt at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)

October 30, 2008

Don't Let Up

Message received loud and clear. Sprint to the finish line.

Today's Scrabble word is lehr, a type of oven.

Posted by dan_nt at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)

October 29, 2008

Charles

Six more days!

Today's Scrabble word is inurns, or to put in an urn.

Posted by dan_nt at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)

October 28, 2008

Press Conference

Looks like Mayor Andy Holcombe and Vice-Mayor Ann Schwab have decided "enough is enough" with all the budget hysteria mailers sent by Accountability for Chico's Tomorrow (ACT).

The City will officially release its quarterly financial report this week. Some people have incorrectly speculated that the budget forecasts would look dire, but I'm hearing that the quarterly financial reports are promising, especially in light of a weak economy.

Higher than projected revenue, coupled with the tough fiscal decisions the current City Council majority have made on spending, will likely paint an entirely different budget picture than presented by ACT.

Here is the media alert sent by Schwab and Holcombe:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Mayor and Vice Mayor Announce Press Conference
Chico, CA, October 28, 2008

Mayor Andy Holcombe and Vice-Mayor Ann Schwab are holding a press conference at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, October 29 at the City Council Chamber steps to address the deceptive mailings sent by the developer-funded Political Action Committee: Accountable for Chico ’s Tomorrow (ACT).

Mayor Holcombe said: “Rick Keene’s political operatives have spent over $60,000 to mislead the public about the state of the City’s budget. This City Council has taken proactive steps to address budget challenges created by past City Councils. These steps include renegotiating labor contracts to reduce the Cost of Living formulas, implementing a more business-like approach to our long-range financial planning to shift from reactionary to proactive decision making, and creating an economic development strategy to spur private investment.”

The City of Chico ’s official quarterly financial report, to be released on Thursday, October 30, indicates that the City’s current revenue streams combined with expenditure reductions are in line with the City’s deficit reduction strategy. The net taxable value of city property increased 8.7% compared to a 3.5% projected increase.

Vice-Mayor Ann Schwab commented: “It’s appalling that the biggest developers in town who have a vested financial interest in converting more open space and agricultural land for sprawling development are spending over $60,000 to push their agenda. The City’s official quarterly financial report shows the City is on track to balance its long-term budget with decisions we’ve made to curtail spending.”

Holcombe added: “It's unfortunate that our City Attorney had to take time from her work to send a letter to ACT notifying them of their improper use of City and Department images and insignia, and requesting them to immediately cease their unauthorized use of these items. ACT is a group that should have known better, and undoubtedly did, but had the arrogance to think they could just get away with it. They were apparently intent on misleading, no matter what the cost."

According to City budget reports, the City’s budget challenges started in year 2000 before Holcombe and Schwab were elected to the City Council in 2004.

Larry Wahl should show up to the press conference and offer his views too. In fact, I'd love to see a substantive debate on the budget between Wahl and his counterparts.

And then maybe City Manager Dave Burkland and former City Manager Tom Lando can referee to call out the fact from fiction.

Today's Scrabble word is guid, or good.

Posted by dan_nt at 02:29 PM | Comments (4)

October 27, 2008

WA Mutual

Is this a new mural as part of Chico Artoberfest?

Today's Scrabble word is dormin, a plant hormone.

Posted by dan_nt at 11:43 AM | Comments (1)

The Debate

This uncanny old video sums up John McCain's campaign focus on the election homestretch - trying to make voters think Barack Obama is unworthy because of nefarious past "terrorist" ties.

McCain will hopefully go down like The Penguin because his attacks are not only horribly inane, but come across angry and trivial just like in this video.

Today's Scrabble word is ictic, or pertaining to, or caused by, a blow.

Posted by dan_nt at 09:57 AM | Comments (0)

October 26, 2008

Hand Slap

Assemblymember Rick Keene and his aide Cliff Wagner, who head the developer-funded Accountability for Chico's Tomorrow (ACT), get a hand slap from City Attorney Lori Barker for improperly using the Chico Police Department shoulder patch and Fire Department photo for campaign purposes.

By using these images improperly, ACT left an misleading impression that the public safety departments and the individuals presented in the photo endorsed the group's message. This tactic was willfully deceitful, especially since the mailer was created by seasoned political operatives who know better.

Today's Scrabble word is picot, to edge with ornamental loops.

Posted by dan_nt at 12:00 AM | Comments (2)

October 25, 2008

Hilarious

The gift that keeps on giving.

Today's Scrabble word is prolix, or tending to speak or write at excessive length.

Posted by dan_nt at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)

October 24, 2008

Images

The above image is from one of the mailers by Rick Keene's developer-funded Accountable for Chico's Tomorrow.

Do former Fire Chief Steve Brown and Fire Captain Steve Simpson endorse the claims presented by Accountable for Chico's Tomorrow in one of its mailers?

Since their photo is included in the mailer, it sure implies an endorsement.

And so does the use of the Chico Police badge even though the Chico Police Officers Association decided not to engage in the endorsement process this year.

If Brown, Simpson, and the other unidentified firefighter didn't give permission for their photo to be used in the mailer, then Keene and his allies owe these guys and the public an apology.

Today's Scrabble word is evince, or to show in a clear manner.

Posted by dan_nt at 09:56 AM | Comments (0)

October 23, 2008

Budget Drivers

One of the misrepresentations of the attack mailers from Rick Keene’s developer-funded group Accountable for Chico’s Tomorrow (ACT) is that they completely distort the root causes of the City’s budget challenges.

The ACT mailers attempt to attack Mayor Andy Holcombe and Vice-Mayor Ann Schwab for approving expenses related to consultants and planning workshops.

All of these expenses – many of whom Larry Wahl also approved – are one-time expenses that are the not the big drivers of the projected budget deficits.

Personnel costs are the most significant ongoing, annual General Fund expenses.

Additional personnel hiring and labor contracts are the ongoing, annual expenses that significantly affect the long-term budget outlook for the City.

ACT’s mailers criticize certain members of the City Council for “eliminating” public safety personnel, yet public safety personnel costs are the largest share of the City’s General Fund budget.

It’s nearly impossible to seriously address the projected budget deficits without making tough decisions about public safety personnel costs since public safety represents roughly 50% of the City’s General Fund expenses.

The only way to “balance” projected budget deficits is to tackle ongoing, annual personnel costs, especially since police and fire personnel represents the biggest share of the City's General Fund expenses.

Former City Manager Fred Davis, who knows plenty about budgets, should know better since he’s involved with ACT.

These “conservatives” want to blame the “liberals” for the projected budget deficit even though Wahl oversaw the biggest personnel increases after he was elected in 2000 before any of the other incumbents were even elected.

And Keene chaired the City's Finance Committee in 2000 when the budget began bloating with new personnel costs that turned out to exceed revenue projections.

And then these “conservatives” fault the “liberals” for actually tackling the projected budget deficits by reigning in ongoing personnel costs, particularly in the public safety departments.

Even if the City didn’t spend any money on one-time consultants or planning workshops, the City would face significant ongoing projected deficits related to personnel costs.

The simple question to Wahl and Keene: If you don’t like “eliminating” public safety personnel, how would you balance the projected budget deficit?

The “don’t spend money on one-time consultants and planning workshops” answer is not sufficient since these one-time expenses don’t even come close to making up the projected budget shortfall.

The problem with these attacks is that they ignore the fact that if you're going to blame the City Council for overspending, the finger needs to be pointed in many different directions.

And they ignore that this City Council has had to make tough decisions based on new budget projections - tough decisions that Wahl has offered no practical alternative solutions to address.

Today’s Scrabble word is pekin, a silk fabric.

Posted by dan_nt at 12:00 AM | Comments (3)

October 22, 2008

Chico's Tomorrow

By now most Chico voters have received at least two campaign mailers from a group called Accountable for Chico's Tomorrow (ACT).

ACT is a descendent of other groups formed in previous elections – Hooker Oak Alliance, Chico Vision 2000, Developers Breakfast Club, and Let’s Spend A Bucket Full of Money PAC.

Okay, the last two group names I made up but my point is that development interests are spending lavishly this year – even more than previous elections years.

Most of these groups share one common characteristic. They are all heavily funded by development and real estate interests who have a significant stake in land-use decisions by local government officials.

This year’s independent expenditure committee - Accountable for Chico's Tomorrow – has already raised a whopping $60,869 by October 18, 2008.

I would venture to guess this amount of $60,869 by one campaign committee exceeds all other independent expenditure committees combined.

And the next campaign finance reporting deadline is Oct. 30 so we might even see more money reflected in ACT's campaign account.

With this kind of money, Chico voters can expect at least two or maybe three more mailers attacking Mayor Andy Holcombe and Vice-Mayor Ann Schwab blaming them for global warming, Iraq, the credit crisis, and the recent firing of the 49ers coach.

As of 10/18, ACT had only four donors who contributed less than $1,000. Minus those four small donors who only gave $250-$500 each (which would be considered big donors for any other local campaign committee), here is the list of ACT’s donors – all of whom gave anywhere from $1,000 to $7,000.

$7,000 Donors
Thomas Dauterman
Thomas Hydraulic & Hardware Supply

$6,000 Donor
Mariposa Traditions (developer Tony Symmes, not a holiday greeting card company)

$5,000 Donors
Wayne Cook
Webb Homes
Guillon Business Park Properties and Guillon Industrial Properties
Epick Homes
Steve Nettleton
James Paiva, Paiva Farms

$2,500 Donors
GS Sales & Associates

$2,000 Donors
Schuster Homes
Bud Caldwell, President, Northgate Petroleum
Guy Rents
Hooker Oak Alliance
Rolls Anderson Rolls

$1,500 Donor
John Lucchesi, Northern California Bank

$1,000 Donors
Conroy Construction
HLSA General Partnership
Fred Davis
David Fleming
Rob Ramay Auctions

Assemblymember Rick Keene’s fingerprints are all over ACT.

Fair Political Practices Commission filings show that Keene’s longtime aide, Cliff Wagner, filed the campaign committee form for ACT.

The attacks by Keene’s ACT group, funded by major development and real estate interests, are rather predictable.

And in fact, over a month ago Keene, Fred Davis, and several other Republican activists unintentionally disclosed their campaign strategy during breakfast at Morning Thunder to everyone sitting close to them because they talk really loud over eggs and biscuits.

Friendly request: Hey Rick, next time will you broadcast your breakfast over the Internet or cable access channel so we can all listen to you discuss your attack strategy? Or just invite me to breakfast and I'll give you some input.

The strategy by Keene and his developer friends is to throw the entire kitchen sink and overwhelm voters with attacks on the “liberal” City Council hoping that something or anything sticks.

We’ll see if this strategy works.

Last year, developers got zero return on their investment through the Hooker Oak Alliance with all of their preferred Council candidates losing.

If ACT can help both Larry Wahl and Mark Sorensen get elected by knocking Mayor Holcombe and/or Vice-Mayor Schwab down a few notches, that’s a small victory.

If only Wahl or Sorensen win and both Holcombe and Schwab are re-elected, I’d consider ACT’s $60,000+ expenditures another failure at best.

Today's Scrabble word is donzel, a young squire, or knight's attendant.

Posted by dan_nt at 10:18 PM | Comments (2)

October 21, 2008

Roasting

These videos are worth watching for humorous political kicks.

Today's Scrabble word is threpe, to maintain obstinately against denial or contradiction.

Posted by dan_nt at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)

October 20, 2008

Colin Powell

Colin Powell says it best:

"So, when I look at all of this and I think back to my Army career, we've got two individuals, either one of them could be a good president. But which is the president that we need now? Which is the individual that serves the needs of the nation for the next period of time? And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities--and we have to take that into account--as well as his substance--he has both style and substance--he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president. I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming into the world--onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.

Today's Scrabble word is cavil, or to raise trivial objections.

Posted by dan_nt at 12:00 AM | Comments (1)

October 19, 2008

Registration

Yesterday I noted the importance of voter turnout fueled by the Presidential election.

I expect a very strong Democratic and independent turnout for Barack Obama in Chico.

Chico used to be more conservative but the voting base has been leaning Democratic over the past few election cycles, even though there are still very significant numbers of independent or Decline to State voters.

In 2000, if I recall correctly, the voter registration for the two major political parties was fairly even in Chico.

Back then in 2000, former City Mayor Rick Keene was clearly calling the shots in Chico and to a certain extent he still is within some Republican circles.

By 2004, Democrats had a 1,311 voter registration advantage in the City of Chico.

John Kerry received 54.6% of the vote, while George W. Bush received 42.2% in Chico during the last Presidential election.

Here are the figures from 2004:

On 10/19/2004
40,540 Registered voters in the City of Chico
15,277 Democrats
13,966 Republicans
8,094 Independents or Decline to State
Remaining voters were Green, American Independent, Libertarian, and others

Now in 2008, Democrats have a whopping 3,928 voter advantage in the City of Chico. Here are the figures for this year’s election:

On 10/14/2008
44,896 Registered voters in the City of Chico
18,460 Democrats
14,532 Republicans
9,104 Independents or Decline to State
Remaining voters were Green, American Independent, Libertarian, and others

Keep in mind that the City's estimated population is roughly 87,000 so approximately 50% of City residents are registered to vote. Yet the decisions of the elected City Council affect a population of roughly 106,000 residents living in the Chico Urban Area, which includes unincorporated areas primarily outside the City limits.

The quality of the candidates, their grassroots campaign organizing, their messaging, and the election climate are very important. But voter registration and turnout is very important too.

This year, I'd give local Democrats a very strong advantage.

And this year we'll see if the local City Council sweep that elected Scott Gruendl, Mary Flynn, and Tom Nickell in 2002 was a fluke, even in the face of similar relentless criticism by the E-R that we're reading again this year.

Today's Scrabble word is elver, a young eel.

Posted by dan_nt at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)

October 18, 2008

Endorsements

The E-R came out with its City Council endorsements and the list of endorsed candidates was not surprising.

The News & Review will likely post its endorsed candidates next week.

The big question, to me, is whether the N&R decides to endorse Mark Sorensen again or chooses Ali Sarsour for its fourth endorsement.

Newspaper endorsements used to have significant influence in local elections, but over the years it seems like newspaper endorsement influence has waned – perhaps with declining readership.

Keep in mind that two years ago none of the E-R’s endorsed candidates for City Council won.

And for the first time to my knowledge, two years ago a candidate – Tom Nickell – who didn’t get the endorsement from both the E-R and N&R beat a candidate – Mark Sorensen – who gained both newspaper endorsements.

The E-R didn’t endorse Mayor Andy Holcombe and Vice-Mayor Ann Schwab four years ago so I didn’t expect E-R editors to endorse them for their re-election.

Holcombe and Schwab are running strong campaigns and should win re-election barring unforeseen forces.

E-R endorsed candidate Jim Walker is also running strong and will serve as a consensus-building Councilor if elected.

Ali Sarsour has been visible in the community too and may surprise us all, even though I think he's still a long-shot.

The only E-R endorsed incumbent, Larry Wahl, received a rather tepid endorsement - vague and lacking any mention of specific accomplishments over the past eight years for Wahl. The E-R wrote:

”The only incumbent we can recommend is Larry Wahl, who acknowledges his role in council mistakes but is the one member of the current council who has tried the hardest to fix the city's overspending.”

I’m very curious which mistakes Wahl admitted in his endorsement interview – maybe every budget he voted for that he now decries as overspending due in part for his role as the longest serving incumbent .

And I’m very curious what specific ways the E-R believes Wahl has tried to reign in spending since he's the longest serving member of the City’s Finance Committee.

Based on my knowledge, Wahl has never offered a single alternative solution to budget challenges while the rest of the Council worked diligently to address the fiscal challenges with tough decisions.

I’m pleased to see a young person like Joe Valente running for office. I’m sure he’s learned a lot since he announced his candidacy. And good for him that he hasn’t scared as many Republican allies as newcomer Cynthia van Auken.

van Auken has clearly disappointed or even alarmed traditional conservative-leaning groups. She failed to garner support from the Chamber, E-R, and she’s not even mentioned in the campaign mailers pushed by Rick Keene’s political allies.

There’s already a lot of political mail, television ads, and other campaign activities crowding voter attention.

The local races so far have been rather tepid. Line are being drawn, but not in a very sharp way.

That’s why I believe, as I wrote earlier this year, the most important factor affecting the local election is voter turnout and whether voters with political leanings at the national level – whether they support Obama, McCain, or another third-party candidate – transfer these inclinations to the local races when they mark their ballot.

Posted by dan_nt at 12:00 AM | Comments (1)

October 17, 2008

President Palin

I think most people, including many Republicans, cannot fathom a President Palin.

But someone already envisioned her in the Oval Office with this website "Palin As President."

Today's Scrabble word is kif, or smoking material, such as Indian hemp.

Posted by dan_nt at 12:08 AM | Comments (3)

October 16, 2008

Waterboarding

The Sacramento Republican Party ran a despicable ad on its website trying to link Osama bin Laden with Barack Obama.

Not only is this ad offensive, but it reflects a local party trying to promote a message of fear. Sad indeed.

It's not funny to insinuate that you want to "waterboard" someone, especially if it's clear the intent is to try to link that person with terrorism.

Today's Scrabble word is baal, a false god or idol.

Posted by dan_nt at 09:00 AM | Comments (1)

October 15, 2008

Yes We Carve

In time for the Halloween season, Yes We Carve puts political advocacy into traditional pumpkin carving.

If anyone from Chico or Butte County makes a Yes We Carve pumpkin, send me a photo to post.

Will John McCain go on the attack again tonight in the last Presidential debate, or will we see another predictable yet engaging debate?

Today's Scrabble word is chazzan, a cantor in a synagogue.

Posted by dan_nt at 08:12 AM | Comments (0)

October 14, 2008

Social Security

At roughly the 35:30 mark, there's a good exchange on Social Security between Wally Herger and Jeff Morris:

QUESTION: Congressman Herger, in 2005 you conducted 8 meetings during a 2-day swing through our district to convince your constituents that they needed to strengthen the Social Security program by approving changes that would allow individuals to set up individual accounts in stocks and bonds with Wall Street firms. [Audience laughter] From today's perspective, does this still seem to you a good direction?

HERGER: If we look at the history of the United States, the history of any economy ... if we look back prior to the 1930s and the Great Depression, over the long term, people who have invested in our economy have done very well. We have periods of time, like we're in right now and other periods of time, when we have dips. But we will come out of these dips. Right now we have a very serious situation with Social Security. It is going broke ... we have to change what we're doing ... the plan that I was advocating would have ... allowed the person on Social Security, if they chose to, to take 7% and invest that in a safe way. And yes, I support that and I think that that's part of our answer.

The triumvirate of questioners - David Little, Evan Tuchinsky, and Tom Gascoyne - asked very direct, probing questions.

Morris more than holds his own in this debate. He articulates a strong, reasoned alternative perspective to Herger's last 22 years in office.

Today's Scrabble word is uluia, a European owl of a tawny color.

Posted by dan_nt at 08:22 AM | Comments (0)

October 13, 2008

Disturbance

It's unfortunate Chico had to experience another "disturbance" that involved police having to wear riot gear and shoot pellets.

It's very hard to predict "mob behavior" among crowds, especially in terms of how individuals within a mob react to police.

It's also interesting to see the difference in reporting between the E-R and The Orion.

Not surprisingly, the college newspaper article focuses on student perspectives laced with explicit quotes, compared to the E-R article which was much more factual and included City official responses.

One E-R quote from Chico Police Chief Bruce Hagerty left me a little bewildered: "He [Hagerty] blamed the outburst on the economic downturn. 'When people get angry at the government, they'll try to take it out on the police.'"

I don't think Hagerty's theory holds much water. I doubt many of these young revelers were thinking early Sunday morning: "Damn you government. The credit crisis is affecting my student loan, my minimum wage job was just cut, and Wall Street screwed me!"

A few testosterone, drunken individuals took advantage of a crowd situation, revved up others around them, and likely didn't think once nor twice about the economic downturn.

Today's Scrabble word is jabot, a decoration on a shirt.

Posted by dan_nt at 12:00 AM | Comments (1)

October 12, 2008

$1.2 Million

This past weekend marked another successful fundraising effort by local nonprofits to leverage the North Valley Community Foundation's Annie B's Community Drive.

In eight weeks, 169 community organizations raised $1.2 million.

Congrats to everyone.

Today's Scrabble word is guppy, a small tropical fish.

Posted by dan_nt at 10:12 PM | Comments (0)

October 09, 2008

True Words

Matt Kowta of Bay Area Economics could not have said it better when he commented: °The two things people hate most are sprawl and infill."

As the City Council grapples with General Plan decisions, they will face the great public irony that many residents - at least the homeowner variety - prefer single-family homes on large lots.

But many of these same residents also do not want to see precious open space, agriculural land, and foothill areas developed.

I think Chico is facing serious environmental capacity issues. To the west, north, and south we have prime agricultural land. To the east, we have valuable foothills.

We can also develop "upward" more with more muliti-family units. The great but difficult balancing act is to provide many different housing options, including a mix of single-family and multi-family residential zoning.

Not every empty-nesting houshold wants a single-family home with a big backyard. Not every household can afford a home, but will require a variety of multi-family residential options.

Today's Scrabble word is halloo, or a call used to urge on hounds in a hunt.

Posted by dan_nt at 12:00 AM | Comments (2)

October 08, 2008

Bus Tragedy

One of the sad but revealing parts of the bus tragedy that killed 8 people was that the majority of the victims were Laotian.

As anyone who has visited a casino in the region can attest, a significant percentage of gamblers are Southeast Asian descent. Many of them are on limited or fixed income and should not be regularly gambling.

I have even noticed language-specific casino advertising and bus shelter marketing in Sacramento neighborhoods where there is a high concentration of Southeast Asians.

I think gambling is a serious problem in these Southeast Asian communities. The bus tragedy highlights the tilted demographics of these gamblers, many of whom are older Southeast Asians who cannot drive themselves.

Today's Scrabble word is supine, or lying on the back.

Posted by dan_nt at 03:07 PM | Comments (3)

October 07, 2008

Mapping Future

The Great Valley Center is the premier policy think tank for the Central Valley.

The organization is headquartered in Modesto but is staffed north of Sacramento by a wonderful recent Chico State graduate Lindsay Buckley, who is based in downtown Chico.

The Great Valley Center has an upcoming conference on Oct. 23 called "Mapping our Future," which will feature Sarah Palin talking about how Alaska and Russia are close to each other on a map.

Okay, not really, but the conference organizers offer the following description:

"Right now throughout the Sacramento Valley blueprint planning processes and general plan updates are allowing citizens to decide what the future of their towns, cities and counties will be. A vital tool to overcoming challenges and engaging stakeholders in the planning process is the visual representation of a community’s landscape. Mapping the geography of the land, existing community assets, and demographic projections can lead to planning efforts that are more comprehensive and engaging for all in the community....The event will bring together business and community leaders, governmental officials, farmers, environmentalist and individuals who have an interest in the future of the Sacramento Valley.

This is the 8th year of the forum and each year the event is filled with interesting speakers and panelists.

Today's Scrabble word is glug, or to make a gurgling sound as of liquid issuing from a bottle.

Posted by dan_nt at 12:00 AM | Comments (1)

October 06, 2008

Debate Chart

Sarah Palin is the gift that keeps on giving for Saturday Night Live. And SNL even does a good job poking at Joe Biden, but Palin takes the cake.

And in case you needed some guidance to Palin's responses or non-responses, check out:

Today's Scrabble word is irenic, or promoting peace.

Posted by dan_nt at 01:54 PM | Comments (0)

October 05, 2008

Plan, Plan, Plan

Another very important meeting is coming up.

Once again, the debate will focus on how and where the City grows into the near future - more sprawl or more "compact" development?

Most independent economic studies show that more "compact" development is more fiscally prudent for local governments. It's much more effective to deploy public safety services and build infrastructure to support "compact" neighborhoods.

The Governor also recently signed a state bill that directs more transportation money towards cities that take steps to reduce sprawl.

Today's Scrabble word is trice, an instant or a moment.

Posted by dan_nt at 11:08 PM | Comments (0)

October 04, 2008

Lollipops

Go back in time and support the Boys & Girls Club of the North Valley.

Today's Scrabble word is eff, or the spelling of the letter f.

Posted by dan_nt at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)

October 02, 2008

Expectations

Will Sarah Palin surprise us and how will Joe Biden handle himself?

Right now, Pailin keeps surprising me with her lack of depth without the teleprompter.

I have no idea why she couldn't even cite any specific media outlets she reads to stay informed about the world - The Economist, International Herald Tribune, Atlantic Monthly, Time, The Washington Post, or something.

Once again, Palin shows a clear lack of engagement or interest in the world. At least Biden can talk, but the best debate tactic he can employ is to do less talking and let Palin talk her way into nonsense.

Today's Scrabble word is threpe, to maintain obstinately against denial or contradiction.

Posted by dan_nt at 12:00 AM | Comments (1)

October 01, 2008

John Rucker

Police Captain John Rucker’s likely appointment as the new Assistant City Manager appears to be a good move.

I had heard rumors Rucker was in contention. I’ve always found Rucker to be upfront, diplomatic, and well-rounded.

His experience with public safety unions and budget negotiations will help him as Assistant City Manager, especially given that public safety represents the most significant share of the City’s General Fund expenses.

It’s clear with Dave Burkland’s appointment as City Manager and now Rucker as eventual Assistant City Manager that the City Council feels strongly about promoting good people internally.

The public tends to focus on big, public debates over land-use issues and budgets when measuring the success of the City Council.

But one of the unheralded tasks the current City Council has been doing over the past few years is work diligently to interview, recommend, and sometimes appoint key senior City personnel.

This is a very important role. Councilors come and go, but for the most part City staff members stay longer than several Council terms. You cannot underestimate the significance of a good senior management appointment.

Unfortunately, it's very hard to know with 100% confidence if an appointment will work out long-term since management is a people business and people - staff, Councilors, and the public - are quite fickle.

Today's Scrabble word is agama, a small terrestrial lizard of warm regions of the Old World.

Posted by dan_nt at 04:55 PM | Comments (2)