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themrguy posted:Motherfucker cost the Dems their supermajority too. Good. The CA GOP might be insane and unelectable, but the CA Dems are all as bent as the Soviet sickle. Lee was the third Democratic senator in three months to get indicted, arrested, or convicted on corruption charges. And that's on top of all of the various local corruption going on all over the place. Also Jerry Brown can go to hell for selling out to the CCPOA. And for as much as this state loves weed, we sure can't sort out laws out. It is exacerbating the water crisis, though!
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May 1, 2014 05:37
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FilthyImp posted:The new LA Mayor, Garcetti, is doing a decent job not being a total waste of space. Being more useful that Tony Villar isn't much of an accomplishment. Garcetti has done a good job of letting developers go hog wild, but he hasn't been on the job long enough yet to judge much of anything.
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May 8, 2014 21:47
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Ron Jeremy posted:Can we talk about how horrible the new primary system is? Open primaries with the top two candidates going on to the general destroys what little relevance third parties have. At least we have the orly taitz screed in the voter guide for entertainment purposes. I just filled out my absentee ballot and found myself getting indignant at the lack of an "against all" option.
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May 9, 2014 04:46
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ProperGanderPusher posted:If there's one thing San Franciscans enjoy more than calling LA a complete shithole full of terrible people, it's calling Texas a complete shithole full of terrible people. It's one of the few things we can all agree on. Also, San Francisco has way more terrible people as a percent of the population and per square mile than LA does.
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May 16, 2014 06:11
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enraged_camel posted:That's funny, I thought everyone was saying Austin is not like the rest of the state! Have you been to Austin? It's not actually that cool, unless you like your hipsters with a Texas accent.
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May 17, 2014 02:55
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Unrelated to city chat, the two main Republican assclowns (Kashkari and Donnelly) had a so-called debate on the John and Ken show of all places. It devolved into a horrible shouting match, predictably, making them both somehow look worse. The CA GOP is pathetic.
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May 17, 2014 03:51
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natetimm posted:Using property taxes to fund services in a state that is essentially run by speculators and profiteers is a lovely idea that just squeezes the middle class out of the housing market anywhere worth living. Jacking up the sales tax is a much better alternative. The sales tax is one of the most regressive forms of taxation. What is wrong with you?
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May 27, 2014 02:15
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natetimm posted:I don't love the sales tax either but it's better than creating another housing disaster. Too late, the housing disaster is already upon is but it has nothing to do with property taxes. In fact, the only fix needed to prop 13 is to make it not apply to commercial property. As for raising the sales tax, we already have one of if not the highest rates combined with a stupid high state income tax that's not particularly progressive. Any "solution" that involves hitting the common man in the pocket is not a solution at all.
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May 27, 2014 02:30
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Not having prop 13 wouldn't have saved us from the bubble. It's definitely distorted the market (to the benefit of people like my mother, who wouldn't be able to pay the taxes on the insane valuation her house has now without being unable to eat), but that bubble was going to get inflated regardless of property taxes. And while it may not be the case in the Bay Area, mostly because your politics are even more fubar than ours, development is going absolutely hog wild again here in SoCal. I've never seen so many cranes over LA before in my life, and there's construction all over OC like its 2003. Of course, nobody can afford to buy any of it, even if they have plenty of equity, because the prices have gotten completely stupid - the existing home supply is extremely limited, nobody is selling - so most buyers are investors and foreigners with suitcases.
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May 28, 2014 08:28
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Craptacular! posted:This Secretary Of State race is retarded, and I hate both my options. Why the gently caress would 10% of the state vote for Leland Yee? This race was one of several that made me want for an "against all" option. And I'd say a not-insignificant chunk of LeLand Yee voters somehow had no idea about what has transpired.
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Jun 5, 2014 06:09
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Trabisnikof posted:For some context the national average is that agriculture uses 62% of the water withdrawn (if you're excluding thermoelectric withdrawals, since they aren't consumptive). And California produces 1/2 of the US fruit, nuts and vegetable crops. (http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/PDFs/ResourceDirectory_2013-2014.pdf) If you're trying to get Americans to eat healthier, Californian crops are an important part of that. Let's not forget marijuana, which is also pretty water-intensive.
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Sep 7, 2014 00:57
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Sydin posted:So basically members of a party who's platform is more or less "gently caress minorities" are Because single-party and single-thought rule is fundamentally bad because new ideas are not tried and instead we get the same stupid poo poo that has resulted in our insane traffic, education, housing costs, and the highest poverty rate in the nation (problems that our state officials are somehow not being blamed for/expected to fix). California Democrats are actually quite terrible and are presently running the state into the ground, but it just so happens that California Republicans think they can get elected with Southern-style social positions and just straight-up bad candidates, and so, we all get hosed. loving Orange County. redscare fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Mar 5, 2016 |
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Mar 5, 2016 17:46
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'ing because they're now in a situation where said beliefs make them a minority, and as a result are being hosed.
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FCKGW posted:They replaced someone from Orange County with someone else from Orange County so I'm not sure of your point here. Santa Ana is Orange County but not "Orange County." I live by the port in Long Beach. Probably need to stop bicycling up the LA river path now. At least the particulate matter rules are state level.
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Mar 5, 2016 18:08
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RandomPauI posted:Ya know, I was initially a little sympathetic towards the complaints of Republicans in the Bay Area. Then you essentially said "you and yours are a monolith destroying the state" and my stance immediately shifted to "gently caress you and gently caress the GOP". I'm not a Republican nor am I trying to win any hearts and minds. California Republicans have worked hard to earn the scorn they're getting, even though it's not necessarily healthy for State or Democracy. And I maintain my position that the state is being driven into the ground by the current government (which happens to be comprised entirely of Democrats), just in different ways than Kansas or Michigan. The Republicans wouldn't do a better job, which is why they can't get elected, but that doesn't mean that Team JBro is doing a good one, either. Again, California has, despite some of the highest taxes in the Country: - Highest poverty rate - Least affordable housing - Worst roads and traffic - Near the bottom in primary education by most metrics Also, three state senators got brought up on corruption charges in a single year. We need to expect better. "Hey, at least we're not Michigan" is like Russia saying "hey, at least we're not Ukraine" - that's all well and good, but let's set the bar a bit higher, especially if the tax rates are going to be this drat high.
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Mar 6, 2016 21:02
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H.P. Hovercraft posted:Reminder that "highest taxes in the country" doesn't include property tax thanks to one weird trick longtime homeowners don't want you to know Ah yes, there is still some income that's not being punitively taxed, must fix that for the glorious public employee pensions! Would love to hear your brilliant ideas on how we unwind prop 13 in the midst of the country's worst housing crisis without driving hundreds of thousands of people from their homes (and likely the state). Arsenic Lupin posted:I'm a Democrat myself, but California has a total of $354.5 billion in unfunded liabilities, most of it from pensions that were promised but not funded. Since states aren't sovereign countries and can't lower the value of money, those liabilities need to start being funded now. I think education is also an unfunded liability, in that it costs lots of money downstream, and I wish it got more government priority. But the the answer to 'what are we getting for or taxes' is 'cleaning up the financial mess left by both Democratic and Republican administrations'. So instead of doing something about how those liabilities are meant to be funded, we're just going to have one of the most regressive state income tax systems in the country!
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Mar 6, 2016 22:10
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H.P. Hovercraft posted:What I really like about the "grandma will get kicked outta her house" defense of Prop 13 is the handwringing over the implied massive appreciation of the owner's property. Oh no how Grandma is on a fixed income and can't afford the 2-3x tax hike. Grandma either has to eat cat food, uproot entire life, or take out a reverse mortgage. I'm sure you can see why just repealing prop 13 is a political nonstarter. Somehow Washington state makes do with no income tax and a similar property tax regime.
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Mar 7, 2016 02:51
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enraged_camel posted:It's also the most populous state in the country. But yes, if you ignore that context, the whole state will look like a failure. The whole state is failing, different regions are simply failing differently (e.g. economic collapse in the center vs affordability collapse on the coast).
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Mar 7, 2016 02:52
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enraged_camel posted:I don't think you understand what "failing" means in this context. Once again, I'm not setting the bar at "at least we're not Kansas." IDGAF about what is happening in Kansas, which has the same population as Orange County. California's problems are far bigger and more complex than "our governor is an idiot that can't do math."
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Mar 7, 2016 03:10
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H.P. Hovercraft posted:And somehow most of the rest of the country is fine with letting grandma sell her $1.5 million dollar home or alternately not taxing her on the property until she passes the home off to her family if she can show hardship. This is a feature, not a bug, of a healthy property tax. This isn't about millionaires, but working- and middle-class citizens for whom their home is their only asset and for whom housing is the single biggest expense. I've yet to see a prop 13 reform proposal that had any kind of a carve-out for the little guy, so I'm going to be in firm opposition as long as "reform" means tripling my mom's tax bill for no good reason (and only exacerbating the housing crisis). computer parts posted:In Seattle you'll pay 50% more in property taxes than in San Francisco. This is in a parallel universe where you can afford housing in San Francisco. Also, I'm talking about the state-level property tax regimes, there are obviously differences at the local level. Also: http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/seattle-property-taxes-are-we-gouging-ourselves/ El Mero Mero posted:You don't know what failing is. I think what you mean is actually "not living up to (unrealistically) high expectations." As an emigre from the former Soviet Union, I would assert that I have a good idea of what "failing" is. And if "good schools, good roads, and reasonably-prices housing" is an unrealistically-high expectation in 2016 America, we done hosed up.
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Mar 7, 2016 04:11
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computer parts posted:Local property taxes are what you should care about because that's generally the level that depends on it most. Correct. State law generally just dictates how localities can set rates. In CA you have the prop 13 1% baseline, but then there are Mello-Roos and other levies on top of that, making the effective tax rate be whatever it ends up being. State law can also regulate how value is assessed, hence the limitations in prop 13. An argument could be made that if prop 13 hadn't existed, the bubble wouldn't have happened or wouldn't have been as big, but at this point we have a crippling shortage that can't be solved by tinkering with property tax law. Cicero posted:A prop 13 repeal that kept it on the books for someone's primary residence if they'd been living there for several years and can prove hardship would be fine. Unfortunately there's no way we're gonna get that. The thing is that repealing/reforming any part of prop 13 won't solve anything besides give the state even more money to set on fire. The system that empowers NIMBY types to grind development to a halt will remain in place and California will continue to have a housing stock X that is substantially lower than demand for housing Y until things get so bad that enough people move away to bring the market into some sort of equilibrium, at which point things will probably be a bit...Detroit. redscare fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Mar 7, 2016 |
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Mar 7, 2016 05:41
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H.P. Hovercraft posted:Oh no! What kind of monster would suggest that a sound financial decision for a retiree would be to sell their big empty home in favor of buying something smaller and more affordable or *gasp* rent Because what people in their 60s and 70s really want to do is move out of the home and neighborhood they've been living in for 30+ years. No emotional attachment there at all and we all know just how fun moving is even when you're an able-bodied 20-something with a van full of stuff. Oh, and Southern California is just overflowing with affordable and small housing that someone on a fixed income can easily afford! This is your argument in 1920s Soviet Russia: quote:Break the kulaks! How about we build more housing so that the tax base increases instead of jacking up taxes just to satisfy some Berkley brainwashed regressive lefties sense of righteous indignation.
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Mar 9, 2016 22:32
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FCKGW posted:There are two different metrolink lines that go from Riverside to Anaheim you dork, I ride them every day. The issue is more "what do you do after you get there." I mean, not that there's any reason for a tourist to go to Riverside ever or anywhere in Anaheim outside of Disneyland/Honda Center/Angel Stadium.
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Mar 11, 2016 04:00
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ComradeCosmobot posted:Two new measures in the Assembly recently: Why is the CA Assembly passing good laws? Have they forgotten who they are?
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Mar 11, 2016 19:00
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withak posted:Are you literally an infant. A literal infant doesn't care about daylight savings time at all because his/her schedule is not tied to the adult clock. It's an utterly pointless inconvenience that has no valid business reason for exist. And also has been tied to decreases in productivity and increased accident rates, meaning that the switch to/from daylight savings time kills people.
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Mar 12, 2016 03:05
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lancemantis posted:Didn't the removal of that freeway in SF after the collapse actually improve traffic in the area as well? Not sure about traffic, but it certainly did wonders for the development of the waterfront https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_480#Demise
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Mar 13, 2016 21:15
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Arsenic Lupin posted:This is an *incredibly* low bar, but I agree. (Why did Boxer retire instead of DiFi? Why, o cruel universe?) Because Boxer is 75 and up for re-election this year, while Feinstein's term isn't up until 2018. I'm sure (pray) she won't run for re-election, but there's no reason to expect her to not finish her term barring sudden health reasons.
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Mar 21, 2016 00:07
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Smythe posted:read an article in the LA Times the other day about some people getting heated about a proposed couple 30(?) story apartment buildings on like Hollywood and Gordon, basically right in the middle of hollywood proper. The dude who runs the AIDS Healthcare Foundation is fighting hard against increased density on his website or pac or whatever at http://stopmanhattanwood.org/ Weinstein and the Hollywood NIMBYs can rot in hell.
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Mar 29, 2016 21:30
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If they actually developed Hollywood and the adjacent areas to the appropriate levels of density, you wouldn't have to worry about being gentrified out because there'd be enough inventory for everyone. The Hollywood NIMBYs want to keep the property prices high for their own benefit, which has the direct side effect of keeping the rent Too drat High. In non-NIMBY news, Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano continues to be terrible, which I believe is a prerequisite for that position: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Audit-shows-UC-admission-standards-relaxed-for-7215364.php quote:In the past three years, nearly 16,000 nonresident undergraduates have won a spot at the coveted public university with scores that fell below the median of admitted Californians, the audit shows. redscare fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Mar 29, 2016 |
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Mar 29, 2016 22:09
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lancemantis posted:Complaints about UC admissions that come up are often just bad faith arguments about Berkeley, because "my childs god given right to go to Cal". The state passed a law to basically dismantle affirmative action in the admissions process, and any attempts to change that are met with outrage, because "my childs god given right to go to Cal". The people bringing up these kinds of issues aren't worried about kids getting into the UC system as a whole, they're worried about the impact on their child's more or less lottery admission into Berkeley. Thank you for making the same point twice, we didn't get it the first time. And it's not about "my child didn't get into Cal," it's "my taxes should be paying to educate other Californians, not rich Chinese kids." I don't have kids, I'm not trying to get into a UC, but I am paying taxes and consider it a bunch of crap because it's transparently about money rather than benefitting the public. Affirmative action has nothing to do with it either because that's just tokenism that doesn't help anyone besides a select few and doesn't address the root problems that are causing people to think that affirmative might not be a bad idea (mostly failures of schools in minority communities).
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Mar 31, 2016 18:41
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Gann Jerrod posted:It seems like they have a loophole with this: I read that as "they can still be fined if they don't rip out their dead brown lawns and replace them with native plant landscapes."
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Apr 26, 2016 04:56
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AngryBooch posted:NIMBY assholes are everywhere. My quaint little town outside LA just blew up a mixed use medium density housing development deal next to a god drat train stop that's been in the works for 10 years because they were worried about people who could "only" afford 1.5K in rent per month overloading the school district with their brown children. It's absolutely disgusting. Not to mention the aversion to building up in Hollywood recently. Which city is that? One of the foothill towns that just got the Gold line?
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Apr 29, 2016 20:05
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AngryBooch posted:South Pasadena. Oh, yeah SoPA is NIMBY central. Goondolences. I'm really glad there's minimal organized opposition in downtown Long Beach, which is seeing something of a building boom atm. Parking is getting beyond FUBAR though, so who knows how long that'll last.
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Apr 30, 2016 02:12
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Teflon Don posted:They don't, take the Amtrak out of San Diego and you'll see several tent cities. LA is littered with them, from Skid Row to the 710 corridor to Santa Monica. It's only been getting worse since the rent is getting catastrophically high and millions of people are one missed paycheck away from living in a box.
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May 6, 2016 21:22
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