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A Fundraiser for the Victims of SF’s Castro District Arsons
I hope you’ll indulge me a small personal privilege. If you hadn’t heard, there were a few intentionally set fires in my neighborhood. Fortunately, everybody is safe. But, unfortunately, the residents of these units are now out of a place to live and have to basically start from scratch. (An ad for renter’s insurance should probably go here.)
Anyway, a few friends of mine have put together a fundraiser to help the victims of the arson. It’s going to be on February 15, 7-10 pm at the Lookout in San Francisco. You can get full details at the Facebook page.
Consider this an open thread.
PPIC: Brown Approval Numbers Down Slightly, But At Least He’s Not the Legislature
PPIC released its latest statewide poll, and as you might expect for a governor who walked through the feces that his predecessor left all over the floor, his numbers are down slightly. However, it’s not that they disapprove, so much as they just aren’t sure.
In the poll, 49.5 percent of adults said they weren’t sure what to make of Brown’s job performance, compared to 33.7 percent who approved of it. Last month, 39 percent of California adults said they were unsure about Brown’s job performance and 41 percent approved. (CalWatch)
His big test will be this budget, and whether he can shepherd it out the door. His numbers are ultimately going to rest on what happens in the likely June special. Meanwhile, the Legislature is down in the low twenties.
The poll also included several questions about health care. Apparently roughly one-half of all Californians want to lose weight. Meanwhile, large majorities are satisfied with their health, and similar numbers call themselves generally happy.
Governor Brown Cancels Sale/Lease-Backs
Well, it was a few weeks in coming, but today Jerry Brown announced that he is cancelling the sale of state buildings.
California will not go through with its controversial plan to sell state buildings then lease them back to help plug the budget deficit, Gov. Jerry Brown announced this morning.
The proposed sale of the California Supreme Court headquarters in San Francisco and ten other buildings would have raised $1.2 billion for the state. But Brown said the plan was short-sighted and would have cost taxpayers billions to lease back those buildings over a 35 year period.
“The sale of the buildings really didn’t make much sense,” Brown said at a news conference at the Capitol.(SF Chronicle)
Who says elections don’t have consequences? This is one very real difference. Had Whitman won the election, you can bet your bottom dollar that the sale would be marching forward.
On a grander scale, this is a step towards a more realistic, and less gimmicky budget. Despite the fact that this will add some additional debt to the short-term pile, this is clearly the right decision for the long term.
51% of Californians Support Marriage Equality as Majority Wishes a Do-Over on 2003 Recall
This is fairly consistent with numbers that we’ve seen in the past, but PPP has just released their own data showing a majority favoring full marriage equality.
-The tide is turning in support of gay marriage in California. 51% of voters in the state now think it should be legal while 40% think it should remain illegal. It was just a little over 2 years ago that the state passed Proposition 8 but these numbers are reflective of a general liberalization in the views of Americans toward same sex marriage. (PPP)
The numbers get even better when you pull out senior citizens at 53-38. It is only a matter of time before we have full marriage equality in California and, eventually, the nation.
Oh, and they also tested a retrospective on the 2003 recall, and guess what, Californians wish they hadn’t done that. By a 42-32 margin, voters would have refrained from recalling Davis. Too bad we can’t take back the past seven years and the havoc the Governator wrought.
Completely Arbitrary Panel-less Death Panels?
One of the more astonishing proposals of the Governor’s budget cuts was a “10 appointment maximum” for Medi-Cal patients.
In an effort to close the state budget gap, California health officials are proposing a “hard cap” of 10 medical visits per year for needy patients who rely on the Medi-Cal program for health care.
Some patients and health advocates are calling the strategy a “death sentence” for patients who need dialysis treatments to clean their blood or chemotherapy to rid them of cancer. The bipartisan(sic) Legislative Analyst’s Office recommended a cap that also grants exemptions for certain services or conditions.
The 10-visit cap (PDF), estimated to save the state $200 million a year, would affect the 10 percent of California patients who rely most heavily on the Medi-Cal program to meet their medical needs. (California Watch)
In many ways, this cap is just as scary as the non-existant “death panels” from the health care debate. This ten-visit cap would mean death for those that are easily treated through consistent, but expensive, care.
This cut is simplistic, and not really reflective of a more thoughtful approach of tightly managing care for the most expensive patients. As of yet, nobody has acted on the Leg Analyst’s suggestion, but one hopes that is something of a given. A harsh 10-appointment cap is simply unacceptable.
We are still waiting to see how the legislature acts on Brown’s proposal, but I would be pretty shocked if this particular one got too far.
At any rate, why aren’t we seeing Tea Party fury on this? Oh, right, this is poor people, so it’s not that big of a deal.
February 7 Open Thread
Here are some interesting links:
* The Bee has a little balance the budget game.
* Joel Fox thinks aloud about motives for potentially eliminating the February 2012 primary. I wasn’t a particularly big fan of three elections back in 2008, so I’m all for it again. However, he is likely right that those two elections pose a big risk of conservative gamesmanship on the initiative front.
* Higher Education seems resigned to cuts.
* The San Quentin death chamber is getting an inspection. While we are talking about all of these cuts, when do we get to cutting the death penalty?
Janice Hahn Officially Announces for CA-36
Well, that didn’t take long:
“I’m running for Congress to create new jobs, expand clean energy technologies and ensure that local small business owners get the help and opportunities they need to flourish in a global economy,” said Hahn.
“As someone who has served in local government for almost a decade, I want to bring that perspective and experience to Congress. It’s time we end the corporate tax giveaways to multinational corporations that send jobs overseas and invest those dollars in businesses that create jobs here at home. We need to invest in a clean-energy economy and there’s no better place to start than right here in the 36th Congressional District.”
A Congressional seat only comes along so often, so expect a crowded field here. Check out Hahn’s full release over the flip.
LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCILWOMAN JANICE HAHN ANNOUNCES RUN FOR CONGRESS
Councilwoman Janice Hahn out quickly in race to fill Jane Harman’s Congressional seat in 2011 Special ElectionLOS ANGELES, CA – Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn today announces the start of her campaign for California’s 36th Congressional District, which is being vacated by Congresswoman Jane Harman in March.
“It has been an honor to work closely with Congresswoman Harman over the past decade on a variety of important efforts to create jobs and improve security at LAX and the port. Her leadership will be missed,” said Hahn.
“I’m running for Congress to create new jobs, expand clean energy technologies and ensure that local small business owners get the help and opportunities they need to flourish in a global economy,” said Hahn.
“As someone who has served in local government for almost a decade, I want to bring that perspective and experience to Congress. It’s time we end the corporate tax giveaways to multinational corporations that send jobs overseas and invest those dollars in businesses that create jobs here at home. We need to invest in a clean-energy economy and there’s no better place to start than right here in the 36th Congressional District.”
Councilwoman Hahn currently represents a significant portion of the South Bay on the Los Angeles City Council. Most significantly, she serves as the Chair of the Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee, which oversees the Port of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles International Airport and the Convention & Visitors Bureau. The Port and Airport have enormous implications for residents of the 36th District in terms of economic revitalization and job creation.
“I plan to work hard to win this seat. I am ready to run and ready to serve the people of the 36th District,” added the Councilwoman.
Councilwoman Hahn, 58 years old, is a Democrat and resides in San Pedro, a Los Angeles community in the 36th Congressional District. Hahn’s public service runs in the family: her father is former Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, and her brother is former Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn. Hahn was the Democratic nominee for the 36th Congressional District in 1998, when Harman left office to run for Governor.
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