Pacific Progressive

Dollars and Sense Workshop for Seniors from Lou Correa

State Senator Lou Correa is partnering with the California Society of CPAs and the CalCPA Institute to host a Dollars and Sense workshop for older adults and seniors on Thursday, August 6, 2009 from 10 AM - Noon at the Santa Ana Senior Center, 424 W Third Street, Santa Ana, CA.

The workshop is participant oriented - bring your questions!  The participants will hear about changes to laws and public policy which impact senior citizens. Getting the most from medical insurance and Medicare coverage will be topic of interest to everyone in the room.  Managing money, saving and investing, minimizing taxes and estate planning are also on the agenda.

You can RSVP for this important and informative workshop by calling Arthur Sandoval in Sen. Lou Correa's District Office at 714-558-4400.

OC Stimulus Money Accounting - See to Believe

Many Orange County politicians at all levels made a big deal about their not wanting to take Obama's stimulus money.  The dislike for a helping hand really hurt Orange County because many municipalities, including the County, did not do everything they could do to help their residents.

A recent item in Supervisor Janet Nguyen's "Janet's Journal" (July 24, 2009)  attempts to make it look like OC's electeds actually worked to bring money back for their constituents. The claim is that Orange County received $200 million in stimulus money.

$122.8 million is the reduction of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) on Private Activity Bonds for the John Wayne Airport Improvement Project - If some one can tell me how the County gets this money as cash to spend to create jobs, please post and explain in detail.  The money saved on bond interest would go out, piecemeal, to individuals as savings on April tax returns when the bonds no longer qualify as taxable under AMT.   The finance department will say exempting these bonds from the AMT saves the County money and lowers debt cost, but that is not creating jobs, putting paychecks in pockets.

Also included in the claimed Stimulus money is either $12 million (Janet's Journal) or $14.2 million (FY 2009-10 Budget Workshop) for the Social Services Agency.  Again, the Stimulus money replaced County money, so there is no real job creation here, just using a different color of money.

For the real money that creates paychecks in pockets:

• $50 million for the Army Corps of Engineers projects in Orange County

The $50 million Army Corps of Engineers projects include $26.5 million for river bank improvements and $5.2 million for Santa Ana River, Carbon Canyon, Prado Dam, and Fullerton Dam maintenance.  Also include $17.3 million for environmental restoration and dredging of Upper Newport Bay.

Green Open House at Jose Solorio's Office

Assemblyman Jose Solorio http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a69/ featured how easy it is to be green at his recent open house.  Members of companies and agencies were on hand to educate visitors and dole out the goodies.

OCTA September Service Cuts - The Details

Plan C - which retains Night Owl service was adopted.  The complete list of changes is available in the agenda packet for the June 8 meeting.   http://www.octa.net  OCTA Director Bill Campbell negotiated that span trips with 8 or more riders can be saved, for now.  Those trip reductions are listed here because staff is able to make changes to schedule to combine trips to save span service.

Here's a summary.

Line 20 La Habra - Yorba Linda Via Imperial Hwy

Increase weekday time between trips from 60 to 95 minutes.

Line 21 - Fullerton - Huntington Beach via Valley View St/Bolsa Chica Rd

Delete 5 weekday trips. Weekday span trips with more than 8 riders may be saved.

Line 24 - Fullerton - Orange via Malvern Ave/Chapman Ave/Tustin Ave

Delete 3 weekday trips.  Weekday span trips with more than 8 riders may be saved.

Line 26 - Fullerton - Yorba Linda via Commonwealth Ave/Yorba Linda Blvd

Delete 3 weekday trips. Weekday span trips with more than 8 riders may be saved.

Line 29 - Brea - Huntington Beach via La Habra Blvd/Beach Blvd

Increase peak weekday time between trips from 15 to 20 minutes.  Increase Saturday and Sunday time between trips from 15 to 18 minutes.

Line 33 - Fullerton - Huntington Beach via Magnolia St

 Increase time between trips on Saturday and Sunday from 60 to 65 minutes.

Line 37 - La Habra - Fountain Valley via Euclid St

Delete 2 weekday trips. Weekday span trips with more than 8 riders may be saved.

Line 38 - Lakewood - Anaheim Hills via Del Amo Blvd/La Palma Ave

Increase peak weekday time between trips from 8 to 15 minutes.  Delete 4 trips.   Weekday span trips with more than 8 riders may be saved.

Line 38 - Lakewood - Anaheim Hills via Del Amo Blvd/La Palma Ave

Increase Saturday and Sunday time between trips from 30 to 45 minutes.

Line 43 - La Habra - Costa Mesa via Whittier Blvd/Harbor Blvd

Increase peak weekday time between trips from 10 to 15 minutes.  Increase Saturday time between trips from 20/15 minutes to 25/18 minutes. Increase Sunday time between trips from 15 to 18 minutes.

Line 46 - Los Alamitos - Orange via Ball Rd/Taft Ave

Delete 1 trip. Weekday span trips with more than 8 riders may be saved.

Line 50 - Long Beach - Orange via Katella Ave

Service changed to Short Line service.

OCTA Transit Cuts

http://www.octa.net

Here's a list of what is being cut by the OCTA during 2009.  This is very, very long (about 20+ pages if you're printing it.)

Summary of OCTA June & September 2009 Service Cuts

(Does not include Night Owl Service discontinuation.)

May 28, 2009

Prepared by Reggie Mundekis, [email protected]

What is Impacted

154 Schools & Colleges 

53 Shopping Centers

27 Medical Facilities

40 Employers & Office Parks

52 Government Facilities

52 Recreation & Other Facilities

32 Transportation Centers & Connectors 

OCTA Cutting Our Chances of Economic Recovery - Pt 2

OCTA  http://www.octa.net/ will make more cuts in September 2009, in addition to the June 2009 cuts.  This round of cuts will impact your ability to get to:

• 129 Schools and Colleges 
• 43 Shopping Centers, Malls, and Shopping Districts 
• 19 Hospitals and Medical Facilities 
• 32 Employers and Office Parks 
• 39 Civic Centers, Senior Centers , Libraries and other Government facilities
• 24 Park & Rides and Transit Connectors 
• 40 Parks, Beaches and other destinations

These cuts make it difficult to get to work, go to school, obtain medical care, go shopping for food and clothing, get books from a public library, get to a park or beach, and conduct business with the government.  If you depend on the bus, you are slowly being cut off from being able to compete in our local economy.

Trip Frequency and Service Reductions Starting September 2009

Starting in September 2009, replan your trip if you need to get to these destinations.  You can still get there, but it may be tricky, depending on when you need to be there, how long you need to stay, and what other connections you need to make to arrive at your final destination.  Here are the details:

OCTA Cutting Our Chances of Economic Recovery - Pt 1

OCTA http://www.octa.net/ is making severe, deep cuts to balance a budget.  These cuts are severe and will impact our local economy.  These cuts make it difficult to get to school, work, medical care, government facilities, other transportation, and recreational opportunities.  This will impact our recovery from the current economic crisis.  How can you hold a job you can't get to?  How can you go to college when you can't afford to get to classes?  How do you get to a doctor's appointment if you don't have a car or can't drive?

And, the cuts to service to transit connectors like Park & Rides and Metrolink stations mean no more saving money and energy with public transportation for some people.  If you can't get from the station to where you need to go, why take the train or carpool?

Where are the cuts and who will they hurt? 

• 78 Schools and Colleges have reduced service 
• 27 Shopping Centers, Malls, and Shopping Districts have less transit service
• 14 Hospitals and Medical Facilities have fewer buses available
• 17 Employers and Office Parks have fewer trips to bring employees to work
• 27 Civic Centers, Senior Centers and Libraries have fewer buses to get residents to city  services
• 22 Park & Rides and Transit Connectors have fewer ways to move people to and from the sites
• 13 Parks and Beaches have fewer trips to bring people to recreational opportunities

This is Part 1 of a series. The other stories in the series will examine the impact of the cuts starting June 14 and the proposed September 2009 cuts.

Trip Frequency and Service Reductions Starting June 14, 2009

Santa Ana FY 2008/09 Budget in Review

Santa Ana receives about 16% of Total Revenues from the Sewer and Water Enterprises, about 9% from Sales Tax, almost 6% from a Utility Users Tax, and about 11% from Property Taxes.  

Police and Fire are typical, at about 34% of the Total Expenditures.  Public Works comes in at about 34%, and Community Development is about 21%.

The city budget can be found here http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/finance/default.asp