The Tattler Sunday News Report Returns Again, But Not Without Some Doubts
http://sierramadretattler.blogspot.com/
June 16, 2013
(Mod: As you might have suspected, the traffic numbers on this blog decrease markedly on the weekends. Let's face it, The Sierra Madre Tattler
is a productivity killer read mostly by people sitting in offices who
should be doing what they are being paid to do, but often are not. On
the weekends when people actually have some room to breathe they're away
from their computers and doing other things. In an attempt to stem this
audience erosion we instituted the Tattler Sunday News, but it
didn't work. It's not like anyone has to go out of their way to find
information these days, with the real trick being to spare yourself the
sheer mind numbing bulk quantities of the easily found stuff. But
despite the disappointing results we are going to try this one more
time. If anything we are stubborn.)
Sierra Madre Is Hiring! (link)
Police Officer Lateral / Entry Level - Closes June 20, 2013
Location: Sierra Madre, California, United States | Department: Police Department
The Position: Under general supervision, protects life and property,
prevents crime, arrests criminals, and generally enforces laws and
ordinances; responsible for designated areas; works assigned shifts; may
be assigned to patrol by driving or walking.
Salary & Benefits: The City’s compensation and benefits package includes:
Annual salary range $53,221 - $74,716 DOQ (payable bi-weekly)
Up to $650 per month for health, dental and vision insurance coverage
for employee and family; plus 25% of the cost in excess of $650/mo
$50,000 ADD and life insurance
Flexible Spending Accounts
3/12 Work Schedule
Annual paid leave of: 88 hours of vacation (increasing after 5 years of service)
104 hours of holiday leave
Annual sick leave accrual of 96 hours
PERS Retirement - City participates in the CalPERS retirement system.
Safety employees who were CalPERS members prior to January 1, 2013 are
enrolled in the 3%@55 formula; City pays 4% of employee share and counts
it toward final retirement compensation. Employees enrolled in CalPERS
after January 1, 2013 will be enrolled in the 2.7%@57 formula; City will
pay 50% of the "normal cost". No participation in social security.
The City pays all employer taxes required under Federal, State and Local laws
Uniform Allowance: $80 ever 28 days
$5,000 Signing Bonus, $2,500 payable upon appointment and $2,500 after passing probationary period
(Mod: This generous job offer went out as a "Tweet" that was picked
up on the Pasadena Star News site. It apparently is also posted on the
City's Facebook page. Pretty good deal, a job with a 3 day work week
that offers decent pay and stellar benefits. Though it does kind of fly
in the face of all we're hearing from City Hall these days about cutting
back on hiring in order to reduce costs. But you know how that one
goes. There is what we're supposed to hear, and then there is what is
actually going on.)
German bank employee naps on keyboard, transfers millions (link)
An obviously tired German bank employee fell asleep on his keyboard and
accidentally transformed a minor transfer into a 222 million euro ($293
million) order, a court heard Monday.
The Hessen labor court heard that the man was supposed to transfer just
62.40 euros from a bank account belonging to a retiree, but instead
"fell asleep for an instant, while pushing onto the number 2 key on the
keyboard" -- making it a huge 222,222,222.22 euro order.
The bank discovered the mistake shortly afterwards and corrected the error.
The case was taken to court by the man's 48-year-old colleague who was
fired for letting the mistake slip through when verifying the order. The
court ruled that the plaintiff should be reinstated in his job.
(Mod: I would like a bank employee to fall asleep on my account. That
way I can buy a Harley Davidson and spend three months driving it to
Alaska and back. Is that really a lot to ask?)
Americans'
Confidence in Congress Falls to Lowest on Record - Congress ranks last
on list of 16 institutions; military earns top spot again (link)
Americans' confidence in Congress as an institution is down to 10%,
ranking the legislative body last on a list of 16 societal institutions
for the fourth straight year. This is the lowest level of confidence
Gallup has found, not only for Congress, but for any institution on
record. Americans remain most confident in the military, at 76%.
Small business and the police also continue to rank highly, with 65% and
57% of Americans, respectively, expressing "a great deal" or "quite a
lot" of confidence in these institutions. Joining Congress at the bottom
of the list are Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and organized
labor. Congress' low position is further underscored when one looks at
the percentage of Americans who have little or no confidence in each
institution. The slight majority of Americans, 52%, have this level of
confidence in Congress, compared with 31% for HMOs.
Americans' confidence in several institutions measured in the June 1-4
Gallup poll has shifted since last year. Americans have become more
confident in banks, organized religion, and public schools, and less
confident in the U.S. medical system, the Supreme Court, and Congress.
(Mod: Here is the part that confuses me. People say they hate
Congress, and rightfully so. But then they go and re-elect the same
boobs year after year. There are plenty of fine third party candidates
out worth voting for, so why not do it? Wouldn't it be great if we threw
BOTH parties out? Trust me, they'll never worry about the desires of
the voters until that happens.)
Where's the Cheapest Gas in Sierra Madre? (
link)
Nationwide, gas prices were predicted to be lower this summer compared
to the last three years, but that won't translate into savings at the
pump this Memorial Day weekend, experts said. Purdue University
economist Wally Tyner expects gas prices on the West Coast to go over
$4, with prices in the $3 range everywhere else in the country,
according to the Associated Press.
"Motorists this year are facing rising gas prices heading into the
Memorial Day holiday," said Michael Green, a AAA spokesman, adding that
Memorial Day 2013 would probably be the most expensive since 2011.
(Mod: We only have two gas stations in Sierra Madre, so this is kind
of an odd premise for a news article. Of course, this is one of those
goofy Patch robo-stories where each and every Patch in the area is
plugged in to the same article and only the name of the city is
changed.)
US Sets New House Size Record In 2012 (
link)
There have been numerous press reports about the expansion of micro
housing, and expectations that Americans will be reducing the size of
their houses. As the nation trepidatiously seeks to emerge from the
deepest economic decline since the 1930s, normalcy seems to be returning
to US house sizes.
According to the latest new single-family house size data from the US
Census Bureau, the median house size rose to an all-time record of 2306
square feet in 2012. This is slightly above the 2277 square feet median
that was reached at the height of the housing bubble in 2007 (Figure).
The average new house size (2,505 square feet) remains slightly below
the 2007 peak of 2,521 square feet.
There was little coverage in the media, with the notable exception of
Atlantic Cities, in which Emily Badger repeated the expectation of many:
“It appeared after the housing crash that the American appetite for
ever-larger homes was finally waning. And this would seem a logical
lesson learned from a recession when hundreds of thousands of households
found themselves stuck in cavernous houses they neither needed nor
could afford.”
But she concluded “Perhaps we have not changed our minds after all.” Well stated.
(Mod: Modern families need lots of bathrooms.)
Demand Surges for Transit-Oriented Housing (
link)
Speaking of the economics of mass transit … The good news is that
residential property prices are surging around mass transit stations. In
the clearest of possible signals, the marketplace is telling us that
there is strong demand among large swaths of the American population for
access to mass transit service. People are willing to pay a lot more
for the convenience.
The bad news (there had to be a downside) is that affluent Americans are
displacing poor and working-class residents from transit-accessible
housing. Thus, the population that relies upon transit the most has less
access than before, the Wall Street Journal today. Writes the Journal:
Professors at Northeastern University in Boston examined 42
neighborhoods in 12 U.S. cities in 2010 and found that housing costs
near rail stops increased after light-rail service started in many
markets. “A new transit station can set in motion a cycle of unintended
consequences in which core transit users…are priced out in favor of
higher-income, car-owning residents,” the authors wrote.
(Mod: Let me get this straight. You build low income transit oriented
housing, and then magically the prices go up and these wickiups are
affordable only to affluent people who drive cars? The planet is
doomed.)
Assembly to weigh constitutional amendment on local taxes, bonds (link)
The budget won't be the only big issue being considered by the Assembly
on Friday. Democrats have scheduled a vote on a controversial
constitutional amendment that would make it easier for cities and
counties to raise property taxes or issue bonds to pay for
infrastructure improvements.
Under the amendment, bond issue proposals would need only 55% of the
vote to pass, rather than the current two-thirds. The same reduced
threshold would apply to votes on raising property taxes to cover the
cost of the borrowing.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. said the decision to hold a vote on
the measure on the same day as the budget was a "sneak attack on
property owners" and Proposition 13, the 1978 constitutional amendment
limiting property taxes.
The measure's author, Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield (D-Woodland Hills),
noted that school districts can already pass bonds with 55% of the vote.
He said in a statement that his amendment would provide cities "with
new tools to invest in their prosperity."
He added, "California is in an untenable position that jeopardizes our
economy, jobs and way of life. Most of our infrastructure was designed
and built over 40 years ago to accommodate a much smaller population."
The amendment is, in part, a response to the failure of Measure J, a Los
Angeles tax initiative that fell barely short of the two-thirds vote
needed to pass.
If Blumenfield's amendment is approved by the Assembly, it could still
face opposition in the upper house. Senate leader Darrell Steinberg
(D-Sacramento) has said lawmakers should hold off on tinkering with
local tax laws until at least next year.
The amendment would also need to be approved by California voters, and
could wind up on the next June primary ballot unless lawmakers schedule
it differently.
(Mod: Yes, let's make it easier for local governments to raise taxes
and sell more bonds. It is the solution to all of our problems.)
Bear captured in Sierra Madre after pursuit through town (
link)
A young black bear with police in pursuit took a meandering trip through
Sierra Madre this week, past City Hall and downtown businesses and
through alleys, backyards and apartment complexes before being captured
and returned to the mountains.
The female bear was first spotted just after 10:30 a.m. Monday at
Grandview Avenue and Lima Street by Ben Rillorta, who heard his border
collie barking and saw the bear in his backyard. The bear escaped over a
fence, made its way to the street and headed south, Rillorta said.
He notified
Sierra Madre police, who met up with the bear at the historic Pinney
House and tried to corral it and push it north toward the mountains,
police Chief Larry Giannoni said. But the bear jumped through yards and
continued south to busy Sierra Madre Boulevard, where it eventually
traveled past the police station, City Hall, downtown businesses and
surprised bystanders.
Hanh Le, a
manicurist at Tropical Nail Spa, looked out the salon's glass storefront
on Sierra Madre Boulevard and noticed a police car making a U-turn.
Then she saw the bear running down the street and on the sidewalk in
front of the salon. "I said, 'Oh my God, bear!'" Everyone ran out to
look, she said.
Police pushed
the bear off the main drag to keep it out of the Kersting Court dining
and shopping area, and it passed behind the city's post office before
crossing Baldwin Avenue, Giannoni said. Officers thought they had the
animal contained in a nearby residential area, but after resting the
bear escaped and continued east.
As the bear
traveled through the San Gabriel Valley town, accompanied by police cars
and circling helicopters, the city updated residents on Facebook and
Twitter and asked people to steer clear of the frightened animal.
(Mod: There are two ways that Sierra Madre gets the attention of the L.A. County media. One is mudslides, the other is bears.)
