12-17-08

 12-17-08Merced Sun-StarBellevue Ranch: City of Merced insists on bike pathWoodside Homes' insurer will be tapped to pay for construction...SCOTT JASONhttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/598085.htmlWith Woodside Homes in bankruptcy court, Merced was forced to tap the developer's insurance policy to pay for $3 million in improvements to Bellevue Ranch.The builder promised to build two bike paths with landscaping. Now, the city's forcing the firm to keep its word.Throughout the year, the city has "called in the bonds" after a developer failed to build the perks that were supposed to go along with new neighborhoods. City Attorney Greg Diaz said he never would have expected to be spending his year cleaning up after the developers. "This is highly unusual," he noted. As developments were halted, builders were still on the hook to add amenities to their projects. City lawyers have spent much of the year forcing them to live up to their promises. In July, the city called bond companies to complete about $8 million of work in North Merced. Crosswind Communities, for example, was responsible for improvements at Bellevue Ranch East. The work -- adding new lanes to G Street between Cardella and Bellevue Roads, and building two new traffic signals on G Street -- is under way.Pacific Pride was set to build 124 homes between Devonwood Drive and the BNSF Railway tracks. It also offered to renovate a separate bike path that connects West North Bear Creek Drive to the Wal-Mart. The path was removed by the developer and had to be rebuilt after the bonding company was tapped. That work has been finished.Now the city is taking the same approach with Woodside.City lawyers sent a letter Friday to Travelers Insurance to cash in about $5 million in bonds. About $2 million of it is for a one-year warranty on the work in case there are any problems.Besides paying a premium, developers back the bonds with their assets, such as land, stock and houses, Diaz said."(Calling in the bonds) has bad consequences for the developer," he said. "(The bond company) looks for everything and they're good at it."City lawyers had reached a compromise earlier this month that would force Woodside to build one of the bike paths, a cost of about $500,000, but put off the landscaping and the second path.The city wanted to avoid the landscaping for now because of the cost of maintaining it. It relies on fees charged to homeowners in the neighborhood to fund landscape crews. Of the 714 homes Woodside was scheduled to build, 186 have been finished.The council was set to vote on the plan Monday, but it had to be pulled because Woodside's creditors refused to pay for the bike path.The city was left with no other option but to cash in the bonds or face losing them.One bike path will begin at G Street and go west along Cottonwood Creek to Fahrens Creek. At R Street the bike path will head north and dead-end at Cardella Road.The path, under the failed agreement, would have been built before October. Now it's unclear when construction will start. That all depends, Diaz said, on whether the bonding company keeps its word or tries to fight its duties.Confusion delays Merced Irrigation District vote on next year's budgetBoard members, public didn't have time to review spending plan...JONAH OWEN LAMBhttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/598067.htmlThey can make the water flow -- but can they pass a budget?After numerous public meetings over more than a month, Merced Irrigation District still has no 2009 budget. MID's board of directors unanimously voted to table the proposed 2009 budget Tuesday, even though it contained, among other things, a fee increase supported by many local farmers instead of a water sale to raise revenue. There were two main issues behind the failed proposal: not enough cuts by MID management and a budget the board knew too little about. They'd received it Tuesday morning."I would like to see the line items so we can go over them," said Director Suzy Hultgren about voting on a budget of more than $77 million. She had just gotten her copy Tuesday morning.Board member Wil Hunter said much the same, noting that he had just received the budget Tuesday morning and couldn't vote on it because he didn't know what was in it. The proposed budget, which was tabled, contained a $5 acre-foot fee increase, instead of a water transfer. (An acre-foot is around 326,000 gallons of water, or a year's supply for an average Valley family.) But several board members were concerned that if they were asking farmers to pony up more fees, MID management should make more cuts on its side first."I still have not seen the cuts in this district to make it more streamlined," said Hunter. A resolution eventually was passed to continue operations without a budget after Dec. 31. The next board meeting is scheduled for Jan. 6 when a 2009 budget may or may not be voted on.Aside from a hastily prepared budget, the meeting itself didn't run smoothly. Typos in the budget documents, public confusion over the proceedings and a failure to communicate with the public and MID staff characterized the gathering.One line item on the budget was wrongly priced at $10 billion, and page numbers on the board's paperwork packets were mislabeled. One board member was missing a section of his packet. And the public had no access to the packets under discussion at all.Items in the proposed budget were instead read, line by line in some cases, by MID staff as a hard-to-see projection was shown to the room of more than 30 people in Merced's civic center.Scott Hunter, Wil Hunter's son, complained to the board about having no documents to look at to follow along. "I would love to have a budget, but I don't have access to it," he said.Tim Pellissier, the board president replied, "We got this one today." Andre Urquidez, chief financial officer of MID, expressed regrets to the crowd as he explained the budget. "For those in the crowd, I do apologize," he said. "This can be made available upon request." It appeared that several in the crowd would have liked to have seen the documents before Tuesday's confusing meetingSupervisor's donation to Merced Theatre strikes out againWhat to do with the remaining money is now up to Hub Walsh...CORINNE REILLYhttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/598076.htmlThe fourth time wasn't a charm either. After three other failed attempts, Merced County Supervisor Kathleen Crookham made one last try Tuesday to give county money to the Merced Theatre. She presented a proposal to allocate $50,000 to help restore the 1930s-era downtown theater. It failed on a 2-3 vote. Tuesday was Crookham's last chance to try for the allocation, as it was her last board meeting. She announced earlier this year that she'd retire this month after 12 years as District 2 supervisor. This spring, Crookham first proposed handing $250,000 in county money to the theater. The expenditure would have come from the county's so-called special project fund. Each year, each of the five supervisors gets a pot of taxpayer money -- this year it's $100,000 each -- to parcel out to community projects and causes in his or her district. The majority of the board must approve the expenditures.Crookham had managed to save $270,000 in special project funds by May of this year. That's when she proposed giving all but $20,000 to the Merced Theatre Foundation, which is working to restore the theater. Historically, supervisors have disbursed the money in smaller amounts to a wider variety of causes, and the allocations usually pass with little or no discussion. But Crookham's request for the theater raised objections. Other supervisors said the expenditure wouldn't be in keeping with the intent of special project funds. They said it was too much to spend on one building, especially one that doesn't belong to the county -- the theater belongs to the city of Merced -- and especially when the county faced a budget shortfall that has resulted in dozens of layoffs. Board members first voted to delay a decision on the allocation, then rejected it in June on a 3-2 vote. Crookham and Supervisor Jerry O'Banion supported it. Crookham eventually tried lowering her request to $150,000 and then $100,000 last month. The board rejected it both times. Lowering her proposal to $50,000 wasn't enough to change any minds Tuesday.That means the money will remain in the District 2 special project budget for Crookham's successor, Hub Walsh, to dole out. "You can't always get your way, I guess," Crookham said after the meeting. "I don't like giving up, but I don't think I have a choice here."Supervisor Mike Nelson said he thinks Crookham shouldn't have been allowed to bring her proposal back to the board four times, even at lower dollar amounts each time. "It's still the same thing, even if the numbers change," Nelson said. "It had been voted down three times before (Tuesday). That's enough. It's like the board has no rules of order."Nelson plans to introduce in January rules that would prevent supervisors from bringing back proposals that have already been voted down, he said. Last week Crookham presented a plan to give a total of $226,000 in special project money to 13 separate causes, which the Board of Supervisors approved. Among the largest allocations were $60,000 to install carpet at the county's main library, $25,000 to the Mercy Hospital Building Fund and $20,000 each to the Merced Fairgrounds, the Steven Stayner & Missing Children's Memorial Fund and the local American Legion Hall.-------MAY: Crookham proposes allocating $250,000 to the Merced Theatre, but supervisors vote to delay a decision.JUNE: Supervisors reject $250,000 proposal.NOV. 4: Supervisors reject Crookham's $150,000 proposal.NOV. 18: Crookham lowers her request again, this time to $100,000. Supervisors vote it down for a third time.TUESDAY: Crookham tries one last time to allocate money to the theater during her last board meeting before retirement. She proposes a $50,000 donation and it's rejected again. Our View: Why a special projects fund?...Commentshttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/181/story/596407.html?pageNum=2&mi_pluck_action=page_nav#Comments_Containerourmerced wrote on 12/16/2008 10:17:33 PM: District funds were created to enable Supervisors with unincorporated communities to help them with projects which otherwise would not likely get funded. Sort of the county version of "pork barrel". Regardless, many good projects for those communities did get funded as a result. If you want to get serious about evaluating Sup Crookham's request to fund the theatre project, then publish a list of all the projects funded by each supervisor over the time period she spent nothing. Let the public decide if her request was so inappropriate. Her district does not have the same needs as other more rural ones because most of it is in the City of Merced. But, she had an opportunity to help a project that benefits the whole county. Has she not supported the many small projects the other supervisors have received approval for? So sad we have so few supervisors who can see the county as a whole and not just their district. Small minds who enjoy big bucks....to the benefit of who?criticcritter wrote on 12/16/2008 04:43:26 PM: The Editorial asks "Why is the county dispensing funds in this way?" The answer is so simple that it beckons this commentary to say "DUH!". I believe the underlying cause for this kind of funds dispensing is POWER. Command and Control over people, organization, local politicians, influencing an issue or situation, favoritism, i.e you do this for me and I will do this for you. It gives each BOS a sense of power carrying a checkbook in their back their pockets/purse, ready to whip it out when they feel it is the appropriate time to advance their cause for recognition, status, stature, re-election, "you-owe-me-one" kickback, favoritism, etc. It gives the recipient of these funds a false sense of gratitude thinking the BOS is "on their side/cause" when it was most likely used for the BOS'self-gratification at the expense of the recipient. I think each BOS is more concerned for re-election than for the public good. Writing a check is one posture for re-election..SparringPartner wrote on 12/16/2008 08:33:16 AM: LocalYokel, my Mom's neighbors have told me about Mr. Nelson's self serving ways that started when he first took office. Named his wife Woman of the Year, gave big money to send the AHS band to Hawaii (his kid in the band) and money to the school his wife taught at to name just a few. Her neighbors don't think too much of this guy, so I am amazed that he keeps getting elected out there. BJW may be onto something with the "buying of good will" thinking. Has anyone actually been able to get a full accounting from the County on how these guys spend their share of the fat hog?? I know a few people have tried but never received a reply, even after many attempts. It's all pretty shady to me.bjw78 wrote on 12/16/2008 07:08:22 AM: The funds were increased at the suggestion of the CAO so that he could control the success or failure of each supervisor by approving or blocking the 'good will' they buy in their districts. If you didn't play ball with him, your projects never got funded or completed if already in process.bjw78wrote on 12/16/2008 07:06:21 AM: Themis hit the nail on the head. However, I find it hypocritical that Mike Nelson has the nerve to oppose the fund when he has spent more on projects that affect his own poscketbook and family than anyone else. His kids bands - trips and uniforms, school trips, special projects, his wife's school's projects. If any of the five are to be slapped on the wrist for blatant illegal use of funds, Nelson is number one. His choices benefit no one but his family and friends.More comments at:  http://www.mercedsunstar.com/181/story/596407.htmlWestside ConnectRail report raises concerns...News Staff...12-14-08     http://www.westsideconnect.com/content/view/1697/162/A report originating in Kern County raises the possibility of establishing a short-haul rail link to move shipping containers between the Shafter area and Port of Oakland on tracks which run through West Side communities – a prospect which is being greeted with concern and skepticism by local leaders.The proposal is still in its conceptual stages and faces a number of significant challenges – not the least of which are finances and finding a way to reconnect gaps in the old Southern Pacific line to create the San Joaquin Valley link with the Port of Oakland.Preliminary or not, the prospect of additional trains rumbling through an area already facing substantial impacts from the West Park project near Crows Landing is cause for consternation among city and county officials.West Park officials contend that the two projects are independent of one another and that the inland port planned for Crows Landing has no connection with the rail report, but local leaders see a cumulative impact on the rural West Side if both become reality.“Maybe it is independent, but it may have something to do with the fact that they will have a major transportation center,” said Gustine City Manager Margaret Silveira. “Whether it is independent or not, it means that Gustine has to be sitting at the table and looking out for itself.”Robert Ball, a senior planner for Kern County, said San Joaquin Valley Council of Government directors are exploring but not endorsing the possibility of creating the rail link to Oakland.Increased rail capacity for the movement of goods and agricultural commodities is critical economically and to prevent more and more freight being delivered by truck – which leads to traffic congestion and air quality concerns. No short-haul rail link currently exists to deliver San Joaquin Valley ag commodities to California ports, the concept paper points out.Ball said the concept paper envisions the track also providing passenger service which feeds into a high-speed rail system. Funding may be available for that purpose from the California High Speed Rail Bond, he noted.“The old Southern Pacific line is prime for that,” he commented. “If you can develop your community to where a lot of folks are within walking distance to commuter rail, suddenly you’ve got tremendous potential,” he said. “When I-5 is all clogged up, you have a rail system.”A pilot project operating out of Shafter on other rail lines is envisioned as a test for the viability of short-haul container transport by rail.“Let’s see if it works. If not, it (the extended line) is probably impossible,” Ball told Mattos Newspapers. “If it is successful, it sets up a precedent that says we can do it at Fresno, Crows Landing and Lathrop.”Private investment would likely be required to make the project a reality, Ball said. “We are trying to get an understanding of where the private sector wants to go. They will make the decision by investments.”He does not see a valley-Port of Oakland line carrying a large number of trains daily.“The volumes we are talking about in the San Joaquin Valley are relative small. Even if you did containerized freight, you are not going to be clogging up an entire freight line,” Ball stated.A short haul rail line would also have the advantage of freeing up capacity on existing lines for long-haul trains, he noted.Still, local leaders are not sold on the concept – and they contend the report was prepared without the knowledge of officials in Stanislaus and Merced counties.“I am very upset about it. The other counties had not even talked to Stanislaus County about this. There is certainly a sense of secrecy about what they are doing,” said Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini. “There is an effort to connect this line all the way to Bakersfield. You are talking about enormously increased rail traffic back and forth.”He questioned whether the project would qualify for state bond funding. “The high speed rail bond has nothing to do with freight,” the supervisor stated.DeMartini questioned whether the project was even feasible.“There are sections of that track which don’t exist any more, especially south of Los Banos,” he said. “Whether they can make this work or not, I don’t know.”Newman City Manager Michael Holland said Thursday he had not reviewed the concept paper in detail, but also expressed doubts about the feasibility of such a rail link.“The would have to reroute that around Los Banos, which means that they are getting into wetlands. I think there are some issues there,” he commented.Still, people are apparently looking into the possibility of doing just that, said Gustine council member Joe Oliveira.“I have known something was going on because I heard through the grapevine that the railroad people had somebody from Los Banos looking at the proposed route, although they wouldn’t expand on it too much,” he said. “Holland questioned whether the West Park environmental impact studies currently under way will take the possibility of an extended rail link to the south into consideration.Silveira agreed that should be the case, saying the projects would have a cumulative impact.West Park developer Gerry Kamilos said the Crows Landing inland port and business/industrial complex is along the same rail corridor which would be part of the proposed rail link to the south, but is a stand-alone project.West Park is an independent, self-contained program that will be analyzed as such, Kamilos said, while other projects will conduct their own environmental reviews if they move forward.Local leaders say they will closely monitor the proposal, and will be involved if the planning moves forward.Sacramento BeePublic works projects face the ax as Assembly votes fail...Jim Sandershttp://www.sacbee.com/topstories/v-print/story/1479480.htmlCalifornia public works projects totaling $5 billion are expected to begin grinding to a halt today after the Assembly balked at a Democratic plan to end the state's bitter budget standoff.Democrats and Republicans split along party lines in rejecting a roughly $19 billion package of companion bills – one for $11.3 billion in tax hikes, the other for $7 billion in spending cuts.Tuesday's vote represented a last-ditch attempt to discourage state officials from beginning to pull the plug on $5 billion in public works projects because the state is dangerously low on cash. Schwarzenegger, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Controller John Chiang are scheduled to meet today to vote on shelving the badly needed projects at a rate of about $660 million monthly.Thousands of layoffs could result from delaying construction of projects ranging from school buildings to highway improvements, Lockyer told legislators in a rare joint session last week.As Lockyer explained, local and state public works projects are financed from the state's Pooled Money Investment Account, composed mainly of the state's general operating fund, special state funds and money deposited by cities and counties.When building projects are proposed, the sponsoring entity borrows money from the fund, which is repaid when Lockyer's office sells bonds.Because of the state's poor financial condition, however, there is no market for bonds. Without bond revenue, the investment account must hoard its current revenue to fuel the state's general fund so it can pay ongoing bills.Partisan fighting has raged for weeks over whether to raise taxes in bridging a projected budget gap so severe – about $40 billion over 18 months – that the state expects to be unable to pay all its bills in February.After budget measures failed initially Tuesday night, Speaker Karen Bass placed Assembly members on call, buying time for Democratic leaders to lobby or negotiate with Republican counterparts.But the session ended without any progress."I'm very disappointed that Assembly Republicans have once again blocked a responsible plan to resolve the state's cash crisis, address a major part of the deficit, and allow badly needed transportation projects – and the jobs that go with them – to continue," Bass said in a statement.She said she "had legimately hoped we could convince some Republicans to at long last compromise and support reasonable solutions.""Clearly, they aren't interested," she said.Legislation before the Assembly consisted of revenue increases previously proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and budget cuts previously proposed by Democrats.The tax increases included a three-year, 1.5-cent sales tax increase, imposition of a 9.9 percent severance tax on oil produced in California and a nickel-a-drink increase in the alcohol tax.Budget cuts before the Assembly included a $2.5 billion reduction to K-12 education, reductions in grants for low-income, elderly, blind or disabled individuals, and a $657 million reduction to state employee compensation, to be determined through collective bargaining with labor unions.The Democrat-supported measures did not include numerous government-reform measures sought by the GOP, including a stiff state spending cap, a two-year budgeting cycle and proposals to alter labor and environmental rules in an effort to boost business and increase employment.Fifty-four votes were needed to pass the two budget-related bills before the Assembly on Tuesday.The measure targeting cuts died on an initial vote, 48-27, and the proposal to raise taxes failed 46-27.No Democrat rejected the tax hikes, but five abstained from voting: Alyson Huber of El Dorado Hills, Joan Buchanan of Alamo, Manuel Perez of Coachella, Marty Block of San Diego and Charles Calderon of Whittier.Only one Democrat, Mariko Yamada of Davis, voted against the bill proposing multibillion-dollar budget cuts, saying she could not support ending state subsidies for landowners who agree to limit use of their acreage for agricultural, scenic or open-space purposes."The agricultural community is also a vulnerable community," Yamada said of her opposition.Democrats Huber and Calderon also abstained from voting on the budget cuts.After it became clear the proposals would not pass, Democrats removed their votes so they would not appear on the official record. Winchester Country Club on track to be sold...Dale Kaslerhttp://www.sacbee.com/103/v-print/story/1479046.htmlMonths after it drove him into bankruptcy, C.C. Myers' opulent golf-course community in the Sierra foothills is on track to be sold.Winchester Country Club in Meadow Vista, which Myers spent nearly 20 years developing, is in a tentative deal to be sold to Granite Mountain Capital of Scottsdale, Ariz.Mark Isakson, a Granite Mountain managing director, said Tuesday his firm's bid won the auction for Winchester, although a contract hasn't yet been signed and the deal isn't close to being finalized. "It's a long way there yet," he said.Isakson, whose firm buys and sells troubled real estate projects, wouldn't discuss the purchase price.When Myers lost Winchester to Wachovia Bank in a May foreclosure, the bank valued the project at $25 million – a fraction of the money spent on the development.A spokeswoman said Myers was unavailable for comment.Myers, the renowned highway and bridge contractor from Sacramento, filed for Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy over his Winchester loans. He said the bankruptcy filing didn't involve his company, C.C. Myers Inc.The case is pending. Myers' lawyer David Meegan said one of the creditors, PremierWest Bank, is trying to foreclose on the home Myers is building at Winchester.In 1989 Myers purchased a former hunting preserve near Interstate 80 in Placer County and began planning Winchester, a 1,200-acre development built around an 18-hole course designed by golf architects Robert Trent Jones Sr. and his son Robert Jr.Following a decade of litigation and red tape, the project began selling lots in 2000. Winchester was aimed at high-end Bay Area and Los Angeles retirees willing to pay as much as $1 million for a lot. Those prices had fallen by 50 percent or more by this summer. About 125 of more than 400 lots have been sold.Trouble started in late 2005, when Myers borrowed $70 million to move the project forward. The real estate market faltered soon afterward, and last May he lost the project to Wachovia.Still owing about $45 million on his Winchester loans, he filed for bankruptcy protection in August.Matthew Baughman, an Auburn real estate agent with properties listed at Winchester, said the sale to Granite Mountain could create a sense of confidence on the project, possibly boosting sales of lots and existing homes."There are some sales that are going to start popping," he said. Editorial: Accept reality of limits in Deltahttp://www.sacbee.com/editorials/v-print/story/1478968.htmlCalifornia is on the cusp of crucial decisions about its water future. Plans for new reservoirs and canals are gaining traction, pushed by interests that have the most to lose from court decisions and possible droughts.Before the state plunges feet-first into a new generation of water works, though, it must recognize the limits of its hydrological heart – the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.For far too long, California has treated the Delta and its vast watershed as a resource to be tapped and exploited. Excessive pumping and diversions, from all parts of the vast watershed, have hurt fish and other wildlife. Excessive conversion of wetlands has turned the Delta into a mono-culture of sinking islands, vulnerable to floods and earthquakes. Excessive pollution has made the Delta a filthy place to draw drinking water.There's no need to demonize past acts. Water agencies built water pumps, farmers converted wetlands and cities built sewage plants long before anyone recognized the Delta as a fragile ecosystem – our version of the Everglades.But we know better now – or at least we should. As The Bee's Matt Weiser wrote in a special report on Sunday, "Recent events have revealed the truth: California is reaching the limit of its water supplies, and the economy and environment are suffering for it."How can we judge if California is taking more water from the Delta and its watershed than they can handle? Consider the evidence: Smelt are at the brink of extinction. Other species, such as salmon, are in serious peril. Federal courts are using the hammer of the Endangered Species Act to deliver a blunt message about the entire ecosystem.Dry years, when cities and farms suck more from the Delta than they do during more rainy times, are especially tough for these species. During wet years, 87 percent of the water entering the Delta makes it out to the San Francisco Bay. During dry years, the figure drops to 51 percent.If California is to have any hope of restoring the Delta and avoiding clashes with federal judges, it must develop a water plan that reduces its dependence on this estuary and strives for greater reliability.What would this plan look like? To begin with, it must be grounded in reality. Water contracts based on dated premises must be renegotiated, and efficiency should be the law of the land. Each region of the state – including Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley – must find ways to reduce what it takes from the Delta and its watershed. And environmental groups must recognize that not every species will be restored to its population predating the Gold Rush.Once all the shareholders have agreed to sacrifice, discussions over a canal – or some other option for the Delta – will go more smoothly. Without such a commitment, it's hard to imagine that environmental advocates and Northern Californians would agree to a canal that would be the vehicle for increased exports.While this page won't render judgment on a canal until a specific project has been proposed, the status quo is clearly unsustainable. A canal holds the potential of reducing environmental conflicts and allowing the state to siphon off big flows during peak years, while safeguarding the state against natural disasters. But any canal project must be premised on a recognition of limits. Promising everything to everyone is how the Delta ended up in its current mess. Stockton RecordDelta campus talks rile S.J.Supervisors warn trustees on proposal shift...Alex Breitlerhttp://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081217/A_NEWS/812170345/-1/A_NEWSSTOCKTON - The new San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees said Tuesday in its first full meeting that it needs more information before deciding whether to recommit to a south county campus in Mountain House, even as critics warned that backing out now could cost the college millions more dollars.Earlier Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors agreed to advise the college trustees that it was too late to turn back.Three of the four new Delta trustees, however, campaigned on the promise that they'd take a close look at how a dwindling pool of Measure L bond money should be spent.The previous board had decided to move forward with Mountain House while delaying plans for a Lodi campus. New trustees, however, have said Mountain House is too far from the county's population centers to serve students best.Earlier Tuesday, county supervisors voiced concern about possible changes to the Mountain House plans. Supervisors voted 3-2 to send a letter to the new Delta board urging it to learn more before it acts.The time to relocate the campus has long passed, Supervisor Leroy Ornellas said. The Delta board chose to buy the land, then later chose not to move the site to Tracy, said Ornellas, whose district includes both communities. "Nobody put a gun to the Board of Trustees' head," he said.And if the trustees pull a "stunt" such as using only portable classrooms on the site and not building permanent structures, "I think we need to take action," he said.Just what that action would be has yet to be determined, he said after the county board's meeting Tuesday.Moving the campus would require major revisions to the land-use plan outlining the future of the still-growing community on the western edge of San Joaquin County and could cause delays and cost the county, the college and Mountain House millions of dollars, according to a report delivered at the supervisors' meeting.Moving the campus also means planned schools would have to be moved, the planned jobs-housing balance would be thrown off kilter, a lengthy environmental review process might be necessary, and utility infrastructure would require redesign and reconstruction, according to the report.The supervisors are not alone in exerting pressure on the college trustees.Last month, lawyers representing Mountain House developer Gerry Kamilos sent a letter to the college, saying the college would owe him more than $16million if it doesn't build the campus on the Mountain House site.The letter says there would be "inestimable related damages as the result of the college's breach of its obligations."About $22.6million already has been spent on the site, Delta administrators said Tuesday night. More than $83million has been allocated overall.Classes in Mountain House portables are to start in June, Delta officials said.More Mountain HouseRead the letter that a lawyer for Gerry Kamilos sent Delta College, warning that the developer will seek recovery of at least $16 million if the college backs out of Mountain House...Alex Breitler's Bloghttp://online.recordnet.com/projects/blog/2008/1216trainorletter.pdf...It is our hope that, at such time as the College administration and you have presented the new trustees with the correct facts concerning the selection of the Mountain House campus, the discussion regarding the relocation of the campus to Tracy will, once and for all, be an unpleasant memory. If, however, the Board is inclined to reopen that discussion, I would remind the Board that Section 3.4 of the Reimbursement and Land Conveyance Agreement provides that, if the campus is not built at Mountain House, the College will reimburse PCCP for the infrastructure costs which PCCP paid on Delta's behalf, totaling approximately $4,300,000.In addition, Section 1E of the Settlement Agreement between PCCP and Delta College provides that if the Mountain House property is developed for any use other than Delta College, then our client has no obligation to pay the Reimbursement Fee, nor a portion of Delta's Mountain House Community Services District Fees, not to dedicate the land to satisfy Delta's PLEP obligation, nor to pay the Excess Delta Obligation. These fees total more than $11,700,000. So if the campus is not built at Mountain House, our client will expect reimbursement of at least $16,000,000. In addition to the more than $16,000,000 that will be owed to our client if the College is not built at Mountain House, Delta College will also have invested the remainder of its share of the Reimbursable Infrastructure Cost for Mountain House, totaling another $4,810,000. And, finally, our client will incur presently inestimable related damages at the result of the College's breach of its obligations...Finally, to be clear, when I speak of the "campus," I am referring to the construction of permanent building of the type anticipated in the College's Master Plan and as presented in the Measure L initiative. Our client will not consider "permanent" portable structures as a "campus" fulfilling the spirit and intent of the agreements, although we recognize the College's short-term financial limitations......should the College drop the Mountain House site in favor of any other site, please ensure that the College takes into account the reimbursement of our client as provided in the existing agreements...S.J. housing demand seen jumping...Bruce Spencehttp://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081217/A_BIZ/812170321As one of the foreclosure hot spots in the nation and with home prices falling, San Joaquin County would seem to have the biggest glut of unneeded homes in the country.But a new housing report by University of the Pacific's Business Forecasting Center says that after the housing market stabilizes over the next two years, the area will need a rapid increase in home construction to meet the needs of a growing population.From 1996 to 2003, the county's population grew more quickly than its housing stock, the report said, and prices started rising after many soft years following the recession of the early 1990s.During the most recent housing boom, from 2000 to 2007, housing growth only slightly outpaced population growth in San Joaquin County and California, the report says.The forecast for up through 2010 calls for extremely low rates of home construction, and that's again below population growth.The excess supply from the housing boom is relatively small, and the slack in the local market should be absorbed by a growing population in the next year or two, said Jeff Michael, director of University of the Pacific's Business Forecasting Center."In the next decade, new construction will need to expand to near its housing boom pace to match the projected growth of new households," he said.From 2011 to 2030, the county will need to add more than 5,000 new homes per year to meet projected population growth of 336,000, he said, adding that it's a conservative population growth estimate, compared with the state's projection of 464,000 population growth for that period.In the county, several thousand foreclosure properties will be unavailable for occupancy at any given time as they work through the legal system, he said, and that would make rising local vacancy rates a misleading indicator of real housing availability.Apartment vacancy rates in the county regularly run below 5 percent, considered excellent by the apartment rental sector. Michael said those rates run well below national rates.According to the Con-struction Industry Research Board, which tracks the building sector in California, a total of 690 permits were issued in San Joaquin County for the first 11 months of this year. That's about one-third of the total issued for the same period last year, considered to be a light year.Michael said the first challenge for home builders will be how fast production can increase, with some builders out of business and others perhaps cautious about expansion after their recent experiences."I hope he's right," Tom Doucette, president of Stockton-based FCB Homes, said of Michael's report. He agreed with the assessment."It is typical of every cycle that when you're at the bottom, you feel the momentum is irreversible, but history tells a different story," he said.He sees improvement in the new home market perhaps by 2010, and when it comes back, it will be strong once again. Builders that didn't get overextended on land and overleveraged during the last boom will be there to build, Doucette said."It's America, and investment flocks to opportunity," he said.Initially, there will be fewer builders and lenders to satisfy demand, he said, and that's why it takes longer for a construction upturn."That void will be filled, and if history is any indication, it will be filled quickly," Doucette said.Housing analyst Greg Paquin, president of the Gregory Group, a real estate information and consulting service in Folsom, said the home construction industry has been decimated by the downturn but will be able to respond quickly enough once the market has stabilized and pent-up demand kicks in."Builders like to go where they can make money," he said. "If there's an opportunity in Stanislaus County and San Joaquin County, they're agile and mobile enough to grow into it."But there are questions about development fees, the availability of land and whether a renewed boom market will send prices soaring again, he said."Aside from that, there is no doubt that when the economy is back, there will be a bigger demand than supply," Paquin said.San Francisco ChronicleNuclear Weapons complex changes approved...Tuesday, December 16, 2008http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/16/national/w152305S45.DTL&type=printableThe Energy Department gave final approval Tuesday to a program to limit the most dangerous nuclear material to five sites, improving safety and security, and consolidating management of the country's nuclear weapons.The proposals to scale back the nuclear weapons complex and its activities had been in the works for more than a year. They reflect the significant decline in the number of warheads being maintained and an expectation of further reductions.Thomas D'Agostino, head of the department's National Nuclear Security Administration, said the consolidation will "improve the safety and security of the infrastructure that maintains U.S. nuclear weapons" as nuclear material is consolidated and facilities are modernized.Representatives of President-elect Barack Obama have been briefed on the program, NNSA spokesman John Broehm said.While there is little disagreement over the general thrust of the consolidation — which will define the direction for the government's nuclear weapons research, development and testing programs — decisions on budgets, timeline or the size of specific facilities will be determined by the Obama administration.The department gave preliminary approval to consolidation in October.The program includes limiting plutonium, highly enriched uranium and production of tritium — a gas that makes warheads perform more efficiently — to just five sites, compared with seven currently.The government also would close 600 buildings and structures at the facilities and reduce the number of workers involved in weapons programs by 20 to 30 percent. None of the seven primary weapons complex facilities, including three nuclear weapons research labs, will be closed. But activities will be combined, in many cases.Plutonium stockpiles are to be removed from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in Livermore, Calif., where concerned citizen groups have protested their presence in a facility surrounded by suburban neighborhoods. Highly enriched uranium already has been taken from the Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico.The plan would:_Focus uranium manufacturing, dismantlement and research at a new center within the Y-12 Oak Ridge complex._Concentrate manufacture of plutonium triggers and other plutonium research at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico._Continue plutonium warhead assembly and disassembly at the Pantex facility near Amarillo, Texas. It also would take over some warhead surveillance work now done at Lawrence Livermore._Concentrate at the Savannah River complex near Aiken, S.C., the production of tritium. The site also is designated for storage of plutonium.The other sites affected by the plan are the Nevada Test Site; Sandia, with locations in New Mexico and California; and the Kansas City Plant in Missouri.Oklahoma files appeal in poultry litter case...JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS, Associated Press Writerhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/17/national/a003906S67.DTL&type=printableOklahoma is again hoping to stop 13 Arkansas-based poultry companies from disposing of bird waste in the Illinois River watershed.The state's 61-page appeal of an earlier judge's ruling was filed late Monday with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.Oklahoma had tried to get an injunction to halt a practice thousands of farmers have employed for decades in the 1 million-acre watershed, which occupies parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma: Taking the ammonia-reeking chicken waste — clumped bird droppings, bedding and feathers — and spreading it on their land as a low-cost fertilizer.The injunction also could have led to similar environmental lawsuits nationwide against the industry, which produced more than 48 billion pounds of chicken in 2006.But in September, U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell ruled that Oklahoma "has not yet met its burden of proving that bacteria in the waters" are "caused by the application of poultry litter rather than by other sources, including cattle manure and human septic systems."Charlie Price, spokesman for Attorney General Drew Edmondson, said that ruling "contained several troubling, and we believe inaccurate, legal interpretations that we feel compelled to present to the higher court."Jackie Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the poultry industry, said Tuesday the companies stood behind a statement they made when Oklahoma's injunction request was denied: "It's very gratifying the court gave consideration to our position in this matter and then came to the conclusion in the opinion and the order," she said.Edmondson suggests in the latest appeal that the district court didn't offer sufficient findings or conclusions in its order supporting the refusal of the injunction."Simply put, the opinion and order is severely lacking in the requisite factual findings and legal analysis," Edmondson wrote, also noting in the appeal the district judge's "brief seven-page" ruling.The attorney general also said the court was wrong to find the testimony of two expert witnesses unreliable because their work had not been peer reviewed or published.One witness, Valerie Harwood, a microbiologist and professor at the University of South Florida, testified at the injunction hearing that she used microbial source tracking to trace a path that contamination from poultry waste travels from fields into the watershed.The second witness, geochemist Roger Olsen, testified that he had identified a poultry-specific biological "signature."Edmondson sued the 13 companies in 2005, accusing them of treating Oklahoma's rivers like open sewers.Companies named in the 2005 complaint include Tyson Foods Inc., Tyson Poultry Inc., Tyson Chicken Inc., Cobb-Vantress Inc., Cal-Maine Foods Inc., Cargill Inc., Cargill Turkey Production L.L.C., George's Inc., George's Farms Inc., Peterson Farms Inc., Simmons Foods Inc., Cal-Maine Farms Inc. and Willow Brook Foods Inc.While gathering evidence for the pollution case, which figures to go to trial later in 2009, Edmondson said the state "discovered the excessive land application of poultry waste could be a danger to public health," and argued in court for the injunction earlier this year.Edmondson had requested the legal remedy by this year's spring rains, arguing that bacteria found the waste could pose a health threat to the 155,000 people who recreate in the river valley annually.The Oklahoma-Arkansas region supplies roughly 2 percent of the nation's poultry, and is one of several areas nationally where the industry is most concentrated. More than 1,800 poultry houses are in the watershed, most of them in Arkansas.Santa Cruz SentinelCapitola man convicted in San Mateo County of harassing UC researchers, also faces charges in Marin County...Jennifer Squireshttp://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_11251639A Capitola man pleaded no contest Tuesday to charges he made threatening phone calls to two UC San Francisco scientists who perform research on animals.For one week in September 2007, Justin Bhagat Thind, 33, reportedly called the researchers, both of whom live in San Mateo County, incessantly, and told them they would suffer the same way the animals suffered, according to Steve Wagstaffe, chief deputy district attorney in San Mateo County.Thind also faces similar charges in Marin County, where three other UCSF researchers he allegedly harassed live.In San Mateo County, Thind had been charged with five felonies and one misdemeanor, and was scheduled to go to trial in February. However, during a pretrial conference Tuesday afternoon, Thind took a plea deal that carries a punishment of up to six months in jail."Those to charges, in our mind, accurately reflected the conduct," Wagstaffe said.Thind was arrested in Santa Cruz County in July after investigators used cell phone records to trace the calls back to him, according to Wagstaffe. He remains free on a $100,000 bail bond but will be sentenced in San Mateo County by Judge Clifford Cretan on Feb. 2.Wagstaffe said there's no evidence Thind's behavior has escalated beyond the harassing phone calls "but it instilled some very deep-seated fear in the victims, one of the victims in particular," the deputy district attorney said. "It created a great deal of fear because he was told he was going to die." Thind has no prior record and it is believed he acted alone, Wagstaffe said. According to his MySpace page, which Wagstaffe said was looked at during the investigation, Thind graduated from UC Northridge with a degree in communication studies in 2003. He listed his profession as "Revolutionary/Truthseeker/Shitkicker/Vegan Freak" and the Web page includes dozens of photos and videos about animal cruelty in the food industry and in scientific research. He lists "Animal Rights/Activism/Vegan Lifestyle" and "Animal Liberation" top in his interests."His exact connection to any of these animal rights extremists groups are very tentative," Wagstaffe said. "He's interested in them but we're not sure what level of participation he has."Across the state, UC scientists who perform research on animals have been the target of harassment, vandalism and violence.In Santa Cruz, two violent animal rights protests in February and late July remain under investigation by the FBI. Officials there were not available to comment Tuesday, but local authorities said Thind was not a suspect in those incidents, which included a home invasion attack at the Westside home of one UC Santa Cruz biomedical researcher in February. In July, protestors firebombed the home of another UCSC researcher and the car of a third scientist.Biomedical researchers at UC Berkeley and UCLA also have been threatened or attacked. This week, a group that calls themselves "Hackers for Total Liberation" sent computer viruses to eight researchers at a UC Berkeley neuroscience lab, according to the North America Animal Liberation Press Office.Los Angeles TimesKayaker leaves the Army Corps of Engineers...Bettina Boxall...Greenspacehttp://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2008/12/kayaker-leaves.htmlA U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staffer who was facing discipline for joining a protest on the Los Angeles River has said bye-bye to government work.In the settlement of a whistle-blower complaint, Heather Wylie left the Ventura office of the corps earlier this month but admitted no wrongdoing in her weekend kayaking trip down the Los Angeles River last July. According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which represented Wylie, the biologist is preparing for law school, where she's going to learn how to file environmental lawsuits against her former employer.Wylie paddled down the L.A. River to prove that the much abused, runoff-filled waterway was traditionally navigable, a legal distinction that determines whether Clean Water Act protections apply to upstream, seasonal tributaries. The corps had concluded that most of the river was not, weakening protections. The navigability standard is part of a national fight over a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that muddied the application of federal clean water regulations. In a memo released today, the majority staff of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform reported that enforcement of the Clean Water Act has suffered since the court's decision.The staff reviewed 20,000 pages of documents from the corps and the Environmental Protection Agency and found that in the wake of the ruling and the Bush administration's interpretation of it, there has been a "dramatic decline in the number of Clean Water Act inspections, investigations and enforcement actions."The memo also outlines some political meddling in navigability determinations for the Santa Cruz River in Arizona.A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staffer who was facing discipline for joining a protest on the Los Angeles River has said bye-bye to government work.In the settlement of a whistle-blower complaint, Heather Wylie left the Ventura office of the corps earlier this month but admitted no wrongdoing in her weekend kayaking trip down the Los Angeles River last July. According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which represented Wylie, the biologist is preparing for law school, where she's going to learn how to file environmental lawsuits against her former employer.Wylie paddled down the L.A. River to prove that the much abused, runoff-filled waterway was traditionally navigable, a legal distinction that determines whether Clean Water Act protections apply to upstream, seasonal tributaries. The corps had concluded that most of the river was not, weakening protections. The navigability standard is part of a national fight over a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that muddied the application of federal clean water regulations. In a memo released today, the majority staff of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform reported that enforcement of the Clean Water Act has suffered since the court's decision.The staff reviewed 20,000 pages of documents from the corps and the Environmental Protection Agency and found that in the wake of the ruling and the Bush administration's interpretation of it, there has been a "dramatic decline in the number of Clean Water Act inspections, investigations and enforcement actions."The memo also outlines some political meddling in navigability determinations for the Santa Cruz River in Arizona.San Diego Union-TribuneGovernor's aides OK water strategyNorth-south canal, conservation parts of proposal...Michael Gardner, U-T Sacramento Bureauhttp://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/dec/17/1n17delta005653-governors-aides-ok-waterstrategy/?uniontribSACRAMENTO — A team of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's top advisers settled on a new water strategy yesterday, promoting a contentious mix of dams and a new canal to keep supplies flowing to Southern California while at the same time restoring the health of the fragile Sacramento delta. The price tag, according to some estimates, could be between $12 billion and $24 billion over the next 15 years. Their proposal, outlined yesterday, does not stray far from Schwarzenegger's preferred approaches to attacking California's water problems. Schwarzenegger is expected to lay out his priorities as part of his annual State of the State address in early January. “We've been consistent. Now we're putting the meat on the bones. Our sense is we're on track with what he's recommending,” said Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman, panel chairman. The ambitious plan also will be submitted to the legislative cauldron, where approval is required for many of the initiatives. Lawmakers, already paralyzed by gridlock over a massive state budget deficit, have wrestled with conflicts over dams and water-delivery systems for years. The major projects in the plan are big-ticket, making a 2010 water bond all that more important, Chrisman said. But, as with many other water issues, lawmakers have failed to strike a deal, most recently a $10.8 billion bond proposal that included a down payment for dams. Absent a broad fix, the state risks a collapse of the delta – an apocalyptic prediction with some substance. Conflicting demands for water have pushed some fish to the brink of extinction, the waterways are growing more polluted and one major earthquake or flood could cut off water supplies to Southern California, destroy a vital network of highways, topple a crucial transmission line and rupture pipelines. The panel of cabinet secretaries and chief of the Public Utilities Commission recommends a series of actions to improve water quality, coordinate growth, restore ecosystems and protect levees. Importantly, panelists say, the state must push ahead with a new canal and reservoirs, saying there is just too much pressure on water supplies to ignore. The timetable could be overly ambitious: completion by 2030. The panel's proposal for the north-to-south delivery canal calls for its route and size to be identified by 2010. Studies are under way to determine the best alternative. A new conveyance system, while gaining political traction, must still overcome the ghost of the Peripheral Canal defeated by voters in 1982 out of fears it would drain the north and the environment of crucial water supplies to meet the demands of Southern California. Two-thirds of California's drinking water flows through the delta, including more than a third of the San Diego County Water Authority's supply. Under the plan, Californians could be slapped with more fees for less water, although final decisions on cost will be left to lawmakers and other regulatory agencies. Urban water agencies should switch to policies that would escalate the price of water if customers exceed a threshold, according to the plan. The report includes a call for a dramatic increase in conservation, perhaps as much as 20 percent per capita by 2020. But similar legislation failed in the Senate this year. The panel also recommends that the state triple the amount of seawater turned into drinking water by 2020. The Coastal Commission has been reluctant to approve such projects because of potential harm to the marine environment. Planning panel rejects Oceanside asphalt plant...Michael Burge http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/dec/17/planning-panel-rejects-oceanside-asphalt-plant/zIndex=23843OCEANSIDE — The Oceanside Planning Commission has rejected a proposal for a city-operated asphalt plant, saying the effects it would have on noise levels, odors and traffic were unclear.City staff members proposed the plant for El Corazon, in the heart of the city at Oceanside Boulevard and El Camino Real. The land is expected to become a park someday.The plan called for operating the asphalt plant for five years with no renewals permitted. The city stood to make $1 million a year.The commission rejected the project 5-2 at its meeting Monday night.“I'm really torn,” said Commissioner Louise Balma, who voted to allow the project. “I don't like the idea of an asphalt plant, but if you look at what they (city planners) did, there's a lot of thought put into this.”The decision can be appealed to the City Council.Commissioners also rejected, on a 5-2 vote, a proposed shopping center at Oceanside Boulevard and Melrose Drive. They said it was a vehicle-oriented development across the street from a train station, and unfriendly to pedestrians, bicyclists and neighbors.Commissioners told the developer that it needed to be redesigned to encourage pedestrian and bicycle use and promote access from future residential projects. Council OKs funding for golf course's '09 deficit ...Michael Burgehttp://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/dec/17/1m17golf063636-council-oks-funding-golf-courses-09/?zIndex=23841CARLSBAD — The Carlsbad City Council voted unanimously yesterday to cover the municipal golf course's $1.6 million deficit for 2009, saying it was too early to change the financial strategy for the year-old course. Expenses for the course, The Crossings at Carlsbad, are expected to be $8 million versus $6.4 million in revenues. The budget anticipates a drop in course play revenue to $3.2 million from $3.4 million because of the declining economy. The city's finance director, Lisa Irvine, said that the course's $2.5 million in food and beverage revenues for 2009 will be higher than the $2.3 million earned for 2008 because event demand for the clubhouse is high. The budget anticipates $718,000 in unitemized revenue. Mark Tanner, a Carlsbad resident, questioned the budget figures and suggested that the council develop a new strategy. “I really think we're going to have a tougher year than what's projected,” said Tanner, a Carlsbad schools trustee and former chief financial officer for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and Pepsico International. Tanner said he never agreed with the decision to build the $68 million course, but now that the city owns it the council must make it work for the city. He suggested four options: Raise the fees, reduce management costs, change the course's use to something else or sell it. “Sometimes when you make a wrong decision . . . you have to go back and change the decision,” Tanner said. Mayor Bud Lewis recounted the decisions that led to the course's $68 million construction cost, including requirements by environmental resource agencies to establish habitat in half of the course's 400 acres. The budget includes $510,000 for habitat and $1.1 million to pay down debt in 2009. “The majority of the council looked at it as a futuristic approach,” Lewis said. “I think in the long run, beyond my life(time), this golf course will be a blessing to Carlsbad.” Councilman Mark Packard said the council expected the course to break even after five to seven years, and then turn a profit. He said that may take longer with the recession. “I think it would be way premature to walk away from it at this point,” Packard said. Washington PostConservation groups sue to stop Utah drilling plan...The Associated Presshttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/17/AR2008121702113_pf.htmlWASHINGTON -- Conservation groups are suing the Interior Department to try to block what they call a "fire sale" of oil-and-gas drilling leases in Utah.The Bureau of Land Management has scheduled an auction Friday to sell drilling leases covering more than 100,000 acres of wild land in eastern Utah.The Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups object to leasing land that they call a cultural treasure.Actor Robert Redford, a longtime environmental activist, called the lease sale "morally criminal." Redford, who spends six months a year in Utah, said that once the land is disturbed by trucks and oil rigs, it can never be restored to its original state.New York TimesEditorial...Fixing Interiorhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/opinion/17wed1.html?sq=mining&st=cse&scp=4&pagewanted=printSenator Ken Salazar, the Colorado Democrat who is President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for secretary of the interior, will inherit a department riddled with incompetence and corruption, captive to industries it is supposed to regulate and far more interested in exploiting public resources than conserving them. No cabinet post is as critical to the integrity of the nation’s parks, its open spaces and its animal species. Mr. Obama, and his environmental adviser in chief, Carol Browner, must be prepared to offer Mr. Salazar full support, especially in fending off the ranchers and the oil, gas, mining and other special interests who have always found the Interior Department to be a soft target, never more so than in the Bush administration.Mr. Salazar’s most urgent task will be to remove the influence of politics and ideology from decisions that are best left to science. Just as Mr. Salazar’s name was surfacing for the job, Earl Devaney, currently the department’s inspector general, reported to Congress that on 15 separate occasions the department’s political appointees had weakened protections for endangered species against the advice of the agency’s scientists, whose work they either ignored or distorted. This sort of meddling has become standard operating procedure. Julie MacDonald, a former deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, resigned last year after an earlier report found that she had run roughshod over agency scientists and violated federal rules by giving internal documents to industry lobbyists. Mr. Salazar’s second big task will be to achieve a rational balance between the department’s oil and gas leasing program and its obligation to protect environmentally sensitive lands and the wildlife that depend on them. Reconciling energy and environmental demands has never been easy, but some interior secretaries — notably Bruce Babbitt, who served under President Bill Clinton — have proceeded with greater care than others. Mr. Bush’s Interior Department, driven largely by Vice President Dick Cheney’s drill-here, drill-now energy strategy, has aggressively issued new leases and drilling permits in areas that not only deserve to be left alone but that also, even if fully exploited, would add only marginally to the nation’s energy supply.The third big task will be to deal with departmental corruption, some of it extending back many years. In September, the industrious Mr. Devaney delivered three reports to Congress detailing widespread corruption in the Minerals Management Service, the division responsible for granting offshore oil leases and collecting royalties. According to Mr. Devaney, officials accepted gifts, steered contracts to favored clients and engaged in drugs and sex with oil company employees. “Short of a crime,” Mr. Devaney said, “anything goes at the Department of the Interior.”He referred, of course, to personal behavior. But the department’s failings go beyond that to its coziness with the industries it is sworn to regulate, its reckless assault on the country’s natural resources and its abuse of science. Mr. Salazar has his work cut out for him.CNN MoneyThe dead mall problem Experts say Atlanta, Las Vegas, and retail hubs in California and Florida are at real economic risk if thousands of more stores shutter in 2009...Parija B. Kavilanzhttp://money.cnn.com/2008/12/17/news/economy/retail_wasteland/index.htm?postversion=2008121710NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As the recession leaves more retail casualties in its wake, rising store bankruptcies and mall closures could have devastating economic consequences. As more stores exit malls, vacancies in regional malls could rise past 7% by year-end, a level not hit since the first quarter of 2001, according to real estate research firm Reis. Major cities across America will be affected, said David Birnbrey, Chairman and co-CEO of Atlanta-based The Shopping Center Group, a retail real estate services firm.Both Birnbrey and Susan Wachter, professor with University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Real Estate Department, warn the social and economic impact of empty stores can be devastating."One of the biggest consequences [of store and mall closings] is the loss of a sense of community," Birnbrey said. "I am a big believer that malls are an essential part of Americana. A mall is a place where people gather and socialize."In addition, many municipalities are heavily dependent on retailers for the tax revenue and jobs that they generate. For example, Montgomery County, Pa., gets as much as 50% of its tax revenue from the local King of Prussia mall, said Wachter.The impact will be felt on local police service, schools and roads, said Birnbrey.The village of North Randall in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, is on the verge of extinction after a challenging economic and competitive climate has crippled business at the Randall Park Mall. The shopping center, once the largest enclosed mall in the greater Cleveland area, is closing after 32 years. [Read story] The pain could be far reaching. "The Midwest, California, Florida, Atlanta and Arizona are very vulnerable to a retail recession," said Wachter.Forecasts look bleakThe International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), in its most recent forecast, expects that 6,100 chain stores will shutter this year, the highest level since 2004 "as the U.S. recession continues to take its toll on the retail sector and its job market."In 2009, the ICSC estimates that store closings could exceed 3,100 in just the first half of the year. However, the number of potential closings rises exponentially when the firm takes into account both public and private sector businesses.The ICSC projects that about 148,000 retail establishments - both public and private - will go out of business this year and another 73,000 stores will close in the first half of 2009.The ICSC projects that about 625,000 retail jobs will be eliminated this year "with little change in the pace for early 2009."Fewer retailers means less competition and fewer places to shop. "Right now everyone is euphoric over the big sales," Birnbrey said. "Once the holiday season is over then we could get this monopolistic situation where the [retail] survivors realize that they don't need to be as competitive on prices."Is America too 'overstored'?But not everyone sees a dead mall as a negative development. "Our country has six times more retail space per capita than any other county," said Ellen Dunham-Jones, director of the architecture program at Georgia Institute of Technology."We're just cannibalizing our existing stores by building more stores even when sales aren't increasing," she said. "We were long due for a retail correction and we're going through it now."Dunham-Jones said big-box enclosed malls have become a dying breed as more shoppers prefer going to shop at strip malls or "lifestyle" open-air malls."The good news is that this isn't the first time we'll see dead malls," she said. In an upcoming book, "Reftrofitting Suburbia," co-authored by Dunham Jones, she's included case studies of more than 100 places across North America that have turned dead malls or big-box stores into thriving community centers.What's needed, she said, is for the public and private sector to be opportunistic and develop the 100 acres of prime mall space for mixed community use like schools, libraries and new housing.John Norquist, a former mayor of Milwaukee who now lectures on urban planning, agreed with Dunham-Jones."There's no disgrace in a dead mall," Norquist said. "In Milwaukee, we had one department store, Boston Store, in the downtown area. When that went away and the rest of retailing went into the suburbs, we focused in developing the empty space into housing and I gave fast permits."Norquist rationalized that more housing would eventually attract more retailing. "Milwaukee opened up for [retail] business in 2001 and it's continued to grow," he said.But Wharton's Wachter remained unconvinced. She said any talk of redevelopment in this environment is "unrealistic.""Everything that has been suggested needs funding. There's no money for these adaptive reuses [of retail space] for communities," she said.Birnbrey's criticism was somewhat harsher. "It's human nature to put a positive light on a bad situation," he said. "It's just a case of hope springs eternal."Morgan Stanley suffers $2.3 billion lossRoiled by broader market turmoil, the Wall Street firm reported much worse-than-expected results in latest quarter; but stock up on the news...David Ellishttp://money.cnn.com/2008/12/17/news/companies/morgan_stanley/index.htm?postversion=2008121712NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Morgan Stanley reported a massive $2.3 billion quarter loss Tuesday that surpassed even the most dire predictions by analysts.The nation's No. 2 investment bank posted a net loss of $2.24 a share, during the fourth quarter - a period defined by the collapse of Lehman Brothers and unprecedented market turmoil. Including results from discontinued operations, the company said it lost $2.34 a share.Either way, the results were far worse than what analysts were anticipating. Consensus estimates were for a loss of $298 million, or 34 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.Just a month ago, analysts were widely expecting Morgan Stanley to report a narrow profit for the quarter. But they steadily lowered their earnings expectations for the firm given the ongoing volatility in the financial markets. John Mack, Morgan Stanley's chairman and CEO, blamed the quarter's results on unprecedented turmoil that has roiled the stock and credit markets and the entire financial services sector."These exceptional market conditions profoundly impacted our performance this year, especially in the fourth quarter," Mack said in a statement.Investors, however, seem unfazed by the news. Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) shares, which have lost more than 60% of their value since Labor Day, were up about 2% in afternoon trading Wednesday. The stock did fall in the morning following the release of the results.A closer lookNearly all of Morgan Stanley's key businesses were hit hard during the quarter. Revenues in its investment banking-related division tumbled from a year ago, as did the results of the company's prime brokerage business, which caters to hedge fund clients.Morgan Stanley's asset management division, typically a consistent performer for the firm, was hit hard during the quarter by losses related to real estate and private equity. In addition, Morgan Stanley said there was a surge in the number of asset management customers cutting ties with the firm."Just the magnitude of the outflows is amazing - in a bad way," said Michael Wong, an equity analyst at research firm Morningstar.Employees at Morgan Stanley suffered as a result of the dismal performance during the quarter as the company's bonus pool was cut in half from a year ago. Earlier this month, Mack opted to forgo his annual bonus for 2008, representing the second straight year he would not collect one.Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in mid-September, Morgan Stanley has scrambled to shore up its capital position.The company raised nearly $25 billion in capital during the quarter, the bulk of which came from a $9 billion investment from the Japanese financial firm Mitsubishi UFJ (MTU) and $10 billion from the U.S. government as part of the bank bailout.The New York City-based firm has made it clear it is looking to bulk up on deposits as a way of shoring up its funding sources. It has been widely reported that Morgan Stanley is looking at potential acquisitions of regional banks and has hired two retail banking veterans to help with those efforts.At the same time, Morgan Stanley has scaled back on leveraged bets by cutting back on its residential mortgage origination business and its proprietary trading unit, which uses the firm's own money to make investments.As a result, Morgan Stanley's total assets are down by more than a third so far this year to $658 billion, the company said Wednesday.During a conference call with investors Wednesday, Colm Kelleher, Morgan Stanley's chief financial officer, said he expected the near-term environment to be very challenging, and warned that it could take additional writedowns in the future."We are expecting 2009 to be a year of transition," said Kelleher.While painful, Wednesday's fourth-quarter numbers still paled in comparison to the same period a year ago. Morgan Stanley recorded a $3.59 billion loss during the same period in 2007 as a result of massive writedowns on its mortgage-related securities.Just a day earlier, crosstown rival Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) reported a loss of about $2.1 billion, its first since the company went public in 1999.