1-23-09

 
1-23-09
Merced-Sun-Star
Governor appoints Merced County judge
Proietti is a longtime Merced attorney in private practice...SCOTT JASON
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/653375.html
Donald J. Proietti, a private-practice civil attorney, was appointed as a Merced County judge Wednesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"He has selected me to do a very important job," 54-year-old Proietti said Thursday after the decision was made public. "I'm humbled and honored to serve the community where I grew up."
His appointment brings Merced County Superior Court's judicial bench up to eight. It's still down by one judge, and another two should be appointed mid-year, though the state's budget crisis may change that.
Proietti, a Democrat, said he hopes to join the bench mid-March, giving him time to close out some cases and transfer others at the law firm where he's worked since 1979, Allen, Proietti & Fagalde.
As a judge, he will make $178,789 a year.
He earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego and a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, Tucson.
Proietti began as an associate at the firm and became a partner in 1983.
At the suggestion of his wife, who believed he had the right temperament for the bench, he considered seeking a judgeship. "I reached a point in my career when I was looking for a new challenge," he said.
He applied in February 2008 for the position created by a 2006 bill that authorized 50 more judges across the state.
The vetting process, which included interviews, confidential critiques by colleagues and a lengthy application, took more than a year.
After legal experience, a judge's temperament is key, he said. It's important for residents, whether they win or lose, to walk out of the courtroom feeling that their side was heard and justly considered, he said. "For people walking in for the first time, it's a very intimidating experience," Proietti noted.
The appointment brings a bit of relief to the cadre of the judges, Presiding Judge John Kirihara said.
"We are overloaded and understaffed," Kirihara said. "Any help lessens the load."
On average, county judges across the state hear between 2,500 and 3,000 cases each year. In Merced, that case load is about 7,000, Kirihara said.
Court leaders will meet with Proietti to discuss what type of cases -- civil or criminal -- he will hear when he begins.
Modesto Bee
Slumping home prices boost area sales...John Holland. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.modbee.com/business/v-print/story/574655.html
Home prices continued to slip in Stanislaus County last month, although at a slower rate than in most of 2008. Prices dropped as well in Merced, San Joaquin and Tuolumne counties, evidence that the three-year housing slump is still playing out.
Stanislaus County's median sale price was $157,500 in December, down 1.6 percent from November, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego County, a real estate tracking firm.
Year-to- year, the change is more pronounced. Last month's median price was 44 percent below the $281,250 in December 2007 and 60 percent off the $396,000 in December 2005, when the bubble was at its biggest.
The county's median price now is where it was in early 2001.
The reduced prices have brought out buyers: MDA DataQuick reported 1,046 sales in the county last month, compared with 433 in December 2007.
"We're seeing a lot of investors buying houses and turning them into rentals, and we're seeing a lot of first-time buyers," said Larry Matos, co-owner of Century 21 M&M and Associates in Modesto.
Matos, whose firm is among the largest in the Northern San Joaquin Valley, said he expects 2009 to be fairly flat. The median price might go up or down 5 percent, but the sharp swings of recent years are unlikely, he said.
Matos said the market has reached the point where mortgage payments are about equal to rent, so renters are becoming buyers.
Average 45 days on market
The pace of home sales clearly has picked up, said Craig Lewis, president and chief executive officer at Prudential California Realty in Modesto, another major firm.
He said Stanislaus County homes that sold last month were on the market an average of 45 days, compared with 76 days a year earlier.
Lewis said the rising unemployment rate could dampen the market, but that could be offset in part by the reduced mortgage rates.
"It's really an exciting time for those who want to own real estate," he said.
The market would get even better if lenders modified loans for homeowners at risk of foreclosure, thus keeping these houses from flooding the market, he said.
Merced and San Joaquin counties had increases in the number of sales last month, but Tuolumne County dropped.
All three counties have had major declines in median prices since December 2007 -- 51.8 percent in Merced, 47.5 percent in San Joaquin and 25.3 percent in Tuolumne.
Experts said the California housing market is being driven by bargain hunters snapping up bank-owned foreclosure properties, which accounted for 58 percent of existing homes sold last month, up from 24 percent a year earlier.
"The processing of these distressed properties is almost reaching a frenzied level," said John Karevoll, a DataQuick analyst. "Many of the banks just want to get these properties off their books. People are flocking to buy these foreclosure properties."
Richard Green, director of the University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estate, said the market is being hammered by tight credit, expectations of further price declines and job losses.
"If you see the unemployment rate turn around, that's when you'll start to see housing prices bottom and start turning in the other direction," Green said. "Until that happens, I'm pretty gloomy."
California unemployment rate jumps to 9.3 percent...SAMANTHA YOUNG, Associated Press Writer
http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/v-print/story/575144.html
SACRAMENTO -- California's unemployment rate jumped to 9.3 percent in December, capping a tumultuous year of massive job losses and a housing slump that has struck most of the country.
The jobless rate announced Friday by the state Employment Development Department represents a jump from the 8.4 percent figure in November 2008.
Excluding farm workers, California lost 78,200 jobs in December as employers sliced payrolls to deal with the slowing economy.
California's unemployment rate hasn't been at this level since January 1994, when the state was coming out of its recession in the early part of that decade, said Stephen Levy, senior economist for the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.
"California, like the nation, is in the midst of terrible and deepening recession," Levy said. "We all expect the job losses to continue and unemployment rates to go higher."
About 1.7 million Californians were looking for work last month - up by 166,000 since November and up 653,000 since December 2007.
Some 785,200 were laid off, while 125,300 chose to leave their job. The rest were either temporarily employed or new job seekers.
The construction sector, hit hard by the housing slump and foreclosures, accounted for the most job cuts over the past year- 92,600 positions, a 10.8 percent annual drop.
The latest job figures followed a revised loss of 73,500 payroll jobs in November.
Sacramento Bee
EPA likely to grant waiver to let California regulate auto emissions...Rob Hotakainen, McClatchy Washington Bureau
http://www.sacbee.com/politics/v-print/story/1566965.html
WASHINGTON – With a new occupant in the White House, California could soon start enforcing its landmark 2002 law requiring a sharp reduction in vehicle emissions.
State leaders and environmentalists are pressing for quick approval of a waiver that would let California and at least 13 other states impose tougher air-quality standards than allowed under federal law. The Bush administration rejected the request a year ago, but that could be reversed by President Barack Obama and his environmental team.
During the presidential campaign, Obama said he backed the California law. Last year, he co-sponsored a bill by Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California to approve the waiver.
"If I'm confirmed, I will immediately revisit the waiver," Lisa Jackson, Obama's choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency, told Boxer at her confirmation hearing last week.
Boxer, the head of the Senate's environment committee, is expecting quick approval. She compared the EPA under Bush's leadership to Sleeping Beauty, saying the agency now "needs to be awakened from a deep and nightmarish sleep."
If the EPA grants the waiver, California and the other states will begin a program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles by 30 percent over the next seven years, according to Mary Nichols, chairman of the California Air Resources Board.
Nichols and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent letters to the new administration on Wednesday, asking for permission to enforce the law. The governor said the decision to reject the waiver was "fundamentally flawed."
Critics said that granting the waiver would further hurt the economy.
Republican Rep. Tom McClintock of California said the governor "is asking the president to waive a federal law that currently protects California consumers from the governor's crusade to save the planet by destroying California's economy."
Auto manufacturers have long opposed the California law, which would require them to produce more fuel- efficient vehicles. And the Bush administration sided with them, saying that only the federal government can set fuel-efficiency standards.
Carmakers also contend that the law could increase their manufacturing costs, which then would be passed along to consumers. Environmentalists counter by saying consumers would save money in the long run because higher purchase costs would be offset by lower fuel costs.
The Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing Honda, Toyota and 12 other international manufacturers, objects to the law on the grounds that it would lead to "a patchwork of state laws" instead of one federal standard. Supporters say it's already under tremendous financial pressure, with car sales lagging, and can't afford to comply with new regulations.
Supporters of the waiver said the administration could act immediately, without holding any public hearings.
Derek Walker, California climate program director of the Environmental Defense Fund, said California's request was "unlawfully refused by the Bush administration" and should be reversed. He said it would be consistent with Obama's pledge "to make respect for the rule of law a touchstone of his presidency."
The Pew Environment Group said that Obama, "with the stroke of a pen," could take an early step toward reducing global warming and saving Americans money by approving the waiver.
"President Obama must use his executive authority to get America moving toward a safer, cleaner energy future," said Phyllis Cuttino, who directs the Pew Environment Group's U.S. Global Warming Campaign.
In a letter to Obama, Schwarzenegger said the federal government should support "the pioneering leadership" of California and other states that want to act on their own to reduce global warming.
"For four years, California and a growing number of farsighted states have sought to enforce a common-sense policy to reduce global-warming pollution from passenger vehicles, which are the source of 20 percent of our nation's greenhouse gas emissions," the governor wrote. "Regulation will not only reduce these emissions, but will also save drivers money and reduce our nation's dependence on imported oil."
McClintock, a freshman who joined Congress this month, said the governor was using "highly questionable junk science" to defend the law.
"The net effect of his request would add between $1,000 and $5,000 to the price of every car sold in California," McClintock said. "Automobile sales normally account for one-fifth of sales taxes paid in the once-Golden State and total sales tax receipts are already down $1.5 billion over the last 12 months."
Meanwhile, he said, "The governor is also asking the president to bail out California from its growing budget deficit. Just another day in 'reality-challenged' Sacramento."
State, local jobless rates soar...Dale Kasler
http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/v-print/story/1568501.html
California lost 78,200 jobs and the state's unemployment jumped nine-tenths of a percentage point in December to 9.3 percent, the state announced this morning.
The Employment Development Department said the state has now lost a combined 151,700 jobs in two months. Those represent the two worst months for job loss since July 2001, when 85,100 jobs disappeared, said chief economist Howard Roth of the state Department of Finance.
Greater Sacramento unemployment jumped to 8.7 percent, up from 8.1 percent a month earlier. The four-county region lost 4,700 jobs during the month as big layoffs in construction and other sectors swamped unusually small gains in retailing and tourist-related industries.
The region has now lost 22,400 jobs in the past year, or 2.4 percent of its employment base.
"We're in a pretty good recession here," Roth said. The numbers show the recession, which is now more than a year old, worsened significantly in the second half of 2008, he said.
Many economists believe recovery won't begin until late 2009 or early 2010, and the job market will remain dismal in the meantime. "We're going to see bad numbers predominantly for a while," Roth said.
Jobless situation even worse than numbers show, experts say...Mark Glover
http://www.sacbee.com/business/v-print/story/1567131.html
When the state releases the latest unemployment figures for California and greater Sacramento today, they will tell only part of the story.
Unaccounted for will be the growing numbers of workers who have had to settle for less of a job than they wanted.
"The pain in the economy is much greater than the jobless numbers would indicate," said economist Sung Won Sohn of California State University, Channel Islands.
"If you include part-time workers who want to work full time and people who simply dropped out … thinking there are no longer jobs to be had, (unemployment) is close to double what the published figures are – 16 to 17 percent."
The state Employment Development Department reported last month that November unemployment in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties was 8.1 percent. It was a seasonally adjusted 8.4 percent statewide, the highest in 15 years.
The U.S. Department of Labor said 5.1 percent of American workers in November 2008 were involuntarily in part-time jobs, nearly double the number from April 2006.
EDD officials were unable Thursday to provide a comparable figure for California. But job agencies, workers and others have noticed that more workers will take whatever they can get.
Jenny Beard, owner of the Express Employment Professionals office in Roseville, said the number of former full-time workers seeking part-time work is undeniably up.
"I'm positive of that," she said. "We're seeing many candidates who just want to keep themselves employed."
Kathryn Reese-Brown, 36, of Sacramento, was a full-time clerical worker until hit by a layoff in October.
"Since then, I've done waitressing, cleaning, floral delivery … sometimes two part-time jobs at once," she said. "It's tough, but I have to live. I have to get what I can. I have two small kids."
William Kendrigan of Fairfield lost his full-time custodial position in Concord last August. Now, he said, he'll take all the part-time work he can find.
"I had to pick up seasonal work in the mall here in Fairfield, but I'm only getting about 15 hours a week," he said. "I'm going to keep looking and try a few more temp agencies. But there's not so much out there."
Trent Allen, spokesman for the San Juan Unified School District in Carmichael, said interest in substitute teaching positions has increased.
The district does not have hard figures, but "we generally have about 60 folks who kind of apply and are called … in for the orientation," Allen said.
Generally, only about half of those show up.
"Now, we're getting much closer to 60," he said. "So we're actually seeing the folks who apply coming in and looking at the opportunity seriously."
Given the low pay of many part-time positions, some might opt to collect unemployment benefits instead.
California's unemployment insurance fund is running a serious deficit, but state and federal extensions have given some recently laid-off workers up to 59 weeks of benefits. Depending on salary and work history, benefits can be a maximum of $450 a week.
Sohn said the money and time limitations are likely discouraging more unemployment claims statewide.
And he added: "I think many people are just too proud to file for unemployment insurance."
Those who keep plugging are finding limited options.
Beard said seasonal employment produced the busiest December in her office in five years, but "job availability has dropped significantly."
Because of the economy, employers are "unsure and may not commit to hire someone. … They're not hiring (full-time workers)."
She said it's often painful for former full-time workers to accept part-time positions.
"I truly believe that you can find a job, but it may not be in what you were doing or getting paid," she said. "There's a lot of flexibility and humility in this market."
Her office is finding some success placing candidates in temporary positions in light industrial, professional office services and some technical business, she said.
And for those with just the right skills, there still are full-time jobs available.
Mike Dourgarian, franchise president of Manpower of Sacramento, said, "We're still seeing hiring in the 'have-to-fill' jobs." Those include engineering software/security, mechanical, database management and some accounting jobs.
And there's almost universal agreement that no matter what the December jobless figures released today show, January's numbers will be worse.
"A lot of employers wait to make cutbacks until after the first of the year," said Dourgarian, a 30-year veteran of of the employment industry.
"The January numbers will be tough."
Home Front: 'Smart-growth' home builder's fate unknown...Jim Wasserman
http://www.sacbee.com/business/v-print/story/1567092.html
Another venerable name in Sacramento-area home building is apparently on the ropes.
Irvine-based John Laing Homes, consistently in or near the top 10 for area builders in recent years, "is currently reviewing all potential options to meet its capital requirements," says the firm.
The ominous statement is the newest among pronouncements that have clobbered Sacramento's home-building sector in recent months. Several builders have collapsed, gone bankrupt or simply mothballed developments until the storm passes.
But John Laing Homes, thought to have some of the industry's deepest pockets, may be the most unexpected so far.
As one of the largest privately owned builders in the United States, it has 10 developments in the Sacramento region. It is considered by most a high-quality builder, a firm that has made its mark in what some call "smart growth": more homes than usual on an acre of land.
"They do the small-lot stuff better than anyone," says Dean Wehrli, a Sacramento-based vice president of Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors.
Now, the fate of Laing's 10 Sacramento-area developments is unknown. Its Roseville office – which runs operations in the capital region, Bay Area and San Joaquin Valley – was open Wednesday and conducting meetings. Division President Kevin Carson isn't responding to press inquiries.
Thursday, a sales office at Laing's Mystique and Candela developments in Natomas was closed.
The national corporate statement from Linda Mamet, Laing's corporate vice president for sales and marketing, acknowledged "that a reduction in force has occurred." But it says that operations "have not ceased."
The statement assured buyers in the purchasing process that "deposits are secure."
Global press reports indicate that a much-heralded 2006 deal, in which one of the world's largest real estate developers, Dubai-based Emaar Properties, bought John Laing Homes for $1.05 billion, has gone sour. Plans were to use Emaar's deep pockets to expand Laing beyond its traditional markets in California and Colorado. Now, with the U.S. housing market stumbling, the builder is reportedly a drag on Emaar's bottom line, which is also suffering from falling real estate values in Dubai.
John Laing Homes came to the Sacramento region in 1999, "well positioned to capitalize on the Sacramento region's trend of population growth," The Bee reported at the time. And it did capitalize.
With 131 sales from January through November 2008, Laing ranked 13th in the Sacramento region for sales. Even as the capital's housing market began to slump in 2006 and 2007, it sold 448 homes, according to industry tracker Hanley Wood Market Intelligence of Costa Mesa.
Repos undercut builders
Thousands of foreclosed properties on the market represent a huge share of these builder problems. They can't compete against the prices offered by banks.
In at least five Sacramento-area ZIP codes now, bank repos have driven median sales prices below $100,000, reports La Jolla researcher MDA DataQuick.
Here's a look at those December median prices:
• $64,000 in Sacramento's 95814, down 60 percent from a year earlier.
• $68,500 in Sacramento's 95815, down 63 percent from December 2007.
• $70,000 in Sacramento's 95824, down 58 percent from a year earlier.
• $87,500 in Sacramento's 95838, down 43 percent from the same time in 2007.
• $95,250 in North Highlands' 95660, down 29 percent from a year earlier.
All compare against a 37 percent year-over-year decline in Sacramento County as a whole, according to DataQuick.
Sales in all five of these ZIP codes quadrupled in the past year, as prices fell to levels that allow investors to generate profits from rentals.
Mortgage rates rise slightly
It had to happen eventually. Thirty-year fixed mortgage rates are rising again on fears of inflation.
Early this week, they averaged 5.12 percent before points, federal mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday. That compared to 4.96 percent last week, the lowest point of an 11-week decline in rates.
Financial Web site Bankrate.com showed rates rising as the week continued. Bankrate's overnight average Thursday was 5.44 percent. The firm's mortgage columnist, Holden Lewis, explained: "Rates on home loans went up for only the second week since Halloween, as bond and mortgage traders began to worry that the economic stimulus package could bring inflation."
Letters to the editor
http://www.sacbee.com/326/v-print/story/1566700.html
Water saving starts at home...Dan G. Tajbl, Auburn
Re "Thirsty Folsom Lake half empty" (Our Region, Jan. 18): After reading this article, I remembered The Bee article of Dec. 14, "Delta Debate: Resource at Risk." That article included water usage data by cities in acre-feet per year per person. For San Francisco the number is 0.109; for Los Angeles it's 0.155; the state average is 0.184. The same data shows each person in Folsom, on average, uses 0.427 acre-feet per year, Roseville 0.306 and Sacramento 0.311. One has to ask, why does a person in Folsom use almost four times the amount of water than a person in Los Angeles, or why does a person in Sacramento use three times as much as a person in San Francisco? If we are headed into water shortages because of climate warming and increasing population, as many experts believe, then we seriously need to reassess our wants and actual needs.
Airport's bird plan 'useless'...James P. Pachl, Sacramento
Re "Sacramento airport seeks bird-kill law for air safety" (Page A1, Jan. 16): Sacramento airport's plan to kill birds that land on airport property is a useless gesture that will not prevent possible future tragedies like the one that almost occurred last week in New York. The county foolishly built Sacramento's airport in the worst possible location: directly beneath the Pacific Flyway (the bird equivalent of Interstate 5), within the bird-rich Sacramento River corridor, amidst the Natomas rice fields and within easy bird-flight of the Yolo and Sutter bypasses (major migratory waterfowl destinations) and bird-rich wetlands, rice fields and farmlands of Yolo, Sutter and Yuba counties.
Consequently, planes landing or departing Sacramento International Airport during the waterfowl migration season must use the same airspace as hundreds of thousands of waterfowl, including large flocks of geese and swans, mostly beyond shotgun range. Most birds within shotgun range of Sacramento airport are much smaller.
The Sacramento County Supervisors' decision 40 years ago to put the airport in this most unsuitable location may well preclude Sacramento from realizing its ambition of becoming a hub airline terminal and world-class airport. Yet another example of the damage caused by the very poor land-use planning that plagues our region.
Poor planning led to bird problem...John Perry, Woodland
I grew up in Natomas and hunted ducks and geese where the west runway of Sacramento International Airport is now located. The airport is located in Pacific Flyway migration path, so there will always be bird strikes. During a recent flight, I was shocked by what I saw from the window. Situated between the runways was a wetlands area, including waterways. Upon inquiring why the airport would place wetlands in such close proximity to the runways, I was told that the airport was required to install the wetlands to restore wetlands that had been destroyed. I was also told that the waterways were relatively small and would not attract waterfowl. It is apparent that whoever made the decision to place a wetlands area between the runways has never seen Canada geese invade backyard pools.
The parties who made the decision to place wetlands in close proximity to the runways should pay close attention to what happened in New York.
Orville Mercury-Register
Steve Carson: Salmon press conference at ISE drops a few bombshells...STEVE CARSON-Outdoors Columnist
http://www.orovillemr.com/sports/ci_11535387
Last week's International Sportsmen's Exposition show at Cal-Expo in Sacramento featured a panel discussion on the current state of California's salmon fishery. The panel included Dr. Josh Israel of UC Davis, Barry Nelson of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Jared Huffman of the California State Assembly Sixth District and Chair of the Water (Parks and Wildlife Committee), Michael Jackson of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Zeke Grader of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Associations, and Dick Pool of Water4Fish.
Each participant delivered a prepared statement based on their area of expertise or concern, although time constraints allowed only a few questions from the audience. The participant's statements are excerpted below.
Israel (UC Davis): "It is possible that 65 percent of the 31 native California species of trout and salmon will become extinct soon. California has such tremendous species diversity due to the Pacific's California Current and other factors, but human development has affected those species adversely.
"At this time, only 10-percent of California's ocean population of salmon are wild, the rest are hatchery-produced. This tends to reduce the fitness of the natural population, we need to consider ways to adapt and reform hatcheries. We also know that many ocean-harvested fish are from endangered runs. Marking all hatchery fish may be a possible strategy.
"Bio-complexity is important. We have had self-sustaining salmon populations because of locally-adapted stocks. If we want to keep self-sustaining populations, we should take advantage of this. Right now it is not possible to differentiate between stocks in the ocean."
"We may also need to re-connect landlocked populations. It may be necessary to look at taking trout, steelhead and salmon, and passing them into historic habitats. In Southern California this could mean moving steelhead over dams. We will really have to adapt over the next 50 years, and will have to decide what kind of societal changes we will have to make."
During a brief one-on-one discussion with Dr. Israel, this writer asked why the salmon population on Butte Creek could be doing so well. Dr. Israel replied, "It may be because the salmon from Butte Creek summer over in the stream, and exit as larger sub-yearlings. They [Butte Creek juvenile salmon] may also put on some additional growth in the Sutter Bypass."
Nelson (NRDC): "The Chinook salmon is California's iconic fish [displays a California flag with a salmon replacing the bear], and we've come to the remarkable conclusion that fish need water. We hope to restore a dead salmon river, the San Joaquin, by re-watering it for the first time in 60 years. Water needs to be managed first for the needs of fish, and second for the needs of people."
Grader (PCFFA): "Right now we have another opportunity for change. Some 40 years ago when the negative effects of the Red Bluff Diversion Dam were first being felt in the salmon population, the proposal from Pauline Davis in the Assembly was just to 'close down the fisheries'. Since then of course, we have found that the foundation for restoring salmon is water.
"The Delta is collapsing, there is not enough water. In the future, we must not get things out of order; instead we need to go from the foundation up. We must say no to new dams and the peripheral canal."
Huffman (CA Assembly Sixth District): "We are looking at an unprecedented second year in a row for salmon fishing closure, primarily caused by the Delta pumps and upstream reservoirs that don't allow enough cold water downstream. A fishery can't be managed just by restricting the take of endangered species. If we don't come together on this, it will be handled by the courts, which can be abrupt and draconian.
"It is important that the voices of fishermen be heard in Sacramento this year. Not just because of endangered species like Delta smelt, but because of the simultaneous decline of many Delta species. We must take bold action on the stressors. The National Marine Fisheries Service biological opinion says that extinction of winter-run Chinook salmon and others is primarily due to Delta pumping and dams.
"Governments have not fulfilled their responsibilities, the system is failing. As we reach critical mass, we must act in enlightened self-interest. It should also be made clear that economic activity related to fishing amounts to millions of dollars. The decline and loss of jobs is equally bad. Nationwide, at least $200 million is collected for fishery restoration in the form of excise tax on fishing tackle. Some $12 million of that comes back to California.
"It is important that the voices of fishermen be heard in Sacramento this year. Not just because of endangered species like Delta smelt, but because of the simultaneous decline of many Delta species. We must take bold action on the stressors. The National Marine Fisheries Service biological opinion says that extinction of winter-run Chinook salmon and others is primarily due to Delta pumping and dams."
"Governments have not fulfilled their responsibilities, the system is failing. As we reach critical mass, we must act in enlightened self-interest. It should also be made clear that economic activity related to fishing amounts to millions of dollars. The decline and loss of jobs is equally bad. Nationwide, at least $200 million is collected for fishery restoration in the form of excise tax on fishing tackle. Some $12 million of that comes back to California."
Jackson (CSPA): "There are four things we must do within five years, or salmon will go extinct. We must reduce the water export from the Delta from 6 million acre-feet to 2.5 million acre feet per year. The water that is pumped should be given an 'urban preference', to keep the city dwellers from becoming hysterical.
"You can't equate urban requirements with growing cotton in the San Joaquin Valley, and this will break up 'Big Ag'. It also allows us to isolate where water with real value will go.
"We have got to get those fish above the dams. All it takes is one natural disaster, like a catastrophic fire or even Mount Lassen erupting, and we will lose the fish in Butte Creek, Mill Creek and Deer Creek.
"Last, the outflow must increase at cross channel gates during the ingress and egress of fish. It happens now or they're [salmon and steelhead] gone."
Dick Pool([Water4fish): "In the past year almost nothing has happened. No water has been reserved for fish. This industry is going to die if we don't change. So far we have 64,000 people signed up on our website, but we need 264,000! We need the public behind us and support for conservation organizations."
Waterfowl scores
The highest daily average scores from the refuges last week were as follows: Delevan- 4.57 birds per hunter average [112 geese]; Colusa- 4.08 [31 geese]; Gray Lodge- 3.71 [77 geese]; Howard Slough- 3.03 [5 geese]; Little Dry Creek- 5.7 [187 geese]; Llano Seco- 3.28 [10 geese]; Sacramento- 3.18 [153 geese].
Stockton Record
Officials: Leaking levee not threat
Same Upper Jones Tract berm failed in '04, causing flood...Alex Breitler
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090123/A_NEWS/901230319/-1/A_NEWS
THE DELTA - A repaired section of levee protecting Upper Jones Tract is leaking, but state officials on Thursday downplayed the danger of a rupture.
It is common for water to seep beneath levees and boil up or flow out of the dry side, an official with the state Department of Water Resources said.
Reclamation District 2039 is planning a maintenance project at Jones Tract to slow the leak.
"We're pretty confident the reclamation district can address the concern," said Bill Croyle, chief of Water Resources' Flood Operations Branch. "If you're in the Delta, this is pretty standard."
The levee failed in 2004, flooding the 12,153-acre island and inundating crops and private property.
More than 180,000 tons of rock were used to fill the 300-foot gap where the original levee gave way - and then the island was pumped dry.
However, Stockton attorney Dante Nomellini, who represents many central Delta farmers, said Thursday that the repaired area "has quite a bit of leakage through it." Several months ago, landowners said they could hear a gurgling noise as water rushed through the rocks.
"The concern is that it will erode away the original levee segment that remains," Nomellini said. "It could wash that away and cause another collapse."
Officials with the reclamation district could not be reached Thursday. Nomellini said the district was seeking permits for the project to make it compliant with endangered species requirements.
"I think they're almost there," he said.
There is not much water flowing past the island, Nomellini said, although tides can increase the amount of pressure on the Delta's levees.
And weather is not always a factor in when a levee gives way. The original Jones Tract breach took place on a sunny day in June.
Croyle said the levee fix was not intended to block all water from seeping through. The water that does come through is not muddy or cloudy, he said, which is a good sign.
"All of the levees in the Delta leak to some degree," he said.
San Francisco Chronicle
Water rationing in Bay Area forecast...Kelly Zito
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/23/MNRA15FELA.DTL&type=printable
Flowers and kitchen gardens might look extra perky after this week's rains, but January's long dry stretch means Bay Area residents should prepare for baked lawns and stop-and-start showers this summer, water officials said Thursday.
The rainfall expected in the region through Monday will be too little, too late to turn around a month that usually delivers about 20 percent of the rain and snow needed for the year, officials added.
With no blockbuster storms on the immediate horizon and forecasters predicting a longer-term dry spell, water managers around California are busy calculating just how far they can stretch supplies already drained by two previous dry winters.
So far, two dozen California water districts have extended rationing imposed last year - and more and steeper cuts likely are on the way.
"These are going to be hard times for everybody," said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, which represents 450 public water agencies around the state.
For the season so far, precipitation totals around the Bay Area are 40 to 60 percent of normal, according to experts. While that doesn't sound catastrophic, it's not enough water to top off critically low reservoirs or soak parched farmland.
Sierra snowpack low
In the Sierra Nevada, where ice and snow turn into about 60 percent of the water flowing out of the state's taps each year, snowpack is about two-thirds of normal.
"Projections for the state's water supply continue to look poorer as the water hasn't come down," said Elissa Lynn, the state's chief meteorologist.
In addition to the lack of rain, environmental disputes and legal rulings have curtailed water pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which funnels water to two-thirds of California, by about 40 percent. The situation is so dire that some agricultural districts in the Central Valley are scheduled to receive no water at all from the large federal project that irrigates most of that region.
Among the dozens of water agencies in the Bay Area, the picture varies widely depending on water source, reservoir levels and per-capita water consumption.
The East Bay Municipal Utility District called on customers to cut back water use by 15 percent last year, becoming the first agency in the region to require mandatory cutbacks. Its 1.3 million customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties so far have conserved about 10.4 percent districtwide.
Still, the agency's water storage stands at 420,000 acre-feet - far below the optimal 600,000 acre-feet. One acre-foot is the equivalent of 326,000 gallons, enough to supply one to two families for one year.
"If we have a year of average precipitation, we'll be at the point where our customers don't have mandatory cutbacks," said Jeff Becerra, district spokesman. "But the further you get into winter (without rain), the harder it is to get to that point."
Voluntary cuts in S.F.
In San Francisco, water managers have asked customers to voluntarily cut use by 10 percent, resulting in a 12 percent reduction.
The hydrological gods also have been kind to the city. The watershed draining into the Hetch Hetchy reservoir is at a much higher elevation than the watershed that supplies the East Bay water district, and is on the runway for many major storm systems.
"Our reservoirs are in pretty decent shape," said Michael Carlin, assistant general manager of water at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. "But over the next couple months, we'll be watching the storms coming through, the trajectories, the reservoirs. ... Based on that, we'll see if we can make it on voluntary conservation or if we have to go mandatory."
Managers at the Marin Municipal Water District like to say the district is "always two years away from drought," based on its heavy reliance on seven reservoirs around the county.
Decision on extent of cuts
In the midst of what appears to be a third dry year, the district has asked residents to conserve about 10 percent. If reservoirs fall much lower this spring and summer, residents could be asked - or told - to conserve up to 25 percent, said Paul Helliker, general manager of the district, which serves central and southern Marin.
It's a far cry from the drought of the late 1970s, which forced the district to build a temporary water pipeline to the East Bay across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.
But it does raise the specter of the protracted drought of 1987-1992. Heading into the winter of 1991, the district raised water rates by 50 percent and cut water deliveries by half.
"It was pretty dire then, the way it is now," Helliker said.
But then came a meteorological event of near-biblical proportions - 40 days of rain known as the "March Miracle."
This time, however, the odds are stacked against it. In fact, state meteorologist Lynn called these storms only a "break" from the sunshine.
"You can make up (for low rainfall) in February and March," Lynn said. "But we'd need about 20 to 30 feet of snow between now and April 1. It's theoretically possible, but don't count on it."
Water restrictions
Bay Area water users have been asked to reduce consumption to conserve supplies in the third consecutive year of drought.
San Francisco: The city's water users have voluntarily conserved by 12 percent, exceeding the call to save by 10 percent.
East Bay: The East Bay Municipal Utility District asked its 1.3 million customers last year to cut use by 15 percent; they have voluntarily reduced use by 10.4 percent.
Marin County: The Marin Municipal Water District asked residents to conserve by about 10 percent but may ask for 25 percent cuts if this ends up being another dry year.
Light rain
Current storms are expected to do little to bring Bay Area rainfall to normal levels. Some local rainfall totals (in inches):
5.98
San Francisco: Normal to date: 11.53. Normal season: 22.28.
6.69
Oakland: Normal to date: 11.71. Normal season: 22.94.
6.39
Santa Rosa: Normal to date: 15.77. Normal season: 31.01.
3.73
San Jose: Normal to date: 7.15. Normal season: 15.08.
Totals through 4 p.m. Thursday. Rainfall season starts July 1.
Source: Weather Underground
Los Angeles Times
Obama gives new life to the FOIA
A transformative directive ordering compliance with the Freedom of Information Act marks bureaucracy's return to scrutiny...Editorial
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-foia23-2009jan23,0,7886389,print.story
In October 2001, the Bush administration took an administrative action that would prove sadly symptomatic of its rule. John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, issued a memorandum warning against casual release of information to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. Such releases, Ashcroft said, should be made "only after full and deliberate consideration of the institutional, commercial and personal privacy interests that could be implicated." In case anyone missed the point, Ashcroft added that any bureaucrat who said no to such a request could "be assured that the Department of Justice will defend your decisions unless they lack a sound legal basis." It goes without saying that Ashcroft did not promise any such defense of government employees who released information under the terms of the act.
If cavalier disregard of the law and the public's right to hold its government accountable were hallmarks of the recently departed administration, we can only hope that President Obama's response signals a new approach. One of his first presidential acts was to issue a memo to federal agencies on the Freedom of Information Act. It opens by quoting former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis' pronouncement that sunlight is the "best of disinfectants" and continues by trumpeting the act as "the most prominent expression of a profound national commitment to ensuring an open government." Where Ashcroft searched for excuses to withhold information, Obama directed all agencies to "adopt a presumption" in favor of releasing it.
That is a transformation of incalculable significance. It alerts agencies that they must use their offices to inform, even when what's revealed is embarrassing, not to shield or deflect. Moreover, it reverses the disastrous example that the Bush policies set for state and local governments. In Los Angeles and elsewhere, officials used concerns about security as a pretext to retreat from accountability, inhibiting scrutiny of police accused of misconduct and cloaking the salaries of public officials, among other dubious acts of secrecy.
The tension between a free society and a powerful government will never disappear entirely. But Obama's prompt action on the Freedom of Information Act restores balance to that debate. It should remind officials throughout the land that they must answer first to the public.
Washington Post
Delays in Bank Aid Spur Frustration
As Requests Pile Up, Executives Leery Of Treasury's Silence on Bailout Decisions...David Cho and Lori Montgomery
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/22/AR2009012203930_pf.html
A massive backlog of bank applications for emergency federal aid has provoked widespread frustration over how the Treasury Department is allocating rescue funds and raised suspicions among executives that political connections are playing a role, industry officials and regulators say.
The delay is pushing bank executives across the nation to lobby their lawmakers, financial groups and friends within the federal government to try to expedite their requests.
"I think there is a suspicion among a large number of our members that it's who you know rather than the merits of the application," said Camden Fine, chief executive of the Independent Community Bankers of America. "I don't know that to be a fact, but I know there is a strong undercurrent of suspicion among my members that you have to have some sort of connection before you get the golden touch or the blessing from Treasury to get money."
Since the Treasury announced the program in October to inject federal aid into banks in exchange for equity stakes, about 350 banks have received the money, a fraction of the 1,600 institutions that have asked, according to regulators.
Treasury officials have been secretive about why certain banks received the money first, citing the need to protect sensitive market information. But lawmakers and industry officials have widely criticized their decisions as opaque and inconsistent.
Those with easiest access to the initiative, known as the Capital Purchase Program, include the largest Wall Street firms that many community bankers blame for dragging down the entire financial system.
Community bank executives and industry officials said that while Bank of America and Citigroup executives are able to dial up senior officials at the Treasury and the Federal Reserve and quickly receive tens of billions of dollars in federal aid, the heads of midsize and smaller institutions must wait months.
"What I do have a HUGE problem with is the double standard that my government is using," Tom Mork, chief executive of Lakeview Bank in Lakeville, Minn., wrote in a letter to financial associations and the congressional delegation from his state. The "public has no clue about what is happening behind the scenes. My hunch is that if they understood that their local bank declined their loan request because the capital they require to continue growing is being unfairly distributed to the very institutions that caused this mess, they too would be outraged."
Mork added that the Treasury required his bank to raise matching capital from the private sector in order for his application for $1.5 million in federal funds to be approved.
But community banks' access to the federal funds is inconsistent with some firms, for instance Central Pacific Financial of Honolulu, finding little difficulty. In December, the Treasury approved the application of the ailing Hawaii bank for $135 million, without any such conditions. Contrary to the stated goals of the Capital Purchase Program, Central Pacific used most of the money to avoid censure by their regulators rather than lend to customers, bank officials said at the time.
The transition between presidential administrations has delayed matters. Former president George W. Bush's Treasury appointees left their posts when his administration ended Tuesday. No one was in the department's public relations office yesterday to field news media questions. Messages for Neel Kashkari -- a Bush holdover who agreed to oversee the Capital Purchase Program and other initiatives within the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program until Obama's officials take over -- were not returned.
Meanwhile Senate confirmation of Timothy F. Geithner, Obama's pick for Treasury secretary, has been put off until Monday, leaving his staff unable to take up their posts in the department.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who leads the House committee that wrote much of the bailout legislation, acknowledged yesterday that his intervention on behalf of a bank in his home state helped the firm win federal aid.
Frank successfully appealed to Treasury officials on behalf of OneUnited, which he described as the only African American-owned bank in Massachusetts. When writing the legislation, Frank included language to make sure that banks like OneUnited would be eligible for some of the cash. The provision directed the Treasury secretary to consider giving funds to small banks that had been well-capitalized as of June 30, served low-income neighborhoods and lost capital after the federal government seized mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Frank's role in helping the bank were reported in The Wall Street Journal yesterday.
"When we devalued Fannie and Freddie stock, we threatened to put them out of business. That's why I intervened," Frank said yesterday. "I thought it would be a terrible idea to have the federal government put the only black bank in Massachusetts out of business."
Frank said he told Treasury officials that "If you can in good conscience give them the money, you should do that." Frank said the Treasury raised no objections to the request and last month granted OneUnited $12 million. Frank said he was "very proud" that he was able to help save the institution, and that he was not concerned that other lawmakers are lobbying on behalf of banks in their own communities. "It's called democracy," Frank said. "And I don't see any sign that it has been abused."
Bank requests for money from the $250 billion Capital Purchase Program are being processed quickly by the five federal regulators that oversee the banking industry, according to regulators and industry officials. But they added that the workload has been too much for the Treasury, which has the last word on an application.
"The Treasury doesn't have the experience or the manpower to duplicate what bank regulators can do," said Wayne Abernathy, an executive vice president at the American Bankers Association. "As long as the process is so opaque and as slow as it is, you are going to see a variety of explanations of why this bank got an investment and why this didn't, and who's to say those are wrong. That's why it's really important for Treasury to make the process more visible and more clear."
Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said it hasn't been easy for community banks to access TARP funds. On one hand, regulators are pushing banks to seek federal aid to raise their capital levels. But applying for government help also raises doubts about the health of the institution among its customers, Grassley said.
"It's kind of a Catch-22 situation," Grassley said. "You're caught between a government regulator and the impression your constituents have of your banking operation."
CNN Money
Flood of foreclosures: It's worse than you think
Banks are moving slowly to list repossessed homes for sale, which could mean that housing inventory is even more bloated than current statistics indicate...Les Christie
http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/21/real_estate/ghost_inventory/
index.htm?postversion=2009012315
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Housing might be in worse shape than we think.
There is probably even more excess housing inventory gumming up the market than current statistics indicate, thanks to a wave of foreclosures that has yet to hit the market.
The problem: Many foreclosed homes and other distressed properties that are now owned by banks have yet to be listed for sale. The volume of this so-called 'ghost inventory' could be substantial enough to depress already steeply falling prices when it does go on the market.
"That's not good news," said Pat Newport, an analyst with IHS Global Insight. "[Excess] inventory is the biggest problem in housing these days, and it leads to lower housing prices, which leads to more foreclosures."
RealtyTrac, the online marketer of foreclosed properties, recently discovered that it has far more foreclosed properties listed it its database, which the company compiles using courthouse records, than there are listed in the multiple listing services (MLS) maintained by real estate agents.
RealtyTrac looked at listings in four states, California, Maryland, Florida and Wisconsin, and found that they contained only a third of the foreclosures it has in its database.
The scope of the problem isn't clear, but it could be huge considering that RealtyTrac has a total of 1.5 million bank-owned properties on its site.
"Many properties that should be listed on the MLS are not listed on the MLS," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Underestimating inventory
The National Association of Realtors calculates official housing inventory statistics using data from the multiple listing services. By that measure, there were 4.2 million existing homes for sale in November, an 11.2-month supply at the current sales pace, up from a 10.3 month supply in October.
But now it seems quite possible that these figures, which are already at record highs, are underestimating the situation. And if that's the case, it could take much longer for the housing market recover than analysts currently expect.
Until supply can be brought down to a more normalized level of six to seven months, home prices will continue to come under pressure, according to Yun.
"It could be a worse problem than we think," he said.
L.J. Jennings, a real estate broker with Pyramid Real Estate and Investments in Oakland Calif., sees plenty of evidence that it is.
"There are a number of properties in my area that have actually been taken back by the banks, but have not hit the market yet," he said. "Once a bank repossesses a property, in some cases, it can take more than six months to hit the market."
He cites a handful of examples offhand, including a single family home in Richmond seized in early October, a condo in San Ramon taken back the same month, and a four-family building in Oakland that was repossessed in July.
"Either lenders are overwhelmed and can't get these properties back on sale quickly" said RealtyTrac spokesman Rick Sharga, "or they're deliberately slowing down."
Why there's a delay
The chief problem is probably system overload: Lenders are just not prepared to handle the sheer numbers of foreclosures that they have on their books. Banks took back about 860,000 in 2008 - more than twice the number in 2007 - according to RealtyTrac. Before the housing crisis hit, it took only about a month to get a bank-owned foreclosure on the market.
Lenders still insist they try to act as swiftly as possible. According to Tom Kelly, a spokesman for Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) Mortgage, their goal is to cut their losses on these homes, which are expensive to maintain, as fast as possible.
But banks might hold back listings in areas where they already have lots of homes for sale in order to avoid flooding the market, according to Michael Youngblood, a financial analyst and founder of Five Bridges Capital, an asset management company.
"If lenders have a significant number of properties in a limited area, they may want to stagger putting them back on the market," he said.
Eve Alexander, a real estate broker with Buyers Broker of Florida in Orlando, attributes the delays to the general malaise that's overtaken the lending industry as it's imploded.
"I think banks are dragging their rears about doing just about everything," she said. "They have so much going on and there's so much red tape and the people don't care, nothing gets done."
There are also batches of bank-owned homes that don't appear on the multiple listing services because lenders are trying to sell them via bulk and auction sales to investors as well as individuals, according to John Mechem, public affairs director for the Mortgage Bankers Association.
He adds that it's also taking much longer to get many foreclosed homes in decent enough shape to put on the market. (see This home for sale stinks.)
Bank-owned properties are in worse condition than ever because the foreclosure process is taking longer than ever. As much as a year can pass between the time a borrower first misses a payment and the final auction sale, according to Youngblood. During that time, houses often deteriorate because owners have neither the money nor the incentive to maintain them. Some disgruntled homeowners may even deliberately damage homes before they leave.
"According to our servicing folks, it's taking more time for lenders to get properties in saleable condition," said Mechem.
The phenomenon of a growing ghost inventory doesn't promise to get better anytime soon, as long as the rate of foreclosures continues to ravage the market. There were more than 3.1 million foreclosure filings in 2008, according to RealtyTrac.
Said Sharga: "I don't see how we can avoid another 3 million in 2009."
More homeowners see prices fall
Survey finds two in three reported house prices decreased in '08, and they expect prices to drop even faster this year.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/23/news/economy/housing_
survey.reut/index.htm?postversion=2009012310
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Nearly two of every three U.S. households said their house price fell in 2008, double the number who said that a year earlier and up five times from 2006, and they expect prices to fall faster this year, according a Reuters/University of Michigan survey on Friday.
Homeowners expected an annual average 2.2% drop in the year ahead, twice the rate of decline they expected in a survey conducted in the fourth quarter, the survey found.
The data provide no indication that consumers think the decline in home prices is nearing a end, but instead that even larger and more widespread declines in home prices are now expected, survey director Richard Curtin wrote in the report.
The record 61% of homeowners saying their home price fell last year suggests the worst housing market since the Great Depression is less likely to rebound before 2010, according to the survey.
Foreclosures will continue to escalate as home equity keeps falling below outstanding mortgage balances, and homeowners will remain intent on rebuilding their savings and reserve funds, the survey said