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Old 01-18-2009, 09:34 AM
 
23 posts, read 37,636 times
Reputation: 13

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sassberto View Post
Kid goes and throws himself in front of a bullet for the USA, he can have all the pension he needs as far as I am concerned.
Would you believe the Government does everything in it's power to prevent widows and vets from getting benefits? I learned this when I had a family member that needed and entitled benefit. They've set it up so you have to fight and this can take months and years.
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Old 01-18-2009, 10:19 AM
 
Location: Hillcrest, San Diego
91 posts, read 416,213 times
Reputation: 73
I'm not aware that the City is hiring right now. I believe that the online job listings are there simply to gather applications for their files.
From my 11+ years of working for government here and on the East Coast: the pension is a very small portion of one's expected retirement. Public employees are encouraged to save additional earnings in a 457 plan (like a 401K). It's entirely possible that the government retirees you see living the high life are using a combination of the pension and their 457 savings. In the offices where I work, it is common for employees to drive small cars, bring a lunch from home, and generally live modest lives. I have no doubt that will enable them to enjoy a more comfortable retirement.
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Old 01-18-2009, 02:26 PM
 
Location: Living in the San Diego area
1,042 posts, read 2,168,206 times
Reputation: 231
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oerdin View Post
It's hard to justify yet more service cuts when...the roads are a mess because the city doesn't have the money to fill potholes.
I beg to differ with your assessment of the roads as being a mess. I just arrived in San Diego a few weeks ago and compared to the condition of the roads in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada...the roads here are heavenly!!!

I can't even recall seeing any pot holes. I mean REAL potholes. Like there are up North. An occasional bump, slight depression, or even a small asphalt deterioration is not a pothole.

I say...starve the city of money. Leave them just enough to afford decent fire and police and the occasional maintenance of a REAL road problem or other infrastructure.

Taxes in California are insane! I wish I didn't have to put it that way but given the ludicrously high taxes here...I can't find another word to adequately describe it. I have seen small homeowners paying $4000 and up in just property taxes. I honestly don't know how Californians ever allowed their taxes to get so high.

And I honestly don't know what in the world the city government in San Diego has been doing with all the money collected such that they seem to be almost if not actually broke at the present time.

No city should ever go broke. I mean absolutely broke. If it doesn't collect enough...it must learn to live within it's means. Just as we all must do. Allowing the people being governed to either allow more taxes to be taken enabling more services....or maintaining the same level of services that the present tax base allows, that can be afforded, and that those governed are willing to live with.

If San Diego is known for it's lack of enthusiasm for paying more taxes...I hope it stays that way. Based on the high amount of taxes presently being collected in San Diego relative to other parts of the country though, I am not so sure that San Diegans deserve a label of not wanting to be taxed much . It seems to me that San Diegans are still inclined to give their money away to city and state government based on the taxes that they have allowed the city to collect.

It's either that or San Diegans can't do much about the high taxes being collected...which is even worse.

Carlos
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Old 01-18-2009, 03:11 PM
 
Location: San Diego
50,149 posts, read 46,802,981 times
Reputation: 33983
In the paper today I read that the National average for the portion of a City budget that goes to pay and bennies is 34% and that SD is at 61%. That's a pretty large gap.
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Old 01-27-2009, 03:53 AM
 
Location: San Diego, CA
4,897 posts, read 8,303,386 times
Reputation: 1911
Quote:
Originally Posted by carlos123 View Post
I beg to differ with your assessment of the roads as being a mess. I just arrived in San Diego a few weeks ago and compared to the condition of the roads in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada...the roads here are heavenly!!!

I can't even recall seeing any pot holes. I mean REAL potholes. Like there are up North. An occasional bump, slight depression, or even a small asphalt deterioration is not a pothole.

I say...starve the city of money.
The city has been starved for money for a very long time and the roads are absolutely a mess compared to how they used to be. Sure, we don't get feet of snow and ice damaging our roads but they're still much worse then a lot of the rest of the state and certainly worse then how they used to be. Fix the roads so they don't look like the 3rd world.
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Old 01-27-2009, 06:46 AM
 
566 posts, read 1,936,012 times
Reputation: 335
Worse than the rest of the state? Hope not. California has more miles of bad roads than any other state. CA has three times as many miles of roads needing repair than Texas. We can thank the CA state legislature for this. Plenty of time to pass 1000 new laws each year covering everything from which lightbulb we can lawfully use to making it a crime to put a flashlight battery in the trash. But no time to get the roads repaired. So if San Diego's roads are indeed worse than the rest of CA then they are in poor condition indeed.
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Old 01-27-2009, 08:23 AM
 
2,016 posts, read 5,197,443 times
Reputation: 1879
I'm coming to San Diego next week and will be there almost one week. I'll have 3 days for looking around N. County and the rest of the week for business which is downtown SD. I am seriously going to compare and contrast the so-called bad roads, "insane prices" of everything, etc. to this grey Arctic Tundra called NE OH. I will see for my own eyes what's going on. I'm not going to the tourist spots, I'm going to be checking out things that are important to me and my family, compare and contrast. I don't doubt that SD is going downhill since there's a budget crunch, but coming from where I'm coming from, it might not be that bad. I'll post my findings when I get back.
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Old 01-28-2009, 01:45 AM
 
Location: San Diego, CA
4,897 posts, read 8,303,386 times
Reputation: 1911
voiceofsandiego.org: This Just In... Calling All Potholes

Voice of San Diego is currently having a contest where readers submit pictures of the largest and deepest potholes they can find. The fact that the city hasn't repaired any roads in over four years is telling and sadly is there for everyone to see.
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Old 01-28-2009, 06:01 AM
 
Location: San Diego
50,149 posts, read 46,802,981 times
Reputation: 33983
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oerdin View Post
voiceofsandiego.org: This Just In... Calling All Potholes

Voice of San Diego is currently having a contest where readers submit pictures of the largest and deepest potholes they can find. The fact that the city hasn't repaired any roads in over four years is telling and sadly is there for everyone to see.
I bet I can win that one since I ride daily. I know some that would fold a truck tire if you hit em. Heck some freeways are like that. 52 at Convoy is a roller coaster again and they "fix" it the same way each time which lasts about 5 years.

Some roads are so warn you think you are on a dirt road, it is pretty pathetic.
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Old 01-28-2009, 09:40 AM
 
Location: SF Bay Area
18,977 posts, read 32,526,953 times
Reputation: 13625
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer View Post
Heck some freeways are like that. 52 at Convoy is a roller coaster again and they "fix" it the same way each time which lasts about 5 years.
It's pretty much always going to be like that and they will have to keep repaving and "fixing" the 52 in that area continually b/c its built on a landfill and the ground below it is always shifting.
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