A blog about Politics and News.
Real Name: Gretchen Wenner Address: 1707 Eye Street Bakersfield, CA 93301 Member Since: November 01, 2007 Last Signed In: October 14, 2009 Profile Views: 1849 Blog Views: 37453 Bike riders: Watch for drilling rig on bike path! Canyons meeting under way... Bldrs Exchange drama... Recycling wackiness State's property values decline for first time since 1933... City seeking applicants for Board of Building Appeals Homebuilders v. city (and county): Latest buzz Council, Weds night: development "freeze?" Suing Bakersfield: Pork hits fan? And they're off! City Council seat beckons... City of Bako: Initial damage estimates from state budget deal November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 August 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 Get e-mail updates from this blog, and download to print on the go with the City Beat Printcast.
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Don't envy me just 'cuz I get to write a story about tax revenues.
Consider instead the entertaining ironies of the job.
After meeting with the city manager and a couple finance folks to pore over the most recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (don't ask), Mr. Tandy kindly took me on a quick tour of the fifth floor of the city's new building, City Hall North, the former Borton Petrini offices. (Tandy has George Martin's former digs, btw.) One suite even had a...
The smooth-yet-subtexty council meeting ended later than expected, mostly due to a long closed session.
Most interesting was the lack of fireworks over two items: Weir's planning commission pick and the hillside ordinance EIR.
Maybe it's fitting or symbolic or (fill in the blank) that both were on the same agenda and both wrapped up with little ado, at least publicly.
After all, they share the same Canyons/Maggard/Weir/Abernathy/Downs/etc backstory.
That chapter is just about...
Steven Mayer here, filling in for city-government reporter Gretchen Wenner on her day off.
Nothing earth-shaking to offer today for city watchers, but this may be worth noting.
The city of Bakersfield has shut down its official Twitter presence on the Web. For those who don't know, Twitter is a free service that lets people keep in touch with others through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?
Here's an example: "I'm eating scrambled eggs...
Mayor Hall e-mailed me today to say he'd filed amended forms for his India trips.
This might not end the saga, but it's a good start. (Lois Henry's column and a follow-up blog also pertain.)
The documents are attached for your reading pleasure. Click the blue box. They're small: 4 pages of PDFs.
Have a good weekend all; I'll be back Sunday.
- Gretchen Wenner, staff writer
Here's a quick update on the Hall/India saga.
• The mayor, through his secretary at Hall Ambulance, said Monday "he has no further comment" on the issue. I'd left several messages asking if he'd tried finding out who had funded his trips.
• The state Fair Political Practices Commission said Monday they hadn't received any complaints about Hall's Form 700. They have the ability to open their own investigation, though as a rule don't say whether they've done so.
•...
It's Harvey Hall, Bakersfield's generally jovial mayor, tripping up the most recent batch of annual financial-disclosure papers (the fun ol' Form 700s) from the city.
At the very least, Hall didn't name the group that paid $10,700 for his week-long trip to India last October. (And last year, he didn't disclose the trip at all.)
It also looks like the gift was well above 2008's limit of $390 from a single group or individual. There could be an exception, but Hall — who has the...
(More disclosure docs of city officials, continued from previous post)
Hopefully the final batch (see previous posts)
Howdy folks.
It's Gretchen, not James G, signing in as your City Hall reporter.
As y'all know we had layoffs recently — big ouch — and this is part of the reshuffling.
I've moved into James' former desk and am now driving his former blog. It feels sort of like reverse-metamorphosis, like cramming a butterfly back into a cocoon. Or being a parasitic wasp. Or something.
I only mention my feelings, irrelevant and pesky as they are to a newspaper reporter, because they loom so...
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