Arizona Republic: “The [State of Arizona] deficit for the current budget year has grown to $825 million, up from $700 million, and the projected hole for the next fiscal year has deepened by $400 million, to $1.4 billion.”
From the we don’t have the money and the debt isn’t ours so we can spend other people’s money go deeper into debt department. “A new urban skate park has been approved for Margaret T. Hance Park near downtown Phoenix but it won’t allow bike riders.” I’ll give the city fathers the benefit of the doubt and assume that the city powers believe that a very large percentage of the city’s residents of all ages will be bringing their boards and in-lines to the park to hang with their homies and praise the wisdom of the city’s leaders – Not! Notice that the story does not mention how much money the city will pay.
What I fear is that a city that spends money like there is no tomorrow and without regard to whether it has the money will create the ultimate money pit – light rail. Oh yeah. I forgot. Phoenix already did that.
The California Attorney General sued the officials of Bell, California (population 40,000), who were responsible for authorizing city workers to be paid salaries that were off the charts outrageous. The AG accuses the officials of defrauding the taxpayers. The city manager was paid $787,637 a year and the police chief of the small town was paid $457,000/year, $150,000 a year more than the LA police department chief of police.
Nothing, absolutely nothing is as inefficient and wasteful as the government spending other people’s money. Case in point – the Los Angeles City Controller said, “I’m disappointed that we’ve only created or retained 55 jobs after receiving $111 million.” For those who want the nanny state to have complete control over our lives and provide government controlled healthcare, LA spent $2,000,000 for EVERY JOB CREATED! How is that even possible? The LA city officials responsible for this insanity live in a bizarro world completely out of touch with reality. How can such idiots retain their jobs?
Wall St. Journal: “At $578 million—or about $140,000 per student—the 24-acre Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex . . . is the most expensive school ever constructed in U.S. history. . . . this city’s Staples sports and entertainment center cost $375 million. . . . the school district is currently running a $640 million deficit and has had to lay off 3,000 teachers in the last two years. It also has one of the lowest graduation rates in the country and some of the worst test scores.”
Los Angeles Unified School District Lunacy:
Total cost for just these three Los Angeles Unified School District schools is $1,187,000,000 tax payer dollars spent by a school district that has a $640 billion budget deficit – excluding the cost of the three palaces.
LA charter schools are not happy and with good reason. A charter school organization called Green Dot paid just under $85 million to build seven schools for 4,3000 low-income students. Green Dot’s graduation rate is double that of the LAUSD.