http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/vallejo/ en-us Tue, 19 May 2009 03:45:09 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2253669/posts A lesbian student's complaint that teachers harassed her over her sexual orientation has led to a Vallejo school district agreement to pay her $25,000 and revamp anti-discrimination policies, it was announced Monday. The agreement between the Vallejo City Unified School District and the American Civil Liberties Union was reached without litigation, said ACLU attorney Elizabeth Gill. In agreeing to the settlement, the district is not admitting liability, Gill and district Superintendent Mary Bull said. The student, Rochelle Hamilton, now 16, was a sophomore at Jesse Bethel High School in the fall of 2007, when teachers allegedly verbally harassed her and... MediaNews via CoCoTimes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2253669/posts#comment Tue, 19 May 2009 03:45:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2240379/posts The federal judge overseeing Vallejo's bankruptcy petition has ordered city and employee labor negotiators to meet with a mediator in an effort to break a stubborn stalemate that's lasted nearly a year. The decision comes at the same time as details on a severance package for Vallejo City Manager Joe Tanner — a chief labor negotiator for the city — are finalized, city officials said. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Michael McManus' Monday ruling named Oregon bankruptcy court judge Elizabeth L. Perris as a referee to help negotiators for the city and two employee unions discuss whether employee contracts should be... MediaNews via CoCoTimes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2240379/posts#comment Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:47:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2208589/posts In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts Pamela A. MacLean The National Law Journal March 17, 2009 In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts in its effort to reorganize, holding public workers do not enjoy the same protections Congress gave union workers at private companies. Municipal bankruptcy is so rare that no judge had yet ruled on whether Congressional reforms in the 1990s that required companies to provide worker protections before attempting to dissolve union contracts also... Law.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2208589/posts#comment Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:43:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2175276/posts The former managers of the Vallejo Empire Buffet were sentenced Thursday on federal charges for housing and putting illegal aliens to work in their restaurant. Rui Yang Lin, 48, and Bi Xia Ni, 46, were each placed on 36 months' probation and fined $36,000 after pleading guilty in October to hiring 12 illegal workers between March and September last year. The sentencing and fines were on top of an earlier $36,000 penalty each paid before Thursday. Though the listed Empire Buffet owner was Lin's daughter, prosecutors said he and his wife ran most of the day-to-day restaurant operations. The undocumented... Vallejo Times-Herald http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2175276/posts#comment Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:38:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2118991/posts VALLEJO -- Vallejo's city council gave preliminary approval Tuesday night on a wide-ranging package of cuts to bridge a $2.5 million funding gap in the city's budget. The cuts include a 10 percent salary reduction for City Manager Joe Tanner, who earns $361,000 a year, and staffing cuts in the police and fire departments. In addition, all city employees except sworn police and fire fighters will take two unpaid days off before the fiscal year ends June 30. The council, which voted unanimously in favor of the cuts, is scheduled to give final approval at its next meeting Nov. 6.... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2118991/posts#comment Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:17:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2118204/posts Vallejo is asking most city employees to take unpaid time off work to help close an unexpected $3 million budget gap. City Manager Joe Tanner also volunteered to take a 10 percent pay cut off his $316,000 salary to help the ailing city, which filed for bankruptcy in May. The city council was expected to give preliminary approval of the cuts tonight. In other bankruptcy news, a federal appeals court agreed Monday to hear the police and fire unions' appeal of the city's bankruptcy filing, which was granted by the federal bankruptcy court Sept. 5 in a 52-page ruling. "The... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2118204/posts#comment Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:03:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2079693/posts VALLEJO, Calif. -- Mayor Osby Davis, who has lived in this waterfront city across San Pablo Bay from San Francisco for 60 of his 62 years, says: "If you have a can that's leaking two ounces a minute and you put an ounce a minute in it, it's going to get empty." He is describing his city's coffers. Joseph Tanner, who became city manager after this municipality of 120,000 souls was mismanaged to the brink of bankruptcy, stands at a white board to explain the simple arithmetic that has pushed Vallejo over the brink. Its crisis -- a cash flow... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2079693/posts#comment Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:18:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2076316/posts VALLEJO — A federal judge ruled Friday that Vallejo is eligible for municipal bankruptcy protection, setting the stage for a major battle over possible dissolution of city employee union contracts. The decision came less than a week after the close of a monthlong court clash between the city and union attorneys. City insolvency challengers, including three major unions, had argued that the city did not meet the legal requirements for bankruptcy protection. U.S. Chief Judge Michael McManus soundly rejected that contention in a 52-page ruling. With bankruptcy protec-tion, the city may adjust its debts without immediate reprisal from its creditors.... MediaNews via CoCoTimes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2076316/posts#comment Sat, 6 Sep 2008 22:14:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2060524/posts Vallejo, already in an economic tailspin, has lost about 20 percent of its police force since the city began its slide into bankruptcy. About 25 of its 150 or so sworn officers have retired or left for other cities, afraid their pensions or salaries may be slashed if a federal bankruptcy court allows the city to void its union contracts. "It's a tragic loss for this city," said Vallejo police Lt. Don Hendershot. "We've lost a lot of dedicated, experienced officers. It's very sad seeing these guys go, but I understand why they're leaving." The North Bay city of 117,000... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2060524/posts#comment Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:48:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050536/posts SACRAMENTO — Resurrecting negotiations between Vallejo employee unions and city negotiators could be the next step in Vallejo's Chapter 9 bankruptcy saga, attorneys for the city and unions agreed Wednesday. The attorneys disagreed, however, on what that move would mean for Vallejo's future. Opening arguments on Vallejo's bankrupt status were heard in U.S. Bankruptcy Court before Chief Justice Michael McManus on Wednesday. McManus must first decide if the city meets the criteria for bankruptcy before considering voiding employee union contracts, set to expire in June 2010. The city filed for bankruptcy protection May 23, with the unanimous backing of the... MediaNews via CoCo Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050536/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:45:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2036737/posts Taxpayers in Contra Costa (and around the world) are closely watching the implosion of the City of Vallejo into bankruptcy and wonder at potential outcomes. This week Vallejo asked judges to void four contracts with unionized public employees. A hearing is set for July 23. The city faces its first major bankruptcy milestone, tomorrow, Friday June 27, when city and union officials present their initial arguments to the court. With an eye toward similar potential disaster in Contra Costa County, some wonder if it’s even possible to void such contracts. One observer opined that pro-union Democrat legislators have helped install... Halfway to Concord http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2036737/posts#comment Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:04:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2027271/posts Vallejo, Calif., took the extreme step of filing for bankruptcy to get out of generous obligations to public employees. Other cities and states are watchingThe jig is up. For years, politicians have been playing what amounts to a multi-trillion-dollar shell game with state and local pensions. They've doled out lush retiree benefits to their heavily unionized workforces, knowing that they could shove the cost for those benefits onto future generations of taxpayers. But a recent financial bombshell dropped by a San Francisco suburb shows why that shell game is now starting to unravel in a nasty way. And it's a... Money Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2027271/posts#comment Fri, 6 Jun 2008 20:16:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2020453/posts NEW YORK (AP) The San Francisco Bay area suburb of Vallejo on Friday became the largest California city to file for bankruptcy protection as it struggles with a mounting budget deficit from rising employee costs and declining tax revenue. The city filed Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in federal court in Sacramento. Vallejo, a mostly blue-collar city of 120,000 about 30 miles northeast of San Francisco, has been hit especially hard by the mortgage crisis and has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the U.S. Below are a few questions and answers about what happens when a city files for... AP via CBS4Denver http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2020453/posts#comment Fri, 23 May 2008 22:24:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2020397/posts VALLEJO, Calif.—The city of Vallejo has filed for bankruptcy protection to deal with a ballooning budget deficit caused soaring employee costs and declining tax revenue. The San Francisco Bay area suburb of about 120,000 residents is the largest California city to declare bankruptcy. Mayor Osby Davis says the city's attorneys filed papers seeking Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in federal court in Sacramento on Friday. The City Council voted to authorize the city manager to file for bankruptcy on May 6 after months of failed negotiations with its public safety unions. Some officials blame the financial crisis on labor contracts they... AP via CoCoTimes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2020397/posts#comment Fri, 23 May 2008 20:07:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2015253/posts Hoping to prevent a city bankruptcy that would suspend their union contracts, Vallejo's police, firefighters and rank-and-file employees went public Monday with an offer to cut their salaries and give up raises. Capping months of fiscal agonizing, the City Council voted last week to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy following dire predictions by city staff of imminent insolvency. The petition for bankruptcy is expected to be filed sometime this week, said city spokeswoman Joann West. Only one other city in California - Desert Hot Springs (Riverside County) in 2001 - has gone into bankruptcy. Orange County took the same step... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2015253/posts#comment Tue, 13 May 2008 14:50:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2014485/posts By declaring bankruptcy, Vallejo has thrust itself into the national spotlight as a test case for thousands of floundering cities desperate to unload their extravagant public employee contracts. "There's a wave of this coming across the U.S.," said Sajan George, an adviser to struggling public entities who worked on restructuring Orange County after it declared bankruptcy in 1994. "What happens in Vallejo could definitely set a precedent." Battered by the plummeting housing market and skyrocketing public employee contracts, Vallejo made dubious history Tuesday night by becoming the largest California city to declare bankruptcy. The North Bay city of 117,000 was... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2014485/posts#comment Sun, 11 May 2008 19:58:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013581/posts The question you have to ask about the officially bankrupt city of Vallejo, and other California cities with similar financial profiles, is this: Didn't you know something was wrong when you realized you were spending 75 cents of every dollar in the general fund on public safety costs? In a broader sense, how can any city anywhere make a legitimate claim of vibrancy when so many essential social services are shortchanged? It seems we're about to find out in Vallejo, a city with a population of 117,000 whose City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to file Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013581/posts#comment Fri, 9 May 2008 14:54:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013134/posts Vallejo has become the first city of its size in California to seek bankruptcy protection. The decision to file for bankruptcy came in a unanimous vote by the city council Tuesday night as hundreds of residents watched. The dramatic vote came despite a last-minute appeal by state Sen. Pat Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, and an aide for Assemblywoman Noreen Evans for the city to avoid bankruptcy. Mayor Osby Davis said he had "turned over every rock he could find to find a solution" but none came and there is no longer an ability for the city to pay its debts. Vallejo... Mercury News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013134/posts#comment Thu, 8 May 2008 17:14:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013069/posts Vallejo has become the first city in California to file for bankruptcy because it didn't have enough money to provide basic services. This is dreadful news for Vallejo - and its citizens - but it's also an ominous report for the rest of us. The city council's unanimous decision Tuesday night, which came after hours of impassioned public comment, represents a failure of Vallejo's police and firefighter unions to understand basic economic realities. The unions - whose members are among the highest-paid in the state - refused to allow the city to cut their pay. Perhaps they didn't believe that... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2013069/posts#comment Thu, 8 May 2008 15:51:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2012461/posts VALLEJO — With hundreds of concerned residents looking on, the Vallejo City Council voted unanimously late Tuesday to file for bankruptcy, making the city the first of its size to seek protection due to unaffordable labor contracts. The dramatic vote came despite a last-minute appeal by state Sen. Pat Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, and an aide for Assemblywoman Noreen Evans for the city to avoid bankruptcy. Four council members — Michael Wilson, Tom Bartee, Hermie Sunga and Erin Hannigan — joined Mayor Osby Davis in switching in favor of filing for bankruptcy. In the past they had been part of a... Contra Costa Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2012461/posts#comment Wed, 7 May 2008 14:32:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2010721/posts Vallejo's city manager advised the City Council on Friday to declare bankruptcy next week after weeks of negotiations with police and fire unions failed to turn around the city's economic tailspin. If the council votes Tuesday to file for Chapter 9 protection, the city of 117,000 people would be the largest in California to declare bankruptcy - and the first to do so because of long-term economic woes. City Manager Joseph Tanner made the recommendation after city officials scrambled for two months to fix the budget before the fiscal year ends on June 30, when the city faces a projected... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2010721/posts#comment Sat, 3 May 2008 16:04:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2004722/posts Vallejo will inch closer to financial ruin Tuesday when the City Council lets pass its do-or-die date to avert bankruptcy. City staff members have been unable to come up with a detailed, long-term financial plan because negotiations with the police and fire unions are still ongoing. The city is asking for steep concessions from the unions, whose members are among the highest paid in the Bay Area and whose salaries comprise about 74 percent of the city's budget. "We had hoped to have an agreement by April 22 to give to the council," said Mayor Osby Davis, who has sat... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2004722/posts#comment Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:46:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1984411/posts While Vallejo's finances were plunging faster than a roller coaster at the Six Flags amusement park, the city's firefighters were going abalone diving, grilling tri-tip and drinking cocktails on the public's dime, records show.Under their contract, the firefighters union has been allowed since 2003 to charge the city 600 hours a year - at a cost of more than $24,000 annually - for union activities that were approved by the union's chief. The junkets included an annual Seafood Extravaganza at the fairgrounds, a 10-kilometer run ending with a party at the amusement park and a dunk tank at the Waterfront... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1984411/posts#comment Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:41:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1983236/posts The city of Vallejo was in trouble long before James Moore bought a freshly butchered pig's head, mounted it on a Weber barbecue grill and wheeled it into a packed City Council meeting last week. "Vallejo has been hogtied by its police and fire unions," Moore, a local businessman, said later. "The unions are killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Do I need to bring a dead goose to next week's meeting? I hope not." Crippled by a free-falling economy, an inability to create tax revenue, management recklessness and a legacy of generous contracts for police officers and... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1983236/posts#comment Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:37:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1981334/posts VALLEJO -- Vallejo's fire union has unanimously ratified a hotly debated four-month labor agreement aimed at keeping Vallejo out of bankruptcy court and finding a long-term solution to the city's fiscal crisis. Forty-six of the 78 members of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1186 approved the labor agreement in secret ballots cast Tuesday and Wednesday, said fire union president Kurt Henke. "It was unanimous," Henke said. "If people weren't in favor of it they would have shown up to vote no," he said. Some could not cast ballots because they were on duty, he said. Secret ballots cast... MediaNews via CoCoTimes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1981334/posts#comment Thu, 6 Mar 2008 15:53:13 GMT