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len raphael's avatar

The sad thing is that Loren Taylor who should have known better, and Charlene Wang in D2 who doesn't know better, picked up Tim's suggestion of several months ago that the city could refi our massive debt to CALPERS for our pension obligation underfunding at a lower rate than CALPERS charges us.

If that was even feasible months ago, it sure isn't now when it's obvious that our elected officials are incapable of the fiscal discipline to make the permanent cuts needed and changing priorities to make this city attract more tax paying businesses etc. And when the Federal cuts coming for cities will push a whole bunch of other cities into trying borrow money to pay operating costs.

Recent Chron article on housing bonds not issued because of credit rating concerns:

"๐—›๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐——๐˜‚๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐˜†, ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ, ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ผ ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ธ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ง๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜†, ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€, ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜๐˜€, ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ณ๐—ณ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฎ ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ."

I support Harold Lowe in part because he understands fiscal realities such as this.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/oakland-tax-street-improvements-nothing-happened-20239991.php?fbclid=IwY2xjawJQcrlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHY3swkCAVB2lgwBSXXyRfeLUvn-ui1ERmLScbkupGpRRnLchDerELbSm5w_aem_tzPQxKTKMw-t1WfZjKPlnw

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Roland De Wolk's avatar

This is a great format. I hope Oakland Report will continue to do this for the other City Council seats as they come up.

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Lynda Johnston's avatar

Did Harold Lowe decline to participate? Was he invited to participate? If not, why not?

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Oakland Report's avatar

Yes, Harold Lowe, Kanitha Matoury, and Rev. Kenneth Anderson were all invited to participate. We published the responses we received. If any of them would still like to contribute their priorities, we will add them to this post.

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