Chrissy Hynde of the Pretenders once sang about going home and finding that her hometown (Akron, Ohio, I think) was no more. "I went back to Ohio but my city was gone." Developers had destroyed the downtown and paved over the fields and all that was left was parking lots and shopping malls.The people of Vallejo, California may be singing a similar song today, as the town's city council voted to declare bankruptcy. Vallejo is facing a budget crisis driven by the collapse of the housing bubble in California. And while the town is still there, its finances have been ravaged by falling property values (and thus taxes) and reduced economic activity (ditto). Once again, developers went too far, and now the hangover is setting in.
Critics point out that the housing bubble is only part of the problem. The fat tax flow during the housing boom masked deeper problems of high pay and benefits for municipal workers and unfunded but growing pension liabilities. Vallejo is now facing a $16 million shortfall and has no money in the bank.
The bigger question is whether this will encourage other towns to take the same path. Lots of cities in the U.S. are hurting from lower property values and tax payments these days, and bankruptcy may become a more attractive option as the recession -- oops, sorry, I meant "rough patch" -- gets worse.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-07-2008 @ 3:55PM
woleary717 said...
The Golden goose is " dead " ( a.k.a: Original American of Euro-Christian stock ) ; too much unconstitutional social problems/programs disproportionately used and abused by non-Euro-stock people. Through our self-destructing, non-representive, 1965 Immigration and reform act and no borders to keep third world parasitic invaders at bay; we are finished. Multi-culturalism , aka, diversity was our " holocaust " , same in Europe,Canada, Australia and N.Z. . We won the individual battles but racial/cultural communism has won the war. Where are the patriotic, constitutional Americans to challenge's America 's pogrom the last 42.5 decadent years; you blew by not voting for an American constitutional patriot, Rep. Ron Paul. ( Get his new book about his hope for America 's restoration:" Revolution Manifesto".
5-07-2008 @ 4:19PM
Dan Barnett said...
Woleary, This is a serious site. Go peddle your non-sense elsewhere.
5-07-2008 @ 6:52PM
Frank said...
What happens to all the people who own homes and those that rent there? Will they continue to live and own property there?
5-08-2008 @ 7:49PM
Jason said...
I've seen various people try to explain Vallejo's problems as being caused by whatever they happen to care about. The truth is, that while various things have helped Vallejo along it's path to ruin, it would have made it there, housing crisis (unions...) or no.
The Vallejo City Council has made many horrible decisions, and has basically turned what was a city with tons of potential and a promising future into one of the largest bedroom communities in the state. One with a very large low income population that has nowhere to work, and not enough commerce to give people a reason to come to, or even stay in, town when spending money. Large sums of money get spent on things that no one cares about or wants (*cough* gas plant) and the projects the city undertakes that people actually enjoy end up getting canceled.
5-12-2008 @ 10:04AM
robert said...
In most or all cities the largest expenses is payroll. I am sure if the citizens see the largest expense of a city budget it will be police and fire. That's fine, if the citizens are willing to pay for it, but it seems here it time to stop negotiation for pay raises and set it aside for awhile until the city can get out of this deficit. Those police and fire men who took there retirement and left were not looking out for the city, only for themselves, like many of us would have done to support our family it was a smart move in there part. They had the time so let them retire, but the ones who stayed look at the big picture, do you want to continue to receive a paycheck, tell your union to step back and become a team, stop increasing the deficit and become a solution to the problem, instead of asking for more salary increase. Tell your unions that you want to be public servants, not the Unions who kept wanting more during a crisis. Good luck Vallejo