Showing posts with label FDIC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FDIC. Show all posts

Thursday, November 17, 2011

When local govt. over-reaches: When asked why fake grass would continue to be allowed in backyards, but not in the front?, "officials had no answer"


KCAL-9-TV News video: Turf War? Glendale Bans Fake Grass. November 17, 2011 12:49 AM

When local govt. over-reaches: When asked why fake grass would continue to be allowed in backyards, but not in the front?, "officials had no answer"
Because that would affect people who 'putter' around?

IU grad and former WPLG-TV/Channel 10 weekend anchor Rob Schmitt has the details on this curious zoning decision re sustainable gardening from the belly of the beast out in Cali -Glendale, California. That's a city that gave us one of the first real S&L/Thrift debacles, an
investigation I worked on in Washington, D.C.

Los Angeles Times
LA Now blog
Glendale residents ordered to remove fake grass from front yards
November 16, 2011, 2:17 pm

Some cities offer rebates for residents who install water-saving artificial lawns in their front yard. But in Glendale, city leaders approved a ban on the faux grass and have begun issuing warnings to violators.
Read the rest of the post at:

*My personal experience is that the LA Now breaking news blog of the LA Times is very informative and often provides a perspective that the MSM doesn't provide to LA-based stories that I hear about elsewhere.
So how come the Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel have nothing like it? http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/


See Artificial Turf Demonstration Project - SYNLawn on the City of Glendale website: http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/planning/artificialturfSYNLawn.asp


City of Glendale, California Comprehensive Design Guidelines, Final Draft of October 17, 2011, includes photos:


Glendale Zoning Code, Chapter 30 -deals with artifical turf:

KABC-TV video: Turf war over fake lawn in Newport Beach. Jan. 23, 2008.


The Cost of the Savings and Loan Crisis: Truth and Consequences
by Timothy Curry and Lynn Shibut*
FDIC Banking Review, 2000



Thursday, February 24, 2011

Now as before, facts seldom if ever matter in red-light camera debate in Hallandale Beach. Instead, it's just a pathetic case of "Show me the money!"


South Florida Sun-Sentinel video:
Vehicles running red lights -30 seconds, no sound.


This past Saturday, after having breakfast and talking local politics and current events with a friend over at the Denny's on
Hallandale Beach Blvd. & N.W. 10th Terrace, I walked a block or two over to the scene of the crime.
Or should I say, what will soon be the scene of a highway robbery.

I spent about 25 minutes walking around and taking
new video and photos of Hallandale Beach's two red-light cameras, the second of which goes into action on March 1st on Hallandale Beach Blvd. & N.W. 10th Terrace, right in front of the IHOP and across from... yes, the Denny's.

The two blocks I watched were to snap some shots of the city's mobile electronic message board flashing the news that the camera goes LIVE on Tuesday.


The electronic message board that was directly below the permanently-affixed FDOT message board above 1-95 that is partially obstructed by tree branches.


And where is the required permanent warning sign with the silhouette of the traffic signal with no mention that it's all the handiwork of the City of Hallandale Beach?
Oh, well, this being Hallandale Beach and all, the sign is between two trees.

Think for a moment or two of all the places in HB where you see drivers
routinely make rolling right turns that could be dangerous for other drivers, pedestrians or bikers.

HBB & NW 10th Terrace, which connects to Ansin Blvd -home of the faux newspaper, the Sun-Times- would be near the bottom of such a list.
So why is it there?


Because this city, in the form of the mayor and her see-no-evil puppets,
Dotty Ross, Anthony A. Sanders & Alexander Lewy, want to make a lot of revenue from local residents eager to get onto I-95.
(So why have there never been any police officers stationed near there? Exactly!)


IF it's only about public safety, as the mayor says, logic would dictate that the two cameras, if we are to have them, ought to be located at the scene of the two intersections home to the most traffic accidents, right?

So what are the THOSE intersections?

The Hallandale Beach Police Dept. ought to be telling us.
Reporters ought to be asking them.


Shouldn't we already know the answer to that question if Mayor Cooper and City Manger Antonio were really only interested in public safety?

But a number of weeks ago, with the mayor and city manger on the dais, the
late Police Chief, Thomas Magill, intentionally misled the City Commission and the public in the Commission Chambers while talking about that more infamous red-light camera on U.S.-1 and hallandale Beach Blvd., saying that a fatality had taken place there.

The lie was caught only because in responding to some fact-based questions
posed by Comm. Keith London, the only person who seemed to know ANY genuine facts about the subject, when London again asked where the fatality took place, Magill grudgingly admitted that it was, in fact, on U.S.-1 & S.E. 3rd Street -near the public library and the entrance of Gulfstream Park Race Track and the Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex.

For those of you reading this post from outside the area, that's exactly
one block from HB City Hall and the Police Dept. HQ!

From where I sat in the room,
Cooper and Antonio seemed perfectly content to let Magill lie to the public and not correct him, because he was saying what they wanted to hear.
Folks, THAT'S what we're up against in this city.


----

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-redlight-cameras-problems-20110219,0,3591958.story

Red light cameras plagued by problems across South Florida

By Scott Wyman
February 20, 2011


Red light cameras have become a legal nightmare for cities across South Florida.


It's costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars to defend camera-related citations in court with the result being that some cities are spending thousands more than they are collecting in fines.


The state Legislature is considering pulling the plug.

The networks of traffic cameras installed from Pembroke Pines to Fort Lauderdale have failed to live up to promises that thousands of drivers would be caught running red lights and that cities would collect millions of dollars in fines.

An increasing number of drivers are fighting their tickets and winning. Courts in Palm Beach and Broward counties have stunned city officials with rulings that severely limit enforcement. Cities have been forced to devote extra attorneys and cops to pursue tickets, and to readjust budgets as reality overtakes their once rosy projections about fines.


"The rulings have been going against us, and it's been very labor-intensive for our department," Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley said.


As a result, some communities like Boca Raton and Delray Beach have delayed plans to install cameras.


Still, supporters believe the legal problems will be sorted out over the next year and that the cameras will prove helpful in reducing accidents and improving traffic safety.


"For me, it has always been a safety issue period," Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper said. "We have cameras in our parks and other public facilities, and this is a natural progression of technology to enforce our laws. We have busy roadways and a lot of pedestrians, and I believe it will make the roads safer."


When state lawmakers agreed to allow red light cameras last year, cities thought ticketing would be as simple as what happens when someone speeds through a toll booth without paying. Officials were convinced that the law allowed them to snap pictures of cars running red lights along with their license plates, and simply mail tickets to the owners.


But defense lawyers have been winning decisions in both Palm Beach and Broward that require much more proof.

Judges and hearing officers have required photographic evidence that the car had not entered the intersection before the light turned red. Tickets have been thrown out because officers did not have certified copies of vehicle registrations.

Cases also have been dismissed because cities couldn't prove the employees who review tapes for violations are certified to do so.
Cases involving drivers turning right on red without stopping have been all but impossible to prosecute.

One major setback occurred Jan. 5 when Broward cities had 53 red light violations scheduled for trial. In the first case, the court rejected Pembroke Pines' evidence as inadmissible and unreliable. The rest of the cases were dismissed or continued as a result.

"We are in uncharted waters," said Sam Goren, Pembroke Pines' city attorney. "We believe the statute is explicit, and the cities are making every effort to follow the statute. As this evolves, I think it will become more consistent."


City attorneys met with Broward's chief judge two weeks ago in an unsuccessful effort to set guidelines for court cases. They now plan to find a case to take to the regional appellate court or the state Supreme Court. They want a written decision that lays out uniform standards.


Cities that planned to add cameras are debating what to do as a result of the questions.


Delray Beach and Boca Raton signed contracts to install cameras at key intersections, but are now waiting until the legal dust settles. Pompano Beach were scheduled to discuss adding cameras, but will now wait to look at all issues raised.


"There were some issues, a number of legal things, that were mulling around. We don't want to implement the program until those iron out," said Boca Raton's assistant city manager Mike Woika.

Boynton Beach, however, is moving forward. Its cameras could be operational as soon as April. Palm Beach County is pressing ahead, as well. Its first camera is in place at Powerline and Palmetto Park roads west of Boca Raton and within a month could begin issuing warnings. Two more cameras are planned at as yet undetermined intersections in southern and central Palm Beach County.


"We are continuing to go forward," said Palm Beach County Engineer George Webb.

American Traffic Solutions, which has contracts across both counties to manage red-light cameras, is urging cities to stay the course. Its representatives are telling cities that Florida's court rulings have been out of step with how other states have enforced red-light camera violations.

"I don't think things are quite as dire as they seem, but they are a lot rockier than expected," said Michael McAllister, a lobbyist who represents ATS.


But Fort Lauderdale illustrates just how rocky the situation has become for cities.


Fort Lauderdale started its red-light enforcement in September and issued about 70 tickets a day for the first three months. But in December, the number of tickets issued each day dropped to 30. The average last month was 15 tickets.


While the number of tickets is issued is plunging, the costs are soaring.


Fort Lauderdale's Police Department is spending more time than planned reviewing tapes and preparing evidence files for court. There is now a backlog of 1,000 cases. The city also has had to assign attorneys to prosecute cases at the court's direction instead of relying on police officers as is done with other traffic citations.


City commissioners are closely monitoring the situation because their budget depended on bringing in $3 milllion from red-light camera tickets. Now they think they may collect as little as just $500,000 in light of the higher costs and fewer-than-expected tickets.


Pembroke Pines has similar cost concerns. That city has received $76,294 from citations, but the red-light camera program has cost $83,337. Legal fees encompassed $33,189 of that, with the rest going to ATS to manage the cameras.


Cities also are running into problems installing cameras.

Broward County has not allowed cities to use its right-of-way for cameras or agreed to let cities tie cameras into its traffic signal equipment.


County commissioners will discuss that idea March 1, but Commissioner Barbara Sharief, a red light camera critic, also wants her colleagues to discuss supporting the move to have the Legislature repeal the law allowing cameras. And some commissioners have raised concerns about the cost that red light cameras could have on the court system.

State Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, and state Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-New Port Richey, have proposed repeal and want the camera program ended by July. Garcia describes the cameras as an "unwarranted, Big Brother initiative."


Red light camera supporters say they want to return the focus to safety. They cite a recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that cameras in 14 large cities in other parts of the country have reduced the rate of fatal crashes by 24 percent between 1996 and 2004.


"The whole purpose of this is a life-safety issue," said Bruce Roberts, a Fort Lauderdale city commissioner and its former police chief. "Red light cameras have been used successfully around the country, and behavior changes and modifies as people realize the cameras are there."

Staff writers Brittany Wallman, Larry Barszewski, Andy Reid Erika Pesantes and Ariel Barkhurst contributed to this report.


Reader comments at:

http://discussions.sun-sentinel.com/20/soflanews/fl-redlight-cameras-problems-20110219/10

-------

I'll have the red-light camera photos I snapped here on the blog by Saturday.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

re "After Call From Senator Inouye’s Office, Small Hawaii Bank Got U.S. Aid"


My own comments and some anecdotes

follow this well-researched -and thoroughly

-believable- story which is co-written by

ProPublica

http://www.propublica.org/ and

The Washington Post,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/


This story is running on the front page

of The Post on Wednesday morning.


In case you haven't seen the prior

ProPublica pieces I've run here

in the past, here is the Reader's

Digest version of who they

are and what they're about:

"ProPublica is an independent,
non-profit newsroom that produces
investigative journalism in the public
interest. We strive to foster change
through exposing exploitation of the
weak by the strong and the failures
of those with power to vindicate the
trust placed in them."

Got the picture?
-----------------
ProPublica


After Call From Senator Inouye’s Office, Small Hawaii Bank Got U.S. Aid

by Paul Kiel, ProPublica, and Binyamin Appelbaum, Washington Post - June 30, 2009 9:08 pm EDT

Central Pacific Financial, Hawaii's fourth-largest bank, was approved for $135 million in bailout funds shortly after Senator Daniel Inouye's (D-Hawaii) office made a call to the bank's regulator. Inouye, who reported owning Central Pacific shares worth $350,000 to $750,000 in 2007, denies attempting to influence the process (Getty Images file photo).
Central Pacific Financial, Hawaii's fourth-largest bank, was approved for $135 million in bailout funds shortly after Senator Daniel Inouye's (D-Hawaii) office made a call to the bank's regulator. Inouye, who reported owning Central Pacific shares worth $350,000 to $750,000 in 2007, denies attempting to influence the process (Getty Images file photo).

This story was published in the Washington Post on July 1, 2009.

Sen. Daniel K. Inouye's staff contacted federal regulators last fall to ask about the bailout application of an ailing Hawaii bank that he had helped to establish and where he has invested the bulk of his personal wealth.

The bank, Central Pacific Financial, was an unlikely candidate for a program designed by the Treasury Department to bolster healthy banks. The firm's losses were depleting its capital reserves. Its primary regulator, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., already had decided that it didn't meet the criteria for receiving a favorable recommendation and had forwarded the application to a council that reviewed marginal cases, according to agency documents.

Two weeks after the inquiry from Inouye's office, Central Pacific announced that the Treasury would inject $135 million.

Many lawmakers have worked to help home-state banks get federal money since the Treasury announced in October that it would invest up to $250 billion in healthy financial firms. But the Inouye inquiry stands apart because of the senator's ties to Central Pacific. While at least 33 senators own shares in banks that got federal aid, a review of financial disclosures and records obtained from regulatory agencies shows no other instance of the office of a senator intervening on behalf of a bank in which he owned shares.

Inouye (D-Hawaii) declined a request for an interview but acknowledged in a statementthat an aide had called the FDIC to ask about Central Pacific's application. Inouye said he was not attempting to influence the outcome. The statement did not address Inouye's personal role in the inquiry, including whether he directed the aide to make the call or knew at the time that it had been made.

Even if Inouye were directly involved, it would not violate the rules the Senate sets for itself, experts said.


Both the FDIC and the Treasury said the decision was not affected by the involvement of Inouye's office.

Inouye reported ownership of Central Pacific shares worth $350,000 to $700,000, some held by his wife,at the end of 2007. The shares represented at least two-thirds of Inouye's total reported assets. Inouye has requested a delay in filing his annual financial disclosure for 2008, which was due this spring, and he declined to provide the current value of his investment. Since the end of 2007, the bank's stock has lost 79 percent of its value.

Central Pacific was founded in 1954 by a group of World War II veterans including Inouye who were emerging leaders in Hawaii's Japanese American community.

"The time had come to fund a bank that could provide equitable service not only to the Japanese, but to all communities," Inouye is quoted as saying in an exhibit in the lobby of one of the company's Honolulu branches. Inouye, who became the bank's first secretary, said that he initially invested $3,000, the minimum amount possible.

Central Pacific is Hawaii's fourth-largest bank, holding about 15 percent of the state's deposits. In recent years, it increasingly used the money to make loans in California, funding several large residential developments. By last year, the bank was facing the consequences of California's collapsing housing market. In July, Central Pacific reported a quarterly loss of $146 million, matching its total profit in the previous three years.

In October, shortly after the government announced that it would invest billions of dollars in banks to spur new lending, Central Pacific submitted an application under the initiative, called the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP.

The bank faced long odds. More than 1,600 banks submitted applications to the FDIC in the three months after the program was announced, according to a report by the FDIC's inspector general's office. The agency forwarded 408 applications to Treasury, which approved only 267, or roughly 16 percent of the total.

Central Pacific's situation was even bleaker because it was in trouble with the FDIC. Regulators had raised concerns about the bank earlier in the year. The bank would soon sign an agreement with its state regulator and the FDIC requiring it to raise an additional $40 million in capital and to improve its management practices.


After the bank applied for bailout funds, weeks passed. Andrew Rosen, a spokesman for Central Pacific, said that regulators had told the bank that the process would take "some time" because of the glut of applications.

In late November, still waiting for an answer, the bank's government-affairs officer called Inouye's office to ask that it check on the status of the application, according to Rosen. (Rosen said in an initial interview that the bank had not contacted Inouye's office about the application. After Inouye was contacted for this story, Rosen said that he'd been mistaken, that the bank had called Inouye's office.)

One day after the bank's request, an Inouye aide called the FDIC's regional office in San Francisco, which regulates Central Pacific. Inouye said in a statement that the staffer, Van Luong, "simply left a voicemail message seeking to clarify whether Central Pacific Bank's application for TARP funds had actually been received by the FDIC." The statement said that the bank was soon notified that the application had been received, "and that closed the matter."

"This single phone call was the entire extent of my staff's contact with regard to Central Pacific Bank, to any outside agency," Inouye said.

Internal FDIC e-mails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that Luong's question was referred from San Francisco to FDIC headquarters in Washington. A few days later, Alice Goodman, who heads the FDIC's office of legislative affairs – and whose office is typically the point of contact for congressional inquiries – called Luong to say that the application "was still under process."

The internal e-mails show that the application had been forwarded to an inter-agency council headed by the Treasury Department that reviews cases in which a bank did not meet the criteria for a federal investment. Those criteria require banks to demonstrate their viability without the benefit of federal funding.

Shortly after the Inouye staffer's phone call, the council approved Central Pacific's application.

So far, more than 600 banks have received federal investments. While some recipients have started to repay aid, the Obama administration announced this spring that it would continue to accept applications from community banks until November. The crush of calls from Capitol Hill on behalf of specific applicants led the Treasury to announce earlier year that it would start releasing a weekly list of congressional inquiries. It has yet to do so.

The question of what role members of Congress have played in influencing the Treasury's decisions is under review by the special inspector general appointed to oversee the financial rescue program. A spokesman for the special inspector general said a report is expected later this summer.

Such contacts by members and their staff do not violate the rules Congress has established to govern itself. "Congress has never been willing to adopt strong conflict-of-interest rules for its members, but for the most part, has left it up to each member to decide for themselves whether they have a potential conflict of interest," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a watchdog group.

The most similar known case comes from the House. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) arranged a meeting between regulators and OneUnited of Massachusetts, a bank in which her husband held shares. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who did not own shares in the company, subsequently inserted language into the bailout bill that effectively directed the Treasury to give special consideration to that bank.

The report by the FDIC inspector general found that 26 of the 408 companies whose applications were sent to the Treasury faced enforcement actions as severe as those against Central Pacific. Because the FDIC inspector general did not name these 26 banks, it is unclear how many ultimately won the Treasury's approval. Nor is it clear whether any other bank used the Treasury money -- as Central Pacific did -- to address a capital shortfall identified by regulators.

Several financial analysts said they know of no other instances in which Treasury money was used this way. But they said it was impossible to be sure because banks are not required to disclose such regulatory actions, for instance those requiring that firms raise additional capital. Central Pacific had made this disclosure voluntarily.

Andrew Gray, an FDIC spokesman, said the Central Pacific decision was not unique, but he declined to name other banks, citing a policy against commenting on specific institutions.


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---------------------------------------------------

To me, the critical parts of this

well-researched story are the

following, which will bear especially

close watching over the next few

months:

"The question of what role members of Congress have played in influencing the Treasury's decisions is under review by the special inspector general appointed to oversee the financial rescue program. A spokesman for the special inspector general said a report is expected later this summer."

and

"Several financial analysts said they know of no other instances in which Treasury money was used this way. But they said it was impossible to be sure because banks are not required to disclose such regulatory actions, for instance those requiring that firms raise additional capital. Central Pacific had made this disclosure voluntarily."


See much more on the very tangled

web that is the world of bank bailouts,

the TARP and the F.D.I.C. with stories

that both confound and irritate at:

http://bailout.propublica.org/

Florida banks that participated in the
federal bailout can be found at:

While I lived in Arlington County, VA
from 1989-2003, I lived at three different
addresses, and based on what I write
about here, you probably won't be too
surprised to discover that each was
near a WMATA Metro station,

Once I was near the Clarendon Metro
station that was the gateway for Little
Saigon and the many great restaurants
in the area my friends and I (and all of
Washington) patronized for their
consistently great food at good prices.

I also lived twice near the Ballston Metro
station, my transit Home Sweet Home,
which was Public Policy Central,
a place where you could not only get
the usual array of Northeast newspapers,
but also the LA Times., which I loved
reading in the morning over coffee at
the place across the street before
getting on the train,

The reason was location, location,
location.

Ballston was located a block from
not only the area's local mall, the
Ballston Mall, but right near the HQ
for the National Science Foundation,
the U.S. Wildlife Service, and The
Nature Conservancy

(Now that you know this, maybe you
all can perhaps better appreciate why
I miss being up there, esp. on those
occasions when I'm confronted with
South Florida's chronic apathy or
nonsensical way of doing things, which,
so often doesn't involve planning and
strategy -or accountability- so much
as trying to re-invent the wheel,
over-and-over with the same motley
cast of clueless cronies.
That's nowehere more true than here
in Hallandale Beach, a city that could
and should be so much better than
it is.)

One constant thru all those years was
the Giant supermarket on Washington
Blvd., near the metro stop just prior to
where I got off at Ballston, which I
often stopped at to pick-up something
on the way home.

As it happens, this particular Giant
was located right next to the huge
F.D.I.C. Training Center, a.k.a. the
L. William Seidman Center,
which was, itself, a neighbor of the
Arlington campus of George Mason
University, housing many of the
graduate school programs, including
their well-known and often in-the-news

And just a few blocks away was the
Navy's Office of Naval Research.
They didn't all look like actress
Catherine Bell in JAG, of course,
but then she was always at the top
of the Bell Curve, mais non?

(FYI: Bell's mom was born in Iran,
so she also speaks Farsi, d'accord.
So why can't someone at the TV
cablenets ask her what she thinks
of Obama's very embarrassing and
underwhelming reaction to what's
brewing in Iran, instead of asking
over-exposed Jon Bon Jovi?
At least she actually understands
what the protestors are saying!!!)

JAG , David James Elliott , Catherine Bell

All that proximity meant that among
many other things, at lunchtime and
early evening, that upscale Giant was
often innundated with VERY smart,
cool and good-looking women, a
self-evident fact that didn't go
un-noticed for long in Arlington.

In fact, it was often a source of great
amusement for me and my friends
when someone got bored and talked
about needing to "swing by the Giant."

(While Georgetown may've had their
well-known "Social Safeway," we
had the smart AND good-looking
women over at our Giant.
It's not often that you can actually
run into someone who really has
been to the Arctic Circle, but there,
at that store, it was always possible.)

The store was remodeled as the
F.D.I.C. building was going up to
make it look more sleek, and
modern -but still brick- and become
much more appealing to the eye of
the young and middle-aged upscale
professionals of the area, and they
did a great job,

Having seen the metamorphosis of
that store and the area myself,
I can't help but think of the positive
changes that could take place in
Hollywood when they eventually
get a brand new Publix on the
northeast corner of Young Circle,
Block 55.

To see more on that redevelopment
project, Hollywood Circle, and what
developer Chip Abele hopes to build
there, see my February 19th post
labeled,
In Hollywood, blighted Block 55 gets
a new lease on life as "Hollywood Circle"