Presiding Judge Katherine Feinstein said the actions were necessary to close a $13.75 million budget deficit caused by state budget cuts. She said the cuts mean it will take many more hours to pay a traffic ticket in person, up to 18 months to finalize a divorce and five years for a lawsuit to go to trial.
"The civil justice system in San Francisco is collapsing," Feinstein said.
------------------
And that will be a huge problem for everybody.I remember when Proposition 13 passed 1978, the right wingers claimed state and local government would get along just fine, and the lefties said it would be a disaster. About a year later all the righties were crowing that nothing happened. The lefties said you have to wait and see. Then there was this period of state and local governments doing all sorts of things to make up for revenues lost to tax revolts. Sin taxes on cigarettes and alcohol; the tobacco settlement; CID housing; special districts; privatization; gambling; deals with sports teams; TIFs and BIDs; and on, and on. And now that the effort to destroy state and local government looks like it has finally succeeded, the right wingers are trying to smash the federal government as well. At this rate, soon we will be living like Mad Max, the Road Warrior.
6 comments:
Not to worry. There are plenty of retired judges willing to hear CID cases in arbitration.
But in the world of Mad Max, there is no gun control.
Libertarian paradise!
Eliminating local government would be one thing. Replacing it with private corporate governance is unacceptable.
Welcome to Thunderdome HOA: Two lawn gnomes go in, none comes out.
Not to mention that the California state government can legally confiscate funds from municipalities. While the Feds can print money and the State can steal money, the cities are left with nowhere to go other than raise sales taxes and look for parking violations.
(BTW -- San Francisco is a city and county all in one.)
But in the world of Mad Max, there is no gun control.
Libertarian paradise!
Nor are the cars required to have emissions controls.
In Libertarian Utopia, if you are damaged by the pollution from somebody's car, you can go to court and sue for damages. The practice of "environmental property rights" is superior to any government regulation designed to protect the environment, because it is based on private property rights.
Post a Comment