By Ben Antonius | Daily Republic | September 30, 2009
Martina Epinoza, 14, and her sister Anna, 17, left to right walk past Gordon's Music and Sound business in downtown Fairfield. Photo by Mike Greener
FAIRFIELD - State officials are 'detached' from the local consequences of their decisions, a speaker told members of the Solano Economic Development Corp. Wednesday.
John Shirey, executive director of the California Redevelopment Association, spoke to the crowd about more than $2 billion the state forcibly borrowed from communities to balance its own budget. He charged that state leaders view local governments as 'an ATM' and don't recognize the consequences of their actions.
'What's easier than having to cut your expenses or raise your revenue? Take the money from someone else,' he said. 'That's why John Dillinger robbed banks.'
Collecting the money was approved by AB 26 4X, one in a package of bills that aimed to resolve the state's long budget crisis. Shirey credited local state Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, and local Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, D-Davis, for being among the minority who voted against the bill.
State Sen. Pat Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, and Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, voted in favor of the bill.
The redevelopment association will sue the state over the money, Shirey said. It successfully sued over a similar, though smaller, situation in 2008. He said the association is also leaning toward supporting California Forward, one of several concurrent reform efforts.
Wolk also supports California Forward, and is the author of its first bill. The Legislature is often viewed as being resistant to reform attempts, but Wolk said there are people 'on both sides of the aisle' that want things to change.
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