Free Republic

Talk about bureaucratic red tape. Try dealing with 87 different government union health insurance plans. That was one of the headaches Lou Schimmel faced when he became emergency manager for the city of Pontiac. The city now has one plan and will save millions by consolidating, which would have been nearly impossible without the state's emergency manager law. "Every union had their own negotiated health plan with either no or low deductibles and co-pays,” said John Naglick, Pontiac's finance director. "These plans had been negotiated over the years. An employee who retired under a certain health plan expected to be...

Promises to unionized government workers and debt payments due on a failed movie studio have prompted a state review team to recommend an emergency manager for the city of Allen Park. The six-member panel noted that those items, along with budgeted expenditures for police and fire service account for 82 percent of the city's entire budget. The report also made note of minimum staffing requirements in the police and firefighter contracts, suggesting those alone "will render the financial situation in Allen Park difficult to resolve." Gov. Rick Snyder has 30 days to review the report and decide whether to appoint...

In 2006, the city of Flint operated at a $5.9 million surplus. Four years later, the city was $48.1 million in the red. Examining how Flint ended up with an emergency manager in 2011 reveals a laundry list of issues that hit municipal finances at the same time. “It’s hard to tie it to one thing,” said Michael Brown, the city’s current emergency manager. At a time when the city’s revenue was evaporating, its expenses were rapidly escalating. For example, the city’s revenue from property tax, income tax and state-shared revenue dropped a combined $19.2 million from 2006 to 2011....

The mayor of Boston is vowing to block Chick-fil-A from opening a restaurant in the city after the company's president spoke out publicly against gay marriage. Mayor Thomas Menino told the Boston Herald on Thursday that he doesn't want a business in the city "that discriminates against a population." Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press this week that his privately owned company is "guilty as charged" in support of what he called the biblical definition of the family. The fast-food chicken sandwich chain later said that it strives to "treat every person with honor, dignity and respect --...

Both the Pontiac School District and the city of Pontiac are operating with deficits, but the city is climbing out of the hole while the school district suffers. Why? Because the schools are operating with the same officials at the helm trying to implement a deficit elimination plan while the city recovers thanks to a strong emergency manager. In spite of its own plan to get out of the red, the Pontiac School District faces a $24.5 million deficit. That's 32.4 percent of its annual revenue. Of the 48 Michigan public school districts with deficits, only two of comparable size...

Allen Park is well known for the fiasco surrounding a failed $30 million movie studio the city government got involved in, but that's only part of the problem. Allen Park also is being held hostage by a pension and a retiree health insurance program that is only a dream to people who work in the private sector. Typically, Allen Park's government union workers retire in their 50s, earn close to full salary with mid-career overtime loading, and get lifetime health, dental and vision care for themselves and their dependents for no more than $1,100 a year, according to city documents....

Oklahoma City, OK, United States (4E) – Oklahoma City has been dubbed “America’s Manliest City” in the fourth annual Combo’s “America’s Manliest Cities” list. Conducted by New Jersey-based Mars Chocolate, in conjunction with research expert Bert Sperling, the list ranks the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas using a scale that takes into account the number of home improvement stores, steak houses and “manly” occupations per capita. Cities stood to lose points if they had too many “girly” or feminine factors, such as a high number of nail salons or high-end retail boutiques. Topping the list as America’s Manliest City is...

by John HillStand With Arizona A pro-illegal alien activist group announced what they promised to be a "massive" protest to "demand" that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's famous Tent City be "shut down", but then chickened out when Arpaio invited them to his office to discuss it. "Puente", a left-wing, Soros-funded  group which advocates for illegal alien amnesty and against Arizona immigration law S.B. 1070, declared their intention to "take on" the "racist Sheriff Joe" and show they are "unafraid". But that all changed after this Sheriff Joe Facebook post: Evidently Puente does not like my 19 year old successful tent...

When Joyce Parker took over as emergency manager for the city of Ecorse in 2009, she was faced with a police union whose five-year contract had been expired for two years. Faced with $8 million in debt, Parker wasn’t going to be able to save any money in police overtime with more efficient scheduling. That was because the contract wouldn’t allow it. The provision of the Police Officers Association of Michigan contract read: “The City will not change the work schedule resulting in the loss of overtime.” “I’ve never seen that in a contract,” Parker said this month. “There is...

For the second time in two years, the city of Oak Park is asking for a tax increase via a public safety millage, saying it has made signficant cuts in its workforce but that those efforts didn't save enough money. The city's budgets online, however, appear to dispute the claims of how deep those cuts were. Voters will be asked May 8 to approve a 1.14 mills Public Safety Millage for 10 years. Voters approved a 1-mill Public Safety Millage last year, but the city now says that wasn’t enough because of a drop in residential property values. The city...

Allen Park went "all in" on Michigan's film subsidy program. When the deal collapsed, the mid-sized city got stuck with the bill. Adding in skyrocketing public employee legacy costs leaves a recipe for fiscal disaster.

by John HillStand With ArizonaWe have become sadly accustomed to California - America's Sanctuary State - sinking lower and lower into utter lawlessness for the sake of naked racial politics. But whatever they do in Sacramento doesn't even come close to the utter madness that is Los Angeles - which makes the rest of the state look conservative by comparison. This week saw the Los Angeles Police Department announcing that it will soon start ignoring California state law, which requires police to impound the vehicles of unlicensed drivers for 30 days - because it is "unfair" to illegal aliens!That's right....

<p>Chicago - City Clerk Susana Mendoza is investigating whether gang signs are in the artwork of the new Chicago city sticker just days before the sticker is set to be printed.</p> <p>The sticker was picked as the winner in a city-wide contest and was designed by a 15-year-old boy who attends a school for troubled youth.</p>

Cynthia Nixon of “Sex In The City” fame (I finally got to see it on E years after its run on HBO; what a loathsome show about some lonely, superficial people) is gay. She said it was a choice — a statement that has angered certain people who want to stifle her free speech and dictate how she feels. First the over-reaction from John Aravosis: “It’s not a ‘choice,’ unless you consider my opting to date a guy with brown hair versus a guy with blonde hair a ‘choice,’” he writes. “It’s only a choice among flavors I already like…...

The struggling U.S. city of Detroit is on track to run out of money in May instead of April after spending changes made by city officials, Michigan Treasurer Andy Dillon said on Tuesday. Dillon addressed media following a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with a team that is looking at Detroit's financial picture and trying to assess whether the city needs an emergency manager to take over operations. It was the first time the 10-member team met since it was appointed last month. He said Detroit's most urgent issue is figuring out how to arrest escalating retiree health care costs, and clean up...

Stacy Lynne educates We Are Change Colorado about the International Council on LOCAL Environmental Initiatives. An arm of the United Nations Agenda 21 and how they are using "GREENWASHING" to take over America

The city in the Heilongjiang province in China first held its Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in 1963, although it was interrupted for a number of years during the Cultural Revolution and only resumed in 1985. The festival, which starts on January 5 and lasts for one month, is one of the largest of its kind in the world attracting thousands of tourists from across China.

We wish that we could call this list, "The Happiest Cities In America." But right now every city in America is suffering. The least miserable cities might surprise you, including Pittsburgh and Buffalo. These cities experienced less of a boom during the bubble, so they're finding it easier to recover. Conversely the most miserable cities are mostly housing bubble capitals. Our list is based on an index from Brookings including unemployment rate and change in employment, home prices and gross metro product since before the recession. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ #20 McAllen, Texas Unemployment rate of 12.2% Employment up 2.0% from peak Gross...

Adopts Conforming Ordinance The Raleigh City Council today adopted an ordinance that members hope will be short lived. The vote brings the City Code into compliance with North Carolina State Enabling Laws. The newly adopted State law that went into effect Dec. 1, allows the carrying of concealed weapons essentially everywhere, with the exceptions of some City-owned parks and recreational facilities. The City Council has asked the City Attorney’s Office to pursue an exemption for Raleigh during the General Assembly’s short session. "While the City Council will comply with the new law, the Council members unanimously believe it is bad...

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The City Attorney’s Office recommended that 46 people charged with crimes related to the LAPD raid on the Occupy L.A. enacampment not be allowed back to City Hall to continue protesting. Charges were filed against protesters who either resisted arrest or had prior criminal records. “We believe it is appropriate since they were arrested for violating the law in that area that they be ordered by the court not to go back to that area,” Thomas said. He likened it to a husband accused of beating his wife, saying it would be reasonable to request the...