91% Increase in Water Rates

(from Fullertontaxfighters.com)

This Tuesday night, March 1st 2011, the Fullerton City Council will direct staff on the implementation of a water rate study.

Based on the proposal from the City's consultant, the new rates will be increased by 10% for 5 years then 3.5% for another 5 years amounting to a 191% increase by 2021.

The reason for the tax hike is clear. The report says, "It should be noted that the planned spending on mainline replacement over the projection period is significantly more than the City has undertaken in the past. At a cost of approximately $190 per linear foot of line the City plans to replace approximately 6 miles of mainline per year at a cost of over 6 million per year.  At this pace it would take the City 400 years to replace the entire system (which consists of approximately 420 miles of pipe)."

SHOW UP AND BE HEARD
at the Fullerton City Council Chambers
6:30 pm on Tuesday, March 1st, 2011.
303 W. Commonwealth
Fullerton, CA 92832

MFSG's proposal spells out how exactly we got into this mess in the first place. Unfortunately, this proposal and the implementation should have been undertaken decades ago. Oddly, the proposal notes that the City could just ignore the problem (like they have been doing for so many years).

"While the capital investments have a pronounced impact on rates the projects are vitally important to ensure the continued operation of the water system.  The City could keep rates low initially by not maintaining the system but would pay a significant price later as system failures spike due to a lack of system maintenance, which would then result in increased costs and ultimately the need for even higher rate increases. Proactively managing of the water system through maintenance and capital investments allows the City to keep rates stable over time."

~Managing through maintenance and capital investment.~

That is a sentence that has been long missing from Fullerton. The City council has pushed tax bonds to provide low-income housing and park facilities while ignoring the streets, sewers, and water lines. And now Fullerton taxpayers must pay the high price of municipal mismanagement. Compounding our financial civic woes is that if the proposed rate hikes were approved, the City would have to borrow heavily through bonds to cover the actual costs of replacing the aging system. 

Join me at City Hall this Tuesday at 6:30PM to tell the Fullerton City Council that higher taxes won't fix decades of mismanagement and waste.  
Thank you,
Greg Sebourn
Husband, Father, Educator, Professional Land Surveyor, and Local Activist for Limited Government.
GregSebourn@yahoo.com 

_____________________________________

Sources:
http://fullertontaxfighters.com/

http://www.fullertonsfuture.org/2011/91-water-rate-increase-wtf-is-next/
http://gregsebourn.blogspot.com/2011/02/fullerton-water-rates-to-double.html

Ed Royce

 

District Update | January 31, 2011 Click here if you have trouble viewing this message.

Dear Friends,Actress Kristen Bell will provide the keynote address at my Third Annual Women's Conference. This event will be held in conjunction with Cal State Fullerton's Women and Philanthropy Network at CSUF's Titan Student Union Center on Saturday, April 2, 2011. Kristen Bell, this year’s keynote speaker, is a strong supporter of Invisible Children, a group that is dedicated to creating awareness about the plight of child soldiers in Uganda.  Bell is probably best known for her roles in the romantic comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the TV series Veronica Mars. This year's conference will offer unique advice for job seekers, stress management techniques, nutrition tips, financial advice and safety tips that every woman should know. Click here to RSVP for the Women's Conference.  I look forward to seeing you in April. Sincerely, Representative Ed Royce Top District Issues Royce Reacts to President Obama's State of the Union Address In an exclusive to the FlashReport, Rep. Royce provides his thoughts on some of the specific issues raised by the president during his State of the Union address.  The following is an excerpt from that exclusive: This was the president that authorized the bailouts, signed the $800 billion un-stimulating stimulus package, created the $2 trillion entitlement program known as Obamacare and increased overall spending by 84 percent. Since the president’s last State of the Union speech (when he proposed his first failed spending freeze), our national debt has gone up by $1.7 trillion. Now he’s calling for a freeze rather than cuts? I am afraid he’s a day late and a few trillion dollars short. Click here to read the piece in its entirety.   House Republicans Committed to Cutting Washington Spending Last week, the House passed H.Res. 38, a resolution that puts the House on a glide path to a significant drop in spending for the remainder of fiscal year 2011.  The resolution cuts non-security discretionary spending to pre-‘stimulus,’ pre-bailout levels or lower.  This legislation is expected to trim $60 billion or more from non-security discretionary spending. Click here for more information about this legislation. EVENTS March 14: Royce will host an informational meeting for students to learn more about West Point, Annapolis, Merchant Marine, Air Force and Coast Guard. Click here for more details. April 2: Royce will host his Third Annual Women's Conference.  Actress Kristen Bell will be this year's keynote speaker. Click here for more details. In Case You Missed It At the state dinner for China's President Hu Jintao, a Chinese-born pianist Lang Lang used his time in front of the two presidents to play an anti-American propaganda song, "My Motherland."  Royce blogged on this incident last week.  Click here to read Royce's blog post entitled, "Hu’s Tickling the White House Ivories?!" CONNECT RSS Feeds Facebook Youtube Foreign Intrigue Blog

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Why “Sanctity of Life” Matters

by Jim Litchfield

Last Saturday, January 22, was the 38th anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision which opened wide the door to the killing of our unborn babies. We asked one of our church’s strongest proponents of Right to Life issues to write about what keeps him and his wife Carolyn in the fight.

Abortion.

It is worse than you can imagine.

Abortion. The word itself elicits emotions across the entire spectrum of human feelings. Abortion. Our response to the scope and severity of this issue will undoubtedly be what our generation is judged for in the history books.

Abortion. An act of violence that kills a child. Abortion. Approximately 50,000,000 deaths in the United States since the 1973 Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. 1,210,000 deaths per year in the U.S. (2005 figures). Approximately 3,315 per day. Every day in the U.S. there are more babies killed by abortion than the number of people killed on 9-11. Abortion. It is worse than you can imagine.

With the 38th annual commemoration of the Roe v Wade decision this month, Christians are once again confronted with the question about what we should do, both as individuals and as the church, in response to the killing of innocent children in our society. What should we do? What does Scripture say we should do?

There are numerous Scriptural references to the sanctity of life, to the fact that life begins at conception, and that we should defend the innocent.

For instance, consider the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37). Is an unborn child our current neighbor (as opposed to merely being a future neighbor) in the sense meant by Jesus when He commanded us to “love our neighbor” in the parable?

If the unborn child is our current neighbor, what is our response supposed to be? The priest and the Levite who passed by on the other side of the beating victim may have felt pity for him but the Samaritan took pity on him. The Samaritan took risks and made sacrifices (a good definition of “love”) to save someone he didn’t know and to whom he owed no obvious duty (an extreme definition of “neighbor”). Even more importantly, if the unborn child is our neighbor now, we should be sobered by the fact that the Parable of the Good Samaritan is Christ’s answer to the question “. . . what must I do to be saved?” (Luke 10:25) Jesus said we are to love God and love our neighbor and then explained who our neighbor is and what real love looks like. How can this parable not apply to abortion?

Good works can’t save us but they will be judged as evidence that our faith is a saving faith. Jesus prophesied that He would judge faith by examining works: “Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me . . . Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of

these, you did not do it to Me.’” (Matthew 25:41–45)

It is Scriptures like these that motivate me to respond to the abortion holocaust. Theologian Francis Schaeffer wrote that if Christians won’t stand up against something as evil as killing a baby—then the world has the right to ask whether Christ is real. I want the world to know that Jesus is real. I want the world to know that He is alive. And I want the world to hear the gospel, as it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

Ephesians 5:1 commands us, as believers in Christ to expose the deeds of evil and darkness. The world is watching the Christian Church’s response to the abortion holocaust and deciding what they think about Jesus as they do. If Jesus’ people aren’t doing anything about abortion, a very clear statement is being made about Jesus!

There are many, many ways that Christians can respond to the evil of abortion. First and foremost, educate yourself about abortion. There are numerous websites with all kinds of facts and figures and research (abortionNO.org and abort73.com). Once you have a better understanding of abortion and the enormity of the abortion problem, draw near to God and ask Him the same three questions that Pastor Steve Osborn taught in his sermon in the Sanctuary (January 16) and the Commons (January 23): Where does the Father want me to deploy the finite resources of my life to stop abortion? Who does the Father want me to work with to help stop abortion? And last, specifically what does the Father want me to do to stop abortion? Ask these questions in faith and, as you listen for His answer, pray that the Father answers you just as Jesus prayed the Father would answer

Him (Luke 22), “nevertheless, not my will, but Yours, be done.”

My fervent prayer is that there won’t need to be a 39th commemoration of Roe v Wade next year . . . but rather the first commemoration of the year that abortion ended in our country. Imagine that.

The Boomerang Generation



The Fullerton Sentinel

 25- to 34-year old "kids" are moving back in with Mom and Dad at a record rate.  

By The Fullerton Sentinel

The Huffington Post reported on a study in the Transitions to Adulthood titled "What's Going on with Young People Today? The Long and Twisting Path to Adulthood".  Just reading the title will make you feel old! 

ScienceDaily wrote a great synopsis: "Despite living in an age of iPads and hybrid cars, young Americans are more like the young adults of the early 1900s than the baby boom generation: They are living at home longer, are financially insecure and are making lower wages."

So much for retiring, selling the house, and downsizing into a condo while you tour the country in your RV.  The bottom line for Mom and Dad, don't get too comfy; the kids are coming back!