So I guess I've been charged with retelling the tale of our Pub Crawl drunkedness, which would be easier if I could remember it all. Hell, it'd be easier if I could remember most of it. Luckily I have our Twitter feed, pictures, and the memories of the soberer (aka everybody else) to help jog my memory. Without that we'd be completely screwed.
Regardless, we started off the night early because we always enjoy an opportunity to drink while it's still light out. Misaki's was fairly uneventful, mostly because all of us (sans Bris, the ultimate pregamer) were soberish still. After a quick round of Sake Bombs to remedy that situation we headed towards the Miracle Mile portion of the festivities. Centrale and Alder Market didn't participate this go around, which seems strange considering the only reason I even know about either of those establishments is because of the Pub Crawl.
The bars that were there stepped their game up and embraced the Crawl for all its drunken awesomeness. Valley Brew once again changed its menu from the last time we'd been there (surprise!) and for once, I was disappointed by their deep-fried mushrooms. I'm not sure if we just got an off batch or if they intentionally made them less crispy for the free grub vouchers, but they left a lot to be desired. Luckily ranch fixed that.
Next I'm told we headed to the back of Taste of Brittany, also known as Moulin Rouge. The name brings up memories of a horrible Australian musical, but it's actually a pretty cool place that serves a nice variation of one of my favorite drinks, the screwdriver. We chatted with the owner Dan a bit, he seems pretty cool. We all make a note to come back to next morning for some crepes. None of us make it.
The Matinee earned our derision last crawl with their lackluster Jungle Juice. This time wasn't that much better, but we did get a piece of alcohol soaked fruit to go with it. They packed a decent punch.
After jumping on the trolley towards the Waterfront Warehouse, we noticed the crowd had picked up considerably. While the crowd was still of the slightly-to-considerably older variety, it was still a pretty fun group as everyone was pretty hammered by now. So it was against our better judgement to chug the slurpees masquerading as premixed maitais that they call Hula Girls at the Sunset Grill (nee Waterfront Grill, Boiler Room). Granted, they were delicious going down. But mix all that sugar with the Long Islands, Jungle Juice, sake, beer, vodka, mushrooms, and deep-fried asparagus and the results aren't going to be pretty the next day. But for that night they were fucking awesome. Sunset Grill even had Samoan dancers for some reason.
After that it gets kind of hazy. If I remember correctly we made a quick Chitivas stop and then headed to Beach Hut Deli via trolley. As usual, Beach Hut had the best deal of $1 pints of any beer. A deal which I promptly wasted on Pabst because there was no way I could handle thicker, qualitier beer with all that sweet shit in my stomach. Sadly, Bradley's drink special was also the Orange Lazarus of alcoholic drinks known as Hula Girl, so I stuck around Beach Hut and ate some of their kickass nachos. Because, fuck it, my stomach's already going to hate me, might as well throw in some chips and salsa. Eventually, a band broke out in the corner by the door, which occasionally happens at the Beach Hut.
Eventually we all chugged our beers, and decided we were going to see what was up with ol' Paragary's. You may recall that at the last Crawl we didn't receive the best treatment when attempting to drink there. We drunkenly thought that surely they had come around this time in these hard economic times and take any comer and treat them as royalty. I mean, he's supposedly hurting for customers, right?
Well, we walk in and are immediately shot a dirty look and told that they're closed. Now, mind you the bar is about a quarter full as she tells us this and that it's 10:30 at night on a weekend. An hour and a half before the Pub Crawl ends and well before when any self respecting bar attempting to turn a profit would close. Naturally we ask "Closed? It's 10:30. Why?" and are told that they are in fact, out of drinks. Of course, seeing the full stocked bar behind her, a confused look comes over our face. We reason with ourselves that she means that they're out of the free Hula Girl candy drinks and I go "No, I have money" and proceed to whip out my wallet and display my impressive $45 wad.
I feel I should break here to note that this is probably a milestone in Downtown Stockton's redevelopment that a pessimistic native Stocktonian like myself would willingly open their wallet without fear of ramapercussions in the middle of the night. I mean, this is exactly what they want right? For us to open our wallets to downtown to generate revenue. I wasn't even doing it figuratively, I was doing it literally. And what do I get? I get a "No, we're out." So my friend and I go on a drunken rant about being a paying customer and Paragary's is losing revenue for this reason, and not for any lame subsidy excuses because, well, fuck Paragary's. So the next time Mike Fitzgerald tries to lament the fact that we're petty dicks with a hard on for subsidies, and that's the reason Paragary's has to sell, you can tell him he's dead wrong. It's because shit like this happens. Twice.
After this it gets incredibly hazy as we hiked on over to the Hippo Bar, which is massive, and drown our sorrows in they're late night drink specials (which I hear they have on a weekly basis) that extended past the Crawl. Around this time our group got separated, because that's always a good idea when you're completely plastered. I ended up on a trolley back towards Bradley's that was so packed that some chick came up to me and sat on my lap and then turned to me and said "Don't get hard." Yup, it was a Stockton kind of crowd. It was pretty awesome. Frankly, if downtown concentrated on more alcohol-centric ideas like this to get people down there on the warm summer nights (because, let's face it, booze one of the few things that we can all agree on), that whole revitalization thing might actually catch on.
Showing posts with label downtown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label downtown. Show all posts
Friday, May 29, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Fitzy's latest love is a "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" kind of situation
We did miss one other thing on Friday, something big. Something that let's you know that spring is in the air, everyone has that little extra spring in their step, birds chirping, all that crap that let's you know it's time for some good ol' fashioned summer lovin'. That's right, Fitzy's in love again! He's now apparently spurned the advances of IFG's Stephen Grossman, on the same day he bought him a Dylan/Nelson/Mellencamp concert too! That bitch!
Yes, he's spurned Grossman (from now on known as the Ex Cannon) in favor of a man who knows Fitzy's true love, downtown revitalization. Yes, in a move not unlike that one girl you know who only dates douchebags in emo bands who wear more eyeliner than she does, Fitzy has fallen hard for Revitalization Director David Harzoff. Whom you may or may not remember from this little incident. He's also known as the guy who replaced longtime Fitz love Steve Pinkerton, who left Fitzy after 12 blissful years to take a better job in Manteca and then blogged about it to presumably rub it in his face ("look how happy I am over here without you!").
What turn of events could cause Fitzy to switch horses so quickly? Well, he was wooed with some pillow talk about downtown housing that got him so hot and bothered he chased down Harzoff after the event at Casa Flores (without paying! OMG this is straight out of a Hugh Grant movie!) and said "Talk dirty to me."
Of course, all that dirty talk was theoretical because we have no money to actually, you know, do anything. But Fitzy was still fascinated and gazed longingly into Herzoff's eyes as he spouted off bullshit for him to report to the masses.
Included in that bullshit is a plan to revitalize the nicest area near downtown (Fremont Street) and tear down a state office building (which I'm sure the state would love) and replace it with more shops and cafes. And then he wants to bring in a developer to turn the B+M building into 4 different things, a first floor family style restaurant complete with it's own gourmet hot dog window, a second-floor dance club (because we don't have enough douchey Euro bars as it is), and a third floor private club (because if there's one thing we've learned from this whole thing it's that the citizens of Stockton love snooty private clubs for the rich). Sound ambitious? Yeah, he's pretty proud of himself. From the column:
"'All of a sudden, that plaza starts feeling a lit more like a district,' Harzoff said approvingly."
Sure, I guess, but this is all just in theory. Like when Bris, Duke, and I talk about buying up Stockton Stooges and opening up our own bar. But, like the downtown's redevelopment district, we're broke so those talks stay just that, talks. David Harzoff doesn't go down as easily. Again from the column:
"This sticking point is being addressed in two ways, Harzoff said. First, he is merging two Port redevelopment districts with the downtown district."
So taking money from other districts to fund even more downtown projects? Yeah, Stockton's voters will love that.
"Merging it with two districts at the port, where business is robust, gives it access to millions. But, Harzoff hastened to add, all these dollars will not be taken from the port, which is generating sorely needed jobs."
So we'll merge downtown's district with two port districts because the downtown district has no money, but we won't be taking money from the port? Makes total sense.
"The second policy shift is balance. A share for downtown, a share for the port, a share for the southside and other districts. Not robbing Peter to pay Paul until Peter threatens a recall."
(Reads that paragraph again.)
(Reads entire column again.)
(Reads paragraph again)
(Downs shot of whiskey)
Umm, what? A share of the port district money? A share of the revenue generated from downtown? A share of redevelopment money in general? A share of delicious pie? What the fuck is he talking about? (Note: We know what he's talking about, he just never actually says it in the column. Which could confuse people who don't know exactly how redevelopment funds work. Which, judging by that town hall meeting last week, is a lot of people.)
Fuck this, I'm done. Fitzy's entire column is a load of bullshit. More championing for the downtown district he's been so fond of. It's like he just ignored the last few years happened, you know, the part where everybody got fed up with the consistent flow of cash into one concentrated area. But instead of completely ignoring that, he just wants to make that concentrated area bigger so we can pump even more cash downtown, yet somehow balance that cash and send it southside as well.
Look, we're all for having a decent downtown entertainment district. We'd love to have more venues for drinking and catching some local band, but for the love of God not now. Nobody's saying let's completely abandon downtown since it's failed, what we're saying it slow the fuck down and let the rest of us catch up. And while we're catching up, concentrate on other areas of Stockton.
Downtown's future was never in doubt, we just don't know exactly what that future will entail. People will come around and downtown will thrive. It may not thrive like Fitzy or others wanted it to thrive (as a hub for the rich movers and shakers of the area), but it will find its niche that's decidedly Stockton and that's when more growth may be warranted. Smart growth, not this trial by error shit Harzoff's spouting (which is what got us in this mess in the first place).
Downtown's going through changes right now, people are realizing that maybe trying to be like other cities is a bad idea (I swear to God the next person who mentions San Antonio's River Walk is getting punched in the mouth), we just need to be like Stockton. Unfortunately those in charge haven't figured out what Stockton is yet. Once they have we can act, but until then shut the fuck up about pumping more cash downtown. We're fucking tired of it.
Yes, he's spurned Grossman (from now on known as the Ex Cannon) in favor of a man who knows Fitzy's true love, downtown revitalization. Yes, in a move not unlike that one girl you know who only dates douchebags in emo bands who wear more eyeliner than she does, Fitzy has fallen hard for Revitalization Director David Harzoff. Whom you may or may not remember from this little incident. He's also known as the guy who replaced longtime Fitz love Steve Pinkerton, who left Fitzy after 12 blissful years to take a better job in Manteca and then blogged about it to presumably rub it in his face ("look how happy I am over here without you!").
What turn of events could cause Fitzy to switch horses so quickly? Well, he was wooed with some pillow talk about downtown housing that got him so hot and bothered he chased down Harzoff after the event at Casa Flores (without paying! OMG this is straight out of a Hugh Grant movie!) and said "Talk dirty to me."
Of course, all that dirty talk was theoretical because we have no money to actually, you know, do anything. But Fitzy was still fascinated and gazed longingly into Herzoff's eyes as he spouted off bullshit for him to report to the masses.
Included in that bullshit is a plan to revitalize the nicest area near downtown (Fremont Street) and tear down a state office building (which I'm sure the state would love) and replace it with more shops and cafes. And then he wants to bring in a developer to turn the B+M building into 4 different things, a first floor family style restaurant complete with it's own gourmet hot dog window, a second-floor dance club (because we don't have enough douchey Euro bars as it is), and a third floor private club (because if there's one thing we've learned from this whole thing it's that the citizens of Stockton love snooty private clubs for the rich). Sound ambitious? Yeah, he's pretty proud of himself. From the column:
"'All of a sudden, that plaza starts feeling a lit more like a district,' Harzoff said approvingly."
Sure, I guess, but this is all just in theory. Like when Bris, Duke, and I talk about buying up Stockton Stooges and opening up our own bar. But, like the downtown's redevelopment district, we're broke so those talks stay just that, talks. David Harzoff doesn't go down as easily. Again from the column:
"This sticking point is being addressed in two ways, Harzoff said. First, he is merging two Port redevelopment districts with the downtown district."
So taking money from other districts to fund even more downtown projects? Yeah, Stockton's voters will love that.
"Merging it with two districts at the port, where business is robust, gives it access to millions. But, Harzoff hastened to add, all these dollars will not be taken from the port, which is generating sorely needed jobs."
So we'll merge downtown's district with two port districts because the downtown district has no money, but we won't be taking money from the port? Makes total sense.
"The second policy shift is balance. A share for downtown, a share for the port, a share for the southside and other districts. Not robbing Peter to pay Paul until Peter threatens a recall."
(Reads that paragraph again.)
(Reads entire column again.)
(Reads paragraph again)
(Downs shot of whiskey)
Umm, what? A share of the port district money? A share of the revenue generated from downtown? A share of redevelopment money in general? A share of delicious pie? What the fuck is he talking about? (Note: We know what he's talking about, he just never actually says it in the column. Which could confuse people who don't know exactly how redevelopment funds work. Which, judging by that town hall meeting last week, is a lot of people.)
Fuck this, I'm done. Fitzy's entire column is a load of bullshit. More championing for the downtown district he's been so fond of. It's like he just ignored the last few years happened, you know, the part where everybody got fed up with the consistent flow of cash into one concentrated area. But instead of completely ignoring that, he just wants to make that concentrated area bigger so we can pump even more cash downtown, yet somehow balance that cash and send it southside as well.
Look, we're all for having a decent downtown entertainment district. We'd love to have more venues for drinking and catching some local band, but for the love of God not now. Nobody's saying let's completely abandon downtown since it's failed, what we're saying it slow the fuck down and let the rest of us catch up. And while we're catching up, concentrate on other areas of Stockton.
Downtown's future was never in doubt, we just don't know exactly what that future will entail. People will come around and downtown will thrive. It may not thrive like Fitzy or others wanted it to thrive (as a hub for the rich movers and shakers of the area), but it will find its niche that's decidedly Stockton and that's when more growth may be warranted. Smart growth, not this trial by error shit Harzoff's spouting (which is what got us in this mess in the first place).
Downtown's going through changes right now, people are realizing that maybe trying to be like other cities is a bad idea (I swear to God the next person who mentions San Antonio's River Walk is getting punched in the mouth), we just need to be like Stockton. Unfortunately those in charge haven't figured out what Stockton is yet. Once they have we can act, but until then shut the fuck up about pumping more cash downtown. We're fucking tired of it.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Quick Links for March 25th
Thank God for the Nasty Fetish Tournament because jack and shit is going on this week. And no, UOP advancing to the semifinals of the CollegeInsider.com tournament is not news. Mostly because I'm pretty sure if I had tens of thousands of dollars to throw around I could grab the guys I play an occasional pickup game with and advance to the semis of that joke of a tournament.
Anyway, it's Wednesday and we haven't done a Quick Links yet this week. Which I'm pretty sure is a record or something. So yeah, Quick Links!
"Taxes? I thought that was part of our deal"
The plight of the Lexington Waterfront Plaza Hotel Bar and Grill and Feed 'n Fuel continues. This time they didn't pay a tax aimed pretty much directly at them. So not only are contractors not getting paid, but the city's not getting the revenue that was part of the reason they gave the old Sheraton such a sweet deal in the first place. Of course, they're blaming it on the fact that the hotel's still in bankruptcy court, which I guess is a decent enough excuse. But this whole situation does underscore how horrible of an idea building an upscale hotel in what's considered (correctly or not) one of the sketchier areas in town. That idea looks fucking golden though compared to the fact that the hotel's profitability hinged on the sale of multiple $700,000 condos on the top of the hotel. None of this is really new news, but like I said, jack shit's been going on this week. Although it is pretty funny that the VP of the hotel is also the chairman of the tourism board that the hotel tax presumably benefits.
Apparently we learned nothing from previous councils
We've said it before and we'll say it again, Arena's are not moneymakers! That being said we understand why the city's considering this. The Arena was maligned while it was being built, and 4 years later it has yet to turn a profit. Most people are ignorant to the fact that it's tough for any new arena to post a profit, especially when the tenants don't have a built in fan base. So Arena opponents have exploited that ignorance and have been calling for immediate action to rectify that. We're not Arena apologists, but immediate action is kind of what got us into this mess in the first place.
The major problem with the Arena and downtown redevelopment as a whole is that it all happened wayyyyy too fast. Podesto was eager to leave his mark on the city and wanted to get everything done before he was out of office. So everything got fast tracked. Want a movie theater? Boom! It's up. Ballpark? Booyah! Built whether we got the land through legal means or not. Arena? Why, that would be the crown jewel! Make it happen! And throw a hotel up there too while you're at it. What was missing in all of this? Well, for one, a chance to see if any of those things could actually succeed downtown. We all know how downtown was perceived pre-redevelopment. It was an area to be avoided unless you had a parking ticket or jury duty. The city did nothing to address those concerns outside throwing up some fences.
Instead of slowly coaxing us into checking out downtown they hijacked the Asparagus festival and forced us downtown. Instead of saying "Hey, we understand your safety concerns and we're doing something to address them" they said "Crime? What the fuck are you talking about? It's perfectly safe down there!" while stories in the paper told us about shootings in front of nightclubs and late night muggings. And while all of this is going on, they expect us to willingly go down there to support not one, not two, but four(!?) brand new venues/businesses. It's like they took the saying "put all your eggs in one basket" and shoved an 8-ball of booger sugar up it's nose.
If they had slowed down they would have seen that it takes time for any venue to be profitable by itself, let alone 3 of them. Instead the edict was clear "Get it done". And they did. And it's costing us big time when we can least afford it. And now it's causing us to consider horrible ideas to try and renegotiate a horrible contract.
We're not saying renegotiation isn't warranted. We're just saying that the city council needs to display the patience that the previous councils didn't. Learn from their mistakes. Immediate solutions aren't the best ones. The money to buy those teams has to come from somewhere. If it comes from bond dollars (not that anyone's indicated that's where it's coming from, but where the hell else is it going to come from, not a hotel tax, that's for sure), you're really just fucking the future to get shut done now. And if that happens have we really learned anything from this whole debacle?
Something for UOP to consider
This has no local connection but I thought this was pretty cool. Plus, we're featuring one reason the internet was created (the widespread distribution of porn), why not feature the other? Academic Earth is a project that feature lectures/courses from various prestigious universities that we have no chance of attending/affording. Of course linking to this kind of outs me as a huge nerd, but for those looking to further their education and don't have the financial means to do so, this site is a fairly good alternative. Even if it isn't worth some class credit. At the very least you'll feel better about yourself for not watching bootleg Simpsons episodes all night again. Plus if shit gets really boring you can just skip to the next lecture in the series. And you can totally smoke a bowl during class.
Anyway, it's Wednesday and we haven't done a Quick Links yet this week. Which I'm pretty sure is a record or something. So yeah, Quick Links!
"Taxes? I thought that was part of our deal"
The plight of the Lexington Waterfront Plaza Hotel Bar and Grill and Feed 'n Fuel continues. This time they didn't pay a tax aimed pretty much directly at them. So not only are contractors not getting paid, but the city's not getting the revenue that was part of the reason they gave the old Sheraton such a sweet deal in the first place. Of course, they're blaming it on the fact that the hotel's still in bankruptcy court, which I guess is a decent enough excuse. But this whole situation does underscore how horrible of an idea building an upscale hotel in what's considered (correctly or not) one of the sketchier areas in town. That idea looks fucking golden though compared to the fact that the hotel's profitability hinged on the sale of multiple $700,000 condos on the top of the hotel. None of this is really new news, but like I said, jack shit's been going on this week. Although it is pretty funny that the VP of the hotel is also the chairman of the tourism board that the hotel tax presumably benefits.
Apparently we learned nothing from previous councils
We've said it before and we'll say it again, Arena's are not moneymakers! That being said we understand why the city's considering this. The Arena was maligned while it was being built, and 4 years later it has yet to turn a profit. Most people are ignorant to the fact that it's tough for any new arena to post a profit, especially when the tenants don't have a built in fan base. So Arena opponents have exploited that ignorance and have been calling for immediate action to rectify that. We're not Arena apologists, but immediate action is kind of what got us into this mess in the first place.
The major problem with the Arena and downtown redevelopment as a whole is that it all happened wayyyyy too fast. Podesto was eager to leave his mark on the city and wanted to get everything done before he was out of office. So everything got fast tracked. Want a movie theater? Boom! It's up. Ballpark? Booyah! Built whether we got the land through legal means or not. Arena? Why, that would be the crown jewel! Make it happen! And throw a hotel up there too while you're at it. What was missing in all of this? Well, for one, a chance to see if any of those things could actually succeed downtown. We all know how downtown was perceived pre-redevelopment. It was an area to be avoided unless you had a parking ticket or jury duty. The city did nothing to address those concerns outside throwing up some fences.
Instead of slowly coaxing us into checking out downtown they hijacked the Asparagus festival and forced us downtown. Instead of saying "Hey, we understand your safety concerns and we're doing something to address them" they said "Crime? What the fuck are you talking about? It's perfectly safe down there!" while stories in the paper told us about shootings in front of nightclubs and late night muggings. And while all of this is going on, they expect us to willingly go down there to support not one, not two, but four(!?) brand new venues/businesses. It's like they took the saying "put all your eggs in one basket" and shoved an 8-ball of booger sugar up it's nose.
If they had slowed down they would have seen that it takes time for any venue to be profitable by itself, let alone 3 of them. Instead the edict was clear "Get it done". And they did. And it's costing us big time when we can least afford it. And now it's causing us to consider horrible ideas to try and renegotiate a horrible contract.
We're not saying renegotiation isn't warranted. We're just saying that the city council needs to display the patience that the previous councils didn't. Learn from their mistakes. Immediate solutions aren't the best ones. The money to buy those teams has to come from somewhere. If it comes from bond dollars (not that anyone's indicated that's where it's coming from, but where the hell else is it going to come from, not a hotel tax, that's for sure), you're really just fucking the future to get shut done now. And if that happens have we really learned anything from this whole debacle?
Something for UOP to consider
This has no local connection but I thought this was pretty cool. Plus, we're featuring one reason the internet was created (the widespread distribution of porn), why not feature the other? Academic Earth is a project that feature lectures/courses from various prestigious universities that we have no chance of attending/affording. Of course linking to this kind of outs me as a huge nerd, but for those looking to further their education and don't have the financial means to do so, this site is a fairly good alternative. Even if it isn't worth some class credit. At the very least you'll feel better about yourself for not watching bootleg Simpsons episodes all night again. Plus if shit gets really boring you can just skip to the next lecture in the series. And you can totally smoke a bowl during class.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Quick Links for March 13th
Oh hey, it's Sexy Friday. Fucking sweet. Let's knock out some Quick Links to help you get through the home stretch before the weekend. And apologies for this being so late, my internet connection took a shit.
This maverick renegade is so good that the arena will only be empty two-thirds of the time!
After spotting him the rest of 2008 as a lost cause, Fitzy checks in with IFG's Stockton rep Stephen Grossman (presumably not related to Sexy Rexy) today. The verdict? Jack shit. He wants 10 events/concerts in 2009. We're about a quarter of the way in, how many concerts/events have there been? What's that? Oh yeah, GIANT FUCKING GOOSE EGG. Good to see that strategy Grossman was talking about was to call promoters over and over again as if he were Mickey in Swingers. ("Oh hey, LiveNation? This is Stockton again. It's been 12 minutes and you haven't called back. Just wanted to make sure you got my message. Can we have Santana yet? Call me back!")
Oh and Fitzy, we hate to repeat ourselves but, the reason the public thinks redevelopment was wasted was because of the money that went to your pals at Paragary's and the money that went to the Sheraton. What was it we said yesterday? Something about subsidizing a playground for the wealthy in a town where the average resident is well, not wealthy. Again, that's where all the hostility from. We're not stupid, we know the Arena's not going to be a big money maker. It can't even sell off it's naming rights for fuck's sake. It's there so people will come downtown for sporting events the hopefully go see a movie. So when bitching about the Arena, it's foot traffic that's important. Not dollars and cents.
Our only anti-drug PSA
Regular readers are probably aware of our casual attitude towards most drugs. We say "most" because there's one drug that not even we will touch, and that drug is fucking meth. Lately, meth's been a factor in the Paradiso case, the Flag City shooting, and now that crazy dude who tried to run down the cops. And that's just off the top of my head. We're still trying to find the positive in doing meth. Weed mellows you out. Alcohol makes you love everybody (it's not uncommon for the phrase "I'd take a bullet for you man!" to be thrown around like a crowd surfing midget when the RTT crew goes on a bender). Hell, even shrooms and acid makes you see funky shit. What does meth do? Kills your teeth, keeps you awake for a week, and ages you 10 years in 10 minutes. And then you still gotta come down. The "Meth made me crazy" defense needs to be retired because you've got to be fucking crazy to try that shit in the first place. Shit like meth makes me miss the days when the a WTF murder was something like "Drunk guy hits guy in head with rock after he welches on a pool bet." (Have we mentioned how much we miss Jack's Back lately?)
If a team leaves and nobody notices, was it ever really there?
We're linking to this for 2 reasons. One, the opening lines are a laugh riot. The Thunder are not in any way, shape, or form a part of the essential fabric of this city. They haven't even been here for half a fucking decade yet. Worst case scenario if they leave? We have a bunch more available Arena dates open for IFG to ignore and an easy way to tell who all the rubes in the city are. They're the ones wearing Thunder gear. History doesn't happen overnight. We're not just going to magically wake up one day and bleed...err what are the Thunder's team colors again? I'm pretty sure one of them is pink.
See, in-fucking-difference. That's what would happen if the Thunder left. 300,000 people would shrug their shoulders and move on. Then we would point and laugh at the 6,000 people who actually thought going to minor league hockey meant they were a part of something.
And second, this editorial also clears up that whole "which contract are we talking about" debate from the other day. We were right, Fitzy was wrong. We'd be happier if that didn't happen on a regular basis.
Speaking of indifference...
This probably isn't good news for the Record. Of course Gawker was stupid and assumed newspaper editors/publishers use conventional wisdom. Judging from what we've seen here they don't know the meaning of either wisdom or conventional. But hey, they do see a lot of shit!
This maverick renegade is so good that the arena will only be empty two-thirds of the time!
After spotting him the rest of 2008 as a lost cause, Fitzy checks in with IFG's Stockton rep Stephen Grossman (presumably not related to Sexy Rexy) today. The verdict? Jack shit. He wants 10 events/concerts in 2009. We're about a quarter of the way in, how many concerts/events have there been? What's that? Oh yeah, GIANT FUCKING GOOSE EGG. Good to see that strategy Grossman was talking about was to call promoters over and over again as if he were Mickey in Swingers. ("Oh hey, LiveNation? This is Stockton again. It's been 12 minutes and you haven't called back. Just wanted to make sure you got my message. Can we have Santana yet? Call me back!")
Oh and Fitzy, we hate to repeat ourselves but, the reason the public thinks redevelopment was wasted was because of the money that went to your pals at Paragary's and the money that went to the Sheraton. What was it we said yesterday? Something about subsidizing a playground for the wealthy in a town where the average resident is well, not wealthy. Again, that's where all the hostility from. We're not stupid, we know the Arena's not going to be a big money maker. It can't even sell off it's naming rights for fuck's sake. It's there so people will come downtown for sporting events the hopefully go see a movie. So when bitching about the Arena, it's foot traffic that's important. Not dollars and cents.
Our only anti-drug PSA
Regular readers are probably aware of our casual attitude towards most drugs. We say "most" because there's one drug that not even we will touch, and that drug is fucking meth. Lately, meth's been a factor in the Paradiso case, the Flag City shooting, and now that crazy dude who tried to run down the cops. And that's just off the top of my head. We're still trying to find the positive in doing meth. Weed mellows you out. Alcohol makes you love everybody (it's not uncommon for the phrase "I'd take a bullet for you man!" to be thrown around like a crowd surfing midget when the RTT crew goes on a bender). Hell, even shrooms and acid makes you see funky shit. What does meth do? Kills your teeth, keeps you awake for a week, and ages you 10 years in 10 minutes. And then you still gotta come down. The "Meth made me crazy" defense needs to be retired because you've got to be fucking crazy to try that shit in the first place. Shit like meth makes me miss the days when the a WTF murder was something like "Drunk guy hits guy in head with rock after he welches on a pool bet." (Have we mentioned how much we miss Jack's Back lately?)
If a team leaves and nobody notices, was it ever really there?
We're linking to this for 2 reasons. One, the opening lines are a laugh riot. The Thunder are not in any way, shape, or form a part of the essential fabric of this city. They haven't even been here for half a fucking decade yet. Worst case scenario if they leave? We have a bunch more available Arena dates open for IFG to ignore and an easy way to tell who all the rubes in the city are. They're the ones wearing Thunder gear. History doesn't happen overnight. We're not just going to magically wake up one day and bleed...err what are the Thunder's team colors again? I'm pretty sure one of them is pink.
See, in-fucking-difference. That's what would happen if the Thunder left. 300,000 people would shrug their shoulders and move on. Then we would point and laugh at the 6,000 people who actually thought going to minor league hockey meant they were a part of something.
And second, this editorial also clears up that whole "which contract are we talking about" debate from the other day. We were right, Fitzy was wrong. We'd be happier if that didn't happen on a regular basis.
Speaking of indifference...
This probably isn't good news for the Record. Of course Gawker was stupid and assumed newspaper editors/publishers use conventional wisdom. Judging from what we've seen here they don't know the meaning of either wisdom or conventional. But hey, they do see a lot of shit!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
There's the elitist Mike Fitzgerald that we all know and love
Sometime last year (around election time to be specific) Fitzy recognized that his blatant fellating of downtown redevelopment had caused a rift between him and the average Stocktonian. Most Stocktonians are disenfranchised with the redevelopment that Fitz has been unabashedly supporting so he went about rehabbing his image. He positioned himself as a champion of the working man by calling out city employees for having paychecks larger than that of the average Stockton resident (ignoring the size of, say, his own paycheck) and for the sweetness of their retirement packages (not to mention his attack on the lifegiver). He even finally admitted that the previous councils who got us into this redeveloped mess were "reckless", 2 years after he compared those same councils favorably to a smash mouth football team. Of course he couldn't completely remove himself from downtown campaigning and tried to bring Paragary's along for the ride with hilarious results.
Well, after all that work we seem to have come full circle. Now the reason downtown redevelopment is lagging is because we're bitter, resentful dicks who can't possibly understand something as complicated as subsidies! If we only gave Paragary's a shot we'd realize that it's not that bad of a place (we did, and it is that bad of a place) and that the city had to let them stay there rent free after we took care of building renovations for them. Shit's too expensive downtown! But apparently not too expensive that we can't afford to give away land to a big hotel chain for $1.
Of course, Fitzy's also ignoring the real knock against Paragary's that has nothing to do with government subsidies. Their food tastes like shit. They could be paying the city $100,000 a day in rent and it wouldn't change the fact that you have to pay $10 for a burger that tastes like it was flame broiled in my taint.
And in the end, that's why redevelopment is stalled. It has little to do with the subsidy holdouts because, as Fitzy notes in the comments of his blog post, pretty much anywhere in Stockton has private businesses that benefited from government subsidies (he fails to deny that he basically called us all retards though). The reason downtown is such a "lightening rod for resentment" is because they subsidized the wrong businesses. They subsidized a stuffy restaurant with expensive, bland-tasting food. They sold land that apparently is so expensive it needs to be subsidized for a dollar and then still gave the Sheraton a subsidy on top of all that. The result? An expensive hotel that hosts parties for the city's rich movers and shakers. It has nothing to do with the subsidies and everything to do with what they went towards, a giant playground for the wealthy in a town where the average resident is decidedly not wealthy.
Well, after all that work we seem to have come full circle. Now the reason downtown redevelopment is lagging is because we're bitter, resentful dicks who can't possibly understand something as complicated as subsidies! If we only gave Paragary's a shot we'd realize that it's not that bad of a place (we did, and it is that bad of a place) and that the city had to let them stay there rent free after we took care of building renovations for them. Shit's too expensive downtown! But apparently not too expensive that we can't afford to give away land to a big hotel chain for $1.
Of course, Fitzy's also ignoring the real knock against Paragary's that has nothing to do with government subsidies. Their food tastes like shit. They could be paying the city $100,000 a day in rent and it wouldn't change the fact that you have to pay $10 for a burger that tastes like it was flame broiled in my taint.
And in the end, that's why redevelopment is stalled. It has little to do with the subsidy holdouts because, as Fitzy notes in the comments of his blog post, pretty much anywhere in Stockton has private businesses that benefited from government subsidies (he fails to deny that he basically called us all retards though). The reason downtown is such a "lightening rod for resentment" is because they subsidized the wrong businesses. They subsidized a stuffy restaurant with expensive, bland-tasting food. They sold land that apparently is so expensive it needs to be subsidized for a dollar and then still gave the Sheraton a subsidy on top of all that. The result? An expensive hotel that hosts parties for the city's rich movers and shakers. It has nothing to do with the subsidies and everything to do with what they went towards, a giant playground for the wealthy in a town where the average resident is decidedly not wealthy.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Someone else is trying to shill for downtown
If your from Stockton, the hilarity of this just jumps off the page.
I really, really can't tell if this guy is serious or not. Is this a joke Siders? Please watch the video and follow along.
"Stockton is a big city with even bigger possibilites"
"If your into the fine dining scene, you wont be happier"
"And if you love to shop, your in the right place too. There are so many different shopping destinations, you will always be able to find what your shopping for in Stockton."
Ok. We're 20 seconds in and I might need to consider adult diapers. This is comedy gold. But please don't stop now.
"The city is chalk full of interesting neighborhoods in which to find the perfect apartment"
Not to rip off Siders too much, I have to stop because we get to talking about Brookside. I dont know if anyone has realized this, but Brookside might be the sole reason downtown doesn't fly in the first place, I don't know, it might just be the $2 millon price tags on the homes. Or all the white people. But I'm assuming that the white folks really know about downtown, so this wont fly.
Where is Wysteria? I've lived here all my life, and I don't know where the hell that is except North Stockton. Is he referring to Spanos Park?
Slick, Duke, and Bris love to consider themselves movers and shakers. But we're not downtown. What gives dude? Consult the magic makers first.
Pixie Woods got a shout out. Where's Mickie Grove douchebag? They have a roller coaster. I think. If you can classify it as that.
I've got to give credit to the guy. I know he's just doing his job. But do some research. Where is there actually to live downtown big guy? This guy is doing more pimping than Fitzy wearing a neon sign about downtown.
Thank you for this Siders. The best laugh I've had in a while.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Pub Crawl recap: Raise your hand if you want a Jagerbomb!
As Slick mentioned on Monday we did the Pub Crawl last weekend with a few friends. I'll try and not do a complete play-by-play of the nights events in this recap.
First of all, fuck it was cold. I know it's California so cold for us is shorts weather for most of the country but I'm pretty sure I just regained the feeling in my big toe. So fuck you, it was cold.
Of course I only noticed it was so cold because the trollies were horrifyingly inconsistent. One was allegedly coming by every 15 mins. I saw one trolly come by 3 minutes after the other and then another didn't show up for another 45 mins. On top of that they weren't even going the correct route the whole time. One of our friends actually had to hijack a trolly and tell them they were going to the Warehouse because none of the trollies were stopping there. We actually hoofed it from the Warehouse to the movie theater because we didn't trust the trolley to come get us. And that was before one of the trollies broke down.
Slick already ran down the Paragary's story, it was clear to us that Paragary's was only on the Pub Crawl to say they're trying when they clearly aren't. I made it about 3 steps in the place before the bartender shooed us off to the side where their poor excuse for a Crawler mini-bar served what was by far the worst drink special of the night.
Speaking of drink specials, I kept my map from that night. Care to run down the list with me while I make snarky comments about each one? No? Well I'm doing it anyways.
Bradley's: Irish Coffee, Peppermint Patties, and other assorted shot specials.
Their Irish coffee was a bit too Irishy, but past that the had decent specials. Although they were kind of overshadowed by...
Beach Hut Deli: $1 pint of any beer
The Beach Hut was the only bar that really truly embraced the Pub Crawl. They had a pretty good accoustic band playing in a corner and expanded their usual $1 PBR deal to their entire selection. Add in the fact that they also served some pretty bad ass nachos and the Beach Hut was the winner of the Pub Crawl. Which is the exact opposite of...
Paragary's: Peppermint Patties and "$3 drink specials"
We've covered these guys already. And there was no $3 drink special. Fuck Paragary's with a cactus dick. Which is the actual note I wrote down to make sure I remembered how much that place blew. Fucking Sacramento bars.
Misaki Sushi Bar: Sake bombs
Yes, they were delicious, but it was also the only downtown venue that was packed. They wouldn't serve us appetizers since we didn't have a table so we took off.
Red Brick Pizza: $2 bottled beer
Yeah, I'm still wondering what they were doing on the Pub Crawl myself. At least they tried harder than Paragary's.
Chitiva's: Margaritas
Chitiva's had a lot of drink specials but none of them were particularly overwhelming. Plus their appetizer deal was microwaved taquitos. I heard the margaritas were decent but we spent more time at...
The Waterfront Grill (formerly the Boiler Room): $3 well drinks
While that's an awesome drink special (especially when you just use the "free drink" voucher for a $6 drink), I remember the Waterfront more for the hilarious quote of the night. When ordering Jagerbombs more people kept saying "Ooh! Me too!" after we had already put the order in. Finally I had to take charge and say "Alright, who wants a Jagerbomb? Raise your hand. (8 hands go up) I want that many." Yes, I'm awesome. That quote narrowly edged out another one directed at a beanied Bris Isaak, "With that beanie on you look like a fat Ian Hill. With a slightly patchier beard of course." "Ouch, that's messed up man." And it was, I apologize.
Hippo Bar and Stockton Arena
We skipped these places because, well, fuck them. That's why. Nobody was drinking downtown anyways. Everybody was up on the Miracle Mile.
Centrale: $4 Margaritas
They had drink specials? I think I used my voucher for the free drinks here too. This place is notable just because I'd never heard of them until the pub crawl and because I think it's the place where I high fived an entire table because I was wasted.
Matinee: Jungle Juice
Fuck the Matinee. I usually love the place but they re-carded fucking everybody at the door like dicks. They were the only bar to do so. And on top of that their Jungle Juice tasted like fucking Kool-Aid. I drank the bucket glass like a shot and didn't feel any aftereffects. That's some weak fucking Jungle Juice. Gives a whole new meaning to the term Pussy Punch.
We skipped Adler Market and Moulin Rouge and ended the night at...
Valley Brew: Rum Punch
The rum punch was passable, but we really went their for the free deep fried mushrooms. I think we got like 50 plates. Unfortunately Valley Brew is fucking lame and closes at midnight on a Saturday. Bars shouldn't close before 2 on a fucking weekend. End of story.
That was probably the weakest part of the Pub Crawl (aside from Paragary's of course). The trollies ended at midnight so you risked getting stuck downtown at night if you didn't catch the trolly on time. And it's kind of hard to keep track of the time when you're drunk and in a bar that has no clocks. But hey, overall it was a fun, drunken night. Plus is gave us an actual reason to hate Paragary's. Before we just thought they were douchebags. Now we know they are.
First of all, fuck it was cold. I know it's California so cold for us is shorts weather for most of the country but I'm pretty sure I just regained the feeling in my big toe. So fuck you, it was cold.
Of course I only noticed it was so cold because the trollies were horrifyingly inconsistent. One was allegedly coming by every 15 mins. I saw one trolly come by 3 minutes after the other and then another didn't show up for another 45 mins. On top of that they weren't even going the correct route the whole time. One of our friends actually had to hijack a trolly and tell them they were going to the Warehouse because none of the trollies were stopping there. We actually hoofed it from the Warehouse to the movie theater because we didn't trust the trolley to come get us. And that was before one of the trollies broke down.
Slick already ran down the Paragary's story, it was clear to us that Paragary's was only on the Pub Crawl to say they're trying when they clearly aren't. I made it about 3 steps in the place before the bartender shooed us off to the side where their poor excuse for a Crawler mini-bar served what was by far the worst drink special of the night.
Speaking of drink specials, I kept my map from that night. Care to run down the list with me while I make snarky comments about each one? No? Well I'm doing it anyways.
Bradley's: Irish Coffee, Peppermint Patties, and other assorted shot specials.
Their Irish coffee was a bit too Irishy, but past that the had decent specials. Although they were kind of overshadowed by...
Beach Hut Deli: $1 pint of any beer
The Beach Hut was the only bar that really truly embraced the Pub Crawl. They had a pretty good accoustic band playing in a corner and expanded their usual $1 PBR deal to their entire selection. Add in the fact that they also served some pretty bad ass nachos and the Beach Hut was the winner of the Pub Crawl. Which is the exact opposite of...
Paragary's: Peppermint Patties and "$3 drink specials"
We've covered these guys already. And there was no $3 drink special. Fuck Paragary's with a cactus dick. Which is the actual note I wrote down to make sure I remembered how much that place blew. Fucking Sacramento bars.
Misaki Sushi Bar: Sake bombs
Yes, they were delicious, but it was also the only downtown venue that was packed. They wouldn't serve us appetizers since we didn't have a table so we took off.
Red Brick Pizza: $2 bottled beer
Yeah, I'm still wondering what they were doing on the Pub Crawl myself. At least they tried harder than Paragary's.
Chitiva's: Margaritas
Chitiva's had a lot of drink specials but none of them were particularly overwhelming. Plus their appetizer deal was microwaved taquitos. I heard the margaritas were decent but we spent more time at...
The Waterfront Grill (formerly the Boiler Room): $3 well drinks
While that's an awesome drink special (especially when you just use the "free drink" voucher for a $6 drink), I remember the Waterfront more for the hilarious quote of the night. When ordering Jagerbombs more people kept saying "Ooh! Me too!" after we had already put the order in. Finally I had to take charge and say "Alright, who wants a Jagerbomb? Raise your hand. (8 hands go up) I want that many." Yes, I'm awesome. That quote narrowly edged out another one directed at a beanied Bris Isaak, "With that beanie on you look like a fat Ian Hill. With a slightly patchier beard of course." "Ouch, that's messed up man." And it was, I apologize.
Hippo Bar and Stockton Arena
We skipped these places because, well, fuck them. That's why. Nobody was drinking downtown anyways. Everybody was up on the Miracle Mile.
Centrale: $4 Margaritas
They had drink specials? I think I used my voucher for the free drinks here too. This place is notable just because I'd never heard of them until the pub crawl and because I think it's the place where I high fived an entire table because I was wasted.
Matinee: Jungle Juice
Fuck the Matinee. I usually love the place but they re-carded fucking everybody at the door like dicks. They were the only bar to do so. And on top of that their Jungle Juice tasted like fucking Kool-Aid. I drank the bucket glass like a shot and didn't feel any aftereffects. That's some weak fucking Jungle Juice. Gives a whole new meaning to the term Pussy Punch.
We skipped Adler Market and Moulin Rouge and ended the night at...
Valley Brew: Rum Punch
The rum punch was passable, but we really went their for the free deep fried mushrooms. I think we got like 50 plates. Unfortunately Valley Brew is fucking lame and closes at midnight on a Saturday. Bars shouldn't close before 2 on a fucking weekend. End of story.
That was probably the weakest part of the Pub Crawl (aside from Paragary's of course). The trollies ended at midnight so you risked getting stuck downtown at night if you didn't catch the trolly on time. And it's kind of hard to keep track of the time when you're drunk and in a bar that has no clocks. But hey, overall it was a fun, drunken night. Plus is gave us an actual reason to hate Paragary's. Before we just thought they were douchebags. Now we know they are.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Quick Links for Dec. 10th
God damn this Teen Slave story has got some legs to it. (Insert your own baseball bat to kneecaps joke here) Now a mysterious 4th suspect has been arrested in connection to the case. We say mysterious because of the gag order that prevents any information about the guy to come out. Although the Tracy Press is reporting he lived next door to the Schumachers and even gave an interview last week in which he admitted occasionally talking to Lau and expressed shock at what had happened just next door. Well, now he's arrested and the cops confiscated his computer so apparently he wasn't too shocked.
So this wasn't a case of deja vu but more a case of the city council actually ratifying it. Of course stuck in the middle of all of this is the fact that Stockton might be getting a third Wal-Mart, which is just 18 different kinds of unneeded. There's fucking Target right there, use that assclowns.
We were wondering what they were going to do with the old courthouse when we heard about their plans to build a 12-story courthouse by 2013 and now we know. A plaza and more parking! Because what we really need downtown is more open space that will serve no real purpose at night because everyone's deathly afraid of downtown at night. But hey, parking.
Well, Fitzy's "name the already name roof of the Hotel Stockton" contest is over and as we predicted, it's a cheesy, painfully obvious name. They even added the extra wrinkle of making it so confusing that people will probably still have to say "You know, the roof of the old Hotel Stockton" afterwards. The winner "Top of the Town", a name that would make perfect sense if it actually was the highest point in the city. Our late entry of "Douchebag Central" after our Pub Crawl experience didn't make it which is disappointing. Oh, and Shawn Bennett needs to get a life.
After last nights throttling of the Lakers I think Duke can finally rest easy that John Whisenant isn't going to make an appearance on the Kings bench this season. Francisco Garcia and John Salmons shut down Kobe Bryant about as much as you can shut down Kobe Bryant. Again, please remember this is going to be a long season because there's going to be long stretches where the team loses 8 games then beats a team it shouldn't even compete with (the Kings even played without Kevin Martin last night). Duke said it best, this season is going to be filled with lows as low as Kenny Thomas' self-esteem and highs as high as Brad Miller on 4/20. Just get used to it.
Is it just us, or is this just a smidge conflict of interesty? We're not saying a new firehouse isn't needed down south, we're just saying purchasing the land from a former city council member is kind of fishy. Any word on if Snoop Dogg is going to perform at the opening of the firehouse?
So Stockton PD chases a car all over, chases suspects on foot, catches one of them in someone's yard, then shoots a random guy with a gun in a south Stockton garage. Oh, and they somehow let one of the chasees get away. Damn, get those guys their raise Stockton! How could you be so mean?
So this wasn't a case of deja vu but more a case of the city council actually ratifying it. Of course stuck in the middle of all of this is the fact that Stockton might be getting a third Wal-Mart, which is just 18 different kinds of unneeded. There's fucking Target right there, use that assclowns.
We were wondering what they were going to do with the old courthouse when we heard about their plans to build a 12-story courthouse by 2013 and now we know. A plaza and more parking! Because what we really need downtown is more open space that will serve no real purpose at night because everyone's deathly afraid of downtown at night. But hey, parking.
Well, Fitzy's "name the already name roof of the Hotel Stockton" contest is over and as we predicted, it's a cheesy, painfully obvious name. They even added the extra wrinkle of making it so confusing that people will probably still have to say "You know, the roof of the old Hotel Stockton" afterwards. The winner "Top of the Town", a name that would make perfect sense if it actually was the highest point in the city. Our late entry of "Douchebag Central" after our Pub Crawl experience didn't make it which is disappointing. Oh, and Shawn Bennett needs to get a life.
After last nights throttling of the Lakers I think Duke can finally rest easy that John Whisenant isn't going to make an appearance on the Kings bench this season. Francisco Garcia and John Salmons shut down Kobe Bryant about as much as you can shut down Kobe Bryant. Again, please remember this is going to be a long season because there's going to be long stretches where the team loses 8 games then beats a team it shouldn't even compete with (the Kings even played without Kevin Martin last night). Duke said it best, this season is going to be filled with lows as low as Kenny Thomas' self-esteem and highs as high as Brad Miller on 4/20. Just get used to it.
Is it just us, or is this just a smidge conflict of interesty? We're not saying a new firehouse isn't needed down south, we're just saying purchasing the land from a former city council member is kind of fishy. Any word on if Snoop Dogg is going to perform at the opening of the firehouse?
So Stockton PD chases a car all over, chases suspects on foot, catches one of them in someone's yard, then shoots a random guy with a gun in a south Stockton garage. Oh, and they somehow let one of the chasees get away. Damn, get those guys their raise Stockton! How could you be so mean?
Monday, December 8, 2008
The post in which we test Paragary's attempt to attract the working man
As usual it's a busy Monday for the non-blog section of our lives, but since I've got a little bit of free time I figured I'd drop by for a sec in case I can't get something up later.
One of the hotter topics of discussion in recent months has been the disparity between the elite upper class and the working class citizens of this town and all across the nation. More recently this angle has been tapped by Fitzy in his "Ok, maybe I backed downtown a little too fervently" mea culpa.
After his initial plea for downtown to start trying to appeal to the working class he paired up with what became the epitome of elitism during the recent election, Paragary's. In an attempt to repair it's damaged (rightfully or not) public image, Paragary's enlisted Fitzy to find a name for it's much touted rooftop terrace. While explaining the contest concept to readers, Fitzy made sure to sprinkle in nuggets about how Paragary's is trying to appeal to the working class. So much for trying to distance himself from his downtown apologist image.
Having never actually been to Stockton's Paragary's we decided to hit it up during the aptly named Cold Pub Crawl this weekend (more on that whole experience later). Now, we all fully admit to being six sheets to the wind when we walked in, when one starts off the night with 4 Jagerbombs that tends to happen. But as soon as we walked up to the bar the bartender immediately tried to rush us over to a small corner of the restaurant away from the bar designated for crawlers. We made it about 3 steps in before the guy said "Pub crawlers over there!" in a somewhat worried and disdainful fashion. He of course pointed us to the shitty half-bar that had their drink special of hot cocoa and peppermint schnapps called a Peppermint Patty. It was the worst drink special out of all the bars on the pub crawl. The message was clear to us, our kind isn't welcome at Paragary's. God forbid we want to spend a night of drinking at the actual bar. So much for trying to appeal to the working class. We'll be sure to bring out Monopoly Man monocles next time.
One of the hotter topics of discussion in recent months has been the disparity between the elite upper class and the working class citizens of this town and all across the nation. More recently this angle has been tapped by Fitzy in his "Ok, maybe I backed downtown a little too fervently" mea culpa.
After his initial plea for downtown to start trying to appeal to the working class he paired up with what became the epitome of elitism during the recent election, Paragary's. In an attempt to repair it's damaged (rightfully or not) public image, Paragary's enlisted Fitzy to find a name for it's much touted rooftop terrace. While explaining the contest concept to readers, Fitzy made sure to sprinkle in nuggets about how Paragary's is trying to appeal to the working class. So much for trying to distance himself from his downtown apologist image.
Having never actually been to Stockton's Paragary's we decided to hit it up during the aptly named Cold Pub Crawl this weekend (more on that whole experience later). Now, we all fully admit to being six sheets to the wind when we walked in, when one starts off the night with 4 Jagerbombs that tends to happen. But as soon as we walked up to the bar the bartender immediately tried to rush us over to a small corner of the restaurant away from the bar designated for crawlers. We made it about 3 steps in before the guy said "Pub crawlers over there!" in a somewhat worried and disdainful fashion. He of course pointed us to the shitty half-bar that had their drink special of hot cocoa and peppermint schnapps called a Peppermint Patty. It was the worst drink special out of all the bars on the pub crawl. The message was clear to us, our kind isn't welcome at Paragary's. God forbid we want to spend a night of drinking at the actual bar. So much for trying to appeal to the working class. We'll be sure to bring out Monopoly Man monocles next time.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Quick Links for Dec. 1st
If you haven't figured out we're going to take almost every holiday off by now, well, now you know. We weren't really in any condition to post this weekend anyways. I'm having computer problems again, Duke was in some sort of turkey/alcohol induced coma (seriously, he spent about 75% of this weekend sleeping), and Bris...we'll Bris started drinking at 9 am on Thanksgiving eve if that gives you any idea as to what he was up to this weekend. At least he didn't sleep with his ex this time. On with the Quick Links!
Remember that seemingly-endless rambling post about Fitzy's attempt at public image repair from last week? Guess who's still at it? And he brought some of his downtown friends with him. Yup, Paragary's has enlisted Fitzy to enlist us (us meaning Stockton as a whole, not us personally) to name the roof of the old Hotel Stockton. (Our suggestion? "Roof of the old Hotel Stockton". It's catchy and imaginative.)
Ignoring the fact that this still wouldn't technically qualify as a free lunch since our tax dollars helped subsidize Paragary's and helped renovate the actual building (something noted in the fucking column, bang up job Fitzy/whoever wrote that headline), this idea should go over as well as the last time Stockton had a naming contest when some imaginative son of a bitch named the Thunder's roommate the Lightening. Basically everybody will think it's rigged and some jackass will win with the most obvious name ever (hence our "Roof of the old Hotel Stockton" idea).
After getting the contest basics out of the way, Paragary's goes into full damage control mode after a couple of local candidates successfully used the restaurant as a symbol of the city's inept spending. Of course Fitzy doesn't ask the guy about the infamous $10 burger, instead Randy Paragary talks about his pastas and salads which allegedly have prices on par with other establishments around the city. Plus there's the blatant overture for our approval with the addition of happy hour pricing from 3-6, which is really a weak fucking happy hour. 3-6? We have jobs fuckass. I don't even get home until 5, and your mea culpa to the "working stiff" is a happy hour that ends an hour after a majority of the workforce gets off? Take a page out of BWDW Fats' book and extend happy hour until 8 and we'll talk. That or try working out a deal with your neighbors so the cops aren't trying to shut down parties up there at midnight.
While we're on the subject of downtown, we're not sure which is sadder. The fact that we apparently need a 12-story courthouse (not that we're questioning the need for a new courthouse, but that much? Really?), or the fact that that would make it the tallest building in Stockton.
Lodi residents are fighting to take back the streets from gangs. Gangs that account for less than 1% of police calls. I wish I was making that statistic up. That percentage of a percentage is apparently enough to cause dozens (that's right, dozens) of Lodi residents to have two town-hall style meetings to address the subject. That's right, they had two whole meetings and the best they could come up with was a neighborhood watch program. The first meeting was apparently to discuss what refreshments to bring to the second meeting. Lodi PD presumably spent that time planning their extensive Thanksgiving Eve prevention program because, like us, they know Lodi's real problem is bars going a smidge over capacity on heavy drinking nights. God forbid young people enjoy the downtown district they spent years revitalizing.
Sweet, we're finally getting some much needed aid for all these foreclosed homes. The city is working feverishly to find a way to pump all $9 mil downtown. You WILL live there dammit. Whether you like it or not.
And finally, we have to link to this story for a couple of reasons. For one, Littlejohn is perhaps the best last name of all time, and also because he was apparently chasing the slowest criminals of all time. If I have the timeline correctly, Littlejohn walked up to his car and realized it had been broken into, went and got a description of the getaway car from mall security, then saw the car on Pacific and decided to chase them, only to end up being the one chased. Now I know mall parking lots can be pretty hard to navigate, but the robbers only made it to Pacific fucking Avenue? And if the mall cops saw the getaway car, shouldn't they have at least gotten the license plate number Littlejohn was allegedly after? Or maybe chased them down while they made the long trek from the parking lot to Pacific Ave? And how the fuck do you end up behind someone you're chasing? Needless to say, there's a lot of unanswered questions, and we probably haven't heard the whole story.
Oh, and even we're not sure how the Niners beat the Bills. But few things are more satisfying than watching your team kill another team's playoff chances. Especially when your own team's playoff chances ended during the first month of the season.
Remember that seemingly-endless rambling post about Fitzy's attempt at public image repair from last week? Guess who's still at it? And he brought some of his downtown friends with him. Yup, Paragary's has enlisted Fitzy to enlist us (us meaning Stockton as a whole, not us personally) to name the roof of the old Hotel Stockton. (Our suggestion? "Roof of the old Hotel Stockton". It's catchy and imaginative.)
Ignoring the fact that this still wouldn't technically qualify as a free lunch since our tax dollars helped subsidize Paragary's and helped renovate the actual building (something noted in the fucking column, bang up job Fitzy/whoever wrote that headline), this idea should go over as well as the last time Stockton had a naming contest when some imaginative son of a bitch named the Thunder's roommate the Lightening. Basically everybody will think it's rigged and some jackass will win with the most obvious name ever (hence our "Roof of the old Hotel Stockton" idea).
After getting the contest basics out of the way, Paragary's goes into full damage control mode after a couple of local candidates successfully used the restaurant as a symbol of the city's inept spending. Of course Fitzy doesn't ask the guy about the infamous $10 burger, instead Randy Paragary talks about his pastas and salads which allegedly have prices on par with other establishments around the city. Plus there's the blatant overture for our approval with the addition of happy hour pricing from 3-6, which is really a weak fucking happy hour. 3-6? We have jobs fuckass. I don't even get home until 5, and your mea culpa to the "working stiff" is a happy hour that ends an hour after a majority of the workforce gets off? Take a page out of BWDW Fats' book and extend happy hour until 8 and we'll talk. That or try working out a deal with your neighbors so the cops aren't trying to shut down parties up there at midnight.
While we're on the subject of downtown, we're not sure which is sadder. The fact that we apparently need a 12-story courthouse (not that we're questioning the need for a new courthouse, but that much? Really?), or the fact that that would make it the tallest building in Stockton.
Lodi residents are fighting to take back the streets from gangs. Gangs that account for less than 1% of police calls. I wish I was making that statistic up. That percentage of a percentage is apparently enough to cause dozens (that's right, dozens) of Lodi residents to have two town-hall style meetings to address the subject. That's right, they had two whole meetings and the best they could come up with was a neighborhood watch program. The first meeting was apparently to discuss what refreshments to bring to the second meeting. Lodi PD presumably spent that time planning their extensive Thanksgiving Eve prevention program because, like us, they know Lodi's real problem is bars going a smidge over capacity on heavy drinking nights. God forbid young people enjoy the downtown district they spent years revitalizing.
Sweet, we're finally getting some much needed aid for all these foreclosed homes. The city is working feverishly to find a way to pump all $9 mil downtown. You WILL live there dammit. Whether you like it or not.
And finally, we have to link to this story for a couple of reasons. For one, Littlejohn is perhaps the best last name of all time, and also because he was apparently chasing the slowest criminals of all time. If I have the timeline correctly, Littlejohn walked up to his car and realized it had been broken into, went and got a description of the getaway car from mall security, then saw the car on Pacific and decided to chase them, only to end up being the one chased. Now I know mall parking lots can be pretty hard to navigate, but the robbers only made it to Pacific fucking Avenue? And if the mall cops saw the getaway car, shouldn't they have at least gotten the license plate number Littlejohn was allegedly after? Or maybe chased them down while they made the long trek from the parking lot to Pacific Ave? And how the fuck do you end up behind someone you're chasing? Needless to say, there's a lot of unanswered questions, and we probably haven't heard the whole story.
Oh, and even we're not sure how the Niners beat the Bills. But few things are more satisfying than watching your team kill another team's playoff chances. Especially when your own team's playoff chances ended during the first month of the season.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Our Santa's wishlist? For Fitzy to shut the hell up
What's ol' Fitzy up to today? Looks like a list of stuff he'd like to see happen to Stockton. This should be good.
Did he get that downtown housing thing in there even though we debunked the myth that there's no affordable downtown housing yesterday? Yep, that's in there.
Did he make sweeping generalizations in which he fanatasizes about a mythical, well-run, financially-competent government that hasn't been seen in the wild...well, ever? Yep, that's there too. That wish will come true right after Bigfoot and the Chupacabra get married.
Did he...hey! Wait a minute! That's our idea jackass! That's right, apparently when he's not searching our site for his e-mail address (which actually happened BTW), he's lifting our ideas and general tone of this site. Let's compare, shall we?
On Sept. 30th, we said this:
"Book events at the Fox/Bob Hope that people under the age of 40 (but over the age of 15) want to see
"The booking of the Bob Hope Theatre has always been fucking horrible. ...If there's one complaint we have about the booking of any event downtown, it's that there's next to nothing geared towards the college-aged resident. Which is funny since there's 2 fucking colleges in town. And if there's one thing college kids cum all over themselves for, it's indie bands that don't get much mainstream radio play."
And here's Fitzy today:
"Five: exciting rock 'n' roll and other entertainment at Stockton Arena and the Bob Hope Theatre. Declare arena management in breach of contract. If that will not fly, buy them out."
Sure, ours is kind of long winded (surprised? Yeah, me neither), but the general theme is the same. Book better acts. Unfortunatly Fitzy's solution of buying out IFG's contract probably wouldn't work, and it would probably make things worse. Don't get me wrong, IFG's done a fucking horrible job, but buying them off would only piss more people off. Especially because of the budget problems. Also because, let's face it, Stockton isn't an easy sell. As Duke explained in this post, blame for the shittiness of the events booked so far should be passed around to everyfuckingbody.
Of course this couldn't be a Fitzy Wish List without a mention of his hopes and dreams for downtown as a whole, not just our struggling entertainment venues. Again, from today:
"Six: Democratize downtown revitalization. Balance high-end attractions with some down-home Delta fun: burger huts and mai tai bars on the waterfront. What regular people like.
Many feel elitist redevelopment left them out. This political mistake jeopardizes revival's support."
First, we're going to ignore reccommending the democratization thing so soon after the referrendum fiasco. But God damn the rest of that sounds familiar. It's also especially hilarious coming from a guy who said this less than a month ago:
"One way to (raise income) is to offer coastal employers and high wage earners a downtown with amenities they demand."
So we should cater to the common man who's been disenfranchised by the city's blatant cashgrab attempt to pander to the elitists while at the same time continuing to pander to those elitists?
Now normally we would be stoked that we've apparently chnaged the opinion of one of downtown's biggest apologists (because that's tooootally what happened here), but Fitzy's flip-flopping reminded us of the whole reason we started ragging on him to begin with.
The word "elitist" has been thrown around a lot lately. Mostly in that damn election (and Fitzy's column today. Hooray for currently popular buzz words!), but it applies here too. The reason we rag on Fitzy is because we can't relate to him. At all. Which is sad because we have so much in common. We're both lifelong Stockton residents, we've both seen the city change significantly over the years, and we both pine for a competently run Stockton (even if we are ridiculously cynical about it). Yet with all that in common, we're both very different cats.
As Fitzy's said himself, Stockton's not a town with a very high average income. While we don't know what Fitzy's income is, one would guess it's probably a little higher than most Stockton residents. While that's not inherently a bad thing, it's helped seperate him from the common working man. Men like us, men like your neighbors, men like the guy working 3 jobs just so he can afford his mortgage. Fitzy sees a guy working three jobs and sees a story about the economy and how one man works through it. We see it as reality (because some of us here actually do work multiple jobs, not because of mortgages though).
Fitzy can't relate to us anymore because he isn't one of us. A good metro columnist should appeal to the average citizens of the city he covers. Fitz hasn't done that in a long time. Sure, if presented with this arguement he'd probably spout off a bunch of bullshit about all the e-mail he gets and the awards he's won and how we don't know anything about the average Stocktonian. But it would be just that, bullshit.
We are the average Stocktonian. Living paycheck to paycheck trying to make rent while still having something resembling a social life. Fitzy writes 3 columns a week and can't even keep which side of the downtown fence he's on straight. His blatant fellating of the downtown he said himself we're disenfranchaised with shows just how out of touch he is. By throwing his full support downtown he pretty much threw his own public image behind it. It failed, miserably. Perhaps irreparably Which is what this flipflopping really is, public image repair. And not even a very good attempt at it.
Did he get that downtown housing thing in there even though we debunked the myth that there's no affordable downtown housing yesterday? Yep, that's in there.
Did he make sweeping generalizations in which he fanatasizes about a mythical, well-run, financially-competent government that hasn't been seen in the wild...well, ever? Yep, that's there too. That wish will come true right after Bigfoot and the Chupacabra get married.
Did he...hey! Wait a minute! That's our idea jackass! That's right, apparently when he's not searching our site for his e-mail address (which actually happened BTW), he's lifting our ideas and general tone of this site. Let's compare, shall we?
On Sept. 30th, we said this:
"Book events at the Fox/Bob Hope that people under the age of 40 (but over the age of 15) want to see
"The booking of the Bob Hope Theatre has always been fucking horrible. ...If there's one complaint we have about the booking of any event downtown, it's that there's next to nothing geared towards the college-aged resident. Which is funny since there's 2 fucking colleges in town. And if there's one thing college kids cum all over themselves for, it's indie bands that don't get much mainstream radio play."
And here's Fitzy today:
"Five: exciting rock 'n' roll and other entertainment at Stockton Arena and the Bob Hope Theatre. Declare arena management in breach of contract. If that will not fly, buy them out."
Sure, ours is kind of long winded (surprised? Yeah, me neither), but the general theme is the same. Book better acts. Unfortunatly Fitzy's solution of buying out IFG's contract probably wouldn't work, and it would probably make things worse. Don't get me wrong, IFG's done a fucking horrible job, but buying them off would only piss more people off. Especially because of the budget problems. Also because, let's face it, Stockton isn't an easy sell. As Duke explained in this post, blame for the shittiness of the events booked so far should be passed around to everyfuckingbody.
Of course this couldn't be a Fitzy Wish List without a mention of his hopes and dreams for downtown as a whole, not just our struggling entertainment venues. Again, from today:
"Six: Democratize downtown revitalization. Balance high-end attractions with some down-home Delta fun: burger huts and mai tai bars on the waterfront. What regular people like.
Many feel elitist redevelopment left them out. This political mistake jeopardizes revival's support."
First, we're going to ignore reccommending the democratization thing so soon after the referrendum fiasco. But God damn the rest of that sounds familiar. It's also especially hilarious coming from a guy who said this less than a month ago:
"One way to (raise income) is to offer coastal employers and high wage earners a downtown with amenities they demand."
So we should cater to the common man who's been disenfranchised by the city's blatant cashgrab attempt to pander to the elitists while at the same time continuing to pander to those elitists?
Now normally we would be stoked that we've apparently chnaged the opinion of one of downtown's biggest apologists (because that's tooootally what happened here), but Fitzy's flip-flopping reminded us of the whole reason we started ragging on him to begin with.
The word "elitist" has been thrown around a lot lately. Mostly in that damn election (and Fitzy's column today. Hooray for currently popular buzz words!), but it applies here too. The reason we rag on Fitzy is because we can't relate to him. At all. Which is sad because we have so much in common. We're both lifelong Stockton residents, we've both seen the city change significantly over the years, and we both pine for a competently run Stockton (even if we are ridiculously cynical about it). Yet with all that in common, we're both very different cats.
As Fitzy's said himself, Stockton's not a town with a very high average income. While we don't know what Fitzy's income is, one would guess it's probably a little higher than most Stockton residents. While that's not inherently a bad thing, it's helped seperate him from the common working man. Men like us, men like your neighbors, men like the guy working 3 jobs just so he can afford his mortgage. Fitzy sees a guy working three jobs and sees a story about the economy and how one man works through it. We see it as reality (because some of us here actually do work multiple jobs, not because of mortgages though).
Fitzy can't relate to us anymore because he isn't one of us. A good metro columnist should appeal to the average citizens of the city he covers. Fitz hasn't done that in a long time. Sure, if presented with this arguement he'd probably spout off a bunch of bullshit about all the e-mail he gets and the awards he's won and how we don't know anything about the average Stocktonian. But it would be just that, bullshit.
We are the average Stocktonian. Living paycheck to paycheck trying to make rent while still having something resembling a social life. Fitzy writes 3 columns a week and can't even keep which side of the downtown fence he's on straight. His blatant fellating of the downtown he said himself we're disenfranchaised with shows just how out of touch he is. By throwing his full support downtown he pretty much threw his own public image behind it. It failed, miserably. Perhaps irreparably Which is what this flipflopping really is, public image repair. And not even a very good attempt at it.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Plea for Peace Center update
Pulled from Mr. Goodwin's Stockton Rocks MySpace bulletin:
The Planning Commission meeting has been set for December 11, 2008, at 6:00p.m. in the COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, SECOND FLOOR 425 N El Dorado, Stockton CA 95202
If you haven't signed our petition please do so(I have them at every show.) If you can make it out on the 11th please show up early and remember to be on your best behavior(we will not just representing ourselves but also the music and art community as a whole.) Thanks again to everyone for all the support. If you have any questions or would like to help out please get in touch.
Middagh Goodwin
Monday, November 3, 2008
Wait, so downtown isn't the only problem? You don't say...
Yesterday Mike Fitzgerald wrote a fairly interesting column about various local candidates using the public's general disdain towards the city's recentish downtown spending in their campaign literature. Fitzy, being a unabashed downtown supporter, was dismayed that candidates would be campaigning against downtown and said, "to blame downtown alone betrays a disturbing ignorance of city financials." To which we reply, no shit Sherlock.
Of course Stockton's budget problems can't solely be blamed on downtown subsidies. Anybody who believes that is a fucking moron. Downtown is just the most visibile/popular problem. Partially because the only people who really wanted downtown revitalized in the first place were politicians (and, of course, Fitzy), and partially because they've been doing so at ludicrious speed. Especially ludicrious because it involves a government of some sort, and anybody who's been to the DMV lately knows speed isn't their strong suit.
But ignoring all of that, Fitzy ignores the one thing that everybody should be conditioned to know by now in this seemingly endless election season (one more day!). He's ignoring the fact that campaigns that say the problems with the budget are because we're a city of low income familes and old parks that don't have self-taxation districts would be insinuating that the solution is taxes.
We're not saying that part of the solution isn't higher taxes (because unfortunately it probably is, the rich aren't coming downtown so we can tax them), but tell us, who the fuck is the last candidate who won an election by saying we're not paying enough taxes? And even if they did say it, they definitely wouldn't put it on their campaign mailers.
Of course Fitzy sees these mailers and thinks those candidates are just going to abandon downtown, which is a huge stretch of logic. Instead, and we know this is a novel fucking concept, how about just stopping putting as much money downtown as we are (the other possible, non-taxation solution)? You know, slow the fuck down and let downtown build a decent crowd before building a huge, fancy hotel for our non-existant tourists complete with another expensive resturant?
That part might be the most depressingly hilarious part of Fitzy's entire column. He says part of the solution is "okaying only subdivisions that are 'revenue neutral' and reducing city expenditures below revenues." Which apparently shouldn't apply to downtown because another solution to fix Stockton's bugetary problems is to "offer coastal employers and high wage earners a downtown with amenities they demand." A. Isn't that what we've allegedly been doing? And B. High wage earners? I thought the problem was that we didn't earn enough God damn money. You said it yourfuckingself just 12 paragraphs ago!
Which of course brings us to the last problem, The fact that the city spent too much time catering to out-of-towners and the few high wage earners that we do have. Instead of, you know, the people who actually live here. And that's what those campaign mailers are really about.
Hell, that's what this entire election, local and national, has been about. Government has spent too much time catering to those with money, while those of us who don't have any feel like we've been left out in the cold. A $10 burger, the Sheraton, Neil Diamond, and overused political buzzwords like "hope" and "change" are just easily recognizable symbols of our city's...hell our nation's disaffection with the government right now.
We're not saying we have the solutions. Shit, we're not even saying we're right. Even if the city didn't subsidize anything we'd still have a huge gaping hole in the budget. What we're saying is that they're very clearly subsidizing the wrong things. If they were the right things they'd be generating that revenue they're supposed to be and not getting forclosed on.
Of course Stockton's budget problems can't solely be blamed on downtown subsidies. Anybody who believes that is a fucking moron. Downtown is just the most visibile/popular problem. Partially because the only people who really wanted downtown revitalized in the first place were politicians (and, of course, Fitzy), and partially because they've been doing so at ludicrious speed. Especially ludicrious because it involves a government of some sort, and anybody who's been to the DMV lately knows speed isn't their strong suit.
But ignoring all of that, Fitzy ignores the one thing that everybody should be conditioned to know by now in this seemingly endless election season (one more day!). He's ignoring the fact that campaigns that say the problems with the budget are because we're a city of low income familes and old parks that don't have self-taxation districts would be insinuating that the solution is taxes.
We're not saying that part of the solution isn't higher taxes (because unfortunately it probably is, the rich aren't coming downtown so we can tax them), but tell us, who the fuck is the last candidate who won an election by saying we're not paying enough taxes? And even if they did say it, they definitely wouldn't put it on their campaign mailers.
Of course Fitzy sees these mailers and thinks those candidates are just going to abandon downtown, which is a huge stretch of logic. Instead, and we know this is a novel fucking concept, how about just stopping putting as much money downtown as we are (the other possible, non-taxation solution)? You know, slow the fuck down and let downtown build a decent crowd before building a huge, fancy hotel for our non-existant tourists complete with another expensive resturant?
That part might be the most depressingly hilarious part of Fitzy's entire column. He says part of the solution is "okaying only subdivisions that are 'revenue neutral' and reducing city expenditures below revenues." Which apparently shouldn't apply to downtown because another solution to fix Stockton's bugetary problems is to "offer coastal employers and high wage earners a downtown with amenities they demand." A. Isn't that what we've allegedly been doing? And B. High wage earners? I thought the problem was that we didn't earn enough God damn money. You said it yourfuckingself just 12 paragraphs ago!
Which of course brings us to the last problem, The fact that the city spent too much time catering to out-of-towners and the few high wage earners that we do have. Instead of, you know, the people who actually live here. And that's what those campaign mailers are really about.
Hell, that's what this entire election, local and national, has been about. Government has spent too much time catering to those with money, while those of us who don't have any feel like we've been left out in the cold. A $10 burger, the Sheraton, Neil Diamond, and overused political buzzwords like "hope" and "change" are just easily recognizable symbols of our city's...hell our nation's disaffection with the government right now.
We're not saying we have the solutions. Shit, we're not even saying we're right. Even if the city didn't subsidize anything we'd still have a huge gaping hole in the budget. What we're saying is that they're very clearly subsidizing the wrong things. If they were the right things they'd be generating that revenue they're supposed to be and not getting forclosed on.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Update on Plea for Peace Center
So it's past 5pm, anybody wondering what's happening with Middagh's campaign to get the proper permits for the Plea for Peace Center? Two... individuals (restraintrestraintrestraint) wrote letters requesting arbitration or something.
Thanks
Middagh"
The update from Middagh via PfP's MySpace:
"I will have a petition at all shows to encourage the Community Development to issue the permits needed to open the Plea for Peace Center. Two letters were written requesting a hearing set for Thursday December 11th at 6pm. I have until November 15th to get both parties to write new letters recalling their original letter. If that happens permits will be issued and we can move forward. If not the hearing will be held and a decision to give us (or not) the permits will be made. I hope that we can resolve this matter without it going to a hearing, just in case I am going to do everything I can to sway the committee in our favor. Timmo and Liz from Caffien Den both have copies of the petition. If you would like to help get signitures let me know.
Thanks
Middagh"
Why do we need a hearing? And most importantly, who the fuck wrote those letters? Now I feel bad for not writing a letter in support of the center. Middagh, consider this place a forum to stump for signatures.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Hey, want to go downtown and see Religulous? Oh wait...
There's an assload of movies I've been meaning to go see over the past couple of weeks. One of them is the Bill Maher movie "Religulous". I've heard good things about it and naively assumed that our 16-screen downtown movie theater would be showing it when it's wide-release came around last Friday.
But that, of course, would make sense. It's not like they've been advertising it in our market. No, the closest movie theater playing it is the IMAX in fucking Dublin. Our theater has two screens dedicated to "Beverly Hills Chihuahua", two screens dedicated to "Eagle Eye", and what has to be a pity screen dedicated to the piece of shit that is "An American Carol", yet they can't squeeze in one screening of "Religulous"? The only real redeeming quality that theater has is its large quantity of screens that frees up room for smaller releases, and they never fucking do so. Want to draw people downtown? Show decent movies. Want to draw people to downtown Stockton from out of town show movies they can't see in their towns!
Or just show what every other movie theater is showing. No need to distinguish ourselves from movie theaters in other cities.
But that, of course, would make sense. It's not like they've been advertising it in our market. No, the closest movie theater playing it is the IMAX in fucking Dublin. Our theater has two screens dedicated to "Beverly Hills Chihuahua", two screens dedicated to "Eagle Eye", and what has to be a pity screen dedicated to the piece of shit that is "An American Carol", yet they can't squeeze in one screening of "Religulous"? The only real redeeming quality that theater has is its large quantity of screens that frees up room for smaller releases, and they never fucking do so. Want to draw people downtown? Show decent movies. Want to draw people to downtown Stockton from out of town show movies they can't see in their towns!
Or just show what every other movie theater is showing. No need to distinguish ourselves from movie theaters in other cities.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Free relationship advice from Reclaiming the Title
When Steve Pinkerton broke up with Stockton in favor of our methed out cousin Manteca (using the same pickup lines no less. You said downtown revitalization was our song!), there were mixed emotions. The city decided to get wasted. The Record was wistful. Mike Fitzgerald was presumably holed up in his bedroom clutching a pint of Americone Dream in one hand and a copy of "He's Just Not That Into You" in the other with an empty bottle of Jack at the foot of his bed. We saw his departure for what it was, a guy who realized that the market was headed for a downturn and that he was going to be totally fucked if he didn't get the hell out with the quickness. How would we ever recover from being tossed aside so callously by this visionary? (We still can't believe Fitzy called him that.)
-Extensive experience opening new sports/entertainment arenas, including NHL Phoenix Coyotes' Jobing.com Arena (Phoenix) and NBA San Antonio Spurs' AT&T Center (San Antonio) as well as Rosemont Theater (Chicago)
After a couple of months it appears that we're finally ready to go see what's out there and start dating again. That's right, Fitzy's on the rebound. So who is this new guy? Stephan Grossman is the new booking consultant for IFG. (Hooray consultants!) He's the new guy responsible for drawing concerts to Stockton. Sounds dreamy doesn't he? What's his credentials?
- Over course of 25+ year career, have booked, created and promoted over 2,000 events, attended by over 10million people, grossing $400million. Managed media campaigns with overall value of $100million
- Over course of 25+ year career, have booked, created and promoted over 2,000 events, attended by over 10million people, grossing $400million. Managed media campaigns with overall value of $100million
Damn, that's fairly impressive.
-Extensive experience opening new sports/entertainment arenas, including NHL Phoenix Coyotes' Jobing.com Arena (Phoenix) and NBA San Antonio Spurs' AT&T Center (San Antonio) as well as Rosemont Theater (Chicago)
Oh, fuck. Umm, so all those successful arenas had successful tenants already?
Great, we're skeptical already. Come on Fitzy, you're smarter than this. You don't want to rush into a new relationship so soon. We know you love the silver foxes, but you can't give it up right away. Sure he has experience booking around sporting events, but those sports teams were already profitable. Plus he hasn't given us any details as to how he plans to get acts that play in the Bay Area to consider us over Sac, Bakersfield, and Fresno. He just says we're in that pool. Until he shows us real commitment (he's left us before apparently) with real ideas, he should only get boob. Deal? Hey, why is your shirt on inside out? Fuck.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Top 5 Downtown events that need to happen
If there's one thing that's stalled the revitalization of downtown, it has to be the complete dogshit event booking that's gone on. In the few years that the Arena has been open, there's been exactly one event that they've had that made any of us go "Oh shit! I have to go to that!" (the EliteXC fights).
To be fair we never thought the Arena was a good idea. We're too close in proximity to not one, not two, but 4 major cities with better venues. Who in their right mind would skip over San Jose, SF, or Oakland to come to little ol' Stockton? Just Gwen Stefani apparently.
Besides the Hollaback girl, we've been treated to a cornucopia of county fair-level talent (and we're including Hannah Montana in that category). Part of the problem, as we've stated before, is the piss poor job done advertising events that come downtown. It sends the message to promoters considering Stockton that we won't help at all. And when we do help, it's to the wrong people and done the wrong way. $75,000 of taxpayer money and what did we get? A shitload of now embarassing billboards. (Please tell us that those "postponed" signs aren't going to be up until the Rodeo allegedly happens next year.)
Advertising problems aside, the main problem is fairly obvious. Events we want to see aren't coming to Stockton. IFG's job is to attract promoters to Stockton, they're not doing their job. The problem is, they're not looking in the right places. We may not be big time promoters, but even we can think up 5 events that should not only be easily bookable, but they'll actually sell tickets. That's right, Top 5 downtown events that need to happen. (Note: We did next to zero research on this list, so feel free to tell us if we're wrong or if they've already attempted these things.) Let's do the damn thing.
Play a Thunder game outdoors at Banner Island Ballpark
We'd worry a bit about ice refridgeration issues outside, but the Arena's track record with that hasn't exactly been sterling so we can look past it. The NHL's attempts at outdoor hockey were regarded as successes, so why can't we do it? We're not the biggest hockey fans, but outdoor hockey intrigues us. We can only assume other casual fans might give it a shot too. Great way to advertise the city and garner some interest in a team that, let's face it, isn't very interesting.
Bring back the HS state wrestling tournament
Alright, as former high school wrestlers we'll admit we're a little biased with this one. But Stockton clearly misses the boost the economy got when the best wrestlers from all over the state came to Stockton for a few days. The tournament left for Bakersfield when it outgrew the Spanos Center. Now we have a bigger venue and a convienently located hotel to house them, it's time to try and lure them back. IFG, we're looking at you. Speaking of tournaments...
Collaborate with UOP for a college basketball tournament at the Arena
When we had the initial idea for this list a while ago, one of the ideas tossed around was bringing the Kings back to Stockton. Since that's already happened, this seems like a great alternative. Like the state tournament, bringing in a bunch of college basketball players from all over the country would boost the economy and get people going downtown. All it takes is one decent sized team to anchor the thing as the attraction school (Gonzaga anybody?) and people should come out to see a big time program that we really never get during UOP's regular season. Depending on pricing, a few full days of college basketball at the arena would be a steal. Plus, holding it at the Arena means you can (gasp) drink at a fucking basketball game like God intended.
Book events at the Fox/Bob Hope that people under the age of 40 (but over the age of 15) want to see
The booking of the Bob Hope Theatre has always been fucking horrible. The last time we went there was for the Too Short/Chingy concert a few years back. Chingy was allegedly the headliner, but more than half the audience left after Too Short's set. It was a classic example of how little promoters "get" us. If there's one complaint we have about the booking of any event downtown, it's that there's next to nothing geared towards the college-aged resident. Which is funny since there's 2 fucking colleges in town. And if there's one thing college kids cum all over themselves for, it's indie bands that don't get much mainstream radio play. These are the bands that would actually consider playing a show in Stockon because they're in SF for another show anyways.
Plus, they're cheap. You're trying to tell us you can't afford to bring a band like Cursive or Modest Mouse to Stockton? Bullshit. The people in charge of luring acts have just never heard of them because they haven't been kids since dinosaurs were used as kitchen appliances. Try asking that Middagh guy for help. We hear he knows a few bands and how to lure them to Stockton.
Beerfest
Come on, you had to see this one coming. We're not talking about a secretive beer olympics like the movie of the same name (although that would be a great idea, and we'd win), we want a beer convention. We've stated time and time again that the only thing to do in this town is drink, so why not get together once a year and do so? If the St. Patrick's Day party that Bradley's throws is any indication, it should be fairly popular. But those guys are thinking small scale. We suggest talking with the area's various mircrobreweries (Lodi Beer Co, Valley Brew, BJs (to some extent) and put on a full scale convention.
Also, if we were in charge, we wouldn't allow any wine. All those old white fucks talking about the difference between two types of $12 supermarket wine just get in the way of our good time. If there's going to be any sort of snobbery there, it's going to be... "What's the alcohol content of your beer?" "I'm drinking a Budweiser." "You fucking pussy, try this Indian Pale Ale. It's at 15%, that'll put hair on your momma's nutsack!"
We kid of course. If history's proven anything it's that even though there would be numerous quality beers at this hypothetical event, everybody would be sipping on lukewarm Coronas like pussies. But hey, book pretty much any bar band and put up a bunch of booths and banners and you got a halfway decent event on your hands.
Of course none of these events will probably happen because they make too much sense. Dealing with Stockton promoters and businesses that know the area and don't look like dickholes in cowboy hats? Horrible idea.
To be fair we never thought the Arena was a good idea. We're too close in proximity to not one, not two, but 4 major cities with better venues. Who in their right mind would skip over San Jose, SF, or Oakland to come to little ol' Stockton? Just Gwen Stefani apparently.
Besides the Hollaback girl, we've been treated to a cornucopia of county fair-level talent (and we're including Hannah Montana in that category). Part of the problem, as we've stated before, is the piss poor job done advertising events that come downtown. It sends the message to promoters considering Stockton that we won't help at all. And when we do help, it's to the wrong people and done the wrong way. $75,000 of taxpayer money and what did we get? A shitload of now embarassing billboards. (Please tell us that those "postponed" signs aren't going to be up until the Rodeo allegedly happens next year.)
Advertising problems aside, the main problem is fairly obvious. Events we want to see aren't coming to Stockton. IFG's job is to attract promoters to Stockton, they're not doing their job. The problem is, they're not looking in the right places. We may not be big time promoters, but even we can think up 5 events that should not only be easily bookable, but they'll actually sell tickets. That's right, Top 5 downtown events that need to happen. (Note: We did next to zero research on this list, so feel free to tell us if we're wrong or if they've already attempted these things.) Let's do the damn thing.
Play a Thunder game outdoors at Banner Island Ballpark
We'd worry a bit about ice refridgeration issues outside, but the Arena's track record with that hasn't exactly been sterling so we can look past it. The NHL's attempts at outdoor hockey were regarded as successes, so why can't we do it? We're not the biggest hockey fans, but outdoor hockey intrigues us. We can only assume other casual fans might give it a shot too. Great way to advertise the city and garner some interest in a team that, let's face it, isn't very interesting.
Bring back the HS state wrestling tournament
Alright, as former high school wrestlers we'll admit we're a little biased with this one. But Stockton clearly misses the boost the economy got when the best wrestlers from all over the state came to Stockton for a few days. The tournament left for Bakersfield when it outgrew the Spanos Center. Now we have a bigger venue and a convienently located hotel to house them, it's time to try and lure them back. IFG, we're looking at you. Speaking of tournaments...
Collaborate with UOP for a college basketball tournament at the Arena
When we had the initial idea for this list a while ago, one of the ideas tossed around was bringing the Kings back to Stockton. Since that's already happened, this seems like a great alternative. Like the state tournament, bringing in a bunch of college basketball players from all over the country would boost the economy and get people going downtown. All it takes is one decent sized team to anchor the thing as the attraction school (Gonzaga anybody?) and people should come out to see a big time program that we really never get during UOP's regular season. Depending on pricing, a few full days of college basketball at the arena would be a steal. Plus, holding it at the Arena means you can (gasp) drink at a fucking basketball game like God intended.
Book events at the Fox/Bob Hope that people under the age of 40 (but over the age of 15) want to see
The booking of the Bob Hope Theatre has always been fucking horrible. The last time we went there was for the Too Short/Chingy concert a few years back. Chingy was allegedly the headliner, but more than half the audience left after Too Short's set. It was a classic example of how little promoters "get" us. If there's one complaint we have about the booking of any event downtown, it's that there's next to nothing geared towards the college-aged resident. Which is funny since there's 2 fucking colleges in town. And if there's one thing college kids cum all over themselves for, it's indie bands that don't get much mainstream radio play. These are the bands that would actually consider playing a show in Stockon because they're in SF for another show anyways.
Plus, they're cheap. You're trying to tell us you can't afford to bring a band like Cursive or Modest Mouse to Stockton? Bullshit. The people in charge of luring acts have just never heard of them because they haven't been kids since dinosaurs were used as kitchen appliances. Try asking that Middagh guy for help. We hear he knows a few bands and how to lure them to Stockton.
Beerfest
Come on, you had to see this one coming. We're not talking about a secretive beer olympics like the movie of the same name (although that would be a great idea, and we'd win), we want a beer convention. We've stated time and time again that the only thing to do in this town is drink, so why not get together once a year and do so? If the St. Patrick's Day party that Bradley's throws is any indication, it should be fairly popular. But those guys are thinking small scale. We suggest talking with the area's various mircrobreweries (Lodi Beer Co, Valley Brew, BJs (to some extent) and put on a full scale convention.
Also, if we were in charge, we wouldn't allow any wine. All those old white fucks talking about the difference between two types of $12 supermarket wine just get in the way of our good time. If there's going to be any sort of snobbery there, it's going to be... "What's the alcohol content of your beer?" "I'm drinking a Budweiser." "You fucking pussy, try this Indian Pale Ale. It's at 15%, that'll put hair on your momma's nutsack!"
We kid of course. If history's proven anything it's that even though there would be numerous quality beers at this hypothetical event, everybody would be sipping on lukewarm Coronas like pussies. But hey, book pretty much any bar band and put up a bunch of booths and banners and you got a halfway decent event on your hands.
Of course none of these events will probably happen because they make too much sense. Dealing with Stockton promoters and businesses that know the area and don't look like dickholes in cowboy hats? Horrible idea.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Quick Links for 9/29
Let's bang through some quick links and hope actual news happens today so it can be reported on tomorrow.
Yesterday we were headed down Pacific Ave by UOP and saw not one, not two, but 3 cop cars in the vicinity of one of the fraternities and that Methodist church with the weird roof. No doubt some shit was going down. So what caused the massive manhunt? A guy got mugged on California Street. That's right, Stockton PD dedicated 3 police units (and possibly a fourth) to catch a guy who stole a cell phone and a wallet. What are we? Lodi?
If you can't trust a back alley hooker, then just who the hell can you trust. Consider our moral fiber shaken to the very bone.
Oh hey, just what downtown revitalization was missing. A big ass movie screen. At least we can avoid that drive to Dublin when Transformers 2 comes out. Nothing's hotter than a 6-story tall Megan Fox.
We're kind of wondering what's so strange about this story of a guy who (allegedly) killed his cellmate while trying to beat a concealed weapon rap on a technicality. Guy with history of criminal behavior commits crime, kept off street. Throw in the fact that a child molester died and this is the feel good story of the year. Man, Stockton rocks.
For the record, this was not us. Mighty tempting though. That's like 500 points. 600 if he had a walker.
In what can only be described as a throwback column, Fitzy again tells us that the reason downtown hasn't succeeded is because we're not moving there. In the process he pretty much ignores every real reason downtown hasn't succeeded. You know, that whole booking shitty acts and picking one of the more dangerous spots in the city as a family gathering place. But it can all be fixed with homes downtown!
Yesterday we were headed down Pacific Ave by UOP and saw not one, not two, but 3 cop cars in the vicinity of one of the fraternities and that Methodist church with the weird roof. No doubt some shit was going down. So what caused the massive manhunt? A guy got mugged on California Street. That's right, Stockton PD dedicated 3 police units (and possibly a fourth) to catch a guy who stole a cell phone and a wallet. What are we? Lodi?
If you can't trust a back alley hooker, then just who the hell can you trust. Consider our moral fiber shaken to the very bone.
Oh hey, just what downtown revitalization was missing. A big ass movie screen. At least we can avoid that drive to Dublin when Transformers 2 comes out. Nothing's hotter than a 6-story tall Megan Fox.
We're kind of wondering what's so strange about this story of a guy who (allegedly) killed his cellmate while trying to beat a concealed weapon rap on a technicality. Guy with history of criminal behavior commits crime, kept off street. Throw in the fact that a child molester died and this is the feel good story of the year. Man, Stockton rocks.
For the record, this was not us. Mighty tempting though. That's like 500 points. 600 if he had a walker.
In what can only be described as a throwback column, Fitzy again tells us that the reason downtown hasn't succeeded is because we're not moving there. In the process he pretty much ignores every real reason downtown hasn't succeeded. You know, that whole booking shitty acts and picking one of the more dangerous spots in the city as a family gathering place. But it can all be fixed with homes downtown!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Meanwhile in Lodi...
Meanwhile in... is an idea we just thought up where we take the focus off of Stockton and take a look at the stories coming out of other cities in San Joaquin county. Like the quick links only focused on one city. Today's city? Lodi.
It seems like we've been hearing about downtown revitalization since the dawn of time. Before Stockton got the itch to reclaim the youthful memories of the 60s when one could roam the streets of downtown, laugh, drink and smoke a joint while crime stayed the court ordered 30 miles away in Modesto; another city decided they needed to put more money in their dilapidated downtown district.
It's hard to believe it's been so long since Lodi started it's downtown revitalization. First came a brand spanking new movie theater, then a parking garage. Then came businesses who successfully flourished in the vacant space made available around the theater and parking garage. Or not.
While the businesses surrounding the movie theater have been an impressive revolving door of failed franchise attempts (we blinked and missed Slices' tenure in the current Starbucks spot), the parking garage's available space has been surprisingly consistant. Unfortunatly that's consistantly empty save for a "World of Wonders: Coming Soon" sign. Looks like "soon" actually means "about 8 years".
The lesson? While downtown Lodi has improved drastically, it's still just barely getting it's shit together and following through with it's downtown plans. Stockton's should take a little bit longer, like forever.
Oh hey, that Grape Festival thing happened. The Grape festival is one of those events you look forward to because, as we've stated before, there's absolutly nothing to do in this area. Which we assume is why so many people buy into the whole wine thing. It's like heavy drinking for classy people. But for those of us who didn't watch Sideways, it gets kinda boring pretty fast. We were supposed to go see Foghat but Bris got distracted by Ohio State's sucking and Duke opted to go to Deja Vu's. Presumably to also be distracted by some sort of sucking.
Speaking of sucking, you may have forgotten that Delta College sucks at spending money. Lodi's pissed that Delta's pretty much completly scratched the proposed Lodi satellite campus. They're calling it a "huge miscarriage of justice" which is probably overselling it just a little bit.
Everybody's known this bond measure has been on shaky legs for a while, so it's kind of a stretch to hear Lodi squawk shit like "it would be a very long time before another bond measure would be passed in Lodi if we were passed over." Guess what? The rest of SJ County reached that point at least a year ago. Catch up with the times and quit acting like the Canada to Stockton's America. Delta has spent all but $66 million of the $250 million they were given. Mountain House is going to cost $90 million just to complete. Yet you still held out hope for a Lodi campus? Come on, nobody's that fucking gulliable.
The Mountain House campus is/was their baby and they don't even have enough money to finish that. We get it, you feel fucked over. Welcome to the club. But crying about future approval of bond dollars isn't going to make much of a difference when us real cities have already decided that Delta's not getting nay bond money unto 2025. And President Rodriguez's "We're still looking at all of our options" is just a nice way of saying "Fuck you Lodi, we only picked you for the abundance of farm land that Spanos has yet to pave over."
It seems like we've been hearing about downtown revitalization since the dawn of time. Before Stockton got the itch to reclaim the youthful memories of the 60s when one could roam the streets of downtown, laugh, drink and smoke a joint while crime stayed the court ordered 30 miles away in Modesto; another city decided they needed to put more money in their dilapidated downtown district.
It's hard to believe it's been so long since Lodi started it's downtown revitalization. First came a brand spanking new movie theater, then a parking garage. Then came businesses who successfully flourished in the vacant space made available around the theater and parking garage. Or not.
While the businesses surrounding the movie theater have been an impressive revolving door of failed franchise attempts (we blinked and missed Slices' tenure in the current Starbucks spot), the parking garage's available space has been surprisingly consistant. Unfortunatly that's consistantly empty save for a "World of Wonders: Coming Soon" sign. Looks like "soon" actually means "about 8 years".
The lesson? While downtown Lodi has improved drastically, it's still just barely getting it's shit together and following through with it's downtown plans. Stockton's should take a little bit longer, like forever.
Oh hey, that Grape Festival thing happened. The Grape festival is one of those events you look forward to because, as we've stated before, there's absolutly nothing to do in this area. Which we assume is why so many people buy into the whole wine thing. It's like heavy drinking for classy people. But for those of us who didn't watch Sideways, it gets kinda boring pretty fast. We were supposed to go see Foghat but Bris got distracted by Ohio State's sucking and Duke opted to go to Deja Vu's. Presumably to also be distracted by some sort of sucking.
Speaking of sucking, you may have forgotten that Delta College sucks at spending money. Lodi's pissed that Delta's pretty much completly scratched the proposed Lodi satellite campus. They're calling it a "huge miscarriage of justice" which is probably overselling it just a little bit.
Everybody's known this bond measure has been on shaky legs for a while, so it's kind of a stretch to hear Lodi squawk shit like "it would be a very long time before another bond measure would be passed in Lodi if we were passed over." Guess what? The rest of SJ County reached that point at least a year ago. Catch up with the times and quit acting like the Canada to Stockton's America. Delta has spent all but $66 million of the $250 million they were given. Mountain House is going to cost $90 million just to complete. Yet you still held out hope for a Lodi campus? Come on, nobody's that fucking gulliable.
The Mountain House campus is/was their baby and they don't even have enough money to finish that. We get it, you feel fucked over. Welcome to the club. But crying about future approval of bond dollars isn't going to make much of a difference when us real cities have already decided that Delta's not getting nay bond money unto 2025. And President Rodriguez's "We're still looking at all of our options" is just a nice way of saying "Fuck you Lodi, we only picked you for the abundance of farm land that Spanos has yet to pave over."
Thursday, September 4, 2008
It's a good thing city money was spend to help subsidze totally successful businesses...
Time for a quick lesson in print journalism. One thing journalists pride themselves on (and something that's always brought up in the blogs v. print debate) is objectivity. While complete objectivity is rarely attained anymore these days, newspaper writers try their best to remain somewhat balanced. One place objectivity has no business though is the opinions page.
On the opinions page, any douchebag with a computer can send a letter to the editor bitching about anything ranging from nitpicking the Record's following of the AP style guide to "The CHP shouldn't have shot my son. even though he was in process of running from the police, he was a good boy!" (I know if I led the cops on a chase of any sort of speed my dad would probably shoot me himself.) Or if you want surprisingly relevant letters to the editor, you can always try here. (Scroll down to "City officials should feel repercussions")
The opinions page is also home to the editorial staff. The one group of people not reviewing shit that get to post opinionated pieces daily. The way editorials classically work is the staff gets together and picks a subject, then together they form an opinion and have somebody write it without a byline so it represents the opinion of the newspaper as a whole. Which is why we're slightly confused as to why the editorial staff failed to state an actual opinion yesterday.
As far as either Dukè or I can tell, the only real opinion stated is that Stockton's finances are in trouble, oh and the next City Council is going to have a lot of work to do. Really? I thought we were doing just peachy. I thought they'd be able to just kick back and reap the benefits of a successfully revitalized downtown. Allow me to show you how to actually state an opinion Record staff.
The problem stated in the article/column is that the city overestimated the amount of tax revenue they'd be receiving during the all too obvious econmic downturn we're experiencing. From the Record:
"Mark Moses, the city's chief financial officer, estimates that revenue from sales, property and other taxes will fall about $11.4 million below the amount estimated in May, when the fiscal 2008-09 budget was adopted."
Has that much really changed in the last 3 months? I'm pretty sure I was feeling the same economic crunch in May that I'm feeling now. And as the Record's told us a few times over the past couple months, I'm not the only one. Did they think the economy was going to do anything but get worse in the coming months? If the did they're the only ones. How do I know? The Record told me so:
"That's (ed. note: "That's" being decreased tax revenue due to the economic downturn) correctable, of course, if the economy suddenly turns around. But no economic experts expect that to happen. (note: emphasis ours) Rather, any recovery is likely to be prolonged and painful."
So nobody should be counting on an influx of tax dollars anytime soon. Which means we'll probably have to cut funding to some public services. The service who receives the most public money is the police (who apparently aren't spending it on driving lessons). So I don't think it'd be much of a stretch to assume that the police will probably have to do without some of their budgetarily promised monies. (After the previously linked buyouts and furloughs are inevitably fucked up by city leaders) Sorry guys, guess you're not getting that raise.
And if we can't afford to pay for essential services such as public safety, we sure as hell can't be spending it on frivolous shit right? Don't tell that to Fitzy, he wants us to buy a fucking boat. Not just any boat, a boat built here half a century ago. A boat that soon won't legally be able to operate. A boat that comes with an assload of legal work to it. I'm all for off the wall ideas, but saying we should buy a useless boat on the same day the paper says we can't even afford to pay for essential public services is just going to make somebody look like a dumbass.
Oh, and I'll have more on this later, but this has to be one of the more vindicating things I've read in a long time. Suckers.
On the opinions page, any douchebag with a computer can send a letter to the editor bitching about anything ranging from nitpicking the Record's following of the AP style guide to "The CHP shouldn't have shot my son. even though he was in process of running from the police, he was a good boy!" (I know if I led the cops on a chase of any sort of speed my dad would probably shoot me himself.) Or if you want surprisingly relevant letters to the editor, you can always try here. (Scroll down to "City officials should feel repercussions")
The opinions page is also home to the editorial staff. The one group of people not reviewing shit that get to post opinionated pieces daily. The way editorials classically work is the staff gets together and picks a subject, then together they form an opinion and have somebody write it without a byline so it represents the opinion of the newspaper as a whole. Which is why we're slightly confused as to why the editorial staff failed to state an actual opinion yesterday.
As far as either Dukè or I can tell, the only real opinion stated is that Stockton's finances are in trouble, oh and the next City Council is going to have a lot of work to do. Really? I thought we were doing just peachy. I thought they'd be able to just kick back and reap the benefits of a successfully revitalized downtown. Allow me to show you how to actually state an opinion Record staff.
The problem stated in the article/column is that the city overestimated the amount of tax revenue they'd be receiving during the all too obvious econmic downturn we're experiencing. From the Record:
"Mark Moses, the city's chief financial officer, estimates that revenue from sales, property and other taxes will fall about $11.4 million below the amount estimated in May, when the fiscal 2008-09 budget was adopted."
Has that much really changed in the last 3 months? I'm pretty sure I was feeling the same economic crunch in May that I'm feeling now. And as the Record's told us a few times over the past couple months, I'm not the only one. Did they think the economy was going to do anything but get worse in the coming months? If the did they're the only ones. How do I know? The Record told me so:
"That's (ed. note: "That's" being decreased tax revenue due to the economic downturn) correctable, of course, if the economy suddenly turns around. But no economic experts expect that to happen. (note: emphasis ours) Rather, any recovery is likely to be prolonged and painful."
So nobody should be counting on an influx of tax dollars anytime soon. Which means we'll probably have to cut funding to some public services. The service who receives the most public money is the police (who apparently aren't spending it on driving lessons). So I don't think it'd be much of a stretch to assume that the police will probably have to do without some of their budgetarily promised monies. (After the previously linked buyouts and furloughs are inevitably fucked up by city leaders) Sorry guys, guess you're not getting that raise.
And if we can't afford to pay for essential services such as public safety, we sure as hell can't be spending it on frivolous shit right? Don't tell that to Fitzy, he wants us to buy a fucking boat. Not just any boat, a boat built here half a century ago. A boat that soon won't legally be able to operate. A boat that comes with an assload of legal work to it. I'm all for off the wall ideas, but saying we should buy a useless boat on the same day the paper says we can't even afford to pay for essential public services is just going to make somebody look like a dumbass.
Oh, and I'll have more on this later, but this has to be one of the more vindicating things I've read in a long time. Suckers.
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