The Compare Game

Today the Cal and PE had some matching stories. Let me compare them and let’s see which ones we enjoyed most.
First off, Lake Elsinore is going to lay off employees.

The Cal’s Aaron Claverie ledes off with this:
A dearth of new home construction starts, falling home values and slumping sales tax revenue have forced the city to take the rare step of adjusting its $32 million budget for the year less than three months after it was adopted.
The adjustment, which could include laying off 10 or 11 city employees, is being proposed to help the city patch a $1.9 million revenue shortfall, city officials said Wednesday.
City Financial Director Matt Pressey said the shortfall is directly tied to the subprime mortgage collapse, which has dotted Lake Elsinore with foreclosed homes and saturated the housing market to the point where new home construction doesn't pencil out for many developers.
This lede makes the city look really dumb for failing to see this shaping up. But did Claverie miss the boat? see the rest of the story here

Mr. Aaron Burgin talked about the economy but then had a stunning revelation that Claverie totally avoided or missed.
The stormy economy and a "serious" $759,000 budget error may cost some Lake Elsinore city employees their jobs.
Lake Elsinore officials announced Wednesday they may lay off workers but initially said it was solely because of the sharp economic downturn.
City officials later revealed that on top of the economic woes, the city mistakenly underbudgeted its police services by $1.15 million, which was partially offset by $395,000 in grant funding.
Yep it appears the city made a nearly $1 million budget error. That my friends is horrendous and thanks to Mr. Burgin for throwing that up high. Good job Mr. Burgin. Take in his whole story here


In Showdown two we pit John Hunneman with John Asbury in the battle over the Hemet Ryan Airport expansion story.
Let’s start with Mr. Asbury.
Southern California firefighters will be able to use military air attackers for the first time once $19 million in improvements are completed to the Hemet-Ryan Air-Attack Base.
Plans were announced Wednesday to add 1,300 feet to the runaway at the Hemet-Ryan Airport and sink millions of state dollars into new barracks, aircraft and other firefighting airport improvements.
The lede is succinct and tells me why I am reading the story. Firefighters can use military air support because of this expansion. For the whole story click here

Let’s look at Hunneman.
For several days in October while fires scorched the Southern California landscape, tiny Hemet-Ryan Airport had the second busiest runway of any airport in America, fire officials say.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's air attack base for the region was overwhelmed, Calfire Director Ruben Grijalva said.
"We didn't have the ability to house all the firefighters, feed them and take care of the crews," he said.
With that experience in mind, state and county leaders met Wednesday at the airport on the southwest side of tow to announce a major upgrade to the facility.

I still lack that defining sentence. It’s long winded and still doesn’t explain to me why I should care. That’s too many paragraphs to get to the point. Hunneman you have been burned…by Asbury.