December 10, 2019

Orange County

Voice of OC: County halts census outreach grants to City of Santa Ana and school district

County officials said they pulled the city and school district from the funding plan because they believed the money would be more effectively spent with non-governmental groups like Latino Health Access.

 

Voice of OC: Garden Grove could hand Willowick Golf Course over to hotel developer today

The Garden Grove City Council at today’s public meeting will consider leasing the 100-acre Willowick Golf Course over a 55-year period to McWhinney, a development company that built the Great Wolf Lodge in Garden Grove and a number of hotels across Orange County.

 

OC Register: Take a look inside Lake Forest’s new $73 million Civic Center

The campus – which includes a community policing center, senior center, community center and theater that also will be used as council chambers – opens to the public Monday, Dec. 16 after more than two years of construction. The grand opening ceremony is planned for 9 a.m. Jan. 11.

 

OC Register: Santa Ana Elks win $7.3 million in lawsuit involving old Saddleback Inn

In the lawsuit, J.K. Properties and Saddleback Inn, LLC were accused of allowing the hotel – which once hosted celebrities and a who’s who of Orange County – to fall into such a dangerous state of disrepair that it was eventually was taken over by squatters and set ablaze, more than once, before being demolished. The Elks own the site.

 

Labor

UCOMM: The plan to destroy the union pension

The Senate majority is readying a radical plan to raise taxes on retiree pension benefits and put catastrophic burdens on union retirement plans, according to documents released last month.

 

Labor 411: New York proposal would give Uber And Lyft drivers right to unionize

Uber and Lyft already are fighting a multifront battle including a class actions in at least three states alleging the companies have misclassified drivers, a $650 million New Jersey employment tax bill for Uber, and an ongoing lobbying war against a new California law designed to make it harder for companies to classify workers as contractors.

 

California

OC Register: Can Southern California build 1.34 million homes in a decade?

State housing officials, using a much-disputed equation that projects future housing needs and adds in the existing shortfall, told the six-county region this summer that it should plan to add 1.34 million new homes by the end of the decade.

 

Publication Date: December 10, 2019