Late this afternoon, Gov. Schwarzenegger issued a statement touting the release of 100,000 acre-feet of water to "aid Central Valley farms."

The water, the statement notes, is a loan from the state water system to the federal system, which is used by West side farmers

"We are taking quick action to deliver water to those who need it most," the governor said.

Turns out the release won't boost the amount of water already allocated to farmers, Valley water officials said.

"This is a very common occurrence that the state loans water, typically in the heat of the summer," said Sarah Woolf, a spokeswoman for the Westlands Water District. "We've never had a press release on this issue before, so this was highly unusual."

Incidentally, the statement was released the same day the governor made an appearance in Fresno. In previous trips the governor has taken heat from farmers seeking more water.

Lisa Page, a spokeswoman for the governor, said "it's a total coincidence" that the statement was released the same day as the Fresno trip. She said the governor's office just wanted to share the information as soon as they got it.

"It is important because they do need the water now," she said.

Today is the last day to apply for a $10,000 tax credit that helped spur new-home sales this year.

The state Franchise Tax Board will take applications until midnight - and then it's over. The tax board accepted 12,000 applications for the tax credit, which is spread over three years, and will grant them until the money is exhausted.

Builders credit the incentive with helping juice sales over the last three months. The $100 million was so popular that legislators are working on proposals to expand it.

I don't think many people were surprised today when the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that more jobs were lost in June.

What did surprise me was that fewer people are holding down more than one job than a year ago.

It probably shouldn't be a shock, though. After all, if the economy has shed about 6.5 million jobs since the recession started in late 2007, it's logical that a good portion of those jobs were likely positions that represented a second income for people who are working hard to make ends meet.

Nearly 7.7 million people were multiple jobholders in June 2008, according to the report. By last month, that had fallen to just over 7 million.

Also buried in the statistical mountain: A big increase in the number of people who want a job but have just given up looking. The feds report that almost 2.2 million people are "marginally attached to the labor force" -- a bureaucratic way of saying they've looked for work over the last 12 months and were able to take a job if it was offered.

Of that figure, nearly 800,000 aren't looking now because they are discouraged over job prospects. That means they think no work is available, couldn't find work, lack the right training, or report they were subject to employers thinking they're too young, too old or some other form of discrimination. A year ago, the number discouraged workers was about 420,000.

About 1.4 million other people have stopped looking because of school or family responsibilities, health or transportation problems. That's up from about 1.1 million a year ago.

California will come out with its June labor market information for the state and individual counties later this month. It will be interesting to see whether Fresno County and other Valley counties can make it a third straight month for the unemployment rate to fall even as the state and national rates continue to rise. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Readers of "Baldo," a comic strip that runs in The Bee, should stay tuned this week and next. The strip concerns diabetes, a serious health issue that touches nearly 1 out of 10 people in the San Joaquin Valley.

Co-creators Carlos Castellanos and Hector Cantu say diabetes isn't "funny," but talking about it in the funny pages can draw attention to the seriousness of the subject.

"We've never approached serious matters too glumly," says Castellanos, 48, who talked to The Bee by telephone while on vacation in North Carolina last week. For example, the comic-strip creators have used "Baldo" in the past to encourage voting.

Diabetes as a topic for the strip appealed to illustrator Castellanos, His family has been affected by the disease. His mother has Type 2 diabetes, and his grandfather and great-grandfather on the maternal side of his family both died of complications from diabetes.

"When my grandfather died, I was in my 20s," he says.

Continue reading "Not just for laughs" »

Who would have thought that amid all this doom and gloom is, drum roll please, a seller's market.

It likely won't last long - maybe just a few weeks - but it does create an opportunity for traditional sellers to perhaps compete against the foreclosures that have dominated the marketplace for so long.

Foreclosures are piling up at the banks, but haven't been released to the market yet. Meanwhile, first-time buyers and investors are snapping up the foreclosures that are available - pushing prices up in some areas.

Bidding wars have driven up offers to the point where some appraisals, which are determined by comparable sales, can't support them.

"We are having more appraisal issues," said Mike Gilmore of Royal Charter Mortgage in Fresno. "There is a lot of renegotiation and some deals are falling apart because of it."

How long will it last? Probably until the next batch of foreclosures hits, perhaps as soon as August. "There is a little window period for traditional sellers," said Harold Penner, a Fresno real estate agent who also notes a mini sellers market.

Mortgage counselors in the central San Joaquin Valley say many more at-risk homeowners in the Fresno area could get help through an expansion of President Obama's Home Affordable Refinance Program, which was announced today.

The Obama plan can no help borrowers who are up to 125% underwater. That percentage is up from 105%.

For example, if the house is worth $100,000, the borrower must owe $125,000 or less and be current on payments to qualify. Previously, the limit was was $105,000.
That could boost the number of borrowers who can qualify for refinancing through Obama's program, said Elias Del Gado of ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solution in Fresno.

Still, refinances and loan modifications can be particularly challenging in the Valley because values have fallen up to 50% in some areas. Many borrowers still exceed the 125% ratio or, as interest and unemployment rates increase, fall behind on payments.

Fresno's foreclosure rate is 14th in the nation.

Continue reading "Obama plan expanded to help more in Valley" »

It looks like my daughter and her friends could save housing.

The 75 million Americans between the ages of 14 and 30 - called "echo boomers" because of size and relation to baby boomers - have the heft to create a robust demand for housing, Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies says in its annual state of the industry report.

"When new-home sales rebound and the economy begins to pick up, the aging of the echo boomers - the largest generation to reach adulthood in the nation's history - should reinvigorate the housing market," the report states.

When that kicks in remains to be seen. We are in the worst home-building slump since World War II, but it won't last forever.

Continue reading "My daughter could save the housing industry" »

There are people who think the state had a decent rainfall season, even though the state says California is in the third year of drought.

Let's go to the numbers, as compiled by consulting meteorologist Jan Null in the Bay Area. The numbers for the major regions are all below average.

But in those figures, there's a number that causes me to pause. The eight-station Sierra index in Northern California shows 96% of average. That area feeds water into the largest man-made reservoir in the state -- Shasta.

Even so, a quick look at Shasta storage tells you the previous dry years have left it too low for any real recovery, especially with less than average precipitation. It's at about 75% of average for July 1.

In truth, it was a below-average, not-so-bad year. But with depleted reservoirs and a dry watershed in the mountains soaking up snow runoff, the state is still mired in a drought.

Bee readers have a lot to say about my June 24 column on the hypocrisy of Bay Area environmentalists who depict San Joaquin Valley residents as ignorant hillbillies making a mess of the desert and the Delta with their irrigated farms.

Here is a sampling of e-mail reaction:

"I was so happy to see your article. I know I'm not alone, but I've been saying the same thing for years. The people in San Francisco would have a whole different point of view on water and fish if they took down O'Shaughnessy Dam.

"My first knowledge of the dam was a picture of my dad as a young man sitting on the newly constructed O'Shaughnessy. He has the saddest look on his face. It looks like he had lost his best friend. My dad spent a lot of years in Yosemite as a young man and worked for Mr. & Mrs. Curry. He spent his off time hiking Yosemite and Half Dome before they had ropes and cables.

"Since then my husband and I have been there. I was extremely impressed by the beauty of the area and the shame of having a dam in that beautiful valley. I would love to see more articles about taking down the dam. I would also like to see Pelosi, Miller, Feinsten and Boxer eat their words."

Corky Harmon

"Your readers however should keep in mind that almost nowhere else in the Bay Area gets its water from Hetch Hetchy, and the East Bay MUD and other private providers are dependent on the Delta. Perhaps you should ask Green Party member Medea Benjamin if Feinstein's opposition to restoring Hetch Hetchy is one of the reasons Benjamin ran against Feinstein."

Avery Ray Colter
Bay Point, CA

"RE: your column on San Francisco and Hetch Hetchy.

"I was recently in San Francisco and stayed at the Fairmont. I also visited several restaurants. What astounded me was the amount of water that was being wasted everywhere I went.

"The Fairmont is supposed to be a Four Star establishment. They had 1960 era type shower heads that put out 3 times as much water as my shower head at home. Additionally, both rooms had toilets that could not be considered "low flow" by any measure. However, to their credit, the Fairmont did have a beautiful sign, crafted out of bamboo praising the Fairmont's water conservation efforts regarding towels. (How much bamboo is grown in San Francisco? Adding in the burned lettering, the cardboard backing and glue, what was the 'carbon footprint' of that beautiful little sign?)

"As for the restaurants, not all, but many of them had restrooms that had water wasting toilets AND, if you can believe it, faucets that dripped and/or had trickles of water flowing at a constant rate.These were not hole in the wall type restaurants, several of them were pricey San Francisco landmarks."

Y. Nichols

"I am so on board. How do we get this ball rolling? I am an avid hiker and have made lots of trips to this area, and have always been dismayed by San Francisco's pure hypocrisy. A national treasure in a national park ruined for one city's gain while we all lose."

Benjamin D. Speechly

"Thank you for your informed piece. We west-side farmers have had a target on our back for the last 20 years while Bay Area industries (like Chevron) and virtually all of the cities do more contaminating and water-abusing in a month than we do in a year. The enviros are using a good and well intended law, the Endangered Species Act, like a scalpel to cut up their targets while giving their friends and major funders a pass.

Stephen Patricio
President
Westside Produce
Firebaugh

Today will be one second longer than yesterday. You've heard of leap year? This is a leap second.

Here's an explanation on the Huffington Post:

"The custodians of time will ring in the New Year by tacking a 'leap second' onto the clock Wednesday to account for the minute slowing of the Earth's rotation. The leap second has been used sporadically at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich since 1972, an adjustment that has kept Greenwich Mean Time the internationally agreed time standard."

Reader Dan Carter of Oakhurst wrote in a broadcast e-mail that came to me:

"Anyone out there know how I can change my watch to account for this?"

Experts tell me that more loan modifications are being negotiated, but this New York Times story doesn't make me feel any better. I would love to talk to a few people in our area who have actually completed one.

After writing about the new Doré Bakery for Word on the Street, I'm wishing I lived or worked in Clovis.

The new bakery on Clovis Avenue downtown has tons of delectable goodies. I sampled the peanut butter bar when I was there (spectacular) and they had some gorgeous cupcakes decorated like flowers. And of course, who doesn't like cheesecake bars?

You can read more about it in this week's Word on the Street. Also in this week's edition are a La-Z-Boy store on West Shaw reassuring customers that yes, they are open and general contractor who is actually getting business these days.

There was a line of red-colored smog readings for Valley air monitors on the state Web page for Sunday. Red is the color used for violations.

Shafter in Kern County and Stockton in San Joaquin County escaped. But the best place to breathe in the region appeared to be Sequoia National Park at the Lower Kaweah Campground.

The campground is several thousand feet higher than the entrance gate where the park's other official monitor takes readings. The one at the park entrance showed a violation.

There's an interesting carbon calculator online that also offers a ranking of the countries around the world. Which country is No. 1 in tons per person?

I'll give you two guesses, but you're only going to need one. It's the United States with 29 tons per person for the year 2001, according to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

The figure probably has changed in the last eight years, but did it go up or down? I'm hoping down, particularly since Americans are driving millions of miles less now because of the economy.

Australia was second with 21 tons. Canada had 20. Western Europe was close behind. As you can imagine, Asian, African and South American countries were far down the list.

Short sales -- in which lenders agree to sell houses before they go into foreclosure -- are picking up steam, and some experts feel they could be a way to help stem the flow of bank-owned properties onto the marketplace.

In a short sale, a bank agrees to sell a house at or near market rate to avoid a protracted, costly and painful foreclosure process. But they historically have been difficult to negotiate, and many wind up falling apart before, or even after, an offer is accepted.

About 43% of all residential listings in Fresno and Clovis are short-sale opportunities (compared with 14% that are bank owned). But getting the deal clinched is another story: In the last 30 days, only 12% of closed transactions were short sales.

Why is this important? People who sell their houses via a short sale don't have a foreclosure on their record and can be back in the home-buying market in as little as 18 months, compared with five to seven years if the house is lost to foreclosure.

Continue reading "Short sales becoming more of a force in real estate" »

Whoever prints the business cards at Fresno City Hall is about to be busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Interviews are expected to start in the next few weeks for two key positions -- city controller and director of planning and development. Meanwhile, a nationwide search is expected to start next month for the top job of all, city manager.

This will be the city's second try at filling the two department head positions, one of which (controller, the city's chief financial officer) has been vacant almost two years. In both cases, an initial round of interviews yielded no candidates deemed experienced enough. In hopes of attracting a better pool, city leaders decided to boost the pay range from about $130,000 for each job to $145,000 for controller and $150,000 for planning and development director.

There's no vacancy in the city manager's office and the incumbent, Andy Souza, said Thursday that he's interested in keeping the job. But Mayor Ashley Swearengin said shortly after her election last November that she planned a nationwide search for the position. The budget approved Thursday by the City Council included money for that search, which is expected to cost $25,000 to $35,000. The job pays $130,713 to $189,000.