I came across a bunch of interesting links this weekend. Check them out if you missed them:
- The Wall Street Journal looked at the municipal golf course in Carlsbad, which has been a drain on city coffers.
Carlsbad city staffers project the course will begin breaking even in five to seven years, possibly longer in a bad economy. “Would I vote for it again? Yes, I would,” said Mayor Bud Lewis at last December’s meeting. “In the long run, beyond my lifespan, this golf course will be a blessing for Carlsbad.”
- Dave Downey at the North County Times had this account of the over-budget travel of Sandag officials:
Officials with the San Diego Association of Governments, the region’s primary planning agency, often exceeded daily expense limits for travel in recent years, according to records obtained by the North County Times. …
The travel records paint a picture of an agency whose officials frequently jet around the United States, and occasionally outside the country, to lobby on behalf of San Diego County for federal and state dollars, and to hobnob with public officials from other regions of the country.
- Rich Toscano in Nerd’s Eye View had a great explanation for why those Case-Shiller tiers keep changing every month.
- Here’s one from Zach Fox at the North County Times, citing research comparing the default rates of federal, low-down-payment-loans to subprime. The result? The federal FHA loans, often touted as safe and as a potential savior for the housing market, that were issued last year have performed worse than the subprime loan failure of 2007. From the story:
First American CoreLogic, a prominent mortgage data firm, reported this week that 20.7 percent of all FHA loans issued in 2008 were at least 60 days late by 10 months after the origination date. By the same metric, 14.1 percent of subprime loans issued in 2007 were 60 days delinquent.
- Savvy readers will notice that today is the first Monday of April. It’s the first first Monday of any month since September 2006 that People at Work has not appeared on our website. That’s because I didn’t write one this month. (What’s to blame? That same story I’ve been working on for a couple of months. It’s coming soon, I promise.) But don’t worry, the series is not over. Please, keep sending me your ideas — you can leave a comment in Survival or send me an e-mail at kelly.bennett@voiceofsandiego.org.