The Issue: Stockton, Calif., the largest city to file for bankruptcy in the history of the United States.
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Your editorial about Stockton, Calif., going bankrupt brings back memories of Mike Quill (then-president of the TWU), John V. Lindsay (then-mayor of New York) and the transit strike of 1966 (“Say Thanks to Stockton,” Editorial, July 1).
The agreement arrived at by Lindsay, arguably the worst mayor in the city’s history, and Quill was the forerunner of runaway public-service contracts that rippled across the nation and have destroyed the financial foundations of many cities since then.
Tom Dilberger
Belmar, NJ
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Stockton spent far more than it earned due to lucrative pensions, wages and benefits for its employees, decreasing taxes due to the steep decline in property values and the high rate in home foreclosures.
The city saw over-expansion in businesses during the good times, and then bad investments, including building a new city hall that was never used, and a sports stadium.
It was the perfect storm for economic disaster.
The drastic cuts it made over the last three years were too little, too late. Instead of living off the hog in the good economic years, it should have put monies aside for a rainy day.
Stockton is in deep financial trouble now, and the future looks just as bleak. It has high violent crime and unemployment rates and severely reduced municipal services. This will make it difficult to attract new investment, residents, qualified employees and the revenue it so desperately needs.
When it rains, it pours.
K. Zimmerman
Huntington Beach, Calif.