The Sun: San Bernardino bankruptcy plan gets group’s support

By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
POSTED: 05/16/15 – 8:35 PM PDT |

SAN BERNARDINO >> The deep cuts and extensive restructuring proposed in the city’s bankruptcy exit plan got a unanimous thumbs-up from its strategic planning core team on Saturday, as the City Council prepares to vote on the plan Monday.

That decision came after a sober — although at times optimistic for the long term — presentation on the city’s current situation and possible future that was led mostly by the city’s consultants.

“Hoping that we’re going to get an economic development miracle is not credible and is not something we can put our name on in a document that’s going to be scrutinized by the court and creditors,” said Andrew Belknap, regional vice president of Management Partners.

Although the city is focusing on economic development, Belknap said, that can’t make up for a $20 million structural deficit and years of deferred maintenance that he estimates will cost about another $200 million.

The meeting at a San Bernardino City Unified School District building at 1257 Northpark Blvd. was attended by 15 members of the 17-member strategic planning team — representatives of business, education, religious and other fields appointed by Mayor Carey Davis to decide on a long-term strategic plan for the city that must be approved by the council before it goes into effect — and by about 20 other people, many of them connected to the city.

The vote was advisory, part of an effort to gather public input on the city’s plans.

It continues a strategic planning process intended to extend long beyond the Plan of Adjustment that must be presented to U.S. Bankruptcy Court by May 30.

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