Cobblestones show through the decrepit pavement in Sheila Dodson's downtown neighborhood, prostitutes ply the sidewalks in broad daylight and many of the century-old Victorians stand empty. Yet this is where Dodson wants to raise her family.
"Just because the coffers are poor doesn't mean there's not opportunity," she said while walking with her toddler daughter along the broken streets.
Vallejo has emerged from bankruptcy with a newfound commitment to community involvement that is exemplified by upbeat residents like Dodson and a local government now focused on innovation. But the financial fixes envisioned when the city filed in 2008 haven't all materialized, and Vallejo continues to operate in the red.
With two other California cities recently filing for bankruptcy, a third about to and others in trouble, Vallejo offers an example of what good â€" and bad â€" can come from a Chapter 9 filing.
"Bankruptcy brings a brutal recognition of the new normal," Vallejo Councilwoman Stephanie Gomes said. "It's Darwinism. The cities that are going to stay solvent are the ones that can evolve."
Municipal bankruptcies are extremely rare and occur for different reasons. Nationwide, there may be only one or two in a year. But with the economy still struggling, bankruptcies are becoming more prevalent.
AP
In this photo taken Tuesday, July 17, 2012, Vallejo fire chief Paige Meyer is seen outside a fire station closed after the city filed for bankruptcy in 2008. The city emerged from bankruptcy last year and offers an example for what can come, both good and bad, from the experience. Some in the community say bankruptcy was the city's only option to climb out of a financial hole while others say more could have been done to avoid it.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Close Stockton, which in June displaced Vallejo as the largest city to file, racked up overwhelming bond debt through ill-advised infrastructure projects. The tiny Southern California ski town of Mammoth Lakes filed earlier this month because it could not pay a judgment that was more than twice the town's budget. San Bernardino is drowning in debt and the City Council last week declared a financial emergency, a move that allows it to more quickly file bankruptcy.
Compton, just south of Los Angeles, may be the next in line. City officials have said they are on pace to run out of money by the end of summer.
For Vallejo, a working-class community of 116,000 in the sun-splashed hills 30 miles northeast of San Francisco, the move toward bankruptcy was a slow downward spiral beginning with the closure of Mare Island Naval Shipyard in 1996. The local economy never really recovered, but a booming housing market helped paper over the loss of the city's economic engine.
City councils continued approving raises and benefits for workers, ignoring warnings from citizen oversight commissions. Police and fire officials could retire at 50 with 90% of their final year's salary. After one year of service, public employees could get health care coverage for life, and so could their families. Starting in 2005, the city began spending $3 million to $4 million a year more than it was taking in, draining its reserve fund.
When the housing bubble burst, property tax revenue fell by 30 percent and sales tax receipts dropped 20 percent.
By 2008, the city was facing a $16 million deficit. Local leaders held 11 mediation sessions with public employees, whose salaries and benefits accounted for about 75 percent of the $80 million general fund budget, but were unable to reach an agreement on givebacks.
Initially after bankruptcy, things were worse than anyone imagined they'd be. Road maintenance in the city was cut by 90 percent, staffing at the police and fire departments were nearly halved, and grants for arts and recreation programs were eliminated.
Vallejo Fire Chief Paige Meyer acknowledges his firefighters were in a funk.
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