Prepa's Debt Bailout

I heard that electric is going up by 7.5 more cents per KWH with this agreement.

With the possibility that the island may get authorisation to do a super chapter 9, this may not  pass. Besides PREPA has an additional 30% of bond holders that have not signed up for this package and looks like they will continue to hold out for all the money or a better deal.

It may pass, who knows.
Rey

I know this was previously posted but what is the current KWH rate in PR and is there a tax on top of that?

Hard to say what my KWH rate is here, looking at my current bill so many different rates broken down by so many different categories, plus a tax(es) on top of that. But my 2000 sq ft house is all electric, heat too, and I pay $250 a month give or take.

And that includes water since I am on a well and the pump and pressure tank are electric of course.

PREPA is the acronym for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.

Most of US is around 11 to 13 cents per KWH.
PR is around 22 or 24 currently so it would be around 31.5 if it passes.

Look at the average KWH during summer months which is when you use fans and air conditioners the most. The number of KWH used is posted and I think also the rate per KWH in your current bill. Assuming you use the same, then multiple the KWH by .31.5 to see what the bill would be like in PR after that passes.

If this is all they are getting:
"The deal would reduce Prepa's debt by more than $600 million and, by postponing principal payments, provide more than $700 million of relief over five years. "

Then it is a bad deal, they need to save more without ending paying more over time.

I used 2897 KWH for 34 days.--mind you it is cold now. My bill was $251 but that included $13.50 in taxes.  So that would mean $237, equals to a rate of app 8 cents per kwh.

OMG, my bill today in PR would be app $700 and $900 when/if the Prepa surcharge kicks in, based on similar KWH usage. Mine is fairly conservative usage--no kids, rarely cook, extra rooms not heated, and I am in the city and not here a lot.

Solar, solar, solar.  Need to become an expert on solar. My bro--who thinks I am an idiot for moving to PR--is an electrical engineer. He'll be up on my roof a lot when he visits, hahahaha.

That is a HUGE amount of KWH!!!!!!
My winter usage for a 1500 house plus basement, 4 people in the house worst one was 1444.

Sommer is around 450 KWH with 3 Air conditioners at night and running a pool for about 8 hours a day.

Check summer usage

Thanks for telling me, I had no clue. Calling my company today for a meter check. Thanks.

So much for electric baseboard heat. My summer usage is way lower. New digital meters due to be installed but I'll be in PR by then anyway.

So, maybe I won't need my bro to be installing solar panels on my roof in PR after all.

Here in PR our bill for the last 3 weeks was as follows:

Tarifa Basica - $16.15
Compra De Combustible 320 kWh x $0.076034 - $24.33
Compra De Energia 320 kWh x $0.042515 - $13.60
Total Servicio - $54.08

We used mini splits in the bedrooms for 5 especially warm nights, but otherwise have only used fans and have been relatively energy conscious.

Just another data point for you.

SO SpecialKev, that means you used 320 KWH at an average cost (including purchase of energy and purchase of fuel) of 0.17 cents per KWH (rounded up)

That must be because the price of gas has gone down some.

Yep, that's my guess as well. I had heard that it was > $0.20/kWh so this bill was a pleasant surprise I'm sure it won't stick around long.

Yes a few months ago I was looking at bills submitted by others in the 22 to 24 cents per KWH

And with the current proposal for the AEE it looks like they are going to add an additional 7.5 cents more per KWH.

Likely put us as expensive as Hawaii

After 16 months of negotiations between Prepago and $9 billion creditors, the deal is probably dead. Today is the deadline for PR legislative approval.

(I know it's Prepa, but "Prepago" is currently the most popular novella in Centro and S. America, filmed in Colombia, naughty, naughty  and seems to fit Prepa to a T).

The deadline will be extended but the creditors aren't going to ever agree to the deal if PR wont let go of a wrinkle it added at the final hours.

Here's the wrinkle. The bondholders agreed to restructure the debt, take less, but payment guaranteed thru surcharges to customers, and of course the power to raise rates. In exchange, Prepago agreed not to try and avail itself of any other restructuring of the debt.  OK, that's a deal, start working on the final draft and get it signed. Hooray, and people said this should be the template for other PR debts solutions.

But then the slow realization of PR's other $70 billion debt exploded onto the national scene, and the ensuing PR's moves to gain access to Ch 9 BK. 

Now the PR legislators are saying, "Whoa, not so fast on the no BK lingo in the Prepa deal", smelling that Congress may allow PR access to BK.  But the bond holders are saying  "The deal was no further restructuring".

Today's news:
Michelle Kaske / Bloomberg News

NEW YORK — Puerto Rico's electricity deal is at risk of falling apart as lawmakers weigh legislation that would leave the door open for a future bankruptcy filing.

Commonwealth lawmakers face a deadline today to approve legislation that would enable the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, called PREPA, to restructure nearly $9 billion of debt unless creditors including hedge funds, mutual funds and bond-insurance companies agree to extend the pact. Legislative approval is the final hurdle to execute the debt-restructuring plan after the various creditors reached a deal in December after 16 months of negotiations.

The PREPA deal involves investors exchanging debt for new securities at a lower face value and sold by a new entity that wouldn't have access to bankruptcy or any local debt-restructuring law even if commonwealth agencies were to gain that provision in the future. Lawmakers are considering changing that limitation and instead allowing the new issuer to have the ability to restructure its debt, Sen. Ramon Luis Nieves, who chairs the Senate's energy committee and is working on the bill, said Thursday in a telephone interview from San Juan.

Retaining options

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider reinstating a Puerto Rico law that would let some island utilities restructure their obligations. The high court will decide by June. Investors such as OppenheimerFunds Inc., Franklin Advisers Inc. and BlueMountain Capital Management LLC filed suit against the local debt-restructuring bill and have also signed on to PREPA's debt plan. If island lawmakers approve a PREPA deal that creates an issuer prohibited from using bankruptcy, the Supreme Court may rule that Puerto Rico entities don't need access to debt restructuring, Mr. Nieves said.

“We have to make sure that this legislation doesn't hurt our chances with the Supreme Court,” Mr. Nieves said. “We have to make sure that this bill isn't an obstacle to the economic recovery of Puerto Rico.”

The longer commonwealth lawmakers take to approve a PREPA bill, the more risk that creditors will walk away from the debt- restructuring deal. PREPA is in constant communication with the Legislature and its different creditor groups, Javier Quintana Mendez, PREPA's executive director, said in a statement Thursday.

Dan Zacchei, a representative in New York at Sloane & Co. for PREPA bondholders, declined to comment on whether investors would extend the Jan. 22 deadline."     End of news article.
______________________________________________________________________

My dos centavos--the deal's a dead duck, stick a fork in it, unless PR backs off the late wrinkle; or at least until after Congress decides on PR's BK availability; and/or the S Ct rules on the PR BK statute previously ruled unconstitutional--set for oral argument this spring, a ruling this summer?

Practical affect upon Prepa users? Good q--but what legal recourse do the bondholders have? First file suit, litigate, they'll get a judgment (1-2 years?)  Then what? Send the sheriff out to levy the power plants? Unworkable. Attach Prepa's bank accounts? Yep, that would hurt.

Well it looks like the AEE was not able to get the legislation it needed by January 22 per the agreement and the agency was unable to get an agreement of extension. So I imagine that there will be more legal ramifications.

Part of the problem was that there was a fear that the previously reached agreement could be viewed as the way to deal with the rest of the debt, not just the AEE (PREPA) debt. This could have resulted in the suspension of negotiations for the island to gain bankruptcy protection. So I was not expecting that it would be given legislation acceptance, as everyone is looking for a congressional agreement that will provide a more favorable action plan for the entire goverment.

It is a risk as it is unknown if congress will or will not provide bankruptcy protection for the island.

The island as of yet have not released the audited report that at least some in congress are looking for in order to act one way or the other.

It is clear that PR government, especially the (Hacienda) or Taxation body has been very lazy about collecting taxes of all kinds and as such a lot of the government taxes were not being collected for years. Personally I think that a lot of the people in charge of the Hacienda should be prosecuted or at a minimum fired with no bonus or retirement benefits for their lack of action in collecting taxes. They just hired a collection agency to go after the businesses which means that now they are paying somebody else to do their job. It is my island but I hate to see how incompetent the government agencies have been at performing their own jobs. This reflect badly on the government and the people of PR, when a lot of the problem is determined to have been caused by their inaction at collecting taxes.

This guy's opinion below reminds me of the kind of situation we have all been in:

You are arguing your point as best you can to save yourself from a whippin but the guy against you is a smarty pants and keeps rattlin' off stuff that if true, dooms your ass. You'd like to choke him.

Happens a lot in court. The lawyer proverb comes to mind:

"If the law is against you, argue the facts;  if the facts are against you, argue the law."

DNA here. PR cannot do either.

That was my thought about this teacher's pet with the big apple at the "no BK for PR" class.

DailyCaller
Opinion

Puerto Rico Must Save Itself
Brian Garst
Director of Government Affairs, The Center for Freedom and Prosperity  (for who?)

"Puerto Rico's fiscal mess has Congress working frantically to provide “relief.” The island territory is overloaded with debt and cannot meet its obligations, and House Speaker Paul Ryan set March as a deadline for Congress to provide a “responsible solution.” Now Washington is busy debating whether to simply bailout Puerto Rico or instead allow it to stiff creditors through bankruptcy. Few seem willing to consider that both options would create terrible precedent and undermine real reforms.

The economic downturn has obviously taken a toll, but like so many other distressed jurisdictions, Puerto Rico has been hampered by fiscal irresponsibility, mismanagement, and widespread corruption. Its politicians also spent frivolously, increasing spending by 100 percent between 1980 and 2013, far outpacing the 12 percent population growth during that period.

In five of the last six years, Puerto Rico's government has ignored its constitutional requirement to pass a balanced budget. And in 14 of the last 15 years, it has failed to adhere to the budgets it passed. Today it has over $70 billion in outstanding debt.

Much of the problem is due to the island's bloated and generously paid government workforce. Over two-thirds of the budget goes to payroll, with public sector workers earning on average more than twice Puerto Rico's median household income. Governor Padilla has refused to further trim the government labor force.

Instead, Puerto Rico's politicians have responded to the growing debt crisis in the worst manner possible by raising both taxes and spending year after year. And now Washington is preparing to reward their irresponsible overspending.

Some Republicans argue that allowing Puerto Rico or its government-owned subsidiaries, like its utility companies, to file for bankruptcy is a preferable alternative to a taxpayer bailout. But this is a false dichotomy. Neither option provides a responsible path forward.

A bailout would not only be unfair to mainland taxpayers, but would create a moral hazard and signal to other big spending states and municipalities that Washington will be there to rescue them from the messes of their own making. But a bankruptcy that allows the government to stiff its creditors poses the same problem, while only shifting the financial costs from federal taxpayers to bondholders.

Puerto Rico issued bonds with the understanding that default was not an option. It shouldn't get to retroactively change the rules now. That doesn't mean, however, that it can't negotiate with creditors for better terms, such as happened earlier this year when the state-owned power company reached an agreement with a group of bondholders to restructure. (dead duck now)

Unfortunately, the island's government overall has so far preferred gamesmanship to good faith engagement by withholding financial information, being excessively tardy in filing audited annual financial statements, and using restrictive NDA's (as if Wall Street abides by Non Disclosure Agreements) to prevent creditors from talking to one another.

What Puerto Rico needs is a fiscal correction and pro-growth reforms. That won't happen so long as  Washington is intent on granting a reprieve from the consequences of bad policy.

There are some constructive things that Congress can do, however. Many of the counter-productive, European-style labor rules that inhibit hiring are of Puerto Rico's own making, but Congress decades ago forced it to equalize its minimum wage laws with the federal level. Because the island's standard of living is lower, the same minimum wage imposes a higher burden on Puerto Rican businesses than it would elsewhere.

The island is also hurt by the Jones Act, which roughly doubles shipping costs by requiring that only American built, owned, and operated ships can operate between U.S. ports. Congress should lead by example and help kick start Puerto Rico's pro-growth reforms by repealing costly federal regulations and mandates. (Maybe he has a heart after all)

All eyes seem to be on Congress to do something about Puerto Rico, when that attention would largely be better directed at Puerto Rico itself. The island doesn't need a Washington bailout regardless of the form it takes. It needs fiscal responsibly, and that won't happen if politicians are allowed to worm out of their obligations through bankruptcy."
_______________________________________________________________________

Just got my bill . 373.00 kWh used
$18.23 tariff .Total bill $63.45
We have a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom with a solar hot water heater

Absolutely correct that PR needs implement fiscal responsibility, I have no issue with that. Also a balanced budget is needed and sticked to. Government pay needs to come way down by at least a 1/3 and probably the government also need to be reduced by 50% to be able to balance the budget.

But ...... We already have a debt of 72 Billion that will destroy all chances of balancing the budget.

We need to set aside the mistakes that were made and do the right thing now so the problem can be corrected.

The poor and middle class can not continue to suffer, but needs to wise up and hold new elections and concentrate on politicians that are clean and have a clue. The politicians needs to be watched and held responsible. If the people don't learn and hold them responsible then it is time to suffer.

I hope congress does come in an puts in place a fair but strong supervisory board that can control expenses and loads up on FBI and other investigative offices to prosecute corruption of all the current and old leadership and police going back 15 years.

PR should use good examples of several other states as to number of employees per population of the state and only increase those areas that are way understaffed like the number of policemen per population otherwise crime will not come down. Maybe a brand new police force will be needed and the old police leadership should be fired and possibly prosecuted for corruption and assisting the criminals.

Puerto Rico Power Authority's Debt Is Rooted in Free Electricity

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/02/busin … icity.html

By MARY WILLIAMS WALSHFEB. 1, 2016
Photo
The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority provides free electricity to the ice-skating rink in Aguadilla, P.R. Credit Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo for The New York Times

AGUADILLA, P.R. — To understand how Puerto Rico's power authority has piled up $9 billon in debt, one need only visit this bustling city spread along a bay on the northwest coast.

Twenty years ago, it was just another town with dwindling finances and a less-than-promising future. Then, it went on a development spree, thanks to a generous — and some would say ill-considered — gift from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.

Today, Aguadilla has 19 city-owned restaurants and a city-owned hotel, a water park billed as biggest in the Caribbean, a minor-league baseball stadium bathed in floodlights and a waterfront studded with dancing fountains and glimmering streetlights.

Most striking, perhaps, is the year-round ice-skating rink. Unique in a region where the winter temperature rarely drops below 70 degrees, the rink is complete with a disco ball, laser lights and pop music for after-hours revelry. Signs warn skaters not to wear shorts.

“Imagine how much it costs to have an ice-skating rink in the tropics,” said Sergio Marxuach, policy director at the Center for a New Economy, a nonpartisan research group in San Juan.

And that is the catch. What most likely would be the biggest recurring expense for these attractions — electricity — costs Aguadilla nothing. It has been provided free for years by the power authority, known as Prepa.

In fact, the power authority has been giving free power to all 78 of Puerto Rico's municipalities, to many of its government-owned enterprises, even to some for-profit businesses — although not to its citizens. Prepa has done so for decades, even as it has sunk deeper and deeper in debt, borrowing billions just to stay afloat.

Now, however, the island's government is running out of cash, facing a total debt of $72 billion and already defaulting on some bonds — and an effort is underway to limit the free electricity, which is estimated to cost the power authority hundreds of millions of dollars.

But like many financial arrangements on the island, the free electricity is so tightly woven into the fabric of society that unwinding it would have vast ramifications and, some say, only worsen the plight of the people who live here.

“If the towns don't get free energy, they're going to have to pay for it by increasing their property taxes or something, so the people will end up paying,” said Eduardo Bhatia, the president of the Puerto Rico Senate. Residents of the island are already upset about a recent sales tax increase to 11 percent, from 7 percent, and a property tax increase now would cause an outcry. The last assessment was in 1958.

The free electrical power is just one example of Prepa's complex and paradoxical role in the economy here. On Tuesday, Mr. Bhatia will begin hearings to determine who and what is to blame for the power authority's larger problems, especially its ancient and inefficient power plants, among the last in North America to burn oil. Culprits are expected to include Prepa's secretive purchasing managers, elected officials who wasted money on natural gas pipelines that were scrapped and an institutional hostility to wind and solar power that is hard to fathom on a breezy island where the sun shines most days.

“This is the great mystery that we have to unravel in the coming months,” Mr. Bhatia said in an interview.

Meanwhile, though, the free electricity offers a window into the workings of the island's sole power provider and demonstrates how complex the solutions to the larger debt troubles are likely to be.

“It's symbolic of a lot of things here in Puerto Rico,” said Miguel Soto-Class, the president of the Center for a New Economy, which has been urging changes at Prepa for the last 10 years. “Every time we start to get into this, they always come back and say: ‘Well, there's nothing we can do. We've got to keep the lights on.' ”

Carlos Méndez Martínez, the mayor of Aguadilla, said the city-owned attractions had turned Aguadilla's onetime deficit into a surplus and generated profits he uses to pay down debt, improve low-income housing and offer free wheelchairs and delivered meals to shut-ins. The profits have also allowed him to keep a 17-year-old promise not to raise taxes. Last year, he even paid a “dividend” to every man, woman and child in the city — a free ticket to the water park, which otherwise costs residents $20.

These achievements have inspired voters to elect Mr. Méndez four times. Aguadilla has no term limits, and he expects to win again this year.

“I can be mayor until the day I die,” he said in a recent interview.

Mr. Méndez said it was fair to use the power authority's free electricity for municipal development, because Prepa paid no property taxes or licensing fees for its many facilities in Aguadilla. But anticipating limits on his free power now that the authority is struggling for solvency, he recently put a solar power system on the roof of the skating rink that he hopes will eventually get it off the grid.

Aguadilla may be the most visible example, but other municipalities use Prepa's free electricity to power air-conditioned restaurants and hotels, lighting systems for minor-league baseball games at night, lighting and sound systems for festivals, and other enterprises. Until now, the power authority's terms gave cities no incentive to conserve. The more free power they used, the more they could receive.

“We have heard of many private entities that for years have run a private business in a building owned by a municipality, and they never paid for power,” said Agustin F. Carbó Lugo, president of the Puerto Rico Energy Commission. The commission, established in 2014, is the power authority's first independent regulator; previously the public-owned monopoly regulated itself.

The free power dates from 1941, when the utility was established by the last Puerto Rico governor to be appointed by the president of the United States, Rexford Tugwell, a member of Franklin D. Roosevelt's brain trust. He contended that for electricity to benefit the people, it had to be owned by the people, and he created Prepa by nationalizing the handful of private electric companies then on the island.
Photo
Las Cascadas Water Park, currently closed for renovation, receives free electricity from free Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. Credit Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo for The New York Times

The private companies had paid local property taxes, but publicly owned Prepa did not. Free electricity was intended to make up for the lost tax revenue. The value of the free power was supposed to match the forgone taxes, and if cities took more, they were supposed to pay for it. But Prepa's rates are driven by oil prices, which since the 1970s have lost any connection they might have had to property values, and the power authority simply stopped trying to collect what cities owed. In 2014 a consulting firm found the cities had received $420 million worth of free electricity that they should have paid for.

Nor was it just towns and cities. The consulting firm, FTI Capital Advisors, found that 288 governmental bodies on the island were delinquent in their payments to Prepa by $300 million. Among them were public schools, hospitals, low-income housing projects, a commuter train, the island's water and sewerage system, and its highway authority, which operates traffic signals, toll plazas and highway lighting.

If the power authority were to demand immediate payment from them, it could set off a domino effect of defaults and insolvencies.

In 2012, for example, Puerto Rico's port authority fell $60 million behind on its electric bills, and Prepa threatened to cut off power to the island's main commercial airport, in San Juan. That would have forced the airport to close, a catastrophe for an island economy that caters to tourists.

To avert a crisis, the government sold the airport to a private investment group from Mexico, and used the proceeds to make a dent in the overdue $60 million. But before long, what was left of the port authority, nine seaports and 11 small airports, started falling behind on electric bills again.

Prepa is working out a payment plan for them.

Other delinquencies have been tougher to resolve. When the power authority threatened to turn off the power in the commuter rail system's administrative offices, rail officials scoffed, saying the authority had no legal standing to enforce its claims.

“Nobody's happy,” Senator Bhatia said in a recent interview in San Juan. “Nobody's in a good position, and that's why we have to keep working together.”

This article filled in some of the background details. I found it informational, about the history.

Great post.

I think only bested by an article I had linked but now can't find, But recent from SJ news paper.

Governor Broke and the mayor of one of the metro SJ towns got into a cat fight.

Fighting over 4 million.

Governor Broker than IL, NJ,  CA  combined only wants to spend 2 million, Chump change, right, for a government 90 billion in debt?

Mayor says you are a cheap bastard, we need 4 million.

And the money was for what?

A housing for the local High School band.

Even the dopes I have known all my life and all my father's life in Chi-town don't have those kind of juevos.

I've mentioned before, the fact that almost ALL of the public street lights are on... day and night, is such a gross waste of our limited natural resources...

also... WTF is Chi-town? (China Town?)

Chi-town=Chicago

Illinois.

Carlos thinks it is in CA. He lives in Chino, CA.

Tinks its da same.

But he's orig from Chec Depubclic or 1 of dem countries Russian Prez Kruschev plays. 4 un mil USD u can get a passport dare and get to CA? right Carlos?

Y incidentally Carlos.

U promised to answer Frog, and also in normal English, about what is the Jones Act.

I know U R upset that Ur guy Marco Dumbio got only .0001 en IA a lunes.  Perio, no that's gum disease, or wasn't he Perio Como who would sing on AM radio and make mi madre cry? ?

Whatever. Pero, not perio.

So, pero Carlos de CheckRp,  dis es Adele una mas tiemp  de udder side y: Hello y is ahora Thurs.

Y promiso y a promiso es a promiso en USA. You cannot get UR Green Card if you continue like dis.

Waiting.

y a PS pero estuoido hombre #1 de 2016:

Hola Marco, a  grande Latino de Caribe, dis es Adele.

Hola de dis side.

Mas bueno idea? Regreso Cuba. Fidel 5-6 mas anos es morte si? Y posible U next Presidente de Cuba. U muy popular en Cuba. Mas de PR. En Cuba, u motherland donde U padre born, U only told 4 million of dem dare Latinos go xxxx themselves.  Si, U y Cuba es perfecto situacion.

You been hitting the funny weed dgdlaw?

Rey, surprised.

No wacky in my lungs, ahora,  but I have.

Daily from '68-69, helped me alot cause u know where I was at 18. And continued when I got back stateside for 6- 7 more yrs. Then had to stop totally when I went CPD at 25 in ' 75 and dey started ordrering dem random tingys  at Roll Calls. Y most of us learned THC is da tingy in pot dat stays detectable in your uxxxxe for app a month.

So I dried out.

And den I got dis license tingy in '80 which I have had now into my 36th year. So I have had to worry bout not luzen dat. So kind of nevr went back to gettin a buzz.

And all of my stateside novias didn't inhale, unlike Clinton. And
all 3 also had licenses to worry about. So it never came into play, really.

Not true re my CR novias.  And I ain' t sayen nuttin re: da rest about dat historia.

But now diff story. I'm 66 next month and free very soon and I am going to get buzzed as much as I want. En your motherland. At the beach mostly. I hope.

But thanks Rey.

And U have my email and so do a few udders of U dat in the short time I been here I got to appreciate, especially  da 1's of U's dat really know PR or post interstin stuff and ain't like me who only been to PR a few X, and don't know sxxx from sxxxxxola about PR, or add much here other den,  ahhh forget it.

Anyway, I get it Rey.

Adios all, and should be there not to long from now, still closing on some biz so I still have good paper and will have a license dat is good in PR. Not da local PR courts--me no can enter, so can't help for a divorce or a DUI, e.g.

But I will be welcomed into the US District Court system, where I am also licensed for 35 years, a year less then my IL license.

PR's Fed Ct is of course in centro SJ. Dat means da US Federal Court, donde todo negocio es en Inglis solo, siento, and da same laws y procedures para abogados regardless if I am in RI or WA or Chi-town, or Chico, CA, or PR or Guam, or da USVI, etc.

U get it.

C U all on da udder side.

Coming to PR is no reason to quit the Forum, we like you to stay with us. You can let us know up close how sucky the government is.

Is that pronounced, "Shy Town", or "Chi Town?", "Shite-Town?"

DGD

Very interesting...seems that a few of us have a remarkably similar story.  When will you relocate to PR?  Look me up when you arrive.

Like they said in Texas, I wasn't born here, but I got here as quick as I could!

"Like they said in Texas, I wasn't born here, but I got here as quick as I could!"  Y'all sure 'bout dat? (I know, mixed up)  My 2 sis's born here in cah-li-for-ni-ah, like me.  The fam was actually living in (omg) Berkely.  One stayed & worked por da Gov't.  The other spent time in Wyoming-Texas-Wyoming.  They turned out different.

And thx for mentioning Chico, chico.  Only da Feds ain't here.  There's this 9th something or other in 'Frisco keeps makin' trouble.  They have to get corrected a lot by Poppy.  I try and stay out of their way, but I got a K1 visa story that's a doozy!  I was the only gringo in line at the USCIS side of the old Santo Domingo U.S. consulate a bunch a times.  Ugh.  My official "interview" was getting insulted thru bullet-proof glass by a 25 yr old feminazi.  (oh boy.  I'm in trouble now.  Better beat feet.)