David Saltzburg aka Zuma Dogg for City Council. A Special City Election for CD-2 on Tuesday, Sept. 22 to fill post vacated by Wendy Greuel

A bit of support now for David "Zuma Dogg" Saltzburg for Council Member for CD-2.

Wendy Greuel was elected City Controller in March 3rd's city election, getting more votes than the Mayor, by the way, but that meant there was no one to take the office when Ms. Greuel took the City Controller's job in July.


The Council chose to fill the vacancy by holding a city election, as opposed to the available alternative of appointing someone to represent CD-2 until the next regular election comes around in another year or two. The expense is huge but at least you don't have to depend on the City Council to do us more "favors" like they have been doing regularly over the past few years, and making it more expensive to live and work within the City limits.

Council District 2 was represented by Wendy Greuel and her replacement will be among the 10 candidates in the field, mainly separated by the grouping "the machine"- for having lots of campaign money coming in usually from non-CD-2 sources, and affiliated with Mayor Villaraigosa's group of politicians, and that's where "the Machine" reference came from. It's a political machine, not as powerful as the East Coast versions of these forces, but enough to get things to go its way.

The other 7 candidates are from assorted backgrounds and have little if any money invested in the campaign for CD-2 Council Member.

David "Zuma Dogg" Saltzburg is one of the candidates for that office. You might remember the he ran for Mayor in the March election, coming in 4th of all the candidates, and again, with little money for running a campaign, mostly supported by word of mouth from people who know him or know of him.

I was one of those people supporting his run for Mayor and he's still my favored candidate for the CD-2 office, but I don't live in CD-2 and cannot vote for him. For people who don't know him, it's difficult to give a capsule view of his background without distorting one thing or another and there's really no way to easily convey the particular effect that David, as the name he is now known by as a candidate, or Zuma Dogg, as the name that we attach to the history of his interaction with City Council during their meetings.


The DWP is among the agencies that victimized rate-payers as they like to call residents, manipulating rates whereby the individuals have little to do but pay the bills as they rise.


David is and has been homeless during all this time of activism and he gets support and criticism both. His detractors take that position as a strategy to bolster support for their own candidates, either from "the Machine" side or the regular people side. Others like me, see that as something that he's decided to tough out while working to reveal a lot of the activities and behind-scenes operations that give an inordinate of power, and what used to be pretty much "uncontrolled power" to elected officials and appointees, commissions and agencies, all with their own goal of doing what they want without any "interference" from "the public.'


David/Zuma has provided a recent and recommend-for-reading source to show what the homeless status involves and how it affected things for him. See his blog entry for August 17, the L.A. Daily Blog This was in response to another candidate (from the "regular person" side) who chose to mock him and his homeless history- a legal choice for her but totally a low blow, unnecessary to the issues but telling as to her personal attitudes on the issue of homelessness and other things, as well. She did a lot with just a few words and she should not be elected. Mayor Sam's blog posted on this topic yesterday, http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/ , entitled, Does Mary Benson Hate the Homeless? (8-27-09)

City Council, before Zuma Dogg arrived on the scene, was simply a place that was "off limits" in terms of individuall involvement with local operatons on a political level. You were an "insider" knowing the game or you were somebody that came to city hall to ask for something and then got shuffled off with the operational equivalent to a "pat on the head."

Zuma Dogg, or David Saltzman as he yields somewhat to the forces of conformity to quell some voters' fears, came to be able to break down the processes to something more understandable to the regular guy and gal. You no longer had an agenda item that could be cloaked in secrecy automatically being approved and only publicly felt when the "new fee" or "changed regulation" affected the L.A. resident. This secrecy is still attempted and it's successful most of the time, like the parking meter rate hike that came just before the December holiday break last year and now meters have a 4x the old rate cost: $1 an hour when it was 25 cents an hour, $4 an hour where it was $1 an hour like the Downtown area, and 6pm was no longer the limit to the meter's control. 8pm and 10pm in some places, and shorter times, all increasing the chance for the parking ticket that was also raised another $5 across the board for violations.

I like Zuma Dogg because you can understand what he tries to put forward and so often it's in the face of oppositiion by Council Members who oppose his view with their own misinformation and slanted views that they used to apply to get their way when no one every criticizec them. The thing that I like, maybe most, about Zuma is that he can see the situation presented and then break it down into tems most people can comprehend, translating the gobblygook legalese that purposely used to mask the real effects, and he's also able to project what the impact will be for assorted choices of actions. He's far from infallible but you would still have to rate his predictions light years ahead of whatever you rate the council and the mayor. The mayor maybe is behind times due to absences and campaigning out of town and ignoring L.A., but the Council can't plead ignorance for letting things fester to the crisis point. I will leave any examples for another time since this piece is too long already.

You might think the newspapers would cover City Hall and reveal what's going on but the "newpapers" have now come down to the L.A. Times and the Daily News, a much smaller influence. Wrong. There ARE no more papers of greater influence- these ones are struggling to survive as it is. Alternative newspapers are small-time players, except for the "L.A. WEEKLY" that's about the only one on the case of many politicians for years now, bringing the "actually, this is what's going on," side of things out for public examination. The Times is only recently dabbling in City Hall coverage with the addition of reporter David Zahniser to the staff, but no one puts things in the face of the Council to provoke some direct response or explanation like Zuma Dogg.

The other thing of benefit- that's been also called "a problem" by some- is that Zuma has, by his conduct, or as they say in the education field, "as a model of the desired behavior," has come to encourage other people to speak in Council Meeting's public comment portion for non-agenda items, and he's promoted the accessibility of speaking to the council for smaller grass roots types of organizations like the ones opposing the Autry Museum actions subordinating the Southwest Museum to, as many fear, extinction, and so on.

These groups might have arisen anyway and Zuma Dogg did not create them, but they undeniably have to experienced the new and heightened interest of residents that they seek to join the fights. "You can make a difference." And more people acting together can make a bigger difference and make it faster than a lesser body. It's helped to make recruiting to their side a little less onerous than it was before.

Zuma Dogg's impact is that he's shown by his actions that a person can bring things to light if they are persistent and diligent in their efforts and they don't have to be wealthy to be heard. Turn that into a group action and you have even more ability to be noticed. Like I said, the City Hall chambers, especially that Rotunda area, tend to give this City Hall business an appearance of royalty or mysticism, and none of that is deserved. We have seen that the protections of Council Members that such attitudes created is disappearing, little by little, and they are just people who were elected to office to work for the residents of the city, and not for their own special interests, money-generating, campaign-funding companies and individuals who are wating for some reciprocity of action, or 'something for something" that normal thinking would expect when looking at this picture and the history of operations. The notion of being a "public servant" has long left the confines of City Hall and most other places housing elected officials.


David Saltsburg is said to be unqualified for the job of council member but, as he says, he's been at more Council Meetings than most Council Members in the last few years. He has learned issues not only from his own exposure and acquaintence with the system, but he's been aided by insider information. Many know him and feed him information either not accessibe to the common person or that has not yet come to public knowledge. Some people are disgruntled folks who want to see something happen about something they know of and see as a wrong that is being maintained or ignored by a power, maybe even by the Council itself. But they have information and they have faith that Zuma Dogg can look into it and spread the word if it can be done.

Detractors treat this citizen involvement of Zuma Dogg as being a crank, a lunatic and time-waster of City Council members' attention. That's just what Council would like- limits on their critics- a way to bring it back to how it used to be when all things were effectively secret until done. They just passed another rule to kick out whoever they say has violated "rules of decorum" for up to 30 meeting days. We need access and not this chilling effect hanging over the public; More restrictions makes it nicer for council to have "less interference" from opponents and THEY can decide who is giving them grief to be kicked out. They have the place loaded with police so "safety" issues are not the main concerns, and they can eject a person easily on a meeting by meeting basis but they have really gone extreme here.

For now, I will end this support for David "Zuma Dogg" Saltzburg for CD-2 Council Member. You can read on and on in the Mayor Sam's blog from all the haters and Zuma critics for the negative side. Of course, he's the underdog here, with little money for a campaign.

Contrast that to the others, especially Krikorian, a state assembly rep who's expecting a win and will vacate a position that will call for a special election to fill that seat at the cost of a million dollars-plus. A very exensive side-effect to hand the near-bankrupt State just to improve his job search. Chris Essel is another who's apparently a "plant" by the Mayor, living outside the district until recently to qualify, and really neither a proponent of the city residents nor the interests of CD-2.

Tamar Galatzin, City Attorney and LAUSD Board member recently elected, is also a candidate and has her critics on issues of being another of the Mayor's team members and for the job-hopping that would leave the LAUSD short another member, with another election needed. I think Galatzin is good for the job on the LAUSD Board, and she's shown a little independence from the Mayor's control. He was a good bit responsible for her winning her election. Campaigning for that job was boosted by his efforts.

For my part, being a supporter of Jack Weiss for City Attorney put Galatzin irretrievably into a suspect class and I do not support her as Council Member candidate. Galatzin still is too close to the Mayor for comfort to put her onto an already-heavy pro-Mayor's-calling city council is dangerous for the people of L.A., as we have seen that downhill slide of the Council and it's products so far, and that needs to go in a different direction, one away from "the Machine."

A Coalition of Neighborhood Councils met in Glassell Park with City Controller Wendy Greuel Guest Speaker.

North East Central Alliance of Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils. It's a new group comprised of representatives of the Neighborhood Councils from the central and northeast areas. A meeting was held last night and City Controller Wendy Greuel was a guest speaker who gave a very informative presentation on the functions of her office and some of the activities already in progress when she took office last month, and a few things being planned. (See http://necala.ning.com/ for information about the organization.)

Ms. Greuel acknowledges that the office has been called the "watchdog" for the city, but noted that there's also the regular tasks of the office, including handling payroll for the city. One surprising comment she made was that there was only one person, a woman, who was handling the payroll duties. There was not a lot of time to detail that one out but I hope they all take care of her to keep the paychecks on time for their sakes.

From Ms. Greuel: On a different but large impact level was the fact that there will have to be personnel reductions in the city. So far the city has not done that, if you noticed among all the ideas of the mayor to balance the budget- a 30-year leasing out of parking rights for a lump sum payment, having the zoo taken over by privatization, and so on.

From another source, the actual number of persons laid off will be only a handful. (The ironic thing in the Mayor's "shared sacrifice" slogan he's used in preaching about the desperate conditions in finance that the city occupies is that city jobs holders have not be hit yet, and the layoffs, firings, closures of facilities and negative effects of the economic downturn have only been happening in the PRIVATE sector- there is yet the threatened city layoffs to occur.)

Controller Greuel said that every day that there's no action is another day of more expenses being created. At the rate of current activities, she gave out some numbers where at some point in the future, the funding obligations for the city retirement pensions will be a few billion dollars of a budget of only a few more billion. Some changes will have to happen to keep things working, possibly change in the retirement benefits but all those details were more than what this meeting was about.

The real fact of the matter here is that the Neighborhood Councils, composed of volunteer members, formed at a time that there was some strong notions of Valley secession from the City of Los Angeles, creating the body of citizen involvement for the neighborhoods to convey their concerns to city hall. The idea, again, was to give a voice to people and groups who felt slighted.

Let me tell you that the current level of evolution of this system still leaves a lot of this "voice" idea very much something that is raised to deaf ears. The city council is the power broker in the city and the Neighborhood Councils exist as a service arm of the city, in part, and as a means of delivering concerns of an area's residents to the city hall through the council members. It is only "ADVISORY" and the wishes and concerns of NCs can and have been ignored in many cases by the CMs.

THe COALITION exists as a way to create some clout, putting together all the little mice gathering to demonstrate some strength where being stepped on was easily done before in the roles of NC entities and the members individually.

There still is a lot to be done to generate more strength in the organization but it has more of an opportunity to shape things as a collective body than the singular NCs, should they wnat to make waves. All in all, it's something that gets the CMs attention at least for now, where single NCs are only segments of the city, with many different styles found among this city-wide body of volunteers. In fairness, I have to say that not all NCs are ignored but that depends on the CM and the response any particular NC wants.

From my experience, there still is a lot of information that doesn't come to our NC from the CMs office even though "we" (the NCs and it's stakeholders, i.e., usually residents and business owners in each area) are supposed to be somewhat "sharing" or "partnering" (to some level, at least), with the Council Member for the Neighborhood Council in his or her district. We mostly find out through "the grapevine" and the news media, including the Los Angeles Times. Where's the "sharing" of information by the CMs and the City, generally? Still a long way to go to get consistent recognition of any appropriate worthiness, in my view. The Coaltion approach is a co-existing way to move things and I'm all for it.

Among the several matters discussed in the meeting on Wednesday evening, the most interesting of all was the discussion from the new City Controller. So far the impression I received from Controller Greul's visit was positive one. Of course, she's a politician and there's always that trust issue present to some degree, depending on the partcular politician and his or her track record, but Ms. Greuel seemed to have significantly less "boilerplate" items in her presentation than, for example, her benefactor, the Mayor, let's say. I hope that she keeps true to what I understood during the campaign that she would operate with independent judgment and be swayed by the Mayor's agenda. So far, there's some hope and a dose of reality with her in that office. Let's hope it lasts.

"Texas Hold'em" LHS Alumni Fundraiser on Saturday

The Lincoln High School Alumni Association will be having the Texas Hold'em Fundraising event this Saturday afternoon in South Pasadena. This is not a "sport" that I am familiar with, and the Alumni Association is taking it's first plunge into this particular endeavor.

The number of players that the event can accommodate is 100. See the sidebar link under "Alumni Events" for details.

As I am not familiar with this as being a spectator activity generally, I can't give you any other information on what's involved, other than what I've been told. Prizes were being arranged and gambling for real money would not be happening since that would be a good way to risk a bust and messing up the day for lots of people.

UPCOMING EVENTS
There are some reunions coming up of assorted vintages of classmates (see sidebar) and there will be a Shakey's Pizza Night fundraising event in a month. The opening of scholl for the 2009-2010 academic year is right around the corner and this will bring football action to Lincoln in just a few weeks. Alumni involvement in the food booth is always a good place to mix up some visiting and a little bit of work for getting funds together that will eventually be returned to benefit students and the school.

Back on the LARadio.Com password sharing situation: Subscribe.

I wrote about the fact that there are many subscribers to the L.A. Radio.com website, http://www.laradio.com/ .who are passing along their user name and password to other people, and this cheating has been hurting the website in a monetary way, and you know that's important. This has been sometihing that's gone on for many years, but now it just may be enough to hasten a complete end to the website as it is now.

I checked the web site and found out - for anyone who thinks it's any huge financial burden to subscribe- that the price of a subscription from now to the end of the year, over FOUR more MONTHS, is really affordable: "The subscription for the remainder of 2009 is $15.95."

Why subscribe to this site? There's news and information each weekday on this site that is very behind-the-scenes, personal, and many times the only place that this information will be found. I really recommend this as a source of a lot of news, entertainment, history and reference items, as well as a lot of personal stories, old and new, of people you have heard on the radio now and in the past. Even if you are not a big radio fan, there's still something for nearly everyone and the ARCHIVES have all the past columns that you can check for what's happened in the past 10-plus years of the website.

Music Flashback from LA Radio.com to August 25, 1971, and a Comment on Password cheating

Before getting to the less enjoyable items of events in politics of Los Angeles and Sacramento by persons who used to be called "Public Servants" I will stay on the lighter side a little longer, but still, you see there's a gripe here, but not so much for myself, but for the site where this music information was presented today.

Going back to the well today for another taste of days gone by in music, taken from today's LARadio.com, that by the way, is a subscription site addressing the radio industry from mere listeners like me, to inside industry operations and the story behind scenes and more information about current activities and a lot of history and stories.

Password Sharing on LARadio.com
Another note about this site, laradio.com, is that it may not continue past this year since there are thousands of hits daily on this site using other people's passwords, even though the basic yearly subscription cost is only about $4 a month. A subscriber will give out his or her password then it continues to be used by more people, continuing with others now "Sharing" the password.

Sharing passwords on pay sites really is not harmless and hurts the small operations like this one, speeding the end of its operations as not being worth the effort that it takes to put it together everyday. In this situation, the results directly create an effect that is immediately and directly felt by the website.

There are two harmful sides to this password-sharing action:

First, giving out the password is being the first offender and simply unfair, violating the agreement agreed upon to be the only user in the first place.

Second, getting the password to use for free is being a cheapskate, and it's done by many who could afford to pay. Collectively it amounts to some significant financial damage to the site's operations. If people find LARadio.com to be enjoyable- and they must if they keep checking it out- a cost of less than a dollar a week is fair and a bargain for what it there every day.

It should not be a huge burden when you consider the other things that people spend similar amounts of money on routinely, for example, when eating out anywhere, even fast food. And have you seen parking rates ANYWHERE, both public or private lots? The cost of ONE beer at a restaurant or bar would about cover a month's worth of the subscription. This site is very cheap to subscribe to, but the password sharing is being really a cheapskate. That's the gripe.

As you see, this music particular part of LARadio.com gets my attention everyday, but unless they are songs from farther back, I usually don't know them as well.

Top Five Flashback, August 25, 1971:

How Can You Mend A Broken Heart by the Bee Gees,
Take Me Home Country Roads by John Denver,
Signs by the Five Man Electrical Band,
Mercy Mercy Me by Marvin Gaye,
Mr. Big Stuff by Jean Knight.

For me, this was all at the end of my time as an undergrad and the beginning of moving on to other things. There were lots of people from four years of time as a student that I would never see again, or would fade out, little by little, friends included. Disco had not begun yet and you can see the Bee Gees were performing a delicate ballad here, while Marvin Gaye had begun to move on to social commentary in his songs.

Going back to August 24 in 1962 for some hit tunes.

Here's a few tunes from this date a long time ago, appearing in today's LARadio.com. You might remember these songs, and if you remember them as original hits, then you are from a long time ago, too. This music was from a time before the British Invasion, Psychedelic Rock and it followed the period where DooWop was strong. The Beach Boys and other groups had helped to keep surfer music maintain a solid hold in the pop scene around this time.

The songs in the list could all be heard on single stations that at that time played all types of music before the later change that kept stations playing music in particular categories like country, R&B, hard rock, Soft Rock, Smooth Jazz and so on. If you listen to 94.7 "The Wave" now, you will hear songs on that "Smooth Jazz" stations that were once conisdered very pop, including rock, Motown, easy listening, regular oldies as well as newer releases. Just goes to show you that changes happen all the time and there's often a return to practices of the past that work out again at a different time.

Top Five Flashback, August 24, 1962:

The Loco-Motion by Little Eva,
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do by Neil Sedaka,
Things by Bobby Darin,
You Don't Know Me by Ray Charles,
Sheila by Tommy Roe.



One feature of these songs of this period in the past is that the lyrics are very easily understood and the content is usually about life experiences relating to love and relationships or group activities like certain dances and events that mostly are on the fun side.

PostScript: The singer, Little Eva, only 19 when "The Locomotion" became a hit, died on April 10, 2003. The obituary in the UK site for "The Independent" from April 12, 2003, show quite a bit of her life's path and also demonstrates that many financial rewards from hit songs and their re-birth when performed by other artists do not always trickle down to the original artists and performers, especially in those days.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/little-eva-730204.html

GLAD event Saturday Noon to 4: "A Taste of Eagle Rock"

There's a food event on Saturday afternoon, from 12 Noon to 4 p.m. to support the "Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness," GLAD, in Eagle Rock tomorrow that will have a lot of food items brought to one location for the cost of $25 per adult ticket. Children 12 and under: $10; Children under 5: Free.
See flyer: http://www.gladinc.org/PDFs/Taste%20of%20Eagle%20Rock%20Sponsor%20Packet.pdf

This annual event is a fund raiser for the non-profit institution that does a year-round credible job of providing service to hearing impaired persons- deaf and hard-of-hearing. You see Council Member Jose Huizar's name on the linked .pdf flyer, but don't let that scare you away; most events happening in any Council District ususally have the the Council Members helping to get these kinds of events going and you will see those names included very clearly. There are some non-profits that you might have heard about if you follow city hall politics which will cause raised suspicions of worthiness, but this a good one that's not in that category at all, so if you want to try an afternoon of food tasting of assorted types all in one place, do come on over and enjoy.

The location is very near Occidental College, a few blocks further north on Eagle Rock Blvd. at La Verna to the west.

A little sample of songs from back in 1970 and 10 years later.

All this should have been posted yesterday, but just getting up these items for Friday:

Here is something that might jog your memory, going back to LARadio.com's "Top Five Flashback" for August 20, 1980:

Magic by Olivia Newton-John,
Sailing by Christopher Cross,
Take Your Time Do It Right by the SOS Band,
Emotional Rescue by the Rolling Stones,
Upside Down by Diana Ross.

Another bit of music history/trivia from this date, August 20th, coming from LARadio.com was:
1972 – Isaac Hayes, Bar-Kays, others perform at Wattstax Festival at LA Coliseum.

===========================

I have another list of top five tunes, also from LARadio.com, for August 18, 1970, that I will post now since I haven't posted for a while, just trying to digest all the news that has been happening, so here's the item from Tuesday:

Top Five Flashback, August 18, 1970:

Make It With You by Bread,
Close To You by the Carpenters,
Spill The Wine by Eric Burdon & War,
War by Edwin Starr,
In The Summertime by Mungo Jerry.

The lists are separated by ten years, but I can remember each of these songs very well, something I can't say for the "Top 5" of anything that's been played on the radio these days, and the lyrics were usually understandable and could be repeated in front of your parents without a second thought, a little different from some of the pop music today.

Amid all the bad news, an item of Airline Humor from Mechanics

The whole local scene is pretty dismal with the city needing a new police chief, and a new mayor if you think about his actions of heading for vacations in Africa and then Iceland after a few days in the city, then off to Las Vegas. You might remember how the Mayor returned after a huge deployment of LAPD officers at likewise huge expense to the city (= taxpayers) and angrily contradicted the messages sent out by his subordinates after the Michael Jackson memorial event at Staples Center, taking the side of AEG for not seeking any reimbursement to the city.

The Mayor was around for a bit to blast the firefighter's union because of a mailer sent out to tell residents of reduced services as a result of the city's handling of the budget, while the hiring of more police to reach 10,000 officers is still being pursued. He didn't like the mailing, but then he's out of town so often that contract talks just can't happen until he's around, leaving the mess to just continue a little bit longer, getting the city deeper and deeper into a hole.

Had Chief Bratton stayed on, it might have been uncomfortable for him as a political ally of the Mayor, to tell his officers that they were going to be facing reductions as the budget realities bring that result closer and closer. And that scenario has to be something that Bratton did not want to deal with.

But the item to see now is KFI 640-am radio reporter Steve Gregory's blog entry http://kfiam640.com/pages/stevengregory.html
"Makes you wonder...... " Sunday, 08-16-2009, 5:40pm PT, that gives you a look at how a situation in the airline industry is handled. As he points out, having a college degree is expected to fly an airliner, but only a high school diploma is needed to fix one.
(Reproduced below in case the blog entry linked happens to change.)

From Steve's blog:

Sent to me by a friend who flew with me on the inaugural LA flight of the Qantas
Airbus A380 double-decker jet...

After every flight, Quantas pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet," which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers. By the way, Quantas is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.

Remember it takes a college degree to fly an airliner but only a high school diploma to fix one. Reassurance for those of us who fly routinely in our jobs.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what friction locks are for.

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny. (I love this one!)
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last..................

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget

A couple of things to take from this: College isn't for everyone and people with degrees aren't automatically smarter than others.

Technical/vocational jobs are nearly all pushed to the side in favor of a conventional College track in LAUSD, and in many other districts. Some of the dropout problem could be attributed to the absence of providing things that are important to learn, and that address more areas for student learning to engage them in the educational process instead of further alienating them.
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After all, isn't the idea of high school to prepare the students for being successful in life? And this doesn't always seem to be what they are doing in schools. The one-size-fits-all "college track" does a disservice to many students who could benefit from some meaningful choices.

Alumni Meeting Saturday; Some events coming up.

The Alumni Association's monthly meeting for AUGUST will be held at 9:30 a.m. this Saturday. It's in the Student Cafeteria at LHS.

Admission is Free (of course) and anyone may attend- you don't have to be a dues-paying member. Other guests are also invited.

Upcoming events -

AUGUST:

See the sidebar item, "Reunions," for the independently organized events information.

Dodger Night on Wednesday, August 19th at Dodger Stadium for 7:10 pm game. "Matt Kemp Bobblehead doll Night." THIS EVENT IS A SELL OUT

Tiger Alumni Texas Hold’em fundraiser Saturday, 08/29/09

The Public Costs: 1. Cleanups, and 2. Sidewalk Sales in Lincoln Heights and Block Parties Elsewhere

1. Dumping trash leads to a need for "community cleanups" as a public expense.
2. Lincoln Heights activity, the Sidewalk Sale coming up at the end of August was an approved expense.

Getting to the second item first: Yesterday, Wedesday, 8-12-09, was a busy day in city council for fee waivers. There were only 10 Council Members present yesteday.

ITEM NO. (67) (a., b., c. was Passed with 10 "ayes", another unanimous vote, one public comment, no council comment or further discussion.) included these parts below:

08-0776-S4
CD 1
a. MOTION (REYES - PERRY) relative to declaring the
Sidewalk Sale in Lincoln Heights on August 28-30, 2009 a Special Event (fees and
costs absorbed by the City = $4,500).

But it's not only Lincoln Heights getting the benefit of city money- here's more spent on parties, literally so, at $2,200.00 apiece.

07-2470-S1
CD 7
b. MOTION (ALARCON - KORETZ) relative to
declaring the Lakeview Terrace Eagles Neighborhood Watch Block Party on August
22, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $2,200).

07-2299-S1
CD 7
c. MOTION (ALARCON - KORETZ)
relative to declaring the FERP Neighborhood Watch Block Party and Carnival on
August 29, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $2,200).

2. THE NEED FOR COMMUNITY CLEANUPS needs to be reduced.
Just for your information so that you can see that there's really not anything happening that is "Free" in the city and that somebody is paying for it. The questions then become, "Is there a benefit to the public for the activity? and then, Is this benefit worth the expense, considering the economic situation and the impact achieved?

Something to think about, like the neighborhood clean ups- we wouldn't need so many if people would stop throwing their crap out of car windows while driving or dumping trash from cars when they open the doors. The curbside gutter is not a trash container and makes for more expense as the "gutters" are serving only as "storm drains" to run out to the sea so there's no flooding whenever it actually rains in L.A. Dumping pollutants makes that condition worse.

There are alternatives for disposing of most things to preserve the environment in the long run, and in the short run, to keep things clean.

That trash dumping also happens when storekeepers sweep off sidewalk trash into the street. And the wasteful practice is watering off sidewalks to do the samething, and it is now illegal to hose off sidewalks in the City. One thing I think that goes on as a problem is the overflowing with trash of city trash containers on the sidewalk. When the trash gets back on the ground it becomes that problem mentioned above. And you know some storekeepers use that public trash as their own dumping method, and they don't bother to make arrangements to use private collection like other commercial establishments do to get a dumpster- and then dumpsters get loaded by anonymous cheapskates when left unlocked. It's an odd sort of chain-reaction.

Such a lot of trouble for what should be simple trash disposal task. But the NEED for cleanups would be reduced if people simply would not use the streets and instead throw trash at home into containers or take them to trash containers as they shop or go into buildings. Just another level of small responsibility that collectively could improve life.

Alumni Dodger Night August 19- More Dodger game opportunities

Well, first, The Lincoln High School Alumni Association's Dodger Night on Wednesday, August 19th is sold out. Well over 100 tickets were sold and that should be a good game if the Dodgers continue as they have been. Another "plus" for that game is that it is also "Matt Kemp Bobblehead Doll Night," by the way. There was some speculation earlier in the year before the selection was made for the Bobblehead Doll that it would be Vin Scully, Dodger announcer supreme who has been broadcasting Dodger games since they were in Brooklyn and Chavez Ravine was just a sleepy little neighbohood behind the Armory. That, for my two cents, would have been really tops as a selection, even better than a player selection, but this is what was finally decided.

Did you miss the original Manny Bobble head doll night? Do you crave a Manny Bobblehead Doll, or maybe two? This announcement (reproduced below, in part) may just be for you. http://cbs2.com/local/dodgers.manny.ramirez.2.1112985.html , Aug 3, 2009,

"Dodgers Adding Another Manny Bobblehead Night"

The new bobblehead will be compliments of San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino. In conjunction with the announcement, the Dodgers are offering a limited number of Manny Bobblehead Packs in which fans can purchase a four-game ticket package that includes both bobbleheads featuring the Dodgers' left fielder.

For just $64, fans will receive the initial Manny Ramirez bobblehead from July 22, a
reserved level ticket to the Sept. 16 game where they'll receive the Curtain Call Bobblehead, and one reserved level ticket to the Dodger games on Aug. 23 vs. Chicago, Sept. 6 vs. San Diego, and Sept. 20 vs. San Francisco. Seating is also available in the Lower Reserve for $80 and Field Box seats for $120 each.

Here's a chance for fans to get that doll and more that I found on the Dodgers web site for some Dodger ticket deals: http://www.mlb.com/la/ticketing/specials.jsp#mannywood , with some key excerpts below-

From the Dodger website, here's the breakdown for that Manny Ramirez Bobblehead Doll package:

• (1) Manny Ramirez Bobblehead (originally distributed on 7/22/09)
• (1) Ticket to Sept 16th game vs PIT (First 50,000 fans to receive Manny's Curtain Call Bobblehead)
• (1) Ticket to the following games:
• Sunday, August 23rd vs CHC, 1:10PM
• Sunday, September 6th vs SD, TBA
• Sunday, September 20th vs SF, 1:10PM

Prices per package:
• Field Box -- $120
• Lower Reserve -- $80
• Reserve -- $64

And while I'm on the site, here's something for the many Military personnel that are around:

The Dodgers are pleased to offer the following discounts to all military
personnel with proper ID for every Dodger home game in 2009!

Pricing:
• $60 Field Box for $20
• $13 Left Field Pavilion for $7
• $11 Top Deck for $7
* Tickets are available on the DAY OF GAME ONLY and are SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY. They may be purchased at any ticket booth, 90 minutes prior to game time until 60 minutes after the first pitch, with proper military ID. Limit of 4 tickets per ID.

To purchase discount military tickets in advance, please visit dodgers.com/military. Be sure to join us during the first week of September for Military Appreciation Week when we salute the armed forces:

• August 31st vs. Arizona - Navy Night
• September 1st vs. Arizona - Air Force Night
• September 2nd vs. Arizona - Army Night
• September 3rd vs. Arizona - Marines Night
• September 4th vs. San Diego - Military Appreciation & Friday Night Fireworks

And the other thing here that might be of interest is for seniors or kids who get a deal on prices, with the "catch," if you want to call it that, is that these are for same day games, beginning 90 minutes before the game and it useful except for the chance you have a sell-out game.

The Dodgers are pleased to offer the following discounts to all seniors and kids
ages 4 - 14 for every Dodger home game in 2009!

Pricing:
• $13.00 Left Field Pavilion for $7.00
• $11.00 Top Deck for $7.00
* Tickets are available on the DAY OF GAME ONLY and are SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY.

They may be purchased at any ticket booth, 90 minutes prior to game time until 60 minutes after the first pitch, limit of 4 tickets per kid/senior.

City Hall problems- where do we start to sort it out?

Well, getting back to the keyboard after a break from the local scene. So much simpler to make comments on other blogs but I think there are many that demonstrate some vital points that most people don't want to know.

In the past few local elections, so many people I have spoken with have really been pathetic in their lack of interest in what City Hall dwellers are doing that affects our lives in so many ways that are just accepted.

The parking meter rates quadrupling from 25 cents per hour to a simple "round-it-off-to-the-nearest-dollar" rate was one of these things. If there were more people who objected to this outright gouging by our own elected officials they would back off. It's happened in some areas but that is behavior that is exceptional, and most people just accept it.

Quality of life is very quickly affected by the actions of the local politicians, while the federal counterparts don't have such a daily and immediate reach for most of us to feel. I get the "apathy" from people who are professionals, responsible and otherwise able to read, but they don't see the importance of local politics, at least to be aware of how it has affected their lives. Assuming that these guys in the City Council Chambers are wise and all-knowing is one of the myths that politicians would love to have continue. The truth is that they are even more susceptible to outside influences now than ever before, and they look to "your" well-being only as a secondary matter- unless you are part of the "special interests" that puts them in office and parts with large sums of money to have that happen.

Well, the city has been in a financial bind for a long time and the Mayor admitted it (much later than he could have if he'd been on the ball instead of doing his own thing out of L..A. city limits). Tony said that there'd be layoffs and that was around January. We still don't have that and instead, there's "early retirement" that's coming up now in City Council for cutting people but cutting people with some very nice financial packages that they will take with them and that will have to be paid off until they die by the city's taxpayers.

The whole thing is now seen to be very expensive, more expensive than they thought and there still have been no layoffs on the city side of things, while the private sector has been laying off people left and right, and with little or no notice in many cases. But the City doesn't act decisively to do anything- well, let's change that statement- the City does not act decisively when it comes to personnel decisions that will help the city's positioni in this troubled time.

The CMs WILL act boldly when it comes to jacking people around financially by imposing new rates, costs, charges and they say there was no other alternative. But when it comes to trim some of their own workforce and their own "share the pain" B.S., you just don't see ANY action there.

I have a link to Ron Kaye's blog in the sidebar and if you have not wandered into his blog out of curiousity, you really should consider making it part of the routine as far as local news. The big impact of the early retirement packages being planned for city workers is the important item today in that blog under the title of, "The People's Hero, Sally Choi: City's Sweetheart Early Retirement Deal Blowing Up,"
http://ronkayela.com/2009/08/the-peoples-hero-sally-choi-ci.html#comments

There are some video selections from today's meeting and you may get a taste of what the commotion has been about our bad politicians after seeing it. As I said before, some other blogs have some good topics that make it worth your while to check things out. Check past stories on RonKayeLA.com and you will see a lot of other ills on the city level that affect life in Los Angeles.