LHS Alumni Association monthly meeting this Saturday at LHS.

MONTHLY LHS ALUMNI ASSOCATION MEETING NOTICE
DATE:       SATURDAY, April 21, 2011
TIME:        9:30 a.m.
WHERE:   LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA

Here's the news from Frank Beltran, Alumni Secretary, via email from Mike Ibarra:

"PLEASE SUPPORT THE LHS ALUMNI - MAIL IN YOUR $20.00 ANNUAL DUES* (Fiscal Year, July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012) MAIL: LHSAA, PO BOX 31257, Los Angeles, CA 90031

Log onto the high school website for Alumni news and updates:
  <http://lincolnhs.org/apps/news/?id=4>

PARTIAL AGENDA ITEMS:
Come and meet active alumni participants.

• Committee Reports
• Alumni Association SPRING Dance, Follow-up Report
• Texas Hold 'em Tournament, Follow-up Report
• Executive Board Elections Nominations Update.....
• June Executive Board Elections & Nominations Update.  Nominations DUE, May 25th
• Dodger Fundraiser (July 31, 2001)"

Elections Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 17- Take 5 minutes to vote.

We get the right to vote in this country free to the private citizen.  It wasn't always that simple for all eligible voters to do that.  I bring up the 60's era and the civil rights struggle where there was violence and death in this country as a consequence of people seeking to exercise this simple activity.  It's been a long time since the vivid news pictures and stories were fresh and too frequent, and so it's not such a valued right for a lot of people who were too young to experience the era first-hand, or for others who just don't think about that history at all.

Tomorrow will be a very low turnout of registered voters since, like with many and church-going, they only show up for the big days like Easter Sunday and Christmas, and not much in between.  The election in the 36 congressional district is down south, and Janice Hahn among the candidates to fill the post exited by Jane Harman that runs to 2013.  It's an all-party primary and the runoff for the top two vote-getters wil be July 17th.   It only involves that district so limited attention to that is much the case for a lot of us.

More local is the LAUSD District 5 election, a runoff election between Bennett Kayser and Luis Sanchez.

I will vote for Kayser since I cannot take anymore of the Villaraigosa influence on government, paid-for by special interests and showing us as a city on the brink of a bankruptcy.  We haven't yet reached a bankruptcy only because it is being held back from that by a city council who follow the mayor's direction like following a carrot on a stick, using band-aid "solutiohns" to let them finish their terms.  No long term solution is planned..  LUIS SANCHEZ is just too cozy with his boss, MONICA GARCIA, with too much "admiration" for the mayor and for her former boss, JOSE HUIZAR.  Huizar brought us the A-G track, all-college bound type of curriculum, that is a contributing factor to our LAUSD student dropping out.  Neither Garcia nor Huizar will consider that consequence. Supt. CORTINES did state a year ago that a "one size fits all" approach is not the way to go. 

So BENNETT KAYSER, supported by the teachers union, will get my vote.  I am not a big supporter of the union based on the fact that like all unions, the priority is working for the members and not the outer sphere of involvement that created the need for their jobs in the first place; here that's the students.

But compared to SANCHEZ and the wealthy special interests that get a big piece of the money spent in school operations, as Villaraigosa's adminstration is all about, I will not help that along.  If there were demonstrable results that the SANCHEZ side had ANSWERS to the problems, maybe I'd change. BUT MONICA GARCIA has been there since I was teaching and the only thing I see is a district struggling under poor management- the board's management.   A CHANGE is not their style. Make a change now and go with KAYSER.   If Sanchez wins, you will have a Villaraigosa stacked Board and things will really become worse as with the city's operations.   And there will likely be more spending foulups as they funnel contracts to the friends and shape expenses to boost incomes for the same groups.

IF YOU STAY HOME- you lose all around.   A low voter turnout election magnifies the impact of the voters who show up.


COMMUNITY COLLEGE trustees election-   Please get out anf vote for LYDIA GUTIERREZ AND NOT Scott Svonkin.  The Community College Board of Trustees has allowed waste and corruption to go unchecked and one person added here would be a part of the corrections needed.  I can't see any reason for re-electing the ones remaining as Trustees in the March election, but voters often don't read news to see what's plainly been there to see.

Neither of my choices is "perfect" but they are the "best" ones running here and should be better than their opponents in doing the job.

Villaraigosa announces "Operation Pothole Weekend" - report your potholes

Here's a press release just received from Mike Fong, aide to the mayor (and aide to CM Ed Reyes before that), about the pothole weekend that will fill a lot of potholes on the public streets in a single weekend.  I heard about this at a meeting last Saturday of the LA Neighborhood Council Coalition, "LANCC," by a new staffer in the mayor's office, Joseph Hari.  Calling in to 311 is the simplest number to remember to report the location of your favorite potholes to be filled.

These LANCC meetings usually present us with early information on what will be happening from the city's side of things.  So often the news is usually about cuts made in city services whle the actual layoffs, delayed for a year or two from first announced as essential to the budget, amounted to just over 400 people  among the city's very large general fund workforce. 

The DWP, Airports Department, and Harbor Department have their own budgets separate from the "general fund" and coming from the fees each department collects.

Here's the press release- and if only this was the only problem for our city government. Note that the Public Works Commissioner Andrea Alarcon's last name is the same as (currently indicted and awaiting a distant trial date) City Council member, Richard Alarcon.  That's his daughter who has the job, and it makes you wonder how "the best qualified for the job" happens to be found right there in CM Alarcon's family. 

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LOS ANGELES (May 10, 2011) On Saturday, May 14^th, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will launch the public awareness campaign for the City’s largest “Operation Pothole.”  At 9:30 AM, the Mayor will join City forces to fill a pothole in Venice and to ask Angelenos to identify potholes as part of their volunteering efforts on Big Sunday. Angelenos can join “pothole patrols” and report pothole locations around the City to the 3-1-1 hotline 7 days a week from 7am to 10pm. The Board of Public Works will be using this information to fill an unprecedented 20,000 potholes the weekend of June 4^th and the 5^th.

“Starting today, I want to encourage Angelenos to call 3-1-1 and report pothole locations in your neighborhoods. With your help, we will undoubtedly be able to exceed our goal for the upcoming Operation Pothole weekend,” Mayor Villaraigosa said. “The condition of our street network affects the quality of life for every Angeleno, so we need your help to identify potholes so that we can fill them Operation Pothole Weekend and provide more comfortable commutes for LA motorists.”

The City of Los Angeles fills an average of 250,000 potholes annually. “Pothole repair is one critical component of our overall street maintenance and resurfacing program,” said Public Works Commissioner Andrea Alarcon. Under the Mayor’s proposed budget, in the next fiscal year, we would be able to fill over 300,000 potholes to ensure safer streets for City residents, said Alarcon.

The Department of Public Works, Bureau of Street Services is responsible for responding to pothole service requests. Upon receipt of such requests, the Bureau of Street Services will dispatch a crew to inspect the location and make the necessary repairs. Our goal is to respond to pothole service requests within 2 business days, however, it can take longer depending on the type and extent of the damage, said Bureau of Street Services Interim Director Nazario Sauceda. "During Operation Pothole weekend, the Bureau of Street Services will dispatch over 100 crews to make thousands of small asphalt repairs including potholes, popouts, and skin patching,” said Sauceda.

For more information or details, contact the Department of Public Works Public Affairs Office at (213) 978-0333

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It sounds like another one of the mayor's deals to get some high visibility for yet another attempt to find a public position after he's termed out in July 2013.  Meanwhile, take the services while the city offers it; thre may be no money "available" later for such repairs to be done, so make those calls to report locations

Community College trustee- Vote recommendation for Lydia Gutierrez over Scott Svonkin

In a pinch for time now, but the Tuesday election has a run off election for Community College Board of Trustees.  I ask for you to vote for Lydia Gutierrez over the other canddate Scott Svonkin.

The L.A. Clean Sweep organization (I am a part of that) endorsed her for the March 8 election and that continues.   There's been lots of problems with bad management of money by the current board, and we need change as for most elected officials.

There's a series in the L.A. Times that ran for about a week with billions mismanaged in operations.

L.A. Weekly has some items to check to see about why Svonkin is not the best candidate here:

"Scott Svonkin, San Gabriel Unified Board Member, Lets Teachers Down: Plays Hooky to Campaign For L.A. Community College Board" April 13, 2011, Mars Melnicoff,
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/04/scott_svonkin_laccd_utla.php


"Scott Svonkin's Personality Problem- How did a food-spewing bully get major Democratic backing to run for Community College trustee?"  http://www.laweekly.com/2011-04-07/news/scott-svonkin-s-personality-problem/


Check some of the problems that the Times reporters found, and that calls for change:
A story on the writers investingating the Community College operations and the series the Times printed is here: "Spotlight: L.A.Times reporters Michael Finnegan, Gale Holland deserve Pulitzer" by Morgan St. James- March 9th, 2011 10:05 am.  http://www.examiner.com/writing-in-los-angeles/spotlight-los-angeles-times-reporters-michael-finnegan-and-gale-holland-deserve










 

JPL in Pasadena has an Open House this weekend- An inside glimpse into history

There is an Open House this weekend being held at JPL in Pasadena, where you can get a view to the history and work of JPL, one of the principal participants in the space race going back to around the time of Russia's launching of it's Sputnik satellite.

The JPL home page gives more details.  It's free and with free parking, something you don't have at, well, Dodger Stadium, for one example.    http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/open-house.cfm

It might be something useful for parents to take their children to where there may be a rekindling of interest in this area among the young people like we had in the 60s, ultimately getting us on the Moon in less than a decade. 

Without leaving the ground, another area of interest for us is eathquakes, and JPL is also involved in that subject among all that JPL does.   You might have noticed that it gets called by television and radio news reporters whenever we have an earthquake of any level for more information.

Even if you don't see your children becoming scientists, it may inspire them to do better in their studies to get into whatever their potential can take them to.

Vote for Bennett Kaiser, NOT Luis Sanchez for LAUSD Board, Dist. 5 Election

The LAUSD Board seat for District 5 (or simply, "Sub-district 5" for many) is coming up on TUESDAY, (like all elections), May 17th.  If you have absentee ballots, you may have already voted.  If you still haven't voted, here's some things to think about if you have this office on your ballot.

Luis Sanchez served as chief-of-staff to Monica Garcia, the LAUSD Board President.  From my observations over the years, Garcia's actions show that she's been  more loyal to the political force that got her into office, namely, Antonio Villaraigosa.

Garcia, before being elected to this office, was the chief-of-staff to Jose Huizar, and was supported by him to succeed him in office.  Huizar left LAUSD for City Council in 2005 as Villaraigosa left CD-14 before completing his term (that he promised he would complete and not run for any other office during the CD-14 campaign).   Huizar became thoroughly a follower of Villaraigosa, as he remains today, though not vocalizing that alliance much.    Huizar supported Garcia and it's an all "Villaraigosa" influenced "leadership" that they demonstrate.

VOTE FOR KAYSER- a big reason is to stop the downward spiral of LAUSD's performance and get someone that doesn't have the VILLARAIGOSA Agenda as his guide.    Villaraigosa, if you remember, put aside attention to mandated duties as mayor of Los Angeles to work on affecting, or really, taking over, LAUSD's operation,  The path was a long and costly one in terms of money, time and lost opportunities for the public servants that were involved.

Meanwhile we have a city approaching bankruptcy with a mayor that's been distracted by one thing or another over his entire term of office, yet he has huge influence in moving LAUSD to breakup, a goal of his and his special interest "friends" that I see as benefitting finacially from this.

You have charter schools and assorted partnerships that are not LAUSD controlled being handed brand new multi-million dollar schools, all paid for by the publc from bonds approved by voters many years ago.. I really do not believe approval would have happened if this result had been know at election time.  I think it was a plan all along by many involved here.

As I've already stated before, I am not a big fan of LAUSD and the way it operates, but then I am even more skeptical of the charters and alternative forms when they still are finding their ways to improved education of students.  I don't think handing over schools over like we are seeing now assures success or the responsibility for such actions.  

SANCHEZ would push in this direction as Villaraigosa and friends want that.  There's a fortune in contracts and deals in all this, paid for by tax dollars, that is not visible on the surface and it's an unspoken factor in all the changes.   I don't see the VILLARAIGOSA influence, and it's there more and more as board members of this alignment win seats. 

I think students should come first, not politics.  I recall Monica Garcia's statement, to paraphrase it, that she discovered she was Chicana after arriving at Cal State Berkeley.  I see she's been into activism as we were seeing in the 60s but we are not in the 60s anymore.  Creating issues to support political agendas is part of that "leadership" that produces no real progress with students.  Garcia lost all credibility with me when she supported a charter schools continued funding when it had shown severe criticism of anti-U.S. values in favor of more contrary views. (And it's fine to have a different view, but don't take tax money if you are preaching against the things that created what you have and what you seek.)

KAYSER doesn't have that heavy influence of the opponent and the race card has been played to sway things to Sanchez, or so I have heard (it's rumored, so you can skip this if you haven't seen it happening yourself).    Any "race" factor in running for offices doesn't seem to me to be part of the Job Description and is a cheap way to win votes- but it often works, so we continue to see it.

KAYSER seems more genuine here as one needed on the Board while SANCHEZ is a "worker bee" for the Villaraigosa/Monica Garcia/Jose Huizar style of misdirected and non-productive "leadership" that costs students in favor of making better deals with "friends" and boosting their egos as they get more power.


VILLARAIGOSA and his administration is what I am most familiar with and I see no positive thing overall happening from his office. On the contrary, so much that is bad government and Pay-to-Play has shown up that is like a virus running through all he's connected with, especially the City Council and the Board folks.

Don't make the situation worse. Vote for Kayser.

A retired LHS science teacher's letter on solar power in Eagle Rock Patch

Well, the title may not be quite clear, but what this is about is a letter from Jan Freed, an Eagle Rock resident now retired from teaching, who taught physical and environmental science at two public schools, one being Lincoln High School.  The subject is the need and benefits on moving to solar power as electricity continues to become more expensive.  http://eaglerock.patch.com/articles/letter-from-a-retired-school-teacher-who-has-seen-the-writing-on-the-wall-go-solar


The letter from Freed is very informative and this solar power conversion might be something you may be considering already.  I won't go much now into the usual other complaint that I have about the DWP being operated as out of control public agency from an accountability standpoint, thanks to the enablers aka City Council and the mayor. The creation of a Rate Payer Advocate as approved by the voters really should not have been needed if the City Council itself did its job and did not allow the DWP, essentially, do what the DWP wanted to do, resulting in arriving at our current condition.

LAUSD Board candidates Bennett Kayser & Luis Sanchez, 7:30 pm forum at Eagle Rock Elem.

Well, there's nothing like late notice.  The two candidates in the May 17th runoff election for the Sub-District seat will meet at 7:30 pme tonight in the Auditorium at Eagle Rock Elementary.  (I was among the group that was supposed to be "in the know" on this as one of the sponsoring group, and we had it scrubbed as of  last week, only to find a few days later that it was "on."  Well, coordination isn't always happening where it might be.)

This position is being vacated by Yolie Flores as she heads into the private sector. leaving her mark as a supporter of parent's who want alternatives to classic LAUSD schools that are currently operating in assorted forms.

Kayser would be my choice here since Luis Sanchez is LAUSD Board President Monica Garcia's chief-of-staff.  Garcia was elected to the LAUSD post as Jose Huizar left LAUSD to head on over to the City Council seat in CD-14.  Now remember that CD-14 was represented then by Antonio Villaraigosa who promised to serve the entire council member term  for us here in CD-14, on of many promises that he failed to keep.  That promise to serve out his whole term didn't last too long as we all know the rest of that story.

But Huizar had, as his chief-of-staff, Monica Garcia, and like musical chairs, she moved to take the LAUSD office that Huizar vacated, elected with the weight of Huizar and his benefactor, Antonio Villaraigosa, helping get the votes.

With the sad state of affairs that the LAUSD is in, what with them having shown us huge cost overruns on the many school that are costing way too much and being completed so slowly with one delay after another for many of the more expensively built schools.   The enrollment in LAUSD has been on the decline consistently over the laste decade that there is no longer the numbers of students now as before which created the need for more seats in the first place.

Villaraigosa was now the mayor and he was more interested in LAUSD and making it turn around (yes, he of little relevant experience) than dealing with his mandated responsibility of the city government itself.  But after spending much time, energy and money on the takeover of the school district, and being disappointed in that endeavor by the court's decision that he could not "take over" the District, or even just a little chunk of it, he's finally been able to insert several of his supporter/followers on the Board to have the influence that he wanted.  If Sanchez is elected, it would tilt this power more decisively in Villaraigosa's favor to have Board decisions go the way he and his friends want it to go.  Not a good situation at all for students but then the mayor and crew don't really have that as their main concern.

I think Antonio's got plans to dissassemble the LAUSD from within and all these expensive new schools are being handed over to charters and partnerships, it seems.  I don't think voters would have approved the huge bond measure if they knew the buildings were going to be given away as they have been, and it's not stopping, no, not with the Villaraigosa aligned folks getting their say-so.

At the same time, the city has plunged into financial chaos, as the mayor had somehow put the city business at the lower end of priorites over the years while he manuevered into a position to get into the Obama administration, but Obama was wise to pass over Antonio while taking many of the better staf members to D.C.    Then there was the run for governor. That effort fizzled so badly that his announcement that he was NOT running for governor was of his choice, partly to take care of city business and partly to be a father to his youngest child. 

So the city's floundering and now the attention is back on city government with the budget deficit unimaginably high, and bankruptcy is within reach.  As soon as the July 2009 inauguration was done, Antonion and love interest, Lu Parker of Ch. 5 News, quickly left L.A. for travel to South Africa.  (It was during this time period that the Michael Jackson memorial events happened, using huge numbers of LAPD officers to attend to anticipated crowds by the Staples Center.  I don't think the city ever recovered anything close to what expense it took for all these events to be handled by the police and other city services.

So with all the links to the political machinery of the mayor and cronies like former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, living large while in offices and finding his son on the wrong end of the law with a homicide charge, I think there's more than enough Villaraisgosa-style of influence on the scene to go around for now.

Kayser should get the vote and Luis Sanchez needs to be turned away at the door to keep that Villaraigosa influence from spreading any further.  The track record from Antonio activities just taints all the rest of the picture for me to believe any other of his cohorts will think of students first and not let politics rule their decisions.  Monica Garcia has showed me that problem too many times already, and you know that Sanchez was not chosen for his job as chief-of=staff by disagreeing with her.

Vote for Kayser. And this turnout on May 17th might hit a low of 10 percent of the registered voters who actually will show up to vote and make a difference.   And in  a low-turnout election, anything can happen.  No to Sanchez. Yes to Kayser.