City Council and more gouging of the public at large. This time it's Appeals fees.

At Tuesday's Council meeting, Agenda Item 23, was all about raising more fees and this time for appeals of city planning decisions and the like. Effectively, it would price out many from making appeals, while at the same time, provide a cap on the fees for developers.

The matter was continued to Wednesday (today) and appears now that the action today is to put it on hold for now. It is pending city people doing more work on determining the actual costs involved in doing appeal work and the frequency of appeals, as well as identifying which groups or individuals that make the most use of the current system. It will come back to Council in a few weeks with some reports - and I'm just guessing here- it will be a report used to sell it for approval to get rates kicked up, as that was the plan all along.

Richard Alarcon was among the vigilant on this and it's nice to see him on the public's side for a change. Ed Reyes? Ed is all for the boost, as is, and tries to say "You all voted for it already." Really, the original notice provisions were a potential source of litigation based on the Brown Act's mandatory disclosure requirements that were not met in the prior form.

Shame on you guys- and after THAT (the nature of the proceedings) was made known, the objections to the change came rolling in. Ed was somewhat in awe of the late and mounting numbers of objections received on this- thank the internet and instant communication to rally the people. Sorry, Ed.

Rather than re-hash it all and have a delay putting up this post for another day, you can look over and read Ron Kaye's blog for some descriptions and comments to help sort this out, "Three Years, Five Months, 68 Days ... and Now 24 Hours More To Figure Out Planning Appeal Fees," By Ron Kaye on October 20, 2009 . Our man in CD-1, Ed Reyes, was especially peeved on the ouptpouring of objections that were coming in from the public and, for a welcomed change, from fellow Council members. http://www.ronkayela.com/

There is more on the same topic in Tuesday's postings on Mayor Sam's Sister City blog, http://www.mayorsam.blogspot.com/ with comments, of course. "How Does the City Stop Activists? Price Them Out of Existence! " October 19, 2009.

The current budget woes of the city, above $500 million by some estimates, make them very desperate for collecting money. You already saw the parking meters fees quadruple and there are now extended hours of operation, all leading to more inconvenience to motorists, as if driving was not a job in itself, now parking is a source of more problems. Parking tickets bring in money in this regard, and you know the changes were not accidentally made. No, "Ooops!" here- that was their plan.

And you can expect more schemes to come but the favored unions will continue to benefit and be lightly treated, the other special interests will come out ahead and the lowly city residents will endure more charges imposed by the ones who are supposed to look out for us.

DWP still not finished trying to get more of your money.

The DWP still continues to make the life for the city dweller more expensive and add more feathers to the IBEW bed. Tomorow will be another day for this to be pursued and very possibly another day that the "rate payers" will be forced to carry the burden of the best employee deals in town. Ron Kaye, on his blog, http://www.ronkayela.com/ , has regularly followed the political activities locally, and lately he's been very keen on pointing out some of the goings-on at the DWP.

This union pressure is nothing new but there are many who really did not have any idea of just how MUCH power the union wields. You have Mayor Tony Villaraigosa coming into office and one of the first things he approved, something carrying over from earlier time, was the DWP contract that is better than anything Santa could bring a city worker. The Mayor has always been a union supporter since that's where lots of reliable votes come from. If there was a better source of votes, you would see him courting that entity, and vigorously so.

This is common to all politicians, however. And that's part or maybe the biggest reason that you don't have these folks remembering to work for the city people instead of the UNIONS' interests. It happens especially so with the city council and that's why you hear a lot of tough talk from time to time from the Council members, but then when it comes time to DOING something and voting on something, they waiver and you wind up with what the union sought in the first place, before all the tough talk and show. There may be a little window dressing added to make it look like a good deal for the tax payers, like a few Fridays ago where the city union members spent most of the morning commenting. The result was that there's still huge budget deficit and the hole is getting deeper each day by about a million dollars, according to City Controller Wendy Greuel.

Please look at the postings from today and in the past few days on http://www.ronkayela.com/ - today, "City Hall Blackmail: Fewer Cops at Lower Pay, More DWP Workers at Higher Pay," shows how two different (and outageous) outcomes are unfolding. The continuation of the exercise of power by the DWP, a city agency literally controlled by the union, appears arriving at the reality of having police take a big chunk of the - as the Mayor says- "shared sacrifice," while the DWP gets better pay than they have already. The DWP employees get at least 20% high salary for comparable positions that do other city employees, some positions said to rate at almoest 40 % higher.

I will add here the item of raises. The raises is private sector are usually tied to the cost of living and the profitability the company experiences. The COL has not risen, and many in the priviate business sector are shutting down and laying off employees, but still the DWP looks for raises and has somehow manages to avoid imposition of furloughs, forget about lay offs.

READ Ron Kaye's blog and go back for days and you will get a better picture of the illogical and hypocritical behavior of our elected and appointed officials. The "appointed" ones were "appointed" by the elected ones- and there's lots of political pay-back that decides who gets these appointments. H. David Nahai was getting roughly $330,000.00 as the GM for DWP, appointed by Mayor Villaraigosa to that job.

Now Nahai's quit, but got a consultant contract for essentially the same figure to run to the end of the year. The law allows DWP commissioners to hire Nahai as a "consultant" without any Council or Mayor approval as long as the contract is LESS THAN $150,000. Nahai's pay will come in just under that amount- for simply being available during business hours by phone or fax, to answer questions as the new guy takes over.

And the "new guy" at DWP is David Freeman, who had the job before and should know most of what it's about now- so we wonder just WHAT does all this money pay for? An HOURLY billing with invoices would make sense, but then Nahai would not get all that money. So you wonder just WHY was that deal created- and DEFENDED by the DWP Commission President, a lawyer who you would think could craft a better deal FOR THE PUBLIC, not the quitting-Nahai?

Well, there's more happening, and more to comment on later. Check http://www.ronkayela.com/ and also see the Friday, October 16, 2009 entry, "Bratton and the Conflict of Interest Issue: The Berkow Connection" that's got some comments challenging the views expressed by Ron. It seems that if you have power and are connected, then you get to do whatever you want, and that's the part too many people are willing to accept with a shrug of the shoulders, so things like that continue to happen.

Tomorrow, Saturday, Alumni Meeting at LHS

The Alumni Meeting for October will be held in the Student Cafeteria beginning at 9:30 am tomorrow, Saturday, October 17, 2009

Adam Carolla on KFI-640 AM this morning, Tim Conway on Friday

Adam Carolla, former morning host at the late KLSX-FM 97.1 Talk, is taking the mornng 5 to 9 spot while Bill Handel is out today, Thursday. Picking up where he left off, he's funny, annoying, opinionated, informative, and all the things he was before, but on an on-air powerhouse 50,000-watt station instead of a podcast (which, though less well-known, is still accessible on the internet world-wide, well, maybe not China.).

Tomorrow, Handel is out again, and Tim Conway, Jr. will take over from 5am to 9am to close out the weekday morning drive time. Tim, another former KLSXer, is heard regularly his own show on weekends at KFI in the 4pm to 7pm spot on Saturday and Sunday. Also, check out show #100 for "A pretty good podcast" on iTunes that features his long-time partner, Doug Steckler, with Tim Conway.

Tim is a busy guy with a few other radio gigs going on, too, after the end of FM-Talk radio. http://www.timconwayjr.com/

By the way, another former KLSX team, "Frosty, Heidi and Frank," now have the morning show at KABC-AM 790 for now, weekdays from 9am to 12 noon, as it moves to get younger listeners into the demographics.

Holiday Tomorrow: Columbus Day- What's Closed?

Here's something that may be useful for some of you since the Columbus Day holiday is getting to be one of the less noticed ones nowadays- a list of closures for Monday that I borrowed from the Daily News -

Columbus Day: What's closed, what's not
Updated: 10/09/2009 11:58:27 PM PDT

GOVERNMENT: Federal, state, county and city offices, courts, libraries and animal shelters will be closed.
MAIL: The U.S. Postal Service will not deliver mail.
SCHOOLS: Public schools will be open.
TRANSIT: Buses and subway services in Los Angeles will run on a regular schedule as will Santa Clarita Transit, Antelope Valley Transit and Ventura County's Gold Coast buses and Metrolink trains.
BANKS: Banks will be closed. Stock markets will be open but government bond markets and some commodities markets will be closed.
TRASH: Trash will be picked up on a regular schedule in Los Angeles, Burbank and Glendale.
STORES: Malls and supermarkets will be open.

Associate Justice Carlos Moreno in the L.A. Times.

Here's a story that was in the time almost two weeks back about a 1966 grad, Carlos Moreno, who is now an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court. Before that, he was a judge in the federal District Court in Los Angeles after spending time on the bench as a judge of the California Superior Court. I mentioned Ruben Brooks a couple of weeks ago, another Lincoln grad from 1967, and the "Summer" class, if you must be picky- but those distinctions really matter to the old school purists- and Ruben was the Student Body Pres, which I believe was similarly a student office held by Justice Moreno; possibly it was "Class President," but either way, it was something to all back then.

So Magistrate Brooks has been presiding for years over cases in San Diego in the Southern District of California, in the U.S. District Court system. Ruben did get a head start as a U.S. employee when we were among the many seniors working at the Terminal Annex Post Office part-time. Yes, "Sub-Postal Assistants." I don't think the union people liked it much, but it served many purposes for us all that final year at Lincoln, financial being the primary one that I recall.

So I reach back into the past for this story that you may have read on that Saturday morning, but I think that the readership of the L.A. Times has fallen off so much that maybe it was missed by most. I have to remind everyone that there are Lincoln success stories, and you usually only hear the bad things that people more easily bring up, and more vigor, as well. So here is that opportunity given back to you to see the story, "Carlos Moreno, California high court justice, is raising his profile," By Maura Dolan, September 26, 2009. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-moreno26-2009sep26,0,2480141,full.story

The story just is a very mild but insightful look into what's going on these days with Justice Moreno. You might recall that he was on the short list for appointment with
the opening arising on the U.S. Supreme Court. In such things there's always more than meets the eye going on. There was more pressure on the Obama administration to appoint a woman and if that woman was also a Latina, well, what do you think? It would be hard to pass over that situation. Here is where Associate Justice Sotomayor came into the picture and after a lot of fuss that resulted in nothing but a little backpedallng and reconsiderations of characterizations and circumstances, the mini-storm passed and she was finally confirmed and is now serving on the U. S. Supreme Court.

Well, there was only one spot open and even to be considered is an achievement, but the story goes through a little more background that maybe might have caused some lawmakers and others some concerns, all from a political perspective, of course.

Read the story, consider the era that he and that we came from and then think about what we can do to make current young people educated enough to be aware of such opportunities AND to become better products of the LAUSD. It may be a mix of instilling motivation and resolving individual obstacles for students that will turn the tide. The LAUSD has been operated by its Board for years to make time in LAUSD schools more of a disservice to many students, though not all, but definitely more than our generation saw.

Even with the conditions that generated the Eastside Walkouts, aka Blowouts, we still were relatively more prepared than are students now. It's all my opinion, but from the time teaching at LHS, starting with experiencing the low level of importance respect that many students show teachers and administrators, it's an uphill battle for all concerned to see that many will be able to head on s successful path without getting some academic equivalent of shoring-up their skills later on.

Lincoln High hosts OPEN HOUSE tonight-10-6-09

It's that time again at Lincoln High, "Open House." At this time in the school year it's usually termed a "Back to School" or other such named event, but the very direct and inviting label, "Open House," is the choice. It's this evening, THURSDAY, 10-8-00, from 5 pm to 7 pm. The LHS web site states it clearly,

"Be sure to come out for Lincoln's Open House. See great displays of
student work, including exhibits, demonstrations, student performances, and
more!"

Parents should have received the information on this already, but sometimes students don't pass along the news to their families. So, if you have a child there at Lincoln, visit and see what things are happening, and find out what you might to help your student be more successful in high school.

Communty members should also take the opportunity to visit and see what's there for your neighborhood young people's education each day. You probably will see people you know anyway. Check the exhibits and size up things for yourself. Community interest for better workings with our schools would be helped by small steps taken like a visit here - and YOU can see how far Lincoln High has come in making improvement in the "people friendly" experience department- one of the weak areas of most presentations over the years.

There are a lot of reasons to show up for these things. Too often there are parents who miss out on opportunities, for one reason or another, from learning more to help with the school experience for their children. It's a very important time in their lives. Consider that it's only a few hours and making the effort shows your children that you do care what is going on in their lives, something that not everyone manages to show, but it's an important thing to all.

LHS Reunion Time this Friday for 60's classes and friends- AND 1962 musical flashbacks

There's a reunion that is set for this Friday evening for those classes of the 60's, centered around the Class of 1964, with committee representatives from several other Classes. The location is the Marriott Hotel in Norwalk just off the I-5 freeway in the area by the Superior Court and the multiplex theaters (Norwalk Blvd. off ramp).

See the information in the Reunions sidebar for more details and tickets. It should be a good time for the 60's classes who can reflect back on all that time of protest, social unrest and the Vietnam War that colored the era, as well as put together their recollections of those times that have changed with Lincoln High's environment right there with the changes.


Now, for the old music part. Here's a bit of music history from L.A Radio.com, http://www.laradio.com/ from yesterday, going back to October 5, 1962:

"On the radio, we’re listening to Sherry, Monster Mash, Ramblin’ Rose, I Remember You, and Venus In Blue Jeans. On television, we’re watching Rawhide, Route 66, The Flintstones, 77 Sunset Strip, and Sing Along With Mitch."

"Sherry" was one of a string of popular songs from the Four Seasons, featuring Frankie Valli and that signature falsetto that gave you the huge clue as to the artist. The songs sounded so similar to each other but probably because of their style. All these songs were very recognizable. Some of Frankie Valli's later songs as a solo artist were "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You," and "My Eyes Adored You," all in the same romantic ballad style, and those songs are old now, too. If you remember all those, then you have to be pretty old.

"Monster Mash" by the late Bobby Boris Pickett was a NEW song then, and you hear it every single year around Halloween- and it's that time again. Expect to see Elvira around, too.

"Ramblin Rose" was a hit for Nat King Cole- younger readers not familiar with the name might be more knowledgeable of the name, Natalie Cole, who is his daughter and a singer in her own right with a famous "Unforgettable" duet and video with her late father. A YouTube 1992 example of that is here,
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-1GVKbhYrcGM/natalie_nat_king_cole_unforgettable_1992_the_unforgettable_concert/

That song, "I Remember You" was a country style song and and old one and I find Frank Ifield dong that one in 1962, with a clip from t.v.'s Midnight Special hosted by Andy Kaufman introducing Slim Whitman who sounds very close to the first version. But try the Diana Krall version on YouTube, in photo collage style, very updated and not much of a hint of country there anymore, but still it's close to the original oldie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP6-7cI5VRw&feature=related


"Venus in Blue Jeans," done by Jimmy Clanton (You don't remember this one? This might help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X0zYBNe-1E&feature=related )
The sound was all in the pre-British Invasion style. It had a little more of an orchestral sound thrown in and there you have it. The time for this music happening was also overlapping the Doo-Wop period of popularity that was everywhere since you really didn't need instruments, just voices. I associated Nightingale Jr. High with most all of this music.

Jimmy Clanton might be remembered for another song from times, a little more upbeat than "Venus in Blue Jeans" and that was, "Go Jimmy Go." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wNe_NP0voY&feature=related All the videos here are collages of photos and album covers- notice the hair styles shown.

Hairstyles? Whenever I brought out old Lincolnian Yearbooks from "back in the day" at Lincoln (the 60's era) my students ALWAYS noticed the hair styles as being so "different" from "now," yet most students at the time tried to blend in with everyone else so you had "the style" established for students. Not for all, but most. There is a sort of goal for students, for high school students especially, to get through the day without being singled out for anything, or anything bad, at least. There's conformity always there to something, usually to each other.

And now, if you can remember those old t.v. shows named above you definitely are old- and these still were all done in black and white for black and white televisions and their sort of small screens and big cabinets, then the furniture style, too. I don't think there was even a choice for color t.v. sets available yet.

Now, the modern times bring us iPods and things to watch big movies on super tiny screens. That's progress.

The DWP deal and Nahai is not the worst of it for the public

When you think of how well politicians treat each other in sending them off with financial rewards that are better than working, you might become bothered, even angry. Well, that's justified since all that money is coming out of taxpayers (and "rate payers" in the language of DWP) so those passing out the money don't ever feel the pain personally and probably even enjoy being in the Santa Claus role to give such gifts.

What's happening with Nahai and the DWP is a small part of the real costs to city residents in the view of Ron Kaye, expressed in his blog, http://www.ronkayela.com/ today,
"Who's on First, What's on Second -- The City Hall Comedy Show," By Ron Kaye on October 6, 2009. Here's on part of the posting today that might clue you in a little more,

Anyway, the payoff for failure to Nahai is a pittance compared to the millions
of dollars the DWP commission will soon be giving away to its 8,500 workers.

They are about to get a 2 percent cost-of-Living raise although the
cost of living in LA actually fell 1.7 percent in the last year. Throw in the
likelihood of a lump sum payment as well and guarantees of 2 to 4 percent raises
for the next four years and you're talking big money.

Reading the postings that Ron has put onto his blog over time will put things into a sharper focus on who actually should be included in the assortment of culprits making the various problems for the city.

The posting in the blog yesterday, "Bruno, LA's Watchdog: We Won't Get Fooled Again," by Ron Kaye, October 5, 2009, examines a little more of the situation with David Nahai's departure and some related activities of the players, all told in the character of Bruno, Ron's dog. http://ronkayela.com/2009/10/bruno-las-watchdog-we-wont-get.html

Well, there's more to come, as usual for all these things, and water mains are still bursting with an unusual frequency, but no one know why- and that's one of the things that council members did not like to hear from Nahai, which was not really the worst part of his management. Nobody really know why that's happening but you know money was not put into modernizing or maintaining the systems that could have happened if the City's General Fund had not been siphoning off lots of the money collected over the years.

Nahai steps down, but hired as "consultant," at same pay? How much sense does that make?

DWP is planning to get Nahai back on board as a consultant after he resigned last week as General Manager, and he's going to be getting about the same pay, according to the latest news on the situation.

How wacky is that? And it's all paid for by the "rate payers," in other words, people who use water and electricity in the city. So over $300,000.00 per year was the GM's salary for full time work. Now, the same pay and only as a "consultant" AND he's going to be keeping his new job with the Bill Clinton organization. Does the phrase, "double dipping" ring a bell? No way Nahai is doing work every hour of every work day, and STILL get paid for the gig with Clinton.

A good idea I heard is pay Nahai HOURLY, with documentation to support the billings. This would pay Nahai for ACTUAL work done and would be a much better deal for rate payers. Does anyone in these offices ever happen to think about the benefit to the rate payers FIRST and not creating goldmines for outgoing pals? There is so much that doesnt' sound right on this deal, like so many DWP items of the past.

There is a question of the need for Nahai to remain. This "need" may come from NOT training anyone to step up to handle the job in the event (as here) that Nahai would leave. So you can bet that this resignation and following events was not a sudden decision by Nahai.

Another point here to add in to the mix is that David Freeman, the planned temporary replacement for Nahai, was in the position HIMSELF as a DWP General Manager. So, he SHOULD have some idea of what to do- and if they all don't have enough ability to do the job, they should get a reduced pay rate instead of everyone in sight being able to draw a paycheck at top dollar and DWP is not up to speed yet.

It almost sounds like some kind of a joke: "How many top-paid people does it take to perform the duties of one General Manager?"" Like most things handled by City Council and Mayor Tony, the joke is on us. Not a good time to be shovelling cash out the door but the tradition with DWP operations makes that a hard habit to break.

The L.A. TIMES story reports "Outgoing DWP chief Nahai would keep full salary as consultant under proposal," Oct. 5, 2009 by David Zahniser, reporter, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/outgoing-dwp-executive-nahai-would-keep-full-salary-as-consultant-under-proposal-.html

"DWP commission President Lee Kanon Alpert said he personally asked Nahai to stay on as a consultant, saying such agreements are normal when an agency’s executives are in transition."

“'There’s nothing nefarious about it, nothing complex about it. This is a reasonable business decision, nothing more than that,' Alpert said. 'David’s resigned, and we need his institutional knowledge for the next few months.'"

Mayor Sam's blog calls it, "Proposed Consulting Gig at Full Salary for Out-going DWP GM H. David Nahai."
http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/ The news has provoked a lot of comments, and as usual, some people are taking the side that this is not unusual.

More on this later- tomorrow, the DWP Commission will vote to approve this-

These are the persons that decide all this for you (Commissioners’ Page)

The AGENDA for Tuesday’s SPECIAL MEETING - 12:30pm, 10-6-09
BOYLE HEIGHTS TECHNOLOGY YOUTH CENTER
1600 E. 4th STREET
LOS ANGELES, CA 90033

DWP Chief David Nahai Resigns.... it was inevitable.

David Nahai, the General Manager of the LADWP, has resigned to head for other endeavors. (Photo at right from DWP -Public Meeting [another one of little actual value] earlier this week- not appearing to be a happy camper.)

"Head of L.A.’s water and power utility steps down,"
October 2, 2009 from THE L.A. TIMES, "L.A. NOW" online blog, by Phil Willon and David Zahniser at L.A. City Hall.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/head-of-las-water-and-power-agency-steps-down.html

Nahai submitted a resignation letter that is four pages long and notes what his successes were, but the real problem is that he was put into DWP by Mayor Villaraigosa to do what would help the Mayor, not necessarily the public. Failing to see victory for the fraudulently promoted Solar Measure B at the polls, Nahai earned a big negative mark for that defeat and the rest of the problems continued to snowball. The recent times have shown problems with the rates at DWP and the costs to have employees work there compared to other city departments. The other problem was that the money generated by DWP was shifted off to go to the general fund of the city.

And then the water conservation program was not a joy to have applied if you live in the city. Add to this mix the unusual and serious problems of unusually frequent numbers of water mains breaking, and there's just not a good word to be said about DWP and in turn, it's GM, Nahai.

Villaraigosa selected Nahai for the job and now he's putting in David Freeman in place on a temporary basis until a new appointment can be decided upon. The job pays over $300,000.00 a year and Nahai was close to the upper limit of the pay range.

DWP has a lot of examples of what's wrong with government and with so much money sent over to the city general fund instead of improving the infrastructure. We see a city that cannot handle the current load, not to mention an unlikely prospect of meeting the needs of the super-growth that the Mayor and friends wants to push. This goes for most services in the city, including police and fire services.

With the exit of Nahai, don't expect there to be any changes to help the rest of us regular people. They still have lots of problems and there's a plan in progress that is a disguised Solar Measure B that was threatened to be pursued if it did not get approved at the polls. I am sure that's not all that is planned to cost residents and busnesses more in bills and less in quality of service.

Here's an LA Weekly story from December 2007 when Nahai was just installed, "Can David Nahai Keep the Lights On? L.A.’s man to watch in 2008. Talking water and power and history with the city’s new DWP head." Judith Lewis, published on December 27, 2007.
http://www.laweekly.com/2007-12-27/news/can-david-nahai-keep-the-lights-on/

BEST OF ALL the stories FOR LAST:

If you don't know much about the picture that Nahai was a part of, read a column by Ron Kaye to get the idea- and this was back in June 2008-
"Uncritically observed: David Nahai, the man who walks on water -- and power," By Ron Kaye on June 24, 2008, in http://www.ronkayela.com/
http://ronkayela.com/2008/06/every-story-needs-a-villain.html

And, like I said, it was inevitable that Nahai would have to go, and the time finally came, while the problems remain and increase.

11th Annual Eagle Rock Music Festival- Saturday 4pm to Midnight

This Saturday is the day for the annual event in Eagle Rock where Colorado Blvd. is shut down for the evening and turned into a sea of musical acts and other attractions. There will be over 40 bands and some say the count is up to 60.

The parking is bad if you want to park close, but Eagle Rock Plaza at Colorado Blvd. and the 2 (Glendale) Fwy. will have their parking lot available for parking and a free shuttle will deliver people to the site about a half mile down Colorado Blvd. You can park elsewhere but you may have several blocks to walk.

It's all free to the public and there are a many places on the web to see the program listings.

I like Kotolan at the Rantz Auto site, with latin jazz later in the evening- their singer is from Japan but knows Spanish fluently as well as singing very well- See You Tube for samples.

The Eagle Rock Latin Jazz Band will be there somewhere and after the ones playing at Columbo's inside and out, I really find it's just another generational gap that's not that easy to bridge.

It should be well attended and the weather looks good.

http://www.centerartseaglerock.org/index.php/music_festival poster.

introducing singer and group- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mViZQNxrmkg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2AichaXoz8 with a song of mixed origin

Garfield High May Be Headed to a Takeover- Lincoln High, Too. Time for a Charter School?

The Saturday edition of the L.A. Times story by their education reporter, Howard Blume, was pretty gloomy in terms of the depths of inadequate performance that LAUSD school have sunk over the years, especially on the Eastside. “Garfield High is eligible for takeover; Control of the East L.A. school, setting for 'Stand and Deliver,' could shift because of its low academic standing.” By Howard Blume, September 26, 2009, http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lausd26-2009sep26,0,3974782,full.story

Besides a Garfield takeover, as the title points out, Lincoln High is right there with the same eligibility, too. LHS has also failed to improve enough to climb out of the public school version of a death spiral under the “No Child Left Behind” federal mandate. When a school fails to make its goal according to the test results, it causes the school to make the "PI" category, "Performance Improvement." When the school attains three consecutive years of being in the PI classification, the state can take it over from the LAUSD.

So besides trying to move ahead, there's this negative element of attaining a PI rating that a school wants to avoid. If there is any year that the scores meet the minimum levels of performance, the school gets to start over fresh with a zero years of PI accumulation. The school still is not necessarily doing great, but in terms of take-over, there’s that fresh start to give it a reprieve from the prospects that we see now.

At the moment, I don’t see the state rushing in to do anything at all the schools, maybe they will put things in process with a long timetable to run before any actual changes to the school arrangement actually happens. The State of California has a lot on it’s plate right now without trying to squeeze in direct management of any more schools. You will note that the State budget is fouled up, late, vouchers issued in lieu of real money and furlough in place for state workers, along with various other cutbacks happening and more planned. Taking on the LAUSD schools to improve would probably just make the outcomes worse, considering current circumstance. In fact, school issues were supposed to be handled by the state legislators, but so many of them headed out on vacations, or trips to study methods as they like to say- or, “junkets” as I prefer to call it- that that effort had to be put on hold until more are present.

My prediction about how things were headed at Lincoln became more certain to happen after seeing the results of the testing that was released two weeks ago. The news now reported in the L.A. Times this week came as the expected consequence of the problems. The story on the LAUSD school test scores, as the L.A. Daily News reported it, was, “Some LAUSD schools score higher on state test," by Connie Llanos, Staff Writer, Updated: 09/15/2009 09:41:34 AM PDT.”

The L.A. Times story on this had a link to the test results and Lincoln High made "Program Improvement" status with 5 years shown. With only 3 years in PI status, you can expect some things to be shaken up because of the exposure to the state take over. When I was teaching at Lincoln, just before that string of bad test results and the PI condition began, LHS had “met goals” and had some satisfactory test scores that pulled Lincoln out of the “P.I.” category one year, avoiding the 3-year condition of jeopardy, and starting the clock all over again.

Changing Lincoln High’s operations, possibly to a charter school, was something I thought was a real possibility after seeing Birmingham High and Locke High go the charter school route. This is where Lincoln will wind up, sooner or later, as the performance deficits cannot be allowed to continue on this way.

The Board of Education already determined that in the coming years, charter school proposals would be considered for up to 250 schools, many of them new or not even completed yet. Charters have usually been able to improve performance at schools that had poor results in earlier years. “Subtle signs of a turnaround on a troubled L.A. campus; Green Dot faced much skepticism when it took over Locke High last year. There's still a long way to go, but most students say they're safer and are learning more. ” L.A. Times, By Howard Blume, June 24, 2009. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/24/local/me-locke24

The change made over to the SLC’s or Small Learning Communities was one of the LAUSD’s attempts to improve education. Maybe it will work under certain conditions, but there is too much that LAUSD and Lincoln still don’t do that make a difference in the degree of improvement of the learning environment and the performance as shown by the test scores. Out of a 1000 maximum rating, the 800 level is set as meeting goals, but with scores consistently being below that mark, a serious problem persists.

Here is a short list of what I think could be changed to help performance- and these sure couldn’t make it any worse-

1. Prohibit student usage of cell phones and other electronic devices between 8am and 3pm- with the possible exception of lunch break, and maybe nutrition, too. The achievement of a productive academic environment suffers from unneeded and regular distractions occurring in an already short time available for learning.

2. In lieu of attempting to enforce a dress code (and that seems to be some sort of “sacred cow”- the majority of adults at Lincoln ever did much to try to enforce a student dress code, from the top management at LAUSD, and downward), make a changeover to a requirement of school uniforms. That will help remove a lot of distractions related to dress that damage the educational process. It will probably work to save money for families while building a school wardrobe.

3. A plan should be followed to implement instruction in general and common courtesy that many students and some adults appear to lack, and apply the practices in an ongoing fashion during the school day.

4. A similar but separate plan should be created to show students some alternatives in verbal usage of profanity in the classroom environment, begun immediately, and then continue to improve the language improvement in the public areas of the school grounds as a separate goal.

5. Adopt consequences for non-compliance that match severity to the levels of violations, as well as make changes so that continued violations or breaches by students will progress in severity of consequences; include parents and guardians as part of any corrective action.


O.K., all of this sounds very serious and hard to do, but look at what’s there now and how it got there. The idea, remember, is not to punish or show anyone up, but to create an educational environment and demonstrate that intent on a consistent basis. This will allow for an ENVIRONMENT for learning to be maintained regularly.

In my time teaching at Lincoln, the dress code and any language issues were left on a low priority and there were some unsuitable situations that resulted in the system at that time that had an impact on the academic enviornment. Usually, you want to handle discipline problems in the classroom on a "local level," meaning, "in" the classroom. The term used is classroom management and everyone uses a little different approach to similar conditions. When a problem begins to infringe on the entire class time without any sign of an immediate resolution, you get to a point that you have to move the student out of the classroom or lose more classroom time for the rest of the students. If I sent anyone to the office for whatever level of defiance or behavior that was disrupting the class beyond any margin of acceptability (and that’s subjective, of course), there usually was a one-day suspension of the student, a “one-size fits all” approach.

It was overkill, but there was little alternative to this at the time and a school wide approach to these conditions was not established to offer an appropriate and practical substitute for this outcome. There was no “detention” system in place to cover the “in-between” levels of student’s behavior problems, so the remedy applied for the behavior was only successful in getting the student removed from school for a day or two. This was going in the wrong direction and missing more school days did not bother some students. They often were becoming more and more lost in relation to what the class was studying. That was just the way it was, with little coordination of any sort between the administration and the teachers regarding disciplinary approaches or better solutions.

The overkill action of “suspension” for many of these incidents was not productive for the student, making him or her fall more behind in class work, more hostile to the system and accepting of the idea that this is the way life is for that student, and not being part of the class. It reinforced the negatives by causing students to become more detached from lessons by applying suspensions, where a study hall or detention session, as an alternative to this, could be a used to try to do work, and at least stay on campus for more time instead of being out of school longer.

There’s more to all this and this is just the brief summary of the situation brought to mind by the L.A. Times story. I have a lot more experiences with students and adults that contribute to the conclusions that I make on the subject, and will discuss that at another time, but I think you get the idea.

I will also leave out for now the comparisons to private schools, most numerously including the “Catholic Schools,” and how they usually out-perform public schools and why that’s expected. I know there are some of you who have other views but we are talking about getting needed improvement that, so far, has come either not at all or at snail’s pace, and you can see it’s not working.

Greig Smith admits not following DWP water rules he voted for.

Fresh news, more of the same City Hall antics, this time from CM GRIEG SMITH.

“Councilman defies limits on watering-
DROUGHT: Smith says he tailors rules to better suit his lawn, still conserves.” Daily News, By Rick Orlov, Staff Writer Updated: 09/23/2009 11:10:17 PM PDT http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_13406976?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com

(Mayor Sam’s blog also commenting today on this story and more city items. http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/ )

An L.A. City CM doesn’t follow rules he votes for? What else is new? But in this case, he’s publicly stated this. Didn’t I just mention “dumb crooks” confessing on Oprah? Well, his non-compliance will not be getting any visit by the DWP Drought-busters according to the story- UNLESS an inspector happens to be driving by to see the violation. Don’t count on that coincidence happening if anyone wants to keep their job record clean.

GREIG SMITH'S April 2009 newletter on "DWP WATER RATE INFORMATION", starts out with, "We have consistently worked for more transparency and accountability from the DWP." Well, we might expect that from the Council members, too, especially from CD-12's Greig Smith, himself. Time sure seems to affect their memories and commitments. http://cd12.lacity.org/cd12homepage/cd12cd12homepage256559728_05022009.pdf


You know that WATERING BY A HAND-HELD HOSE is allowable any day but just not between 9am and 4pm. I assume good old GREIG SMITH is kicking in the sprinkler system to water the lawn and not being the hose-jockey, even for the few minutes that it seems to be needed, according to him. What? He's too important to hold a hose and STAY COMPLIANT with the DWP rules? You bet.

IF he wanted to comply he could do THAT and all would do fine AND he'd be following the rules. But WHY should he feel so obliged to do so when THESE Council Members feel completely insulated from the rest of the public, aided in that view by $178,00-plus salaries, 20 member allotted staff, 8 assigned cars and all the power they manage to wield so ineptly.

Greig is like the other CMs, getting city-paid cars, not all fuel-misers, and, again why not? They also get their gas paid for by the city so they have no inkling of the going rate for gas like common folks notice. There's more but this story highlights their multi-level applications of arrogance that they don't even notice since it's so much a part of them.
And typical of DWP- they won't change rules, even IF IT MAKES SENSE- because of all the work they took to get out present rules. Are they kidding? No. They will follow a bad arrangement because, you know, that's what it is. Like mice in the exercise wheel, they just do it.

But they can find money to hire outside PR firms, done in the past, when, as a utility, they are A MONOPOLY. They even had in-house people to do the job, but they got outside people to pay and then you wonder what other waste, fraud and abuse happens there. They have no competition that can away their business. Lucky for them. Does anyone in City government make any sense?

”There is no accountability for failure.” I heard that recently in some discussion about a book topic regarding government’s lousy performance. It’s true- and you can apply it to most agencies. Do the deed and be secure in the idea that nothing will happen to you because nothing happens to the person responsible. Why? Just for the simple fact that “no one is ever considered ‘responsible.’”

Greig is just one of many or, really, all, on the City Council who appear to live in a parallel universe with its own rules.

LAUSD LIMITS PUBLIC COMMENT at Meetings- another step backwards.

This is not a breaking story, already a week old, but I don't think everyone gets all the news all the time and there's so much there that hidden in plain sight because no one is looking. Well, here is the LAUSD Board of Education coming up with some idea that is supposed to be a solution for their own management of affairs. When there is something that the public wants to speak out on, you will have to come in under the limit set for speakers or you don't get to talk.

None of this has anything to do with merit or obtaining the information needed to help the Board make any reasonable decisions- you already see this is not anywhere near reasonable.

Who is behind this move? According to the story, none other than the Board President, re-elected this year to another term and installed again as President to come up with such examples of wacky leadership like this move. The result of this move will be to have a possiblity, depending on the numbers desiring to speak at any particular meeting, that people will be barred from addressing their concerns to the Board.

It's very astounding to see college educated people who are supposed to serve the people in these posts, to craft a way to stiffle public comment. Monica Garcia is usually the one outspoken on most things- not that it corresponds with sensibility as here, but she usually says more than is prudent in any situation, revealing more and more of her completely politicizing this office and Board. During the time in office, Garcia's done things in a style that is not even close to any verson of diplomacy or tactfulness, and often it approaches simply brash or crude poorly executed thought processes. The termination of Admiral Brewer is the glaring example of this path.

Garcia is part of the Villaraigosa team, having come to power by being successor to Council Member JOSE HUIZAR's seat. Garcia was his chief staffer while at LAUSD and was annointed by Villaraigosa as the one they put their money on to win. The second term was met with- or rather, not met by anyone- there was no opponent for Garcia to face in the election this past March. That's the way it is with most of the offices locally and on up. The money gets produced from special interests and the candidate essentially has some reciprocity expected upon winning the office. Challenger with little cash to lubricate their campaign activity usually wind up shut out, as seen with the grassroot candidates in the last election held, that for CD-2.

But the practical effect is to isolate these decision-makers from the public- or more and more- their critics. Garcia, while appearing initially to be the champion "of the people" and the "downtroddent" now made a role-turnaround and becomes the grinch that stole Christmas, severely limiting the public's opportunity and right to address their elected officials on legitimate and other business, depending on how you interpret Board activity.

But lay it all on being a matter of money, I see, from the comments in the story referenced above. Yes, blame it on outside forces- we really know you are looking out for the students and really don't need interference from anyone outside, even if they happen to be parents or any others with a concern over issues you are deciding.


This is all the result of the public's lack of interest and outright apathy in checking out who is running the show at any number of level in government and relying on the slick campaign brochures that show up in their mailboxes at election time. You know all that has got to be true, right? Politicians would not lie to you, would they? This is a condition that is conducive to the unfortunate conditions that we have.

I guess I have not gotten into the LAUSD topics for a while although I have been keeping track of lots of things that may be news to anyone reading these posts. Really, it's not any confidential information and my sources usually are the same ones anyone else has equal ability to access. But I will continue to share what I find just to let you in on the big scene, a little at a time. Lots of waste, lots of misdirected energy and, of course, a lot of plans that won't work and that are already stale by the time that they begin to be implemented. Who loses? The students first, and all that they could be makes the rest of us losers, too. But in a couple of years, all the LAUSD people move on, get bigger offices, and all their part in fouling this up becomes lost to the memories of everyone.

LAUSD makes a rule change to cut down on time for the public to comment and cause them more headaches. Here's the story-

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_13403511 the story.

An LHS Alum in San Diego handling some dumb crooks

Did you hear the story about the couple that appeared on the Dr. Phil television show and bragged about shoplifting toys and other merchandise and selling the loot on E-Bay? "Grand jury indicts couple who bragged about shoplifting," story by Tony Perry, L.A. Times, September 20, 2009.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-shoplift20-2009sep20,0,2554762.story


Well, going on the show was probably the first bad move, but making what amounts to a confession on national television was the biggie. See Dr. Phil's website featuring all the story, "Shoplifting Confessions," http://www.drphil.com/slideshows/slideshow/4784/?id=4784&showID=1171


Now the couple were later identified and charged with a crime in the District Court in San Diego.
"Not guilty plea from couple who admitted to shoplifting on 'Dr. Phil' "- Posted: Sep 14, 2009 7:18 AM PDT http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=11125469

The man behind the bench who heard this part of the case is Hon. Ruben Brooks, Magistrate in the Southern District Court in San Diego, one of the Lincoln alumni from Summer 1967- actually, he was the Student Body President if my memory serves me correctly. 42 years away from the Lincoln High days, and possibly the only thing that might shock him now would be the paint job that Lincoln has been saddled with for about 7 or so years and is still there. (That's color choice is one of the first comments made to me whenever I mention being from Lincoln).

But Mr. Brooks has been in San Diego for many years now and what we all remember from back in our time at Lincoln High School are entirely different from what's happening now with LAUSD. Nice to see some familiar names in the news- and on the right side of the bench, too.

CD-2 Election goes to December Run-off for this 12% total turnout

The results are in for CD-2 and the worst candidates got the most votes which turned a bad possibility into an even worse reality.

Who voted? It was a TOTAL of 14,525 -- That's just 11.84% of 123,750 REGISTERED VOTERS of CD-2. And more than HALF of that was from people MAILING IN ABSENTEE Ballots.

Paul Krekorian, fresh from participating in creating the State budget chaos in Sacramento, got the most votes. CHRISTINE ESSEL, simply an agent of Antonio Villaraigosa, running for the CD-2 office for what reason? Because "it's the only spot open" for a new CM. She really doesn't live in the area but has an apartment rented to cover that.

Larry "Nativo" Lopez, Latino activist, was charged with a voter fraud crime for registering in Boyle Heights but really living in Orange County. But I don't think he rented any place for a real address to claim in the district.
"Immigrant-rights activist to fight voter fraud charges
No plea deal reached between defense and prosecutors, attorney says." By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ , The Orange County Register, 9-22-09. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lopez-charges-county-2576763-orange-prosecutors A deal was in the making on that case but fell through in a dispute over whether the charge will be a felony or a misdemeanor, so it's now headed for trial.

Chris Essel, on the other hand, has lots of money and DID have a place to call home in CD-2. It's strange that the WORST candidates, tools of the special interests, had the most money to spend on the campaigns- or maybe that's not so strange an outcome. MONEY does wonders, and that's more and more the case shown in politics. Krekorian also came in to the district to run for the office.

IT'S ALL TO BE SETTLED IN A DEC. 8th RUN-OFF election. FOR pretty good commentary on how it all came out yesterday and some ideas of "why," along with some thoughts about what the people need to do to get back control of these offices from bad candidates, see Ron Kaye's blog today, http://www.ronkayela.com/ "City Hall's Win-Win Strategy Wins in CD2 -- Who's to Blame?" by Ron Kaye, September 23, 2009.

My favorite, David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg, along with most of the "grassroots" candidates did not get anywhere close to the votes expected. Even Tamar Galatzin, the third "Machine" candidate came out with a much lower percentage of voters than either Essel or Krekorian. Half of the votes were mail in absentee ballots and those were sent out weeks ago. So if these voters did not hear the word from anyone other than Essel and Krekorian, both making use of mailers to drive their story home early in the campaign, then that was a seriously missed opportunity.

Pretty sad but then it's the voters who did not vote that let this election happen like it did: 12 % voted, so that means 88% did NOT vote. More than SEVEN times the number of voters who cast ballots stayed completely silent at the polls, the election could-hypothetically speaking- have come out with ALL grassroots candidates EACH getting more than the total votes cast in this election.

No one got more than 50% of the votes cast, so the run-off in December is required to settle it- NEITHER of the two TOP vote-getters received MORE than a number equal to 6% of all the voters registered in the district. So these things can do a complete flip in results, depending on how many people come out to vote. The voters are there- AND in relatively HUGE proportions. So HOW DO YOU GET THEIR VOTES?

2011 will bring you another district-wide Council election in the EVEN-numbered districts and I hope a good answer is found by then.

Election Day in CD-2- News -Vote Zuma Dogg/ David Saltsburg; Media Ignores City Hall- as usual

VOTE for David Saltsburg. He's running for CD-2 to shift power away from special interests.

Today, until 8 pm, CD-2 registered voters will trickle to the polls for a SPECIAL ELECTION and vote for a Los Angeles City Council Member for this district that is mostly in the San Fernando Valley from the 405 Freeway and meandering to Sunland-Tujunga. Wendy Greuel, up until she was sworn into her new office as City Controller 2 months ago was their Council Member. There are a few years of unexpired time remaining for that term.

If you rely on television for news, there's a good chance you don't know anything about the election, that it's today, that there are 10 candidates running or that 3 of these are "the Machine" candidates, having well-financed campaign, running against 7 "grassroots" under-financed campaigns.

If you think, "CD-2, What's that? Who Cares?" then you are doing well to fall into the chasm that keeps the same types of rotten politician in office. CD-2 has a population equal to many name-cities. It is one of 15 Council Districts in the City. Voter apathy is what we have for most city elections, as only 18% of the registered city voters came out to vote for Mayor and the odd-numbered CDs, 7 of them. The city council members decide L.A. life. Another bad choice keeps this club to do that, unimpeded.

As L..A. is run, the rest of the Southern California is affected. The fallout will eventually spread over to impact other cities and policies set in L.A. WILL wind up impacting other places. If you say I live in CD-14 so I have my own problems- and we do- we don't want another bad player in the game to strengthen the choke hold the Council puts on the constituents. Same as CD-1 with Ed Reyes and his DENSIFICATION to make every housing a packed deal, more congestion- and no infrastructure attention FIRST. Broken water mains? Just a start of what to expect by bad mangement of the City.

The CMs keep there jobs through voters being both apathetic and ignorant. The lack of City Hall news coverage on television or newspapers on the elections (at time for any given city election) contributes to this condition. Most incumbents welcome this low-profile situation at election time, being able to control information better when they send out waves of slick campaign brochures in the mail to residents to convince them that all is well and will continue to be well with things as long as you re-elect them.

Most of the city's current financial mess, with the current budget over $450 million in the hole, and recent arrangements keep certain union employees safer from layoffs than other who, coincidentally don't supply elected officials with the all-important campaign contributons that get attention. The Engineers and Architects Assn. is one union that's getting about 27 days of furlough, being on the outs with last week's City and unions "deal" - and tell me, how that's really gonig to work when most of the favored unions will be protected from layoffs and others get early retirement deals to be paid but not work?

Is a CD job a good one? Just look at how hard the CMs go to protect these jobs. See the L.A. Weekly's February story just before the March 2009 elections,
"Los Angeles on $300,000 a year Why next week's City Council "coronation" will cost you far more than money," By Patrick Range McDonald -Published on February 25, 2009 -
http://www.laweekly.com/2009-02-26/news/los-angeles-on-300-000-a-year/

Yes, lots of money is nice to have, and the other thing is the power. You will see that L.A. draws people back to the city politics like with Richard Alarcon, a former state assemblyman who makes a career manipulating power, and CM Wesson, another of the refugees who left Sacramento for a better payday in L.A. by choice or because there were termed out.

Without going much more into the problems, you can see a list of items showing a badly run city in Mayor Sam's blog covering mostly local politics
http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/

Ron Kaye, former editor of the L.A. Daily News based in the San Fernando Valley, supplies some through and critical thought, often exposing the secret side of dealings at city hall, on his blog www.ronkayela.com

The most colorful and absolutey harshest critic of the City Council and L.A. politics is "L.A. Daily Blog" http://ladailyblog.blogspot.com/ written by David "Zuma Doog" Saltsburg,whose been pulled into the political whirlpool since his own visit to City Hall over 3 years ago when the city shut down his right to sell things at Venice Beach, and that started it all.

I got to know ZD over the past few years and his knowledge of the city operation is gained by day to day involvement, contacts with people who know how things work, and inside information from people tired of the sneaky dealing going on in City Hall.

One thing that I have to give much credit to ZD for and not to any others in the same way, is that he has broken down the city's way of burying the real actions in paragraphs of legalese and boilerplate language that tells you nothing of the real meaning of the motions, the ordinances and most money-shuffling that goes on.

ZD's theatrical manner at Council meeting annoys many but exemplifies the ills that he finds and puts it out into the open. He's gotten more people clued into city activities, and has more young people learning more about what's there to affect by action. More people now than ever are challenging the city leaders, but still in small numbers that have not yet caused any upheaval in the MACHINE type of special interest controlled organization.

That special interest controlled group handles that first and you and me last. Parking meters quadruple the rates, extend hours, end free Sundays and that's a small part of what's visible that affects your day-to-day life. There are so many more things that sneak by that you don't even notice and that's the way City Council works- them first, you, well, you're just there to pay the bills, see your city billings rise and services deteriorate as you watch their Ch. 35 or internet video broadcasts of their "performances" to see "how smart" they are. The word is not smart but "insulting", "slick", "greedy", ignorant", "arrogant", "condescending" or a number of other words at various time that fit them all at one time or another. It needs to change.

DWP is bled dry by the CMs deals and your transformers blow, the water mains burst and people see things are not being maintained. The GENERAL FUND of the city gets money fed into it by many things and DWP is one source- also DWP's IBEW unions was the best contract deal made from the employees side, with pretty good raises every year as the economy was beginning to collapse.

Mayor V. is just too out of touch with city business, claimed he approved that deal because he could not tell of bad times ahead. He's barely changed since then, the union's best friend as long as the keep supporting his campaign funding, he's still trying to keep them happy even when layoffs are avoided when really needed to balance the budget.


Zuma Dogg/ David Saltsburg is one candidate I support, and any of the other of the 7 grassroots would be an improvement over what's there now.

NO, NO, NO TO ALL MACHINE CANDIDATES. Tamar Galatzin is the least harmful of the 3 MACHINE candidates, too closely tied to Mayor V., Chris Essel is totally a carpetbagger who was assigned to run and be a stooge for the mayor, and Paul Karabian would be bringing more State bankruptcy-making skills to further plunge L.A. into the financial black hole it's already headed for.

If you live in CD-2, vote. A 20% turnout is predicted. The top two vote-getters will be in December run-off election if no one gets 50% plus one vote, a majority.

City Council appears fearful of unions on Early Retirement issues.

MORE HAPPENING IN CITY HALL AS CM APPEAR TO BE SELLING OUT THE CITY - again - and not GETTING TOUGH ON WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE. The fear of unions and the potential votes here is greater than their fear of city bankruptcy. The City of L.A. spends a million dollars more that is collected EVERY DAY.

The mayor said the Early Retirement agreement will be vetoed if Council approves it- and Tony was the one that put that agreement together in the first place back in June. But Council is working TO GO AROUND THIS and just doesn't seem to be able to do what needs to be done.

Tony did not want to lose union support and came up with a way to keep jobs and keep the unions happy. Tony said way back in the beginning of the year that layoffs were needed but only a few at most have been laid off to this day. Instead, Early Retirement, allowing retiring up to 5 years earlier was the plan to cut out jobs. So you get the Employee roster cut down, but they moved over to "retired" and now don't do any work but still get paid a lot. Not a good approach and this was from day one.

Tony has seen the light, being told that the savings on this would be about $12 million this year, just a fraction of what they orignally planned. But they did not consult the profession number crunchers and did not WANT TO BELIEVE reality.

For Tony, You can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't keep union people on jobs, happy and collecting raises, while the city is sliding down a financial hole from uncontrolled spending that was allowed to go unchecked for years.

Well more is to come on this story, but don't expect the city council to be the "bad guys" to the unions. The CMs want to cover their own asses and point fingers elsewhere. We can see how the mayor handles this one; if he chooses the city's financial survival over his union buddies.


Try giving a look to the blog, WWW.RONKAYELA.COM - (and its many other items posted that will show you MORE city nonsensical and corrupt behavior- some sneaky and some right out there in the open that you just don't recognize.)

"L.A. in Crisis: Do They Have a Clue? Do You?" http://ronkayela.com/2009/09/la-in-crisis-do-they-have-a-cl.html By Ron Kaye on September 16, 2009 10:06 PM
This blog really gets into some frank opinion and usually is accurate and representative of a more sensible way that city council should go, be does not.

CD-2 election is next week- watch for who's getting money AND WHY.

The Council District 2 vacancy created by the election of ex-Council Member Wendy Greuel in March's election brings us 10 candidates for her former position.

Don't expect much change if CHRIS ESSEL, tagged as a carpet bagger who has not shown much knowledge of the CD-2 issues so far in the candidate forums, and ducked the radio forum on Keven James' show last week, also missed by Assemblyman Paul Krekorian who initially missed this because the Assembly was in session, later acknowledging it was not. ESSEL is a mayor's agent in my view, useless to CD-2 interests and dangerous if she's rubber-stamping TONY'S views in City Council meetings- like what you have now.

PAUL KREKORIAN is part of the career politician contingent who look for one postion after another to stay in any office. Pay for the Council is $178,00-plus per year (I earlier said incorrectly that it was $176,000.00 per year) plus about another $100,000.00 of benefits attached to the office.

The third BIG candidate is TAMAR GALATZIN, City Attorney AND LAUSD Board of Education member. She is doing well as a Board member, but I do not see a benefit if she leaves that job. A new election for another persson, also likely to be backed by the Mayor, as was GALATZIN, but diverges now and then from VILLARAIGOSA's desired actions. She would not be the best for the CD-2 interests although she's a good politician and speaks very well.

The GRASSROOTS candidates supply lots of variety among the spectrum of challengers.



DAVID "ZUMA DOGG" SALTSBURG has been continually involved in the city business and still is my choice. But I can't vote there, being in CD-14 with JOSE HUIZAR, an ally of the Mayor, who supported JOSE over the others to take office after TONY left us in CD-14 as Council Member to run for Mayor. That move was a preview of his self-centered ambitions overriding concern for constituents. SALTSBURG has learned what's going on at city hall where they don't like him for butting into their business and revealing informatin, but he's exposed a lot of their practices and showed that you can come to city hall and confront these guys (and women) on their lies. He's complained about special event waivers wasting money for years and Alarcon was so angry at the council voting changes that he said "Zuma Dogg should not be dictating city policy." Alarcon was so bitter while himself being so sneaky and continually sarcastic towards persons with opposing views.



Many more people are becoming clued in by SALTSBURG'S continuous presence at Council Meetings to the shady side of our representatives. Saltsburg translates things that are buried in legalese and "code" to show what's going on at the hands of the Council Members, and that's encouraged more involvement and promotes understanding of the maneuvers that city hall tries to slip by the public.

TODAY'S STORY IN THE TIMES.
From the L.A. Now section online,
"L.A. council candidate gets TV ad support from Assembly colleague as competitor cries foul," September 17, 2009 - Maeve Reston ,
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/la-council-candidate-gets-tv-ad-support-from-assembly-colleague-as-competitor-cries-foul.html This shows some big money coming from Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes (D-Sylmar) who spent $15,000.00 for a t.v. ad airing in the Valley that praises PAUL KREKORIAN, the money coming from Fuentes own campaign funds, as Fuentes says he was trying to show what a good job Krekorian has done. He did not specifically endorse or mention CD-2's election that barely keeps him on the legal side of the campaign funding rules.

MAYOR SAM'S BLOG also reference this with some commentary, too.
http://www.mayorsam.blogspot.com/ "Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes gives "Monetary Thanks" to CD 2 Council Candidate, err, Assemblyman Paul Krekorian." Thursday, September 17, 2009. The comments there tell you what you already may know or should know, that you can't trust these guys with lots of money to do things for anything but themselves first- and maybe think about you when it's election time somewhere down the road. Read the comments- remember that some of those come from Krekorian's supporters and staff, anonymously posting.

Two more deaths in the entertainment field

The deaths that come in three is what I am thinking of now after Patrick Swayze just died. Now it's Mary Travers from Peter, Paul and Mary, the folk singing group that began in the 60's with two songs that come to mind so fast, "Leaving On A Jet Plane," done by many others including being a hit for John Denver, and "Puff the Magic Dragon," and as most of their songs, showed how their voices supported some pleasing harmonies.

Mary Travers was 72 years old.
OBITUARIES- "Mary Travers dies at 72; folk singer performed with the trio Peter, Paul and Mary," By Randy Lewis, September 17, 2009.
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-mary-travers17-2009sep17,0,1224459.story


The other death was Henry Gibson, who was a part of the "Laugh In" show of the 60's, a hit show on NBC that satirized just about everything in sight. Henry Gibson's career included more shows afterwards, but his performances were quite unique and simple.
OBITUARIES- "Henry Gibson dies at 73; original cast member of 'Laugh-In'," By Dennis McLellan, September 17, 2009.

Alumni Meeting This Saturday

The Alumni Association's monthly meeting for SEPTEMBER 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.
Some of the items on the agenda include:

Committee Reports
-Alumni Dodger Night Fundraiser Results
-Texas Hold 'em Tournament Results

New Business
-2010 Fall Dance
-2010 Alumni Calendar of Events
-2010 Alumni Operating Budget

Executive Board Openings
-VP, Public Relations (1 year left of a 2 year term)
-Secretary (New 2 year term)

Patrick Swayze, one of the good guy celebrities, has died.

I just heard the announcement that Patrick Swayze has died. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and had filmed a season of 13 episodes of the A&E cable channel's "The Beast" last summer while undergoing chemo.

More of the older ones of you reading this might remember him more vividly as the male lead character in the movie, "Dirty Dancing," an entertaining movie for most who have seen it.

This particular celebrity was a good guy and it's sad to lose people to anything, especially more frequently now, it seems, cancer, a progressively dibilitating and unforgiving disease. Well, it's going to be one of those things where people look to see what other celebrities or famous people will die now, thinking about the idea that death comes in threes.

Swayze was 57, (August 18, 1952 - September 14, 2009) Wikipedea link

What Mike Duvall Said in Calif. Assembly leads to resignation

A July 8th bragging session by Assembly member Mike Duvall, Republican from Orange County, was recorded by a desk microphone that was "on." Duvall was one of the family values guys and this is another politician who is found to be engaging in extracurricular social action while in public office. He surely won't be the last, and we are just talking about the ones who are discovered. Well, he's resigned from this position.

Channel 9, KCAL's Dave Lopez tried to chase him down and did not get him to talk. The particular portions of the recording are printed on TPM's Muckraker section of the website, "GOP Lawmaker's Graphic Sex-Bragging Caught On Tape" http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/gop_lawmakers_graphic_sex-bragging_caught_on_tape.php , but the recorded audio part of the video is not so clear. The Lopez report referred to a "confidential source" and that's likely to be Jeff Miller, fellow Republican from Corona, the person sitting next to Duvall and to whom Duvall was talking to in the recording.

Miller says he was busy preparing for the session and did not pay attention to Duvall, but if he was the source, then you could hear him responding on the tape. Miller is on


The current status of the story has Duvall saying that his resignation is not an admission of guilt and that it was just talk. Lots of detailed activity to be "just talk." http://www.abc-7.com/Global/story.asp?S=11107369 "Disgraced California lawmaker denies affairs," Sept. 10, 2009, on the ABC-7 website.

Mlller is on the Ethics committee and since it looks like they are going investigate this matter, Miller was removed from this committee due to being involved in the conversation with Duvall. It's bad enough what people think about now without letting Miller have involvement with the investigation of the item. See L.A. Times today, 9-9-10, "Lawmaker who was listening to Mike Duvall is removed from Ethics Committee," http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/lawmaker-who-was-listening-to-duvall-is-removed-from-ethics-committee.html .

Here's what the problem is - corruption- That "girlfriend" was not just some random female he met, but a lobbyist paid by Sempra Utilities to lobby for them, and Duvall was a Vice-chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce so there's a real strong smell of corruption here. The suspected "other woman," Heidi DeJong, is a lawyer for Sempra in Sacramento. The call for investigation by the attorney general was carried in the 9-9-09 entry on TPM's blog,"Progressive Group Wants Duvall 'Sex-For-Votes' Probe," http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/gay_rights_group_wants_duvall_sex-for-votes_probe.php

Both Duvall and DeJong are married, and the violation, other than to their respective vows, is to the public. Karen Bass, Assembly Speaker, comment on the inappropriate language in the recording but misses the point that 1. Duvall had an influential role in a committee that was clearly related to issues important to a utility company like Sempra., and 2. DeJong was a lobbyist for Sempra and carrying on with an apparent sexual relationship with Duvall. It's a simple connection to make to see that the relationship crossed over the line in a number of ways, and none of them good. "Was Mike Duvall’s mistress the lobbyist Heidi DeJong Barsuglia?," from Orange Juice Blog, a political blog from Orange County,
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2009/09/was-mike-duvalls-mistress-the-lobbyist-heidi-dejong-barsuglia/ .

The bigger part of all this that no one mentions is that it looks like the relationship was known by lots of people and that no one said anything about it. Miller might be culpable in NOT reporting what he knew of and that's something to be seen as how the ethics investigation goes. The real thing that happens in Sacramento is that they have their own "code of silence" so they all can carry on as they want to and no one turns anyone else in.

So you wonder what else is going on. One ex-wife reported that the lobbyists are mostly female and very attractive there in Sacramento, speaking from the experience of her own. She said that you really are not going to find unattractive lobbyists among the woment there. That would be an interesting item to look into.

If you are in the medical field, you already see a lot of reps who are attractive women who work for companies that see pharmaceuticals and equipment to doctors. It probably does help to open doors for many.

Well, the conduct of politicians is not really new, but the fellow elected representatives should be obligated as a duty of their office and to the public to report the breaches at least where a lobbyist is involved.

All the affairs will just continue and you see these folks have too much free time and need to be made "part-time" legislators- get in to Sacramento, do real businss, and be done. No everyday per diem of about $130.00 each day the are there, above the salary they already get. No, they just make more trouble for everyone by being there full time.


Read the transcript if you like spicy sorts of reporting and the audio here is better From the CBS News website, "CRIMESIDER," you can see and hear another more audible version of the video, "Mike Duvall Video: Calif. Lawmaker 's Dirty Talk Goes Big on YouTube."

Try one of the links below to get to this video and transcript-the content changes and it may not be accessible:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/09/10/crimesider/entry5300372.shtml

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/09/10/crimesider/entry5300285.shtml?tag=crimesidercarousel

DON'T FORGET OUR OWN CITY- AND DWP AMONG ALL OF IT.

And so there's another example of the need to keep a watch on politicians. There's lots of issues of corruption here in L.A. and if you see City of L.A. appointments to Commissions that pay well you will see this is a device that is used to payback for favors that I am not alone in mentioning. Lots of what's going on in DWP is completely absurd, with the city council allowing this to go on year after year, and the Mayor being smart enough to manipulate this agency for power and money to throw around, costing the rate-payers (residents) more and more with each billing cycle. And's it's not over.

DWP just tried a few meetings ago in City Council to remove the cap to let them raise billing under certain conditions- really letting them have a wide open field to do what they want. There was Measure B that failed at the last election which was a complete fraud on the public since the ones to benefit were not designed to be the public but the local IBEW union, and it included training new hires at public expense in the solar installation activities. Nice deal for the union, getting more members and ones who need not be already trained before getting hired.

So, be aware, all the DWP commotion is not over, especially expect the water main problems used to get more money from the rate-payers. (That should have been something with a priority to maintain BEFOREHAND, not when these things happen. But the money went elsewhere while the work was put off.)

Council votes on Special Events motions Tuesday

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/budgetwary-la-council-strikes-new-policy-for-subsidizing-grammy-oscar-and-other-events.html L.A. Council votes on new policy for subsidizing Grammy, Oscar and other events
September 1, 2009 5:37 pm

Well, the special event fee waivers has been something going seemingly giving money to anyone who makes the request or is connected, a relatively small but steady drain of tax money without any real guidelines made known to the public.

City Council went back into session after a couple of weeks of summer break and they approved a change that was originally proposed by CM Parks and amended last by CM Huizar. The video portion that I saw of CM Alarcon was not much of a surprise when he complained that "I do not want Zuma Dogg dictating public policy," adding that to other jabs to ZD that Alarcon throws into his comments from time to time. The idea, I suppose, was to connect ZD and the notion of being "a bad guy" to the creation of the controls on Special Event Fee Waivers (where the city winds up eating costs of doing work caused or needed by events, including traffic control, closing off streets and all sorts of things like that).

Actually, ZD or David Saltsburg (as he's becoming to be known now in his CD-2 council bid) has constantly been a thorn in the side of city council on what they do. The problem was not created by ZD but instead was snowballing into an out-of-control fee waiver practice for too many things that were not appropriate to do- and now in near-bankrupt condiitons of the city, this is even more needed.

The whole matter was voted on and approved, with CMs Hahn and Alarcon being the two NO votes, complaining that this will end needed events. The real policy should and apppears to be making these contributions on the city side to be 50-50 instead of covering 100% of the city expense, and the main idea is that the events should be public ones, open to all members of the public, as opposed to "private" affairs.

Still, there is the Grammys, the Oscars, and other awards keeping eligibility for waivers, and these are definitely NOT inclusive of anyone in the general public to drop in or sign up to attend. That side is still a big part of the "trade off" Council makes on things, to some extent logical by considering the economic effect generated, but that's still not a non-profit group operating at all, and the council people like to rub elbows with movie stars and celebrities. They will often trip over themselves, figuratively, when such celebs come to City Council meetings to speak on topics, and if you get one who has a real fan on the Council, the gushing is pretty obvious and often over the top. So you have lots of simple reasons for the way things happen in the official world of the city political organization.

But on Tuesday's action, the matter has to be voted a week later to become a law and that will be on next Tuesday or soon thereafter if voted to put it off.

There is a list of the years spending by districts that you can see at
http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2009/09-0600-s46_rpt_bfc_8-12-09.pdf the Recommendation from the Budget and Finace Committee, composed of CMs Parks and Huizar. There's a lot of money spent in the different districts on small events that are what the waiver process is really supposed to be about.

Using CD-14 (my CD) for a big example of what's been happening, you see that the big dollar expenses of CD-14's CM Jose Huizar, include:

Cinco de Mayo Celebration $ 57,724
City's Birthday & Feria de la Salud Events $ 28,597
July 4th Fireworks Show - Boyle Heights $ 13,550
July 4th Fireworks Show - EI Sereno $ 4,642

All this is ironic when you see that more is spent in this category for the Cinco de May event, $57,724, that is mostly a U.S. event and not the Independence Day of Mexico, but more celebrated in the U.S. than Mexico, with a tradition evolving as being the reason to drink and party.

That's pretty big. The U.S. Independence Day-related expenses in Boyle Heights and El Sereno together are less than $20,000, and that's still a big expense, going to two fireworks shows.

That "Cinco de Mayo" money from CD-14 overshadows even the listed amounts for the "City Birthday and Feria de la Salud Events, $28, 597."

I think there is way too much money applied to the wrong parts of celebrations and there should be recognition of culture, fine and well, but the culture of pure and simple partying is something that should be financed by private money and contributions from other than tax-dollars. If anything, parades held now should first cover the U.S. holidays before this home culture withers and dies, and I include Veteran's Day events in this area.

It's like that for other CD's as you can see, but accountability and justification of the spending has never really been an obstacle and so the money flows.

Well, there's little money these days to cover city expenses, and the council members spent $5 million last year on the Sp. Events, but the change will give $1.5 million to this, and each of the 15 CDs will get $100,000.00 to spend instead of the uncontrolled (or self-policed by council votes, which still means "uncontrolled") way it is now.

The vote comes up next week and we'll see whether there's any action of any remedial or controlling fashion that will be approved. Something that Zuma Dogg brought up for years, but also brought up as needing control by none other than the Mayor himself, but that's not mentioned by Alarcon since the mayor's toes cannot be easily stepped on by CMs whereas a member of the public, especially a critic, can be demeaned and it's safe to do most of the time. The problem happens when the people see the B.S. that goes on and no amount of excuses can compete with common sense and arithmetic.