Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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Now that the tax reform bill has passed, big-spending California politicians have a problem. The state's General Fund receives 65 percent of its revenue from personal income tax collections, and 35 percent of the personal income tax revenue collected comes from just 0.4 percent of California households, about 60,000 of them, according to 2014 tax data. Until this week, California politicians could tell wealthy taxpayers, "It's deductible! Don't even worry about it!" And they...
"Said the night wind to the little lamb Do you see what I see? Way up in the sky little lamb Do you see what I see?" ~Christmas Carol by Noël Regeny & Gloria Shayne Baker Las Posadas is Spanish for lodging, or accommodation, which in this case refers to the "inn" in the story of the nativity of Jesus (born from a Jewish mother). The novenario (nine days of religious observance) is celebrated chiefly in Latin America and by Hispanics (Latinos and Spaniards) in the United...
I have been volunteering for a couple of hours every Monday morning at the Access Center, operated by OPCC to serve the homeless population here, for the last 25 years. Having read the article about OPCC by Mr. Louis, I think he must be living in some alternate universe. http://www.smobserved.com/story/2017/11/20/opinion/ocean-park-community-center-opcc-accused-of-human-rights-violations/3202.html Wherever that alternate universe may be, the charges he makes about the abuse...
The Kate Steinle case was always about more than just the Kate Steinle case. The 32-year-old was shot in the back while walking with her father along San Francisco's Pier 14. She collapsed and died in her father's arms. It was July 1, 2015. The bullet came from a gun stolen four days earlier from a federal ranger's official vehicle, where it had been left unsecured and loaded. But the story wasn't about carelessness. The gun was fired by a man who was living on the street,...
I was surprised, pleasantly surprised, UCLA allowed the Chemistry & Biochemistry Department to have Professor William Happer speak skeptically about Climate Change at a Physical Chemistry Seminar, until I learned two Conservative Chenistry professors had to do it under the radar. Nevertheless, in a room that could hold under 100 there were at least 50 standing with many in the hall outside. I'm told there has never been such an overflow attendance for any previous seminar in...
(From a speech delivered Thursday evening, November 16, 2017 to Santa Monica's Housing Commission: I am part of a group of concerned citizens that for the past fifteen months have been advocating for the most vulnerable adults in Santa Monica, namely the ones experiencing homelessness. Our principal goal has been to raise awareness and introduce measures of accountability for an issue that the public is largely unaware of. The issue is: the routine discriminatory and...
The City of Santa Monica just sent out a "survey" to residents and workers who live outside the city titled Your City, Your Voice... The survey begins by stating it's about "what's important to you personally and how we can make Santa Monica even better." But then what unfolds is an effort to manipulate your perspective. The survey asks you to describe Santa Monica by rating these words on a scale of one to ten: caring, inclusive, diverse, thriving, equitable, neighborly,...
Dear Fellow Santa Monicans, I'm writing to you about an issue that affects virtually every member of our community. The issue of "labor peace agreements" threatens the livelihoods of local business owners and many of the people they employ. When they are impacted, you and I are impacted. I've been a member of this community for 68 years, having been a member of six unions, and served as Vice President of California's largest police union. I strongly believe in supporting...
"Championing justice is not charity work. It is not meant to make anyone "feel good." And this idea that we should "win people over" by watering down our principles and approach confuses social movement building with political campaigning (where the message keeps changing according to the audience). This is not a popularity contest. Which means I'm not after your vote." ~Dr. Ruha Benjamin The waters have settled following the commotion from the last three workshops of the...
In a recently leaked off-the-record speech to a group of congressional interns, White House senior advisor Jared Kushner said that the administration is committed to working "with the parties very quietly to see if there's a solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He followed this up with what seemed like a throw-away line that's actually very significant: "There may be no solution, but it's one of the problem sets that the president asked us to focus on. So we're going...
Last week, Senator Cory Booker introduced the Marijuana Justice Act in an effort to legalize marijuana across the nation and penalize local communities that want nothing to do with this dangerous drug. This is the furthest reaching marijuana legalization effort to date and marks another sad moment in our nation's embrace of a drug that will have generational consequences. Our country is facing a drug epidemic. Legalizing recreational marijuana will do nothing that Senator...
Dear Council Members, I spoke to all of you at a Council Meeting on August 23, 2016, asking for help to a specific problem for my business, inadvertently created by the City of Santa Monica. I followed up the next day with an email to all of you and spoke and wrote to City staff before and after. Our general manager has spoken to City Staff dozens of times and given you a petition of over 300 student signatures. After almost a year, I'm writing now to give you a status report...
To the Editor: It is disheartening to read that for a few Santa Monica residents, being able to sleep in is more important than tolerating a short period of noise to help save someone's life (July 10, "5 AM Airport Takeoff on 4th of July Wakes Up and Infuriates Santa Monica Neighbors"). http://www.smobserved.com/story/2017/07/10/news/5-am-airport-takeoff-on-4th-of-july-wakes-up-and-infuriates-santa-monica-neighbors/3003.html Sirens from law enforcement vehicles and ambulances...
Why is homelessness increasing in Los Angeles? According to a count taken in January, homelessness is up 23 percent across L.A. County over 2016, a total of more than 55,000 people. News stories round up the usual suspects: high rents, low-paying jobs, drugs, alcohol, mental illness, domestic violence, and the release of prison or jail inmates without rehabilitation programs. But one reason for the exponential increase in homeless encampments is rarely mentioned: In 2007, the...
Is the city of Santa Monica too incompetent for basic road design? Just outside my own apartment on the busy intersection of 7th and San Vicente, contradictory signs newly installed by the City of Santa Monica are endangering motorists every second of every day. On the road a simple painting declares that the right hand lane can go straight or left, and the left lane turns left. Across the street a sign repeats the message. Look at the new, bright red sign on the corner...
Editor's Note: So many people attended the pier Concert last Thursday 6/22/17, that the Santa Monica Police Department tweeted for people to "avoid the area around the Santa Monica Pier." On social media, some are wondering if we should continue with the pier concert series. After all, the 4th of July fireworks display used to take place near the pier, and that was cancelled after too many people produced too much violence. Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks has...
In April, Food & Water Watch held a meeting at the Marina del Rey Lloyd Taber Library for concerned residents to learn about the urgency of the need to shut down Playa del Rey gas storage facility. According to La Curbed, in 2016, just months after SoCal Gas Company plugged up the methane leak at its Aliso Canyon storage facility in Porter Ranch, a concern about potential leaks was brewing at the Playa del Rey gas storage field. The Aliso Canyon had the worst methane leak in U...
I am referring of course to Emmanuel Macron, one of the contenders for the top job at the French presidential elections. This election has turned out to be one of the most unpredictable and dynamic in the history of French politics .The entire world is watching and the result will affect the global political sphere. On the one side we have Marine Le Pen, leader of The Front National, a far right Nationalist party. And the other, independent centrist, Emmanuel Macron, who leads...
We have warned before that the Santa Monica City Council has declared all out war on the automobile. Specifically, they intend to remake Lincoln Blvd south of the 10 freeway, so it looks as much as possible like Montana Avenue or Ocean Park Blvd. The Santa Monica City Council has now approved a concept for Lincoln Streetscape Re-DesignLINC including the following change: - Street parking will be eliminated at peak traffic hours on the corridor to make way for municipal buses,...
Jeff Flocken, North American Regional Director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), issued the following statement regarding the passage of S.J. Res.18 in the U.S. Senate: "While America is celebrating the 114th anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System, the U.S. Senate has failed to take a stand for keystone species living on these same public lands. IFAW condemns the passage of S.J. Res. 18 and its House-passed counterpart, H.J. Res. 69, which allow...
We fully support Assembly Member Richard Bloom's AB 1506 to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. Los Angeles is a city of renters with 64% of the residents being renters. Yet, 64% of those renters are paying unaffordable rents. LA is the most unaffordable city in the nation for renters with tenants paying the highest percentage of their income to rent in the nation. We have the highest poverty rate in the country at 26%, meaning one out of ever four households is...
Statute of Limitations Must Govern State Bar Actions Last week's decision by the California State Bar to file disciplinary charges against former Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanichbased on conduct that occurred 31 years ago, should cause unease to every attorney in the state. This action of the State Bar, which acts as the administrative arm of the California Supreme Court, cannot be squared with that court's long-held beliefs on timely filing of actions in both...
In what may be the most ill conceived traffic plan ever created by civil employees paid more than $250,000 a year, the City of Santa Monica is pushing a plan to narrow Lincoln Blvd into one lane in each direction. "Auto-Centric businesses" such as auto parts and mechanics, would be encouraged to leave town. Commuters would be discouraged from using Lincoln Blvd, since it would flow at about 10 miles an hour between the 10 freeway and Ozone Avenue, 1.5 miles south. Update:...
One of the more depressing tricks employed by people who favor more government control of everything is this: Put government controls on a business, which causes problems, and then use the problems as a justification for more government controls. It's like trying to reverse a case of alcohol poisoning with a jug of moonshine. Nowhere is the "here, drink this," cure more discouraging than in the housing market. Just recently, Assembly member Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) and...
Question: When is California's drought emergency over? Answer: When Gov. Jerry Brown says it's over. In January 2014, acting after two successive dry years, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. declared a State of Emergency for the entire state of California. He cited the extreme and prolonged drought. Seven executive orders followed from April 2014 to May and California remains to the present day in a state of what amounts to marshal law with respect to its water supply....
