Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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I was Steve Miller's first boss. He wrote an anti-Freshman Seminar for me. This was long after he was in third grade, and apparently eating glue, according to a third grade teacher recently suspended by SMMUSD, the local school district. "He was a creepy loner," she recalled. https://www.spin.com/2018/10/stephen-miller-teacher-suspended-ate-glue/ Then as now, I publish a local print newspaper in Santa Monica, CA called the Observer. In 2002, a 16 year old kid named Steve...
San Francisco is a wealthy city. Why exactly don't they cure the feces on the street problem? Like every other American issue, it depends on your political perspective. Progressives view this as a non problem, invented by the same shop owners who close their bathrooms off to the homeless, who of course are doing the squatting. A discussion on Quora.com, indicates that progressives do not see poop, which is mostly reported in tourist areas that residents avoid. "With all the...
I have serious concerns about the qualifications and performance of the Santa Monica Social Services Commission, and particularly its Chair Mr. Parent, as well as the staff liaison Ms. Yavari, whose job it is to assist the commission in fulfilling its responsibilities under the law. Chair Parent seems to be uninformed about the role of the Commission he is chairing. He stated on social media, "We are a volunteer, independent citizen's commission that works to educate itself...
When Step Up on 26th Street came to our street 3 years ago, I decided to become informed, so I have attended every Santa Monica Housing Commission meeting for the last 3 years. I am not on any Board or Commission for the City of Santa Monica and so I am free to express my opinions and relate what I have observed. First of all, any funds from the Housing Trust Fund must be loaned, granted or given to one of the local non-profits who are developers of affordable housing in this...
By January 8, when the City Council voted to increase water rates in the city, there had already been well-above-average rainfall throughout California. To date, California has received 18 trillion gallons of rain this season. This is nearly half the volume of Lake Tahoe. However, the Santa Monica City Council voted to approve city staff's recommendation for a 9 percent hike in water rates. This increase is estimated to raise the monthly bill for single-family home by $4.33....
On Monday, the Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative awarded $4.5 million to five different organizations in a contest to propose "game-changing creative and scalable permanent housing solutions for those experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County." Voters of LA County approved Measure H in March, 2017. This law added a 1/4-cent sales tax throughout Los Angeles that was to be devoted to homeless services and programs. It is projected to generate $355 million each year...
A San Diego politician lost his federal lawsuit challenging California's Voting Rights Act. Don Higginson, former mayor of Poway, a city in San Diego County, had sued in 2017, claiming the drawing of new districts in his area was effectively gerrymandering and was designed to discriminate against him and other whites. Higginson was represented by the nonprofit Project on Fair Representation, a legal defense firm concerned with challenging racial and ethnic classifications and...
In her first campaign speech as a presidential hopeful for the 2020 election, Kamala Harris, presently the junior Senator from California, roused the crowd with her progressive agenda and enthusiastically included the now-requisite alarm sirens regarding climate change. "Let's speak truth - climate change is real, and it is happening now," Harris told her adoring crowd. She added, "Everybody here knows from wildfires in the west to hurricanes in the east, to floods and...
At the Commission's 1/28/19 meeting multiple speakers expressed their frustration with the Commission's reluctance to act. Public comments by Olga Zurawska are below. The Santa Monica Social Services Commission has been hearing about the failures of the City's homeless services provider, OPCC dba The People Concern, for about fourteen months now. The Commission has heard multiple times about the warehousing of homeless clients, about the intimidation and civil rights violation...
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- With the enactment of the continuing resolution, staff at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) have resumed regular operations. Some areas of the park remain closed, however, due to impacts from the Woolsey Fire. Paramount Ranch, Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa, Cheeseboro/Palo Comado Canyons, and the Santa Monica Mountains Visitor Center are open. The popular Sandstone Peak Trail has also reopened, but the rest of the park is still...
To the surprise of no one, the Santa Monica City Council appointed longtime resident and community activist Ana M. Jara to fill the city council seat vacated by Tony Vazquez. Vazquez resigned in January to take on his newly-elected duties at the State Board of Equalization. The remaining council members were then obliged to appoint a replacement. 76 applicants threw their hat into the ring, but many observers predicted the council would pick an Hispanic for the seat. Earlier...
On Wednesday night, volunteers in Santa Monica and across Los Angeles County conducted the annual Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. From 10:30 pm until 2:30 am, volunteers in teams canvassed the streets to count the people they could see sleeping in public spaces. While the 300-plus volunteers went through the city by foot or by car, area shelters, transitional programs, and hospitals also counted the homeless in their facilities. Joining as volunteers for the count were...
Update, 1/16/19: Justice Ginsburg today cancelled a public appearance set for January 29, 2019, as she remains in a hospital fighting Pneumonia. The elderly judge appears to be nearing the end of her life, as the Trump administration asks allies for suggestions to replace her. Jan 29 in LA - Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Cancels Public Appearance in Los Angeles Set for January 29 https://t.co/ilYdXI05NH via @gatewaypundit As any reader of the Santa Monica Observer knew last...
The sad news broke Friday morning. US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, underwent surgery for lung cancer. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/21/supreme-court-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-85-reportedly-undergoes-lung-procedure-.html Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, underwent a lung procedure on Friday, the Supreme Court said in a release. She is "resting comfortably" at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. There was no evidence of any...
The California Republican Party is like a big, empty aircraft carrier drifting along the coast. It could be powerful, if there were any people on it and if it had a plan to go somewhere. Here's a political messaging quiz: What did Republican candidates in California promise to do if elected? Take your time. Think of anything yet? There are millions of California voters of all party registrations who are looking for answers to the problems that are making their lives difficult...
It may come as a disappointment to city cheerleaders and cause an eye-roll to the rest of us that the city has announced their plan to become "self-sufficient" in water use has been delayed by three years. Back in 2011, the Santa Monica City Council - largely the same people it is today, seven years later - set a goal of reaching water self-sufficiency by 2020. One can only speculate that their idea was it was somehow more environmentally friendly and also cost-efficient to us...
Update, My Take, and My Analysis on the California Voter Rights Act (CVRA) post-trial hearing that was held in Judge Yvette Palazuelos Courtroom on Friday December 7th to discuss proposals for remedies in legalizing Santa Monica's illegal at-large election system; or in other words abandoning the at-large based election system and implementing district-based elections. No decision was made by the Judge on Friday. The City's attorneys tried to sneak in a re-argument of the...
Perhaps you are like me, and you have become lost in the whole Russia Collusion narrative. You don't know precisely how or why Russia, a country of $176 million with no real stake in the US political game, got a Manchurian candidate named Donald Trump elected in 2016. You don't know why the main stream media continues to blame Russia for Donald Trump and his policies, despite the fact that Russia remains an outsider under sanctions in the Western system. Robert Reich...
The County of LA adopted an inspection program to ensure that housing facilities for the homeless are clean and responsive to needs of residents. The official COLA press release follows below. We asked Olga Zurawska, an advocate for the new legislation, whether higher standards will make it more difficult for cities to provide shelter to the homeless. She wrote back to us: First off, the standards are a moral necessity as homeless clients have been mistreated and abused by...
Greg Morena will join incumbents Sue Himmelrich and Kevin McKeown on the Santa Monica City Council. Morena, a restaurant owner, won election to be the newcomer on the Council. Pam O'Conner, who has been on the City Council since the Reagan administration, was somehow turned out by voters. She has voted for every large development project ever proposed in Santa Monica, and voters evidently finally understood that. Lori Brown lost her bid to be the only landlord on the Santa...
At the Santa Monica Observer, we received not one dollar in city funds for advertising the last two years. No candidate this year has placed even one ad with us yet. Trust me, we have no friends at City Hall either. Santa Monica officials even try to avoid me when they run into me at Ralphs. The same could be said for most of my old friends. Is this anything to be proud of? Probably not. But at least it's true. Anyway, with no axe to grind and no dog in the fight, we present...
At long last, America's Democratic Resistance has a chance to go to the polls and vote against President Donald J. Trump. Arguments about Russian Collusion have disappeared from the National narrative, as have any references to Brett Kavanaugh, gun control or the US Supreme Court. Now, the rhetoric from the left is mostly that the President is a Divider in Chief, not a uniter like his immediate predecessor. Speaking of Barrack Obama, the former President has hit the campaign...
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti headlined a rally at the Federal Building in Westwood, to protest the violence that unfolded Saturday morning at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA. And the person most of the Democratic speakers blamed, needless to say, was--well, you can probably guess. The vigil which was organized in 24 hours, stood up against anti semitism and hate. Garcetti, Jewish himself, read the names and ages of all 11 victims, which included at least one holoca...
"Participants made clear that they were concerned about their day-to-day ability to express themselves: They worry that a lack of familiarity with a topic, or an unthinking word choice, could lead to serious social sanctions for them." A new report says that 80% of Americans have just had it with Political Correctness. It was based on a nationally representative poll with 8,000 respondents, 30 one-hour interviews, and six focus groups conducted from December 2017 to September...
First, in Los Angeles County, No on Measure W, a new property tax on homeowners, apartment buildings and businesses to pay for stormwater projects. It would raise $300 million per year, just enough to fill up a pot of money for politicians to spread around. No on Proposition 1, a $4 billion general obligation bond for affordable housing, including $1 billion for veterans' home loans. The veterans' loans cost taxpayers nothing but the rest of it will run $200 million per year...
