POLITICS/EDUCATION: Los Angeles Unified School District: "New LAUSD board member Monica Ratliff seeks end to 'business as usual'"....

* Daily News:  "New LAUSD board member Monica Ratliff seeks end to 'business as usual'" - From the DN:

Having spent more than a decade teaching in a Los Angeles Unified classroom and chatting with colleagues, Monica Ratliff's perception of the district administration was a hive of bureaucrats toiling away in the downtown monolith known simply as Beaudry. But after an intense three-day orientation last week at the Beaudry Avenue headquarters, the newest member of the school board said she actually found common ground with the leaders responsible for running the nation's second-largest school district.

"They all lit up as they talked about their work and how proud they are to be with LAUSD and how they want to provide the best support they can for the students," said Ratliff, known for putting her fifth-grade pupils ahead of politics as she ran her underdog campaign for the East San Fernando Valley seat. "One of my big interests is to reconnect the staff of Beaudry with staff at the school sites. I think that people are coming up with fantastic ideas that aren't being conveyed."

Ratliff said the back-to-back meetings with about 50 district executives included two constructive sessions with Superintendent John Deasy. . . . . . . .

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A former public-interest attorney, Ratliff became a teacher because she figured she could help youngsters steer clear of trouble, then ran for the school board because she wanted to help those beyond her classroom. . . . . . . . .

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The board meets today, and Ratliff said she'll be watching online as the board approves a $6 billion budget, which includes $288 million more in revenue. After talking to constituents, she said, she has strong views on how she'd like the money to be spent.

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Ratliff said she's going to spend much of the summer in her new office on the 24th floor of Beaudry, taking a "deep dive" into board issues, and will visit classrooms in her East Valley schools once classes resume in August. While she hopes to improve communication between various district factions, she also wants to retain the same independence that marked her campaign. That means studying and voting on the issues based on their merit and steering clear of the politics and deal-making.

"This is a moment of opportunity," Ratliff said. "I really feel that it's not business as usual."

L.A. CITY HALL: Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti, announcement, his longtime council aide Ana Guerrero to be chief of staff in mayor's office....

* Los Angeles Times:  "L.A. Mayor-elect Garcetti picks longtme aide as chief of staff" - "Ana Guerrero, a former community organizer, has been working for Garcetti since 2001, most recently as chief of staff of his council office." - From the LAT:

Los Angeles Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti on Monday named a former community organizer as the first hire of his administration, picking his longtime City Council aide Ana Guerrero as chief of staff.

Guerrero, 42, has been working for Garcetti since 2001, serving first as his organizing director and the last five years as chief of staff of his council office. Born in Guanajuato, Mexico, she is the daughter of migrant farmworkers and has been a single mother who for nearly a year received public assistance, including food stamps.

A resident of La Crescenta, Guerrero began her career in Northern California with the Sonoma County Organizing Project, helping low- and middle-income families advocate for themselves on such issues as affordable housing..................

***ALSO:

* LA Weekly:  "Eric Garcetti's Chief of Staff Has Organizing Background, Longstanding Link to His Wife"

LOCAL GOVERNMENT (Ontario, Los Angeles): Los Angeles World Airports, control of LA/Ontario International Airport: "LA mayor asks Ontario to reopen negotiations for ONT"....

* Inland Valley Daily Bulletin:  "LA mayor asks Ontario to reopen negotiations for ONT" - "With less than a month left in his term, Villaraigosa wants to reopen ONT negotiations" - From the IVDB:

Ontario officials are amused over Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's decision to send a time-sensitive document by regular mail asking to reopen negotiations over LA/Ontario International Airport. With less than a month left in his term, Villaraigosa chose to send the document via the U.S. Postal Service -- which took six days to deliver -- instead of including an email version in his correspondence.

At an Ontario International Airport Authority meeting on Monday, Alan Wapner, the commission's president, poked fun at the timing of the letter, sent out June 6, saying the LA mayor was interested in negotiations "for the last week that he's in office." "They are very paranoid about the lawsuit, and I believe rightfully so," Wapner said.

Leaders in the Inland Empire have been critical of Villaraigosa in recent weeks for what they describe as a hands-off approach to the negotiations.

Ontario Mayor Paul Leon, who responded on June 14 to Villaraigosa -- through email and U.S. mail -- said his office did not receive Villaraigosa's letter until June 12. "This delay is especially unfortunate given the pending transition to a new Los Angeles Mayoral Administration on July 1," Leon writes in the letter...................

POLITICS/WATER: Litigation filed challenging Delta Plan, at least five lawsuits filed against the plan so far....

* Sacramento Bee:  "Lawsuits hit new Delta plan from all sides" - From the Bee:

A plan intended, at least in part, to resolve decades of water conflict in the Delta has instead spawned a flood of lawsuits, with at least five separate suits filed against the plan in recent days.

The Delta Plan, as it is known, was required by 2009 state legislation, which also created the Delta Stewardship Council, the organization that adopted the plan on May 16. Environmental groups, local organizations and water users have filed at least five lawsuits in recent days against the plan. They claim, among other things, that the plan fails to satisfy the legal requirements laid out for it and also violates the California Environmental Quality Act.  

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The plan is different from the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, the program in which Gov. Jerry Brown hopes to build two giant water diversion tunnels on the Sacramento River. But the Delta Plan creates a kind of framework within which the tunnels must operate, if that $24 billion project is eventually built............

POLITICS (State, Local): California economy, county-by-county breakdown, monthly report on jobs and unemployment: Dan Walters, "California's inland city budget still weak"....

* Sacramento Bee (Dan Walters):  "California's inland city budget still weak" - From the Bee:

California's monthly report on jobs and unemployment includes a county-by-county breakdown, providing graphic evidence of the state's bifurcated recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression.

In the main, coastal California metropolitan areas – particularly the San Francisco Bay Area in the north and the San Diego-Orange county region in the south – are recovering smartly, with strong job growth. Inland counties are still struggling with double-digit unemployment rates, especially those in rural areas.The east-west economic split is also manifesting itself in sharply differing fiscal situations for local governments, especially cities.

Most coastal cities are enjoying sharp increases in local property and sales tax revenues that are easing the austerity the recession had imposed. Inland cities are still coping with recessionary effects, as well as rising pension costs and, in some cases, their own overspending.

Two inland cities, Stockton and San Bernardino, have filed for bankruptcy protection. Several others are teetering on the cusp. . . . . . . .

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Interestingly, one of the state's troubled cities is located in the booming Bay Area..............