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Tuesday
Jun182013

L.A. CITY HALL: Political satire (The Regardie Report), "Lots of Suggestions For Eric Garcetti"....

* Downtown News (The Regardie Report):  "Lots of Suggestions For Eric Garcetti" - "Telling the Next Mayor How To Run L.A. Is the New Black" - From the DTN:

With Eric Garcetti’s inauguration rapidly approaching, there is no shortage of unsolicited advice for what Los Angeles needs. Which is wonderful, because if there’s one thing an incoming mayor wants after an election in which only about one out of four eligible people voted, it’s the other three telling him what to do.

Some act as if Garcetti hasn’t pondered what happens after his July 1 swearing in, and have pointed suggestions regarding transportation. Others purport to know just what he should do about the environment. A few folks believe they have the best advice ever on architecture and density. The list goes on, even if almost everyone is pushing a personal agenda.

Since telling the next mayor what to do is the new black, I decided to offer my own concepts. With inspiration from his election-abetting Super PAC, the beautifully named Lots of People Who Support Eric Garcetti (really), here are lots of ideas to make Los Angeles the safest, most environmentally friendly, most super-awesome city ever.

Get a Monkey Butler:

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Watch Out for Wesson:

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Hire Mayor Tommy Carcetti:

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Activate the Cleantech Zone:

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Make Trutanich Battering Rams:

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Keep Miguel Santana:

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Pirate Ship Water Slide:

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Forget Football:

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Don’t Dump Your Wife for a Succession of Brunette News Readers, Don’t Party With Charlie Sheen and Don’t Spend Your Days Ignoring the City While Trying to Be Governor or, Once That Proves Impossible, a Member of the President’s Cabinet: This one should be obvious. To everyone.

Tuesday
Jun182013

SACRAMENTO: State budget, new education spending formula, report, "Schools with fewer needy students decry California funding change"....

* Los Angeles Times:  "Schools with fewer needy students decry California funding change" - "California's new funding formula gives more money to districts with more needy students and less to districts with fewer needy students." - From the LAT:

Ah Ram Kim is a 17-year-old high school student learning to read English at a first-grade level with the book "The Little Red Hen." Newly arrived from South Korea, she is one of 170 students, who are from Mexico, Vietnam, Egypt, Japan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and elsewhere, at Torrance's North High who are struggling to catch up.

Although Kim has the same academic needs as limited-English speakers in a nearby school district in Lawndale, North High's school district, Torrance Unified, is slated to receive less than half as many dollars under Gov. Jerry Brown's school funding overhaul.

The budget passed by the state Legislature on Friday gives more money to districts with higher concentrations of needy students. That means Torrance will receive a $1,795 supplement for each pupil who is from a low-income household, a limited English speaker or in foster care, while the nearby Centinela Valley Union High School District will receive $4,188.

Across California, 645,000 students are in similar straits. Known by advocates as "invisible students," they are not enrolled in districts where disadvantaged pupils make up at least 55% of the student body — the baseline for the funding boost.

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That disparity is a lingering concern amid general praise for the most significant change in school funding in four decades..............

Tuesday
Jun182013

SACRAMENTO: 2014 elections, announcement, former Common Cause vice president Derek Cressman running for California Secretary of State....

***Following up on earlier report noted here (potential candidacy of Derek Cressman for California Secretary of State)....

* Sacramento Bee:  "Derek Cressman announces secretary of state run" - From the Bee:

Pledging to curb the political influence of big-money donors and update California's voting infrastructure, activist and former Common Cause vice president Derek Cressman announced today his candidacy for California secretary of state.

Cressman joins a field already populated by Republican Pete Peterson, who heads a public policy school at Pepperdine University, and two Democratic state senators, Alex Padilla of Los Angeles and Leland Yee of San Francisco. Like Peterson, Cressman is positioning himself as an outsider with no interest in ascending the political career ladder.

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In his capacity as a government watchdog, Cressman has been a vocal critic of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision............

***ALSO:

* Los Angeles Times (PolitiCal):  "Common Cause leader announces run for Secretary of State"

Tuesday
Jun182013

SACRAMENTO: SB 71, trailer bill to state budget package, Public Records Act requests, report, editorial, "California legislature launches sneak attack on government accountability"....

* Capitol Weekly:  "Trailer bill targets Public Records Act" - From Capitol Weekly:

Tucked away in the state budget package on Gov. Brown’s desk is a provision that makes it easier for local governments to avoid complying with Public Records Act requests. “The bill essentially makes a portion of the Public Records Act optional for local governments – that’s the long and short of it,” said Phillip Ung of California Common Cause, which tracks government transparency.

The bill, SB 71 by the Senate budget committee, allows cities, counties and other local entities such as school districts and planning commissions, to decide whether to comply with requests.  The measure is one of dozens of bills accompanying the main budget bill that contains agreements, changes in law and details related to the primary bill........

* Daily News (editorial):  "California legislature launches sneak attack on government accountability" - From the DN:

Since when is gutting the public's right to know about its own government part of California's annual state budget process? Since one year ago, actually. And now it's a trend, with a sneaky and irresponsible rider slipped into this year's budget package at the 11th hour.

 

The budget rider bill from the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee blasts a hole in the state's Public Records Act in the name of saving a few bucks. But just imagine how many more bucks taxpayers will lose in the black hole of government if the public is unable to track tax dollars and hold local officials accountable for them.

 

Language inserted into the budget package Wednesday -- three days before the Legislature finalized and passed it -- allows local governments to turn down requests for public records without citing a legal reason. . . . . . . . .

"This is the worst assault on the public's right to know I have seen in my 18 years of doing this," Jim Ewart, general counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association, said on Friday..............

***UPDATED:  June 19, 7:30 a.m.

* Los Angeles Times:  "Budget could limit public's access to government documents" - "Gov. Brown is ready to sign a budget that would allow local officials to opt out of some provisions of the Public Records Act as a way to save money, drawing protests from California newspapers."

 

 

Tuesday
Jun182013

L.A. CITY HALL: Proposal to create a Los Angeles city health department, estimated cost, more than $330 million a year....

* Daily News:  "How much would a new L.A. city health department cost? $330 million, says budget analyst" - From the DN:

Creating a new Los Angeles city health department could take between one and two years and cost at least $333 million a year, with only about $75 million of that made up in fees, the city's top budget analyst said in a report.

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said the proposal from the AIDS HealthCare Foundation to create a separate city agency apart from the county Department of Public Health would create a number of other problems for the city, which still has a deficit of more than $100 million, by prohibiting any contracting with the county for assistance.

"A newly established Public Health Department in the city will not be equipped to adequately serve all the public health needs for the city's entire population, given its vast and specialized responsibilities coupled with the necessary financial resources to fully prepare for implementation," Santana said. "It will be very challenging for the city."

The City Council is scheduled to consider his report on Wednesday................