Waterless toilets and solar panels bought from friends
of Antonio ... $1 billion for the incompetent internet technology division ...
$1 billion for schools already built with previous bond money ... $450 million to
get charter school operators to keep their mouths shut ... umpteen millions for
new school kitchens to produce food kids won't eat and to buy high-tech radios for campus police as if that will help them take back control of schools form gangs....
Buoyed by polls showing the public is as gullible as ever, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's school board unanimously approved the fifth school bond issue in a decade -- $7 billion to be paid back by taxpayers over 30 years.
While the mayor's off partying in a faraway land, the seven board members and Superintendent David Brewer went off the Pacific Diining Car to celebrate their triumph.
And what a triumph it is. There's something for everybody but not one cent for kids or teachers, not one cent that goes toward ending 30 years of dismal failure, not one cent that offers any hope of reducing the 50 percent dropout rate or raising the achievement level of students.
But think about who benefits from this feeding frenzy at the public trough.
Certainly, it's tje army of bureaucrats who will get massive pay raises guaranteed. Certainly, it will be all the contractors who will provide the services and materials required to fulfill this massive shopping list. Certainly, it will be the unions since insists on paying the highest cost for labor.
But most certainly, it will be the mayor and the rest of the political entourage who will decide who gets all that money, your money.
And how, you ask does any of this educate kids or motivate teachers to do a better job?
It doesn't. That's not the goal of LAUSD. It hasn't been for decades. The district exists to serve itself -- and the circle of insiders of L.A. corrupt political culture.
The mayor promised to take over the school system and carry out massive reforms. In fact, he failed so completely at that he has control over just nine of 700 schools, barely 1 percent. Failure without accountability breeds contempt and that's what this is about, contempt for the public that is so gullible they can be sold a fifth bond issue without any sign of significant progress in educating children.
This is a fraud. And if you look the other way and buy it, you deserve the bill you'll get now and until 2044. You should live that long. You should live to see this produce a better educated generation of public school students than the last two generation. But don't hold your breath, it isn't going to happen.
It hasn't happen with the $20 billion already invested in LAUSD through four previous bond issues and a state bond issue.
Has anyone even seen an accounting of where that money went and whether the public got what it paid for?
Junkies will say anything to get your money for their next fix. And that's all this about: A system addicted to the public's money and desperate for more.
Here's the mayor's press release on passage of the bond issue:
Buoyed by polls showing the public is as gullible as ever, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's school board unanimously approved the fifth school bond issue in a decade -- $7 billion to be paid back by taxpayers over 30 years.
While the mayor's off partying in a faraway land, the seven board members and Superintendent David Brewer went off the Pacific Diining Car to celebrate their triumph.
And what a triumph it is. There's something for everybody but not one cent for kids or teachers, not one cent that goes toward ending 30 years of dismal failure, not one cent that offers any hope of reducing the 50 percent dropout rate or raising the achievement level of students.
But think about who benefits from this feeding frenzy at the public trough.
Certainly, it's tje army of bureaucrats who will get massive pay raises guaranteed. Certainly, it will be all the contractors who will provide the services and materials required to fulfill this massive shopping list. Certainly, it will be the unions since insists on paying the highest cost for labor.
But most certainly, it will be the mayor and the rest of the political entourage who will decide who gets all that money, your money.
And how, you ask does any of this educate kids or motivate teachers to do a better job?
It doesn't. That's not the goal of LAUSD. It hasn't been for decades. The district exists to serve itself -- and the circle of insiders of L.A. corrupt political culture.
The mayor promised to take over the school system and carry out massive reforms. In fact, he failed so completely at that he has control over just nine of 700 schools, barely 1 percent. Failure without accountability breeds contempt and that's what this is about, contempt for the public that is so gullible they can be sold a fifth bond issue without any sign of significant progress in educating children.
This is a fraud. And if you look the other way and buy it, you deserve the bill you'll get now and until 2044. You should live that long. You should live to see this produce a better educated generation of public school students than the last two generation. But don't hold your breath, it isn't going to happen.
It hasn't happen with the $20 billion already invested in LAUSD through four previous bond issues and a state bond issue.
Has anyone even seen an accounting of where that money went and whether the public got what it paid for?
Junkies will say anything to get your money for their next fix. And that's all this about: A system addicted to the public's money and desperate for more.
Here's the mayor's press release on passage of the bond issue:
MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA HAILS LAUSD BOARD APPROVAL OF SCHOOL-REFORM BOND
$7 billion November bond will create small, safe and green community
schools, with $450 million in funding for construction of charters and
independent schools
LOS ANGELES - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hailed the LAUSD Board's 7-0
vote today to place on the November ballot a $7 billion school-reform
bond that will create small, safe, green and independent community
schools across Los Angeles.
The Mayor issued the following statement on the vote to adopt the bond,
crafted by the Mayor, Superintendent David Brewer and LAUSD Board:
"Today's vote is the first step in an unprecedented investment in our
children's future.
"This bond isn't about slapping another coat of paint on the problem;
it's about fundamentally transforming our district into small, safe and
independent schools.
"Today we have shown parents, teachers and students that we are serious
about reforming this district as we know it."
The bond for the November ballot includes:
- $1.6 billion to build small schools;
- $2.68 billion to develop new safety measures at schools;
- $500 million to make schools environmentally friendly;
- $450 million for charter school construction.
$7 billion November bond will create small, safe and green community
schools, with $450 million in funding for construction of charters and
independent schools
LOS ANGELES - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hailed the LAUSD Board's 7-0
vote today to place on the November ballot a $7 billion school-reform
bond that will create small, safe, green and independent community
schools across Los Angeles.
The Mayor issued the following statement on the vote to adopt the bond,
crafted by the Mayor, Superintendent David Brewer and LAUSD Board:
"Today's vote is the first step in an unprecedented investment in our
children's future.
"This bond isn't about slapping another coat of paint on the problem;
it's about fundamentally transforming our district into small, safe and
independent schools.
"Today we have shown parents, teachers and students that we are serious
about reforming this district as we know it."
The bond for the November ballot includes:
- $1.6 billion to build small schools;
- $2.68 billion to develop new safety measures at schools;
- $500 million to make schools environmentally friendly;
- $450 million for charter school construction.
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.
You write good, man. What a mess.
Just the tip from lunch would feed a family of four for a week. I want to know if I paid for that too??
Anony. 9:37
Yup. You paid for that, too. You, we pay their salaries...therefore their expensive lunches, dinners, tips, et al.
Betcha that the pols will sell the voters on the bond measure using the one strong card they have - the monies allocated to fund expanding Charter Schools. This might be the one item that Caprice Young (Charter School head) and the School Board will find common ground.
The $7B bond measure will pass by hook or by crook!!!
The Razas have been canvassing the barrios for 2 years...registering everyone with a pulse, legal or illegal! From now on, our votes will be invalidated because we can never fight the voter fraud! The system is 100% corrupt...just like the Mexican mafia in city hall.
It's a numbers game, and the integrity of the voting process has been forever tainted!