The mayor of some small town out in the desert somewhere stumps for Obama in Pueblo. Colo
Jimmy Hahn, L.A.'s former mayor if you remember him, might not have inspired the masses with his laconic style but he did attract a true believer in veteran political consultant Kam Kuwata, long-time adviser to Sen. Dianne Feinstein and a lead organizer
for the Democratic National Convention.
So you can imagine the self-control it took for Kuwata not to gloat a reporter asked him about Villaraigosa being snubbed in Denver and kept off the main political stage.
"I'm personally not aware that he made a request to speak," Kuwata told the Times. "My understanding is that he has been one of the tremendous surrogates for Sen. Obama."
Nothing cold about that, no hint of bitterness lingering from 2005 or Villaraigosa's passionate support for Hillary Clinton in the primaries.
And why would anyone think Villaraigosa's being snubbed just because the closest he can get to Obama is a private meeting with adviser Valerie Jarrett. "I've been asked that question 100 times," said Villaraigosa. "I'm going to Pueblo, Colo., this week to campaign for Barack Obama."
Many county social workers are "either liars or really bad drivers" -- you decide
That's the question posed in a Daily News headline on a story about an audit of the perpetually broken Department of Children and Family Services.
Long plagued by serious problems in looking after the county's neediest kids, auditors in recent years have exposed the department misspent millions on unnecessary and overpriced supplies, violated county spending limits, paid unwarranted overtime and bonus pay to employees and allowed social workers to spend tens of thousands of dollars on meals and entertainment, including tickets to the musical "Wicked."
The newest audit found there's an epidemic of auto accidents among the 3,000 social workers who use their own cars and are reimbursed by the county.
Forged signatures, four claims in a year for $6,000, a fender-bender that cost $10,000, $5,800 for two off-duty accidents and "dozens of claims for windshield damage were paid out at an average cost of $950 when the usual cost is about $265."
But fear not, the county is going to fix the problem: It's going to have a windshield repair company come to DCFS offices to make the repairs. That's keeping an eye on the problem
The best of times, the worst of times -- which is it?
New census figures show poverty in L.A. County has dropped sharply thanks to "a booming economy, gentrifying neighborhoods and soaring housing prices," according to the Times.
"Bucking a national trend, Los Angeles County's poverty rate dropped notably between 2000 and 2007, the data showed, with the percentage of residents living below the federal poverty level falling from 17.9% in 2000 to 14.7% last year."
But wait the Daily News reports that "Census Bureau data released Tuesday showed that nearly 4.6 million Californians, or almost 13 percent, had incomes below the federal poverty line in 2007, up from about 4.4 million the previous year."
And home prices are still falling and 30 percent of the people in Pacoima are living below the poverty level and 50 percent of the Northeast Valley doesn't have health insurance.
What are we to think?
Jimmy Hahn, L.A.'s former mayor if you remember him, might not have inspired the masses with his laconic style but he did attract a true believer in veteran political consultant Kam Kuwata, long-time adviser to Sen. Dianne Feinstein and a lead organizer
for the Democratic National Convention.So you can imagine the self-control it took for Kuwata not to gloat a reporter asked him about Villaraigosa being snubbed in Denver and kept off the main political stage.
"I'm personally not aware that he made a request to speak," Kuwata told the Times. "My understanding is that he has been one of the tremendous surrogates for Sen. Obama."
Nothing cold about that, no hint of bitterness lingering from 2005 or Villaraigosa's passionate support for Hillary Clinton in the primaries.
And why would anyone think Villaraigosa's being snubbed just because the closest he can get to Obama is a private meeting with adviser Valerie Jarrett. "I've been asked that question 100 times," said Villaraigosa. "I'm going to Pueblo, Colo., this week to campaign for Barack Obama."
Many county social workers are "either liars or really bad drivers" -- you decide
That's the question posed in a Daily News headline on a story about an audit of the perpetually broken Department of Children and Family Services.
Long plagued by serious problems in looking after the county's neediest kids, auditors in recent years have exposed the department misspent millions on unnecessary and overpriced supplies, violated county spending limits, paid unwarranted overtime and bonus pay to employees and allowed social workers to spend tens of thousands of dollars on meals and entertainment, including tickets to the musical "Wicked."
The newest audit found there's an epidemic of auto accidents among the 3,000 social workers who use their own cars and are reimbursed by the county.
Forged signatures, four claims in a year for $6,000, a fender-bender that cost $10,000, $5,800 for two off-duty accidents and "dozens of claims for windshield damage were paid out at an average cost of $950 when the usual cost is about $265."
But fear not, the county is going to fix the problem: It's going to have a windshield repair company come to DCFS offices to make the repairs. That's keeping an eye on the problem
The best of times, the worst of times -- which is it?
New census figures show poverty in L.A. County has dropped sharply thanks to "a booming economy, gentrifying neighborhoods and soaring housing prices," according to the Times.
"Bucking a national trend, Los Angeles County's poverty rate dropped notably between 2000 and 2007, the data showed, with the percentage of residents living below the federal poverty level falling from 17.9% in 2000 to 14.7% last year."
But wait the Daily News reports that "Census Bureau data released Tuesday showed that nearly 4.6 million Californians, or almost 13 percent, had incomes below the federal poverty line in 2007, up from about 4.4 million the previous year."
And home prices are still falling and 30 percent of the people in Pacoima are living below the poverty level and 50 percent of the Northeast Valley doesn't have health insurance.
What are we to think?
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.
Another point to note about L.A.'s poverty rate: it is HIGHER than in ALL the SURROUNDING counties.
Why do you suppose that is? Something in the soil? Or perhaps we're electing the wrong people to City Hall?
Let's try new leadership before we blame the soil.
Walter Moore
Candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles
http://WalterMooreForMayor.com
Dear Mr. Moore:
Setting aside "something in the soil" as an obvious joke, please explain how your election as mayor would lower the poverty rate in LA County below that of the surrounding counties.
I followed the link to your website and read your "platform" and can't find your anti-poverty initiatives. The closest I can find is a plan to "raise your standard of living" by blocking "giant 'beehive' apartments" and "fight(ing) illegal immigration."
Based on that, it appears that your plan to fight poverty in LA County is to throw out as many (undocumented) poor people as you can, and block as many of the remaining (documented) poor people from living here by reducing the lowest-cost housing they are most likely to inhabit.
Please tell me I'm wrong, that you have a practical and specific anti-poverty plan that is more substantive than that.
Surely a serious candidate wouldn't raise the poverty rate as an issue here without having a serious approach to the problem....
Part and parcel with the poverty rate is the problem of an ever-expanding pool of undocumented (illegal alien) labor that inexcerably drives the prevailing wage-rate down through the floor.
If there was not that pool of labor that will work for minimal compensation, the average prevailing wage would rise as employers would have to start bidding for labor again.
We can start by deporting all of the illegals that have committed crimes (felonies and misdemeanors). This will also allow those that have the least to keep what they have since they are the usual target of the criminal class.
Paraphrasing Thomas Sowell: Poverty doesn't cause crime, but crime surely causes poverty.
Anon at 4:45: "...that inexcerably drives the prevailing wage-rate..."
Inigo Montoya: "I do not think this word means what you think it means."
Thank you, Mr. Goldman.
Please substitue "inevitably".
I would have gone with 'inexorably'...
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is, "Never get involved in a land war in Asia." But only slightly less well known is this, "Never go in against a vocabulist when words are on the line. AH HA HA HA HA HA HA"