Happy days are here again, everything's perfect in the most perfect of all worlds -- how do I know? I read it in the Daily News and the Times
"Nearly 700,000 students head back to Los Angeles Unified classrooms today, and tens of thousands of them will no longer suffer through chaotic, year-round schedules thanks to the district's massive ongoing construction program." -- Daily News. And thanks to you the taxpayers for your generous $19.2 billion investment in bad schools which soon will be $26.2 billion unless you wake up and reject the ill-conceived $7 billion LAUSD bond issue in November.
"Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vowed to double the rate of academic improvement at schools under his stewardship in benchmarks announced Tuesday. The marching orders apply to the 10 schools that make up the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, Villaraigosa's hgih-stakes effort to improve some of the city's lowest-achieving campuses." -- L.A. Times. And the mayor sends his regrets to the other 700 failing schools that will be left at the mercy of LAUSD's low-stakes efforts to make negligible improvements year after year.
"Homicides over the past three months in Los Angeles have fallen to their lowest levels since the Summer of Love more than 40 years age ...(thanks to) collaboration with other police agencies, an intense focus on gang crime and a crackdown on illegal immigrants with criminal records." -- Daily News. Who knew? Forget Jamiel's Law -- but if the city's recently dismantled gang program was working so well, how come they just dismantled it and want approval in November to impose the most regressive of all taxes, a parcel tax, for it.
"In a surprising and ambitious move, local transportation officials said Tuesday that they would pursue planning for two subway lines to the Westside..." -- L.A. Times. Talk about counting your chickens -- the MTA's is so optimistic about getting another half-cent sales hike approved in November that it's already publicly boosting not one but two subway routes to the sea. Of course, the rest of the county gets nothing.
"Nearly 700,000 students head back to Los Angeles Unified classrooms today, and tens of thousands of them will no longer suffer through chaotic, year-round schedules thanks to the district's massive ongoing construction program." -- Daily News. And thanks to you the taxpayers for your generous $19.2 billion investment in bad schools which soon will be $26.2 billion unless you wake up and reject the ill-conceived $7 billion LAUSD bond issue in November.
"Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vowed to double the rate of academic improvement at schools under his stewardship in benchmarks announced Tuesday. The marching orders apply to the 10 schools that make up the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, Villaraigosa's hgih-stakes effort to improve some of the city's lowest-achieving campuses." -- L.A. Times. And the mayor sends his regrets to the other 700 failing schools that will be left at the mercy of LAUSD's low-stakes efforts to make negligible improvements year after year.
"Homicides over the past three months in Los Angeles have fallen to their lowest levels since the Summer of Love more than 40 years age ...(thanks to) collaboration with other police agencies, an intense focus on gang crime and a crackdown on illegal immigrants with criminal records." -- Daily News. Who knew? Forget Jamiel's Law -- but if the city's recently dismantled gang program was working so well, how come they just dismantled it and want approval in November to impose the most regressive of all taxes, a parcel tax, for it.
"In a surprising and ambitious move, local transportation officials said Tuesday that they would pursue planning for two subway lines to the Westside..." -- L.A. Times. Talk about counting your chickens -- the MTA's is so optimistic about getting another half-cent sales hike approved in November that it's already publicly boosting not one but two subway routes to the sea. Of course, the rest of the county gets nothing.
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.
Ron Kaye -- I love it when you get dillusional. Have a lovely day.
Ah, yes. The police are doing a fine job. There hasn't been blood in the streets from a gang shooting in what?...three days?
And yes again. Our fine men and women in blue do a fine job of policing, that is...until they do a fine job of policing by quelling a deliberate riot in MacArthur Park, staged by the rabblest of rabble rousers pretending to demonstrate for rights for illegal aliens (but really just causing trouble for the sake of causing trouble), who by their mere presence broke the law to be here.
Then the fine men and women in blue who are doing a fine job are finely criticized and chastised by their fine bosses for doing not such a fine job.
Now isn't that just fine!
Does that mean they've caught "The Grim Sleeper"?
Hey, Mayor Tony; Chief Bratton;
how many more bodies are going to turn up in South L.A. with this guys signature?
Eleven, or more, deaths by the same mad-man since 1985.
Why?
Ron: Do we know for sure that "gang-related homicides" are included in the 84 homicides reported in June, July and August? I seem to recall that shortly after Bratton took over, the way the statistics were reported changed? Is there any truth to the fact that LAPD reports "Gang Related Homicides" in a different category from "Homicides" in general?
Villar has utterly failed the 'credulity' test! Are we supposed to believe him...or our 'lying eyes'???
The biggest laugh of the day is the fact that Villar's goal at Markham school is to lower the drop-out rate to 44%!!! LOL, LOL, LOL!!! I expected him to say that he also wants to raise the SAT scores to 250, LOL, LOL, LOL!!!
What about crime, you say?
Well, what can we expect from an ex-gangbanger...turned white collar criminal... to say about crime??? He's so intent upon robbing and pillaging the good citizens of this city...that he completely ignores the daily tally of murders committed by his precious gangbangers and their illegal alien gangbanger amigos!
And when he's not plotting and scheming on how to stick the taxpayers with a new 'tax' to compensate for his profligate spending and squandering of our treasury, he's off to hob nob with his newly found 'friends' in high places to pick up some $$$ for his upcoming campaign!
In the meantime, L.A. has plummeted to third world status! You're doing a great job, Brownie...er, uh... Tony!!!
While new construction may take some credit for ending year round schedules, decreased enrollment is probably the main reason. See the July 2006 L.A. Times article.
http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jul/31/local/me-enroll31
Enrollments are down across the nation. Most especially in areas hardest hit by foreclosures.
Anti gang efforts have pulled officers off of other details most notably traffic enforcement. The Eagle Rock crash that killed 3 students may be the most recent example of why not all the news is good. I wonder if L.A.'s traffic death rate is up? What are the response times for non-priority calls? Do you get a call from LAPD 3 hours after your request asking "do you still need the police?"
The difference between "murder" and "attempted murder" can be the difference between one surgeon and another -- or one era's medical technology versus another era's technology.
According to LAPD's own statistics, there have been 240 murders this year, but 1058 shooting victims.
Query what the ratio of murders to shootings was in 1967.
I have not been able to find statistics for 1967.
Excellent points by Walter, Nancy and Watchbear.
The 240 murders could just as easily be 340 or 540 if it weren't for modern medical techniques.
LAPD did change how they play with the stats, I don't happen to remember which ones they tinkered with.
I suppose the dropout rate could account for gang membership and activity either going up or down. If it's gone down, it would be interesting to know where it's gone up.
Are these dropouts kids whose families moved to another area, or are they dropouts who are now committing crimes outside the gangs, or did they (ha!) get bored, go to night school, get a GED and find jobs?
The comment regarding the planning for subway lines on the westside doesn't quite do justice to what is proposed. FIRST: there are many transit projects to be funded by the upcoming ballot measure, many beyond the Westside Extension of a subway. SECOND: The proposal to have two different "legs" of the subway is done so realizing that it is likely that only one (the Wilshire line, rather than the Santa Monica Blvd. piece) would be built first. THIRD: Of all the areas in the City, it is the Westside that has received the least amount of public transit investment, this, despite the worst gridlock in the county. FINALLY: It is so very wrong to imply that Westside public transportation will benefit only the Westside. Projections of ridership demonstrate that the Westside Extension will benefit all areas of the County. Residents throughout the region travel to the Westside -- many of them for work, to attend UCLA, etc. They are either doomed to long transit commutes of many hours (remember that Westside buses travel on the very same gridlocked streets as do autos) or are chained to their automobiles that are getting more and more costly to drive--neither option being particularly pleasant. Opening up the Westside to public transit (via the subway, EXPO and in the short run hopefully on dedicated bus lanes) will benefit all. (Yes, it will also benefit Westsiders who will be able to also leave their cars behind and may ease congestion on the streets once commuter traffic coming and going through the Westside is reduced.) For public transit to work, we need networks all across the county. The projections for Wilshire Blvd. ridership are impressive and would likely be the only route that can meet the numbers of riders that will enable MTA to obtain federal funding. It is time for these investments to be made. LA is the only world class city I know without a public transit system. Look around. We have a lot of catching up to do.
The "Westside Extension Transit Corridor Study" is one of many under way by Metro. These studies are one of the necessary precursors before a new transit or highway project can get built. In some cases, funding has already been identified and the project is included in the funded element of the Long Range Transportation Plan. In some cases, the funding is not yet known however, the Metro Board directed the studies to proceed to better define the projects so they can be eligible for funding if and when it becomes available.
If anyone wants to find out more about the various studies underway by Metro, I invite them to go to our website, www.metro.net & click on "Projects and Programs." If you want to find out about the Westside Study, which is evaluating a possible subway extension, you can go directly to www.metro.net/westside. You can also find us on Facebook at "Metro Westside Extension."
The proposed sales tax that will be on the November ballot provides funding for a variety of new projects and programs Countywide. More information is available at www.metro.net/measurer.
Jody Litvak
Metro Westside Extension Study Team