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Education is a Human Right

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Education is a Human Right

Our American Declaration of Independence, written mostly by Thomas Jefferson, claims for us “… certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness–That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men…” In other words, not only was the American (and California) Government established to guarantee us the Rights to Life and Liberty, but also the Right to our Pursuit of Happiness.

For great philosophers of democracy such as Aristotle and Jefferson, “Happiness” meant fulfillment; fulfillment of our “Telos” or purpose in life. This means the ability to develop our talents fully, which enables us to reach our full individual human potential. If you have the talents/abilities to become a doctor, engineer, computer scientist, teacher, nurse, sculptor, automotive technician, or aircraft mechanic, governments have been charged with the responsibility of guaranteeing us the Right and Opportunity to do so. Jefferson, in addition to others such as Horace Mann, John Dewey, Susan B. Anthony, and Harriett Tubman, was a strong proponent of American Public Education, including civic education which enables people to become active, critical thinking citizens. In this vein, Thomas Jefferson once said, “I know of no safer repository of power than the people themselves; if, on occasion, the people make the wrong decision, we must not take power away from the people, but we must inform them toward the right decision.”

These great pioneers of public education invented it and gave it to America and the world. Governor Pat Brown and University of California President Clark Kerr established the California Master Plan For Higher Education in 1960 to guarantee tuition free/affordable Higher Education to all California high school graduates. The spirit of the Master Plan flourished from 1960 to the early 1980’s. Former Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzennegger attended UC Berkeley Law School and Santa Monica College, respectively, tuition free and only paid a small fee– at UC and Cal State the fee was less than $100 per semester, and at Santa Monica (community) College the fee was $6 per semester for all 15 units, not $6 per unit. I started teaching at Foothill College and City College of San Francisco in the 1970’s and my students paid $6 fee per semester for a full load of classes!

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Long Beach Man Killed on 10 Street

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Long Beach Man Killed on 10 Street

Long Beach — Juan Estrada was gunned down, at about 11:30 p.m. Oct. 21, on 10th Street in Long Beach, officials said.

Long Beach Police Department officers found the 24-year-old man on the sidewalk with multiple gunshots to his upper torso near the 2500 block of 10th Street. He was pronounced dead at about 12:39 a.m. at a St. Mary’s MedicalCenter in Long Beach.

Witnesses said that a car pulled up near him and asked him where he was from. Estrada was shot before being able to respond.

A motive is unknown but it is being investigated as gang-related.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call (562) 570-7244 or visit www.lacrimestoppers.org.

Truckers Shut Down Terminal

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Truckers Shut Down Terminal

Oakland, Calif. — Truck drivers stopped commerce, Oct. 21, at the SSA Marine Terminal, a big terminal within the Port of Oakland, protesting working conditions and rising hauling costs.

About 100 pickters rallied outside of three entrances to the SSA Marine terminal, shutting down traffic when workers refused to cross protest lines.

The truckers, who own and operate their trucks, assert that they are getting paid the same per load as they were paid 10 years ago, even as they have to pay more for fuel and maintenance.

The protestors are asking for fees to help pay for the stricter air quality regulations and compensation for their wait in long lines outside of terminals, which are particularly long at the SSA Marine terminal. The terminal has recently undergone a merger and as a result has less workers.

This past week, an Alameda County judge filed a temporary order that bars protestors from interfering with cargo traffic. Alameda County Sheriffs forced protestors — some of whom claim were hit with batons — away from the entrance.

The SSA Terminal was the only one shut down but the protests interrupted operations at other terminals.

Garcetti Announces Harbor Commission Appointments

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Garcetti Announces Harbor Commission Appointments

Los Angeles — Mayor Eric Garcetti, announced Oct. 22, his appointment to the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners.

The Board of Harbor Commissioners oversee the management and operation of the Port of Los Angeles. The five-member board is appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council.

David Arian. Arian is the president of the community organizing nonprofit, Harry Bridges Institute. He began his career as a longshoreman in 1965. He served as an officer of the ILWU Local 13 several times, including three terms as the local president. In 1991, he was elected international president of the ILWU. He retired in 2009. He was originally appointed to the board in 2010 by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Patricia Castellanos. Castellanos is the deputy director of the L.A. Alliance for a New Economy, a policy and advocacy nonprofit organization. There she oversees the organization’s efforts to advance economic development strategies that lead to better jobs and an improved environment. She served as LAANE’s director of the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports, served as the Harbor Area director for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and served as director of policy, training, and education for Strategic Concepts in Organization and Policy Education. She also serves on the board of the Los Angeles League of Conservations Voters.

Anthony Pirozzi. Pirozzi is director of Systems Integration, Test & Launch Organization Boeing Satellite Development Center. He also serves on the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, where he served as chairman of the board of directors from 2010 to 2012. He has served as a project manager for the New Fields Project with Eastview Little League and the Port of Los Angeles. He is a columnist for San Pedro Today and a member of the Marymount College Advisory Board.

Vilma Martinez. Martinez served as U.S. Ambassador to Argentina from 2009 until July 2013. She has been a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson since 1982, specializing in federal and state court commercial litigation and advising companies on equal employment opportunity policies. She has also served as president and general counsel of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, chairwoman of the Board of Regents of The University of California from 1984 to 1986, and was a regent from 1976 to 1990. She previously served as a board member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Martinez chaired the Pacific Council’s Study Group on Mexico and served on the advisory boards of Columbia Law School and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California. She was appointed to President Clinton’s Advisory Committee on Trade Policy & Negotiations from 1994 to 1996.

Edward Renwick. Renwick is a partner of The Yucaipa Companies, a private equity fund. In 2007, Renwick became the CEO of Yucaipa’s Global Fund, a private equity fund investing primarily in greater China, Korea and India. In addition, he co-founded and serves as CEO of Raineth Holdings, a real estate investment fund. Prior to joining Yucaipa, he was a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, the senior vice president of business development at the Chongqing Wanli Storage Battery Co. in Chongqing, China, and worked as an analyst in the real estate investment banking division of Goldman Sachs. He has served as a director of current TV, Delltrade and EasyBill, a transaction processor in India. He serves as an advisory board member of Children Now.

Long Beach Agrees to Pension Deals with Three Unions

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Long Beach Agrees to Pension Deals with Three Unions

Long Beach — On Oct. 22, the Long Beach City Council agreed to pension reforms with three unions.

The deals did not include paying more toward retirement costs.

Contract with City Manager Pat West and other city management still are in limbo. The city council voted 5-4, councilmen Robert Garcia, Steven Neal, Dee Andrews and Al Austin opposed, to holdup on those deals for a couple of weeks.

Engineers and lifeguards will get 15 percent compensation increases in the two fiscal years that follow in a 7-2 vote, with councilmen Gary DeLong and James Johnson, opposed. Confidential employees will get 12 percent raises.

The unions agreed to increase their pension contributions to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System from 2 to 8 percent of their salaries. So, the 6 percent of the first year’s raise will be paying for their share of pension costs.

The four unions that that dealt with the council Oct. 22 were working with expired contracts. The raises are retroactive to Oct. 1, when the fiscal year began.

The Oct. 22 negotiations expected to cost the general fund $800,000 in 2014 and $1.8 million in the years that follow.

LA Provides City Finance Information

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LA Provides City Finance Information

Los Angeles — On Oct. 23, Los Angeles Controller Ron Galperin announced the launch of Control Panel LA, which posts a variety of data so that taxpayers can see where their money goes.

Much of the data, such as employee salaries, already are obtainable but this consolidates the information into a centralized location. Some information such as as background on lawsuits filed against the city and listing the names of workers adjacent to their salaries still is not available on the site.

Mayor Eric Garcetti is planning to launch a separate site for the public to weigh in on spending priorities, which he wants to incorporate information from the Department of Water and Power, the Port of Los Angeles and the Department of Airports on.

Ursua LB Community College District Board of Trustees Candidacy

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Ursua LB Community College District Board of Trustees Candidacy

Local business owner Stella Ursua officially announced her candidacy, Oct. 24, for the District 3 Board of Trustees seat at the Long Beach Community College District.

Ursua, who has been Long Beach resident for 15 years, is running for Mark Bowen’s seat in the board of trustees.

Ursua says she is running because Long Beach City College needs to be affordable and accessible to all residents and wants to seek opportunities with the Local Control Funding Formula (2013-2014 Budget Act) and from Proposition 39-CA Clean Energy Jobs Act to be utilized to reinvest in college-prep and vocational programs.

Mayor Issues Executive Directive for Great Streets Initiative

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Mayor Issues Executive Directive for Great Streets Initiative

LOS ANGELES—Mayor Eric Garcetti recently announced the implementation of the Great Streets Program.

The program focuses on specific improvements to defined corridors throughout Los Angeles.

The Great Streets Program is created through an executive directive, which creates a working group composed of the following departments: Department of City Planning; Department of Cultural Affairs; Department of Transportation; Department of Public Works; Economic and Workforce Development Department.

The Great Streets workgroup will be tasked with criteria and strategy for identifying streets to be included in the Great Streets program, compose a candidate list of 40 potential streets, conduct a comprehensive matrix of project elements and associated costs, come up with a strategy for the coordination of city services to Great Streets, give a time table for the implementation of the project, strategize for funding and implement metrics and benchmarks to evaluate and track project impacts.

Long Beach Receives Grant Terminal Island Freeway

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Long Beach Receives Grant Terminal Island Freeway

LONG BEACH— On, Oct. 22, Caltrans awarded the City of Long Beach a $225,000 environmental justice grant to begin developing a vision for transforming the Terminal Island Freeway into a local-serving road with an adjacent landscape buffer.

The landscape buffer would separate port and industrial uses from the residential and neighborhood uses, between Pacific Coast Highway and West Willow Street.

A series of public workshops and meetings will be scheduled to solicit input and help identify a comprehensive vision for the re-purposing of the Terminal Island freeway.

Avenue Q: Message within Joke

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Avenue Q: Message within Joke

By John Farrell, Curtain Call Writer

If you don’t get the fun inAvenue Q, then you probably haven’t seen television for about 40 years or so.

But if you are of the generation that was reared on Sesame Street or reared children or grandchildren on Miss Piggy (she has to be mentioned first, it’s in her contract), on Kermit the Frog, Elmo and the Cookie Monster, then you’ll understand all the jokes.

And, unless you are one of those very few who don’t love puppets and muppets (and who don’t remember Gary Coleman at all, you’ll love Avenue Q, either because you’ve always wondered what life on another street in that same imaginary New York was really like, or (for the mean-spirited) because you’ve had a secret hankering to see those characters brought down to real-life, sex and housing problems and all.

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