Pondering Two More Pontifications From The Press

Here are two articles taken from the Daily Breeze and the Los Angeles Times.

Specialists costing LAUSD
By George Sanchez, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 08/29/2008 11:30:17 PM PDT

Even while grappling with funding shortfalls, the Los Angeles Unified School District is employing more than 800 consultants - paid, on average, more than twice as much as regular employees - to oversee school construction.

The Facilities Services Division spends about $182 million on its 849 consultants, almost $215,000 each. The division's regular employees are paid about $99,000 each.

The practice has prompted concerns and a growing number of inquiries from the district's board members and LAUSD's bond oversight committee.

"It's the big secret everybody knows and the taxpayers of L.A. County are paying for," said Connie Moreno, a labor representative of the California School Employees Association.

"It looks real good that they get all these schools built, but no one knows the real cost."

District officials defend the practice, saying use of consultants ebbs and flows with the various stages of construction.

And facilities chief Guy Mehula said employee salaries don't measure up to industry wages, so the only way to complete the work is by using independent contractors.

"In many cases, the expertise is more expensive than we can hire as an employee," he said.
Overall, consultants constitute nearly 20 percent of division personnel and account for 35 percent of personnel costs.

Senior Deputy Superintendent Ray Cortines agreed that consultants can get the work done quickly and correctly, but said he is also concerned about the district's reliance on outside workers. "We need to look at it, to reduce the number of consultants," he said.

A report on facilities consultants, including a recommendation, is expected next week.

While it may not be politically viable to offer raises to construction staff and management while teachers and other school staff members are laid off, reassigned or possibly forced to take unpaid days off, at least one board member insists a solution can be found.

"It's not an either-or," said board member Yolie Flores Aguilar. "It's about finding the balance and making sure we're in compliance."

In the seven main branches of the Facilities Services Division, there are 3,479 district employees who earn a total of about $347 million, according to district records.

The division employs 849 consultants who earn a total of about $182.6 million.

Most of the consultants work in two branches: new construction and existing facilities.
Consultants working on new construction number 379 - more than twice the number of their regular-employee counterparts, 178.

And 385 consultants work on existing facilities - about 12 percent of all personnel in the branch that includes nearly 2,600 regular employees in maintenance and operations.

Mehula said that to build on the scale of LAUSD's unprecedented construction effort - the largest of its kind in the country - the district needs to hire experts or it could end up with another debacle like that surrounding the Belmont Learning Center, now renamed Vista Hermosa.

Once a symbol of failure, the Belmont complex, built downtown atop an oil field and an earthquake fault, cost hundreds of millions of dollars over more than a decade of construction.
"In 2001, there was no in-house expertise," Mehula said. "That's what happened with Belmont."
While experts in real estate, environmental science, design and construction are key to projects that must be economical and innovative, most of them hold positions not necessarily needed in the long term, he said.

For existing facilities, Mehula said, 112 consultants were dropped in the past year. But if those consultants were needed as employees, he said, the district would not be able to afford them.

Los Angeles Unified's refusal to raise the wages for employees and management in the facilities division has long been a concern of the bond oversight committee, composed of parents, local government officials and representatives of special-interest groups.

The committee passed a resolution July 31 condemning the district for not paying higher wages, stating that the ability to attract and retain "top quality management" is being compromised.
The panel also said the district "is actually forced to pay far more for contractors to fill many positions."

Measure Y, the district's $4 billion construction bond measure passed in 2005, requires the district to survey construction firms across the country twice a year to ensure facilities management is paid comparable industry wages.

Multiple district surveys found that pay is lower, but raises are not feasible, according to Cortines.

"As you know, there is a budget crisis where some of our valuable staff members are losing their jobs," Cortines wrote in a letter to Thomas Rubin, the oversight committee's consultant.

"The board has some very tough decisions in the near future, including pay cuts and furloughs. It would not be responsible for the district to prompt pay raises for the very top levels of management in this environment."

Flores Aguilar agrees that facilities employees and managers should be paid more.

"We want the best that we can get because we want to get it right," she said, and to avoid Belmont-type problems. But she acknowledged the political problem of offering raises to facilities employees while cutting funding for teachers and other direct education expenses.

"Unfortunately," she said, "and this goes for Los Angeles as well as the nation, we have not really appropriately funded education."

george.sanchez@dailynews.com


Payroll trouble cuts off healthcare benefits for 1,300 L.A. Unified employees
Mostly substitute teachers are affected by the latest glitch in the district's problem-plagued payroll system. The benefits are expected to be restored without a lapse in coverage.

By Jason Song, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 9:46 PM PDT, August 29, 2008

The Los Angeles Unified School District's problem-plagued payroll system inadvertently cut off healthcare benefits to about 1,300 employees, mostly substitute teachers, who didn't work in July.

Substitutes who work the equivalent of 100 days during a school year are eligible for medical, dental and vision benefits the following year if they are still teaching, but the district sent a letter to some employees late last week informing them that their coverage had ended July 31.

District officials apologized for the error in a letter Aug. 28 and promised that medical benefits would be restored without a break in coverage, although some employees said Friday they still haven't been able to use their insurance cards to fill prescriptions or visit a doctor.

"They scared the hell out of 1,300 people," said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.

District officials said the problem occurred because L.A. Unified's payroll system was incorrectly programmed to cut off employees who are not on active status. Because many substitutes didn't work during July, the system sent them letters saying their medical coverage had been rescinded.

Some of the employees who received letters were not eligible for continued benefits and were appropriately dropped, L.A. Unified officials said, although they said they did not yet know how many fell into that group.

The officials said they are still working on glitches in the payroll system, which was launched in January 2007 and resulted in massive problems, including thousands of teachers being paid too much, too little or not at all.

Payment problems have since largely been resolved, district officials said.

"We'll continue to have some of these issues that crop up from time to time, and the only thing we can do is be prepared for knowing we'll occasionally encounter errors . . . and fix them quickly," said David Holmquist, the district's chief operating officer.

Duffy and other teachers union administrators said some members were forced to cancel medical procedures, including a skin cancer surgery. Many others had to forgo getting medical prescriptions.

Lauren Mora, who has been an L.A. Unified teacher for seven years, found out that her health coverage had lapsed when she tried to order birth control pills online Tuesday and was denied.

"I had a freakout. They're really important," she said.

Although summer months are generally slower for substitute teachers, there is less work this year because many campuses have stopped using year-round calendars and switched to a traditional schedule because of declining student enrollment.

Mora estimated that she worked about three days a week last summer, mainly at Broadous Elementary in Pacoima, but since the school switched to a traditional calendar in June, she said she hasn't taught at all.

"I'm just waiting for the first week of school and for the phone to ring," she said.

Holmquist said all employees should have their medical coverage restored by now, but Mora said she still hasn't been able to get her medication.

jason.song@latimes.com
____________________________________________

After reading these two articles, how do you feel about trusting LAUSD in placing another large high school on a bluff overlooking the blue Pacific?

I Know I am Being Mean on This One, But I Can't Help It!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2HSMvqluT0

" I still can't answer that question until somebody answers it for me. What is it exactly that the Vice President does every day?"

The honorable Sarah Palin, Governor of the State of Alaska in an interview with Neil Kudlow.

Prospectives to Ponder in Presidential Politics Around the Port

I am a progressive. I find the use of the word "liberal" being used by the Repubs as a pejorative laughable, but there are so many things about the Repubs and their neocon 'cousins' I find funny.

We now have learned the identities of the candidates for both the Democratic Party and the Repub Party ( I use "Repub" because they constantly use "Democrat Party" and even the POTUS mispronounces the name of the party he doesn't lead, probably mispronouncing it deliberately").

Somebody must have told John McCain that 18 Million voters voted for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman.

Would John have asked a male human with the same experiences in politics and service that Sarah has, to join his ticket?

How come two years in State office compares more favorably than three years in the U.S. Senate and eight years in State office?

Can the experiences of service between the V.P. choices of the two major political parties be compared.

Which of the two V.P. choices may have a higher degree of leadership ability and overall world experiences to qualify them to become President if that might ever happen?

Which of the two-major party candidates has a higher percentage of likelihood that they would become unable to remain in office or die while in office?

I think however, that by Tuesday morning Ms. Palin will not longer be John's running mate.

I can envision her 'deciding' to step aside and allowing somebody like Mr. Huckabee the opportunity to be nominated for V.P.

We all have the entire weekend to see if major McCain supporters and donors challenge John's choice for a running mate.

On the few sites where I have read comments to John's selection, I can see about at least a 15 to 1 take that the selection of Sarah is not only a very bad decision on John's part, but a decision that insures that in January we will watch the swearing in of President Obama.

When we see John's pick for running mate, we also see quite a bit about what he truly thinks of voters in America, what he feels he needs to try and get elected, and what decision-making qualities he demonstrates.

So far, it looks like John would be a bad President simply from the very few decisions we have watched him make recently.

Too stand up and recognize he has supported "W" about 90% of the time, is something we may all want to call into question.

From the largest surplus ever to the greatest deficit in the history of our nation, acknowledging that you support the President that served during those times also indicates to many people that John may have a worse decision-making ability that just about every other Presidential candidate that will be on the November ballot.

Is Obama ready to be President? Was John Kennedy compared to a sitting Vice President with 8 years experience at that job?

Would Biden be able to step in at the loss of heart beat or other incapability by Obama?

Would Palin be able to step in at the loss of heart beat or other incapability by McCain?

Is Huckabee or some other far conservative be willing to replace Palin on the ticket?

San Pedro has had a history of supporting Democratic nominees for President.

Rancho Palos Verdes has had a history of supporting Repub nominees for President.

The three precincts that make up the "Eastview" area have voted more conservative than progressive, in the more recent past.

I do not usually vote for a major party candidate in Presidential elections. Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and even John Kerry are too centrist for my liking and my one vote tries to help another candidate acquire campaign funds.

I haven't voted for a Democratic Presidential candidate since the re-election attempt by President Carter and we all know how that turned out.

I have some issue with Obama's ability to control and deal with things when somebody crosses him. He may be vindictive like Hillary was proven to be.

John is simply too old, feeble, and growing more in senility to be President for even four years. The prospect of having Sarah needing to step in should fill Republics and all Americans with fear.

I liked Joe Biden early on.

Governor Richardson had more things I agreed with than any other candidate but he has absolutely no "TVQ" and he cannot discuss and debate issues important to him in ways that can be held onto. He has many good ideas, but no real way to personally communicate them.

Senators Clinton and Edwards are far too centrist for my liking.

Representative Kucinich, even though more progressive than all the rest, can not be the choice of any major party.

I have not and never will vote for a Republic in a party-contested race. (I have voted for Republics in elections where their party affiliation was not mentioned on the ballot).

I wish I could have Richardson's ideas used by a candidate that communicates as well as Bill Clinton communicates.

Politics is not perfect and we learned even more about that, today I feel.

Let's thank Sarah for being willing to be on the ticket but recognize that John made a very bad choice and he has time to correct his lack of a better decision.

John has clearly demonstrated by this one act of who he selected for his running mate, that he waited too long in his life to really seek the office responsibly, realistically, and reasonably.

Now it is your turn.

Pondering a New Blog Concerning a Proposed Public School

http://blog.noisesanpedro.org/ is up and running and it deals with the proposed South Region High School No. 15 (SRHS 15) which members of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) want to build on the Upper reservation of Fort MacArthur on land now more commonly referred to as "Angel's Gate".

The site contains pages of information and should become the major source of information for those opposed to building a new 810-seat high school campus on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

I hope everyone bookmarks the new site and visits it regularly.

The site was published to the web shortly before a very important meeting by LAUSD to provide more information, take questions, and receive comment on the proposed school's Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR).

Information about the meeting can be found on the post directly below this post.

Whether you support the building of SRHS 15 on its preferred site or not, learning as much as you can and want to about the project, is not a bad thing.

Pondering Pretty Illustrations and a 'Phlier' for a Proposed Project

Yes, those white things sticking up are wind turbines.

Yes, there are two different conceptual illustrations of the same proposed project.

Yes, it is rational to be confused, at this point.

Yes, the proposed access illustrated on the left of the two illustrations is on Alma Street.

Yes, for a short time my head did explode.

Yes, I am better now.

Yes, I think Dr. Vladovic needs to hide from his phone and his inbox.

Yes, LAUSD considers the Alternative of just eliminating the wind turbines, repeat wind turbines, is a reasonable Alternative to building the project with the preferred plans.

Yes. please add ice to my 7 and 7.

Yes, I am fairly over being mad about the DEIR.

Yes, it is quite alright to poke fun at the DEIR, if you have recovered from your head exploding.

Yes, THEY did bring us THIS DEIR.

Yes, I do believe LAUSD thinks we are fools.

Yes, the DEIR is fair game to crush.

Yes, we should be objective to a point.

Yes, it is also perfectly alright to be mad at the bureaucrats who thought up this monster.

Yes, you need to be at the September 4, 2008 meeting.

Yes, I already have 35 pages of notes and comments written concerning the DEIR.

Yes, I think the DEIR is flawed and demonstrates that LAUSD is and had been disingenous to many of us.

Yes, WE WILL FIGHT!

Yes, please sleep well and be happy.

Yes, many of us have "got your back."

Yes, Bob Bisno continues to want to build One Thousand Nine Hundred Fifty condominiums in San Pedro with everyone using ONLY Western Avenue for ingress and egress.

Yes, the Port of L.A. wants to put two cruise ship berths miles away from vehicle parking for passengers of the ships.

Yes, we are living in pretty goofy times in OUR community.

Yes, if you don't have a good sense of humor you may want to pack up and leave.

Yes, WIND TURBINES in a residential area on a bluff where wind speed, according to an LAUSD manager is ONLY 6 mph.

Yes, some nightmares do come true.

Yes, I must stop writing this post.

Pondering More Concerning the Upcoming Election at Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council

A member of the Heart of San Pedro Committee who also reads this blog gave me the leaflet illustrated above to support candidates the committee believes should be elected to the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council's Board.

Just about everyone who shops in downtown San Pedro, lives there, works there, or supports organizations that have offices in that area are qualified to vote.

If you live in an area represented by the San Pedro and Peninsula Homeowners' Coalition, which meets in Central's area, you are qualified to vote.

If you have a Library Card and use the San Pedro branch Library, you qualify to vote.

If you are a member of the San Pedro Bay Historical Society, you are qualified to vote.

If you donate to organizations like Little Fish Theater Company or the Golden State Pops Orchestra, both of which preform in Central's area, you are qualified to vote.

If you perform work by ingress and/or egress of businesses within the area, you are qualified to vote.

In short, if you have any dealings with anything within Central's geographical area, then you may self-affirm your right to vote in the election and you can be considered a stakeholder in that Council.

I think we all also need to realize that any stakeholder may enter the election as a write-in candidate as late as September 8, 2008 and don't be surprised if four of the five current officers of the organization become write-in candidates.

There is a real need to finish what what started during the last election cycle at Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council.

Last year, twelve candidates running on a slate that was designed to begin restoring any real sense of a good reputation at Central, was elected.

Now it is time, according to some Heart of San Pedro Committee members to finish the job and continue to restore the reputation of the Council and remove it from some very deep depths of horrible times that have befallen that Neighborhood Council in more recent years.

I do not necessarily have the same recommendations for candidates as the Heart of San Pedro Committee have, but I respect their candidates and offer both my recommended candidates that the Heart of San Pedro Committee's candidates the best of luck.

Two candidates stand out on both recommended lists as candidates that MUST BE ELECTED.

Mr. Art Almeida must be elected. He is the most qualified of all candidates, whether they are or become write-in candidates.

Art is the former President of the San Pedro Bay Historical Society and he is to longshoreman what John Olguin is to children and all who love the ocean.

I hope Art receives either the highest or second highest vote totals.

Mr. Phillip Trigas is also someone who must be elected. I certainly do not agree with Mr. Trigas' support for Bob's Ponte Vista but this gentleman has given of himself to Central in many ways already and his services are already required, respected, and enjoyed by all stakeholders within Central.

Mr. Trigas fulfills duties that have not been met by at least one sitting officer at Central for the past few months, according to some Heart of San Pedro Committee members.

A word of caution, now.

It is believed that Mr. Joe Gatlin, Mr. Joe Donato, Ms. Myra Perez, and Ms. Pamela Foster, four current officers of Central may enter the election as write-in candidates.

These four need to be given a hail and hearty thanks for their services and allowed to become former Board members at Central.

The four individuals mentioned above have created and continued some of the very disturbing issues that have been encountered within the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council in the recent past.

I and the members of the Heart of San Pedro Committee strongly believe that these four individuals should in now way be re-elected to continue serving on the Board.

If it is time for a change in our country, it is most certainly long overdue for change within the Board of Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council, and you all can help provide that change by voting for the candidates listed above or the candidates I have listed on this blog within another post.

Here is THE Conceptual Illustration.......

Here is THE conceptual illustration of South Region High School No. 15 as found in the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the project.

Here is THE conceptual illustration of South Region High School No. 15 as found in the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the project.

The illustration was taken from one of the early Sections of the document.

The illustration was taken from the Traffic and Pedestrian Appendix of the document.

So, do you have eagle eyes? Heck, do you even need eagle eyes?

THE illustration is just one of the items in the documents that are almost funny enough to keep you from tossing your computer through the window. Repeat, almost!

It is bad enough that Alma will be used, according to the DEIR, so the 'brains' behind the proposed campus added Barlow Saxton Road as another ingress and egress roadway.

Please don't go towards the man behind the curtain because you already know that Barlow Saxton is a mindless try and find another way to get to the school.

But wait, you may shout, isn't there going to be a year-round campus at the Point Fermin Outdoor Education Center operating 24/7 that also needs the same access points?

Sure, you get a cookie for that thought.

Not too worry though, according to LAUSD, students can also drive through the Department of Parks and Rec. access at Gaffey and Leavenworth, the access to Angel's Gate Cultural Center.

Might that foul a few plugs in the minds of folks who enjoy Angel's Gate? You betcha.

But LAUSD is LAUSD, the larger than elephant in the community. Well, I did just forget about the Port of L.A. didn't I?

The alternatives provided by LAUSD to building the new campus as it is proposed is four-fold;

No Project-Don't build the new campus at all.

Built it inside Ponte Vista. (Are you howling with laughter yet? Go ahead, it is worth a big belly-laugh.)

Build the new campus almost exactly as it is planned but WITHOUT the wind turbines.
(See I wrote that LAUSD is funny. This one looks like is was just thrown in so that they would say they provided four alternatives, when they really provided just one....See No Project)

Build the new campus to seat only 500 students. (Almost 100% of all the campuses within LAUSD addes seats even when enrollment was declining. If anyone really believes this alternative, please visit www.pontevista.blogspot.com and view my post where I showed folks my acre of the Moon.)

All LAUSD had to do was provide one conceptual illustration of the proposed campus in their DEIR. Is that too much to ask? Are they so incompetent that they can't even provide ONE conceptual illustration of the campus, in black and white?

I hope the Port's upcoming DEIRs on a variety of things fair better than the DEIR released Friday for SRHS 15.

Bottom line, look for a recirculation of at least two sections of the documents in the SRHS 15 DEIR and there may be a reasonable chance that the whole thing will need recirculation, if my law firm of Dewey, Cheatum, Yu, Betcha, and Howe have anything to say about it.