Sorted by date Results 801 - 825 of 879
By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist March is upon us and many of my friends are wondering where can I go that is new and different, close by and reasonable. Try these. Story time at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, 3:30 p.m. Saturdays. Adults $5, children under 13 free. See healthebay.org. Santa Monica Conservancy Walking Tours of downtown Santa Monica, Saturdays at 10 a.m. For two hours and in six blocks one can discover 130 years of Santa Monica history. Public $10. Phone: (310) 496-3146....
By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist From the "hard to believe" file: It was on Feb. 15, 2013, slightly more than a year ago, that an asteroid crashed into Russia with a force estimated to be about 500 kilotons of TNT, 25 times more powerful than the atomic bomb detonated at Hiroshima. Am I the only one old enough to remember when tobacco companies could advertise in magazines? Then the government got on a medical kick (and rightly so) and prohibited my pal, Joe camel, from the printed world. Y...
By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist I see State Senator Rod Wright is awaiting sentencing by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kennedy. This will allow Gardena Assembly Member Bradford to move up. Now comes the icing on the cake. Could Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas be looking at going to Washington, D.C.? Everybody knows Congressmen are not term limited and therefore it's a juicy plum of a job. May I suggest our friend Maxine Waters just might retire in four years . . . hmmm . . . and then . ....
By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist Sebastian, Sebastian, Sebastian, please get in touch with me and tell me if it is true. There is a vicious and mean-spirited rumor saying you appointed Scott Malsin your field representative. We all realize you just got elected to the California State Assembly two months ago from the 54th District, and as a rookie it is very easy to screw up. That's why you, a greenhorn, could easily be the laughingstock of the Assembly Members in Sacramento and the voters...
At the February 10 Culver City Council meeting, the council made clear that it intends to proceed with the decommissioning of the ice at the Culver Ice Arena as quickly as possible, due the city’s stated liability concerns arising from the safety inspection it ordered by outside experts. Prior to the discovery of the 1962 code variance document limiting the use of the property to an ice rink, the public safety issue enabled the council to take a safe position that did not cast them as the bad g...
By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. recently brought charges against 72 police officers, eight firemen and five corrections officers among others who filed disability claims as a direct result of 9/11, for allegedly claiming mental health disorders. The investigation is ongoing and many others could be prosecuted. Perhaps you recall a recent article where the IRS sent hundreds of phony tax refunds to one address in Europe and one in China. Not to be fooled...
Neil Rubenstein takes another swipe at public employees in his column (1/30 – 2/5/’14). He reports Treasurer Bill Lockyear’s observation that the state has “a $5 billion annual shortfall in its funding obligation for retired school educators.” However, he fails to present the full context of Mr. Lockyear’s comments as reported recently in the Camarillo Acorn. More fully, Lockyear says “the teacher retirement system in 30 years implodes if it doesn’t get fixed.” He further stated that the p...
This message is for Culver Crest Residents For the past year members of our Neighborhood Association have worked on developing an Emergency Preparedness Program. Our commitment should a disaster strike is to “be prepared, not scared.” We are launching a Street by Street canvassing effort to inventory community resources and skills, so should an emergency arise, we can coordinate efforts to facilitate everyone's safety. For example, if a serious earthquake were to occur, we may well have to fen...
Monday night, for the second time, scores of residents and skating enthusiasts came before the Culver City Council to plea for the city to do something to save one of the greatest entertainment venues for young people on the Westside, The Culver Ice Arena. The response of council members, while wringing their hands and lamenting the loss, was largely that of the monkeys on the wall with their hands over either their ears, eyes and mouth….Hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing. Months were moving but nothing of substance was being emitted. It i...
By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist Congress, in its infinite wisdom, mandated that those men and women who served honorably and faithfully sometime between 1961 and 1978 would forevermore be considered Vietnam veterans. Those troopers could have served in the North Atlantic on a Coast Guard cutter doing iceberg duty or in Europe flipping pancakes in the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment mess hall, or in Pearl Harbor with the Navy or with the Marines at Camp Pendleton, as long as it was sometime...
By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist Since 2010 homelessness among veterans has fallen by 24% across the country according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. A recent assessment by HUD disclosed that 57,849 veterans were homeless nationwide -- very tragic, to say the least. From the file labeled "South of the Border," Brazilian police are among the world's deadliest by the rate of people killed in custody. Was it only two years ago that John Pike, as a police officer in the...
Dear Editor, Walk With A Doc/Culver City took its inaugural “first steps” in the city on Saturday, January 18, at Veterans Park guided by physician Dr. Pouya Shafipour, of Wellesley Medical in Santa Monica. After warm-ups and stretches with Culver Palms YMCA Fitness Trainer Brandon Webb, Dr. Shafipour spoke to a gathering of about 50 eager participants and led them on a brisk walk through the park and the bordering neighborhoods. The air was crisp and fresh. Friends, new friends and their dog...
By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist Although not much has been heard about HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in recent years three new medications have been developed to keep the disease in check: Atripla, Complera and Stribild. From the "Good News" file, Soval, a possible cure for Hepatitis C which affects 150 million people worldwide and kills more Americans each year than HIV, was recently approved by the FDA. I am extremely pleased to report new advances could, in the future, reduce the...
By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist A big thank you to Culver City council member and former Coast Guardsman Jim Clarke for the following: The Veterans History Project was created by Congress in 2000 to collect, preserve and make accessible personal accounts of American war veterans. The project goal is to ensure that future generations hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war. Veterans from World War I, Word War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War,...
Can I hear three cheers for Edward Snowden and U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon who recently ruled that the National Security Agency’s efforts to collect telephone data probably infringed on the Fourth Amendment . . . ? Mr. Snowden has reportedly contacted Brazil for permanent asylum in return for our government's secret papers regarding that South American country. Supposedly Snowden has another million pages of classified unreleased documents. Rumor has it the administration will not p...
Dear Editor, One of the main reasons I ran for school board was to bring attention to the neglected and deplorable conditions of our Culver City School Natatorium swimming pool which has been shuttered since 1991. Although I lost the election, I succeeded in making most Culver City residents aware that it doesn't make common sense to spend $10.7 million to demolish "our school pool" and replace it with a multipurpose facility that would be used to accommodate only 80 students. In contrast, the...
By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced during a recent visit to Jordan that United States troops could be based in the moderate Arab country for "several years." The mission of the U.S. force, which includes 1,000 troops and a squadron of F-16 and Patriot missile units, is to prevent the war in Syria from spilling over into Jordan. In a study of 187,000 nurses referenced in the September 2013 British magazine BMJ, it was...
By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist The election on Dec. 3, 2013 between former Culver City Mayor Christopher Armenta and the son of Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas was disheartening, to say the least. I wrote and then rewrote my take on the 54th Assembly District contest before giving up. There is absolutely no doubt government classes at Culver City High School could easily spend a semester or two dissecting the many ramifications of this race in California. Neil would have...
Dear Editor, Everyone is getting ready for the Holidays. Hanukah is done, and we are on to Christmas. I am sure each one of you is figuring out who is on your list and what to buy them. I would like to suggest to each Culver City resident or worker who is fortunate enough to have a list and money, to think about adding a contribution to feed the children of Culver City. Many do not know that children in Culver City go to school hungry. They may be able to get a subsidized breakfast and lunch at...
Haven't been to a dentist lately? You may be at an increased risk for heart attack or stroke. A few studies have shown poor oral health to increase the risk of pancreatic cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, complications in diabetes, and more. Additional studies need to be done to ratify these preliminary findings. Have you heard about the great program in Ventura County? The Moorpark Unified School District and Moorpark Community College have started the college experience for high school juniors...
I forgot to mark my calendar so I missed the November 5th birthday celebration of that wonderful actor, Joel McCrea. I see the first day of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving will be celebrated this year on November 28th. The last time this happened was 125 years ago in 1888. I don't know if my memory is correct, but I kinda remember in 1962 or thereabouts Hanukkah fell on December 25th. I guess the political pundits would say Rubenstein is a high propensity voter since he missed voting in only one elect...
It was with great sorrow that I discovered the recent campaign literature sent out to torpedo assembly candidate Sebastian Ridley-Thomas and paint him as nothing more than the product of nepotism. While my optimism still pines for the possibility that this was some momentary misstep in moral judgment on the part of Mr. Armenta, I find myself obliged to write today to clarify this misconception. Sebastian Ridley-Thomas is not just a tireless candidate seemingly everywhere at once, but he is also...
Dear Editor, I’ve known Chris Armenta for over a decade. Having served with him for four years on the Culver City Council, I know his heart is in the right place. When asked if I would endorse his campaign for State Assembly, I did so without reservation. However, having seen a recent campaign mailer attacking his opponent, I am withdrawing my support. I have always set a high standard for my own conduct during campaigns. I never engaged in personal attacks, never condoned negative c...
Dear Editor, As Culver City residents we are so lucky to have our former Mayor, Councilmember and City Clerk Christopher Armenta running for the 54thDistrict State Assembly seat (that’s our District!) to replace now State Senator Holly Mitchell. Chris is a lifelong resident of Culver City. He has been educated in our schools, raised his own family here and served our community in so many ways that have benefited our lives. Experience and years of public service count, and when he is elected to t...
Dear Editor: Opponents of candidate Sebastian Ridley-Thomas in the upcoming 54th District Assembly race are drilling sideways to extract whatever votes they can from a tapped-out campaign. Without an appealing platform, they’ve used an old campaign trick in an attempt to manipulate voters: Make an empty pledge and demand your opponents do the same. We once heard former President George H.W. Bush declare, “Read my lips… no new taxes,” only to backslide once in he was in the White House. Bravado...
