Sorted by date Results 251 - 275 of 879
I have a great idea to get money to the Culver City Unified School District, so the people won’t need to raise taxes again this year. Over the past 10 or 15 years, the Board of Education must have considered our piggy bank, as a way to balance their budget; look at all the money the Board give to Dr. Arnold. Maybe some one needs to be horsewhipped? Until, we vote those responsible out of office why don’t we put them on a bus and let them pan for gold along Highway 49. A rumor has recently rea...
Why does it seem (rightly or wrongly) the City of Culver City always likes to tweak Fox Hills nose? I guess one of the main reasons is that area has approximately 5,000 people but no one has ever been elected to the City Council. They don’t have a soul to protect their rights’ and voice their concerns. Look at the new voting method coming soon. If one takes a survey to place the booths where oh where would city hall put it to maximize participation? Frankly, most would agree someplace in the...
Have the members of the Culver City Police Department read this want ad from the Brunswick News? The City of Nahunta, Georgia is now accepting applications for a full-time police chief. We are looking for an experienced police officer with strong integrity and problem-solving skills to join our growing community. Full job details, requirements, benefits and an application can be required at: Nahunta City Hall, 9911 North Main Street, Nahunta, Georgia 31553, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. – 4:30 p...
By Jon Switalski Before Culver City rushes headlong into following the City of Berkeley and eliminating natural gas hookups from residential buildings, it should carefully consider the consequences. In particular, for a city so concerned with social justice and equity issues, the economic impact of mandated electrification on its most vulnerable community members could be severe. For consumers, it would almost certainly mean an increase in their utility costs. A study by the consultant firm Navigant underwritten by the California Building...
Transparent California, California’s largest public pay, and pension database said recently nearly 900 percent increase in CalPERS benefits dwarfs economic growth, taxpayers’ ability to pay. The total pension benefits promised by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Increased 886 percent from 1987. 2016 – a rate 21 times greater than the cumulative increase in the states’ population, according to a just-released analysis from Transparent California. California Economic...
In 2013-14, according to the LA County District Teacher Salary Survey, Culver City Unified was ranked 40th out of 48 districts--about $3,280 or 3.9% below the median salary. In order to achieve the district-union partnership’s goal of raising teacher salaries to the median, then board members, Steve Levin, Anne Allaire and Kelly Kent started to spend more aggressively to raise teacher salary ranking 16 steps to the median--to step 24. At What Cost? Five years later, after increasing certificated salaries almost 32%, classified salaries a...
Folks, the information I requested have not arrived. Today, I am devastated is to put it mildly but eventually it will be here. Until then some resumes should be updated. Every year the Honor Flight organization honors veterans with a free chartered flight to visit war memorials in Washington DC. Since 2015, the Coastal Georgia Honor Flight hub has flown more than 346 veterans from Brunswick, Georgia to the nation’s capital for a day of celebration, reflection and recognition. Between 2018 a...
Starting in November 2019 Phoenix, Arizona library system will drop overdue back fees. It wasn’t that long ago the California Legislature passed and the governor signed a bill to ban commercial fur trapping. Only one more state needs to okay the Equal Rights amendment to be added to the Federal Constitution. It would guarantee the same rights for women as for men. UCLA turns 101 in May 2020. Some people have all the nerve. Oklahoma City officials with the pension system for retired Highway P...
Friends, I have been working feverishly on an article for next week “they don’t want you to know about, until it’s too late for the citizens; in my opinion to stop or slow down.” As such please go to your favorite hardware store and buy several pairs of asbestos gloves, its that HOT! You know you are getting old when you hear Scooby-Doo celebrates 50th Anniversary. It all began on CBS September 13, 1969. Perhaps you want to take a guess on the average cost of owning a new vehicle, the Auto Cl...
by Charles and Susan Deen Special to The Culver City Observer The first Cumulus high-rise, glass-covered tower that is looming over the Culver City eastern town limits has a most glaring and major design flaw. Every day between 5 and 6 p.m., there is a sun-bright reflection that casts an overly bright and unwanted shadow upon Culver City Arts District homes. The Arts District is the trendy new name for the McManus Park neighborhood. According to news reports, the Cumulus project is a 1,200-unit...
A study in the Journal of Medicinal Food found lighter coffee roasts had higher levels of chlorogenic acid= what acts as an antioxidant than darker coffee roasts and light roast extract was better at protecting human cells against inflammation and damage. More problems for our Navy. China’s first overseas naval base will be in Djibouti, located on the eastern horn of Africa. China says the logistics base will be used to resupply Chinese navy ships taking part in peacekeeping and humanitarian m...
By Jane Marla Robbins It’s 2019. I’m at the DMV in Culver City. Waiting. Lines around the block. I’ve reserved ahead so it’s only an hour wait. I’m tired, so the photo they take of me has one tired eye and I don’t get a second chance. I finally get a number. I march to its window. The woman shuffles my papers. “Renewing a license.” And did I want an ID card so I can go on airplanes without a passport? “Is it hard to do?” I ask, sensing exhaustion everywhere. “Yes,” she says. But I go for it....
I am so very proud to be a resident of Culver City since 1974 or thereabouts. Yes, siree bob; our little city of 40,000 with its own police force, fire department and bus system are just amazing. Down at City Hall our benefits and wages are competitive; for example, if we eyeball the 2018 pay and benefits package received by the four employees noted by Transparent California, in the city manager’s office we would see the following: • John Nachbor, City Manager pay and benefits, 2018 - $42...
Some of us just might remember when President Barack Obama’s executive order prohibited law enforcement agencies from obtaining military equipment. Just recently President Donald Trump rescinded that executive order so it just might be a short period of time before equipment starts rolling in from warehouse and military depots. Let there be no mistake: Sergeant Rubenstein is prepared to be a training non-commissioned officer at Fort Culver City. However, prior to exercising I would like to order...
Dear Editor, According to the National Education Association (NEA), the average starting salary for a teacher in California is $46,589. The US average is $39,249. The NEA further notes that “when the effects of price inflation are taken into account, the average classroom teacher salary has actually decreased by 4.5 percent from 2009-10 to 2018-19, while average salary for instructional staff had decreased by 3.6 percent.” These salaries are insufficient to draw more of the best and bri...
I read with interest Teacher Salaries By State, https://www.payscale.com/teacher-salaries-by-state. According to the website California’s teachers are at the top of the list and are making almost seven percent more than second place Massachusetts and over 30 percent more than Ohio in 10th place. The question should be how do our students rank in academic achievement? Top Ten K-12 Teacher Salaries by State States Amounts 1. California $70,394 2. Massachusetts $65,894 3. New York $64,583 4. V...
For the very first time in many years we took a four-week vacation and traveled to Canada and upstate New York. If you haven’t been you should go to Niagara Falls (U.S. and Canadian side) to see both views, The Erie Canal, the wineries in the Finger Lakes region and Rochester. In Worcester, Massachusetts, it was reported the Regional Transit Authority Advisory Board voted to conduct an analysis that includes consideration of a fare-free system. From all appearance the leadership once put f...
During my junior year of high school, I took AP Environmental Science and it changed my view on the amount of responsibility I have toward the condition of our planet. One thing my teacher always mentioned, is that for the AP Exam, on the FRQ, Free Response Question, if you can’t think of an answer, you can always write that “we can educate.” For example, if the question asks “How can we reduce the amount of smog in our metropolitan cities?” and a student can’t think of an answer, the best wa...
Dear Editor, Mr. Rubenstein frequently writes columns about the pension obligations and debt load of Culver City USD and Culver City itself. How about either doing an interview with the school superintendent or a member of the school board and the Mayor or someone else of authority for the city government? If they decline or easier for you send them a correspondence requesting, they respond to you regarding these serious issues. I have also heard the district is deficit spending and using up...
California Controller Betty Yee released a report a while back which said in part that the Golden State taxpayers are on the hook for more than $91.5 billion to provide health and dental benefits to state government workers when they retire. Another lady we must acknowledge is Alicia Thompson, office manager of the Stentorians of Los Angeles City, who work every day to get fair and equitable treatment of African Americans by their fire science classes and physical training programs. Perhaps our...
Last year, our school district had to pay over $6.20 million in state-mandated CalSTRS contributions. A million dollars of that payment included additional costs mostly due to the board approving overly-generous raises to certificated staff and teacher retirement incentives during the past five years. This million dollar added expense doesn’t even account for the other raises given to classified employees which also increased our district’s complex-accounting of its contributions to CalPERS. It’s no wonder the board pleaded for the commu...
Mother used to say, “Money doesn’t grow on trees”, so I asked the Culver City Unified School District in the beginning of 2018 how much money they spent to pass the forthcoming Parcel Tax election. From September 15, 2017, to February 8, 2018, they spent $48,617.68 which includes $14,332.52 for printing and postage for the community mailer. If anyone knows how to get in touch with Culver City’s former City Clerk, please let me know. Martin Cole is M.I.A. (missing in action). Dr. Martin Luther...
Dear Editor. I am disappointed in the Observer's lack of reporting integrity. Not only did the paper not mention with a 3 inch "EVICTED" headline when the AMVETS were kicked out of their historic Post 2 building (as the paper did covering the ouster of the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum) by Culver City Hall, the paper failed to mention it was the former AMVETS building that adjacent neighbor Wende Museum now wants to house the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum. Is the former AMVETS...
In Bruce Lebedoff Anders reply pointing out “the errors of my concerns,” he failed to take note of the second sentence on page eight of the district’s 2019-20 budget, titled “EXPENDITURES” where it explicitly states that 91.49% of the district’s unrestricted funding is for personnel. I’ll stick by the district’s accounting figures rather than the one Mr Anders cherry-picked off the same page. Playing with the Budget Proposed budgets establish district priorities, but are not set in stone. They are only "guestimates" of next year’s spending...
Dear Editor: To judge from Mr. George Laase’s August 22nd commentary, “CCUSD Salaries Skyrocket,” he has three worrisome concerns. First: He worries that the District spends too much on the salaries of its employees. But this seems not to be so worrisome: The 2019-’20 Proposed Budget of the CCUSD projects spending 85% of restricted and unrestricted funds for salaries and benefits for certificated teaching faculty and classified non-teaching staff. For unrestricted funds only, the total for the...
