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It is common knowledge among educators that most school districts nation-wide spend about 80% of their revenue, either to pay salaries or on behalf of their employees for their services. In 2018-19, Culver City spent over 91.5% of its unrestricted revenues on staff compensation. From fiscal years 2013-14 to 2017-18 the district staff cost of employment increased almost $20.0M. According to the state website Ed Data, which compiles information given it from school districts state-wide, over those...
Dear Editor, We are deeply troubled, though unfortunately not surprised, by Culver City council’s 4-1 decision to pass last night’s 3% 12-month rent freeze urgency ordinance. Regardless of one’s opinion on rent control, council’s lack of transparency and dialogue in passing this ordinance should concern all residents. Many multifamily owners tried to argue for a good faith compromise on the rent freeze, invoking other local cities like Glendale and Long Beach. Council’s consultants pointed o...
Dear Editor, My husband and I own our home in Culver City and are ashamed of the narrow motivations of this new political action committee. Change is difficult on everyone but to demonize thoughtful council members is too much. How can anybody deny the lack of affordable housing is a problem and failure to address it selfish? Experts have connected some rising homeless numbers to unaffordable rents so to ignore that is disingenuous. Not in my backyard with regards to the homeless has to end if...
Things are so messed up at our nation’s capital that I hardly believe anyone. Perhaps Cousin Neil would feel better if those scalwags took a blood oath to tell the truth and had their tongues notarized, and now the leaders of five of Oklahoma must powerful tribal nations have approved a resolution denouncing the new Republican governor’s plan to force negotiations for a bigger slice of revenue from Oklahoma’s tribal casinos. Down here authorities have arrested a small-town pharmacist who fille...
By Protect Culver City Political Action Committee On July 15, Culver City residents created a new PAC, Protect Culver City: an association of residents and business owners concerned with the current trajectory of our city council. Our beginnings can be traced back to the night of June 24, when the council decided 4-1 to phase in rent control in Culver City. It's the manner they did this that should concern everyone. None of the Councilmembers ran for office on this agenda. They gave the minimum legally required warning that this was coming...
I’m getting ready to go and do a series of back flips all the way to the Westfield-Culver City Mall, because I just read researchers in Europe have developed a vaccine against heart disease. Mice were given a special diet which gave them high cholesterol and athero-sclerosis. The vaccine effectively lowered the total blood cholesterol by 53 percent and damages linked to atherosclerosis by 64 percent. The vaccine is currently being tested on 72 people. These results if effective can have p...
I really don’t know why but it seems the City of Culver City, in my opinion, treats Fox Hills residents as stepchildren. The latest insult concerns the Voting Center scheduled to be up and running for the 2020 election. Fox Hills was not included even though it’s a very dense area with the highest minority population in our town and one of the largest Black population by percentage in Los Angeles County. Fox Hills has nearly 3,000 housing units and approximately twice that number of res...
The Marina Del Rey calendar published in the Log described the KJAZZ Champagne Saturday and Sunday Cruises throughout the year. Harbor views, live music, brunch buffet. (hornblower.com/home/mdr). What a nice way to celebrate. Soon I hope to talk to my friend, your friend, our friend CCPD Assistant Chief Ron Iizuka about a dog to sniff out listening devices. It just seems another Cousin Neil idea went viral with over two million hits. To help the business community we have the Fiesta in August,...
By Jon Coupal This column has frequently recounted how ideas coming from California’s progressive politicians are not just destructive, but also how most result in outcomes diametrically opposite of what the left actually thinks they will have. Examples of this phenomenon are legion. Take high speed rail (please). It was sold as a “climate change” project because, in theory, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by getting cars off the road. But it turns out that the construction of the project — a massive endeavor requiring thousan...
Dear Editor: In the recently approved California Budget for fiscal 2019-’20, Governor Newsome proposed a modest 3.7% increase in the state’s per/pupil funding bringing it to $12,003. On the occasion, Newsome stated, “But it’s not enough. We’re still 41st in the nation in per pupil funding. Something needs to change. We need to have an honest conversation about how we fund our schools at a state and local level.” The world’s fifth largest economy can afford to do more for its children’s schools. Unfortunately, Mr. George Laase (6/27) takes th...
California’s population was thought to be on January 1, 2019; 39,927,315 from the Department of Finance. California took the first stop to regulate companies who sell your information last year with a law that gives people the right to “Opt Out” of having their data collected and allows the people to ask companies to delete data collected. Did you know California Department of Tax and Fee Administration publishes every quarter the top 500 sales and use Tax Delinquencies? And from Culver City....
According to the National Education Association’s latest figures, New York State’s average spending on its K-12 students is about $20,000 per student and its average teachers’ salary is $77,957. California’s average spending per student is around $12,000 and its average teacher salary is $72,842. By comparing each state’s per student expenditures with its average teacher salary, it shows that California’s teachers are taking a much larger portion of what their state is spending on education for their average salary than New York’s teac...
Guest Commentary By Paul Ehrlich Monday Night You Can Demand the CC City Council Chop Off Well Over $1,00,000 of Budget Bloat without Cutting Any Services Let’s face it, being on the City Council requires long hours, with essentially no compensation. My hat’s off to them. It is now the end of the fiscal year with a new proposed budget for the upcoming year and projections ahead. We in Culver City are facing two severe financial threats, not of the City’s making: the pension fund formula and the need to discharge clean storm water. In respo...
Dear Council Members, I have owned a small 4-unit apartment building in Culver City for over 30 years. I depend on rental income for my living expenses. My living expenses increase every year. I maintain my apartment units in great condition. I am in the expensive process of completely renovating all units and building exterior. Placing a moratorium on rent increases fails to account for increases in maintenance costs. The costs for trash collection, cleaning, gardening, security lighting, fire inspections, painting, flooring, appliances,...
On Monday June 24, the Culver City Council will consider a rent freeze. What is a rent freeze, and why does Culver City need one? Renters in Culver City currently only have the minimum protections required by state law. Landlords can raise rents as much and as often as they want and are not required to give a reason for evictions. Nearby cities, including Los Angeles, Inglewood, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Glendale, Pasadena, and the unincorporated areas of LA County such as Marina Del Rey, all offer tenants additional...
Is it possible? I spoke to the President of the Culver City Board of Education at the Clayton Library and Museum on Sunday, June 8, 2019. My question, “Are you going to put another parcel tax for us to vote on?” Well, Kelly Kent said, “We don’t have any money”. For those of us who have a fifth-grade memory will clearly remember a commentary from May 2019 when the Governor told us how much dough was in the pipeline. Although the exact amount hasn’t been decided the exact size of check just...
By Ron Bassilian Another day, another camp. The latest vagrant camp has emerged on Inglewood Blvd. under the 90 freeway, by the very upscale Sunkist Park. First, it's a couple of tents, then more, then it becomes a city in its own right - entitled to city services such as sanitation clean up, and soon we have a permanent camp with property rights. These camps are a breeding ground for petty crime, drugs, and disease such as scabies and staphylococcus. Recently, Dr Drew warned us of the...
Culver City Fire Chief David White’s recent presentation on “Disaster Preparedness” alarmed many residents because we live near the largest urban oil and gas producing field in the USA. It made me realize that we are in a severe, high-fire risk zone that can destroy our homes and all our possessions. The poisonous toxic fumes can destroy our health or even kill us. Winds can spread these chemical fires and fumes for miles. Do we need to live with this ever-present threat? No! We can do somet...
Samantha Gardner - KSM KId Scoop Media - May 19, 2019 A direct quote from Michelle Obama, "Our love, our gratitude, our admiration for our men and women in uniform, our veterans and their families - all of that is bigger than any one party or any one election." Michelle Obama is the wife of the first African American President in America. With her autobiography, she has influenced maybe even more people than her husband. However, she was not the president; she was the first lady. In fact, we hav...
Now that Theodorsia and I have a great granddaughter; I wondered what the most popular baby names were as announced by the Social Security Administration for 2016. Boys Girls 1. William Ava 2. Noah Olivia 3. Mason Emma 4. James Isabella 5. Elijah Madison 6. Liam Charlotte 7. Aiden Sophia 8. Carter Harper 9. Michael Amelia 10. Ethan Abigail Perhaps during the Revolutionary War getting promoted in the Continental Army was faster than today. For example, the Marquis de Lafayette was a 19-year-old...
By Ron Bassilian Special to the Observer Another day, another camp. The latest vagrant camp has emerged on Inglewood Blvd. under the 90 freeway, by the very upscale Sunkist Park. First, it’s a couple of tents, then more, then it becomes a city in its own right - entitled to city services such as sanitation clean up, and soon we have a permanent camp with property rights. These camps are a breeding ground for petty crime, drugs, and disease such as scabies and staphylococcus. Recently, Dr Drew warned us of the “epidemic typhus” which we haven...
According to the National Education Association, in fiscal year 2016-2017 the average teacher salary in California was $78,711, which is the second highest in our country. Our state’s spending per student is $10,467. New York was number one, with an average teacher salary of $79,637 while its state spending per student was $21,206. This is twice the amount what California is spending on its students. How about our own local teacher salaries? After years of deficit spending to pay for years of l...
Samantha Gardner - KSM KId Scoop Media - May 19, 2019 A direct quote from Michelle Obama, "Our love, our gratitude, our admiration for our men and women in uniform, our veterans and their families - all of that is bigger than any one party or any one election." Michelle Obama is the wife of the first African American President in America. With her autobiography, she has influenced maybe even more people than her husband. However, she was not the president; she was the first lady. In fact, we hav...
Fire Chief David White’s recent presentation on Disaster Preparedness alarmed many, because we live near the largest urban oil and gas producing field in the USA. It made me realize that we are in a severely high fire risk zone that can destroy our homes and all that we own. The poisonous toxic fumes can destroy our health or even kill us. Winds can spread these chemical fires and fumes for miles. Do we need to live with this ever-present threat? No! We can do something about it NOW! Besides c...
Starting in 2013, all school districts around the state--including the CCUSD, have been paying the state-mandated increases in annual percentages set by Gov Brown's program to pay off CalSTRS unfunded liabilities and help fund its future payouts. A district’s annual CalSTRS payment is based on its certificated employees’ salaries: The higher the salary, the more has to be paid. During the first dozen or so years of this century, the CCUSD was paying some of the lowest wages in LA County. It would follow, then, that our district also should have...
