Commentary

Commentary

Some Things You Should Know

Neil Rubenstein

Observer Columnist

One of the best kept secrets in Culver City is the Brandeis Men's Group which meets the third Wednesday of the month at 8:30 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial Building, 4117 Overland Avenue.

A fantastic Lox and Bagel Breakfast for $10 starts at 8:45 a.m., followed by a short business meeting. Then 130 members are treated to excellent speakers on interesting and informative topics. This month on June 19 Ira Fistell, formerly of KABC and other radio stations for 38 years, will speak about his newly published biography of Mark Twain.

Money is donated for Brandeis University scholarships and for the scientific research of infectious diseases.

Well, my friends, beginning this Labor Day there will be a huge change at the Secretary of State website. In less than 90 days Sacramento will make California's entire campaign finance and lobbying database available for download.

Just in time for the Spring election, citizens will not have to get their information from our Culver City Clerk, Mr. Martin Cole. No longer will some groups evade their responsibility by not filing disclosure reports in a timely fashion. I am hopeful that with this reform, no longer will candidates running for or re-elected to Culver City Council take money or gifts from developers and others and then vote favorably on their projects.

Governor Brown revised his budget to give $2.9 billion to grades kindergarten through community college. Brown has proposed an additional $170 per student to improve English and math classes.

From the "Can we be told the entire truth?" file, the school district hired a firm to advise on the passage of another tax over-ride. In the opinion of many, with big money flowing from Sacramento teachers, administrators and staff will get well deserved raises and those gigantic checks for their pension and medical costs will be mailed soon.

The legislative analyst released his report showing the teachers retirement fund needs an additional $4.5 billion each year for 30 years to become viable. Regardless of what you are told, pension costs will eat up more and more of our money.

Last month the five West Coast states affected by debris from the 2011 tsunami in Japan received an initial $250,000 each from a $5 million gift from Japan for cleanup costs. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is distributing the funds from Washington, D.C. It's peanuts, but a nice gesture.