DP/SFV endorses picks for state elections

by Nazbanoo Pahlavi

This week's Sun Community Newspapers www.suncommunitynewspapers.com

The Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley (DP/SFV) drew a large turnout for its executive board meeting at the State Building Auditorium in Van Nuys on March 3.

Fifty-nine voting members representing 22 democratic clubs decided whether to approve the endorsement calendar set forth by the endorsement committee for the California state ballot in June.

Several candidates were present, including 40th Assembly District hopefuls Stuart Waldman, Bob Blumenfield and Laurette Healy. Assembly member Lloyd Levine, who is running for State Senator Sheila Kuehl’s seat in the 23rd district, was also present, as well as Carole Lutness, a candidate in Santa Clarita’s 38th district.

The group voted to pull both Waldman and Levine for further discussion. Recording Secretary Damian Carroll cited Waldman’s longtime involvement with DP/SFV, opposition to the Iraq war and support of independent re-districting as items in his favor.

“There’s a difference between a candidate who has been with the grassroots for a decade and a half and a candidate – a very nice candidate – who frankly introduced himself to us maybe within the last year,” said Carroll.

Bob Blumenfield, an opponent of Waldman’s who is a District Director for Congressman Howard Berman, has already picked up several key endorsements including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Those who spoke against Waldman’s endorsement said it would split the DP/SFV body. “I think for the good of DP/SFV, the best thing we can do is do no endorsement at all,” said Roz Teller.

The motion to endorse Waldman was upheld with a 42-15 vote.

The endorsement of Assembly member Lloyd Levine inspired pointed discussion between his supporters and those of former Assembly member Fran Pavley. “Fran has not been around DP/SFV,” criticized Lyn Klein.
Outspoken opponents to the Levine endorsement were the presidents of the Malibu and Pacific Palisades Democratic Clubs, who cited Pavley’s environmental protection forays as key items in her favor. Levine’s endorsement was upheld with a 42-12 vote.

Eric Bauman, Chair of the Los Angeles County Central Committee of the California Democratic Party, gave an update on the “double bubble” from the February 5 primary election, in which independent and decline-to-state voters needed to punch in a separate bubble when casting Democratic Party ballots.

Bauman said 47,000 additional ballots were counted, with Sen. Hillary Clinton winning 50.1 percent of those votes to Sen. Barack Obama’s 42 percent. Asked whether the results would affect the state’s primary outcome, he said, “We’re checking it out on a congressional district level – it doesn’t look like it.”

Ilene Haber, who will run the national DP/SFV campaign office this fall, stressed the importance of voting in the November general election.

“We have been given a sacred responsibility, and that is not just to represent the top of the democratic ticket, but that is to represent the entire state of California and to run a red-to-blue campaign like this country has never seen,” Haber said.

Members will attend the California Democratic Party Convention in San Jose at the end of March where DP/SFV will vote on the party’s final platform.

Veteran musician recalls career at First Friday Club Meeting

In this week's Sun Community Newspapers www.suncommunitynewspapers.com

Veteran musician recalls career at First Friday Club Meeting
BY NAZBANOO PAHLAVI

A lesson on quantum physics might have been the last thing Studio City Chamber of Commerce members expected February 1 during their monthly First Friday Club breakfast meeting at the Daily Grill.

But that was what featured speaker Ray Colcord said he had in mind: “I’m sure the same questions are running through your mind that are running through mine. Who the hell is Ray Colcord? How do I write a really good blues tune? And, dude, what’s up with this quantum physics thing?”

Colcord, who has composed music for over 700 television episodes spanning shows including “My Two Dads,” “Silver Spoons,” and “Facts of Life,” is a Studio City resident, past president of the Society of Composers and Lyricists, and former A&R executive for Columbia Records. He said he discovered such acts as Aerosmith, Jim Croce and Bonnie Raitt, but failed to convince Columbia Records head Clive Owen to sign them on at the time.

“This isn’t the Wichita, Kansas Chamber of Commerce, this is Studio City,” said Colcord. “You see actors everyday – you know they’re nuts.”

As promised, Colcord shared his formula for crafting a good blues tune. He first advised coming up with a good opening lyric. “‘I got a good woman’ is a bad way to begin a blues song unless you stick something nasty in the next line – ‘I got a good woman with the meanest face in town’ – now we’re talking,” Colcord joked, also adding that blues lyricists should mention cars such as Chevys, Cadillacs, Fords and broken down trucks. Volvos, BMWs, SUVs and hybrids would all be frowned upon.

Other pointers? Something really good to complain about, Colcord suggested. “A man with male pattern baldness ain’t the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is the blues,” he said, garnering audience laughter.

Colcord then provided an unexpected lesson in quantum physics, showcasing the depth of his knowledge on the topic. He used poster board diagrams, flash lights, a basketball and other visual aids to show the evolution of a wave-based model of light to a photon-based model. “The rest of the day compared to this is going to be so easy for you,” he noted.

At the end of his speech, Colcord shared anecdotes from his experience touring with Lou Reed as a keyboard player at age 21. He discussed the difficulty of life on tour, when he cherished the rare days he could sleep for more than three hours between gigs during a hectic schedule. He also addressed how the development of the internet and web-based sales in the music distribution industry has resulted in the shutdown of brick-and-mortar record stores. But Colcord said he didn’t see this having a negative impact on the live music scene.

“As far as I know, boys are still interested in girls, and they need something to do…There are things that are just more enjoyable shared with another group of human beings.”

LAUSD’s Monica Garcia unveils new district goals

Article in this week's Sun Community Newspapers - www.studiocitysun.com

LAUSD’s Monica Garcia unveils new district goals
BY NAZBANOO PAHLAVI

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board President Monica Garcia addressed members of the Studio City Chamber of Commerce at their monthly First Friday Club meeting January 4 at the Daily Grill in Studio City.

The gathering marked Garcia’s first community appearance in 2008.

Garcia, 39, shared stories from her educational path growing up in East Los Angeles and attending UC Berkeley. “There were so many Garcias in the Chicano studies classes that I got somebody else’s ‘F,’” she recalled.

Garcia received a heavy dose of identity politics at the school, whose emphasis on pushing minority quotas led to her now-amusing realization that “I was a person of color, which I had no idea.”

She joked that she was “shocked that my life was so much in peril” growing up as a Latina in a working class family in the barrio – labels that identified who she was as a person.

The experience, she said, fuels her drive to “change the belief system” in the LAUSD to put the 50 percent dropout rate into perspective rather than just viewing it as a statistic.

Garcia, along with a school board that was newly elected last May, has worked with Superintendent David Brewer III to devise a strategic plan that would change the course of the LAUSD.

“We do a very, very good job in L.A. with some kids,” Garcia said, citing Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School downtown as one of 28 national blue medal schools.

But despite such exceptional standouts, LAUSD still failed to meet three out of 46 yearly California assessment criteria that included language arts for special education, language arts for English learners, and graduation rates. “LAUSD cannot stay the same,” said Garcia.

As a result, the board has devised an eight-part resolution to move LAUSD forward and bring about needed change. The resolutions include recruiting top-notch teachers, training principals and administrators, paying employees on time, and refocusing facility use.

To address the low graduation rate, the “Diplomas for All” resolution has set the bar high – a graduation goal of 100 percent by 2015. To keep the district in check, a system of metrics will be used to evaluate its progress during reports to the community.

“We have an imperative to change our graduation results. We have an imperative to be the district of choice for teachers and principals and parents,” said Garcia, who said she was excited to be involved in Los Angeles education.

Garcia said the LAUSD is currently waiting to hear from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, since 80 percent of the district’s funding comes from the state level. “Our challenge today, really, we have to wait for Sacramento to tell us how much pain we’re going to endure with this budget crisis.”

Brewer assesses first year at LAUSD helm at VICA

Article out in this week's Sherman Oaks Sun
www.suncommunitynewspapers.com

Brewer assesses first year at LAUSD helm at VICA
BY NAZBANOO PAHLAVI

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent David Brewer III spoke about his challenges during his first year in office November 14 at the Valley Industry & Commerce Association’s (VICA) monthly Newsmaker Connection breakfast in Van Nuys.

“Everybody wants to lay it on the school district or the Superintendent – that’s the wrong answer,” Brewer said, calling for a “systematic and holistic approach” in dealing with the problems of a district with 700,000 students in grades K to 12 and 400,000 students in the adult schools.

The district has improved this year, meeting 43 out of 46 assessments in accordance with California’s “Adequate Yearly Progress Criteria.” The three unmet criteria were language arts for English language learners, language arts for special education, and graduation rates.

According to Brewer, English language acquisition is especially challenging since about 250,000 of students in grades K-12 are English language learners, even though 78 percent are native born. To determine how to best address their needs, the LAUSD will sponsor a national summit on language acquisition December 13 to 14.

In response to an editorial that day in the Los Angeles Times criticizing Brewer, the retired Navy Vice Admiral said that “they’re there for selling papers” and the problems won’t be solved with a quick fix.

“You just can’t open up a kid’s brain and pour knowledge into it,” Brewer stated. “You got to work with those children and you got to stabilize them and move forward. So in essence that’s where we are right now.”

This includes working with local organizations such as the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club in order to provide on-site “wrap-around services” such as mental healthcare and after-school activities. University High School in West Los Angeles already has a YMCA on campus with the eventual goal of securing satellites on East and South Los Angeles schools first.

Wrap-around services are also vital for the 24 percent transient population within the school system, a group that is increasingly moving into the Valley, Brewer said.

Responding to a question regarding the possible creation of a distinct San Fernando Valley school district, the Superintendent said he is disinclined to do this since economies of scale would yield a redundancy of programs on the one hand, and a shortage of services on the other. He does support the Valley’s acting smaller, however, and has already funneled $11 million from the central to local districts.

Although Brewer said his goal is to “focus like a laser” on learning and curriculum in the classroom, his inaugural challenge was cleaning up the BTS payroll mess – an ongoing problem for which he has instigated contract oversight to assess and ameliorate the crisis now and to watch over the system in the future.

Although the crisis has mostly been associated with LAUSD teachers and other employees, payment irregularities have also affected businesses and organizations that contract with the school district.

Jan Sobel, President & CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of the West Valley, complained of a severe delay in payments expected from the after-school education enrichment grants secured under the passage of Proposition 49.

Brewer said that although he wasn’t aware of the problem, he would look into it.

Transportation Officials Discuss Traffic Fixes for L.A.

Published today in all three Sun Community Newspapers. Encino Sun comes out tomorrow.

www.suncommunitynewspapers.com Please leave specific comments regarding the article on the Sun site so the discussion reaches a greater net of interested parties.

Transportation officials discuss traffic fixes for L.A.
BY NAZBANOO PAHLAVI

The Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley held an INFO Summit November 1 to discuss the roles of public transportation, cargo movement and traffic in the economic development of the Valley and its 1.84 million residents.

Held at the Holiday Inn in Burbank, the Summit featured talks between city officials, planners and stakeholders. David Fleming, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Chair and Metro Board Member, moderated three panels.

“The public basically is opposed to change and yet they hate gridlock,” Fleming said. Proposed solutions have included one-way streets, congestion pricing, and the restriction of left-turn lanes during peak hours.

Wendy Greuel, Chair of the City Council’s Transportation Committee and 2nd district representative, remarked that such solutions had a noticeable impact when implemented temporarily during the 1984 Olympic Games. Fleming added that by staggering business hours for companies during that time, “we were able to drive 65 miles per hour during rush hour.”

Burbank Mayor Marsha Ramos said one area of concern for officials is duplication in public transportation services on the local and citywide level. “One thing we need to do better is to bring all those players at the table so that we’re using every dollar that is given to public transportation in the most efficient manner.”

Despite the $20 billion earmarked by the California Transportation Commission (CTC) for the state, CTC Commissioner Larry Zarian said California is still 20 to 30 years behind. For him – like Ramos – the problem is a lack of synergy.

“We are not coordinated,” Zarian said. “Who should be in this room today are the 53 members of congress that represent us.”

The success story of the day was the Orange Line, which runs from Warner Center in Woodland Hills to North Hollywood and provides West Valley residents with a more seamless connection to downtown.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who worked on the project, said that riders are “voting with their feet” – during one day last month, 25,800 passengers boarded the Orange Line.

“You got to have the local leaders who are willing to stick their neck out a little bit and spend the political capital that they accumulate,” he noted.

The MTA board has directed the next segment of the Orange Line to extend from the Warner Center to Chatsworth.

Despite its success, however, bus lines have not been as attractive to policy makers as light rail, which costs $65 million per mile, or subway, which costs $300 million per mile and takes years to complete.

The Orange Line costs $15 million per mile and takes a fraction of the time to complete.

The Summit also featured report findings from the Mulholland Institute on economic development opportunities along the I-5 Corridor – the 30-mile stretch of freeway from route 126 in the north, through Santa Clarita, Burbank, and into the northern downtown area.

Officials also discussed urban revitalization plans for the neglected Sun Valley region, with hopes of reforming it into the Silicon Valley of the south by housing biotech companies.

Theater Review in this Week's Sun

If you are in the L.A. area, grab a copy of the Encino, Sherman Oaks, or Studio City Sun for my theater review of actress Sally Randa's one-woman show "Growing Up...And Liking It" at the Whitefire Theatre. The PDF should be available soon and I will post it under "Recent Published Articles".

Featured Article in this week's Sun

My article is the featured story in this week's Encino, Sherman Oaks, and Studio City Sun. It is about Montclair Preparatory School's unique boarding school program for international students. Montclair Prep is one of the few private schools in southern California which houses international students on campus.

Read the article through the following web portals:

www.encinosun.com
www.shermanoakssun.com
www.studiocitysun.com

I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent at the school speaking with students, administrators and faculty. I hope you enjoy the article.


You can also pick up a copy at many Valley businesses and community organizations including the public library.