Open Thread for the Weekend
Mayor Sam is going to be pretty busy today and tomorrow making final arrangements for the Outstanding Young Californian event. So no major posting from me, but I am sure my partners will have tid bits for you.
Now, here's the challenge from this old, dead Republian mayor - lets see how long of an open thread we can get going here. Throw out all the topics - AV, Alger, Home Depot, animals, illegal immigration, streets, the airport, Dennis Zine, homelessness, Jack Weiss, police protection, Alex Padilla, trash, the County Seal, Rocky, subway to the sea, Janice Hahn and her goats, etc., etc., etc. By Sunday, lets see if we can break the record for posts on one message.
Blog away dum dums!
Now, here's the challenge from this old, dead Republian mayor - lets see how long of an open thread we can get going here. Throw out all the topics - AV, Alger, Home Depot, animals, illegal immigration, streets, the airport, Dennis Zine, homelessness, Jack Weiss, police protection, Alex Padilla, trash, the County Seal, Rocky, subway to the sea, Janice Hahn and her goats, etc., etc., etc. By Sunday, lets see if we can break the record for posts on one message.
Blog away dum dums!
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 4/21/2006 12:38:00 PM
46 Comments:
Don't forget The Mayor's disastrously conceived strategy for taking over LAUSD.
Democrats in Sacramento can't support this: The unions will have them by the shorthairs.
Today the LATimes rightly says that a lot of AV's angle is with charter schools. Riordan, Broad and the GOP are tap-dancing over that one: Freeing up those public funds for private educational firms are the new frontier. Just ask Neil Bush, who charges ten thousand dollars for a computer projector and a couple of CD's. AV is currying political donations with this -- not seriously proposing policy change. His takeover doesn't have a snowball's chance.
Antonio won't send his kids to public schools.
And Caprice Young, who head the California Charter Schools Association, won't send her own kids to a charter school.
This is all about the money; GOP donors; and blind ambition.
Antonio is letting us down.. "big time."
Did someone say animals? Here is a great blog about LA City, animals and animal nuts.
http://laanimalfriends.eponym.com/
What about pay to play? Cardenas all the way.
12:52: agreed. it's all about privitizing education and that's why the Riordan/Broad people are salivating over Villa's proposed takeover. once he gains control of those billions of dollars, AV can make sure all of his business friends get contracts in the schools and all his real estate friends get something from the construction bond and they in turn can kick something back to him in the way of campaign donations for the Gov's race. $$$
Where is laborthug? I am curious to know about Alex Padilla's "first democratic endorsement".
Mayor Sam - how about a thread on who is Archie Bunker? I say he is a former councilmember from the valley.
2:18
word on the street is that there was an effort to only interview padilla. Gee. If endorsements were like baseball leagues...this my friend is T-BALL
Here Alex...hit it out of the park.
which endorsement are you referring to for APAD?
Are there any lawyers out there who can explain how forgetting to check a box on a DMV form can turn into a felony conviction?
Interesting no posts on budget. What happened to Ludlow today?
From this point on, Rocky must be considered an agent of the Republican party.
No amount of innovative toupee solutions, porcelain tooth caps or negative TV ads will close the double digit gap or erase the plentiful scandals that mark his reign. Soon he will be seeing California through the eyes of a 45 year old loser in LA.
He ought to save his money and run for the White House in 08. Neither Hillary nor Feingold would stand a chance against his warmth, charm and universal appeal. AG is too modest a goal for such a refreshing and robust man of unimpeachable integrity.
Team 1600, let's ride!
(By the way, which boxer is Rocky named after? Rockard Graziano? Rockard Marciano? Rockard Balboa?)
The Mayor really captured the audience at Paramount the other night, speaking after Lyn Goldberg's agitprop film, The New Los Angeles. He really had the crowd. He was much better off the cuff than he was with a teleprompter. He had cool stats down---he was talking future, the whole vision. And then...
And then, he started talking about schools. You could feel the 500 people in attendance collectively wince and shrug.
Mailander-- good to have you back.
agreed, everyone with an ounce of common sense thinks the Mayor is barking up the wrong tree with the takeover. it just seems so damn powerhungry and it's really unclear to all of us why he doesn't just deal with some of the major social ills that he really does have control over.
and if he really wants to help kids get improved access to education and jobs there are a million and one reforms he could make from the City side of things.... we are all wondering why he is painting himself into this corner.
Martin's not going to the pokey!! He got the same sentence as would have for a DUI, - 3 years probation. Great legal work!!
3:51
That one LA County Young..club that endorsed some of the initiatives during the 2005 special election.
I heard they ran out of ballots, they had to do a copy run to Kinkos.
comedy.
Its Rocktard Estupido
Who is the troll who continues to refer to Rocky as "Rocktard"? Sounds like a typical Brown supporter: those with an IQ of 70 are considered geniuses.
Funny how none of you point out the asswipe Duffy who keeps on yapping his Irish gums while not saying anything meaningful. The fact is that UTLA cant get out of their own way--and im a chapter chair at a district middle school--to have a serious conversation about what would work for kids. Instead Duffy and his sidekicks Jordan and Goldberg speak of Social Justice and the need to continue to entrench power, beat back opponents and diminish the viability of options for kids in this city.
Look, if you live anywhere between the 10, 105, 405 and 110 freeways, you will attend a failing middle school and failing high school--regardless of who's definition you use. There are very few exceptions to this.
So while it is easy to denounce the mayors plans--which are flawed in many ways--I dont hear much coming from the union or the district. Until there are other viable comprehensive plans that can be looked at and analyzed, we have what we have:
-a mayor with a faulty but ballsy plan
-a union head that looks like the penguin from batman who spews doo doo and not much else
-a lame duck superintendent with a non-effective board president
-kids continuing to drop out at alarming and catastrophic rates
While the debate will continue about the mayors plan, one of the things that he has introduced is the idea of accountability, which has been the least of concerns for the LA education establishment for the last few decades.
Didn't the Mayor PROMISE that he would eliminate the appearance of impropriety that stems from appointing and hiring Lobbyists to key City positions?
Yes he did!
So why the hell did he hire Cecilia Estolano to head up the CRA?
She is a Real Estate Attorney and a REGISTERED LOBBYIST at the City. Won't she be steering CRA money and projects to her professional buddies and to her former fellow attorneys at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher?
Antonio, you're so hypocritical. How could you hire a lobbyist to such a sensitive position. Ask her to step aside now, before she starts fundraising for you.
12:52
If you knew anything about education, you would know that in California, unlike in other states, you cannot make an easy buck by privatizing education. The ADA is just too low here to make a significant ROI. Add the high cost of labor and the increasing cost of real estate and facilities, and you have very little, if any, money left over to put into the account. That is one of the reasons why some of the east coast companies--Edison and the like-have mostly stayed away from California.
I think you are right, that education is a prime target for anyone trying to abuse and exploit government and make a quick buck. But this isnt just a GOP thing or a privatization issue. This game is being played in Sacramento right now by the textbook companies, bilingual education advocates, unions and the legislators who are supported by them.
This isnt about letting adults down, including you. Is he in cahootz with the GOP, including Dick and Broad, maybe--sure even. But also in cahootz are many organizations, countless communities, thousands of families and kids who have just had enough of a horrible school system, especially at the middle and high school levels. This is about having a dialogue that will lead to the fostering of ideas, implementation of the best of the lot and an increase in the quality of education. This is about providing kids with a chance at success.
Gotta love Cindy staff still posting here.
I'm pretty sure this puppet has dropped off a couple of chics at the clinic, if you know what I mean. Of course he's fought hard for choice.
April 22, 2006
Open Letter to AJ Duffy,
Enough is enough. No more lies from you. Ever since you took office you have been bent on dishing out misinformation about charter schools. Although you continue to lie about charter schools, as you did in today's newspaper, I am holding out hope that somewhere in your mind there is a sense of purpose that includes the well being of children. So, please shut it for once, read on, take a moment and think a bit.
It is completely incorrect to characterize the Accelerated School as the exception rather than the rule. The truth is that there are countless charter schools that are doing a phenomenal job at educating children in this city. These schools all share the following characteristics:
- students that receive individual attention everyday
-shared decision making with little or no bureaucracy
-resources dedicated to instruction
- successful professional teachers
-communities that are learning that quality public education is alive and well in Los Angeles
The great majority of charter schools are doing a good job, by all accounts, at educating children. Please look at these charter schools as educational trailblazers in the city:
Vaughn Next Century Learning Center
View Park Prep Charter School
Stella Charter Academy
Culture&Language Academy of Success
Watts Learning Center
Fenton Avenue Charter School
KIPP Academy of Opportunity
Oscar de la Hoya Animo
College Ready Academy
CALS
Milagro Charter School
Lakeview Charter Academy
In fact, as you know, even some of the best district schools have decided that charter is the way to go. These schools realized the power of working collectively with parents, teachers, community, students and administrators. It is not true, as you like to sputter, that the well being of teachers cannot coincide with the vision of administrators and the needs of parents. Among the schools that have chosen the charter path are Granada Hills High School, Open Charter Magnet, Westwood Charter School and the Palisades family of schools. In fact, even a model new school was designed as a charter school- the Ted Alexander Science Center Charter School. Additionally, this year the city will have another conversion charter school, Parkman Middle School.
It is quite perplexing that you, as well as your mouthpieces Lauritzen and Korenstein, continue to blabber away about the ineffectiveness of these types of free public schools. The evidence is there, not only in API, but in healthy thriving school communities. You truly have missed an opportunity to be an educational leader and look at charter schools as a way to decentralize power, put more money into the classroom-including salaries, consolidate decision making at the school site level and allow instruction to be driven by teachers. You have missed an opportunity for teachers to be recognized as the true professionals and leaders that they deserve to be. Instead you choose to live in the past, protecting the status quo, to the detriment of education in Los Angeles.
Mr. Duffy, I join you in closing charter schools in Los Angeles that are not effective--but you know that these can be counted on one hand. I wonder if you will also advocate for the closure of district schools that are proven to be ineffective? The answer is that you can’t, as we would have hundreds of schools being closed down. Lets not forget that these failing district schools are all governed by your sacred collective bargaining agreement. To this day, I have not heard of a comprehensive plan from you that puts the needs of kids first. History will show that you do everything but that.
Charter schools now have support that is diverse and bipartisan. They are effectively teaching students, who are increasingly poor, Latino and African American. Instead of focusing your attention on real educational issues, you will continue to ask for more money, fight against yet to be determined forces and relinquish the trust and power that was placed in you by the teachers of this city. In the end, the biggest losers won’t be teachers, the district or politicians- but rather the hundreds of thousands of students who erroneously believe that you have their best interest at heart.
In closing, there is no secret about charter schools. It is not a subversive attempt to privatize education. Charter schools are not the end of public education as we know it. Democracy will not come to a grinding halt because of charter schools. Charter schools are, however, professional educators, families, communities and others coming together to prove that quality education is still possible, probable even, in this city. As Los Angeles embarks on a mission to dramatically improve the educational system, you would be served well by paying attention and truly learning the phenomenal job that charter schools are doing at decreasing bureaucracy, lowering teacher to student ratios, dedicating resources toward instruction and increasing achievement.
10:47:
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, whatever.
El Santo:
How is AP more of a pupper than CM? If not for her great skills under the table to Levine, Nunez and her staff (yes Veres, I'm talking about you).
Cindy is the epitome of a puppet.
Again say what you will but Antonio at least brought up the issue of how bad our schools are. I'm not a strong supporter of his and have a lot to critize but I will say that no one else mentioned the mess the schools were in until he started wanting to take over. The reporters should start asking the question if Huizar was school board president for 4 yrs. why didn't he do anything about the situtation?
Gee wonder who the LA Times likes. Today FRONT PAGE story on Brown
"For Many Jerry Brown is the Life of the Party."
I wish someone would tell me what Rocky has done in LA so people can get an idea of how to compare records of him and Brown. We just read all the scandals Rocky has had the past year and that's not good.
Whatever happened to Angelides hot daughters?
Santos,
look at Alex Padilla's photo gallery. Hahahahahahahaha The puppet has high-resolution photo with the mayor in it hahahahahahaha
Acevedo & Muppet Show have now become AV groupies hahahahahahahaha
Cindy should post a photo of her w/ Boxer.
AP was also recently endorsed by the LA County Young Democrats. What does Labor Thug have to say about this?
A lucid analysis of Villaraigosa's budget is available for your reading enjoyment at Mayor Sam's backyard.
7:51
kinkos? LOL
was there by any chance any chad?
Where is the Zine audio clip? You know, the one where he goes crazy on the South LA farmers in Council?
Tha Aztlan website had a clip - the link was posted in an earlier thread - but it doesn't work anymore.
DOes anyone else know where i can hear this gem? Thank you.
Here is the audio.
http://la.indymedia.org/uploads/2006/04/scfvszine.mp3
cant wait for the june election to see roctard get whupped and hopefully done for good
Rocky will win this race. He was 31 points behind Feuer and came back to win the City Attorney race in 2001. He's used to being the underdog and always wins.
11:07-
Right....
-The Professor
About the Cindy and Alex stuff...
You were just elected Alex! Cindy isn't half bad. What is disgusting is that Politicians think of themselves and not the community. Alex is leaving the community. You're not done with your term, serve it and then think about your political future. Or at least humble yourself and start at the Assembly. Either way, it will be disappointing having Alex at the Council and Alex at the Senate.
We're f@cked!
12:19:
Cindy didn't finish up her term as a San Fernando City Council member, although it should be pointed out that she didn't have much longer to serve before she was up for reelection.
1:27:
Let's do some of that funny MIT Math here:
CM's unfulfilled mos. (of 4 yr term) < Padilla making all indications of running for the senate even before his "hard fought" March 2005 re-election campaign.
BTW: 3 mos. of CM's 4 yr. term
11:07 --
Yeah, but who the hell is Feuer? This is a statewide race and Rocktard's running against Jerry Brown.
You're basically saying that since 'Tardo won a Pop Warner football title he's a shoo-in for the Super Bowl. A fool's logic, a fool's candidate, and a fool's campaign.
Watch Padilla win and put all you anti-Padilla bloggers to shame. Oh how we mask ourselves.
Speaking of masks, did anyone see "V for Vendetta"?
4:31
and watch him lose and the REAL vendetta begin.
Cardenas should be squirming right now.
4:31
and watch him lose and the REAL vendetta begin.
Cardenas should be squirming right now.
HaHaHA, I just love this, all these so called Mexicans Or Chicanos Or Somthings, they all belong on the other side of the border. Heck with all these low life loosers here in the Valley its no wonder we have some bad stuff hanging around waiting for a job at Home depot. lets see, low test scores in the LAUSD, high crime rate in the valley and else where, County and City facilites strapped for cash and all these latinos hating on each other. This plays into our scheme of getting more rope to hang themselves. Keep it up you chili choking "compadrays" and see what happins to your "Asst-lan"
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