Monthly Archive: October, 2007

Support Fair Distribution of Quimby Funds for Parks and Recreation

Tuesday, October 30th, 2007

A diverse and growing alliance is calling for the fair distribution of Quimby funds to improve parks and recreation in every neighborhood.
City Controller Laura Chick took a giant step forward to provide a blueprint for creating healthy parks, schools, and communities for all when she published the audit of the Department of Recreation [...]

Quimby Fees: A Rec and Parks Debacle

Monday, October 29th, 2007

Downtown News Editorial
Something is rotten in the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.
It’s a harsh assessment, but the mismanagement of Quimby fees - and we may never know how much it has cost the taxpayers - is so severe that it deserves the word. As well as a few others.
On Sept. 17, Los Angeles [...]

Land Eyed for Parks May Be Unavailable

Monday, October 29th, 2007

Revelation Is Another Blow for Recreation and Parks Department And Quimby Fees
by Anna Scott
Two Downtown properties that the city Department of Recreation and Parks has earmarked $7 million to purchase for potential park projects may no longer be for sale. The unavailable land is the latest snafu for the department surrounding Quimby fees, the funds [...]

In Students’ Eyes, Look-Alike Lawyers Don’t Make the Grade

Monday, October 29th, 2007

By ADAM LIPTAK
New York Times
October 29, 2007
A bunch of law students at Stanford have started assigning letter grades to their prospective employers, which pretty much tells you who holds the power in the market for new associates. It’s not easy to persuade new lawyers from the top schools to accept starting salaries of only $160,000.
The [...]

Problems With Park Funds Mount

Monday, October 22nd, 2007

Parks Department Has Collected $120 Million in Quimby Fees, But Lacks Capability to Manage Program
by Anna Scott
The city Department of Recreation and Parks has acknowledged that it has no effective system for tracking or spending funds for park projects generated through special assessments paid by developers. This comes despite the fact that the department has [...]

Few parks, but L.A. is sitting on pile of green

Saturday, October 20th, 2007

The city has $77 million in unspent developers fees for grassy venues. Report angers builders.
By Steve Hymon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 20, 2007
In a city widely acknowledged to be woefully short of parks, Los Angeles has about $77.5 million in fees it has collected from developers for outdoor improvements but has yet to spend, [...]

Why We Can’t Wait Civil Rights Conference October 18-19 North Carolina

Friday, October 12th, 2007

The 1980s in the United States marked the beginning of the “rollback” period in civil rights. The federal courts have limited the ability of people to file and win civil rights cases by restricting access to courts and eroding remedies for practices that discriminate against racial and ethnic minorities, women, older Americans, and [...]

UPDATE Save Panhe and Save San Onofre State Beach, Stop Proposed Toll Road — Hearing Moved to February 2008

Friday, October 12th, 2007

THE CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMISSION HAS MOVED THE TOLL ROAD HEARING DATE TO FEBRUARY 6-8 2008.
After a blistering staff report concluded that a proposed toll road through San Onofre State Beach would violate the state’s coastal act, the California Coastal Commission has postponed its hearing on the road at the request of toll road proponents. Read [...]

LAUSD Lacks a Commitment to Kids and Community - Daily News Editorial

Monday, October 8th, 2007

October 7, 2007 - ONCE UPON A TIME, when LAUSD officials were trying to sell the people of Los Angeles on costly school building bonds, they spoke of the new schools as magical places where the community would come together and reconnect.
These newly built campuses around the city and region would not just be houses [...]

Chavez Ravine and the Dodgers 50 years later

Sunday, October 7th, 2007

Chavez Ravine was a bucolic Latino community through the 1950s, until the City of Los Angeles forcibly evicted the residents with promises of affordable housing. Mrs. Aurora Archega, whose family had resided in Chavez Ravine for 36 years, refused to leave her home, and was carried out by the police, with all of her belongings, [...]