School Groups, Red Light Cameras, A Bloody Scene and the Living Wage

Friday, April 14

Dear Editor,

As I often tell my students during math class, "It's not the answer that's most important, it's the process by which you get the answer that matters most."

And so it is with the Santa Monica - Malibu Unifed School District. Again.

Recently the district floated a 'new' calendar to take into account a whole plethora of issues at the high school. Fair enough. No one wants to see the students at the high school put to any disadvantage. BUT, what about the process?

The district is contractually obligated to negotiate a calendar with the teachers' association. Those negotiations should begin in November and result in a calendar everybody can live with by May. Everybody has input, everybody is heard.

Now the district tosses the calendar the joint committee came up with and floats this new and improved calendar that is the product of.... hmmm.... well, er, that's just the problem. No one knows who developed this calendar.

It just sort of appeared and was anointed as the calendar. Forget the process. Forget all those committee meetings. We (whoever we might be) know best.

For a district that sings the song of listening to all the voices and allowing everybody to be heard, it sure seems like it turns a blind eye to the proper process for arriving at shared decisions whenever the mood strikes. In as much as the district signed the contract agreeing to a process for deciding the calendar, ought not the district make good on its word and follow through? And ought this not be the way things are always done-- by
the book?

Maybe that would ease a few of their accounting problems as well.

Marc J. Sanschagrin
Santa Monica Teacher

Thursday, April 13

(In response to a request for a quote about the Sentencing of Robert Cleaves from the widow of road rage victim Arnie Guerriero.)

I think Cleaves should use this time in prison to think about the way he has spent his entire tire life, a mean and cruel man.

Make some kind of peace with God, peace with himself and peace with all those he's hurt in his lifetime.

May he never walk a free step as long as I live.

Dawn Guerriero

Wednesday, April 12

Dear Editor,

Thanks for the coverage of our initial public meeting. I'm even flattered that I'm recognized for my "precise handwriting."

However, I still consider myself a part of the "Monday Group" in spirit if not fact, even if some of the leadership of the Monday Group may have questioned my commitment to reform by joining the Friday Group.

The goals of the Friday group are not incompatible with the Monday group. I think the comments at Monday evening's meeting showed that for some portions of our community, support for new funding must be accompanied by reform and accountability.

It is an important message for us to hear as we look for ways to improve our schools.

Craig Hamilton
Santa Monica

Tuesday, April 11

Dear Editor,

In your article dated April 11th ("Civic Group Publicly Tackles School Finances") you referred to the presenters of the McKinley School event as the "Friday group" and then went on to refer to the "Monday Group, a group of dissatisfied parents focusing their efforts on district reform"

For the record, the "Monday Group" has both a name: "Citizens For School District Reform" and a purpose: To reform the school district by improving the public process, demanding accountability, and bringing forth new leadership.

I, and most other members of Citizen's for School District reform, believe that raising money for the district is extremely important but that money alone will not cure our problems, and will not undo the damage that has been done by an ineffective and unresponsive School Board and administration.

This district needs constructive and real change in order to ensure its future success. I, and other members of Citizen's for School District Reform, intend to continue to work to see that those changes are made.

John Petz
Santa Monica

Monday, April 10

Dear Editor,

There was a new program, concerning driving under the influence presented at St. Monica's high school's front street (California) on April 8 that was so dramatic & realistic (thanks to a real Hollywood make-up man), that a woman in the sizable crowd almost fainted & had to be helped to a chair. F

Featured were two very smashed vehicles, 4 or so bloodied teens & a single adult driver in the other car. The Santa Monica Fire Dept. actually cut the car roof off the car & helped the bloodied man to the curb, where he muttered that the teens were drinking & moaned.

Sgt. Rosenberg gave the teen driver a sobriety test, complete, which the boy failed, whereupon the boy was cuffed & led away. A very real grim reaper wandered around the scene, & finally a hearse came on the scene & was loaded up & left the area.

There were several TV cameras & the announcer from channel 16 cable in Santa Monica.
It was all very dramatic & grave; I was observing the crowd & they were very quiet & obviously touched by it all. They seemed to take it very seriously, as it was intended & I predict much success for this program, which resulted from a grant elicited by Det. Craig Dawson & further developed with a lot of hard work & focus by him.

Many thanks & congrats to Santa Monica P.D. & fire department on a job well done.

George George
Santa Monica

Following is the text of the April 11 speech by Ellen Brennan requesting that the city hold public workshops before it places cameras at red lights.

The item was filed on behalf of South Beach Neighborhood, Northeast Neighborhood and Pico Neighborhood. We're asking you to delay final approval and installation of the proposed traffic light cameras until there can be a public workshop on the subject.

The cameras seem like a simple solution, but they've evoked complex responses among residents. Their concerns fall into the categories of the "spirit of the thing", questions about their potential effectiveness in solving traffic and safety problems, civil rights
concerns, and a gut reaction to mechanical control.

Santa Monica prides itself on being gracious, on being caring. These cameras feel mean spirited to some.

To others they're the wrong solution to the increasing traffic problem.

When I moved my business life to Santa Monica in l991, Santa Monica had a village feel. It was charming, convenient, and easy to navigate. Not so now.

Last week it took me 1 hour and 45 minutes driving time to go from Ken Edwards to Appian Way near Loews, to my bank on 4th, to the car wash on Lincoln and Colorado and back to Appian Way. That used to be a 30 minute run. But last Saturday it took 55 additional minutes.

That's a lot of time wasted sitting in traffic. Time is finite. You can't create more. You can't stretch it or borrow it. People get frustrated when traffic moves slowly. They try to make up time by pushing through yellow lights and sometimes thru the beginning of a red. To put cameras in the gridlock of downtown and the tourist area seems like adding injury to insult.

There is a ground swell of frustration about traffic in Santa Monica. People want to know how cameras will help. How will they help move traffic How will they alleviate frustration? People need to get from place to place for business, for conducting the daily chores of living, The more time it takes to get from place to place, the less time people have for their own pursuits. How will these cameras help give them back time?

There is a gut reaction to the Big Brother aspect of such cameras on the part of some. People seek freedom from interference in their lives. Law abiding residents who have no intention of ever running a red light, react a camera waiting to photograph them as if it were a deeply intrusive invasion of their privacy. The fact that they can choose to not be photographed by not running a red light is beside the point. The thought of the presence of such a camera is experienced as an insult to beingness for some.

Such cameras are a departure from the time-honored human to human transaction - a human being interacting with another human being. The cameras are mechanical devices meant to control behavior through punishment. Some people find this deeply unsettling.

There are civil rights issues, and the issue of reasonableness that people want to explore. The staff report accompanying the original item on Feb 8 states that there is no correlation between number of traffic tickets and reduction of accidents. It says that while daily traffic volume has increased an average of 2% per year since l987, the number of collisions resulting in injury has declined by almost 46%.

It states that there is not a direct correlation between number of citations issued and traffic accidents. Between l994 and l997 traffic citations increased 38%, and hazardous moving violations increased 72.5%. Traffic collisions declined l and a half percent, and pedestrian accidents fell 7%. That a lot of traffic tickets for little result.

Given these statistics, people ask why these cameras are being proposed.

We ask for a workshop on the subject. We ask for a forum where we can receive information from the city and can dialog about residents" concerns.. We've emailed the city clerk a list of some of our concerns.

We'd appreciate an information sharing workshop to help people understand the workings of the cameras, the rationale, the reasons they're being proposed, and to allow residents to express their preferences. We appreciate your consideration of our request.

Ellen Brennan
Santa Monica

Thursday, April 6

Dear Editor,

I found this on my Email and I think it would be good if you shared this with
our community.

Bruria Finkel
Santa Monica

Paying a Living Wage Is Good For Business, Employers Say; New report documents benefits of raising pay

"The growth of my business is due to the high quality of my bread, which in turn is due to the skilled employees I attract and retain with good wages and benefits."

- Jim Amaral, CEO of Maine bakery chain Borealis Breads

Jim Amaral is one of the successful business owners featured in a myth-busting new report "Choosing the High Road: Businesses that Pay a Living Wage and Prosper."

Over 40 cities and counties-including Boston, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Antonio-have adopted living wage ordinances and over 120 living wage campaigns are underway.

"Choosing the High Road" shows why living wages are good for business, as well as workers and communities. The report, published by Responsible Wealth, is available on the web and in hard copy.

Despite the economy's record-breaking nine-year expansion and skyrocketing CEO pay, the typical worker still earns less, adjusted for inflation, than in 1973, and over one quarter of American jobs pay less than a living wage of $8 an hour. Below that wage, a 40-hour workweek leaves a family of four under the federal poverty line, unable to make ends meet.

A growing number of business people are supporting living wages. Already, over 50 business owners have signed Responsible Wealth's new Living Wage Covenant, pledging to pay their own employees over $8 an hour, as well as to advocate in the public arena for higher wages for all low-income workers.

"Choosing the High Road," by Karen Kraut, Scott Klinger and Chuck Collins, debunks common arguments made by opponents of higher minimum wages and living wages. It presents research on the business benefits of higher wages: lower worker turnover and absenteeism, reduced training costs, higher morale and higher productivity, and a stronger consumer market.

Krishna Fells, CEO of a high-tech firm, organized Small Business Owners of Washington State (SBOWS) to support a 1998 ballot initiative to raise the state minimum wage.

"I'd like to let you know that there are many small businesses that support raising the minimum wage. The economic impact of not having a decent minimum wage is detrimental to small business."

Barry Hermanson, CEO of Hermanson's Employment Services, pays his 200-plus temporary office workers $2 to $4 more per hour than other temp services while keeping client billing rates competitive through low overhead and low turnover. Hermanson is co-chair of the San Francisco Living Wage Coalition.

"I've been able to save money by eliminating advertising expenses. Word of mouth about higher wages and competitive billing brings me good employees and grows the business. Our employees and clients are our marketing department!"

Tim Styer, CEO of Urban Works, turned his Philadelphia contract cleaning company into an employee-owned business paying the area living wage - over a dollar an hour more than the local industry standard.

"We lose some bidding wars to competitors who shortchange their workers, but we do better at keeping clients because of superior performance by Urban Works' employee-owners."

Judy Wicks, owner of the popular White Dog Cafe in Philadelphia, pays her 100 employees well above local restaurant wages.

"Paying a living wage is difficult in the restaurant business, but I encourage other owners to try it, because it can be done. The traditional value system of running restaurant workers into the ground needs to change in order to create a more fulfilling workplace for everyone."

Hal Taussig is the owner of Idyll, Ltd., a $6 million Philadelphia specialized travel business with above average profits along with above average pay and benefits.

"The benefits we get from paying living wages include low turnover, great staff spirit and dedicated employees helping us find ways to keep other costs low and quality high."