LA COMMUNITY COLLEGE ADMITS IT IS MISUSING BOND FUNDS

Van de Kamps Coalition Finds Vindication In Bond Counsel Letter Confirming That LACCD Has Illegally Spent Bond Funds On The Mayor's Tenant Improvements At The Van de Kamps Site

When all of the audits, investigations and reports eventually are complete regarding the misuse of voter-approved bond funds by the Board of Trustees and staff of the Los Angeles Community College District, the Van de Kamps Coalition believes the attempt to divert the $72 million campus at Van de Kamps to the private benefit of various non-profits politically tied to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be just the tip of the iceberg. How did we get to a place where bond abuse could go on at LACCD for 9 long years and it was not stopped by local Board of Trustees members Mona Field, Sylvia Scott-Hayes, or Kelly  Kerry* Candaele? Already, the Trustees of LACCD are trying to deflect responsibility for this debacle by claiming that the bond programs were "complex" or "difficult to understand." By reading the constitutional rule, Los Angeles voters can judge for themselves how "complex" the concept of Proposition 39 restrictions really are.

California voters approved Proposition 39 in November 2000. Prop 39 amended the California Constitution to lower the percentage of affirmative votes needed to pass a school or community college bond from 66% to 55%. In exchange for this lower threshold to pass a school bond, Proposition 39 drafters required that the bonds include various guarantees that the funds would be only expended for the following CAPITAL expenses:

1. Construction, re-construction, rehabilitation, or replacement of school facilities.
2. The furnishing or equipping of school facilities.
3. The acquisition or lease of real property for school facilities.

And to drive home the point, Proposition 39 backers also required each bond issued under this provision to guarantee the bond holders that: “the sale of bonds be used only for the purposes specified in [the constitutional list above] AND NOT FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE, including teacher and administrator salaries and other school operating expenses."

On March 10, 2010, the bond counsel to the LACCD, Fulbright and Jaworski, LLP, issued a memorandum to the Board of Trustees identifying nearly a dozen categories of "soft costs" that the District has apparently charged to the taxpayer-approved bonds instead of charging the District's general fund (or not incurring the expenses at all.) One of the categories for which the District has expended bond funds is the cost to make Tenant Improvements to buildings the District is leasing to private or non-profit entities.

The Board of Trustees decided on July 15, 2009 to transfer the Van de Kamps site to LACCD Administration, and then in turn lease the unfinished Van de Kamps site to the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools (a private charter school) and to the City of Los Angeles, to house 4 tenant non-profits politically tied to the Mayor that provide unemployment programs. At that point, LACCD Board of Trustees and staff began to fall over themselves to use restricted bond funds to pay for millions of dollars of TENANT IMPROVEMENTS at the Van de Kamp site. The Van de Kamps Coalition has alleged from the beginning that these actions were unlawful. The bond counsel of the District has now officially confirmed that the Coalition's concerns were right.

Over the last 8 months, an orgy of changes and additional expenses have been incurred by the LACCD to solely accommodate the tenants' needs and desires instead of completing the "school facility" LACCD originally designed to meet its own students' needs. In this way, Antonio Villaraigosa, his Deputy Mayor Larry Frank, and LACCD Trustees Mona Field, Sylvia Scott-Hayes, Kelly Kerry* Candaele from Northeast Los Angeles have presided over a literal "theft" of the Van de Kamps community college from our young people. Each day since March 10, 2010 that the Board was warned its actions were unlawful, they have allowed the changes to the Van de Kamps original school facility design to continue. You can let these elected officials know what you think of their actions by writing them at: click here to email all elected officials (mayor@lacity.org , larry.frank@lacity.org, mfield@glendale.edu, georgia@gmercer.net, candaele@sbcglobal.net, m.santiago@mac.com, sscotth@laccd.edu, pearlman@laccd.edu.)

How much were the tenant improvements at Van de Kamps? In searching the records of the construction managers at the Van de Kamps construction trailers, the Van de Kamps Coalition has tallied up (so far) $2,259,226.50 in probable illegal expenditures over the last 8 months. Furthermore, because Van de Kamps was not yet finished when the decision was made to abandon its educational purpose, the Van de Kamps Coalition contends that the entire $72 million campus has been wasted by the community college trustees. Over the coming days, the Van de Kamps Coalition will provide the facts and figures illustrating the betrayal of our community by LACCD Board members who reside in Northeast Los Angeles.

The utter waste of your hard earned taxes at Van de Kamps to subsidize projects of Antonio Villaraigosa, instead of providing the college that voters voted for is just ONE SYMPTOM OF A COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT IN CRISIS. It is not out of the question that the illegal expenditures District-wide will add up to more than 5% of the total value of bonds issued. If that happens, the college trustees may have recklessly endangered the continued tax-exempt status of the billions of bonds sold to investors.

For instance, Bond counsel also informed the LACCD Board on March 10, 2010, that it has illegally spent bond money on elaborate and expensive public relations materials and events to promote themselves. Follow this link http://www.laccdbuildsgreen.org/mediacenter/videogallery.php to view dozens of slick and expensive videos promoting the LACCD's green program and its Facilities Director, Larry Eisenberg. The cost of these videos are as yet unknown, but apparently the cost of them, the public relations contracts with MWW Group and others, the salaries of ex-LA Times Reporter Stuart Silverstein and other persons were all charged against your bond construction funds. They did it because no one stopped to ask themselves: "Gee, is a public relations contract a CAPITAL expenditure?" And the videos tie into other extravagant and unnecessary expenditures of your tax dollars to be explained over the next week here on NELA, Atwater Village News Blog, and our Facebook pages (http://facebook.com/pages/VandeKamps).

The Trustees must be told by YOU to stop the illegal expenditures at Van de Kamps immediately. Hold them accountable for their reckless actions to waste your tax dollars.

Stay tuned to learn the details in the reports of the results of pain-staking research undertaken by the Van de Kamps Coalition. Your voice needs to be heard as the City of Los Angeles and the Trustees of LACCD are rushing RIGHT NOW to spend more money to complete the changes to Van de Kamps before the public learns the details.

The Van de Kamps Coalition
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* Correction - 04/01/2010

The Van de Kamps Coalition incorrectly identified a NELA Los Angeles Community College District Board member as "Kerry Candaele" when we meant to refer to elected LACCD Board member "Kelly Candaele." The two men are brothers, however, Kerry Candaele has never served on the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District.



Understandably, Mr. Kerry Candaele was upset to be misidentified in our postings about the problems at the Van de Kamps site.


The Van de Kamps Coalition regrets the error and apologizes to Kerry Candaele. Future posts will be corrected. The Van de Kamps Coalition stands by the remainder of the report. As for the film "A League of Their Own", the Van de Kamps Coalition recommends the film as a terrific Saturday rental!

Here are the online bios posted by the two Candaele brothers:

Kelly Candaele, Los Angeles Community College Board Member from Northeast LA

Mr. Kelly Candaele has produced a number of award winning documentary films, including “A League of Their Own,” about his mother’s experience as a professional baseball player in the All American Girl’s Professional Baseball League. His mother was a lifetime .290 hitter.


Candaele wrote the story for the Columbia Picture’s feature film, “A League of Their Own,” which stared Tom Hanks and Geena Davis. He also produced and directed an award-winning film on the life of assassinated Swedish Prime Minister, Olof Palme and a film on the Northern Ireland peace process.

Kerry Candaele, Producer and Director from Venice California

Producer/Director, was born in Vancouver, and grew up in Lompoc, a small working-class town on California’s central coast.

Mr. Kerry Candaele has produced and directed several documentary films, including /Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price/, and /Iraq For Sale/.


He also collaborated with his brother Kelly on the documentary, /A League of Their Own/, about his mother’s experience in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), which was later turned into a blockbuster hit starring Tom Hanks and Madonna.

He attended Columbia University, where he was a Richard Hofstader Fellow in American History. He has also worked all over the world for with the Democracy Council , an NGO dedicated to peaceful reform in developing nations. He is the author of two books on American history, and has written for both scholarly and popular publications.

He lives in Venice, California, with his wife and three daughters.
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Stars in mobile search

Earlier this month on the Official Google Blog, we announced how stars make search more personal by allowing you to mark and rediscover your favorite content. Today, we are extending this feature so that you can get to your favorite content on your phone, anytime, anywhere. For example, if you previously searched for "car reviews" and starred a few sites that were useful while researching cars on your computer, searching for "car reviews" on your phone will allow you to rediscover your starred items. If there are additional results that you want to star while on mobile, simply click the star marker beside the result, and you will be able to see it later when searching from your computer or phone.

To try this yourself, go to google.com on your phone's browser, sign in to your Google Account and do a search. Star a few results and then do the search again to see your starred items appear at the top of your results. To see the same starred items between computer and phone, make sure you are signed in to the same account. The stars in search functionality is currently supported on Android phones, iPhones/iPods, and Palm WebOS devices in the US.

Posted by Zhen Wang, Google Mobile Engineering Team

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Fear the Boom and Bust Video

.... or possibly the General Election campaign in under 7 mins.

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FROM ATWATER VILLAGE’S DTOX DAY SPA

monthly e-news april 2010


Spring is a time for renewal, emerging from hibernation, life sprouting forth with new energy and focus. dtox has created some spring specials to help you renew and celebrate longer days, bluer skies, and plenty of sunshine!

special note- april is also earth month

The first earth day was held on April 22, 1970 in the form of a public teach-in as a response to widespread environmental decay. This nationally recognized observance celebrates its 40th birthday this year.

We here at dtox would like to show our support of earth day for the entire month of April. During this month we will be partnering with Friends of Atwater Village to help beautify our neighborhood.

As a "hands-on" group of local volunteers, Friends of Atwater village (FAV) is dedicated to keeping our village clean & green all year round. However, for springtime, FAV especially gears up to spruce up Atwater Village and do something for mother earth too.

FAV will be conducting their annual "Atwater Village neighborhood spring clean-up." FAV’s clean-up event is a neighborhood-wide effort of community volunteers rolling up our sleeves to pick up the garbage, do some weeding, and just make things shine. After a good cleaning, it is time to get things green! In April, earth month 2010, FAV will be planting drought-tolerant plants all along Glendale Blvd. In May, FAV wraps up their springtime efforts by sponsoring a site along the Los Angeles River (in Atwater Village) for Friends of LA River's annual Gran Limpeza. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit http://www.friendsofatwatervillage.org/

Add on any of our facial or body enhancements to your treatment during the month of April and a portion of the proceeds will go to support Friends of Atwater Village to keep our community clean and green! Spring forward with glowing skin and a complete feeling of well-being, compliments of dtox!

facial treatment special
oxygenating lightening facial with lip treatment

Using certified organic, paraben free products this facial features fruit and vegetable pulps that deep cleanse, lighten and regenerate the skin. With the scent of a flowery field, saponaria & linaria hydrates and calms the skin while cucumber & parsley mixed with oxygenating talc regenerates and lightens. This is excellent for those wanting an even complexion either from acne scarring or sun damage. This treatment includes an exfoliating, hydrating lip treatment leaving your lips perfectly kissable! We recommend ilike's lip balms to hydrate and regenerate, softening even the most chapped lips. These are available for retail in lemon citrus to refresh, cool mint to calm and spicy cinnamon to stimulate and plump.

50 min $140

* This treatment includes an added enhancement of a lip treatment. portion of proceeds support Friends of Atwater Village

renew and refocus

Our renew and refocus facial is great for those who want something less abrasive than microdermabrasion but are seeking the same skin smoothing effects. Ultra fine crystals shed away dull skin while reducing the appearance of pores and creating an even skin tone. a clay based mask purifies and replenishes the skin. This treatment will leave your skin restored to a youthful texture and healthy glow. The perfect way to leap into spring!

50 min. $90

For an extra boost: add our antioxidant superfruit masque containing 7 of the highest powered antioxidants helping to neutralize free radicals while improving elasticity and brightening the skin tone. $25

Portion of proceeds from this enhancement support Friends of Atwater Village

retail specials

Purchase 2 or more dtox skin care products and receive a travel size of the oxygen boosting complex!

Recycle your old skincare and receive 20% off your new skincare regime(3 items or more)

body treatment special
a journey throught spring

The first step of your 2 hour journey begins with the gentle rhythm of wild boar brushes across your skin, promoting lymphatic flow and blood circulation. Next, you will be brought into the state of pure relaxation while your therapist relieves your mind and body through a specially designed 80 minute massage just for you! Choose from one of our certified organic, paraben-free, hydrating massage creams in either lavender/geranium rose or peppermint/sage to leave your skin soft to the touch. We top off your excursion with our invigorating peppermint/sage foot treatment, creating a spa experience that you won't soon forget.

110 minutes $150 (reg $170)

Massage is swedish in technique, upgrade to deep tissue for $20

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DTOX DAY SPA
3206 LOS FELIZ BLVD. LOS ANGELES, CA 90039
323 665-3869 (dtox) - http://www.dtoxdayspa.com/
MON-FRI 10AM-8PM
SAT-SUN 10AM-6PM
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31 Marzo solo CB

Ore 16.00 CB ad incudune sulla verticale di Bergamo, si svilupperà verso est per portare
grandinate sulle zone della Val Cavallina e Lovere.






Ecco il CB in fase di sviluppo che ha interessato Parma e Reggio Emilia portando anche
alla formazione di due tornado.






Ore 18.40 Vista verso ovest un largo sistema nuvoloso con estese virghe interessa Bergamo
foto zona A4 Seriate




L'imponente struttura temporalesca al tramonto,





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Interview: Russell Napier on global debt crisis

Financial Sense Newshour recently spoke to Ron Greiss of the Chart Store and Russell Napier of CLSA about the US and global debt pictures. You can hear what they have to say in this March 27 interview broadcast.

Soundbites from Alan Greenspan conceding that rising yields on US bonds are the proverbial canary in the coalmine for higher interest rates ahead lead off the broadcast. Jim Puplava and guest Ron Greiss have more to share on the state of the US' finances and its debt picture (which are rather grim).

Russell Napier chats with Jim later in this segment, sharing some key thoughts on the "structurally mispriced" US bond market. Anyone watching the Treasury market and the long-term direction of interest rates should check these interviews out.

Related articles and posts:

1. Russell Napier: The Next Crash - Finance Trends.

2. Anatomy of the Bear: Russell Napier interview - Financial Sense.
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ATWATER VILLAGE CENTENNIAL STREET FESTIVAL: CALL FOR CRAFT VENDORS!

You’re invited to display and sell your work at the Atwater Village Centennial Street Festival


3100 Block Glendale Blvd
Sunday, June 13th, 2010
11am to 4pm

Click here to download vendor application (pdf file)

For more information, please call Barbara Lass at 323.661.3283
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Welsh Press Barons owned and edited major UK newspapers

With the Assembly on Easter break and the Chancellor’s debate and Tony Blair’s arrival on the Campaign trail covered by other bloggers my attention was caught by this story from BBC Wales.

A plaque was unveiled in Merthyr Tydfil last Friday to honour William Ewart Berry and his brother Gomer Berry, the two men worked their way up from reporters on the local paper the Merthyr Express to owners of well known newspaper titles including the Financial Times, the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph.

The brothers also ended up owning the Western Mail, South Wales Echo and the Merthyr Express and both brothers were also made Viscounts.

According to BBC Wales ‘(Merthyr Tydfil Heritage) Trust secretary Adrian Doolan said the brothers' father was a successful estate agent and auctioneer who eventually became mayor of the town.

"The second son, William Ewart Berry, became a reporter on the Merthyr Express, and by the age of 21 moved to London," he said.

"He was joined by his younger brother, Gomer Berry, and they started publishing magazines, mainly about advertising and boxing.

"The two brothers in London borrowed some money off Seymour Berry to start their publishing and eventually they bought a number of newspapers."

"Seymour Berry, had gone into business and became a famous Welsh industrialist with interest in collieries, iron and steel.

They became great rivals to Lord Rothermere, who vied to own the biggest empire of papers across the UK.

The Berry brothers owned Allied Newspapers and Amalgamated Press, running national newspapers as well as a network of regional and local papers.

It’s certainly surprising and fascinating to learn that two Welsh journalists from the Valleys owned and edited major UK newspaper titles in the last century, it makes you wonder if there is a 21st Century equivalent of the Berry Brothers out there who might invest in the Welsh media today.Any source

$25 eBook Reader Application Scenarios

My sixth grader goes to school with a 14 pound backpack. A few years ago, Consumer Reports weighed  backpacks at three New York schools and found that sixth graders had the heaviest backpacks, averaging over 18 pounds. A lot of that weight is textbooks, and there's a lot of concern that kids are hurting themselves by carrying around so much stuff.

The Kindle 2 weighs only 9 ounces; shoppers will take home 22 oz. iPads starting this Saturday. How long will it be before schools start issuing ebook readers instead of textbooks?

The big issue, of course, is cost. In my last post, I compared ebook readers to digital watches and other consumer electronics products that saw dramatic price reductions in the years following their introduction. It is inevitable that ebook reader prices will also come down to a point where they can find new applications such as textbooks for school children.

Another possible application is libraries. I've written several times about the difficulties ebooks pose for libraries, but I've not discussed a scenario that's becoming increasingly popular: libraries loaning ebook readers to patrons.

Most libraries that have tried ebook reader lending have found the programs to be popular with patrons. Typically a number of Kindles are loaded with a set of ebooks; sometimes all the Kindles have the same collection; sometimes different books are loaded onto different Kindles and somehow the library has to track which Kindles have which books. Patrons have to be instructed not to use the library Kindle to buy extra books. Unfortunately libraries don't have the budgets they would need to scale these programs.

So far, though, there's not been an ebook reader or reader loading system designed with library lending in mind. Imagine that the readers have dropped to $25 a piece. At that price, it would make sense to issue library reader devices (with a deposit) instead of library cards. If the library circulation system was designed specifically for use with dedicated reader devices, a patron could have access to a universe of books while in the library building; there would likely be a limit on the number that could be taken home. The reader device and circulation system would be designed so as to allay the legitimate concerns that publishers have with ebook distribution by libraries.

Another possibility is that content could be locked onto cheap reader devices. Imagine going to Target ten years from now, and instead of seeing stacks of the latest After Twilight Saga hardcover at the checkout, imagine seeing stacks of ebook readers preloaded with all ten novels in the Twilight and After Twilight series. Locking the content onto the reader device would enable all the reuse and resale that's possible with print books today- the buyer could lend the reader to friends, sell to a used book shop, or just keep it on a "book"-shelf in its attractive cover.

Each of these scenarios supposes that ebook readers will evolve to become increasingly inexpensive single function devices like the Kindle, and that they will diverge from general purpose media consumption devices like the iPad. A device designed specifically for reading will deliver a better reading experience at a lower price than one designed to support 3D video and gaming.

If you disagree, consider this question: How much reading would my sixth grader be doing if all his textbooks were issued on a gaming machine?

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Pic d'Artouste 23 marzo

Igor Illarramendi y Pedro Oliva en el Coll d'Arrius, listos para bajar a Caillou de Soques y terminar así un gran día de esquí. Al fondo, el Vértice, Pico Anayet y Cuyalaret. Se distingue incluso

la telesilla de Formigal que lleva al Puerto de Canal Roya


Pic d'Artouste, desde Caillou de Soques

23 marzo 2010

Pedro Oliva, Igor Illaramendi y Jorge Gª-Dihinx


También se apuntaron Francis y Stéphane (Cordée64), pero se volvieron tras superar el collado sobre el lago de Arrius.


Esta ruta la descubrí una mañana de primavera disfrutando de las vistas desde la cima del Lurien, gran mirador de la zona de Arremoulit. El pic d'Artouste es un satélite del Palas con buena orientación oeste y gran altura, que lo mantiene con nieve hasta el final de la temporada.

Salimos de Caillou de Soques y antes del coll de Arrius giramos al sur hacia el lac d'Arrius y superamos un collado al norte del Petit Arriel. Desde allí bajamos al ref de Arremoulit (muy bien cuidada su parte libre) y luego seguimos hasta el Pic d'Artouste.


Tras volver al refugio descendemos a un pequeño altiplano bajo el coll de Arrius, al que llegamos tras volver a poner pieles. Luego clásico descenso W hasta Caillou de Soques.


En total algo menos de 6 horas. Bonita vuelta para primavera. Suman 1.750m de desnivel.


Cómo nos gusta recorrer y recorrer y recorrer el Pirineo...


Y no se acaba nunca!
Jorge



Mapa con el recorrido

Antes de llegar al Coll de Arrius giramos a la dcha. Tras cruzar el Lac d'Arrius deberemos superar la fuerte rampa al collado, justo debajo del Petit Arriel

Paramos en el collado, con vistas hacia el Palas y, en segundo término, Balaitus y Frondiellas

Entramos al refugio de Arremoulit a comer algo. Muy bien cuidado y base de numerosas ascensiones y bucles que inundan nuestra imaginación: Arremoulit- Larribet - Las Neous - Balaitus - Frondiellas - Arremoulit - Caillou de Soques - and beyond... (...) (...) (a cada uno de rellenar los puntos con otros destinos y bubles imposibles...)

Pedro Oliva, Igor Illarramendi y Jorge García-Dihinx. Autorretrato en la cima del Pic d'Artouste

Parada a mitad de bajada. marcados los itinerarios del bucle en la zona de Arremoulit

Pedro e Igor bajo la muralla del Gran Arriel

Descendemos esquiando nieve primavera de vuelta al refugio de Arremoulit

Volvemos por el bosque a Caillou de Soques. Bello día en la montaña

Para ver el resto de las fotos, pinchar aquí

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30 Marzo Terzo e Quarto TS stagionale

Ecco alcune immagini e video del fronte temporalesco che ha interessato Bergamo ed il nord Italia questo pomeriggio e poi in serata.
Video realizzato nel tardo pomeriggio


Foto scattate tra Ghisalba-Cassinone-Costa di Mezzate



















Ore 21.00 CB over Bergamo secondo TS colpisce la città, segnalate grandinate in zona isola.







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