Fifth in a series. Re “White Talks of Fighting Fire with…” With his first anniversary as chief of the Culver City Fire Dept. mere days away, Dave White was talking about how dramatically firefighting has changed. “We still get a lot of fire calls,” he said, “but not nearly as many as the 1970s” when he was a schoolboy in … Read More
Three Mayors with Problems, but Not Dear Ex-Mayor
Jim Dear Photo: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
Re “Carson Mayor Targeted in Sexual Harassing Suit” Dateline Carson – Is there something in the salty sea air of the South Bay that mystifyingly marries mayors in this region to controversy? Last month, Hawthorne Mayor Chris Brown was, and is, battling City Council colleagues and his hometown newspaper over his personal expenditures. Yesterday morning at 6:30, several hours before … Read More
Hiltzik Wrong to Criticize a Small Common Sense Change
Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik. Photo: LA Times
With Fiona Ma. The other day Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik unfairly criticized a state Board of Equalization-supported proposal to simplify property tax assessment of airline property in California. As elected Board members and former legislators, we write to set the record straight. Senate Bill 661, authored by Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), would centralize property tax assessment of … Read More
Next Round of Base Closures Is Not Close
When former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel asked Congress last year to authorize a new round of military base closings, alarm bells went off in many parts of California. This state has been victimized more than any other in the two already-completed rounds, which saw the military fail to realize most of the savings it hoped for, while people and communities … Read More
Strumming Banjos Were Entertaining at Leaning Farm
Dateline Dayton — Last weekend was a busy one. Although I was supposed to work on our son’s remodeling project on Saturday, I didn’t. He suggested waiting until Wednesday when we would have the entire day. Pauline and I took advantage of this opening by going out to breakfast and then to our granddaughter Madison’s soccer match. Her team won … Read More
Volleyball Playoffs Tonight: Centaurs Will Visit Gahr of Cerritos
Culver City High School’s boys volleyball team will play Gahr High in Cerritos tonight at 7 in the second round of the CIF Division 3 playoffs. In their first round match on Tuesday, the Centaurs beat Cate High from Carpinteria 3-0 inside the Del Goodyear gym on campus. All three matches were close as the Centaurs raised their record to … Read More
Bernadene Coleman, Next Poet Laureate Candidate
Bernadene Coleman
[Editor’s Note: Bernadene Coleman of Culver City has been nominated by Charles Deen as the first poet laureate when the City Council ultimately votes.] Bernadene Coleman, who lives in Fox Hills, is a woman of 84 years, with wisdom and colorful stories to speak for her life’s journey. The author and poet has written and published three novels and two … Read More
Does Wall of Data Prove You Right or Wrong?
Nine months after Ferguson became a nasty household name, law enforcement and their supporters are pushing back via media. At stake is one of the biggest bets in modern times, cops’ reputation for historic fairness. At issue is whether plain people will believe raw numbers are a persuasive reflection of the precious, precarious tradition of morality in American police departments. … Read More
The Bixby Recipe for Loyal Relations with Community
Police Chief Scott Bixby (second from left). Photo: Culver City Rotary Club
Police Chief Scott Bixby still was digesting the massive anti-police ugliness roaring out of Baltimore – from City Hall as intensely as from the streets and gutters – even as he groped to restore perspective. “It is sad that we (in law enforcement) are painted with such a broad brush all across the country,” he said. “It just is not … Read More
CAN Buy Me Love!
Photo: Lillian Narramore
Dateline Boston — Designer kittens! Get your designer kittens! Lots of colors, tons of personality, only $3,000! Oh, did I mention they were hypo-allergenic? We haven’t had a cat in three years. I wanted kittens. I wanted two of them. I wanted kittens that my stepson and friends wouldn’t be allergic to. Enter the Purebred Siberian, the cat who has … Read More