Saturday, April 1 — 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. — A Book Sale at the Julian Dixon Library.
Saturday, April 1 — 8 p.m. — A Culver City Symphony Orchestra Concert at the Vets Auditorium. Free.
Jaffes Name in the Super Derby
Early speculation on a successor to the retiring School Dist. Supt. Dr. Laura McGaughey is centering on Patty Jaffe, a longtime administrator in the District.
Other names have been mentioned, but she is attracting most of the attention.
A division of opinion over Ms. Jaffe’s qualifications may complicate the issue.
Supporters say that her lengthy and positive work record in the District, mainly as principal of the beribboned Middle School, was properly rewarded this year when she was promoted to District headquarters.
A New Look for Sepulveda?
Hometown redevelopment — in all of its projected glory, accompanied, inevitably, by a web of more problematic qualities —may be coming to the commercially-based west side of Sepulveda Boulevard in the southerly section of Culver City.
Don’t look for changes tomorrow or next year. Neither a clock nor an hourglass is capable of measuring the still-remote time from birth to blooming. A calendar is more like it, one that will unroll and stretch out to possibly five to ten years from now.
All that seems certain at this early, eye-rubbing stage is that redevelopment of the aging business district is inevitable. It also is largely welcome.
First Interview About New Chief
[Editor’s Note: As a service to readers, thefrontpageonline.com presents a blow-by-blow account of an interview with Mayor Albert Vera, the leader of the City Council, very early Wednesday. On the morning after the Council, under a blanket of secrecy, sorted through three candidates for Police Chief — Don Pedersen, Hank Davies and Jacqueline Seabrooks — the purpose of the newspaper’s visit was to learn the outcome of the vote.]
The Front Page: We have a new Police Chief.
Albert Vera: Boy, the world travels fast.
TFP: Tell me what reasoning went into your vote? Why did you vote for a…?
A.V.: It was a very difficult decision to make. I think the Council chose the three best finalists out of the sixty-seven applications. We looked, I looked for leadership. Let me put it in numbers. If the score was 99.9, there was 99.9 and a half and 99.9 and a quarter. That was the difference.
A.B.D. Disease: Anybody But Davies
As you may know by now, a wall of Kremlin-like secrecy has been thrown up around the City Council’s vote last Tuesday night for a new Police Chief.
The express purpose was to cloud the names of the three members who cast A.B.D. votes — Anybody But Davies.
They are, you see, embarrassed. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they proudly proclaim, “I voted for Don Pedersen of Signal Hill as our new Police Chief because…”?
They haven’t. And I don’t believe they will.
They are smart enough to realize many people would throw ripe tomatoes at them if they knew the names of the Council members who seemingly set out to punish the hometown guy.
McGaugheys Farewell Address
In the wake of Dr.Laura McGaughey’s retirement as Superintendent of the School District — announced yesterday by thefrontpageonline.com — she penned the following farewell letter to the community:
When I began my career as an elementary school teacher at Middleton Street School in Huntington Park, I had no idea of the incredible educational journey that was before me.
The wonderful experiences I have had as a teacher on elementary school, middle school and high school campuses, as well as my administrative roles as a Principal, Assistant Superintendent and Superintendent, have been extraordinary.
New Chief Hired Vera Criticized
With the trumpets of fanfare strategically muffled, the gapingly divided City Council on Tuesday night selected a darkhorse, Don Pedersen, the Police Chief of Signal Hill, as the next Police Chief of Culver City.
Against the strains of sinister background music, not a strand of celebration was visible yesterday.
No one around a somber, tight-lipped City Hall was in a mood to talk on the record about the three-to-two vote. In the bright sunshine of early spring, the visages were as foreboding as deepest winter.
The unexpected selection provoked only questions and bitterly encrusted accusations.
The rooting sections of the other two finalists, Asst. Chief Hank Davies of Culver City and Capt. Jacqueline Seabrooks of Santa Monica, were disappointed, some said stunned.
McGaughey Retirement a Done Deal
School District Supt. Dr.Laura McGaughey, long a lightning rod for the District although she never was known for being personally controversial, is retiring, thefrontpageonline.com has learned. “It is a done deal,” said an official.
A successor is expected to be in place within a hundred and twenty days, and the choice may be made from inside.
Dr. McGaughey’s decision will bring to a close a nine-year career that largely went unremarked — until the present School Board took office four years ago.
Since then, mention of the superintendent, especially her rollover contract, has been a staple of School Board meetings.
Culver Protestors to Return Friday
• See Cary Anderson’s Photos from Monday’s Protest on Photo Page
At a student assembly yesterday, political activists at Culver City High School finalized elaborate plans for emphatically restating their protest on Friday afternoon of immigration bills facing Congress this week.
Teacher Jose Montero said the strategy is “an action plan.”
Led by student protest organizer Oscar Vargas, president of Latinos Unidos, Gerardo Salmeron, Vice President of the Christian Club, Menelik Tafari, president of Student Activists, and John Seizer, they convened in the Robert Frost Auditorium at 11 a.m.
The Mistake Demonstrators Made
In the midst of mid-day Monday’s student protest at City Hall against toughening immigration laws, my new friend Dennis Vaquerano of Hamilton High School and I stood in the midst of the crowd and shmoozed about American exceptionalism.
Why not Manifest Destiny?
As a matter of fact, we — I mean, he — talked about that, too.
When you wade into a sea of teenage protestors, you obviously can’t anticipate what subjects will come up when you ask, simply, Why are you here?
An eleventh-grader at Hami, Mr. Vaquerano actually was typical of twenty or more impressive students I spoke with.