Opinion / Columns
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4-Year College to Be Police Officer?
by Corva Corvax A Logical Opinion On the surface, the bill Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles) plans to propose that will raise the requirements to enter a police force in California sounds like a good idea. Requiring recruits to either...
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CCUSD Ranks in Bottom 12% of California School Districts
It’s a major disappointment to me and others that our Culver City Unified School District is ranked 831 out of 940 school districts in the State of California. Could it be that another parcel tax...
Who Will the Culver City Democratic Club Endorse for Supervisor?
The ladies who ride Metro buses and light rail through Culver City can breathe easier now, since the judge sentenced 27-year-old Ager Linder to 54 months of probation and ordered him to stay away...
Culver City Ranks Low in Financial Soundness
Friends, before I leave on a well-deserved vacation, I would like to enlighten you all on some problems that are easy to verify. According to California State Senator Moorlach, California is ranked...
Finding Female Firefighters for Culver City
Well folks, I think I might have gotten the solution to our female firefighter problem. But first, it seems we are getting more and more dangerous forest fires every year. The State of California...
Not a Propitious Start for Governor Newsom
By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist To the surprise of absolutely no one, California’s new governor has proposed a $209-billion state budget with billions in increased spending and lots of tax hik...
"Recalculating . . ." A Thanksgiving Gratitude
Since I am very thankful to be alive and able to write this story, Thanksgiving seems an appropriate time to share an experience that happened this summer. I was going to call it “A Tutorial in...
Red Light Cameras Worse than Speed Traps in the South
Did you realize Culver City ladies have a better chance if winning the Lottery than being a member of the Fire Department. Women have always been discriminated against with wages and benefits as...
Affordable Housing Dumped on Fox Hills
If Culver City is really a city for everyone, as promoted by the October 11th event at La Ballona School then why didn’t Culver City use city owned land at Washington Blvd and Centinela for affordab...
No Good Reason to Pass Sales-Tax Increase
Can I ask, “With all those millions the developers are spending on construction projects here in Culver City, why do we need to raise taxes?” You don’t need 20/20 vision to imagine City staff...
More Reasons to Reject Measure K
The Los Angeles County Office of Education has just released its annual report of its county-wide Certificated Salary Survey for 2017-'18. On page 45 it showed just how much our Culver City School...
After November, Even More Tax Hikes May be Needed
Can little Culver City continue to pay super-large paychecks and pensions to current and former City employees? If so, local taxes will need to continue to rise. No, I’m just not pointing the finger...
Teachers Pensions Beat Others by 3-1 MarginBy Neil Rubenstein
In an ironic twist, a recent study by the nonprofit Bellwether Education Partners has found that the rising costs of teacher pension plans are starting to eat into their own salary hikes. Teachers,...
Work for City, Make $500,000 per Year
For those who missed my commentary last week, I am once again attaching a chart to this column showing the names, positions, and total amounts that key Culver City employees earned in 2017. The figure...
Council to Mull New Housing Plan
COMMENTARY By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist The Culver City Community Development Director of the Housing Division, Tevis Barnes, will soon be presenting to City Council a proposal for three...
City Blows Chances for Affordable Housing
It is my firm belief that City Hall over the years has squandered city assets to pay for huge salaries and benefits. Coming soon, a startling expose. No, probably not in your neighborhood but in Fox...
Government Pension Coffers Stretch Even Thinner
Last July, our state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) reported that from June 2016 to June 2017, the state pension fund (CalSTRS) had its unfunded liabilities increase by almost 11 percent,...
School Board Facing Financial Crisis
The Culver City Unified School District’s annual contributions to CalSTRS and CalPERS, two of the state's largest public-employee pension funds, were expected to rise 215 percent by the year...
Changes Needed at Senior Center
When is the Culver City Senior Center administration going to be fair and honor the civil rights of seniors by providing a hearing before an unbiased judge--not staffers who make a complaint--and the...
CCUSD Deficit: $9 Million and Growing
Over five years, from 2011-2012 to 2015-2016, the Culver City Unified School District deficit spent $9 million more than it received in funding. If that wasn’t fiscally scary enough—hold on to...
Rare Chance: Dancing With Films + New Media
There's a chance, if you dare, to see films you might never see; films at film festivals hope to nab distributors, yet most won't make it. You might get lucky enough to find them, one day, somewhere.....
Do You Like Garlic?
The Brandeis Men’s Group meets the third Wednesday at Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium on Overland and Culver Blvd. Listen to dynamic speakers discussing very interesting topics. We fund...
Smart And Spicy
By Carole Bell Do you know what Garifuna is? It's the most unusual film festival I've ever been to. This weekend, try to go to GIIFF, the Garifuna International Indigenous Film Festival. You are...
Marijuana Taxes So High, Users Might Seek Former Providers
If you are into Gospel Music than you need to get to the California African American Museum in Exposition Park before August 26th, 2018 to see “How Sweet the Sound”. The museum uses vintage...
Sad About Norm's Closing
Just remember, “Our Gasoline Tanks” should not be Sacramento’s piggy bank. Perhaps you’ve heard, but I haven’t; what is happening with the prison at Guantanamo? When you are, hungry and...
