Pacific Progressive

Sheryl WuDunn with Karen Bass Speaking at Annual Roe Dinner - Feb 6, 2010

Sheryl WuDunn won a Pulitzer Prize along with her husband, Nicholas D. Kristof for their coverage of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement in Beijing which ended in a military crackdown.  Together, they have written Half the Sky:  From Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, which tells of the feudal attitudes towards women in the developing world.  The book also discusses how a growing crop of mostly local women who are social entrepreneurs are working to transform their societies.

Sheryl will be joined by outgoing Assembly Speaker Karen Bass who will serve as Master of Ceremonies.  

Sheryl WuDunn will speak at the Roe v. Wade event for the Community Action Fund of Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties on Friday, February 6, 2010 from 6:30 - 10 PM.  For more information, email [email protected] or go to www.roe2010.org

Editor's note:  Date was originally announced for Jan 27 and has been moved to Feb 6.  

California Education - We Cannot Afford to Dither

by Michael Matsuda

President, Board of Trustees for the North Orange County Community College District

The father of modern public education, John Dewey once said, “Luck, bad if not good, will always be with us. But it has a way of favoring the intelligent and showing its back to the stupid.” When it comes to the decisions we’ve made about public education, it is doubtful that luck will be on our side. California has slipped to 47th in investing in k-12 education and now spends more on the prison system than on higher education, even though there is a strong correlation between illiteracy and incarceration. Thanks to our elected leaders who continue to posture to be “tough on crime,” California now ranks number one in the world in incarceration rates and per capita spending on prisons.

Consider this: adjusted for inflation, University of California tuition has gone up over 500% since 1980.  During the same period, expenditures on corrections have also gone up 500%.  As we spend ever more on warehousing prisoners, we're forced to make students pay ever more for their education.  The annual cost of incarcerating one inmate in prison is close to $40,000.  The cost per youth in California Youth Authority is $90,000 per year. Both have a 70% recidivism rate within three years.

Besides the recent highly publicized decision by the UC regents to raise tuition by 32%, budget cuts proposed last week will cause community colleges to turn away 262,845 current students if implemented, analysis released by the Community College League of California shows. The loss of a quarter of a million students is the equivalent of closing the University of California . The state’s rising unemployment rate and decisions by the California State University to limit enrollment will likely lead to even more students finding the doors to higher education closed.

Mesa Consolidated Water District Rate Hearing - Dec 22

Water agencies must increase their prices to keep pace with rising costs.  Mesa Consolidated Water District, which serves Costa Mesa, parts of Newport Beach, and John Wayne Airport, both pumps groundwater and buys water from the Metropolitan Water District.  Mesa does not have a tiered rate structure, like IRWD or San Juan Capistrano, so there is no way to easily give some users a break for using less water and charge heavy consumers a higher rate.  The rate increase must be evenly spread to all users under Mesa's rate structure.    

The details of the proposed rate increase are here.Download Notice of Public Hearing - Rate Increase

4th Supervisorial District Debate - Jan 25, 2010

On January 25, 2010, candidates for the 4th Supervisorial District seat of termed-out Chris Norby will debate the issues facing the district from 6:45 - 9 PM at the Fullerton City Main Library.  Confirmed attendees include Fullerton City Council Member Shawn Nelson, Anaheim City Council Member Lori Galloway, former La Habra Mayor and Current City Council Member Rose Espinoza and Clerk-Recorder Tom Daly.  Fullerton City  Main Library is located adjacent to City Hall at 353 West Commonwealth, Fullerton, CA. 

This event is sponsored by Neighbors United for Fullerton (NUFF).

San Juan Capistrano Implementing New Water Rate Structure - Workshops Being Held

San Juan Capistrano is working on a water rate increase and is doing extensive public outreach to answer the public's questions and receive feedback on the plans.  The water rate increases are driven by higher rates being charged by the Metropolitan Water District, mandatory conservation goals, and the need to rebuild reserves.  Additionally, new wastewater rates will also be implemented.

Several hearings have been held by the Utility Commission and City Council regarding the proposed rate increases.  The public is invited to workshops to learn more and have their questions answered.  Workshops are being held on  

• December 1, 2009 (Thursday), 5:30 - 7:30 PM at the Community Center
• January 7, 2010 (Thursday),  9-11 AM at City Council Chambers
• January 14, 2010 (Thursday), 2-4 PM at City Council Chambers
• January 21, 2010 (Thursday) 5:30 -7:30 PM at the Community Center

San Juan Capistrano buys the majority of their water from Metropolitan (called imported water) and  pumps the rest from wells owned by the City (groundwater.)  Metropolitan has substantially raised rates due to increased costs of pumping water and to encourage conservation.  The higher rates also include a surcharge for water pumped from the Sacramento River Delta.  During the past year, San Juan Capistrano has been paying the higher rates but has not passed the rate increases along to customers.  

Metropolitan has implemented a stiff schedule of fines for cities and water companies which exceed their allotment of water.  City staff has revisited the existing water budgets for different lot sizes and pricing tiers. Lot size and house size, number of days in the billing period, weather, lawn water requirements, and system inefficiencies are used to set water budgets.  The new water budget schedule has four tiers instead of three, with the lowest tier having the cheapest rate, sometimes called a "Super Saver" rate.  Higher tiers have significantly higher pricing to encourage people to stay within their water budget to avoid high water bills.  An excellent presentation explaining the new tiers is available on the City website.

Strong Public Support for Expanding Medicare

From the Kaiser Family Foundation

The Senate recently began focusing on a proposal to allow some near-elderly Americans to buy into the Medicare program. Though we have not polled on this specific variation of Medicare expansion in recent years, the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll suggests that a general expansion of Medicare to cover uninsured people ages 55 to 64 is broadly popular. Overall, in surveys reaching back to 2000, roughly seven in ten Americans say they would favor expanding Medicare to cover the near-elderly uninsured.

• Most recently, a September survey found support for expanding Medicare to cover those aged 55-64 without insurance at 74 percent, including 46 percent who said they “strongly favor” such a proposal, and 28 percent whose support was somewhat more tempered. Two in ten Americans opposed such an idea.
• Support for the proposal was somewhat more bipartisan than other proposals currently on the table, with a narrow majority of Republicans (53 percent) joining large majorities of Democrats (82 percent) and political independents (78 percent) in backing the plan.
• Although seniors were somewhat more likely to oppose the expansion of Medicare to include their younger compatriots (36 percent expressed opposition, compared to 13 percent of those under age forty), a 56 percent majority were still in favor.
• Roughly a decade ago we asked more specifically about a Medicare buy-in for those aged 62 to 64 in an item that also presented arguments for and against such a plan. That 1998 survey also found majority public support for the option at the time: 60 percent of Americans would have favored such a plan, 37 percent would have opposed it.

Anaheim Rally Against Outsourcing - Dec 15, 5 PM

Anaheim wants to outsource 15 jobs in the parks department to reduce headcount.  Typically, when jobs are outsourced, wages and benefits for the workers can be lower than those offered by the municipality because the company hiring the workers must show a profit.  There is every incentive to eventually provide the  minimum level of service required under the contract to maximize the profit, paid with tax payer dollars.

Join the Anaheim Municipal Employees Association (AMEA) today at 5PM at Anaheim City Council Chambers, 200 S Anaheim Blvd, to send a message that outsourcing parks workers doesn't work for you.

Re-Imagining Community Colleges in the 21st Century: A Student-Centered Approach to Higher Education

by Brian Pusser, John Levin

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

Read the full report (pdf)

Download the executive summary (pdf)

Read also: Training Tomorrow's Workforce: Community College and Apprenticeship as Collaborative Routes to Rewarding Careers • Strong Students, Strong Workers: Models for Student Success through Workforce Development and Community College Partnerships 

Contemporary community colleges are on the brink of crisis, facing both praise and criticism on so many dimensions that it is difficult to make an overall assessment of their legitimacy. Each of the primary missions of community colleges faces a broad spectrum of challenges, made more complex by misapprehensions about the various roles of community colleges, lack of clear and consistent data on outcomes, and the relative weakness of the institutions and their students in state and federal political and policymaking processes. And the diversity of inputs and outputs in community colleges defies easy categorization. Their identity in the media, in the policy community, and in the institutions themselves is problematic, contingent upon perspectives and contexts.

Community colleges provide benefits to an array of constituents, but we argue that their primary responsibility is to students. There is an essential need for community colleges to re-imagine several critical areas in order to serve these students and improve institutional and student performance on a number of fronts: in curricula, including vocational and occupational education, developmental education, and university transfer education; in the structural and procedural norms that shape everyday activities; and in the political life of these institutions.

Frustrated Workers and Employers Anxious for COBRA Extension

by Andy Miller

This article was published by Kaiser Health News.

Congress faces mounting pressure to decide the future of a popular but temporary health insurance subsidy program -- and not just from unemployed Americans who would benefit. 

Employers are anxious, too. Some say the subsidy, which pays 65 percent of the cost of a former worker's COBRA health coverage for up to nine months, is another administrative and financial burden. But if lawmakers are going to extend it, they ought to do so soon, say executives such as Warren Salerno, employee benefits director at the Interpublic Group, an advertising and marketing company based in New York. Delays result "in additional costs to us, and it's unfair to the ex-employee," he says.

The program is beginning to expire: People who signed up when it began nine months ago saw their subsidy end Nov. 30. And the Dec. 31 deadline for enrolling is fast approaching. Bills introduced in the Senate and House would expand the benefit period to 15 months, and push back the deadline for signing up to June 30, which would help many who lose their jobs in 2010. On Tuesday, President Barack Obama said he wants it extended, but the Democrats have set no timetable for action.

A Difficult Choice 

For now, a growing number of people face a difficult choice as their subsidy ends: pay perhaps hundreds of dollars more every month, try to buy a cheaper policy with fewer benefits -- or forego insurance.

Related COBRA Resources

• Department of Labor: Info on COBRA for Employers and Employees
• Internal Revenue Service: COBRA - Questions and Answers for Employers
• "COBRA subsidy recipients who later become eligible for insurance coverage should notify their former employer to avoid a penalty" (IRS press release, 8/25)

Orange County Wants Private/Public Partnership to Build New County Building

Orange County wants to demolish and rebuild on the site of the current Building 16, and in the process, privatize the process and building.  The goal is the County gets a new building and a company gets a big contract to operate and own the building.  Building 16 is located on Ross Street, just north of Santa Ana Boulevard. The building was used until 1990 when aging infrastructure and a lack of off-street parking became problematic. 

The County is currently seeking qualified companies to make money off county run, publicly funded real estate.  The Civic Center Demand Study, which discusses this project, is available. Download Civic_Center_Demand_Study A summary of the requirements is:

Prepare a master plan for the area occupied by Building 16 and adjacent County facilities based on the private partners’ concept plan

Prepare a detailed financing plan to implement the master plan based on the private partners’ financial concept

Enter into a long-term ground lease with the County for the Building 16 site and additional sites, if necessary, to implement the master plan

Demolish Building 16 and other sites as needed and construct a new building and/or structures per the master plan

Enter into a competitive long-term lease with the County for the new buildings and/or structures

Judge Rules in Favor of Union Apprenticeship Programs in San Diego

On December 11, 2009, Judge Judith F. Hayes of San Diego County Superior Court, upheld the right of the San Diego Unified School District to determine which apprentices are allowed to work on public works projects. Judge Hayes found that the Project Stabilization Agreement (PSA) call out that only apprentices coming from employer-union joint apprenticeship programs were eligible for hire to be legal. Additionally, Judge Hayes found that the Associated General Contractors did not have standing to sue, meaning they do not have a place in the transaction.

 PSA's are effective management tools to make projects come in on time and budget.  In 2004, the Associated Builders and Contractors of California (ABC) lost a suit against the Rancho Santiago Community College District regarding the apprenticeship provisions in the District's Project Labor Agreement (PLA.)

Costa Mesa Delegation Goes to Sacramento to Stop Fairgrounds Sale

Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece and City Council Member Katrina Foley met Monday with State Officials in Sacramento to press for cancellation of the sale of the Orange County Fairgrounds. The meeting included Scott Harvey, Chief Deputy Director, Department of General Services; Brent Jamison, State and Consumer Services Agency; and Leslie Lopez, Chief Counsel and Acting Agency Secretary. The City Council Members also made multiple contacts with area Legislative Offices requesting support for Assembly Bill 1590 sponsored by Assemblyman Jose Solorio and co-sponsored by Assemblyman Van Tran to stop the sale. 

"I believe we made good progress in communicating to State Officials and legislators that Costa Mesa and Orange County adamantly oppose selling the Fairgrounds," stated Council Member Foley. Added Mayor Pro Tem Leece, “Sale of the Fairgrounds would cost hundreds of jobs and impacts thousands of small businesses and adversely impacts the local economy.” Both Council Members agreed that the proposed action would have no impact in solving the State’s current budget deficit. 

The Council Members called for members of the State Legislature to approve AB 1590 during the current Special Session of the Legislature so the sale can be stopped before the scheduled January 8, 2010 deadline for bids. Members of the public are encouraged to write or contact their State representatives and demand their support of AB 1590. The Bill is expected to be voted on this month.

 

Young Adults Having Harder Time Finding Good Jobs

Remember when graduating college meant getting your own place (maybe one roommate) and living on your own?  And the new hire was able to get their own health insurance and not have to be taken care of by  mom and dad?  Remember when you finished your apprenticeship and became a journeyman you finally felt like you had a future, a way up?

Unfortunately, for many young  people, those days are not happening any more.  Many good paying jobs that were steady sources for good paychecks have gone overseas.  Manufacturing and assembly plants, which employed many on the production lines, engineering offices, business offices, and maintaining the plant, are gone.  Many business and finance operations have been moved offshore, making for fewer place to start a new career.

Young Workers:  A Lost Decade quantifies what is happening to our young adults entering the work force.  The permanent shift in the types of jobs available in the United States coupled with the current recession have many wondering if our young people will be lost in the shuffle, unable to start their careers. The report finds

• 31% of young adults say they make enough money to pay their bills and save some money for a rainy day.  24% report making less than what they need to pay their bills.
• Only 58% of young workers receive paid sick leave.
• 33% of young workers are living with their parents because they don't make enough.

The report shows a significant change for the worse for these workers since the last survey in 1999.  In 1999, 24% reported not having health insurance.  In 2009, that number if 31%.  51% report not having a retirement plan, a 10% increase from 1999.  

These changes occurred during a decade of increased corporate profitability and high compensation for a very few at the top of the corporate ladder.  Working people need to push for reform within the business community which will provide middle class wages that allow young adults to become economically independent. Concentrating the money among a few cuts off the many, and in the end, strangles the economy.

Where is Orange County Getting the Money to Buy the Fairgrounds?

On Tuesday, December 15, 2009,  both the Orange County Board of Supervisors (Items S62B) and the Costa Mesa City Council will consider resolutions to enter into an agreement to put a bid in for the Fairgrounds.    Where is the money coming from to buy the Fairgrounds? 

Orange County has laid off hundreds of workers, implemented mandatory furloughs, and has refused to backfill programs, such as aid programs for children and families, that have had funding cut by the State.  Costa Mesa has had to furlough staff to balance the budget.  One example of the cuts is the restructuring of the Orange County Sheriffs Department command staff and closure of the East Compound of the Musick detention facility. 

  

Download 12-11-09 Musick East Compound Closure

So, if Orange County and Costa Mesa have the money to buy the Fairgrounds, then why are people being fired and furloughed?  And why are medical programs for families and children and other social services being cut?  If there's money to buy the Fairgrounds, there is money for these vital programs.

Recession Doesn't Keep Some States From Expanding Health Coverage

by Phil Galewitz, KHN Staff Writer

This article was published by Kaiser Health News.

Despite the economic downturn that's busting state budgets from Sacramento to Tallahassee, 26 states this year made it easier for low-income children, parents or pregnant women to get health coverage, according to a report released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

But the gains could be fleeting as most were made possible by new federal stimulus dollars, which run out at the end of 2010, along with a requirement that states maintain Medicaid eligibility levels. The report surveyed how states were handling Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Chart: Strategies States Are Using In Children's Health Coverage Programs

States also benefited from the federal reauthorization of the CHIP program last February which gave them new options to expand eligibility and millions of dollars to find uninsured kids.