Skip the State’s Homework
Don’t tell my kids I said this, but it really is OK for Californians to skip homework assignments—if they come from Sacramento. If you’ve lived in California for the past two years, you’ve probably been invited by your local school district—by letter, email, or advertisement—to participate in developing a plan for your local schools and […]
Turn Brown’s Act Into a New Brown Act
My initial reaction to the AP’s story showing that Gov. Jerry Brown got state oil and gas regulators “to research, map, and report back” on the potential of his family’s private land for future oil and gas activity was too harsh. I thought: here’s a guy who has failed to make government more responsive to […]
Stop Watching the Debates
A health advisory: Stop watching the debates. They are not good for you. The presidential debates of both parties are considered great civic moments. But they are so overwhelmed with erroneous nonsense that they can’t help but misinform the masses. Late-night infomercials seem responsible and edifying by comparison. The Democratic debate existed in a world […]
California’s High Speed Rail Should Look Like Germany’s
Will California’s high-speed rail system be German enough? That question is not a joke, as I learned last month while riding Germany’s popular high-speed rail. In fact, it’s a more important question than the ones Californians have been myopically asking for years about the costs, funding, and construction deadlines of the state’s controversial project. The […]
Is Today’s Election Worth The Time?
More people want me to vote today. The county of Los Angeles has been emailing more than usual. So has the League of Women Voters, and my own city. But it’s not clear whether voting will be worth it today. It’s an off-year election, and so there is not much on the ballot. Two local […]
Don Mattingly for L.A. Unified Superintendent
The Los Angeles Unified School District has a problem: it’s looking for a new superintendent. And all indications are that it’s having a hard time finding one. The current interim superintendent has been around a while – and wants to leave by year’s end. But we’re getting awfully close to the year’s end, and the […]
The World Needs More Darkness
Remember the good old days when Californians were scared of the dark? When Hollywood was king and we all knew that there was no monster or ghost scarier than the one we couldn’t see—the one lying there in the dark? Those days are over. Today, the light is scarier than the dark ever was. It’s […]
A Legislative Candidate Worth Watching
She has little chance of winning, but I’m glad to see Katherine Welch running for a seat in the legislature. Over the last few years, Welch has been one of a few lonely voices pointing out that fixes to schools and school budgets – particularly via highly touted ballot measures like Prop 30 (the temporary […]
Mazel Tov Assemblyman Calderon
Dear Assemblyman Calderon, I was short on cash, so I sent you a fire extinguisher (one should always have one close by in these dry and trying times) and a copy of a terrific book on state governance, California Crackup. Did you get them? Please let me know – but that’s not really what this […]
Will a New Type of Voter Guide Serve San Francisco?
Is this a voter guide or a dating service? A for-profit enterprise called Crowdpac has brought its online voter guide to San Francisco. And the results are both funny or instructive. Crowdpac’s mission is to help people find and support political candidates that match their priorities and beliefs. That’s the dating service part. The natural […]