Car Bomb in New York City, What does this mean for LA?

Courtesy of WNYW Fox 5 news, myfoxny.com New York Police working on the Car Bombing near 44th Street.

On Sunday, officials in New York  were called to the scene in Times Square after what officials say was determined to be a car bomb. The sports car which contained three propane tanks, fireworks, two 5 gallon gasoline containers and two battery operated clocks along with some electric wires was set to explode in front of the crowded area. Times Square was evacuated for atleast 10 hours. All toursists and vendors fled the streets after seeing smoke coming out of the sports car.

” We avoided what could have been a very deadly event,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact.” Although New York City was lucky, officials think that this had to do with an islamic group, or  Al Qaeda. Officials think that a episode of South Park which was aired on comedy central might have started this.

The creators and writers of South Park are both located in Santa Monica and New York. Viacom which is the parent company of MTV and has coporate offices here in Santa Monica and New York City, stepped up security and stopped every truck that tried to enter the building.

HOLLYWHAT’S GOING ON!?!

A Chicago based investment group, Fox River Financial Services, put up 138 acres of land above and to the left of the 45 ft high “H” of LA’s beloved HOLLYWOOD sign for sale last month for $22 million. Residents are afraid mansions will be built there and will spoil the sign’s uncluttered, postcard-perfect backdrop.

Also, there’s concern that if some big private owner snaps up the land it may no longer be accessible to the hikers(one of them being me) and sightseers who often climb the hill for solitude and a panoramic view of the Los Angeles basin.

Los Angeles Councilman Tom LaBonge is leading residents in a fight to protect the land.

“That is our…Hollywood sign. There is the open space. And that’s all there is. This is ours and it should remain ours,” stated LaBonge.

You would assume that all the land around the sign was protected by some historical landmark preservation ruling.

But, turns out the land was actually owned by the late billionaire Howard Hughes. Those Chicago based investors “quietly” bought the property from Hughes for a sum of $1.7 million in 2002. It seems as though Hughes’s estate trustees where unaware of the actual value of the sign.

Smells fishy to me! The investors bought the land for $1.7 million and are now selling it for $22 million?!

Ironically, the Hollywood sign was erected to drum up business for a real estate developer.

Who cares though, right?

It’s one of the few things that defines the LA area, so let’s help keep it the way it is!

Who’s running the show?

Los Angeles Unified District headquarters

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) along with United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA)  and several other unions have made an agreement to take five days off from the 2009-2010 school year and having seven days off from next school year 2010-2011.

The result, five unpaid furlough days this year which save the district 140 millon dollars to use towards the 640 million budget deficit.“Today, the leadership of our unions has stepped up in these difficult times to be partners in service to our students and families,” stated Board President Mónica García on a press released issued to all LAUSD employees. in addition to taking these 12 combined furlough days the schools in return will stay at the student to teacher ratio and will save the district a total of 180 million dollars. This will also save a number of positions such as: nurses, counselors, teachers and librarians.

Even though the whole district is taking furlough days and not being paid, my question is are the board members taking days off too ? Not only that, but are they taking a pay cut? When I first started covering the big scandal with LAUSD last year, I interviewed Board President Monica Garcia at one of the community information meetings they had at Royball High School.

When I asked her about budget cuts, she mentioned to me that she along with other board members were going to take pay cuts as well. So Far, I haven’t seen her do that. When meeting with superintendent Ramon Cortines last year with different Editor’s and Chiefs, he told us he was going to take some furlough days and also would take a pay cut, which he has already done so.

Teachers and the UTLA  union will be voted from on the resolution and the ballots were counted on April 10t. On Saturday, teachers, staff, union members and Board members were informed that it went through and school will be cut 1 week this school year. School will be cut 1 week and this means that graduation so far is still pending on exactly what day students will cross the stage.

No more dropping out

Students nowadays think its cool to just drop out of school, not caring what could become of their future. And as the years keep coming, the percentage of students dropping out seems to be increasing. Something has to be done in order to stop this, students need to get the right education in order to become something succesful in life. Our president is coming up with ideas and plannig new ways in order to help out the underperfoming schools.

All schools with a graduating rate of  60% and below will be helped out. But in order to receive help these schools have been told to that they have 4 options. One of those options involves turning a regular high school into a charter school. Which explains why recently most of the highschools in LAUSD are changeing into charter schools.

The new policy hopes to reduce the drop out rate.

The Effects of the Economy

People all over the U.S. have had very little money over the last year.  They are being cut off from their jobs because there is no work. Our economy has gone down and that is affecting our lives. We are being forced to pay bills and other house related repairs even though we are out of a job. The way we are living (without any money) is a really big issue for us. We struggle in trying to find jobs or anything else we can do to earn some money. Most people try t0 find ways to earn money by selling the things that they don’t need. As for schools, they  hold food drives or sell chocolate, sodas, treats, etc.

The economic crisis has had a global effect.

Instead of spending money on things we don’t need, we should find a way to budget that money and spend it on something that won’t be a waste. If everyone contributes to something like that then maybe our economy won’t get lower. The President of the United States, Barack Obama, is trying to bring our economy up but it won’t be easy even for him. The economic crisis we are facing is going to get better, but it won’t be easy. All we can do is hope that the issues we are facing will be resolved.

Through His Eyes

Dr. King giving a speech during a rally.

Only one person told me, “Happy Martin Luther King day.” I have to admit I wasn’t sure how to respond. I understand we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday, but it seems weird to remember him with that type of greeting. It seems more fitting for certain holidays, such as Christmas, or New Years. I’ve always thought of this day as a day to remember his willingness to speak up and advocate for civil rights. I just don’t feel that Martin Luther King Day should be celebrated by saying Happy before his name but just the fact of being thankful for America’s first Prophet.

I also wanted to take the the time to discuss a reaccuring issue that involved the last year election which involved current President Barack Obama. I believe Dr. King is turning over in his grave, shaking his head from heaven. Dr. King fought for no separation – only integration. It always saddens me to here people want a “black this or that” or “Latino this or that.”

In my opinion I feel that many uneducated Americans used this method of selecting today’s President. People are going back to separating themselves and this is truly sad. He fought for the “white man” to see “us” as the same, however more and more “non white” people don’t want to be seen as similar to anyone.

I am a light skin Mexican/French male. People always ask what my race, or culture is and this is not offensive but questions whether we got the message Martin Luther King Jr. gave on his memorable speech. We need to learn to judge people based on the content of their character not race or gender. We thank Dr. Martin Luther King for his great visions, dream, and movement which we still fight today.