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Montebello E-News

 August 15, 2010

When distant and unfamiliar and complex things are communicated to great masses of people, the truth suffers a considerable and often a radical distortion. The complex is made over into the simple, the hypothetical into the dogmatic, and the relative into an absolute. Walter Lippmann

Does that not sum up American democracy? And does that not frighten you?

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Library news and blues. New library hours because of budget cutback: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Monday, Friday and Sunday. // Calendar: * Tuesday, August 17, adult summer reading program, 2 p.m.; family fun night, 6:30 p.m.; * Wednesday, August 18, toddler and preschool story time, 10 a.m.; Stamping Mavens, 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.; *Wednesday, August 25, toddler and preschool story time, 10 a.m.; final teen party, 2 p.m.; * Thursday, September 2, Friends of the Library book sale, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Montebello Housing Development Corporation. A free class in Spanish for first-time home buyers, Saturday, August 21, 2010, from 9 to 5. First-time home buyers get a certificate upon completion. Separately, from 9 to 12, a workshop on foreclosures. At San Gabriel Mission High School. For more information, Vera Morales, 722-3955 x 214.

Chamber of Commerce event. Each year the Montebello Chamber hosts luncheons for our elected officials to update the business community. On Thursday, August 26, we are honored to have congresswoman Grace Napolitano discuss legislative issues affecting the business community. ... Cost of the luncheon is $30 for members and $40 for non-members. Please call the chamber at (323) 721-1153 for reservations or more information. ... Spotlight on Montebello, August, 2010.

Dinner and auction. The Montebello Housing Development Corporation, located in Montebello and serving all of Los Angeles County, is holding its eighteenth anniversary gala awards dinner and auction on Thursday, September 9, 2010, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Luminarias Restaurant, 3500 West Ramona Boulevard, Monterey Park. Awards will be presented to State Senator Ron Calderon, Victor Ramirez of Citibank Community Relations, and George Cole of the Oldtimers Foundation. For more information, Conrado Terrazas, 213.200.6161, or conradoterrazas@roadrunner.com.

Does our school district get an “A”? It is heartening to see the academic advancement of our public schools, as reported in the summer, 2010, newspaper published and distributed by our school district. This is in sharp contrast to the “closed campus” policies which keep the community and the youth separated, physically and psychologically. The neighborhoods surrounding the schools have slowly declined in appearance, while the schools, supported by well-meaning benefactors, have sent our youth to college, as if giving them a one-way ticket.

No “A” with regard to environmental stewardship. Our school district is not ahead of the pack in other areas: (1) putting artificial turf on school fields, even though the turf might cost more in the long run; (2) the summer edition of the district's newspaper for the public, which looks very good but has no mention of recycled paper, biodegradability, soy ink or the planting of trees.

A Christian's argument for environmental stewardship? ... You care about clean water because you love your neighbor and your grandkids and people in general. You want to reduce suffering. ... Suffering like, you drink this water and you get dysentery and you die. Well, let's fix that if we can. If you release garbage from your city and it all goes into the river downstream, all the fish die, and the ecological thing gets all broken out of joint. Well, go do some filtering upstream. ...http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2517_should_christians_be_concerned
_for_the_environment/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm
_campaign=Feed%3A+DGBlog+%28DG+Blog%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

This just does not end, does it? Remember Proposition on the April ballot, which was touted as giving us the right to vote on plans by local government to go into electricity production? There was much television campaigning in favor of the proposition, but it still lost, perhaps because voters saw it as big electricity utilities trying to keep away competition. Well, we now have Proposition 23 on the November ballot. A group called Environment California claims that Texas oil companies have a hand in the proposition. Environment California asks that we vote “no”, because, according to the group, the proposition deceptively claims to be about creating jobs. This proposition is important, so we should keep our ears open for the pros and cons.

Another bad moon is rising.  Although the net loss in insurance coverage for 2009 left another 3 million individuals without coverage, the media response is tempered by the anticipated expansions in health care coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). What is being missed in the media reports is a new trend revealed in this survey that will result in an exponential increase in the rates of underinsurance. ... Much has been written about how high deductible health plans (HDHPs) result in underinsurance for the majority of Americans, so little will be said here other than to point out that those with medical needs do not receive all of the care that they should have when faced with the financial barrier of a high deductible before they can access the benefits of their health plan. Insurance should improve access to necessary care rather than impair it. Although the right-wingers in the policy community tout health savings accounts (HSAs) as the solution for making deductibles affordable, there are several flaws. First, close to three-fourths of HDHPs don't even have an HSA component. For those that do, excess expensive and burdensome administration is being wasted on managing the HSAs which are really no different from the patient paying the expenses out of personal savings, except for the very modest tax advantage of the HSA. Whether in an HSA or in a personal savings account, it is still the patient's own money that is being spent. If the HSA or the personal savings account were empty, as might be expected for individuals with medical problems, then the high deductible remains as a barrier to care. ... From an opinion by Don McCanne, M.D., June 18, 2010, as published in his e-newsletter.

Health apocalypse around the corner? The following is from the e-newsletter of Don McCanne, M.D., July 8, 2010. Kaiser Family Foundation. Health Reform Subsidy Calculator. Premium Assistance for Coverage in Exchanges. An example for a 50 year old with a family of four, with income at 401% of federal poverty level:

l $93,934 - Projected income in 2014

l $16,858 - Unsubsidized health insurance premium in 2014

l N/A - Maximum % of income the family has to pay for the premium

l $16,858 - Actual family required premium payment

l $0 - Government tax credit

l $12,500 - The maximum out-of-pocket costs the person/family will be responsible for in 2014 (not including the premium)

l $29,358 - Premium plus out-of-pocket costs

l 31% - Percent of income for premium plus out-of-pocket costs [Emphasis mine]

http://healthreform.kff.org/SubsidyCalculator.aspx

Are we talking about “Green Acres” in Montebello? In part one of a two-part interview, award-winning writer, activist, and academic Raj Patel describes food sovereignty as the right of communities, states, and unions to shape their own food and agricultural policy. According to Patel, food sovereignty is really about power—who has it in the food system, and how to redistribute it away from those who have concentrated it. Read the full interview for thought-provoking commentary on the state of agriculture policy in Africa. From the e-newsletter of Worldwatch Institute, July 8, 2010. The full interview: http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/creating-food-sovereignty-for-small-scale-farmers/ 

Are there any sacred cows, that is, untouchables, when it comes to taking care of the Earth? See this letter. It is noteworthy that Veterans of Foreign Wars ignored this letter by sending a mailing in August, 2010.

Give our city's engineering department points for responding.  See the exchange of communications below.

“Groundworks!” was a useful project. A couple of questions. Please reply by e-mail.

To which the City gave this reply by e-mail dated July 19, 2010.

…. 1.1 Sites were selected based on Location/Proximity to schools and hospitals, Severity of damage, Requests for repairs which the City keeps on record and the Infrastructure Study that includes an inventory of infrastructure Citywide that needs to be repaired.  1.2 Unrepaired sidewalk will be reconstructed on a priority basis when funds become available. Roughly 10% of the required repairs were completed with the recent project because of available funds.  1.3 Residents can get a Street Works Permit from the Public counter at City Hall and make their own repairs. [Emphasis mine.]  2.1 There were two postcards for two different projects. The sidewalk project was a citywide project and the SR2S project impacted two separate parts of town. The SR2S postcard was only sent to the impacted area and not citywide. Based on the project schedules and timeliness of each communication opportunity, we will do our best to join our communication efforts.  2.2 We appreciate your comments and advocacy, as such, we will work better to ensure proper labeling on items that utilize recycled content.  2.3 I am not aware of any one person designated as the “green practices” advocate, however, efforts as they relate to public works outreach will be more mindful of these practices.  Thank You

Does Montebello function differently? Imagine: At a time when California is lurching from crisis to crisis, a legislator has an idea to make life better. He puts together a bill, gathers support and shepherds it into law. If only Sacramento worked like that. Instead, it often works like this: A lobbyist has an idea to make life better — but only for his client. The lobbyist writes the bill, shops for a willing lawmaker to introduce it and lines up the support. The legislator? He has to do little more than show up and vote. ... http://www.whittierdailynews.com/ci_15486270 

Posted to the Whittier Daily News, July 11, 2010. This article [the one immediately above] reminded me of a meeting in May, 2006, which I had in uptown Whittier with a city councilor who was in the Democratic primary race for the Assembly. I asked her whether she would direct lobbyists to meet with constituent committees, with the committees then recommending to her whether to meet with the lobbyists. She would not have needed legislation, only an act of will on her part. She agreed. Unfortunately, she lost the primary. // There are a number of means to democratize American democracy without legislation. Unfortunately, Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, and like-minded reformers have neither the resources nor the outside-the-box culture to pull it off. What makes matters much worse--certainly worthy of investigative reporting--is the indifference of public schools and universities to this failure of democracy, with "service-learning" amounting to no more than a "sop to Cerberus".

Recall www.consumerchange.com? This is an online service which enables you to praise businesses and organizations for good environmental practices and alert those who should do better. Here is another submission. Feedback date: 13 Jun 2010. Feedback: Another unsolicited mailing came from American Express. Again, no mention of recycled paper, biodegradability, soy ink or the planting of trees. I strongly urge American Express to have a "Green-Practices Advocate" to talk up and compel green practices before any more unsolicited mailings. The alternative is to ignore e-mail like this until a big faux pas result in expensive damage control. Thank you.

Some helpful tips from www.consumerchange.com. Welcome to the July edition of the C Change newsletter. July is a great time to reduce junk mail - this gives mailing houses enough time to clear you off their list before the excessive holiday mailings start. Here are some quick ways to reduce your junk mail:

I am interested in any facts which contradict the statistics adduced by Common Cause below, from the organization's e-newsletter of July 13, 2010:

If Common Cause's statistics are accurate or even close to accurate, should we care? If we should care, I ask you, "What could we do which would address the problem but, at the same time, would not give rise to a constitutional challenge by the energy industry?"

To learn about this newsletter, Montebello E-News, and the accompanying, growing Web site, “My Montebello”, visit www.mymontebello.com.  Also, you will find instructions and contact information for submitting announcements for publication in this newsletter, and for submitting stories to “Montebello Memories” at the Web site.