Issues

Dockweiler Beach Youth Center Dedicated

Nearly 20 years after it was first envisioned, a new youth and community center was dedicated this week at Dockweiler State Beach by Supervisor Knabe and County leaders. The $7 million project is jointly funded by County of Los Angeles Prop A and a grant from the State of California through Proposition 12 bond funds.

The new building provides a youth activity center at Dockweiler State Beach and will serve as the southern headquarters for the Los Angeles County W.A.T.E.R. (Water Awareness, Training, Education and Recreation) youth education program offering aquatic sports camps. The program was developed in 1986 to provide Los Angeles County youth with education and recreation regarding the water and beachfront environment. During this time, this program has been administered out of a series of trailers and storage facilities in Marina del Rey.

The 8,800 square foot building has multi-purpose meeting and training facilities, administrative space, indoor storage facilities, restroom and locker facilities and storage for beach equipment. Planning for the building first started in 1991, when the County originally approved the General Plan for Dockweiler State Beach.

This project is actually Phase 2 of improvements to Dockweiler State Beach. Phase 1 was finished in 2007, when the County completed $14 million in projects, including building four new restroom buildings, a brand-new entry kiosk, refurbishment of the maintenance/lifeguard facility, refurbishment of the RV Park, including conversion of all spaces to full hookups and resurfacing of the parking lots.

Keeping The Pressure On County’s Most Wanted Delinquent Parents

Supervisor Don Knabe announced today that another one of LA County’s Most Wanted Delinquent Parents has been arrested and jailed. Fernando Zaldana was arrested last Wednesday by District Attorney Investigators. He appeared in custody last Thursday afternoon in Department 82, adjacent to the Twin Towers jail facility. Superior Court Commissioner John Green remanded Zaldana over to the Sheriff to serve his previously imposed sentence of 180 days in jail.

On October 28, 2008, Zaldana entered a plea of no contest for failing to support his 16 year old son. He was placed on probation for 36 months and was required to make monthly child support payments. Zaldana failed to make the payments required under the terms of his probation. At a hearing, he admitted to violating his probation. The court sentenced him to serve 180 days in jail. He was ordered to surrender on September 29 to begin his sentence, but he failed to do so and a $100,000 warrant was issued for his arrest.

The warrant was turned over to the Child Support Arrest Warrant Project, a joint effort of the Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department and the District Attorney’s Office. On the morning of October 7, two Senior Investigators assigned to the Project set up surveillance outside a location believed to be Zaldana’s residence. After approximately one hour a woman arrived at the location. She identified herself to the investigators as Zaldana’s sister. She told investigators she hadn’t seen Zaldana for about six months. She gave her consent to search the residence, indicating that Zaldana was not there. When the investigators conducted a search of the home, they found Zaldana in the bathroom taking a shower. He was arrested without incident and booked at the downtown Inmate Reception Center of the County Jail.

Steven J. Golightly, Director of the Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department, praised the work of the Child Support Arrest Warrant Project team. The arrest of this defendant demonstrates once again the professionalism and excellence of everyone associated with the Project, Golightly said. It was for successes just like this that the Project was honored by the Board of Supervisors in September with the prestigious LA County STARS award.

The Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department maintains the Most Wanted Delinquent Parent List. It was developed as an initiative of Supervisor Don Knabe.

Los Angeles County And Union Leaders Reach Major Agreement

Supervisor Don Knabe, Chairman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, announced a major agreement today regarding several months of negotiations with the labor unions that represent County employees.

Under the agreement, every single County union and bargaining unit has agreed to a two-year, no change extension of their current contracts. The extensions include no cost-of-living increases or salary increases. The County’s union partners represent nearly 90-percent of the approximately 101,000 County employees.

"Our union partners stepped up and recognized the shared sacrifice we are all in right now," said Supervisor Knabe. "Los Angeles County is in difficult financial times, between diminishing tax revenue from the local economy and round after round of funding hits from the State of California. We are all in this together as we weather this economic storm."

Newborn Safely Surrendered At Pomona Hospital

Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe is pleased to announce the County’s Safe Surrender Program celebrated success again recently with the report of another safely surrendered newborn. This most recent report of a safe surrender occurred at a hospital in the City of Pomona.

The newborn Caucasian male was surrendered on Friday, September 25 at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center. The newborn is reported to be in good health. As is standard practice, the baby boy is in protective custody and will be placed with a family approved for adoption by the Department of Children and Family Services.

This case could have ended in tragedy, but because of the Safe Surrender program, this baby boy has a long life ahead of him, said Supervisor Knabe. I am happy this mother made the right choice for her baby.

This is the sixth Safe Surrender in Los Angeles County in 2009, and the 75th since the program began eight years ago. The program was initiated by Supervisor Knabe and approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors in 2001. It allows someone to surrender an infant that is no more than three days old, as long as the infant shows no signs of abuse.

Reforming Welfare: Better Services And Taxpayer Savings

When I am asked what our mission and purpose is in Los Angeles County, I have often described it as being the "ultimate safety net." Our welfare offices, emergency rooms and community clinics serve the most vulnerable in our communities: those suffering from mental illness, medical problems, homelessness, unemployment or just plain hard times. In fact, if you were to call our 211 hotline or check the County’s website, you would be amazed at the scope and breadth of the services we make available to the 10 million people that call Los Angeles County home. But of all the health and human service programs the County oversees, our role as the provider of last resort is most prevalent – and most costly I might add – in the General Relief program.

Since 1901, Los Angeles County has administered this program – commonly known as "GR" – to provide temporary cash aid to indigent adults. All 58 counties across California are legally mandated by the State to provide assistance of this kind, but with no funding from the State of course. In Los Angeles County, over 85,000 individuals receive cash assistance through this program each month: up from 71,000 last year. I don’t exaggerate when I say that the price tag is staggering.

Direct costs currently are looming near the $200 million mark in local taxpayer dollars: up from $161 million last year. Over half of the caseload is homeless, and a number of them have been on this program for over 20 years. In addition, we estimate that the County spends almost 4 times the cost above and beyond providing GR cash assistance or other services to this population, mostly related to repeated incarcerations in County Jail and recurring visits to our emergency rooms and clinics. Technically, that would push our costs closer to $1 billion per year!

There has to be a better way to meet the needs of these individuals that are both humane and cost-effective, and not result in the endless cycle of indigence many of them face. That’s why I directed the County to develop a plan to restructure the GR program in such a way that looks beyond just doling out a monthly stipend, but instead is more focused on reducing overall long term costs and also on improving outcomes for those on the caseload. Basically, we are making the "ultimate safety net" stronger, more relevant and more responsive to the urgent needs of this population, and reducing the costs to the County in tandem.

We are confident we can achieve both of these goals, here’s how: it starts with first providing housing. In the past two years, the County’s Homeless Prevention Initiative has successfully supported housing for tens of thousands of people, through rental subsidies, eviction prevention assistance and other services. Expansion of such strategies combined with strong up-front screenings, employment and supportive services would enable many on our GR caseload to transition off the streets into housing and stabilize their lives. This in turn reduces incarceration and repeated visits to the hospital.

We also believe that the significant percentage of the GR caseload suffering from mental or physical illness would be better served by Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Conservative estimates put that number at approximately one-third of the overall caseload. If we can assist them in qualifying for SSI, that alone would represent a significant and entirely appropriate cost shift from the County to the federal government. But this doesn’t mean we would be walking away from our mandated responsibilities to serve the population. A portion of the resulting savings we achieve could be redirected into enhancing our services and providing additional housing subsidies.

These concepts for restructuring GR will be coming before the Board of Supervisors this month. It would require an initial one-time investment of $7 million dollars. This is money well spent, because doing so would enable us to restructure the program in such as way as to generate savings across the County system and reduce that $1 billion price tag. We would also draw down far more federal funding then we do now, to help pay for housing subsidies and additional employment services, as well as increased reimbursement for GR participants eligible for SSI. Studies indicate that currently the County spends $4.34 for services for GR participants for every one dollar spent on GR grants. Restructuring the program as proposed would enable us to actually save $3.67 for every one dollar spent.

There is no question that the proposal is a bold one, however I would argue that maintaining the status quo would be far riskier and certainly more expensive. We can certainly continue doing the same thing we have been doing for the past 108 years, and for that we will only see more homelessness, increased caseloads and more resulting costs.

We have a unique, unprecedented opportunity to implement policies that accomplish two very important tasks at once: improving services we are mandated to perform and saving County dollars in tandem. Re-engineering the General Relief program is the right thing to do now.

County Kicks-Off Unprecedented Effort To Modernize Its Voting Systems

The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office kicked off an unprecedented initiative aimed at creating a road map for the eventual overhaul of the County’s aging voting systems at a gathering of community stakeholders recently.

The Voting Systems Assessment Project was the focus of an all day symposium hosted at the California Institute of Technology titled Technology, Diversity, and Democracy: The Future of Voting Systems in Los Angeles County, with support from the Caltech-MIT Voting Technology Project. The event gathered more than 100 community leaders, election advocates, voters, political party representatives, and election administrators (representing city, county, state, and federal levels) to discuss and identify the current and future needs a new voting system will have to meet in serving the County’s more than four million registered voters.

Addressing participants, Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Dean C. Logan noted, Over the past decade, the environment and demands under which elections are administered in Los Angeles County have become increasingly complex; challenged by a growing and diverse electorate, an aging voting system, a fluid regulatory environment that has limited voting systems development, and the recent phenomenon of special vacancy elections. The goal of the Voting Systems Assessment Project is to ensure that as we navigate the complex environment of voting systems and election law that the needs of our voters and the core principles associated with accessible and transparent elections serve as our guide in this process.

For too long the acquisition of voting systems has been about Election Officials’ reaction to the regulatory environment and the voting systems market, rather than the market and regulatory environment reacting to the needs of the voters, added Logan.

Participants also heard from U.S. Election Assistance Commissioner Donetta Davidson, who praised the process and hoped that at the conclusion of LA County’s initiative other jurisdictions will seek to follow a similar model of citizen participation in the design and implementation of new voting systems.

The event featured focus group discussions where participants tackled core voting systems issues such as accessibility, security & accuracy, usability, and flexibility. The goal of the focus groups was to allow the diverse stakeholders to define the needs and principles by which each of these factors can be measured, specifically as it pertains to the unique needs of Los Angeles County.

"Such a process is invaluable," said June Lagmay, Los Angeles City Clerk, who was present at the event. "You can develop the most sophisticated, state-of-the-art voting system, but if it does not meet the needs and expectations of your voters, you will have failed in your obligation as a responsible voting official. A good voting system must facilitate the will of the people through a medium that people accept," concluded Lagmay.

Among the organizations participating in the forum was the League of Women Voters. Commenting about the symposium, Thea Brodkin, Director for the League of Women Voters of California noted, I believe the symposium was a good start for collecting community values/ideas to include in what is a particularly complex process [Elections].

Los Angeles County is one of the nation’s largest counties and includes some of the most diverse election jurisdictions in the country. Its electorate is larger than voting populations in thirty-eight of the fifty states in the union. Additionally, the County provides election information and assistance in six different languages other than English (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese), in compliance with the Voting Rights Act.

Many of these complexities are not unique to Los Angeles County but, they are compounded not only by the size and diversity of the jurisdiction but also by the current state of its voting system. Through this project the Registrar plans to outline a strategic plan for the County Board of Supervisors and Chief Executive Office, which will present a series of recommendations aimed at identifying and implementing a new voting system for Los Angeles County voters.

The first convening served as a starting point to identify the fundamental principles that will drive subsequent roundtables specifically focused on ease of use, technology, legal requirements, and regulatory framework. The meetings to be held October through December of 2009 will draw on a diverse array of experts, from computer scientists, academics, and other voting technology experts to policy makers and regulatory agencies – to contribute to the planning effort. A parallel dialogue with voters, students and community organizations will continue throughout the project. The Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk will invite voters to provide input by creating a project page on its website, www.lavote.net.

Knabe Announces His 2010 Arts Education Partnership Program

Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, is pleased to announce his 2010 Arts Education Partnership Program. This grant program targets non-profit organizations, community organizations, government agencies and schools across the Fourth Supervisorial District, and provides matching funds to support the various arts education programs.

The objective of the Arts Education Partnership Program is to increase and sustain well-rounded education in dance, music, theatre and the visual arts for K-12 students throughout the Supervisor’s District. All of the grant applications that are received will be judged by experts from the various arts disciplines.

To find out more about the program and to submit an application, please click on the links below to access the Guidelines and Instructions and the Application. Please be sure to read the Guidelines and Instructions first before starting the Application.

As stated in the Guidelines and Instructions, all applications and supplemental materials must be postmarked no later than November 4, 2009.

Click here for the guidelines.
Click here for the application.

Knabe Spotlights Economic Impact Of El Segundo Aircraft Manufacturer

Supervisor Don Knabe, Chairman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, visited the Northrop Grumman F/A-18E/F Super Hornet assembly line in El Segundo this week to learn more about the positive impact the facility has on the regional economy.

Northrop Grumman is the principal subcontractor to The Boeing Company for the F/A-18E/F, the U.S. Navy’s frontline carrier-based strike fighter. The company produces the aft/center fuselage section and vertical tails and integrates all associated subsystems.

I was extremely impressed during this visit to see the obvious pride and dedication of Northrop Grumman’s people who work on the F/A-18E/F program, Knabe said. They should be commended for their contributions to delivering the Super Hornet to the men and women in our armed forces who count on it to keep them out of harm’s way.

Northrop Grumman has delivered more than 1,900 fuselage shipsets to Boeing since the original F/A-18 program began in the 1970s. The current F/A-18E/F program accounts for about 1,200 jobs in Los Angeles County and more than 10,000 jobs in California with over 700 supplier companies. The Super Hornet industry team includes Boeing, Northrop Grumman, GE Aircraft Engines, the Raytheon Company and more than 1,900 suppliers in the United States and Canada.

The F/A-18E/F entered service with the U.S. Navy in 2001. The Navy is expected to acquire a minimum of 506 Super Hornets and 88 EA-18G Growlers, which along with a previous order of 24 aircraft for Australia, will keep Northrop Grumman’s assembly line open for many years.

Reward Extended For Long Beach Double Murder

A $10,000 reward was extended today by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, at the request of Supervisor Don Knabe, to assist in the investigation of a double murder that claimed the lives of Sarith Em and Vannaly Tim in the City of Long Beach on New Year’s Day.

On January 1, 2009, at 12:39 a.m., Sarith Em, 25, and Vannaly Tim, 24, were both found with multiple fatal gun shot wounds at the 1800 Block of Gardenia Avenue in Long Beach. According to family members, the victims went outside to move a car and did not return.

Long Beach detectives are still investigating the incident, and believe it would be beneficial to extend the reward in the case, which may prompt reluctant witnesses to come forward and provide information to identify the individual(s) responsible for this crime.

It is important for the County of Los Angeles to display its resolve in protecting innocent citizens from appalling crimes, said Supervisor Knabe. In order to bring these suspects to justice, and demonstrate our intolerance to such deplorable crimes, I believe this reward should be extended, hoping someone will come forward so that we can bring these suspects to justice.

Anyone having any information related to this accident is asked to contact Detective Patrick O’Dowd or Detective Russell Moss at the Long Beach Police Department’s Homicide Division at (562) 570-7244.

Los Angeles County Sues State To Protect And Improve Water Quality

After a unanimous vote by the Board of Supervisors, the Los Angeles County Flood Control District has filed a lawsuit against the State of California Water Resources Control Board to improve water quality and keep beaches across the County clean and safe.

Supervisor Don Knabe, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said the lawsuit was necessary in an effort to force the State of California to hear scientific evidence that proves methods adopted by the State to determine bacteria levels at Santa Monica Bay are unreliable.

Public health and water quality remain a top priority of the County, said Supervisor Knabe. We support water standards that protect public health and safety and we want to ensure the State is using the best scientific standards possible in addressing water quality.

The County is committed to working with local cities to develop and implement state-of-the-art, cost-effective solutions for reducing pollutants in stormwater and keeping our beaches clean and safe, Supervisor Knabe added.

Since 2004, the County and cities together have spent more than $200 million a year to improve and protect water quality at local beaches. However, for more than 18 months, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board has failed to respond to repeated requests to address new scientific evidence County officials believe should be considered before making huge investments of public funds.

We are perplexed at the State’s failure to act, said Gail Farber, Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. Instead of working with us on this issue, the State has silenced science.

The County of Los Angeles maintains approximately 500 miles of open channel, 2,800 miles of underground storm drains, and 79,000 catch basins. The County’s stormwater program is developed under the oversight of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, the state agency that is responsible for overseeing these programs, and is undertaken in partnership with the cities at the beaches and watersheds. The County’s stormwater program includes multifaceted public education efforts such as stenciling storm drains and airing public service announcements, as well as extensive structural improvements, such as devices to exclude trash from entering into streams and waterbodies and low-flow stormwater diversion devices at the beaches.