David Cohn, you ran an absolutely dirty campaign, and you made some impressive claims. You did not give any details during the election that made any mathematical sense. You criticized your opponent's rate of return without analyzing the risk exposure of the portfolio, which you as Managing Director at Diamond Capital Partners clearly understands is bullshit. So now we will see if you were lying. But either way, it is disgusting that your negative attacks on the incumbent John Workman clearly took their toll.
Daily Breeze - Longtime Hermosa Beach treasurer John Workman dies at 73
We will be watching to see if your election to Treasurer of Hermosa Beach was worth the cost.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
David Cohn's Math Homework
A few days ago I asked David Cohn, in a blog post, to give us more information about how he would earn the City of Hermosa Beach an extra $300,000 if we elect him to be the next Treasurer. He fleshes this out in his latest glossy junk mail. He plans to put the money in "Federally Insured Bank CD's [sic] and T-Bills."
Math:
$300,000 is 1.2% of the $25,000,000 Hermosa has banked.
Cohen promises to earn us that $300k over the 0.41% we currently earn. So he plans to earn us a total of 1.61%.
The highest 1 year CD rate currently offered on www. BankRate.com = 1.15%
The current yield on 12 month T-Bills = 0.10%
So David Cohn plans to earn us 1.61% by using two investments that each earn much less than 1.61% interest.
David Cohn, please tell us your secret!
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Grandstanding City Council Right Here in Hermosa Beach
WARNING - THIS BLOG CONTAINS A GRAPHIC PHOTO OF A CRIME BEING COMMITTED!
This is my favorite picture of the week. It was taken by me, at Hermosa Valley School, at around Noon on Saturday, October 29, 2011.
What's the big deal, you might ask? Leaf blowers are illegal in Hermosa Beach. Not only are they absurdly noisy and polluting, but they blow small particulate matter into the air where it poses a health risk to the user of the leaf blower (like this totally unprotected man pictured above), and to the general public. In this particular case, I was watching my son's soccer game, so at the scene of this crime, the general public consisted of 6 soccer teams of little kids, their brothers and sisters, and probably a hundred parents and relatives.
Anybody with eyes and/or ears knows that the ban on leaf blowers is 100% ignored in Hermosa Beach. And what that really means is that it is not enforced at all. It is a joke law written by grandstanding Hermosa Beach City Councilmen to make it appear as if they care about your health.
I find it ironic that the Hermosa Beach School District openly flaunts this health law. But the real reason that I bring it up now is that some of our Councilmen are trying to convince us that because they passed a law outlawing smoking outside, that they care about us. They do not. They care about our votes in the upcoming Hermosa Beach City Council Election. If they actually cared about us, they might enforce the leaf blower ban. I would bet that the one single leaf blower event pictured above negatively impacted the health of the 200+ children and parents at those soccer games more than 5 years worth of passive outdoor second hand smoke that might be absorbed by walking down Pier Avenue.
Thanks for nothing Councilmen Peter Tucker and Michael Divirgilio.
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Thursday, October 20, 2011
First David Cohn - Candidate for Treasurer - Hermosa Beach
David Cohn is running for Treasurer of Hermosa Beach.
David Cohn says that he will (not will try, but will) bring in $300,000 more per year than the incumbent is currently bringing, without compromising financial safety.
David Cohn promises to "make the city's investment activities transparent."
Apparently he has no plan to make his campaign promises transparent. I cannot find, anywhere, how David Cohn plans to improve Hermosa Beach's financial returns without increasing risk.
Remember when Orange County went bankrupt in 1994 because Robert Citron, the Treasurer-Tax Collector of Orange County, in pursuit of fantastic returns, took fantastic risks and lost the citizens of Orange County a fortune?
I have looked for David Cohn's plan in the local papers and on his Facebook page and on Twitter (he doesn't seem to have a website), and I cannot find a plan. Here is from Twitter: "There are 9 investments we can go to to spread risk, we are only invested in one of them. We need to spread the risk." - David Cohn
What are "The 9 Investments"? Are we supposed to Tweet you with guesses? And of course, spreading risk is good, but it is not the same thing as increasing return.
David Cohn, please detail your plan to make us MORE MONEY, RISK FREE! (is it the all caps that make that sound really sketchy, or did I put that in all caps because it sounds really sketchy?) I will apologize profusely if you have already detailed your plan in writing somewhere, and I just don't have the internet skills to track it down.
And please don't be afraid you'll bore us with details. I like being bored by the details of low-risk/high-return investments.
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Hermosa Beach City Council Elections are Coming!
I will be laying into some of the following people soon:
City Council Election:
H.S. Fangary
Peter Tucker
Michael Divirgilio
Steve Powers
City Clerk:
Elaine Doerfling
City Treasurer:
David Cohn
John Workman
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Thursday, March 17, 2011
Community Gardens - on the Green Belt
This is a quick post in response to the issue of starting community gardens in Hermosa Beach. I think it is a great idea.
To me, the most obvious place for a community garden would be the Green Belt. What is more green than a Community Garden? Not on the path in the center of course, but in place of some of the acres and acres of icicle plants that are currently there. Clearly parts of the green belt are too densely treed for an effective garden requiring sun, but other parts have no trees at all. I would not miss 10 acres of icicle plants in exchange for hundreds of garden plots. And the Green Belt stretches through the whole town. Using some of the icicle plant areas in addition to unused corners of other parks would seem like a good way to lose nothing and gain a great deal.
I hope that Jeff Duclos, Dency Nelson, Kris Lauritson and the others currently working on this project will consider this option if they haven't already.
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Thursday, March 10, 2011
What Kit Bobko Can Do For The Hermosa Beach Schools
Let me give you the punchline first. If Kit Bobko can solve the fiscal problems of the Hermosa Beach City School District, he will be a local hero. He will also show himself to be pro-education, and a roll-up-his-sleeves problem solver.
You can argue that it is not his job. I would counter that it is not my job to write about the subject, nor is it Russ Wilson's job to advocate for the Hermosa Beach schools on his blog Save Hermosa Schools. It is not politicians' jobs to kiss babies, but they spend a ton of time doing that. The point is that it is a big fat emotionally loaded subject that brings together fiscal policy, taxing and spending, the vague notion of education, and the specific picture of happy children and parents. So what is and isn't his job is of no relevance. His town and current constituency needs this problem solved, and he can earn plenty of praise and positive comments when the press comes to Small Town Hermosa to ask the residents how they feel about their home town boy.
The brilliant State of California makes it very difficult to fund schools except in very specific ways. It is my understanding that the three options are:
You can argue that it is not his job. I would counter that it is not my job to write about the subject, nor is it Russ Wilson's job to advocate for the Hermosa Beach schools on his blog Save Hermosa Schools. It is not politicians' jobs to kiss babies, but they spend a ton of time doing that. The point is that it is a big fat emotionally loaded subject that brings together fiscal policy, taxing and spending, the vague notion of education, and the specific picture of happy children and parents. So what is and isn't his job is of no relevance. His town and current constituency needs this problem solved, and he can earn plenty of praise and positive comments when the press comes to Small Town Hermosa to ask the residents how they feel about their home town boy.
The brilliant State of California makes it very difficult to fund schools except in very specific ways. It is my understanding that the three options are:
- A Sales Tax which must be passed at the county level, which sounds almost impossible;
- A Parcel Tax - this would come to a few hundred dollars per parcel for 5 to 10 years - small peanuts if your mortgage is $3000 to $15,000 per year;
- Donations
So if Kit Bobko wants to show his ability to help his constituency, and his ability to loosen the purse strings of big money donors which is essential in any run for high office, then getting some big private and corporate donors to kick in $5 million to permanently fix the Hermosa Beach City School District budget would accomplish both of those goals. Make it $10 million and I will start a relentless campaign to have a sports field or some kind of school facility or maybe an entire school named after Kit Bobko. That would certainly provide some positive press coverage for a budding United States Congressman.
Hermosa Beach City Council
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
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Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Kit Bobko Running For Congress
Kit Bobko has announced that he will be running for Jane Harman’s seat which she is abandoning for her own selfish reasons, leaving tax payers to pick up the tab for another election just months after she ran and won for an Nth term. This will be a good test for Kit Bobko who now sits on the Hermosa Beach City Council. We get to find out if he continues to honor his obligations to Hermosa Beach, or whether he is exposed as an opportunist who will now entirely ignore Hermosa Beach while continuing to collect a pay check from us, in favor of focusing on advancing his own political career.
I will be writing about him on a frequent basis because I want him to remember that he has an obligation to this community. Hermosa Beach has significant fiscal problems, and the Hermosa Beach City School District is in such dire straights that its dissolution is being discussed. Education is a very hot topic, and someone who could fix the Hermosa Beach schools lock, stock, and barrel would earn serious consideration from this blogger and voter.
Kit Bobko can impress the voters in Jane Harman’s district by really doing good at home. And he owes it to us anyway, so I will be keeping tabs.
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I will be writing about him on a frequent basis because I want him to remember that he has an obligation to this community. Hermosa Beach has significant fiscal problems, and the Hermosa Beach City School District is in such dire straights that its dissolution is being discussed. Education is a very hot topic, and someone who could fix the Hermosa Beach schools lock, stock, and barrel would earn serious consideration from this blogger and voter.
Kit Bobko can impress the voters in Jane Harman’s district by really doing good at home. And he owes it to us anyway, so I will be keeping tabs.
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Friday, March 4, 2011
Strategic Planning Committee Meeting
I attended the Strategic Planning Committee Meeting last night. It was the first public meeting I have attended, and it was interesting.
As a newcomer to this process I learned some things which you may know if you have been closely following the proceedings all along. This committee's sole purpose is to make recommendations to the Hermosa Beach City School Board. They have no power or function past that.
They claim to have not come to any conclusions or to have excluded any options thus far, which I find hard to believe given that they have been meeting for three months. What kind of person or group comes to no conclusions until the very minute they are asked to? Regardless, they would not reveal any preferences or any weighted possibilities for future outcomes.
Despite some praise back and forth between the committee and the public, the atmosphere was generally hostile. The chair was officious, and the committee members seemed to seriously begrudge the fact that public meetings are public. It was obvious that despite constant requests in public statements for public involvement, the committee had no interest in public involvement, at least at this stage of the process. I do understand that it probably gets tiring when new people keep entering the conversation and saying the same things over and over. But if one spokesperson for the committee could have communicated with the public in a less obnoxious way, I think the atmosphere would have been very much more positive.
For it's part, the public quickly became annoyed at the imperious manner of the chair. About 1 minute into the meeting the chair asked how many people wished to speak and one hand went up. But the chair and several committee members quickly annoyed the public, and the result was that 10 or 15 people spoke, which was nice.
Those people who spoke were almost completely unanimous in their support for a parcel tax. Several speakers reiterated the sentiment of my last post, which is that if you like Hermosa Beach the way it is now, then you have to support the schools so that they can stay the way they are now. Things change at the state level, and that needs to be treated like a natural disaster. Nobody begrudges having to pay to fix washed out roads after a flood, or collapsed bridges after an earthquake. Nobody should begrudge having to pay a very small parcel tax to shore up the schools after the unreliable State of California fails to take care of its citizens and schools. Take it out on the California Legislature for being short sited weasels, do not take it out on the children of Hermosa Beach.
The Strategic Planning Committee will present its recommendations to the Hermosa Beach City School Board at their meeting next Wednesday, March 9th at 7pm in the City Council Chambers.
To summarize, I was very pleased at the attitude of the public and the direction of their comments. There were some very passionate, articulate, and energetic people who clearly believe that a small parcel tax can be passed, and that Hermosa Beach's schools can be saved. And after the meeting, I believe the same thing.
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As a newcomer to this process I learned some things which you may know if you have been closely following the proceedings all along. This committee's sole purpose is to make recommendations to the Hermosa Beach City School Board. They have no power or function past that.
They claim to have not come to any conclusions or to have excluded any options thus far, which I find hard to believe given that they have been meeting for three months. What kind of person or group comes to no conclusions until the very minute they are asked to? Regardless, they would not reveal any preferences or any weighted possibilities for future outcomes.
Despite some praise back and forth between the committee and the public, the atmosphere was generally hostile. The chair was officious, and the committee members seemed to seriously begrudge the fact that public meetings are public. It was obvious that despite constant requests in public statements for public involvement, the committee had no interest in public involvement, at least at this stage of the process. I do understand that it probably gets tiring when new people keep entering the conversation and saying the same things over and over. But if one spokesperson for the committee could have communicated with the public in a less obnoxious way, I think the atmosphere would have been very much more positive.
For it's part, the public quickly became annoyed at the imperious manner of the chair. About 1 minute into the meeting the chair asked how many people wished to speak and one hand went up. But the chair and several committee members quickly annoyed the public, and the result was that 10 or 15 people spoke, which was nice.
Those people who spoke were almost completely unanimous in their support for a parcel tax. Several speakers reiterated the sentiment of my last post, which is that if you like Hermosa Beach the way it is now, then you have to support the schools so that they can stay the way they are now. Things change at the state level, and that needs to be treated like a natural disaster. Nobody begrudges having to pay to fix washed out roads after a flood, or collapsed bridges after an earthquake. Nobody should begrudge having to pay a very small parcel tax to shore up the schools after the unreliable State of California fails to take care of its citizens and schools. Take it out on the California Legislature for being short sited weasels, do not take it out on the children of Hermosa Beach.
The Strategic Planning Committee will present its recommendations to the Hermosa Beach City School Board at their meeting next Wednesday, March 9th at 7pm in the City Council Chambers.
To summarize, I was very pleased at the attitude of the public and the direction of their comments. There were some very passionate, articulate, and energetic people who clearly believe that a small parcel tax can be passed, and that Hermosa Beach's schools can be saved. And after the meeting, I believe the same thing.
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Thursday, March 3, 2011
Hermosa Beach Schools
Tonight there is a meeting to help choose the future course of Hermosa Beach Schools, but also of Hermosa Beach itself. Let's say your are greedy and you don't care about children or the future health of Hermosa Beach, California, or the United States of America. And you also don't care if property values in Hermosa Beach tank the minute that the schools tank. There are clearly many millions of you in this nation, and you have considerable and growing power in newly formed political groups.
But ask yourself where you want to live in 3 years. If the Hermosa Beach schools go downhill for lack of public interest and funding, this town will change. I know families will definitely move out because my family will move out. I will not send my kids to an LAUSD run school or a state run school or any other kind of third rate detention center. So people with families will leave. There will be less support for parks and other city services, less opposition to the opening of many more bars, and suddenly Hermosa Beach becomes Potterville from It's a Wonderful Life ( That's it! Out you two pixies go... through the door, or out the window! ). Just a rotation of drunks aged 18 to 25 renting apartments 3 to a room. It will be great if you are a 21 year old college student from Michigan who will sleep like stacked cord wood in exchange for blistering sun burns and blistering hang overs for 3 or 6 months. Great if you own Sharkeez. Not so great if you like Hermosa Beach the way it is right now.
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But ask yourself where you want to live in 3 years. If the Hermosa Beach schools go downhill for lack of public interest and funding, this town will change. I know families will definitely move out because my family will move out. I will not send my kids to an LAUSD run school or a state run school or any other kind of third rate detention center. So people with families will leave. There will be less support for parks and other city services, less opposition to the opening of many more bars, and suddenly Hermosa Beach becomes Potterville from It's a Wonderful Life ( That's it! Out you two pixies go... through the door, or out the window! ). Just a rotation of drunks aged 18 to 25 renting apartments 3 to a room. It will be great if you are a 21 year old college student from Michigan who will sleep like stacked cord wood in exchange for blistering sun burns and blistering hang overs for 3 or 6 months. Great if you own Sharkeez. Not so great if you like Hermosa Beach the way it is right now.
If you like Hermosa Beach the way it is now, you have to support the schools so that they can stay the way they are now. The state of California has screwed us, so we can either curl up into a ball and go down the gutter together, or we can each pitch in the cost of one McDonald's coffee per day and save the schools and the City of Hermosa Beach. You will literally make that decision.
STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday, March 3, 2011 @ 6:00PM
Thursday, March 3, 2011 @ 6:00PM
Hermosa Valley School, Multipurpose Room
1645 Valley Drive • Hermosa Beach, CA
1645 Valley Drive • Hermosa Beach, CA
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Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Hermosa Beach City School District Ratings
If the Hermosa Beach Schools were not worth saving then the people who are trying to save them might just be considered emotional or nostalgic or something other than logical. So let's take a look at the quality of the schools here.
GreatSchools.org ranks schools using a variety of test scores. Their relevant results are:
LAUSD ranking - 4 out of 10
Hermosa Beach Schools ranking - 10 out of 10
2010 Growth API Report
LAUSD - 709
Hermosa Beach City Elementary - 936
Manhattan Beach Unified - 926
LA Times:
LAUSD - why bother
Hermosa Valley Elementary
Hermosa Valley School , Multipurpose Room
1645 Valley Drive Hermosa Beach , CA
GreatSchools.org ranks schools using a variety of test scores. Their relevant results are:
LAUSD ranking - 4 out of 10
Hermosa Beach Schools ranking - 10 out of 10
2010 Growth API Report
LAUSD - 709
Hermosa Beach City Elementary - 936
Manhattan Beach Unified - 926
LA Times:
LAUSD - why bother
Hermosa Valley Elementary
- API Rank 10/10
- API Index - 937
- Math Proficiency - 86.8%
- English Proficiency - 86.9%
- API Rank 10/10
- API Index - 938
- Math Proficiency - 88%
- English Proficiency - 88%
- API Rank 10/10
- API Index - 957
- Math Proficiency - 94.8%
- English Proficiency - 89.3%
I don't know why there are differences in the rankings reported in different places. Manhattan Beach has five elementary schools, and I did not feel like doing more data entry. Manhattan beach outperforms Hermosa Beach in some rankings, and Hermosa ranks higher in others. LAUSD is a no show. Not worth even mentioning.
From these numbers it is very obvious that Hermosa Beach schools are very good. By one ranking I saw, they were in the top 30 in the state of California. Remember, that California has the 8th largest economy in the world, and Hermosa Beach City School District was ranked 30th in California. Worth saving?
Also remember that the difference between good schools and bad schools can be responsible for as much as a 30% difference in home prices. Are you interested in your kids' future? Are you interested in the future competitiveness and economic success of California and the United States? Do you care if your home falls in value by $150,000 to $1,000,000 ? Then let us all make sure that the Hermosa Beach schools stay solvent, successful, and really really good.
STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday, March 3, 2011 @ 6:00PM
Thursday, March 3, 2011 @ 6:00PM
Hermosa Beach City Council
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011
No New Ideas
When I wrote about my idea for a patio smoking tax, I thought I was being original. Not exactly right. I just discovered that long time Hermosa Beach activist Jim Lissner is proposing, and has fleshed out quite nicely, a business tax on alcohol serving bars and restaurants. He has posted it on his site VivaHermosa.com .
They differ in that my business tax is on smoking and his is on alcohol, but any sin tax will do, as long as it helps to plug the hole in the Hermosa Beach City School District budget.
So we now have Hermosa Beach City Councilman and Mayor Peter Tucker proposing a parcel tax, and Jim Lissner proposing a revised business tax structure that would have alcohol serving establishments paying more than they do now. We also have Russell Wilson, whose article Hermosa Dad Asks Community to Invest in Schools and whose blog Save Hermosa's Schools advocate a parcel tax and a charter school approach to have the Hermosa school district become permanently solvent and totally decoupled from the country's terrible education environment.
It looks like people are starting to take this all seriously. That means there will be a solution.
Be sure to attend this:
STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE MTG
Thursday, March 3, 2011 @ 6:00PMHermosa Valley School, Multipurpose Room
1645 Valley Drive • Hermosa Beach, CA
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They differ in that my business tax is on smoking and his is on alcohol, but any sin tax will do, as long as it helps to plug the hole in the Hermosa Beach City School District budget.
So we now have Hermosa Beach City Councilman and Mayor Peter Tucker proposing a parcel tax, and Jim Lissner proposing a revised business tax structure that would have alcohol serving establishments paying more than they do now. We also have Russell Wilson, whose article Hermosa Dad Asks Community to Invest in Schools and whose blog Save Hermosa's Schools advocate a parcel tax and a charter school approach to have the Hermosa school district become permanently solvent and totally decoupled from the country's terrible education environment.
It looks like people are starting to take this all seriously. That means there will be a solution.
Be sure to attend this:
STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE MTG
Thursday, March 3, 2011 @ 6:00PMHermosa Valley School, Multipurpose Room
1645 Valley Drive • Hermosa Beach, CA
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Monday, February 28, 2011
Fourth Estate + One
I am happy to report that there is another blog now covering the Hermosa Beach school district financial problems:
Save Hermosa Schools
Russ, the blogger, has a more sober straight forward approach than mine. That is good. Hopefully between us the voters of Hermosa Beach will be able to find something they like.
I glanced at the numbers he has for the current Hermosa Beach City School District budget. I have been casually looking for these numbers for a week, but I could not find them on the official school district site for some reason. I have not dug into the data, but it looks to me like the school district will be short by $133,000 this year? Are we seriously calling this a problem? The leaders of Hermosa Beach can't figure out how to patch a $133,000 hole? That is only 1/5th of the Dog Catcher Budget!
There are 7000 parcels and about 10,000 housing units in Hermosa Beach (please note that I am not even addressing the obligation of the business community, yet). So correct me if my math is wrong, but if we had a TAX (there, I said the T-word) of $13.30 per home or apartment per year, there would be no problem?
This almost seems like a joke to me. Nobody could be seriously considering allowing the value of the average home to fall by $150,000 or more (see studies in previous blog posts) in order to save $13 per year, could they?
Hermosa Beach City Council
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
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Save Hermosa Schools
Russ, the blogger, has a more sober straight forward approach than mine. That is good. Hopefully between us the voters of Hermosa Beach will be able to find something they like.
I glanced at the numbers he has for the current Hermosa Beach City School District budget. I have been casually looking for these numbers for a week, but I could not find them on the official school district site for some reason. I have not dug into the data, but it looks to me like the school district will be short by $133,000 this year? Are we seriously calling this a problem? The leaders of Hermosa Beach can't figure out how to patch a $133,000 hole? That is only 1/5th of the Dog Catcher Budget!
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| Problem Solved |
There are 7000 parcels and about 10,000 housing units in Hermosa Beach (please note that I am not even addressing the obligation of the business community, yet). So correct me if my math is wrong, but if we had a TAX (there, I said the T-word) of $13.30 per home or apartment per year, there would be no problem?
This almost seems like a joke to me. Nobody could be seriously considering allowing the value of the average home to fall by $150,000 or more (see studies in previous blog posts) in order to save $13 per year, could they?
Hermosa Beach City Council
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
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Friday, February 25, 2011
Where There's Smoke, There's Money
Let me share a secret - THE ONLY THING I CARE ABOUT IN HERMOSA BEACH RIGHT NOW IS THE SCHOOL DISTRICT !!!
To be more specific, I do not care about smoking on patios. I do care about the Hermosa School District being handed over to LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District), whose motto is Destroying The Future One Child At A Time.
Whereas Kit Bobko has spent his time sleuthing out hidden budget line items like $624,000 for a dog catcher, Councilmembers Jeff Duclos and Howard Fishman are spending their time trying to ban the burning of tiny tubes of leaves outside in the open air. Given that there are probably 5,000 barbecue grills, and 5,000 fireplaces in Hermosa Beach, the additional smoke that these cigarettes will add does not interest me. Furthermore, Hermosa Beach has a ban on leaf-blowers that is never enforced. If these pro-air quality councilmembers want to show their sincerity for saving us all, they should consider figuring out why I can count a dozen noisy illegal leaf blowers running on my block every single week. And they can explain why I can't drive anywhere in Hermosa Beach without seeing leaf blowers running 7 days a week.
But I digress. I have a solution to the Patio Smoking Issue. It is called the market system. Or you can call it Smoking Offsets. Whatever you call it, it involves charging money for patio smoking. Specifically, any bar or restaurant that wants to have smoking on their patio can pay $1.00 per day per unit of patio capacity. For example, a patio that has a legal limit of 30 people would cost that bar or restaurant $30/day, which is $10,950 per year, charged annually. This is just an example of course. Maybe $2 per person, or $3 per person would be the optimal number. The bars could just add it to the bottom of the bill and nobody would notice or care. Every penny of that money would go straight to the Hermosa Beach City School District. Any any bar or restaurant that is not paying, and is caught with smokers on their patio, would have to pay triple for that year.
Of course dyed in the wool Puritans who want to tell everyone what they can and cannot do will never be happy with a solution like this, but they don't want any drinking or any bars to exist at all, so who cares about them. They are not happy and they will never be happy.
Business owners should love this. Money is the language of business. The market system is the religion of small business owners. As a matter of fact, if they have any sense at all, they will make this their mission. If they can get Hermosa Beach parents and Hermosa Beach educators, and Hermosa Beach home owners on their side about the Patio Smoking Issue by using it to raise money for the schools, then they won't lose the right to have smoking on their patios. Otherwise, they had better realize that they can kiss their smoking patios goodbye, just like bars and restaurants in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Culver City, and Calabasas.
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To be more specific, I do not care about smoking on patios. I do care about the Hermosa School District being handed over to LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District), whose motto is Destroying The Future One Child At A Time.
Whereas Kit Bobko has spent his time sleuthing out hidden budget line items like $624,000 for a dog catcher, Councilmembers Jeff Duclos and Howard Fishman are spending their time trying to ban the burning of tiny tubes of leaves outside in the open air. Given that there are probably 5,000 barbecue grills, and 5,000 fireplaces in Hermosa Beach, the additional smoke that these cigarettes will add does not interest me. Furthermore, Hermosa Beach has a ban on leaf-blowers that is never enforced. If these pro-air quality councilmembers want to show their sincerity for saving us all, they should consider figuring out why I can count a dozen noisy illegal leaf blowers running on my block every single week. And they can explain why I can't drive anywhere in Hermosa Beach without seeing leaf blowers running 7 days a week.
But I digress. I have a solution to the Patio Smoking Issue. It is called the market system. Or you can call it Smoking Offsets. Whatever you call it, it involves charging money for patio smoking. Specifically, any bar or restaurant that wants to have smoking on their patio can pay $1.00 per day per unit of patio capacity. For example, a patio that has a legal limit of 30 people would cost that bar or restaurant $30/day, which is $10,950 per year, charged annually. This is just an example of course. Maybe $2 per person, or $3 per person would be the optimal number. The bars could just add it to the bottom of the bill and nobody would notice or care. Every penny of that money would go straight to the Hermosa Beach City School District. Any any bar or restaurant that is not paying, and is caught with smokers on their patio, would have to pay triple for that year.
Of course dyed in the wool Puritans who want to tell everyone what they can and cannot do will never be happy with a solution like this, but they don't want any drinking or any bars to exist at all, so who cares about them. They are not happy and they will never be happy.
Business owners should love this. Money is the language of business. The market system is the religion of small business owners. As a matter of fact, if they have any sense at all, they will make this their mission. If they can get Hermosa Beach parents and Hermosa Beach educators, and Hermosa Beach home owners on their side about the Patio Smoking Issue by using it to raise money for the schools, then they won't lose the right to have smoking on their patios. Otherwise, they had better realize that they can kiss their smoking patios goodbye, just like bars and restaurants in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Culver City, and Calabasas.
Hermosa Beach City Council
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
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Thursday, February 24, 2011
Kit Bobko Saves the Hermosa Beach School District?
We have good news, I think. The Beach Reporter reports that Kit Bobko has discovered some interesting numbers in the city's budget:
http://www.tbrnews.com/articles/2011/02/24/hermosa_beach_news/news10.txt
For those of you who aren't familiar with the exact dimensions and demographics of Hermosa Beach, the city is 1.3 or 1.4 square miles, and it has a population of about 20,000 people. I would like to know how many furry critters are caught per year. Then we could figure out what we are spending per furry critter caught, and compare that to the amount that Hermosa Beach itself spends on each student in the Hermosa Beach City School District. If anybody has any statistics on this I would really like to see them.
I do not feel very threatened by cats, and I don't see why they need to be caught. If there is a raccoon problem that I have never noticed, having never seen a raccoon in Hermosa Beach (though I have seen very slow moving Possums), then maybe home owners and businesses should be fined for leaving their garbage cans uncovered, just like people are ticketed for blocking the street sweepers from cleaning my street 100 times per year. That could also head off any potential rat problem for which we might have to hire a Pied Piper to solve in the future. I have heard that hiring Pied Pipers can be tricky business.
And as for dogs, make the owners pay if their dogs need to be caught. Problem solved! We now have a spare $624,000 for the schools!
This does make me wonder what else we are spending money on. I know we inexplicably pitched in to buy an armored personnel carrier for the South Bay communities when defending the Surfer Statue against the terrorist onslaught was all the rage. What did that total waste of money cost? Has it ever been used? How much are we spending to maintain it?
Keep up the good work Kit Bobko! Digging into the city's finances may save us from having to sell out our children to LAUSD, the worst school district on Earth. Two-thirds of a million here and two-thirds of a million there, and pretty soon we'll be talking about real money.
Hermosa Beach City Council
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
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http://www.tbrnews.com/articles/2011/02/24/hermosa_beach_news/news10.txt
It seems that Hermosa Beach spends $624,000 per year catching dogs, cats, and raccoons. Yes, that is $1,710 per day, 365 days per year.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the exact dimensions and demographics of Hermosa Beach, the city is 1.3 or 1.4 square miles, and it has a population of about 20,000 people. I would like to know how many furry critters are caught per year. Then we could figure out what we are spending per furry critter caught, and compare that to the amount that Hermosa Beach itself spends on each student in the Hermosa Beach City School District. If anybody has any statistics on this I would really like to see them.
I do not feel very threatened by cats, and I don't see why they need to be caught. If there is a raccoon problem that I have never noticed, having never seen a raccoon in Hermosa Beach (though I have seen very slow moving Possums), then maybe home owners and businesses should be fined for leaving their garbage cans uncovered, just like people are ticketed for blocking the street sweepers from cleaning my street 100 times per year. That could also head off any potential rat problem for which we might have to hire a Pied Piper to solve in the future. I have heard that hiring Pied Pipers can be tricky business.
And as for dogs, make the owners pay if their dogs need to be caught. Problem solved! We now have a spare $624,000 for the schools!
This does make me wonder what else we are spending money on. I know we inexplicably pitched in to buy an armored personnel carrier for the South Bay communities when defending the Surfer Statue against the terrorist onslaught was all the rage. What did that total waste of money cost? Has it ever been used? How much are we spending to maintain it?
Keep up the good work Kit Bobko! Digging into the city's finances may save us from having to sell out our children to LAUSD, the worst school district on Earth. Two-thirds of a million here and two-thirds of a million there, and pretty soon we'll be talking about real money.
Hermosa Beach City Council
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
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Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Would a LA Unified School District Takeover of the Hermosa Beach School Really Be So Bad?
In the last two post I have highlighted studies showing that the quality of the local schools is a huge factor in property values and home prices. These studies showed the results in different ways. For example one showed that a 1% change in pass rates resulted in a 1% change in property values, in the same direction of course. Other studies showed that people would pay a large premium to live in a neighborhood with good schools over living in a similar neighborhood with bad schools.
Then we must ask the question, would turning over the Hermosa Beach City School District to the Los Angeles Unified School District ( LAUSD ) be so bad? Let me give you some numbers.
The California Department of Education ranks schools using the Academic Performance Index, or API. There are different indices withing the API, and we will look at the API Growth Index. In 2010, Hermosa Beach Schools earned an API of 936! This is a great score, ranking the Hermosa Beach City School District in the very top of California schools. LAUSD earned a score of 709. LAUSD's API ranking was 24% lower than the Hermosa Beach City School District API ranking. Does that mean that handing over the Hermosa Beach schools to LAUSD will cause Hermosa Beach home prices to fall 24%? Maybe not. Maybe we will get lucky and home prices in Hermosa Beach will only fall by 15%! Or maybe we won't be so lucky and home prices in Hermosa Beach will fall by 30%.
If we really want to find out what will happen when the Hermosa Beach schools are gutted, all we have to do is nothing. As it is, the schools district doesn't have enough money, and our representatives don't have the ideas, motivation, or desire to do anything about it.
So enter your address above, or go to Zillow's site ( http://www.zillow.com/ ). Type in your address, find out what your home is worth today, and play around with some numbers. Will your home fall in value by $100k? $300k? $500k? Is that OK with you? Then sit tight, because that is what is going to happen.
Hermosa Beach City Council
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
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Then we must ask the question, would turning over the Hermosa Beach City School District to the Los Angeles Unified School District ( LAUSD ) be so bad? Let me give you some numbers.
The California Department of Education ranks schools using the Academic Performance Index, or API. There are different indices withing the API, and we will look at the API Growth Index. In 2010, Hermosa Beach Schools earned an API of 936! This is a great score, ranking the Hermosa Beach City School District in the very top of California schools. LAUSD earned a score of 709. LAUSD's API ranking was 24% lower than the Hermosa Beach City School District API ranking. Does that mean that handing over the Hermosa Beach schools to LAUSD will cause Hermosa Beach home prices to fall 24%? Maybe not. Maybe we will get lucky and home prices in Hermosa Beach will only fall by 15%! Or maybe we won't be so lucky and home prices in Hermosa Beach will fall by 30%.
If we really want to find out what will happen when the Hermosa Beach schools are gutted, all we have to do is nothing. As it is, the schools district doesn't have enough money, and our representatives don't have the ideas, motivation, or desire to do anything about it.
So enter your address above, or go to Zillow's site ( http://www.zillow.com/ ). Type in your address, find out what your home is worth today, and play around with some numbers. Will your home fall in value by $100k? $300k? $500k? Is that OK with you? Then sit tight, because that is what is going to happen.
Hermosa Beach City Council
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
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Tuesday, February 22, 2011
If The Hermosa Beach City School District Dies, Home Values Will Tank
Every study I have been able to find comes to the conclusion that good schools increase property values. Furthermore, for those of you like to analyze these things, they find the relation to be causation, not just correlation. In other words, it is not a coincidence, or it is not caused by the socio-economic background found in good school districts, but it is the good schools themselves that actually increase property values.
Here is an article from Columbia Business Times siting several studies on the subject:
"Several studies indicate that homeowners would experience a reduction of 2 to 10 percent of the value of their home should standardized test scores drop by 10 percent in public schools. Specifically, the Rand Corporation cites studies that have found that a 1 percent higher average reading or math score in Chicago and Massachusetts was associated with a 1 percent higher property value.
Other studies link the value of homes to the rating of the local school. Values for homes close to elementary and middle schools rated as good or excellent were 20 to 32 percent higher than similar homes located close to schools rated as average or poor. "
If that is not clear enough, that says that when LAUSD takes over the Hermosa Schools, property values will fall by a large amount. Hermosa Beach schools are currently excellent, the best in the state of California. And LAUSD is as bad as a school district can be. LAUSD is not average, it is poor or worse if there is a worse rating. Will Hermosa Beach home prices fall by 10% or 20% or 30% ? We will definitely find out if the Hermosa Beach School District is allowed to shut down.
Do you want to roll the dice just for fun to see if your property values fall by $100,000 or $250,000 or $400,000?
According to Zillow, the Median List Price of Single Family Homes in Hermosa Beach is a hair below $1.3 Million:
So, if home prices fall by only 10% after the handover to Los Angeles Unified School District, then the median list price for single family homes in Hermosa Beach should fall by a mere $130,000. But, if property values fall by 32% as the study says is possible, then the median list price will fall by $416,000 ! And that is for the median list price. Remember that half of the homes listed on the market are priced higher than the median by definition!
The house for sale at 2260 Circle Drive is listed for $3,549,000. This is not the most expensive home for sale in Hermosa Beach by a long shot. If this house at 2260 Circle Drive falls in price by 32% after the Hermosa Beach City School District is allowed to die for lack of money, the value of this one house will fall by $1,135,680.
In other words, the value of this one single house would fall by so much that if the school district had that amount it wouldn't be in financial trouble and wouldn't have to consider surrendering to LAUSD.
Hermosa Beach City Council
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
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Monday, February 21, 2011
Hermosa Beach Schools Going Bankrupt
Home buyers who are considering buying a home in Hermosa Beach should seriously reconsider. I have kids, and I therefore know lots of people with kids. Many of the people I know have moved to Hermosa Beach for the great schools. What many people probably don't know is that the Hermosa Beach School District is going to merge with Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) if some serious funding doesn't appear soon.
According to this article on CNN's site ( http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/22/real_estate/homeguide_schools/ ), homes in cities with good schools may be worth 12% to 25% more than comparable homes with worse schools. LAUSD is as bad as it gets on Earth and a handover would result in lower standardized test scores. It is safe to say that if the Hermosa Beach School District is handed over to LAUSD, property values in Hermosa Beach should rapidly fall 10% or 20% or more. That is an immediate and permanent $100,000 to $250,000 decrease in price on a $1 million home.
Here are a couple quotes from the article:
I will be dwelling on this topic until this issue is settled.
Hermosa Beach City Council
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
-
According to this article on CNN's site ( http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/22/real_estate/homeguide_schools/ ), homes in cities with good schools may be worth 12% to 25% more than comparable homes with worse schools. LAUSD is as bad as it gets on Earth and a handover would result in lower standardized test scores. It is safe to say that if the Hermosa Beach School District is handed over to LAUSD, property values in Hermosa Beach should rapidly fall 10% or 20% or more. That is an immediate and permanent $100,000 to $250,000 decrease in price on a $1 million home.
Here are a couple quotes from the article:
Education is so important, say agents, that buyers without children should sit up and pay more attention to school."By going in areas where the schools are not as strong, you're essentially cutting out a potential group of buyers," , said RealEstate.com general manager Jeff Lyons.In his hometown, Charlotte, N.C., houses in school zones with higher test scores sold for an average of 12 percent more than similar houses in areas with lower test scores, based on research by UCLA and Dartmouth for sales between 1994 and 2001. That discrepancy is likely to be even greater today.In the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, buyers might pay as much as 25 percent more for a house in a desirable school zone, according to Jill Rudler, a real estate agent with HER Real Living. "I've always looked for property in areas where the schools are improving," she said. "I'm willing to pay a little more in taxes to ensure that my investment is solid.".....
"I was just working with a family looking for property in the $5 million range," said Meris Blumstein, a real estate agent with the Corcoran Group. "They insisted on being in a particular school district. That was their first criterion."
Hermosa Beach City Council
Peter Tucker Mayor peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman Mayor Pro Tempore kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos Councilmember jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio Councilmember mdivir@gmail.com
Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186
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