West Basin Water District - Time to Pay Attention

Gary Silbiger

I took the 405 freeway South from my home in Culver City, then the 105 freeway East, the 110 freeway South, the 91 freeway East, exited the freeway somewhere, and found my way to 17140 South Avalon Boulevard in Carson, California.  I had driven 19 miles in 30 minutes (depending on Los Angeles area traffic) until I found the West Basin Municipal Water District building (also known as the Donald L. Dear Headquarters Building).  Free parking helped.  The reception guard directed me to the elevator on my way to the Board’s monthly meeting.

What is the West Basin Municipal Water District?  Some of the major tasks of the Water District includes supplying water from various rivers to its district; utilizing the Edward Little Water Treatment Facility in El Segundo; recycling water; conserving water, and experimenting with removing salt from the ocean water to determine how to use desalinization technology. 

This Water District is one of the best kept secrets in California.  But not for long.

When I attended my first West Basin Water Board meeting on August 27, 2012 (the fourth Monday of each month), I saw the five elected members of the Board of Directors – one of whom I knew -, each representing a different part of the Water District: 

1.  Ron Smith, the owner of a realty company, has been on the Board since 2006, and represents Carson, Palos Verdes Estate, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills Estates, Rolling Hills, and portions of San Pedro.

2.  Gloria Gray, who served 2 terms on the Inglewood School District, worked for Los Angeles County, was first elected to the Water Board in 2006, and represents Inglewood, South Ladera Heights, a portion of Lennox and Athens, Howard and Ross.

3.  Carol W. Kwan, has been a Board member since 1996, and represents Hermosa Beach, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, and Torrance.

4.  Ed Little, former City Councilmember of Culver City from 1966-1970, and owner of a car repair shop, is the longest serving member of the Water Board having served since 1989, and represents Culver City, El Segundo, Malibu, West Hollywood, Lennox, North Ladera Heights, Del Aire, Topanga, View Park, and Windsor Hills.

5.  Donald Dear, the current Water Board president, taught middle school, and was the Gardena mayor for 9 terms, has been on the Water Board since 2000, and represents Gardena, Hawthorne, Lawndale, and portions of El Camino Village.

Of course, I have known Ed Little for many years due to his term as a former City Councilmember in Culver City and his local community activities.

Three of the 5 Water Board members formerly served as locally elected representatives.  Without term limits for this Board, the current members have served 23, 16, 12, 6, and 6 years.  With Carol Kwan a candidate for her fifth term, she has been endorsed by all 4 colleagues on the Board which can perpetuate the cliquish (inside) nature of some elected bodies.  Kwan has one opponent for the November 4, 2012 election.  The other office for Water Board on the November election is seat number 5 where the incumbent, Donald Dear, is unopposed. 

When I arrived at the Water Board’s meeting room, the members were still eating or talking in one of the 2 adjoining rooms.  I was welcomed into that room and spoke with Ed Little and some of his colleagues.  After a while, the Board meeting commenced.  I had earlier that day mentioned to Water Board president Donald Dear that I might have a remark for the public comment portion of the meeting, and sure enough he asked me if I wanted to speak.  There was no speaker card to complete so I approached the podium to make suggestions for a more inclusive and transparent Board.  I suggested creating a more comprehensive e-mail list for the Board by encouraging sign-ups on line and at Board meetings, having links to the Water Board on all the city websites that are served by this Board, preparing a calendar of events on the Water Board’s website, and placing agendas at various locations in the cities affected.  President Dear commented that the suggestions sounded good.  We will see if they are implemented.

The meeting agenda was available at the Board room, but it only contained the 1 line titles – not the staff reports - of the 31 agenda items.  I sat in one of the approximate 30 seats provided in the Board room and listened to the presentations by staff and consultants with Board members occasionally making comments or asking questions.  Although almost all of the chairs in the meeting room were taken, I realized I was the only member of the public in the room.   

After a period of time, I went into an adjoining room for a glass of water – they also provided snacks – and when I returned to the Board meeting room, I found that they were at the conclusion of their meeting because a motion had been passed to approve many of the action items without any reports given or discussion had. 

I spoke with Charlene Jensen, the Board’s secretary, who took my name and contact information and placed me on the Board’s e-mail list.  You can contact Charlene at (310) 660-6229 or charlene@westbasin.org. 

The West Basin Municipal Water District has several committees including Administration, Communications, Ethics, Finance, and Water Resources, most of which meet monthly.  Each committee consists of 3 Water Board members, one of whom is the chair, another a regular member, and the third an alternate.

Water is one of our most important resources.  We must be vigilant about those who have control of its use.  The Water Board should

take a position to stop the enormous waste of water along with the chemicals poisoning our water systems used in hydraulic oil fracturing (fracking) within its jurisdiction. 

Work with the communities of the Water Board to coordinate recycling and other forms of water conservation

Include all the minutes of meetings on the District’s website

Have past Board agendas for the years prior to 2012 on the District’s website

By the way, Ed Little has offered to arrange a personal tour of the Water District’s treatment plant in El Segundo, which he says is the only one like it in the world.  If you’d like to go, please send an e-mail to me.

This is the first of a series of articles about the West Basin Municipal Water District.

Gary Silbiger is co-editor of Culver City Progress blog and a former Mayor of Culver City.

Culver Park High School – Location, Location, Location

Pat Levinson

After decades of being located on an elementary school campus in Culver City, CCUSD’s continuation school, Culver Park HS, was relocated this summer to an area between Farragut Elementary and Culver City Middle School.

The youths and staff were moving in as construction of the temporary facilities, mostly landscaping, was in the final stages.  So, the Los Angeles Times wrote a “horror story” of just how challenging the conditions were for our youth.  Challenging?  Belmont HS in Los Angeles, with its toxic waste is challenging. A location beside a freeway on or off ramp is challenging.  Neither fits Culver Park HS.

I’ve taught and been an administrator in many school in the past 38 years with the Los Angeles County Office of Education.  My students were “juvenile wards of the court”. Okay, that translates to “juvenile delinquents.” My kind of youth: locked up or perhaps, locked out?  Physical locations included: Juvenile Halls, Probation Camps and Community Schools, many of which I located, opened and closed. Talk about challenging environments! 

Learning is learning and teaching is teaching.  And administrative support (and counseling) is vital to both. As long as youth are safe and healthy (another blog, perhaps), learning can take place almost anywhere.  Can you force youth to learn?  No, but you can persuade, despite, or sometimes because of, the physical environment.  Trust me, juvenile hall is no playground and yet hundreds of youth graduate annually from LACOE schools with their 220 credits.

What we have in CCUSD is a principal of CPHS who wants to be the principal of CPHS:  Veronica Montes.  I don’t title the school as Culver Park Continuation, because continuation school just describes the type of school.  The name of the continuation school is Culver Park HS.  Fifty-seven youth are enrolled, taking the usual high school courses:  English (Basic, Literature, Contemporary Writing, etc,); Social Science (World and US History, Government, Economics, etc.); Science (Earth, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry); Mathematics (Basic, Algebra, Geometry); Art and Physical Education. Each student is required to perform 60 hours (total high school) of service learning in order to graduate with 220 credits. With a class size ratio max of 20 to 1, who wouldn’t want to be in this school?

The school and students enjoy having four dedicated teachers – who want to be there.  No, they haven’t been sent to the cornfield for being poor teachers elsewhere.  Like I, who opted to instruct in the juvenile court facilities, these teachers enjoy the challenge of teaching multiple subjects to youth who need creative strategies other than a “get to class, stop wandering the hallway, where are you going” environment. (Sorry, regular HS, just trying to make a point.)  Students are 16 and older, usually in the 11^th and 12^th grades, sometimes making up classes from the 9^th and 10^th grades.  Each teacher has to be competent in their areas so that each youth can receive the required classes.  Wow, tailored classes!  How cool is that?

Let us praise Ms. Lanier, Ms. Johnson, Ms. Matilda and Ms. Bentsvi who want to be those teachers, who want to be there.  We praise all teachers who want to be where they do their best work!  As I shared with Ms. Montes, my favorite grades of youth to work with before my retirement were the middle grades – 6-8.  While she didn’t shudder, she expressed her joy at working with older youth.  Some teachers delight in teaching 1^st or 2^nd grade (I cower), special ed. programs and identified youth, gifted or whomever. We all have our niche. (For those of you pooh-poohing why I enjoyed working with incarcerated youth, grades 7 – 12, when I just expressed my passion for youth in grades 6 – 8, I’d be happy to explain in another blog. Just think about child development…)

Here’s the point:  education includes the physical environment, but it doesn’t stop there. Learning is part of that environment and that’s all about the teachers, the support staff (para-educators, counselors, special education specialists, custodial staff) and administration.

What Culver Park HS youth apparently have is a wonderfully supportive environment – physically, mentally, academically, socially and emotionally.  While I didn’t describe all aspects of that supportive environment, Ms. Montes assures me that the CPHS Student Council is charged with campus beautification.  Ms. Montes declared, “We want the kids to own it.”

The youth will own it, if it’s in partnership with those supportive staff and the community.  It doesn’t matter if they are located on an elementary school campus, in a one-room schoolhouse or in temporary buildings. Are our youth safe and healthy?  I think so.  Therefore, it is with whom they interface and trust that makes the difference. See for yourself. The LA Times overreacted. Why am I not surprised?

Pat Levinson graduated from CCHS when dirt was new.  She received a Teacher Scholarship upon graduation and the rest was history: teaching all subjects and becoming an administrator in Juvenile Hall, Probation Camps and Community Schools for 25 years, teaching and providing educational services to foster youth for 13 years in Los Angeles County; including representing teachers for 13 years with the teachers’ association. Education included: BA from UC Irvine, M.Ed from Azusa Pacific University, and a slew of professional certificates from UCLA and the School of Hard Knocks.  She retired in June 2011 from LACOE as a Project Director for Foster Youth Services, representing all of Los Angeles County’s 81 district schools in their educational services to foster youth to the State. She can be reached at: palevinson@ca.rr.com.  Pat is the recording secretary for the CC Democratic Club and a Board Member of the CC Sister City Committee.