Results tagged “funding”

This week both voting bodies in charge of the University of California and the California State University systems are voting on budget plans for the 2010-11 school year, and both include ambitious requests to the state of California for hundreds of millions of dollars apiece to restore crippling budget cuts and, in fact, increase funding.

An in-depth look into stimulus money (or the lack thereof) coming into Los Angeles reveals that the nation's 2nd biggest city is losing out. For example, the graph to the right shows transportation and infrastructure funding via grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). New York City is the big win and San Diego is slightly edging out Los Angeles.

After wiping out 100 percent of domestic violence funds in the state budget over the summer, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign a bill tomorrow that will restore funding.

A warning, of sorts, came from a delegation of local members of congress today. Two mainstream media headlines begin to the tell the story. From this morning, the Pasadena Star News: 14 SoCal congressional leaders call for prioritizing Gold Line And this afternoon from the LA Times: Mayor's effort to fast-track Westside subway faces challenge

After Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger slashed 100 percent of funding for domestic violence programs in California, shelters began making plans to cut services or worse, shut doors. In Santa Clairta, the local shelter laid off some employees and moved offices to save on rent.

Last week, after a few rallies throughout the state, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger handed in a grant to the feds, asking for $4.8 billion in stimulus money for California's high speed rail project, which would take passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a few hours. Today, that grant drew support from both of California's U.S. Senators and 21 other congressional leaders, including many from Los Angeeles.

Elizabeth Goldstein, President of the California State Parks Foundation, is calling bullshit on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's announcement that state parks are saved. No details beyond the announcement have been released since last Friday, but Goldstein says read between the lines:

State Parks are not closing after all, but at least six domestic violence shelters around the state have closed due to a small, but devastating budget cut by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger over the summer. That's according to the Domestic Violence Center of the Santa Clarita Valley, which came close to being the seventh such closure.

With the feds yearning to give away $8 billion in Recovery Act money to states for high-speed train development, California officials today prepared to submit an application asking for more than half of that.

But don't get too excited, the money from the feds going to the transit line is not for extending it northbound towards Burbank airport or anything close to that. Today's announcement from is about reducing energy consumption. The White Explains in a press release:

After three decades of dreaming and planning, it looks like the federal government is finally paying attention to an expensive MagLev train line that would carry passengers between Las Vegas and Anaheim at speeds up to 300 miles per hour along the 270-mile route. The Federal Railroad Administration will give $45 million in congressional earmarked dollars to the first phase of the route, which will go from Las Vegas to the state border in Primm, NV, according to the LA Times.

Senator John McCain has his eye on several transit projects all over the nation that he is labeling "wasteful government spending," including two here in Los Angeles, explains StreetsblogLA. His target is the US Department of Transportation's 2010 spending bill, which comes up "for a vote this week in the upper chamber of Congress."

Although no closure list has been handed out, this is the last weekend before many State Parks are expected to close. Faced with nearly $39 million cuts to its budget, State Park officials wanted to hold off until the last minute, hoping cities, nonprofits and corporations would step up and partner to save state parks. For every park saved by one entity could mean the another park saved with the department's dwindling budget.

It's Time for Lunch...what's on our kids' plates? Tater tots, pudding cups and mystery meat often find a home on kids' cafeteria trays, but that doesn't have to be the case. This fall, the Child Nutrition act, which leaves schools only $1 to spend on each child’s meal after labor, equipment and overhead costs, is up for re-authorization by Congress. In order to promote awareness of the need to change food policy for school-age children, Slow Food L.A. and Whole Foods are behind 6 "Eat-in" events in Los Angeles community gardens this Labor Day.

To the shock of the film community last month, LACMA announced that come October, the beloved weekend film series would discontinue due to budget constraints. That prompted some advocacy and strong words from many, including director Martin Scorsese. "It comes as no surprise to me that the public is rallying," he wrote in an open letter printed in the LA Times. "People from all over the world are speaking out, because they see this action - correctly, I think - as a serious rebuke to film within the context of the art world."

Last month, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated full funding--a mere $16.3 million--for domestic violence programs in the state. Highlighting the need for such a program, an 18-year-old girl was killed in her bed in the Santa Clarita Valley last Sunday. Her boyfriend allegedly committed the murder inside the family trailer in the Canyon Country neighborhood. That was the third domestic violence death for the valley in a year's time.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's line item cuts to the state budget on Tuesday drastically reduced many programs, including state parks and domestic violence funding. AIDS/HIV programs were also hit particularly bad to the tune of around $85 million, leaving the California’s Office of AIDS with only 20 percent of its funding for programs like HIV education and prevention, HIV counseling and testing, home health and early intervention.

State parks may be threatened, but worse is the total elimination of domestic violence funding in the 2009/10 budget signed by Governor Schwarzenegger. It was a surprise to many when he added nearly a half billion in extra cuts including more to parks and to various health programs on Tuesday. The Domestic Violence Center in the Santa Clarita Valley is the only agency that provides domestic violence services in the 200-square mile valley. As a result of Schwarzenegger's cut, which is immediate, they've lost 45%, or $207,222.00, of their annual funding

California's budget has passed both houses and now awaits Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature. Until then, nothing is set in stone and parks and open space advocates await the final verdict on state parks. As it stands now, $8 million will be sliced off for this year, which could translates to the closure of 30 to 50 parks. Schwarzenegger's original proposal included a two-year cut that would close 80% of parks.

A survey conducted on behalf of Metro found that residents still support Measure R, which boosted LA County's sales tax up a half cent in order to raise $30 to $40 billion for transportation projects. However, it also found that people feel projects are moving too slowly to get the region out of gridlock. According to the LA Times, the poll of 605 registered county voters finds (with a plus or minus margin of 4%)...

These weasels are so damn cute, but once again their population is dwindling. In the late 19th Century and into the early 20th, the population estimated to be over 100,000 decreased to extreme lows of around 1,000 to 2,000 thanks to the fur trade (in California, the population was specifically around 16,000 which was decimated to around 50). Today they are protected by law and a Monterey Aquarium favorite.

The Foothill Transit agency approved $259,141 of federal transit money for two automated wheel polishers from Australia, the Pasadena Star News found. Watchdogs are obviously not happy, but the agency said no U.S. companies placed a bid, that the polishers will "dramatically" reduce time spent on prepping buses, therefore streamlining operations, and $72,000 a year will be spent on polisher supplies from the U.S. "If we were to look at the highest-priorities for FTA, I don't know that this would fit," said Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, to the paper. Foothill said most of the money they received went towards expanding programs.

Although the city is fighting a $534 million budget deficit, they will dip into special funds for extraordinary events such as Michael Jackson's memorial service planned for next Tuesday. The situation is reminiscent of when the LAPD spent $25,000 on an operation escorting Britney Spears from her home to the hospital, about 6 miles away. Of course, if private donors want to help out as some did with the Lakers parade, the city welcomes them with open arms.

The threat of closing most all state parks and a proposal to save them will hit the Assembly floor tomorrow during the budget revision process. Around 20 bills are queued one, one of them asking legislators two park related questions.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced that $400 million from the economic recovery package is headed to make capital investments in transit throughout California. It's not going to build us the Subway to the Sea or anything sexy like that, but is headed to more functional improvements, such as seen in the above photo:

The City Coucnil not only saved cuts proposed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to special funds--that's where bicycle funding sits and was threatened to be completely eliminated--but they also directed LADOT not to propose cuts to the the bikeways department before consulting them. And a lot of the attention drawn to this subject was due to cyclists who showed up to yesterday's hearing and spoke during public comment. "Yesterday proves one thing that bike activists have long known but the City Council and other city leaders are still learning," noted Damien Newton at StreetsblogLA. "L.A.'s diverse bike community is an active and fast mobilizng constituency that is growing to loud to ignore or push aside any longer. After all, this is the second time this month that a group of cyclists has descended on the City Council and walked away with resolutions passed by the Council based on their testimony."

The LA County Bicycle Coalition sent out an "urgent alert" Saturday afternoon that was pretty shocking: LADOT THREATENS TO CUT THE ENTIRE BIKEWAYS DEPARTMENT!! BIKE PROJECTS WOULD BE CUT!! Los Angeles is facing a perilous budget crisis. All city departments are being asked to submit plans on how they will cut spending, and LADOT have proposed to eliminate the entire Bikeways staff. Not just lay off some people, but cut it altogether.

When MOCA found itself in financial trouble last year, Eli Broad was one of the first to offer up assistance. Now, the LA-based philanthropist has committed to contribute almost half a million dollars to help arts programs in public schools...in New York, according to the LA Times.

When the state legislature and Governor Schwarzenegger signed off on this year's budget, it depleted transportation funding to countys and citys. That means transportation funds for city hall's transit lines will soon start operating in the red. We're talking about a $200 million yearly deficit. "How big is the deficit?" Damien Newton at Streetsblog asks. "It's so large that if the city cut every DASH, Commuter Express and charter bus route, the city would still have a transportation deficit in the coming years." Ouch. Yesterday, we found that DASH transfers will be eliminated beginning in April. Start saving those quarters!

The Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act (get it? The FLAME Act) passed this morning in the House of Representatives. If passed and signed by the Senate and President Barack Obama, the measure would create a reserve account that the Forest Service and Department of Interior could tap if they exhaust their firefighting budgets. This would prevent the annual practice of taking money away from other vital programs, such as watershed restoration and global warming research, and services in order to fund wildfire suppression.