Tuesday, February 9, 1999
Thumbs up/thumbs down
Belmont school site contaminated
Thumbs down to Los Angeles Unified School District officials for
allowing construction to begin at the Belmont Learning Complex
despite knowing for five years that the environmental study of the
site was inadequate.
The 24-acre plot of land (the former site of an oil field) was
purchased in 1994 for $30 million and is scheduled to become a
technologically-advanced high school. Five years ago, district
staff were alerted by a memo which stated that the environmental
study of the Belmont plot was below district standards.
The district officials’ decision to deal with any toxic hazards
as they arose during construction is dangerous and costly. The new
environmental study, which will not be below district standards,
will cost $700,000, and construction delays have led to claims
filed by the builder that add up to $3.4 million.
The entire project has been flawed from the beginning. The
district decided to spend millions of dollars to make one advanced
school instead of giving money to many schools that are in
desperate need of repairs and updated technology. Additionally,
when district officials knowingly relied on an inadequate
environmental study, their actions were reckless and wrong.
City council ties up AIDS money
Thumbs down to the Los Angeles City Council, for sitting on some
$17 million in federal funds allocated for housing poor people with
AIDS. Unlike the school board, the city council decided to wait for
a study that assessed the housing needs of poor people with AIDS
before spending the federal money that has accumulated since the
start of the project.
While the city’s decision to conduct a study before doling out
money is prudent, council members should have acted before the
federal funds were allocated.
People infected with AIDS, especially those unable to afford
housing due in large part to high medical costs, do not have the
time to be tied up in a bureaucratic study. In fact, a governmental
study is sure to cost a substantial amount of money, when the funds
would be better spent on those sick with AIDS.
While recent breakthroughs in treatment may promise longer lives
for those living with HIV/AIDS, those who are sick with any
terminal disease cannot wait for the council’s foot-dragging on the
issue.
The issue is simple: money was allocated to house poor people
with AIDS. If that was what was determined, the council should
promptly follow through with their plans.
Education code furthers gay rights
Thumbs up to Santa Monica Assemblywoman Sheila Keuhl and her
reintroduction of bill AB-222, which would include sexual
orientation in the California Education Code. The code currently
states that every student has the right to educational opportunity
regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, sex or economic
status.
The proposition to include sexual orientation in the code has
been twice defeated in previous assemblies. Gov. Gray Davis has
said that he would sign the bill to law if it passed in the
assembly.
Such inclusion in civil rights is long overdue for members of
the gay community, one of the last remaining groups to be afforded
various civil liberties in our state.
A national survey states that in 1998 there was a 34 percent
increase in violence against homosexuals. Statistics such as these
prove that the gay community has gone unprotected, and often,
unincluded, in legislation for far too long. It’s about time that
children in California schools know that no matter what their
sexual preference may be, their rights will be protected.
Thumbs up/Thumbs down represents the majority opinion of the
Daily Bruin Editorial Board. Send suggestions and/or comments to
[email protected].
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