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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2003
Volume 2, Issue 296
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
FANTASY 5 34, 5, 29, 36, 24 DAILY 3 Afternoon picks: 9, 2, 2 Evening picks: 8, 5, 9
DAILY DERBY 1st Place: 11, Money Bags 2nd Place: 6, Whirl Win 3rd Place: 5, California Classic
Race Time: 1:43.21
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by Chuck Shepard
Former Kansas City Royals coach Tom Gamboa filed a lawsuit in September against a fan who attacked him during a September 2002 baseball game in Chicago, and also against the ballpark’s (U.S. Cellular Field’s) security firm and its concessionaire. (However, several days after the initial attack, Gamboa had told the Associated Press, “The fault is with the two people (the fan and his minor son) who did it. I’m not one who looks to (spread) blame. It’s nobody’s fault but the two idiots who did it.”)
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“So many beautiful women and so little time.” — John Barrymore
INDEX Horoscopes Gemini, say ‘yes’ to Cancer . . . . . . .2
Local Surf’s up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Opinion A living hell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
State A roundup of the fires . . . . . . . . . . .7
Real Estate Advice for landlords . . . . . . . . . . . .9
National Goat meat on demand . . . . . . . . .12
People in the News Nelly gets ripped off in Vegas . . .20
Community voices on homeless issue By Daily Press staff
Dozens of people came to City Hall Tuesday night, waiting to be heard by their elected officials on what they believe should be done about the growing homeless population in Santa Monica. Every year, the Santa Monica City Council reviews an annual report that analyzes its social services programs geared to getting the homeless off the streets. This past year, City Hall contributed $1.8 million to the programs, but much more has been spent dealing with vagrants and their anti-social behaviors. It has become such a serious issue for business owners and residents that they have listed it as their No. 1 concern for five years in a row, according to a city survey. And each year, hundreds of people march in front of the City Council and lodge their complaints. But City Council members don’t apologize for their compassion, nor do most people expect them to. However, many believe the programs put in place aren’t effectively addressing the problem. Rather, the programs designed to help those people down on their luck are attracting John Wood/Daily Press more homeless here, some argue. (Clockwise from top) Homeless residents Mc Farland and Elaine Timothy; area resiDespite that the contentious issue is residents Dudley Cowan and Heidi Plotkin; Santa Monica merchants Roman Gastelum dents’ top concern living in Santa Monica, the and John Chang; and tourists Ab Zagt and John MIller, offer their opinions on the public hearing on the annual report was homeless population in Santa Monica (see page 6). Their comments are in the order See OPINIONS, page 6 of their photos.
Edison Elementary fails to make the grade
One child was left behind BY JAMIE WETHERBE Special to the Daily Press
A Santa Monica elementary school has failed a new federal program for lack of participation. Edison Language Academy, a dual-language elementary school — where courses are taught in both Spanish and English — failed this year to meet new federal standards by one-tenth of 1 percent. As a result, Edison could face severe budget problems if federal funding is cut off. Under the Bush administration’s new law “No Child Left Behind,” all public schools must adopt grade-level standards — which increase each year — and evaluate student progress through annual standardized tests. If schools fail to make the grade two years in a row, federal funding may be pulled, officials said. Schools are evaluated based on education and participation. The law requires a 95 percent test participation rate among students in all categories, which are broken down based on ethnicity and income. If even one group fails, the entire school fails — as was the case with Edison. While Edison met or surpassed proficiency criteria in both math and English in all categories, the school failed to meet the participa-
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“It wasn’t a lack of education but a lack of participation.” — FRANK KOSA Parent
tion requirement — by one student. Edison’s missing student fell under the English-language learner group, giving that subgroup a participation rate of 94.9 percent. And the federal government didn’t round up.
“Ironic since we use rounding skills in the math classes,” said Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy. He added that the federal program, passed in 2001, needs a “dramatic and substantial” rewrite. The federal program is a funding initiative designed to pump billions of additional dollars into public schools, so that by 2014, all students demonstrate 100 percent proficiency in math and language arts. And despite that SMMUSD is situated in one of the most affluent communities in See EDISON, page 5
Jury awards lawyer $146K in fees BY JOHN WOOD Daily Press Staff Writer
In less than two hours of deliberations, a Santa Monica jury on Tuesday awarded a local lawyer $146,000 for representing a Malibu property owner for six years. Jurors agreed unanimously that Orlando Aliberti, 84, owes Richard Grimwade $146,284.94 for representing Aliberti in a drawn-out insurance dispute following the
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1993 fires in Malibu. “The documents spoke for themselves,” said juror John MacNeil, 68, a land surveyor in Topanga Canyon. MacNeil said Grimwade laid out a clear and concise case for why he was owed the money, and said Aliberti’s memory lapses worked against him. “The only contention was (whether) to cut the fee down to a certain amount, but we had See VERDICT, page 5
BACK OR UNFILED TAXES? ALL FORMS • ALL TYPES • ALL STATES SAMUEL B. MOSES, CPA
(310) 395-9922 429 Santa Monica Blvd. Ste. 710 Santa Monica 90401