Community activist Andrew Garsten, who has helped TERA on many occasions, sent this out regarding the Community College Trustees:

Subject: VOTE for Los Angeles Community College Trustees, But First Ask Some Hard Questions I recently received an appeal from one of the Los Angeles Community College Trustees to get people to vote on March 3rd, and to get people to vote for a slate of incumbents. I got this letter because in the past, I have been a supporter of the members of the current board.

As a community activist that has (in part) brought opportunity, funds, and campaigned on behalf of Los Angeles City College, I need to register my caution and ask you to VOTE, but not before you ask of the incumbents and opponents some serious questions.

The incumbent Board Trustees of the Community College District, who in the past supported our efforts to bring a satellite campus to the former Van de Kamp's Bakery Building, have been directly responsible for allowing this project, that was fully funded ($70 million in bond and other funds that the community supported), that was on budget and on time, to slip dramatically.

• The project has slipped from an opening date of Fall 2006, to 2009? Later?

• A campus that included adaptively reusing the original historic office building, plus three beautiful new buildings designed by renowned architect David Ehrlich, now will only get two new buildings, with the possibility of a severely compromised Ehrlich design. The third building will most likely need to be developed later with fund raising.

• Over $20 million wasted due to a wavering Board of Trustees caught in the internal politics of fear waged by the bureaucrats and union leadership

The students of the Los Angele College District - our children, have been disserved; and we as taxpayer have been defrauded.

To make matters worse, this type of mismanagement has been rife with all of the major building projects that LACC Trustees have overseen, and that we as taxpayers have funded, mostly through bond measures.

Hardly anyone watches the Community Colleges. So when bad stuff happens, it's hard to get those involved to feel accountable. But now, it's election time. The day the bell tolls. Now is the time for us, the constituents, to make ourselves heard.

I suggest that we ask the incumbent trustees and their opponents some serious questions about fiscal responsibility. While we understand that they may rely on the unions to pay for their campaigns, need to work with the internal bureaucrats of the LACC system, and that they can and often due rely on staff when complicated decisions are being asked of them, that we expect for them to be courageous when needed. They need to remember to keep asking the same questions over and over:

"Are the students and the taxpayers being served in the best way possible?"

We (the community activists) did not let all this happen without a good fight. To say that we have been disheartened and disgusted is an understatement. There is no one in Los Angeles more sad to have to bring this report to you. And yes, we are still engaged to bring our satellite campus to life.

Please DO VOTE, but before you do, ask the incumbents Mona, Warren, Georgia, and Sylvia and their opponents, "How they will do better?"

Sincerely:

andrew garsten, Spokesperson for the Coalition to Save Van de Kamp's (amongst many hats)

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The following letters came in regarding the strange noises being heard by Laurie de Nuccio and her friend. It appears that not only is it true that "They're Heeeere!" but "They're Everywhere!". My neighbor and friend Jessica Irvine wrote in reminding me of our experience with the steel plates on Colorado Blvd. several years ago and the strange noise they created in our neighborhood. I wouldn't have known what it was except I was out walking early in the morning when there wasn't much traffic and the strange noise created by cars and trucks running over the plates could clearly be heard. Thanks to everyone for writing in about this mystery.

Subject: re: noise

Hi I live on the same street as the woman who described the noise in her house. I hear the same noise, but it’s more like a low hum that comes and goes- I notice it when things are especially quiet.

Sara

Hi Michael -

I'm writing in reference to the sound heard by Laurie de Nuccio - I live just north of her, on Townsend, and every once in a while I used hear a humming, thrumming noise at night. Because we live in a large valley with smaller hills and valleys within it, sound travels strangely. We tend to hear more freeway noise than people who live right under the 134. Also, there is constant work being done on streets and sewers around here, and much of that work is done at night. Some people become sensitive to low frequency sound - they 'tune into' it, and then can just as suddenly 'tune out'. I suggest De Nuccio check out this page on 'The Taos Hum' http://amasci.com/hum/hum.html - and google 'low frequency hum' ... Lots of people from all over hear these sounds.

I Stoller

regarding the noise your reader was hearing. One thought of mine could be repairs by city employees on the sewer system. The sound resonates up through the sewer pipes. We live on 43 and York and could hear the pounding while they worked on Eagle Rock Blvd. some months ago. good luck in uncovering what it may be!

Margaret

Hi Michael -

I remember that a few years ago, I experienced the same thing - hearing an inexplicable low frequency noise that drove me crazy. I asked around, and although others were vaguely aware, it wasn't bad to them. In any case, after several months (and I think you actually pointed me in the right direction), I figured out that the road construction was the culprit - there were several metal plates over the road, and as trucks or other large vehicles drove over the plates, it caused them to ring out. As the sound echoed and bounced around the hills, it became a low-intensity hum that made me nuts. Anyway, perhaps this is a possibility for what is bothering the person who wrote you the recent letter. Feel free to pass this suggestion along!

Thanks! Jessica Irvine

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Subject: Will we have LAUSD candidate event?

Is TERA planning anything for the two candidates that seek to replace David Tokofsky on school board?

I know virtually nobody cares about the candidates for Community College Board (sigh), but it would be nice if TERA could at least remind folks not to stop voting after they select the councilmember and school board member.

There are four seats on the LACCD Board of Trustees on March 6, also).

Long time TERA Member Mona Field

Please see the President's Message above.