Community Briefs

CALPIRG lobbies for emissions reduction

Representatives from the California Public Interest Research
Group are lobbying Gov. Gray Davis to support a Zero Emission
Vehicle Program which requires 10 percent of new cars sold by 2003
to be either zero or low emission.

CALPRIG members, representatives from The Toyota Corporation,
the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the American Lung
Association and private owners displayed electric vehicles in
Westwood Plaza Dec. 1 as part of a move to change
California’s car culture from gas to alternative energy
vehicles. But they are facing opposition from both the automobile
and oil industries who argue that the 10 percent standard is too
high.

David Tribble, an Engineer of Electric Transportation for the
LADWP, said that the department is beginning to see savings having
already converted 115 of 600 of the company’s vehicles from
gas to electric.

The ALA is supporting the 10 percent requirement because they
attribute high incidences of asthma among children, in part, to
“unhealthful levels of ozone from air pollution,”
according to a statement.

Davis is expected to act on the ZEV program in January.

UCLA pediatrician honored for service

The Alliance for Children’s Rights recently honored UCLA
pediatrician Dr. Robert F. Morris with its first 2000 Francis M.
Wheat Community Service Award for his commitment and service to
children in Los Angeles.

The Alliance for Children’s Rights provides free legal
representation and social services referrals to children in
poverty. The Francis M. Wheat Community Services Award is named
after The Alliance’s founder, Frank Wheat, who dedicated his
life to grass-roots efforts that directly affected the lives of
children in need.

Through The Alliance’s Health Care Partnership for
Children ““ which matches medically needy children with
physicians willing to provide them with continuous quality care
““ Morris has offered primary medical care to all the children
at the Boys Town of L.A. group foster home. Morris, UCLA professor
of pediatrics and associate director of UCLA’s Adolescent
Medicine Program at the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA,
was recognized for his long-time commitment to providing care to
disadvantaged children and adolescents.

Teachers hint at strike after talks stall

The possibility of a teachers’ strike looms after contract
talks between the union representing 330 instructors and the
Beverly Hills school district collapsed this week.

A state mediator has been called to restart talks, but both
sides remain far apart. Teachers are seeking an immediate 11
percent raise, and the district is offering a 4 percent increase,
noting a projected $219,000 school budget deficit.

Steve Taylor, Beverly Hills Education Association president,
said teachers are preparing to conduct informational picketing and
a strike could follow.

“I don’t want to go on record saying it will happen,
but we are taking the first steps toward that ultimate end,”
Taylor told the Los Angeles Times for Saturday editions. The
union’s only other strike was for three weeks in 1989.

The school district’s negotiator, John Tennant, is leaving
his post as assistant superintendent this month to take a job with
a Merced school district.

Beverly Hills district officials, meanwhile, are awaiting an
independent financial audit due next week that could show the
district is in even worse financial shape than indicated by this
year’s projected deficit.

Compiled from Daily Bruin Staff and Wire reports.