Unhappy Labor Day

Jones: who had his back?

As if high unemployment, an economically depressed state and a shrunken stock market didn’t turn your Labor Day weekend into a downer, look no further than Saturday night’s resignation of Green Jobs icon Van Jones from President Obama’s Council on Environmental Quality.

Van is one of the most charismatic and outspoken speakers I’ve ever seen.  He has seized on the idea to transform the American civil rights movement into a green jobs movement through his extraordinary work at the Ella Baker Center and Green for All.  His reward for this leadership was an appointment to CEQ to be the administration’s public voice on its green jobs push.  Van’s efforts on environmental protection and job creation should be celebrated on Labor Day. And I’m disappointed that the Obama administration didn’t appear to have Van’s back during the successful barrage from the right for events that occurred long before his appointment.

Stormwater Redux

Clearer minds at L.A. City Hall prevailed Monday on the issue of raising stormwater fees. The city chose to develop a game plan for passing the fee rather than rushing it to the ballot.

Now the city can focus on passing the long-awaited Water Quality Plan, the blueprint for cleaning up local polluted waters. In addition, the city can use the plan to educate the public on the stormwater pollution problems and develop support for the initiative.

The ballot should be sent to property owners only when the public understands the problems and solutions, and when there is strong city leadership on a well- crafted campaign.  A new poll to determine the level of public support for an increase is needed ASAP.

The city should use the next two to three months to move forward, not use the recent public outcry about a poorly planned fee-increase as a reason to kill the needed hike.

Again, without additional funds, the chances of the city making our rivers, beaches and bays safe for people and aquatic life is zero.