Publisher’s Notebook

Michael Rosenthal

   Insurance hurts
   Insurance rate hikes are really beginning to hurt small businesses. Health Care, Workmen’s Compensation, General Liability have all risen dramatically in the past 18 months. I was with Farmers Insurance for over 20 years and never incurred a single liability claim. So what? They cancelled all contractor policies and forced me to hunt through a very small and rapacious crowd until I settled on a carrier for just $25,000 extra a year and an additional charge for every piece of paper. OUCH.
   My firm has not had a work comp claim in the past seven years. So what? Rates have exploded. Health insurance benefits being paid by small businesses are becoming a thing of the past. Rates continue to climb. The co-pays and the deductibles punish consumers’ pocketbooks. And insurance carrier profits continue to rise. Why in the heck do we as a country allow insurance carriers to take nearly 25 percent of our health care dollar?
  
   New Age Locust
   Someone has to legislate against unsolicited advertising e-mail. It has become a major pest, a new age plague of locust. AOL says 80 percent of its e-mail traffic is junk. We need some serious laws and enforcement to prevent this ever-enlarging deluge.
  
   Calling All Legislators
   And how about legislating against credit card companies charging 4.3 percent for 60 days and 23.5 percent if you miss a payment by two days. I thought the Unruh Act in California helped curb usury interest rates. And we need to legislate against breaking up area code 310 (that one is for you, Mr. Scheer), or at least I think we do.
  
   And Clean the Beaches
   While we are at it, how about cleaner beaches. The other day I was afraid to go barefoot through all the garbage out there, including cigarette butts, plastic, cans, plastic cans, styrofoam, food, et al.
  
   Wanted: A Landslide
   I would sure like to see this community win proposition S (educational parcel tax) by a landslide, like 82 percent - 18 percent. I’m not so sure it will prevail though, as already I see signs proclaiming that Prop S will cause rents to rise. The opposition, especially in Pico Neighborhood area seems pretty determined. We can only hope that ultimately people will see that education is the highest priority.
  
   What Happened?
   So what happened to the Virginia Avenue Park expansion and renovation? This is a long overdue and long-promised project. And what about the park promised at the east end of town in the Airport parking lot? I was really looking forward to the greening of that zone. I understand the old Main Street parking lot Ficus trees were transplanted somewhere out there, be nice to enjoy them in person again. Also the park would complement Santa Monica College’s move into the BAE building (stalled due to operating budget constraints at SMC) and give the community a collegiate park-like setting on our east end. I was also hoping 415 PCH would be restored by now and the Senior Center that houses Camera Obscura would finally get its long-promised rehab.
   Is the failure to perform on these programs a monetary issue or a failure of management at City Hall? The sewer and street projects seem to take priority.
  
   Empty Charges
   Looks like the Green Party is attempting a “Stalinist” purge with its recent harangue against Santa Monica City Councilmember Mike Feinstein. It was certainly no secret that the Green Party needed and wanted an office in Southern California. Feinstein, working under the constraints of a party without financial resources, was able to cobble his money, donations and other contributions to open the Pico Boulevard office. If you have been there, you have seen the donated furniture, the posters on the wall proclaiming Green Party values and the obvious office/meeting room set-up. It doesn’t remotely resemble a secret bachelor pad for Feinstein. Remarkable that he was able to work within the constraints of a party system that does not reward individual effort, but favors “consensus” in order to get the office established in the first place. Any one who knows Feinstein knows he is not in it for the money, so the suggestion of financial impropriety is a clunker.