Thursday funny

Because why does the funny always have to be reserved for Fridays?

If you are not familiar with the OG blog in Alameda, Island Life written by Owen Mould, it’s time you gave it a read see.   It is updated weekly and doesn’t necessarily concentrate on Alameda all the time, but sometimes there are the occasional gems that shouldn’t be missed. 

One of those gems can be located under the T-Shirt catalogue. The first is located on page 25 of the reader which shows an aeriel view of Alameda with the tagline:

Alameda: the CA Island that thinks it is a town located somewhere in the midwest.

I found it utterly amusing.   The next funny is on page 26 of the reader, another aerial view of Alameda but this time labeled as different Lord of the Rings locations.   For example Alameda is Numenor of Old, the Chuck Corica Golf Course is Fangorn of Corica, and San Francisco is Mordor.

And the final funny comes courtsey of Stop, Drop, and Roll which debunks yet another dubious claim  and subsequent pompous request for a hearing to investigate the “non-compliance”* shouted from the hilltops of Mt. Alameda Daily News.  

So here’s the cliff notes version for those that don’t want to get too in-depth in the muddle but yet want to hear the punchline anyway.   Letter Writer to ADN (LWA) makes claim that Alameda Unified School District has not complied with the requirement in the MOU between the City and AUSD to provide annual reports regarding the District Housing Fund (monies passed through from redevelopment areas).   Gets correspondance back from AUSD saying that since no monies have been disbursed to the AUSD, because they have not requested said disbursement, no reports are required.   LWA says, nuh uh, AUSD is too stupid to understand that they HAVE to provide annual reports and makes little red arrow notation marks (starts on p. 6 of the reader) to visually show the district how bad their reading comprehension is.   Check out Section 3g which is also red arrow highlighted (p. 8 of the reader) which says:

Within five (5) months after the end of each fiscal year in which monies have been disbursed from the District Housing Fund to the District, the District shall provide the CIC with a report on the status and use of the District Housing Fund monies disbursed to the District in compliance with the applicable requirements of Section 33080.4 of the Community Redevelopment Law…

Yes, fellow readers, your eyes do not deceive you, nor is your reading comprehension failing you, it does say “within five (5) months after the end of each fiscal year in which monies have been disbursed…the District shall provide the CIC with a report on the status and use of the District Housing Fund monies…”  What this says to me is that if and when money is disbursed, then the need for reports is triggered or in simpler terms: “no money, no report.”   And as reported by SDR, Leslie Little, director of Development Services for the city backs up this interpretation by AUSD, and everyone else who reads the MOU, by saying:

…Since there have been no disbursements to the District from the District Housing Fund, there has been no information about expenditures and unit production for AUSD to report. Therefore, the requirement that the District prepare a report in accordance with the provisions of Section VII of the Settlement Agreement has not been applicable so far.

Yet LWA presses on with a demand that the School Board hold a hearing on this matter.   So for folks wondering what it is that the School Administration does, here is a perfect example of one of the many things that they have to do that isn’t visible to the public eye.  Deal with “complaints” like this that simply just don’t go away even when there has been a clarification that would have been perfectly adequate to the majority of people.   How many hours of work (and therefore your tax dollars) have been eaten up by various people in AUSD administration dealing with this non-issue?

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* Full text captured for your archival pleasure:

Monday, April 7, 2008

David Howard Says AUSD is Required to Annually Report on Money Set Aside for Low Cost Housing for Their Employees

Don,

I have received an update from the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) on my public records request. It looks to me that AUSD is mis-interpreting the 1991 CIC-AUSD agreement to mean that no annual reports are required, even though a very plain language reading of the document indicates there are. See the agreement here: http://www.actionalameda.org/Media/1991-cic-ausd-agreement.pdfDon,
Section 1 of the 1991 CIC-AUSD agreement states:

“g. “Settlement Agreement” means the Settlement Agreement entered into between Clayton Guyton and Modessa Henderson and the City of Alameda executed by the City of Alameda on April 25, 1990, attached hereto as Exhibit A and incorporated herein by reference.”

Section 3 b. of the 1991 CIC-AUSD agreement states: “The District shall prepare an annual report on the District Housing Fund in accordance with the provisions of Section VII of the Settlement Agreement.”
It is clear that Section 3 b. refers to Section VII of the Guyton Settlement agreement, and not to Section VII of the 1991 CIC-AUSD agreement.

The school district is incorrectly interpreting Section 3 b. to refer to Section VII of the 1991 CIC-AUSD agreement, and using that as an explanation for having no annual reports to provide.

To be fair to the school district, I think what has happened is that this agreement was filed in 1991, and sets aside money for low-costing housing for AUSD employees, and for improving school facilities such as classrooms, and because the agreement specifies that the money is to be kept on the City of Alameda’s books - not the School District’s books - the current administration at AUSD had no idea this money was there, if not for my investigative work to uncover it. So there have been no annual reports prepared as the agreement requires and AUSD is left with no choice but to claim confusion over the intention of the language. The AUSD board needs to keep on top of both of these accounts - the District Housing Fund and the District Capital Outlay fund - and ensure proper reporting within AUSD administration and filing of said reports.

David Howard

And Request for School Board hearing:

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

David Howard Requests a Public Hearing By the School Board Regarding His Housing Fund Complaint

Dear School Board Members:

I am writing to request a hearing pursuant to a complaint I filed with AUSD on March 31, 2008. It seems there is no regular reporting or filing within AUSD on the District Housing Fund or the District Capital Outlay Fund, created in the 1991 CIC-AUSD agreement, and therefore, no institutional memory within AUSD of these accounts - it’s all kept on the City of Alameda’s books. AUSD is liable to lose track of - and lose - this money if there is no institutionalized reporting of it within AUSD administration.

I’ve attached my request for a hearing and supporting documentation, and you can also view it online here: www.actionalameda.org/Media/complaint-hearing-request-040708.pdf and I will fax it to the district office.

Sincerely,

David Howard