President’s Message

President’s Message by Bill Wynn, April 2013

Spring is upon us. Youth, chance and motion come to mind. There is a limbering up of the muscles, freshly awoken from cold inactivity. There is a yawn, a clearing of the head as if a coma is being emerged from, a burst of enthusiastic anticipation as to what will be. Perhaps naive but nonetheless, a feeling that things could be different this time around. Culver City Unified School District officials will soon begin the process of taking the pulse of the community to see if they are willing to pass a capital improvement bond to repair district facilities. The CCUSD is hiring a consultant to do a survey to gather information in order to gauge the interest of passing a bond measure. The school district has identified several facilities that need to be upgraded including the Robert Frost Auditorium and the football field at Culver City High School. In addition, several other buildings are also in need of repair, due to the age of the structures. On the State level, sequestration cuts will impact local colleges and universities, which will lose federal funding. Automatic federal spending cuts will begin soon and take millions from college financial aid programs nationwide, including West LA College. President Obama released a detailed report showing how the sequester will affect each state. According to the report, California schools will lose about $87.6 million in federal funding, putting some 1,210 teachers and aides out of work. Financial aid would no longer be available for 9,600 low- income college students, some 3,690 work-study jobs would be eliminated and 8,200 children would be without early education, according to the White House. The budget cuts were part of a deal made between the White House and Congress in 2011 on raising the national debt limit. Democrats were in favor of voting to raise the debt ceiling, but Republicans wanted spending cuts in return. Sequestration will end in 2021 and is projected to lower the deficit by $1.2 trillion. In the never-ending game of chicken, Republicans are threatening yet another budget showdown. They are adamant that whatever comes out of the ongoing sequester and deficit debates, all cuts must come from the spending side, including Medicare and Social Security. So the questions is, will things be different this time around?

President’s Message by Bill Wynn, March 2013

I cannot express my gratitude for your faith in me once again. I'm looking forward to serving a second term as President of the Club. There are many challenges that we have to face as a community and I hope that we can come together to make Culver City the place that we love to live in. The challenges are daunting as California braces for looming U.S. budget cuts. It is apparent to the White House and Congress that a potential fiscal crisis is inevitable unless the two parties agree to alternative ways to reduce budget deficits. Those cuts are imminent because a compromise does not seem possible. The battle lines over cuts that are scheduled to begin on March 1, known in budget talks as sequestration. In local news a downtown plot of land considered to be one of Culver City's cornerstones for new development is now on its way to clearing a legal hurdle that has been delaying the long awaited development which is known as Parcel B. Also Measure Y Tax Rate Hike takes effect April 1. As you will remember Culver City residents approved the .05 percent local sales tax increase in the November 2012 elections. I am always pleased when I see efforts that help our students improve academically. A recent study showed that Black Students in California have the highest dropout rate but not in Culver City. The study by the Education Trust-West reports California African American students demonstrate significant learning gaps that only widen with age, but those in CCUSD are doing well thanks to counseling support, a culture of expectation, and targeted action. We are getting ready for our local election of Community College Board of Trustees on March 5th. Don't forget our next Monthly meeting is March 13 and the meeting will be a Salute to Women's History Month. We trust we will see you soon.

President’s Message by Bill Wynn, February 2013

Where We're Going, Where We've Been When President Barack Obama took the oath of office on Monday, January 21, he was surrounded by an extraordinary legacy of 50- year civil rights milestones that helped make possible his first and second inauguration. It was fitting that the inaugural invocation was delivered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol by Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of civil rights hero Medgar Evers. After years of risking his life to end discrimination against Black Mississippians, Medgar Evers was killed by an assassin's bullet in the driveway of his home 50 years ago on June 12, 1963. Medgar Evers, ironically was killed just hours after President John F. Kennedy delivered a nationally televised speech in support of civil rights. President Kennedy, himself was assassinated only five months later, 50 years ago, on Nov. 22, 1963. President Obama took the oath of office holding a Bible belonging to another champion of civil rights and American Democracy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Fifty years ago, on Aug. 28, 1963, Dr. King inspired America and the world with his "I Have a Dream Speech" delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in front of more than 250,000 people during the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The March on Washington was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. Finally, President Obama was sworn in 50 years after one of the most horrific events of the civil rights era, the 1963 bombing of Birmingham, Ala.'s 16th Street Baptist Church, which resulted in the deaths of four little Black girls. The Birmingham church bombing galvanized the conscience of the nation and led many Whites to denounce racism and its brutal consequences. Fifty years later, America's first Black president has completed his second inauguration.