Begley Adds Star Power to Low-Emission Taxi Proposal

The eco-crowd showed up in council chambers this week to praise a proposal that would give incentives to cab companies to add 120 low-emission taxis.

Personal testimonials about natural-gas vehicles abounded--one guy said he’d made it all the way to San Diego--but actor Ed Begley Jr. had everybody beat.

“I’ve driven to New York and back,” Begley said. All told, said the longtime environmentalist and Valley resident, he’d logged about 87,000 miles on natural gas.

Who would expect anything less from a guy who rigged his Studio City home with solar panels and who tools around town in an electric car? Begley, who is particularly keen on recycling, even once managed to stuff a week’s worth of household garbage into the glove compartment of his 1991 Volkswagen Rabbit (converted to an electric vehicle, of course.)

Still, the celebrity sighting sent a ripple of excitement through City Hall. Councilman Joel Wachs might have commanded the television cameras that morning by calling for an outside investigation of the LAPD Rampart scandal--but hey, Wachs didn’t star on “St. Elsewhere.”

“Ed Begley Jr.’s in the house,” one impressed politico announced to passersby as he left the chambers. Aides to Wachs and Councilman Hal Bernson stopped by to say hello to the bespectacled actor, who earned six Emmy nominations for his role as the klutzy Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the NBC series.

And Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, the sponsor of the taxi motion, made sure to highlight Begley’s support in a news release. The star power didn’t sway the council, however, which delayed a final vote.

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OLDER AND WISER: Michael Trujillo, last seen running for the City Council’s 7th District seat as a 19-year-old activist, is showing his years.

The Pierce College student has learned a thing or two about political organizing from none other than Alex Padilla, the 26-year-old wunderkind who won last year’s race, in part by appealing to young voters.

Now Trujillo, a former member of the city’s Commission on Children, Youth and Their Families, has founded a political action committee with the ambitious goal of banishing apathy among Generation X youth. The group, which promises to be “the voice and light for the youth of this city,” met for the first time Monday in Pacoima.

“We going to be registering thousands of young people,” Trujillo said. “We plan on speaking at every high school. We will endorse candidates, and fill their campaigns with dozens of volunteers.”

Trujillo readily acknowledges the mark Padilla’s campaign left on him. After dropping out of the race early on, Trujillo joined the campaign of Corinne Sanchez, director of a Valley social services agency. He now says Sanchez’s field organization fell short of Padilla’s determined push to reach high school and college students.

“When you lose, you learn a lot,” Trujillo said. “Alex Padilla is the perfect example of how to engage young people and excite young people. But it’s not just about being a 26-year-old candidate. Who’s to say a 50-year-old candidate can’t engage young people?”

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LESSONS LEARNED: One lesson Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar) learned in school is that students need more books.

Cardenas says he remembers getting textbooks with his older sister’s name in them when he was a student at San Fernando High School 20 years ago--and she was 15 years older.

“At the time I would think that is kind of cute,” Cardenas said Wednesday. “But when you look back at it, you think that is appalling.”

Now Cardenas and Assemblywoman Nell Soto (D-Pomona) have crafted a proposition on the March 7 ballot that would require that some lottery revenues be used for purchasing books and classroom materials.

Some portion of the pool of lottery money already goes to books, as well as to other educational expenses such as teacher salaries, facilities and other school costs. But Cardenas believes the current amount is not enough.

Cardenas said children still don’t have books or adequate school supplies.

The proposition would not affect the total dollar amount of money going to education; rather, it would redistribute it. Specifically, school districts would get the first $800 million in lottery money to use at their discretion the way they do now--for teacher salaries, facilities, or whatever they wished--but if the proposition passes, 50 cents of each additional dollar would be earmarked for books and classroom materials.

“It’s a good way to increase expenditures on books and not increase tax dollars,” Cardenas said Wednesday.

The proposition is supported by Gov. Gray Davis, as well as the California Chamber of Commerce, the Employees International Union Local 660, the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs, and the Greater San Fernando Chamber of Commerce, who say the initiative would provide a steady flow of funding for books.

The Assn. of California School Administrators, the California School Board Assn., and the Los Angeles County Board of Education all oppose it.

Though the school groups agree students need books, they say the initiative will take away local control from spending decisions.

“The district has already received those funds,” said Dale Martin, a spokeswoman for the California Teachers Assn., which opposes the proposition. “They have the discretion to use them for the best needs of students. They believe this initiative would take that discretion away.”

Cardenas rejects that.

“The vast majority of the funds will always be at [local districts’] discretion,” Cardenas said. “But it’s been 14 years now, and we haven’t seen an improvement in the textbook situation.”

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ALL’S FAIR: John Hisserich, a Democratic candidate in the 43rd Assembly District who has worked as a public health administrator at USC for 28 years, said one of his former students may have trouble deciding who to vote for March 7.

Rival Paul Krekorian’s fiancee took Hisserich’s public health class as a pharmacy student at the university, and thought it was swell.

Will Tamar Karamanoukian remain loyal to her beloved at the polls?

“We’re debating that,” Hisserich said Wednesday. “She said if he weren’t in the race, she would vote for me.”

That sounds like a no, but Hisserich holds out hope.

“Who knows what will happen in the privacy of that booth?” Hisserich said. “She said she liked my class. . . . “