Saturday, January 16, 2010
More about Me
I'm planning to ask potential voters to look at this blog to find out more about me and my history. So, here is a brief summary of my life history, including employment:
Resident of the San Fernando Valley since November 15, 1955. Resided in Canoga Park until May, 1968. Since then in Area 4 of Woodland Hills, next to El Camino High School. Married until November 2007. Two daughters; one graduated from Canoga Park HS, the other from El Camino HS. Both graduated from UCLA.
Married from June 1950 until November 2007. Before moving to California, wife and I lived in New York 4 years and in Fayetteville, Arkansas one year.
Born in Michigan near Grand Rapids. BS from Michigan State 1944; Ph.D. U. Illinois 1951; major in Physics.
Employed one year at University of Arkansas as an assistant professor of physics.
Employed four years at Hudson Laboratories in Dobbs Ferry, NY as a Research Scientist; measured ambient noise in various parts of the Atlantic Ocean.
Employed from November, 1955 until January 1968 at North American Aviation, in the Atomics International and Rocketdyne divisions. At AI, worked on applications of radioactive materials and on reactor safety devices. Have a joint patent on a power reactor safety device.
Employed at the AiResearch Manufacturing Division in Los Angeles and Torrance from March, 1968 until retirement in 1989 as an instrumentation engineer.
Other activities include membership in several Democratic political clubs.
Enjoyments and hobbies: music, wood working, writing, reading, computer, walking, traveling.
Well, that's more than the 150 words the city clerk allows in the election statement. I will add more background later.
I don't know what issues will come to the neighborhood council that I hope to be elected to. At present a hot issue is the location of marijuana stores or cooperatives. Another neighborhood council is concerned about advertising trailers that are parked on main streets, quite often under signs that forbid parking trailers there.
I think an interesting and controversial issue is the location of day laborers who are seeking jobs. In Woodland Hills there is a group of them that wait near the Bank of America, near the corner of Fallbrook and Ventura. Nothing is done about them, as nearly as I can observe. No one complains; the area is not residential and the men who congregate there do not interfere with either bank customers or customers of the 7-11 Mini-mart next to the bank. Here are some suggestions:
(1) Provide a space where these men can meet and wait that will protect them from the weather, provide toilets, benches, and chairs, and staffed with volunteers who will keep a record of who is present each day and whether he or she obtains employment and with whom. This approach has been tried in a small town somewhere in Southern California.
(2) Have the police or sheriff pick up the men and take them to a place of temporary detention. Those who are in the country illegally are then turned over to the INS for prompt deportation. This approach is followed in at least one county in Arizona.
(3) Do nothing. Leave things as they are.
Of the three, my choice is (1). I think of the waiting place as like a union hiring hall, except that the contractors would choose the workers and not take the next worker on a waiting list.
So that interested persons can find out more about me, I will post other little articles about myself and what I would advocate if I were a member of the Woodland Hills Neighborhood Council.
Note: After publishing this post it occurred to me that if we adopted approach #1, the first shelter would be flooded with day workers and contractors from a large area. There would have to be a plan to build several shelters at the same time. An objection to that is that there would be no chance to try the approach on a small scale to see whether it works.
Resident of the San Fernando Valley since November 15, 1955. Resided in Canoga Park until May, 1968. Since then in Area 4 of Woodland Hills, next to El Camino High School. Married until November 2007. Two daughters; one graduated from Canoga Park HS, the other from El Camino HS. Both graduated from UCLA.
Married from June 1950 until November 2007. Before moving to California, wife and I lived in New York 4 years and in Fayetteville, Arkansas one year.
Born in Michigan near Grand Rapids. BS from Michigan State 1944; Ph.D. U. Illinois 1951; major in Physics.
Employed one year at University of Arkansas as an assistant professor of physics.
Employed four years at Hudson Laboratories in Dobbs Ferry, NY as a Research Scientist; measured ambient noise in various parts of the Atlantic Ocean.
Employed from November, 1955 until January 1968 at North American Aviation, in the Atomics International and Rocketdyne divisions. At AI, worked on applications of radioactive materials and on reactor safety devices. Have a joint patent on a power reactor safety device.
Employed at the AiResearch Manufacturing Division in Los Angeles and Torrance from March, 1968 until retirement in 1989 as an instrumentation engineer.
Other activities include membership in several Democratic political clubs.
Enjoyments and hobbies: music, wood working, writing, reading, computer, walking, traveling.
Well, that's more than the 150 words the city clerk allows in the election statement. I will add more background later.
I don't know what issues will come to the neighborhood council that I hope to be elected to. At present a hot issue is the location of marijuana stores or cooperatives. Another neighborhood council is concerned about advertising trailers that are parked on main streets, quite often under signs that forbid parking trailers there.
I think an interesting and controversial issue is the location of day laborers who are seeking jobs. In Woodland Hills there is a group of them that wait near the Bank of America, near the corner of Fallbrook and Ventura. Nothing is done about them, as nearly as I can observe. No one complains; the area is not residential and the men who congregate there do not interfere with either bank customers or customers of the 7-11 Mini-mart next to the bank. Here are some suggestions:
(1) Provide a space where these men can meet and wait that will protect them from the weather, provide toilets, benches, and chairs, and staffed with volunteers who will keep a record of who is present each day and whether he or she obtains employment and with whom. This approach has been tried in a small town somewhere in Southern California.
(2) Have the police or sheriff pick up the men and take them to a place of temporary detention. Those who are in the country illegally are then turned over to the INS for prompt deportation. This approach is followed in at least one county in Arizona.
(3) Do nothing. Leave things as they are.
Of the three, my choice is (1). I think of the waiting place as like a union hiring hall, except that the contractors would choose the workers and not take the next worker on a waiting list.
So that interested persons can find out more about me, I will post other little articles about myself and what I would advocate if I were a member of the Woodland Hills Neighborhood Council.
Note: After publishing this post it occurred to me that if we adopted approach #1, the first shelter would be flooded with day workers and contractors from a large area. There would have to be a plan to build several shelters at the same time. An objection to that is that there would be no chance to try the approach on a small scale to see whether it works.
