Pelosi supports Port of L.A. truck program
California is already know to be the place where businesses are located only if they have no choice. Cargo is now the same way. They only reason cargo moves through our ports is because there are no options. We are now in the second year of no growth in our ports (actually lower cargo movements), while industry seeks every alternative to the Ports of LA/LB. Why? costs. instable economic environment. Unstable Port management. Threat of higher costs with employee truckers. This article represents another politician whose only real concern about us is the paycheck she gets from the Teamsters who hope to win the lottery if the drivers are forced to become employees. Follow the money and you'll always find a better understanding of a politician's platform. Leave the trucking business alone! Mandate cleaner, safer standards and step back. Look what it has done to our automobile fleet! The didn't force auto drivers to be employees, but we're all driving cleaner, more fuel efficient cars than ever before. (May 16, 2008 | post #2)
On the Waterfront: Ports plan shift to LNG trucks to reap savings
Let's put some other facts into the LNG presentation: 1. trucks burn 1.8 gallons of LNG for every gallon of diesel they would normally burn. 2. the LNG engine cannot reach the environmental standards that are being rolled out next year for diesels (2010 standards) and there is no retrofit to make them as clean. 3. We, the people, subsidize LNG by $.50 gallon to make it economically competitive with diesel. (sounds like the ethenol story). 4. T Boone Pickens has invested heavily in the Southern California political machine to grease the track of mandating the LNG vehicle. 5. These trucks cannot leave the LA basin because of lack of fueling stations, and inability to pull loads effectively up the hills that surround our city. They cannot carry enough fuel for long distances. Therefore the resale value of these trucks will be limited by the market demands of a metro area such as LA. 6. The flagbearers who are investing in these trucks are doing so with grants. Not their own money. These trucks are currently $220,000 each, vs a diesel truck costing $80,000. For each one we the people help buy, we could have 3 new clean diesels replacing old dirty trucks. Let's measure things on a balanced scale. We need the media to help focus the picture we're getting, not be an advertisement for a yet to be proven fuel. (May 6, 2008 | post #1)
LBPD warns of increasingly violent robber
The crime issue will accelerate as we put pressure on employers and society about hiring the illegals while at the same time doing nothing to stop the flow or reverse the flow. If illegals come here and cannot make a living, they have two choices: return, or find alternate sources of income. We all know what they will do. Ergo, we have gang violence, thefts, drug sales, and other crimes that are primarily involving illegals. Let's pull our heads out of the sand and deal with the real issue in Southern California! (May 2, 2008 | post #30)
Dockworkers' action idles ports
For the record, there are 17000 drivers serving the port that were shut out of work yesterday, and the ILWU should be responsible for their pay. (Non or very few have anything to do with the Teamsters). Only 8000 of them enter the port more than 3 times/week, and these independent businessmen do NOT get paid (as the ILWU did) for this day off. I applaud the ILWU taking a stand, but let them do it with their wallets, not with everybody else's! If they were sincere, they would entertain claims from every driver that runs the port daily, and were prevented from working yesterday! (May 2, 2008 | post #2)
Dockworkers may ignore ban and walkout today
If, and when the Mexican Port is finished (2014 or later), it will first and foremost handle the cargo the gets loaded onto trains here for the midwest. That business adds the least amount of jobs to our workload here. The business climate here, the turmoil over environmental issues, and inability to expand the port capacity, more than just labor costs, is causing this diversion. If the Mexico diversion is a concern, then you should be VERY concerned about the cargo that this year has diverted away from LA to every other port in this nation. Jobs have already been exported to those ports, and will probably not return. Very few of the new ILWU members are working steadily now, and the overtime for existing workers is lower than its ever been. Don't worry about Mexico for a few years. Be very concerned about our jobs here NOW. We need a business climate that caters to those providing jobs. We have not had that for the past year, and we all are paying the price, including the ILWU. (don't forget that transportation and logistics is the largest and highest paying employment sector in Southern California) (May 1, 2008 | post #46)
Men attack, rob owner of L'Opera
Get used to it everyone. The PT makes it's money by selling advertising in the print version, the revenue of which is based on how many printed papers they sell. Every one of us posting reads the online version. It's one way of reducing our carbon footprint, but unless the PT finds a revenue trail from the online version, they will go away. They cannot sustain a Long Beach staff without a larger revenue base. It's called adapting to change. Every one of our employers have to deal with it in different ways. (May 1, 2008 | post #21)
Officers' $4.1 million 'Lobstergate' award upheld by L.A. judge
Scott, you are absolutely right on. Those that cost us taxpayers that money should be punished, both monetarily and with sanctions. If I was working for a corporation and had any part of a claim like this, I would not longer be working there, and would probably be unemployable. Why can't we hold our city officials to the same standard? (May 1, 2008 | post #6)
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