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Lieu wants billions restored to ‘vitally important’ education

by Robb Fulcher

New state Assemblyman Ted Lieu said he will push to restore lost funding to education, offer incentives for energy efficient buildings and trim the governor’s “excessive” transportation bond proposal, in a post-election address last week.

“During my campaign I said that we needed to give back the billions of dollars borrowed from our schools. I repeat that call today,” Lieu told the El Segundo Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday morning. “And when I go to Sacramento, I will fight to make sure we have a budget that increases funding to our schools.”

Lieu, 36, a former Torrance councilman, was elected in September to finish the Assembly term of fellow Democrat Mike Gordon, who died in office after a battle with cancer. Lieu’s Assembly district stretches from West Los Angles south through the beach cities to Palos Verdes.

“The quality of the educational system affects all of us,” Lieu said. “If the educational system goes down, your property values will go down. Depending on which study is used, California ranks anywhere between 40th and 44th in terms of per pupil funding among the 50 states. That is unacceptable.”

Lieu said education is “vitally important to business,” and California “needs to do more to invest in our schools and to actively promote math and sciences to our students.”

He lauded inventions “directly or indirectly developed” in the Assembly district such as the commercial satellite and a global positioning system first developed at Los Angeles Air Force Base and the “industrial complex surrounding the base.”

He said the idea for the microwave oven came from a Raytheon employee who noticed that chocolate was melting in his pocket when he stood in front of a microwave tube.

“I wonder what else was melting,” Lieu quipped.

“The companies in this district were able to innovate and create life-changing products because they had a well-educated workforce to draw upon,” Lieu said. “But today many of our companies are having problems finding qualified candidates for their positions.”

He quoted Microsoft founder Bill Gates as saying, “In math and science our fourth graders are among the top students in the world. By eighth grade, they're in the middle of the pack. By 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations.”

‘Crumbling’ infrastructure

Lieu said transportation should be a non-partisan issue, adding, “There are no such things as a Democratic or Republican highway, or a Democratic or Republican road.”

He said the state’s “transportation infrastructure is crumbling” and called for more highway repairs, carpool lanes, left turn signals on surface streets and better synchronization of stoplights.

Lieu said he would work to help give cities control of their stretches of surface streets currently controlled by Caltrans, and give the cities funding to maintain those stretches.

“I believe this will result in much better synchronization of our traffic signals,” Lieu said. He cited busy Hawthorne Boulevard where it runs through Torrance.

“Torrance does not control Hawthorne, so every time Caltrans changes the traffic signalization it messes up the rest of the city,” Lieu said.

Lieu said it is “about time” to extend the Metro Green Line train into LAX as originally planned, and extend an electric-powered light rail line from the airport and connect it with Santa Monica.

He said the state “needs to pass a transportation bond…However, I believe that the governor’s recent proposal for a $50 billion transportation bond is excessive. But I do look forward to working with the governor and other legislators to craft a transportation bond that makes sense and is within our current budgetary constraints.”

The green light

Lieu called upon businesses and environmentalists to “find common ground” on the environment, and he praised energy-efficient “green buildings” such as an $87 million, 624,000-square-foot structure built for Toyota Motor Sales in Torrance.

“Toyota built one of the largest green-certified buildings in America right here in this district. And they did it without any governmental incentives. I believe if the state gave incentives to private entities, we will significantly increase the number of green buildings in California,” Lieu said.

“Buildings account for 30 percent of all energy use. By building a more energy efficient building, not only will we be helping the environment, but we will also be alleviating any potential future power crisis in California,” Lieu said. He likened the buildings to hybrid cars that cost more up front but “save money or at least break even” in the long run.

“I believe people will pay slightly more up front to live or work in green buildings,” he said. “And unlike hybrid cars, buildings can last 20, 40, 60 years. The energy savings over that time would be monumental.”

He praised Gov. Schwarzenegger’s acknowledgement of the problem of global warming, and praised a conservation effort by El Segundo’s Chevron corporation to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

“Many corporations have now recognized the dangers of global warming. Let me commend the Chevron corporation for being one of the first to do so,” Lieu said.

During his Assembly campaign Lieu noted that Chevron’s El Segundo plant was among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s top 10 polluters in the nation, and said that was “not acceptable.”

In his speech Lieu also praised auto companies such as Honda, Toyota, and Ford for producing hybrid cars. ER