This past Saturday I commented on a scheduled march to take place in Baltimore demanding $1 billion dollars for their failing school system. What I did not hear in any of the comments in the article was a greater demand for fiscal responsibility for the money they already have. In other words, with access to already millions of dollars (That breaks down to roughly $11,000 per student), there is no reason why kids should have to attend broken down schools with old textbooks WHILE SALARIES OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS HAVE STAYED IN TACT!!!
Here in the Los Angeles area things are not much better. The recent situation involving the closure of King/Drew hospital is just another example of how millions and millions of dollars of taxpayer money combined with terrible management. Now get this, King/Drew hospital is supposed to be transferred over into the “capable” hands of the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. But according to this latest article, even they are having some trouble handling money.
(latimes.com) A federal lawsuit filed this week by an employee of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center alleges that managers there bought hundreds of high-end home improvement and personal items with hospital funds  including brass and crystal faucet fixtures, chef-quality knives, stopwatches and a 94-gallon fish pond  and that executives retaliated against him when he tried to expose the theft.
The complaint contends that the purchases  some dating back to 1998  were approved by hospital Chief Executive Tecla A. Mickoseff. It comes on the eve of a planned management transfer of the troubled Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in South Los Angeles to Harbor, another county hospital near Torrance. King/Drew failed a critical inspection last month that will mean the loss of $200 million in federal funds by Dec. 1.
And the hospital acknowleges it…sorta…
“Hospital officials acknowledged Friday that some employees were released or disciplined for breaking purchasing rules and that financial safeguards were tightened as a result.”
Again, just like with King/Drew, this hospital is also located in a predominately Black and Hispanic community (Torrance).
The reason why I think this sort of thing happens in many low income Black/Hispanic communities is because of the fact that administrators (School, hospital, government) know that typically folks in these areas will not ask them probing questions on fiscal issues–and hold them to it. All an administrator has to do is claim that he/she is not getting enough money from the State of Federal level due to rrrrrraaaacism and the unfortunate sheeple just follow along. This is very unfortunate, but it happens.
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