In response to a civil Grand Jury report entitled “A Failure of Oversight”—and more than a year after the mess left behind by the collapse of the Lompoc Housing and Community Development Corporation (LHCDC) came to light—our City Council has promised to come up with a policy to keep such failures from happening in the future. It’s good to see the city finally take, at least partial, responsibility for the demise of LHCDC. But, this wasn’t just a financial disaster; it had human consequences. The city should go beyond crafting a policy for accountability and take active steps to reach out and assist those most affected by the mess LHCDC made of low-income housing in our community. At the very least, the city should: 1. Reach out, identify those affected, and listen to their needs. Their voices have been missing from this conversation. One such resident came forward at a City Council meeting, but was offered little support. 2. Prepare and disseminate information about resources and assistance opportunities with regard to low-income housing. If the city is partially responsible for what happened, then they are also, at least partially, responsible for making sure our commitment to those in need is kept and that those affected have a fighting chance to land on their feet. 3. Consider forming a Rental Housing Mediation Task Force Program—similar to the successful program in Santa Barbara—to help all Lompoc residents stay in their homes, especially in light of the spate of foreclosures in our community that often leave renters with little to no recourse.

Many children are finding themselves in homes without the bare necessities due to the unfortunate situation of living in single parent homes where the absent parent is not providing any support to the child -- even when there are support orders in place. The states are inconsistent in granting and enforcing child support orders, as a result the children suffer, the custodial parent has to work multiple jobs or long hours and the absent parent escapes financial responsibility without any penalty. Women are disporportionately impacted since they typically are the primary care givers/custodial parent. The laws must be enacted empowering the federal government to take control of the child support enforcement so that we are all subject to the same criteria irrespective of the state in which the children or parents live.

I would like to have a federal law regarding term limits for Congress. There are term limits for president and there should be the same for Congress so that new, progressive thinking could keep up with the times and the people.

I live on a busy avenue in Manhattan filled with all the predictable street noises you can imagine--and then some.The worst is the car alarms that go off 24/7, sometimes set off simply by a passing truck or motorcycle--with absolutely NO ONE to attend to them or pay attention, except me. Please add your vote to mine to force auto makers to discontinue these noxious devices as standard equpment on autos.

Republican Governors have threatened to block Medicaid coverage for qualified people in their states thru the ACA ("ObamaCare") plan when offered in 2014. Our petition seeks to hold those Governors AND Legislatures civilly and criminally responsible for all disabilities and/or deaths which could have been prevented by Medicaid coverage after 2014 in those states.

Control when high explosive fireworks can be used as celebration of July 4th. Since Michigan passed a law permitting these devices, the public abuse begins in late June for several months, often late at night. Unhealthy for seniors, small children and even animals. 911 is overwhelmed with calls about this problem.

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling: "I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election. Congressional Reform Act of 2011 1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office. 2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose. 3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do. 4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. 5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people. 6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. 7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women. Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The founding fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

The corruption, abuse and neglect our children receive at the hands of a system that was designed to help.

Veteran Denny's employees get booted out without notice. The chain closed after 25 years. All over a "lease issue". That's a nice way of saying they raised the rent.

Do not require voter I.D. In Pennsylvania. It's unfair to minorities, the poor and the old.

American Airlines prevented Bede, a teenager with Down syndrome, from flying first class. He and his family were forced to change planes and were seated in the last row of coach with a buffer of empty seats. This type of blatant discrimination is unacceptable.

Dunkin' Donuts is the largest coffee and baked goods chain in the world. In fact, the company sells more coffee than Starbucks. Each day the company serves an amazing 3 million people which leads to yearly sales of 4.7 million. The problem with this is that Dunkin' Donuts also has made the very dangerous and cheep corporate decision to serve all of their coffee in styrofoam cups. According to the Earth Research Foundation polystyrene also known as styrofoam is a petroleum-based plastic made from the styrene monomer.Styrene is classified as a possible human carcinogen by the EPA and by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). A voluntary compliance program has been adopted by industries using styrene. The US Department of Labor, Occupational Safety & Health Administration unsuccessfully (a federal court overturned the ruling in 1992) tried to limit the amount of worker exposure to styrene to 50 parts per million (ppm). According to the Styrene Information and Research Center (SIRC). Styrofoam contains many toxic chemicals which leach out of these products into the food that they contain (especially when heated in a microwave or when served with hot food or liquids, including piping hot coffee. These chemicals threaten human health and reproductive systems. There is extensive research in the endocrinological dangers associated with the chemicals found in polystyrene containers. These include increase in breast and testicular cancer. THE BRIGHT SIDE OF CHANGE- -Post-consumer recycled paper, bamboo, corn plastics, etc. are easily renewable resources. -All of these products biodegrade when composted. -Paper products can be recycled at most people's doorstep where community recycling is in place. -In 1995, 40% of all US paper was recycled, including 32.6 million tons of paper & paperboard. (EPA) -Every ton of 100% Post-consumer waste recycled paper products you buy saves: 12 trees 1,087 pounds of solid waste 1,560 kilowatts of energy (2 months of electric power required by the average US home) 1,196 gallons of water 1,976 lbs. of greenhouse gases (1,600 miles traveled in the average US car) 3 cubic yards of landfill space 9 pounds of HAPs, VOCs, and AOXs combined 390 gallons of oil