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[L554]Los Angeles New Restaurants

by Matthew Paolini, Mat

Along with New York City and Chicago, Los Angeles is one of several cities in the Untied States to meet the definition of of an "alpha world city", a concept popularized by England's Loughborough University that is used to designate strategic geographic locales in a world characterized more and more by globalization. The Loughborough scale further classifies the planet's leading cities as alpha, beta or gamma world cities, depending on how well a particular metropolis meets certain general characteristics.

With twelve points each, New York City, London and Tokyo are the undisputed point leaders in what is really a two-tier classification system within the overall "alpha world city" category. Within the alpha group, Los Angeles is a second tier designate that meets ten of the twelve characteristics ascribed by Loughborough University to the world's leading cities.

Chief among the twelve characteristics is name recognition. Essentially, a city's name must be so much "bigger than life" that the mere mention of its name transcends all geographical boundaries. Although many cities around the world share the same name, it is universally understood that a reference to Paris, London or New York means a specific city in France, the United Kingdom or the United States. The same can be said of Los Angeles, or L.A., which is universally recognized as a bustling metropolis and cultural center on the west coast of the United States.

Here's a look at several other characteristics on the Loughborough University list that help qualify the City of Los Angeles as an alpha world city:

- An alpha world city is a home to many residents and will have a fairly large population. With an estimated population of 3.8 million (according to estimates made in 2006 by the U.S. Census Bureau), Los Angeles is the second largest city in the United States.

- An alpha world city is a transportation nexus, usually with an important international airport used as a hub by a number of international air carriers. Los Angeles International Airport, or LAX, is the world's fifth busiest commercial airport. LAX serves nearly ninety domestic and seventy international destinations and is considered a gateway to destinations throughout Asia and Oceania.

- An alpha world city is also a sports nexus. Here, too, Los Angeles can claim a leadership role with major league baseball and basketball teams. On the international stage, Los Angeles has twice hosted the Summer Olympic Games, once in 1932 and once in 1984. A spin-off of the 1984 Games was the Los Angeles Marathon, which has hosted international athletes annually since 1986.

These are only three of a dozen characteristics that define an alpha world city according to the Loughborough University scale. Los Angeles scores ten of twelve points on this scale, making it one of the planet's most influential and important cities.

Currently, the Los Angeles schools have $20 billion in construction and renovation projects for Los Angeles schools' facilities underway or planned. Unfortunately, the Los Angeles schools' officials expect a funding shortfall from known resources and are looking to the state legislature for a solution.

According to Los Angeles schools' chief facilities executive, Guy Mehula, the Los Angeles schools have identified all but approximately $1.6 billion in funding sources for the building projects. There is enough money to complete construction already in progress, but not for the planned future construction of projected needs for the Los Angeles schools in 2009 and 2010.

The Los Angeles schools have hit a brick wall with the state funding guidelines, which use exaggerated long-term enrollment trends for eligibility requirements. Since the Los Angeles schools' enrollment is projected to continue to decline in future years, they are ineligible for hundreds of millions of dollars in school construction funding from the state.

Though the Los Angeles schools believe the formula is unfair, state officials contend that the Los Angeles schools should have built needed facilities while they were in a growth cycle and that formulas used in other state funding programs have benefited the Los Angeles schools. Kathy Hicks, chief of program services for the state Office of Public School Construction, stated that if the Los Angeles schools had their construction projects ready back when they were in a growth cycle, they would have had the funding at that time.

In November 2006, however, the voters approved $43 billion in bonds. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger plans another $29 billion in general obligation bonds to be submitted to voters in 2008 and 2010, along with $14 billion in other bonds that do not require voter approval.

Under the governor's Strategic Growth Plan, there will be a $211 billion investment in the state's infrastructure over the next ten years. In 2008 and 2010, he plans to submit almost $12 billion in bonds for kindergarten through 12th grade education. The Los Angeles schools are aggressively campaigning to secure part of these funds.

The State Allocation Board, which distributes funds to the various school districts across the state, is reviewing a backlog of $318 million in construction and renovation projects. These are school district projects that already had been approved before the state ran out of previous funding. After the portion for schools of this new bond money is received, these previous projects have been reviewed, and disbursement to eligible projects within the backlog has been completed, the board then will approve new projects on a first-come, first-served basis for eligible districts. They generally approve about $102 million in new construction and $83 million in renovation projects each month, according to Hicks.

Unfortunately for the Los Angeles schools, they are ineligible for any further funding from the State Allocation Board, under the current funding guidelines. The Los Angeles schools are looking to the legislature to change the status quo on school construction funding to cover their needs in 2009 and 2010.

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Both Matthew Paolini & Patricia Hawke are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Matthew Paolini has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home, web development and Travel and Leisure. Matt Paolini is a senior researcher for CityBook.com, the family-safe , which carries an extensive directory on. Matthew Paolini's top article generates over 33100 views. to your Favourites.

Patricia Hawke has sinced written about articles on various topics from Education, Food And Drink and Education Toys. Patrica Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information please visit. Patricia Hawke's top article generates over 246000 views. to your Favourites.