our west portal business papers are reporting a 20% decline in their business, cut by the slow west portal rail project. this combined with the closure of the southbound traffic on highway, is making access to these two very difficult this summer. we are trying to explore alternative transportation methods for visitors as well as employee very cat -- various types of signage, as well as discounts, some of which you have just heard. thankfully, we will be closing this fiscal year with a positive balance, and now, i have finished my report. commissioner buell: thank you. questions? i was going to ask one question first, and that was it is my recollection that the early months of this year were not as good, either due to bad weather. in aggregate, are we running behind? >> we are likely to disclose our fiscal year as well. we were 3.4% decline on attendance this fiscal year. in the aggregate, when people do come to the zoo, they are spending more, so thankfully, our per capita are up, and also saw a return of corporate giving and foundation support. commissioner buell: 90. >> is there any pub

we -- we were -- we were requested that we leave ins i have been chair at west portal, we were at west portal. we were asked to leave because there was programming going in this. >> programming. i guess -- >> our services were cut back at eureka because they were -- they were in competition with the service programming. mission rec. we attempted to provide services at jolie and because we are funded through -- through a portion -- apportionment through a.d.a. we didn't have the numbers after a three month commitment to maintain that section. >> there have been a variety of reasons, part with rec and park looking for fee for service operators. >> correct. >> i guess my first observation about that is -- this trend has been going on for a while. this isn't new to city college. but -- be that as it may, the question that i was getting at is the service you're roadwaying is that to serve a geographic area or anybody in the city. what is the practical experience of that? >> we primarily serve the neighborhood. many family dos walk and -- and come from the immediate neighborhood, although we

i did another series of town halls down in west portal to get feedback from folks, and we put together an employee site which calls for improvements, and we got over 500 specific recommendations, and just briefly, there were a couple of wonderful ones, and this is a budget where there are no grand ideas, and there is no idea that just solves the problem. there are hundreds of ideas, including an idea from dave. you are right in front of me. this poor guy has been struggling for years to be recognized, and finally through this interactive web site, he alone is responsible, because those wages and benefits do not necessarily add up to savings, but they are close. when he said, why do we spend this money on car washing we never thought about our car washing contract, -- this money on car washing? we never thought about our car washing contract, and we cut that in half. just because of his one idea, we saved $75,000. [applause] i do not know if johnson is here, but now he goes, what is up with all this music, and who plays the music gets somebody somebody has not thought of. it turns out w

portal and how russia is predicting the end of the line for. muscovites for the west. to paint else morg forest fire said the planet of smoke across the capital. the global recession is forcing charities in latvia to step in and provide basic provisions for the struggling population is a far cry from the initial optimism that gripped the country when it joined the european union six years ago. tom bottom reports modern day that there is no place of raging unemployment and international handouts. diana gives out food to people in need for months she's made sure families can get a square meal but this isn't a developing country it's the modern economy of latvia and recently joined the. when we brought the first food bags to those families many parents swept there could have never foreseen a crisis of this magnitude they had jobs they were well to do and respected and all of a sudden they find themselves in a situation where they have to plead for help to feed their children latvia speculated aggressively in international markets leaving the so-called baltic tiger vulnera

west were british or americans. very rare to find someone who can pass. for me gordon lowndes dale who was the must of mind of what we call the portal of bill spy ring many years ago was indeed colonel. of the k.g.b. but he was gordon lums ala canadian businessman. and he was asleep but it's very unusual it's the most unusual form in which espionage takes place and this is a song that's actually still ongoing just this week we had the arrest of another yet another spy in the united states only twenty three years old which seems extraordinary young what kind of training do you think he would have had at such a young age well i don't know what i don't know how he was able if he was a. indeed able to plus of the thing about america it's an easier. to penetrate than in british society because i mean america is an ethnic melting pot and you can say hey you know i'm of i'm a polish immigrant i love america i'm a polish american and have a name like cobol skeet with me directly american with a name like of also because it's harder to say i am very open to go and my instances go back three hundred years in britain when you're not. these things can be checked so