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Calling All Deadbeats

AirTouch Cellular is taking an unusual approach in its search for new cell phone customers targeting people with bad credit.

And there are lots of them out there.

AirTouch officials said about 50 percent of people who apply for cell phones are turned down because of bad credit or if you prefer their positive spin because they haven’t established good credit.

To work with these folks, Airtouch is launching a way for them to prepay for minutes of cell phone use at thousands of convenience stores.

The company is even willing to supply the cell phone. But it won’t work without a special card issued each time minutes are bought.

AirTouch says its motives transcend profits. “We are democratizing the cellular industry,” says Arun Sarin, company president.

All You Need Is Love

L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan has made no secret of his opposition to San Fernando Valley secession, taking every opportunity to make his case against the breakup of the city.

But his arguments took a somewhat different tack when he recently addressed the Southland Regional Association of Realtors at an event in the Valley.

This time, along with his usual pleas for reconciliation, he offered a little positive reinforcement, praising Valley leaders for helping turn around the economy of all Los Angeles.

Then, after urging the audience to “stay with your family and make your family better,” the mayor got downright mushy.

“I love you,” he said. “Stay with us. Have a great future.”

Simple Fix

Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that oversees airports in L.A., Ontario, Van Nuys and Palmdale, is in the process of making sure all its computer systems are Y2K compliant and won’t experience problems when 1999 changes to 2000.

But doing such tests at Palmdale Regional Airport won’t be much of a problem.

That’s because no commercial airlines currently fly in or out of the airport. So the only system that will need to be tested there is the sprinklers.

That’s more important than you might think.

While Palmdale Regional may not have any airlines, it does have 17,000 acres of land used for agricultural purposes.

Progress, Schmogress

L.A. business leaders speaking at the recent Summit of Education about the importance of technology in classrooms could have used an equipment upgrade themselves.

Instead of using a clicker or PowerPoint program during their presentations, speakers were reduced to telling an assistant to flip the transparencies on an outdated overhead projector.

Willard R. Daggett, president of the International Center for Leadership in Education, apparently didn’t pick up on that irony while talking about the need for schools to invest in technology.

But he did take a swipe at educators for being slow to pick up on the usefulness of the overhead projectors.

“It took schools only 20 years to get (the projectors) from the bowling alley to the classroom,” he joked.