L.A. County Board of Supervisors rescind $707,000 office remodel request of Ridley-Thomas.

The report from the L.A. Times, "Amid outcry, L.A. supervisor Ridley-Thomas rethinks plans for $700,000 in office renovations [Updated],"
December 22, 2009 1:36 pm, by Shelby Grad and Molly Hennessy-Fiske

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors finally acted as they should have done in the first place by rescinding the approval that they gave in a near-automatic fashion to Mark Ridley-Thomas, the newest member of the 5-person Board of Supervisors. If you will recall, that approval was given earlier this month, without any of them questioning the expenditure at all. Three-quarters of a million dollars to be spent on a remodel job for an office? I suppose "lavish" outranks "Spartan" too often in the style that politicians conduct things once in office.

That's over twice the median price of a single-family home in Los Angeles. The vote came today on without any fanfare or comment after the news of the initial approval was learned by more members of the public thanks to reporting by John North at KABC-TV, Channel 7 - You can see that at http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/video?id=7148140

To hear Sup. Ridley-Thomas talk about the plan, you would think he had spent the last year punished as an initiation for his first year as Supervisor. Yes, he was a very arrogant and defiant fellow, so eager to treat himself well with public money.

Sup. Don Knabe was on the radio the following Friday on KFI-AM 640 in response to an inquiry over the unanimous approval of Ridley-Thomas' request. Knabe was initally unconcerned and said in a casual fashion, in reply to the question, "Why did you approve all that money for the office remodelling?," "Well, it's Mark's money."

That statement was clearly a demonstration of how politicians treat tax dollars under their control, not in any way acknowledging their duty to the public to make spending decisions that do not include wasteful or unneeded expenditures.

For one example of changes sought, Sup. Ridley-Thomas wanted to replace the oak wood panelling with CHERRY wood. There was going to be a lot of detail work (expensive hand work) since this was some pretty fancy and extensive work that was planned. There was nothing wrong with the existing wood.

Even a kitchenette was to be included on account of the cafeteria only open to 2 p.m. There's more but you get the idea. This choice for Supervisor, replacing Yvonne Braithwaite Burke last year, is as intense as Mayor Villaraigosa in his demonstrations of self-aggrandizement.

The other less obvious impact of such deals is that you have to consider that throwing work to be done over to the "friends" of some sort or another who will make some profit on the task is usually another way to reward supporters and make people beholden to the big spender for future dealings. So you get the job done and you get some expectation of "something for something" by choosing who gets the work, always beneficial for one spending- and doubly good when you consider it's not their money in the first place that gets them such status.


What's to come?
You can see that the task is still in Ridley-Thomas' mind, and he is expected to do the same work with small, less noticeable chunks of money applied so as not to draw attention to his use or abuse of tax dollars. When you consider it's supposed to be a case of someone elected to serve the public here, it doesn't quite work out that way.
You have what might be seen as the adult equivalent of a kid loose in a candy store. In this case, he tried to grab it all in one visit and was easily caught in the act. The other Supervisors were caught, too. By letting Ridley-Thomas move ahead on this, they were as wrong as he was in their responsibility to the public.

Trust is not any part of the deal with any politician, shown so simply here to add to all the other examples of State and local people who were caught treating themselves very well. And you know that there's still more who haven't been caught.

The other Supervisors SHOULD have handled this request correctly by rejecting it when it was made. INSTEAD they approved it because this was another "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" set of rules. You know that Supervisors Gloria Molina, Don Knabe, Mike Antonovich and Zev Yaroslavsky don't want anyone butting into their business when they decide to spend money, wisely done or not, so they really were not comfortable today in re-doing the consideraton but they were stuck with all the attention that it got.

You can bet Ridley-Thomas was not happy in having this happen, especially since he, like many politicians, have cultivated some serious arrogance. And they don't want to anger him so he makes trouble later- that's why they usually let each other have their way- it keeps things moving quietly along for everyone.

So we will have to keep an eye on the situation to see when and how he makes his move, and all this will do in the end is make for more concealment in manuevers by the offenders at the expense of dealings that put citizens second in importance to the politician and their deals.

ANOTHER SMALL FACT in Government operations:
(Did you know that the matter is being handled by an appointee who makes $310,000 a year and not many know this name? It's William Fujioka who is the CEO of Los Angeles County. He was to be the person to review the work needed, in a sort of legitimization effort here. )

L.A. TIMES: [Updated 2:20 p.m.: Ridley-Thomas also said he has ordered an "independent review" to "re-scope and re-evaluate the proposed project."

"We’re reassessing the appraisal, the cost, the scope of what needs to be done," he said. ]

So the arrogance turns into what? whining? You can see he still has his eye on the prize, but he's no hero, not by any means.
=======================================================
SOMETHING ELSE THAT THIS WHOLE MATTER BRINGS UP THAT THE SUPS WOULD RATHER NOT GET A LOT OF ATTENTION:

And what could that be? It's an even LESSER know fact is that EACH of the Supervisors, each year, get several MILLION dollars in "discretionary funds," that they apply from their account as they see fit.

This bears some remarkable resemblance to a slush fund. From Wikipedia,
in short,

Slush fund is a colloquial term which has come to mean an auxiliary monetary account or a reserve fund. However, the term has special meaning within a context of corrupt (including but not limited to) political dealings by governments, large corporations or other bodies and individuals.

There is a little more on this term at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slush_fund

Maybe a LITTLE in such an account could be reasonable, but this is the highest level in the country for any sort of "discretionary funds." Is it any wonder that the people in power actually have a reason to FEEL that power? And that is where notions of accountability begin to fade. Consider the Wikipedia brief discussion on that link and see the dangers created to the fair operation of any "systems."

"Granny Flats" for Los Angeles? Let's all squeeze in more people together. City Council backs off on selling that idea.

The plans for increasing population density in Los Angeles have changed because of public opposition. The "Accessory Dwelling Units," aka "Granny Flats," are no longer being pushed as a goal supposedly mandated by state law. The idea raised the eyebrows and the ire of the public to such an extent that it is being abandoned for now. What exactly was that idea about? Please read on for recent commentary on the topic.

"Invasiaon of the Granny Flats; Los Angeles weighs a plan to allow back yard dwellings and car parking on lawns." http://www.laweekly.com/2009-12-10/news/invasion-of-the-granny-flat - By Steven Leigh Morris, "L.A. Weekly," published on December 09, 2009 at 12:30pm, This is another of the examples of why the "L.A. Weekly" is the place to see the real picture of what's going on at City Hall, things that are not presented as they actually are when it comes to truthfulness of the Mayor and the City Council.

The other source for shedding light on dark conditions is the "Ron Kaye L.A." blog, where Ron Kaye wrote about this particular topic even earlier. In November, his item on the blog covered the situation with an article called, "Coming Soon to Your Neighborhood: Granny Flats, Converted Garages, Houses Turned into Tenements," By Ron Kaye on November 16, 2009 1:44 PM. http://ronkayela.com/2009/11/coming-soon-to-your-neighborho.html

The impact of the public's response to the City's direction towards "densification" of an already densely populated city was to stop this effort. In a posting on Ron Kaye's blog on Saturday, it was recognition of another step taken by the people against an arrogant "City Hall" plan that would reduce the quality of life in many parts of the city.

"The Granny Flat Gambit: Vigilance and the Struggle for Self-Governance," by Ron Kaye on December 19, 2009- 12:03 PM, http://ronkayela.com/2009/12/the-granny-flat-gambit.html . The message was very simple and direct, shown in an excerpt from that column:

"On Friday, the City Planning Department announced in an email to angry mob of homeowners that plans were being abandoned to legalize Accessory Dwelling Unites (ADUs) -- granny flats in backyards, converted garages and houses turned into
tenements -- in every residential neighborhood except those occupied by the
hillside-dwelling rich and the open spaces of the equestrian crowd."

Yet, there is not a complete victory as some people view it here since the state law may hasten some of the same undesired outcomes without a city law in Los Angeles to define controls that are separate and more restrictive than the State law, as some other cities have done. The Los Angeles city trend, different from the public's view, was to relax the rules to allow more housing units to be permitted, going along with the general direction of over-development that aggravates an already inadequate infrastructure, i.e., breaking water mains, traffic gridlock, heavy burdens on service from the LAPD and the LAFD, and on and on with more like these examples. So, the danger remains in this area. Unless there is a city ordinance enacted, according to the interpretation of State law by some people, that State law would provide for such additional housing to be built anyway, all to the detriment of the local public.

All that remains to be seen, but for now, it is a result that was generated by the actions of an involved public. That vigilance will continue on this front and on others to bring to city leaders the novel concept of a government that is supposed to represent the constituents, not dictate to them. Trusting the politicians to do the right thing for us is no longer a safe path to follow and probably never was. The conditions now call for more scrutiny of elected and appointed officials and their decisions if life in the city and state is to improve. We already see how well life is for the politicians with salaries and benefits in excess of any logical need, serving often to make them feel endowed with qualities of royalty. History tells us that control by royalty was what the country was trying to escape when it declared its independence a few centuries back.

DWP works for YOU? More reasons for Santa to skip that stop.

Christmas is a week away and the City Council is on their "holiday" or "seasonal" or whatever break they accept as the politically correct term to use in place of a "Christmas" break. Regardless, they are off and no bad decisions can be made until next year.

Meanwhile, the DWP is ending the year with the H. David Nahai "consultant" contract coming to an end. You remember that Nahai, the chief of the DWP, appointed by Mayor Tony and approved by the City Council, resigned from his $325,000.00-plus per year job. "Outgoing DWP chief Nahai would keep full salary as consultant under proposal." by David Zahniser, October 5, 2009, 2:28 pm.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/outgoing-dwp-executive-nahai-would-keep-full-salary-as-consultant-under-proposal-.html

The DWP employees have raises for 5 years- approved by the council by some sort of rationale that is a math that defies my limited comprehension of the explanation of HOW a raise, and NOT a one-time raise, will be cheaper for the city than NO RAISE. My own view remains that City Council, is hopelessly intertwined with special interests, including the IBEW union here, and could not make a needed deal to save its life. And we are talking about saving the life of the city. They need to be replaced but money to keep them or their clone replacements is readily provided by the special interests.

The story at the DWP stage is here: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/12/dwp-appointees.html DWP approves 5-year contract with employee union by David Zahniser and Phil Willon at City Hall,
December 1, 2009 3:42 pm

The city approval was soon after at a city council meeting. If you are an employee of the DWP, you have to breathe easy compared to lots of other workers in the City who face layoffs and already seeing furloughs. It's the management that's the problem, at thi s point, S. David Freeman is the chief, taking the job after H. David Nahai resigned (and maybe Antonio likes appointing people with a name starting with an initial, or maybe just coincidental).

THE BEST COVERAGE OF DWP's actions
See http://www.ronkayela.com/ for what I think is the best coverage of what DWP does. From yesterday on his blog, Ron Kaye L.A., "Your DWP: Hollow Promises, Cheap Talk, Insider Deals, Mismanagement, Secrecy, Illegalities, Lost Credibility, Waste...FAILURE!" By Ron Kaye on December 18, 2009 6:09 AM
http://ronkayela.com/2009/12/your-dwp-hollow-promises-cheap.html

WHAT NEXT?

I will end there and you can go into more on that blog for other dealings that will never be revealed by our elected politicians and so-called "leaders" of the city. There's lots more to see happening about DWP, but, like they say, "too little time," so a lot I want to present has to be left to other sources for views and coverage, so I will try to include at least those references instead of skipping over topic altogether as has been done to this time. And truly, with all the gifts city council and the DWP management manages to get for themselves, usually with a cost to the rate-payers (city dwellers), they already have a better deal that whatever Santa could bring.

LHS Alumni Association December Meeting Saturday morning

MEETING Saturday
There's an Alumni Association meeting on December 19, 2009, that will close out the year.

Time: 9:30 a.m.
Place: The Student Cafeteria in the 500 Building

A few events coming up for next year will be the Day at the Races, Santa Anita Racetrack, April 11, 2010, tickets $20.00; the Valentine's Dance, or After-Valentine's Dance, as the case may be, tickets $35.00 if purchased by Dec. 31, and $40 in 2010; a January date TBA for a Shakey's Pizza Night fundraiser. See LHS Alumni Association link in sidebar for details and other information.

Attendance at the meetings is open to all persons interested in the mission of the organization, especially alumni.

Guadalajara Book Fair, expensive and totally optional excursion in spending and diversion of already limited personnel resources.

Mayor at Guadalajara Book Fair-

The Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX) and the Spanish Association of Publishers Guilds (FGEE) have developed the campaign "America Reads Spanish," and the "News" section on that web site reports on this event.

http://www.americareadsspanish.org/industrynewsdet.aspx?id=2141

"L.A. an 'example to the world' says its mayor at int'l book fair in Mexico,"
Date: Dec 10, 2009



The mayor's presence is used to promote the event that further validates it as a cause for Los Angeles to spend money from a federal grant, $2.1 million, and from its own funds for other items not covered by the grant. In the times of the ongoing budget crisis, the usual reason that is recited to justify this is that it promotes business for Los Angeles. This is getting to be a tired claim.

The costs and really the function of this event don't appear to be a wise expenditure of tax dollars at this time, even if $2.1 million is from the federal level and not the city level. It still demonstrates that current economic conditions aren't recognized to any degree as the government at all levels continues to dwell in the red from a budget standpoint, with politician grasping at any and all opportunities to tax and charge to try to offset the conditions. There will be a cut in services, and it will be done more drastically as the deficit continues to rise. That is the itme that the city will feel the consequences of the poor management by elected and appointed officials.

Last year as this Book Fair grant was awarded to Los Angeles, the woman in the cultural affairs department was besider herself with joy, defending the costs for participating as being paid for by "federal" money, as if such money was free instead of being other taxpayer dollars collected from us. I recall that she made an accusation against critics on talk radio over the planned expenditure at that time, yet she did not hear first hand the criticism itself. I did, and her comments were themselves perfect examples of painting with a broad brush and applying stereotypical characterization instead of facts to the matters raised by those talk show hosts and audience members. This is what happens when people have considered the impact based simply and only on their view from their own world, in this case, the "cultural" aspect of that city department.


This year, city budget conditions are undeniably bleak, much more critical than recognized last year, but nevertheless, there's no real acknowledgment on the one hand that spend money in a business-as-usual level.


The fact is that then and now, spending such huge sums makes little sense but filtered through the way that government operates, any logical analysis of the fiscal truth is entirely rejected in favor of the less tangible and very subjective values of the artistic impact that may be present.

"Cultural affairs" as a representation of the arts by city government continues with a very defensive posture that continues to anticipate criticism for reasons stated above. The locale of the book fair, Mexico, seems to color the defensive treatment at Tuesday's meeting by council members, especially Latino members. The fact is that there is a lot of money spent that originated as tax dollars and it is spent out of the country, outside of our economy and it takes people away from doing their regular jobs that are becoming more critical to be performed now.

City council and staff need to be working on the immediate matters, becoming more urgent with each passing day. But the distractions of other events that are not of the same level of urgency, and more of a discretionary nature in comparison, continues to divert time and work from needed city actions. I think it was CM Ed Reyes and CM Jose Huizar sent out for this event, something that I am sure they enjoyed but I think I would have felt a better level of attention to city business as a factual and symbolic matter would be demonstrated by staying in L.A. and getting progress on the issues of budget, public safety and planning. But to criticize this event as imprudent fiscally gets turned around to some sort of anti-Latino or anti-Mexican comment that is "racist" which totally serves the purpose of quelling lots of criticism before it's even expressed. Turning a discussion around like that based on nationality and ethicity is itself racist and further serves to avoid any fair discussion while sensitivities are raised unfairly.

The statements about the majority of Los Angeles being of Mexican ancestry and interested in further cultural enlightenment may be true but it does not address the financial aspects of such a choice of expenditure. The personal, the emotional and the recreational travel influences connected to this event seem to sway any opportunity for objectivity, and Cardenas delved into a lot of "fact-finding" as something anticipatory of further criticism.

It looks like the Mayor is their role model, already having left the country on several trips since July's swearing in for his second term of office. And has anyone noticed that while the Mayor is gone, statements and announcements continue to be made in by his office and appearing in the news as, "The Mayor has announced ..." or "The Mayor said ..." but he's not even here and it comes from his office to give the illusion and soften the appearance of his absence. A daily log of his whereabouts since July's inauguration could show the actual travel activity that's led to Villariagosa as being named "the 11% Mayor," spending that much actual time doing his job.

The city council spent a lot of meeting time yesterday and what I heard of that session was a demonstation of a pre-emptive strike that addressed the "positive" points of the event and expenditure. What one public commenter said about the naming by the Guadalajara Book Fair of Mayor Villaraigosa as a the honored guest was that it better named a self-promotion for Antonio Villaraigosa. That's a foregone assessment for most of the international travels by this Mayor, especially that done in the last 6 months. Well, one thing you can say for the City Council and their minions is that obfuscation of anything, be it issues, motive, facts, is a skill that they continue to hone and they are very good at that. It's unfortunatelfor the general public who too often, gets taken in by it as L.A. continues it's change away from being an affordable place to live.

DWP gets 5 years of raises, LAPD doesn't; LAFD still on rolling brownout conditions- Layoffs and furloughs. ERIP to hit services.

Here's a little information on the DWP's union, the IBEW where it seems they are more in control of that agency than the public, or more precisely, the public servants supposed to be watching out for us common folks, and that would be the CITY COUNCIL, with the Mayor giving cues to the many puppets at City Hall.

When you have a budget that is in the red as it's never been before, last Friday's meeting showed approval of the DWP raises that just don't make sense to me and many others when you have the LAPD going without raises and the LAFD has less than full staffing as the rolling brownouts reduce the ability to respond to emergencies as fully as they used to.

ERIP is going to hit the city pretty pretty hard in services. That's the "Early Retirement Incentive Program," that is planned for 2400 employees to retire early. There's about 400 over that number who have signed up to leave, but for now, 2400 will be leaving.

You can check some of the "progress" in city business by going over to columns posted by Ron Kaye L.A. www.ronkayela.com last week. The DWP commotion is explained well and there's a few video clips from the Friday Council Meeting to show that all is not well with a reduced staff.

That action was designed to cut jobs out so the payroll will drop and city expenses are lowered, right? Well, there's the double situation there to replace the old one: First, the pensions mean there will be payments for people NOT working anymore. It might be less overall, but the City is still responsible. A colleague of mine asked the Mayor at a public event just what was going on with the pension situation and Mayor Villaraigosa glibly replied, "I don't know, I'm not a pension expert." Well, that's pretty clear now, except there's supposed to be the "... but I'll find out" added to these response when you have somebody who is actually DOING their job.

The second part of the ERIP impact is that you will have the most senior employees leaving and that's usually cutting heavily into management. At Friday's council meeting, the people in the know reported all this to the CMs, many of whom were surprised. They mostly are surprised because they don't pay attention to news the first time it's brought up. Rosendahl was one of them. None of this is news but he started demanding reports and saying that no one should leave without somebody having their tasks covered, most of this directed to critical position holders. The staff reporting said, for example that one department's entire HR people will be leaving.

Usually, matters of common sense and logic don't always register with the CMs. You already know they don't with Villaraigosa who is on another out-of-country trip to Copenhagen and other European destinations that further add to the City deficit. There is nothing that requires him or Los Angeles to be represented at this conference so it's purely for image, usually his own, and as a functional matter, there's a limit to what can be done. Villaraigosa, with the support of Council President Eric Garcetti, continues to "pledge" to meet goals in "greening" Los Angeles, even though most of these actions will be costly to the "rate payers" or other participants.


Costs to the public for greening activity takes a back seat to the "image" and self-interest of the politicians, especially the Mayor. While he continues announcing all these so-called benefits, there is nothing to match that in HOW people, especially those on low or fixed incomes will be able to meet the predicted higher bills. Why is this the case? Simply because THEIR future and life style is more important to THEM and "THEY" call the shots as long as they keep getting re-elected. The Mayor, as a lame duck in his last term as Mayor, still does not appear to care about the city as much as he does to grab the next flight out of town on time.

Getting back to ERIP- the Council will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday and then be off until 2010. There's lots of business unfinished and the ERIP predicament is not clear- other than the people leaving will not be coming back due to "no funds" so the distess that CMs express should be no surprise IF they had been paying attention to the overall picture in the first place. They each have a budget for 20 staff members- and I heard that CM Huizar has more than this, but that's not confirmed. Surely they could have delegated some tasks to some of them for FINDING OUT the consequences of major changes that they put into action. What happened here? They won't tell, of course, but for certain, they won't take the blame and will be spreading around heavily any credit for reaching a solution, complete or half-baked, but any solution wil do for them to grandstand.
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And there's more, too. The Medical Marijuana Dispensary matter is still not finished as there is another delay while more changes and conflicts keep the CMs from fully agreeing on settling this after a few years that it sat on the back burner and the MMDs have risen from less than 200 when a moratorium on new ones was enacted in 2007, to an uncertain number now (as they are opening without city approval) that may be 800 or more in operation. A "hardship exemption" to the moratorium was written into the ordinance that opened the doors for the new operations to open, and that moratorium, though without any enforcement ever happening, was declared invalid as the City tried to extend it further. So there's no moratorium and no ordinance and clarity in this area is still missing. That is a topic for another day, as I see the CMs have postponed action until 2010.

Lincoln Heights Christmas Parade for 2009 today at 11 a.m.

Well, it looks like the Lincoln Heights Christmas Parade will not be needing raincoats and rowboats to get through the route. It's today at 11 a.m. starting at Lincoln Park Avenue at the DMV offices and travelling up to North Broadway at Lincoln High to the destination at Avenue 24 behind the Bank of America.

It did not look good for the weather side of things at this time yesterday, but it looks like the storm hurried up and moved on overnight. (Photo: LHS at Dec. 2008 Parade)

On December 10, 1961, Sunday- the Songs and T.V. Programs of that day from L.A. Radio.com.

From Don Barrett's website, www.laradio.com under the "LARP Rewind" section, we see what happened on the music scene on radio and the programs found on television on December 10, 1961 (Sunday). That website is free for the rest of the year (3 more weeks) if you follow the simple log-in instructions provided. check it for current and past news and stories about Los Angeles Radio People. Don will be ending the current daily format of the LARP site after around a dozen years that I have been following it. Check it out, especially the Archives section.

The songs playing were Big Bad John, Please Mr. Postman, Goodbye Cruel World, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen. All of these are now genuine oldies. Right off-hand, I can name the Marvellettes as the artist for "Please Mr. Postman," and The Tokens singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," a song that made a couple of comebacks over the years. "Goodbye Cruel World" was a sort of novelty song by Bobby Darin and Neil Sedaka sang "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen." I don't remember who did Big Bad John at the moment, but all of these songs told a story and something that you could understand pretty easily, unlike a lot of what sells now. Maybe that's why they are so well-remembered.

On television, we’re watching Lassie, Maverick, Candid Camera, Bonanza, and Dennis The Menace.

IF you happen to remember the songs from actually listening to radio live, add in this fact: that was 48 years ago. And each of the television programs listed on that Sunday night lineup were very popular programs, all having years of success, with "Dennis the Menace" having a shorter run than the others. You may have seen all of these in reruns at one time or another.

Do you remember that television programs were nearly all still broadcast in black-and-white then? Gradually color television became more widely seen with more programs produced in color, or as NBC called it, "Living Color" and starting off shows with the NBC Peacock showing the colors.

The other popular Sunday night show that was not mentioned here was on CBS on Sundays, "The Ed Sullivan Show." If you remember watching it, you need no further explanation. If you were not so old to have seen that show, it was a variety show of assorted acts, hosted by Ed Sullivan and broadcast "live" from New York.

The "Ed Sullivan Show" would be where The Beatles would be introduced to U.S. audiences in just over 2 years later in early 1964. The British Invasion period of music would begin with these four relatively unknowns appearing on that show for 3 successive Sundays to change things in a big way. The Beatles' "hair" length they had then was considered radically different. Today it would not get much attention with all the styles that we have to compare.

Now with hi-def digital, satellite and cable television, and LCD and plasma big screens, you see that we have come a long way from that technology of those days, as well as the kinds of programs you can find now. We have gone through VCRs and now moved on to DVDs and DTRs as part of the changes that many could not seriously imagine back then. And along the way, we have all grown up and become much older.

CD-2 Election- Chris Essel or Paul Krekorian? Voter turnout to be in the 'teens.

Today is the special election for the office of Council member for CD-2 that was vacated by Wendy Greuel as she won the race in March, 2009 for City Controller, getting even more votes than even Mayor Villaraigosa, in his underwhelming win.

If you live in CD-2, do go vote. There will be no lines, no waiting and a lot of lonely poll workers waiting for people to come by. These election are usually decided by a small percentage of the registered voters, and the ones that bother to vote will make the difference.

The interests of each of these candidates was suspect in the special election a few months ago, but these were the two top vote-getters. It's tough as both of these persons may not have the interests of CD-5 residents and business persons as a priority, and both have other elements competing for their attention.

You can read Mayor Sam's blog where it all Krekorian and "down with Essel"- the Krekorian supporters clearly in the majority for posts there. http://www.mayorsam.blogspot.com/

I don't live in CD-2 and my choice if I could vote, went back and forth depending what news came out about each. I finally decided.

I finally decided that Essel would be a better choice because she is not as attached to Politics as a life that the challenger Paul Krekorian has practiced. Krekorian is a career politician and strongly influenced by the unions, continues to increase government spending without any real balanced cutbacks to control that spending, all working as part of the Asembly to make no progress on the budget and not really being somebody I want to see on City Council.

I think that Chris Essel has the best chance of bringing jobs to L.A. and as a business person with successes behind her, she is in a better position to know what works in business and so far, City Council practices over years, has cost jobs, chasing many out of L.A. and California as too expensive and having too may regulations to operate a busines. Businsses hire people and losing businesses costs jobs. Krekorian is a politician and without actual business experience to know what works and what doesn't, demonstrated by the loss of jobs and businesses statewide.

Chris Essel, not a career politician and has the best chance of "doing right" for the residents and not being in the pocket of the mayor as too many others have been.

I would like to try to start off with a CM with some hope and not another slick, well-spoken politician who will give us more of the same, and that's been mostly bad most of the time for us.

There are already 4 ex-Assembly members, Herb Wesson, Richard Alarcon, Paul Koretz and Tony Cardenas, and I don't see much that's a postive from their own membership in the Council. There's not a real need for another of this background, although the job gives a big pay hike to the successful candidates. They all are primarily politicians and that demands of them the continual quest for getting re-elected or elected to a new office, above all else.

See "Los Angeles on $300,000 a Year," an L.A. Weekly item published just before the March 2003 City Elections, http://www.laweekly.com/2009-02-26/news/los-angeles-on-300-000-a-year/

The race is pretty close, I would say, and each side has to say they are winning to keep voters from staying home. Not being the "favorites" here, there are some who voted in the last election who won't vote now. That's still not right. There is a choice, and that should be used. The term is up in a couple of years and we will see what shape the victor here has left things by that time.

Yesterday was December 7th, 1941, "...a day that will live in infamy." November 22, 1963, "The President is Dead."

December 7th , Pearl Harbor Day. On the anniversary this year of the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan that led to the U.S. declaration of war against Japan, and soon thereafter, against Germany, there is not much mention that I notice anywhere as more an more WW II veterans fade from the scene.

The more recent event against the U.S. that rivals the Pearl Harbor attack is September 11th, 2001, where the World Trade Center's twin towers were each hit by a passenger jet loaded with fuel soon after the takeoff of each plane, and where the Pentagon was hit by another airliner with a fourth headed for Washington, D.C. but crashed in Pennsylvania after the passengers fought the hijackers.


Both events mark very tragic events for the U.S. but the recognition for Pearl Harbor Day seems to be passed over more and more each year, and as a major historical event it should be more completely understood and acknowledged before it one day becomes so obscure that it becomes a footnote in a history book. Could you imagine September 11th every becoming an insignificant event from any perspective? It can be an eventual outcome with the public becoming more and more removed from the event and witnesses replaced by younger people who only learn about it.

Looking back to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy while riding in a motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963, the anniversary becomes less significant each year. The people alive that day 46 years ago have become older and many have died. The family of JFK since that date continues to shrink due to death: Jackie Kennedy Onassis, John F. Kennedy, Jr. and two brothers of President Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy by assassination and Teddy Kennedy from cancer. As more people pass on, leaving fewer persons with any first hand information, the events gradually transform from what somebody saw or witnessed to what has been written and interpretted to be the truth.

Too many events that are part of the culture and history of the country seem to be replaced by whatever there is that distracts attention for people, and this seems more prevalent during bad times, with people looking for something positive and settling for anything distracting to take their minds away from what we have at any time in history. The interest in Tiger Woods is much more compelling that other news and yet it is of little significance to most of us. But it is a form of escapism that serves a purpose to many people who would rather not hear how our troops are doing or what is been proposed by elected officials to make life more expensive for any of us.

Theses are just some trends that continue and change the way people act regarding assorted events of the past. Just an observation of an erosion of the national memory and I wonder to what depth anything is examined these days in the context of local high school curriculum that hastens such a result and further dilutes the concept of one nation when it comes to the United States.

Mayor Villaraigosa Speaks at Oxy on the way to Copenhagen Conference

The Mayor is here and then gone and then here again. There's a pretty strong pattern for his travels, and by one measure, it has him gone from the city one day in six. I think that there's a lot here in town for him to stick around and give more serious attention them, such as the budget deficit, what direction that his appointees have allowed the DWP to take that, contrary to the interests of the ratepayer customers. Just learning more about the pensions and the other expenses would keep him from having to admit to people that he doesn't know about "X subject" or "Y issue" as he is questioned by members of the public during the course of his first term of ofice.

Mayor Villaraigosa just got back from the Guadalajara Book Fair, spent some time on the job swearing in the new LAPD Chief, Charlie Beck, and then he's off to a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark on global warming.

Getting an opportunity to get some photographs always rates high with the Mayor's itinerary. The mayor visited Occidental College on Friday and spoke about the greening of Los Angeles as he was about to depart for a Conference in Copenhagen. The story on the Oxy web site is found at http://www.oxy.edu/x9277.xml

It's always interesting to give some closer examination of just what the Mayor's comments are at different venues. The speeches that are prepared for him are better than when he goes off script and inserts his off-the-cuff remarks. Those writers must feel a bit of frustration on the occassion where there are deliveries that are not done well or plainly fumbled.

There is a web item from THE INDEPENDENT in the U.K., "The Greenest Show on Earth." It goes into the function of the Copenhagen conference, some pros and cons and other assorted facets of this event considered, including the mention of the contribution to the world's CO2 by this conference.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/the-greenest-show-on-earth-1834633.html

Speaking of pros, there is mentioned a special added feature at the Copenhagen trip by several sources, including the NY Daily News; Prostitution is legal in Copenhagen (although brothels are not), and some freebies will be available to Conference delegates "Prostitutes offer free sex to global-warming delegates in Copenhagen," by Kevin Flynn, Daily News Staff Writer.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2009/12/04/2009-12-04_prostitutes_offer_free_sex_to_globalwarming_summit_delegates_in_copenhagen.html

MSNBC reports another view of this offer, "'Gropenagen': Free sex coupons available at Climate Summit," By Cindy Perman, writer.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/34278820

The mayor of the Copenhagen was reported by some sources to have mailed some postcards to warn visitors not to patronize the prostitutes. The prostitutes have responded to the actions by announcing that anyone bringing one of these postcards would get free sex. So we can wonder if anyone's collecting postcards from those intending to heed the message. The particular group of travellers is a high risk group, as politicians are not generally regarded as following the straight and narrow very reliably. There's plenty of new revelations about that in the news to support the view that politicians and morality are not words very readily used together.

Meanwhile, the City Council will still be in session with more opportunities to create commotion for the residents.

Ron Kaye comments on City Commissions- out of control? You can decide.

Ron Kay has another item of information and opinion on the City Commissions as another area that has not worked to the public's benefit as was the design when the City Charter (the controlling document for city operations much like the Constitution is to the federal government) was amended in 1999.

Check this at http://www.ronkayela.com/ the blog that will tell you more about what really goes on that our politicians will ever admit. The current abuses are noted and discussed and in case you don't pay much attention to city government and lack of responsibility to the residents, it happens to be the DWP, quickly becoming a rogue agency for the most part and doing such things as giving a contract to H.David Nahai, former head of the DWP, so that he gets the same salary rate (a bit over $310,000.00 per year) until the end of the year. Why?

That's part of the problem. The DWP Commission can approve a contract that comes in under $250,000.00 WITHOUT any control by the City Council. That happened when Nahai resigned and was enlisted as "consultant" where he gets paid to be available by phone during business hours by telephone or fax. He doesn't have to show up and he doesn't have to really do work, just give answers to questions. Why isn't it hourly for the actual work done? Good question and they have not come up with a good answer. Behind the scenes arrangements that we know little about may acccount for the cozy and expensiver deals.

Read the Ron Kaye blog for today,
"The Failure of Reform, Part I: The LA Commission System," By Ron Kaye on December 3, 2009 http://www.ronkayela.com/ and get a broader picture of why things don't work out well for the public and the politicians continue to let it happen as it suits them just fine. And, you may not know this, the mayor appoints these commissioners with the council approving the selections with little actual resistance. (Some token 'hard" questioning happens once in a while but it's all for show. Should a single CM not go for the selections, the future relations with the mayor will be very much changed. And we can't have that, can we?

And THE MAYOR went to a book fair in Guadalajara to get "honored" there, spending over $2 million in federal money (as if that makes it o.k.) and taking a lot of city people with him. Is this any way to act in a budget crisis? Might they be useful staying in L.A. to actually work on problems instead of these thinly disguised junkets?

L.A. County Supervisor Ridley-Thomas asks for $707,000.00 to remodel his office- And it's approved.

Mark Ridley-Thomas is certainly not anyone to take the "cheap" route, even if it's the taxpayer dollars getting burned up. He is the newest member of the County Board of Supervisors and make a big splash in this entirely wasteful and shameless expense as some sort of testamenta and validation of his own self-worth. Channel 7 yesterday has a feature on this. "$707K approved for Ridley-Thomas renovations," Tuesday, December 1, 2009. http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7148171

$707,000.00 for "remodelling" the office comes out to about two times what the mean value of a house in L.A. costs. Tiger Williams may be doing the Kobe thing and buying his wife a "house on a ring" but this is two houses, and paid with tax dollars, too.


Channel 4 NBC television has a news item by Jonathan Lloyd on this as well- it still comes out bad for Ridley-Thomas. Still "Oink, Oink" for the supervisor.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/politics/County-Considers-Supervisors-700000-Office-Renovation-78250317.html (Dec. 2, 2009).

I always suspected it but now I am sure that this guy is just all about himself- and using the SEIU and other unions interests to get to where he convinces himself of his importance. Maybe the Mayor and the others in the State Asssembly members were bad role models in taking the frugal path in expenditure in funds more seriously. Fabian Nunez and pal, Gil Cedillo, have each been in the news about their choices and amounts (large) of expenditures, usually tied in to travel.

I heard a caller last night on talk radio say he works at the L.A. Co.-USC Med. Center in the basement of an old building. He said he's in the service employees union and supported Ridley-Thomas, but they have a carpet in the workplace that for years they have been trying to get replaced or removed because it triggers allergies in numerous poeple and is a hazard in that regard. They have been unsuccessful and can't even get it out just to leave the bare concrete floor there. That's a very symbolic view where people in public office tend to forget the little people who get them into office and have less interest in what the little people have to deal with in their lives, especially when there are problems in the workplace that is county affiliated.

When you talk about "pigs feeding at the public trough" this situation is what reinforces that picture and I won't call it a "stereotype" picture, it's just what there.

The more surprising thing is that the other 4 supervisors approved the expenditure- and none of them has ever had such an expense accumulated for their own office remodels. What happened here? (or does Mark Ridley-Thomas have some deal for them in store that makes it worthwhile? If so, I can't imaging what it could be to have them allow this.)

City Coucil to consider Med-Marijuana ordinance next week- Today Ed Reyes and the High Speed Rail Route.

The Medical Marijuana issue was to be heard today and is being put over another week to examine the terms of the proposed ordinance.

Ed Reyes wants to get into details. Item 11 asks for another EIR on the route for the High Speed Rail project other than Union Station. (Ed wants the HS Rail to move the route elsewhere but takes forever to get to his real point.)

The Agenda Item 22 also involves placement of the station.

CM Rosendahl in his own unique style says that this was waived out of his Transportation committee as a "no brainer" (an oh-so-appropriate phrase for lots of city council activities) and paraphrasing, "We all agree that we all want High Speed Rail." I disagree.

The California High Speed Rail is supposed to get you to where? The closest destination in the earliest time will be Lancaster. Is there a big demand now for that?

The whole idea to me seems simply and plainly a great sounding idea that really is too costly and not useful when you consider the benefits and burdens (especially the tremendous financial one.).

Frankly, I am surprised in one respect, at CM Reyes' resistance to moving this along. He usually can't push things like this fast enough when you say the magic words, "it will bring jobs to L.A."

The real reason is that the main proposal puts the route too close to the L.A. River and his pet project at making the area useable.

I don't know how many of his concerns have merit, but he wants the alternatives to be chosen. Reyes says there's to be 4 trains in and 4 trains out that will make noise and the rest of the things that go with transit, all presented to support his position, but perfection is rarely achievable. It sounds to me like something to add to slow down this project for a complete re-routing, making an enormously expensive project even more a hideous expenditure of public money. I think the better view would be to decide if the range of changes is financially feasible, and not conisdering only the preference that it keep a distance with its noise and hazards.

I think that this High Speed Rail is another political animal that wastes lots of money that is even more shameful in times of our poor economy. But that's not ever an essential element of any public office holder to consider, other than as a false front to disguise their own agenda.

LaBonge is backing the concern of Reyes also, citing past choices and outcomes like the Green Line rail never reaching the Airport- blaming an earlier roster of Council persons. That result was due to the city planning with special interests - I believe that case involved the taxi companies- to keep the end AWAY from the airport and not go TO it as other cities provide. It is not a mistake, it was done on purpose and a political result. What isn't a result of politics nowadays.

Again, there is a thing called a plane to get you to San Francisco for a cost that the high speed rail planned will likely only reach when it is subsidized. The route that the project takes through California is the real reason to make this boondoogle get off the ground.

The ballot measure probably sounded good when voters read it- "Yeah, a high speed train? Great. I vote 'Yes' on this." The bond and tax increase probably did not dominate their thoughts at that moment. We don't need this and the idea that people will get out of their cars to take this train instead of driving is false because, (a.) it will not go where they need it to go to any regular frequency, (b.) what transportation needs will be met at the destination is not clearly shown, and (c.) people will only get out of their cars when they NEED to, as in traveling by plane, and leaving behind cars for public transportation is more opposed relative to how nice a car they have.

Comparing California to Europe is an unfair one. European countries are small and distances are not the same for one thing. One more thing, the governments tax their people to heavily subsidize their rail projects. And don't forget that driving in Europe is not universally a part of life. They don't all have cars AND the gas is and has always been even MORE expensive than it has ever been in L.A.

What arguments they use in City Hall are really a lot of inaccuracies and half-truths to prop up their own positions that don't have too much relevance in connection with what is best for the city. In other words, they still do what they want and make it look like its something else, masking a lot of the true picture so the projects slide by the public to get to the desired conclusion. They hook up their arguments to other considerations that sometimes are inconsistent with their positions the same people originally taken but don't mention they were on the other side of the fence, so to speak, earlier. "Whatever works" to convince you to agree is the rule here.

If you happen to oppose anything in these situations then you most often are villified and considered an obstructionist or some other label with negative connotations.

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text of the 12-02-09 WED- agenda selections:

"ITEM NO. (11)

09-0252
AD HOC RIVER COMMITTEE REPORT relative to California High Speed Rail alignment and station options for the City of Los Angeles.

Recommendations for Council action:

1. DIRECT the Department of City Planning (Planning), and other City departments as appropriate, to continue working with the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) as a participating agency.

2. DIRECT Planning to continue working with City departments to explore the possibility of a Union Station East/Vignes Station.

3. DIRECT Planning to continue working with other City departments to provide a formal comment letter to the CHSRA on the recently released Draft Alternatives Analysis reports.

4. DIRECT Planning to work with the Department of Transportation to explore hiring a consultant to assist with the preparation of comments on project alternatives and the development of feasible mitigation options.

5. DIRECT Planning to provide a list of communities impacted by this project.

Fiscal Impact Statement: None submitted by Planning. Neither the City Administrative Officer nor the Chief Legislative Analyst has completed a financial analysis of this report.

Community Impact Statement: None submitted.

(Transportation Committee waived consideration of the above matter)

------------------------------------------------------------

[ALSO TO BE CONSIDERED together with Item 11]

ITEM 22
ITEM NO. (22) - Motion Required

09-0002-S179
COMMUNICATION FROM CHAIR, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE and RESOLUTION relative to requesting the California High Speed Rail Authority to consider multiple sites for a downtown Los Angeles high speed rail station.

Recommendation for Council action, pursuant to Resolution (Reyes - Perry - Huizar), SUBJECT TO THE CONCURRENCE OF THE MAYOR:

ADOPT the accompanying RESOLUTION to REQUEST the California High Speed Rail Authority to include in its study on possible locations for a downtown Los Angeles rail station more than one potential site and include an examination of potential sites that are in the proximity of Vignes Street and East Patsaouras Plaza, between Union Station and the former westbank option.

Fiscal Impact Statement: None submitted by the Chief Legislative Analyst. The City Administrative Officer has not completed a financial analysis of this report.

Community Impact Statement: None submitted."

---------------------------------------------------------------

Both item passed unanimously with a "friendly amendment"

L.A. Weekly has a good "all-about" story on City and MMDs; The City Council Medical Marijuana Ordinance draft due today.

Last week, the L.A. Weekly put out a really detailed story on the long path taken for the city to get to a long-awaited ordinance on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries. If you want to see what's really happened in the course of events in how City Council members dropped the ball in so many ways, read this story and you may be surprised. All that dubious "leadership" that the CMs reflexively mention ( especially during those Friday awards days) in congratulating each other really seems to be completely absent when checking how the MMD problem developed.

THE L.A. WEEKLY'S WORK ON "THE REST OF THE STORY"-
The L.A. Weekly's story: "L.A.'s Medical-Weed Wars
How the potheads outwitted Antonio Villaraigosa and the L.A. City Council,"
By PATRICK RANGE MCDONALD AND CHRISTINE PELISEK. (Published on November 23, 2009 at 11:49pm) is a story about this one topic, Medical Marijuana, and what happened over the years that brought us to nearly 1,000 hardship exemptions filed as more "Medical Marijuana Dispensaries" have opened up in the city. See http://www.laweekly.com/2009-11-26/news/l-a-39-s-medical-weed-wars/

Ed Reyes of CD-1 (that includes Lincoln Heights and Highland Park) was not quite the mover and shaker on this matter that some people might believe he is. As Chair of the PLUM, "Planning and Land Use Management" committee, he was responsible for the committee assigned to make decisions on the very ambiguous "hardship exemptions" for applications to conduct these business. CM Reyes did nothing on these from the end of Summer 2007 when the "moratorium" ordinance and its hardship exemption were enacted, until Spring of this year when community pressure to address the increasing numbers of MMDs that were popping up in the city. CM Jose Huizar's move was to end the "hardship exemption" this year, prompting hundreds more applications to be filed before any change became effective. There's always something that sounded good on paper but didn't quite work out in application.

Well, read the story and see the others involved over the roles that they played over the years. There's a lot that you'd expect should have been done that didn't happen, but that often happens with the way the City Council works. The big public comment day a couple of weeks ago had CM Dennis Zine appearing frustrated with the snail's pace progress that was being made and urged the PLUM Committee to adopt the West Hollywood law as a model and then make adjustments to it later. (Now why didn't that come up BEFORE by anyone? TOO logical? Well, "better late than never" applies here.)


CITY COUNCIL TO HAVE A DRAFT ORDINANCE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA TODAY.

Council President Eric Garcetti announced today that there would be a draft ordinance online for review later this afternoon. The ordinance that was to be drafted to the specifications that the Council agreed upon in the rounds of hearings will be ready to view by going to the city's website. It will be coming up for more discussion

Tomorrow's AGENDA item no. 8, Council File: 08-0923 will bring up the matter again . This will go on for a while but you need to remember that the City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and the District Attorney Steve Cooley had been saying for some time that the state law, "The Compassionate Use Act," does not allow "sales" to be part of the operations. The Council really did all it could to ignore that advice for a long time and then Jerry Brown, the Attorney General for California, said "sales" are not permittied. SO the council apparently started to believe that part and plan in that feature. But not all were happy, and really, if they could allow sales legally and collect taxes, they would as any money source gets their attention these days.

Check the city's web site or just make a google search later for the draft ordinance. And there's more to come. No matter what you hear from these council members praising each other at even the slightest incremental advance on this issue, no one is a "hero" or real "leader" in this area. (I think it's simply politics at a base level where their constant praise of each other will gradually imprint on the members of the public who are either uninformed or easily impressed.) They should have figured this out earlier, like 2007 and they really needed to shut down the businesses around that time, too, when there were few. Doing nothing just encouraged all the others to open in the City. No heroes here in this batch of CMs.