Garbage Politics
We've taken our shots at Janice today for her two-faced representation of why she voted the way she did on the Sunshine Canyon issue.We've praised Villaraigosa, Zine, and BFI for their handling of the issue, and knocked the North Valley Coalition and Janice Hahn again all in one post.
We've analyzed the vote count knocking Garcetti for waffling and showing the Janice had a backbone.
Now I'm coming full circle to report that our own Mayor Sam has a role in all of this. Here's the opening graph from the LA Weekly tomorrow entitled "No Life Without Sunshine":
A man named Sam Yorty once became mayor of Los Angeles by standing on the steps of City Hall and dumping a load of garbage to illustrate how inconvenient it was for the average housewife to recycle. That led to three decades of stuffing our landfills with recyclable glass, metal, plastic and paper. In the 1980s, city leaders planned to burn trash to produce electricity but discovered that the people of South Los Angeles were not excited about having a huge incinerator built in their neighborhood. So dumps in the Northeast San Fernando Valley continued to fill up -- until activists like young Alex Padilla worked to close Lopez Canyon. That gave new life to the massive Sunshine Canyon landfill, a few miles to the west.Now, before I get slammed for coddling up to the new mayor, let me give you the byline of the article: "Antonio backs off a campaign promise to close hated Valley dump":
Begin with the proposition that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa did something pretty smart, and pretty good, when he talked the operators of the massive Sunshine Canyon landfill, at the northern edge of the San Fernando Valley, into tacking another six months onto the city's contract-renewal deadline. Now no one in City Hall really has to bite the bullet on the huge dump or on the contract with the shady garbage-disposal company until February, when city wonks presumably will have a better idea whether there really are alternative places to fling our 3,600 tons (every day) of junk. Hold in abeyance the question of what good those extra six months will do for us that the last decade of pondering could not. For now, let's just say the delayed deadline is a good thing.Blog Away!
The first "deadline" for the city of Los Angeles to decide whether or not to keep on trucking to Sunshine Canyon for at least five more years came and went several weeks ago, in the period between the mayoral election and the inauguration. Incumbent Jim Hahn and challenger Villaraigosa both campaigned on ending the contract. Villaraigosa won, and almost immediately the only other company to have answered the city's request for bids on taking away its trash dropped out, leaving us with Browning-Ferris Industries. BFI. Sunshine Canyon. Villaraigosa, who promised to end the BFI deal, became a born-again advocate for extending it.
Posted by Anonymous @ 8/10/2005 09:50:00 PM
28 Comments:
As a two-year victim of Villaraigosa's non-stop "backing off" campaign promises in CD14, I can save the L.A. Times AND the Daily News a whole hell of a lot of time and ink for the next four years.
Pre-print about 100+ front pages with EACH these headlines:
VILLARAIGOSA BACKS OFF CAMPAIGN PROMISE TO. . .
VILLARAIGOSA RETREATS FROM PLEDGE TO. . .
VILLARAIGOSA REVERSES STANCE ON. . .
VILLARAIGOSA FLIP-FLOPS ON. . .
(Then just sit back and wait to fill in the missing words). The man has YET to make a promise he ever intended to keep, or met a reversal he didn't like.
He's "Will-less" Rogers
Damn people, this is dog bites man -- of course AV "retreats" and flip-flops.
You want a REAL earth-shattering headline, print me one (just for fun), that says "Villaraigosa Keeps His Word!"
That "man-bites-dog" only more rare.
Ask the people he promised he'd keep the Southwest Museum collection in Northeast L.A. "if you elect me mayor" because he's have SO much more power.
They're talking about sit-ins at the museum now, that's how "powerful" our impotent little show-mayor turns out to be.
His promise-KEEPING is NIMBY!
Antonio is a man who has not kept his word at all. It is sad that iy has happended so early on in his administration.
Duuring the campaign, he said he was against Sunshine Canyon and that he was opposed to extending their contract. Now that he is Mayor, he seems to have forgotten is now accusing Ms. Hahn and others of turning their backs on him. Let us be clear, Antonio is the one who switched sides.
Now he is running around and people on this blog are praising him for the negotiations that occured over the weekend. Let us be clear, the ONLY reason Antonio had this opportunity is because Janice Hahn had the courage of her convictions and stood up for what she believed was right.
Had she given in to Antonio and the big boys, it would have been business as usual. But because she stood her ground, the contract is only extended for 6 months while other issuses get negotiated.
Antonio should thank Janice Hahn for giving him the opportunity to negotiate this deal.
Thank you Janice Hahn for having the courage of your convictions. I only wished all the other elected officals would have it as well.
Janice Hahn may end up be the only real "man" on the city council these days.
Its great that all Nick's campaign staffers are doing is blogging. Keep that up and you might win the election in cyberspace.
Also you might want to check out that little claim about establishing the transfer money fund. If you look it up on the council file index, the amenity fund was established in 2004. Hmm...Looks like Antonio did it, not Nick. But just another one of Nicks lies.
I also recently heard from friends here in El Sereno that Nick is attacking Barrio Action and trying to say that the work to put together the long awaited constituent center is not right. He might want to take that up with the city attorneys office since they are the ones who approve all these things. I just think Nickie is upset because he couldn't find a way to do that project for 4 years and then got busted for giving the $3,000,000 to Eric Garcetti and taking it away from the constituent center right before he left office in 2003. Nickie can't have it both ways now.
What do you say to the people that voted for AV, because he was opposing this in first place?
I'm sorry but now I am for it????
No explanation will suffice for the reneged promise AV did on the Valley residents that are affected by the Sunshine dump.
You gotta love how City Council said repeatedly they had no time, as if this contrat was new and hadn't been renewed 5 years ago.
The people in Granada Hills have lived with the effects of Sunshine, and all the politicians promises for decades.
The only consistant thing one can say about Sunshine is that any politician running for office in that area is bound to stop by Bee Canyon park and rail against the dump, and yet be virtually "powerless" to stop it once they are in office.
Ironicly it is the North Valley Coalition, and the residents of the area, not the politicians, who have done 90% of the work when it came to holding BFI's feet to the fire. It is the people who force them to comply with the law. Of course BFI then holds fundraisers for various politicians and aranges campaign contributions and we wonder why the landfill is still there? Get real.
Here is a question. If you owned a company, would you donate to, or hold a fundraiser for, a candidate who you believed wanted to get rid of a $120 Million contract you are trying to renew? I think not. Now, follow the money and see why we are here today.
Whats' worse, is that these politicians try and hold the public position they are opposed to the landfill, which they may be but they oppose the money less and negotiate the behind the scenes votes to insure they "lose".
Enter Janice Hahn.
Grieg Smith was well into his display of shock and outrage and was prepared to throw a fit when he "lost" on Friday except... holy hell he won! Now what is he going to do? He turns a complete 360 degrees and comes out with a smile. They "forgot" about the rule that brings it back on Tuesday. Grieg has worked in City hall for 30 years and he forgot??? I think not. He expected to "lose" Friday but knew damn well a "win" was merely symbolic especially with AV holding more waffles than a house of pancakes.
So here we are, in a six month delay when the Council can get the other two votes and screw the Valley one more time. Then Reyes can mumble some more about the poor apartment owners in his district who are seniors on a fixed income (what the hell was that???) and LaBonge can spill some drivel about the FRIEKING SPACE STATIONS TRASH GOING TO SUNSHINE!!! (No shit, he actually said it... WRONG by the way Tom).
Of course Smith will keep cashing BFI's checks and hiring there lobbyists for his staff while he "opposes" them.
and the wheels on the bus go round and round...
Thank you Janice for standing up for the valley. I only wish that Wendy Gruel could have done the same. Sometimes I think that she is not all there. She says that she is against it but would not vote against the extension. I think she is dumb idiot.
Oh please. Don't give Janice Hahn credit for taking a tough stance. All she did was to vote the opposite way that MAV wanted. This so-called leadership is nothing more than pure political farce.
No, Janice voted and that was that. If I felt like you did that all politicians voted on grudges than the credibility is gone, yes gone for ALL POLITICIANS.
Anon, what political figures had fundraisers and or contributions by BFI?
I am interested in knowing which politicians bit the hand that is now asking for favors.
BFI Held a fundraiser for Av netting 40k+
Mitch Englander, nephew of BFI lobbyist Harvey Englander is Grieg Smiths Chief of Staff
there is more, but it's late
Ok, so I'm the sole poster at night. My shift will end soon. Is it true Villaraigos is in China? Do you know?
Huizar is incompetent
Taylor Yard
Belmont
Meruelo
IRS problems at lausd
Too many dropouts
And he wants to run CD14?
I DON'T THINK SO HUIZAR...YOUR RESUME LOOKS BAAAAAAAAAD!
Hilarious that LA Weekly would categorize Padilla as a young activist. He was no where on the radar when this was happening.
1:14 AM
READ THE MOST RECENT THREAD AT MAYOR'S SAM SISTER CITY
"A man named Sam Yorty once became mayor of Los Angeles by standing on the steps of City Hall and dumping a load of garbage to illustrate how inconvenient it was for the average housewife to recycle. "
Oops. Sorry. Well it made sense at the time!
Cheers,
Mayor Sam
"Great Philosophy" the only way to get the truth out of City Hall. Ditto.
Joe Mama at 10:10 p.m., last.
You have a very bad dilemma here with cognitive dissonance, and you're wasting your time.
No one that exists in CD14 that isn't already a Villaraigosa "groupie" is going to believe that he was actually responsible for finishing (or even STARTING anything) while he was CM regardless of the "effective" dates you throw at things. His groupies know he dissed the district for two full years and they just don't care (because all they wanted was for him to be mayor, anyway, even if it meant putting CD14 on hold all that time. SO, "all's lies are forgiven" -- right Chief Faker?). Ends justify the means!
Everyone else ALSO knows he did nothing, and also knows there isn't a damn thing they can do about it, especially now that he IS mayor (except sit back and watch the groupies explain for the next 4 years why he can't do anything NOW in the most powerful office in the city).
So save your breathe and distorted "facts." The believers are with you; your do-nothing "messiah" is in place.
There's no point in dissing the last councilman (Pacheco) that was actually able to accomplish something on behalf of the district.
Villaraigosa's mythic legacy will always be safe with the groupies, and the rest of us are too busy trying to start the engine he stalled indefinitely the day he became CM!
Go to topic "Apologies for the Spam Comments" at the beginning of this blog
Huizar posts.
During the HBO filming of "Walkout" Huizar was on hand to say the following, "I forgot to walkout, maybe next time I'll support your cause, it's campaign time. By the way, are you one of my dropouts from LAUSD, I thought I recognized you!" Congrats, I see you got an unpaid job here as an extra!
"Romer and former board President Jose Huizar were said to have, at best, a chilly relationship, with neither man giving support to or finding it from the other. With Canter coming in, board members said they hope to see more cooperation between the elected officials and the staff."
WHAT???? HUIZAR HAS NO SOCIAL SKILLS, HE CAN'T GET ALONG WITH OTHER PUBLIC OFFICIALS, SHIT, I THOUGHT I...
WHO ORDERED THE CITY HALL TROOPERS TO STOP BLOGGING HERE? DID AV TELL YOU TO STOP TOO? I LIVE IN AMERICA AND I WILL CONTINUE TO BLOG REGARDLESS IF AV HATES IT.
Question to Mayor Sam:
Have you changed your mind about landfilling since you first dumped the trash on the steps of City Hall?
Answer to person asking how much money a politician receives from companies/lobbyists/developers, etc.
Just go to the cityofla.org and wander around until you find the Ethics Department. You can navigate around the website and find out who gave money, who did IE's, who got paid and any other information you need.
It's simple.
August 11, 2005 5:44 PM
Didn't BFI throw a fundraiser for Alex Pa, I mean Tony Cardenas the night before one of the many BFI votes? So does Tony then launde.. I mean recycle the money into Alex's account, while AP votes no, but delivers the YES votes?
-Creative Accountant
Hey Chief Parker:
I notice that you never write anything about your Mom's boss? What's the deal? The County never does anything wrong?
Has everyone has forgetten that the City of Los Angeles has a landfill? Its called Lopez Canyon! And according to a state inspector, prior to its closing by Dick Alarcon, we had 100 more years of capacity. No tipping fees - we owed the joint!
Now we ship our trash 10 miles to the west and pay millions of dollars a year to private industry. And now we're having a fight in council as to whether the City should continue the contract with BFI.
I may get my legs broken by the BFI goons for even suggesting the City reopen Lopez and turn it into a money making venture and offer to take trash from other municipalities. What a concept; become a money making entity - much like LA Airport, the Harbor and the every evil DWP. Sanitation has the talent and the only thing stopping them are a handfull of gadflys in the SFV. The greater good of the City is at stake.
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