Whistleblower hotline: (213) 785-6098
mayorsam@mayorsam.org

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Open Thread for Tuesday

Open thread for all of you dragging in after the holiday weekend.

And a quick ed note to the "spin-offs", if you want to pimp your site, earn it. The freeloading is over!

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

High-priced housing faces risks

Fifty-three metropolitan areas representing 31% of the total U.S. housing market are considered extremely overvalued and confront a high risk of future price corrections, a study conducted by National City Corp. says. The study determines a market extremely overvalued if prices are 30% above where the study estimates they should be based on historic price data, area income, mortgage rates and population density.

Metro areas that are extremely overvalued and vulnerable to price correction:
Rank Metro area Q1 valuation
1 Santa Barbara, Calif. 69%
2 Salinas, Calif. 67%
3 Naples, Fla. 62%
4 Riverside, Calif. 60%
5 Merced, Calif. 59%
6 Stockton, Calif. 58%
7 Port St. Lucie, Fla. 58%
8 Madera, Calif. 57%
9 Napa, Calif. 57%
10 Medford, Ore. 55%
11 Sacramento, Calif. 54%
12 Modesto, Calif. 53%
13 San Diego, Calif. 53%
14 Santa Rosa, Calif. 52%
15 Chico, Calif. 52%
16 Barnstable Town, Mass. 50%
17 San Luis Obispo, Calif. 49%
18 Oxnard, Calif. 48%
19 Fresno, Calif. 48%
20 Los Angeles, Calif. 48%

September 06, 2005 8:52 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Does the real Mayor have any public speaking engagements this week or next? I have guests in town who want to hear him speak.

September 06, 2005 9:40 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

You want to take guests to hear him speak?! Have you ever heard this bozo speak. Just say anything, throw in several dozen uhhhhhs and a couple of "dream with me"'s and finish it off with a "you've got to understand" and there you have it - the consumate Villaraigosa speech.

September 06, 2005 9:48 AM  

Blogger Mayor Sam said:

Are city staffers using city owned cars for personal and/or campaign use? We want to know. Send us details at mayorsamyorty@aol.com.

September 06, 2005 10:31 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Dear 9:40 anon,

Strippers do not qualify as legitimate guests, you have to try and get a private appt.

September 06, 2005 11:41 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

9:40 a.m.

There is no "real" mayor in L.A. Villaraigosa just plays one "on TV!"

September 06, 2005 1:30 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Monday, Sept. 5, 2005 11:38 p.m. EDT
Mayor Nagin: Gov. Blanco Delayed Rescue

After days of blaming the federal officials for not responding quickly enough to the Hurricane Katrina crisis, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin praised President Bush on Monday - and charged that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco had delayed federal rescue efforts by 24-hours.

"I'm so happy that the president came down here," Nagin said of Bush's Friday visit to Louisiana in an interview with CNN. "He came down and saw it, and he put a general on the field. His name is General Honore. And when he hit the field, we started to see action."

But Nagin had harsh words for his state's leaders, telling CNN: "What the state was doing, I don't frigging know. But I tell you, I am pissed. It wasn't adequate."
The New Orleans Democrat said he urged Bush to meet privately with Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco during the visit. The meeting took place aboard Air Force One, he said.

After reviewing the crisis with Gov. Blanco, Bush summoned Nagin for a private chat - where, according to Nagin, Bush explained: "Mr. Mayor, I offered two options to the governor. I said . . . I was ready to move today. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision."

Reacting to the governor's footdragging, Nagin lamented: "It would have been great if we could of left Air Force One, walked outside, and told the world that we had this all worked out."

"It didn't happen, and more people died."

September 06, 2005 4:42 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Watch the video

http://mediamatters.org/items/200509060011

September 06, 2005 4:49 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

September 02, 2005
Why Was New Orleans Evacuated?

A number of our readers have been highly critical of state and local authorities in Louisiana. However, it must be acknowledged that they did one important thing that saved countless lives: they ordered the mandatory evacuation on Sunday that caused most people to leave the city. This mandatory evacuation order was a departure from past practice, when evacuations in the face of approaching hurricanes have always been voluntary.

So what prompted the order that prevented Hurricane Katrina from being a natural disaster of unprecedented magnitude?

The mayor called the order unprecedented and said anyone who could leave the city should.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding.


The City of New Orleans and its residents owe the President a profound debt of gratitude.

September 06, 2005 4:55 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Yeah, Jose Huizar had LAUSD police van at his opening campaign headquarters on 1st Street. He even had the school police there who took 20 students.

September 06, 2005 5:10 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

CNN security consultant Richard Falkenrath said as much, in a roundabout way, when he contradicted Jon Healy. “There was a cascading failure of public infrastructure that we hadn’t planned for.”

English translation: ‘The first line of defense always is constituted by local authorities. You know, the sewer and water and transportation and police and fire and health departments. Well, not only did one of them screw up, but they all screwed up, one on top of the other. Imagine the 102 stories of the World Trade Center towers collapsing one on top of the other on 911, and you have an idea of the failures by local authorities.'

No federal agency can ever swoop in fast enough to compensate for such incompetence at the local level. The locals must always hold the fort for several days, until the feds can get their airlifts and personnel organized and at the scene of the catastrophe. That Jon Healy would damn the feds while absolving local officials of responsibility shows either incredible ignorance or breath-taking dishonesty.

The contrast to Mississippi could not have been starker. Mississippi had less warning about Katrina. And yet, once people heard that Katrina was coming, they got in their cars and drove away. CNN’s Anderson Cooper reported from Waveland, MS, where a married couple and the husband’s mother had returned to see the leveled house they’d lost.

In New Orleans, 150,000 people refused to leave, despite railroad lines and bus depots. Mayor Nagin likes the title of mayor and the power the job confers, but like most black urban mayors, he refuses to lead. Or rather, he thinks that leadership begins with demanding nourishment from white people, and ends with biting the hands that feed him.

September 06, 2005 5:15 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

What? Using school vehicles for campaign functions?

September 06, 2005 5:16 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home

Advertisement

Advertisement