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

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Busy Day in Council

We had Garcetti being elected President, Huizar and Wesson being sworn in, and Mirell's appointment to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority finally being confirmed after the Mayor couldn't muster the votes on two previous occassions. Here's the coverage...

Garcetti:

Daily Breeze - Garcetti chosen for council's top spot
Daily News -(Tied in with this story) Huizar, Wesson take office
LA Times - Garcetti Will Become Council Chief on Jan. 1
Eric Garcetti - President of the Los Angeles City Council
Downtown Central City East Blogger - Eric Garcetti elected Council President!! God save the President!!!!
Blogging.LA - Eric The Great: Garcetti Elected President of Los Angeles!
Lonewacko Blog - Eric Garcetti now President of Los Angeles City Council
LA Voice - Young Blood: City Council Names Garcetti Its Leader
LA Observed - No day of rest after all *

Huizar and Wesson:

Daily News - Huizar, Wesson take office
Daily Breeze -(Tied in with this story) Garcetti chosen for council's top spot
LA Times - Huizar, Wesson Sworn In as Council Members

Mirell:

Daily Breeze - 3rd vote's a charm for mayor's pick
Daily News - Mirell named to homeless panel
Downtown Central City East Blogger - BREAKING NEWS - MIrell Confirmed to LAHSA Commission

34 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Mirell:

His confirmation was all about politics and not common sense. Nice to know we have at least 4 Parks, Perry, Zine, Smith who aren't rubbering stamping Antonoio's dumb appointments. ACLU is taking over the city with 3 going to homeless agency. Amazing these council members can sleep at night being lap dogs to Antonio. No spines at all. There was talk behind closed doors yesterday after the vote that some felt badly voting the way they did but they had NO CHOICE.

November 30, 2005 8:52 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Alex Padilla missed almost 2,000 votes in the last 2 yrs. He needed to go!

November 30, 2005 9:02 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Rosendahl is an idiot. He's an embarrassement to his district. That's what they get for voting for a cable guy with no experience. Someone please tell him he sounds like a fool when he speaks and do his homework before opening his mouth. Oh and please tell him we don't give a rats ass if he's gay or not. City council chambers is not the place for him to keep telling people "I'm the gay member here."

November 30, 2005 9:11 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Wesson and Huizar had no bearing on the vote.

Subtract 2 from 11 and the Mayor had his 8 plus votes needed for the confirmation.

No big deal, everone can go back to watching Ellen on channel 4 now.

losers!

November 30, 2005 9:35 AM  

Blogger Joseph Mailander said:

We decided to watch and wait, and it panned out as we suspected:

Garcetti steals thunder by working blogosphere

It's really amazing, the way he blew the other stories off the page.

November 30, 2005 9:47 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Does anyone know what's going on at city hall right now? There's tons of people setting up tents on the lawn. Looks like a protest of some sort.

November 30, 2005 9:53 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Congratulations to president-elect Eric Garcetti. He looks like he will bring much more passion, charisma, and style to the council presidency, more so than Padilla - who is my current councilman.

November 30, 2005 9:58 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

As an LA resident (my entire life), ACLU member, and former public servant, I applaud Mirell's confirmation.

9:11 - what's up with you?

November 30, 2005 10:23 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Meanwhile, over and over and over again, the union-dominated education establishment resists every attempt, no matter how tiny or incremental, to introduce accountability to the system by objectively evaluating teacher performance. Innovations such as charter schools are opposed vehemently because they present a different model that could show up the bureaucratic model that is the public school norm. School board members elected by unions think nothing of offering contracts that make it impossible to fire incompetent teachers or granting lavish pensions that districts will never be available to afford.


The system couldn't be more dysfunctional or resistant to improvement, and it's all because it is dominated by teachers unions infinitely more interested in preserving jobs and increasing pay and benefits than in helping kids.


Against this backdrop, the decision of Villaraigosa - a Democrat with impeccable progressive credentials - to take on the United Teachers Los Angeles and their allies on the Los Angeles school board could finally open the eyes of liberals to the paradox of their alliance with the most reactionary force in American life: the teachers unions who desperately defend the discredited education status quo.


"I will not accept the status quo, and neither should you," Villaraigosa told a luncheon audience in Los Angeles last week. If only many more progressives reached the same conclusion, we could see real progress in our schools at long last. Go, Antonio, go.

November 30, 2005 11:13 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

10:23 am I have a big problem with gay people using that status to get attention and don't believe city council is the place for it.

That protest is all the Tookie Williams supporters who are dressed in terrorists outfits marching around city hall. They look like a bunch of gang banger thugs. These probably are the same people who think O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson were innocent.

November 30, 2005 11:23 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

11:23 - You confused me for a second. First you said terrorist - which made me think Middle Eastern/Muslim. Then you said gang members - which made me think black people. Get your stereotyping straight, my man.

Regarding Rosendahl (while we're still on the subject of stereotyping) - you think he should go back into the closet?

Wow. Isn't blogging great. By the way, is the next klan meeting on Thursday night or did they move it to Friday? Thanks.

November 30, 2005 12:22 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Public dollars should be used to serve all the people
Mariel Garza, Columnist



Last week, a spacious child-care center debuted in the Van Nuys Civic Center. The state-of-the-art center on Sylvan Street was built on county-owned land through the generosity of Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who used $3 million from his 3rd District accounts to build it.
The center has 7,125 feet of indoor learning areas and nearly 6,300 feet for outside play time. Once the organization running the center gets its license in the next few days, it will open to 80 lucky babies and children this first year, 90 in future years. As of Tuesday, there were still slots open.

But don't get too excited.

The center was not built for the regular folks of Van Nuys. Although construction was funded with, and the center will be subsidized by, public money, it is intended primarily for the convenience and use of government workers.

Got that?

November 30, 2005 1:43 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

http://dailynews.com/marielgarza/ci_3220029


...Here in the real world, the government is not building child care centers for everyone - just for the very poor, who can qualify for federal Head Start programs and, it seems, for government workers.

The rest of us are on our own while our taxpayer money is blown on bridges to nowhere in Alaska and subsidies to corporate "farmers."

If that's not annoying enough, consider this: The $3 million to build this new center serving mostly public workers came out of the 3rd Supervisorial District's capital funds account, which was $10 million in the current year, according to Bellman. These funds are restricted to building or improving public facilities, which could include libraries and cultural centers or replacing the roof of a county building.

The center's price tag, then, was equal to nearly one-third of that fund. That's a lot of money to spend on something that doesn't serve the public at large.

C'mon, Zev, make this right. Open up this nice new center to all local children, first-come first-served, no matter where their parents work. If there's more demand than spots, then maybe there's another $3 million next year for another state-of-the-art child-care center.

Mariel Garza

November 30, 2005 1:46 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

This program excludes while a small portion benefit.


Pay for Play.

Get me the list of city, county worker names who send kids to this place.

I bet they drive $60k SUV's, luxury sedans, have $800k homes in outside districts and leech off of us taxpayers.

November 30, 2005 1:48 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

http://www.dailynews.com/youropinion/ci_3262661

LAUSD vs mayor




Re "Fight brewing against mayor" (Nov. 25):
The real reason the LAUSD is fighting Mayor Villaraigosa so vehemently is to protect their own positions and that of their cronies. For instance, the new school building projects proclaimed by the LAUSD as an example of their accomplishments have run over budget and over schedule as various LAUSD factions bicker about how to slice up their piece of the bond pie. When the money runs out, they simply go back and put another bond issue on the ballot.

The LAUSD pays lip service to reform in the schools, and shows outright scorn to taxpayers who pay their inflated salaries. It's time for us and our mayor to put an end to this. The taxpayers and the parents are being held hostage by the LAUSD.

Robert Smith
Sherman Oaks

November 30, 2005 1:51 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I am glad you people think goverment workers get paid enough to drive a $60K vehicle. The reality is, while the benefits and job security is good, you can't get rich or buy fancy cars or homes off what they pay you. What's wrong with taxdollars used to provide day care for the men and women who make our city run relatively smoothly? can't you people find some real injustice to get upset over?

November 30, 2005 1:53 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Re "Reiner warns of new tax" (Nov. 19):

It is nice to see Rob "Meathead" Reiner holding the bull by the tail for a change. He was the one who loaned his considerable weight to the ballot that raised the price of cigarettes by 50 cents, whereupon the tobacco companies got into the act and raised their prices 50 cents, making me and millions of others pay $10 more per carton.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advertisement


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



Now that someone else wants to raise the price of cigs by $1.50 per pack, he is up in arms to defend his charity - which I never knew had a name (I thought it was a figment of his imagination at the time). Let them put their $1.50 tax on a bottle of scotch or other liquor. Let the boozers pay for once.

Alan Falconer
Northridge

November 30, 2005 1:54 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

"What's wrong with taxdollars used to provide day care for the men and women who make our city run relatively smoothly?"

IF YOU CAN'T DO YOUR JOB SMOOTHLY DUE TO THIS PERSONAL DAY CARE SITUATION, YOU SHOULD BE A STAY AT HOME MOM OR DAD.

WHAT GIVES YOU SPECIAL PRIVELAGES OVER ANYONE ELSE IN SOCIETY TO DESERVE THIS SPECIAL GIFT FROM US TAXPAYERS. I WORK, PAY DAY CARE, SO WHAT WAS YOUR PROBLEM, I BET NONE, YOU WANT FREE SERVICES. LEECHES, YOU ARE LEECHES.

SO MANY HOMELESS KIDS, THIS MONEY COULD HAVE HELPED HOUSE HOMELESS KIDS INSTEAD, HUNGRY KIDS, NOT SUBSIDIZE SUBURBIA CITY, COUNTY WORKERS JUST SO THEY CAN GET THE BIGGER CAR, BIGGER HOUSE ON THE BACKS OF OTHERS.

November 30, 2005 1:58 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Must be a lot

The last time I remember seeing the scores of the national standard school tests, I remember California came in number 48 or 49 in the nation. Now I read our schoolteachers will soon be averaging $59,000 a year after their new contract.

I wonder what the teachers get in the other states where they actually educate the children - $100,000?

Stan Niedwicki
Woodland Hills

November 30, 2005 1:59 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

*With this kind of pay raise, there should be a 95% graduation success rate, right?

I hope your mama don't run the factory the way these moronic school officials do. We would be broke, broke i tell you.

:(

November 30, 2005 2:00 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Lay off the schools.

My sister graduated with a degree in Engineering. She couldn't get a job, so she decided to teach. She hates it, but atleast she shows up to get paid.

November 30, 2005 2:03 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

any news on staff for Huizar?

November 30, 2005 2:30 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I can't believe that Huizar was just sworn in yesterday and HE MISSED COUNCIL TODAY. WORD IS HE WENT WITH ANTONIO TO HARVARD.

Anyone out there know if this is true?

November 30, 2005 3:04 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Huizar was at Alatorre's mom's funeral this morning. that's why he missed first day of council.

November 30, 2005 3:19 PM  

Blogger dgarzila said:

can someone tell me why people are camped at city hall today?

November 30, 2005 3:31 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

You mean to tell me that firefighters, police, nurses and other government workers are going to get more childcare slots over the good people who don't work in government?

I say we cut their pay even further. Reduce their benefits. That'll teach every last one of 'em that it doesn't pay to be a public servant.

November 30, 2005 3:59 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

3:59 No special treatment. Similiar to pay for play tactics.

November 30, 2005 4:31 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Gregory Peck's walk of fame star stolen. Camera's are in place, are these cameras working or dummy cameras?

November 30, 2005 4:33 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

4:33
give james acevedo the contract to replace that star. he'll get the job done right, Padilla?

November 30, 2005 7:11 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Alex Padilla should get a star on the hollywood walk of fame...but only until the 31st of December ok?

November 30, 2005 7:36 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Who is the new president pro-temp of the city council

November 30, 2005 9:19 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

dgarzila the protesters were supporters of Tookie Williams. Just like the O.J. and Michael Jackson idiots they he's innocent. Killing 4 people is ok and you should get time off for writing children's books all the while in jail running your "Crips" gang from inside. Did you see those thugs? They were wearing army fatigues and had black scarfs covering their faces. They look just as scary as the 9/11 terrorists. Amazing how ignorant people can be. It's like protesting in support of Jeffrey Damer.

November 30, 2005 10:42 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Wendy Greuel is still President Pro Tempore of the council (it is elected separately). She and Garcetti will make a formidable team. She's probably the next president down the line, though it sure sounded like Wesson wants to be the next president in his first speech in council yesterday. He'd do better to wait through his first term (by which time he'll be on the road to supervisor)

November 30, 2005 10:45 PM  

Blogger Sahra Bogado said:

There's a very creative use of old computer monitors and TV's at the corner of Fletcher and Riverside Dr.

There are cement blocks that used to hold up power lines that have old monitors on top of them with "Save Tookie" and other slogans written on white paper with red ink taped to the screens.

November 30, 2005 11:19 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home

Advertisement

Advertisement