City Council Plays Games Again
We ran this story in yesterday's morning update and wasn't sure how many of you actually caught it amongst everything else that was published yesterday. We know its a slow week, many of your bosses are out of town at the League of Cities Boozefest, uh, I mean meeting, but this deserves some serious attention, so here we go again.Steve Hymon, writing in the LA Times, talks about how a group of about to evicted tenants didn't get their day in City Hall, because the Council, including members Parks, Smith and Reyes - joined in by a visiting Mayor Villaraigosa - spent upwards of half an hour making bets on Saturday's USC - UCLA game (in case you didn't know USC beat UCLA 66-19 and is now most likely headed to the National Championship at the Rose Bowl on January 4th.) Taking it from the ridiculous to the sublime, a football was tossed as fight songs played and former high school footballer Tom LaBonge went long for a pass. That is, before he nearly ran into a podium. Is this the City Council or is it Romper Room? What happened next? You guessed it, due to all the antics, by the time the Council got to the renters' issue, there were no longer enough members present to maintain a quorom.
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 12/06/2005 10:19:00 AM
22 Comments:
Too many people on the same "team" and you end up with a good-old-boy network where camraderie is more important than getting things done.
We need a few "rock throwers" in order to get back to business, or else L.A. burns while city council plays.
Public comment takes 10-20 minutes most days. Can't they shut up and listen BETWEEN election cycles? Granted this is when the gadflies and nuts often take over, but in the midst are some desperate people and a few good ideas.
Shut up, sit down, take notes, act your age!
All it would take is for one councilmember with a spine to say, "hey, this is important -- let's all listen to what these people are saying."
Just stupid, stupid, stupid. They know people are watching. They know people have business and come from far away to talk. They've been through this before and had stories written about them. They should just know better than to do anything worthless before getting through the substantive agenda.
And there's more than enough blame to go around. Ding Bill Rosendahl for not trying to move up the Lincoln Place agenda item before the UCLA/USC stuff. Yeah, cut him some slack because he's a new member, but it was still a boneheaded move on his part. During that whole half hour of UCLA/USC stuff, he never once thought, "hey, you know, maybe my Lincoln Place tenants don't like sitting here waiting"? Ding his LD, too, for not briefing him on the agenda item or reminding him of it while all of this was going on.
I heard Rosendahl on Which Way LA last night and he took one for the team and explained that he takes full blame for making these people wait. What a guy.
Rosendahl is the biggest idiot on council. Just saw him on Chan. 4 with the Tookie Williams clemency weirdos. Tookie is a cold blooded murderer and how about all the things he did as a Crip and didn't get caught.
Someone should SUE city council like they did last year for not paying attention. They are an embarrassement to the city. LA Weekly and LA Times have made fun of them. Council is a circus. They act like school children, never in seats, talk relentlessly while others are talking, never pay attention etc. Garcetti better do a better job than Padilla in keeping order.
Public comment always takes forever. Why don't they do those dumb presentations AFTER all the business is taken care of?
Your mistaking the actual "public comment" when constituents come to voice their concerns about everything, with the back-slapping, hotdogging, "I know everybody" jibber-jabber that the councilmembers do to praise and promote their own work on the backs of made up proclamations and "Official Joe Blow Day" shit. That stuff could wait until the end, or only do it once a week, but the "public comment" is too little and too ignored.
Maybe if the "public" had to pay a toll that went into council campaign funds they would listen?
Gee, do you think they do it on purpose to discourage public participation?
Not only do they keep people waiting for hours while they go through the above, then they often limit them to one minute each. I guess that is because they are too important to listen to the boring concerns of their constituents.
Five of us went to Council on the China Shipping EIR. We waited 2 1/2 hours, and then were given a total of 5 minutes among us. That blew up into a massive lawsuit, which the City and the Port lost. The result was one of the largest, some say the largest, settlements in the history of the Caliornia Environmental Quality Act.
Who knows, maybe if they had listened before they approved the totally inadequate and illegal EIR, they could have saved a few million dollars.
From my own personal experience, this happens far too many times. No wonder people get so fed up with City government.
We need a City Council overhaul. This is just plain pathetic. Padilla can't run a tight ship and it is a good thing he is resigning at the end of December. As a previous post pointed out, Eric better run a tighter ship.
I think another lawsuit is needed to put the Council in their place, but then again, I don't last year's did much to change anything.
As I recall the lawsuit was brought by some sleazebag, shiny suited lawyer, trying to pull a legal maneuver to get restrictions against a Titty Bar he was representing lifted, or to have the case reconsidered simply based on the fact that the council dissed him. I don't think that's exactly the kind of mainstream righteous indignation that's going to turn heads and make people think the city council is against the "common man."
If a similar lawsuit were to come from some stakeholder concern that was a "bit" more upstanding, maybe the powers that be wouldn't feel as comfortable shrugging it off as being inconsequential, or painting it as sour grapes.
Most of their constituents aren't going to get all worked up over some lawyer's perceived slight because the council didn't want to hear in minute detail how the constitution gives every horndog the right to breathe heavy on bare breasts while they're staining their underwear in dark downtown "gentlemens" clubs.
How can they behave in such a juvenile manner knowing the cameras are rolling? Council chambers is chaotic and in total disorder. Even Ed Reyes went off on them Friday for not listening. I say someone go to council and tape them once again not in their seats and talking and SUE THEM AGAIN. How f---ng arrogant of them to not care. Those damn presentations should have a time limit. Why have a time limit on public comment and not the wasted time on that crap.
2:27
It is interesting to note that Tony Cardenas' daughter works at a casino near Goleta,CA. Hmmm Isn't that the same tribe that hit Villaraigosa with independent expenditures in 2001?
ISN'T CARDENAS THE SAME GUY WHO MADE THE MOTION TO REGULATE STRIP CLUBS?
how i love these politicians
Sun LA TIMES..."Gregory Rodriguez:L.A.'s puritan roots still show"
yeah whatever Tony Cardenas--puritan my ass.
This was a very black day for the Council. A black day indeed. A big black mark against them. For shame! For Shame!
AT least LaBoob and other clowns were not on their cell phones like they used to be while "listening" to tenants, etc
Noel, you diesel eating jack-ass. That lawsuit had absolutley nothing to do with the fact that you and your clown posse got a total of 5 minutes in front of council. It had almost nothing to do with comments you made. Once again you're trying to act like you're an important somebody when in fact you are a moron. Need I tell you again, Eat Diesel and Die.
City Councilmen don't care about the public interest, and feel no obligation to listen to people who've taken time off work to speak to them. They care only about their campaign contributors. We live in a bribeocracy, where policy is determined by the amount of contributions made.
You lost me 3:05, what do casinos have to do with strip clubs?
Or are you just bundling every "vice" that a puritan might object to into one basket.
(I'll bet Tony C. even drink ALCOHOL!!)
The fact is that strip clubs, lap dances, etc are a toned down form of prostitution, and they lead to the toned up form, regardless of what they sleazbag lawyers want you to hear. LAPD busts people for this in the parking lots of most of thes joints, and they're not even looking that hard.
3:05:
That's some sick info! So if cardenas' daughter does in fact work there, does work-study still apply since it is native american property?
-FAFSA Rep
I don't know where to start. First of all, every single council has been this way for years and years.
They don't listen or pay any attention to constituent public comments because they've already made up their minds in committee and with meetings with lobbyists. There is nothing you can say that will sway them once you're there. Well, I've seen both Joel Wachs and Nate Holden, like someone mentioned the other day, stop the process and ask what the hell just happened or what is going on, etc.
We must always remind them that THEY work for US. Period. How dare they ignore our presence!
I've told you before, this council is the best I've ever seen. They pay more attention than Ferraro, Bernson, Hernandez, Goldberg... oh god those were much more horrible days.
Clean money will help that eventually.
Come one, Rosendahl admitted his mistake, give him a break. He'll get used to it all. This must be hard to get used to. Shocking too, one would think.
I complained about proclamations in the paper once and that didn't go over so well with the council members. I'm glad to see more people agree with me on that. I don't mind the concept, just the procedure. Pick a day or a time or something.
Since there is absolutely nothing wrong with strip clubs and I don't believe that the police are busting people for prostitution in the parking lot, I think the council ought to just go away on this issue. They've jumped on Bush's "moral" agenda and it's ridiculous. If we DO have police wasting time cruising the parking lots of strip clubs - then I hope everyone drops the pleas for more police. We must have plenty or they wouldn't be putting them on such petty duty when there are hard core Tookie protege's killing someone weekly. All neighborhood councils should remember that in the budget surveys too. Perhaps out of unwarranted fear, we have convinced ourselves that we NEED more police or are somehow unsafe.
When Roger Diamond sued City Council, that should have been a wake up call and taught them a lesson.
He did it because he was shocked at their behavior. Most people are at first. He studied the tapes carefully to learn the identities of every council member.
He should do it again. Everyone should do it. We need to send the message that we are their bosses.
1:52am put down your crack pipe. This is far from "the best council ever." I don't ever remember the media making fun of them as much as this sorry group. They have no class and behave like school children in a classroom with no teacher. Its like romper room in chambers.
As far as not needing cops go to your local police station and ask the watch commander how many officers they are down. Every division is short about 80 officers.
As to 3:38 PM, 12/6:
Were you there? Did you participate in the lawsuit in any way?
If not, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about.
There is no leader present that will jerk a knot into this council like Ferraro did when he was council. Maybe Bernie...maybe Herb, but Herb's running for Supervisor.
Also, Walter Moore... please...you were pathetic as a mayoral candidate (note the lower case) and you are pathetic today as you attempt to dole out wisdom. Maybe you should try to run for council first, if you can win. (big laugh from the stands)
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