Keys to the City weekend edition

I do this Keys to the City feature about every other day at Martini Republic, where we often err on the cultural side of things; but this morning, as the Mayors are away this weekend, and with so much political stuff ascendant, it makes more sense right here.

In an editorial that comes a little late and on the wrong day of the week for achieving impact, the Times (again following rather than leading noises in the blogosphere) calls Rocky Delgadillo's suit against Grand Theft Auto "political gamesmanship." Here's a sample:

Delgadillo, who is running for state attorney general, is just piling on. Beyond that, the lawsuit is absurd at its core. Does anyone believe that buyers or retailers of a video game that encourages players to murder, steal and pimp were misled because they weren't told it contained hidden scenes of virtual sex?

I'm sure you can easily find the local bloggers who have littered legions of pixels in precisely the same vein of late; but welcome to the party LAT.

Elsewhere, Rick Orlov reports in the DN that City Council on Friday approved a compromise deal over development at Chase Knowles, an old and declining apartment complext in Sherman Oaks. The case, which the perpetually publicity-seeking (and perpetually litigious) LA Conservancy has turned into a cause celebre, has parallels to Lincoln Place. Myself, I marvel at the LAConservancy's championing of places like this, which wouldn't even rate a second peek from most of the world's architectural historians, and I'm amused at the general idea that renters have a God-given right to live the way they want to live into perpetuity---but that's just me, a liberal who still believes in private property rights anyway.

I trust you caught the news this week that David Zahniser is moving from the Daily Breeze (obviously a daily) to the weekly LA Weekly. That's usually the opposite direction that beat writers move---they more typically go from weekly to daily. Barroom whispers are that he knows how good he is---hey, he is very good, and well-liked to boot---and that he hopes to raise his profile in the City by taking the spot the Weekly. Whatever is true, it's a good sign from the new owners of the Weekly that they intend to stay serious about City Hall.

Finally, new hire Matt Welch is, er, pissed that the Times submitted him to the indignity of a drug test. He confesses that "a single hit of pot is enough to reduce me to a whimpering fetal crouch for several incommunicative hours at a time."

No need to remind us here that we don't have such constraints in the blogosphere...