Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Tuesday

Just when we need more cops and its hard enough to 1) hire new ones and 2) keep them from moving to other agencies once they've been trained - the idiots at City Hall take another step to piss off the men and women in blue. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief William Bratton voiced support today for state legislation authored by Senator Gloria Romero to open officer disciplinary hearings to the public, but a police union vowed to fight such an effort, saying it would violate officers' right to privacy. Villaraigosa said the Los Angeles Police Department, "under the leadership of Police Chief William Bratton and the Police Commission President John Mack, has been a national leader in open, transparent disciplinary processes for police officers -- particularly when it comes to police officer
use of force."

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo is quicky becoming the Rodney Dangerfield of LA politics - he just can't get any respect. First Rocky gets his hat handed to him in one of the biggest ass whoopings in California electoral politics whe he ran against Jerry Brown for the Democratic nomination for State Attorney General. Now, when he tried to gain support from Mayor Villaraigosa and City Controller Laura Chick for a measure to extend the three citywide elected officials terms (a la the bogus Measure R on last November's ballot), he was politely shown the door. He then goes with the hat handed to him by Jerry Brown in hand to the City Council - the same Council he told to take Measure R and shove it - to beg for their support. No dice as Rocky walks away empty handed (not sure if he still had his hat) having been told by some Council members - at least according to the Daily News' Rick Orlov - that "he might be better off looking for a new political job." Damn that has got to hurt!

Greg Nelson - writing for CityWatch - has a great piece on whether or not the Brown Act applies to Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils. Not that NC leaders want to operate in the shadows but many feel the act needs revision or even a possible NC exemption considering the Eisenhower era Brown Act was written decades before private citizen democracy was enhanced and empowered by the Internet. Good points to ponder.

And finally, Zach at LAist makes the case that city leaders in Chicago want to host the 2016 Olympics far more than their peers in Los Angeles do. Sounds like the Mayor and his team need to get cracking if their serious about an Olympic three-peat in Los Angeles. Its likely that a North American city is favored for the games and one in the US. The only choices on the table at this time are the Windy City and the Three Ring Circus. Zach makes some good points as to why Chicago may be cooler and more deserving (the city was awarded and then lost the 1904 games to St. Louis and since has never hosted a games whilst Los Angeles hosted games in both 1932 and 1984). However - the Olympic Committee - at both the national and international level - is fairly conservative in their decisions and is going to looking beyond coolness, hometown enthusiasm and an opportunity to "spread the love." Undoubtedly Los Angeles has the requisite facilities already in place with very little upgrading necessary. It also has the experience and skill to host the games. There's the Hollywood connection and proximity to the Pacific Rim. Despite how much we make fun of our beloved municipal government, Los Angeles has proven it can handle large events - particularly those that require massive logistics and security. It was 1968, but we all do remember the Chicago Democratic Convention right? Lastly, it probably doesn't hurt that the US Olympic Committee's chairman is Peter Ueberroth a hometown boy and 1984 games organizing committee chairman.