Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Wednesday
The Daily News takes a look at the effect of Measure R passed last fall by voters. The plan seeks to extend the number of terms City Council members can serve. The paper notes that "The Los Angeles City Council, already notoriously difficult for newcomers to break into" will become even more entrenched under this questionable scheme which even failed to gain the legal blessing of City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo. This is why its so important that everyone get beind David Hernandez's effort to overturn this unconstitutional law in the courts.The California Public Employees Retirement System will be making a major investment in the 21,000 home Newhall Ranch project in Santa Clarita. CALPERS funds will be invested through a San Francisco based investment firm.
Gary Tobben of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce gives his perspective on the local economy's prospects in 2007. Central to keeping the economy in LA from going in the tank is for the City Council to give up anti-business schemes like mandating a living wage.
We get recognition: Jon Regardie of the LA Downtown news in an article featuring those to watch in LA in 2007 along with Martini Republic and others, this blog is among that class. Thanks Jon! At the same time, LAist asked for and published a year end top 10 list from this old, dead Republican mayor.
Last month we featured the efforts of Gina Elise, a 24 year old UCLA alum who has created a retro "pin up" calendar to raise funds and awareness for hospitalized veterans. Gina is getting further recognition in this story in the San Bernardino Sun. We urge you to support this worthwhile project.
And finally its not often you get these three blogs on the same page but the Sister City, the folks at Martini Republic and Kevin "Westside White Guy" Roderick at LA Observed all agree that former KTLA parade commentator Stephanie Edwards got the shaft. In fact, Joseph Mailander of Martini Republic is convinced that if Edwards were to run against Mayor Villaraigosa, she would win.
Labels: proposition r, rocky delgadillo
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 1/03/2007 12:13:00 AM
41 Comments:
Is a bring back Stephanie Edwards petition really a cause worth taking up today? After all, you're talking about a couple hours of midday TV programming, once a year. It's not like we're talking about the Macy's Day Parade in New York City.
Why is our midget Mayor in Washington? Now all of a sudden HE'S AGAINST GANGS. He's calling them Enemy #1. 2006 was a FAILURE for Antonio cause he didn't accomplished anything. He lost LAUSD takeover, he's losing the living wage battle, and now because Bratton is getting high marks Antonio is acting like Guilani being the insecure fool that he is and taking credit being at news conf.
News Conference was Brattons baby. What was mighty midget there?
What a desmadre(Fuck Up) Antonio is turning out to be. But I personally can't say I'm not surprised.
May I remind you all his fuck-ups:
*DWP Pay increase
*EAA
*BFI/Sunshine Canyon
*LAX awarding Tutor-Saliba the runway project (Tutor-Saliba a major contributor to AV)
*Mayoral takeover of LAUSD (No plan just alot of flowery liberal bullshit)
*South LA Farm
*Animal Rights terrorists
*Gerald Stuckey
*Haven't balanced the budget of this "Supposed deficit"
*The Elephants at the LA Zoo dying
But I guess all this doesn't matter when we can "dream with him" more like 'close your eyes and wake up to a nightmare' when you think of it.
This list will grow in the coming weeks.
Just think all of this could have been swept under the rug because of a DWP contract and a large campaign contribution.
Mayor Villaraigosa, Oops I mean Mayor Riordan is fucking things up right now. And I said most of this stuff druing the elections about Ludlow especially the investigations as a Councilman with the MTA property. This was the main reason why he was transfered to run the County Fed of Labor to delay and ultimetely make disappear those accusations cause they'll lead right to Antonio.
Because this would be the type of amo Hahn would have used to win the election turn the landslide into a close race between the younger and older voters which would have given him a closer win less than 3%.
Now Antonio is dreaming of a Subway to the Ocean. Why, because this would lead right to Riordan's cronies like Tutor-Saliba and Tetra-Tech to do build and plan the subway and make $$$$. Hey do your research folks Tetra-Tech already won a large $$$ to Study the LA River. Now do you think that's coincidence now that Riordan is the Puppetmaster of Antonio with this School Takeover bid.
I think NOT!
LAUSD SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION
(I SMELL HUIZAR)
EAST VALLEY AREA HIGHSCHOOL #2
Hollywood New Continuation HS #1
Central LA Area New HS #1
"
"I hope to God we don't have a dead child because of this," he said.
A spokesman for Tutor-Saliba, the contractor heading the construction project, insisted that the company hired the guards. But administrators at Willard Elementary confirmed that no guards have shown up at the school."
Tutor-Saliba has had a controversial history on government construction
Mr. Aredas, Mr. Lawson, Ms. Patsaouras, Mr. Torres-Gil, Ms. Velasco, Mr. Zifkin ... EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This Contract Award will allow the JV of Tutor-Saliba
www.lawa.org/docs/board_agenda/boardagenda_121905.pdf
Judy Weiss, LACTC executive deputy director, acknowledged the problems, but said the commission will hire a director for joint development soon.
"Some of the commissioners, especially Patsaouras, are concerned that we don't lose the opportunity and I share that," Weiss said. "Joint development, done right, is more than a cash register. It's an opportunity to create important urban space, where people use transit and create economic development. It's an evolutionary process for the LACTC."
Construction consortium Tutor-Saliba-Perini was awarded one of the first phase-two contracts, an $80 million deal to build a tunnel from Wilshire Boulevard and Alvarado Street to Wilshire and Western Avenue, as well as to a nearby station.
MTA loses $2 million in currency miscalculation - Los Angeles County Metropolitan Authority
Nick Patsaouras, alternate MTA board member.
In other business at last week's MTA board meeting, the board approved additional contracts with Tutor-Saliba Corp., despite concerns about an ongoing investigation into the safety of subway tunnels built by the company, and allegations in newspapers that Tutor has been low-balling competitive bids only to make money later through change orders.
Thanks for the list but you can soon add the fiasco with Tienne Pierce. Both sides are talking settlement of $1 mil to Tienne, $1 mil to his attorney and $700,000 for hazing task force. Clowncil is going to get another dose of negative publicity if they make this settlement reality. John & Ken are waiting in the wings to slam them.
Tutor Gets $33-Million LA Airport Pact
By Jeffrey L. Rabin and Ted Rohrlich
LOS ANGELES--The administration of Mayor James K. Hahn awarded a $33-million airport construction contract Tuesday to a firm that Hahn, as city attorney, helped block from a city project because of concerns about its business practices.
Since the actions of Hahn's city attorney's office two years ago, the firm, Tutor-Saliba, was found by a Superior Court judge to have submitted false claims to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The company also became a major financial backer of Hahn's political campaigns.
Hahn administration officials denied any connection between campaign contributions and the contract award. "This decision was truly staff-driven," said Airport Commission President Ted Stein, himself a major Hahn fund-raiser.
A spokeswoman for the mayor, who was in Washington, said he was unavailable, but he issued a statement saying Tutor-Saliba is a firm with "a solid record."
Tuesday's unanimous decision to award Tutor-Saliba the construction contract for an airport parking garage and bus shuttle terminal in Van Nuys represented a dramatic turnaround.
As recently as September, airport staff members prepared a draft letter to Ronald N. Tutor, company president, warning that because of the MTA case he faced disqualification as a "non-responsible contractor."
Tutor-Saliba became notorious in the early 1990s for installing less than the required 12 inches of concrete in parts of subway tunnels in downtown Los Angeles. It was later required to make repairs.
The firm's troubles with the city started 2 1/2 years ago. It withdrew from competition for a $250-million sewer construction project after the Department of Public Works and the city attorney's office, then headed by Hahn, raised questions about its fitness.
The firm's lawyer appealed in October 2000 to Timothy McOsker, then Hahn's chief deputy in the city attorney's office and now his chief of staff. But city officials stuck by a decision requiring that Tutor-Saliba prove its fitness at a hearing, and the firm withdrew. McOsker did not respond to a call to his office Tuesday.
Tutor-Saliba suffered another setback in July 2001, when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joseph Kalin terminated the company's lawsuit against the MTA in mid-trial.
The construction company, which was the largest contractor on the Los Angeles subway, said it had been underpaid for construction of three subway stations along Wilshire Boulevard.
But the judge ruled that the firm so misused the judicial process it did not deserve a jury's decision. "There has been intentional withholding, concealment and destruction of documents by [Tutor-Saliba] and its attorneys," Kalin wrote.
He allowed an MTA countersuit against Tutor-Saliba to proceed, ruling that the firm owed the agency money but leaving it to a jury to decide how much.
Jurors decided that Tutor-Saliba should pay the MTA $29.5 million for submitting false claims for payment and using fronts posing as minority contractors to meet its minority contracting goals. With lawyer fees and other awards, Tutor-Saliba's debt came to $63 million, court records show. The company has appealed.
By the time of the verdict, the Sylmar-based firm had become a major financial backer of Hahn, then locked in a campaign for mayor against former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa. Records show that Tutor, his employees and their spouses have given $39,000 to Hahn since early 1999, most of it in a May 2001 fund-raiser hosted by Tutor himself. The same month, records show, Tutor also paid $75,000 for an independently produced mailer that criticized Hahn's opponent.
Last year, records show, Tutor-Saliba contributed $100,000 to a Hahn-led effort to defeat San Fernando Valley secession, making the firm one of the largest donors to that campaign. Stein, the Airport Commission president, was a major anti-secession fund-raiser, although he said in an interview Tuesday that he had no role in soliciting Tutor's contributions.
The airport contract Tutor-Saliba won Tuesday is to build a parking garage and a shuttle bus terminal that Los Angeles International Airport-bound travelers can use near city-owned Van Nuys Airport. Tutor-Saliba was the low bidder for the Flyaway Bus Terminal contract.
Even so, the adverse verdict in the MTA case threatened the firm's effort to obtain the job. Airport staff members prepared their letter in September warning Tutor-Saliba that it faced possible disqualification, but that letter was never sent.
Instead, the staffers wrote in an internal report, they conferred with two lawyers in the office of City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo, who told them that the MTA judgment was still on appeal and that it might be overturned. "They also advised that the Board of Airport Commissioners was not compelled to act upon a matter which is currently under appeal," the staff wrote.
Eduardo Angeles, managing assistant city attorney at the airport, said Tuesday that he did not recall giving that advice, but "the fact that a case is on appeal is certainly a component of a decision they can consider." He emphasized that the city attorney's office role is advisory.
Delgadillo has his own relationship with Tutor. Weeks before Delgadillo won the election for city attorney in June 2001, Tutor paid $25,000 for a mass mailing of 200,000 fliers on his behalf, records show. During the campaign, Tutor also hosted a Delgadillo fund-raiser at his Hidden Hills home. Delgadillo's acting communications director, Josh Pertulla, had no comment.
At about the same time that airport officials were noting that Tutor might be qualified despite the MTA verdict, Public Works officials were conducting another review of Tutor's fitness to bid on other city contracts.
They raised a number of questions about his fitness and recommended a hearing by the Board of Public Works, whose members — including Ellen Stein, wife of the Airport Commission president — are appointed to their full-time salaried positions by the mayor. The board voted unanimously to shelve the report — an action that allows Tutor to continue bidding on city projects.
While city officials in Los Angeles were evaluating how to deal with Tutor, some of their counterparts in San Francisco were moving aggressively against him.
San Francisco City Atty. Dennis Herrera filed a lawsuit in November seeking to "recover tens of millions of dollars of public funds that Tutor-Saliba pocketed as the result of a pervasive and sophisticated pattern of fraud" as lead contractor for expansion of San Francisco International Airport, it claims.
The suit, which is pending, alleges that Tutor-Saliba created bogus minority subcontractors so that it could pretend to comply with San Francisco's program for disadvantaged minority and women-owned businesses. It also asserts that the firm submitted inflated claims for payments, including fraudulent change.
At the Airport Commission meeting Tuesday morning, Kim Day, a deputy executive director at the airport, acknowledged: "There is some controversy" about Tutor-Saliba's record. But she said an investigation found "absolutely no viable evidence to disqualify Tutor-Saliba as a responsible contractor."
She told commissioners, however, that the airport staff was taking an unprecedented step in seeking the appointment a special panel to review the firm's work in Van Nuys, with particular attention to change orders that can dramatically increase the cost of a job.
Her comments prompted Stein to inquire: "So, it's an insurance policy?" Then he and other members of the board, all appointed by Hahn, approved it, along with the contract award.
Stein said in an interview that, despite its problems with the MTA, the Tutor firm "got nothing but rave reviews" as the lead contractor on the massive Alameda Corridor project, linking the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to rail yards near downtown.
Stein said Tutor had previously worked at the airport, double-decking the roadway that connects passenger terminals at LAX and upgrading the Tom Bradley International Terminal.
Tutor said in an interview that he thought he never got a fair hearing in the MTA case and that he expects an appellate court to throw out the judgment against his firm. "We'll get our day in court," he said. "Justice will prevail."
7:58 If city attorney makes backroom deal, they will regret it. The public outrage through media will be unstoppable.
The web site iknowla.net has been keeping track of the rumblings of dirt movers and concrete mixers below its window at the Higgins Lofts, at the site of the super fantastic new LAPD HQ (now, with 30% less police brutality!). We're looking forward to seeing the dirt pit across from City Hall get built up even though a civic park would have been nice. In honor of the construction, and the involvement of builder Tutor-Saliba, we're starting a drinking game. That's right, a drinking game. The rules are simple. Pay attention.
1. For every "delay" announced by Tutor Saliba, you take a drink.
2. For every "cost overrun" announced by Tutor Saliba, you take two drinks.
3. For every article in the Daily News or LA Times about "shoddy work" by Tutor Saliba, you take a drink. (May constitute more than one drink).
4. For every lawsuit generated by "delay", "cost overrun" or "shoddy work" by Tutor Saliba, you take two shots of whiskey with a vodka chaser.
5. For every investigation launched by the City into work done by Tutor Saliba on the LAPD HQ, add another shot of whiskey to #4 and proceed.
6. If Laura Chick threatens an audit, follow #4 but substitute Jager for the vodka.
7. If a council person demands an investigation of Tutor Saliba, you take the number of shots equal to the council person's district number (ergo, for Ed Reyes you would take 1 shot. For Janice Hahn, you would take 15).
8. For every indictment resulting from said construction, you polish off your favorite bottle of California wine. Just you.
9. IF nothing happens, we'll all benefit from a healthier liver and a shiny new police headquarters.
Tutor Saliba Corp
15901 Olden Street
Sylmar Ca 91342
Ronald N. Tutor, President & CEO
818-362-8391
Every major project they've been involved in has had major difficulties...but who cares since the cost over runs pay for political contributions, right?
2001-11-07: LAUSD ANNOUNCES A CONTRACT AGREEMENT WITH THE TUTOR SALIBA CORPORATION ... 2001-11-07: School Board Member Jose Huizar and Chief Facilities
Tutor Saliba was major Prop R funder.
Hey, Mecha Boy...or should I say GANGBANGER IN CHIEF:
Here's a little advice: Since you have chosen to show your two faces re the Mexican gang problem, you can get rid of 60% of them simply by picking up the phone and calling ICE!!!!
60% of your gangbanger amigos are ILLEGALS!!! But ya' know what...Tony? You're a god-damned phony reconquista trying to fit into the sheep's clothing. Guess what Tony....the sheep's clothing doesn't fit you!
YOU ARE NOT FOOLING ANYONE!!!!! Just get out of our country and join your amigos in MEHICO!
The new LAPD HQ's budget has gone from $150 mil to $450 mil because we have such morons on city council. Perception is everything and I see corruption all over with the construction....
dailynews.com
....Worse yet, the contractor is none other than Tutor-Saliba, the Sylmar-based company that has a history of donating generously to politicians while ending up in disputes over shoddy work and inflated billing on public-works contracts.
VILLARAIGOSA THEN (January 1992):
“When I was a teen-ager in East Los Angeles, gangs were a part of my everyday life, just as they are a part of the landscape in neighborhoods throughout Southern California today. My memories have been brought into sharp focus since I decided last month to be the plaintiff in an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit to invalidate an ordinance that bars alleged gang members from Las Palmas Park in the city of San Fernando."
VILLARAIGOSA NOW (January 2007):
"Street gangs are responsible for a majority of all murders in Los Angeles. Street gangs are becoming more violent, specifically in the East Valley, the Eastside and South L.A. neighborhoods...Our New Year's resolution in 2007 is to make violent street gangs Public Enemy No. 1"
MEMO TO MAYOR PHONY: GETTING RID OF SPECIAL ORDER 40, DESTRUCTIVE SANCTUARY CITY POLICIES, AND ILLEGAL ALIEN MEXICAN THUGS WOULD BE A GOOD START. UNTIL YOU DO THIS, YOU HAVE NO CREDIBILITY ON THE GANG ISSUE. NO ONE IS FOOLED BY YOUR THEATRICS.
Is a bring back Stephanie Edwards petition really a cause worth taking up today?
For blogs, it's a no-brainer. Traffic to a Stephanie Edwards post v. traffic to something about Jose Huizar runs at about, oh, 500 to 1.
What a shame. Villaraigosa flip flops uncontrollably. Guess Castro piece on his embellishments is true. Mayor hold on tight, big news to come.
LAPD is looking for El Cuy Cuy as a person of interest. Apparently his son was stabbed during a domestic dispute with the mother and El Cuy Cuy is no where to be found. He's not at his radio station. El Cuy Cuy was a huge supporter of the illegal march.
keep an eye on Tony Cardenas' ad hoc committee on bonds and financing. he fought real hard for some of those police bonds to be 'negotiated' as opposed to competitive bid. methinks he's trying to mess with the way the City issues and administers bonds, and to whom and how much. it was a big fight with fujioka before he left, twice even they clashed.
I say, leave the bond process alone, and concentrate on the costs quality and timeliness of the project.
also, I'd rather have one intelligent politically minded individual read and maybe respond to my comment, than 500 'Stephanie Edwards' flakes. the reality is, this is Hollywood, she's washed up so to speak. The future is the incredibly cute Jessica Holmes at KTLA. end of subject.
Good morning ladies and gentlemen (removes hat and bows low):
And a good morning to you, Lord Chapman. (sighs) Yes, we did not see your fair vessel leave the harbor. Our watch that night was the bard, and he was busy singing to the moon, savvy?
By the by, have you ever read about one Mayor Alexander? Now there's a man for you! It's been nigh a long time since we've had a mayor the likes of Alexander. Your thoughts?
Our own fair vessel will be heading out of our temporary port in CD14 and making a southerly heading towards a foreign port this coming weekend. We shall leave behind two of our crew who will be attending to business in port, but they shall join us later. Blessed technology, I shall be in constant contact with them, for they hold the secrets of the diaries that certain sots threw out in the trash before the New Year; you would not hold it against me to do a little privateering of my own, would you?
Oh, and Ms. Allen-Newman? Your response please, madame.
Captain Jack jibberish.
Did ya drink some captain Morgan this morning?
Mr. Hernandez is my hero, for taking on Measure R.
Do you realize what a SHOCK it will be to the councilpeople when he wins this suit? Talk about headlines.
Even better, it seems to be slipping beneath the radar completely!
Captain Jack Sparrow,
It was an equal pleasure spending a morning out on the water with you the other day for one last sail in 2006.
I'll accept your invitation to meet up in that certain foreign port on one condition; I bring along some of my own crew. No offense, but meeting up with pirates on foreign shores alone is not my idea of personal safety. Besides, as you know I'm traveling with a group anyway and it would be rude to go off and leave them.
If that is agreeable to you, then I'll meet you at that really tall flag pole in town near the harbor. Deal?
Captain and Samantha get a room. Yes its amazes me what people throw away in the trash not realizing there's always a chance someone else will go threw it and find it.
It makes sense now why Cardenas was fighting tooth and nail against Fujioka during the council motion on who should get the bid. Could it be the winner donated to Cardenas election 2007 where it is highly contested I hear?
Good morning Ms. Allen-Newman (extends hand to shake and affirm deal):
Agreed! Bring your crew and we'll meet at the flagpole at 1:30pm.
I have an idea, folks! Let's get rid of the GANGBANGER IN CHIEF ...Tony Villar!
Then we can start deporting all the illegal gangbangers in earnest.
Would we allow Osama Bin Ladin to take charge of our Armed Services? So why do we allow this corrupt, thieving, anti-American, gangbanger run our city?
STOMP OUT CRIME IN LA! GET RID OF TONY VILLAR AND THE MEXICAN MAFIA, AKA CITY COUNCIL!
Zuma Dogg...are 'ya listening? Help us out here!
FROM www.DailyNews.com:
[Sounds like the City of Los Angeles may have finally gotten an actual mayor! Even if he's only saying it to look good politically, at least he's finally saying it!]
"Our new year's resolution is to make violent street gangs public enemy No. 1," Villaraigosa said.
In the Valley, for instance, gang-related homicides surged 30 percent last year, to 48, and much of the violence was blamed on warfare between black and Latino gangs.
"As crime continues to drop overall, we continue to see a glaring exception to that trend: gang crime," he said. "Street gangs are becoming more violent specifically in the East Valley, the Eastside and the South L.A. neighborhoods they terrorize."
Villaraigosa called Los Angeles the second-safest big city in the country after New York and touted five years of falling crime rates across the city. He attributed the trend to Bratton, whose policing efforts target high-crime hot spots and who is up for a second term this year.
[And ZD joins the mayor with an early endorsement of Bratton, as well! And now, I invite my shady, self-interested colleagues occupying the fifteen seats on the other side of the rope (LA CC) to join Zuma Dogg and the mayor with an official endorsement of Bratton, too. The most important thing in the battle against crime is unity in message and action.]
Zuma I can't believe I am actually on board with you. Yes, a Bratton endorsement is what's needed. However, you know Bitter Bernie is livid at all the publicity Bratton is getting on his crime stats. He will not make it easy for the Chief. He's bitter cause no one wanted his sorry butt for another term and he hasn't forgotten it. Anything that comes up before council on LAPD he fights.
Now Zuma tell that loser Mike Hunt to stop going to commission meetings and acting like a crybaby making racist remarks about the Chief.
Although many of you may strongly disagree with my positions on some very important issues that our great city faces, I should take this moment to remind you that I love you all, each and every one of you.
Hugs and kisses always,
Tony
Ick! Getting a kiss from the Mayor is a lot like getting a kiss from Judas. At least Judas was honest in his betrayal.
ap $1 Million Fund by Roger Templeton
Neighborhood Council President, Dede Audet, grabbed the attention of those attending the November 21 board meeting when she announced, "There is one million dollars available" to finance a transition housing station for homeless people picked up by the LAPD. The money she's found is in the Channel Gateway/Venice Affordable Housing Off-Site and Community Involvement Trust Fund, confirmed Scott Eritano of the City Administrative Officer's staff. The fund was set up by former City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter with a contribution of $1 million from J. H. Snyder & Company in 2000 as a condition of approval for development of the Marina Pointe apartments in Marina del Rey. None of the fund has been tapped, as yet, according to Eritano, and there is currently "approximately $1,044,000 there now." The fund was designated to be used for "non-profit activities" to provide affordable housing within the Venice Community Plan area, as well as to help finance a beach shuttle program and to spend $40,000 toward the creation of a facility devoted to Native American history.
The ordinance establishing the fund directs that an advisory committee be established by the city council member representing Venice to make recommendations on how the money should be spent. The councilman will then decide what projects to recommend to the full city council for their approval. "We're reviewing the conditions of the ordinance at this time," Safiya Jones, Legislative and Communications Deputy to District 11 Councilman Bill Rosendahl said. "The conditions on the project are a number of years old. We will appoint community members to utilize this money." A smaller, $250,000 fund was set up for use within Oxford Triangle at the same time as the Venice-wide fund. An advisory committee of eight Triangle residents was named by Galanter, and after a canvass of the neighborhood, they have succeeded in getting a sidewalk repair and rehabilitation project underway. Steve Freedman, a member of the Oxford Triangle advisory group, pointed out that all decisions were worked out through the Council office, first with Galanter, then through the term of Cindy Miscikowski, until an enabling motion was passed by the council in January, 2005. Only in recent weeks have workers from the Department of Public Works arrived to "do some grinding" of uneven pavement, according too Freedman. "It was decided at an incredibly slow speed," Freedman said. "Every single aspect took forever in this process." Audet plans to recommend a task force be named by the neighborhood council to take up her proposal for a homeless transition housing project. © www.venicepaper.net
Random Thoughts from the heights of the "RED SPOT COMPOUND"
1. Police Chief endorse for second term; Who needed this union of support more, "HIS POLLONESS" or the Chief ? Better yet, who has higher approval ratings at this time ? Once again, "HIS POLLONESS" will attempt to take credit for someone else's decisions.
2. Living Wage goes to the voters; What a shocker when the "LA ANTONIA TIMES" and the "GREEN SHEET" agree and the same subject on the same day. While were at it, can we vote on LAUSD and PROP R ? In closing, which council candidates will face the wrate of "HIS POLLONESS" and "MISTRESS OF LABOR" Maria Elena Durazo, on support the efforts of the business community in repealing this law ?
3. "LA ANTONIA TIMES" article "L.A. Unions urged to lead policy debate"; JOE MATHEWS, the scribe who wrote this "PRESS RELEASE" for the unions, errrr, "OLD GREY PROGRESSIVE ON SPRING STREET". I guess "BROTHER MATHEWS" wants to spend some time at the "BONEAVENTURE" or at "MIGUEL'S HANDS OF LABOR MASSAGE PALOUR". Last I remember their is a ongoing trial which pass union leaders received "certain favors". And what about MARTIN LUDLOW ?. The only reason that the "LA ANTONIA TIMES" can allow this puff piece on the supposed positives of unions to go uncheck, is that they won't dig into the corruption that is waiting to be reported on. LA WEEKLY we salute you.
4. "war on Gangs"; I guess the gang known as the "LAUSD SIETE" will get a pass. The best battle in this "WAR" will be between "HIS POLLONESS" on one side, and "RAMONA and STEPHEN" writing their "ACLU FLACA" on all attempts by the LAPD to do the job that is needed.
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
"RED SPOT OF REASON IN CD 14"
P.S. HUIZZY and HOMER PARRA, when are you going to start the "PALETA CART FORUM?
"JOHN AND KEN" are discussing the LA Weekly article on the BROKEN BRIDGES PROGRAM
Living Wage...LA Slimes
The LAX hotel dispute puts Villaraigosa in a pickle. His pact on the Convention Center hotel, combined with a successful intervention in June 2005 that averted a union lockout at seven other Los Angeles hotels, have positioned him as a valuable friend of the tourism industry. Yet his many supporters in organized labor expect him to hang tough on the living-wage ordinance, which they'd like to see extended still further. Caught between two constituencies, the mayor should ignore both and do what's right for the city.
5;09 "The LAX hotel dispute puts Villaraigosa in a pickle. "
That's funny, it's usually Tony's pickle getting put into something that gets him in trouble.
Re 1992 versus 2007 statements by Mayor V., has it ever occurred to you that the gang issue itself may have changed in the last 15 YEARS, which may warrant an updated view of the situation??
Responding to today's situation with today's information shows a politician who is at least willing to recognize the times they are-a-changin'.
Why does an updated opinion from something said 15 YEARS ago about a very fluid and ever-changing critical issue have to mean someone has flip-flopped?
I bet if you asked him whether he'd stand by what he said all those years ago, under those circumstances, at that time, he'd answer yes. But today is not 15 years ago.
I hope if in a similar situation, we would all have the personal fortitude and openmindedness to recognize when situations that have changed require different solutions than they may have a decade and a half ago.
But wait, that would take admitting that the earth continues to rotate despite anyone's objection, and that all those trees actually make up a forest.
Puh-leeze. :::::said while ducking to avoid the inevitable hurtling of insults and criticisms for daring to have a rational opinion::::::::::
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