The "HOWS" To of Wine Tasting in NoHo
Much has been written about the transit oriented development at the North Hollywood Red Line station. One exciting aspect of this project is the NoHo Commons shopping center that is a component of the development including apartments, condos, live-work spaces, etc.Amongst other retail establishments, the anchor tenant of the Commons is Hows Market. Hows is an upscale grocery retailer founded by the former owners and executives of the legendary Southern California chain, Hughes Family Supermarkets.
As part of the state-of-the-art supermarket, Hows proposed a wine and beer tasting area. This is is a new feature common in many local markets such as Bristol Farms and Vendome Liquors. Its somewhat more common in Northern California.
However - despite the fact that everyone from the community including the Mayor and Council office supported Hows' plan, the City Zoning Administrator turned down Hows' application.
Hows appealed the decision to the South Valley Planning Commission last Thursday. At a meeting held at Van Nuys City Hall last Thursday - facing zero opposition from the community - commissioners voted 4-1 to overturn the Zoning Administrator's decision. This old, dead Republican mayor had the opportunity to speak before the Commission in my first ever public comment. Zuma Dogg has taught me well (though I did resist the urge to sing).
The lone holdout was the ever grouchy Gordon Murley, a longtime alleged NIMBY neighborhood activist from Woodland Hills. Reminding me of department store owner Ben Weaver from the Andy Griffith Show, Murley groused about every issue he could imagine as to why adults shouldn't sample new beers and wines in an upscale market, that is until he realized he was about to out voted.
Mayor Sam was very impressed with the comments of Commissioner Barbara Romero as well as how the meeting was run by President Matt Epstein. Sometimes democracy does work.
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 4/17/2007 12:33:00 AM
19 Comments:
How refreshing to see 2 Mayor Sam Posts in a row!
More Mayor Posts!!!!!!
Less Dogg Posts!!!!
ooops, make that 8 Mayor Sam posts in a row!
Keep drinking the Red Bull, brutha!
Not quite 8 Mayor Sam posts in a row. The post "Landlord: Rape Me One More Time" was originally made by Walter Moore on Sunday evening, magically disappeared, then reappeared tonight as a post by Mayor Sam. Check the date stamp on the first three comments of that post if you don't believe me.
it was never put up by Walter. I wrote it Sunday night for Tuesday publication. I put it up briefly Sunday night to test formatting. While it was up someone commented so I just left the comment on.
If Walter had posted it, there is no way to transfer the post to me with the comment intact.
Any views on this blog on whether the NOHO commons and all the development will further gentrify the North Hollywood Area--to a point that just makes it another Grove or destructed Silver Lake?
Will the development be pushed to the other east parts of the valley; Van Nuys, Panorama City, etc.?
Do we need more upscale in L.A. and publicized live/in workplaces? The most creative and talented people usually move out once a neighborhood gentrifies.
I don't see it as a problem. That part of North Hollywood used to be like Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks is now. Then it became a real dump. Porn stores and pawn shops. Since its been redeveloped lots of artists have moved in. Also upscale people are moving in and those are the customers of the artists. But its just like say Chelsea or Tribeca in New York. Starts out as a dump, the artists fix it up, rich people like it and move in, prices come up, the artists who get rich stay and new poor artists move to the next dump.
In the meantime, rich areas slow down in growth, turn poor, rich people move on to suburbs, poor people move in, area goes to shit, people start to move back into developing city, then suburb becomes urban and slick.
Its the circle of life. Its been happening for 100s of years.
HOW ABOUT BREAKING NEWS: the mayor lost AB1381.
he lost. not just close. they soundly whipped him into a 'no comment' from the mayor's office. where's the thread on that?
The MAYOR LOSES on AB1381 !!!
the second -- and perhaps final -- blow to what was once "the centerpiece of Villaraigosa's education-reform plan"
his centerpiece of education reform is how to fail at breaking the Constitution. too funny.
his centerpiece got trrashed by the courts. omg. what a great day for the city of LOS ANGELES
YEAH HE LOST HE LOST WHAT IS HE GOING TO SAY NOW.
Judges defeat Villaraigosa's LAUSD bid
By Joel Rubin and Howard Blume, Times Staff Writer..A state appeals court today soundly renounced a law designed to give Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa substantial authority over the Los Angeles Unified School District. The ruling is the second -- and perhaps final -- blow to what was once the centerpiece of Villaraigosa's education-reform plan.
Today's unanimous decision, by a three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal, found the law, Assembly Bill 1381, unconstitutional -- and it was not a close call, in the view of the justices. In its one-paragraph conclusion, the justices gave particular importance to the revised Los Angeles City Charter that was approved during the term of then-Mayor Richard Riordan. That charter revision reaffirmed the election of school-board members with authority to govern the school district, in the view of the court.
I'm looking in my crystal ball, and see that the State Supreme Court will decline to hear the appeal filed by the mayor.
Oops!
And the great mayor of Los Angeles said " WE CLEAN YOUR TOILETS " that is all he is good for!!!!
Lets take some inventory no new cops, no olympics,no school take over HA HA HA HA this little wetback needs to pack up and get out of LA!!!!!
Where did Zuma Dogg go? All his posts are gone.
took em down to give things a rest. they're on save so i can put em back up. meanwhile you can read them still at zumadogg.blogspot.com and I will post new stuff there. will still post here, too.
As you can see, I'm still checking it out...so the haters should be wise, and not make me see my name here for a while....I took the threads down hoping 'out of site, means out of mind."
Think very carefully before you kick a resting dogg. Look what happened last time you, "SAID WHAT AGAIN!" Make no mistake. If there is ONE thing I can do, is blog on mayor sam, endlessly 16 hours a day for free at Starbucks. So haters, here how you let YOURSELF off the hook. Just don't comment on ZD. And people will just think the blog is as dead as you say it is, and will simply think you missed this comment.
Cause I'm telling you, this is the only thing i enjoy doing these days, so much so, that i have to walk away until I'm doing this on MY terms not CD 14's and the rest of the City...but if YOU can't walk away from ZD...YOU WILL BE BEGGING FOR YEAR ONE ZD BACK. (Although, year one of ZD was april 4, there were a few encores...so year 2 of ZD starts........
NOW.)
Zuma,
You have done a very noble thing and I respect you for your decision to be "out of sight and mind".
I predict that this blog will be begging for your return in a year or so, and when you return, you will be hailed as a political god!
Enjoy your R&R!
oh no...now i wonder if you're just saying that so i will stay away for a year. (LOL!) But remeber, i didn't say year off...so i wont be breaking a promise if i post a thread later tonight or tomorrow...i just hope i;m not compelled to do so. (Especially with AB1381 decision, and the fact that it was my number 1 or 2 biggest issue as far as time spent (along with housing), and they voted "yes" on that last week (9&17). and I WISH it were a vacation...it's just that i'm about to drop dead from hunger...maybe tonight...and it's still zumadogg.blogspot.com....
I took the threads down hoping 'out of site, means out of mind."
I take this is an admission of defeat by Zuma Dogg. Maybe he thinks that he can do better by selling stuff on the Venice beachwalk or selling himself to reality TV cameras. But he probably thinks this blog is simply not worth his time. In that sense, he is certainly defeated but on to bigger and better things.
And people will just think the blog is as dead as you say it is, and will simply think you missed this comment.
Sure, the glory days of Mayor Sam are long gone, but it is not dead. I have tuned in to watch the (mostly) three man show of a homeless "activist" whose rambling and often incomprehensible postings indicate he has severe mental problems (Zuma Dogg), a self-righteous former ambulance chaser turned Mayoral candidate who has been soundly defeated once and will be again (Walter Moore), and the man who started it all, an ultra-conservative PR flack in the Valley who thinks that because he volunteers for the Jaycees that he is "in the loop" politically (Mayor Sam, aka "Fatboy Higby"). What do all three have in common? Being attention whores.
This is great entertainment. Monitoring these losers make me feel much better about my self. Keep it up Mayor Sam! Zuma Dogg, you may be defeated on this blog, but you can chase something better.
I'm an attention whore...that's why i took down the thread and wanted to be "out of site out of mind"/LESS ATTENTION. Don't confuse GETTING attention with being an attention whore. I like the attention because that's what activists/politicians/the whole world needs to help get their message across. (Is eveyone who takes out an ad or commetcial an attention whore?) Don't be jealous because I am ABLE to get attention. So again, I take DOWN the threads and try to disappear and want to stay out of site out of mind...and that's an attention whore. (Great timing on that call!)
Secondly, I am sorry iyou find my postings "incomprehensible". Maybe that's why you are so frustrated with them. You don't posses the reading comprehension to "comprehend" them. Hmmm, the rest of the world seems to be able to. (Maybe you should have someone explain them to you. (Cause yeah, we fear what we don't undestand. No wonder you are so frustrated...Now I understand!)
"Indicates he has severe mental problems"...Oh no, you're not supposed to make medical diagnosises unless you are a medical doctor and have examined the paitient in a professional basis. Usually I delete false medical diagnosises...but since it's only you, and everyone sees right through you, i'll allow your comment to remain.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home