Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Monday
The honeymoon is definitely over for Mayor Villaraigosa and the City Council, the LA Times reports. Emblematic of the rancor between the Mayor and at least some of the Council was four members who were temporarily blocked from the VIP treatment at last month's arrival of the Airbus A380 at LAX.Martini Republic reports that the worst President in US history, Jimmy "Jimmah" Carter is coming to town with Habitat for Humanity to address LA's housing crisis. Excellent insight on their part that this effort is just for show.
Brady Westwater writing at Los Angeles CityWatch examines the downtown air rights controversy, and its get me to thinking. The city selling "air rights" to developers is nothing more than a shakedown of builders who need to go higher sometimes to make their projects economically viable. If the city passes a law saying that buildings should only be so high, there must have been a good reason for it. Allowing people to pay for the right to ignore the law - and thus those unable to pay have to live within the letter of it - is just plain wrong.
City Council members and left wing activists wring their hands over the price of housing but here's an example of the market working.
And finally, if you missed it, there were some pretty good April Fools' jokes at our blog, LAist, Google and Metroblogging.
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 4/02/2007 12:20:00 AM
11 Comments:
[edit] Family heritage and early life
Birthplace of Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Rosario Another viewErnesto Guevara de la Serna was born in Rosario, Argentina, the eldest of five children in a family of Spanish and Irish descent; both his father and mother were of Basque ancestry.Basque[›] One of Guevara's forebears, Patrick Lynch, was born in Galway, Ireland, in 1715. He left for Bilbao, Spain, and traveled from there to Argentina. Francisco Lynch (Guevara's great-grandfather) was born in 1817, and Ana Lynch (his beloved grandmother) in 1868Galway[›] Her son, Ernesto Guevara Lynch (Guevara's father) was born in 1900. Guevara Lynch married Celia de la Serna y Llosa in 1927, and they had three sons and two daughters.
Growing up in this leftist-leaning déclassé family of aristocratic lineage, Ernesto Guevara became known for his dynamic personality and radical perspective even as a boy. He idolized Francisco Pizarro and yearned to have been one of his soldiers.[5] Though suffering from the crippling bouts of asthma that were to afflict him throughout his life, he excelled as an athlete. He was an avid rugby union player despite his handicap and earned himself the nickname "Fuser" — a contraction of "El Furibundo" (English: "The Raging") and his mother's surname, "Serna" — for his aggressive style of play. Ernesto was nicknamed "Chancho" or pig by his schoolmates because he rarely bathed, something he was rather proud of.[6]
This will lead to corruption during elections. You would think these clowncil morons would instead motivate people to get out the vote and not take the lazy way out. But that would be too hard for them to actually do some work.
....CITY PONDERS VOTE BY MAIL BALLOTS AFTER POOR MARCH ELECTION TURNOUT
by Rick Orlov ..Daily News
Concerned about low turnout among Los Angeles voters, city election officials are considering a proposal to convert to a mail-in system....The move would make L.A. the first major city in the nation to vote entirely by mail, although neighboring Burbank has used the system successfully for years.
I guess the low turnout is because Zuma Dogg and his buddies have scared everyone off the mic at public comment.
they'd blame us for everything if they could.
I didn't realize it at the time, but I opened this video with a great impersonation of the Mayor. Its the opening line of the movie
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen (removes hat and bows low):
Halloo sots? (waves at sots) Anyone home? I have a question for you. When is a sitchy-ation enough of a sitchy-ation to warrant the placement of said sitchy-ation on the radar?
(smiles and rubs hands together) Remember all of my comments about the alleged tempest in CD14? You would agree that the water was fairly well churned in this most recent election where Don Jose got a whopping 6K votes, was it not? And in the time since then, certain folks have been busy with firings, have they not? Perhaps they should have been paying closer attention to what what they said and did PRIOR to getting elected, savvy?
Oh bugger, the Bard is about to sing. What say you Bard?
(Bard clears his throat and begins to sing)
"First there is a letter that is sent away.
Filled with allegations that surely bring dismay.
So was warned the parties prior to Election Day...
So said Old Man Johnson.
Next there is a summons attached to
said complaint.
Said the Clowncil 'You are a fooling'.
Said Old Man Johnson 'No, I ain't. I whooped and hollered and screamed I did enough to chip the paint.'
And he did, that Old Man Johnson.
The Temepest shall be loosed upon those in the Catorce Quarter. Garcetti he is near enough to be caught up in the slaughter.
And all of this makes for good Zanhiser fodder...
And he smiled, that Old Man Johnson."
Pink bismuth cocktail, anyone?
I thought Habitats for Humanity was for hopeless, third-world nations and... oh... right. Nevermind.
Damn it Jack,
Huh...huh...huh...it all looks so juicy, and zuma dogg is so thirsty...but I ain't never heard of no Old Man Johnson...Just Johnnie Lee Hooker, and Blind Melon Chitlin.
I checked all the free translation sites, and they couldn't translate it either, y'all...
Is this over a) campaign contributions flying in and out of town from Florida, cause if Garshady is close by, it would have to be about money, not any of the stuff covered in the campaign flyers.
Ned Flanders Voice: Am I right, or am I right?
And Cpt., make sure you grab a bottle of bismouth and join ZD and MD inside the rotunda -- and even chambers, if you can stand the toxic stench that is a nasty byproduct of their shady, fraud, waste and abuse. (Like a waste dump of human fraud.) Wed April 4 10:00am -- ZD & CC 1 yr anniversary party! Tony, if you're in town, stop by with your photo op smile and laugh it up with Big ZD for my national reality show camera. WE'LL KEEP IT FUN -- GOODWILL AMBASSADOR STUFF FOR THE CITY -- WE'LL PRETEND LIKE WE LIKE EACH OTHER FOR THE CAMERAS, so we both get what we want -- ZD gets a good segment -- and you can come off looking good, in a fun way, when you don't deserve to. And everyone will be happy.
As a matter of fact, let's make April 4th the official kick off of Antonio 4 Higher Office. (Since we don't know what's available, based on other factors like Hillary, and whatnot...so I think THAT campaign slogan is perfect! So Tony, if you want, you can lauch your campaign 4 higher office on The Zuma Dogg Show -- cause i know you want a national platform, and those losers you hang out with inside chambers can't deliver you that. Join The Force, Tony...don't let the Emprie win you over for life...You're just about to have the Darth Vader helmet surgery and it'll be too late, then...The LA Times is right, City Council is a big disruptive force to progress in this City. Too many cooks.
In year TWO of ZD, he says, "Go Tony Go." The reason you can't get anything done is beacuse of those "15 too many cooks" in the chamber...how the "F" can you get anything done with those human policy anvils weighing you down like ankle weights in quicksand.
You know, I'm a big fan of Marketing Strategist, Al Ries. He says "focus" is the most powerful marketing concept today. Starbucks focused on coffee. Domino's focused on 30 minute delivery.
Well ZD has been a generalist, pointing his scrutinous filter where ever the wind blew it, like a Rainman weather vane blowing in all directions.
But I see how egomaniacle, controlling, shady and abusing these this Council is, at least under Garshady's watch. (I can only judge the past 365 days.)
But Tony's got the juice and charisma to continue sucker the public. You know ZD -- he's all about campaign strategy and perceptions vs reality.
And maybe, with ZD writing his propoganda spin and emailing it to him, he may be able to integrate it into his photo ops, because I notice ALL the politicians in town are TERRIBLE in addressing the public on camera. Every time you guys open your mouth, it's a f*cking blooper reel. ZD is VERY unimpressed with the speech writing and impromptu comments y'all make in the media.
So imagine ZD focusing my bitter-scan on City Council, and helping the mayor get a better, more focused message out to the community. Cause at the end of the day, he IS the spokesperson and good will ambassador for the City -- but Mayor and Council are the Bad News Bears of PR.
I feel for ya, Tony...I know how City Council operates under Garshady...they'll do everything in their power to drag you down, and shut you down -- let them try though...be like water, my friend. Be like water -- it always backfires on those fearful f*cks and something good happens like:
LA Times
LA Weekly
LA Daily News
LA City Beat
Vh1
KCET/PBS
Mayor Sam
KFI, KABC, K-Talk, podcasts
Other Blog Coverage
and now...ZD Fights City Hall (reality shoot, Wed at City Hall!)
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, The more Council tries and keep me down and call me off topic (even when I'm not) and interrupt me, only makes the people like me more. Just aks Eric, he's seen a teeny-weeny bit of it.
But does he still clean our toilets?
Tony, not Eric... wait a minute, maybe they can both clean our toilets!
How about we just flush em both down the toilet!
But if I had to pick one shady, corrupt politician to clean my toilet, it may as well be Antonio, that's all I'm saying.
I saw mi amigo nuevo in person a couple weeks ago for the free persian shrimp fest at city hall, I'm not sure if I mentioned it on this blog, but,
I got to spend a moment with him as he put on the brakes of his media caravan, specifically to go out of his way, to chit-chat with Big ZD, so the cameras could get a shot of the two biggest media superstars in the City. (Which was nice of me.)
So maybe it was something in his eyes, or in that smile, that made me see the light, and realize, maybe Tony's problem isn't bad people surrounding him telling him bad advice and writing him bad speeches...it's those 15 shady f*cks, that grind the city to a halt with their hallatossis of the personality and fear based greed that drags down antonio, they way any street gang drags down the community. (Some wear suit and ties, some wear Raiders caps...same end to a means, y'all.
April 2, 2007 - 4:13:35 PM PDT - LOS ANGELES- A panel of appellate judges on Monday questioned attorneys about a law that was designed to give Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa partial authority over the nation's second-largest school district but was ruled unconstitutional by a lower court.
Justices from the 2nd District Court of Appeal questioned the law's impact on the rights of voters and asked whether the mayor had explored other options for creating change in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Attorneys for Villaraigosa and a group called the Los Angeles Parents Union attempted to convince the justices to overturn the lower court's ruling.
Justice Joan Dempsey Klein noted the legislation, AB 1381, was scheduled to expire in six years. It would shift some powers from the elected seven-member school board to the mayor and a new council of more than two dozen other mayors of cities within LAUSD boundaries. It would also give Villaraigosa control of the district's 36 worst-performing schools.
"There are only 'X' number of years to this scheme and then it's all over," Klein said. "Does that coincide with the two terms of the mayor?"
Fredric D. Woocher, one of the attorneys representing the school district, argued that the Office of Legislative Counsel had twice concluded the bill was unconstitutional. He said the state Legislature "can't just declare the mayor part of the public school system."
Klein asked attorneys for Villaraigosa to tell her "about the right of the people to have a voice with the mayor sitting on top of the heap."
Daniel Collins, an attorney for the mayor, said that the votes of the people were not being "diluted." Rather, the bill establishes a re-delegation of duties, he said.
Deputy Attorney General Susan K. Leach, representing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, argued that school board members would still have significant powers under the law.
After Schwarzenegger signed the bill into law, the school district, along with a coalition of district parents, students, administrators and the League of Women voters filed suit Oct. 10. The law had been scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1 but Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs found it unconstitutional in December.
The mayor initially sought to bypass the 2nd District Court of Appeal but the California Supreme Court refused to immediately review Janavs' decision.
The appeals court will likely decide the case within 30 days, according to attorneys.
▲ All of this, including the reporting above, are first impressions – so here are mine:
· The Mayors team did a much better job of presenting than they did in the trail court; as appellants the burden of proof is on them.
· That being said the justices asked very pointed questions and it didn’t seem that they were necessarily buying any of the answers from the mayor’s side.
· The quote from Justice Klein above was the morning’s comedy moment, but it was telling. Her question, beyond the glib, was whether the short timeframe allowed in AB 1381 [Romero] (it sunsets in 2013) is enough time to accomplish much at all?
· In the trial court the question was whether Jiffy Lube could beer empowered to run an educational program under the legislature’s claimed prerogative – this time the hypothetical worst case was the Department of Transportation.
· One of the justices, unprompted, actually opined that LAUSD is doing well and pointed to improvement and growth in test scores – saying that LAUSD is outperforming other urban school districts. He did this to reinforce that the district “is not failing” and that there was no evidence or legislative intent established that AB1381 was punitive. The mayor’s team was forced to agree, even though AB1381 is a rework of SB767 [Romero] which did attempt to define LAUSD as a failure!
· Much of the questioning revolved around whether the Council of Mayors and governance structure created was “part of the public school system” …or something else.
· Much was made of the legislative intent of Prop 3 in 1946 – the PTA sponsored initiative constitutional amendment that – among other things - prohibits municipal government from interfering in local school districts. The appellants claimed that this was done to bar undue interference in the state college system and further claimed that it was meant to strengthen legislative and not local school board control. As I have no law degree I did not jump up and shout “balderdash!” – but I thought it real hard!
· Other arguments were made as whether AB1381 unconstitutionally meddled in the government of a charter city in that it assigned power reserved to the chartered board of education to the mayor and a council of mayors from outside the charter’s jurisdiction.
· As the discussion focused on the fine points of legislative intent, the role of the legislative counsel and case law there were a few moments when the distinction between “charter cities” and “charter schools” blurred into a haze of legalspeak.
· Ultimately the justices will decide the appeal on the fine points of the law – the discussion was always an intellectual discussion of the intent and meaning of the law within the framework of the state constitution and the city charter, never about policy.
From the direction and tone of the questions I believe that the court will decide for the District.
I mean no criticism of the court; one needs to remember the correct role of the court as an arbiter of law. At one point Justice Klein asked the respondents to discuss the difference between mayoral control of schools in NYC and what AB1381 proposes for LA. You could’ve heard a pin drop as the well prepared attorneys scrambled away from going there!
Unfortunately at no time in the proceedings was the best interest of children discussed or weighed. That was the job of the legislature, and at that they failed.
Good afternoon Mr Dogg (tips hat):
No, this is not about campaign money. This is about the Tempest; a warning followed by a letter followed by a lawsuit alledging fraud. Your part, lad, has yet to be played and you will be contacted when it is time.
And they say Nero was fiddling while Rome burned, savvy?
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