RE: Chick's New Contract With Allen: I Can Think of NO Finer Consultant to the Controller Than Someone Who Worked for Antonio In June!
SERIOUS HEAT FROM LINCOLN HEIGHTS STAKEHOLDER ON NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL BLOG
***** UPDATE *****
THIS IS A GOOD SAMPLE FROM THE COMMENT SECTION REGARDING THIS ITEM:
ANON 1: "There is no more honest person than Marcus Allen. Most of the comments are from those who are jealous of him. The city is lucky to have Marcus doing work for them."
ANON 2: Allen did work for the city. Then he quit. Now he works with Arnie and Harvey. If he was really concerned about appearances, he could quit and go back on staff. You're forgetting that Chick, in her attempt to wound Hahn, absolutely crucified other consultants who had city contracts. You think everybody's just forgotten? She went after an entire industry.
ANON 3: Contractors doing business with the city may now flock to the lobbyists who hire Marcus Allen as a consultant to get more lucrative city contracts.
And these contractors know they can stay away from audit problems because Marcus Allen will also advise Controller Chick on policies and audits.
Pay to Play without getting Audited?
Wonder if Marcus has already advised Controller Chick that it is OK to hire him as a Consultant while he is also a consultant to lobbyists.
City Controller Laura Chick Tries To B.S. Her Way Out of Questions Over A Perceived Shady Contract with Marcus Allen -- And How Sad That The City Controller Appears To Be The Most Naive Person in the City
By Zuma Dogg
Based on LA Times Story on this bullsh*t that ZD has had enough of, Laura
LA TIMES said..."City Councilman Dennis Zine, chairman of the council committee that oversees personnel issues, questioned whether the job will pose a conflict, because Allen is also a consultant to City Hall lobbyists Harvey Englander and Arnie Berghoff. Zine pointed out that frequent targets of Chick's audits are city contractors who retain lobbyists to defend themselves against her findings. "How do you serve two masters?" he asked. "How do you serve under contract [to the controller] at the same time you're serving a lobbyist?"
OF COURSE THIS CAUSES A CONFLICT!!! (Thanks for standing up and mentioning it CM Zine!) If you (THE CONTROLLER) has to say, "If there's any perception of a conflict," Allen's contract "is over", THEN THAT'S THE PERCEPTION OF CONFLICT!!! How could Zine aks the question, and why would the newspaper be reporting the story, if there weren't perception of conflict!?!?
Chick said she vetted such questions with Allen, whose contract requires him to divulge if he has a potential conflict of interest. Englander "won't know anything about what Marcus is doing with me," Chick said. "This is a man who understands firewalls."
The controller also promised to sever Allen's contract if she learns that Englander or Berghoff has retained the subject of an ongoing audit as a client. "If there's any perception of a conflict," Allen's contract "is over. End of story," she said.
[HEY LAURA...THERE ALREADY IS A PERCEPTION OF CONFLICT!!! THAT'S WHY YOU HAD TO MAKE THE PROMISE IF YOU "LEARN" OF CONFLICT. But you seem to NOT learn about the things that everyone else in the city so easily learns about. Or you forget them like in the NBC/Universal TV 4 "Methane Mitigation Story".]
Allen, 46, left the mayor's office in June. He said he will work as many as 340 hours for Chick, who employed him as her chief deputy from 2001 to 2005.
AND I CAN THINK OF NO FINER PERSON TO CONSULT THE CONTROLLER THAN SOMEONE WHO WAS WORKING FOR ANTONIO A COUPLE MONTHS AGO! The whole thing sounds shady.
LAURA CHICK, I HOPE AS CITY CONTROLLER THAT YOU DO NOT BELIEVE YOUR OWN BULLSH*T!!! NO WONDER THE CITY CONTINUES TO BE ROBBED BLIND BY POLITICIANS AND THEIR CRONIES. WHY IS THE CITY CONTROLLER THE MOST NAVIE PERSON IN TOWN?
ZumaTimes.com
***** UPDATE *****
THIS IS A GOOD SAMPLE FROM THE COMMENT SECTION REGARDING THIS ITEM:
ANON 1: "There is no more honest person than Marcus Allen. Most of the comments are from those who are jealous of him. The city is lucky to have Marcus doing work for them."
ANON 2: Allen did work for the city. Then he quit. Now he works with Arnie and Harvey. If he was really concerned about appearances, he could quit and go back on staff. You're forgetting that Chick, in her attempt to wound Hahn, absolutely crucified other consultants who had city contracts. You think everybody's just forgotten? She went after an entire industry.
ANON 3: Contractors doing business with the city may now flock to the lobbyists who hire Marcus Allen as a consultant to get more lucrative city contracts.
And these contractors know they can stay away from audit problems because Marcus Allen will also advise Controller Chick on policies and audits.
Pay to Play without getting Audited?
Wonder if Marcus has already advised Controller Chick that it is OK to hire him as a Consultant while he is also a consultant to lobbyists.
City Controller Laura Chick Tries To B.S. Her Way Out of Questions Over A Perceived Shady Contract with Marcus Allen -- And How Sad That The City Controller Appears To Be The Most Naive Person in the City
By Zuma Dogg
Based on LA Times Story on this bullsh*t that ZD has had enough of, Laura
LA TIMES said..."City Councilman Dennis Zine, chairman of the council committee that oversees personnel issues, questioned whether the job will pose a conflict, because Allen is also a consultant to City Hall lobbyists Harvey Englander and Arnie Berghoff. Zine pointed out that frequent targets of Chick's audits are city contractors who retain lobbyists to defend themselves against her findings. "How do you serve two masters?" he asked. "How do you serve under contract [to the controller] at the same time you're serving a lobbyist?"
OF COURSE THIS CAUSES A CONFLICT!!! (Thanks for standing up and mentioning it CM Zine!) If you (THE CONTROLLER) has to say, "If there's any perception of a conflict," Allen's contract "is over", THEN THAT'S THE PERCEPTION OF CONFLICT!!! How could Zine aks the question, and why would the newspaper be reporting the story, if there weren't perception of conflict!?!?
Chick said she vetted such questions with Allen, whose contract requires him to divulge if he has a potential conflict of interest. Englander "won't know anything about what Marcus is doing with me," Chick said. "This is a man who understands firewalls."
The controller also promised to sever Allen's contract if she learns that Englander or Berghoff has retained the subject of an ongoing audit as a client. "If there's any perception of a conflict," Allen's contract "is over. End of story," she said.
[HEY LAURA...THERE ALREADY IS A PERCEPTION OF CONFLICT!!! THAT'S WHY YOU HAD TO MAKE THE PROMISE IF YOU "LEARN" OF CONFLICT. But you seem to NOT learn about the things that everyone else in the city so easily learns about. Or you forget them like in the NBC/Universal TV 4 "Methane Mitigation Story".]
Allen, 46, left the mayor's office in June. He said he will work as many as 340 hours for Chick, who employed him as her chief deputy from 2001 to 2005.
AND I CAN THINK OF NO FINER PERSON TO CONSULT THE CONTROLLER THAN SOMEONE WHO WAS WORKING FOR ANTONIO A COUPLE MONTHS AGO! The whole thing sounds shady.
LAURA CHICK, I HOPE AS CITY CONTROLLER THAT YOU DO NOT BELIEVE YOUR OWN BULLSH*T!!! NO WONDER THE CITY CONTINUES TO BE ROBBED BLIND BY POLITICIANS AND THEIR CRONIES. WHY IS THE CITY CONTROLLER THE MOST NAVIE PERSON IN TOWN?
ZumaTimes.com
Posted by Zuma Dogg @ 8/02/2007 01:12:00 PM
50 Comments:
This is worth repeating, now that Dogg has picked up the scent:
Chick has been given a free ride by the media for years, trading juicy leaks for favorable coverage. She tries to position herself as an independent voice, but in reality she's a vicious political infighter who has used her office to reward her friends and punish her enemies. (Anybody remember what she did to Hahn?) Both the LAT and the DN have the same story this morning, but both of them miss her past and present relationships with Berghoff and Englander. Maybe Zanhiser will have the balls and resources to really take a look at this woman. He could start by talking to Steve Soboroff
He might be promoting his blog, but come on, just picture the maniac chasing her around City Hall. I'd pay to see that. She has very, very thin skin and rules by intimidation. Zuma Dogg may just be nuts enough not to be afraid.
Laura Chick knows as much about ethics as Tony V knows about marital fidelity.
I believe the rules are that someone cannot lobby the city -- the office or agency where he or she previously worked and/or where he or she previously served in a senior or decisionmaking capacity. But, yes, they can work for the city on a contract. Although in this case the arrangement sounds it is perhaps marginal in terms of ths smell test: that, yes, Dennis Zine called it correctly, "how do you serve two [often competing or conflicting] masters at the same time?
As for a "firewall", yeh, sure.....
Any difference between this and Jack Weiss's former planning Deputy Rene going to work for NBC/Universal to lobby for their huge development project?
She went STRAIGHT to NBC/Universal from Weiss's office. Talk about smell...
Hey, the electeds and their staff members do whatever they like in LA. Good, honest people have got to start running for council and school board seats. And, we can't just cheer david Z whenever he writes something. We have to work at being better than who we presently have representing us. So, let's stop insulting one anothere here - unless you are defending the status quo and then we know whose side you are on - and work to get better people representing us.
Is Chick going to run for Wendy Greuel's council seat?
"Good, honest people have got to start running for council and school board seats."
Talk about falling off the back of a turnip truck. Good, honest, people don't have a chance. In order to run, you have to raise money. In order to raise money, you have to compromise. It's the nature of the beast. Anybody who's ever worked for a politician will tell you they share a particular DNA that turns them into demanding, self-important tyrants as soon as they win an election. Then they get addicted. Why do you think they despise term limits and begin running for the next office as soon as their elected? Returning to the world of "regular" people is impossible.
I can't believe Laura Chick N shit thinks we're as dumb as she looks. she is one of the most corrupt in this city and has been but no one has reported the stories. Remember the private meeting at her house with the mayor candidates to give them a document against Hahn that her staff worked on. She's sleazy, sneaky and pretends to know nothing when all along its her game. Her alignment to Antonio is disasterous. I hope the media questions her on Marcus Allen. He's a damn lobbysist and since when does the controller's office need a consultant????
$85,000: isn't there a ceiling on what she can approve on her own, a "sole source" contract? and otherwise they would need the City Council to sign off on this??
Is Chick going to run for Wendy Greuel's council seat?
Just more of Parke Skelton's transparent and open government!
Anonymous said...Again, zuma promoting his own blog. Come on dog, this is getting old.
[No dumb ass...it's not promoting, it's called "linking" and mayor sam and every other blogger in the world does it. You see, dummy, I post on this blog, and my own blog. I posted the story on MY blog, because it's MY blog, and I post on my own blog. So i took some pieces of it out of my blog, and posted excerpts here, and put a link to my blog. YOU CALL THAT PROMOTION???? I DON'T EVEN MENTION MY BLOG IN THE TREAD. It's just a link.
In a word ZD... NO.
The law is about LOBBYING not WORKING FOR the City.
As usual, ranting about shit you don't know jack about.
Chick was once relatively popular. A possible mayoral candidate who took care of her Valley district. Then she was elected controller and the vicious, nasty, back-stabbing Chick emerged. The list of her victims is very long. She attempted to destroy the reputations, careers and the lives of decent people she had known for years and, in some cases, succeeded. Last week, she played victim and accused Soboroff of "abusing" her because he objects to her sneaky tactics. Give me a break.
OK 3.03 maybe I hit my head too hard when I fell off the back of the turnip truck. But you may have read what just happened to the ruling party in Japan. People can get fed up with incumbents - people and parties. Why don't you put $1 in a pot everytime you post on Mayor Sam and when election time comes give your $20-50 to the best (honest, good) candidate in the race.
3:22pm,
First of all...I didn't get my dinner yet. How about tonight?
Secondly...when someone puts the word, "DON'T YOU..." in the headline, that means it is a question, not a rant, you dummy!
It's a blog inferior spinning one-term loser! So thanks for provding the answer to the question. Even though, coming from you, I will have to continue to follow up:
You better change you're tone, or I'll change mine! You wanna say, "no", fine. You know what I am talking about. Don't push it!
I GOT A FEW FOLKS BY THE SHORT HAIRS EVEN THOUGH THEY THOUGHT THEY HAD ME.
For the past 6-8 years the owner of a restaurant, operated in violation of the law. After numerous citations which the owner laughed at, tore up and trashed, the city finally took action and filed a criminal suit. The restaurant owner failed to appear and a bench warrant was issued. On the same day, the owner also failed to appear before the Public Works Commission which was agendized to hear his request for an outdoor dining permit. The Community, City Staff and the Council Office all testified against this repeat offender being granted an R-permit for outside tables. President Ruiz who has been in constant contact with the applicant knowingly motioned that whatever was decided that day would be predicated on the "proper" notification of the applicant.
Not surprisingly, an error by the Engineering Department mandated another hearing before the Public Works Commission. The hearing took place yesterday, Aug 1. Again, to the surprise of no one, President of The Board, Cynthia Ruiz, supported this lawbreaking restaurateur and used her position by pushing the Board to grant the restaurant owner his full request. A slap in the face of the community, her staff, law enforcement, and undermining the public trust placed in her, President Ruiz justified her actions stating jobs were at stake! (?)
The Commission yielded but wisely reduced President Ruiz' request and allowed only a few tables and chairs to be placed on the Public Right of Way in front of the illegal restaurant. Today, Thursday, Aug. 2, the restaurant's first day with an R- permit and the owner has already violated the permit by placing too many chairs outside a restaurant that should not be open in the first place.
At a Building and Safety Commission Hearing, one Commissioner called this restaurant, Third World. It appears President Ruiz believes Third World conditions in Los Angeles is acceptable.
It is transparent to the residents of the community that President Ruiz is part of the corruption that clouds our City Government. What President Ruiz did is equivalent of giving a child molester a seat at a playground and claiming it good community relations. Arrogant with power, Public Works Queen Ruiz, is blind to her own ambition and complicit to the City's corruption.
More and more residents are expressing their outrage at this administration. In a recent speech which was not covered by mainstream news, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky exposed the Planning Department and the Planning Commissioners for being suborned by developers. A video summary of Yaroslavsky’s is shown on this blog site.
These condescending imperious actions by questionably motivated and inexperienced Mayoral appointees, like Ruiz, should no longer be tolerated!
"Why don't you put $1 in a pot everytime you post on Mayor Sam and when election time comes give your $20-50 to the best (honest, good) candidate in the race."
Fifty dollars? You just didn't hit your head. The truck must have backed over you, too. The people we're talking about ask -- and get -- thousands of dollars from people and businesses with interests before the city. You don't really think Antonio is unique, do you?
This post is worth repeating because you know what they say birds of a feather tend to flock together.......
At July 26, 2007 11:34 PM, Anonymous said...
What the blogger writing about Alicia Corona and Teresa Durate is trying to inform you about is that your tax money has been given to Alicia and Teresa to the tune of $1.5 Million Dollars to Purchase the former Rose Eye Clinic located in Lincoln Heights.
This is just one more example of the type of irresponsible and negligent development that occurs in highly ethnic communities such as Lincoln Heights.
These ladies are sweatshop owners that do not live in the area and have been able to convince the local city councilman Ed Reyes to support their venture. It is unfortunate because under the guise of bringing so called needed jobs to the community they have been given a variance by the city for a liquor license and gambling establishment to be built on this site which is directly across from Gates Elementary School, Lincoln High School and in back of it Little Flower pre-school and kindergarten. The gambling part consists of over 140 video arcade machines that will be fully operational during regular school hours. Fears are that the a local group claiming to be descendents of the local Native Americans will attempt to declare the site as a federally protected reservation because of the hieroglyphics rumored to be in a dynamited cave on a hill behind the project and thereby utilizing the approval of the gambling variance as a precedent to establishing a full blown casino adjacent to these schools.
The community has been fighting back, but it has been unable since the unethical involvement from USC's Institute of Genetic Medicine’s through Lyn Crandel and David Galaviz in carrying out a coup to take over the Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Council. Incidentally it seems that David Galaviz is even more unethical then first thought. Information has it that he is married to M. Teresa Villegas, a Mayor Villar’s appointee to the Environmental Affairs Commission. (Villegas served as an Executive Fellow for the California Air Resources Board with funding from the Hewlett Foundation. She developed recommendations for improvements to the State’s Environmental Justice Program, all of which were approved by the Air Resources Board. Ms. Villegas previously served as Legislative Director for the Trust for Public Land in Sacramento. She is currently a public policy consultant for local governments and the Trust for Public Land. She also serves as a Board Member for the Planning and Conservation League, a statewide environmental advocacy group. Board of Directors of the Land Trust Alliance)
It has been 2 years since the Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Council has had an election. Why would David Galaviz, for that matter anybody in City Government, want to have elections when they have conflict of interest influence on the Neighborhood Councils.
Getting back to Alicia's and Teresa project, remember the $1.5 million grant was just to purchase the property. On top of this they will also receive an estimated amount of an additional $5 million dollars of your taxes for building and tax credits for next five years to hire so-called marginalized workforce. This is just another farce by the politicians to give away your hard earned money.
Other projects that are occurring in Lincoln Heights is the building of 37 Low Income Units on a former EPA site on Sichel Street, under the 1805 Sichel LLC, headed by none other that City Housing Panelist John Huskey of Meta Housing. In this case the entire project is being funded 50% tax payer money and 50% from Wells Fargo. What a sweet deal. Can you ever imagine that someone in the Barrio could get this kind of funding, forget it you would have to be very well connected and you and your employees have to be generous donors to the illustrious sell out Latino Politicians?
More recently it was made known that a certain group of developers are planning to develop one of the largest parcels of open space in the City. Approximately 30 acres on a hill behind Lincoln High Schools Athletic Field, owned by Mee Yin Corp will have a gated community of 387 - million dollar homes. 15 acres will be for the housing and 15 acres of property will be donated to the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy. You say this is okay, think again. All land set aside for open space should be given to the City for Park Land that way it should never ever be used for anything but parks. But the game currently being played now is for non-profits such as the Conservancy to get the Land and then after a period of time they will also get rid of some of this Land for Development. The game is called Land Banking through the use of non-profits.
For those still interested in what is going on in our community you might also find it interesting that Mee Yin Corp is represented by City Lobbyist Steve Afriat, a former City Animal Regulation Commissioner who has represented the interest of Strip Club and Gay Bathhouse Owners in the City of Los Angeles. Steve Afriat is no light weight; a google search of him will give you an enormous amount of information of his dealings with former Councilmen Art Snyder, Richard Alatorre and Mike Hernandez. It would seem that if you want to win a city council seat you need Steve Afriat’s blessings and money sources.
How unfortunate that Lincoln Heights a founding member of the Chicano Movement in the late 60’s and 70’s is being converted into a cesspool of political misrepresentation, graft, unethical activity and corruption.
There is no more honest person than Marcus Allen. Most of the comments are from those who are jealous of him.
The city is lucky to have Marcus doing work for them.
"There is no more honest person than Marcus Allen. Most of the comments are from those who are jealous of him. The city is lucky to have Marcus doing work for them."
Allen did work for the city. Then he quit. Now he works with Arnie and Harvey. If he was really concerned about appearances, he could quit and go back on staff. You're forgetting that Chick, in her attempt to wound Hahn, absolutely crucified other consultants who had city contracts. You think everybody's just forgotten? She went after an entire industry.
@1:42 anonymous said...
He might be promoting his blog...
Yup, someone is deleting posts again. If it's Mayor Sam, that's cool. If it's zuma dog, hopefully he has the Mayor's permission.
AH JEEZUSS NOT THERESA AND ALICIA AGAIn!!!!
I likey the donation to honest candidates, if you know any. Sorta of like a personal small donor committee. $1 per comment is easier than popping $50 for somebody you believe in when you might be tight on cash. You know it would be like a cuss jar, which on this site, is wholely appropriate.
Zev is trying to deflect attn from himself and his dirty deals, like the last posters on Mexican Mafia thread and Wednesday threads explains. The Supes have no oversight, no one from the press has ever questioned them before, is why the story about Burke is a shock to everyone. That's just the tip of the iceberg... Read those threads if you really care about the city, not just tawdry tabloid stuff.
Latest harebrained leftie plan of the day: Alarcon wants the City to put up $5 million bucks to bail out homeowners facing foreclosure because they took out loans they can't repay. His district (boohoo) has one of the highest foreclosure rates. -- Yeah, cuz you've got a bunch of illiterates and illegals.
Tough, idiot Alarcon!
The rest of us work too hard to pay our own bill to bail out idiots too greedy to live within their means.
If this blog wants to do anything useful, mobilize: TELL ALARCON NO!
Sean Penn is in Venezuela meeting with Hugo Chavez, the anti-American communist who openly wants to destroy America, to learn about issues of injustice and poverty, and how Chavez is doing such a great job -- Penn is bringing back some of his ideas to implement here in L A.
Gee, sounds like Alarcon is already a convert.
Boycot that idiot Penn -- he's gone way over the top this time. Worse than Hanoi Jane of the '60's.
Hugo Chavez is a blast from the past. Sean Penn is a trained chimp. They're both irrelevant.
Zumma Dog is the biggest idiot asshole ever seen here.
What if Fleishman-Hillard had hired Marcus Allen as a consultant ......
I am putting $5 in a jar for this post. I'll give it a try.
What is we sent dogg to Venezuela?
That's one collection I'd contribute to. On the grounds it's one-way.
Contractors doing business with the city may now flock to the lobbyists who hire Marcus Allen as a consultant to get more lucrative city contracts.
And these contractors know they can stay away from audit problems because Marcus Allen will also advise Controller Chick on policies and audits.
Pay to Play without getting Audited?
Wonder if Marcus has already advised Controller Chick that it is OK to hire him as a Consultant while he is also a consultant to lobbyists.
"What if Fleishman-Hillard had hired Marcus Allen as a consultant ......"
What makes you think that wasn't considered just a few years back? It was the most successful and respected firm in the city and he was a very talented guy.
a p/o to a mayor in s.e. 4 a n/c.
WTF?
I'm waiting on the Mayor Sam take on the Mirthala 2 month suspension.
HELLO?!? Is this thing on?
Well, I think it's quite telling that they waited until we were in the wake of the bridge disaster.
Of course they couldn't predict such an occurance. They were likely going to wait until 9pm Friday or Saturday night to miss any real news cycles.
Now anyone making a big deal about this sounds like an ogre. It sickens me to think of our mayor gloating over dead bodies being recovered so that he might salvage his public image.
Furthermore, 2 months for someone of this stature is not called a suspension. It's called a vacation. I mean, media personalities are notorious for August vacations anyway. Unbelieveable.
We can add another reason to that AP story about there being 237 reasons to have sex. Celebrating a career saving kiss ass move by NBC/Telemundo execs is a great reason to get laid (even if it is with a marionette sized lizard.)
Expect some residual fallout from disenchanted journalists with morals and ethics to surface here and on other sites.
Don't get me wrong. I would definitely hit that. I'd hit it like Paris Hilton driving down Sunset. But I'm not the mayor.
*They = Telemundo management
7:47 Amen!!! That is exactly what we are looking at here...
Not surprising that Englander and Berghoff would want their new "partner" to show what City Hall influence he could bring to the business, but certainly surprising, disappointing and and distressing that Laura Chick would let herself fall for this.
Race Card 9:26, you are a sick and twisted soul. Right, the Mayor will be "gloating" over those dead bodies cuz in your demented mind, there's a connection to Mirthala's suspension.
What is significant is that several Telemundo exex got the same or worse, because as widely reported, they made her read the news of the divorce and some other stuff about the Mayor. Neither her nor the Mayor will ever recover their reputations.
But what this whole scandal showed is that there are virtually NO ethical standards left anywhere, with the way the MSM were racing each other into the tabloid sewer.
And when the Weekly actually hired a mentally ill, illiterate lunatic to "write" an article, just to get a different -- the fringe -- demographic, that's the nail in the coffin of "journalism," except at the one paper you losers all love to hate.
I know you'll be screaming for more blood, that will go on for days... ha, ha, you didn't get enough.
Laura Chick is DONE. Her credibility is gone if she ever had any. She's the laughing stock of the city with all the baggage she has brought. No one will ever believe or take her seriously. She should just pack it up.
This post is worth repeating because you know what they say birds of a feather tend to flock together.......
At July 26, 2007 11:34 PM, Anonymous said...
What the blogger writing about Alicia Corona and Teresa Durate is trying to inform you about is that your tax money has been given to Alicia and Teresa to the tune of $1.5 Million Dollars to Purchase the former Rose Eye Clinic located in Lincoln Heights.
This is just one more example of the type of irresponsible and negligent development that occurs in highly ethnic communities such as Lincoln Heights.
These ladies are sweatshop owners that do not live in the area and have been able to convince the local city councilman Ed Reyes to support their venture. It is unfortunate because under the guise of bringing so called needed jobs to the community they have been given a variance by the city for a liquor license and gambling establishment to be built on this site which is directly across from Gates Elementary School, Lincoln High School and in back of it Little Flower pre-school and kindergarten. The gambling part consists of over 140 video arcade machines that will be fully operational during regular school hours. Fears are that the a local group claiming to be descendents of the local Native Americans will attempt to declare the site as a federally protected reservation because of the hieroglyphics rumored to be in a dynamited cave on a hill behind the project and thereby utilizing the approval of the gambling variance as a precedent to establishing a full blown casino adjacent to these schools.
The community has been fighting back, but it has been unable since the unethical involvement from USC's Institute of Genetic Medicine’s through Lyn Crandel and David Galaviz in carrying out a coup to take over the Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Council. Incidentally it seems that David Galaviz is even more unethical then first thought. Information has it that he is married to M. Teresa Villegas, a Mayor Villar’s appointee to the Environmental Affairs Commission. (Villegas served as an Executive Fellow for the California Air Resources Board with funding from the Hewlett Foundation. She developed recommendations for improvements to the State’s Environmental Justice Program, all of which were approved by the Air Resources Board. Ms. Villegas previously served as Legislative Director for the Trust for Public Land in Sacramento. She is currently a public policy consultant for local governments and the Trust for Public Land. She also serves as a Board Member for the Planning and Conservation League, a statewide environmental advocacy group. Board of Directors of the Land Trust Alliance)
It has been 2 years since the Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Council has had an election. Why would David Galaviz, for that matter anybody in City Government, want to have elections when they have conflict of interest influence on the Neighborhood Councils.
Getting back to Alicia's and Teresa project, remember the $1.5 million grant was just to purchase the property. On top of this they will also receive an estimated amount of an additional $5 million dollars of your taxes for building and tax credits for next five years to hire so-called marginalized workforce. This is just another farce by the politicians to give away your hard earned money.
Other projects that are occurring in Lincoln Heights is the building of 37 Low Income Units on a former EPA site on Sichel Street, under the 1805 Sichel LLC, headed by none other that City Housing Panelist John Huskey of Meta Housing. In this case the entire project is being funded 50% tax payer money and 50% from Wells Fargo. What a sweet deal. Can you ever imagine that someone in the Barrio could get this kind of funding, forget it you would have to be very well connected and you and your employees have to be generous donors to the illustrious sell out Latino Politicians?
More recently it was made known that a certain group of developers are planning to develop one of the largest parcels of open space in the City. Approximately 30 acres on a hill behind Lincoln High Schools Athletic Field, owned by Mee Yin Corp will have a gated community of 387 - million dollar homes. 15 acres will be for the housing and 15 acres of property will be donated to the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy. You say this is okay, think again. All land set aside for open space should be given to the City for Park Land that way it should never ever be used for anything but parks. But the game currently being played now is for non-profits such as the Conservancy to get the Land and then after a period of time they will also get rid of some of this Land for Development. The game is called Land Banking through the use of non-profits.
For those still interested in what is going on in our community you might also find it interesting that Mee Yin Corp is represented by City Lobbyist Steve Afriat, a former City Animal Regulation Commissioner who has represented the interest of Strip Club and Gay Bathhouse Owners in the City of Los Angeles. Steve Afriat is no light weight; a google search of him will give you an enormous amount of information of his dealings with former Councilmen Art Snyder, Richard Alatorre and Mike Hernandez. It would seem that if you want to win a city council seat you need Steve Afriat’s blessings and money sources.
How unfortunate that Lincoln Heights a founding member of the Chicano Movement in the late 60’s and 70’s is being converted into a cesspool of political misrepresentation, graft, unethical activity and corruption.
Laura Chick: Wow. Just...wow. This is arrogance personified. She has jumped the shark.
FYI: The term "conflict of interest" refers entirely to perception. The point of it is, you don't wait for the guy to actually do something corrupt. You prevent anyone from suspecting it by avoiding...everybody...a conflict of interest.
Stick a fork in her; she's done.
What a bonehead move, who's her other consultant, Doug Dowie?
She could hire ZD to work with Doug...
Obama puts his foot in his mouth every time he opens it. First, he's going to have a nice little chat with Iran after pulling out of Iraq, to "explain" to them why they ought to keep order there...he's sure he can turn that loon in N. Korea into a nice guy and pal, too, and Chavez isn't really so bad...Now his comment about nuclear preparedness/ disarming so that the above and others can copy is and not be afraid of us anymore.
He's a flaming idiot. Hillary is looking better all the time, or Giuliani, who's the most moderate of the Elephants.
Those who would give up security for peace always get neither.
August 03, 2007 3:16 PM
".... who's her other consultant, Doug Dowie?"
With the recent appeals court decision and the screenplay being sold, he may end up in better shape than her. I've learned in the after-life that karma is a bitch.
Planning Director, Gail Goldberg has lunch and dinner with lobbiests 3-4 times a week. What gives. Just visit a downtown 5 star resturant and see for yourself.
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