Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Monday
Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters writes about Mayor Villaraigosa's bait and switch with his garbage tax increases for "more police." With respect to this and the many other tax hikes the Mayor has planned for you Walters opines that we "would be better served if they (politicians like Villaraigosa) were upfront about their purposes, rather than constructing elaborate fictions that imply voters are too stupid to understand reality." Gee, ya think?The new Beckford Parents blog reminds us why a potential $10 billion LAUSD construction bond on the November ballot (the fifth such in the last decade) must not be passed: Belmont Learning Center. It's laughable that the Mayor is calling this latest dollar sinkhole a "reform minded" bond. Let's put the same energy into breaking up LAUSD, creating more charter type schools while holding parents, students and educators accountable.
Under the Nahai regime at the Department of Water and Power it sure seems like there are a lot more random power outages throughout the City. This time, nearly 10,000 customers were without power in Koreatown on Sunday. In the meantime, the rate hikes keep coming.
Writer Sandra Tsing-Loh dressed as the Statue of Liberty talking about her menopause may have been amusing for some of those in attendance at Ron Kaye's Bastille Day Storming of City Hall but I don't know. There is definitely a place and a call for a protest movement in Los Angeles, however to gain traction I believe it needs a central rallying point and needs to be done somewhat without theatrics or maybe a different type of theatrics.
Is superstar pop diva Britney Spears on the way back to good looks and good health? I don't know, I'll let you decide.
Labels: britney spears, dan walters, dwp, H. David Nahai, lausd, mayor antonio villaraigosa, Ron Kaye, sandra tsing-loh, taxes
Posted by Michael Higby @ 7/21/2008 04:00:00 AM
32 Comments:
It's pretty uncommon for the SAC BEE and Dan Walthers to comment on the politics in a city they consider to be wayyy beneath the elites in SF; but this column is significant BECAUSE he is shining the light on Villar and his lies!
Evryone knows the battle for Governor in 2010 is gearing up, and one thing for sure...Villar and Newsom will be DEAD MEAT by the time things really heat up in the race for Gov.!!!
What we here in LA need to do is turn the heat up on high NOW...to make sure that Villar, the Village idiot, is not reelected!
Villar has committed political suicide by taxation...a death of a thousand cuts! The only cuts that WERE NOT MADE...were the cuts to the bloated bureaucracy in City Hall! LET'S CUT HIM LOOSE NEXT MARCH!
I have NEVER voted YES on any Bond measure asking for money...and I hope that everyone is awake enough now to vote NO, No, No...on EVERYTHING they stick on the ballot! We have been pillaged and plundered long enough! Just say NO! HELL, NO!
Michael, I think you're wrong about the theatrics.
I know a professor of poli sci who believes that LA is a great city for lots of little movements but a poor city for a few big movements. Theatrics bridge the gap.
In any given month in LA, there are many such adorned protests on behalf of the environment, on behalf of gay and lesbian pride, in response to bad local policy. It takes place in relative isolation not because of the nature of fantasy and costume, but because of the sprawling nature of the City. But such antics are indeed helpful.
Media being what they are right now, they so often need a wacky visual in order to feed the news to the City at large. A photo of ST-L appeared in the Downtown News, for instance, with a healthy caption about the event. This is a paper that wouldn't have otherwise covered the event, without the photo-op.
Beyond this, what counts as effective politics is not measured in numbers. Ron Kaye is more b-to-b than b-to-c, if you know those terms. ST-L is like that also. Even the City marches that fetch hundreds of thousands have can have little political traction. I am reminded of half a million people marching down Broadway and Hill three years ago, on behalf of immigration rights, and their cause has virtually politically evaporated. We now have the ironic counter-spectacle of Piolin, who three years ago fueled the marchers, now making headlines for taking part in a group citizenship ceremony.
America has demonstrated time and again that it can handle all the costumed wackiness its people can dish; Las Vegas, Dollywood, etc. are all evidence enough of that. On the political side, there probably would be no gay marriage without the ACT UP of twenty years ago, whose antics seemed ridiculous to many at the time, as do many of the antics of today's, say, animal activists.
And I have to add, before someone else does: you gave Zuma Dogg a long leash for a long time, yet you would have Ron Kaye draw the line with ST-L after an event? That's not in the spirit of the MayorSam we know. I think people become a burden to a political movement when too many others start complaining.
Finally, consider ordering a copy of Professor Stephen Duncombe's Dream: Re-Imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy for more information. I think the book would certainly come down inclusive of people like ST-L and Zuma Dogg being a part of any political movement.
Sandra Tsing Loh is a clever, thoughtful writer and perhpas before you criticize things publicly should take the time to speak with her FIRST so you understand her views.
Would it be fair of someone to say that you should be less slovenly before you taken on public issues? Or should they take you as they are?
When you've written your first book, been a columnist, and nationally known radio commentator, then MAYBE you'll have a better handle on it.
Let us know when that time comes.
8:12 AM please shut up, you make no sense.
Mayor Sam, you need a reality check:
Antonio Villaraigosa is a real Mayor, and you are not.
Get a life and hammer someone else for a change; you get more like Dave Elliott every day.
( I know, that's really a severe insult, but you are trending that way - obsessions can be dangerous - just ask you idol Hugsberg).
There is no question that, absent some huge political or personal scandal in the coming months, the mayor will be reelected, with virtually no opposition. This does not mean, however, that pressure should not be brought to bear -- generally by way of the media spotlight -- on the hanky-panky being generated by him, his staff and his appointees, as well as his "close supporters" on the city council or in Sacramento...
You follow up a call for "less theatrics" in the political protest realm with an immediate update on BRITNEY SPEARS wholly dysfunction life . . .
. . . on a blog that crusades as the "home of L.A. politics."
Is the brain even occasionally connected to the mouth (or typing finders), or did that disconnect become permanent years ago?????
to 7:44 please stick to debating with don quixote
Don't you folks think that the Mayor (Sam not Villar) is FLAME BAITING you?
You gullible gumps swallow it everytime.
He's figured out how to keep you posting.
10:25, that's a very good point.
But what about the Zine paparazzi law, which was done because of the frenzy around Spears?
What about the family court matters and her drunk driving problems?
Higby MUST talk about Spears then, right?
It's not so black & white and you didn't bother to make such a distinction.
It's OK with me if he is; I greatly apopreciate the fact that he is man enough to not delete those posts that are critical of him.
This is osehting that the insecure wimp Dave Elliott, who calls himself by some fancied name: "Zuma Dogg" could not manage.
The change is refreshing and I send kudo's to Higby for acting like a man should.
i don't agree with the negative posts against mayor sam but respect that he has the balls to put them up.
ps don't waste your time at jm's blog
Ron Kaye's next meeting will be on a Saturday, August 2nd. People are already talking about it and say they will be going cause its not on a work day. Residents of LA are tired of all the bullshit and taxes, lies, lack of leadership, corruptness. Antonio should enjoy the lime light now because word is something is going to come out that will blow everyone away but not surprising may be the end of his demise.
Why no LAUSD bond fund? Look at the 150M bond fund for Animal Services. They used the money and built bigger, prettier shelters with more space for humans, more landscaping but the same if not less space for animals than the old shelters which they abandoned. The new shelters cost more to run because of more landscape maintenance, fountains, expensive but ugly public art but they save fewer animals. Euthanasia is up ever since the new shelters opened. Look at the dates. Euthanasia started going up after the shelters opened.
The Mayor told the Director of Animal Services he had to cut the budget. He said the new shelters cost more to water the plants, sweep all the extra room, clean the community rooms, gardens... Instead of cutting down on landscaping and other unneeded items, the only thing they cut in the budget was food for animals by 20%. More animals are coming in yet they will be fed less food.
While I'm ranting about bond funds, do you realize they only cover the actual construction of the new buildings, nothing more. So, if they build new schools with gardens, community rooms, bigger playgrounds, more parking, that will cost a lot more, even if the new schools don't house more students than the old schools. You do realize when they build new schools, they vacate the old ones. They spend a ton of money and they only end up with buildings that may house the same number of students. That building is either rented out to some nonprof for $1/ year or it's sold and the money goes to the general fund, not the department that used the building. This makes no sense. Nothing is improved with building new schools or animal shelters. The money should be spent on things that actually improve education and help animals.
What I want to know is whether or not anyone can confirm what someone said on an earlier thread about Huizar presiding over a same sex marriage is true. Is he really being a mini-MAV? Inquiring minds want to know....
Just posted an email someone sent me that asks a lot of questions about Jack Weiss. Things like, is he walking into the council meeting for role call, then walking right up to his council office to do a little campaign contribution solicitation for his City Attorney race.
But there's way more...check it out on my LADailyBlog.com.
(AND NOW LOSERS, I AM NOT TRYING TO DRIVE HITS...I AM TRYING TO PREVENT JACKASS FROM BECOMING CITY ATTORNEY AND THESE QUESTIONS MAY LEAD TOWARD THAT GOAL IF SOME FOLKS PICK UP THE BALL...)
Why is Joe MailHandler posting long boring comments in this blog?
Send Joe Mailhandelr back to his own blog, where he can chatt about golf and lobsters with his good buddy.
In the words of Zuma Dogg Joe MailHandler is nothing but a sensitive "cry baby loser", we don't come here to read his drivel.
And I agree, at least Mayor Sam and Red Spot have the balls to post critical comments, unlike the little bitch Joe.
It's too bad you have a problem w/jm's blog. Maybe you need to crank one out your damned self, then we could judge you so critically. I commend anyone who has the nads to try to convey the news of the day through whatever eyes they wear. It's a job, it doesn't pay all that well, and the effort deserves more than jeers from the peanut gallery. The true beauty of this relatively new medium is that if one doesn't suit your needs, there's a miriad of others to wander unto. So wander on, my friend. And don't let the door hit you in the ass!
please biff we have seen your comments, or are you just don quixote's new character and forgot what role you are playing now.
biff said...
I agree wholeheartedly with 3:35 (yesterday). Unfortunately I go over To JM's more than needed if only to see how Don Quackers is humiliating himself with his subserviant diatribes. It's a shame I do that because in so doing it bumps JM's "hit count", most likely giving him the false impression that anyone is actually interested in his weak posts. I say that only because they are generally topics snatched off some other blog. And then there's Don Quixote himself, a most unique example of low self-esteem with an untiring need to be recognized, acknowledged and yes, cared about. People I've known that display these characteristics usually self destruct, but I've followed DQ for a few years and have to marvel at his resilience. I imagine the fact that he splits his identities between DQ, Drinking with Tony, Santiago, and a miriad of others serves to extend what he conceives as credibility. Who knows? But it is an interesting case of a tweaked ego.
July 19, 2008 2:33 PM
I hope some of you were listening to John and Ken for the last 50 minutes!
Danielle Bologna just spent almost an hour on the phone from San Francisco, where he wonderful husband and to beautiful teenage sons were gunned down by a filthy, rotten, piece of shit from MS13!
The Shaws now have another family to join forces with...only this one will be going after Newsom!
Betweem the Shaws and Mrs. Bologna, there is NO DOUBT in my mind that we will be rid of Villar and Newsom by the next election in March!!!
There is NO WAY the PEOPLE will allow these two pricks to hold office in this STate anymore! WE WILL NOT ALLOW L.A. OR S.F. TO BE SANCTUARY CITIES ANYMORE!!!
IT'S OVER...VILLAR!!!
IT'S OVER...NEWSOM!11
SO IS THE GOVERNORSHIP!!!!
Go fuck yourselves!!!
Interesting thought, ZD, about Jackass Weiss. It wouldn't surprise me. And no one is accusing you of driving hits. No prob.
But WTF friends about criticizing JM's blog? If you don't like it, go toss some salad, idiot.
what's next for ron kaye?
protest signs hanging from penises?
I like biff/ he's kewl.
4:11 You are disgusting and ignorant! Your comment is unwarranted.
Watch for news on the location and confirmed time for the next S.L.A.P.meeting on Saturday, August 2 around 1 pm. If you are interested in particpating, come prepared to get involved in our breakout sessions to discuss where we go from here and how! I'm for making a Great Los Angeles! How about you?
Yes, 4:11, yours!
Huizar will do anything to be like MAV. He feels that MAV will endorse him to be the next mayor. He should change his name to Jose Huizaraigosa.
For 2:01 pm- About the LAUSD school construction through bonds: The LAUSD Board of Education, not the city council, controls what happens. Remember that that system is separate from the city.
Another item to consider is that there is a declining enrollment trend in LAUSD schools, as noted a few weeks ago in the L.A. TIMES, and many of the existing schools will have enrollments well BELOW their capacity. But the construction continues.
One observation made recently was that some folks would be returning their kids to LAUSD schools because of the economic downturn and rising gas expenses for travel. Just how significant that is in numbers is unknown.
As far as I know, the new schools add to the existing capacity and no old schools are abandoned. To that extent, there is nothing "wasted." The waste is in the costs that these projects create, including relocation of residents who are displaced and the "unexpected" problems that arise which create a need for more money to be spent. So the price is really the stated cost and then the real total at the end, but that is always played down.
Zuma,
You seem to have created some confusion with your new blog moniker. This blogger calls LA Weekly's daily blog, "LA Daily Blog."
What’s happening with the Subway to the Sea?
1 Jul 2008 by Siel
Jill Stewart of the LA Weekly’s LA Daily blog’s not part of that 73%.
green LA girl - http://greenlagirl.com
Ron Kaye is getting odder and odder. the puppetry with a penis is a whole other world.
I'm confused by the last post. Did Ron Kaye have something to do with Puppetry of the Penis or did he just write a review of it?
to 4:11 there is no such word as penises, the plural of penis is peni
Higby gets numbers.
He knows how to get things done.
You are all dummies.
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