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Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Wednesday

Excellent piece by Joel Kotkin on "The Decline of Los Angeles."  A mentor of mine told me several years ago that Los Angeles is a city with its best days behind it.  That appears to be true.  Kotkin chronicles how the City has fallen on economic hard times, the middle class and business has left in droves and quality of life is slipping. Kotkin laments" In such a context, Villaraigosa's upcoming coronation seems hard to comprehend. By most accounts, he has been at best a mediocre mayor, with few real accomplishments." Though its tough at the moment to find a scenario where one of the Mayor's challengers pushes him into a run-off or even defeats him, there's still the chance.  Vote for anyone but Antonio and lets go from there. 


Westside White Guy shows his Pulitzer Paperweight winning suburban chops once again when he can't imagine why even Congresswoman Maxine Waters has bailed on supporting Jack Weiss for City Attorney and has endorsed Carmen Trutanich.  Yes Kevin, get past your cocktail party talk and understand that indeed "Anyone but (Jack) Weiss" is critical for the City.

So if it's anyone but Jack who do you vote for? Fortunately you have several choices. One of whom is the good Weiss, NOEL WEISS, whom you can read about here and here.

Mayoral candidate David Hernandez is charging the City's Channel 36 censored the final segment of a Full Disclosure report on the Mayor's gang program.  Hernandez charges that "The broadcast was censored and viewers were subject to a blank screen during the 30 minutes scheduled to air the controversial conclusion.," and then asks " Just what did the Mayor not want you to see?" 



Measure B made the New York Times.  Relatively balanced piece however it doesn't go into why there is such "fierce opposition" to this shady boondoggle.

I'm all for privatizing as much City services as possible but stand for a shady alert.  Mayor Villaraigosa wants to explore an idea similar to one implemented in Chicago (red flag alert) in which the Windy City has sold their parking meter revenue for 75 years to Morgan Stanley.  Watch out folks, there's huge room for abuse here.

Joseph Mailander likes yurts but I think he would rule this one out as an option for the homeless.  CurbedLA reports a Silverlake version of a manse that comes with the home style pioneered by the Mongols that is on the market for nearly $600K.

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21 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Who did Maxine endorse in the supervisor race and who did Antonio?

February 25, 2009 6:36 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Lots of paranoia and confusion among the minor candidates. Like how the city clerk threw out tens of thousands of valid signatures on the Shaws'- Walter Moore's Jamiel's law. Wild accusations of every kind.

February 25, 2009 6:42 AM  

Blogger Jim Alger said:

On a national note: Mayor Sam's pet in Louisiana stepped in it last night.

First, our boy Bobby Jindal, a Presidential wannabe, said "thanks but no thanks" to his state's portion of the stimulus package (because we all know how well New Orleans is doing) sacrificing his constituents for political points with the General Opposition Party. Now, in a sad effort to be opposed to all things Obama, Jindal singled out "$140 million for something called 'volcano monitoring'" as an example of out-of-control federal spending. "Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.," Jindal said.

But that $140 million figure isn't accurate for volcano watching, as several blogs have already pointed out in sharply worded challenges to the idea that volcano watching is worthless. The stimulus bill allocates that amount for repair and restoration of a variety of USGS science facilities and laboratories.

Hey, who needs the USGS anyway? This just continues the Republican-right's assault on all things science. But it also displays a level of ignorance on the part of this so-called "rising star" of the GOP.

It is very interesting that the party in power is repeatedly attempting to cross the aisle only to be rebuffed by the Republicans. It is as if the entire GOP adopted John McCain's "get off my lawn" grumpy old man meets blissful ignorance strategy that worked so well for him in November.

February 25, 2009 10:50 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Dumb of Jindal to pass up money that was being handed out to try to score political pts for himself and party. Hope the constituents jump on him for that.

But the Democrats are just blowing trillions upon trillions of bucks -- the first trillion with NO accountability or even common sense.

The bank that partied it up here in LA with Cheryl Crow and a Riviera CC golf tournament got $1.6 BILLION THAT THEY SAID THEY DIDN'T EVEN WANT OR NEED. Gee, all that thrown at one bank that doesn't want it, never asked for it, and we can't get that money to finish our Expo Line? Yes both parties were involved but the Democrats are in control and have been even since the end of Bush. Bush was actually generous in pushing that first wasteful handout through during his administration to shield Obama from taking the full brunt of it.

With all this extra money being thrown at banks, they're still playing, NOT giving customers the credit, reducing credit lines and increasing penalties on credit cards etc. Gee, maybe after a mere 3 Trillion $ more (what economists say WILL happen) they'll start to get it right.

Meanwhile the millions of jobs Obama had promised would be CREATED have been twisted into figures of "jobs saved," the money is NOT going to long-overdue infrastructure projects like bridges, levees, highways and our pitifully delayed and un-funded Expo and Subway lines.

MOST of that is thanks to the Demoratic desire to throw money at the lowest and neediest, not to create jobs and business. But Republicans have their share of idiocy like McCain refusing to approve a package which included the film industry since "they're doing so well." Box office was good this year because they forsook the smaller, better type of films for all blockbusters, but stock prices are way down as are revenues, and other states and countries are luring business and jobs.

February 25, 2009 11:29 AM  

Blogger Louis (Video Louis) Elovitz said:

I don't know if you saw this
but the GREAT DEBATE was
mentioned in LAist giving Ron Kay "of the Daily News" credit BUT NOT YOU, Mayor Sam, Mike Higby !
YOU DID A GREAT JOB !!!

February 25, 2009 12:16 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

11:29 Keep in mind the bank bailout was a loan not a grant and the payments have already started being returned.

February 25, 2009 12:26 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

As the country gets acquainted with the Bayou’s boy wonder, the stranger details of Jindal’s religious or personal background remain largely unknown, even among the Republican grassroots.

How many Americans know that Jindal boasted of participating in an exorcism that purged the spirit of Satan from a college girlfriend?

His birth name was Piyush Jindal. When he was four years old, Piyush changed his name to “Bobby” after becoming mesmerized by an episode of The Brady Bunch. Jindal later wrote that he began considering converting to Catholicism during high school after “being touched by the love and simplicity of a Christian girl who dreamt of becoming a Supreme Court justice so she could stop her country from ‘killing unborn babies.’” After watching a short black-and-white film on the crucifixion of Christ, Jindal claimed he “realized that if the Gospel stories were true, if Christ really was the son of God, it was arrogant of me to reject Him and question the gift of salvation.”

During his years at Brown University, Jindal pursued his Catholic faith with unbridled zeal. Jindal became emotionally involved with a classmate named Susan who had overcome skin cancer and struggled to cope with the suicide of a close friend. Jindal reflected in an article for a Catholic magazine (called “Beating a Demon: Physical Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare”) that “sulfuric” scents hovered over Susan everywhere she went. In the middle of a prayer meeting, Jindal claimed that Susan collapsed and began convulsing on the floor. His prayer partners gathered together on the floor, holding hands and shouting, “Satan, I command you to leave this woman!”
While under the supposed control of satanic demons, Susan lashed out at Jindal and his friends. “Whenever I concentrated long enough to begin prayer, I felt some type of physical force distracting me,” Jindal reflected. “It was as if something was pushing down on my chest, making it very hard for me to breathe… I began to think that the demon would only attack me if I tried to pray or fight back; thus, I resigned myself to leaving it alone in an attempt to find peace for myself.”

It's the lower 48 version of Sarah Palin.

February 25, 2009 12:42 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

It's Silver Lake not Silverlake.

Not a big deal. Just a matter of community pride.

February 25, 2009 2:29 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I think Jindal criticized the money made available to his state but accepted it.

February 25, 2009 2:30 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I've made some additions to the Wikipedia article on Jack Weiss, specifically:

Jack Weiss' 2001 campaign for City Council led the City of Los Angeles City Ethics Commission to find that the Weiss campaign violated provisions of the Los Angeles Municipal Code and the Los Angeles Administrative Code. (See CEC Case No. 2004-08.)
As a councilmember, Jack Weiss has often been accused of not representing his constituents well. According to the following website, a movement to recall Jack Weiss gathered approximately 20,000 signatures. (The accuracy of this assertion may be difficult to verify.)
http://www.recalljackweiss.com/

The above additions are accurate to the best of my knowledge. They were erased from the Wikipedia article this morning. I reentered the comments. I wonder if they will be erased again.

February 25, 2009 2:57 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

2:30 Jindal is tying to have it both ways, he is trying to not take the money set aside for unemployment extension but wants the rest. This way he can say he "always opposed" it.

The idea that his state doesn't need the $100 million is absurd given 30% of New Orleans is still living in toxic FEMA trailers.

They will tell you "it isn't the same money." That is the same BS argument the banks use to justify their excursions. OBVIOUSLY if you get $100 Million in it frees up $100 million from the treasury.

Ever think it is curious that 3 out of 4 Republican Governors that are trying to quasi-refuse the aid also so happen to be running for President? Given the state of things in Louisiana, Jindal should take the money or be impeached for failing to represent his constituents.

Th Republicans seem to think that all they have to do is put a "darker" face on things and we won't recognize them for the blood sucking leeches that they are. How sad.

February 25, 2009 3:03 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Hey, it worked for the Democrats, didn't it?

February 25, 2009 4:10 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Just heard that NBC took a poll and had Trutanich at 64%!!!!

Can that be?

February 25, 2009 4:19 PM  

Blogger Michael Higby said:

I find no confirmation of any KNBC poll. I am certain Jack is in trouble but doubt Nuch is at 64%.

February 25, 2009 6:19 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Mayor Sam's Sister City Readers:

The position of City Attorney has a profound influence on our lives as citizens of our great City. Yet, I have not seen any substantive coverage or analysis of the candidates for this important office. Weiss and Trutanich are the top two candidates. Do any of us have any idea of how they would perform as City Attorney...the only attorney who must give give advice in the best interests of the City (ie. rather than a private atty who gets paid to give advice that the client requests). If you want a truly independent City Attorney, there should not be any term limits to this position...he or she should be answerable to the people and independent of the current term limit process...

February 25, 2009 7:33 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

4:18pm, from your keyboard to God's ears. Where is that poll?

February 25, 2009 8:14 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

There is no 4:18 and Nuch is as corrupt as Rocky.

February 25, 2009 9:15 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Anonymous said...
Just heard that NBC took a poll and had Trutanich at 64%!!!!

Can that be?

February 25, 2009 4:19 PM


Um, no. Go back to blogging for Wacko. At least you don't lie about the polls.

February 25, 2009 10:33 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

WACKO-JACKO WEISS IS REELING!!!!

When a fellow liberal Democratic crackpot like Maxine Waters won't endorse you, YOU ARE IN DEEP TROUBLE!!!

Bye-bye, Jacko!!!

February 25, 2009 11:12 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Nuch is the GUN GUY. I say GET OUTTA TOWN.

February 25, 2009 11:56 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Nuch finally busted in the Times today for lying about his record: "his flashy ads compress his career into onto small sliver, the time he spent prosecuting gangs" back in the early to mid 80's. Since then on the dark side, getting off the scum of the earth for big bucks, usually fighting city/ state/ federal laws. Article also implies it's especially odd that he suddenly wants to defend these laws for less money in a dept. that doesn't prosecute felonies he boasts about. Confirms what everybody knows: trying to get on the job experience to take over his buddy Cooley's DA job in 4 years.

The Metro desk isn't as clueless as the Opinion section, which no one takes seriously any more.

Joe Mailander is shaking his head over the endorsement of Galperin for CD5, says the endrosement means nothing -- it's not like it was from the New York Times. Ouch. I'm not sure I agree that they should be playing up the other candidates more, that that "doesn't veer to pointlessness." but what's clear is no one takes them seriously anymore for various reasons. I happen to think Galperin is OK but certainly not far and above 2-3 of the others.

February 26, 2009 8:56 AM  

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