Morning Briefs and Outtakes on Oversight of Gang Programs, Pot, Ron Kaye's Endorsement in CD 2 and other News
"Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his homeboys""The graduate students who wrote the report deserve an 'A' for effort, but at a time when we're working to deliver services more efficiently, creating a new government bureaucracy is driving the wrong way on a one-way street," said Matt Szabo, deputy chief of staff to Villaraigosa.
Szabo should get an "A" for spin with this response. But here is the real reason why the Mayor wanted to have direct oversight of the allocation of gang funding.
According to a source close to the organization, Legacy LA did indeed lose their contract only to see it quickly reinstated by the Mayor's office. The employee "Renee", who was an close associate of Jenny Krusoe has lefted the organization, as has Jenny Krusoe. Further, some close to the Summer Night Lights program at Ramona Gardens have stated that "Eduardo" was terminated for his lack of supervision, in regards to the staff structure at Ramona Gardens.
It is clear in our reporting on Legacy LA, that politics played a major role in the creation of this organization (former Mayor staffer and now CRA employee Carlos Alvarado and Jenny Krusoe were the original front people) and one can surmise that Legacy LA was created solely for being a repository for future gang funding and thus, payouts in jobs to their associates.
Maybe that is why Matt Szabo was so "over the top" with his retort to Councilman Cardenas's committee report, after all, protecting the franchise fees to Mayor Villaraigosa is of paramount concern.
View the links below for e-mail documents obtain under the Public Records Act which highlight the political collusion behind the creation of Legacy LA.
Creation of a "Connected Non-Profit", Part 1
Creation of a "Connected Non-Profit", Part 2
Creation of a "Connected Non-Profit", Part 3
Creation of a "Connected Non-Profit", Part 4
Creation of a "Connected Non-Profit", Part 5
Creation of a "Connected Non-Profit", Part 6
OTHER NEWS:
** Former Daily News Editor now blogger Ron Kaye, has posted his endorsement for Paul Krekorian in the CD 2 Special Election for City Council.
The city is at a crossroads.
We have seen how ordinary citizens could defeat the machine on Measure B in March, how it could pull together and elect Carmen Trutanich as City Attorney in May. So let's hand the mayor and the machine a third straight defeat in December by elected Paul Krekorian in CD2.
** Councilman Greig Smith and Dennis Zine, aka, "The Spring Street RINOS" have announced their endorsement of Chris Essel for the CD 2 City Council seat.
** Mayor Villaraigosa, Councilman Huizar and others associated with Aramark Turkey Giveaway fiasco at the Convention Center, might want to make nice to those hundreds of people who were denied their Turkeys. Chants of "WE WANT TURKEYS!!, WE WANT TURKEYS!!", mixed with images of "connected associates" of various public officials, driving off with turkeys without providing the require vouchers, is going to create a backlash.
** Speaking of turkeys, Mayor Villaraigosa and the City Council will get a financial reality check today.
The Los Angeles City Council today will get what is expected to be a sober briefing on the city's financial condition, a day after L.A.'s credit rating was downgraded. The city’s credit was downgraded by Fitch Ratings on $2.94 billion in debt, meaning that borrowing money will become more expensive for Los Angeles as it grapples with a $98-million current-year budget shortfall and faces the prospect of graver fiscal woes in the years ahead.
** This city continues to go to pot with Councilman Ed Reyes leading the way.
Dispensaries in Los Angeles could continue to accept cash for medical marijuana under a provision approved by the City Council on Tuesday, after it adopted language carefully crafted to maneuver past the city attorney's adamant position that state law bars the sale of the drug.
This from Councilman Ed "density" Reyes,
Several members harshly criticized the city attorney's office. Councilman Ed Reyes, who oversaw the effort to write an ordinance, accused the office of pressing "a political point of view that has nothing to do with objective advice."
** The LA Weekly chronicles how Los Angeles went to pot in an extensive must read by Patrick Range McDonald and Christine Pelisek, here is a passage on Eagle Rock residents interaction with their attentive councilperson.
Michael Larsen sought out Reyes, who had bottled up the regulations for years, never sending a plan to the City Council for a vote. When Larsen finally wangled a meeting with Reyes, he found himself facing a few city employees — and four marijuana activists, including Don Duncan.
“It was clearly lopsided,” Larsen says. After that, Larsen tried for three months to reach his council representative, Huizar, a former school board member who Larsen assumed would be on top of things. But Huizar — who has a personal staff of 26 people — ducked all of Larsen’s calls.
So Larsen came up with a little subterfuge of his own: He and another neighbor found out where Huizar was going to be appearing in public, and in April, “we ambushed him — at an Easter event. We walked up to him with a paper showing all the medical marijuana dispensaries in our community. We said, ‘What are you doing about it?’ He feigned shock.” More recently, Huizar’s office “asked me to please find out what is going on with them. I am happy to do it, to keep the thing moving. But it is just crazy, that it’s our responsibility to be on top of this stuff.”
Some will say that is the normal Huizar reaction to all issues.
Your thoughts and Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Labels: 2010/2011 city budget, cd2 special election runoff, GRYD, Legacy LA, mayor antonio villaraigosa, medical marijuana, tony cardenas
Posted by Red Spot in CD 14 @ 11/25/2009 09:15:00 AM
46 Comments:
Zine and Smith: Two more Horse Shoe Idiots who have no idea what is going on in CD2.
Is this where I go to throw a tantrum because Red Spot bottlecapped me?
Meh.
Ha ha idiot Phil gets bottlecapped himself!
I can't wait until Jerkorian beats E$$-hole and Phil can explain how he is the only last place finished in L.A. history who can't even pick a winner in ANOTHER campaign!
Yes, and I'd like to know HOW MANY RECALL ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA signatures he has!
He needs 240,000
He said he'd update us in October
He don't have a job
He ain't gonna find one soon
He ain't gonna win no Congress seat.
Yes, this is where you can come to cry like a cry-loser Phil.
Too bad, Phil! You do it to everyone else!
How does it feel?
And how many Recall Antonio signatures do you have?
Someone lose a pacifier?
Yeah , you did Red Spot.
Couldn't stand to not be #1, eh?
It's OK...my Craig Rubin story wasn't crucial.
the implication of that photo's use is horrible. That's a photo of Homeboy Industries, which is one of the few effective anti-gang programs in the country. And it's not run by gang members skimming money, but by an impressive Catholic priest, Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ.
Putting Fr. Boyle up as one of the idiot-mayor's "homeboys" isn't fair to Fr. Boyle. He's great company and Mayor V should consider himself lucky to have been invited for the photo.
Don't try to lump Fr. Boyle in with all the other scum in this city.
Speaking of turkeys, when is the Title Bout - Red Spot vs. Phil? My money is on Phil.
Bottle capping Jennderesselhole is a public service.
Hats off to Red Spot.
Seems like Phil can't handle being treated the way he treats others, by shutting down THEIR entries!
Do unto others Phil and that shall be done unto you.
How does it feel?
"The graduate students who wrote the report deserve an 'A' for effort, but at a time when we're working to deliver services more efficiently, creating a new government bureaucracy is driving the wrong way on a one-way street," said Matt Szabo, deputy chief of staff to Villaraigosa.
Dear god I wish Matt Szabo's last name didn't look so much like mine.
The guy couldn't be a bigger tool, could he? And he is no relation of mine, not even a distant one. Unfortunately the name and its permutations are not common. When I see his name, I jump. When I see it attached to this crap, I want to throw up. UGH.
Hey Matt: Do yourself a favor and get out before you have no soul left. Or .... is it too late already?
the mayor's office took this away from Cardenas because his committee had done nothing useful for years - his sidekick is janice Hahn remember
But the mayor's office hasn't done better that we can see. He needs to keep gang programs under his umbrella to give Jeff Carr an excuse to being his Top Deputy Mayor - the Night Lights program is the only thing Carr has to hang his shingle on. Not much depth for a job that high where the others report to him to begin with.
Cardenas may be playing Bitter Bernie here except the Mayor and Carr are no Bratton. Certainly the idiot Nooch isn't upto it, too busy helping Cooley create felons out of AEG's executives and lawyer, and anyone who sells pot even if non-profit, starting with that silly Craig Rubin - bad suits are no excuse for throwing him in jail anymore than Jan Perry's eating hamburgers under her desk is, nor speaking her mind, even if she's wrong or stupid. (Heck, if being stupid was a crime Nooch would start with incarcertaing himself and his buddies Zine and LeBonge - now, there's an appealing idea, all 3 in jail and out of sight.)
Szabo's right that creating a new dept. goes against the cost-saving step of consolidating depts., but since Carr has been promoted he can't be trusted to oversee gang programs with being biased to spin a positive outcome. If the program is to stay under the mayor's office it needs a reliable outside manager br9ught in.
The council meeting today is another one of those CYA things that they do so well. Garcetti trying to get the pubic to begin to accept the expensive solutions that they will have for us.
At the same time, they all take credit for anything they can. The Early Retirement program was oen of them, but the city's new financial chief, Santana, the CAO, went on to lay out a more objective view and added the downside that the ERIP has caused a brain drain within the City with so many experienced employees taking the early retirement.
All the CMs seem to be repeating known things and acting blame-free for all the months and years leading up to the crisis that the city "leadership" faces due to its own poor management or simply neglectful and wasteful management, often aggravated by the decisions they finally chose to make.
Greig Smith quickly jumped up to reflect on the pension situation for L.A. and extracting statements from Santana to show that comparatively, L.A. lost less that most other cities across the country. He clearly added that the City Council members are NOT responsible for decisions made on pensions.
It goes on and on today and every day, yet they continue to praise each other's leadership in this or that.
All you see in these meetings is presented there for the people to believe the CMs actually know what they are doing above the rest of us.
All today's comments just could have been made long ago, or would not have to be made if they had paid attention to warning signs and logcial behavior LONG AGO.
I continue to find it amazing and frustrating to hear the CMs and Mayor (among others) continue to spin things that are negatives so that the casual oberver thinks, "These guys are pretty smart." Far from it. And the San Antonio conference of cities included sessions to help fool us, oh, sorry, how best to use public relations.
CM Hahn came close to apologizing for not checking the impact before acting to make the parking meter steep fee hike that was begun last December, as she's now heard from more people, including merchants who say it has hurt business. Close but not quite an apology, and that's as close as any CM will come to saying they ever goofed.
It always looks like they work against us, trying to manipulate at every opportunity to exploit the public to keep "business as usual" for themselves. The recent San Antonio meeting with other cities was another exercise in sharpening their skills by trading tips with like-minded others. But I guess since it was for city "business" then it's got to be for OUR benefit, not theirs, right?
Getting more cynical with each meeting.
GREAT STUFF RED SPOT. Interesting you bring up the gang programs in the Mayor's office because of Celeste Fremon was questioning where the $24 million was going. Father Boyle and his homies got tons of money but people came to find out a lot of it was spent on $500 an hour lawyers to defend his gang banger employees. Homeboy is nothing more then a front for illegal activity and everyone knows. Then you have so called gang programs in CD14 like Youth Alive which is actually out of Oakland, CA. Then you have Alma Family Services which gets gang money that is in the COUNTY...hellooooo our tax dollars helping agencies that are double dipping. The gang programs under Antonio is corrupt. Glad finally the truth is getting out.
OK Michael,
But I am right in this argument.
Red Spot's story originally appeared BEHIND my story this morning..I know because I SAW IT!
He took so long writing it that it was time/date stamped about 7:10 AM and my Craig Rubin Story was faster to type and post and went up first and was dated about 7:40
He saw the results, didn't like them, went back and re-edited it and it moved ahead of mine.
I don't care that he did it...the story on Craig Rubin was not that important
... but you need to talk to Red Spot about his behavior. I think it's childish.
We've had this dispute once before when he bottlecapped me.
I never do it intentionally without giving the other writers a few hours of time on top.
You might want to discuss the bottlecapping issue with Joe B also...
I forgot the Village Idiot Jeff Carr made a shambles of the gang program and needed a map to find the gangs in LA. Father boyle has witnessed homicides by his homies and when subpoenaed calls the Mayor to try and get out of them. He won't testify to crimes but there he was in court trying to get Alex Sanchez the gang banger out on bail.
Bang-up job, Higby!
--Signed,
Eric Hacopian
Owner
I think I'm speaking for the vast majority who simply don't care that someone posted a story 10 minutes before someone else. It doesn't matter with television so why should it matter on this blog.
Nobody is keeping score. Nobody remembers. Most posts are forgotten two days after they are posted.
Re-name this blog "Higby's Daycare".
12:26, yes Janice Hahn "came close to apologizing" for not taking time to THINK of other consequences before replacing parking meters with those which charge upto 4X as much or $4/hour, driving customers away from mom & pop businesses while cities like Burbank have tons of free parking in big malls, and even Beverly Hills has 2 hours free at city lots. She gassed on about how L A has to be more friendly to small business, gee, what a revelation. The theatres in NoHo are just one casualty. Look at Pico Blvd. too.
WHOSE idea was that "gold in the gutters?" "I just happen to be a gay man" Bill FlipFlopEnthal - who of course takes no responsibility for not thinking, blames it on the haste of the Transportation Dept. Who HE made hurry up with changing out the meters. AFTER he jumped ship and turned AGAINST the mayor/Zev/Weiss Pico-Olympic plan largely because it would have added one hour/day no parking along Pico and Olympic, which shops claimed would hurt them. Which is worse, that or tripling and quadrupling rates all day long? But the usual loud people from CD5 went to him at a Transportation Comm. meeting and he immediately caved because he likes to be "liked." Which means avoiding decisions which might tick ANYONE off.
What about his handling of the live-in "recreational vehicles" ruining Venice and Mar Vista? They were a problem but he just chased them to another area to appease one group of angry people. After passing the buck to the Coastal Comm.
How many other cases where they can't think 2 steps ahead and then pat themselves on the back anyway.
Both Krusoe and Galaviz are long gone and have left for much greener pastures, but keep putting them in the spotlight.
Ha Ha Jennerjahn is fired!!!!
I'm confused. Antonio is backing the same candidate as the two RINOS?
How can that be? He's supposed to back the Dummy-crat, Jerkorian. I think you have it all wrong.
If not, E$$el has, what AV calls "A broad coalition."
and the anti measure B, pro Trutanich crowd is backing Essel, so how does it hurt Antonio to back Jerkorian.
I think you're all turned around.
Phil's blog is nothing but a repost of stuff he posts here or vice versa. What's he going to use now to get name recognition for his run for U. S. Senate? Will wear the Superman costume with a sign on it,
"Vote for me for Senator, Get Rid of Freedom-Hating Socialist Democrats! I'm the economic change we need!"
Wendy Greuel sent the neighborhood's best friend, field deputy Patricia Davenport, back up to work in Sunland-LvT-Shadow Hills to whip all the rebellious local loudmouths back in line for her vewy bestest friend in da whole wide world, Chris Essel.
Davenport was moved to North Hollywood a couple of years ago because she was too close to some of the locals. Now she's baaaaack! Suddenly Bart Pauls (ex-Foothill Trails NC pres) and Fritzie Bronner and Margerie Beeson (Lakeview Terrace) are gaily waving Chris Essel banners along with Shadow Hills horsie morons like Dale Gibson (current Foothill Trails NC pres).
Davenport and her brother Dale Thrush whipped those bitches into line hard behind the scenes. Promised them lord knows what. More horsies for everyone? Made 'em beg for mercy. Now they go Essel.
What do you think about them apples, Sunland-Tujunga? Joe B.? Nina Royal?
Hey, I support Essel and I am still glad for the brief respite.
How about a Thanksgiving weekend recess from CD2?
No posts, no comments, just talk about other subjects.
Then, on Monday, you can all have at one another, and on Wednesday mornig, it will all be OVER!!!
Antonio and D'Arcy both wanted Measure B. Essel is for SB1818 and developing Verdugo Hills and Universal/Victory Blvd. - hence La Bonge. But at the same time Essel is the Riordan/RINO candidate and said she supports Carmen/Cooley on their radical position that all sales or changing of money for any reason is illegal - she doesn't give a shit about any social positions, will agree with whoever backs her. Hence the Police Political League too - hoping to add someone to Zine-Smith who are bought and paid for.
(Zine-Smith probably signed on at PPL's urging because they need another one to push the majority in their favor especially as Trutanich is no use and in fact counter-productive alone. Smith and Zine don't always agree but always take the side of the PPL against the chief or mayor who wants to expand the force and put money into areas other than cop pensions. The PPL promotes events for both these two in return.)
Getting this mixed bag of supporters makes her the emtpy vessel filled up with whatever people dump into her to float her boat to victory. When so many with so many agendas for her pour $1 million bucks into her ship and wanted to pour more, and Krekorian has only a couple of the more iconoclastic councilmembers on his side, and a track record on social issues, I know where I stand.
2:03, the "anti measure B, pro-Trutanich crowd is backing Essel" is wrong if you look at Ron Kaye King of Anti-Measure B Bloggers backing Krekorian.
The Trutanich vote wasn't really for him so much as anti-B and City Hall, so Krekorian's the anti-city hall candidate. Trutanich is a sell-out, out for personal attention and glory like he was his whole career, but Shallman spun a good game. Now Shallman's dirty work is too obvious with what he's doing to Krekorian. Kaye says something about even breaking into his apt. to take secret pictures and weird stuff.
Ron also caught Essel for playing the "ethics high ground game" saying she'd require anyone who's got an Ethics violation to pay out of pocket even if the Ethics commission rules it's immaterial or not required to pay it back - then she has IBEW try to overturn the Ethics rules just for her so they can sink more than the 500 grand so far into beating Paul.
Yeay! Dumb ass dum dum Phil Jennerdoodle has been barred from posting and bottlecapping other opinions here.
That marginalizes him to the level of zuma and haikookla. So what if he can post a comment?
It's too bad that we'll never be able to watch his sinking ship of a Congressional campaign.
And one last thing:
HOW MANY "RECALL ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA" SIGNATURES DO YOU HAVE PHIL? YOU SAID YOU'D UPDATE US IN OCTOBER AND IT'S A FEW DAYS FROM DECEMBER NOW!"
No doubt that Ron Kaye, Sunland-Tujunga, SLAP and everyone else who supported Trutanich realized they were had by him. They won't let him fool them again with Essel.
So now the homeless blogger and Phil are all they have left. Sad.
Patricia Davenport sounds like a dangerous enemy of freedom.
Ding Dong, the Name Caller is No More!
Thank You Mayor Sam!
In Patricia Davenport's eyes, the City can do no wrong. Her brother in law, Dale Thrush, is not pleased that
Essel is despised in CD2.
You had to know that Jennerjahn had TOTALLY lost touch with reality here, when he actually CRITICIZED (at 12:30) Red Snit for EDITING one of the "illiterate one's" posts.
You just don't rag on RS for actually editing, once in a while. His posts are barely readable after he does fix things, can you imagine what the FIRST draft looks like?
Klingon, perhaps?
Someone notes on the previous and LAST EVER Phil thread, which I mention only because Rubin's case IS relevant to this election: Sheftel is out being treated like a prince for selling out his pot community for Essel, while Rubin got busted and his family homeless, having to sell their house to raise funds to fight Nuch, because it's payback for the homeless mutt who's gloating about Rubin's misfortune and his kids joining the ranks of homeless.
That's justice Nuch-Cooley style.
"He [Huizar] feigned shock.”
I'm shocked, SHOCKED (gasp, shudder), that someone would think it was "fake" shock.
To suggest Jose wasn't REALLY shocked at the news about the pot shops in CD14 is to also suggest he knows what's going on in his district.
When those of us who handle him want JH to know what's happening, we tell him. Period.
That always leaves the option open for "plausible shockability."
Hey Reed Spot, you must have seen that news that the Academia Semillas people have gone into the coffee biz in El Sereno.
I'm guessing they'll have the cheapest prices around, since they can't possibly want to be seen as capitalists.
Of course, after the reconquista, we'll all have to work for them on their SoCal coffee plantations, for 50 cents an hour (and all the raw beans you can chew will working), but that's reasonable, considering the history lessons they teach us.
Turnabout's fair play.
Wendy got elected because of a clever Shallman campaign portraying herself as the city hall outsider, with tv ads feigning shock at waste and abuse as though she hadn't been councilmember the whole time. And by outspending Nick 30:1, helped by his inability to speak English.
But she, Nuch and Essel have all banded together under the banner of IBEW and the same special interests, a bunch of phonies - throwing in ACORN walking for her out of Painter's Union money.
In the controller issue Chick had the high ground but not sure about Wendy after this, she and Nuch don't deserve each other - but that shouldn't mean his dept. and all the other councilmembers get off without getting audited, and not just Rocky's old books.
No Jennerjahn? But who will carry the Essel banner here? Who will throw their coat over the mud slung at her by Krekorian for the next two weeks?
I'm beginning to this this blog has partisan leanings!!!
It's a non partisan race dumb ass. Phil has bottlecapped every post put up in favor of Paul. It's about time Higby got rid of the slimeball.
3:10,
Now I know why Huizar paid $9 million for Elephant Hill.
"Semillas Coffee Plantation".
Did Red-Spot complete his grammar classes in the LAUSD?
At least Phil can "espell"
Huizar's excuse for everything wrong in his district is "I didn't know." I got his newsletter yesterday and its all about him with tons of photos. He's as bad as the Mayor. Getting heat for that dumb Gold Line that no one is riding through his area. Millions down the drain and a community torn apart by bullshit rails for no one. Huizar has allowed historic buildings to be destroyed in the district and he's allowing film crews to use an historic site the Linda Vista hospital and blow stunts ruining the exterior and says nothing. Typical lazy ass do nothing Huizar. When is someone coming out against running for CD14
In the Southeast Area why does the LA Conservation Core no longer have the GRYD contract?
And why is the Mayor and City Council with the help of Maxine Waters and his prize fighter Janice Hahn giving it to their pet Tim Watkins at WLCAC?
Wasn't he investigated by the City Atty's office a few years ago for OVERBILLING the city close to $800,000 on his Dial A Ride program?
He gets millions of dollar per year in subsidies, has gang parties at is property and tries to intimidate community members.
He as hooked up as they come.
What a joke!
Red Spot the PAINTERS UNIONS IE program has not started to walk yet phone calls only We will be walking GOTV 150 200 members no ACORN FOLK will be involved please get the facts right Robert Smith Painters DC 36
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