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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Tuesday



"I think this is one of the best years we've had. I love my job and I have it three more years." 
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa


As we get closer to Christmas not much is going on in LA politics but here are a few assorted tidbits.

Nina Royal will be happy.  Developer Dan Palmer's Las Lomas development is officially dead.  The California Supreme Court denied the appeal of the developer in their case against the City of Los Angeles.  I doubt Palmer can take this to Clarence Thomas and the Wise Latina but he I guess he can try.

Brady Westwater reports on a business improvement district gone bad in Downtown LA.  The Toy District BID was not renewed by property owners and only has enough dough to empty trash though the end of December.  After the new year the place becomes a dump.  Westwater says however that with the demise of toy trading as the central focus of the area other growing sections of downtown will consume the geography, repurpose it and bring it under their BIDs.

Would this have happened if Measure B passed? A fund manager who received an invitation to a Manhattan meeting held by First Solar was told he was not invited upon arrival and then promptly took a cab back to his office. Andrew Kaplan - who holds a short position in the company and apparently First Solar's cause for ire - then sent First Solar the bill for the $9 cab ride.  No word if he's been reimbursed yet.

Apparently Tom LeBong is bound and determined to turn America's largest City park and Los Angeles' greatest open space into Disneyland.  The good news is that the Griffith Park Wayist blog is on the case and keeping a constant eye on LeBong.


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23 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I can only blame the MORONS who elected Tom LaBonge for the problems created by Tom LaBonge.

I voted for him for Ass Clown of the Year. What is the final vote?

December 22, 2009 3:59 AM  

Blogger Phil Jennerjahn said:

Villaraigosa is delusional!!

He only got 9%...yes 9%!!...of the registered voters to go out and vote for him for re-election.

A 500 million dollar deficit is a good year??!
Wow.

He shouldn't count his chickens.
I'm not sure he can make it three more years without being recalled. He hired the pension people who destroyed the future of Los Angeles.

I think the whole City Council needs to be recalled for putting the City nearly into bankruptcy.

December 22, 2009 7:20 AM  

Anonymous Paul Hatfield said:

Makes me feel good.

If AV thinks his year was that good, that must mean mine was stellar.

December 22, 2009 8:19 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

The ones who are celebrating the the Las Lomas court decision are the Lobbyist, Developers and Politicans who used smoke and mirrors to get loud mouth community activists to stand up against Las Lomas and totally look the other way while the 27,000 home project was being quietly moved forward in Santa Clarita. Seems activists can not chew gum and walk at the same time. All that hatered focused on the Palmer Project blinded them to the disaster that was erupting right infront of them.

Remember that as you sit in traffic on the 405, I5 and the 170 freeway from Sherman Way to Santa Clarita.

What fools...

December 22, 2009 8:56 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Phil, before you starting a movement to recall the City Council, how are things coming with the recall of the Mayor?

That's all big talk, but you need to be able to back it up or you lower yourself into the category of a nutjob gadfly.

December 22, 2009 9:05 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Pay no mind to those who sit and whine about the elected officials in LA Phil. All they do is whine as they do not have the cajones to put it on the line and take action. They are so worried about failing that they never get started. Not once have I read any post asking how they can help. They sit back and type away like little school girls and bitch. They sit on the bleachers and make fun of those on the playing field as it is so much safer to talk out of both sides of their mouth and do nothing to help make it happen. Keep up the great work and pay no mind to those sitting on the bleachers.

Sincerely,

Someone who has been on the Playing Field for years.

December 22, 2009 10:28 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

If the voting is still open, I want to cast my Ass Clown of the Year vote for Phil.

Is it possible to be stupid AND delusional at the same time? If so, he is the man!

December 22, 2009 11:04 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

LOL 404. I aqree. He would get my vote, too.

December 22, 2009 11:37 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

How can phil call anybody delusional?

He comes in dead last in the mayor's race, fails to get a single signature for the recall vote, says this makes him "semi famous" and thinks he should run for CONGRESS?????????????

Sir, I know delusional, and your name is next to it in the dictionary.

December 22, 2009 11:40 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

8:56 AM-

You couldn't be more wrong if you tried hard.

You are seriously confusing a COUNTY-APPROVED project with a project currently sits in unincorporated county that wanted to be annexed into the City of LA so they could have the water.

Those are two different groups of activists. The Newhall Land development is a totally different issue than Las Lomas.

Las Lomas is zoned for 250 units. Let Palmer build 250 units, but he ain't getting more. End of discussion.

You cannot possibly have followed this issue or you wouldn't be saying such nonsense.

Go back and look at the agendas and minutes from one little Budget and Finance meeting that Parks held in Northridge where nearly 1000 people showed up to oppose the project.

The traffic cannot be mitigated. Now maybe if Newhall Land hadn't already been approved by the County - this project wouldn't have been opposed as bad as it was.

December 22, 2009 12:04 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

If losing his City Attorney, his Solar Boondoggle, his Council candidate AND 90% of his credibility amounts to one of his best years, let's all resolve to make 2010 Mayor Villaraigosa's BEST YEAR EVER!

December 22, 2009 12:14 PM  

Anonymous not a 'we' said:

So Villaigosa thinks "... this is one of the best years we've had."

I guess it all depends in who's included in "we".

December 22, 2009 12:15 PM  

Anonymous Nina Royal said:

8:56 AM So, what have you done about it. How about you taking the lead for a change to organize a protest against that moronic project instead of just dissing those who have already sacrificed so much of their lives making a difference. How about checking with Santa Clarita and see where they stand first, since that project is in their city. If not in their city, it is county on their border. However, our SFV is in their sphere of influence so we should be able to have a voice. Get going and the rest of us activist will support you along with our neighborhood and city business, plus our personal lives.

Or, are you just being bitter because you had a vested interest in Las Lomas in some way and you lost? By the way, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

December 22, 2009 12:46 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I will vote for Phil for Ass Clown ONLY if he promises to leave this blog forever if he is the winner.

I don't think it'll sink in, but we can hope.

December 22, 2009 1:33 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

With all the crap the mayor has taken on this blog and elsewhere, he has a lot more grounds to whine and claim "libel!" than Jane Usher and Trutanich do because a blogger reprinted a comment on the LATimes.

So do any number of other officials.

But of course Trutanich and Usher would never advise the same in their case, it's just about him and silencing criticism about him.

Taking the higher ground, and with respect to the public's right to criticize their elected officials and government, the mayor, Jan Perry, Ed Reyes, Huizar and others - who are claimed to be high or gangmembers or in the pockets of the marijuana shops "for certain" and high themselves and much worse - have ignored all this stuff. If Trutanich does not think he is in a class by himself just because he's sitting on the lawyers to threaten people with, he's showing himself in a much worse light than all these people everyone skewers.

Say what you want of Matt Szabo, but when he has responded, it's been with civility and explanations, not legal threats.

December 22, 2009 1:38 PM  

Blogger Michael Higby said:

You are absolutely right.

The Mayor and his people know we are not huge fans.

That being said they have been nothing been gracious and thick-skinned in our conversations with them. In fact, in some cases they've been quite helpful.

Ditto for the Krekorian team (though yes it probably helped that we support Paul).

Same with Team Bernie Parks.

I can't say the same for the rest of them nor wannabe local pols.

I can't even say the same for some bloggers!!!

December 22, 2009 2:45 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

The reason the Mayor, Jan Berry and Ed Reyes have not objected to the comments about them is because they're all TRUE. And even they know that truth is a defense to slander.

Matt Szabo is not smart enough to get upset by criticisms about the Mayor. Remember his response to the millions of city dollars that were diverted to AEG for their production of Michael Jackson's memorial? It was to open a
Pay-Pal account and have the public pay for it through donations. Sure, why touch any of Phil Anchutz's billions?

December 22, 2009 5:36 PM  

Anonymous Gava Joe said:

I ca’nt speak to LA like you locals but from my vantage directly in the middle of this country I’m seeing the same bullshit lenience you describe.. This country runs on checks and balances though, and the weight is slowly shifting to the side with the largest voting bloc, that being the Raza vote.

Out here the urban ghettoes, Omaha,Wichita,Topeka,KC, and the outlying areas are growing and beginning to prosper and transform not from the efforts of the lazy mayate whose stagnant open-handed, “gimme-gimme”attitude created them, but from the presence of the “migre nuevo”. That being the somewhat newly arrived Chicanos and MX nationals who are there to do the work the mayates wo’nt..

The pay”checks” are being issued, and the balance is shifting. The faction with the largest earned income will prevail. There’s no credit given for handouts, and face it, the fucking handouts are slowing to a trickle because the upper-crust needs a bigger chunk of the pie..Once again like I always say, this country runs on checks, balances, and special interest greed. Always has..

To all you hardcore gangster types: sorry for the economics lecture, or NOT!!

December 22, 2009 6:17 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Mayor V said: "I think this is one of the best years we've had. I love my job and I have it three more years."


Who foots his Getty House DWP bill and property tax?

December 22, 2009 7:40 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Jennerjahn has revealed himself as a racist!

http://www.facebook.com/philjennerjahn?ref=nf#/photo.php?pid=30627534&id=1181256028&subject=126886655588&ref=mf

December 22, 2009 8:02 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Phil is a disgusting racist! I hate Obama but I do not approve of this garbage.

December 22, 2009 8:41 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Jennerjahn the Racist! Now we know!

December 22, 2009 11:34 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

December 22, 2009 8:02 PM-I went to the facebook link and didn't see any reference to Phil. Would you please direct me something that shows Phil created that photo or likes it?

Good comment Higby.

December 23, 2009 4:48 AM  

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