Outtakes from CD 14 Northeast Edition: "Eagle Rock Patch Interview with Councilman Huizar and fears of retaliation on York Blvd via the Boulevard Sentinel"

The Official Billboard (paid for by "Big Billboard") of "Outtakes from CD 14".

HI ARTURO!! The Official Councilman Huizar Staff "Observer" of "Outtakes from CD 14" Arturo Gonzalez. With help of LAPD, Gonzalez keeps watch on CD 14 constituents to update their "Loyalty and Influence" listing (Click on photo).  

CD 14 City Councilman Jose Huizar contemplating the answers to questions in recent video interview with Aaron Proctor and Ajay Singh of the Eagle Rock Patch.

Hola from the "cut and paste underground" of CD 14 where the act of stating the political truth is grounds for the following; removal from CD 14 email blast list, no turkeys from Huizzy for your CBO, a visit from a Building & Safety employee with cash only invoice and the dreaded down-scoring on the CD 14 Constituent Discrimination List ...... and judging from the recent "acts of objective journalism" from the Eagle Rock Patch and Boulevard Sentinel respectively, the list of retribution against those perceived to be disloyal to Councilman Huizar, is bound to grow.

First, we want to spotlight the recent Eagle Rock Patch interview of Councilman Huizar by Aaron Proctor and Ajay Singh at his City Hall office. The two part interview which we link to here (1) and here (2)  was by no means an exercise in journalistic softball and as the video shows, provided some uncomfortable moments for the Princeton Graduate (especially in explaining his attempted retaliation against Colombo's Steakhouse).

Second, Boulevard Sentinel Editor and Publisher Tom Topping does yeoman's work in getting to the root of the Second Saturday NELA Artwalk Controversy (which we posted on here previously) and the role of the CD 14 Eagle Rock Council Office. Topping gets many of the principals players in the saga to speak and the constant theme is the fear of retaliation from CD 14 as this passage illustrates.

Bike ride organizer Joseph Bray-Ali had reacted to MorYork's message by posting his disdain for CD14's actions. Soon after, he was pressured by CD14 to retract his statement about CD14 threatening to institute city fees, which the councilman's office categorically denied. He was reluctant to speak out for fear the councilman would retaliate by sending an army of inspectors to his storefront business (which everybody knows happens all the time). He did, however, confirm Mallman's perception that the gist of  CD14's communications consisted of fear mongering about "looming liability" issues for gallery night organizers and participants like the MorYork. Joseph was still upset and discouraged and said he is re-thinking the associated gallery night bike ride and may cancel it altogether for at least November.

We post Topping's article in whole after the jump.

NELAart Gallery Night in Jeopardy

Anyone who has ever happened upon NELAart Gallery Night loves it. After humble beginnings some 5 or 6 years ago, the second Saturday art night, as it is often called, gets folks off their couches and onto the streets, taking back those streets from gangs and ne'r-do-wells as only sheer numbers of pedestrians can. It has flourished and grown with only the volunteer participation of local shops, artists and art galleries, as well as the donated time and website work of NELAart Gallery Night founder and organizer Brian Mallman.

 My friend Carol and I talk every second Saturday afternoon to see if the other will be attending and where it is we will be going, as it is a little bit different every month. This month there will something cool at Future Studio (Chicken Boy!) Next month the star will be at Avenue 50 Studio. The month after, something wonderful at the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts or the MorYork Gallery (more on that in a moment). Are there any new galleries to check out this month? There almost always is. And it is usually just plain awesome. (And the best cheap date ever.)

 It got a little more exciting when Joseph Bray-Ali (flying pidgeon bicycle shop) got involved. He started organizing a bicycle ride every month to coincide with the NELAart venues. Talk about fun! I rode with them once. I met so many cool and nice and healthy-living people. People in action for their health, and the health of the environment. Interesting people. People that can converse about a whole lot more than the latest pop-culture scandal, televised trial or professional sporting event. Fun people and smart people. There's something about pedaling along in a group of 50 or so people. The camaraderie is amazing. The art galleries are sort of just a place on the map to get to in between conversations. So amazing. And so much fun.

It has grown a bit. With more participation and more word of mouth, it has started attracting art lovers from all over the city. It is the kind of night life that a middle aged person can enjoy. Sure, the bike ride brought the average age down a bit, but aside from that, the average age of a NELAart Gallery Night attendee must surely be about 50 years old. These are not party-ers. These are not rowdies. These are not trouble makers. These are mostly middle aged community members. Homeowners. Local business people. Family folk. Taxpayers. Voters. We roll out after dinner at about 7:00 p.m., and most of us are back in front of the TV for the 10 o'clock news. We saw some art. We saw some friends. We had a glass of wine and some cheese. That was the whole weekend for us. That was what we worked all month for. One night out.

    However, there is an exception. It has nothing to do with art and nothing to do with the majority of NELAart Gallery Night regulars. It does have to do with a very lively section of York Boulevard. It is lively because a few years ago, several community members (including myself) convinced CD14 Councilman Huizar that York Boulevard would thrive and prosper more if he kept the parking spaces and narrowed the street instead of leaving it a four lane road with hardly any parking. It is lively because of the York, Johnny's, and Marty's bars, as well as the two medical marijuana shops in that section of York from Avenue 50 to Avenue 51 are thriving, lively businesses that employ people and pay taxes. It is lively because CD14 Councilman Huizar brought almost $100,000 to help revitalize and improve that section of York Boulevard.

    That area is not sedate on any Saturday night. It is lively. It is very lively and has had its share of problems, mostly alcohol related. Fights. Accidents. Drunk drivers. Young folks hanging out and smoking marijuana or worse. There was even a group determined to pick a fight with a uniformed L.A.P.D. officer which ended in one man going to the hospital after getting shot in the head by an L.A.P.D. bean bag gun. Pretty lively all right. But that has nothing to do with art night.

This liveliness has been going on for awhile. Actually it has been going on for years. It has been going on so long that people believe that about anything is OK on that section of York. Bring in the food trucks. Bring in the sidewalk vendors. Hell, let's set up a live band on the sidewalk. That'll be RAD! Whoohoo!

    A gallery that just happens to be adjacent to that block is the MorYork. Clare Graham, a theme park and movie set designer among his many other talents, creates art out of recycled items and inhabits the old Safeway/ slotcar-track space on the corner of York and Avenue 50. Once a month, he has opened it up to the public for free, exhibiting his incredibly beautiful and creative works along with a rotating gallery space that features different artists every month. He makes no money on this. He does it out of a desire to share his and other's art with the community. Clare and his MorYork gallery were there before Huizar came into office. He was there before Huizar changed the parking. He was there before all the hip bars opened up there. He was there before the marijuana shops. He was there before the CD14 Councilman brought money and consultants to revitalize the area.

     However, somehow after all that Huizar has done to make York Boulevard a lively place, it's the MorYork's fault that it was too lively on October 8th. A young and relatively inexperienced Highland Park field deputy, Nate Hayward, who works for Huizar, and by all accounts that are believable cruised by on that October 8th second Saturday artnight and saw some unruly bicyclists, and a young person smoking a hand rolled cigarette and decided that it was the MorYork Gallery that was the problem. (Nate was under a gag order from CD14 and would not talk to me about it, so I can't really say what he thought- CD14 denies it was Nate that made the complaint)

Huizar's Northeast area director Zenay Loera (who I know from experience is full of baloney sometimes) told me they received a complaint (Huizar press deputy Rick Coca said they received several complaints) and that she called up NELAart organizer Brian Mallman to address it. Brian called Clare at the MorYork, who contacted CD14 about what the complaint might be about.
     The conversation between Clare and CD14 must have been a bad one, because a few days after that, this message appeared on the MorYork blog:

"October 13, 2011
MorYork Gallery 
is closing it's doors
Dear Gallery Artists,
    The NELA Second Saturday Artwalk has been in operation for about five years. We have operated as a grass roots, unfunded, volunteer organization. There is no way to monetize the event nor a way to assess the participating galleries a percentage of the looming significant costs that will be assigned by the city for services.
    With legal liability a serious issue, MorYork will close at the end of 2011. All shows scheduled in 2012 and henceforth are hereby canceled.
I am deeply sorry that our commitments cannot be fulfilled.
    All best regards, Clare"

The local blogs went nuts over this. The CD14 office went nuts as well, fielding numerous calls, and denying that Huizar was trying to kill art night, or threatening to charge gallery owners fees for city services.

    Finally, I got a hold of Brian Mallman, one of only two folks who talked to Huizar's office about the complaint(s). Brian, while continually expressing his desire for the Second Saturday event to continue, was a bit evasive about the conversation he had with Huizar's office. After much prodding, I finally got that he had been scared by the councilman's people. Not by the threat of possible fees for city services, which Huizar's office vehemently denied, but by scary suggestions of "Legal Liability" should somebody get hurt at a participating artnight venue.

    Bike ride organizer Joseph Bray-Ali had reacted to MorYork's message by posting his disdain for CD14's actions. Soon after, he was pressured by CD14 to retract his statement about CD14 threatening to institute city fees, which the councilman's office categorically denied. He was reluctant to speak out for fear the councilman would retaliate by sending an army of inspectors to his storefront business (which everybody knows happens all the time). He did, however, confirm Mallman's perception that the gist of  CD14's communications consisted of fear mongering about "looming liability" issues for gallery night organizers and participants like the MorYork. Joseph was still upset and discouraged and said he is re-thinking the associated gallery night bike ride and may cancel it altogether for at least November.

    To be fair, another art night within CD14 is the famous downtown artwalk which has grown from a night about appreciating art to one about appreciating partying. The partying down there got so heavy recently that a person pushing a baby carriage was run over, so I can't really blame Huizar for trying to prevent anything like that from happening.

    However, I don't appreciate his office alienating and scaring away three community volunteers, (which is what CD14 most surely did) who have brought so much life and enjoyment to residents of Northeast L.A., none of whom are or have ever been part of a problem on Second Saturday NELAart Gallery Night. Councilmember Huizar, if you're a leader, you're supposed to be inspiring more community volunteers, not alienating and scaring them away. And how dare you blame them for a situation that you did more to create than anyone. SHAME ON YOU!

A snippet of the current political state of affairs in CD 14.

Scott Johnson in CD 14.