Shameless LeBong Press-Op Trivializes Firefighter Deaths

Anything for a press op, eh - Clowncilman?

We've all seen him on the Channel 11 News violently shoving the Mayor aside when a camera's nearby. So it's probably not news that The Autocrat of Griffith Park has a disturbing, almost visceral obsession with bright lights, paparazzi, and the primal will to rebuild Griffith Park in his own, warped image.

But this latest move by the self-proclaimed reincarnation of John Ferraro is literally one for the high school history books. According to a Rec and Parks Commission Board Report (08-272 ) for October 3 2008, LeBong finds himself obliged to install yet another commemorative plaque in Griffith Park because...

"...In October 1933, the deadliest fire in Los Angeles history struck Griffith Park.

(Yes -- this is true... and in 2006 AND 2007, LeBong held press ops installing park memorials to honor the men killed in this tragedy.)

...The community banded together to fight the fire and the blaze was under control before nightfall.

(According to published accounts, the 'community' consisted of firefighters, family members of the injured and deceased, press, park workers, and nearby residents.)

...That evening, rank and file members of the newly-formed Screen Actors Guild Board submitted their resignations in order to allow stars to take their places thus giving their union more "clout." This was a key moment in establishing the Screen Actors Guild as a powerful, unified voice for actors.

(Uh, O-K. Now...what does this have to do with Griffith Park and the 1933 fire, exactly?)

...In the years to follow, fire fighters would extinguish many more fires in Griffith Park and actors would make additional sacrifices on behalf of the Screen Actors Guild and their fellow actors.

(...whuh....?)

...In commemoration of its 75th Anniversary, the Screen Actors Guild is honored to dedicate this tree to its members - past, present and future - and in tribute to those who fight selflessly for the good of others. "

Well... Of course! That all makes perfect sense now, doesn't it? So heck, let's try to summarize. LeBong's latest descent-into-complete-insanity-just-for-a-press-op includes:

1. Trivializing the deaths of 29 CCC workers in the 1933 Griffith Park Fire by reducing the event to an excuse for a photo-op.


2. Spinning history to intertwine two entirely uncorrelated events in the minds of the public just for a photo-op.


3. Bypassing any real public, common-sense process for deciding how, why, and where plaques and monuments are placed in public green spaces and instead simply ordering Rec and Parks to do this himself, and then ordering them to say that they approved of it.

Looks like no tactic is too base, no opportunity too miniscule for this particular public servant to show us all who is really in charge of Griffith Park and the Dept. of Recreation and Parks. What a stellar example of our tax dollars hard at work; our public servants looking out for our best interests.


Given the man's level of self-indulgent propriety with respect to Griffith Park, is it any wonder that when faced with the Griffith Family's Historic Monument application, the Clowncilman is thrashing and flailing like a cockroach lit up by a spotlight?

Just In - Griffith Arsonist Apprehended

News flash -- the Griffith Park arsonist was apprehended and in custody with LAFD's arson unit at 2:30 pm today.

The person in custody is described as a "transient" on a bike and was caught by the GP Fire Task Force after setting yet another fire today in the same general area as last weekend's fire which was near Travel Town on the north side of the park.

Hopefully this isn't a copycat but the same scumbag who set the other 7-10 fires in the last six weeks.

Excellent work by the Fire Task Force, who included LAFD, Rec and Parks, and Park Rangers. (If you know other agencies involved, please post in comments.)

Questions Still Swirl Around Griffith Fire

Tomorrow is the 1-year anniversary of the devastating Griffith Park fire. One of the largest fires in the long history of a historic park is rumored to have been started by an off-duty Camp LeJeune marine who fell asleep with a cigarette in hand sometime in the early afternoon. One year on, no one has ever been charged with starting the fire, and details about this individual and why they were in the park in the first place are limited. In fact, in reviewing the fire and the resulting goings-on since that fateful afternoon, there are still a whole lot of questions that remain unanswered.

To mark the historic occasion, it probably goes without saying that the Autocrat of Griffith Park will be holding court. Tom LeBong and his ongoing obsession with the LAFD takes over the Greek Theatre parking area at 10AM Thursday so he can ask everyone on City time about the high school they attended. Various City officials will be forced to make appearances. Rec and Parks General Manager Jon Mukri is one of the lucky ones performing at the Autocrat’s bidding tomorrow instead of running his department.

Hey Jon M,

Q: While Griffith Park was under full closure post-fire, why was Sunset Stables allowed to conduct business in the park while other rental stables surrounding the park were banned?

Q: Why wasn't the investigation of such a high profile fire handled by LAFD or LAPD instead of the Office of Public Safety?


Along with LAFD Chief Barry, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be there to honor the dedicated firefighters who worked the blaze. This includes the Los Angeles City Park Rangers whose unit the Mayor already showed his appreciation for by slashing them in half with a swipe of his pen a few weeks ago.

Hey Tony,

Q: What happened to your promise of a fully staffed and equipped Park Ranger Division?

Q: Why did you make Recreation and Parks pay millions of dollars from their budget toward the cost of fire recovery when the funds should have come from the City's emergency contingency account?


Obviously missing from tomorrow's festivities will be our exalted Governator whose caring concern for the disaster graced the front pages of every fishwrap in town.

Q: Hey Arnie, what happened to that $50 million you promised Recreation and Parks? Wouldn’t this have made a huge difference in Rec and Parks' financial situation now?


And finally -

Hey Councilman LeBong,

Q: Why were you regularly leading private parties off-trail in the environmentally sensitive burn areas when the areas were closed?

Q: Why was a single exclusive group of some of your biggest financial supporters given the honor of being the first ‘community group’ to help restore Griffith Park and why was it kept secret from the public until after the fact?

Q: Why did you tell anyone who would listen that 'hydromulch doesn’t work' when six decades of good data shows otherwise?

Q: Why did you push for a curb-to-curb smoking ban in tinder-dry Los Angeles parks, then undermine the law at the 12th hour by making exceptions of golf courses and events venues like the Greek Theatre?

Q: Why are you holding ‘Park Restoration’ community group events that plant tree after tree after tree in a Chaparral - not Forest - ecosystem?

Q: Why have your groups been allowed to plant non-natives in a native ecosystem?

Q: Why are your aides telling members of the public things like ‘wild cucumber is invasive and needs to be ripped out from the burn area’? (Wild cucumber is decidedly native.)

Q: Why are you pushing for yet another non-native, manufactured artificial ‘garden’ to be named in honor of one of Los Angeles’ 20-plus “Sister Cities” to be built in the natural wilderness portion of the burn area and that will be preferentially managed by more of your big financial supporters?

So many questions, so few answers.

Deal, No Deal, or Outright $teal?

The Budget and Finance Committee's hearing on the Mayor's 2008-09 version of his rape of LA's quality of life has lifted off. As Joe M points out at Street-Hassle, department supervisors and GMs are playing 'Deal or No Deal' with Bernard P and his gaggle of geese all week long. Deal or No Deal has got to be one of the stupidest game shows ever. It takes zero skill to pick a suitcase. If there is just 1, $1 million case in the 26 you pick from, then the odds of having selected the $1 million case are 1 in 26 -- the odds on that never change no matter how many other cases remain. The audience for Deal or No Deal, much like the City Clowncil, is mainly composed of males attracted to shiny objects (and cleavage.) No harm, no fowl, I suppose.

I've recently pointed out how a major cut in Recreation and Parks could endanger millions by removing the parks' first responders to brush fires, the Park Rangers. After the Griffith Fire, LaBonge, the Mayor, and every other City official who had a forum to do so told us all that they would make sure Park Rangers were fully staffed and funded from now on. What a difference a year makes, eh? With a wave of his quill, Villaraigosa cuts more than 20 full peace officers from the City payroll. (Yes, I actually said "...cuts... peace officers...from the City payroll"). Isn't it fascinating that although Antonio treats some peace officers as sacrosanct, he doesn't mind endangering the public when those officers are not of a specific breed?

Park-going Angelenos have a great deal to lose if they don't wake up and get in the Budget game right now, not the least of which is 50% of the LA City Park Rangers. Our quality of life is being stolen out from under our very large bills. So shake a tail feather -- go downtown and speak in Public Comment. Email your City officials right away. Call LaBonge and let him know what high school you went to. As Sunland-Tujunga is proving, sometimes activism is not just a wild goose chase.

City Parks Suffer Dangerous Budget Cut

The Daily News today reported that a result of the Mayor’s all-out assault on Los Angelenos in the form of budget cuts and fee increases will result in serious losses of vital services in City parks. The paper points to two Rec and Parks losses in particular – less clean restrooms and a 50% cut in Park Rangers.

Most people jump right on the mental image of an unclean restroom, but the reality of this Citywide cut is that the far greater loss of the two is actually the Park Rangers.

Park Rangers are perhaps the most recognizable image of any parks service in the United States. However, LA City Park Rangers are far more than an icon. With the increased gang violence and general unrest throughout the City, more specialized park security is a must. L.A. City Park Rangers are fully qualified, POST-certified peace officers. Perhaps even more importantly, Park Rangers are also firefighters, search and rescue professionals, emergency management specialists, paramedics, wildlife specialists, educators, mediators, and community policing specialists. For those who are unhappy with the generous salaries some City employees pull down, Park Rangers are also underpaid relative to other City jobs requiring full peace officer standing. This, plus the fact that there are tons of open peace officer positions in this City, just about guarantees that being a Park Ranger in Los Angeles isn't just a job, but it must be a vocation.

On any given day in at least one of this City’s 400+ parks, Rangers put their unique combination of specialized skills to use on the public’s behalf. During the Griffith Park fire, every Park Ranger in the City demonstrated extreme dedication to their vocation by working more than 95 hours straight. The Rangers’ intimate knowledge of the park was absolutely vital to controlling the May 8, 2007 inferno. It isn’t discussed much in the wake of the usual, well-deserved accolades given to the LAFD, but those closest to the situation know that it was a heroic stand at Bee Rock by Park Ranger firefighters that halted the northeastward advance of that fire. Park Ranger firefighters used their intimate knowledge of the park to determine that this physical location was absolutely key to stopping the fire, and they made the stand that did it.

So here we are with a summer fire season widely predicted to be one of the worst on record nearly upon us. Cutting almost 50% of a single division that is as important to this City as the Park Rangers are not only makes no sense, but it may seriously endanger the lives of the 20 million people who visit Los Angeles parks annually.

The recent mauling of patrons by a Siberian Tiger at the San Francisco Zoo brings up another point. The Los Angeles Zoo is inside of Griffith Park, and the Zoo is far from impervious to animal escapes. The combination of emergency management and wildlife expertise that Park Rangers possess would make them invaluable if such a thing ever happened here. As an aside, it is interesting to note that current SF Zoo Director Manuel Mollinedo, under whose watch the horrific maulings occurred, was a past General Manager of Recreation and Parks in Los Angeles as well as a Director of the Los Angeles Zoo during a time that many of the exhibit enclosures were upgraded, ostensibly to code. Hmmm...


Since they have all the money and resources, I guess the Mayor is assuming the Office of Public Safety will take care of us all. But as was pointed out in an earlier article detailing the creation and performance to-date of OPS, their promise was enticing but their carry-through has been far from optimum, or even adequate for that matter. And Rec and Parks, who is legally mandated to provide security in City parks, has little to no control over OPS which is organized within an entirely different City department.

On May 1st, there will be massive immigration demonstrations in downtown Los Angeles. If they repeat what they did in 2005, 2006, and 2007, the Office of Public Safety will pull every single officer to a man from City parks, libraries, and the Zoo and deploy them all downtown. This means that on May Day, a traditional day to celebrate the coming of Spring, the only peace officers protecting the public in 400+ City parks will be Park Rangers. 50% less Park Rangers, that is, if no one challenges the Mayor’s budget.

It's ironic that also on May 1st, the City's Budget and Finance Committee will hold the hearing on the Mayor's Budget for the Department of Recreation and Parks. So y'all come on downtown May 1 -- skip work, see the protesters and OPS in action firsthand, and give the committee your input on the $cut$ to Rec and Parks while surrounded by a hundred thousand or so of your fellow Angelenos. ...Democracy in action! WooHoo!

Sunday Morning Mimosa

JM, Unceremonious, Silver Lake, 1.5.08


Joseph Mailander a guy in la • elsewhere • email

Tradition calls for taking down the Christmas tree after Epiphany, which is today for most Christians.

There's a right way and many wrong ways to lose the tree. Above is one of the wrong ways.

Your Mayor and a few other hectoring crones want you to dispose of your holiday tree properly. "Mayor (Antonio) Villaraigosa and the city are very appreciative that every year, more members of the public take responsibility to recycle their trees and take a pro-active role in making Los Angeles cleaner, greener and safer," as the Daily News quoted Commissioner Cynthia Ruiz on December 28, when the cleaner, greener, and safer photo-opping commenced.

Click the link to find your nearest tree recycling center. Ours is at the Zoo, which is handy, because the next time Griffith Park burns away, they can always just spend another $2 million to spread the "free" hydromulch right from the Park itself.

Oh, and if you use a "city-issued yard-trimming brim"--also known as a green trashcan--please cut the damn thing up first.

° ° ° ° °

Thirty days to the California primary, and...no excitement anywhere. But Hillary (smartly) wore an environmental-chic shamrock-green chemise to the Cowabunga at St. Anselm last night. It's only New Hamshire and already the candidates look burnt to a crisp with exhaustion.

The debates in New Hamshire were generally good news for Democrats, who are absorbing independents in the early stages of the race. Last night's debate was somewhat good for Edwards (who will not win any three-way, but who is now Hillary's spoiler) but not really bad for any Democrats. However, the debates were especially bad for Republicans, who are still stuck selling a war whose sell-by date has long past, who are not talking science at all, who bicker with each other over who said what about immigration, and who now are looking at three leading candidates all possessed of exceptionally high cringe quotients.

° ° ° ° °

Why didn't MayorSam alum Walter Moore list a profession, or at least an aspiration, when signing the City's Sample Ballot anti-Prop-S arguments? Why is Walter the lone anti voice? Why did Garcetti invite Silver Lake political newbie Jason Lyon to join other heavies like Riordan and Villaraigosa on the proponents' side? Mysteries to me.

Mucho mulch in Griffith Park

JM, Mulch This, 10.14.07 - click image to enlarge


Because Mother Nature can no longer be trusted in the City of Los Angeles, the City is "hydromulching" the Griffith Park fire burn area this weekend. From Los Feliz, it looks like the whole southeast Mt. Hollywood hillside is being spraypainted by helicopter.

The seasick-green mulch job will cost the City over $2 million. The purported reason for helping nature repair itself is to prevent mudslides; but longtime Griffith Park observers may also consider how the work may speed up of the implementation of Councilman LaBonge's development-friendly Master Plan for the park.

A Guy in LA

COMES NOW the first entertaining must-read on your May syllabus, the first from this time of troubles that scarcely seem to trouble the City at all. It's by one Scott Olin Schmidt, and it speaks fire and truth.

The premise. "There's a Spanish-speaking Los Angeles and an English-speaking Los Angeles and, as recent events here demonstrated, the two rarely speak to each other."

The evidence, please. Here's Scott on the May Day disturbance: "While the media went apoplectic over the attacks on members of their own, most of Los Angeles seemed to shrug and move on. The incident in MacArthur Park barely registered a blip in coffeshop or cocktail conversation on the English-speaking Westside."

Here's Scott on the Griffith Park Fire-slash-photo-op: "Bringing Bratton to the press conferences at the Griffith Park fire was a stroke of brilliant political theater on Villaraigosa's part. While most of non-Spanish speaking Los Angeles had a vague idea that he was embattled, there was no city-wide resentment towards him as there was for former police chief Darryl Gates. The Griffith Park inferno was the May Melee for Gringo L.A. impacting the livelihood of its residents who had to flee the fire, Sierra Club environmentalists, equestrians and those who can afford to live in Los Feliz."

He forgot all those key grip hikers, and he falls a little flat in imagining that Antonio would even be interested to bother "bridging the gap between these two Los Angeleses." The premise would have been better if it were divided along its true axis, not Latino/Anglo but poor/privileged. The race chasms needn't be bridged at all---that's something every Mayor since, well, Sam, knows and loves about his position of power in the City; and until the working poor are sufficiently mobilized, there's no need to toss them even the barest of political bones.

In LA, your only task as Mayor is not bridge, nor to solve, no, not even to lead; it's merely to counterbalance. That's what the obsequiously-obliging Bratton was incongruously doing at the privileged people's fire, and that's what his police force was doing, while Antonio was in Latin America, through the poor people's May Day melee that accidentally roughed up some working class media types, but has been very soon forgotten in privileged LA.

City Council flunks math again

City earmarks $50 million for needless Griffith Park replanting.

Walter's way: $50 million could put 12,500 homeless into section-8 styled housing this year, via vouchers, giving 35% of the City's homeless shelter.

My way: $50 million could buy and build 7,000 big, comfy, state-of-the-art modern yurts, giving a quarter (25%) of the City's homeless shelter. Maybe more, if families get priority.

Antonio's and Eric's and LaBonge's way: $50 million buys 800 acres of birdseed for Griffith Park to replace stuff that would grow back anyway, and that scientists are saying no to.

Antonio's and Eric's and LaBonge's way, part II: taxpayers give $50 million out of the Affordable Housing Trust so the City can build 750 affordable housing units, housing 0.8% of the City's homeless---four years from now.

First off---watch that "emergency fund" for Griffith Park. Watch for it to get deflected for a tram and a water slide...and whatever else is on the deservedly much maligned Master Plan.

Secondly: the fire was started by a homeless guy, right? Gee, taking care of the homeless problem could take care of two birds with one stone, ya think? Too bad the City values birdseed more than its poorest citizens.

Please keep an eye to Griffith Park. Help save it from Tom LaBonge and City Council.

A Guy in LA

The Times story on the "re-opening" of Griffith Park this morning didn't see fit to mention any timeline for the reopening of the Vermont entrance to Griffith Park.

Whatever's actually going on at Griffith Park, they sure don't want the public peeking in. Though Roosevelt Golf Course suffered no damage, and even though its entrance is only 200 yards from the Park's entrance, the Course remains closed to the public---through ideal golf weather.

Hiking is also mostly off limits. But the Times was there to celebrate the opening of the venues as though that were the opening of the Park itself. What a waste of an increasingly tough-to-come-by credential.

With no media interested in the real news---the fact that the Park is in fact more closed than open---bloggers have been obliged to haul out their MSU degrees to Make Stuff Up.

I see that a blogger named Greg Cohn has fallen for the satirical and bogus "friendsofsilverlake.org" site in a timid rant about the Griffith Park Fire The FOSL site purports not only to support the development of Griffith Park, but also a Silver Lake Wal-mart and a Silver Lake Indian Casino.

Friday I was driving down Avocado Street in Los Feliz (a quiet block one block south of the Boulevard) and I saw an elderly woman putting up a rather tattered Tom LaBonge sign in her front yard---this over a month after the election in which he won a stunning 85% of the vote running against absolutely nobody. The sign's gone today.

And how useful is this? Not very. The City's purported Rec and Park's website, actually a blogspot blog, hasn't been updated since February 7. Look to Rec and Park's PR point person Jane Kolb, who many remember through the years for her "following a cup of coffee around all day" for more disinformation.

The City's main site links to a PDF that simply states that "All Park hiking trails south of Zoo Dr. are closed until further notice." Very ambitious timeline, that.

Latest Fire Update: Observatory in Jeopardy

We pray that our beloved, beautiful Griffith Observatory be spared. Please send your good thoughts. The LA Fire Department is doing a FANTASTIC job! Please keep them in your thoughts too.

Portions of Los Feliz are being evacuated and the power is out.

If the community has any needs please feel free to post them here.

Screen shot from KCAL/KCBS news.

Griffith Park fire surges southeast

Balcony, binos: as of 8 PM, the fire seems to extend from about a hundred yards east of Dante's View behind the Observatory, then dips down by the bird sanctuary and all the way up the ridge opposite the Amphitheater and back down to the Vermont Canyon tennis courts, then jumps a second (or maybe third) ridge and disappears down into the Atwater side. It's hard to say whether or not homes have been threatened, but it's certainly at its lowest points on the southeast side of the hills that it's been all day, and residents of Los Feliz can easily see 50' + flames, sometimes 100', with sudden bursts of flame erupting at formerly beloved points along the Griffith Park trails.

I am staring at a broken but intermittently dense ridge of flame that looks to be way over a mile long and lapping the edges of many City Rec and Park venues. It's horrendous; I haven't seen anything like this in 15 years here. I don't understand why the local TV stations didn't start coverage when the fire started surging again an hour ago. I hope the redwood grove opposite the Greek isn't gone.

UPDATE: It's almost worthless, as far as I can tell, to watch the TV coverage. I keep going inside to check it out and they show all these telescoped shots of the fire behind the Observatory. The fire is nowhere near the Observatory---at its closest it was about 3/8 of a mile away from it. In fact, it is threatening Commonwealth Avenue, about 3/4 mile east of the Observatory.

We could hear the evacuation orders about half an hour ago. It sounded like one even came over the Greek Theater PA system, which lots of people can hear at the right time of night in the right conditions---like these.

UPDATE II: Do you think taking a bottle of Don Julio Tequila and some triple sec with limes down to evacuees at the evac center at Marshall High is a good idea or no? Nah, maybe not---but that's what I would want.

BREAKING NEWS: BRUSH FIRE IN GRIFFITH PARK AGAIN

If you hadn't notice, another fire has broken at about 1:30 PM. As of 3:20 PM the fire was moving in a north, northeast direction. Areas such as the Merry Go Round, Boy's Camp, The Wilson, Harding Golf Course, Zoo, and Autry Museum have all been evacuated.

Fire officials and our Mayor are due to give a briefing at 4:00 PM. Arson is the cause. A "BADLY BURNED" suspect is in the hospital according to KNX 1070.