Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Tuesday

Former world champion Muay Thai boxer Nokweed Lookpranboon might have been a bit surprised last week when Councilmember Tom LaBonge showed up to the second anniversary of Lookpranboon's NoHo gym, At One Fitness. Lookpranboon, a Thai national, who, according to a few folks at the event, was allegedly feted by LaBonge with numerous sayings in Korean. Better luck next time!

Governor Jerry Brown wants to shut down the Community Redevelopment Agency. CRA officials and developers aren't so happy about this. The Governor made his pitch to a meeting of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Though why Brown thinks the leaders of the Chamber are Republicans. Some are in the GOP fold but most, similar to politicians such as Mike Gatto and Lloyd Levine, made the business decision to be Democrats some time ago.

Not sure what PETA would think of this but the City of Los Angeles is looking to hire a few good beaver trappers. No, not in Los Feliz or Woodland Hills, but at DWP facilities in the Owens Valley. I thought the City already had a beaver trapper?

RED SPOT INSTITUTE SPECIAL REPORT, "DWP, This is your light....and power"

If one has some spare time and is up for a drive. Take a day and head up to the Owens Valley. As you proceed pass the "Fresh Jerky Stand" near Olancha, one gets a stark reminder of the cost incurred in the quest to build a "City of Angels".

Dust devils prance across what was the gem of the Owens Valley. In the wind, one may be able to hear the ghost horn of the "Bessie Brady" as its pulls up to the dock on the Cartago side of Owens Lake with another cargo of silver from the Cerro Gordo mines. Silver that Teamsters hauled to Los Angeles to help financed the growth of the city in the late 1880's. A lake that is no more.

Grow, Los Angeles did, and some years later, William Mulholland came to the valley as a young utility engineer, to alter the landscape forever. Thus, forever linking the DWP's legacy and Los Angeles at that, to the folklore and hearts of its people. Hearts for many, that still hold hurt and anger for generations of local families, forever effected by the actions of a young DWP.

Years later, the legacy of the nation's largest utility, was front and center yesterday as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa named attorney and former DWP Commission President, H. David Nahai as the General Manager, pending City Council approval.

Nahai will take the reins of a bloated, inefficient, and wasteful example of government, sinking fast. First on Nahai's list of tasks, is selling a "Snake Oil" of a proposal to raise water and electric rates. This, as the Mayor and Nahai will want you believe, is to help the utility upgrade its aging infrastructure. Further, your increased rates would provide the "investment base" to pay for a "Greener and Kinder DWP". Yet, cynics will opine on who will benefit from these investments.

On the theme of cynics, especially "Valley Cynics", Los Angeles Times Davis Zahniser has a story on a DWP proposal to restructure rates based upon geographical location. This will surely spark dialog. Especially when people find that the valley will get a cut in their bills. Could this be a "Kilowatt of a Carrot" to help sell the rate hikes ?

Whatever way the DWP "glows and flows" so does the direction of the city. Yet hours to the north, winds spread the toxic dust of past deeds that still await their "day of reckoning".