Saturday Morning Shorts......

"Is this what awaits Tony Villar when he returns from Iceland"

Shhhhh, don't tell any body, especially anyone from United Teachers of Los Angeles or Los Angeles Times Columnist Steve Lopez, but Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has added a new campus to his "Partnership for Los Angeles Schools".

From today's "Old Gray Hag on Spring Street" aka LA Times,

The city's mayor is quietly taking control of a newly built high school in Boyle Heights, but the teachers union may challenge that conquest, part of a growing war between Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and United Teachers Los Angeles.

The school at issue is the $106-million Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez Learning Center, which is to open this fall. Nearly all students will come from the attendance area for Roosevelt High School, which already belongs to the mayor's Partnership for Los Angeles Schools.

The transfer of the new school, Villaraigosa's 11th campus, was approved by L.A. schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, according to the mayor's team, and the office of school board President Monica Garcia, a close ally of the mayor.

The way this takeover was done, or should we say attempted ??, make you wonder if political "Black Ops" specialist Eric Hacopian was consulting on this "behind the scenes" raid on LAUSD ??

Then there are the cast of characters, School Board President Monica Garcia, her Chief of Staff Luis Sanchez (co-founder of the "connected non-profit" and Community Partners administrated "Inner City Struggles"), Education Partnership CEO Marshall Tuck and of course Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

This bunch's education reforms or lack of, have meet with derision from teachers and community members and have been scornfully penned by Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times.

And now that this latest example of "openness and transparency" in the Mayor's education reform efforts has been exposed in today's Times article, look forward to another contentious convocation on the Mayor's education plans in Boyle Heights.

Rumors were rampant that Councilman Jose Huizar had to move his "Huevos with Huizzy" get together to Salesian High School from Roosevelt High School because of the community backlash over the Mayor's lack of results at Boyle Heights largest high school.

Other News:

** Wonder how new Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustee Member and "political hot commodity" Tina Parks voted in giving outgoing Chancellor Marshall E. Drummond a $428,750+ severance package ?

** "So a Mayor Decides to Run for Governor", and it wasn't Tony Villar. Downtown News Editor and "Scribe of Wit" Jon Regardie, has the details on Frisco's Mayor Gavin Newsome's Downtown LA visit with his Latino friend and former Los Angeles City Council President Alex Padilla in tow.

** Wonder how the likes of Mayor Villaraigosa, Councilman Ed "Density for All" Reyes, Planner Mike Woo and other affordable housing advocates, really feel about Downtown Developer Geoff Palmer ?? Especially, after taking the city to court and winning a potentially, precedent ruling against the City of Los Angeles "Low Income Housing Mandates".

** Nobody on the City Council wants to be front and center on the potential "brownouts" of fire services that can go into effect on Thursday. But as the Obama Recession continues, preventing cuts in services in "all" city departments may become a forlorn hope.

** Lastly, former body builder and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who portrays "Governor Kennedy Republican" in Sacramento, wants to take on the task of defusing the "Cobalt Bomb" that is public employees pension obligations. Time to dig out those 1950's backyard bomb shelters for this brewing battle between the "Kennedy Republican" and the State Employee Unions.

Your thoughts and great weekend to all!!

A Night Against The Status Quo

Governor Schwarzenegger crashes and burns. Jack Weiss loses. An amazing night. But wait there's more.

Earlier Tuesday evening (on Twitter) I called the race in the LA Community College Seat 2 contest for Tina Park over incumbent Angela Reddock, it is now certain that Park will win, current returns with 86% of precincts reporting show Park with 54% of the vote over Reddock with 46%. Reddock had the LA Times but looks Park, who was backed by the LA Republican Party, had the voters in an unexpected win.

It had also looked like insider favorite Paul Koretz was handily defeating Neighborhood Council candidate David Vahedi but very recent returns with 82% of the precints show that Vahedi has closed the nearly 6 point gap he had all night and now the race is extremely tight, way too close to call at this point. If Koretz still wins, it won't be a strong victory if this trend holds.

Other than LA Community College Seat 6 candidate Robert Nakahiro losing to incumbent Nancy Pearlman nearly 62% to 38% it looks like overall a smashing defeat for the status quo and political insiders. That just may be the mood of the voters overall these days. Perhaps elected officials may start taking the people seriously now. Or not.