Los Angeles Politics HotSheet for Tuesday

Carmen's Future?

Oh, Carmen. In a Trutanichesque display of chutzpah and tuna canning bravado our City Attorney packed up a bodyguard and a $2 million check representing the County's share of a city won lawsuit and headed to the County Hall of Administration to personally deliver the check and suggest that it go to political pal, Sheriff Lee Baca, to address the high profile issue of a backlog of rape investigation kits. Trouble is, state law says the County has to spend the dough on consumer protection.  Carmen's former BFF - DA Steve Cooley - called it a cheap political ploy (as Carmen has designs on Cooley's seat) and that the backlog was resolved some time ago.  One wonders if Carmen had the check in a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist and offered the County Administrative Officer "an offer you can not refuse.
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City Budget Woes? Nah, Take a Hike!

I often wonder why of all the missives from Councilman Tom LeBong that hit my mail box, none of them ever have anything to do with city issues or even what the 4th District Councilman's policy goals are.

I get detailed reports sent out by Councilman Paul Krekorian's office on what he is doing for business in LA.  Bill Rosendahl is working on homeless issues.  Even Richard Alarcon is always trying to build something.

When it comes to LeBong howevrer, it's always pumpkin bread, parades or hikes. 

You would think the citizenry would tire of this clown act but LeBong was just comfortably re-elected to a lame duck term, greasing the skids for the next clown out of Los Feliz.  Apparently folks there love their pumpkin bread and don't really care much beyond that. Oh, my free calendar too, please, Tom?

Redistricting is coming soon.  Please, please, please move me into CD2.  Thank you.

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?

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Monday

Betty Pleasant's favorite Clowncil candidate, the ethically challenged Forsceen Hogan-Rowles, discovered that a District map might come in handy when running for office. At a recent debate between Hogan-Rowles and Bernard Parks, Betty's friend slammed the incumbent Councilman over a blighted DWP site at Crenshaw and Martin Luther King.  Parks pointed out that the intersection is actually in CD10.  Maybe Forsceen needs to borrow Gail Goldberg's GPS.  In the meantime, Parks' colleague Jan Perry calls the nearly $200K the DWP's unions have dropped on Hogan-Rowles as "a massive, ridiculous tantrum."




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BREAKING NEWS! Daily News Endorses Steven Box for CD4

In a stunning below to an incumbent Council Member the Daily News has endorsed challenger Stephen Box over long time pol Tom LaBonge.

The News says

"Though LaBonge clearly has a deep commitment and historical understanding of L.A. and CD 4, he hasn't offered any evidence during his campaign - or during his decade on the council - that he can help the city reinvent itself during this watershed moment.

By comparison, challenger Stephen Box has."

Read the rest of it here.

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Tuesday

Joe B has prodded me to do a Hotsheet even though it is Christmastime and I don't feel like it. So here I go and he probably won't like this.

If you are into things like City Design Guidelines then Ron Kaye has a nice Christmas present for you.

Used to be a big deal in the media who Mayor Parkervillar was dating. Now, they're just not into him anymore. Dennis Zine is LA's newest municipal stud.

The Sezmi $20 a month over the air "cable-like" television service is going out of business.

Even though Democrats currently control all three branches of the Federal Government somehow it's the Republicans' fault the DREAM Act didn't pass. Next up Democrats will be blaming Republicans for the demise of the dinosaurs, the Spanish Inquisition and the cancellation of the 1978 NBC television show "Supertrain."

My friend Phil Jennerjahn still thinks the SEIU wanted him as a keynote speaker for a protest outside the Parkervillar manse. Phil - two words for you - cable pundit.

I guess Tom LeBong wanted to be the center attraction and not the moon itself during a Griffith Observatory program on Monday night's rare Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse. Makes sense since Tom likes to have everything be in his shadow. I sure hope Tomas O'Grady and Stephen Box are serious. We can't afford four more years of this clown which then greases (no pun intended) the skids for Mike "The Situation" Gatto. Excellent work as always by the folks at Griffith Park Wayist.

Stuffing on the Veranda

President Obama salutes the Democratic National Committee Chairman

Posting light over the holiday but here are a few nuggets for you to chew on.

Phil Jennerjahn drops out of the race for CD 4 and predicts a Tom LeBong victory.

Before Mayor Sam came to LA there was not this level of political coverage as seen in a Weekly story on Rudy Martinez's race for CD14. We've even made Mike Trujillo famous. You're welcome.

Here are some opportunities for you to help your fellow man and make Thanksgiving a little bit nicer for those down on their luck. It's also a great opportunity to see your favorite local elected get their picture taken.

Not realizing there are hungry people in their own city or a massive AIDS scourge in Africa, time on their hands NIMBYs in Encino are lamenting the free market has transformed an ailing Barnes and Noble into a CVS Drug Store. In the future people will not read but they will need stimulants. Just watch Idiocracy.

It's not exactly the death of high culture but Disney is giving up making animated fairy tales after its latest Rapunzel based feature Tangled is released this holiday season. Again, the march to Idiocracy continues.

Mid-Day Briefs on the Los Angeles Political Scene for Thursday

"The Old Gray Hag on Spring Street"

Count me as one of the remaining few east of the Los Angeles River, who's daily ritual begins with a morning walk to the corner store to purchase my kitty box liner of choice, the ever-thinning "Old Gray Hag", errrr, Los Angeles Times.

Seeking to maintain a "journalistic balance" of old print news, counter by new media with bloggin up to date content, I scan through the vertical columns of newsprint to find the Old Gray Hag's take on Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti "flip-flop antics" yesterday at City Hall. The same waffling that Ron Kaye gave the "TSA treatment to" yesterday in feeling out the details.

Needless to say that my search ended with a middle-finger length of four paragraphs on Page AA4 of the LA Extra section. (The middle-finger is what many thousands of ex. readers have shone the Old Gray Hag in recent years, but I digress) But my ever-shortening scan through today's edition did yield a front page missive on the supposed voting exploits of the Tea Party supporters of Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol, (Does anybody remember the voting exploits of ACORN?) who made it to the finals of "Dancing with the Stars". In addition, a LA Times-USC Poll reports that new California Governor Bitter Jerry, may find Californians none too receptive in wanting to raise taxes. Thus, my morning education on current events is complete as the Johnny Cat pours over the newsprint.

Now back to the internet ...............

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Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Monday

Senator Barbara Boxer has sought to hit hard in defining a negative image for her opponent Carly Fiorina.  However those who attend her rallies and hear Fiorina speak in person find a different person than what Boxer, one who is warm and has ideas for California.  The GOP challenger will have to overcome Boxer's commercials; however I predict a stunning repudiation of Boxer buoyed by Meg Whitman's multi-million dollar ground war will lead Fiorina to a three point victory over Boxer.  So long Babs.

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Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Wednesday

Stupidvisor Mark Ridley Thomas working on his office renovation.

Getting closer to Christmas. The Clowncil is on extended recess. Next few days of Hotsheets may not be 100% political. Deal with it.

Mayor Villaraigosa appoints former Burbank City Manager and ex-CRA chief Bud Ovrom as head of the Department of Building and Safety. This is a good appointment. Perhaps with Ovrom in charge and ex-Burbank elected Paul Krekorian on the Council we can bring some of the successful methods of that City to make LA more business friendly. Sidenote: San Fernando Valley business leaders are optimistic about Krekorian's victory.

Tom LeBong joins the nanny state and wants to ban outdoor smoking patios in LA. I HATE cigarette smoke but I also believe in freedom of choice. If a restaurant allowed smoking I would not go there. But I think its up to them and the market. In any case Tom LeBong is a greater danger to his District than second hand smoke is. Just ask anyone who lives there!

Stupidvisor Mark "Curly" Ridley Thomas will hold off on his mega-dollar office renovation. The County Stupes took a vote that sends the project to an auditor for review but inside sources told KFI's Eric Leonard that Curly will now do the project ala Johnny Cash and build it "one piece at a time" under the radar after the smoke clears. Let's keep an eye on that if we can!

David Markland at LA MetBlogs catches onto something MayorSam and Griffith Park Wayist have had on their radar lately: LA's politicians have had a near obsessive relationship with The Grinch this holiday season. What's next? Green Eggs and Ham with Jan Perry?

Paul Hatfield pens a brilliant Christmas poem for Mayor V.

Forget about TV 35 and trying to save public access TV. That's so not 2010. Apple Computer is on the verge of deploying the killer app that is going to do to cable TV what blogs have done to fishwraps and add to that services like Roku, YouTube and Hulu. Anyone can be a TV producer these days.

Mulholland Terrace reports via a cached version of a story removed by a ball-less Chicago Tribune website that "Sam Zell is leaving control of Tribune Company in the hands of a former shock jock who used to reportedly roam the offices of a past employer with a rubber penis tied around his neck." Randy Michaels, who takes the CEO reins from Zell who remains Chairman, "made a name for himself back in the '70s and '80s farting on the air, cracking jokes about gays and tantalizing listeners with descriptions of 'incredibly horny, wet and ready' naked in-studio guests." And you were worried about the fishwraps!

Simon Cowell will step down from his role as the chief judge on Fox's popular "American Idol" television program. We suggest Jack Weiss be his replacement. He still needs a job so why not?

FBI files on Michael Jackson that were to be released Monday and then were delayed have finally been put on public view. However much of the information has been redacted and a lot of it is miscellaneous and sheds no light on his alleged child molestation activities nor his mysterious death. It is not certain if these files were scrubbed but what is clear is that its the files of the LA and Santa Barbara County District Attorneys that will be more revealing. No word on when or if those documents will come forward.

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.

And Now Back to our Regularly Scheduled Programming: Nahai Must Go

"I'm in the waste management business. Everybody immediately assumes you're mobbed up. It's a stereotype. And it's offensive. And you're the last person I would want to perpetuate it... There is no Mafia."
-Tony Soprano

While the Mayor Sam assorted right and left wing nuts teabag away we come to the conclusion before you can make tea, one must have water. Increasingly that's becoming harder and harder to find in Los Angeles with an epic cascade of water pipes bursting and washing away whole neighborhoods.

Yet more water main breaks Saturday this time in Hollywood and on Melrose near Fairfax High. Glenn Singley, LADWP's director of water engineering and technical services told NBC4 the breaks were "not really out of the norm." Uh, someone please fire Mr. Singley.

It's no wonder, Zuma Dogg and others warned about it, but an aging infrastructure combined with no-plan growth and massive City Hall corruption is to blame. While the unions, Clowncil and DWP chase each other's tails to grab money for this and that, excessive pay raises and running scams like Measure B, DWP crumbles. Expect more pipe breaks and more exploding transformers over the next several days and months.


The DWP is headed by H. David Nahai, the latest in a series of incompetent but politically motivated appointments to head the once great agency. Nahai simply must go. From his back room shady dealings to his personal wasting of water at home to now presiding over the implosion of the department's infrastructure Nahai has bungled, bumbled and fumbled his way to judgement day. And don't forget the waterless urinals he promoted which now many residents of Los Angeles have thanks to these pipe breaks. I predict he's gone by Friday.

Most Angelenos are more worried about teabags, birth certificates, calling people racists, calling the President a Muslim or most importantly Ellen DeGeneres coming to American Idol. Maybe now that many of them are waking up to a river of shit in their front yard (one we hear from some local residents that Tom LeBong accidentally walked through in Valley Village) they'll pay some attention to the fraud, waste and abuse at hand.

If you wish to wake up, save this city and start off by demanding that Nahai is fired please call Mayor Villaraigosa at (213) 978-0600 or find your City Council member's number by clicking here. If you live in that City Council district that doesn't have a Council Member because of someone's career opportunism or you don't know who your City Council member is, then call Tom LeBong at (213)-473-7004 because he loves the DWP and since he had to walk through sewage he might be pissed too,

Deja vu! Autry Likely to be Handed At-Will Use of Public Land for $1 per Year.

In a backroom deal by "the late great John Ferraro" in 1987, the Board of Referred Powers which is made up of LA City councilmembers, met to hand over a ten acre parcel of prime real estate in Griffith Park to Gene Autry for the sum of just $1 per year.

Tomorrow, in a backroom deal by high school football star Tom LeBong, the Board of Referred Powers meets once again to basically do the exact same thing -- allow the Autry to expand at will on public open space for the sum of ..... $1 per year.

The Autry's massive expansion plans effectively triple the size of the institution as well as allow a number of additional conditional uses (more alcohol) and sign variances to advertise their facility for some uses other than public benefit. At the 3pm meeting, the Board of Referred Powers will likely approve the Environmental Impact Report essentially as-is, with no appreciable change from the draft version of the report. Once passed, the Autry has essentially free rein to move forward exactly as planned, and the City loses most if not all of its ability to negotiate on the Autry's new land lease.

The Board of Referred Powers (Hahn -ch, Cardenas, Parks, Reyes, Rosendahl) is hearing the Autry's EIR in place of the Recreation and Parks Commission because current Commission president Barry Sanders used to be employed by Latham and Watkins who is the Autry's legal firm. A relatively recent addition to the commission, it is possible that Sanders was selected with this exact idea in mind. Although it helps to make Recreation and Parks look less the bad guy, most observers do not believe this switch ultimately affects the outcome since the entire issue is highly political and the Recreation and Parks department has no option but to hand LeBong and the Mayor exactly what they want.

The Autry stands to make a lot of money on the deal. They already have, with the Southwest Museum's collection worth hundreds of millions being given over to them in a related string of City payouts without accountability since the 1987 Ferraro double-deal. Recently, the Autry has begun renting their $1/yr property to commercial entities for events that are entirely inappropriate for public park land. One example, the "Brew-Ha-Ha" beer event ostensibly benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is returning to the Autry this Fall for a second round. The Brew-Ha-Ha has appropriately been described as 'drinking for a good cause'. The Autry has also begun renting its venue out for other more commercial private events and will likely expand this revenue-making activity once their own expansion is passed by the board.

The EIR that the Board of Referred Powers will be approving is essentially identical to the draft version that was open to public comment. No significant changes or mitigation measures were added in spite of the fact that there was ample public input, some of which was directly linked to required City code. A good example of the blatantly ignored comment can be found at the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council's web site, with two important letters (1, 2) outlining what code is being violated and as well as some of the major concerns of park stakeholders.

It's interesting to note that this important vote comes less than 24 hours before new City Attorney Carmen Trutanich takes office. Trutanich has a strong environmental background and during his campaign stated he would be a tough fighter for social and environmental justice. Handing over 10 acres of Griffith Park to an entity who doesn't even bother to pretend anymore that their mission is public-benefit driven for just $1 per year hardly seems just.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Tuesday

Tuesday the Los Angeles City Council will vote to ratify the Mayor's appointment of Cynthia Ibarra to the City's Board of Relocation Appeals.  Yet, the report to the Council indicates Ms Ibarra doesn't live in the City of Los Angeles.  How is this appointment possible?

How do Clowncil Members Herb Wesson and Tom "Lights on a Statue" LeBong want to spend nearly $5,000 of your money? By spending it to "celebrate" the 17th anniversary of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. In the meantime merchants and residents are up in arms over massive parking meter rate increases in LeBong's and Wesson's districts because the City is "broke."  When do the people wake up to this insanity?

If all our schools had the level of parent participation and activism as seen by Debbie Lopez and all the moms and dads at Beckford Elementary in the San Fernando Valley the LAUSD might be better off.  And at least the teachers and staff at Beckford get that as they recently held an event to honor their volunteers.  Now if our school board didn't have useless hacks like Tamar Galatzan and Monica Garcia we might be even better off!

Two California state legislators are continuing to push a plan that could lead to the sale of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, perhaps to USC. The idea makes sense; State Senator Jeff Denham hopes to break the grip of the "three headed monster" - the Coliseum Commission - on the facility.  And no, as a reader at CurbedLA commented, that three headed monster at the Coliseum is not The Jonas Brothers.

If the latest pablum out of the mouth of former GOP Senator Arlen Specter is any sign; he's going to fit into the current Democratic Party just fine. Following the death of conservative icon Jack Kemp, Specter said in a television interview "If we had pursued what President Nixon declared in 1970 as the war on cancer, we would have cured many strains. I think Jack Kemp would be alive today." So, according to Specter, the GOP killed Jack Kemp.

Happy Riot Day!

Time for more Special Event Fee Waivers! Tuesday's City Council will see approval for nearly $5,000 of your money for a "commemoration" of the LA Riots.

What do you do to celebrate Riot Day? Burn Korean markets? Loot electronic stores? Beat up truck drivers? Just curious.

And which Clowncil members are behind this? Are you surprised?

MOTION (WESSON - LABONGE) relative to declaring the Commemoration of the
17th Anniversary of the L.A. Riots on April 29, 2009 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $4,409).

Vote to Officially Carve Up Griffith Park for Special Interests Expected Today

Today the City Clowncil is expected to pass without discussion the historic landmark designation for Los Angeles' largest municipal park, officially carving it into the swiss-cheese chunks for special interests that clowncilmember Tom LaBonge has been trying to achieve for at least a decade.

LeBong 'negotiated' the deals in the fifteen minutes before the City Council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee moved the Griffith Park Historic Monument application forward with those last minute changes as part of the package. The duplicitous parties included the Griffith Trust, the Autry, DWP, and the Department of Recreation and Parks.

The Griffith Trust, chaired by the great-grandson of the larger-than-life historical figure, Col. Griffith Jenkins Griffith, is the organization who began the process to have the entire park designated a City of Los Angeles Cultural Historic Landmark. In an LA Weekly article about the need for the application, about Los Angeles' s most visible icon Van Griffith was quoted as saying: "It’s not a theme park. It’s not a movie studio. People don’t want to see it turned into Disneyland ..."

Yet even Griffith himself drank LeBong's koolaid, agreeing to exclude huge chunks of the park in the time prior to the City Council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee (PLUM's) January 12th vote for as yet unknown reasons. Since the changes were at the last minute, there was obviously no public comment on them and there was nothing in writing for anyone to examine, including PLUM committee members (Reyes, Weiss, Huizar) themselves.

During the entire PLUM hearing, wannabe City Attorney Jack Weiss never bothered to even sit up from his perpetual chair slump while Reyes seemed amused by public concern that the park remain whole in the application, in spite of the fact that more than 15,000 people -- 15,000 VOTERS -- signed a petition to safeguard Griffith Park. The evidence pretty much leads one to the conclusion that this so-called last minute wrangling was pre-planned, with the PLUM Committee in on the deal.

As for why Van Griffith allowed LeBong to have his way with his family's gift to the citizens of Los Angeles is anyone's guess, including Griffith's. From the LA Weekly:

The chafing question now, though, is whether the unwieldy preservation plan, jam-packed with City Hall–esque exclusions and qualifications that almost nobody can decipher, will accomplish what homeowners and activists have fought for — a Griffith Park protected forever from chains and large-scale development. Or is the door still open to traffic-generating restaurants, aerial tramways and theme hotels?

“I’m not sure myself,” says Griffith “Van” Griffith, who has spearheaded the defense of the mountainous 4,218 acres, a crown jewel among the nation’s urban parks. “It seems like a kind of gray area floating in limbo. If they wanted to put aerial trams in the zoo, I don’t know what would happen.”

What does this mean for Griffith Park?

As for the clowncilmember who admits to idolizing Walt Disney, the opportunity to formalize such zones of development opportunity in his personal back yard must be LeBong's greatest wet dream ever. So what has been magically 'excluded' without public process from the Griffith Park Historic Landmark application?


Biggest Holes Awaiting Development:

1. Griffith Park land leased to the Autry Museum for the criminal sum of $1 per year.

No matter how you slice it, the Autry Museum is simply a lessee of City park land. However, the Autry behaves as if they own this public land. The Autry's plans for '....their land', quoting Latham and Watkins' cave dweller Bill Delvac read as Disneyland meets the Wild West. Gene Autry's little monument to the fictitious history of the television cowboy is a private non-profit corporation that in 1985 was given a land lease of 10 acres of Griffith Park in a backroom deal proffered by Tom LeBong's predecessor through the Board of Referred Powers, which -- deja vu! -- may one again be raised from the dead to approve the Autry's current expansion plans. The merger agreement between the Southwest Museum Corporation and the Autry's Griffith Park museum promised that the art and rare artifacts displayed in the museum would stay in the SW's Mt. Washington location, keeping the City's oldest museum viable.

Expansion plan phase 1 and 2 nearly triples the size of the Griffith Park facility and takes physical control of the Southwest Museum's billion dollar inventory, while reducing the SW Museum to a community college classroom. A 100' tower (in violation of current zoning), garish advertising, an expanded event venue with another alcohol license, and a parking garage swallow up the remaining green space around the Autry.


2. Toyon Canyon Restoration Area.

In the 1950s, Los Angeles made the decision to shove a municipal garbage dump in the heart of the park, filling in Toyon Canyon with millions if not billions of tons of refuse.

The impact of such an action has been almost beyond mitigation. It destroyed habitat, buried a number of natural streams that provided water to the plants and animals in the area, polluted the ground water and air via the millions of truck trips to and from the facility, and created a methane-filled mountain of potential landslide that today must be carefully groomed and maintained to keep it from sliding onto a popular picnic area below. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that the Bureau of Sanitation, tasked with this maintenance, does not have the correct diameter of pipe installed to handle turbulent-flow runoff at the level needed in Southern California. If true, ignoring the huge environmental devastation this landfill brought to the local ecosystem, families with children at the Mineral Wells Picnic Area may be in physical danger on a regular basis.

Of the many possible, the one true mitigation measure promised to the citizens, both human and animal, was the restoration of the canyon -- now a mountain -- to natural habitat. The official Toyon Canyon Landfill Closure Plan calls for exactly this. Closure and restoration of a landfill to usable land takes decades. Today, partway through the official closure process, endangered bird species such as the shy meadowlark have already returned to Toyon.

In conversations between members of the press and Tom LeBong's office, regarding Toyon, representatives from CD 4 have reiterated the councilman's mounting frustration at "...letting all that land go to waste." To the controversial 2005 Melendrez draft of the Griffith Park Master Plan, LeBong has added full-sized baseball fields with lights, parking, and cable cars running from either the Zoo or the picnic area to the top. "Angel's Flight meets Dodger Stadium", if you will. Although LeBong has had to distance himself from the Melendrez draft due to major public backlash, he still chafes at all that wasted land up there.

Expect these little projects to be back on the table after today.


3. "Headworks"

Dumping things like landfills and City Clowncil-kitch seems to be the ongoing fate of Los Angeles' most iconic piece of land. When the residents of Silverlake decided they wanted to keep their reservoir above-ground where they could enjoy the view and 'passively' recreating around its perimeter, the below-ground tanks planned for Silverlake were unceremoniously dumped into Griffith Park without any public process. "Headworks", lying next to the main equestrian entrance into Griffith Park, had been slated for trails and an equestrian picnic area. The land where DWP will be burying part of Los Angeles' s water system is next to the 134 freeway and LA River and is highly polluted by MTBE. DWP authorities promise the tanks will not leak or be contaminated by the ground pollution. However, the DWP plan calls for directing part of the LA River through the property and back out into the channel.

No comment so far on just how much MTBE if any will be added to the river itself.

Griffith Historic Ap Moves Forward with Last Minute Deal-Making

The City Council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee moved the Griffith Park Historic Monument application forward with a number of last minute changes brokered by LaBonge's office, the Griffith Trust, the Autry, DWP, and the Department of Recreation and Parks.

The standing room only crowd was fairly quiet after the vote, obviously confused by the last minute legal wrangling that the PLUM committee chose to include in its recommendation to the full council. Autry lobbyist Bill Delvac described his portion of the wrangling in his public comment as both 'excluding all non-contributing element projects already in the pipeline at the time of the historic application', and as simply excluding any project related to non-contributing elements (regardless of when they are initiated) ... So which is it, Bill?

In the last allowed public comment, a lawyer for the Griffith Trust said that they had just then agreed that Toyon Canyon - where LaBonge has wanted to build ballfields and cable cars - was to be excluded from the designation as was the Autry and the DWP's pending Headworks project. (All of these are on land that is truly part of Griffith Park.) Rec and Parks maintenance employees were to be granted six months training time to understand exactly what the designation would mean to their protocols.

No public comment was heard on these changes since no language was available for anyone to look at prior to the hearing, including the PLUM committee members themselves. However, given that Jack Weiss didn't even bother to sit up from his perpetually-bored and uninterested chair slump the entire meeting, it's pretty clear this so-called last minute wrangling was pre-planned.

Next stop for this issue -- and the only time the public will be able to comment on the new exclusions -- is the full City Council on Jan 27th.

Big Week for LeBong

Two biggies this week for aging Marshall High football star Tom LeBong.

On Tuesday, PLUM takes up the issue of the Griffith Park Historical Monument. Proponents get to finally find out what cuts, slashes, and overall emasculation LeBong and his office have managed to do to the Griffith Trust's original application since the Historic Resources Commission passed its recommendation to make the entire park a historic cultural resource last October.

If PLUM (Reyes, Huizar, and Weiss) passes the proposal, file 08-3086 is set to be heard in full Council on the 27th, which, coincidentally, is the last day the council can take action on this item. Does this suggest what the Autocrat of Griffith Park's real strategy may be to kill this perceived threat?

Rumor has it that Friday the Clowncil votes yet again on the Zoo's new $42 million elephant exhibit. This time LeBong has the support of celebrity zookeeper Jack Hanna as he tries to make the case that the clowncil wasn't wrong the first two times it voted for the project. Meanwhile, we're just waiting for Guido Cardenas to resurrect his idea for the City to go into the Elephant Sanctuary business using taxpayer money and public lands. As ridiculous an idea as this is during such financially difficult times in the City, clowncilmembers simply love the sound of their own clever ideas. So we know Cardenas's brainstorm will definitely ....be baaaaaaaack.

Mother Loved Tommy Best

PBS is currently running a fascinating retrospective on the cutting edge series The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Tom and Dick Smothers were, and still are, an extremely articulate and talented pair of folksingers/comedians to which CBS innocently gave a television voice in 1967. The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour featured the duos' music, comedy sets and vignettes interspersed with other 'Sullivan'esque performers' and guest stars' appearances. The likes of Steve Martin, Glen Campbell, Mason Williams, and Rob Reiner were, in turn, writers for the show.

What's fascinating about this variety show is that Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Dennis Miller arguably owe their current livelihood to Tommy and Dick. Although their show started out as a direct descendant of Ed Sullivan, Red Skelton, and Milton Burle, the frighteningly familiar political climate at the time quickly seeped into the production. In 1967, mainstream television satire addressing current events did not exist. Tommy and Mason Williams were the driving forces that moved the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour from above-average Vaudeville homage to cutting-edge, political satire prototype. That in itself is an incredible accomplishment, but that it happened for more than one season during an era where the White House habitually had political censors on-site during production is even more astounding.

Comedian Pat Paulsen was a regular on the show. Mason Williams and Tom Smothers cleverly realized they could educate what was still a fairly innocent viewing public on the sordid details of the political process by running Paulsen for President in 1968. One gag had Dick Smothers interviewing Paulsen on the big issues of the time. Dick was off camera, and the close shot was of just Paulsen's head cut straight down the middle in vertical split-screen. Whenever Dick would ask Paulsen a question, the right half of the candidate's face answered one way, the left half in a completely different way.

The 'talking out of both sides of the mouth' piece was hilarious. Paulsen always had a utterly brilliant delivery. What smacked me upside the head while watching this was that Paulsen was somehow foreshadowing .... TOM LEBONG!

To wit, let's look at the vote earlier this week on the Cyclists Bill of Rights --

(quotes from LAStreetsblog.org)

July 2008 LeBong: "What we need to do first is get more people out of their cars and onto a bike. They need to feel confident that they are safe."

December 2008 ...However, Councilman Tom LaBonge had some changes he wanted to see. First, he found the Third Amendment which states, Cyclists have the right to the full support of educated law enforcement. While he didn't have a problem with the basic idea, he was worried that the language was inflammatory to the local police by implying that they were uneducated. LaBonge was also worried that children would get the wrong idea about cycling because the document fails to cover the responsibilities of cyclists as well as their rights.

Wow - and all that without a split-screen special effect, too! Amazing!


...Hey Tommy LeBong! Mother always loved you best!

CYCLISTS' BILL OF RIGHTS

WHEREAS, cyclists have the right to ride the streets of our communities and this right is formally articulated in the California Vehicle Code; and

WHEREAS, cyclists are considered to be the “indicator species” of a healthy community; and

WHEREAS, cyclists are both environmental and traffic congestion solutions; and
WHEREAS, cyclists are, first and foremost, people - with all of the rights and privileges that come from being members of this great society; and


NOW, THEREFORE, WE THE CYCLING COMMUNITY, do hereby claim the following rights:

1) Cyclists have the right to travel safely and free of fear.

2) Cyclists have the right to equal access to our public streets and to sufficient and significant road space.

3) Cyclists have the right to the full support of educated law enforcement.

4) Cyclists have the right to the full support of our judicial system and the right to expect that those who endanger, injure or kill cyclists be dealt with to the full extent of the law.

5) Cyclists have the right to routine accommodations in all roadway projects and improvements.

6) Cyclists have the right to urban and roadway planning, development and design that enable and support safe cycling.

7) Cyclists have the right to traffic signals, signage and maintenance standards that enable and support safe cycling.

8) Cyclists have the right to be actively engaged as a constituent group in the organization and administration of our communities.

9) Cyclists have the right to full access for themselves and their bicycles on all mass transit with no limitations.

10) Cyclists have the right to end-of-trip amenities that include safe and secure opportunities to park their bicycles.

11) Cyclists have the right to be secure in their persons and property, and be free from unreasonable search and seizure, as guaranteed by the 4th Amendment.

12) Cyclists have the right to peaceably assemble in the public space, as guaranteed by the 1st Amendment.

And further, we claim and assert these rights by taking to the streets and riding our bicycles, all in an expression of our inalienable right to ride!

Elephant-Zoo vote: It's about $$$ and stealing public land, folks.

Today the City Clowncil votes on whether they feel they can get away with stealing more public $$ and land without anyone noticing.

Under the guise of animal rights, last month Tony 'Guido' Cardenas proffered two council motions aimed at the LA Zoo, one (#08-2850) to halt construction of the Zoo's new $40 million dollar elephant exhibit and outlaw elephant-keeping completely at the Zoo, and the other (#08-2849) to create a task force to study stealing 60 acres of rare public park land in the park-poor San Fernando Valley for an elephant "sanctuary".

Guido originally voted for the new $40 mill elephant exhibit and its hard to imagine that a change of heart is the only thing driving these motions. So what's this all about, then?

In the eyes of the public, this is all about Billy --the Zoo's remaining elephant. Emotions run high with animal activists falling on both sides of the fence. Both sides have their experts lined up for a battle of 'our experts verses your experts'. Public comment will be full of emotional pleas on Billy's behalf.

The real fight, however, is what is in the eyes of the greedy Clowncilmen involved: LeBong, Guido, and the Zorro Marxist, Alar'con'. These motions are all about opportunity. LeBong's been looking for an excuse to steal more of Griffith Park land to expand the Zoo, and Guido conveniently provided the excuse. On the other side, Guido and Zorro want part of that $40 mill, most of which cannot be re-allocated to projects outside the Zoo. So why not have the City go into the Elephant Retirement Home business with the Zoo as the puppet department in charge? Odds are Guido and the Zorro Marxist both have a healthy financial stake and a campaign donor or two in mind for the project.

What is the real bottom line here?

If it's ultimately decided that Billy needs a much larger enclosure, he can be retired to an existing elephant sanctuary somewhere at minimal cost compared to the new exhibit cost. No new sanctuary is needed; no public lands need be taken; and the City does not need to spend our tax dollars on going into the Elephant Retirement Home biz.

...Hell, these clowns can't even provide fundamental services to taxpayers or balance a budget. Now they want to run a circus?

As for the partially-complete exhibit? It could be re-purposed for other animals, again at minimal expense compared to the cost of the new exhibit. In other words: NO STEALING OF PUBLIC LANDS AND MONEY NECESSARY.