Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Wednesday

No-See-Em Any More

The LA City Council has voted to end the much despised Red Light Camera program on July 31. Councilman Zine is also advising LA residents to ignore any tickets that they may receive if caught on camera blowing through an intersection between now and July 31.. Thanks, Dennis!

Uh-Oh, Empty suit in Cali! Hide your checkbooks!

Union Rescue Mission is shutting down some homeless shelters that are under contract to local and federal agencies due to non-payment or not adequate compensation for services provided. URM is claiming that they are still owed over $300,000 by FEMA for operating four winter shelters in Los Angeles.
URM has also experienced a big drop in donations while experiencing a 100% increase in need for services. Additionally, URM will be facing a $1.3 mil deficit beginning July 1st.

Joseph Mailander AKA Mulholland Terrace AKA The Stay at Home Blogger managed to step deeply into his own blogger poop twice already this week (and it's only Wednesday). His 2 reports on the efforts by the Sunland-Tujunga community to improve and bring some teeth to our Specific Plan were long on innuendo and speculation, but noticeably absent of  basic facts. Bizarrely, he calls out the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance (the group I am co-director of) for being quiet on a proposed SB1818 apartment complex: 
"The Sunland Tujunga Alliance, once groud zero of the City's anti-density advocacy, has also been unusually quiet about a pending 64-unit inclusionary zoning project on Samoa..."

 A couple of problems with Joseph Mailander's statement; 

1.The STA has never dealt with housing issues or high density in our entire existence. Our focus has always been upholding the Foothill Blvd Corridor Specific Plan, which regulates commercial properties and retail development.
2.There are currently no plans filed with the City for the Samoa Project.  It's extremely difficult for anyone to fight against a theoretical apartment building.

Joseph, next time, try to do a little research, get both sides of the story, and maybe actually attend a S-T community meeting instead of writing your story pretending that you were there.

Finally, in case you missed Red Spot's story; Mike Gatto is very, very, upset!