Introducing the ........, "AB-109/Prop 47 Mike Feuer Crime Blotter Briefs"

In bloggin tribute to the former Assemblyman Co-author of AB-109 Prison Realignment/Non-Revocable Homeless Parolee Dumping (in Skid Row and neighborhood near you), we present the ........, "AB 109/Prop 47 Mike Feuer Crime Blotter Briefs"

The former Assemblyman, now City Attorney Mike Feuer.

Please pardon this momentary exposure of our bloggin soft side.

Its not often that we bless a new bloggin feature in honor of a upstanding member of the local Political Machine, but as neighborhoods from Sunland-Tujunga, through Skid Row, to San Pedro become "points of re-entry/dumping" for thousands of  "Low Level, Non-Revocable Parolees" (resulting in documented increases in all levels of criminal activities), the resulting impacts has motivated us to create the ..........., "AB-109/Prop 47 Mike Feuer Crime Blotter Briefs". 

The "AB-109/Prop 47 Mike Feuer Crime Blotter Briefs" will be a bloggin weekly feature that chronicles former the former Assemblyman, turned City Attorney's contribution to the current "Homeless State of Emergency" his co-authoring of legislation that made possible the dumping of "Low Level, Non-Revocable Parolees" in places such as Skid Row and elsewhere within the City of LA.

With no apologies to the "Old Gray Collectivist Hag on Spring Street (aka LA Times)", the "Downtown News of Record", was disclosing the adverse ramifications of AB-109 in a Three-Part Missive in 2011 that documented the genesis of increases in criminal activity, which has spread to other neighborhoods, city-wide. 

Now in late 2015, a "Downtown News of Record Editorial" again outlines the dual roles AB-109, the more recent Prop 47 decriminalization legislation, has had on the spiking criminal activity and concentration of Homeless (many with Mental Health issues) in Skid Row. 

We sincerely hope that City Attorney Feuer will find harden motivation in a rare momentary, bloggin moment of softness, while in the weeks ahead, our cyber audience is presented with the reality of a "Deadly Failure of Public Policy" that requires a harden resolve to rectify.

Your thoughts ..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14

Nope, Wendy, the People Are Not Impressed

These endorsements hardly speak to the public's confidence in Wendy Gruel. Especially when she is caught in some lie, exaggeration or obfuscation at any given moment.

- Campaigned out of City Hall and with City resources

- Continues to spend and re-spend an imaginary $160 million in waste, fraud and abuse even her own office says doesn't exist

- Did nothing to improve Valley Plaza in North Hollywood and sections of Foothill Blvd in Sunland that now look like slums

-Makes wide claims of credit for successes of Mayor Tom Bradley and President Bill Clinton for programs she was tangentially involved in at best

From our friends at the Downtown LA News

On the other hand, we have Eric Garcetti whose endorsements come from thousands of community leaders as well as four of Garcetti's and Greuel's former opponents in the Mayoral primary.

Wendy once worked for DreamWorks; perhaps when she loses this election she can go back to work there and create special effects for the next Spielberg blockbuster. Just make sure the accountants have tight reign, though.

Morning Briefs on the Los Angeles Political Machine for Tuesday

Mayor Sam proudly excerpts the Fifth Annual Downtown News "Happy City Hall-oween" via the Downtown News Editor and reigning "Scribe of Wit" Jon Regardie. 

Is that stare via a certain "Born to Raise Hell Homie" from City Terrace?

Its safe to say that in the middle of the final week of political campaigning, a comedic break is needed from the harsh rhetoric that has defined the 2012 Election proceedings. Thus, we bring you excerpts from the reigning Los Angeles Political Satirist (in this blogger's humble opinion), who also doubles as the Editor of the Downtown News, Jon Regardie's Fifth Edition of a "Happy City Hall-oween"! Enjoy!

On the pending invasion from the .......

Zombies From the North: You approach the building from the South Lawn. You’re amazed at the grace of the structure and think of the great leaders who have been here before, even if you suddenly can’t remember any of their names. Then, you hear a low, moaning sound. You look and see a Sacramento politician — is that Assemblyman Gil Cedillo? — zombie stumbling your way. Then another, who looks just like state Sen. Curren Price, appears, doing the same botched shuffle. “Walking Dead” style zombies who resemble assemblymen Felipe Fuentes, Mike Davis and Bob Blumenfield are there as well. “Innnnnnsiiiiide,” they rumble. “One hundredddddddd sevennnnnnnty ninnnnnnne thousand dollarrrrrrrs a yearrrrrrrrrr!” Suddenly you realize — they all want to leave Sacramento and win high-paying City Council posts, and they’ll kill to do it! You scamper inside and slam the door, not knowing how long you can keep them at bay.

...... and what political incarnation will a certain City Terrace Native assume in 2013?

You’re What?: There’s a sharp smack from a nearby room. You open the door and see a diminutive figure with the whitest teeth in the history of the world. He’s opposite a brunette TV news reader. She slaps him across the face, hard. “I’m the mayor!” he says. Is this some strange sexual thing? Before you can figure it out she slaps him again. “I’m the next governor!” Huh? She slaps him one more time. “I’m the future president!” he exclaims. She slaps him three more times, his head veering side to side, and at each sound of palm to flesh he repeats one of the lines. Smack! “I’m the mayor!” Smack! “I’m the next governor!” Smack! “I’m the future president!” Holy Chinatown, you realize, he believes everything he is saying. Smack! Smack! Smack! You want to watch but someone takes your elbow and guides you away. “Forget it,” the guiding figure says, “it’s City Hall.”

that satire must of hurt the soon to be former Mayor Antonio Villar.

** CD 5 City Councilman Paul Koretz is not masking the reality that Mayor Antonio Villar's dream of a 10,000 person police force (or in the words of Councilman Koretz, a magical illusion), may face a day of fiscal reckoning in the near future.

** City Attorney Carmen Trutanich went before the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee and rightfully stated that the proposed layoffs of fifty attorneys, would lead to adverse rulings in court against the City of Los Angeles.

.......... more updated news in the A.M.

** Eastern San Gabriel Valley Assemblyman Roger Hernandez was on the receiving end of an "emergency protective order" after an altercation between him and a "lady friend" Sunday evening. Hernandez you may remember, had these issues in Northern California.

Hernandez, a former West Covina City Councilman, was arrested by Concord police on suspicion of drunken driving just after 2 a.m. March 27.After a seven-day trial, a 12-person jury in August found Hernandez not guilty of one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence.Last month, a Contra Costa judge dismissed a second misdemeanor count of driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or higher that the jury was hung on.

Lets not forget that all the above took place while Hernandez was "entertaining" a lovely, female lobbyist in a state vehicle.

** The Old Gray Hag on Spring Street allocates a generous amount of story budget, to chronicle the democratic congressional battle between Congresswoman Laura Richardson and Congresswoman Janice Hahn. These two ladies can teach fellow Congressional colleagues Howard Berman and Brad Sherman, a thing or two about dignified campaigning.


Your thoughts ..............
Scott Johnson in CD 14

Morning Briefs on the Los Angeles Political Machine for Monday

When did $62 Million become $84 Million in proposed taxes to pay for City Councilman Jose Huizar's "Downtown Streetcar Legacy Project"?

"Whats an extra $22 Millions dollars in taxes gonna cost you in paying for my Downtown Streetcar Legacy Project"?

Since speculation is part of our bloggin format here at Mayor Sam, then maybe we should ponder whether CD 14 City Councilman Jose Huizar's recent vehicular follies, was predicated on "speeding away" from an inconvenient truth regarding his proposed tax to partially-finance the Downtown Streetcar Project. 

For the last couple of years since the return of a Downtown Streetcar was first broached, the Princeton Graduate Land-Use Attorney, has explored multiple ways of financing what has become his signature project. But as the Downtown News discloses, Councilman Huizar's proclivity for not being open and transparent, may endanger passage of his "Legacy Choo Choo".

When ballots are mailed to registered voters on Nov. 13, however, they will be asked to approve a much higher amount. In fact, $62.5 million does not appear on the ballot that must be returned to the City Clerk by Dec. 3.Instead, the ballot says area residents will be voting to tax local landowners up to $85 million. That is $22.5 million, or 36% more than what has been the focus of the campaign for the project. The higher figure is surprising some Downtown stakeholders who will be asked to pay for the streetcar.They include Greg Martin, vice president of Downtown Management, a company led by Australian businessman Joseph Hellen. “So they’re cheating again. It’s just more deception,” he said.Martin and Hellen, who have a history of tangling with Huizar, have previously criticized the project’s approval process, in which only renters or condo owners who live within approximately three blocks of the tracks will be able to vote. Property owners — including those who control large buildings — who don’t reside in the area are not allowed to vote, even though they will be responsible for paying the tax over 30 years. Martin said he wasn’t aware that the special election would call for a tax assessment of up to $85 million. Instead, he thought it was the $62.5 million that has been the focus of the campaign.“I’m actually not that surprised because I think the whole thing has been fraught with subterfuge, misleading promises, and this is par for the course,” he said.Huizar strongly rejects the notion that the campaign to woo voters has been in any way deceptive or misleading. He and other project supporters instead point out that the proposed assessments have been calculated based on assumptions of $85 million. That amount is what he says would be needed in a “worst-case scenario.” Huizar and others maintain that if less public money is needed, the assessments for Downtowners will decrease. “I don’t think it’s that big of an issue,” he said.   

Hmmmm, and not disclosing if you were at a "Happy Hour Birthday Party", is not that big of an issue when involve in an auto accident while driving a city-owned vehicle.

** Surprise, surprise, thanks to LA Times David Zahniser, we learn that the likes of CD 1 City Councilman Ed "Billboard Density" Reyes and his CD 2 colleague Councilman Paul "Digital Pandering" Krekorian, have gone the, soon to be Horseshoe colleague and current Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes route, in allowing a Clear Channel Lobbyist to write pending council legislation, to preserve hundreds of electronic billboards city-wide.

** We hope that California Governor "Moonbeam the II" took time this weekend to admonish his "Inner Bitter Jerry" for the borderline "assault and battery" on Channel 2/9 Investigated Reporter David Goldstein. This after Goldstein exposed the misuse of rented vehicle by CalTrans staff. Gov. Moonbeam II outburst is surprising considering that Mayor Antonio Villar has been confronted by Goldstein on numerous occasions and has yet exhibited his alleged "Inner Venice Room Temperament".

** You must give some credit to the government-financed consultants behind the efforts to extend the half cent sale tax for Los Angeles County transit projects, when they realize that T.V. ads featuring a certain "City Terrace Native", might not be in the best interest in garnering voter support.

** We chanced upon this accidental bit of objective journalism from the Daily News regarding Callifornia Governor Moonbeam the II's Prop 30.

This newspaper's review of state budget figures found:

The estimated $6 billion in extra revenue annually from Proposition 30 quickly would put the state on track to return to peak spending levels before the Great Recession.

The inflation-adjusted tax burden of Californians is now about the same as the average over the past two decades -- and will remain so even if Proposition 30 passes. But that tax burden is still among the highest in the nation.

 Thus a tax to sustain the free-spending ways of the big governmental beast. 

** Lastly on a lighter note, California State University Biology Professor and Whistleblower (in outing the ban of California residents from CSU graduate programs) Maria Nieto, has published a novel called "The Pig behind the Bear" which is worth a read and is garnering rave reviews.

Maria Nieto has managed to write a charming story that tackles huge cultural issues such as the assassination of Ruben Salazar. Part LA noir mystery, part family drama, part magic realism, Nieto takes us on a ride through Los Angeles touching the cultural milestones and heart of Chicano/LA history past and present.    Herbert Siguenza, founding member of Culture Clash  

For the record, Nieto is the daughter of Northeast LA Activist and retire Parole Officer Caroline Aguirre.

Your thoughts ...............
Scott Johnson in CD 14

Bloggin Happy Hour Musings on the Los Angeles Political Machine for Wednesday

Great Happy Hour Musings on the LA Political Machine for Wednesday. Join us as we tip the glass and enlighten you on these political items that may find their way into someone's decaff morning coffee in the A.M. ; ) --- Scott Johnson.

Time for another drink on Tony Villar.

LA County Assessor on Leave John Noguez in cuffs. Photo via the LA Weekly.

** As the sum sets on LA Assessor John Noguez's first night in the county lock-up, his bank will still continue to receive his automatic deposits from the county taxpayers. LA Weekly's Gene Maddaus has the documented charges and comments from the likes of LA County District Attorney Steve Cooley.

** Continuing on with tales of public corruption, the LA Times is reporting that a City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Director, has been arrested for embezzling money from programs fees at Montecito Heights Recreation Center.

** If you have not notice already what AB 109 is doing in regards to the early release of thousands of supposed non-revocable parole/non violent offenders, then take the time to read Bob Walsh's excellent dissertation on the pending crash and burn that is prison reform in California.

** So your a Green Tech investor/owner looking for manufacture space around Downtown LA ? Consider these realities via the Downtown News.

In 2010, Greneker was looking to start a new business manufacturing countertops out of recycled materials. They planned to invest about $1 million in a facility. They found candidates in empty or underused industrial buildings in Downtown, but none made financial sense, Johnson recently told 14th District City Councilman José Huizar and a room of developers.“The sheer labor and cost it would take to go ahead and repurpose those buildings, to bring them up to current codes and adaptability to the type of machinery we were looking at, didn’t make sense,” Johnson said during an afternoon meeting at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, a city-funded Arts District entity that aims to nurture fledgling companies. “I ended up doing it in Ohio.”

.... this should become a mayoral race topic on why Los Angeles is a failing city along the coast of "Greece on the Pacific".

Your thoughts ...............
Scott Johnson in CD 14

Morning Briefs on the Los Angeles Political Machine for Monday

30th Congressional District Candidate Congressman Brad Sherman's "Meltdown" inspires this Parody via Burbank/Glendale Citizen Journalist Peter Musurlian.

Wonder if the young actress can impersonate a certain "Infant Assemblyman"? 

** OTHER NEWS:

** The Downtown News Editor and "Scribe of Wit" Jon Regardie, finds one local politician who maintains a healthy level of skepticism, regarding the NFL returning to a newly-built Farmers Field in Downtown LA.

Speaking at a Downtown lunch event today hosted by the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas expressed skepticism that the league stands ready to make a deal with Anschutz Entertainment Group that would result in having pro football in L.A. for the first time since 1994.
“I don’t know that you can trust the NFL in terms of negotiating,” said Ridley-Thomas during the event at the Sheraton Hotel. “You think it’s Farmers Field, but they’re out right now negotiating, optioning the project somewhere else. That’s what they do. Why? Because they always want to stir it up. And they’ll never tell you.”

These comments may not go over well with Thomas brother and sisters union friends.

** The Downtown News also has the exclusive of the new incarnation of the former politically-connected real estate firm of Meruelo-Maddox, which is now called Evoq Properties.

After a two-year court process, Meruelo and Maddux were ousted as part of a reorganization plan that allowed an outside investment group armed with $23.6 million in private equity to take a majority share of the company. New management was implemented, with Martin Caverly, who previously ran a real estate consulting firm, taking over as CEO.

Gone are the days when you can buy some contaminated property and have LAUSD make you a big profit through Eminent Domain. 

Its CLARTS Fund Anniversary Week in CD 14

October 18 will be the second anniversary of CD 14 City Councilman's Jose Huizar's last public full disclosure on the status of the community amenities CLARTS Fund, created by former CD 14 City Councilman Nick Pacheco. Throughout this week on the blog, we will go back in time and bring you examples of past expenditures and moment of political disinformation on the status of the fund. In today's flashback, we post a video of former Councilman Pacheco briefing the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council on his expectations for the amenities fund.

Former City Councilman Nick Pacheco discussing now Councilman Huizar's "salary slush fund", to the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council. 

Will Councilman Huizar honor the October 18 Anniversary by providing up to date accounting on the CLARTS Fund expenditures? We may have a special bloggin proclamation later this week.

Your thoughts ..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14

Downtown Duel 2012: Councilwoman Jan "The Sedan" Perry vs. Councilman Jose "The Tanker" Huizar

"Downtown Duel 2012": Will "the tanker of CD 14" be able to push "the sedan of CD 9" out of Downtown?

Blogger's note: Great Saturday morning to all as the weekend gives pause to the "Downtown Duel 2012", the contest for control of Downtown LA campaign riches and permit franchises. Downtown News Editor and "Scribe of Wit" Jon Regardie and his excellent staff , provide extensive coverage of "Downtown Duel 2012" in this weekend's edition of the Downtown News. Both CD 9 City Councilwoman Jan Perry and CD 14 City Councilman Jose Huizar are given space to state their case for maintaining the status quo or unifying Downtown as part of the 2012 redistricting process respectively. In addition, prominent members of the Downtown Community, state whether they back Perry or Huizar in "Downtown Duel 2012"---Scott Johnson. ** Below excerpts from both Councilwoman Perry's and Councilman Huizar's dueling missives as printed in the Downtown News.

   CD 9 Councilwoman Jan Perry and friends.

The Ninth District is the bridge that links the communities of Downtown with southern portions of Los Angeles — an area rich with economic, cultural and racial diversity. In fact, the diversity of this district drives this part of the city forward, and it is diversity that is at risk in this redistricting. The current configuration promotes the best opportunities for growth, higher density living, and a public-transit oriented future that will improve Downtown and its adjacent communities in the southern part of the district.  

Separating the two major partners in the continued vitality of this area is wrong-headed and ill-considered. Severing Downtown from South Los Angeles will have the effect of creating the poorest council district in the city and isolating Downtown neighborhoods from their existing partnerships. A prime example is the Figueroa Corridor, which has experienced great investment due to the synergy between Downtown and South Los Angeles. We have seen the results of this partnership push investment along the corridor through the introduction of BYD, a Chinese electric car company, and a new Fiat dealership. This kind of synergy has made the Ninth District a great success story.

 CD 14 Councilman Jose Huizar and friends.

CD 9’s area of Downtown has experienced wonderful things under Jan Perry’s leadership since 2001. Downtown is a better place thanks to her service, which will end due to term limits in 2013. I commend her for her efforts.  

Similarly, in CD 14’s portion of Downtown we have brought hundreds of jobs, multiple venues and numerous services to Downtown through my Bringing Back Broadway initiative. I fought and won a battle to preserve and expand the Arts District, opened the first and only city park in Skid Row for children and have worked closely with the Fashion District on their priorities. 

I can continue to serve CD 14 for seven more years, until 2019, ensuring Downtown’s 50,000 (and counting) residents, thousands of businesses, 500,000 workers and millions of annual tourists a cohesive, progressive vision for a united Downtown that will serve our entire city for generations.

Yout thoughts ..............
Scott Johnson in CD 14

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Monday

In what could be a striking example of why what Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin is doing to corral the gross power of public employee unions is a good thing, the re-election campaign for Councilman Bernard Parks is going tougher than it should. Parks, a popular and fiscally tough Councilman who came up the ranks in the LAPD, is going up an otherwise mediocre and ethically challenged candidate in Forsceen Rowles-Hogan who is the beneficiary of significant DWP and city employee union largess.  Parks has been a voice of sanity when it comes to the DWP, protecting ratepayers as well as fighting against more than generous bankrupting type pension schemes.  Rowles-Hogan, as noted by the LA Weekly, has a city career "fraught with controversy" including being forced to resign from the DWP retirement board after she was caught soliciting funds from money managers who wished to do business with the board.

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