Friday Free for All

More after the jump...

Read more »

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Wednesday

A school in Compton is the first to announce it's being taken over by parents as a result of the new Parent Trigger Law that was made possible by education activists such as MayorSam friend Lydia Grant.  McKinley Elementary, a horrible school noted for mega-poor results, saw 61% of parents agree to sign a petition to boot existing management.  Of course, reprobate school board members and culpable teachers' union leaders are crying in their beer and crying foul.  But the only thing that is foul is how they ran the school. Kudos to the parents!


Read more »

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Tuesday

Well, well, well.  Guess who spent $50 million to save $13 million? Nope not the DWP.  Nope, not Tom LaBonge. You're incorrect if you said Kim Kardashian. Give up? Your Los Angeles MTA spent that amount to install turnstiles at it's subway and light rail stations - except it currently can not issue the fare media the gates require and can not be locked.




Read more »

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Thursday

The political science professor who is considered the "father" of Los Angeles' current City Charter, Raphael J. Sonenshein, pens an LA Times op-ed piece slamming City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, calling Nuch a "bully."  Sonenshein opines that Carmen doesn't understand his duties and is overstepping his bounds in many ways.  The professor tha "the most worrisome element of Trutanich's overreach is its chilling effect on political speech at City Hall."  This follows another op-ed, in the Daily News by Doug McIntyre praising Nuch as a hero who plays by "San Pedro" rules.

Yet another endorsement for CD2 candidate Paul Krekorian and its a biggie. The President of the powerful Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association - Richard Close - joins a long list of San Fernando Valley community leaders who back Krekorian's bid to replace Wendy Greuel. Close said in announcing his support that Krekorian is "our best hope to fight overdevelopment and to fight for the interests of Valley residents. Paul has a proven record of effective service to his constituents in the state legislature, and I know he will do the same for us as a member of the City Council."

An Orange County blog is all juiced up (like the stupid pun?) that Mayor Villaraigosa will be making his choice for LAPD Chief from a pool of three old white guys, even if it's a post-racial world.  In the meantime Ron Kaye is teed off that one of the candidates - current LAPD Chief of Detectives Charlie Beck - is behind LAPD's purchase of Australian made police vehicles to patrol the City streets.  Hey I don't care if Beck bought kangaroos for officers to hop around on if he is as qualified as most folks seem to think.

Wind gusts in Los Angeles, some up to 80 mph, caused much havoc across the City Tuesday.  Many communities, already hampered by DWP infrastructure issues, were without power for several hours.  In the NoHo Arts District, an apartment complex resident was stuck in an elevator and had to be rescued by firefighters when the power went out.  Nearby, a local Jack-in-the-Box restaurant on Sherman Way saw the high winds knock its sign down.

Here's something Hamburger Jan Perry - possibly soon to be jailed by Nuch - probably didn't think of when she banned fast food restaurants: the void could be filled by the City's ever growing fleet of mobile food vendors offering everything from carne asada to kogi tacos to grilled cheese sandwiches. The free market at work responding to consumer demand. KCET (via Franklin Avenue) takes a look at both the impact of the ban and the growing phenomenom of the food trucks.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Sunday

Some LA Times endorsments for March 3rd primary candidates coming through.  In a stunning blow to Jack Weiss the Times has endorsed prosecutor Carmen Trutanich for City Attorney saying that he has "a strong vision for the office, with tough prosecution of violence tempered by a real-world recognition that gang crime must be answered with alternatives for youth." Holding their nose the Times endorsed Wendy Greuel for Controller over Nick Patsaouras saying that :Patsaouras has been instrumental in moving the region's transportation plans forward," but Greuel is more inclined to twist arms in City Hall, a trait they view as important for a Controller.

LA Weekly's Daniel Heimpel has read the fine print of Measure B and finds some similarities to past shady LA boondoggles, despite the promises from B's proponents that this time is "different."  Heimpel retells the story of a DWP plan to invest $2 million in an electric scooter company that flopped as well as a department plan to generate wind power that wound up costing three times as much and hasn't produced a single megawatt. 

The LAUSD is moving ahead to build a new school in Echo Park but can't move forward until they get an approval from Councilman Eric Garcetti. Garcetti is upset about aspects of the design of the school and won't sign off until LAUSD makes the changes he wants. Speaking through a spokeshole Garcetti said he "has requested that the district review its plans for the school and see if it can be made more appropriate in size, scale, and design for the neighborhood."

Looks like Jan Perry's goofy fast food ban isn't working.  Consumers in South Central are eating at places such as McDonalds as opposed to Subway because they can get more food for their money. Speaking to a USC blog, Marlon Grissom a resident of Watts who supports the ban still thinks it won't change his neighbor's food choices,  "They wouldn't go to the healthy places. They'd still go to KFC."

I know this is old news but I didn't know it.  I had always heard that there was a rumor that entertainer Carol Channing was really a man.  Well that's not probably true but for decades Channing hid the fact that she is African-American.  Who knew?

Breakfast With Jan Perry

City Councilwoman Jan Perry is part of the nanny state that thinks - among other things - inner city dwellers are too stupid to make intelligent food choices so she has to do their thinking for them and ban fast food in low income sections of the city.

Yet that doesn't stop Perry from serving up a breakfast of sausage, bacon, home fries, eggs, French toast and more in City Hall Monday morning to anyone who happened by, including Zuma Dogg.  Do we really care what Perry eats for breakfast? No, not really.  It's just the hubris and hypocricy of these people that gets really old. (And yes I can only guess what some of you dum dums will comment on this post - perhaps you'll surprise us with new material.)

One Jumbo Jack for Jan Perry Please!

Goofy City Council Member Jan Perry became nationally known for her leftist efforts to ban fast food in South Central.

Yet when it comes to shaking down a major fast food restaurant chain to support an event guaranteed to provide Hamburger Jan and 11% Tony with plenty of photo opps, deep fry vats were once again her friend.

Thanks to our reader Heather for providing the following details:

Newton Area Christmas Peace March

What:
The LAPD and Community Members come together for a Holiday Peace March

When:
Thursday, December 18, 2008
3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Where:
The march will begin at the S/W/C of 41st and Compton Ave across the street from Ross Snyder Park
1501 East 41st Street
Los Angeles 90011

…and will end at Newton Station
N/E/C of 35th Street and South Central Avenue
3400 South Central Avenue
Los Angeles 90011

Who:
Honorable Mayor of the City of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaragoisa
Councilmember Jan Perry
Los Angeles Police Department Newton Division Officers
Community Members
Representatives from the following sponsors:

* Jack in the Box
* Ralph's Market
* K-Mart
* Home Depot

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Friday

The most noteworthy event of his career for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is that he's going to be immortalized in wax by the legendary Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.  Other than that, an LA Weekly piece by Patrick Range McDonald paints a dim picture of the Mayoralty under Villaraigosa, that of a Mayor consumed by photo ops, press events and ego stroking, without a single accomplishment (including that the one achievement the Mayor does tout may have been fudged) under his belt.  Other than the grass roots candidacy of Walter Moore, no one has yet sought to challenge the Mayor, who has perhaps left the City so broken no one wants it.

Though the majority of Republicans appear to support the effort to deny rights to same-sex couples, Proposition 8, there is a growing GOP effort to oppose the measure.  At the same time local Republicans are criticizing the leadership of the County GOP organization for sponsoring an event against marriage choice at a time when the party's focus should be on electing Republicans to local office.  We've said it before, but booting County Party Chair Linda Boyd is long overdue. 

Evidently we've put an end to crime in Los Angeles, we've filled all the potholes, we've brought lots and lots of high paying jobs to the city and we've balanced the budget.  Because besides banning plastic bags and fast food in Los Angeles, the City Council took to that veritable scourge of society, banning smoking at outdoor farmers markets.

If you live in one of  LA's tony hillside or canyon areas, you better not be voting for John McCain or more importantly, don't put up a sign supporting the Republican Presidential candidate.  Not only will local liberals deface your sign, the City will tell you to take it down - despite Supreme Court rulings that say a City cannot prohibit political speech on private property.

I didn't catch this earlier, but when John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his pick for his running mate, his daughter, blogger Meghan McCain blogged the event with lots of behind the scenes photos of the announcement event.

Priorities Redux

I guess we have to ask again.  What are the priorities of the Council and the Mayor? Banning plastic bags? Paternalistic protection of poor people who Jan Perry feels are too stupid to cut down their consumption of Big Macs without government intervention? Gladhanding for Barack Obama? Keeping hosebag Britney Spears safe from paparazzi?



In the meantime the real problems continue and yet another child is murdered as a result of gang violence.  Crime and violence is getting worse in this city and it's time to do something about it.  Without a safe city, no other issues can be succesfully addressed.



Ron Kaye, stop fighting duplexes and take a look how violence is ruining this city especially in places far from your disturbed suburban bliss.  It's time to pass Jamiel's Law (as a start) and it's time for the leadership in this city to stop burying their head in the sand and get serious and honest about crime.

Priorities

96% of murder warrants are for criminal aliens in the country illlegaly as is 78% of LA's most wanted list.  A 16 year old was killed during a planned gang fight near Los Angeles High School last week.  Two suspects are accused of trying to kill an off-duty police officer in San Pedro last Friday night.  The Bank of America in Van Nuys was robbed again Tuesday.



Despite that, our City leaders in LA have priorities.  They're banning fast food in South LA.  The police are arresting photographers near Britney Spears' home.  The City Council voted to ban plastic bags Tuesday. 



Yet the politicians on our Clowncil save for one won't touch Jamiel's Law and won't even admit to the crime problems we have. 



It's all about priorities.  So if you're a photographer and see Britney carring a Big Mac in a plastic bag, be sure not to take her photo.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Tuesday

Department of Water and Power General Manager H. David Nahai was booed and heckled at a recent community meeting.  No, this wasn't in Koreatown where the lights went out this weekend but in a Riverside County community where the DWP wants to build power plants near the Salton Sea. The Riverside Press Enterprise said E. Wastewater Pluribus was at the mercy of a "boisterous and sometimes angry crowd." 





Goofy Council Member Jan Perry's fast food ban made the pages of the Wall Street Journal.  Perry who believes that low-income Blacks and Hispanics in her District are incapable of making healthy food choices and therefore wants the City to make those choices for them.  As political consultant Alan Hoffenblum told the Journal, "It's very much the example of a nanny state."



Zuma Dogg runs a long screed provided him that accuses City Council Member and City Attorney hopeful Jack Weiss of everything from kidnapping the Lindbergh baby to being the third shot on the grassy knoll.  Most likely the odd piece which also calls on Zuma to appear before the City Council claiming to be the grandson of Jake Gittes, Jack Nicholson's character from the film Chinatown was composed by supporters of Weiss opponent Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich.  I haven't decided whom I'm supporting for this post but do we want someone named Nuch as City Attorney?  Bob Hertzberg you going to run?





The fantasy that the LA River is a waterway like the Danube, Mississippi or even Cosumnes continues.  River activists think that by paddling canoes down the storm drain they can convince the Federal Government the LA is a real river.  This is a combination of idealist hogwash and developer greed - if taxpayers can pay to clean and green the "river" it opens up the land surrounding it to development, much of which with government subsidy.  I'm all for cleaning up the storm drains and where appropriate building public parks or other open space around them but lets stop kidding ourselves.  We aren't going to see steamboats paddling along Riverside Drive anytime soon.





 Los Angeles Fifth District Council Candidate Robin Ritter Simon has set up a Facebook page for her campaign.  According to the candidate her 17 year old son encouraged Ritter Simon to do so and created the page for her.



Big doins in the sleepy little town of San Fernando.  The postage stamp sized municipality completely surrounded by the City of Los Angeles - one whose largest employer is the LAUSD - is the scene of a political brawl to end all brawls.  A group of residents are seeking to recall Councilmembers Jose Hernandez and Julie Ruelas for among other reasons because they voted to approve a controversial development headed by a developer who allegedly bounced a $50,000 check to the city.



Rising gas prices and other factors are driving an increase in bicycling across the city.  Most drivers don't know how or refuse to share the road with cyclists and the problems are piling up.  Here's an interesting look at the situation and what the City is doing about the bike issue.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Friday

Another blogger comes to the realiziation about how LA works. While illegal alien gang violence is destroying the City goofy Jan Perry wants to ban fast food.  It's an old story but it's still sadly true.



If you want to hear Warren Olney getting a TKO on Mayor Villaraigosa, you can listen to the KCRW podcast here.  Warren Olney - who can't be demonized as a right wing hate monger like you folks do to Doug McIntryre - called the Mayor on the carpet for being frequently out of town (15 days out of 30) and lack of progress during his term.



The Hollywood Walk of Fame is being rapidly damaged and creating safety issues.  The MTA claims it's because of the sun but the sun beat for 40 years on those tiles prior to the construction of the Metro Red Line.  Due to shoddy construction repair work has continually had to done on the sidewalk and other areas along the subway in Hollywood.  And you people want to give this incompetent agency MORE of your money?



Speaking of the Red Line I can tell you that at least of our local elected officials takes public transit and does it without cameras, reporters, aids and sycophants in tow (unlike someone else we know). Thursday evening I was on my way back from Hollywood and Highland and ran into Los Angeles City Council Member Wendy Greuel (the chairperson of the Transportaton Commitee too) and her son and husband, coming home from the Hollywood Bowl.  The Council Member - who recognized me in the station - and I had a nice talk about her transit habits, how her staff addresses Neighborhood Councils and her son's Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtle action figures.  The Council Member tries to take transit as often as possible, at least one to two times a week.  Kudos to her!



I'll be appearing on John Phillips' Saturday evening radio show on KABC Radio.  John airs every Saturday night from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.; if you haven't heard him yet definitely tune him in.  Depending on what time the Dodgers game ends, I'll be either on the internet only or radio and internet.  Click here to listen.  Later in the evening Phillips will have a tribute to legendary LA Lakers play by play man, Chick Hearn featuring luminaries from both the sports and broadcasting world.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Monday

Rick Orlov has a piece on the Mayor's challenge to convince voters he deserves another term.  Though Antonio Villaraigosa is working hard to build momentum for next year's election battle, the shine is off the penny following the Mayor's previous mis-steps and lack of results.  Most notable about the Orlov piece is his using our "Summer of Love" catch phrase given to the Mayor's affair with Mirthala .



City Councilman Dennis Zine was supposed to be there but did a no-show; however at least a few hundred voters showed up to mayoral candidate Walter Moore's "Rally in the Valley" at Cal State Northridge Saturday.  Valley Doll provided on the scene reporting and said there was huge interest in the effort to get Jamiel's Law on the ballot.  Following up to inquiries from the Sister City, the Moore campaign reported raising nearly $5000 in small contributions at the event and is now close to having raised $110,000 as part of it's grass roots effort to unseat Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.



Rich Alossi of Curbed LA has an LA Times op-ed piece about the big boondoggle know as the Grand Avenue project.  With delays and missteps driving schedule creep on the project further and further, Alossi has a remarkable idea: let the free market handle the project.  Alossi says the yet to built and way portions of the project should be turned over to other developers as opposed to putting all the eggs in the basket of one city sanctioned and funded developer.



Activists in South LA are planning to oppose a ballot measure that would significantly increase sales taxes in the name of public transportation.  The activists say they're tired of funding projects on the Westside and in the Valley and not having input into the planning of transit lines that pass through their communities.



Reverend Lewis Logan is the President of the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners, the City panel that oversees the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment and the City's system of Neighborhood Councils.  Turns out Logan moved into a new home without realizing it's outside the City of Los Angeles boundaries, hence making him ineligible to serve on the panel.  No problem though, all Logan has to do is say he shops in the City, thus affirming his factual basis for being a stakeholder right?



Goofy Jan Perry is about to go postal on fast food joints in the hood.  Apparently she thinks Black and Hispanic people are too stupid to make appropriate food choices, ergot she will make them for them.  Goofy Jan plans to attempt a permanent ban on fast food joints across a wide swath of South LA.





Metropolitan Transportation Authority buses are often not on time to their scheduled destination  - as much as 63% off schedule - especially in heavy transit dependent coordinators.  Studies show that MTA supervisors oversee far more buses than their counterparts in other cities.  In an attempt to address the problem the MTA Board of Directors have voted to add ten more supervisors to the lines with the worst schedule problems.





Arizona Daily Star reporter George Sanchez will be the new reporter on the beat at the LAUSD for the Daily News starting next week.  Sanchez has covered schools in Tuscon and reports that this final piece for the Star will be a personal recount of his experience with testicular cancer.



As rising gas prices send more and more commuters from their cars to public transit, many are frustrated that the MTA does not allow transit users to bring bicycles on board during rush hour.  Using a bicycle to get from home to the station and from the station to work makes public transit work for many attempting to take advantage of LA's patchwork system.  Therefore Council President Eric Garcetti has called upon the transit agency to find a solution to allow bikes during rush hour.



South LA wants a Trader Joe's store in their area.  Councilman Bernard Parks has been working on it for some time.  According to Bitter Bernie, Trader Joe's won't put a store in South LA because everyone who lives there shops at the Culver City Trader Joe's helping to make it the number one store in the chain.  So here's a tip to those in South LA who want a Trader Joe's: stop shopping in Culver City and soon you'll have one of your own.



And finally it's not another goofy charter school but an effort by actor Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith is inspiring just as much buzz.  The former "Fresh Prince" and current box office superstar is defending charges that the private school he and Mrs. Smith are starting is not a Scientology school even though New Village Academy in Calabasas will use teaching techniques pioneered by L. Ron Hubbard and some of the teaching staff are practicing members of the church.  Sounds like sort of a rich man's version of Academia Semillas del Pueblo.

Nannies at McDonald's

Another victory for the nanny state as the California State Senate passes SB 1420 requiring fast food restaurants to post nutritional information for all items on their menus.

Though studies show that posting this information could cut down on obesity and I'm all for the restaurants providing this information (many do already on a voluntary basis) once again I have to ask do we need government to take care of us?

Oh - and by the way this bill isn't from the usual nanny source of course but Senator Alex Padilla.

Jan Perry's Dumb Idea Gets Even Dumber

Councilwoman Jan Perry thinks that people who live in South Central are too fat and the reason is because there are too many fast food restaurants and not enough sit down restaurants.

Of course any of us with a brain - particularly those of use who have fought the battle of the bulge - know it comes down to making appropriate food choices.

Jan Perry's magic bullet of more sit down restaurants however could actually be off target. A report in Men's Health finds that sit-down restaurants could be unhealthier than fast food!

Sit-down chain restaurants don't want you to know that their food is actually considerably worse for you than the often-maligened fast-food fare. In fact, our menu analysis of 24 national chains revealed that the average entree at a sit-down restaurant contains 867 calories, compared with 522 calories in the average fast-food entree. And that's before appetizers, sides, or desserts --selections that can easily double your total calorie intake

Like Bustamante, Jan Perry Could Lead by Dieting

It's no surprise that a dietitian from that hot bed of nanny-state socialism, UC Berkeley, has a screed in Sunday's Daily News supporting Goofy Jan Perry's plan to ban fast food in South Central. Juliet Sims says that "South L.A. residents bear the burden of a toxic-food environment while nearby communities have access to better food." Sims seems to think its the work of a racist cabal that seeks to foist high fat, mega-caloric food on minorities.

Like Perry, Sims doesn't get the fact that its simply a function of the market. Where there is demand, product is sold. For whatever reason, a large percentage of people who live in South Central don't want to purchase what could be considered healthy food. When fast food outlets offer "healthier" choices they find sales of these items are very low.

Here is a collection of various views on Perry's proposal.

Forcing people to get thin by government fiat is not going to be successful. I speak from personal experience; I was able to change my eating habits and enjoy significant success without municipal assistance. Our leaders need to lead by example and educate the citizenry to make better choices. Indeed, Cruz Bustamante did that very thing. Perhaps Perry should be dieting rather than going on a legislative binge.

By the way if you want tips on how to eat healthy at a fast food place, click here.

Perry would be far better off working to ban crime, violence and irresponsible behavior in her district. But that doesn't get you on CNN.

Holiday Week Hotsheet for Monday

If you're going to Sacto or somewhere, know that Bob Hope Airport is shut down in the fog.

"Developer bills go to taxpayers" says the Daily News. But it still doesn't quite get it right. The real issue is why the Departments of Buiding and Safety and the Planning Department are so overstretched at this time. The overdevelopment of Los Angeles is the kind of story homeowner groups have been trying to get the likes of Times news scribes to bite on all through the Antonio hegemony; but this take paints City Departments as simply beleaguered. They could ease their workload by saying no more often.

This is why so many homeowners who supported Antonio turned on him so soon after 2005---they quickly saw that he was a shill for developers, determined to turn the City into another overcrowded Pacific Rim dystopia. And it's homeowners who get to subsidize their own undoing. In print, it's still a largely unwritten story.

An incidental follow-up to Zuma's weekend item on Jan Perry's proposed moratorium on fast food in South LA: a County study links obesity to poverty and also to available public space. The Daily Breeze has the story.

The Times follows some others on Project 50, which would triage 50 at-top-risk homeless on Skid Row into apartments. Upside: it does something. Downside: it does something at a maximized per-capita cost; it's another turn-it-into-a-lottery approach, leaving 69,950 more homeless in the County to deal with.

Jan Perry With a Whopper of a Dumb Idea

Pretty soon in Los Angeles and the rest of California you will need government to make sure you cut off your pets' private parts, change your lightbulbs, bag your groceries correctly, etc.

And luckily we have the patron saint of the Nanny State, Lloyd Levine to keep us safe.

Joining the ranks now is the Los Angeles City Council. Yes just when you think that Jack Hoff's favorite group of critical thinkers couldn't top themselves - they do it again.

They want to ban fast food restaurants in South Central.



Why? Most likely - as reported by the Fox Network's John Gibson - is that "...the L.A. city council thinks Latinos and Blacks are too fat, and they're thinking of doing something about it."

"The L.A. city council thinks Latinos and Blacks are too fat, and they're thinking of doing something about it."

According to Councilwoman Jan Perry there are way too many fast food restaurants in South Central - and "The people don't want them," though the people sure eat there a lot.

Besides the patently absurd notion behind this feel good legislation there is the bigger issue of how do you enforce it? What is considered fast food and what isn't? Its just absolutely silly and no intellectually honest person with can offer a good reason with a straight face.



See it works this way people. In life we have choices. We make choices and we face the consequences of those choices.

If you eat a lot of most of the food they serve at fast food joints - you will probably be unhealthy and gain weight.

On the other hand you can make a decision to be healthy, eat and be well. Maybe its not easy if there are a lot of fast food places in your town. But practically every fast food outlet around these days - responding to the market - offers healthy choices and many of those are on the "value menu."

I speak from experience. In one year I've lost 170 pounds. Not by fad diets, not by surgeries or pills or anything else. It came from making appropriate choices.

I did not need Jan Perry, Lloyd Levine, George Bush or any government official to make that happen for me.

Let's hope this absurdity ends soon.