Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Tuesday

He's back!

With July 1st, comes a new session for the Los Angeles City Council but the leadership of Eric Garcetti, Jan Perry and Dennis Zine remains intact, even though all three plan eventual runs for higher office; Mayor for Garcetti and Perry and City Controller for Zine.  That being said, Councilman Richard Alarcon was the sole vote for Herb Wesson as President Pro Tem of the Council.  Alarcon has an issue with Perry already being a declared for candidate for Mayor and continuing to serve in the leadership.

As the new session begins, some of our readers may find solace in the fact that Alarcon and Reyes only have two years left on the Council, you have four more years of Tom LaBonge, Tony Cardenas and  Bernard Parks though.

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Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Friday

The first of what could be several lawsuits in Mayor Villaraigosa's Ticketgate scandal was filed this week by Los Angeles citizen Jose Freddie Vallejos.  The suit seeks reimbursement to cover the costs of the Michael Jackson memorial from both the Jackson Family and AEG.  Central to the case is that the Mayor's cozy relationship with special interests like AEG who have provided free tickets to event to the Mayor, who has allegedly not complied with ethics laws related to these gifts. In a related story The Enterprise Report notes that LAPD Chief Charlie Beck plans to pay for free tickets for the Oscars he received.

Fernando Espuelas writing in the Huffington Post lays out all the reasons why the Mayor's administration has been a failure.  Still Espuelas feels that Villaraigosa should not be recalled, most notably because we don't know what we would get next. Fair point.

The City Controller's office has released an audit that shows that the City has failed to collect over $250 million in money owed to it, mostly parking citations.  A similar audit released three years ago showed the City was only collecting about 52%. A series of improvements suggested by the 2007 audit were never implemented and the City is still only collecting 53% of funds due.  Nice work.

And just a reminder.  Fireworks, even the legal elsewhere safe and sane variety, are illegal in Los Angeles.  The LA Fire Department blog has a list of public fireworks shows where you can find a safe way to celebrate the 4th.

Fireworks Should Be Legal

I usually debate with the awesome Brian Humphrey on this but I have to agree with Tammy Bruce about how great it is that some places allow you to buy fireworks legally. Yea I know they're dangerous but so are a lot of things - do we have to ban it all?

One of Tammy's readers even notes a correlation between the lack of patriotism in young people and the decline in their ability to enjoy fireworks (and don't tell me about public shows - they're great but not the same thing as lighting off your own sparkling fountain, Piccolo Pete or even those messy snakes.

My dispute with the LAFD notwithstanding, I do suggest you visit their blog for some important safety issues when it comes to the Fourth of July.