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.
Labels: dennis zine, fast food, grand avenue project, Jamiel's Law, jan perry, lausd, mayor antonio villaraigosa, mta, sales tax, summer of love, trader joes, walter moore, will smith
Posted by Michael Higby @ 6/30/2008 04:00:00 AM
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