Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Monday

As the City of LA and AEG get more serious about demolishing a portion of the Los Angeles Convention Center to build an NFL stadium in Downtown LA, competing stadium builder Ed Roski is firing his local lobbying team.  It's a race to the finish to see which billionaire can lure an actual team to their site.

The LA Marathon continued on despite a massive downpour.  Thousands of runners were later treated for hypothermia and 25 were sent to local hospitals for additional care.


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Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Monday

Public Employee Unions Need to go
on a Diet Just Like Mayor Sam has

One of the smartest bloggers in town when it comes to public finance, Paul Hatfield, dices up the Wisconsin labor reform law and details how similar changes should come to California.  It's apparent that politicians like Governor Brown and former State Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (no relation) understand that public employee unions have been given a sweeter than sweet deal for decades and with most governments near bankruptcy it's time to pay the piper.

Governor Brown also gets it when it comes to the Community Redevelopment Agency. It's time to shut these inefficient, wasteful and fraudulent distributors of corporate welfare down but Mayor Villaraigosa doesn't think so.  He cites examples of YMCAs and shopping centers the CRA built, yet shopping centers and YMCAs have been built for decades without YMCA - and the attendant multi-million dollar payouts to politically connected non-profits around these projects that don't see one cent go into building anything on the ground.

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Farmers' Field?

The Mayor has a reason for a presser.  Read about it at the Fishwrap.

Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Friday: JERRY!

Who would have thunk it? When liberal leaning Democratic pols in Los Angeles and all over California went all out for JERRY! little did they imagine Governor Brown would propose killing their fabled golden calf - Community Redevelopment Agencies. If you don't know what CRAs are they are basically welfare for rich developers, who contribute to local electeds, and who can create (often failed) major real estate projects in "blighted" communities the politicians point to as "progress."  Jerry rightly feels that this tax money is better used for jails, schools, roads, police, higher education, health care for the poor, etc. than going to otherwise failed developers.  This has sent a shiver up the spine of City Fathers/Mothers throughout the Golden State who are now spending money faster than a drunken sailor before JERRY! comes and gets it.  Case in point, our own lovely berg, who has found amazing efficiency to get dollars fast to building Eli Broad's mausoleum in Downtown LA.

More after the jump...

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Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Friday

I'm not sure if Ron Kaye and the folks at the LA Weekly are surprised by this, but apparently Mayor Villaraigosa knew about plans by AEG to propose that the city-owned West Hall of the Convention Center be torn down for an NFL football stadium, months or perhaps years before it went public.  This, of course, was unknown to everyone else while other plans were being made for Convention Center business and an NFL stadium elsewhere.

Despite the fact that he wrote letters on his behalf, Antonio Villaraigosa won't say whether or not he agrees with Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to reduce the murder sentence of Esteban Nunez, son of former State Assembly Speaker and Schwarzenegger/Villaraigosa BFF, Fabian Nunez.  We do remember that the Mayor did speak of the young convict as "...a good boy.

The first candidate's forum for CD12 took place Wednesday night at the Chatsworth Neighborhood Council.  All six candidates on the ballot were in attendance where the topics covered equestrianism and developers. Oh and apparently current CD12 flack Mitchell Englander not mentioning his day job.

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