Where have all the writers gone?

Dow at lowest levels in 11 years.

Since the election, I've been pretty quiet here at Mayor Sam's, only penning one article. That article proudly declared that I had returned from my self-imposed isolation after the recent election. Well, unfortunately I didn't actually return and frankly, I've been feeling guilty about it. Then I viewed our current front page. I don't know how he does it, but every article was written by our founder Michael Higby himself. Guilt evaporated!

This site has since its inception provided a creative and influential outlet for writers and political activists, and now with none but special elections remaining, many of us have found ourselves either disinterested (not me) or just juggling and struggling to survive in our everyday lives (definitely me and a few others). That got me to thinking: we've all had to make sacrifices in one form or another during these economic hard times, regardless of where we are on the ladder, so specifically what hobbies and leisure activities have people been forced to give up and why?

Maybe you had to give up golf because it was too expensive? Maybe you find yourself forced to give up your weekends to make ends meet? I just recently read that it's becoming more typical for people to work 7-day weeks. I've even seen a story about a 70-something man who had his retirement account wiped out and is working as a greeter at Wal-Mart to survive. Yikes! No rest for the weary I guess.

So what's your story? This is my gift to you: a thread on which to commiserate. How has this recession/depression affected you? What have you had to sacrifice? How did you get through it? Do you have any tips/tricks for saving money for the rest of us? Maybe, like me, you want to sound off against the bailout and the stimulus (which I will do when I next get the time)? Take this thread and run with it boys and girls, and remember that you're not in this alone!

In my case I haven't been blogging because I can't find a lot of time and don't make a lot of money (and yes, they most certainly are the same thing). I honestly never really know when I will be able to sit long enough to write one of my normally verbose and occasionally convoluted dissertations. Since I'm not well-versed in my L.A. politics and am also completely disinterested in the contrived and seemingly endless, cyclic OC soap opera, I'll probably write an occasional serious piece covering state or national issues sandwiched between conversation posts like this one and short commentaries and media clips on notable topics.

We're all economizing. Remember, time is money. I'm trying to save, so what's changed for you?

SMS

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Monday

The City Council wants to give the Grammy Awards $125,000 to cover event costs borne by the City.  Yes we hear the usual spin that these events bring so much to Los Angeles (they do) and that the cost is merely an investment (see here where I take that argument apart).  The recording industry is apparently pleading poverty yet pop princess Britney Spears has acquired a $27,000 ring to wear to the show.  If the City Council doesn't have the fortitude to say now in this time of budget crisis, we once again raise our call to the Grammy organization to step up and say "we will decline the subsidy, we know the City that has nurtured, supported and enrichened us for over 50 years is hurting."  Don't hold your breath folks!

Marc Cooper becomes the latest "journo" to go bitter man on his former employer.  Like a less disciplined Kevin Roderick, Cooper's rambling screed spewing all over the LA Weekly is filled with personal invective which obscures what few good points Cooper might have.  Cooper wastes an enormous part of his digital ink on the absurd claim that Zuma Dogg's piece on the controversial Grand Avenue development in Downtown LA was actually written by weekly editor Jill Stewart.  One wonders if Zuma Dogg was challenging George Bush on a regular basis instead of the unaware elites' favorite kleptocrat Mayor if Cooper would view Zuma differently.

The nanny state continues unmolested as Los Angeles City Council Member "Sleeping" Greig Smith wants to ban smoking in outdoor areas of restaurants.  This old, dead, Republican mayor never smoked, hates smoking and doesn't like to be around it.  That being said I don't need the government to decide where people can and can't smoke; the market does that just fine.  In fact, Tom LaBonge confirms it when he tells the Los Angeles Tmes “The patrons are really demanding it.”  That's right Tom.  The smart establishments get it and many of them banned smoking way before the City told them to.

Los Angeles has undertaken a $2 million campaign to encourage tourism.  Tom Hanks, Kobe Bryant and Lauren Conrad are among the celebrities appearing in the "That's So LA" campaign now underway.  Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told reporters "During this tough period, one of the sectors taking the biggest hit is tourism. Families are cutting back on travel. In some cities, that might not matter too much."

The Daily News reports the recession has hit hard a number of upscale businesses on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks.  However a shoe repair shop and a fitness center that underwent a makeover report either no impact or increased sales.

Central City East blogger Don Garza says that a number of residents of the Skid Row hotel he lives in are complaining that the hotel management routinely enters their units in violation of their rights.  Garza is among several of the residents who have posted legal notices on their doors directing the management to keep out.