To set the record straight, I'm mad as hell about the double taxation deceit with regards to garbage in L.A. and I'm not blown away about the timid Green(Lite) environmental plan for trash collection long-term.
But that's just me. What about you?
I'm going down to City Hall on Bastille Day July 14 at noon with a bag of garbage to make a statement in hopes somebody inside the golden palace of bad government will stop by and listen on their way to the Pacific Dining Car for a free lunch from a lobbyist.
But from the calls, comments and emails I'm getting everybody has got their own favorite gripe. So the way I see it is that I got my issues and you got yours but if we all come together and bring them to City Hall on July 14, it just might be the wakeup call City Hall needs and, more importantly, the city needs.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: We don't all have to agree on any particular thing. What's important is that we all agree to stand together and work together to make the pols take the people seriously and address their concerns.
This is about solving the city's problems and making life better for the residents, making our neighborhoods safer and healthier and creating a prosperous community.
This is about ending the city's war against the middle class and empowering the neighborhoods to look after themselves.
So I'll see you on Bastille Day, the start of what I hope is something big.
We don't have to bring stinking garbage.We can be civilized and decent. But we do have to make a stink with our presence that will change the political atmosphere of L.A.
But that's just me. What about you?
I'm going down to City Hall on Bastille Day July 14 at noon with a bag of garbage to make a statement in hopes somebody inside the golden palace of bad government will stop by and listen on their way to the Pacific Dining Car for a free lunch from a lobbyist.
But from the calls, comments and emails I'm getting everybody has got their own favorite gripe. So the way I see it is that I got my issues and you got yours but if we all come together and bring them to City Hall on July 14, it just might be the wakeup call City Hall needs and, more importantly, the city needs.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: We don't all have to agree on any particular thing. What's important is that we all agree to stand together and work together to make the pols take the people seriously and address their concerns.
This is about solving the city's problems and making life better for the residents, making our neighborhoods safer and healthier and creating a prosperous community.
This is about ending the city's war against the middle class and empowering the neighborhoods to look after themselves.
So I'll see you on Bastille Day, the start of what I hope is something big.
We don't have to bring stinking garbage.We can be civilized and decent. But we do have to make a stink with our presence that will change the political atmosphere of L.A.
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the Naitonal Enquirer.
I hate the idea of dumping trash anywhere. But I am considering doing this with you. Keep me posted.
I'm with you, Ron, and we also have to figure out how to make this fun.
May I suggest someone also take cloth grocery bags for the mayor and council members?
They say they want to save money and reduce expenses and yet, I do always wonder how many of them are actually taking their own cloth bags to the grocery store?
I'd be happy to gift one to each one of them. Would it feel too tacky and un-hip to them to use one? Especially if the bag had the "99 Cent Store" logo on it?
I dunno. I don't know what it's like to be rich living in L.A. I have read about it in the papers though. ;-)
Ron, you might want to turn your attention to this quote from David Nahai in this morning's Times!!! As much as I like your garbage dumping plan, it looks like Nahai is going to rush the toilet to tap debacle...before the public gets wind of it!
There is no time to 'waste' on this one...We need to protest at the DWP and DEMAND that Nahai be thrown out on his ass!
THIS IS URGENT!!!
Please read the excerpt from the Times (below):
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Turning Los Angeles wastewater to tap water
Politics killed a 1990s plan to recycle, but drought, technology and Orange County's success offer hope.
By Rich Connell, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 7, 2008
In a conference room atop a downtown Los Angeles tower, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's point man on water conservation was confidently ticking off the protections built into a plan to recycle highly treated sewage effluent into the drinking supply.
But when his staff explained that community meetings on the project might not begin until early next year, H. David Nahai quickly grew uneasy.
That's too slow, too risky, the Department of Water and Power general manager told his team.
"Folks on the street who'll hear about wastewater treatment [may] have some reticence about it. . . . The more this languishes, the more the fires of suspicion are going to get fanned.
"We need to go out quicker."
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Ron,
If citizens are going to taxed again on their trash to"recover full cost" as the mayor says - the I think citizens should get full recovery of funds of bottles, cans and other recyclable materials they leave curbside each week.
The City should account for how much money they take in from these donations and give a rebate to each citizen on their trash bills.
What do you think?
Steve H.