UPDATE: Police intend to seek criminal charges against a motorist involved in a road rage incident that seriously injured two cyclists in Mandeville Canyon on July Fourth. Laist.com has shocking photos and the story.
You’ve heard the story now of how the city is destroying my neighborhood by passively standing by while a single-family house has been turned into a tenement apartment building and how commenters say the same thing is happening in their neighborhoods.
But did you know that golfers at city courses now have to show driver’s licenses to prove they really are legal residents of L.A. even as City Hall resists asking for the same kind of proof from illegal immigrant gangsters who commit crimes, violent or otherwise.
And then there’s the astonishing case of the LAPD’s handcuffing and searching bicyclists for not having a front light — one of a growing number of incidents logged at laist.com that suggests the LAPD has decided cyclists, not gangsters, are the real menace to our society.
SoapBoxLA.com reported on the incident 
that occurred last Wednesday in Hollywood and it seemed so outrageous I decided to call the cyclists involved myself.
The story involves a high-tech software developer, a young woman and a UCLA doctoral candidate in mathematics who were cycling home from Echo Park to the Westside when they were treated the way the LAPD used to treat hoodlums in its militaristic glory days under Daryl Gates.
The cyclists — Alex Thompson, Paul Bringetto and Andrea Tzvetkov — saw a Latino man slowly riding his bike being pulled over and handcuffed. They didn’t know the man but they decided to stop and observe what was happening because that’s the protocol adopted by activists who are demanding a Cyclist Bill of Rights.
Officers Corona and Stine did not like being watched and certainly didn’t like Bringetto asking what was going on.
“It’s like they equate bikes with poverty and poverty with criminals and think they can get away with anything,” said Thompson, the doctoral candidate who will be blogging about the incident today at Westside BikeSide, an activist website.
He recalled Corona telling Bringetto, “Mind your own business.”
Bringetto: “What did he do wrong?”
Corona: “Don’t move. Stay there.”
Bringetto: “We’re just here to observe.”
Corona: “You’re going to jail.”
At that point, Bringetto was handcuffed and Corona decided to search
his backpack despite repeated objections that the search was illegal
and unjustified. The search turned up nothing of interest but the
drama continued for about 35 minutes with Bringetto in handcuffs.
During
that time, Thompson got Stephen and Enci Box on his cell phone. Stephen
and Enci are leaders in the urban cyclist group and lead organizers of
the Saving L.A. Project’s July 14 Bastille Day rally at City Hall.
Stephen
is experienced at being hassled by the cops and got Hollywood Division
commander, Lt. Donatoni, on the phone and urged him to send a
supervisor to the scene.of the crime He said Donatoni resisted the
suggestion for a long time and they argued about it but Sgt. Harrington
finally did show up.
Bringetto said the officers’ demeanor changed at that point.
Corona’s
behavior, in particular, “creeped me out,” Bringetto said. “He seemed
to enjoy it. He told me, ‘I can do whatever I want.’ He seemed to get a
kind of enjoyment out of what he was doing.”
That attitude
softened with the sergeant’s arrival. The Latino man was ticketed for
riding without a headlight sent on his way. Bringetto eventually was
released with a citation for the same infraction.
At that point,
the three of them met Box at the police station where they continued to
protest the LAPD’s “gross abuse of authority,” as Bringetto called it.
They didn’t get very far with the officers so Bringetto will file a
formal complaint
I’m a believer in the new LAPD, that cops can
get the job done without acting like the they can push people around with impunity. But a pattern of
incidents like this and other actions by City Hall raise questions for
me about what is really going on.
When you look at a growing
sequence of actions by the city, it appears we have found a new enemy,
and the enemy is us, the ordinary citizens who are tired of City Hall
taking more of our money and doing less to make this city better.
Perhaps,
we should sign affidavits from all over L.A. about how city actions are
destroying our neighborhoods, our lifestyles and our civil liberties.
Then, we can go into federal court and get a consent decree that
requires City Hall to treat the law-abiding at least as well as it
treats the gangsters and the special interests who buy favors from the
politicians.
“Perhaps, we should sign affidavits from all over L.A. about how city actions are destroying our neighborhoods, our lifestyles and our civil liberties. Then, we can go into federal court and get a consent decree that requires City Hall to treat the law-abiding at least as well as it treats the gangsters and the special interests who buy favors from the politicians.”
I will sign up today. How will this work?
Theodora Howell
Well, that’s curious. You don’t need to show a driver’s license to vote in a government election. Now, why would you need to show a driver’s license to play golf? I guess you can see which is more important to L.A. lawmakers.
LAist had a feature and a number of follow-up articles last year about an incident between a biker and an SUV rider in Beverly Hills, involving the B H police, that became a big think in the biker world, because that biker and sympathizers felt the Beverly Hills cop took the word of the driver, who allegedly endangered the biker, for same reasons: that she was assumed to be a “solid taxpayer,” while the male biker — a grad student — not, or so they felt. So it’s not just LAPD, but a general confusion about how to deal with bikers. Eric Garcetti is taking active steps in that direction: have you contacted him about this?
The golf issue and L A licenses is probably to discourage out of towners from taking spots for L A golfers — so it’s intended to benefit you, but apparently implemented crudely. Is there a higher charge for non-residents? Since these courses are subsidized by local taxes, that would make sense. Beverly Hills has the two-tier pricing (plus a two-day jump on making reservations) for its tennis courses and other programs, as do many cities.
Further to my presumed explanation, above, on why L A Golf Courses ask to confirm L A residency and intend it as a benefit to L A taxpayers: instead of asking to see a D L each time, which feels intrusive, especially if they actually jot down your number, they should issue you a special card, a “recreation card,” or just make it part of a City Services card, like Beverly Hills does. You get a resident’s Library Card which has more privileges than the non-res card (which still allows you to check out books): reduced rate and advance registration for their tennis courts, kids or senior citizens programs, etc.
By the way, they serve cheap lunches daily for seniors at Roxbury Park, have regular bus outings and seem to do things that I don’t recall seeing at L A’s parks. The Daily News reports that your CM, Zine, is in a dispute with LAUSD over their allegedly backing out of paying half the cost of a senior center/ youth center, because LAUSD claims it can’t subsidize senior programs. That may be, but Rec & Parks with federal grant money == as many as 3/4 of L A’s elderly qualify for Poverty Assistance — should use parks during mid-day for elderly as well as kids and vagrants, as other cities do. Even more affluent ones need a goal, like meeting people to socialize and play cards or take a class. Cheviott Hills offers some stretch classes etc. suitable for older folks, but it seems a shame to me that there aren’t also lunches and social programs — all the money and attention goes to education and programs for kids, many of illegals, and our elderly get ignored after a lifetime of hard work, paying their taxes and following the rules.
Ron,
Thanks for the write up. Who knows what city leadership is thinking; they seem to be out to lunch.
Unbelievable. Thank you for this write up, I would have never known stuff like this happens if not for reading your blog. Thanks!
@9:24 … “The golf issue and L A licenses is probably to discourage out of towners from taking spots for L A golfers — so it’s intended to benefit you,” …
& @1:26 -… “Further to my presumed explanation, above, on why L A Golf Courses ask to confirm L A residency and intend it as a benefit to L A taxpayers: instead of asking to see a D L each time, which feels intrusive, especially if they actually jot down your number, they should issue you a special card, a “recreation card,” or just make it part of a City Services card, like Beverly Hills does.”
My, you’re brilliant. Imagine that. Unauthorized out-of-L.A golfers are trying to use our L.A. golf courses. Well there’s another way to discourage that. In fact, this other tactic discourages out-of-L.A. people from voting in L.A. municipal elections (ie. illegal voters).
We need a law that states that it’s illegal and unlawful to reserve a golf spot at L.A. golf courses unless you’re a L.A. resident. There’s no need for “recreation cards”. There’s no need to check every D.L. Just pass a law!!! The similar law discourages illegal L.A. voters (so say the politicians) so we should expect that this law discourages illegal L.A. golfers. NO ILLEGAL GOLFERS. ENFORCE THE NEW LAW. There Ron, we’ve discovered another City Cause.
6:54: Forgot your meds today?
@7:03 – Sarcasm, sir… or else your placebo pill.
Whoever had Villaraigosa et al. read 1984 in high school must have forgotten to mention that Big Brother was the villain and not the hero.
Tony, Mr. O’Brien is BAD. He’s the bad one. Mr. Winston – he GOOD. Big Brother BAD, Mr. Winston GOOD. Can you say that Tony.”
You miss the point on resident and nonresident proof to play golf. It is all about money for the city. They have raised the rates to pad the bank account. They care nothing for the golfers, just their wallets.
Tremendous things here. I am very satisfied to see your post. Thanks so much and I’m taking a look ahead to contact you. Will you please drop me a e-mail?