A friend visiting from out of town wanted to play golf today so we headed over to Griffith Park and reached the ninth hole at Harding Golf Course where there's a snack shop surrounded by a large asphalt-covered area.
A city employee was hosing leaves off the asphalt and had been at his task for a long while from the looks of the mud puddles and mini-ponds forming downhill as he inched forward with his hose.
Isn't it illegal for you and me to hose down our driveways, or at least regarded as an anti-social waste of water, especially as we are faced with a water shortage crisis later this year and are being forced to pay higher rates so we can drink recycled toilet water one of these days.
Clearly, the rules that apply to ordinary people don't apply to the city. And that goes for just about everything. including the state open meetings law which city officials are enforcing ruthlessly against neighborhood councils even as the City Council cuts back room deals and routinely holds closed door meetings that violate the law.
My sensitivity to this waste of a precious resource was heightened recently by the continuing series of items at laist.com by Stephen Box on buses and other public agency vehicles left idling for long periods of time, presumably so drivers can stay cool and comfortable in the air conditioning.
He's taken pictures all over town of city, county and state vehicles left idling, waste=ing fuel that has gotten ridiculously expensive as we all know and polluting the air which is still the nation's dirtiest as we all know.
One of my favorite examples involves the Orange Line buses that run across the Valley from North Hollywood to Warner Center. They are idling in the picture with the drivers chatting nearby so it's not the Valley heat that's the issue.
A city employee was hosing leaves off the asphalt and had been at his task for a long while from the looks of the mud puddles and mini-ponds forming downhill as he inched forward with his hose.
Isn't it illegal for you and me to hose down our driveways, or at least regarded as an anti-social waste of water, especially as we are faced with a water shortage crisis later this year and are being forced to pay higher rates so we can drink recycled toilet water one of these days.
Clearly, the rules that apply to ordinary people don't apply to the city. And that goes for just about everything. including the state open meetings law which city officials are enforcing ruthlessly against neighborhood councils even as the City Council cuts back room deals and routinely holds closed door meetings that violate the law.
My sensitivity to this waste of a precious resource was heightened recently by the continuing series of items at laist.com by Stephen Box on buses and other public agency vehicles left idling for long periods of time, presumably so drivers can stay cool and comfortable in the air conditioning.
He's taken pictures all over town of city, county and state vehicles left idling, waste=ing fuel that has gotten ridiculously expensive as we all know and polluting the air which is still the nation's dirtiest as we all know.
One of my favorite examples involves the Orange Line buses that run across the Valley from North Hollywood to Warner Center. They are idling in the picture with the drivers chatting nearby so it's not the Valley heat that's the issue.
"The Orange Line buses run from the early hours, throughout the day and
into the night, even after they return to the yard and are awaiting
service and maintenance. Finally, when they are put away for the night
they are turned off," Box reported:
"When asked why the Orange Line buses are left idling in spite of the Metro's policy against idling on layover, Metro Operations and Supervisors explain that the rule doesn't apply to the Orange Line.
I'm sure all of you out there must know of many examples of waste of one sort another by City Hall and other local government agencies. Don't hesitate to email about them at ron@ronkayela.com so we can put the heat on our "public servants."
My point in raising these examples of flagrant waste of money and resources and callous disregard of the environmental consequences is that they represent just the tip of the iceberg of governmental disrespect for the public.
Our money means nothing to them. It's not like there is any accountability.
The rule of law and the rules of civil conduct mean nothing to them. There are no consequences as long the public behaves like sheep and can easily be led by the dogs of political manipulation.
And the mayor and council's claim that they have made L.A. the greenest city in America is a patent lie, one of many they live on. I dare them to give Controller Laura Chick the money to audit that claim or better yet an independent panel of academics and environmental experts.
Maybe even the L.A. Times, despite its diminished resources, could try to revive itself by assigning reporters to a truth watch and keep score on the honesty of our public servants.
"When asked why the Orange Line buses are left idling in spite of the Metro's policy against idling on layover, Metro Operations and Supervisors explain that the rule doesn't apply to the Orange Line.
"When pressed, Metro Supervisors offer explanations such as 'Engines
that burn CNG run differently and you can't just turn them off and then
expect them to restart.' Another Supervisor explained that the buses
burn clean fuel so it doesn't matter. A driver confided that issues
with "cheap" batteries meant that the buses needed to be started while
in the yard so that if they didn't start, maintenance could immediately
respond and that they were told by their Supervisors to leave the
Orange Line buses running while on layover so as to avoid stalling the
buses."
I'm sure all of you out there must know of many examples of waste of one sort another by City Hall and other local government agencies. Don't hesitate to email about them at ron@ronkayela.com so we can put the heat on our "public servants."
My point in raising these examples of flagrant waste of money and resources and callous disregard of the environmental consequences is that they represent just the tip of the iceberg of governmental disrespect for the public.
Our money means nothing to them. It's not like there is any accountability.
The rule of law and the rules of civil conduct mean nothing to them. There are no consequences as long the public behaves like sheep and can easily be led by the dogs of political manipulation.
And the mayor and council's claim that they have made L.A. the greenest city in America is a patent lie, one of many they live on. I dare them to give Controller Laura Chick the money to audit that claim or better yet an independent panel of academics and environmental experts.
Maybe even the L.A. Times, despite its diminished resources, could try to revive itself by assigning reporters to a truth watch and keep score on the honesty of our public servants.
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 National Enquirer.
I guess I just don't understand why the leaves on the asphalt are a problem in the first place? And if they are, why the guy can't just use a broom?
We read that the city was implementing watering of golf courses and other municipal green areas with the waste water you hate so much -- they've been doing it at LAWA for a long time.
The buses idling and wasting fuel with all that high-powered AC blowing for nothing, does make me mad -- I'll be if you or LAist contacts DOT and/or Wendy Greuel as head of the Transportation Comm., they'll look into it, Wendy also being on the Budget Committee and wanting to run for Controller.
8:58-- Yes, I'm sure if the average citizen contacts their city council representative, things will get taken care of.
What a joke. Which city do you live in?
8:58-- Wendy Greuel is a proponent of "Compact LA with People". She is Garcetti-Lite. Her agenda is to pave "easy street" for developers. That means everyone should take the bus. Do you think she'll make it difficult for the busses.
She and her husband are alike. If she becomes Controller guess who gets a free pass.
Not only are there different rules for different folks, but every rule is wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a thermal blanket of contradictions.
Two obvious examples are Mayor Antionio “Water Police” Villaraigosa and DWP head David “What a good boy am I, ratting myself out for excessive water use” Nahai for not conserving water.
Trash truck drivers who have been caught mixing and matching the color-coded cans in the same truck.
The Department of Sanitation says they want to pick up “clean” bottles and cans. How much water are we supposed to waste washing them, when the recycler washes them anyway?
No standing water … it breeds mosquitoes.
I went to a great deal of trouble and expense to fix broken concrete that wouldn’t drain and have drains installed. Problem solved? No way! Now the water sits in the drain breeding mosquitoes. It was easier sweeping away the standing water.
Now I have to dump bleach in the drain and waste water washing it through, only to have new standing water in which to raise a new brood of the little biters.
The idiots in the city of Calabasas don’t allow outdoor smoking anywhere. Not even in parking lots filled with hundreds of toxic fume-spewing cars that are a million times worse than secondhand smoke from the few remaining smokers.
And by the way, tots held in the tight grip of their mom’s hands while being walked through those parking lots are nose to tailpipe height with those cars.
Plant trees; they’re good for the environment and are air scrubbers, but don’t water them.
Can’t register your kid in school unless he’s been immunized. Do it and run the high risk of autism via mercury-loaded vaccine preservatives. It never occurred to them that mercury and the human brain don’t mix, or their thinking is clouded by having eaten too much fish.
The fix is in, putting you in a fix. Go to sell your house, but the sidewalk is broken and the city will make you pay for fixing it at three times the price a handyman would charge, when it belongs to the city and you pay for its maintenance with your tax money.
Don’t waste water, but city sprinklers grow concrete every day.
There’s a law that says it’s illegal to leave advertising on private property, but it’s up to those of us who hate having our property littered with that crap to police it ourselves.
Homeless people can now sleep anywhere they want. What happened to loitering laws?
Anti-gang programs do not work, but have them and hire gangsters to run them.
Coming into the country illegally is a crime, but police can’t ask for residency status.
Prostitution is illegal, but the long arm of the law can’t touch the poor working girl if she gives away samples.
The city seal should read, “Do as I say, not as I do.”
How about watching L.A. City waste/ignore common sense!!! Don't you people see the abandoned shopping carts scattered about the city? Is there anything to be done about it. YES, THERE IS!!!
Glendale, Pasadena, and other cities have passed ordinances to require that shopping cart locations, ie. SuperMarkets, install LOCKING WHEELS ON SHOPPING CARTS to contain the shopping carts within their boundaries. Does Los Angeles City require this simple, logical requirement. NO, not us. Our City Council is "owned" by some special interest. WHO IS BLOCKING IT (supermarket mogel Billionaire Burkel)? Councilmember Cardenas initiated this LOCKING WHEELS ON SHOPPING CARTS only to drop it like a hot potato. Cardenas, get off your ass and get this passed.
They'll tell you that the Supermarkets have a system to retrieve abandoned shopping carts after they are reported. Is this absurd system working? NO, not much. If their system worked well then we wouldn't see abandoned shopping carts littering our neighborhoods. ISN'T IT RATHER ABSURD TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM BY RETRIEVING THE "BORROWED" CARTS, INSTEAD OF DISABLING CARTS (with locking wheels) BEFORE LEAVING THE PREMISES?