When you get immersed in the news, digging inside the details and connecting the dots to try to see what's really going on behind the scenes, there's a point at which all the storylines start coming together and blurring.It starts making perfect sense, or none at all.
I knew I had reached that point when I started writing a piece with the headline "The End of the World is Coming...So What Are We Going to Do About It."
It was like quicksand, swallowing me up into a dark void from which there was no exit. It remains unfinished like the one mocking the mayor for his fiddling while his city burns and the one taking DWP figurehead David Freeman to task for his congenial deflections of the deepening scandal in what used to be a public utility and now has become a private monopoly.
Talk about beating dead horses. If you don't know by now that they are two among many of our civic and political leaders who have betrayed the public trust and their own ideals, you will never know.
I didn't come this far to succumb to a bleak depression just because maniacs are killing cops and soldiers and innocent men, women and children all over the place and the planet is poisoned and running our of air and water and the era of American Imperialism and Materialism is coming to end.
I just needed a week of over-indulgence in the name of Thanksgiving to rejuvenate me and restore my belief that the escalation in tension and conflict on all levels today is a creative opportunity to make things better with greater liberty and justice for all.
The center isn't holding in a way that hasn't occurred since the 1960s and I do believe the worse things get, the better they can become.
So it's back to the drawing board of how we transform our city into a
beacon for the world of how people from every kind of background can
create a society where competing interests are in balance and each
individual's pursuit of his or her own life, liberty and happiness is
respected.
Right now we live in a city that is the antithesis of my own vision.
A vast machinery of political and economic interests drape their selfish pursuits of power and money with phony slogans. They pretend to help the poor when they are nothing but poverty pimps. They talk of creating the greenest city in the world when their actions show them to be nothing but environmental profiteers. They posture and pander but they cannot hide their failure to manage our affairs for the common good.
So be it. The stage is set to transform LA into a real city, not a collection of neighborhoods simply trying to preserve themselves against the onslaught of policies that destroy the quality of their lives and their hopes for the future.
This isn't about 1,000 pot shops or 10,000 billboards or the slippery slope we're on to municipal bankruptcy.
It's about power itself and a seat at the table of power for everyone. The time is ripe. The power structure is weak and failing. It can be beaten if the civic elite, the business community and ordinary citizens come together and demand change.
It's what I believe, have believed for a long time, and I'm going to do what I can to make it happen with renewed vigor.
Right now we live in a city that is the antithesis of my own vision.
A vast machinery of political and economic interests drape their selfish pursuits of power and money with phony slogans. They pretend to help the poor when they are nothing but poverty pimps. They talk of creating the greenest city in the world when their actions show them to be nothing but environmental profiteers. They posture and pander but they cannot hide their failure to manage our affairs for the common good.
So be it. The stage is set to transform LA into a real city, not a collection of neighborhoods simply trying to preserve themselves against the onslaught of policies that destroy the quality of their lives and their hopes for the future.
This isn't about 1,000 pot shops or 10,000 billboards or the slippery slope we're on to municipal bankruptcy.
It's about power itself and a seat at the table of power for everyone. The time is ripe. The power structure is weak and failing. It can be beaten if the civic elite, the business community and ordinary citizens come together and demand change.
It's what I believe, have believed for a long time, and I'm going to do what I can to make it happen with renewed vigor.
Ron Kaye
Welcome back, Ron. :-)
Shining the Light on Public Sector Lawsuits
By Tom Scott
When most people think about where their tax dollars go, they think of schools, parks, public safety and other social service programs. It never occurs to them that some of their hard-earned dollars are paying litigation costs. This is because most of the time the cases against cities, counties and the state are dealt with BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, shielded from public scrutiny.
(Skip)
Los Angeles County spent $190 million in verdicts, settlements and outside counsel and the CITY OF LOS ANGELES SPENT $136.9 MILLION. The money spent by the city in just one year could have paid for the starting base salaries for 1,271 police officers. How's that for an economic stimulus?
California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse
http://www.cala.com/blog/284-shining-the-light-on-public-sector-lawsuits
Welcome back Ron. You didn't miss too much but the blogs were going crazy. OMG here's an example of city council wasting time on BS stuff. Hahn is campaigning for Lt. Gov but with this motion she'll be laughed at. We all know Labonge is a weirdo to be the mover on this.
ITEM NO. (28)09-2871 MOTION (LABONGE - HAHN) relative to looking at alternative ways to administer the Dear Santa letters. Recommendations for Council action: 1. REQUEST the Los Angeles Postal District along with the City of Los Angeles look at an alternative to administer the Dear Santa letters to continue this almost century old tradition
Most of the city's current problems emanate from one source: the Mayor. First, the man has no interest in the job. He is here for the perks, like flying all over the world on the public's dime. Second, even a dumb mayor like him should have the smarts to have smart people around him. He does not have any. Third, with the above two in negative, then everything else that follows is negative too, ie. the choice of General Managers and the Commisioners who collectively have the power of making this city great or destroying our quality of life. The latter is winning.
The remaining blame is on our Couniclmembers. They are elected, however, and how we end up with such crap is still a mystery. So we have the likes of Ed Reyes, elected by about 5,000 people, having the power to head PLUM, and destroy the quality of life of people who never chose him. Or a Jan Perry, Janice Hahn, or Koretz, and the others, who collectively turn into God and play with our lives and have turned our city into the pot and billboard capital of the world.
Not one of them is worthy of the positions they hold and the privileges granted to them. Recall is an option. How many are we going to recall, when even now, we are going to elect one of the two undesirables in CD2. What is the solution, don't know. The problem, though is voter apathy. Eventually, when life is miserable enough for everyone, things may improve, and we will start entrusting our future in hands of competent people than those with the widest photogenic grin.
The city is going into bankruptcy minute by minute and the City Council worries about de-clawing cats, Dear Santa letters, Book Fairs in Guadalajara, etc. This cluster of incompetents that occupy the seats of the City Council is the best argument for part-timers I've yet seen. They simply have too much time on their hands without any accountability - the money keeps rolling into their personal accounts from all of the high-rollers and these fools keep giving away our money as though there was actually some money already in the bank. If you and I wrote checks like these clowns do, we'd wind up in jail for the felony of writing bad checks.
Throw all of the bums out! PLEASE!
The city is going into bankruptcy minute by minute and the City Council worries about de-clawing cats, Dear Santa letters, Book Fairs in Guadalajara, etc. This cluster of incompetents that occupy the seats of the City Council is the best argument for part-timers I've yet seen. They simply have too much time on their hands without any accountability - the money keeps rolling into their personal accounts from all of the high-rollers and these fools keep giving away our money as though there was actually some money already in the bank. If you and I wrote checks like these clowns do, we'd wind up in jail for the felony of writing bad checks.
Throw all of the bums out! PLEASE!
Unfortunately, we can't become a Mob and burn down City Hall, but the concept is correct. I believe it was Claudius who said: "Rome has to crumble before we can re-build her." Change the location to Los Angeles and the statement works today. However, we're already there, way too many areas and concerns of Los Angeles have crumbled. What do we do? Where do we start?
"We" first need to start changing who and what kind of people are inside City Hall / Spring Street. I feel that our first major opportunity will be the 2011 elections. The Citizens of Los Angeles with major support and assistance from our Neighborhood Councils (city wide) put something interesting on the Ballot, i.e. "half-off", where every elected official takes a 50% reduction in compensation. Also the NC's start now to find good candidates for every Council District office that will be open. Take the pledge that NO incumbent get re-elected. That for sure. . . no-one gets a third term (Thank you Proposition R), or that the next Major comes from the current council members OR from Sacramento. Another item to put on the Ballot would be a "Rate Payer's Advocate" so the Citizens wouldn't be controlled by a crime boss / syndicate.
In the meantime, like my Grandmother always told me, start with baby steps and don't stop walking!
Oh, and I don't want you to forget, when the IBEW's Pay Rate increases come back to the Council for final approval, go down town and raise havoc big time. . . . . it's not acceptable, there is no justification.
Just don't burn down the building. . . . Way too expensive to re-build; remember the City is near bankruptcy.
david r2b wrote: "Just don't burn down the building. . . . Way too expensive to re-build; remember the City is near bankruptcy."
"Expensive" would be an understatement. First you'd have to do the RFP. Then the unions would object and threaten a strike and the commissions and Council would hand them the job. Then the unions would want to include all their members-sort of like 10 people to screw in one light bulb. Then they would have to do a study and threat assessment. Then five members will file a discrimination claim because someone said something offensive. They'll be paid off and transferred to another department-probably DWP. Then another will go on disability because they breathed in some dust from the demo work. Then they will cry they need more "resources" which equates to replacing the six with ten more people. Then they'll all want raises and increased benefits because of working in dangerous conditions. This will require a CAO recommendation and Council vote. Then they'll want breast feeding classes. In around ten years, the job will be completed at quadruple the cost of any outsourcing price.
Everybody seems to be dissatisfied with the mayor & clowncil. OK, but why do you keep re-electing the same bums every time? You had a chance to give the mayor a pink slip but nooooo, none of the other candidates were perfect enough. I have news for you -- Nobody's perfect but anybody else would do a better job that this traveling pants of the mayor. When is his next trip? Oh, yes, in a week or so to Copenhagen. SWEET!
Everybody seems to be dissatisfied with the mayor & clowncil. OK, but why do you keep re-electing the same bums every time? You had a chance to give the mayor a pink slip but nooooo, none of the other candidates were perfect enough. I have news for you -- Nobody's perfect but anybody else would do a better job that this traveling pants of the mayor. When is his next trip? Oh, yes, in a week or so to Copenhagen. SWEET!
Everybody seems to be dissatisfied with the mayor & clowncil. OK, but why do you keep re-electing the same bums every time? You had a chance to give the mayor a pink slip but nooooo, none of the other candidates were perfect enough. I have news for you -- Nobody's perfect but anybody else would do a better job that this traveling pants of the mayor. When is his next trip? Oh, yes, in a week or so to Copenhagen. SWEET!
Here is a place to start: Change the City Charter. Reduce the Council to nine members who are elected city-wide. This would make them accountable to the electorate at large rather than to small neighborhood special interest groups. Change the position of "Mayor" to become an honorary title that is either rotated every two years among the various Council members or conferred on the one who received the most votes.
The positive is thanks to internet sites like this one and others people in the city are learning about the corruption in city and now pathetically the police dept. You can add them to the list we all know BECK was a fixed selection and since we have no leadership who is going to talk about the injustice from a dept. whose job it is to uphold justice when we already have a corrupt Chief? As long as people keep talking and posting its a start. No one is going after the reporters to make them start putting out the truth. LA Slimes, Daily News, local 2,7,9 are all bought and paid for by Mayor it seems. What needs to happen is a satuation of e-mails and blog posting making them accountable and boycotting them. They are already losing papers and viewers.
The challenge with "voting the bums out" is there is no one capable or willing to try to defeat the bums. There are clowns such as Walter Moore and Zuma Dog who are self-promoters primarily. There are good people like Mary Benson and Pete Sanchez but they don't really know what they need to do to win.
Ron you should sponsor a CANDIDATES ACADEMY so well meaning community leaders could learn how to campaign and win.
THAT is the best idea I have seen in awhile. SLAP should get serious about sponsoring a CANDIDATES ACADEMY to help those interested in running for City Council to organize themselves. Bring in some academic political science speakers and find and event sponsor.
The best way to change the status quo is to play the game smartly and support candidates committed to ending the public union theft of the treasury and the real estate development corruption.
4:29 summed up the problem perfectly. Look at who has the most political leverage and watch how it trickles down.
All the other solutions, from email bombing newspapers to casually altering the city charter, are hilariously delusional
Try to avoid the goofball candidates like Zuma Dogg, Phil Jennings, etc.
Despite the dire situation in City Hall, there are glimmers of hope emerging from the LA County Board of Supervisors. Lately they've been taking a close look at their GAIN case management services, which serves as the county's welfare-to-work program. Recognizing that this program could play a big part in the Southland's economic recovery, but also recognizing their serious budget problems, the BOS has just reissued an RFP for vendor services to operate GAIN. I expect the same two companies will submit proposals as last year – incumbent Maximus Inc. and newcomer Policy Studies Inc. (PSI).
Maximus has maintained its contract with the county for many years now, but its cost to us taxpayers keeps skyrocketing. If the new bids resemble those from last year, we can expect that the Maximus bid will cost taxpayers almost a million dollars more than PSI’s.
What’s more, Maximus has a track record of poor performance. Under its latest three year contract, Maximus has been cited repeatedly for failing to meet required goals in 5 of 8 categories (according to the LA Times). Last year, the Department of Public Social Services favored PSI based on scoring done on the two companies by a neutral third party. PSI scored 9,082 out of 9,616 possible points in the procurement process, whereas Maximus scored 7,824 of 9,616. PSI won by a 13% margin on technical score and also submitted the lowest bid, which was 6% cheaper.
Even worse, Maximus has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to buy the support of the Board of Supervisors through lobbying and campaign donations.
I, for one, am grateful that the BOS reissued the RFP and am confident they will select the right choice for the county. In these tough economic times, we need our local elected officials to scrutinize how every tax dollar is being spent and eliminate waste wherever possible. I hope we see a changing of the guard here very soon.
OK, I want three reasons why'd Zuma Dogg do worse job as the mayor vs Villar. Why'd you prefer Villar? Because he's "brown" so it feels good to have a mexican as mayor so you don't feel as guilty for for hiring mexicans as gardeners and house cleaners? Or because he's "progressive", so if you're gay, you feel better?
Seriously why not Zuma Dogg?
Duh! Zuma Dogg is obviously way too overqualified for the job.
hahaha yeah right
The guy goes apesht on a regular basis and he's supposed to be a serious candidate to run the city? You need to have people skills to be a leader. Zuma Dogg has ZERO. Which is why he needs to have regular meltdowns and dress up as Gene Simmons to get your attention.
OK there 10:05
Villar -- "a serious candidate to run the city"??? hmmm, I guess the city is being run.
Villar & having " people skills to be a leader". hmmm, does smoozing with developers count? or how about picking up women newscasters, that does require some people skills.
You people are delusional & fully deserve somebody like Villar.
OK there 10:05
Villar -- "a serious candidate to run the city"??? hmmm, I guess the city is being run.
Villar & having " people skills to be a leader". hmmm, does shmoozing with developers count? or how about picking up women newscasters, that does require some people skills.
You people are delusional & fully deserve somebody like Villar.
So who is paying for Antonio to go to Copenhagen?
Dumb Ass Beck is so lame he can't even answer questions intelligently. Huffington Post is trying to get LA readers but they should be hitting other stories. AT least Tina reports the truth, Beck got in because of BRATTON, very corrupt and he's town for the phasod of a swearing in show today..
...When he decided to leave, Bratton made it clear to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who would name his successor subject to City Council confirmation, that he thought Beck should be the new chief. Watching the Villaraigosa-Beck relationship develop will be a matter of some interest in Los Angeles's political circles. Bratton's success with LAPD has been Villaraigosa's biggest political asset.
"A vast machinery of political and economic interests drape their selfish pursuits of power and money with phony slogans. They pretend to help the poor when they are nothing but poverty pimps. They talk of creating the greenest city in the world when their actions show them to be nothing but environmental profiteers. They posture and pander but they cannot hide their failure to manage our affairs for the common good."
Yup. Well said, Ron.
---Rip Rense
10:16, here's what would happen if ZumaDogg got elected mayor. Every day he'd make a sincere effort to combat corruption and improve the city. That effort would go nowhere because he's already pissed off a lot of politicians by grandstanding during council meetings and has no clue how to play the game of politics.
Instead of playing the game, he'll assume being morally just and fighting for what's right automatically allows him to be combative without repercussions (which is what the guy's been doing at council meetings). He'll alienate anyone with political leverage that could've been swayed. At the end of the day he'll bang his head against the wall because nothing is getting done. 4 years later, nothing about this city will have changed.
To: 5:17
This is what had happened when Villar got elected mayor. Every day he makes a sincere effort to be in front of as many TV cameras as his flunkies can round up. Every day he makes a sincere effort to increase corruption and turn the city into a 3rd world hell hole. He has no clue how to run a taco cart. At the end of the day he bangs another newswoman. 4 years later, this city has changed for the worse.
9:43, you keep arguing that Zumadogg is a great candidate by talking about how bad Villar is. How bad Villar is has nothing to do with Zumadogg's qualifications. You're just arguing beside the point
If you seriously think Zumadogg can be a good mayor, you must have low expectations for your leaders. Or maybe you're so desperate for change that you'll vote for anyone who's anti-establishment, no matter how impractical or underqualified they are.
So far all Zumadogg has shown is he's hilariously entertaining when he disrupts council meetings. Being entertaining has nothing to do with being able to survive the nasty world of politics or effectively pass policy.
Daily News just endorsed Krekorian.
WHY is anyone even trying to argue with someone who thinks Zuma Dogg would be a "good councilmember," if they expect this blog to have any credibility at all? He might have his moments as an idiot savant, or as some say about him, even a blind squirrel can find a chestnut once in a while, but he's most useful to those who USE him AGAINST a political opponent because he has no self-censorship button. NOT what you want in any public official, thank you. (We just got one of those already, and yes, he used Zuma Dogg too.)
My argument is not that Zuma would make a good councilmember or mayor but that compared to any of the current clowncilmembers and Vllar, he's not that bad.
You seem to be able to see all the negatives in Zuma but you find nothing wrong with the current officeholders. Why don't you want to send a clear message to all the politicos by actually electing somebody like Zuma that corruption & chicanery will no longer be tolerated.
Jack at 4:40:
The real question is who can we pay to ensure that Antonio STAYS in Copenhagen!