“You have to
wonder how Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa can get away with some of his political
antics without anybody pointing out the contradictions.
On Monday,
the mayor boasted in a tweet that he was at a rally with LAUSD and labor
leaders among others to “oppose 7,000 layoff notices that were given to LA
teachers.”
“We should
be HIRING more teachers, not firing them!”
That was
followed by a plea to support Gov. Jerry Brown’s “tax extension plan to keep
our current funding levels and support our schools.”
I couldn’t
agree more but the governor’s plan to balance the budget and restore
stability so we can begin to deal with the long list of long-delayed problems
includes sharp cuts in many social welfare services and abolishing Community
Redevelopment Agencies throughout the state.
The CRAs
abolition would free up vast sums of money that would achieve exactly what the
mayor says he wants: More money for education, more money to avoid laying off
thousands of teachers.
But it was
our own mayor who led the statewide rebellion of redevelopment officials
against doing just that.
It was
under his direction that CRA officials and the CRA Board he appoints dutifully
sought to undermine the governor’s plan by locking up $1 billion in local
property taxes for redevelopment projects that mainly benefit developers and
property owners in the downtown and
areas that get most of subsidies – not the vast poor blighted neighborhoods of
the city.
Most of
that $1 billion would go to schools and to the city’s general fund which would
go a long way toward reducing the massive budget deficit he has done so little
to fix, except to close libraries and slash other basic public services.
As always,
the mayor wants it all both ways. Words mean nothing. It’s all just political
slogans without content.
He did the
same thing with regards to Police Chief Charlie Beck carrying out his orders to
stop impounding cars of unlicensed drivers when officers stop them at sobriety
checkpoints.
“The LAPD’s
improved impound protocol will preserve the safety of the community while
also ensuring that the law is applied fairly to every Angeleno. Chief Beck is a
stalwart advocate for constitutional policing, who has tirelessly searched for
new methods to protect the welfare and the rights of every resident of our
great city. I am proud of his leadership on this issue as well as his
willingness to evaluate his own department’s ability to pursue the highest
degree of justice.”
That isn’t
what the city under the mayor’s leadership argued repeatedly and successfully
in lawsuits that challenged the 30-day impound law and how LA and other cities
applied it – lawsuits that were rejected in federal District Court and by the
liberal Ninth Circuit of Appeals.
In an Aug.
28, 2009 appellate court brief, Assistant LA City Attorney Tony Leung joined
with the state and other cities and counties in arguing the 30-day impoundment
for driving without a license and usually without insurance was an appropriate
punishment, the least severe one in fact for what is a crime, not just an
infraction.
The brief
noted that every unlicensed driver is informed of their right to hearing where
they can present mitigating factors that can get their car released immediately
or the actual registered and insured owner of the car can retrieve it
immediately.
The heart
of the argument the city made was public safety — the state’s one million unlicensed drivers and 720,000 with suspended or revoked licenses cause far more serious accidents than licensed drivers, usually don’t have insurance and should be taken off the road.
Here are some
excerpts:
“A high
percentage of automobile accidents in which both drivers are known involve
unlicensed drivers. It is likely that an even higher percentage of drivers in
accidents involving hit and run drivers are unlicensed.
“States
require licenses, insurance, and other measures before allowing people to
drive precisely because of the need to reduce the chances of injury, and to require
drivers who do injure others to pay for the damage they cause. People who violate
those rules are properly denied permission to drive and are properly punished
for their violations.
“Unlicensed
drivers have 4.9 times as many fatal crashes apiece as licensed
drivers…
“At any
given time, it is estimated by the Department of Motor
Vehicles that of some 20 million driver’s licenses issued to Californians,
720,000 are suspended or revoked. Furthermore,1,000,000
persons are estimated to be driving without ever having been
licensed at all.
“Californians
who comply with the law are frequently victims of
traffic accidents caused by unlicensed drivers. These innocent
victims suffer considerable pain and property loss at the hands of
people who flaunt the law. The Department of Motor Vehicles
estimates that 75 percent of all drivers whose driving privilege
has been withdrawn continue to drive regardless of the law.
“It is
necessary and appropriate to take additional steps to prevent
unlicensed drivers from driving, including the civil forfeiture of vehicles
used by unlicensed drivers. The state has a critical interest in
enforcing its traffic laws and in keeping unlicensed drivers from illegally
driving. Seizing the vehicles used by unlicensed drivers serves a
significant governmental and public interest, namely the protection
of the health, safety, and welfare of Californians…
“The
interests of the public at stake are significant. Again, unlicensed drivers
account for a high portion of accidents where the driver is known, and likely an
even higher percentage of accidents where the driver flees the scene.
“Unlicensed
drivers are almost never insured. Impounding vehicles and taking them off
the streets protects the public for the time the vehicles are impounded and makes it
more likely that, in the future, unlicensed drivers will not drive and the vehicle
owner will not allow unlicensed drivers to drive.”
Yey! I want to pay more taxes so they can hire more teachers. Then there will be more money from union dues to spend on various democratic candidates and causes. After all the CA teachers union has spent only 200 mil last time so maybe they will ratchet it up to 300 mil!
Maybe Villar should pay taxes on those free goodies he’s got. Or no I forgot, taxes are only for little people.
The Mayor will be in DC within 3 months, permanently.
Obama is hiring him for a position in his cabinet.
Didnt anyone tell him how bad he has been?
this is another example of the Mayor’s reckless behavior for a city getting no love. Ron, i disagree with your support of the Chief…he should be stronger and protect the City from bad policies instead of shrugging his shoulder and saying, “what else can i do?”
this is another example of the Mayor’s reckless behavior for a city getting no love. Ron, i disagree with your support of the Chief…he should be stronger and protect the City from bad policies instead of shrugging his shoulder and saying, “what else can i do?”
It’s interesting that Villaraigosa should be on the side of the LAUSD teachers when he’s now pursuing a direction to shift schools to charter and “partnership” operators, as his LAUSD Board is being loaded with his choices to make that happen more easily. Tony often takes sides that conflict with each other, should anyone really want to call him on it. One thing you can be sure of is that such criticism will never come from any member of the city council.
The comments Antonio makes really follow the style used by Governor Schwarzenegger when he commuted the sentence the son of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez in the killing of the San Diego college student. It was going to happen regardless of what the justice system produced. The goal was clear- do a favor for Nunez to reduce that sentence. The reasons were produced that bore only a superficial resemblance to the law. You have to accept that the Governor was cutting that sentence in half and the reasons were manufactured to satisfy the ritualists who need to see the reasons, however distant there actually are from the truth.
With this situation of impounding of unregistered cars, often with unlicensed drivers, the Mayor’s appointee, Chief Beck, accepted the process that in no way helps public safety. Here, the deal is to avoid impounding cars that were properly subject to the action, and Tony has twisted things around to try to have this appear to address public safety. It does. It makes things LESS safe, but then, Tony’s priorities don’t have to serve the public, as he’s shown in the past. Where there’s illegal aliens involved, you can see the Mayor go into the victimization mode and become the apologist for the government’s actions. “How dare you enforce a law that hurts law-breakers?” “And so what if they are here illegally? What are you? Some kind of racist?”
Tony has set a low bar for maintaining his office and the council hopefuls probably see the office as within their dubious abilities when election time rolls around. “If he can do it, anybody could.”
I thought Chief Beck would dump the enforcement of the Special Order 40 policy when he became the chief, but we see that he’s into it with both feet. He even went to the MacArthur Park area to personally make the plea for patience and peace after the shooting of the knife-wielding alien. No, don’t look to Chief Beck to change things to anything that makes sense. He’s “Chief Beck” not “Chief Buck,” as in “the system.”
And don’t expect to hear much anywhere else in the city about the contradiction that the city’s appellate arguments present as compared to Mayor Villaraigosa’s statement.
And about his phrasing, “I am proud of his leadership on this issue as well as his willingness to evaluate his own department’s ability to pursue the highest degree of justice.”
Is there some scale of “justice” as he seems to imply? There’s not any “degree” in my opinion. There’s either “justice” or there is “not justice.” Too much spin going that dizziness is about all that he produces.
Is surely would be a special day in Los Angeles if we could see that things done by city leaders began to make some sense. Don’t look now, but the new budget deadline is coming up.
Another contradiction of the Mayor and City Council is giving $52 million in Redevelopment runds for a City-owned parking lot to support Eli Broad’s museum at the same time the Mayor attempted to sell off City-owned parking lots.
Oh, Ron. You just figured out that Antonio is a hypocrite and a back stabber? The unions made him, and now that he does not need them anymore, he pisses on them. Well,they deserve each other.
politicians in california and los angees can go to hell they all are crooks and liars
NO MORE TAXES FOR 5 YEARS this crooks are out to lunch
they whant more money for this crooks mafia unions and there special interest
look what cd 14 re elect a union and developer there got there bich and whore jose favian hizar
the ones who voted for this trash are gering somthing in grants on us the taxpayers [save the trees ]{lets have fireworks for free}{lets have a eagle rock festival free} well let me tell you all idiots there is noting free in this word some one have to pay for it and is us the taxpayers this politicians are crooka and liars
Is there some scale of “justice” as he seems to imply? There’s not any “degree” in my opinion. There’s either “justice” or there is “not justice.” Too much spin going that dizziness is about all that he produces.
A link. Villaraigosa and LAUSD.
Oh no not again.