Billionaire developer Rick Caruso’s opening aria in the mayoral soap opera borrowed heavily from the liturgy of community activists, calling City Hall a “bureaucratic nightmare” led by “political lifers” who are a “roadblock” to progress, killing jobs faster than they’re created.
He mocked the mayor and his free-loading ways, his subway as a waste of money and LAUSD that he has so much power over as an “educational gulag.”
No rival was spared, directly or indirectly, as Caruso in his Town Hall speech Thursday called for “decisive leadership … disruptive leadership … demanding leadership … strong, confident and creative leaders with vision … leaders who are bold and positive … compassionate leaders.”
“I believe all this will only come from men and women who know how City Hall works — but who haven’t been part of the problem.”
On Friday, the city’s political leaders took the stage, front and center, even star baritone Antonio himself who offered a soliloquy on his love for Asian-Pacific Islanders as he loves us all.
He then exited the stage, ignoring the rabble’s pleas for a response to the concerns about the pillaging of their city, the threat to their safety from the loss of police and fire services, the closing of their libraries.
Then, it was the Gang of 15′s turn to get to the heart of the drama, money or the lack of it.
They opened with the group chorale “Shocked and dismayed…we didn’t know, nobody told us, who closed the libraries, who got us in all this trouble …”
Bill Rosendahl offered a brief aria on the closing of a Palisades fire station, singing, “They’ll kill me if you do it even if what you’re doing doesn’t kill them … “
It was all just a setup for the brilliant soprano Janice Hahn who can’t wait to join a new entertainment company anywhere, anytime, anything to get out of San Pedro, which may be why she was so plaintive in warning, “Wilmington will blow, we all will die … please, oh please, don’t close my fire station, don’t kill me before I can get out of town … “
“No, no, it wasn’t me, it wasn’t you, I know not who,” responded lead tenor Eric Garcetti.
Then, to the delight of the entire cast if not the paying patrons, he sang, “Smiley face, my smiley face, smile and the fools will smile with you, smile, smile, smile; pretend all’s well and nothing’s wrong, they’ll believe you, you just got to believe whatever you want, and the whole world will believe it too.”
It wasn’t clear anyone was convinced except Garcetti himself as firefighters, teenagers, rich and poor, paraded around the stage whining and complaining.
“Fear not, fear not,” the Gang of 15 responded in unison, “we don’t know who broke it but we’ll fix it all, just give us the money and we’ll fix it all. Trust us, trust us … “
It was quite a show, Garcetti’s mayoral swan song unless he changes his tune and engages the reality everyone else is experiencing.
As for Caruso, this critic can say with certainty just how easy it is to see what’s wrong, to see the need for real leadership, real planning, and a real public conversation.
The hard part is writing and producing the opera that brings us all together singing the same song, the Song of Unity.
You know how it goes: “We’re all in this together, one for all and all for one. No place for greed, no time to waste…There’s only one way and that’s together.”
great quote regarding future leadership, “I believe all this will only come from men and women who know how City Hall works — but who haven’t been part of the problem.”
There is a big disconnect and I believe, the cuts should come down to: How to pay down the retirement debt.
I remember, $700 Million Dollars SAT in LADWP, and while it’s a different DEPT: its still our money, it’s tax payer money.
$300 Million of that money should go to keep LA SAFE, with Library and Parks.
Former Mayor Dick R., raised retirment, way to far, never accounting for such a recession, a housing bubble BUST where all retirment funds went down the drain.
Remember, the City of L.A. has lawsuits to recoup those losses due to Fraud. When those loses are returned, those funds can pay back DWP.
How much has Rick Caruso’s personal wealth increased due to the “bureaucratic nightmare” led by “political lifers” who are a “roadblock” to progress, killing jobs faster than they’re created.
Anyone hazard a guess?
I’m in love with Caruso’s speech, almost as good as the Mayors. His speechwriters must be better paid than the Mayors. Don’t believe either.
Billionaire Rick Caruso is not worthy of any elected office. Caruso ran to the Glendale City Council and had them threaten a small business owner with Eminent Domain to get his property a better price.
Of course that backfired on him which showed poor judgement on Caruso’s part. Since he had cut a deal with Nordstrom and needed the land he was forced to pay $16.25 million.
This erratic behavior is not conducive to thoughtful leadership.
Also, in Glendale, Caruso made a sweetheart deal for himself with a “profit sharing” plan that had Glendale giving him all the land for the Americana for free in exchange for any profits above 11.75% on retail. Wouldn’t you like to earn 11.75% rate of return.
As of Sept last year, not a dime has been paid to Glendale in the profit sharing plan.
Of course you can rightfully blame the Glendale City Council, but it does show you that Caruso appears to follow the lines of his father’s business habits back in the 50′s. Caruso’s father is still alive and the family has a car dealership in Long Beach, CA.
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,865774,00.html
To Pension Costs on May 13, 2011 2:58 PM -
Riordan’s contribution to the pension problem is a spit in the bucket compared to that of others. His formula for law enforcement added a few million to the billion dollar problem. At least he said “mea culpa” while the rest of the gang said “who me? did I do that? I couldn’t have.” What’s amazing is the very “leaders” that pushed for it are the ones pointing the finger at him.
If you want specifics on the formula he was part of, let me know and I’ll try to hunt it down.
In addition to the pension fiasco, I’m curious about the developer tax cuts (unnecessary) and employee settlements. I was told that those tax cuts have everything to do with campaign contributions and nothing to do with being business friendly. How much money did the City lose there?
I, for one, can’t wait til Caruso comes in and kicks everyone’s butt. Kevin James, Wendy, Eric Garshady. They all need to go.
Hey Ben Dover, we need Rick Caruso like we needed Arnold or Meg Whitman.
They will just give more corporate welfare to developers and continue the work or our puppet Mayor.
Caruso: “I believe all this will only come from men and women who know how City Hall works — but who haven’t been part of the problem.”
They should have been rolling in the aisles at that one, which has to be one of the best lying one-liners ever!
Like Ol’ bribing ( oops campaign-contributing) Rick isn’t/hasn’t been part of the problem for all these many years.
A vote for him is a vote for more of the same, only probably worse. He’ll eminent domain the entire city including his land developer friends’ properties and declare himself King of the Fallen City of Angels.
There are a hell of a lot of us WAITING for Caruso to come out and declare he’s running for Mayor. He’s not a whimp, whuss and has GUTS and leaderhsip all of which are missing in City Hall. Glendale incident was all because the hotel owner was greedy. Even the hotel owners supportes were furious with him. Caruso had the balls with Mayor Hahn to get rid of a horrible Chief Parks who was destroying LAPD. All the sissies on Council voted NOT to reappoint Parks for a 2nd term. Caruso is known in the city and a lot of what he has done for the POOR and so many others is never publicized because he’s not a media whore like the Mayor. Beutner has no guts because he only started criticizing City Council and Mayor when he quit and started campaigning. Don’t vote for ANY city council member. They don’t deserve to be promoted to higher office. They are incompetent, lame asses who ruined our City.
Caruso is an insider like AEG is an insider. He has served on many Commissions including DWP, LAPD, and the Coliseum commission.
As a City insider and as a Developer eating at the taxpayer trough, either way, he is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
@Anonymous on May 14, 2011 6:54 AM, “Glendale incident was all because the hotel owner was greedy.”
Lesson to the Republican Billionaire Caruso: It’s got nothing to do with greed obviously.
If you can’t make a deal with the Hotel owner, you should have walked away.
Don’t go running to the corrupt Glendale City Council who you have in your pocket.
In the end, Caruso paid $16.25 million to the hotel owner. Why didn’t he just offer that crazy price in the beginning?
Because he cut a deal with Nordstrom and made a poor business judgement that he could bully the owner with the government on his side.
Caruso comes across as a fool, not a smart business man.
But in the end, the taxpayers of Glendale will ultimately pay the price. They already have when the original property owners were originally condemned prior to the building of the Americana.
Caruso was given the land to build the Americana.
He may have buffaloed those in Glendale (and even Thousand Oaks) – Some might even think of him as a tough business man and blame the foolish City Councils for striking a lousy deal for the taxpayers.
But City Councilmembers and local governments do that all the time. Just look at the stupid Mayor in Los Angeles trying to pawn off parking lots to investor groups that want to screw the Citizens of LA.
Those investor groups (some of whom were part of the financial meltdown in 2008) and the current Mayor of Los Angeles are both bad news for the voters.
Both should go to jail instead of being slapped on the wrist. And so should Caruso with his behind-the-scenes workings with local government.
The Federal government just needs to set up surveillance to nab these crooks, including Caruso.
Just being on a commission doesn’t disqualify a person. How that person voted might.
Does anyone know what Caruso’s DWP voting record was?
The 1958 Time magazine article that McCuen links to above is prelude and warning to the voters of Los Angeles. Rick Caruso learned everything he knows from his shyster criminal father who was a menace to the community.
The 1958 conviction of Caruso’s father is the opening prologue of a tragic Municipal Opera: Rick Caruso will kill the City of Los Angeles. He must not be allowed to become Mayor.
I don’t have a dog in this anymore as I’m leaving CA for good. But some of you are delusional if you think Caruso will do good for the city as mayor. The sad part is that all the possible new mayor figures are pathetic. But you pathetic lazy brainwashed clueless voters. You deserve this.
Ron, from the front page of the LA Daily News
this AM, your analyses and statements are beginning to make an impression
on the office holders at last.
Thank you and please do not stop. You are still
Mr. Editor!
In my opinion, Kevin James is THE CANDIDATE
for Los Angeles’ Mayor in 2013.
He will be fair and square for all of us, except cheats and professional office holders.
The only way to have change is to vote in new
people. Then,the next round, you can vote for
someone else for the seat if you think you made
a mistake. Kevin James is the only non-office
holder on the ballot so far.
Vote for CHANGE, vote for Kevin James! TH
Kevin James has absolutely no chance. Who ever is backing his campaign is living in a dream land.
This city is not going to elect a gay Republican. Sorry, but it’s the truth.
Besides, did you ever see his appearance on Hardball with Chris Matthews? He’s a complete buffoon, and we already have one complete bufoon.
Hey, Sam, do you mean me? Are you one of those perfect individuals who always does what his friends want him to do? Surprise!!! Most of us
are not. But we do vote. Good luck.
I don’t know if Caruso means what he said. Sounds a lot like some of Arnold’s tough talk before he took office.
Nevertheless, who can say if any candidate would be willing to stand up to the Council and unions?
The best we can hope for is a mayor who engages more of the public to participate and vote; one who is not afraid to rile the public about unsustainable employee benefits; one who points a finger at overpaid commission appointees; one who excoriates the slew of developer deals benefiting downtown at the expense of all other areas.
If we hope to correct the city’s course we need the involvement of more citizens, otherwise it will be the same 15-20% who are programmed to vote for the established career politicians.
So if an outsider such as Caruso or James is to have a chance at breaking through, he or she must deliver a powerful, frank and scary message that gets the attention of the public and convinces heretofore apathetic registered voters to invest 15 minutes of their time visiting a polling place.
“So if an outsider such as Caruso or James is to have a chance at breaking through, he or she must deliver a powerful, frank and scary message that gets the attention of the public and convinces heretofore apathetic registered voters to invest 15 minutes of their time visiting a polling place.”
Right on Paul Hatfiend! Thank you. TH
Sorry Paul Hatfield for the typo on your last name. TH
Watch the roundtable interview with Rick Caruso and Dave Bryant. Caruso knows what he’s talking about. http://www.lacityview.org/roundtable.htm?link=guide/links_topics.htm
For those already criticizes Caruso you are clueless as to how much he’s really done for this city behind the scenes. I can see the Council morons have their staffers on here already posting. I give him a hell of a lot of credit for telling it the way it is not like the moron Wendy Greuel pretending to go after City Hall with her dumb audits. She’s the problem. OR Perry in bed with AEG and helped them get those billboards without permits or any of the other clowns who destroyed our city. I give Kevin James a lot of credit for jumping in. He will get the same criticism and meaness just for at least trying to do the right thing. And what the hell has your LA Clean Sweep idiot Parks done to fix the budget? NOTHING!!!! He screwed it up even worse with his rubber stamps of motions in Budget & Finance.
344 – thank you for the link.
There is no dount Caruso has more brains than all of our elected officials combined. He supports policies to attract industry – that’s good and he made in clear that the mayor is failing.
However, the moderator did not ask a single question concerning LA’s structural deficit and how he would propose fixing it. Would he be willing to tell the unions to make concessions now vs. putting the city in a position where it would have to declare bankruptcy?
What non core services would he cut?
Would he be willing to outsource certain services to reduce compensation costs?
We need to ask all of the candidates these and other tough questions.
The comments that I made about Caruso are true and a matter of record in terms of him seeking an advantage by having the Glendale City Council be used as muscle against Ray Patel, the owner of the Golden Key Hotel with a direct threat of Eminent Domain if he didn’t sell his property to Caruso for a price that was to Caruso’s liking.
In the end, Caruso may have paid a ridiculous price of $16.25 million, but the fact that he went running to Glendale to force Patel’s hand would be judged dishonorable by most reasonable people.
All he had to do was offer Patel this price without taking it public and involving the Government to “team up” with him – taking sides in a dispute that should never have involved the City of Glendale and its Redevelopment Agency.
And most of the nation is against the US Supreme Court decision in the Kelo case. Obviously Caruso agrees with the US Supreme court case in Kelo. And that alone is a reason to vote against him.
Then, as I said before, Caruso got the land from Glendale for his Americana project handed to him (in exchange for a profit sharing agreement that favored him). That is called a subsidy.
You may say Caruso was just being a “shrewed” business man. But I would say he was ripping off Glendale and their small town City Council did a poor job looking out for the taxpayers.
Either way, his behavior isn’t much different than Tim Leiweke of AEG. Again most reasonable people that care about integrity wouldn’t want Tim Leiweke or Rick Caruso in a leadership position in a governmental office because of their past track record of taking from the working class taxpayers to enrich their companies – That is called Corporate Welfare.
Mr. McCuen is exactly right. Rick Caruso has the “honor and integrity” of a ham sandwich. But the tragic thing about LA Voters is that they can be marketed to elect a ham sandwich. That is precisely what I fear because Rick Caruso would rip of the taxpayers worse than his crooked and convicted father.
Look if you’re looking for the perfect human being to run for Mayor they don’t exist. Every candidate has something people will be against. You weigh all the candidates and their success and decide who would be the best. Caruso in my estimation knows how to work with people. Ask many of the residents he’s had meetings with in areas where his developments had them questioning. In the end he and the residents came to compromises. This is the type of man he is and many of us stand behind him.
@Anonymous on May 15, 2011 6:44 AM,
This has nothing to do with “imperfections.” It has to do with promoting a crook for Mayor to fix an already corrupt City. You don’t allow the fox to guard chicken coupe.
I don’t have a problem with those who call for a fiscally conservative leader who will address pension and labor issues.
But a good leader will also address the wasteful taxpayer subsidies of wealthy developers. Just look at all the gifts real estate developers are given in Los Angeles with the Wilshire Grand Hotel and the Vine Street(Katersky) project.
I don’t like the current crop of candidates from within, but seeking a crook like Caruso is not the answer either – and would actually be worse.
Can we draft Mike Mullen?
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Annapolis and Monterey graduate, Vietnam veteran, 40+ years in the USN where he rose from ensign to full admiral, co of three different warships, VCNO, and current CJCS…he’s 64 now, and retirement age is 65, unless his career is extended.
Talk about a game changer.
Can we draft Mike Mullen?
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Annapolis and Monterey graduate, Vietnam veteran, 40+ years in the USN where he rose from ensign to full admiral, co of three different warships, VCNO, and current CJCS…he’s 64 now, and retirement age is 65, unless his career is extended.
Talk about a game changer.
You (Brad Smith) were an excellent candidate for CD-12 and perhaps Mike Mullen would be a great candidate for Mayor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Mullen
Eisenhower was an excellent excellent example of a military leader who transitioned into a political leader flawlessly.
But I also remember Navy Vice Admiral David L. Brewer not being successful in his role at LAUSD arguably a political position.