Ron Kaye L.A.

Whodunit Chapter Three: Who's killing my neighborhood?

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:04:54 -0800

Chapter Three: Westside Rentals

One of the mysteries that befuddled me about this case was how a single-family house became three apartments with six bedrooms, four bathrooms, three kitchens and a studio apartment. In 2,047 square feet. With a combined rental asking price of $5,500.

No, it's not exactly solving the affordable housing problem but it does prove people can live in incredibly small spaces like ants.

My investigation took me to Westside Rentals, the company with the sign in front of the illegal conversion that's threatening the well-being of Tract 17111, my neighborhood.

If you believe the L.A. Times, Westside Rentals provides a great service to the public and is a very successful business allowing landlords to put up listings free and charging prospective tenants $60 to see them. In a story on May 2 under the headline "How I Made It," the Times informed us that owner Mark Verge's Santa Monica-based company employs "80 people and lists about 20,000 apartments, houses and rooms for rent."

No mention is made that at least three of those listings at the time were for an illegal conversion that had been cited by the Department of Building and Safety for construction without a permit

Verge said his first big purchase when he got rich with his westsiderentals.com website was a $50,000 race horse named "Hide from the Bride" and he dreams of doing a reality TV show called "Rental Man" His motivation for getting into the rental listing business was pretty idealistic: "The business had a really bad name to it."

Since he is an idealist who advises "Meet everyone and treat them all the same" I figured I'd give him a call and see if he could take me through how the owners of this house found two tenants already and are looking for a third for the big unit, three bedrooms, two baths, $2,095 a month -- a $400 drop in the original asking price.

I asked to talk to Verge , explaining I was a journalist, and was immediately put through to Kevin Miller, head of operations, who was cordial and open about the fact the company is merely a go-between. Landlords put up their listings, people search the listings, contact the landlord and decide whether to rent the house or apartment.

"It's all their own business," he said. "We don't get involved at all."

I noted the contract people agree to when signing up is extremely long and detailed and frees Westside of all responsibility. So what happens when there are complaints, I asked.

"We don't get involved in that. It's all 'he said,' 'she said.' You got to take it with a grain of salt. We're not the police."

Life without a newspaper...can smaller be better?

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:33:46 -0800

I'm a newspaperman, or was for 44 years, and it's painful to see what's happening.

My paper gets thinner and thinner and the staff gets smaller and smaller to the point people who work at the Daily News and people who read it wonder if it can survive. It's happening all over the country as advertising revenue dries up and it happened today, again, at the L.A. Times.

The Times' announced today that it will cut the space in the paper by 15 percent and lay off 150 editors and reporters, about 17 percent of its staff. It will bring the total editorial staff to about 700, compared to the peak of 1,200 a few years back.

For those who lose their jobs -- and I had to look a lot of them in the eye when I told them their jobs at the Daily News were being eliminated -- it's a personal catastrophe. There's not a whole lot of jobs that use the same skill sets. There's not a whole lot of jobs that are as much fun as newspapering.

Many papers will not survive the current problems or become little more than small, very local news operations online and in print.

But the Times is in a class by itself. A lot of its resources are tied up in news gathering in faraway places around the world, around the nation, that are expensive operations and of lower value to most readers. Despite its pretentions, The Times after all is not the New York Times or Wall Street Journal or Washington Post for that matter.

You can bet a lot of the cuts will come from out of town news operations and for the first time in nearly 50 years the Times will have to become a Los Angeles newspaper. I have said many times, not without some irony, that the Times is criminal in its neglect of L.A., its lack of vision for Southern California, and that it would be a better paper with 600 reporters and editors than it was with 1,200.

Few in the business agree with me and the whining and caterwauling you'll hear over these cuts will drown out all contrarian views.

City of Limits: When is enough enough?

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:25:01 -0800

Twenty years ago, I produced a story at the Daily News headlined "City of Lmits" that spelled out how a century of growth at any price must come to an end -- the nation's dirtiest air, worst traffic congestion, sprawl over five counties, soaring poverty, loss of good-paying jobs, gang-infested neighborhoods -- imperiled the Southern California dream.

I still think that story by reporter Karen West was the truest and most important story I was ever involved in.

Not much has changed in the last two decades. In fact, the problems have gotten worse. And the city, county and state have done little or nothing to develop strategies to deal with these issues.

Growth at any price is still at the heart of public policy despite the lip service occasionally paid to the environmental and quality of life issues.

And to me that's a crime. It's why I so passionately believe that only a grassroots movement, a people's revolution, can turn things around. It's why I'm hoping we'll get a large crowd to City Hall on July 14 to launch a concerned citizens coalition that can snowball into a region-wide movement that will seize control of the political system and turn things around.

I know a lot of people believe that's a pipedream. So be it. A lot of people also believe it's the only strategy that will create a balance of interests and power between labor, business and the communities.

At the heart of the problem is the belief that we always have to have more and newer instead of enough and better.

Whodunit Chapter Two: Who's killing my neighborhood?

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:39:29 -0800

I caught up with the neighbor lady Monday. It was hot, like only the Valley can be, when I walked to the corner and took a look at the house illegally converted into apartments.

There was a guy who didn't look all that healthy trying to get his car started in the driveway and sign in front: For Rent, Westside Rentals. I wrote down the phone number.

As I talked with my neighbor I looked around her house. It was filled with memories and memorabilia of the 50 years she and husband had lived there. A good life, the house they raised their children in and sometimes look after their grandchildren in now. It was home, she said, and I knew what she meant.

I hadn't had a home, a real home, since I was 18 until I moved into Tract 17111 as it's identified in government documents. For my wife and I and our son, our little bungalow was home, too, a happy home. It's what the Valley is all about, middle-class tracts like ours where neighbors know each other and look after each other, where people from all over the world, people of every race and religion live quietly and unpretentiously, in harmony.

And someone was trying to destroy that, infecting a deadly virus, a broken window, into our little piece of paradise. It's a crime these things are happening.

That's certainly how my neighbor feels about this. She was calm but clear as she described her frustration over months to get this attack on our way of life stopped by the city, by Councilman Dennis Zine's office, by somebody. But to the city it was nothing but a minor annoyance, just a routine "unapproved construction" problem -- no an attack on the quality of our lives, our neighborhood.

She and some other neighbors got the runaround from Zine's office and the bureaucrats for weeks as they tried to figure out how to get somebody to do something.

Finally, they drew up a petition that says in part:: "This community and others like it will not exist if investor-buyers succeed in violating zoning laws to create multiple family dwellings in single family dweIling zones and utilize schemes such as deliberate re-sales to associates, friends, and/or family, in order to delay government action."

I was hooked. Foul play was alleged. I loved the idea of playing a journalistic Columbo right in my own backyard but as we talked I learned my neighbor already had the part of Mrs. Columbo down pat.

Hands free crackdown under way

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:34:46 -0800

My wife was out on her early morning jaunt through the neighborhood with Bruno the beast this morning and couldn't help noticing -- news maven as she is -- the number of drivers chatting away with cell phones at their ear.

It is after all the first day of the rest of our lives with our hands free, even though our minds may be far away in conversation.

And then she saw the motorcycle cops, red lights flashing, with victims pulled over to the side of the road.

Being the kind of person she is -- a cell phone hater -- she couldn't help commenting to one of the cops about the latest add-on to his role as server and protector of society.

"Just trying to save lives," he told her, with a friendly smile.

So watch yourself out there, friends, it's dangerous. The phone police are on the job -- and don't get hit by a stray bullet from some street thug.

Ron's whodunit: Who's killing my neighborhood?

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:23:49 -0800

Chapter One

I'd suspected something was amiss for a while but until I heard the knock on the door I looked the other way like everybody else.

It was Saturday and there was a neighbor lady standing there. She held a piece of paper in her hand.

"Do you know what's happened?"

Bruno was going crazy, yowling and lunging at the screen door with the full force of that giant head of his, 60 pounds of pit bull/shar-pei fury. Damn, I wish my wife had never taken him in from the bushes just because she thought he'd kill somebody.

"Shut up, Bruno," I yelled to no avail.

The woman was unfazed.

"You know that house they turned into a board-and-care facility five, six years ago. The one at the corner? It's been converted into three apartments with kitchens and baths. It's illegal. Did you see who's moving in? We can't get the city to do anything ."

I perked up. This was my beat. I stepped outside, yelled at Bruno one more time and said: "You've knocked on the right door, ma'm. My name is Ron. Maybe I can help."

She and another lady were going door to door with petitions. They'd been trying for months. It's an illegal conversion. It's got to be stopped.

I got the picture clear enough. Our tract of modest bungalows on the Valley floor was threatened. Quiet streets, no through traffic, no crime, nice people. The only time we see a cop is when our next door neighbor comes by.

"I'm busy," I told her. "We'll talk."

To be continued....

And the Antonio sells L.A. contest winner is...

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:02:28 -0800

I promised five double-doubles to the person who comes closest to guessing how much money the mayor raised at the end of the June 30 reporting period and if my info is correct Ethel B. gets the In-N-Out prize -- regular, with onions or animal style.

The tip I've heard is Villaraigosa hauled in somewhere between $1.6 million and $!.7 million to scare off as many challengers as possible. God knows what that will cost taxpayers although my rule of thumb is L.A. politicians come cheap so the bill for making special interests happy could be spectacular.

If I'm right, Ethel B. gets the prize with a guess of $1.65 million...though we'll have to test her crystal ball for possible doping. Congratulations Ethel, bon appetit!

Home Depot Update: City treats activists like criminals

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:56:26 -0800

I don't make this stuff up: No Home Depot activists finally got their chance Monday to examine 1,000 pages of city documents in the long-running controversy but the city's Dispute Resolution Program facilitator had them searched when they arrived and kept cops around in case they turned violent.

"You just can't be too careful these days," the facilitator told the two activists.

"And will Home Depot be searched and guarded when they show up for their appointment?"

"Absolutely," he assured us.

You can read the full story for yourself at the No Home Depot website.

All I know is that it's no way to treat the people of this city for standing up for their basic civil rights.

Media, politics and the conspiracy of consciousness

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:27:07 -0800

You got to feel for Walter Moore. Maybe he should just call himself "Wally" and dress up and act like Rodney Dangerfield who plays an obnoxious talk show host in a 1997 movie that at least got some reviews.

Whatever your politics, you ought to support Moore at least getting looked at by the local media, having his public fund-raising events at least get a brief notice and at least have examined why his constituency is so aroused by Jamiel's Law which would crack down on illegal immigrants in gangs.

But poor Walter gets totally ignored in the media -- except for radio talk show hosts like Doug McIntyre on KABC and blogs like Mayor Sam.

Moore held a fund-raiser at Cal State Northridge on Saturday and 300 people showed up so he can get a crowd. He raised about 10 bucks a piece from them to put his campaign warchest at $107,000 so he'll qualify for city matching funds. But he got no press coverage. Stories written about the upcoming mayoral election.state Antonio Villaraigosa as the only announced candidate and refer to the fortune he's raising for his campaign and the possibility that billionaire developer Rick Caruso who's vacationing in Italy is the only possible serious candidate who might challenge him.

In the eyes of the media, it's a coronation, not an election.

This isn't new. Across the country, the corporate media are complicit with the vast machinery of big government, big money and big politics. It's been that way a long time, ever since half the papers in the country went out of business in the 1950s and 1960s because of their inability to compete with television.

All that was left of a once free and vibrant press was corporate ownership of mostly monopoly newspapers. Gone were the 12 papers in New York, the eight in L.A. with a variety of owners and a variety of politics, styles and points of view. Instead, what we got was journalism that reduced politics to on the one hand this and the other hand that as if there were only two ways to see any issue. The result was apathy, alienation, the loss of freedom of expression and the vital public conversations that lead to compromise and progress.

Some think it's all an overt conspiracy but that wasn't my experience in my 44 years in newspapers and publications of various types in many parts of the country.

What there was and is today is a conspiracy of consciousness, a shared belief of journalists that what they're told by the vast army of political operatives and politicians -- and what they tell each other -- is the American political reality, that the political reality inside the world they operate in is the political reality of Americans.

That is the big lie.

Join the Saving L.A. Protest on Bastille Day

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:35:26 -0800

(This article was written for Nina Royal's North Valley Reporter and published in the current issue distributed this weekend.)

All across Los Angeles, thousands of people -- many of whom I've gotten to know over the years -- have been fighting City Hall to preserve, protect or improve their neighborhoods.

These are often long, drawn-out struggles that test their endurance, their ability to organize and mobilize their neighbors whether it's to get a streetlight or crosswalk, stop or modify a development, crack down on criminals and nuisances or the hundreds of other issues that come up from time to time.

Often, they are treated with arrogance bordering on contempt, drowned in meaningless lip service, beset with bureaucratic obstacles or overwhelmed by the clout of insiders -- the developers, contractors or the influence peddlers who posture as lobbyists, lawyers, p.r. types or consultants of one type of another. And, of course, there's the unions.

I don't honestly know how so many never give up and stay true to their cause.

I've been fighting City Hall too out of my own sense of right and wrong but I was also paid for it as an editor at the Daily News. Now that I'm retired from that role and blogging and involved as a community activist I can speak openly about my motivation and personal beliefs.

Like most of the people who don't get involved, I could go on just fine and look the other way and pretend not to see the giant flashing billboard around the corner, the megastore down the street, the McMansion at the corner or the failure of my neighborhood schools.

In fact, I do that in a lot of ways but what I can't stomach is what has happened to L.A. during the last 30 years, an era in which city government has become owned and paid for by special interests who have no sense of purpose beyond their own greed.

The result is L.A. is at the tipping point.

Beating DWP's dead horse: New report again claims "all" water met "all" safety standards

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:54:03 -0800

The recent DWP public relations stunt to drop 400,000 black plastic balls on a reservoir in Silver Lake led me to take a closer look at the utility's 2006 annual water quality report which claimed "all' water everyone in L.A. drank that year met "all" state and federal health safety standards.

But hidden in plain sight in the fine print in language that obscured the truth was the fact that much of the water contained contaminants above those standards. The DWP, following inadequate environmental laws, claimed the opposite by taking an average of all its water tests -- not specifying how long and in what areas people got tainted water that far exceeded the average for the year.

Well the 2007 DWP water quality report came out this week and probably showed up in your mail in the last day or two.

Again, DWP General Manager David Nahai -- the conservationist whose personal use of water far exceeds the average L.A. residents -- again hides the truth behind a lump sum annual average.

"Last year, all 200 billion gallons of water supplied to the 4 million residents of Los Angeles met or surpassed all health-based drinking water standards," Nahai wrote.

Again, the DWP acknowledges that chlorine used to disinfect water sometimes results in creation of carcinogens that studies suggest could be harmful to health, especially to pregnant women and unborn fetuses. The department continues to promise to use chloramines instead of chlorine soon, something that has been an issue for years.

In the tables we find that the disinfection process in 2007 led to levels of trihalomethanes (TTHM) that average 68 units, which is slightly below the standard of 80. However, the range was 18 to 132 units, meaning a lot of water exceeded the standard.

The same was true for haleoacetic acids, another by product of disinfection, which averaged 42 units compared to a standard of 60. However, the range was 7 to 173 units.

Not to worry though, if you want to take DWP's word for it
.

Bastille Day protest leader finds the bottleneck of the week

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:52:44 -0800

Hooray for urban cyclist Stephen Box who's the lead organizer for the July 14 Bastille Day protest at City Hall. He won this week's L.A. Times' Bottleneck Blog contest by submitting this photo and report on a Hollywood traffic hazard you wouldn't believe.

"This patch of roadway abomination is found on Western Avenue, northbound approaching Lexington. It is part of a much larger network of roadway cracks, gaps and holes that keep Western Avenue cyclists alert...

"It wasn't until a bus rolled by that I realized that the pothole was actually a series of asphalt islands that "floated" or moved independently of each other, offering a sophisticated "suspension" quality to the roadway, evidence that perhaps this was not simply another pothole network but perhaps an experimental LADOT roadway innovation! The "comfort lane!"

"The roadway is so broken that the safest place to ride is out to the left edge of the curb lane, maintaining a straight line and controlling the lane. The cyclist above demonstrates the correct lane positioning for Western Avenue. This is true for many of the larger boulevards in the area, from Vermont and Western to Hollywood and Sunset.

"To those who might argue that the cyclist should give up the lane to motor vehicle traffic and ride the gutter pan, another obstacle awaits! Granted, the city of Los Angeles has a grate replacement program under way, but it only covers an average of 5 grates per Council District. ~~Grate!~~ Great!

"Ultimately, I'd gladly trade all the promises of a network of bikeways in the sweet by-and-by for a simple roadway maintenance program that puts a priority on keeping the curb lanes ridable. The big streets really can work for many, they actually get across town, there's space, when traffic is flowing it's a great place to ride...but the potholes!

"Clean up the curb lane, it's good for cyclists and that is good for all of us!"

This is one of the many reasons Stephen has gotten involved in trying to make L.A. a great city instead of a pothole hell without anywhere near the number of bike lanes a great city of the 21st century should have.

What do you think is wrong with L.A.? What do you want to see happen that would make it the city you think is great? When will you get mad enough to do something about it?

People from all over L.A. are committed to coming to City Hall to air their gripes at noon July 14 and help launch the Saving L.A. Project -- S.L.A.P. -- a citywide coalition of concerned citizens who are ready to work together to Take Back L.A. and Demand A Great City.

Take Back L.A. -- Demand A Great City

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 03:03:46 -0800

That's the slogan we've come up with for the Bastille Day rally at City Hall at noon July 14.

It is meant to launch a new era in L.A., to give birth to a democratic movement that empowers the people and the communities to solve the growing problems caused by a failing educational system and a failing government.

The battle for a greater Los Angeles will not be won through pleading for our leaders to solve the city's problems or through a series of reforms or at the ballot box.

It can only be won through people power. Thousands of people across the city have worked hard to make their communities better and become angry and frustrated by the lip service, the indifference, the arrogance, of a system taken hostage by special interests.

The Saving L.A. Project -- S.L.A.P. -- is organizing a rally for July 14, Bastille Day, the moment the French Revolution began, to launch a movement that will bring together people who love L.A. and want to see change. The protest will start at noon at the South Lawn of City Hall.

Already, people from San Pedro to Sunland-Tujunga and many neighborhoods between them have committed to come to the rally and dump their grievances at City Hall and demand redress.

It is the start of something big. In numbers there is strength and by forming a coalition of concerned citizens we can make a difference, something dozens of local community groups have been unable to achieve over decades of struggling.

Take Back L.A. -- Demand A Great City. That's the theme of the protest. And greatness is our goal.

Great schools where every child is given the opportunity to learn and realize their full potential.

Great neighborhoods, free of gangs and the constant menace of violence, where families can live in safety.

Great businesses that add to the quality of life and provide great jobs.

We must confront the traffic congestion now by finding solutions that give people the choice between walking, biking, busing or driving from place to place.

We must become partners in every development to make sure that every project enhances the quality of our lives.

L.A. is a great place and now it must become a great city before it is too late.

The path we are being led down is the road to ruin, a city of rich and poor. A great city is built around the middle class and offers opportunity to all to achieve that It is not built out of mansions in guarded enclaves and slums under the control of hoodlums.

The people of the city must become full partners with the government in deciding how L.A. moves forward and that can only be achieved by having the power to help or hurt our political leaders. For too long, developers, contractors and public employee unions have held all the power and the residents of L.A. are left begging for what they believe will protect or improve their lives.

The Saving L.A. Project will change that by forming a united front. We don't have to agree on everything. We just need to support each other in our efforts to make our communities better and our city greater.

Come to the Bastille Day rally. Join hands with your neighbors. This is the birth of real democracy in L.A. where the people are the bosses and the politicians and bureaucrats are the public servants.

Why rats -- vermin and human -- are so happy in L.A.

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:17:17 -0800

Think about this: The city has $8 billion to spend every year but it somehow can't provide even basic services.

That's more money than City Hall has had in history, yet there is a $400 million deficit that has been papered over and there aren't enough cops, housing inspectors, planners, traffic engineers or -- now we learn -- cleanup crews.

The Times today exposes the travesty of neighborhoods waiting up to two months for Public Works crews to clean up unhealthy filth left by illegal dumpers, ignoring visible evidence that might lead to those responsible and blaming the lack of staff for its failure.

"We can only run so fast, and right now we're running as fast as we can," said Bruce Howell, the Public Works bureaucrat who oversees alley-cleaning. He's paid $107,824.32, according to the Daily News city salary database, presumably to make excuses and avoid accountability.

Of course, when the mayor and Councilwoman Janice Hahn were about the hold a self-promoting publicity event in Watts a few months ago, trash littering three alleys nearby suddenly got cleaned up -- three weeks after being reported.

The rats must have loved the delay.

What really ought to concern people who want a great city instead of what we got is that the mayor, the Board of Public Works and the council are so out of touch with their responsibilities as the nation's highest paid municipal officials that they didn't know about this breakdown in basic services.

With the Times asking questions, the mayor's office went into high gear. Emergency meetings were held at the highest levels, urgent reports were being prepared and threats of crackdowns were being made.

"The department's response time for this cleanup work is totally unacceptable by any measure," said Villaraigosa spokesman Matt Szabo. "The mayor is not interested in explanations or excuses . . . [and] believes that the bureau is in need of structural change. And he will hold his managers accountable for implementing this change."

Take him at his word. Heads will roll and private firms will be hired in place of city workers to clean up litter faster and cheaper. The revolution at City Hall is under way.

Oh no, that will only happen when the community -- neighborhood councils, resident groups, service clubs, Chambers of Commerce -- join together and take back L.A. and go to work to create the kind of city that's good for people and good for business, a city where the politicians and bureaucrats know it's the people who are the bosses -- not the fatcats, union bosses, developers, contractors and lobbyist machine.

So come all ye faithful to City Hall at noon on Bastille Day July 14 and let City Hall know that a coalition of concerned citizens is forming and the revolution to save L.A. has begun.

Oops, there goes the rest of your income tax rebate -- Antonio joins the orchestrated chorus for transportation tax hike

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:32:25 -0800

Buoyed by polling data that shows just how gullible the public is, the mayor has jumped into the well-orchestrated campaign to build momentum for a third half-cent sales tax to support public transit projects.

We've seen what a great job they've done with the previous two half-cent taxes: Congestion gets worse and worse. And the middle of a recession when people are losing their homes and their jobs and can't afford $5 a gallon for gas or the soaring cost of food staples is a pretty poor time to add yet another tax on top of all the other fee and rate hikes already in place.

Of course, contractors and their agents will donate millions to the campaign -- a small price to pay for billions in return.

That the mayor chose the subway to reveal he's aboard this gravy train is interesting. My understanding has been they've come up with relatively small projects in every part of L.A. County to sucker the public in and then plan to use the money freed up elsewhere in the Metro budget to fund the "subway to the sea" -- which is the real goal.

And that's the problem. Subways are great but we can't afford that now when there's so many other needs to make this a great city. The Orange Line Busway in the Valley was
cheaper and faster to get running and ridership wildly exceeds all expectations.

Combining affordable solutions with tougher regulations on rush-hour truck traffic and requirements that large employers stagger working hours would get relief now and cost a lot less.

But solving the problem of congestion isn't the goal; making the insiders richer is.