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ERIC PREVEN’S NOTEBOOK - Alright, Freeway Fighters, buckle up because this Friday is shaping up to be an absolute Cluster f— in LA. If you found Tuesday's Board meeting clustery and Wednesday’s City Council meeting off-putting, this will blow your mind. With the Dodgers kicking off Game 1 of the World Series against the Yankees, and more major events like the Lakers-Suns showdown at Crypto, USC battling Rutgers, and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd jamming out at the Intuit Dome, traffic is going to be breathtaking. Oh, and don't forget about the big high school football rivalries pulling crowds to SoFi.
This is what I call a "Friday Cluster" of epic proportions, and you know what that means? The Council might pull a hurry-up huddle and rush through the agenda faster than you can say 'traffic jam,' in a bid to escape the chaos. And don’t even get me started on the toxic air— Castaic, can you hear me?
The topper: DA George Gascon’s likely announcement on the Menendez brothers. Yes, it’s a bid for last-minute political points prior to re-election, so not clear why he's choosing this timeslot. Nothing says “I care about justice” like shoving an announcement between five major events into a citywide traffic blackhole. Pro tip: It will make it in Sunday's paper!
The Blue Crew + Kathryn Barger. Note Chair Horvath on one foot; refusing to put hand in the foam finger.
Meanwhile, the Council’s meeting agenda is dull. They’re (not really) tackling streetlights, nuisance liens, illegal dumping, and starting a fight with the Union Pacific railroad... but good luck getting the public to care —"Go Dodgers!!!!"
Is the DA's creepy announcement going to get buried in the melee, or will it steal the spotlight?
Ride the metro, if you can, but be careful. Fun Fact: In the early 1900s, sportswriter Charles Dryden nicknamed the team the Trolley Dodgers after the Brooklyn pedestrians who dodged streetcars in the city.
All The News That Fits My Agenda:
The controversy over Patrick Soon-Shiong blocking the Los Angeles Times' endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris is a clear case of billionaires manipulating political narratives. Mariel Garza, the editor who resigned in protest, nailed it: this is about protecting public discourse. When wealth is used to steer or suppress it, democracy takes a hit. Pffft.
Soon-Shiong’s claim of neutrality falls flat. The same paper that went after Trump is now avoiding a logical endorsement of Harris. Is this really about balance, or safeguarding personal interests in a political system run by elites?
This isn’t isolated. Elon Musk’s $1 million voter registration sweepstakes, flagged by the Justice Department, shows how billionaires like Musk, a Trump supporter, use their fortune to influence elections and reshape public opinion. Then there’s Bill Gates quietly donating $50 million to a dark money group supporting Harris, showing how even so-called neutral players can sway outcomes with their wealth.
Billionaires like Soon-Shiong, Musk, and Gates are wielding unchecked power to control politics and media, drowning out ordinary Americans in a system dominated by money. Soon-Shiong’s move at the Times isn’t just about Harris—it exposes how vulnerable media independence really is.
Times Endorsed:
Once again, the Los Angeles Times editorial board has rolled out selective endorsements, mostly avoiding the messier political arenas. For U.S. Senate, they’ve backed Adam Schiff, Trump’s chief prosecutor, calling him “experienced, practical, thoughtful.” But how does Soon-Shiong’s refusal to endorse in the presidential race square with supporting the man who led Trump’s impeachment? Selective neutrality much?
Laura Friedman, their pick for the 30th Congressional District, is praised for focusing on smart legislation—oh, and the speed camera rollout, so she’ll get both credit and blame when that headache arrives.
Mark Gonzalez, running for Assembly District 54, is framed as a seasoned staffer, but let’s be real—he’s more of a Democratic Party insider than a true advocate for the people. He knows how to work the machine.
Then there’s Steve Napolitano, endorsed for Office No. 39, who worked for Don Knabe while moonlighting as a lawyer. The Timescalls his experience "balanced," but let’s not forget the baggage he carries from LA’s political rackets.
In the end, the Times sticks to "safe" endorsements—provided Patrick Soon-Shiong gives his approval.
Cold City:
City Clerk: Caller ending with the digits 2616 unmute yourself.
Smart Speaker: Yeah, it's Eric Preven from Studio City, I'd like to speak on all the items and a general public comment.
Jonathan Groat, Deputy City Attorney: Good afternoon, you'll have three minutes for the items and one minute for general public comment. Please begin with the items.
Smart Speaker: Okay, well the appointments to the charter reform commission are of note, Jorge Nuno, is a guy who runs two places, one is like a communication group that loves to get guys like Marqueece Harris-Dawson elected and he's also in the weed business. The other guy, I think he worked for Jose Huizar and works at the Metropolitan Water District so these are great independent appointments. These are highly connected guys who are gonna “help out” so interesting work.
And thanks to the TM23 foundation that De Leon was talking about and thanks to Jurado for running against him... but getting to the items I would also suggest that the speed bumps in CD2 should be contextualized because Krekorian is leaving now and here's a $200 thousand dollar what have you or maybe more I don't know and ...it's very suspicious that this would be happening right now as his handpicked sleepy sidekick Adrin Nazarian will be taking over - he’s married to the woman who runs the office of friendly business taxation-breaks.
And how upsetting that the budget and finance presentation was not delivered to the public before the full council today, especially given that we have all these swirling issues about liability and isn't it odd Blumenfield, nice to see you up there again Sir, how I've been talking about the liability crisis for more than five years; you'll recall I sued the county and won at the California Supreme Court forcing them to disclose private legal bills for shameful public problems …fondly known as the ACLU/Preven attorney-client privilege case. You have the same problem here at City Hall--
Jonathan Groat, Deputy City Attorney: You're speaking about items that are not open for public comment, so I need you to stick to the agenda. You can speak to this during general if you'd like.
Smart Speaker: You are telling me what I should be speaking about can I speak about the housing units?
Jonathan Groat, Deputy City Attorney: Yes, as long as its one of the items open for public comment.
Smart Speaker: I think a good rule of thumb, next to Rule 7 and Rule 12 is the rule that you should shut the fuck up so that you don't distract public speakers.
Jonathan Groat, Deputy City Attorney: You have been warned that you are not on topic and I’m going to move you to general public comment, you have one minute. Go ahead, you can continue your current thought.
Smart Speaker: Let's go to general public comment and shout out to Judge David O. Carter the Federal judge who is applying all sorts of pressure to the county and the city for their various malfeasances. For the endless cycling and finger-pointing and playing games where accountability is concerned. Like here, comments blocked in favor of some kind of grandstanding. Today was among the most embarrassing in a series of very embarrassing meetings. You don't have to love the Vice Presidential candidate Melina Abdullah to hear her loud and clear. She brought students from her class down to city hall today... expecting engagement and all she got was draconian Krekorian policies. And I do think, the suggestion that Eunisses Hernandez take over as the head of the budget and finance committee is a good idea. Matt Szabo, by contrast, after years of diligent murky work, ought to resign, on the grounds that he is in over his head. This is the worst mess I’ve ever seen and Paul Krekorian gets all of the credit as well as blame. Thank you.
Hot County:
Moderator: Our first participant is Eric Preven. Your line is open. If you are muted, please unmute and speak directly into your phone. You may begin.
Smart Speaker: Thank you. Will I be getting two minutes for two items? Yes or no? Please don't waste my time—
Sup. Lindsey Horvath, Chair: It's one minute.
Smart Speaker: Yes or no? One or two minutes. Thank you for the thoughtful invocation, very upsetting.
Sup. Lindsey Horvath, Chair: I said one minute, sir.
Dave Roberts, Aaron Boone go from UCLA-USC rivalry to Dodgers-Yankees. Chair Horvath adores the Dodgers but prefers to make up her own rules.
Smart Speaker: Okay. We didn't hear you. Thank you for the invocation and NO thanks for the cancellation of the meetings on October 15th and November 19th. And going into closed session to talk about the Alliance lawsuit, shoutout to the federal judge David O. Carter who has not been afraid to call out LAHSA and the V.A. as well. Carter is a veteran himself and a UCLA grad. LAHSA is dragging their feet and he banged his fist and said "Just do it!" He did the same thing with folks putting up stadium parking at the V.A. as opposed to housing veterans. I think it's Brentwood up there, but reminiscent of the entitlement you find at Harvard-Westlake.
Executive Officer: Thank you, your time has expired. Next speaker, please.
Moderator: Madam Chair, there are no other remote speakers in the queue to address the board.
Sup. Lindsey Horvath, Chair: Thank you very much. That concludes our public comment on the closed-session items. While we're in closed session, we will be showing video presentations...
Moderator: Our first participant is Eric Preven. Your line is open. If you're muted, please unmute and speak directly into your phone. You may begin.
Smart Speaker: Thank you very much. And thank you to the chair for the vision on this. Of course, I suggested the city freshen up their pronouns when the city did something similar with their charter, but I think it's great. I want to thank the staff at County Counsel because a lot of people think you just put the charter in a nice fancy word processor GPT machine, and it just spits it all out. Well, that's not how it works. They, and I underscore they, did a very good job checking all the details.
One other area where they might want to take a quick look-see is in the rules of public comment and how a supervisor might be encouraged to avoid having a four-hour closed-session at the top of the show, where we're accustomed to glad-handing and smiling presentations followed by a brief round of harsh criticism—
Moderator: This item is on using gender-inclusive language in our code.
Smart Speaker: Yes, they want to use language acuity. Thank you your honor, we should strive for a bit more pubic friendly meeting—
Executive Officer: Thank you, your time has expired.
Moderator: Our next participant is Eric Preven. Your line is open. You may begin.
Smart Speaker: Thank you. It's Eric Preven. It's unfortunate I missed Little Italy Day. It was nice to hear you mention Joe Buscaino but you forgot to mention his best buddy, Eric Garcetti, another great Italian. In terms of AANHPI and heart health in particular, thank you for this. I believe we all have to do everything we can. And I think it's great the way Supervisor Horvath is carving a path for the connections to these AANHPI communities where she can do her most self-serving work, expanding her influence, as she attempts to push through Measure G over the objection of literally half the supervisors. We can't actually do half because there are five, so you also can't get half of nine supervisors, but a 5-4 majority does the trick.
All I would say is, mazel tov on this wonderful recognition and for addressing heart health. A ten-year early onset compared to other ethnicities is significant, and we need to verify that and do everything we can to fight against it. Thank you for this important recognition.
Executive Officer: Thank you.
Smart Speaker: Thank you, it's Eric Preven. What an extraordinary effort just to participate in this meeting—it’s 4:37 pm. For the record, item 17. I want to thank Supervisor Mitchell for effectively up-ending the County Board of Supervisors’ whole cluster meeting program. Nobody would argue, I’m not a close county watcher, but I have no idea when these clusters meet. I tried to go to a cluster meeting once, and Randy Tahara looked at me so nasty, I had to go back to Studio City. These cluster meetings are super sneaky—that's how the County Board of Supervisors operates. Measure G for the record should die on the vine. Supervisor Hahn, you should be ashamed of yourself for supporting it.
It’s the same weird initiative—if you can't serve two million people, what makes you think you can serve one million? If you want to study the Boards' Rules, great... why not start by looking at the board rules about the way we engage during public meetings? Why not have a clear, fair shot on items that speakers want to address?
Executive Officer: Your time has expired.
Imagine waiting eight hours to speak, only to deliver these impactful public comments:
Castaic Speaker: Janie Dyke, a longtime Castaic resident, shared her heart-wrenching story of living near a toxic landfill. Over the past two years, she developed an autoimmune disease directly linked to benzene fumes from the landfill, which triggers such illnesses. With her husband suffering severe eye swelling and her 7-year-old son experiencing debilitating migraines, her family’s life has been drastically impacted. Despite running air purifiers constantly, she feels like she has the flu every day. Janie highlighted the critical need for action, as others in her community are also being diagnosed with autoimmune diseases and cancer.
Probation Supervisor: Norm Johnson, representing the Association of Probation Supervisors, voiced frustration over his unit being without a contract for over three years—making them the only SEIU group still working without one. His focus wasn’t on money but on the need for fair working conditions, safety protocols, and proper tools to do their jobs effectively. While the fact-finding report is complete, Johnson demanded clarity on when it would be implemented, stressing that any further delays are unacceptable. He reminded the Board that his members have continued to serve the county tirelessly during this period without protection, calling for immediate action.
Derailment Wednesday:
Smart Speaker: Big thanks to Marqueece Harris-Dawson, our cowardly lion, for once again skipping my number for public comment and still dodging any real explanation on how the city chooses—or avoids choosing—certain speakers. Gotta love that so-called "transparency."
And hey, shout-out to Imelda Padilla and Eunisses Hernandez for showing the public zero respect in committee. Real trust-building behavior, right?
Before I get into the anti-public nonsense on the agenda, let me quickly call out Jonathan Groat for his constant interruptions. Dude’s job isn’t to shut us down—it’s to make sure things run by the book. But he’s all about cutting speakers off like he’s got somewhere better to be.
Now, onto something fun: the restaurant and karaoke bar over at 3300 West 8th Street in CD10. They’re currently open ‘til 12 a.m. on weekdays and 1:30 a.m. on weekends. How about we let them stay open ‘til 4 a.m.? I mean, what’s it take to keep the karaoke and drinks flowing a little longer?
And speaking of deals... Connie Ballmer (yep, Steve’s wife) threw a cool $1 million at Newsom to help squash the recall, and Steve’s crew dropped another $220,000 on lobbying this year. And—what do you know—Newsom turns around and grants a nice little exception that benefits Ballmer’s family. Coincidence? Sure.
Meanwhile, Nam Kouen Kim, the guy in this case, only dropped $500 each to Heather Hutt and Kevin De Leon. Totally legal, but maybe our younger council members should get a grip on the difference between legit support and backroom wheeling and dealing.
Here’s a quick cheat sheet: Bribery? That’s straight-up illegal. Promising future profits for permits? Also illegal. Making secret deals to dodge the rules? Yeah, totally unlawful. On the legal side, there’s campaign contributions—as long as they’re above board—and lobbying, which is just paid advocacy. Then there’s building real community support, which is what businesses should be doing instead of making shady deals.
Anyway, y’all need to pull your heads out of the sand and start navigating these waters ethically. Public trust is a fragile thing, and if you keep playing fast and loose, it’s gonna crack wide open.
Imelda Padilla: Closed Session Leader:
In March 2024, the City Council denied Bonseph Helinet LLC (BHL) a development lease at Van Nuys Airport, citing concerns over inadequate standards and a biased RFP process. BHL, mainly a foreign stock corporation despite claiming to be a helicopter company, sued the City, arguing that the lease should have been automatically accepted under City Charter Section 606. However, the City followed proper protocol, and the Court is expected to rule in its favor.
Creepy drone flying over Studio City...
Recently, BHL's attempt to block Air Center Aviation from joining the lawsuit failed, leaving BHL's case weakened ahead of the December 19, 2024 trial. Go Dodgers!
(Eric Preven is a longtime community activist and is a contributor to CityWatch.)
