Comments
ERIC PREVEN’S WORLD - The committee meetings being reduced to in-person only is another slap across the public's face. Nobody anywhere has been crying for less access and the loss of the significant public benefit of being able to call in with a remark remotely is devastating.
Signed, Mr. Flexibilty
Slapping Mr. Flexibility:
Janice Hahn made a big change at the county board to allow folks to comment on items as long as they were willing to wait around until the board finishes lathering one another up, for say, four hours. Then, in a section known as the 'depleted and frustrated' section, about a third of the people who signed up are heard, briefly.
It's not perfect, but it's much better than Holly MItchell's much ballyhooed and maligned, "Three minutes of silence for the five little queens."
Some items do require special public hearings, while others don't. But in my role as Mr. Flexibility, I favor a world in which any item that the agency has noticed and plans to vote on, should be exposed to any last-minute or pre-thought-out criticism.
It's the only thing that makes sense, which is what is so interesting about the lengths to which Michail N. Feuer would go to avoid fixing the committee exception racket at City Hall. We’ll see about Hydee Feldstein-Soto. ventually, I took the city for a ride to the Appellate court, but it was not necessary. They could have agreed and saved hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars that were paid out to my unscrupulous but effective attorney, and others. The most unscrupulous people make the best junkyard dogs.
State of the City:
Read the Full State of the Air Report.
In Oh Crap news,
Buzzfeed is calling it quits and shutting down. It was one of the first successful online-only news sites, following HuffPost.
Here are ten chapters to today's piece. Is it a listicle? No, that whole thing is gone, done, over. Drop it.
Today's lineup: :
1 Regional Race Revenue:
2 A Star Is Born:
3 Three annoying Haikus:
4 In Big Dick news,
5 In Oh Crap news,
6 In Labor Strife:
7 High Profile, Low Quality:
8 CPRA and Request for Meeting:
9 Hungarian Incentive Program:
10 Big Headline: Budget Hearing Festival reduced to one lonely show
Regional Race Revenue:
Fast X is scheduled to be released in the United States on May 19, 2023, by Universal Pictures. Its sequel, intended to be the main series' final installment, is also in development. Vroom Vroom.
The Long Beach race was exciting and noisy. A real fossil fuel frenzied extravaganza. I realize that that is totally off-message these days, but tourism drives revenue —
The City Council member, Tim Mcosker from the One Five as he calls the fifteenth district of the city of Los Angeles, has the same last name as a promising young CEO named Mcosker, who appears to be running things at Central Cities Association.
LA Mag, get in here!
The only minor snag with the Long Beach motor race other than the fact that we have been awarded the worst Ozone and air in the nation award again was the nonagendized officer-involved shooting.
I have not scanned the details closely but this one appears to be a scenario where the police officer should be praised rather than pilloried.
“Sir, you’re disrupting the meeting.”
A Star Is Born:
And Swanigan’s hat goes off to the City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto, for recognizing that not all police officers are undercover.
We look forward to Feldstein-Soto, who aptly noted recently that even Charles Manson needs a defense, should drop her retaliatory lawsuit against the innocent requester so that we as a city can move forward with Karen Bass’s plan to save LAPD, while also bulking up on alternative responses, such as the Star program from Denver. Thanks to Eunisses et al.
The Long Beach Officer nailed the deranged shooter in the chest, and the suspect apparently survived.
Thank you.
The messaging takeaway on this episode is always "be mindful” of your surroundings.
This last week a 16-year-old boy rang the wrong doorbell. A 20-year-old woman turned into the wrong driveway. And some teenage cheerleaders stopped outside a supermarket, and one of them got into the wrong car.
All of the above incidents ended in gun violence. You're time has expired, but we must not live in fear and naturally, see something, say something.
Simple mistakes ending in gun violence … signal that it is once again time to re-launch the biggest billionaire buyback program + blast! [Haiku version]
Three annoying Haikus:
Generous, the
giving pledge will save the world. Buy
up all the guns stat.
Buy up all the guns, stat
or the giving pledge means
nothing, you scofflaws.
Give the gun owners,
Money, because money buys love.
You are off-topic.
Accept friendly amendments to the above haikus.
In Big Dick news, Elon Musk’s biggest rocket ever blew up. One can only imagine how Curren D. Price must feel. Council member Price has come under fire for his innovative and persistent efforts to build affordable housing.
By deploying the LAPD to ignite fireworks, thereby forcing residents from their homes, the market for refugee housing has been stimulated. Well done, Sir.
Onni, the massive developer from Canada who bought the LA Times building and houses LA Office of Finance suites, will certainly benefit. Diana Mangioglu, the Director is married to Adrin Nazarian, who is running for Paul Krekorian’s seat. Exciting, irritating.
Never mind that Avak Keohtian of the Chief Legislative Analyst's office keeps posting Onni as Omni, thereby infuriating watchdogs and confusing everyone.
Hopefully, Sharon Tso will ensure corrections are posted timely, and rebuke Avak for sauntering in front of public speakers in his signature frumpy jacket and sporty white trousers. At least we are getting toward summer so the white pant look will not seem so out of place.
In Labor Strife:
We do not want a WGA Strike, but we also don’t want Mary McNamara of the LA Times to worry too much about the quality of late-night content.
First of all 90 is the new 60 and people prefer television during access prime time these days, not so late at night, silly.
Also, the public is ready to announce that Jordan Klepper should be given the permanent Trevor Noah job if that hasn’t happened already.
It will always be the Jon Stewart job to me, but Klepper has an authentic voice and a diverse and creative gang.
“Sir, please don’t say gang.”
The only problem with Klepper, frankly, is he is a white guy.
Disclosure: I identify as a white guy, so I can say that, though, I submit the above image from Daily Journal as proof that the public requires close-ups of speakers, to make any findings whatsoever.
Including findings of equity, FYI. #Blumenfield’s Nose
Ted Ross is such a nice man and he knows how to present the speakers in a reasonable format. What if the progressive flank, Unite Here, and the ACLU all take credit for …
Mr. Grabner? Are you ready for your closeup?
High Profile, Low Quality:
To be a Deputy City Attorney who works the local city council meeting in Los Angeles is a high profile but also high-stress job.
You need to know a lot about a diverse array of subjects that appear noticed on the agenda, while also keeping track of the usual suspects’ rule 7 and 12 status.
I've often wondered if Strefan Fauble would know about the Society for the Study and Cure of Inebriety.
It came up again this week as the city was shuffling through another liquor license, out of public convenience or necessity. Or both, frankly. Bottoms up!
The Society was led by a gang of British doctors (and pub rats, presumably) in the 1880s…
“Sir, please do not say gang, and you’re off topic.”
The New Yorker magazine has been making an effort to meet the moment, so released an article on 4/20 about the Psychonauts, a group of thinkers who used substances like cocaine, hashish, and nitrous oxide as early as the 19th century to uncover the secrets of the mind. It will be printed in the April 27th issue.
Go on.
Note: Never experiment with nitrous while driving.
But some kinds of self-medication can be very effective.
Jacques-Joseph Moreau, a mid-nineteenth-century French psychiatrist, I learned, took a strong dose of Hashish in 1840, and found that it was “uniquely educative in the psychiatric context.”
Each of the effects he experienced could be read as a symptom of mental illness: the nervous excitement, the distortion of space and time, and the hallucinatory perceptions.
“Hashish took him to a place that looked and felt like insanity,”
The LA Metro?
“Sir, you’re disrupting the meeting.”
The experience temporarily allowed him to understand his patients with greater nuance: he could now recognize what “the ravings of a madman” were like, having “raved himself.”
Washington, D.C.?
CPRA and Request for Meeting:
To: Nicole Davis Tinkham
Cc: Dawyn Harrison, Baron Kishimoto, Sayuj Panicker
Tue, Apr 18 at 2:05 PM
Please ask CEO Davenport for a copy of the proposed ‘all departments’ budget for the upcoming advocacy trip to DC. Also, a copy of the hotel contract and airline deal if any. Also, the entire roster of attendees as it relates to the parties hosted by the county taxpayers via the BOS.
Finally, confirmation that the board will host a public Zoom meeting on Tuesday the 25th.
Warm regards,
Eric Preven
Hungarian Incentive Program:
Extremism looks appealing from a distance, in the beginning, before the magnificent sunset.
For instance, the country of Hungary had a nice little slide to the right, kick, and turn program to give young breeders little minivans and charming suburban homes to raise up some nice Hungarian chilins.
We be like... aight!
Smart Speaker: Hello, Inga... you're the one.
Inga: Nice to meet you, too.
Colonel: Sir, you're not Hungarian by blood, you're disrupting the program.
Smart Speaker: Easy, Col. I'm planning to marry this full-blooded Hungarian humanities professor who trolled me off CityWatch, is very beautiful, swims like me, and holds a large stake in a tech portfolio that has exceeded expectations. She makes goulash and checks a lot of boxes.
Colonel: Sir, this is a program exclusively for Hungarians of verified Hungarian descent.
You don't check that box. No, van for you. (gently poking with AK-47) Would you mind stepping onto this train?
Smart Speaker: No, and that's a Brown Act violation.
Big Headline: Budget Hearing Festival reduced to one lonely show
In Tagalog, they'd call this a tsismis—idle talk, juicy gossip.
A well-regarded agitant who is frequently proven right and occasionally taken as an African American is demanding virtual public testimony, at all City of Los Angeles committee meetings. #Blumenfield’s Nose
And as it relates to the upcoming budget hearings it is now coming into focus that Bob Blumenfield is planning one continuous meeting that is recessed from day to day.
I thought we had discussed that with Judge Nieto and Scott Marcus of City Attorney.
Let me quote the great Dr. Mark Ridley-Thomas "Check yourself before your wreck yourself."
We know that the city council adores hearing from the public... but out of an abundance of caution please share the following link: https://cite.case.law/cal-rptr-3d/244/364/ with the entire city council, dear Fauble.
Let's meet and confer to avoid a humiliating lawsuit enforcing the very law that the public previously fought to uphold.
Fauble, I'm happy to stipulate that the road is long, and the party never ends, but I will never agree that the City's budget is one item. The City's Budget and approval thereof could be one item, but when you have ten days of timeslots with different leaders and subjects. Why the charade?
The model of each department facing the committee and the public is appropriate. That should be facilitated not minimized. The department heads should present, (not hold their presentation because Krekorian is a know-it-all and wants to save time).
The public wants to hear from our hardworking department heads. Some days at city council meetings we have 48 items or more, with multi-media presentations, frankly. Let each department be treated fairly as an item. That meets the plain and simple standard we expect.
If we can't agree, and I'm optimistic that we will, after you've re-read the appellate court ruling, then we can ... discuss why, you need to take roll each day and show a quorum each day.
The high court will ask, "Is it always the same quorum, always the same budget items? Is that a safe assumption, Mr. Fauble?"
Smart Speaker: Your honor, Fauble had to step away to a meeting of the Society for the Study and Cure of Inebriety. But speaking on behalf of the public, I believe that the City of Los Angeles can do better and the people deserve better. [APPLAUSE]
Finally, virtual or telephonic testimony has to be restored at city committee and neighborhood council meetings. If necessary, I will seek injunctive relief so that critics and invalids unable to drive or transport themselves will not be arbitrarily silenced for refusing to increase their carbon footprint.
Warm regards.
(Eric Preven is a longtime community activist and is a contributor to CityWatch. The opinions expressed by Eric Preven are solely his and not the opinions of CityWatch)
