CommentsTHE CITY-Malibu corrupts, but “we welcome the scrutiny.” Allegations were made by Jefferson Wagner in the form of an affidavit that he made public at the Malibu City Council meeting of Dec. 14, 2020 — the last night of his second and last term.
The longtime councilman, among other things claimed that a vendor, whose name he could not recall but indicated could be in city attorney files, offered trips and cash in return for favorable treatment.
Gifts for gittin' r done? Is that a song in Hamilton?
Malibu hired a couple of attorneys to have a look-see into any wrongdoing. “According to counsel, they've interviewed numerous witnesses and are presently evaluating the information received from those witnesses,” according to the statement. “They continue to identify additional witnesses and documents that bear on the factual and legal issues raised in the investigation.”
These attorneys expect to conclude the investigation within the next few months, so any gifts or items to show respect and appreciation should be directed to them forthwith.
A Gift of Public Funds:
A gift of public funds came up when we wanted to post prizes for a local library writing contest, a gift card to Amazon. Maybe a Kindle.
Keith Schwallenberg and I conceived the idea, then he passed away two years ago.
He designed a beautiful promo that he shot using an analogue typewriter. (It's haunting because the music he used was not clear, so it's been removed. You just hear the typewriter.)
We were all about encouraging people to speak up and write. . .fiction, poetry whatever! We wanted the widest possible ramp in. We had a volunteer (my daughter) design a flyer for FREE.
Dozens entered the contest, and it was a great success.
What was not disclosed was the breathtaking effort by DONE and the old Studio City Apparatchiks to quash and frustrate our initiative. A person of ordinary firmness would have dropped it, but public participation requires public participation. This was just one of several battles alongside like-minded residents to open up and invite our community.
But is offering a $100 gift card to Amazon a gift of public funds? And why, if so, is it forbidden?
And how are our Universal Basic Income programs not gifts of public funds?
The answer is they are gifts of public funds, but there is a public purpose or benefit.
That's a key criterion. The more specific the better. The less specific the fishier and more problematic.
Fiscal responsibility is real but can't be too weird. Hiring a family member if they are qualified makes sense -- you can trust them. But cronyism and nepotism are real concerns.
Garcetti has always behaved like the bartender on a cruise ship, handing out free drinks to everyone who is nice to him.
And once the cloud of shame clears surrounding the Rick Jacobs scandal in the Mayor's Fund, could the mayor's fund help the families displaced by the recent gross miscalculation by LAPD and fireworks explosion in people's neighborhood? That would go a long way toward easing their pain.
Apparently, the insurance companies are not being nice. Hopefully, Garcetti will step in with funding to get these people whole.
Studio City Coaches Meeting: The ‘State’ of Homelessness
If the basic city park rules applied to our homelessness crisis, there would be a discussion at the next coaches meeting for sure. A bunch of coaches would say. . .about certain players, "uh oh, she's not better, she can't play," "He's not well. . ." "This kid is stoned or something." "No go, she's got to go home. . . (Duh, she's homeless, Sir!)"
So where can these players who are on our team, and we want to succeed go? Is there a farm team league?
People across the globe have people in their families who have mental health crises and addiction issues. And they're united by the collective dream or fantasy that there is a place, often out on a ranch or by a bay where their loved ones could land, spend some time, and come back refreshed and feeling better than ever.
Why not try a massage? Electro Convulsive Therapy. . .(it apparently works!) But the place we're all dreaming about is decidedly not a horrible jail.
First of all, jails are involuntary. The state we're imagining our players visiting is a public private partnership state and so fully voluntary.
IKEA style housing is abundantly available with congregate services including food, beverages, and individual units so privacy and belongings can be stowed, like a hotel room.
There are concessions for both personal degradation (alcohol and drugs) as well as individual restoration (treatment, therapy) and of course, there is plenty of Bezos et al work.
When folks who may be addicted realize that they can get drugs for free, they're welcome to take advantage of the free junk lifestyle. There will also be a regular 'booze cruise' attraction to lure folks over on a voluntary basis.
This state would ordinarily be way out west on one of these gorgeous ranches with wild horses, but global climate considerations and fires may push it to the east of the Rockies.
Someplace where Bezos et al could use a nice freight airport with a giant cluster of fulfillment centers and people improvement facilities.
What the coaches are proposing is the world's largest Workforce Development program this side of the Mississippi, if there's still any water in the Mississippi.
"Hey, if we can put on burning man. . .we can put up a state," said one drunk fellow.
Nick Kristoff, the very cool liberal columnist for the New York Times, says he wants to hear from Oregonians, about the idea of him running for office there.
Sounds like bullshit, but maybe he's open to such a progressive idea. Would he be willing to ride in Blue Origin?
And remember, once these players bottom out at the rooftop Garcetti bar. . .we grab 'em.
As soon as humanly possible, they sign up to work, earn some money (fast) at the fulfillment center, and get tons of free services and clothes and leftover Amazon junk galore.
And a job in a warehouse, with everything you need to work.
The need for dedicated workers is rising so let's reduce homelessness as we clean up and staff up... on a voluntary basis. The good state where you go to get it together.
Glamorous Enclaves and Racist Haunts:
A question arose subsequent to the Recipe for Change YouTube dinner put on by the API community. It was so well done and deeply moving, and one wonders if even today, in the corridors of power, more like the Hampton lanes of power during the pandemic, is the old clubby "us versus them" ethos evoked in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence still in effect?
Or in this day and age, are we so busy tracking greed and congestion that we haven't stopped to chill the flagrant, systemic discrimination that frustrates upward mobility for people of color and API immigrants to name just two groups.
Do such shackles still exist, even where tech billionaires meet real estate moguls and private equity assholes by the shore? Is there is a systemic de selection of certain groups in the modern-day America?
Most hurdles can be jumped over merely by obtaining a certain degree of wealth. . .
Interesting question.
Another question that has to do with the selection of candidates to be the potential U.S. Ambassador to India. . .I won't recount all the reasons why Eric Garcetti might not be the ideal choice, but was consideration given to a person of Indian American lineage even considered?
My father was on sabbatical and so we visited India when I was a teenager, and I wrote a poem.
Passing Through
Outside Mahabilipuram
little girls
are bat-mitzvahed with a bat
to their feet
so begging will be
dragging themselves
broken
from place to place.
I have a blister now
where Shanti had her
foot crushed.
She speaks no English.
Her anguish rises up
from her twisted chunks
of lifeless callous,
(which I can see)
through her childhood,
and up through her burning
liquid eyes
until it climbs on me
like a child.
As my family moves on
to examine the temple ruins
I place a few coins tightly
in her hand and walk away.
Progress or Decay!
People who want $15/hour don't always have a four-walls and a roof style home. Frances McDormand's stirring performance in Oscar winning "Nomadland" (2020) notwithstanding.
Bezos may be inclined to help. He recently acquired Van Jones, the CNN commentator in a deal worth $100,000,000.
If the gig economy machers build the new state (of homelessness) the public will provide a supply of partially defective but willing employees, who are worth a second chance.
This will help ease the conscience for wearing such a large cowboy hat prior at last week's ejaculation/launch.
Haven of Hope in San Antonio was allegedly such a successful partnership. . . We do need bold ideas!
Where is this proposed state?
How about out near the Nevada border. I hear there's a strong union out there.
When asked about the significance and what was most interesting about the launch of "first step" -- Bezos's reply, "I'm interested in the impact it might have on me."
He told a reporter that he has "a huge multigenerational vision. . ."
And with the acquisition of Van Jones, whose child attended Oakwood where Paul Krekorian CD2 helped build a bridge over Magnolia before matriculating a child of his own. . .at Oakwood. The cost $100,000.000!
For the Van Jones buy off deal. It's slightly less to attend the Oakwood School. And the bridge was not that much.
Van Jones, who was very talkative and civil as a CNN talking head said about the Bezos flight, "You have lifted the ceilings off of the dreams of humanity today. And that's an important thing. Don't be mad about it. When you see somebody reaching for the heavens, be glad, because a lot more heaven is up there to reach for. And we can do that together." Jones said.
Not sure Bezos has lifted the ceilings off humanitarian dreams, but he wore a cowboy hat to his own blast off this week.
The idea behind the $100,000,000 is, the money is to be disbursed to whomever Van Jones thinks is worthy. I've always liked the guy. . . (wink wink)
It raises the question what is $100,000,000 today? Could the Austin Powers "million dollars" have gone up by a multiple of one hundred?
$100,000,000 is a modest weekend opening for a Marvel film. Very modest.
$125 million will be the payout Walmart makes to the employee whose life it upended by changing her work schedule.
Bezos claims he's booked $100,000,000 in ticket sales to ride the Blue Origin Phallus to the edge of space. And in case there is any question, "Hell yes," Bezos will make another trip, but does not have plans to host every trip.
If Bezos seems more generous than usual, it might have to do with the (high-as-a-kite) philanthropy of Mackenzie Scott. I've always liked her. . . (wink wink)
Jerry Brown plunked down $100,000,000 for a proposed women's jail at Mira Loma in Lancaster, before the public canceled it resoundingly, despite the LA County Board of Supervisors slinking into the backroom on a semi-permanent basis--
Sir, your time is up!
A few years of a great athlete can cost around $100,000,000. Labron James makes around $40 million annually. So does Trevor Bauer who holds the single season record at $40 million for 2021, with a $45 million option for 2022 (legal affairs pending). Mike Trout has the record — 12 years, $426 million.
Shohei Ohtani has a two-year deal worth $8.5 million. But Ohtani could potentially be in line for the largest deal in league history if he is not subjected to racism.
Media Diversity.
Rep. Val Demmings was so excited.
All Americans should have the opportunity to tell their story and hear their story through their own eyes and voices. Every child in America should hear a voice that sounds like theirs and see a face that looks like theirs. See LA Times Editorial Board Pulitzer Prize. A newsroom directory is available here.
Kareem:
Amazing victory for the Bucks. As the Olympics veers off the rails, it's impossible to remove politics from sports. Instead, we must foster a culture of free expression.
Thanks to 33 for reminding us that healthy, free societies allow people to speak up. He's right. #Fearthedeer!
And to the hundreds of people who are ritually apologizing for their views in the face of a perceived internet mob, resist.
Don't apologize. Free to be You and Me. . . means Free to be You and Me. . . no strings.
Crystal Clear Upsetting Math:
Kudos to Mike Bonin who hit the number of 131 Encampment to Home entrants, to date. At this rate? Not trying to be smart or funny.
If we hit the accelerator and say we could house 300 a month. . .which is a lot.
41,000 / 100 housed (mo.) = 34 years
41,000 / 200 housed (mo.) = 17 years
41,000 / 300 housed (mo.) = 11 years
So, like eleven years and not to bog down, but there is a minor snag with the fact that the LA County Board of Supervisors claims that people are falling into homelessness at a faster rate than we are getting them out of homelessness.
Proposed Report Back: throughout August. The Board of Supervisors should probably resume meeting and cancel their month off in August.
(Eric Preven is a longtime community activist and is a contributor to CityWatch.)
