CommentsERIC PREVEN'S NOTEBOOK - Not Funny Section: Jeff Ebenstein, who was ghosted in the articles about money raising in CD5, the richest of districts.
The funniest contribution that I reviewed was from Lili Tomlin who stars opposite Jane Fonda, Martin Sheen, and Sam Waterston in the Netflix original series Grace and Frankie.
Disclosure: Marta Kauffman and Howard J. Morris who I know from TV,
When I noticed that he took $243,352.00 I wondered, what about the rest of the cast?
Certainly it was nice to see Hilton & Hyland's real estate topper, Jeff Hyland and Peter Weil, an Attorney at Glaser Weil cough up the maximum $800, but what about the rest of the funny people?
Sigh.
Nothing funny about William Fujioka, the retired CAO of the City and CEO of the County; or the generosity of Arbi Torossian, CEO of Torossian LLC.
No idea if he is related to Karo Torossian, who like Joan Pelico, last CD4 election’s "skim off" candidate, ran the table for CD7, while doling out favors to CD2 beneficiaries.
Fujioka is now listing Bradbury, CA 91008 as his hometown, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains below Angeles National Forest but found the time to give the max. Alison Simard, a colleague of Ebenstein, only gave him $100. [Hard to blame her, as he never calls anyone back!] #ITA
And nice to see Thomas Safran, the owner of Thomas Safran & Associates, known for effective association only coughed up $250. We'll stipulate it's a little Insulting, given all that Ebenstein (and his conflicted wife) have done for real estate on the west side. Safran should be demoted to ordinary member of the "public" service, going forward (the lowest class of service.)
Jill Gaines, Manager, at Gaines & Stacey, the law firm where Fred Gaines does his dirty legal work for Richard Weintraub et al. who these days is listing Santa Monica as his hometown.
Not sure what happened to Villa Contenta... a hideous mansion associated with him. He's also famous for the Gas Station adjacent development at Las Virgenes Exit of 101 Fwy.
Weintraub personally did a lot to destroy Studio City with the cronyism of Mayor Garcetti and Paul Krekorian and Wendy Greuel, Sheila Kuehl's Blue Ribbon Commissioner on Homelessness.
Despite the fact that Garcetti et al. are heading for the door... we in Studio City will never forget.
AWOL:
John Lee failed to attend his committee meeting on Wednesday. People are talking. Could he have been at the doctor? The US Attorney’s office? We just don't know.
Joe Buscaino, who is still running for Mayor despite the most recent embarrassing Branimir Kvartuc incident, is playing the city like a harmonica.
Buscaino is now once again curtailing the freedom of assembly in Los Angeles, just as his FBI prisoner bff, Mitchell Englander, was so fond of doing. Buscaino wants a new law among other things, banning the use of flashlights at protests.
To refresh, the same Public Safety Committee, led by Mitchell Englander, voted to make it illegal for a woman or man to carry either of the most common weapons of self-defense against sexual assault — pepper spray and Mace. My brother and I wrote about that one in the Daily News.
Englander was also the one who authorized the city to pay $75,000 to the LA Family Housing staffer (now) formerly of CD12 who alleged, John Lee harassment. She was forced to destroy all the evidence by Michael Feuer's office to get the $75k.
Englander is in jail in Tucson, AZ.
Selling an office:
What a fantastic job the Daily News has been doing shining the light with their eblast newsletter. It's sooo improved year over year. The Opinion page has become very selective, but not excessively communicative.
One good place to shine the proverbial light would be here (as none of the local Newspapers I could see, did) Jose Huizar, who has also been indicted by the FBI, wants to go to Zacatecas for 10 days for a religious pilgrimage with his mother and sister. Mi hijo.
Huizar filed a motion in court asking the Judge to allow the trip; his passport was confiscated when he was arrested in 2020. The prosecution does not oppose the jaunt, if he agrees to surrender his children's passports while he's gone.
Huh? So, if Huizar stays in Mexico thereby absconding, the kids will be held hostage? Prisoners?
It would be reasonable to deny this motion, Huizar sold his office for $1 million dollars, one of the most appalling things an elected official can do, other than buying one's office...
Passport to nowhere:
Every year, the Board of Supervisors takes three weeks off and this year we are wondering if any of the Supervisors will be accompanying Huizar to Mexico.
For the last 16 1/2 months the Board of Supervisors have not had the decency to appear before the PUBLIC at their meetings.
Last Tuesday August 10, they finally came forward and appeared on camera.
Regular in-person meeting has resumed in other jurisdictions, but apparently the Board needs time off from all of the onerous time off.
Their next meeting will be August 31.
The year and a half of not showing themselves will go down in history as one of the least transparent moves by a governing body with a population over 10 million constituents ever.
Has the LA Times noticed that half of the Board's regular public meetings full of items have been replaced with closed sessions, at which no general public comment is taken? [Disclosure: The LA Times Editorial Board won a Pulitzer Prize]
The Sheriff, Alex Villanueva, who is disagreeable with the Supervisors and certainly has the capacity to behave in a self-destructive manner, should STILL be given a chance to speak and the county board and public should have a chance to speak as well -- on those precise points.
If the Sheriff wants to address the Board of Supervisors, it should be properly agendized for the public. Right?
Rodrigo Castro-Silva, the county counsel of Los Angeles, who is evidently not a Brown Act scholar, has been mushing all of the items including general public comment into one sixty-minute block twice a month.
How that can be construed as “reasonable efforts to maximize transparency and access" as outlined in the Governor's March 17, 2020 order--that's a question for Skip Miller of Miller Barondess, LLP.
The County Board has been prohibiting real criticism. Really!
Buying the office(s):
Kevin Deleon had an item on the agenda to provide $60,000 to a firm who would assist with Community Engagement and Education Services. The Item 32 on Wednesday, pertained to the Antioch Mentor Program... to assist with redistricting.
The Antioch Mentor Program entity has apparently been suspended for not filing state documents and one member of the public described this item as laundering City money through a nonprofit, to hire an unnamed agent. "It's super crazy," he said.
And it was very disappointing that the public was not invited to speak on the proposed Early Negotiating Agreement between Curren Price and the new-ninth district and (if you can believe it) the Bakewell Company and Associates to construct a mixed-use project on City-owned parcels located at at 200 East Slauson Avenue, 5828-5936 Wall Street, and 5829-5935 South Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles, CA 90003
Bakewell is a usual customer... and now that Mark Ridley-Thomas is NOT running for mayor, who knows what Bakewell will do!
Bakewell's Little Helpers: The Bakewell Company, The Michaels Organization, Capri Investment Group, Brotherhood Crusade.
And thanks to Dana Sayles, of Three6ixty who pushed through to move forward with a Waste Management Recycling and Disposal Services of California, Inc. initiative in CD6, home of the Council President Nury Martinez.
In another column, I will explore Nury's long history with trash!
Thanks to Mitchell O'Farrell, for the pointless finding that Hollywood Forever Cemetery, located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard, should be added to the list of Historic-Cultural Monuments.
(Eric Preven is a longtime community activist and is a contributor to CityWatch.)
