CommentsERIC PREVEN’S NOTEBOOK - Handing out cold water bottles is the one thing people all agree is an important component to Outreach to the homeless.
Single Use:
In a prior article, HIstoric Kickoff, I noted the recent law change in Georgia, forbidding the handing out of water in elections.
Paul Krekorian, who I discovered had spent thousands of dollars in office holder money on Sparkletts' products before issuing his two pronged water platform: 1) “Drink up, LA tap water has ultra-low fecal counts, according to LADWP (raise glass here) and 2) You've been warned, the criminalization of single use water bottles is coming. I agree they're a scourge but #21AntiPlasticSlogans are friendlier.
Campaign "expenditures" are an interesting subject, and we always know where all the money that is being raised goes because of the tireless efforts of the team over at the LA City Ethics commission. (Hi, David!)
As noted last week, Jeffrey Ebenstein a candidate for CD5, has spent $103,000 through June 30, but it's almost August 30, so we don't know. He raised a whopping $243,000 before allegedly calling it quits last week. That's a disappointing number, FYI.
Apparently, Paul Koretz of CD5 announced that Ebenstein would not be running during a poorly attended committee meeting. When tipped, I contacted the Ethics commission, who were very nice, but had not heard if young Ebenstein was in or out. He had not filed for an exit visa, yet.
When Ebenstein does officially pack it in... what will happen to the ($243,000 - $103,000) = $140,000 left over!
Young CD5 mavericks!
Zev Yaroslavsky's 1975 election to the City Council's 5th District on Los Angeles' Westside stunned the city's political establishment. He went on to represent the Third Supervisorial District of Los Angeles County and as a result of term limits, Yaroslavsky left the Board of Supervisors in December 2014 after 20 distinguished years of fundraising.
Yaroslavsky was a leader in policy for Homelessness, Arts and culture, Health care, Transportation and of course, Land use and the environment. And fundraising.
When I looked in February 2021, the collective balances in remaining campaign accts. at the The Bank of Yaroslavsky! were $1,852,020 *CASH*i
That money capably extracted from third district voters has been shelved in Yaroslavsky's officeholder accounts for more than a decade. He did not run for mayor as many predicted.
The rules about what to do with the money vary between jurisdictions, but essentially you can grant the money to any not for profit... "Provided no substantial part of the proceeds will have a material financial effect on Zev...or any member of his immediate family, spouse, partner, children or treasurer. "
So not exactly sure how the Yaroslavsky Institute to whom he donated... is of no benefit to Yaroslavsky et al. but c'est la vie.
One idea would be to have a massive lottery for people who agree to donate blood. There's a real crisis in this space and nobody has done more in the get blood donations space than Joel Bellman, the Supervisor's Svengali "Radar" like character from MASH.
$1.8 million ... could be divided up into a number of grants... arts, music, journalism. Maybe Zev could fund an Organization to file lawsuits against naughty County and City municipalities.
or 18 grants of 100k each
or 36 grants of 50k each
or 72 grants of 25k each
or 180 grants of 10k each
or 1,800 grants of 1,000, to purchase computers and internet service in poor underserved areas. {Matched by the tech billionaires}
Or maybe he could buy a journalist, or for that money, several (dozen) journalists, the way Bezos acquired Van Jones.
Ripping off the band-aid ... Corcoran!
It's common wisdom that one should not air one's dirty laundry at the village barbecue early in the season, but sometimes as Labor Day approaches... the laundry must be washed and dried... which is why out on the eastern fork we bend toward airing things out.
The little town boards are powerful and they take public comments. Even from the son of a couple of mom and pops who've been having a heckuva time fighting a nasty real estate empire, who apparently don't care about the public.
When good people look away from bad actors doing bad stuff without saying, "Hey, try another activity, you're doing a terrible thing and it's rather unethical," they're letting us all down. We all have an obligation to call out terrible work. Like, for instance, consider Andrew R. Levinson, General Counsel, Senior Vice President Corcoran Group and Tina Palazzo Fairweather.
The Son: Andrew Levinson may have gone to Yale, but when an unethical hot mess is unfolding in the Corcoran Hamptons office he tries to avoid, raises the possibility that mom and pop's home may have been uninhabitable. He doesn't examine the facts, because...
"It appears there is a dispute between Mr. Preven's parents, as landlord, and Ms. Palazzo's clients, as tenants. I infer that the latter have withheld rent and made a claim that the premises are uninhabitable. If this is correct, then this appears to be a landlord/tenant dispute that needs to be resolved by the parties directly (or through their attorneys, as Ms. Palazzo suggested).
Corcoran is not in a position to render a legal opinion for a member of the public, but I will say that in my experience, the warranty of habitability typically supersedes a contractual as-is clause (as a matter of public policy). Whether the premises are uninhabitable is of course something to be determined on a case by case basis."
The Son: With all due respect, it was Levinson's agents' who vouched for the Spitaleri tenants and signed off on the property, he can't get away so easily. Jennifer Hoopes, the Corcoran agent who he represents is at the center of the alleged fraud. You can read more about the scam here, "June, Gloom... Boom. "
So, nice try dumping the mom and pops right back on the unscrupulous attorney's doorstep. She has been advising the Spitaleri's that breach of contract, even on a preposterous unqualified or certified claim of uninhabitability (introduced by Levinson himself) when landlord has been in good faith and diligent. Corcoran, collaborates with the bad actor empowering and allowing the preposterous threat of a lawsuit to be used, to extort the mom and pops, break the lease and withhold rent.
Tina Palazzo: "You claim my clients are in breach of the lease, but you have continuously failed to acknowledge your breach of the lease agreement, the warranty of habitability imposed by New York State law, and your failure to maintain the property pursuant to the lease." "My clients have not waived the warranty of habitability at any time."
The Son: Apparently the Corcoran team has been blocked from responding to our complaints about the preposterous misapplication of the warranty of habitability under Levinson's leadership… you should all be ashamed of yourselves. It's a very nice house in a very nice neighborhood. But just in case you don’t care, I’m happy to shame you properly. How unfair can the Spitaleris be?
Ernest Cervi, Regional Sr. VP | East End | The Corcoran Group: "It’s not that anybody has blocked Corcoran from responding, it’s that Corcoran is not in a position to resolve such disputes. This is a legal dispute between the landlord and a tenant and needs to be resolved by the parties or by their attorneys."
The Son: Hope you survived hurricane Henri! The Corcoran Group, as you know, has been harboring the Spitaleris in our Amagansett home as an unscrupulous attorney, Tina Palazzo, attempts a high degree of difficulty extortion plan with Jennifer Hoopes and Andrew R. Levinson in the role of … I don’t even know what, "advisors?" Conspirators?
Levinson emailed Palazzo an Ivy League spin about how to misuse the Warranty of Habitability against good faith seniors and 40 years of McMahon Plumbing integrity. He went to Yale, so I'm sure he's very smart, but Sue Feleppa, another Corcoran broker and the mother-in-law of Jennifer Hoopes, vouched for these people.
Ernest, if you or Pamela Liebman or Andy Levinson have a comment beyond your last text, which I am going to assume is the company line, let me know. If you have a change of heart and are going to lift a finger to stop what amounts to elder abuse against some mom and pops, to quote a member of the public familiar with public policy, my deadline is noon LA time.
Compliance and Provision:
It is undisputed that under California law, the people's right of access is not absolute. But we are generally allowed to see the schedules of our County Board of Supervisors. But in Los Angeles, it depends on who is asking.
"Please provide the Meeting Log for each of the five county supervisors for the following dates. Thursday May 27, Friday May 28, Saturday May 29, Sunday May 30, Monday May 31, Tuesday June 1, Wednesday June 2, Thursday June 3, and Friday June 4[.]"
The county wrote "On July 6, 2021, we extended the time to respond to your request because of the current unprecedented situation stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, as reflected in Governor Newsom's and the County's Declarations of Emergency. "
Fair enough.
Then the county "...noted that Government Code section 6255 allows an agency to withhold a record by demonstrating that, "the public interest served by not disclosing the record clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure of the record." Therefore, our Office extended the time to respond by 14 days."
The County according to someone familiar with the California Public Record Act, is not supposed to do that, but finally, the county provided some documents which were due after 10 days on July 23, 2021.
Check 'em out, 57 days late. The redactions were applied under section 6254(c), which exempts from disclosure "[p]ersonnel, medical, or similar files, the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy," and under California Constitution, Article I, Section 1, which declares the right to personal privacy.
The takeaway: The progressive icons of county government are not working too hard, despite Skip Miller's contention that they are doing an EXCELLENT job. Or they're riding bareback and don't bother writing down what they're up to...
Hilda Solis, the Chair, piqued my curiosity by redacting the details of a session where she was "filming messages requested by groups."
Holly J. Mitchell redacted a lot of stuff and all the details about a "Roadmap to a thriving 2nd district - virtual discussion on LA County Budget"
Sheila Kuehl's schedule was the least impressive, but maybe she's working really hard without jotting down with whom or when or why. She certainly is arrogant and has done historical work gutting public participation, so that takes a lot of thought and gravitas.
Janice Hahn had the most colorful schedule, by far. And her "1 on 1" with Dr. Jonathan Sherin in her San Pedro office and her book club reading Caste by Isabel Wilkerson are adorable details.
Kathryn Barger in addition to talking to the Washington Post about peacocks run amuck, spends a fair amount of time at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, representing the county and CSAC leadership. (whatever that is)
(Eric Preven is a longtime community activist and is a contributor to CityWatch.)
