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The CD 13 Runoff – O’Farrell’s the Choice

May 2nd, 2013 | Add a Comment

by Tony Butka Ok, the mail ballots have gone out, there’s less than a month until the election, and it’s time for my followup article on the CD 13 Race. As you will recall, John Choi is the insider favorite with major backing from backing from his former employer, the LA County Federation of Labor, and outspending his opponent, Mitch O’Farrell, in the primary by a margin of over 3 to 1. I promised a closer look at the numbers before the election, so here goes. In the last major reporting period before the polls open (January 1 – April 6 2013), the candidates disclosure statements reveal that John Choi received $112,000, while Mitch O’Farrell received $69,000. It is apparent that as the race came down to a two person event, the contribution … Read entire article »

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AD51 – No Incumbent, Serious Redistricting, Interesting Candidates

Living in Northeast LA is not always comfortable, but it is always interesting!  Witness the new Assembly District 51, which appears to be specifically designed to capture Northeast Los Angeles and guarantee a latino elected official. If memory serves me right, the old AD 51 was actually in Inglewood until the recent California Lottery for Politicians — oops, I mean redistricting exercise.   Perhaps there is a metaphor here, since the ‘old’ AD 51 was essentially an African-American District and the ‘new’ AD 51 is essentially a Latino District.  As goes the demographics, so goes the prize. As a historical note, the prior Assembly District for us here in Glassell Park was AD 44, represented by Anthony Portantino.  … Read entire article »

The Glassell Park Neighborhood Council – Quo Vadis?

Just to update those who actually bother to track the Glassell Park Neighborhood Council or the lack thereof….. When last we visited the GPNC  they were going to have a meeting based on a wonderful display of solipsism by the LA City Attorney proving that there are really 13 Board members even though there are barely enough actual real Board members for a quorum.  See  – Don’t Worry, Be Happy, no problems! Well… last weekend  the Chair of the GPNC emailed a Notice and Agenda for a General Stakeholder Meeting to be held on Tuesday December 20th at 7 pm.  It went to the usual undisclosed recipients whoever they may be.  Personally I couldn’t adjust my schedule … Read entire article »

Glassell Park Neighborhood Council; It’s All “finagling the transition”

I think the latest developments in the saga of the GPNC come under the heading of please suspend your disbelief. The last time I or most stakeholders were aware of anything going on at the GPNC was when DONE issued an email cancelling two scheduled meetings for November 8th.  Since most stakeholders never received a copy of the email from DONE, I have copied it below: Good Morning GPNC Board Members and Stakeholders, I hope this email finds you well and that you enjoyed your weekend. The Department wishes to thank you for your patience and cooperation as we navigate through this process.  We understand that it has been difficult and frustrating.  Thus,  the GPNC meetings that were scheduled … Read entire article »

God Drops the Hammer on Northeast LA; Mayor, Council, disappear in a Puff of Smoke

Wednesday evening, the residents of Northeast LA, including Pasadena & South Pasadena, were hammered with gale force winds.  Debris and uprooted trees made the area look like something out of The Wizard of Oz tornado scene with Dorothy & Toto headed to ….  Downed power lines & busted water mains, in addition to the rain of anything loose and pieces of old roofs, completed the carnage. Waking up the next morning was like being in the aftermath of a major disaster — eerie silence, no electricity, debris everywhere, and a sense of total isolation.  No television/cable/Direct TV, and oh my god no internet!  About then, we started worrying (way after the fact) about how much charge … Read entire article »

Elephant Hill – The Endgame

So say you are a resident of LA and you would like to see whether your elected officials are betraying their duty to act in the public interest with your hard earned tax dollars.  How do you do that? If it’s Elephant Hill and Councilman Jose Huizar the answer is simple – you are not even going to know.  By the way, thanks to Scott Johnson of Mayor Sam for finding out about this one, as the Council swapped over 2 million dollars of taxpayer money less than  $500,000 at the behest of Councilman Huizar. Here’s how the deal worked, and how our elected officials manipulate the system so that you and I stand no chance of … Read entire article »

Police Updates from Caroline

Wow.  There are a lot of police updates, many of which are right here in our back yard.  For the articles, see: In Cypress Park three were in critical condition from a gang shooting: In Elysian Park there was a sexual assault: In Echo Park the Patch reported a car theft: And in nearby East Hollywood there was a hit-and-run: I’m posting the links for her, since Caroline is working on an article.  By the way, thanks to our local community news sources such as the Patch and the Eastsider websites — the ‘official’ news media in Los Angeles seems very slow to let us know what is going on. In the meantime, it seems clear that serious crimes are on … Read entire article »

Sad Tale of the GPNC, Part 2

Aha. On Thursday November 3rd, the Glassell Park Neighborhood Council magically reappeared with two simultaneous meeting announcements for GPNC meetings on Tuesday November 8th. The first meeting is a Special Meeting to elect one Board member to provide a quorum so that the GPNC Board can function and conduct business – GCS SPEC.MtgAgenda.111108. This meeting is scheduled to run from 6pm to 6:30pm. The second meeting is a Regular monthly meeting of the Neighborhood Council, and is scheduled from 6:30pm to 9pm – GCS Mtg Agenda 111108.ENG. It seems to be a full regular agenda, and one would assume has the blessing of DONE, since they are listed under Item 3(a) as being … Read entire article »

The Sad Tale of the GPNC

Starting with it’s monthly meeting in September, the Glassell Park Neighborhood Council spiraled into a meltdown, presided over by its (expired) Chair, Bradley.  When some political maneuverings started at the meeting, yours truly walked out, breaking any possibility of having a quorum for the September meeting, and transacting business. Within two days, Bradley filed a letter with DONE asking for a Special Meeting under a DONE policy which provides for re-establishing a quorum when a neighborhood council has persistent problems in meeting (think Boyle Heights & Cypress Park).  That letter, which I have attached here, was signed by a number of Board members, including some who are supposedly not on the Board! Having been unaware of the … Read entire article »

Wall Street and the Rubes

I have been so disappointed by the news media’s (print, network & cable) pathetic coverage of the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ folks that I just had to write this. Have you noticed how the financial services industry uses so much jargon that unless you’re steeped in their language there is no way to figure out what the heck they are talking about? Long, short, puts, pulls, bulls, bears, ETF’s, CDO’s, CBO’s, equities, bonds, etc, etc, etc. It has devolved into a language – the language of finance. And if you, sir or madam, are brave enough and smart enough to learn this code, then the mysteries of the universe will be revealed to you and you … Read entire article »

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