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Saturday, October 29, 2005

Open Thread for the Weekend

This weekend in history: Black Tuesday hits Wall Street as investors trade 16,410,030 shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors, and stock tickers ran hours behind because the machinery could not handle the tremendous volume of trading. In the aftermath of Black Tuesday, America and the rest of the industrialized world spiraled downward into the Great Depression

A year ago on Mayor Sam:

Clippers Stay Put, CLA Cindy?, Santa Clarita Dumps Homeless On LA, CRA Tricks and Treats

15 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Halloween Party at

Harriman Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90032

RSVP (323) 265-1255

October 29, 2005 1:50 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

GOOF for Jan Perry for nailing AV for the Ramona Riptide/homesless appointment in the Sunday Times.

Looks like now that Ed Reyes is playing suck up to the mayor, Perry may be the only CM left with any balls or a backbone.

Last term, several CMs were willing to check the mayor when he played too much politics with appointment - including CM AV, now we may be down to single party/single arm of government no check and ballances rule.

Never good, never healthy.

October 29, 2005 9:28 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Make that GOOD for Jan Perry... typo kind of screws up the message.

October 29, 2005 9:29 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

The short story "Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Recognition" by Jorge Luis Borges is satirical, but has often been quoted (for example by Michel Foucault) against the whole idea. Some careless authors have taken Borges' teasing category list as a true report, which, if nothing else, shows that prejudices against the possibility of complete, encyclopedic categorisation are well entrenched.

October 30, 2005 1:24 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Read LA Times Steve Hymon on CD14 candidates. All anyone has to do is read Pacheco's then HUizar and hands down Pacheco comes out on top. Huizar says the dumbest things like he would connect city council to education. Huizar has no list of accomplishments even as school board prez. If 160 schools are being built in next 8 years he states why do we need another school bond???? WE DON'T

October 30, 2005 7:51 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Finally it took a women who had the guts to go against Antonio and tell him what all the council members were thinking. Ramona should never been appointed to Homeless agency. When her appointment comes up before city council it should be a good discussion. Let's see who has the guts to go after her and vote NO.

October 30, 2005 8:10 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

THIS IS SUCH A WORTHY CAUSE. ANYONE WHO CAN ATTEND PLS GO.

lAPD “COPS for TOTS” Car Show
7am- 4pm at Police Academy-Elysian

For the past twelve years, Central Traffic Division, (CTD) has adopted the Los Angeles Childrens Hospital Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Unit and has actively participated in raising funds for this invaluable program Central Traffic Division takes great pride in contributing to the Childrens Hospital which not only benefits the child in need of a transplant, but the child’s immediate family as well.

October 30, 2005 8:23 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

LA DOWNTOWN NEWS ENDORSES PACHECO (sort of). . .

Editorial

Los Angeles Downtown News has interviewed the four people considered to be the top candidates for the 14th Council District seat. Attorney Brian Heckmann is a sincere, politically moderate candidate whom we expect to see again in future elections, but he has neither the momentum nor the experience to win this race. Cheerful and warm council staffer Ruby de Vera, who has raised $23,000, "mostly from old friends," senior citizens who are volunteering for her campaign, says this is her last run and she is considering retirement. She will probably come in third or fourth. She will not make the almost certain runoff.

There are two candidates who deserve serious consideration: former councilman Nick Pacheco and school board member José Huizar. After much thought, we have decided not to endorse either one at this time.

It's an unusual race. Voters must decide between two distinctly different candidates, each with strong advantages and disadvantages. We think it is more useful to make those differences clear so that you, if you're a voter, can make your own informed choice.

If you vote for José Huizar you are voting for the anointed candidate, the one picked by our current mayor, 10 council members, Downtown's Congressional representative and a host of unions, public figures and organizations, including the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce. He's a smart, well-educated, photogenic up-and-comer, a pleasant fellow who enthusiastically wants to keep his eye on the big picture. From the endorsements alone, a significant accomplishment, you'd think it is a one-sided race.

Trouble is, Huizar does not yet seem to know the district all that intimately, despite having grown up in Boyle Heights. In particular he offers few specifics about the portions that fall in Downtown: Skid Row and parts of the Historic Core and the Fashion District are enormous communities and each will influence the future of the city. With Huizar's strong interest in city planning, we expected more.

Uncomfortably, it is clear that one factor - though by no means the only dynamic - in the large number of endorsements is that people are a little afraid to go against popular new Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. It is commonly accepted in local political circles that some endorsers are at least in part making a peace offering after having backed former Mayor Jim Hahn in the last mayoral election. Also playing into the decision-making here and there is an anti-Pacheco growl from those who didn't like the pugnacious way Pacheco handled himself in an earlier term as the 14th District Councilman, some key representatives of Little Tokyo, for instance.

If elected, Huizar might well gain depth, nuance and the necessary aggressiveness over time. However at this moment, while we see potential, we do not see the signs of strong leadership that the district deserves.

Nick Pacheco has plenty of nuance and a warehouse full of experience and aggressiveness. He knows the 14th District very well, and can tick off an impressive array of specifics and neighborhood projects. He's definitely the Guy Most Likely To Fill Your Pothole. He also knows that the bridge in Hollenbeck Park needs fixing, and that a shuttered bulky item pickup center on Washington Boulevard needs reopening. He goes on and on.

However, the ability to fill potholes and the like is just part of a council member's job; the other aspect is the political side, building relationships, and the compromise and give-and-take with other lawmakers and community leaders. Pacheco has sat on the council for four years, which is why it should give you pause that he has received so few endorsements, and not one from any of the councilmembers he once worked with. Is that only because of the "Antonio factor," or has the anti-Nick aspect gained serious traction? We think it is some of both.

We believe Nick Pacheco would do anything - absolutely anything short of obvious lawbreaking - to help himself and his district, and you have to decide if that quality is always a good thing. He's likeable (unless you're in his way), energetic, informed, intelligent and focused, but he's not the guy you vote for if you're envisioning a new era in City Hall. He's an old-style politician who will fight and arm twist and take advantage, even if it isn't necessarily fair or good for the city as a whole.

There are things we like about José Huizar and Nick Pacheco, and things we don't. They are very different individuals, and we hope we've laid out their traits clearly enough to help you find the qualities you are looking for in a council member.

In short, you can vote for the green up-and-comer whom an impressive number of politicos seem to like, or you can vote for the sure-fire pothole filler not backed by any of those he has worked with.

Search your soul on Nov. 8. This is a hard one.

10/31/2005

October 30, 2005 9:19 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Is Jose crazy? He says he wants to build the 160 new schools next to parks and make LA a bunch of civic centers. Wake up Jose. That's the dumbest idea yet.

October 30, 2005 10:56 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I'm guessing the eminent domain fights on those are going to be pretty expensive. In a city with limited open space, getting less all the time, parkside properties are pretty attractive to people and prized by the owners.

Of course, LAUSD already lost the parkside school side on the edge of CD14 at Taylor Yard to a Villaraigosa-for-mayor supporter, while Huizar was top dog on the board. That's now looking like 10 years before there's a school anywhere new, at big buck$$$ all around.

October 30, 2005 12:36 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

You call the Los Angeles Downtown News an endorsment? That is grabbing for straws.

Read it again. Everyone Pacheco has worked with endorses Huizar. Duh. Anyone wonder why?

Pacheco is unable to work with people; that is why the majority of the Council does not want him back. He'll get nothing from them and nothing from the Mayor.

Read that NOTHING FOR CD 14. (Except, of course, a paycheck for Pacheco and some goodies for henchmen Ricardo Torres, III and Elisio Villanueva).

How many residents of CD 14 read the DTN?

Pacheco is all washed up; he can't raise money or get votes, because people remember his abusive attitude and don't want to see it again.

Say Goodbye, Nick, your 15 minutes are almost up.

October 30, 2005 6:57 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

....Everyone Pacheco has worked with endorses Huizar. Duh. Anyone wonder why?

Hey lame brain seems you're the only one who doesn't know people endorsed Jose because ANTONIO TOLD THEM TO. People gave money to Jose because ANTONIO TOLD them to. City council members, unions and others are terrified of the wrath of AV if they don't do as he says. Behind closed doors they're all saying Antonio is nothing more than a little Hitler. Dictating everyone's moves. Where's the guts in this city?

October 31, 2005 6:40 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Antonio should take a big lesson from the Honorable Edward Royal who did things quietly without the limelight and yet was successful doing what was right for Latinos.

Daily News...Author and educator David J. Sanchez is taking on the entire Latino political establishment and opponent Jose Huizar in a pair of mailings sent out last week.

One has black eyes painted on the pictures of officials who have endorsed Huizar - Villaraigosa, Supervisor Gloria Molina, Sheriff Lee Baca and others - and Sanchez blames them for the district's poor conditions.

A separate mailing goes directly after Huizar with complaints about the Los Angeles Unified School district, where Huizar served as board president.

Some residents of the district are puzzled and disturbed by the attacks on some of their most popular figures.

"As an old, educated, longtime Eastsider, my heart is a little sick because this reminds us just how empty the promises of our leadership have been over the years," wrote one voter.

October 31, 2005 7:13 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

9:28

Jan Perry and Janice Hahn are the only councilmembers with a backbone to let AV and his cronines just where to stick it.

Archie's Angels are at it again!

October 31, 2005 12:18 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

6:57

L.A. Downtown news is the most widely distributed (non-daily) free newspaper in the top 2-thirds of Cd14.


Sorry for your loss.

October 31, 2005 6:13 PM  

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