When I saw the below story and read the distance between the house and the bluff at Little Dume Beach - I knew only two properties on Point Dume had houses (albeit, guest houses) that close to the sand, though the distance is actually less than fifty feet. Additionally, the last I had heard, the Anawalts still owned the Anawalt House but Sandy Gallin had sold my old house.
So I called out to my sister who still resides on the Point - and sure enough - Kenny G. is now ensconced in LA Cowboy's old digs.
Ah.... memories of the old days back in the 'Bu.
Girl hurt by item cast from Kenny G's home
Two teens threw objects, and the 9-year-old girl needed stitches, sheriff's officials said.
By Richard Winton
Times Staff Writer
June 30, 2007
Nine-year-old Brooke Porter was enjoying a day at Malibu's Little Dume Beach with her family last Saturday when it happened.
About 50 feet above the beach, someone threw objects from the bluff-top compound owned by musician Kenny G onto the sand below. Brooke was hit in the head, causing a scalp injury.
Now, L.A. County Sheriff's detectives are trying to sort out what happened — and who is to blame.
"The 9-year-old girl needed four stitches," said Sheriff's Capt. Thomas Martin of the Malibu/Lost Hills station.
Sheriff's officials said they believe two teenagers on Kenny G's property — neither related to the saxophonist — hurled the objects. But it's unclear what was thrown. Martin said they could have been rocks — or candy and energy bars.
The musician's attorney said Kenny G's wife paid the medical bill for the girl, but he said no rocks were thrown. Instead, the attorney said, Hershey's Kisses and a PowerBar energy bar were thrown.
"I have been informed a PowerBar hit the girl accidentally on the head," said attorney Lee Blackman, who added that the cliffs have signs warning of falling rocks. "It was just an accident...
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
The Killers Of Killer King! Coming Soon To Your Neighborhood!
Below is my article in CITYWATCH:
The Killers of Killer King! Coming Soon To Your Neighborhood!
By Brady Westwater
After decades of ‘reforms’ and more money being spent there than on any hospital in the County health system – infamous ‘Killer King’ Hospital (the former Martin Luther King/Dew Medical Center now called the King-Harbor Hospital but still known as 'Killer King') in Watts still kills the patients whose lives it is supposed to save.
And that is just considering high profile deaths such as when a person dies a slow agonizing death on the floor of an emergency room as cameras recorded her death and a janitor swept around her and not one of the dozens of medial professionals who walked by bothered to see if the person needed helped. Many more patients are killed on a regular basis by unnoticed errors or easily hidden incompetencies. It is almost certain that far more than the deaths, lost limbs and needless life-changing infirmities are occurring on a daily basis than we will ever know about.
All we can ever know for certain is that the past corrupt administrations and their practices have created a culture of incompetence once thought could only be found in a third world country, even though, to repeat myself, far more money is spent per patient at King than in any other facility in the county medical system.
So how bad is the situation still at Killer King? To begin with, an outside auditor just checked the records of 60 random emergency room cases to see how they were handled. And this review relied upon the records complied by the people who did the care, which might not fully reflect what was actually done – or not done.
So how many of these 60 cases were ‘mishandled’?
One? Two? Three?
No.
Seventeen out of sixty.
That means that you have an almost one in three chance of being put into “immediate jeopardy” at the King Emergency Room – after years and millions being spent retraining the present staff, even after many of the worst offenders have been fired or moved to other institutions.
Another indicator of the situation’s hopelessness is that around 60% of the registered and licensed vocational nurses at King recently failed parts of their minimal competency exams. That figure is bad enough – but what no one is willing to say is that these are exams these nurses are being coached and trained to pass. And yet a majority of the nurses at King are still incapable of getting even a minimal passing score.
So if they can not even pass these exams they are specifically being coached to pass – how can they perform in real world situations that far more complex?
In contrast, less than 5% of the nurses failed their tests over at the County’s Harbor-UCLA Hospital.
For too many decades the people of South Los Angeles have been subjected, for strictly political reasons, to a level of health care that would not be tolerated by the Supervisors in any other part of this county.
And as for how this problem was going to be fixed – the Supervisor’s solution was a simple one; they ordered the people responsible for the disastrously low level of health care at Killer King – the worst of the worst – to be transferred to all the other hospitals and medical facilities scattered around Los Angeles County.
This is a solution?
Even more shocking, the only reason this ‘solution’ has been considered a failure by the Supervisors is that King has only managed to unload about one-third of staff from King onto other neighborhood medical facilities.
So why hasn’t there been a public out cry about this? Why haven’t the NC’s and every other organization protested this deadly lowering of the standards of medical care throughout Los Angeles County?
I expect it is because the public simply does not know the Supervisor's solution to the problems of Killer King – is to move King’s most deadly staff to every other hospital, health center and neighborhood clinic in the system.
And yet there is another solution.
For some time there has been talk of declaring a public health crisis, suspending civil service rules and firing every person at King (and all those who have been transferred from King) and then allowing them all to instantly reapply for their jobs. That way, whoever is chosen to run the new King Hospital – can rehire only those people who should be rehired.
But time is running out for even this solution. It is likely that the Feds next month will pull the plug on Killer King – and leave South Los Angeles without a critically needed facility unless the Supervisors take this admittedly drastic step.
But the Supervisors would first need to guarantee that King will remain open. They also need to guarantee that the new King will have both an emergency room and a trauma center - and that the rest of the county medical system will be protected from the medical staff that has already been transferred from King due to incompetence. And this needs to be done now. Before the Feds shut down King for good and it is too late to do anything.
The people of South Los Angeles have suffered long enough. They deserve better.
But, then, so does everyone else in Los Angeles.
The Killers of Killer King! Coming Soon To Your Neighborhood!
By Brady Westwater
After decades of ‘reforms’ and more money being spent there than on any hospital in the County health system – infamous ‘Killer King’ Hospital (the former Martin Luther King/Dew Medical Center now called the King-Harbor Hospital but still known as 'Killer King') in Watts still kills the patients whose lives it is supposed to save.
And that is just considering high profile deaths such as when a person dies a slow agonizing death on the floor of an emergency room as cameras recorded her death and a janitor swept around her and not one of the dozens of medial professionals who walked by bothered to see if the person needed helped. Many more patients are killed on a regular basis by unnoticed errors or easily hidden incompetencies. It is almost certain that far more than the deaths, lost limbs and needless life-changing infirmities are occurring on a daily basis than we will ever know about.
All we can ever know for certain is that the past corrupt administrations and their practices have created a culture of incompetence once thought could only be found in a third world country, even though, to repeat myself, far more money is spent per patient at King than in any other facility in the county medical system.
So how bad is the situation still at Killer King? To begin with, an outside auditor just checked the records of 60 random emergency room cases to see how they were handled. And this review relied upon the records complied by the people who did the care, which might not fully reflect what was actually done – or not done.
So how many of these 60 cases were ‘mishandled’?
One? Two? Three?
No.
Seventeen out of sixty.
That means that you have an almost one in three chance of being put into “immediate jeopardy” at the King Emergency Room – after years and millions being spent retraining the present staff, even after many of the worst offenders have been fired or moved to other institutions.
Another indicator of the situation’s hopelessness is that around 60% of the registered and licensed vocational nurses at King recently failed parts of their minimal competency exams. That figure is bad enough – but what no one is willing to say is that these are exams these nurses are being coached and trained to pass. And yet a majority of the nurses at King are still incapable of getting even a minimal passing score.
So if they can not even pass these exams they are specifically being coached to pass – how can they perform in real world situations that far more complex?
In contrast, less than 5% of the nurses failed their tests over at the County’s Harbor-UCLA Hospital.
For too many decades the people of South Los Angeles have been subjected, for strictly political reasons, to a level of health care that would not be tolerated by the Supervisors in any other part of this county.
And as for how this problem was going to be fixed – the Supervisor’s solution was a simple one; they ordered the people responsible for the disastrously low level of health care at Killer King – the worst of the worst – to be transferred to all the other hospitals and medical facilities scattered around Los Angeles County.
This is a solution?
Even more shocking, the only reason this ‘solution’ has been considered a failure by the Supervisors is that King has only managed to unload about one-third of staff from King onto other neighborhood medical facilities.
So why hasn’t there been a public out cry about this? Why haven’t the NC’s and every other organization protested this deadly lowering of the standards of medical care throughout Los Angeles County?
I expect it is because the public simply does not know the Supervisor's solution to the problems of Killer King – is to move King’s most deadly staff to every other hospital, health center and neighborhood clinic in the system.
And yet there is another solution.
For some time there has been talk of declaring a public health crisis, suspending civil service rules and firing every person at King (and all those who have been transferred from King) and then allowing them all to instantly reapply for their jobs. That way, whoever is chosen to run the new King Hospital – can rehire only those people who should be rehired.
But time is running out for even this solution. It is likely that the Feds next month will pull the plug on Killer King – and leave South Los Angeles without a critically needed facility unless the Supervisors take this admittedly drastic step.
But the Supervisors would first need to guarantee that King will remain open. They also need to guarantee that the new King will have both an emergency room and a trauma center - and that the rest of the county medical system will be protected from the medical staff that has already been transferred from King due to incompetence. And this needs to be done now. Before the Feds shut down King for good and it is too late to do anything.
The people of South Los Angeles have suffered long enough. They deserve better.
But, then, so does everyone else in Los Angeles.
Everything You Wanted To Know About The DWP - But Were Afraid To Ask!
Did DWP Cave in? GM Deaton Provides Some Answers
Accused of caving in to their union and violating the Brown Act, DWP’s GM Ron Deaton and Public Affairs Director Joe Romallo, met with members of the NC/DWP MOU Oversight Committee to clear the air and get the DWP facts on the table.
The meeting topic was (primarily) the DWP’s hiring of a third crew to build trunk lines even though it costs the DWP almost twice as much to use in-house crews rather than privately contracted crews and it can take up to twice as long for them to do the job.
Also discussed was the lack of adequate public notice about this issue and whether the DWP Board violated the Brown Act when they passed this motion – and these are two different, but related issues. The positive result of the meeting was that the DWP agreed to improve and expand notifications to Neighborhood Councils.
The controversy began when the Daily News’ Kerry Cavanaugh wrote that it would cost up to a half-billion dollars more for DWP crews to build thirteen proposed new water trunk lines than if private contactors were to build them. She reported that the union (IBEW) required a third in-house crew be hired to rebuild other trunk lines at substantially higher costs, as a condition of allowing the hiring of those private contractors for the half-billion dollar saving.
Cavanaugh based her article on facts the DWP provided her and both Deaton and Romallo acknowledged that her article was correct. Unfortunately, some people misinterpreted the article as saying that this proposal was going to cost the DWP an extra half-billion dollars, rather than it saving that amount on those thirteen trunk lines.
The Neighborhood Councils’ first problem with this issue is that there was zero advance public notice. Then when NC representatives arrived at the board meeting, the DWP held the vote on this subject – without any discussion or public comment.
Deaton explained: since public comment is only for non-agenda items, that was not the time for the public to comment on this issue. He then gave us copies of the public speaker requests, and it showed that the person who had signed up to speak had not specified which item which he wished to speak on.
That means, says Deaton, they did not violate the technical requirements on the Brown Act regarding public comment. As for the agenda, since they only have to identify the general subject matter – the item did mention trunk lines – but not the hiring of the crew – and even though they did put n/a on the fiscal impact – even though there is one – they also did not violate the technical requirements of the Brown Act since fiscal impacts do not have to be given in the agenda.
Still it was clear: a much better job of notifying both the Neighborhood Councils, and the public, about this issue could have been done. Romallo promised a more pro-active monitoring of issues for the NCs in the future. He also agreed to send the Councils copies of all communications (that are not confidential such as labor negotiations) the DWP sends to the City Council and the Mayor.
The GM explained the reasoning behind hiring the third trunk-line crew. Besides keeping labor peace, the DWP felt it prudent to have a third trunk line crew to repair the lines in the event of a major disaster. A major earthquake would break not only the local water lines, but the main lines and the trunk lines.
Also, he said, the trunk lines are the lines that deliver the water from the aqueduct to the more localized main lines throughout the city. Rebuilding these trunk lines will take another 15 years, so hiring a third crew will not result in redundant workers.
The committee wanted to know why it should take so much more money for DWP to put in new trunk lines? Because, Deaton responded, when it comes to water mains – the DWP crews are competitive with private contractors. The more existing crews work on them, the more efficient they will become … and the cost differential should, he says, come down.
Now that this issue has become public, it would seem to be in the union’s best interest to allow for work rules changes - if needed - to produce more in-house trunk line work and to help get costs in line with those of private contractors.
Also addressed was the question of why DWP workers pay scales for the same job are substantially higher than in the private sector and all other departments in the city of Los Angeles. The suggested likely answer turned out to be a simple one. With water and power revenues being relatively stable year to year, there are no sudden drops in revenues at the DWP. In contrast, the city of Los Angeles depends on sales and business taxes, federal and state grants, property transfer fees and other revenue sources that can change from year to year. So while other city employees – and private sector employees, often face wage freezes for several years during recessions – and private sector employees can also face lay-offs, DWP workers always get their raises from the DWP’s more stable revenue stream.
It’s worth noting, of course, that public sector unions continue to spend considerable money on getting workers out to vote for the elected officials who then vote on their pay raises. Plus, the DWP negotiations in particular have been held in almost totally secrecy, compared with negotiations between other unions and other city. After the last DWP pay hike, you will recall, a task force was asked to set up new guidelines for the DWP union negotiations to make the process more transparent. City Controller Laura Chick is among those working to shine some light on the DWP union negotiations.
Neighborhood Councils should join her by making transparent union negotiations one more priority on their monitoring list.
Accused of caving in to their union and violating the Brown Act, DWP’s GM Ron Deaton and Public Affairs Director Joe Romallo, met with members of the NC/DWP MOU Oversight Committee to clear the air and get the DWP facts on the table.
The meeting topic was (primarily) the DWP’s hiring of a third crew to build trunk lines even though it costs the DWP almost twice as much to use in-house crews rather than privately contracted crews and it can take up to twice as long for them to do the job.
Also discussed was the lack of adequate public notice about this issue and whether the DWP Board violated the Brown Act when they passed this motion – and these are two different, but related issues. The positive result of the meeting was that the DWP agreed to improve and expand notifications to Neighborhood Councils.
The controversy began when the Daily News’ Kerry Cavanaugh wrote that it would cost up to a half-billion dollars more for DWP crews to build thirteen proposed new water trunk lines than if private contactors were to build them. She reported that the union (IBEW) required a third in-house crew be hired to rebuild other trunk lines at substantially higher costs, as a condition of allowing the hiring of those private contractors for the half-billion dollar saving.
Cavanaugh based her article on facts the DWP provided her and both Deaton and Romallo acknowledged that her article was correct. Unfortunately, some people misinterpreted the article as saying that this proposal was going to cost the DWP an extra half-billion dollars, rather than it saving that amount on those thirteen trunk lines.
The Neighborhood Councils’ first problem with this issue is that there was zero advance public notice. Then when NC representatives arrived at the board meeting, the DWP held the vote on this subject – without any discussion or public comment.
Deaton explained: since public comment is only for non-agenda items, that was not the time for the public to comment on this issue. He then gave us copies of the public speaker requests, and it showed that the person who had signed up to speak had not specified which item which he wished to speak on.
That means, says Deaton, they did not violate the technical requirements on the Brown Act regarding public comment. As for the agenda, since they only have to identify the general subject matter – the item did mention trunk lines – but not the hiring of the crew – and even though they did put n/a on the fiscal impact – even though there is one – they also did not violate the technical requirements of the Brown Act since fiscal impacts do not have to be given in the agenda.
Still it was clear: a much better job of notifying both the Neighborhood Councils, and the public, about this issue could have been done. Romallo promised a more pro-active monitoring of issues for the NCs in the future. He also agreed to send the Councils copies of all communications (that are not confidential such as labor negotiations) the DWP sends to the City Council and the Mayor.
The GM explained the reasoning behind hiring the third trunk-line crew. Besides keeping labor peace, the DWP felt it prudent to have a third trunk line crew to repair the lines in the event of a major disaster. A major earthquake would break not only the local water lines, but the main lines and the trunk lines.
Also, he said, the trunk lines are the lines that deliver the water from the aqueduct to the more localized main lines throughout the city. Rebuilding these trunk lines will take another 15 years, so hiring a third crew will not result in redundant workers.
The committee wanted to know why it should take so much more money for DWP to put in new trunk lines? Because, Deaton responded, when it comes to water mains – the DWP crews are competitive with private contractors. The more existing crews work on them, the more efficient they will become … and the cost differential should, he says, come down.
Now that this issue has become public, it would seem to be in the union’s best interest to allow for work rules changes - if needed - to produce more in-house trunk line work and to help get costs in line with those of private contractors.
Also addressed was the question of why DWP workers pay scales for the same job are substantially higher than in the private sector and all other departments in the city of Los Angeles. The suggested likely answer turned out to be a simple one. With water and power revenues being relatively stable year to year, there are no sudden drops in revenues at the DWP. In contrast, the city of Los Angeles depends on sales and business taxes, federal and state grants, property transfer fees and other revenue sources that can change from year to year. So while other city employees – and private sector employees, often face wage freezes for several years during recessions – and private sector employees can also face lay-offs, DWP workers always get their raises from the DWP’s more stable revenue stream.
It’s worth noting, of course, that public sector unions continue to spend considerable money on getting workers out to vote for the elected officials who then vote on their pay raises. Plus, the DWP negotiations in particular have been held in almost totally secrecy, compared with negotiations between other unions and other city. After the last DWP pay hike, you will recall, a task force was asked to set up new guidelines for the DWP union negotiations to make the process more transparent. City Controller Laura Chick is among those working to shine some light on the DWP union negotiations.
Neighborhood Councils should join her by making transparent union negotiations one more priority on their monitoring list.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Confused About How Many Homes Burned In Tahoe? Then You Must Be Reading The Los Angeles Times!
At one time this morning the LA Times website between stories and headlines had three - count them - three different numbers of homes burned with the SMALLEST number being those burned or damaged. And then there is the homes and other structures number also thrown in to add to the confusion.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
LA Times Website Clueless As To What Is On... LA Times TV Show!
Seeing that a LA Times Forum was going to be on Tribune owned KTLA, I clicked on the link to see what the subject matter of the Forum was going to be...
LA Times Forum
Sat, Jun 23, 9:00 PM | Run Time: 60 min.
Genre: Special
Now isn't that just... special...
Ah, the joys of synergy...
LA Times Forum
Sat, Jun 23, 9:00 PM | Run Time: 60 min.
Genre: Special
Now isn't that just... special...
Ah, the joys of synergy...
Friday, June 22, 2007
Variety Covers Downtown!
Remaking downtown Los Angeles
Neighborhood make over in full swing
By PAT SAPERSTEIN
"In cultural tourism, L.A. ranks at the bottom," says downtown neighborhood activist Brady Westwater. Westwater, who sees himself as the "curator" of downtown, envisions a constant stream of film festivals, comedy walks, fashion events and other cultural happenings keeping downtown sidewalks busy and populated.
Ostensibly the infrastructure will soon be in place to make this possible. With downtown's population estimated to rise from 29,000 to as high as 60,000 by the end of next year, at least according to projections by the Anschutz Entertainment Group, residents eager for movies and smaller legit theaters in their neighborhood should keep the wheels of commerce churning.
The trick will be to convince Angelenos from other areas to get in the habit of getting their entertainment downtown, even when they're not visiting Disney Concert Hall.
"During the week, we see people from nearby areas like Silver Lake and Koreatown," says Cedd Moses, who developed hot downtown bars the Golden Gopher, the Broadway Bar and the new Seven Grand. "But on the weekends, we're starting to see people from all over, especially from the Westside, which we didn't expect. It's easier to get to than Hollywood."
The so-called downtown renaissance has been much ballyhooed for at least the past two decades. But the completion of the Staples Center in 1999 and the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003 went a long way toward re-establishing downtown as an entertainment destination after many years of being a virtual after-hours ghost town.
Los Angeles Downtown News recently listed a whopping 171 projects that are reshaping the neighborhood. And with L.A. real estate prices approaching Manhattan levels, and bedroom communities spreading out to far-flung places like the Antelope Valley, Temecula and beyond, Downtown suddenly seems hip and accessible.
Of course, Angelenos have always ventured downtown for entertainment -- the movie palaces along Broadway were as glam as anything in the 1920s, and the Music Center and then Disney Hall have kept the well-heeled coming downtown in the interim.
But the projected thousands of people moving into the area's new lofts and apartments can't afford $100 symphony tickets every night.
For now, the Laemmle Grande fourplex in the Marriott Hotel is the only movie theater regularly programming in the district. But that's about to change, as investment balloons in area entertainment destinations.
First up is the ImaginAsian Center, skedded to debut in early fall. The single-screen cultural center is built on the site of the Linda Lea on South Main Street near Little Tokyo, which was once a popular venue for Japanese films.
ImaginAsian prexy Michael Huh says like the company's New York complex, the theater will program films from throughout Asia, including India.
"We hope it will appeal to the crossover market," he says. "Asians are spread throughout the county."
While it remains to be seen whether patrons will want to come downtown from Koreatown, the San Gabriel Valley and other Asian centers, Huh says, "We've proven that there is a demand for that type of thing." With 275 seats, the theater also will have a cafe and stage for performances. "It will be someplace to go not just to see a film but to hang out," Huh promises.
Mainstream pics will be the focus at L.A. Live's 14-screen Regal Cinema multiplex, targeted to open in late 2009 as part of a huge development that also includes restaurants, hotel/condo combo (plex will be across from the 1,001-room Ritz-Carlton/JW Marriott amalgam) and more.
Developed by Anschutz Entertainment Group, L.A. Live hopes to attract Hollywood premieres to the cinema's 800-seat auditorium. L.A. Live will also incorporate two live venues, the 7,100-seat Nokia Theater, opening Nov. 1, and the 2,400-person-capacity Club Nokia.
Other live venues coming online in the area include the renovation of the Los Angeles Theater Center, which will house the Latino Theater Company; Main Street's Regent Theater redo by downtown pioneer Tom Gilmore for live music, with a restaurant and bar; the 200-seat Thayer Hall, an intimate concert venue adjacent to MOCA that's opening in October as part of the expansion of the Colburn performing arts school; and renovation of the 1,000-seat Variety Arts Center on Figueroa.
"In New York, legit theater is the top draw," says Westwater, who hopes some of the film palaces along L.A.'s Broadway can be restored for music and live theater.
The State, the Palace, the Tower and the Los Angeles theaters, owned by Michael Delijani, are currently used for filming, live events and the Last Available Seats movie series. The Orpheum Theater has stepped up the number of premieres it hosts lately, including "Grindhouse," as well as live acts like Lisa Gerrard.
"We are changing the street life," says Westwater, who helped bring events for Fashion Week downtown.
Moses, for his part, envisions a music festival similar to Silver Lake's popular Sunset Junction festival.
Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117967434.html
Neighborhood make over in full swing
By PAT SAPERSTEIN
"In cultural tourism, L.A. ranks at the bottom," says downtown neighborhood activist Brady Westwater. Westwater, who sees himself as the "curator" of downtown, envisions a constant stream of film festivals, comedy walks, fashion events and other cultural happenings keeping downtown sidewalks busy and populated.
Ostensibly the infrastructure will soon be in place to make this possible. With downtown's population estimated to rise from 29,000 to as high as 60,000 by the end of next year, at least according to projections by the Anschutz Entertainment Group, residents eager for movies and smaller legit theaters in their neighborhood should keep the wheels of commerce churning.
The trick will be to convince Angelenos from other areas to get in the habit of getting their entertainment downtown, even when they're not visiting Disney Concert Hall.
"During the week, we see people from nearby areas like Silver Lake and Koreatown," says Cedd Moses, who developed hot downtown bars the Golden Gopher, the Broadway Bar and the new Seven Grand. "But on the weekends, we're starting to see people from all over, especially from the Westside, which we didn't expect. It's easier to get to than Hollywood."
The so-called downtown renaissance has been much ballyhooed for at least the past two decades. But the completion of the Staples Center in 1999 and the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003 went a long way toward re-establishing downtown as an entertainment destination after many years of being a virtual after-hours ghost town.
Los Angeles Downtown News recently listed a whopping 171 projects that are reshaping the neighborhood. And with L.A. real estate prices approaching Manhattan levels, and bedroom communities spreading out to far-flung places like the Antelope Valley, Temecula and beyond, Downtown suddenly seems hip and accessible.
Of course, Angelenos have always ventured downtown for entertainment -- the movie palaces along Broadway were as glam as anything in the 1920s, and the Music Center and then Disney Hall have kept the well-heeled coming downtown in the interim.
But the projected thousands of people moving into the area's new lofts and apartments can't afford $100 symphony tickets every night.
For now, the Laemmle Grande fourplex in the Marriott Hotel is the only movie theater regularly programming in the district. But that's about to change, as investment balloons in area entertainment destinations.
First up is the ImaginAsian Center, skedded to debut in early fall. The single-screen cultural center is built on the site of the Linda Lea on South Main Street near Little Tokyo, which was once a popular venue for Japanese films.
ImaginAsian prexy Michael Huh says like the company's New York complex, the theater will program films from throughout Asia, including India.
"We hope it will appeal to the crossover market," he says. "Asians are spread throughout the county."
While it remains to be seen whether patrons will want to come downtown from Koreatown, the San Gabriel Valley and other Asian centers, Huh says, "We've proven that there is a demand for that type of thing." With 275 seats, the theater also will have a cafe and stage for performances. "It will be someplace to go not just to see a film but to hang out," Huh promises.
Mainstream pics will be the focus at L.A. Live's 14-screen Regal Cinema multiplex, targeted to open in late 2009 as part of a huge development that also includes restaurants, hotel/condo combo (plex will be across from the 1,001-room Ritz-Carlton/JW Marriott amalgam) and more.
Developed by Anschutz Entertainment Group, L.A. Live hopes to attract Hollywood premieres to the cinema's 800-seat auditorium. L.A. Live will also incorporate two live venues, the 7,100-seat Nokia Theater, opening Nov. 1, and the 2,400-person-capacity Club Nokia.
Other live venues coming online in the area include the renovation of the Los Angeles Theater Center, which will house the Latino Theater Company; Main Street's Regent Theater redo by downtown pioneer Tom Gilmore for live music, with a restaurant and bar; the 200-seat Thayer Hall, an intimate concert venue adjacent to MOCA that's opening in October as part of the expansion of the Colburn performing arts school; and renovation of the 1,000-seat Variety Arts Center on Figueroa.
"In New York, legit theater is the top draw," says Westwater, who hopes some of the film palaces along L.A.'s Broadway can be restored for music and live theater.
The State, the Palace, the Tower and the Los Angeles theaters, owned by Michael Delijani, are currently used for filming, live events and the Last Available Seats movie series. The Orpheum Theater has stepped up the number of premieres it hosts lately, including "Grindhouse," as well as live acts like Lisa Gerrard.
"We are changing the street life," says Westwater, who helped bring events for Fashion Week downtown.
Moses, for his part, envisions a music festival similar to Silver Lake's popular Sunset Junction festival.
Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117967434.html
The Killers of Killer King! Coming Soon To Your Neighborhood!
Below is my article in today's CITYWATCH:
The Killers of Killer King! Coming Soon To Your Neighborhood!
By Brady Westwater
After decades of ‘reforms’ and more money being spent there than on any hospital in the County health system – infamous ‘Killer King’ Hospital (the former Martin Luther King/Dew Medical Center now called the King-Harbor Hospital but still known as 'Killer King') in Watts still kills the patients whose lives it is supposed to save.
And that is just considering high profile deaths such as when a person dies a slow agonizing death on the floor of an emergency room as cameras recorded her death and a janitor swept around her and not one of the dozens of medial professionals who walked by bothered to see if the person needed helped. Many more patients are killed on a regular basis by unnoticed errors or easily hidden incompetencies. It is almost certain that far more than the deaths, lost limbs and needless life-changing infirmities are occurring on a daily basis than we will ever know about.
All we can ever know for certain is that the past corrupt administrations and their practices have created a culture of incompetence once thought could only be found in a third world country, even though, to repeat myself, far more money is spent per patient at King than in any other facility in the county medical system.
So how bad is the situation still at Killer King? To begin with, an outside auditor just checked the records of 60 random emergency room cases to see how they were handled. And this review relied upon the records complied by the people who did the care, which might not fully reflect what was actually done – or not done.
So how many of these 60 cases were ‘mishandled’?
One? Two? Three?
No.
Seventeen out of sixty.
That means that you have an almost one in three chance of being put into “immediate jeopardy” at the King Emergency Room – after years and millions being spent retraining the present staff, even after many of the worst offenders have been fired or moved to other institutions.
Another indicator of the situation’s hopelessness is that around 60% of the registered and licensed vocational nurses at King recently failed parts of their minimal competency exams. That figure is bad enough – but what no one is willing to say is that these are exams these nurses are being coached and trained to pass. And yet a majority of the nurses at King are still incapable of getting even a minimal passing score.
So if they can not even pass these exams they are specifically being coached to pass – how can they perform in real world situations that far more complex?
In contrast, less than 5% of the nurses failed their tests over at the County’s Harbor-UCLA Hospital.
For too many decades the people of South Los Angeles have been subjected, for strictly political reasons, to a level of health care that would not be tolerated by the Supervisors in any other part of this county.
And as for how this problem was going to be fixed – the Supervisor’s solution was a simple one; they ordered the people responsible for the disastrously low level of health care at Killer King – the worst of the worst – to be transferred to all the other hospitals and medical facilities scattered around Los Angeles County.
This is a solution?
Even more shocking, the only reason this ‘solution’ has been considered a failure by the Supervisors is that King has only managed to unload about one-third of staff from King onto other neighborhood medical facilities.
So why hasn’t there been a public out cry about this? Why haven’t the NC’s and every other organization protested this deadly lowering of the standards of medical care throughout Los Angeles County?
I expect it is because the public simply does not know the Supervisor's solution to the problems of Killer King – is to move King’s most deadly staff to every other hospital, health center and neighborhood clinic in the system.
And yet there is another solution.
For some time there has been talk of declaring a public health crisis, suspending civil service rules and firing every person at King (and all those who have been transferred from King) and then allowing them all to instantly reapply for their jobs. That way, whoever is chosen to run the new King Hospital – can rehire only those people who should be rehired.
But time is running out for even this solution. It is likely that the Feds next month will pull the plug on Killer King – and leave South Los Angeles without a critically needed facility unless the Supervisors take this admittedly drastic step.
But the Supervisors would first need to guarantee that King will remain open. They also need to guarantee that the new King will have both an emergency room and a trauma center - and that the rest of the county medical system will be protected from the medical staff that has already been transferred from King due to incompetence. And this needs to be done now. Before the Feds shut down King for good and it is too late to do anything.
The people of South Los Angeles have suffered long enough. They deserve better.
But, then, so does everyone else in Los Angeles.
The Killers of Killer King! Coming Soon To Your Neighborhood!
By Brady Westwater
After decades of ‘reforms’ and more money being spent there than on any hospital in the County health system – infamous ‘Killer King’ Hospital (the former Martin Luther King/Dew Medical Center now called the King-Harbor Hospital but still known as 'Killer King') in Watts still kills the patients whose lives it is supposed to save.
And that is just considering high profile deaths such as when a person dies a slow agonizing death on the floor of an emergency room as cameras recorded her death and a janitor swept around her and not one of the dozens of medial professionals who walked by bothered to see if the person needed helped. Many more patients are killed on a regular basis by unnoticed errors or easily hidden incompetencies. It is almost certain that far more than the deaths, lost limbs and needless life-changing infirmities are occurring on a daily basis than we will ever know about.
All we can ever know for certain is that the past corrupt administrations and their practices have created a culture of incompetence once thought could only be found in a third world country, even though, to repeat myself, far more money is spent per patient at King than in any other facility in the county medical system.
So how bad is the situation still at Killer King? To begin with, an outside auditor just checked the records of 60 random emergency room cases to see how they were handled. And this review relied upon the records complied by the people who did the care, which might not fully reflect what was actually done – or not done.
So how many of these 60 cases were ‘mishandled’?
One? Two? Three?
No.
Seventeen out of sixty.
That means that you have an almost one in three chance of being put into “immediate jeopardy” at the King Emergency Room – after years and millions being spent retraining the present staff, even after many of the worst offenders have been fired or moved to other institutions.
Another indicator of the situation’s hopelessness is that around 60% of the registered and licensed vocational nurses at King recently failed parts of their minimal competency exams. That figure is bad enough – but what no one is willing to say is that these are exams these nurses are being coached and trained to pass. And yet a majority of the nurses at King are still incapable of getting even a minimal passing score.
So if they can not even pass these exams they are specifically being coached to pass – how can they perform in real world situations that far more complex?
In contrast, less than 5% of the nurses failed their tests over at the County’s Harbor-UCLA Hospital.
For too many decades the people of South Los Angeles have been subjected, for strictly political reasons, to a level of health care that would not be tolerated by the Supervisors in any other part of this county.
And as for how this problem was going to be fixed – the Supervisor’s solution was a simple one; they ordered the people responsible for the disastrously low level of health care at Killer King – the worst of the worst – to be transferred to all the other hospitals and medical facilities scattered around Los Angeles County.
This is a solution?
Even more shocking, the only reason this ‘solution’ has been considered a failure by the Supervisors is that King has only managed to unload about one-third of staff from King onto other neighborhood medical facilities.
So why hasn’t there been a public out cry about this? Why haven’t the NC’s and every other organization protested this deadly lowering of the standards of medical care throughout Los Angeles County?
I expect it is because the public simply does not know the Supervisor's solution to the problems of Killer King – is to move King’s most deadly staff to every other hospital, health center and neighborhood clinic in the system.
And yet there is another solution.
For some time there has been talk of declaring a public health crisis, suspending civil service rules and firing every person at King (and all those who have been transferred from King) and then allowing them all to instantly reapply for their jobs. That way, whoever is chosen to run the new King Hospital – can rehire only those people who should be rehired.
But time is running out for even this solution. It is likely that the Feds next month will pull the plug on Killer King – and leave South Los Angeles without a critically needed facility unless the Supervisors take this admittedly drastic step.
But the Supervisors would first need to guarantee that King will remain open. They also need to guarantee that the new King will have both an emergency room and a trauma center - and that the rest of the county medical system will be protected from the medical staff that has already been transferred from King due to incompetence. And this needs to be done now. Before the Feds shut down King for good and it is too late to do anything.
The people of South Los Angeles have suffered long enough. They deserve better.
But, then, so does everyone else in Los Angeles.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
After A Lot Of Dancing Around - The Times Finally Closes Deal With David Zahniser!
LAObserved just linked to Witness LA....
http://witnessla.com/city-government/2007/alan-mittelstaedt/a-toast-to-dave/
.... with the story that the deadly wolverine, I mean, committed reporter, David Zahniser has in one year moved from the wilderness of Copley to the LA Weekly to... the Los Angeles Times. The only downside is that he is now covering the Mayor, but - hopefully - this will in no way keep him from covering the many other stories he is exploring in the underworld of LA politics.
The seduction of David has been a long process with the Times going back and forth in its fickle affections, but the LAT finally produced the ring, popped the question and consummation was... immediate.
Now this will be interesting. LA Weekly political reporter David Zahniser, the hottest property on the City Hall beat, is jumping to the L.A. Times to cover Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. I don't know what it means for Duke Helfand, who has been on the Antonio beat for the Times, but the hire should mean sharper, deeper and less friendly coverage of the mayor. Zahniser's former editor at the Weekly, Alan Mittelstaedt, breaks the news at WitnessLA...
http://witnessla.com/city-government/2007/alan-mittelstaedt/a-toast-to-dave/
.... with the story that the deadly wolverine, I mean, committed reporter, David Zahniser has in one year moved from the wilderness of Copley to the LA Weekly to... the Los Angeles Times. The only downside is that he is now covering the Mayor, but - hopefully - this will in no way keep him from covering the many other stories he is exploring in the underworld of LA politics.
The seduction of David has been a long process with the Times going back and forth in its fickle affections, but the LAT finally produced the ring, popped the question and consummation was... immediate.
Now this will be interesting. LA Weekly political reporter David Zahniser, the hottest property on the City Hall beat, is jumping to the L.A. Times to cover Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. I don't know what it means for Duke Helfand, who has been on the Antonio beat for the Times, but the hire should mean sharper, deeper and less friendly coverage of the mayor. Zahniser's former editor at the Weekly, Alan Mittelstaedt, breaks the news at WitnessLA...
State May Close Killer King!
Two things. First, it'll take way too long for the State to shut down King (and someone else will do it long before then), but it helps give the County Supervisors the political cover - if they can still imagine they need it - to shut down King... temporarily... themselves.
And as for the second thing - that'll be in my article that is about to be posted on CITYWATCH (and then here) in about an hour...
State moves to revoke King-Harbor's license
By Charles Ornstein and Rich Connell
Times Staff Writer
4:19 PM PDT, June 21, 2007
The state of California warned Los Angeles County officials today that it was taking steps to revoke the license of Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, a move that would force the long-troubled public hospital to close.
The action, the boldest thus far by the state, follows recent findings by the federal government that patients at the hospital are, after years of reform efforts, in immediate jeopardy of harm or death. The state Department of Health Services has never before threatened such a penalty against King-Harbor and, has not taken such an action against a hospital since 2004.
The state's intervention dramatically increases the pressure on King-Harbor, whose turbulent history traces back almost to its inception.
The federal government has for some time dangled the threat of pulling crucial Medicare and Medi-Cal funding -- a matter that could be settled by an inspection next month. But a hospital cannot operate without a license.
Los Angeles County supervisors were notified by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office today that the hospital would be sent a formal document outlining the reasons for revocation by next week. County officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Schwarzenegger, who has been meeting with community leaders about the hospital's future, was personally involved in the decision, state officials said. It marks a shift for the governor, who had urged the federal government to continue funding the hospital in recent months in hopes it would reform.
The decision, however, is subject to appeal -- a process that could take a year. And the state suggested in a letter to county health director Bruce Chernof today that it could rescind its action if the hospital was able to show that it met state and federal standards -- a goal it has consistently been unable to meet.
"We're really worried that the people will think the hospital closes tomorrow," said Sandra Shewry, director of the state health services agency. "It doesn't mean that. Services continue while this process plays out. The best end point is for that hospital to come into compliance with those standards."
Pressure on the state had been building in recent weeks, especially after highly publicized lapses in care. In one case, a 43-year-old woman writhed in pain untreated on the floor of King-Harbor's emergency room lobby for 45 minutes before dying. In another, a brain tumor patient waited four days for treatment before his family drove him to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center 10 miles away for emergency surgery.
charles.ornstein@latimes.com
rich.connell@latimes.com
And as for the second thing - that'll be in my article that is about to be posted on CITYWATCH (and then here) in about an hour...
State moves to revoke King-Harbor's license
By Charles Ornstein and Rich Connell
Times Staff Writer
4:19 PM PDT, June 21, 2007
The state of California warned Los Angeles County officials today that it was taking steps to revoke the license of Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, a move that would force the long-troubled public hospital to close.
The action, the boldest thus far by the state, follows recent findings by the federal government that patients at the hospital are, after years of reform efforts, in immediate jeopardy of harm or death. The state Department of Health Services has never before threatened such a penalty against King-Harbor and, has not taken such an action against a hospital since 2004.
The state's intervention dramatically increases the pressure on King-Harbor, whose turbulent history traces back almost to its inception.
The federal government has for some time dangled the threat of pulling crucial Medicare and Medi-Cal funding -- a matter that could be settled by an inspection next month. But a hospital cannot operate without a license.
Los Angeles County supervisors were notified by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office today that the hospital would be sent a formal document outlining the reasons for revocation by next week. County officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Schwarzenegger, who has been meeting with community leaders about the hospital's future, was personally involved in the decision, state officials said. It marks a shift for the governor, who had urged the federal government to continue funding the hospital in recent months in hopes it would reform.
The decision, however, is subject to appeal -- a process that could take a year. And the state suggested in a letter to county health director Bruce Chernof today that it could rescind its action if the hospital was able to show that it met state and federal standards -- a goal it has consistently been unable to meet.
"We're really worried that the people will think the hospital closes tomorrow," said Sandra Shewry, director of the state health services agency. "It doesn't mean that. Services continue while this process plays out. The best end point is for that hospital to come into compliance with those standards."
Pressure on the state had been building in recent weeks, especially after highly publicized lapses in care. In one case, a 43-year-old woman writhed in pain untreated on the floor of King-Harbor's emergency room lobby for 45 minutes before dying. In another, a brain tumor patient waited four days for treatment before his family drove him to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center 10 miles away for emergency surgery.
charles.ornstein@latimes.com
rich.connell@latimes.com
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
World's Greatest Cowboy Passes! Jim Shoulders 1928 - 2007 RIP
While many of the records Jim Shoulders set as the world's greatest cowboy rodeo has ever seen have been broken, it took a lot more than just one man to break them.
I saw him only a few times towards the end of the career, but even then watching him on a bull or a bronc was a revelation.
I even met him once and managed to make total fool of myself. It was at a rodeo where my buddies and I had some bucking stock. It was fight night in back of one of the local bars and after I did a little bucking myself of a couple guys, I heard someone behind me say something to me - and not certain if he was a buddy of one of the guys I had just 'bucked' and I quickly spun around with raised fists and suddenly was face to face with... Jim Shoulders.
Now I still had no idea what he had said, I was also suddenly deer-in-the-headlights stunned at suddenly being face to face with him - when he smiled, put his hand on my shoulder to give it a quick squeeze and turned and left as I... babbled... something... totally incomprehensible... to everyone's (and I mean... everyone's) considerable amusement.
It was one of those moments I... painfully... relieved in my memory for years and years afterward.
obituary
Rodeo loses a legend
Star cowboy Shoulders, 79, was "Babe Ruth" of sport
By Richard Green The Associated Press
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated:06/21/2007 12:47:16 AM MDT
Oklahoma City - Jim Shoulders, one of the greatest rodeo cowboys in the history of the sport and the only man to win the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo all-around title four times, died Wednesday. He was 79.
Shoulders died at 3:30 a.m. in his home in Henryetta, Okla., after a long battle with a heart ailment, said his son, Marvin Paul Shoulders.
Jim Shoulders won 16 world championships, the most of any rodeo cowboy, and was a charter member of the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs.
"He was the Babe Ruth of rodeo," his son said. "Besides being one of the greatest rodeo cowboys, he was a great man."
Shoulders was still able to ride horses until a few months ago.
"He did not have to suffer," his son said. "He wasn't the kind of person who would handle that real good."
Jim Bainbridge, a spokesman for the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, called Shoulders "the best rodeo cowboy ever."
Born on May 13, 1928, in Tulsa, Okla., Shoulders was 14 when he entered his first rodeo. In 1949, at age 21, he won the first of his world titles.
Shoulders amassed five world championships in the all- around category, seven in bull riding and four bareback. He was nearly unbeatable during the 1950s.
Shoulders was a seven-time winner of the Calgary Stampede.
In addition to his 16 world championships, he was reserve champion another 10 times, including four second-place finishes in the all around.
"I think in future generations he will probably be the biggest rodeo cowboy hero that we have ever known, and we've had some great ones," rodeo announcer and longtime friend Clem McSpadden said. "If Shoulders was a tree, he'd be the biggest tree in the rodeo forest, period, over and out."
McSpadden said Shoulders' ability to withstand pain was a key to his success.
"Rodeo had changed so much," he said. "When he ro- deoed, they didn't even wear mouthpieces.
"Now with the training and medical background, they stretch, they have the best orthopedic surgeons available.Jim had none of that. He was just tough and would go beat you.
"He had no pain level. He was impervious to pain."
A look at Jim Shoulders:
Life: Born in 1928 in Tulsa, Okla.; lived in Henryetta, Okla.
Early career: At age 14, won $17 for bareback riding in his first rodeo; won his first world title at age 21.
Résumé: Won 16 world rodeo championships, a record that stood from 1959 until 2003.
Legend: Inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1979 as a charter member; gained added fame by appearing with Yankees manager Billy Martin in a series of beer advertisements.
I saw him only a few times towards the end of the career, but even then watching him on a bull or a bronc was a revelation.
I even met him once and managed to make total fool of myself. It was at a rodeo where my buddies and I had some bucking stock. It was fight night in back of one of the local bars and after I did a little bucking myself of a couple guys, I heard someone behind me say something to me - and not certain if he was a buddy of one of the guys I had just 'bucked' and I quickly spun around with raised fists and suddenly was face to face with... Jim Shoulders.
Now I still had no idea what he had said, I was also suddenly deer-in-the-headlights stunned at suddenly being face to face with him - when he smiled, put his hand on my shoulder to give it a quick squeeze and turned and left as I... babbled... something... totally incomprehensible... to everyone's (and I mean... everyone's) considerable amusement.
It was one of those moments I... painfully... relieved in my memory for years and years afterward.
obituary
Rodeo loses a legend
Star cowboy Shoulders, 79, was "Babe Ruth" of sport
By Richard Green The Associated Press
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated:06/21/2007 12:47:16 AM MDT
Oklahoma City - Jim Shoulders, one of the greatest rodeo cowboys in the history of the sport and the only man to win the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo all-around title four times, died Wednesday. He was 79.
Shoulders died at 3:30 a.m. in his home in Henryetta, Okla., after a long battle with a heart ailment, said his son, Marvin Paul Shoulders.
Jim Shoulders won 16 world championships, the most of any rodeo cowboy, and was a charter member of the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs.
"He was the Babe Ruth of rodeo," his son said. "Besides being one of the greatest rodeo cowboys, he was a great man."
Shoulders was still able to ride horses until a few months ago.
"He did not have to suffer," his son said. "He wasn't the kind of person who would handle that real good."
Jim Bainbridge, a spokesman for the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, called Shoulders "the best rodeo cowboy ever."
Born on May 13, 1928, in Tulsa, Okla., Shoulders was 14 when he entered his first rodeo. In 1949, at age 21, he won the first of his world titles.
Shoulders amassed five world championships in the all- around category, seven in bull riding and four bareback. He was nearly unbeatable during the 1950s.
Shoulders was a seven-time winner of the Calgary Stampede.
In addition to his 16 world championships, he was reserve champion another 10 times, including four second-place finishes in the all around.
"I think in future generations he will probably be the biggest rodeo cowboy hero that we have ever known, and we've had some great ones," rodeo announcer and longtime friend Clem McSpadden said. "If Shoulders was a tree, he'd be the biggest tree in the rodeo forest, period, over and out."
McSpadden said Shoulders' ability to withstand pain was a key to his success.
"Rodeo had changed so much," he said. "When he ro- deoed, they didn't even wear mouthpieces.
"Now with the training and medical background, they stretch, they have the best orthopedic surgeons available.Jim had none of that. He was just tough and would go beat you.
"He had no pain level. He was impervious to pain."
A look at Jim Shoulders:
Life: Born in 1928 in Tulsa, Okla.; lived in Henryetta, Okla.
Early career: At age 14, won $17 for bareback riding in his first rodeo; won his first world title at age 21.
Résumé: Won 16 world rodeo championships, a record that stood from 1959 until 2003.
Legend: Inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1979 as a charter member; gained added fame by appearing with Yankees manager Billy Martin in a series of beer advertisements.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Another Vintage Book Store Bites The Dust!
Three times I have tried to move a vintage book store downtown after they had problems paying the rent elsewhere in the city. But in each case, Portland's Powell Books or an auction company or a e-bay seller bought up the stock. And now the premiere rare book dealer in the city is about to become no more...
A rare treasure will soon be extinct
Heritage Book Shop, a West Hollywood fixture prized by collectors of antiquarian volumes throughout the world, is closing.
By Scott Timberg
Times Staff Writer
June 20, 2007
Los Angeles, and the country at large, have been losing bookstores lately to forces that have become familiar in the trade: rising rents, competition from national retail chains and the discounts offered by online booksellers.
Yet the latest casualty has come not from financial failure but from a combination of success and a stroke of luck — for the owners of Heritage Book Shop, at least. The Melrose Avenue fixture has been considered one of the finest and most lucrative antiquarian bookstores in the country. And although business continues to boom, the bookstore has been made an offer it cannot refuse.
"It was sudden for me," said Ben Weinstein, one of the two Brooklyn-born brothers who moved the shop to West Hollywood two decades ago after they had run a thrift store in Compton and bookstores on Hollywood Boulevard and La Cienega Boulevard. This spring, the building was sold to a local businessman, and the ink is still drying on a separate sale of the $10 million or so in inventory to an as-yet-undisclosed auction house.
The only good news I have to report is that I am currently in negotiations to bring a NEW vintage book dealer to Downtown's Main Street.
A rare treasure will soon be extinct
Heritage Book Shop, a West Hollywood fixture prized by collectors of antiquarian volumes throughout the world, is closing.
By Scott Timberg
Times Staff Writer
June 20, 2007
Los Angeles, and the country at large, have been losing bookstores lately to forces that have become familiar in the trade: rising rents, competition from national retail chains and the discounts offered by online booksellers.
Yet the latest casualty has come not from financial failure but from a combination of success and a stroke of luck — for the owners of Heritage Book Shop, at least. The Melrose Avenue fixture has been considered one of the finest and most lucrative antiquarian bookstores in the country. And although business continues to boom, the bookstore has been made an offer it cannot refuse.
"It was sudden for me," said Ben Weinstein, one of the two Brooklyn-born brothers who moved the shop to West Hollywood two decades ago after they had run a thrift store in Compton and bookstores on Hollywood Boulevard and La Cienega Boulevard. This spring, the building was sold to a local businessman, and the ink is still drying on a separate sale of the $10 million or so in inventory to an as-yet-undisclosed auction house.
The only good news I have to report is that I am currently in negotiations to bring a NEW vintage book dealer to Downtown's Main Street.
Monday, June 18, 2007
New York Times Doesn't Know It's Skyscrapers!
In an article on the change of management at the Chelsea Hotel, the New York Times makes the unimaginable blunder of stating that the 12 - yes, twelve - story structure was the tallest building in New York until 1902 (which was then the Flatiron Building was built - which was never the tallest building in New York, btw). This despite the fact that many, many buildings were far taller by then including the thirty story Park Park Row Building built in the late 1890's.
The 12-story, 250-room Chelsea Hotel was originally built in 1883 as Manhattan’s first cooperative apartment. It was the tallest building in New York until 1902, and it became a residential hotel in 1905.
The 12-story, 250-room Chelsea Hotel was originally built in 1883 as Manhattan’s first cooperative apartment. It was the tallest building in New York until 1902, and it became a residential hotel in 1905.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Gold Fish Return To Their Fishbowl! Mediabisto Empire Back On Line!
Solving the biggest aquatic disappearance mystery since... Reggie the Alligator's hibernation - Fishbowl LA and all the other the other Fishbowls and Mediabistro blogs are back on-line. No word yet on what happened, but... the last post on Fishbowl LA linked to... Nikki Finke....
Friday, June 15, 2007
FISHBOWL Media Empire ... Vanishes! So Who Dropped The Bowl?
When FISHBOWLLA went off line today, I just assumed it had something to do with Nikki Finke and her... unusually... personal attack on our local outpost of that media empire. But further checking discovered that ALL of the FISHBOWL blogs are temporarily off line...
Is The DWP Ripping Off Other Government Agencies?
The breaking story Wednesday of how the DWP ‘ripped off public agencies’ by $222-million was initially so confusing the LA Times had to post three different versions of it on their website before they - finally – got the story right.
Background.
A former state law – which was changed last year – stated that government utilities can only charge other government agencies for the costs of producing the specific electricity that particular agency purchases.
The possible ambiguity of that statement put into question if other capital expenditures of the utility can be covered in that charge and if other costs – such as the transfer fee paid yearly to the City of Los Angeles – can be considered in calculating those bills
If not, then government agencies would be paying rates less than other DWP ratepayers, which would seem to be inherently unfair as it would force private rate payers to subsidize government agencies. Likely one of the reasons why that state changed the law last year so that government agencies will now pay the same electric bills that the rest of us do.
The initial press coverage though, confused the issue when it was first reported that the judge called the DWP city power transfer ‘illegal’ – which is not what happened. He merely said it was illegal for the DWP to add that cost to the bill it changes other public agencies due to the now repealed state law.
As for the impact on local ratepayers (and local LA taxpayers) who are not government entities – there should be none in the near future since this ruling will be appealed. The DWP lawyers claim that all of their costs of doing business should be factored into all of their bills. But should the DWP lose on appeal – and it took seven years for the case to get this far – then the amount owed will be considerably larger than just 185 million a year the city currently receives from the DWP, and this would be close to 3% of the city’s entire budget.
A major hit, but, hopefully one we will not have to face for a number of years, if ever, unless a settlement is negotiated in the near future. But if we do have to pay – between DWP ratepayers and City of Los Angeles taxpayers, we will have to cough up at least $222-million at a time when both the $30-million DWP water transfer fee to the city budget and the $270-million cell phone tax that goes into the city budget are also being challenged in court.
And if all of those hits were to land at the same time – we are talking about close to 8% of the city’s entire revenue stream vanishing, with well over $300-million of those revenue losses possibly being permanent. (Brady Westwater is a writer, Chair of the LA NC Congress and a regular contributor to CityWatch.)
Background.
A former state law – which was changed last year – stated that government utilities can only charge other government agencies for the costs of producing the specific electricity that particular agency purchases.
The possible ambiguity of that statement put into question if other capital expenditures of the utility can be covered in that charge and if other costs – such as the transfer fee paid yearly to the City of Los Angeles – can be considered in calculating those bills
If not, then government agencies would be paying rates less than other DWP ratepayers, which would seem to be inherently unfair as it would force private rate payers to subsidize government agencies. Likely one of the reasons why that state changed the law last year so that government agencies will now pay the same electric bills that the rest of us do.
The initial press coverage though, confused the issue when it was first reported that the judge called the DWP city power transfer ‘illegal’ – which is not what happened. He merely said it was illegal for the DWP to add that cost to the bill it changes other public agencies due to the now repealed state law.
As for the impact on local ratepayers (and local LA taxpayers) who are not government entities – there should be none in the near future since this ruling will be appealed. The DWP lawyers claim that all of their costs of doing business should be factored into all of their bills. But should the DWP lose on appeal – and it took seven years for the case to get this far – then the amount owed will be considerably larger than just 185 million a year the city currently receives from the DWP, and this would be close to 3% of the city’s entire budget.
A major hit, but, hopefully one we will not have to face for a number of years, if ever, unless a settlement is negotiated in the near future. But if we do have to pay – between DWP ratepayers and City of Los Angeles taxpayers, we will have to cough up at least $222-million at a time when both the $30-million DWP water transfer fee to the city budget and the $270-million cell phone tax that goes into the city budget are also being challenged in court.
And if all of those hits were to land at the same time – we are talking about close to 8% of the city’s entire revenue stream vanishing, with well over $300-million of those revenue losses possibly being permanent. (Brady Westwater is a writer, Chair of the LA NC Congress and a regular contributor to CityWatch.)
Thursday, June 14, 2007
How To Wish Your Father A Happy Father's Day!
Hit the above link - and find out how you can publish your appreciation of your father on Gather's site. Below is my contribution which is a post I originally did on this blog two years ago:
Happy Father's Day, LA Cowboy, Senior!!
As I entered adolescence in the 1960's, a common criticism of 1950's sit-coms such as 'Leave It To Beaver', 'Ozzie and Harriet' and 'Father Knows Best' was that the they screwed up the kids of my era by presenting an unrealistic view of family life. I really didn't understand this, however, as the families in those shows did not seem all that different from my own family. It was only much later when I realized how exceptionally unexceptional my own upbringing, and my own parents, had been.
From the earliest I can remember, we were always treated more as young adults than as kids. Our parents talked to us about everything (and never talked down to us) and, even more importantly, they always listened to us.
I remember when I once complained to my father as he was dropping me off at Miss Francis' Nursery School on Occidental Boulevard (just north of Third as I recall, near the Precious Blood School) that I didn't want to go there; they simply didn't have any good books to read (as few of the other kids could yet read) and we spent way too much time napping and that it was just generally... boring. So after a short discussion, he took me home and I no longer had to go there and other arrangements were made until I could start kindergarten early.
Conversely, however, when my teachers wanted me to skip grades, my parents always consulted with me, and we agreed that it was better for me to remain with my own friends and my own age group. They also agreed with me that I should stay in a public school as opposed to going to a private school. Even then it was clear that I was going to self-educate myself and so they - and I - preferred that I experience the social interaction of public rather than private school.
Then, a bit later, when I was recruited by a East Coast prep school, while I knew my parents would never want me to leave home, they also made it clear that the decision was totally mine. So even though the catalogue of classes and the immense range of activities at Phillips-Exter was quite tempting, I knew even then that I would never want to grow up without my family, nor that I would ever want to leave the City of LA, even for my schooling. Still later, when all my friends were going Ivy - or to Cal Berkeley or even just around the corner to Claremont, I only applied to UCLA.
Now to get back to the sit-com analogy - once I and my siblings were born, my parents no longer had (or wanted) any independent life other than as... parents. When they went out, we all went out. When they went on a trip or to a movie or to a store - or anywhere - we all went out. Now while there must have been many other occasions, I can only recall both my parents going out once and leaving us with baby sitters - my grandparents - when they went to see the Music Man at the now demolished Biltmore Theater.
My mother worked at E. F. Hutton on Spring Street before I was born (when she quit her job) and my father worked at a law office in the Doulgas Building at 3rd and Spring while he got his degree from Southwestern Law School. This was after the War had interrupted his education from 1941 - 1945 as Pearl Harbor happened while he was enrolled at UCLA. He later set up his own office there and stayed there until the upper floors were vacated for seismic concerns.
My father never smoke or drank and I do not recalling him ever even once using a four letter word in my presence during the entire time I was growing up. I also never heard any kind of racial joke or insult at the expense of anyone's race, religion or background in our home, which was a literal United Nations of kids coming and going while I was growing up. I might add that my parents were Goldwater/Reagan Republicans.
My father also coached the Hollywood YMCA's basketball team and was the sponsor of the Y Groups I was apart of such as the Indian Guides. He also became the surrogate father for the many kids I knew who no longer had their own fathers in their lives, taking us on trips, to Dodger's games and to our cabin in the mountains.
His own father, correspondingly, also had a long history of public service between working with Gifford Pinchot (founder of the National Forest system) on conservation matters and helping run war relief in the Balkans after WW I, before his early death when my father was but one year old during a 1920's flu epidemic.
My father also quietly participated in many other community projects including serving as the honorary Mayor of Westlake Park, which was, ironically, kind of the neighborhood council of its day. But what made even more of an impact on me was how he treated people in every day life. When Christmas and Thanksgiving came, he did not just write a check to a charity, but we - as a family - took food and gifts to families ourselves and we then shared their food with them and accepted gifts from them so it became an exchange of gifts from one family to another and not charity. And as a lawyer, whenever potential clients did not have enough money to hire him, he was always willing to accept barter in food, a painting, used cars (we never once had a new car) - or any other medium of exchange.
I also remember when we went to McLaren Hall (where kids whose parents were unable to take care of them were often housed temporarily) to visit the son of a single parent client who was in jail and he discovered that the kids who wanted to play baseball did not have enough balls and bats. So my father not only went out and bought them balls and bats but he also went back on weekends and hit balls with them to show them that someone cared about them.
It is all those the simple, day to day acts that I most remember and cherish about my father. And it is only now that I have slowly realized that all of what I do now in my life is only my following behind him in his footsteps and my trying to apply all the lessons I learned from him as a boy so many years ago.
So even though the trail this poor cowboy has ridden - due to life's all too common tragedies - has not always been an easy one, or a typical one due to things often beyond my control, my deceased mother and my still alive father still never gave me anything less than their full love, their constant support and their ceaseless understanding, no matter how off-trail my life at many times seemed.
So Happy Father's Day - Ernest V. Shockley in the 84th year of your life!
PS -- As you the more discerning reader may notice, my father and I do not share the same surname. These is because in my 17th summer when I discovered that I was born to ride the cowboy trail (however brief that period of my life was allowed to be) and that I was also to become a writer, I then took Brady Westwater as my pen name.
However, as those aspects of my life soon became my primary lives, by the time I was 18, it was the only name I was publicly using to the point that by the time I had left UCLA, even my family had changed over to it. So this is just another of the many examples in their never ending patience with the life I have chosen for myself.
Happy Father's Day, LA Cowboy, Senior!!
As I entered adolescence in the 1960's, a common criticism of 1950's sit-coms such as 'Leave It To Beaver', 'Ozzie and Harriet' and 'Father Knows Best' was that the they screwed up the kids of my era by presenting an unrealistic view of family life. I really didn't understand this, however, as the families in those shows did not seem all that different from my own family. It was only much later when I realized how exceptionally unexceptional my own upbringing, and my own parents, had been.
From the earliest I can remember, we were always treated more as young adults than as kids. Our parents talked to us about everything (and never talked down to us) and, even more importantly, they always listened to us.
I remember when I once complained to my father as he was dropping me off at Miss Francis' Nursery School on Occidental Boulevard (just north of Third as I recall, near the Precious Blood School) that I didn't want to go there; they simply didn't have any good books to read (as few of the other kids could yet read) and we spent way too much time napping and that it was just generally... boring. So after a short discussion, he took me home and I no longer had to go there and other arrangements were made until I could start kindergarten early.
Conversely, however, when my teachers wanted me to skip grades, my parents always consulted with me, and we agreed that it was better for me to remain with my own friends and my own age group. They also agreed with me that I should stay in a public school as opposed to going to a private school. Even then it was clear that I was going to self-educate myself and so they - and I - preferred that I experience the social interaction of public rather than private school.
Then, a bit later, when I was recruited by a East Coast prep school, while I knew my parents would never want me to leave home, they also made it clear that the decision was totally mine. So even though the catalogue of classes and the immense range of activities at Phillips-Exter was quite tempting, I knew even then that I would never want to grow up without my family, nor that I would ever want to leave the City of LA, even for my schooling. Still later, when all my friends were going Ivy - or to Cal Berkeley or even just around the corner to Claremont, I only applied to UCLA.
Now to get back to the sit-com analogy - once I and my siblings were born, my parents no longer had (or wanted) any independent life other than as... parents. When they went out, we all went out. When they went on a trip or to a movie or to a store - or anywhere - we all went out. Now while there must have been many other occasions, I can only recall both my parents going out once and leaving us with baby sitters - my grandparents - when they went to see the Music Man at the now demolished Biltmore Theater.
My mother worked at E. F. Hutton on Spring Street before I was born (when she quit her job) and my father worked at a law office in the Doulgas Building at 3rd and Spring while he got his degree from Southwestern Law School. This was after the War had interrupted his education from 1941 - 1945 as Pearl Harbor happened while he was enrolled at UCLA. He later set up his own office there and stayed there until the upper floors were vacated for seismic concerns.
My father never smoke or drank and I do not recalling him ever even once using a four letter word in my presence during the entire time I was growing up. I also never heard any kind of racial joke or insult at the expense of anyone's race, religion or background in our home, which was a literal United Nations of kids coming and going while I was growing up. I might add that my parents were Goldwater/Reagan Republicans.
My father also coached the Hollywood YMCA's basketball team and was the sponsor of the Y Groups I was apart of such as the Indian Guides. He also became the surrogate father for the many kids I knew who no longer had their own fathers in their lives, taking us on trips, to Dodger's games and to our cabin in the mountains.
His own father, correspondingly, also had a long history of public service between working with Gifford Pinchot (founder of the National Forest system) on conservation matters and helping run war relief in the Balkans after WW I, before his early death when my father was but one year old during a 1920's flu epidemic.
My father also quietly participated in many other community projects including serving as the honorary Mayor of Westlake Park, which was, ironically, kind of the neighborhood council of its day. But what made even more of an impact on me was how he treated people in every day life. When Christmas and Thanksgiving came, he did not just write a check to a charity, but we - as a family - took food and gifts to families ourselves and we then shared their food with them and accepted gifts from them so it became an exchange of gifts from one family to another and not charity. And as a lawyer, whenever potential clients did not have enough money to hire him, he was always willing to accept barter in food, a painting, used cars (we never once had a new car) - or any other medium of exchange.
I also remember when we went to McLaren Hall (where kids whose parents were unable to take care of them were often housed temporarily) to visit the son of a single parent client who was in jail and he discovered that the kids who wanted to play baseball did not have enough balls and bats. So my father not only went out and bought them balls and bats but he also went back on weekends and hit balls with them to show them that someone cared about them.
It is all those the simple, day to day acts that I most remember and cherish about my father. And it is only now that I have slowly realized that all of what I do now in my life is only my following behind him in his footsteps and my trying to apply all the lessons I learned from him as a boy so many years ago.
So even though the trail this poor cowboy has ridden - due to life's all too common tragedies - has not always been an easy one, or a typical one due to things often beyond my control, my deceased mother and my still alive father still never gave me anything less than their full love, their constant support and their ceaseless understanding, no matter how off-trail my life at many times seemed.
So Happy Father's Day - Ernest V. Shockley in the 84th year of your life!
PS -- As you the more discerning reader may notice, my father and I do not share the same surname. These is because in my 17th summer when I discovered that I was born to ride the cowboy trail (however brief that period of my life was allowed to be) and that I was also to become a writer, I then took Brady Westwater as my pen name.
However, as those aspects of my life soon became my primary lives, by the time I was 18, it was the only name I was publicly using to the point that by the time I had left UCLA, even my family had changed over to it. So this is just another of the many examples in their never ending patience with the life I have chosen for myself.
No Regards For Broadway - Or Why Doesn't Los Angeles Have An Economic Development Policy?
Everyone in city government talks about creating well paying jobs in Los Angles, but little constructive action is taken that accomplishes anything. Opportunity after opportunity to create new businesses, bring existing businesses to our city or even keep existing businesses in Los Angeles come – and pass – without anything resembling a concentrated and coordinated public private partnership to accomplish these goals.
It's also far from just the current administration that is at fault. For at least fifty years, the City of Los Angeles – in both its private, non-profit and public sectors - has one of the worst records of any major city when it comes to bringing or keeping businesses and the jobs they bring.
An article in last Sunday's Times give just one example of the kind of project the city should have been effectively working on, but which the city has instead just commissioned a series of improbable plans with no action ever taken to implement them. The article describes how the sale of music has plunged, how TV networks are hemorrhaging viewers and how audiences for films have dropped in three of the past four years. The declines in the concert business and the drops in the sale of books have also been well chronicled.
But, as the article states, virtually the only not-on-line entertainment audience that has consistently grown in this country has been the audience for Broadway theater. After being given up for dead after 9/11, New York’s 39 Broadway theaters just sold 12.3 million tickets this past season – setting yet another record. Grosses were up almost 9% hitting $939 million, with the box office projected to hit the billion dollar mark this season.
But that is only the beginning of the story. Only a fraction of those tickets are sold to residents of New York City. The vast majority of theater goers come from the suburbs of New York, the rest of the nation – or overseas. Five million of the ticket buyers were tourists from other parts of the United States and 1.3 million more tickets were sold to tourists from other countries – the fastest growing component of the Broadway theater audience - and the highest spending of all tourists.
Importantly, five million of those tickets were bought by people who specifically came to New York to see: Broadway Theater. The result is dozens … yes, dozens … of new hotels are being built. Is there any question why LA has to massively subsidize our handful of new hotels or why our convention center sits comparatively empty compared to the bustling New York City convention center?
Even two years ago – when the box office gross was far lower, Broadway theater brought almost $5-billion – yes, almost five billion dollars - into the New York economy and supported over 45,000 jobs not just in Manhattan – but throughout all of New York City. And both those numbers will be considerably higher with the new higher audience numbers.
Yet the most recent of the City of Los Angeles’ sponsored reports on LA’s Broadway, totally ignored even the possibility of bringing back Broadway theater to our Broadway theaters. Instead, it proposed using them for almost every other possible use rather than Broadway theater including turning many of them into bars, clubs and restaurants – uses that can go in virtually any kind of building without destroying the ability LA’s historic theaters to function as theaters.
Fortunately, the CRA realized the staggering incompetence of this report and refused to fund the second part since it would have only further damaged the efforts to bring LA’s theaters back to life.
Now, there is finally - belatedly - some action being taken on studying real world solutions concerning both the parking problems of LA’s Broadway District and the other physical infrastructure issues that currently handicap our theaters. But even now absolutely nothing is being done to investigate how to physically restore these theaters and put them to use creating jobs and business. And absolutely nothing is being done to encourage the major producers of Broadway plays to consider using LA’s Broadway theaters.
So exactly why is our city in both the public and the private sectors so incapable of even asking the right questions, much less providing pragmatic, real-world solutions to our economic development problems? And what can you do to fix this problem? Stay tuned. I’ll have that story for you right after intermission.
(Brady Westwater is Chair of the LA NC Congress. He is also a writer and frequent contributor to CityWatch.)
It's also far from just the current administration that is at fault. For at least fifty years, the City of Los Angeles – in both its private, non-profit and public sectors - has one of the worst records of any major city when it comes to bringing or keeping businesses and the jobs they bring.
An article in last Sunday's Times give just one example of the kind of project the city should have been effectively working on, but which the city has instead just commissioned a series of improbable plans with no action ever taken to implement them. The article describes how the sale of music has plunged, how TV networks are hemorrhaging viewers and how audiences for films have dropped in three of the past four years. The declines in the concert business and the drops in the sale of books have also been well chronicled.
But, as the article states, virtually the only not-on-line entertainment audience that has consistently grown in this country has been the audience for Broadway theater. After being given up for dead after 9/11, New York’s 39 Broadway theaters just sold 12.3 million tickets this past season – setting yet another record. Grosses were up almost 9% hitting $939 million, with the box office projected to hit the billion dollar mark this season.
But that is only the beginning of the story. Only a fraction of those tickets are sold to residents of New York City. The vast majority of theater goers come from the suburbs of New York, the rest of the nation – or overseas. Five million of the ticket buyers were tourists from other parts of the United States and 1.3 million more tickets were sold to tourists from other countries – the fastest growing component of the Broadway theater audience - and the highest spending of all tourists.
Importantly, five million of those tickets were bought by people who specifically came to New York to see: Broadway Theater. The result is dozens … yes, dozens … of new hotels are being built. Is there any question why LA has to massively subsidize our handful of new hotels or why our convention center sits comparatively empty compared to the bustling New York City convention center?
Even two years ago – when the box office gross was far lower, Broadway theater brought almost $5-billion – yes, almost five billion dollars - into the New York economy and supported over 45,000 jobs not just in Manhattan – but throughout all of New York City. And both those numbers will be considerably higher with the new higher audience numbers.
Yet the most recent of the City of Los Angeles’ sponsored reports on LA’s Broadway, totally ignored even the possibility of bringing back Broadway theater to our Broadway theaters. Instead, it proposed using them for almost every other possible use rather than Broadway theater including turning many of them into bars, clubs and restaurants – uses that can go in virtually any kind of building without destroying the ability LA’s historic theaters to function as theaters.
Fortunately, the CRA realized the staggering incompetence of this report and refused to fund the second part since it would have only further damaged the efforts to bring LA’s theaters back to life.
Now, there is finally - belatedly - some action being taken on studying real world solutions concerning both the parking problems of LA’s Broadway District and the other physical infrastructure issues that currently handicap our theaters. But even now absolutely nothing is being done to investigate how to physically restore these theaters and put them to use creating jobs and business. And absolutely nothing is being done to encourage the major producers of Broadway plays to consider using LA’s Broadway theaters.
So exactly why is our city in both the public and the private sectors so incapable of even asking the right questions, much less providing pragmatic, real-world solutions to our economic development problems? And what can you do to fix this problem? Stay tuned. I’ll have that story for you right after intermission.
(Brady Westwater is Chair of the LA NC Congress. He is also a writer and frequent contributor to CityWatch.)
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Paris Hilton Screws LA Cowboy!
Well... not literally - but when I went to KNBC's Burbank studios to shoot my interview Friday for the 2 PM LA Cowboy Show, the lobby wall of TV's was filled with coverage of Paris Hilton being taken to court. So even before I learned they hadn't even bothered to put my name in the computer system, I had a suspicion that given a choice between filming Paris Hilton being dragged back into jail screaming and crying - or filming LA Cowboy... talking in a studio... an incarcerated heiress will always trump an incendiary cowboy.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Can The LA Times Be Saved?
Can The LA Times Be Saved?
That was the question posed at Tuesday night’s ZOCALO panel discussion – and the answer seemed to be – mostly, yes… if one listened to those work for the… LA Times.
And I tended to agree with them.
As for the members of the audience listening to the panel being able to be ‘saved’, I am far less optimistic.
The first thing I learned was that moderator, Kit Rachlis, Editor-in-Chief of Los Angeles Magazine has a quick and brilliant mind and that stand-up comedy lost a major star when he lowered his standards and went into journalism. He was a superb moderator and managed to out Satan, Satan himself when it came to being a Devil’s Advocate. Almost gleefully, he described the doomed financial model of the contemporary newspaper with his favored phrase being… death spiral... to describe the dramatic drops in both circulation and revenues affecting virtually all major newspapers.
The second thing I learned is that the older, largely white (though not all were white) baby boomers who attend such events, live on a different planet than I do. Besides constant complaints about the Times laying off seventy and eighty-year-old writers - the one thing they seemed to agree upon was that the Times should only pay attention to people who are exactly like… them; the educated elite assembled in that auditorium. Repeatedly, they stated they were the only audience in Los Angeles worth being catered to and the concept that the paper should try to reach out to 18 – 24 year olds was openly dismissed.
Their collective – and unchallenged by any speaker – arrogance was… breath taking. And there was no sense of irony attached, not even a hint of how totally detached they had become from the city around them or from the current state of newspapers in this country.
Still, with amazing restraint, the Times people managed to suggest there are other people in Los Angeles (both younger and less white) who might also deserve to have a paper written for them.
Even dismaying, no one there seemed able to understand that while a few years from now they will still be written printed newspapers – most people will be getting their news from the LA Times website. Nor could they understand how an unimaginable richness of highly local content and a multiplicity of different viewpoints custom designed for each individual reader will soon be able to be delivered to the citizens of Los Angeles after the new model of news gathering and news delivering finally develops.
The real golden age of journalism is about to begin, but no one in that auditorium could even understand the present day reality, much less the promise of the future.
That was the question posed at Tuesday night’s ZOCALO panel discussion – and the answer seemed to be – mostly, yes… if one listened to those work for the… LA Times.
And I tended to agree with them.
As for the members of the audience listening to the panel being able to be ‘saved’, I am far less optimistic.
The first thing I learned was that moderator, Kit Rachlis, Editor-in-Chief of Los Angeles Magazine has a quick and brilliant mind and that stand-up comedy lost a major star when he lowered his standards and went into journalism. He was a superb moderator and managed to out Satan, Satan himself when it came to being a Devil’s Advocate. Almost gleefully, he described the doomed financial model of the contemporary newspaper with his favored phrase being… death spiral... to describe the dramatic drops in both circulation and revenues affecting virtually all major newspapers.
The second thing I learned is that the older, largely white (though not all were white) baby boomers who attend such events, live on a different planet than I do. Besides constant complaints about the Times laying off seventy and eighty-year-old writers - the one thing they seemed to agree upon was that the Times should only pay attention to people who are exactly like… them; the educated elite assembled in that auditorium. Repeatedly, they stated they were the only audience in Los Angeles worth being catered to and the concept that the paper should try to reach out to 18 – 24 year olds was openly dismissed.
Their collective – and unchallenged by any speaker – arrogance was… breath taking. And there was no sense of irony attached, not even a hint of how totally detached they had become from the city around them or from the current state of newspapers in this country.
Still, with amazing restraint, the Times people managed to suggest there are other people in Los Angeles (both younger and less white) who might also deserve to have a paper written for them.
Even dismaying, no one there seemed able to understand that while a few years from now they will still be written printed newspapers – most people will be getting their news from the LA Times website. Nor could they understand how an unimaginable richness of highly local content and a multiplicity of different viewpoints custom designed for each individual reader will soon be able to be delivered to the citizens of Los Angeles after the new model of news gathering and news delivering finally develops.
The real golden age of journalism is about to begin, but no one in that auditorium could even understand the present day reality, much less the promise of the future.
LA COWBOY Three Years Old!
But, my friends say, I still don't look a day over... two.
Must be all that clean cowboy living....
Must be all that clean cowboy living....
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Andres Martinez Stays An Angelino!
After his recent... self-defenestration... from the LA Times Editorial page, Andres Martinez is taking a job with preferred home away home for current and former Timesmen, NEW AMERICA. The good news is this keeps a one of the brightest writers in writing today... writing in LA. From LAOBSERVED:
... New America is becoming a landing spot for ex-Timesers. Rick Wartzman signed on with the Op-Ed generating foundation after leaving as editor of West magazine. Joel Kotkin, at one time a contributing editor for Opinion, is (was, I'm told) another senior fellow. Former LAT political writer Dave Lesher used to run New America's California program. His replacement, Gregory Rodriguez, is a Times Op-Ed columnist who got the column gig when Martinez was in charge. Rodriguez's email to the other fellows:
Dear California Fellows,
I’m very pleased to announce that Andrés Martinez, the former editorial page editor for the Los Angeles Times, has agreed to join us as an Irvine Senior Fellow. He will be based in Santa Monica and focus his writing on how global interdependence affects the daily lives of Californians. He’ll be exploring the disconnect between attitudes toward globalization and its reality on the ground and asking whether politicians and the media sufficiently understand California’s place in the global economy.
As many of you know, Andrés is a tremendous writer with the rare ability to take even the most esoteric topic and place it in a new, engaging light. His writing is smart, thoughtful and embodies New America’s dedication to solution-oriented thinking.
His start date is July 1....Please join me in welcoming Andrés to the team. We’re lucky to have him.
Gregory Rodriguez
Director, California Fellows Program
New America Foundation
... New America is becoming a landing spot for ex-Timesers. Rick Wartzman signed on with the Op-Ed generating foundation after leaving as editor of West magazine. Joel Kotkin, at one time a contributing editor for Opinion, is (was, I'm told) another senior fellow. Former LAT political writer Dave Lesher used to run New America's California program. His replacement, Gregory Rodriguez, is a Times Op-Ed columnist who got the column gig when Martinez was in charge. Rodriguez's email to the other fellows:
Dear California Fellows,
I’m very pleased to announce that Andrés Martinez, the former editorial page editor for the Los Angeles Times, has agreed to join us as an Irvine Senior Fellow. He will be based in Santa Monica and focus his writing on how global interdependence affects the daily lives of Californians. He’ll be exploring the disconnect between attitudes toward globalization and its reality on the ground and asking whether politicians and the media sufficiently understand California’s place in the global economy.
As many of you know, Andrés is a tremendous writer with the rare ability to take even the most esoteric topic and place it in a new, engaging light. His writing is smart, thoughtful and embodies New America’s dedication to solution-oriented thinking.
His start date is July 1....Please join me in welcoming Andrés to the team. We’re lucky to have him.
Gregory Rodriguez
Director, California Fellows Program
New America Foundation
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Laist Interviews LA Cowboy!
Hit the above link to get the complete story - and two photos of LA Cowboy surveying his domain/range:
Brady Westwater, the LA Cowboy
The first in a series of interviews with members of the Los Angeles political scene, politicians, political connectors and the politically connected, I had a short chat with Brady Westwater, downtown advocate, one of the busiest men in LA politics and the LA Cowboy.
What is the LA Cowboy’s role in the LA political arena?
I started the LA Cowboy before I became apart of the LA Downtown Council and it was going to be a little different than it ended up being. It became a little more of a persona than just me. So I could do my policy stuff, the neighborhood council stuff and LA Cowboy could be this cowboy character, I was a cowboy for many years, that could look at things from a distance and comment on them. I was more outside of the process when I started writing it and almost immediately became enmeshed in the policy soon after I started. The role of LA Cowboy is this sort of over the top personality. Hence, everything has exclamation points, everything has a common twang to it all.
Which Los Angeles politician do you align yourself most with?
Tough one, I would say that it was more bits and pieces of politicians. I consider myself a radical pragmatist. I don’t believe in right, left or center, particularly when it comes to local government. I am more interested in pragmatic solutions to problems. So I would say that the people I most admire would be the people that sort at look at things on a larger scale as opposed to approaching things from a more ideological base. The greatest good for the greatest number.
So, I would say, Gail Goldberg is an absolutely amazing person, she gets it, she understands things, she understands how people function in the real world, as well as how things could happen in an idealized world and tries to see how those two views could be meshed together.
So who would be your least favorite?
Most of them are not around anymore. We laugh. There is nobody, I think we have the best City Council right now that we’ve had in a long time. I think the mayor is doing a lot better job than people are giving him credit for. I’d be hard pressed to find a politician that I really couldn’t sit down at the table and make a deal with. And that really surprises me.
What is your opinion on what’s going to happen with the LA Times?
I think right now that the LA Times is being run by the right people at this time. I never thought I would hear these words come out of my mouth. I think they have some amazing, incredible writers there, I think the editorial writing is as good as any of the editorial writing that is out there. There are at least a dozen superstar reporter/writers that really impress me.
They are fixing West Magazine, which was a disaster. The Times website has been a disaster. The new guy, Rob Barrett, who is running it really gets the community coverage, he really gets local, local, local. The two guys who as Editor and Publisher may not know LA but they know how to cover local news. I think the plans for the new website, as it rolls out later this year are going to stun people - it’s going to reach into the communities and also allow the communities to report on the communities themselves.
There are still problems, some of the editors seem incapable of fixing factual errors is probably the biggest bone I have to pick with the Times.
What’s your favorite place to eat in Los Angeles?
Oh, God. Do you have another one than that? Food is the absolute lowest priority in my life. I basically live on no money at all, I eat at Grand Central, or free lunches.
Oh, God, that’s terrible.
Do you have another one?
Do you have a favorite cowboy hat?
I can’t afford a real Stetson so I wear a Golden Gate hat, which is made in LA by the way. Golden Gate, Stetson style.
What color is it?
It’s black, of course it’s black. A real cowboy hat’s black, my God!
What do I know, I thought all cowboy hats were tan or brown... I really should have asked what his fascination is with wrestling t shirts. Perhaps next time.
(and the answer to that question is that my dopamine-deprived brain requires the regular 'fight' part of the 'fight or flight' syndrome)
Brady Westwater, the LA Cowboy
The first in a series of interviews with members of the Los Angeles political scene, politicians, political connectors and the politically connected, I had a short chat with Brady Westwater, downtown advocate, one of the busiest men in LA politics and the LA Cowboy.
What is the LA Cowboy’s role in the LA political arena?
I started the LA Cowboy before I became apart of the LA Downtown Council and it was going to be a little different than it ended up being. It became a little more of a persona than just me. So I could do my policy stuff, the neighborhood council stuff and LA Cowboy could be this cowboy character, I was a cowboy for many years, that could look at things from a distance and comment on them. I was more outside of the process when I started writing it and almost immediately became enmeshed in the policy soon after I started. The role of LA Cowboy is this sort of over the top personality. Hence, everything has exclamation points, everything has a common twang to it all.
Which Los Angeles politician do you align yourself most with?
Tough one, I would say that it was more bits and pieces of politicians. I consider myself a radical pragmatist. I don’t believe in right, left or center, particularly when it comes to local government. I am more interested in pragmatic solutions to problems. So I would say that the people I most admire would be the people that sort at look at things on a larger scale as opposed to approaching things from a more ideological base. The greatest good for the greatest number.
So, I would say, Gail Goldberg is an absolutely amazing person, she gets it, she understands things, she understands how people function in the real world, as well as how things could happen in an idealized world and tries to see how those two views could be meshed together.
So who would be your least favorite?
Most of them are not around anymore. We laugh. There is nobody, I think we have the best City Council right now that we’ve had in a long time. I think the mayor is doing a lot better job than people are giving him credit for. I’d be hard pressed to find a politician that I really couldn’t sit down at the table and make a deal with. And that really surprises me.
What is your opinion on what’s going to happen with the LA Times?
I think right now that the LA Times is being run by the right people at this time. I never thought I would hear these words come out of my mouth. I think they have some amazing, incredible writers there, I think the editorial writing is as good as any of the editorial writing that is out there. There are at least a dozen superstar reporter/writers that really impress me.
They are fixing West Magazine, which was a disaster. The Times website has been a disaster. The new guy, Rob Barrett, who is running it really gets the community coverage, he really gets local, local, local. The two guys who as Editor and Publisher may not know LA but they know how to cover local news. I think the plans for the new website, as it rolls out later this year are going to stun people - it’s going to reach into the communities and also allow the communities to report on the communities themselves.
There are still problems, some of the editors seem incapable of fixing factual errors is probably the biggest bone I have to pick with the Times.
What’s your favorite place to eat in Los Angeles?
Oh, God. Do you have another one than that? Food is the absolute lowest priority in my life. I basically live on no money at all, I eat at Grand Central, or free lunches.
Oh, God, that’s terrible.
Do you have another one?
Do you have a favorite cowboy hat?
I can’t afford a real Stetson so I wear a Golden Gate hat, which is made in LA by the way. Golden Gate, Stetson style.
What color is it?
It’s black, of course it’s black. A real cowboy hat’s black, my God!
What do I know, I thought all cowboy hats were tan or brown... I really should have asked what his fascination is with wrestling t shirts. Perhaps next time.
(and the answer to that question is that my dopamine-deprived brain requires the regular 'fight' part of the 'fight or flight' syndrome)
Monday, June 04, 2007
Chandlers Off Tribune Board!
More details on the Chandler/Tribune stock deal:
Chandler family directors resign from Tribune board
By James P. Miller and Phil Rosenthal
Tribune staff reporters
Published June 4, 2007, 4:24 PM CDT
Tribune Co. said Monday that the directors representing the Chandler family trust have resigned from the board, in accordance with an earlier agreement.
With the resignations of Chandler representatives Jeffrey Chandler, Roger Goodan and William Stinehart, Jr., Tribune Chairman, President and Chief Executive Dennis FitzSimons heads a nine-person board that includes Chicago billionaire Sam Zell, who is set to become chairman in the fourth quarter, assuming his plan to take Tribune private with an employee stock option plan goes through.
The Chandlers, heirs to the Times Mirror Co. empire, came along with the Los Angeles Times and other media properties when Tribune acquired Times Mirror in 2000.
Because the Chandler family swapped a portion of its Times-Mirror holding for Tribune Co. shares in the 2000 transaction, the Chandlers became Tribune's biggest stockholder, with an about 20 percent stake.
Over time, relations became strained between the Chandlers and the rest of Tribune's board. The Chandlers' public call last year to have Tribune put itself up for sale led directly to the agreement announced earlier this year, in which Chicago financier Sam Zell is combining with an employee stock ownership plan to take Tribune private.
In the first phase of that maneuver, Tribune recently offered to buy back at $34 a share 126 million shares, or about 52 percent of the company's outstanding common stock. The second phase of the buyback is expected late in 2007, when the company will repurchase the remaining shares out at the same $34 price.
In connection with the going-private accord, the Chandler representatives had agreed to step down from Tribune's board.
The family tendered all of its 48.1 million Tribune shares, but because the Chicago company is buying only a portion of those tendered, the Chandlers still control about 20.4 million shares -- representing a 17 percent stake in the company's remaining outstanding stock.
The family intends to shed those remaining shares via a block trade that will be underwritten by Goldman Sachs & Co. Companies often prefer to put together an underwritten offering when a major stockholder wants to sell a large number of shares; that format ensures the holder doesn't depress the price of the company's stock by dumping a big number of shares into the open market.
FitzSimons will remain a member of what's expected to be a nine-member board when Zell, who was elected to Tribune's board on May 9, takes over as chairman at the completion of the company's going private. That board is to include at least five independent directors and an additional director affiliated with Zell.
Chandler family directors resign from Tribune board
By James P. Miller and Phil Rosenthal
Tribune staff reporters
Published June 4, 2007, 4:24 PM CDT
Tribune Co. said Monday that the directors representing the Chandler family trust have resigned from the board, in accordance with an earlier agreement.
With the resignations of Chandler representatives Jeffrey Chandler, Roger Goodan and William Stinehart, Jr., Tribune Chairman, President and Chief Executive Dennis FitzSimons heads a nine-person board that includes Chicago billionaire Sam Zell, who is set to become chairman in the fourth quarter, assuming his plan to take Tribune private with an employee stock option plan goes through.
The Chandlers, heirs to the Times Mirror Co. empire, came along with the Los Angeles Times and other media properties when Tribune acquired Times Mirror in 2000.
Because the Chandler family swapped a portion of its Times-Mirror holding for Tribune Co. shares in the 2000 transaction, the Chandlers became Tribune's biggest stockholder, with an about 20 percent stake.
Over time, relations became strained between the Chandlers and the rest of Tribune's board. The Chandlers' public call last year to have Tribune put itself up for sale led directly to the agreement announced earlier this year, in which Chicago financier Sam Zell is combining with an employee stock ownership plan to take Tribune private.
In the first phase of that maneuver, Tribune recently offered to buy back at $34 a share 126 million shares, or about 52 percent of the company's outstanding common stock. The second phase of the buyback is expected late in 2007, when the company will repurchase the remaining shares out at the same $34 price.
In connection with the going-private accord, the Chandler representatives had agreed to step down from Tribune's board.
The family tendered all of its 48.1 million Tribune shares, but because the Chicago company is buying only a portion of those tendered, the Chandlers still control about 20.4 million shares -- representing a 17 percent stake in the company's remaining outstanding stock.
The family intends to shed those remaining shares via a block trade that will be underwritten by Goldman Sachs & Co. Companies often prefer to put together an underwritten offering when a major stockholder wants to sell a large number of shares; that format ensures the holder doesn't depress the price of the company's stock by dumping a big number of shares into the open market.
FitzSimons will remain a member of what's expected to be a nine-member board when Zell, who was elected to Tribune's board on May 9, takes over as chairman at the completion of the company's going private. That board is to include at least five independent directors and an additional director affiliated with Zell.
Chandlers Dump Tribune Stock! Era Ends!
Nikki Finke scoops everyone with the news the Chandler Trust has just sold its stock before the final buyout - taking three dollars a share less than it would have gotten this fall. The question now is - who bought the shares and why?
Sam Zell? Or just someone who wants the three buck bump in November? Well, with today's low interest rates, an over three dollar gain in less than six months on a $31.50 investment - ain't bad.
Or... is it someone counting on a new - and higher - bidder yet appearing - or could it be one of the possible October surprise bidders?
We'll soon know...
It's unofficial, but the Chandler family no longer has any investment ties to the Los Angeles Times or its parent company Tribune Co, I'm told. That's because financial sources say that the Chandler Trusts sold all their stake in Tribune Co after market today, with Goldman Sachs handling the block trade. A tally of 20,351,954 shares, described as being sold "by shareholders, including the Chandler Trusts", were offered at $31.50, priced below today's closing price of $32.24 to entice investors. I'm told that "Goldman did not have a problem finding buyers". So there it is: the end of an era. UPDATE: Tribune Co said on Monday three board members representing the Chandler Trusts have resigned upon completion of a share tender offer, as agreed under the buyout deal with real estate magnate Sam Zell. With the departure of Jeffrey Chandler, Roger Goodan and William Stinehart Jr., the board now has nine members including Zell, who was elected on May 9 and will become chairman after Tribune is taken private. The Chandler Trust representatives were elected to the board in 2000, when Tribune acquired Times Mirror for about $6.5 billion. The Trusts now hold about 17 percent of Tribune's outstanding shares, down from about 20 percent before the tender offer. The Chandler Trusts had agreed to sell all remaining Tribune shares through a block trade underwritten by Goldman Sachs.
In the years following that 2000 sale, Tribune’s stock began to fall, dropping about 50 percent from an all-time high above $60 in 1999. Especially upset was Trib's largest shareholder, the Chandler family trusts, whose avarice knew no bounds. Suddenly there was bitching and moaning and agitate for Tribune to put itself up for sale. The buyer was Zell in a two-stage $8.2 billion deal financed almost entirely by debt. (See my Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.) The Chandler family trusts wound up with a hefty payout, and a hefty tax liability, from the sale in exchange for their $1.6 billion valued stake in Tribune Co. Today's move shouldn't come as a surprise yet the trusts didn't wait for the second-stage of the Zell deal to close in November when they would have received $3 more per share at $34.50. A lot of Tribune Co investors have bailed early like this. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Chandler family "was planning to sell as much stock as it could in the tender offer and then is allowed, under an agreement with Tribune, to sell whatever stock it has left over in the market."
Sam Zell? Or just someone who wants the three buck bump in November? Well, with today's low interest rates, an over three dollar gain in less than six months on a $31.50 investment - ain't bad.
Or... is it someone counting on a new - and higher - bidder yet appearing - or could it be one of the possible October surprise bidders?
We'll soon know...
It's unofficial, but the Chandler family no longer has any investment ties to the Los Angeles Times or its parent company Tribune Co, I'm told. That's because financial sources say that the Chandler Trusts sold all their stake in Tribune Co after market today, with Goldman Sachs handling the block trade. A tally of 20,351,954 shares, described as being sold "by shareholders, including the Chandler Trusts", were offered at $31.50, priced below today's closing price of $32.24 to entice investors. I'm told that "Goldman did not have a problem finding buyers". So there it is: the end of an era. UPDATE: Tribune Co said on Monday three board members representing the Chandler Trusts have resigned upon completion of a share tender offer, as agreed under the buyout deal with real estate magnate Sam Zell. With the departure of Jeffrey Chandler, Roger Goodan and William Stinehart Jr., the board now has nine members including Zell, who was elected on May 9 and will become chairman after Tribune is taken private. The Chandler Trust representatives were elected to the board in 2000, when Tribune acquired Times Mirror for about $6.5 billion. The Trusts now hold about 17 percent of Tribune's outstanding shares, down from about 20 percent before the tender offer. The Chandler Trusts had agreed to sell all remaining Tribune shares through a block trade underwritten by Goldman Sachs.
In the years following that 2000 sale, Tribune’s stock began to fall, dropping about 50 percent from an all-time high above $60 in 1999. Especially upset was Trib's largest shareholder, the Chandler family trusts, whose avarice knew no bounds. Suddenly there was bitching and moaning and agitate for Tribune to put itself up for sale. The buyer was Zell in a two-stage $8.2 billion deal financed almost entirely by debt. (See my Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.) The Chandler family trusts wound up with a hefty payout, and a hefty tax liability, from the sale in exchange for their $1.6 billion valued stake in Tribune Co. Today's move shouldn't come as a surprise yet the trusts didn't wait for the second-stage of the Zell deal to close in November when they would have received $3 more per share at $34.50. A lot of Tribune Co investors have bailed early like this. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Chandler family "was planning to sell as much stock as it could in the tender offer and then is allowed, under an agreement with Tribune, to sell whatever stock it has left over in the market."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
