To Err Is Human - But To Screw Up Even the Simplest Facts -- You Absolutely, Positively Have To Be The LA Times!

Getting back to David Shaw's diatribe on bloggers and our inability to perform up to the LA Times' high standards - not to mention how the LAT's many layers of editors and filters protects them from getting their facts wrong... well... just look at Slate's Jack Shafer PRESS BOX column today at http://www.slate.com/id/2116013/

In this article Shafer beautifully dissects an article in this Tuesday's March 29th LA Times and its staggering array of bonehead errors that make Jayson Blair look like Brenda Starr. And even after the LAT published a retraction in its print edition - after a stinging critique in another newspaper - the LA Times had still failed to correct the story in its on-line edition! And even tonight - the article is STILL uncorrected!

But this is hardly an unusual case for the LA Times. Besides the typical incorrectly spelled names, misidentified photos and errant facts in stories that are written on the fly, where one can understand errors happening, the types of errors that daily appear in the Times are at times, inexplicable.

Take, for example, the Sunday Calendar section a week ago. Among the things the LA Times got wrong are such fast breaking news stores as where Mozart's Magic Flute was premiered... in 1791, the correct color of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society wristband, the last two films of Vincent Price, and the premiere date of a 1935 piece of music. The Times also reassigned the tuba to the... woodwind section - and prematurely retired dancer Stanley Holden.

Not bad for a single days work in just ONE of the paper's many sections.

At least, though, the editors and proofreaders at the LAT can be expected to know who works for the LA Times, if nothing else. Well... actually, no:

Sunday, February 27, 2005 For the record Lipari, Italy: A Feb. 20 article on Lipari identified writer Susan Spano as a contributor to the Los Angeles Times. Spano is a Times staff writer.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005 For the record Pesky plants: In last week's Outdoors section, the byline for an article about trail plants misspelled writer David Lukas' last name as Lucas.

But saving the best for last - there are the endless errors that any sentient, breathing person should be able to spot.

Tow Truck Operator Uses City Bus to Tow Cars in Carpool Lane!

Tuesday, March 29, 2005 FOR THE RECORD Gasoline prices - An article in Monday's Business section on rising gasoline prices attributed the following quote, about how driver behavior would change once the price of gasoline topped $3 a gallon, to tow-truck driver Jesse Gurrola: "That's it - I think I'd have to carpool or maybe take the bus." In fact, that statement was made by motorist Gladys Paz

Bait Licking New Fishing Fad! Or... Sudden Onset Dyslexia Strikes LAT Writer!

Tuna fishing - An article in Tuesday's Outdoors section about tuna fishing referred to an angler as Rusty Johnson. His name is Frosty Johnson. The article also said Jack Nilsen caught a 24--pound fish using a tuna-catching device called a kite; Nilsen did not catch the fish using a kite. In addition, Gayle Johnson was quoted as saying, "Fish hard, lick the bait, and don't think you know more than the crew." In fact, she said, "Fish hard, pick the bait, and don't think you know more than the crew."

San Gabriel Valley City - Vanishes!

Friday, March 25, 2005 FOR THE RECORD Restaurant review - A review of the New Concept Restaurant in Wednesday's Food section indicated that the San Gabriel Valley city of Covina was located elsewhere in Southern California.

The New LAT Mini/MAXI Car! Wider Than It Is long!

Wednesday, February 9, 2005 For the record Auto review - An article about a new Honda pickup truck in the Feb. 2 Highway 1 section included incorrect specifications for the Ridgeline's wheelbase and overall length. The box accompanying the Ridgeline review listed the wheelbase as 122 inches and the overall length as 106.8 inches. The correct figure for the wheelbase is 122 inches, and the overall length is 206.8 inches.

Finally... Proof That Even The LAT's Proofreaders Do Not Read The LAT! Tom DeLay Is Now A... Democrat!

Thursday, March 24, 2005 For the Record Schiavo case - In a commentary Tuesday on the Terri Schiavo controversy, Rep. Tom DeLay's party/state designation was incorrectly given as D-Texas. It is R-Texas.

Lastly, admitedly, it is a high standard that David Shaw wants us bloggers to aspire to, but, somehow, I think that with a lot of work and a lot of effort on our parts, we can all achieve that standard!

PS -- The truly wonderful irony is that almost all of the errors in the above articles could have been discovered in seconds... by fact checking them on the internet.

April Fool's Update -- Now Infamous, Error-Ridden Chico State Story Still Not Corrected on LAT On-Line Site! Will Shortly Be Posting Official Vegas Odds on When LA Times Finally Notices This!

BREAKING NEWS!! LA Times Finally Corrects Chico State Story This Friday Morning!! Or -- does it? Increasing suspicions about other aspects of story now being rumored on the web.

LA Times Discovers Crime in LA!! And They're Shocked! SHOCKED!!

After years of not only hiding from the subject - but also hiding it from the citizens of Los Angeles - the LA Times has finally discovered that we have a crime problem in River City.

It is currently illegal for the LAPD to arrest known criminals if they are illegal aliens... for being illegal aliens. Yup - that's right. And on today's front page - in response the to LAPD finally taking action of their own to address the problem - the LA Times is finally forced to admit that this problem actually exists.

Now this is a far more complicated problem that what I just posited and there are some very real issues that need to be publicly debated. And in any other city with a real newspaper - these issues would have been debated long ago. But at least the issue has been finally raised. Or at least... partially raised. There is still one thing we are not being told by our paper of non-record.

And that is that we have 30,000 (that's THIRTY Thousand - almost the same number of people who live in Beverly Hills) illegal alien criminals - largely preying on other immigrants - roaming the streets of Los Angeles. And that fact is still considered information that the LA Times feels needs to be hidden from us. And that is why you will only find facts like that reported in the New York Times, our default paper of record for Los Angeles.

Andy many thanks to Mickey Kaus at www.kausfiles.com for keeping this issue alive.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-order31mar31,1,621980.story?coll=la-headlines-california

http://slate.msn.com/id/2115861/

LA Times' David Shaw Explains It All To Us Poor, Benighted Bloggers!

When I started this blog, I had no intention of turning it into a LA Times bashing site; however... when the Los Angeles Times daily home delivers us fish-filled barrels and then passes out loaded shotguns with hair triggers -- well -- what are we poor bloggers supposed to do?

The immensely frustrating part is that the LAT has so many skilled and gifted writers -- two rather different qualities, I might add -- that it almost seems impossible for the LAT to then so totally fail the people of Los Angeles in delivering a product that in any way explains or reflects the city it purports to cover.

But fail the LA Times does do in its ever-continuing downward spiral -- and then the Times has the chutzpah to pointedly look down upon whomever dares point out their columns of clay.

The latest repeat offender is David Shaw in his March 27th column (http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-ca-shaw27mar27,0,5319183,print.story) on bloggers. While his main topic was whether or not us bloggers deserve our constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech protection, his main offense, as far as I am concerned, is to challenge the ability of anyone other than institutions like the LA Times to get their facts correct.

Now many people have already taken him to the wood shed for his journalistic sins -- Jack Shafer and Mickey Kaus in Slate to name just two (http://slate.msn.com/id/2115883/ and http://www.slate.com/id/2115861/), but in subsequent posts I will point out just a few recent examples of the LA Times much vaunted filter system that has so superbly protected them against the errors that we bloggers are so prone to committing.

Spring on Downtown's Spring Street! Sunday April 3rd Walking Tour!!

The Los Angeles Conservancy is celebrating Spring on Spring Street with a behind-the-scenes look at historic landmarks that are coming back to life with surprising new uses.

What was once known as the Wall Street of the West is now home to a National Register Historic District, hip new lofts, night spots, art vibrant future. Spring Street is a microcosm of downtown's renewal, as showcased in a special, one-day tour on Sunday, April 3, 2005 from 10:00 - 4:00 PM. The self-guided tour will include:

Art galleries along Gallery Row -- 10 galleries will be open specifically for the tour.

The immense bank vaults beneath the 1911 Los Angeles Trust and Savings Bank building,which are being converted into a cocktail lounge.

The 1913 El Dorado Hotel,closed to the public and remarkably intact from its heyday.

A nightclub on the trading floor of the former Pacific Stock Exchange

Brand-new lofts in the century-old Douglas Building and 1924 Mercantile Arcade building.

The 1906 Alexandria Hotel, L.A.'s premier hotel at the turn of the 20th century, featuring the 196-foot Palm Court with a spectacular stained-glass ceiling.

The magnificent Globe Lobby in the 1935 Los Angeles Times building, with 10-foot-high murals by Hugo Ballin that were covered for nearly 30 years.

Tickets are $25 for Los Angeles Conservancy members, $30 for the general public, and $15 for children 12 and under.

Over 900 tickets sold! Due to overwhelming demand, we are no longer taking advance orders. Tickets will be available for purchase the day of the tour at the LA Times Building.

The LA Times Building is located at 202 W. First St. (SW corner of 1st and Spring Streets). Parking is available in the surface lot on Spring Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets. Covered parking is also available on Spring Street between 3rd and 4th Streets.

Proceeds benefit the LA Conservancy's efforts to recognize, preserve, and revitalize the historic resources of downtown and greater Los Angeles.

"Spring on Spring" is generously sponsored by Bank of America. Additional sponsors are Killefer Flammang Architects and Paul Su/Spring Arts Tower. Patron sponsors are Gilmore Associates, David Lawrence Gray Architects, and Spring Towers LLC/City Loft LLC/Izek Shomof.

LA Times - Still In Denial; Still Unwilling to Tell the Truth

In today's editorial on LA's violent transnational gangs, the LA Times still refuses to tell the people of Los Angeles the truth. As many other outlets - including the NY Times and SLATE's Kausfiles - have reported, one of the biggest problems facing the LAPD is that they are powerless to deport the estimated 30,000 illegal alien criminals who prey on the citizens of Los Angeles, and particularly the immigrant community.

Now it is one thing if the LA Times wants to continue to support this policy and it is yet another thing for the LAT to correctly report and acknowledge this problem, but to then not take a position on it. But to refuse to even allow the people of Los Angeles to know about the extent of the problem... is criminal.

Mindlesss Tv Newscaster Remark of the Night

"This is the longest that Terri Schiavo has survived without food or water."

Real Pro Wrestling vs. Totally Amateur LA Times

Today is the TV debut of a professional sports league for amateur style wrestling (www.realprowrestling.com). And while I had watched all the matches live when they were shot at the downtown Los Angeles LA Center Studios last year, I was anxious to see how the shows would come across on TV, particularly after a fire destroyed or damaged many of the taped bouts.

And while I knew it was going to be shown on air on PAX TV (Channel 30) some time during the day, I now had to check my TV guide to see at what time. So I turned to my LA Times TV Guide and discovered... no PAX listings, which puzzled me as I had seen them listed before. Then when I checked the evening listings, I saw that the LAT did list the shows on that network - but only in the evening.

So as usual, if you want to find out about anything that is happening in LA - the very last place to look - is the ever bush league LA Times.

No Matter How Low One's Expectations of the LA Times Are -- The Times will Always Manage to Undercut Them

In the previous post of yesterday, I predicted that the LA Times would dismiss the major revolution in city government proposed by Mayor Hahn (his giving the Neighborhood Councils unparalleled powers) with a few paragraphs while they would likely play up the Maxine Waters endorsement of his opponent.

Well, I was wrong.

This tectonic shift of power in this city didn't even rate a single sentence of its own. Instead the Neighborhood Councils were parenthetically grafted onto the butt end of a sentence about Maxine Waters's endorsement. So an announcement of how one politician will vote - which in itself has nothing to do with what either candidate will do once in office - is given two pages of coverage, while a major policy shift that will forever change how Los Angeles will work - was virtually ignored.

So when one reads Kevin's post today on LAOBSERVED about how the LA Time's circulation is now down to what it had been in 1968 - it is clear that the LA Times has been and is still increasingly losing touch with the city purports to cover. I know if I want to know what is happening in LA - it is now down to the 5th source I would check with.

Mayor Hahn, the Neighborhood Councils... and Northern Kyrgyzstan.

While people's revolutions from the Ukraine to Lebanon and now the capital of Kyrgyzstan make international headlines, an increasing transfer of power from a handful of government officials in Los Angeles to the far more broadly based neighborhood councils is all but ignored by the LA press (i.e., the LA Times).

As an example, today Mayor James Hahn unveiled a new - and unprecedented - gift of power to the Neighborhood Councils, but it is unlikely you will hear any of this on the six or eleven o'clock news - and it is just as likely that there will be very little in the printed press other than a few brief paragraphs.

Among the Mayor's extraordinary proposals anounced are agreeing to place at least one Neighborhood Council member on each city commission - including those supervising the Police Department, the Department of Water and Power, Public Works, LAX, and all the other city agencies.

This once unimaginable move will not only give us a voice - and a vote - on each of these commissions, but it will also give us an advocate we can directly talk to about our individual concerns on the governance of each of these agencies. Plus with the Memorandum of Understanding between the NC's and the DWP possibly just days away from being preliminarily agreed upon - soon we will have agreements with each city agency on how they will work with us and how we will work with them, creating a true partnership between equals.

Mayor Hahn has also agreed to allow the NC's to help vet every new general manager - as he is already doing for the new Planning Director, and he also agreed to allow us to review the performance and budget of every city department. He also restated his agreement to allow the NC's to audit the city budget and to be involved in every step of its preparation.

All this was communicated today before an audience of NC activists from throughout the city and a gaggle of the local press. But when it came time for the press to ask questions - not one, and I mean not even one question asked of the Mayor addressed what he - or any of us present - said about the Neighborhood Councils. They were only interested in a sound-bite on what he thought about Maxine Waters endorsing his opponent or how he handled the replacing of Chief, now Councilman Parks, with Chief Bratton.

Finally, two widely respected South & Central LA activists exploded in anger at how the press not just completely ignored the Neighborhood Councils - but how they were only interested in what politicians felt about Bratton replacing Parks and had zero interest in talking to the people who actually lived in the gang threatened inner city. And these two plain talking Black women let the press know loud and clear how much they supported the Mayor's hiring of Chief Bratton and how much safer their neighborhoods are because of that decision. And the rest of us there loudly applauded them both.

But, again, don't look for this on the 11 o'clock news, or in the LA Times.


LATER UPDATE--

Kevin Roderick at LA OBSERVED has some excellent comments on the import of this story (though I do not recall him being there and it appears he is working off of the press release), but, even more illuminating, are his ruminations on what long term affects this might have on the Neighborhood Councils.

He correctly opines that as we develop real power, we are going to have to be increasingly vigilant on special interest groups and people with hidden agendas getting elected to the councils. The danger is that will just push their own narrow interests and not the interests of the community of large. Plus the rather loose voting requirements will also have to eventually be firmed up. And Kevin is the first - to my knowledge - journalist - to bring up this point that many of us in the NC revolution have been concerned about. More on this over the weekend.

LA Unified School District Gets Another Failed Grade

With a School Board still under control of the teacher's unions, there is little surprise that much needed reforms have been either stalled or out right killed. Proof of that is a Harvard University study released Wednesday that revealed that the abysmal high school graduation rates previously told to us taxpayers were incorrect. The real dropout rates turn out to be far, far worse. The only possible explanations are either the people who run the school district are incapable of doing simple arithmetic - or they have been lying to us.

The report's conclusion is that we have been lied to. Yes, the same school board that has just agreed to give the teacher's union who elected them lifetime free health benefits without the teachers having to pay even one dollar towards those benefits, has been lying to us about what those teacher are doing (or in this case, not doing) in the classroom.

Prepare for five minutes of meaningless outrage, and then business as usual.

LA United School Board Pays Off Unions - Again

The complete domination of the School Board by the teacher's union was evident today as a new contract was announced that calls for tax payers to continue to pay for 100% of all teacher's health care premiums - with the teachers not having to pay even one dolar towards their health insurance either now - or for the rest of their lives. We will continue to pay all of their payments for them.

Needless to say, virtually no one in the real world gets this kind of a free ride. And, equally needless to say, the LA Times, omitted this little detail from their 'coverage', leaving the Daily News to let us know what is really going on in this city.

Additionally, the teacher's union is now also taking greater control of the hiring and firing and discipling of teachers, allowing them to even more protect the far too many incompent - and even at times even dangerous and violent - teaches and principals in our school district - from being removed from our schools. Exactly how bad that situtation continues to be - no one knows as they only paper willing to cover that story - NEW TIMES - was bought and closed by the LA Weekly in their attempt to stifle any competing newspapers.

Four Writers - And LA Times STILL Misses The Story. But At Least the NY Times, As Usual, Covers The Story Accurately.

Both LA Times (four reporters) and the New York Times (one reporter) cover the story today of over 100 violent Central American gang members being arrested around the country. And both papers report that many of those arrested are here in this country illegally, even though many of them have been deported several times. But only the New York Times' single writer - Charlie LeDuff, who has finally learned the territory - has the courage to cover the real story affecting LA - that over 30,000 criminals who are illegal aliens are preying on Angelinos. And that they are esentially being given sancuary here since the police are not allowed to even inquire if they are in this country illegally. Makes you wonder what else does not get covered in a one newspaper town. Below is the end of the New York Times article:

One problem with dealing with criminal illegal immigrants, law enforcement officials say, is that cities like Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and New York have either written or understood "sanctuary" policies that prohibit their law enforcement officers from asking a suspect about his immigration status. This makes it difficult for police officers to work with federal immigration authorities until an illegal immigrant commits a crime.
The thinking is that illegal immigrants who lead normal and productive lives would be unwilling to approach the police as witnesses if they feared that they, too, would be deported.
The problem is especially acute in Los Angeles, where gang members often return after being deported. Local police officers may know a criminal by face, but until they catch him in an illegal act, he is allowed to remain on the streets.
But a new era may be dawning in the fight against gangs, as police departments like Los Angeles's share street intelligence with the federal authorities.
"You think an immigrant Hispanic family who is here illegally would mind if we targeted the violent criminal?" Capt. Michael Downing, commander of the Hollywood precinct, asked. "I don't. But every time you mention it, they say it's a slippery slope and so the violent criminal is tolerated."
In Central America, the judicial system has employed a no-tolerance policy for gang members deported from the United States known as "mano dura" or the "hard hand." Gang members deported there may prefer to return to the United States rather than risk the long sentences for gang affiliation and particularly onerous prison life there.
Federal immigration officials estimate that there are 80,000 to 100,000 criminal illegal immigrants in the United States. If the 30,000 in the Los Angeles area were all to be apprehended at the same time, they would overwhelm the 1,400 beds allotted for them. So immigration officials say the current operation is meant to single out the most hardened criminals with longstanding gang ties.
"L.A. isn't the only place where this is happening," said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the immigration bureau. "We've thrown down the gauntlet, and this is only the beginning."

Mark Swed Redeems LA Times! (for one day... at least)

Every once in a while one of the LA Times better writers - and there are many fine writers at the LA Times - produces a article so well written, so inspiring and so spot on in its coverage and its understanding of Los Angeles - that one almost forgets how completely the paper as a whole... totally sucks.

And today's (Tuesday March 1st, 2005) Calendar article by Mark Swed about the LA Philharmonic's weeklong residency in Cologne is one of those articles. Rather than detailing all the data he gathers up, dissects and then elegently displays together under one wide spreading umbrella... just read the article, savor the crescendo of his words, and appreciate the intellect behind his thoughts and his observations. And then become profoundly depressed at how rare it is that an article that actually tells you anything important about LA ever appears in the LA Times.

Mayor Hahn Agrees to Allow Neighborhood Councils to Audit City Budget - And All City Departments!

At tonight's debate by candidates vying to become Mayor of Los Angeles (sponsored by the Alliance of Neighborhood Councils, City Watch, KCBS-TV Channel 2, KCAL-TV Channel 9 and KFWB radio), I was one of the people chosen to ask a question. My query was: Would any of them would support a commission organized by the Neighborhood Councils to audit not just the Mayor's budget, but also all of the departments of the City of Los Angeles. While four of the candiates gave the idea varying degrees of support or opposition, Mayor Hahn jumped right in and not only pledged to have such a commission convene - but he said that he welcomed and needed our help in doing this. The moderators, Laura Diaz and Paul Magers, were so surprised by this - Magers of them gave each candidate an opportunity to clarify their answers - and Mayor Hahn reiterated his full support of the proposal.

Now should Mayor James Hahn be successful in being reelected, and should Jim Hahn follow through on this pledge - then the relationship between the Neighborhood Councils and the City will be completely reinvented. And the Genie will be totally out of the bottle.

Mayor James Hahn Asks Neighborhood Councils to Help Vet LA's New Planning Director.

Quick -- who is LA's City Planning Director?

Ok -- don't feel bad. No one knows who he is, other than, of course, Mrs. Con Howe, and I wouldn't even want to put a lot of money on that bet. For a variety of reason's (the CRA, the powers of councilpersons in their own districts, etc.), the City Planning Department has become a backwater with little impact on the actual planning of the development of Los Angeles. But all that may changed -- either under a new Mayor or by the appointment of a new Planning Director by the current Mayor. See the below e-mail I just received from the Mayor:

As Neighborhood Councils continue to grow and develop in our City, I
want you to be a part of important city decisions before they are made.
Since planning issues are of great concern at the most local levels, I
want to make sure that Neighborhood Councils are involved in the
selection of the City's next planning director.

I need your input to help develop the key selection criteria that will
guide my selection of the best candidate for the job. Surveys will be
available for you and public comment will be heard throughout March at
the following Area Planning Commission (APC) and Planning Commission
meetings:

City Planning Commission March 10
South Valley APC March 10
South LA APC March 15
Harbor APC March 15
West LA APC March 16
North Valley APC March 17
Central APC March 22
East LA APC March 23
City Planning Commission March 31

Additionally, I will appoint a seven-member Neighborhood Council
advisory group to interview the final three candidates for Director of

Planning to make a hiring recommendation directly to me. One
Neighborhood Council representative from each of the City's Planning
Areas will comprise the advisory group.

The Planning Director is an important position in our City, and I look
forward to hearing from your councils and the community. I will make
sure our new Planning Director will promote sensible, balanced and
proactive planning to preserve single-family neighborhoods, manage
development in key areas, promote affordable housing, and stimulate
mixed-use development and 'green' construction, especially near
public transportation.

I look forward to your input and working with you on this important
appointment.

Very Truly Yours,
JAMES K. HAHN
MAYOR





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Eating Humble Pie On Grand Avenue - And Savoring Every Bite of It.

This morning the Grand Avenue Authority met for an update on the first set of development plans by the Related Companies for the 1.2 billion dollar project along Grand Avenue on Bunker Hill and their proposed plans for the new Civic Park Between the DWP Building and City Hall.

And history was made on two counts.

First, I privately told Eli Broad that I should have never doubted him when he told me that Related was an appropriate choice for the project. Of course, considering Mr. Broad's quite advanced age, I needed to break this to him very gently to keep from outright killing him. Second - in a move that stunned the audience - I publicly admitted I was wrong about Related.

Then, after paramedics finished resurrecting audience members, I further announced that this project was going so well - that I couldn't believe that it was actually happening in Los Angeles. At this point everyone realized that it actually was me speaking - and not a non-celebrity imposter.

In the less life threatening parts of the meeting, Bud Ovrum - head of the CRA - expressed his concerns about the three streets the cut across the various parts of the new civic mall. And he and I had earlier talked about platforming over Spring to have the monumental - but now closed Spring Street entrance to City Hall - with its great staircase re-open and attached to a bridge/plaza built over of a slightly lowered Spring Street - creating a great civic park across from City Hall.

The other positive note was that Supervisor Gloria Molina expressed her desire to demolish both the old Courthouse and the old Hall of Administration (yea!) - something that the vast majority of downtowners will concur with.

The only negative note was that there was no juice served with the coffee and the pastries... were lacking in imagination.

A Night at the Oscars - OR ... Billy Crystal, Please Come Home!

Chris Rock did a good, entertaining, hard working performance hosting the Oscars tonight. BUT... the problem was that the hard working aspect was visible during every second of the performance. The great thing about Crystal - and Bob Hope and Johnny Carson before him - is that they were the effortless hosts of a party who made the audience feel at home.

In addition, the material could have been funnier (I smiled a lot, but never laughed), but the jokes were always never less than good, if not stellar. Still, in the hands of a Billy Crystal, I think they might have been a lot funnier.

Can't the LA Times get ANYTHING right?

Once upon a time there existed in Los Angeles a newspaper that actually wrote about the people of Los Angeles and provided the information the people of Los Angeles wanted to know about their lives and their city. Once upon a time the LA Times was run by people who had lived in this city more than a few years and had columnists and reporters who actually knew about and cared about this city.

Once upon a time the front page of the sports section actually had the standings of the local teams so one could start off by seeing where the teams stood before delving into the rest of the section. Once upon a time there actually was a Metro section that actually had stories about the City of Los Angeles.

But, of course, it was too much to expect for any of this to continue.

But - is it totally unreasonable to ask that the TV section actually tell us what is on TV during all the hours of each day?

Is it to much to expect that the weekly TV Guide - inadequate as it is - actually be included in the Sunday Times - which it was not the last two weeks I purchased the paper?

Is it too much to expect the newspaper to actually give even the most basic information about the weather during record setting storms? I mean - how hard is it to have a little column that says how much rain we have had during this storm, how much we have had so far this year - and how much last year?

I guess it is. And I would ask other people if they, too, miss these little things, but no one I know (at least among those under 65) actually reads the LA Times - even the very few I know who subscribe to it.

A Bakery Comes to Main Street.

The former site of the single most notorious den of Skid Row drug dealers on Main Street - between 5th and 6th Streets - has just been officially leased to a new French Bakery and French Cafe. It will be open before summer. The rebirth of Main Street continues.

Barry Munitz and Getty Musuem Fail Los Angeles - Once Again!

Christopher Knight in yesterday's LA Times details the tragic loss to our city of one the most important paintings to become available in years, Duccio di Buoninsegna's 'Madonna and Child'. This painting has instead just been hung at its new home - the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York - instead of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

And why you might ask? Well, because Barry Munitz's Getty seems to be interested in spending money for art everywhere in the world - except Los Angeles.

GENE SAVOY

It's odd looking at the LA Times and suddenly seeing the name - and face - of a person you have not seen in... quite a few decades. While I have not been on the Inca Trail since the late 1960's/early 1970's - I'll never forget the time Savoy and a buddy of mine - first came face to face high up in the Andes. And those two larger than life personalities instantly realized that this planet, much less that trail, was simply not going to be big enough for the two of them. More later - though likely... much later.

THE WINNER OF THE WORST SCRIPT OF ANY KIND EVER WRITTEN IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND CONTEST.....

... has a new winner: The just aired two part mini-series CATEGORY 6: DAY OF DESTRUCTION. While there is often a reverse correlation between the quality of special affects and the quality of a writing in a film, there has never, and I mean never... been as delightfully wide a gap as just witnessed on CBS.

For true appreciators of really, really, really bad writing - this was a feast beyond compare. It was hard to even find a single line that could imaginably be spoken by a real human being - and that was only the start.

We had 'characters' watching the world end around them while they acted as if they were discussing the finer points of needlepoint, an often total disconnect between what was going on and what people were saying and, as a special treat, jaw-dropping, heavy-handed moralizing that had some of the funniest lines of dialogue anyone has ever had the pleasure to hear. In fact, it is impossible to imagine that all the political point making was not intended as wonderfully subversive low comedy since the awfulness of it was so deliciously over the top... awful.

So while I had been tempted to turn off the sound five minutes into the first episode and just look up from working to watch the special affects, I would have missed the joy of fully appreciating the biggest turkey ever to grace the nation's Thanksgiving season.

GETTY MUSEUM - 0 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM - 1

While it was no surprise that one of the greatest works by the first master of Western Art - Duccio di Buoninsegna - was just acquired by the Metropolitan Museum, what was at least a small surprise was that when the Metropolitan spoke of their competition to purchase the painting - they mentioned the Louvre, but not the Getty Museum.

BARRY MUNITZ AND THE DEATH OF THE GETTY MUSEUM

When Getty Museum director Deborah Gribbon resigned yesterday, she made it clear that the mission of the Getty Trust was no longer the mission that J. Paul Getty had intended it be, the acquisition and public exhibition of great works of art. What she did not say, though, is what art world insiders have long known - that Getty Trust President Barry Munitz has instead turned the institution into an ego driven self-aggrandizement of... himself.

Aided by a board that has little or no knowledge of art - and a board that has few connections with Los Angeles - the money that should be going into building a great Los Angeles arts institution is now being squandered in hundreds of projects all over the world.

The upshot is that as masterpiece after masterpiece goes up for auction with the Getty sitting on the sidelines - it is becoming increasingly impossible for J. Paul Getty's dream of creating a first class art museum in Los Angeles to be realized. Instead, the money he left in trust to better the lives of the people of Los Angeles is being funneled to everywhere but Los Angeles.

Now I do not know the exact terms of Getty's will - but perhaps some of his heirs can sue the Trust to remove Munitz and the board from their offices and save J. Paul Getty's bequest to the people of Los Angeles. The secondary hope would be that even if they can not prevail in court - that possibly this would shame them into resigning and allowing new caretakers who will follow Getty's intent and vision.

WATCH OUT WATER GRILL!

A new top gun/spatula is headed downtown. A lease was signed today in the Historic Core by the latest contender for the title of the top restaurant in downtown - if not all of LA.

Developing...

A GIANT OF CINEMA PASSES

All men who came of age in the 1960's and 1970's will mourn the recent passing of Russ Meyer. A throw back to the age when actual sex did not need to be shown in a soft core porno for the film to be mesmerizingly erotic, Meyer somehow managed to combine his four passions in life - women with enormous cleavages due to the wonders of advanced modern technology, violence - but mainly women against exploitative men and - most bizarrely of all - anti-communism and anti-racism, in films that continue to be shown and appreciated all over the world.

And in recent decades, the idiosyncratic appeal of his films has increasingly brought them to the attention of film critics - and museums and universities - all over the world.

My own personal connection - other than as a profoundly appreciative viewer during my teenage years - was when a buddy of mine who felt Meyer was the world's greatest filmmaker (long before he had any critical respect) - somehow got the opportunity to work with him and I was able to crew on one of his films for a few satisfying days during my gratefully misspent youth.

TODAY'S BUSINESS SCORECARD - WORLD - 3 - LOS ANGELES - 0

Today is a day like every other day in LA. Three Los Angeles companies are gobbled up by out of state companies - and no companies are acquired by Los Angeles area companies. Irvine's LoanCenter.com is acquired by a subsidary of Barry Diller's New York-based IAC, Carson-based Bistol Farms is snapped up by Idaho-based Albertsons and New York-based Bank of New York swallows Santa Monica's Wilshire Associates. Cries of protest by area media and politicians - zero.

ITALIAN JOB REVS UP PERSHING SQUARE

The ITALIAN JOB was screened al fresco in Pershing Square tonight in what is hoped will become a regular event. It was put on by the Central City Association - among other groups - and it gave a chance for downtowners from all the neighborhoods to gather together and watch a cool film, much was which was filmed on the streets only blocks from Pershing Square.

It is exactly the kind of free, social event that we need to create an overall community and the kind of event that is very common in New York. So let's see what the follow-up event will be.

SUNDAY MORNING IN THE CITY

The sounds of the city.

On Sunday mornings I come to the office early to pursue my novel and my memoirs - that being only time that I can expect to get anything done on anything that might actually financially benefit me.

But even then the lure of downtown comes creeping into my office. And, inevitably, the sounds of the city slink into my consciousness - and slowly seduce me away from my work. Leaving my office door open, I hear the sounds of Spring Street though the windows of the vacant offices down the hall and I listen to a lone trumpet player sweetly playing Moon River with a sad, unusually melancholic lilt.

Now whether that is the musician's heartfelt response to this particular song or his own personal feelings as he discovers that the mere handful of pedestrians that pass him by are unlikely to be able to afford to fill his awaiting, upturned hat on the sidewalk, I do not know. I only wish I could afford to pay him to remain there the remainder of the day so I could continue to enjoy his playing.

Then, though the opened windows that face my building's courtyard, I can hear the sporadic enthusiasm of a power drill - the patron tool of all artists - busily working screws into studs and drywall for an art space (Kristi Engel Gallery) in the adjoining suite that will shortly become yet another contributor to Gallery Row.

But I can also hear the monotone sound of the sewing machine of the young fashion designer across the air well, the muted sound of a score for an Indy film being mixed next to her and the playbacks from a recording studio across the hall from them both.

And I find myself thinking more and more about all that is surrounding me rather than paying attention to my word smithing of the never-ending travails of Jed Matthews. in The Long Rider.

COWABUNGA, DUDE! SURF'S UP IN THE 'HOOD!

You know the neighborhood is changing when on a single Saturday morning I observe not one, not two - but three (three - count'em - three!) seperate dudes carrying surf boards in or out of three different loft buildings on Spring or Main Streets. The ex-Westsiders are definitely representin' themselves in the 'hood..

BELOW IS MY VERY FIRST UPDATE from the incredibly distant year of 2021

Well, while there are undoubtly many sufers in DTLA, none of them have been walking around in my neigborhood with their surfboards on - or off - of their heads during my waking hours.  And the three surfer dude were all buddies who were caravaning out to Malibu after picking up their surfer girls along the way.

GRAND AVENUE - WAITIN' FOR THE PHONE TO RING

The August 8th, 2004 Edition of the Slatin Report (a leading real estate newsletter) describes New York's The Related Companies winning the Grand Avenue 'competition'. Peter Slatin does his usual superb, concise overview of the project and its most recent history (though I would disagree with some of his more subjective judgments) and he hits the major points of both the community's almost unanimous distain for the secretiveness of the process and the concerns that many of us have in Related's past failures in developing even one project with any strong sensibility for either design or urbanism. (And in interest of full disclosure, I am the unnamed community activist they identity as stirringly speaking in favor of one of the their competitors, Forest City.)

But Slatin's most interesting point, though, was that West Coast Related head Bill Witte was quoted as saying that he would start working with the community the very day he got back from vacation on August 19th. Well, it is now September 10th - three (3) weeks later and if anyone's phone has rung - no one has yet told the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, which is only organization officially designated by the city charter to represent the community in land use matters.

THE LA WEEKLY vs. THE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCILS

The phone calls started coming in early today as the LA Weekly and its cover story on the Neighborhood Councils hit news racks around town. And all the callers had the same message. They each wanted me to sternly reprimand the writer of the article and to defend the tarnished honor of neighborhood councils with a strongly worded letter.

But upon reading the article - while I deplored the sub-title (What can save LA's broken neighborhood councils), which suggested that the NC's overall needed to be fixed - the article was actually quite accurate in the individual stories it told. And it was even understated when it came to describing the problem children of our NC's.

The mentally challenged lunatic fringe running the Venice Grassroots Council actually came out far better than any of the first hand reports I have heard of them, and the factionalism that has split the Van Nuys Council (and which is legendary in NC circles) was calmly dealt with. And the writer very accurately described the nursery school antics of the Lincoln Heights Council which equal if not surpass some of the early Malibu City Council meetings where I once opined that what Malibu's new city manager would need most was a degree in child psychology.

The only real problem I had with the article is that these councils are the exceptions rather than the rule, a fact that was not at all made clear. Now, granted, the article does cover the activities of some of the more typical councils and it does end on a very hopeful note, but I do feel the article really only tells one (albeit, important) side of the story. Still, as for being an examination of the problems that do face the handful of true problem NC's and the pitfalls that all NC's are and will be faced with - it is a very accurate article.

In the interest of full disclosure, I might add that I have run into the writer - Robert Greene - a number of times during his writing of the article and we have developed a kind of relationship that can best be described as follows; when a person once asked him if he wrote for a newspaper, I graciously answered for him that he did not - that he wrote for the LA Weekly.

GRAND AVENUE... BE AFRAID... BE VERY, VERY AFRAID.

In Roger Vincent's excellent (as usual) article in today's LAT's Sunday business section, he mentions the until now only rumored details about the final selection of Related over Forest City in the Grand Avenue 'competition'.

While one member of the Forest City team told me their not trying to compete with the massive retail complex being built at Staples as the main reason they were not selected, Eli Broad instead posited in the article that the proposals were essentially tied with the deciding factor being Related's agreeing to pay more ground rent and to put forth more subsidies for low and moderate income housing on the site. However, of course, the building of far more high-end retail would enable them to pay higher rents and subsidies, so there could be some correlation there.

The one part of the article that should worry anyone concerned about the future of Los Angeles, though, was that statement that the head of Related - former tax attorney Steve Ross - is intensely involved in every detail of his projects - down to the art work and the lighting fixtures.

The only problem is that as one who has seen many of their projects, I have not seen any art or a lighting fixtures in their projects that would be particularly suitable for any place in Los Angeles (and this is - alas - especially true of theIr one built project in downtown LA), much less on Grand Avenue.

Now this is not to say that their projects are tacky or in bad taste, for they are not. They are generally quite tasteful - if your taste is 1960's corporate modernism (though their lead architecture David Childs prefers a very heavy handed 1930's Art Deco style 'updated' to the 1960's) - modernism after modernism has lost its edge and its nerve - or an inoffensive shopping center Taco Bell type of Spanish revival pastiche architecture such as their highly suburban Florida shopping mall with apartments on the roofs of the stores in West Palm Beach.

They are highly efficient machines with which to make money and have it shipped back to their corporate headquarters in New York. Nothing less and nothing more.

In short - it is the kind of taste that is antithetical to true urbanism, antithetical to quality design - and inappropriate for a great street even during the middle to late 20th Century, much less what is needed to redefine what is necessary to create a great urban center in the 21st Century.

Mr. DeMille... I'm ready for my Close-Up.... (not)

I can count on one hand the number of times I have been photographed since age 17 other than by family or by female and other friends. I have also managed to avoid even once being captured by a TV camera. However, today, at the request of Greg Nelson of the Department of Neighborhoods Empowerment (DONE - the agency in charge of Neighborhood Council's), I just shot a half-hour TV show for the city cable channel on the economic development in the Old Bank District/Gallery Row area of downtown. I am beginning to realize that this sort of thing comes with the territory, but do not expect the time and date of its showing on this site.

Mayor's Budget Day - Strike Two.

If anything proves the Neighborhood Councils are a work in progress, today's Mayor's Budget Day did. Last year, each Neighborhood Council was asked to list five categories they would like to see better funded. Then each of the five regions of the eighty odd NC's were to meet and vote on their collective five highest priorities. The biggest hitch was that the priorities were so broad - and also already in the budget - it was impossible to quantify if anything actually happened because of our lists.

Now this year the Mayor's office tried something a little different. They gave us four categories of priorities and asked us to rank them, and to then sub-rank smaller categories within each of the larger categories.

Unfortunately, the categories make no sense. Under economic development were homelessness services and low income housing while under livable neighborhoods (which would seem to suggest... housing, but which was not addressed there) were social programs such as the status of women, civil rights and AIDS assistance programs, which should have a fifth section of their own. And infrastructure issues were mysteriously split between neighborhoods and mobility.

But the biggest problem is that we are not being asked which (often politically motivated) programs we would like to cut or drop. Nor are we going to be engaged in the examination of the programs we are being asked to endorse. Plus nothing as sensitive as pension reform is even hinted at. Lastly, there is no way of quantifying if any of our input has any impact at all. Not surprisingly, not a single member of a Neighborhood Council was involved in the development of the survey.

LA Cowboy... Returns!

Shortly after I started this blog... my life abruptly changed, a not too uncommon occurrence in my life; hence my recent hiatus.

To my surprise, I found myself elected the president of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council (DLANC). I also was appointed by the Mayor to DWP Green Ribbon Commission. Additionally, I was already serving on a number of committees that deal with many of the city's agencies.

So, more than just being an observer - I am now, increasingly - more of an active participant in many of the issues facing this city.

To back track - the City of Los Angeles a few years back started an experiment in democracy called Neighborhood Councils. More than eighty of a projected over a hundred councils have already been certified citywide and each council is elected by the stakeholders of each community. Depending on the individual council, seats can be held by business owners, residents, workers, non-profits, the arts, social service agencies - among many other stakeholder groups - and - in our case - even the homeless.

Importantly, this is the first time the city has charter mandated stakeholder groups that directly communicate with the Mayor and the City Council, along with city agencies. It is also, even more importantly - the first time each of the different groups that make up all the communities of LA can sit down and... talk to each other and get to know and, most importantly - understand each other.

It will also be the first time that any one other than the lobbyists and special interest groups will consistently be at the table every time any issue of importance comes before the City Council or before any city agency. But rather than detail the history/current status of the Neighborhood Council - check out the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) website at www.lacityneighborhoods.com/sitemap.htm for further information.

So along with the life, politics and culture of Los Angeles I had planned on essaying about - this blog will, from now on, also report on (and, sometimes, opine on) the birth pains of this new grass roots experience in local, town hall style democracy. Neighborhood Councils.

So - Cowboy Up!

It's going to be an interesting ride.

Reagan Dead

An era of American and world history ended today with the passing of former President Ronald Reagan.

The first time I ever met Reagan was in 1965 when I was still a high school student. I had volunteered at the Spencer-Roberts Public Relations firm, then the powerhouse political firm in California, after Reagan had formed an exploratory committee while he considered running to become the governor of California.

From that very first meeting and during each of the times I had the honor of either being a guest in his home or to otherwise meet him, the one thing that stood out most was his belief and confidence in the American people. No matter what your political opinion of him was or is, if you ever had the pleasure to meet him, you could not doubt the sincerity of his beliefs or his passion for this country.

All You Need To Know About The "LA" Times

One of the great civic benefactors of Los Angeles died yesterday, but you would never know it by reading the news sections of the Chicago, I mean, LA Times. Richard D. Colburn was the force behind and the major financial supporter of the Colburn School of Performing Arts on Bunker Hill and the major supporter of the soon to be built $80 million expansion designed to give Los Angeles a school equal to New York's Juilliard.

But Colburn's extensive obituary was buried on page ten of the 'B' section rather than being on the front page as the story would have been if he had lived in Chicago - or any other city in with a locally owned and operated newspaper. To do this, though, would have required bumping off urgently breaking front page stories such as one about a horse in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.

I would like to say I was surprised by this, but this is the same out-of-town team that did not feel that even Ira Yellin's passing was worthy of coverage in the regular news section.

Unfortunately, this is the continuing price this city has to pay for a paper owned by absentee landlords and edited and published by outsiders for whom LA is just another temporary pit stop in their careers.

The Last Of Perino's

In today's LAT, Bob Pool covers the impending demolition of the historic Wilshire eatery, Perino's - the site of so much of Los Angeles's social and political history. He also details the efforts by the developers to save many of the Paul Williams designed building's architectural details for re-use both on and off-site.

What is not discussed is that in many other cities - San Diego and San Francisco to name just two - buildings of historic value are far more often moved to new locations - including structures that are far larger and more difficult to move such as large, unreinforced brick warehouses.

There precedents demonstrate that there is no reason why an elegant structure of Perino's compact size can not be moved to another commercial site before its scheduled August demolition.

What would, however, would make this far easier to do is if Los Angeles had a revolving trust to buy, move and restore historic structures - like many other cities do. The buildings are then protected with easements and re-sold, with the funds then used to buy, move and restore another building.

I can think of few things that would have a more beneficial impact on the quality of life in LA than the establishment of this kind of civic institution.

Does anyone know the phone number of the Getty Trust? Or Eli Broad?

Forget ChinaTown, Jake - It's El Pueblo We Have To Worry About!

Two events have finally pushed me over the edge into the living hell that is blogdom. FIrst, both the process and the end result of the Grand Avenue competition for redeveloping Bunker Hill around Disney Hall, which I will delve into later.

Second, was Laura Chick's audit (and she is our watchdog of a city controller) of El Pueblo, which 'runs' Olvera Street and the historic buildings for the city around the Plaza. The initial story of the audit was followed by a second story in this week's Downtown News about just fired employees allegedly breaking into the El Pueblo offices and shredding files and possibly even destroying computer hard drives. And there is a reason why I am interested in 'Pueblo-gate'.

When I wanted to do an art show in one of the vacant buildings several years ago, I tried to find out who was in charge. And it only took one day to discover that there were large numbers of city employees being paid to do ... absolutely... nothing... and that many of them were not even bothering to show up at their non-existent jobs while they worked their real jobs.

But when I went with that information (along with two volunteers willing to go on record) to the council office, to the Mayor's office and to the press - I could not get even one person to listen to what was going on - much less do anything about it. It just seemed to be accepted that this type of Chicago-style political patronage was acceptable in El Pueblo and that there was something wrong with me if I had any problem with it.

What will be interesting to find out - assuming there is not a cover-up (a not very safe assumption, of course) - is exactly who has been the political protectors of this criminal activity for so many years - if not decades.

LA Cowboy - Politics, Culture and Art in LA

Accepting a dare from Matt Welch of the late, and greatly lamented (other than by the LA Times, of course), LA Examiner - I am going to take a stab (which may soon prove to be, an all too relevant verb) at starting a much needed - civil debate about politics in Los Angeles, along with all of the other aspects of life in LA that can make life here - both exciting and despairing. So... as soon as I figure how the hell to make this damned thing work with a 1997 browser.... this particular LA COWBOY.