Check out my full comment on the Dec 4 nominations thread, sorry, I came late to this party.

But this is worth a write-in: Carmen Trutanich, for getting the pro-medical cannabis community to campaign for him, especially its figurehead Don Duncan founder of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), who was pivotal in getting thousands of people in their advocacy community to send Trutanich money, blog for him, walk precincts and get out the vote because he promised to be more supportive of their position than Councilman Weiss. But as soon as he took office he threw Duncan and his crowd under the bus, of course did whatever DA Steve Cooley told him and vowed to get tougher on pot than anyone could have imagined –they want to shut down any shop that sells for even a dime, for profit or not.

NOW as the L A Weekly reports, Trutanich is singling out Don Duncan for “investigations” of something or other but to many it looks like persecution for speaking out about how they’ve been misled and misused. Something he can ask Laura Chick about, or ask Jan Perry or AEG how fast he shows you to Cooley’s office and the entrance to county jail if you simply disagree with him. Duncan’s blog entry of May 20, 2009 hailing the tremendous “victory” of their “good friend” Carmen Trutanich, with a beaming photo of them all, in light of his NOW being singled out for prosecution has to be THE GRINCH MOVE OF THE YEAR.

But Carmen just threw himself a lavish Christmas party at the Long Beach Yacht Club as reported in the Daily News. Had all his Republican friends there of course, Cooley, Supervisor Don Knabe and so on. I doubt he invited Don Duncan or the L A city democrats. Except maybe Janice Hahn.

Nothing like carpetbagging into LA from Long Beach to run for the job and get the money and perks, then Grinch out on L A for your hometown. He still owns a house in the Belmont Shores area, where it’s 95% white, none of us Messicans or black folk, so I think you’re being a little hard on Mowry for one comment.

Russell Brown has been nominated for Metblogs Grinch of the Year. His bad faith, false claims and disdain for the community surrounding the Downtown LA Art Walk provide excellent examples of why Mr. Brown should receive this particular “honor.”

In early 2009, my husband Richard Schave and I agreed to take over management of the Art Walk from gallery owner Bert Green. After a half-year transition process, our first Art Walk was in mid July. We were excited about finally taking charge and bringing many new and exciting changes to the Art Walk and the downtown community.

On August 3, members of the very new and very busy Art Walk board met with Russell Brown, who had been expressing concern that he was not intrinsically involved in the work of this new entity. The board intended this meeting as a gesture of respect to Mr. Brown, who serves as volunteer president of the Neighborhood Council, and to alleviate any concerns that he had about where the Art Walk was going in its new non-profit role.

The meeting was also needed because Russell, in his other capacity as Executive Director of the Historic District Business Improvement District, was refusing to honor that entity’s long-standing commitment of an annual donation of $5000 to the Art Walk. It was hoped that this matter could be resolved for the financial benefit of this community event.

Russell Brown came to the table that day with a litany of strange, inaccurate complaints about the Art Walk, and it seemed that all he wanted to do at the meeting was to hash over these complaints. When asked directly what could be done so that we could move forward in a positive way, Mr. Brown had no suggestions, but merely stated he would be going back to talk to the community about his unhappiness with the Art Walk.

These complaints were actually nothing new, as very similar claims against the new Art Walk management were made by Russell Brown and DLANC’s Brady Westwater at a gathering of gallery owners on June 17. This was before the new management team was in charge of the Art Walk or had had any opportunity to accomplish anything, and already Russell Brown and his colleague was objecting to their work.

In this August meeting, Russell Brown stated that the Art Walk’s management did not return phone calls — but when this was disputed by the people who dedicated part of each day to returning calls, he could provide no concrete examples beyond objecting to the event’s volunteer staff’s use of a voicemail system rather than answering incoming calls.

He stated that the Art Walk’s map was not available and could not be used. This claim was due to a since-resolved matter involving large PDF files that some computers could not download, which had been corrected before the July Art Walk. Russell spoke of this as a continuing issue which made the new Art Walk management unqualified in his eyes.

He told the board that the Art Walk website didn’t work and was unacceptable to him. However, he could not explain what the problem was. At this point the Art Walk website was called up on a laptop, and it was discovered that Mr. Brown was confused about how to utilize the common type of location-based website that uses a zoomable map. The Art Walk’s redesigned front page–which was already returning as the #1 Google result for “art walk” —  opened to a map of the Historic Core, with clickable links for each gallery at its actual location.

Mr. Brown said that this was not what the website looked like when he had visited it, and it was discovered that he had clicked the zoom-out button repeatedly, resulting in a view of the entire Planet Earth. We showed him how the website was supposed to look and function, and apologized for the confusion. But he still was not happy, and due to his continued complaints, we went back to the drawing board and redesigned the site simply to placate him.

What about the $5000 annual donation from HDBID? Russell suggested that rather than give this money to the brand new and entirely unfunded Art Walk non-profit, he intended to fund a new gallery owners group to be managed by former Art Walk manager Bert Green, and give some of it to DLANC member Brady Westwater for his Fashion Walk. And in fact, Russell soon moved to remove another source of funding that had been promised to the Art Walk, DLANC’s $500/month for the Art Walk shuttle (canceled in November); this money was also diverted to the new gallery owners group.

Unfortunately, the August meeting was not a positive one, and concluded with Mr. Brown stating that he did not expect he would be able to work constructively with the new Art Walk board, no matter what they did to try to find a common ground. Despite the fact that the board had just taken over the event, with only a single Art Walk under our belts, Russell Brown declared that the new Art Walk management was a failure that he would not be able to support.

And indeed, Mr. Brown continued to undermine the Art Walk in his words and actions, including interfering in a problematic event sponsorship proposal from Cadillac; he personally worked with Cadillac to place their cars on view at the November Art Walk, despite the objections of the non-profit’s Executive Director and Curator.

Finally, in October, Mr. Brown’s complaints reached a fever pitch. He sent an email to the board of the Art Walk stating that due to the failures of Art Walk management to address his complaints – all of which were false or had long since been addressed – that he would no longer be seeking to work with the Art Walk, but would instead… well, let’s let Mr. Brown speak for himself. Please note that the truth is that we printed thousands of maps, returned all phone messages and sent regular press releases, and that the board was well aware of these facts.

“In this tight economy, we can no longer afford to have an organization that does not have maps printed, does not answer phones, does not send out press releases, or folks do not feel comfortable with the follow thru. But more importantly, we just needed a common sense partner, business associate and organizer who worked with everyone to grow this as a successful, art focused, neighborhood business focused event.  That has not happened after many months of trying. So we are moving on to create that with a new set of partners who share that common vision.” (Russell Brown, 10/27/2009)

Just days after this email, members of the Art Walk board informed Executive Director Richard Schave and myself that the board wished Richard to step down from his position of authority so that someone could be brought in who had a better working relationship with community leaders.

This statement made no sense to us, and suggested that the Art Walk board had decided to capitulate to Russell’s campaign of false complaints. Rather than remain and try to do our volunteer work in an environment in which bad faith, false claims and rampant hostility would be rewarded, we chose to resign from the Art Walk.

At this point we felt we could do better work off the board than on it, and so with great regret we walked away from the non-profit we founded. Unfortunately, almost all of the volunteers who we brought into the Art Walk organization chose to also withdraw in sympathy to us, and as a gesture of non-support for an Art Walk board that would place the desires of so disingenuous a person as Russell Brown ahead of the Art Walk’s devoted managing Director and Curator.

And so you see that Russell Brown made the same false complaints about the Art Walk on June 17, on August 3 and on October 27. In June and in August, the Art Walk board agreed that his complaints were unfortunate and without merit. But in October, something changed, and the board decided to listen to Russell Brown. That led to the process by which Richard was asked to step down from his position as Director, but to remain on hand as a full-time volunteer manager. We chose instead to walk away from the Art Walk entirely.

And this is why the downtown community has had to hear so much debate and complaint surrounding the Art Walk over the past weeks. This is why the very young Art Walk non-profit has had to go back to the drawing board and bring a new Director up to speed, during which time the galleries and the community have been without a leader. If Russell Brown put one tenth of the energy into creating positive change in his community that he spent undermining my husband’s and my volunteer work with the Art Walk, who knows what great things could happen?

The Art Walk was not our first experience trying to work with Russell Brown. For several years Richard and I had come to him regularly with suggestions for how DLANC or the BID could better serve the community. Unfortunately, Mr. Brown never wanted to follow up on any of our suggestions, and seemed to feel that the community didn’t need these tools. It was in part because of  his failure to act that we felt the need to form a non-profit to run the Art Walk and to provide these specific benefits to the downtown community.

Once that non-profit was formed to support the Art Walk, at considerable effort, Russell Brown conspired to drive us out so that he could take credit for and control the tools that we put in place for the benefit of the community.

This technique is typical of Russell Brown’s political machinations. He creates an environment in downtown Los Angeles where the community is told that the only way to accomplish anything is to work within the DLANC system that he controls, and with the support of the HDBID for which he is the public face—but if anyone shows ability or leadership, he does all he can to undermine and eject them, as happened with the Art Walk. Russell Brown then moves into the vacuum he has created, further consolidating his personal power.

Let me speak directly on the matter of Russell Brown’s complaints about the Art Walk website, which he could not understand how to use and so derided to the community and to the Art Walk board. The fact is that Russell’s own organization DLANC has struggled with the development of its own website, seeking to provide much improved functionality and features needed by its community and its elected leadership.

Several years ago, Richard volunteered to help Russell Brown get the DLANC website updated with a open source content management system, Drupal — what the Art Walk website is built on — which would be interactive and community-driven. Richard offered to organize a group of community-minded programmers to raise the framework (provide the heavy lifting) for a new DLANC website, but stated that Russell would have to provide a few dedicated people from DLANC who would maintain the site and edit its content. This offer was never followed up on by Russell Brown.

The website that was eventually built by Richard for the Art Walk was very similar to what Richard wanted to provide to DLANC and that Russell Brown was not interested in. This is a site that many different people can use, with different levels of permissions, that with use will begin to reflect what’s actually going on in the community, and become an important tool. For Russell Brown to complain so vehemently about the Art Walk website is unfortunate in the light of DLANC’s long struggles and high expenditures with its own website development.

Some people have suggested that now that Richard and I have resigned from the Art Walk we ought to stop talking about what went wrong with that entity, and that our insistence on speaking up is simply sour grapes. We don’t think so.

We believe we were put into this difficult position in order to shine a light on things that are broken in downtown Los Angeles, and to speak up on behalf of the many committed community members who have approached us privately to express their support, and share their stories of Russell Brown’s years of bullying and abuse of power.

Russell Brown doesn’t just run the BID and DLANC. He sits on numerous community boards, including ones that oversee the troubled Pershing Square redesign process, and Bringing Back Broadway with its streetcar component. We believe downtown will have a much better chance of moving forward into the new decade in a spirit of good will and good work if we call Russell Brown out on being the bully that he is, and give the community a chance to screw its courage to the sticking point and let people speak their minds.

Until the community begins providing better people to do the important work we all want to see done, the status quo will remain intact. Nothing will change until we all start talking about what’s wrong, and do something about it. We think this Grinch nomination, which has people talking, is a start.

What comes next is up to you.

yours sincerely,
Kim Cooper
formerly founding Curator and Treasure of the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk, a California Public Benefit Corporation

KIm Cooper has been a student of mine for many years. She is an expert in the art of power consolidation, and making enemies of innocent people. Her campaign against Russell Brown is an excellent example of how to demonize someone to glorify yourself, and for that she deserves her own award. My best friends Nancy Reagan and Leona Helmsley all join me in wishing her the best.

Yea for KIm! I nominate her for psycho of the year!

Well, I don’t know who Kim Cooper is, but some people in Downtown L.A. know of Russell Brown… It is not surprising to hear this. He’s done worse than this before – and he’s far from being an “innocent people“. At best, incompetent and self-centered – at worst, abusive and manipulating with a huge bad faith. However, it would still be to much of an honor for him to be nominated for anything especially along with other people who have a real stature, He’s nothing significant. Leave him alone,

No wonder Kim was unable to maintain her position at the Art Walk. This “explanation” of the situation sounds like it was written by a Harpie! Who would ever want to work with someone like her?

I agree with Gale. Stop this harassment, Kim! Nobody deserves to be treated like this.

There seems to be a lot of misinformation being spewed about Art Walk and Russell Brown.

As a member of the board of the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk, I can tell you that (i) Russell Brown has not taken over Art Walk in any sense and (ii) had nothing to do with the board deciding that Art Walk needed a new Executive Director. I can only assume that Kim Cooper — who has taken to the airwaves with posts on Yelp, Facebook, various blogs, etc. — is pursuing a personal vendetta in waging a smear campaign against Russell Brown, Bert Green and those who continue to volunteer their time to improve and sustain Art Walk. Hopefully, readers of this blog will see this effort for what it is and not simply believe every falsehood that is posted.

Here are the plain facts:

1. Kim and her husband Richard stepped up to volunteer to run Art Walk at a time when nobody else was willing to do so. Kim and Richard had a vision to establish Art Walk as a non-profit corporation that would act as a steward for the important community event that Art Walk has become. They recruited a board of directors to lead the non-profit, comprised of individuals who brought assorted talents to the task of building a formal organization around Art Walk. The new corporation is called Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk (DTLAAW). Kim and Richard certainly worked hard at this effort and did a lot of good, particularly with their efforts to institute new cultural programming as part of Art Walk. We all owe them a debt of gratitude for their effort and contribution.

2. In late October and early November, several members of the DTLAAW board became concerned that the transition to more formalized leadership of Art Walk had not gone smoothly and relations between DTLAAW and several Downtown constituencies important to Art Walk seemed to be deteriorating quickly. This included the art gallery owners, many of whom had expressed continual dissatisfaction with the leadership of DTLAAW since its formation, as well as concerns expressed by local businesses and leaders with various aspects of Art Walk and DTLAAW. It became clear to every member of the board that DTLAAW was quickly losing support among constituencies that we viewed as vital to sustaining Art Walk over the long-term. Moreover, we saw no reason why the relations between DTLAAW and downtown constituencies should not be excellent — as we all are serving the same goal of trying to improve the community.

Thus, the board, after much deliberation, made a decision that DTLAAW would be better served by bringing in a new Executive Director who could do a better job working and maintaining relationships with all the constituencies served by and serving Art Walk. We had hoped this could be done in manner that kept Kim and Richard involved with Art Walk — serving on the board and continuing to run and improve the cultural programming they helped to develop — but Kim made it clear that it was all or nothing for her and Richard, that we could either accept their sole control over Art Walk or they would have no involvement whatsoever. (I was pretty shocked when Kim made these “my way or the highway” comments.) The DTLAAW board was thus faced with a tough choice, but we had decided that Art Walk deserved leaders that could better help build consensus and support in our community.

3. Much has been said about Cadillac and Art Walk. Again, here are the facts: One member of our board introduced DTLAAW to a marketing firm that does experiential marketing for Cadillac, and that firm proposed that we stage a Cadillac event as part of Art Walk — on a purely trial basis to see if Cadillac would be interested in doing such an event as a sponsorship of Art Walk on an ongoing basis. The goal from our perspective is to raise much needed funds to support Art Walk. As an event that draws 10,000+ attendees, there are costs associated with printing maps, publicizing the event, safety, clean-up, cultural programming, etc. that require a source of funding. Up to now, Art Walk has survived on contributions from local merchants, but such contributions have become harder to obtain in the current economic downturn while the costs of putting on Art Walk continue to escalate. If we want Art Walk to be a great event that continues to attract a massive audience, we need to pay for the costs associated with the event.

The Cadillac event consisted of parking a few new cars in an empty parking lot surrounded by art displays put up by a few children’s charities. Thus far, last month’s display and the one scheduled for next week’s Art Walk has been trials, and no decisions have been made by Cadillac, Art Walk or anyone else whether to implement any form of formal sponsorship arrangement. While our hope is that we can develop new types of sponsorships as a form of revenue for Art Walk, nothing has been implemented. What we are considering is no different than the types of sponsorships implemented by every major arts organization in this country. Go look at LACMA, MOCA, the Music Center, the Hollywood Bowl, and you will find corporate sponsorships. Sure, some can describe those organizations as having “sold out” to corporate money, but one has to balance the need for funds to support an important community event like Art Walk against the reality that events simply do not pay for themselves.

4. Finally, folks are suggesting that personal greed and wealth are driving decisions about Art Walk. If that’s true, I have not seen any evidence of that. Everyone who serves on the DTLAAW board does so without any compensation, without fame and in the face of constant snarking by folks who sit on the sidelines and take cheap potshots. All of us care about the larger community and want to see Art Walk continue as one of the largest regular community arts events in the country. I like to think of Art Walk as a community museum without walls, befitting of a part of Los Angeles that has become the new SoHo. We need the entire community to work together to improve and sustain Art Walk. Let’s all try to focus on the positive. Happy holidays.

Come join Art Walk
David Hernand

Let’s see.

Kim rants and raves that she and her husband were asked to leave after they fight with everyone in the world downtown. They could not talk with the gallery owners, or the neighborhood city council or the folks cleaning up after them.

Then she can’t stop talking about how bad everyone else is because the Party Bus that costs over almost $10,000 a year was not continued. If it was so important, couldn’t they get sponsors other than those that she hates so much?

OK, I get it. Personal vendetta with the need to talk about her own accomplishments non-stop.

I’m confused. Kim and Richard took over the ArtWalk in May after a “half a year transition”, yet in October things were still not resolved and it was the fault of others? What does leadership mean?
With many issues not being resolved, your own board (that you appointed) asked you to work with them and keep doing what you were good at. The response was “my way or the highway”?

You stated these concerns were made at the end of October- six months after you took over and after another half year transition?

“In this tight economy, we can no longer afford to have an organization that does not have maps printed, does not answer phones, does not send out press releases, or folks do not feel comfortable with the follow thru. But more importantly, we just needed a common sense partner, business associate and organizer who worked with everyone to grow this as a successful, art focused, neighborhood business focused event. That has not happened after many months of trying. So we are moving on to create that with a new set of partners who share that common vision.” (Russell Brown, 10/27/2009)

I think that states the concerns pretty clearly. Looks like ArtWalk has moved on. Looks like Kim has not.

Sounds like everybody here has figured out that Kim is just full of shit. How about if the Metblogs people just withdraw Russell’s nomination and replace it with Kim, the real Grinch of downtown. David Markland, do you hear me?

Don,

Had anyone nominated Kim during the nomination period that lasted well over two weeks, she’d have also been listed as a candidate, and, simply put, I’m not going to change the rules midstream.

That said, I hoped that the votes would reflect the overall opinion of Metblogs readers, and not be tilted by campaigning from a single individual or group. Unfortunately, the controls I can create to eliminate or reduce this possibility are minimal.

Artwalk have suffered of poor managment so far… Change was necessary. That’s one thing. But once again, pay no attention now to the past but only to the future… Beware of Mr Brown for those who don’t really know what they just got instead. The worse is yet to come. Going from one Grinch to another, is no cause for celebration…

Well, folks, here you see it: the Russell Brown political machine in action. Quite childish and nasty, isn’t it? Anonymous smears, personal attacks, but no actual defense of the truly awful things that Russell did to damage the workings of the Art Walk non-profit… yep, sounds like Russell Brown-land.

Hey Russ: why don’t you stop terrorizing the community and bashing anyone who has the courage to sign their name and say what they think of you? You’re too old for this, and it’s getting embarrassing. It’s practically a new decade, and you can reinvent yourself. Grinch or no, your heart can grow three sizes. Do some work on yourself, give someone else a chance to lead, and have faith that downtown can make it without your unqualified fingers in every… single… pie.

Nice try, Kim. Look at the other blogs; your “posse” has been doing the same thing from the beginning. Stop lying.

The statement of December 28th was illegally posted to this group and is not from me.

Don Noyes-More

Thank You Kim, you are exactly right about Russel Brown…

He pretends to care about the community, but in reality his every move is carefully calculated to maximize personal power and influence.

Have you noticed how he claims to speak to so many, but never actually listens to anybody?

And don’t even get me started on conflict of interest. How hard is it to realize that spending City money on personal projects is bad.

Mr Brown also seems to have a problem representing ALL of downtown as a DLANC Director at the same time he is being paid by the Historic BID.

Is anybody other than the historic core getting any representation on DLANC….

Russell Brown lives in the Historic Core and he gets paid by the Historic core BID. Resources will get directed to the historic core as long as he can control DLANC. PERIOD.

He needs to go.

The last thing that this City needs is another two-bit wannabe, self serving politician. We have enough of those already.

Don Noyes-More is a fake in every sense of the word.

A Few people downtown know that the screen name is a phantom and use it for their own cause…

Right Russ?

All messages here under my name except my protest (above) about the illegal use of my name are illegal and false. I have not commented here about ANY Art Walk issues.

Don Noyes-More

I have never commented on here about any Art Walk issue. My name was used illegally. I have copied my attorney on this matter.

Gale Goldstein

All messages here under my name except my protest (above) about the illegal use of my name, are illegal and false. I have not commented here about ANY Art Walk issues.

Don Noyes-More

Every messages here under my name except my protest (above) about the illegal use of my name, are illegal and false. I have not commented here about ANY Art Walk issues.

Don Noyes-More

Messages here under my name except my protest (above) about the illegal use of my name, are illegal and false. I have not commented here about ANY Art Walk issues.

Don Noyes-More

Wow.

Messages published here under my name except my protests (above) about the illegal use of my name, are illegal and false. I have not commented here about ANY Art Walk issues.

Don Noyes-More

Please note:

The following comments were all sent from the same IP address:
Don Noyes-More (Submitted on 2009/12/27 at 6:19pm)
Gale Goldstein (Submitted on 2009/12/27 at 5:57pm)
Vicious Bitch (Submitted on 2009/12/27 at 12:26pm)

And the following comments were all sent from the same IP address:
Downtowner on the sidelines (Submitted on 2009/12/27 at 9:36pm)
Gallery Row Galleries (Submitted on 2009/12/27 at 9:08pm)
David Hernand (Submitted on 2009/12/27 at 7:18pm)

Additionally, according to an email sent to me by donnoyesmore@yahoo.com, which Kim Cooper confirmed me is actually Don Noyes-More, the following comments were made under falsely: (Submitted on 2009/12/28 at 9:24am) and (Submitted on 2009/12/27 at 11:13pm).

My THANK YOU to MetBlog for making it perfectly clear who and when the use of my name was illegally used.

My gratitude!

Don Noyes-More

It should be made clear that there is no evidence to suggest Russell Brown had any hand in any of the above comments.

I believe Russ Brown was NOT sending any of the above e-mails and he has not been mentioned in that capacity.

It was others. And I will obtain the appropriate ISP numbers to do a positive ID. Only at that point will we know for sure. Again my thanks to David.

Don Noyes-More

I didn’t say it was Russell Brown posting, either, though I did address him directly in my last comment. There’s not a huge difference between doing something yourself, and having one of your cronies who serves to benefit from your largess do it for you… except when that crony starts breaking laws in his enthusiasm, he’s the person who stands to get into trouble.

This thread is very similar to Richard’s and my experience running the Art Walk. If you go back and ignore all the fake comments (including Art Walk board member David Hernand’s, cut and pasted — poorly — from a previous blog entry) you’ll find that the actual dialog is very different from what appeared to be said.

We had to navigate and respond to so many anonymous claims and unattributed complaints, most of which were brought to us by Russell Brown, or in meetings he called or controlled. How are you supposed to respond to an anonymous complaint?

If we stood up to challenge these (and so many other) false assertions, we were accused of not being sensitive to the needs of the community. But the COMMUNITY never spoke out–only Russell Brown’s immediate circle of cronies who stood to benefit from his financial and political muscle.

The fact is that as of November the Art Walk had a SIX-person board, and THREE of us resigned rather than play Russell Brown’s game, or get into a 50/50 fight with our colleagues. It was too nasty, too stupid, and just not worth the heartache. But we never said we’d stop caring about downtown or doing our community work.

Thanks to Russell’s interference, that work stopped being all the cool stuff that Art Walk visitors were enjoying and downtown businesses were benefiting from, and became an informational campaign to keep anyone else from having to go through the nonsense that we did. I like to think that I’m Russell Brown’s pro bono publicist… for the public good. It’s not what I set out to do for the community, but it’ll do.

I am offering an AWARD for information leading to the conviction of the person or person(s) involved in Indentity Theft of my name at Blog Downtown and MetBlog. You may keep your identity private. All information will go directly to my attorney for action.

Please send any information to: donnoyesmore@yahoo.com

The Nixon Era in Downtown needs to Stop Now! No more Dirty Tricks!

Don Noyes-More

CORRECTION

My post should have read: REWARD. $500.00 for information leading to the conviction for ID theft of my name.

Don Noyes-More

Perhaps Don Noyes More did not send most of the above comments that are under his name, but he does have a history of posting under fake names and identities. He had a fake food reviewer on his websites for awhile and he represented him with a stock photo that was identified as such. Also, he used other stock photos (also identified) to represent other “employees” such as Thomas Johnston and Anna Maria Lopez. He has removed these photos because he was caught by a downtown blogger who exposed the fraud. Don Noyes More should be grinch of the year. Too bad he was not nominated in time!

I’m sorry, does impersonating someone in a blog comment thread rise to the level of identity theft and is it actually a crime? (Unethical, definitely.) I mean, it actually says “unregistered” next to the name … a registered comment account might have more authority, perhaps?

Other names that Don Noyes-More has used to make vicious attacks online are:

Linda Kim
Brad Vixin
Thomas Johnson
Charles Vine
Gale Goldstein
James Kaufman
Gloria Staunton
Melissa May

…actually the list is endless. Look at his Yahoo groups: downtownlalife and gay downtown. They are all filled with attacks against other people. Try to post a defense, you will be banned by Don. Almost all the posts are done by Don or his phony names.

He is like an online drag queen, or better yet, Sybil, with 16 personalities.

And how fitting that Kim and Don have found each other. The lunatic fringe of Downtown. Add Julie Rico into the mix-Perfection!

Also, if you are signed up for either of his Yahoo groups, I suggest you unsubscribe. Deprive him of his voice, as he does to others. Don has also been banned from many other groups for violation of terms of service and uncivil behavior.

To hear him threaten to sue is laughable. A countersuit which subpoenas Gale Goldstein and the other phony people would prove to any judge that he is unfit to accuse anyone else of anything.

At least this “cat fight” may result in more votes than originally anticipated.

Wow, what a bizarre anonymous post from someone who seems terribly insecure (“fake names”).

I don’t know anyone else on that list, but I can assure anyone reading that Melissa May is not Don Noyes-More in digital drag. She’s an awesome musician who plays in the Harvey Girls and happened to nominate Russell Brown as Grinch of the Year in the original Metblogs post. People are entitled to state their opinion about a public figure who does a poor job without being accused of not existing!

And again with the utterly unwarranted badmouthing of Julie Rico, who has had galleries in downtown LA longer than anyone else on the scene, and who does great work providing an exhibition space for the artists of Skid Row. Who would deprive her of her rightful place and respect in the community?

There are some really troubled people in downtown Los Angeles. This thread has become something of a sandbox for the ones who don’t dare use their real names while smearing others to show their stuff.

Why don’t we all get together for a cup of coffee sometime? It would be nice to match faces to avatars or screen names.

Yes, Kim Cooper, I’d love to meet Don’s crew of Thomas Johnson, Linda Kim and Gloria Staunton. I’d be worried about coffee with you, however. I might accidentally say something wrong and you’d hold it against me forever and forever. You might also throw hot coffee in my face!

Say, I wonder if Ted Trent still has a copy of Don Noyes-More infamous “Little Mister” letter to him that was reposted on newdowntown. Also, I wonder if Don isn’t holding a grudge against Russ Brown for taking Out in Downtown LA away from him. Hmmmmm………what a tangled web.

Also, wasn’t Julie Rico booted off some downtown arts committee a few years back? Some nasty things were said about her! Maybe Don remembers them.

Wait! Now I remember.

Nic Cha Kim, are you out there? Tell us all about Gallery Row and Julie Rico, Kim’s ally in her sick little war.

Dear “Bottle Rocket,” it is quite obvious who you are, and it seems to me that we’ve previously sat most cordially together with no liquids being thrown, except in your imagination. Despite your utterly unwarranted accusation, I am not a violent person. You just don’t like what I have to say, and are flailing around seeking to discredit the messenger.

Your anonymous attacks are sad and shameful, and the more you type, the more people will recognize your rather distinctive online voice. And of course there are only a very few people who care enough about the specific issues you keep gnawing over to keep coming back to comment.

There was an interesting Op-Ed in the WSJ yesterday about the issues that this thread brings up, called “Keep a Civil Cybertongue,” which concludes:

“The Internet is bringing about a revolution in human knowledge and communication, and we have an unprecedented opportunity to make the global conversation more reasonable and productive. But we can only do so if we prevent the worst among us from silencing the best among us with hostility and incivility.”

The whole essay is worth reading:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107104574572101333074122.html

I thank the posters for all the odd attention but as usual you are attempting to divert attention from the real issues. Of course I know each one of you, your dirty tricks, and your mean and vicious attacks against people. You can misstate, misrepresent and lie and it is still about you, not me.

I did not post here until one of you decided to do ID theft, of which my attorney already has some information.

Gay Downtown has many, many thousands of members and it was announced on the 28th that an article about the attempted takeover by the same entities above is being written. “Out in Downtown” was formed by those that wanted a sex oriented, social organization, we wanted a civil rights group. They walked out of Gay Downtown, they took nothing over, “They” were kicked out. And who cares anyway? You guyz remind me og Joseph Goebbeles, same behavior.

You better start saving your pennies Boyz, you’ll need attorney representation very soon. And why does it not surprize me that you guys support a Federal Crime? So keep talking bout me, that’s okay, I’m an easy target, old and disabled, the type you most like to attack. So go on, but I won’t be posting here, unlike you, I don’t feel you are worth my breath anymore.

Kim, how can anyone involved in art be so literal. The coffee in the face remark was imagery and not to be taken literally.

No, you won’t throw coffee. Instead you’ll just flog a dead horse (oh, don’t suggest animal abuse, Kim) instead of recognizing that the horse is, well, dead. It’s time to move on, Kim. Perhaps a therapist can help you with this.

And as far as that quote about “the best among us”—are you suggesting that includes you, Don and Julie? Oh, you make me laugh!

Don’t get me wrong; it doesn’t include Russ Brown either. He talks non-stop and doesn’t know how to listen. He also has expressed interest in a higher elected position (city council?) and he will claw his way to get there.

I still want to hear from Nic Cha Kim and Ted Trent. This thread could really heat up!

All of you seem to this newcomer to downtown to be “the worst among us.” This is a total load of crap as are most of those commenting here, on both sides of this mud fight.

Don Noyes-More, don’t let the door slam you in the ass on the way out. First, however, let’s examine a few of your statements.

Gaydowntown does not have “many, many thousands of members”. It’s a yahoo group and it currently has 1,511 members. Why do you lie?

Also, gaydowntown is not a civil rights group. It exists mostly to sell advertising that benefits you.

Finally, hiding behind age and disability (another lie?) is cowardly. You’ve been exposed. Who cares how old you are. it’s your behavior that is at issue here. You’re an easy target because of your behavior.

Now hurry out that door. “Linda Kim” needs some lipstick.

Jukie Rico was just kicked off the Skid Row Artists Collective leadership yesterday by the founder, like she was from the DLANC Ats committee in 2004, and like Kim was from the Art Walk, and Don from numerous blogs. The three of you are insane and power hungry, yet you accuse others of your own failings. Doublespeak is alive.

Oh, and the idea that Kim is an ‘art person’ is funny. Very funny.

Warning: Any additional postings under multiple identities using the same name IP address will result in the user’s IP address being posted here.

[...] the case of the 2009 Grinch of the Year “contest,” it was the campaigning that did it [...]

Oh, okay, one (I hope!) last smear to mop up before this tempest in a trashcan spins itself out. It seems silly to even have to write this, since “Bottle Rocket” and “fake names” are almost certainly the same person, but to jump into “their” little dispute, I am by anyone’s definition an “art person.” I hold a masters degree in the history of art and I coordinated a major international exhibition for MOCA, among other museum and gallery projects.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Kim tries to get the last word…. What a joke, you are clueless about art, that’s why you were fired from the Art Walk. Flail all you want, it won’t work.

Resigned from Art Walk, thank you, not that art had anything to do with that.

The fat lady has sung, Kim. Now step on out of the door.

No, I am not the same as fake names, and David is free to check out my ISP for verification. You’re just paranoid, Kim, paranoid and nuts.

C’mon, now, Kim—just step on out of here now. Go on. Git!

Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly, not in the midst of such an interesting, civilized and constructive discourse. But your desire to silence me is duly noted.

,,,,,,by the way, fake names, do you have the story on Julie being kicked out of Skid Row Artists Collective? I’d love to hear the details about Kim’s comrade.

Also, didn’t Don give his ghostly “Gloria Stanton” advanced cancer a while back? Just saying………

See new downtown for a post from Benito Campito, regarding the ledership of Skid Row Artists Collective. It is a reply to Julie Rico’s email asserting control over the group.

And Kim, please stop with the ‘resigned’ nonsense. Richard Schave was FIRED. You were part of the package. That poor, affable pothead husband of yours was incapable of managing anything. Obviously including you, dragon lady.

So, off you go to your next victim: Indie Printing. Just saw the new downtown post. I guess anyone who won’t give you something for free gets the treatment. Bitch from hell.

I read OG’s post to newdowntown, and there’s nothing against Julie Rico in it. And now you call Richard Schave a pothead? Hardly. Jeez, what are you smoking?

Kim, do things seem a bit murky right now? Let me give you a little Monday morning quarterbacking. This may clear your troubled mind.

After the dismissal you started a campaign of revenge by attacking Russ Brown. That was a good move. Nobody really likes Russ. He’s only tolerated because he gets things done and someone has to do them. You scored points by going after him.

Then you were distracted by an email and went after Bert Green. That was a mistake. You shifted your focus from a more favorable strategy to attacking the actual founder of Art Walk. Plus, people who know him really like Bert.

You then tried to regroup by coming to this blog and nominating Russ Brown for Grinch of the Year. Alas, your letter in support of the award was wordy and made you look sullen, inept and confused. People began looking at you in a different light.

Then your two biggest-name supporters–Julie Rico and Don Noyes-More–were examined along with you and a whole can of worms was unleashed. Adding to this personally was Don Noyes-More, who dropped a distracting drama bombshell on newdowntown. Suddenly Russ was forgotten and no one cared who received the Grinch award.

Newcomer to Downtown called it a mud fight. Well, duh! It became a slug fest with you vs. fake names and me. No person received the award (partly because of that unseemly brawl) and your strategy here then failed.

Now you’re trying to make up lost yardage by going after a printing company. A printing company? Kim, you’re backed up to the goal post. No one cares about that and no one cares about you anymore either. Downtown has a limited attention span and you’re no longer flavor of the month.

Your game plan lost its focus; you lost the revenge game. That–along with many other things–makes you a loser, Kim, a sad and sorry loser.

Please take this advice: dig a hole and crawl into it. Your reputation, dignity and game plan are in shreds. Dig a hole and hide away in the dirt for a long, long time. Maybe then you’ll sprout back up as something new and better.

Bottle Rocket<<<

Bottle-

Well put. I’d love for you to post this same exact info on the contest ending page, where the conversation has shifted. More people will see it there…

Nope, anonymous person on the internet who cares way too much about what I say, that’s not the way this happened, and it’s not the way anyone but you and your anonymous pals will spin it. I also don’t agree with your literary criticism, which is more about your dislike of my message than any actual content of my writing. But thanks for your insight.

I do think it’s fascinating that of the dozens of well known downtown gallery owners, business owners, bloggers and tweeters, how few people have felt compelled to enter this discussion under their own name to comment, defend or critique anyone at all.

That speaks both to the culture of fear and intimidation in the community, and to the fact that very few people really understand or care about what’s happening on DLANC, its Arts Committee and on the Art Walk board.

But all those entities are actively contributing to making the downtown and the Art Walk that we all will have to live with in the coming months, and I believe that more people should be empowered to speak, participate and simply to understand what these bodies do.

And the anonymous commenters obviously don’t believe that. So we’ll have to agree to disagree about where this community is going and that it will be a better downtown when more people feel safe to log into community blogs under their real names and say what they think about the actions and policies of their self-styled leaders.

As of this last day of the two-thousand-oughts, when they do, they can look forward to the lovely treatment that you and your anonymous friends have given me and others who have stood up behind their real names to say what they think.

Until the community refuses to accept the anonymous smears and backroom bullying, this is the downtown we get to live in. It’s not such a hospitable place at the moment, but I think we all know that it could be incredible.

Let’s all work together to make it so in 2010.

A good start for dealing with this online identity crisis is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_metric

Julie Rico was not thrown off of the leadership of the Skid Row Arts Collective. OG was just trying to show his support and we together are helping the group.

OG started the group and has a lot of say in how the organization is run. Thus his comments indicated. He would not have posted my post along with his if I was not still working with him. He would have left me off of the blog he posted. He was trying to show his support for me. What I do and what he does. Thats fine. WOW!

The LA Art Fest happened with the help of the board from LARABA and the arts district leadership. It was a 3 day festival!

We had 3 stages, one a multi cultural stage with an electronic music stage that was curated by FLOW and a really cool totally independent musical stage using a number of arts district arts organization buildings. All very supportive of this spectacular effort that I executive produced and produced. Hundreds of artists participated with booths wherein they sold their wares, on two streets in the arts district. 10 giant sculptures were placed in the lot next to SCI ARC in the giant empty lot due to the generosity of Meruelo. Thank you for that. In addition, we had a 25,000 sq ft building wherein we placed numerous artists works with sculpture paintings installations etc. All in all we had hundreds of artists help with the event. We had Mud People dancing we had Puppets from France on Stilts. We had fires, lighted scuptures and well all in all it was one of the most spectacular art events to ever take place in Los Angeles. The idea for the event was to create a world class art festival that people from all over the world would want to attend each year. This would help stabilize the artists lives and incomes and it would also bring attention from the world to our local artists. Eventually involving artists from all over the world into downtown L.A.

Nic Cha Kim fought me every step of the way on this project as did his friends. Ever since 1994 they have been dissing me. Even though my efforts can be seen as sincere and accomplished. I started the effort on the Historic Core Arts committee and ended up working with LARABA and the Arts District Leadership. There were people opposed to the event as they had concerns over traffic and other issues related to crowd control. In the end the fears were unwarrented as the event was a beautiful homage to the power of the artists downtown.

I have many images from the event if you are interested I can send you pictures.

The LA Arts Fest was shut down by the Fire Marshall due to inadequate safety preparations. The neighborhood’s concerns about it were correct. By the time the event was over Julie was widely hated downtown for being a bully. That’s why it and all her other projects are short-lived: nobody can stand to work with her.

The Fire Marshall who is now a friend of mine shut down the upper floors of the 25,000 sq ft building that I rented the first night till we got the space up to code. The space was open for a month after this night. I paid $5000.00 for it. As we did not have it set up properly. The rest of the event including the stages and everything else was never shut down. None of my projects are short lived as I have been a dealer working with artists since 1988. The only people that put out that hate vibe was you, Nic Cha Kim and his friends. Sorry but I have been working in downtown since 1988. Short lived HA! I am a passionate worker for artists. The only bully around here is you and your hate vibe.

The Fire Marshalls stated to me that the LA Art Fest was one of the most amazing things they have ever been to in their lives as fire marshalls in Los Angeles. As they said to me they have been to everything in L.A. and this event was definitely one of the highlights of their career.

……..but Julie, what about you being kicked off the DLANC Arts committee in 2004? And weren’t you booted out of Gallery Row organization? And isn’t it true that the Mexican restaurant in the back of Weenez packed up and moved because of conflicts with you?

Now this is what diversity is all about!

Bottle Rocket, Your lies are getting really confusing. I was never in the Gallery Row organization. I am not even sure what that ever was. No the Mexican Restaurant closed because of other reasons. Blaming me for peoples own inept qualities seems to be the pattern that you are trying to shove down peoples throats. If you knew the truth of all of the matters rather than listening to rumors you might get to the truth. You and your friends rumors and lies have been spewing for years. Yeah keep it up tear things down. Blow things up. Tell lies about people. Karma happens Bottlerocket, it just does!

Oh yeah, the DLANC Arts Committee. Yes I answered that question in the answer about the LA Art Fest. Please pay attention if you are going to write things. The LA Art Fest happened on a different committee with a different group. Please pay attention.

Geeeez, Julie, I was only asking a few innocent questions.

Your explosive, irrational behavior is showing clearly, however. I see that what people have been saying about you is true. How sad!

Hey Bottle Rocket,

I remember you at the art event. You freaked out because the place was shut down for one day. You ended up leaving screaming at everyone and scawling on the wall with a black spray can that this was unfair to artists or some such thing. I remember you very well. It was really sad to have to deal with you at the building. Wow! Youre still doing it.

No, Julie, I’m the one who was served a spoiled hot dog at your hot dog stand Weeneez. I reported you to the health department and you were shut down for five days. You tried to talk me out of reporting the incident, but I had a witness and the two of us took the rotten frank and turned it in at the H.D. City Office. They immediately had you lock the place up.

Yes, that was me, Julie. I sure hope you’ve cleaned up your kitchen now. The health department sure was upset.

Alas, I missed your little art event. Nic Cha Kim talked me out of going. Was that the event that was shut down by the Fire Inspector? My, you have a sordid history with the inspectors, huh, Julie!

julie rico is one of the most supportive people of the down town community i know, she fed me when i was hungry, she is concerned & active in the uplifting of the misfortanate on skid row, she is upstanding & i support julie no matter what. as a resident of skid row i trust her & always spend my money at weenez.

Email thread between Nic Cha Kim and the main Art Walk contact email, in which he gives Richard Schave exactly 11 minutes to respond to his demand for an answer about the Art Walk map, then points Gallery Row’s “Art Walk” link to a different organization’s website. He does not reply to the answer to his question when it’s provided (29 minutes). Kind of a sad exchange, but I guess that some people don’t really wish to practice the “reciprosity” they preach.

**

Subject: [General Queries] art walk map
Time: 9/10/09 3:58 PM

Nic Cha Kim sent a message using the contact form at http://www.downtownartwalk.com/contact/1.

Hi Richard,
I noticed Civic Center and Little Tokyo are referenced on the art walk map. I’m curious why Gallery Row isn’t mentioned since the art walk happens inside Gallery Row. Is it purposely left out for a reason? We’re really big on reciprosity. Gallery Row has supported the art walk from the beginning and it was always on the map until you took over. Please advise.
Nic

***

Subject: [General Queries] art walk map…
Time: 9/10/09 4:09 PM

Nic Cha Kim sent a message using the contact form at http://www.downtownartwalk.com/contact/1.

nevermind. I just found a better art walk map from Bert Green (dtlagalleries.com) where Gallery Row is appropriately mentioned. I’ll use those and point people there instead. This art walk occurs in a gallery district aptly named Gallery Row and all the gallery owners believe it’s crucial for the public to be aware of this.

I’m going to switch the art walk info off the Gallery Row website for the better DTLAgalleries.com info.

**
Subject: Re: [General Queries] art walk map…
Time: 9/10/09 4:27 PM

Hi Nic,

You are free to use any map you find useful, and link to any websites you like.

Just fyi, the Art Walk uses open source street maps that do not yet include a Gallery Row designation. You might wish to become part of the open source street mapping community and update the LA map to include Gallery Row.

Kim
Downtown LA Art Walk
http://www.downtownartwalk.com

**
(Note: there is no reply to this email)

Wow. This is an example of your “excellent” communication with the gallery community? Your answer to Nic is arrogant and ignorant of the Art Walk itself. Do you really think that just cutting Gallery Row out of the picture was the right thing to do? When it was pointed out to you, you should have apologized and immediately added it, rather than arrogantly dismissing Nic’s concern. No wonder you were fired. It’s amazing it took as long as it did.

Bottle Rocket, Weeneez was never shut down by the health Department, EVER! Your lies are incredible. I will not be talking to you any longer. You are a coward hiding behind your fake name. I do not address cowards. Nor will any longer. My mother died and I shut down for 5 days this year. So whatever you are talking about is just another giant LIE!

And it looks like Nic (or one of the other folks who care so much about having Gallery Row referenced on the map) STILL hasn’t created an Open Source Mapping account and added Gallery Row to the L.A. map for everyone to see.

Actually, by this point Nic wasn’t actually a member of the gallery community, since his space was shut down by his landlord two months earlier, but we still responded quickly and courteously, despite his evident hostility.

Nic is still in his space. You are wrong again, a casualty of your complete lack of communication with the gallery owners. If you are so concerned about Gallery Row being added to the mapping, why didn’t you just do it, and make yourself useful? Fucking arrogant tool.

Subject: Niche.LA Video Art
Date: 7/22/09 11:29 AM

Hi Richard,
Nic Cha Kim here from Niche.LA Video Art. Due to an unfortunate incident
during the last art walk when someone purposely tripped the fire alarm in
my building, my management will no longer allow me to host art openings in
my gallery space on the 4th floor.

Please remove Niche.LA Video Art from the Art Walk map since we will not
be able to open to the public on 2nd Thursdays. I will still keep the
gallery space and will continue to curate gallery shows on my free time,
but as of now, I’ve decided to take some time off from the Downtown Art
Walk.

We will always have some form of digital/video art up in the space, but we
do not have regular store hours and will operate strictly by appointment
only.

Thanks,
Nic

“she fed me when i was hungry”

Bullshit, twin skid row poet. There’s no reason to go hungry in Skid Row. You can eat seven times a day if you time it right and all meals from the missions are free. How did you manage to miss all those feedings?

If you don’t like the religion, then try Midnight Mission. Even the Catholic Workers won’t lay religion on you.

In any event, you shouldn’t be eating junk food from Julie’s hot dog stand. It contains saturated fat, high sodium, sugar and red dye. If she’s giving you that, she’s doing you no favor. You should be eating a more balanced diet from the missions instead.

……..and if you have money to spend and really want to poison yourself with a hot dog, try buying one from a cart at the corner of Los Angeles St. and Winston St. They are cheaper, cleaner and taste better.

There is a difference between being ‘shut down’ and open by appointment. Again, you demonstrate total ignorance of how galleries work.

Beware, Nic. Kim is angling to make you her next target.

Kim can’t help it, fake names. It’s her lack of focus.

First Russell Brown then Bert Green then back to Russell then Frankie from the printing company and now Nic Cha Kim.

Throw Kim in with wacky Don Noyes-More and rabid Julie Rico and you have one toxic stew.

It’s her fatal flaw, I tell you. Kim can’t focus.

Yeah, bottle, I know. It’s just too much fun to call her out on her bullshit cuz there is just so much of it.

It makes me wonder whether Kim Cooper actually has a body with a center or is all just mushy middle. She’s kind of like a blob that walks and talks and talks and talks. I mean, she must have internal organs but I just haven’t seen signs of a brain or any kind of measurable intelligence.

……..and then there’s her fatal flaw.

Oh and those tragic 30′s dresses. Maybe there is a clever-sounding drug for the tragic flaw. One that might spare her next victim from weeks of wasted efforts.

Weeneez salads are all homemade. Our chili is made here on the premises with the highest quality meats and very little sodium. The chili is the BOMB! Really delicious and for meat eaters as healthy as you can get with low fat content. Pure protein. Our hot dogs are from New Jersey from the gourmet meat company Thumanns check out their website to see that the hot dogs are nitrate free http://www.thumanns.com/ too. Our homemade fresh coleslaw, fresh homemade potato salad, fresh organic mixed green salads with homemade balsamic dressing. We make fresh grilled peppers and onions and amazing sauerkraut that is brought in all the way from New Jersey. We make fresh egg breakfasts for people every day with Milton WHOLE GRAIN bread and freshly made boiled Idaho potatoes. In addition, we have fresh brocolli and provolone cheese omelettes. We also offer various vegetarian hot dogs options. Come and visit Weeneez this week! Thank you Bottlerocket for providing all of the lies here in detail as I am finally able to address the lies that have been perpetrated by you, Mark Walsh, Schell Hagen and Nic Cha Kim and all of your friends. And well we all know who those people are. I do not hate you. I love you. Love is always the answer. It really is, it will make you feel happier to love rather than to hate. Try it for just one day! Really try it. LOVE EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE AROUND YOU! Its an amazing feeling.

Finally, the reason artists come to visit and hang out at Weeneez with me, is because I provide a respite from the outside world. The world of haters, detractors, destroyers. I encourage them offer them a snack, a thought of love and caring for them. Artists can be found at Weeneez daily because they know I love them. Its not always about money and hate. But love and making something out of nothing. Love is really the answer to everything! Love an artist today! All of my customers that come to me in love will get love back.

I don’t know anyone who can stand Julie Rico. There is never anyone at Weeneez. No matter. She will be out of business soon anyway.

Fake Names

I am glad you dont know my friends. My friends are in love and in peace and happy and send love to others too. I love you too fake names. I really do. Love Love Love in the New Year. I am sorry but you do not know anything at all about my business. Again there may be a number of rumors about my business but this is private and you will not know anything about my business ever. That is the way business goes. Oh well.

My Friend Gail Zone wanted me to post this to you all, I think Fake Names you may know this one friend of mine:

Dear Julie. I’m writing you this email, because it makes me sad when people ignore, abuse and browbeat those individuals who care about community, inspiration and issues of right vs. wrong. I’ve known you for probably 23 years now, before my kids who are now 21 and 22 were here. I knew you from your galleries and art activities in Santa Monica. I knew you when you didn’t have hot dogs but when it was strictly Art and it’s functions affording you an income. Clever girl that you are, you came downtown and provided a side income to your gallery income. When I returned to the City, frequented your Gallery and ate your food, we rekindled our friendship and began to discuss the activities in the City. We both touched on the facts, certain good ol’ boys made it very difficult for women to get their ideas as well as their contributions of thought and deed into view. Shall we say squashed, strangled and generally ignored unless we blew smoke up or down the potholes in the pavement of the Historic Core. The Artwalk team generally poo-pooed the Artwalk attendees who came down for inspiration and involvement in the City and chastised same for not buying enough Art. Art is to inspire as well as to own. Maligning the young for party going when all certain folks encourage is drinking ad shopping, is not what you did. You talk with artists and young folk. You encourage Art on the highest level possible, even though the Art might be lowbrow or less than Fine. I respect you as a Woman, A Business Person and a Nurturing Friend. It saddens me when I see and hear commercial dudes quick to judge persons who might care about people before commerce. All the people who come downtown care about the City. You being in the middle of the Historic Core and truly making it an Artistic Core by your presence is what an Art Maven does. She encourages the young chicks. I respect you for everything of any worth that comes from Artwalk and the Artistic mind. Please let me know how I can be of service to you. Sincerely, Gail Zone

P.S. Ray Zone is also ready to give you anything you need for support in your endeavors.
Reply

Forward

Gail is not available to c

“Tear things down. Blow things up. Tell lies about people. Karma happens.”–Julie Rico, 12/31/09 3:02 pm

“Love Love Love in the New Year.”–Julie Rico, 1/1/10 10:41 am

Julie, I know things have been tough for you lately and I realize that you’re under strain. Sources in your own block report that you are a couple of months behind on the lease and that you may be relocating soon to a more affordable location. That’s pressure!

Now Weeneez is closed again. It was closed Thursday and won’t open until sometime next week (if at all). Perhaps it’s a bad inspection, maybe another death in the family, maybe substance abuse….but it’s hard and I understand.

Yes, I realize why you don’t look so good. You’re pudgy, your hair is stringy and you have big bags under your eyes. It’s pressure; you’re under pressure and it’s all understandable.

So thank you for loving me in the face of all of this, Julie Rico. I love you too.

I was so happy to have a vacation this week after 4 years straight of work. Thank God! But I know who you are now and also Fake Names which I think are the same and one. I am really sorry that when you came to me at one of my galleries in Santa Monica I turned you down for a show. I am really sorry. Because your deep seated hate has not subsided in all of these 15 or more years. I guess you finally had your chance to knick my ego and you took it.

I really look good right now you should check me out on Monday when I return back to Weeneez. Check out my pictures on Facebook and see if I have bags. I do know that I need to lose weight. I used to run 10 miles a day so when you stop this is what happens. I have been putting a lot of energy into Weeneez and the Julie Rico Gallery, something had to feign to the wayside.

But lets go to your insecurity now. Why do you feel the need to lash out at people you barely know. I mean I have never worked with you. Nor have had more than a 5 minute conversation with you in my whole life. Yet you continue to lash out at me endlessly. It just goes on and on and on. You might want to go and see a doctor about this, because it is irrational. It really is. I don t know you, you dont know me. You know strange rumors about me but you dont really know me. So I really dont get why you keep going with this vehement hate. I mean nothing you have said here about me carries any weight, except for I am pudgy. So why continue? There is definitely something deeper here that is not being revealed in any of your comments. Is it just that I turned you down for a show? I remember hearing you say something to someone that I had kicked an artist out of my gallery and I never did that. But somehow the rumor started that I had done that and then all of these other rumors that the entire city of Los Angeles hates me or doesnt like me. I mean come on this is really deep, why would you go there? Its just irrational totally irrational. I would love for you to really tell me what is truly bothering you. Then perhaps I can address those issues also, to disspell any wrong information you may have somehow picked up during the years past. I am sending your a cloud of love. J

Rest assured that we are not behind on our rent. Your broad statements of non – reality are just astounding. Yet they are endless. Take a look at my facebook pictures people. Do I have bags?

Julie, I’m not an artist. I’m the type who buys art, not makes it. Did you really have a gallery in Santa Monica? Did you sell hot dogs there too?

You know, I have nothing against you just because you’re transgendered. I don’t discriminate. I’ve even defended you when people have laughed at your mannish appearance. So what if you’re trans?

I’ll be sure the check out the Facefook photo, Julie. Let’s keep this love thing going!

bottle rocket do i know you? cause you talk alot of shit, dont give me no advice on where to eat! dont make yourself my enemy either if i never gave you a reason to. i know julie & bottom line if your not attempting to make a differance for the purpose of uplifting humanity specifically downtown through whatever talent you have to bring to the table you should shut the fuck up!

Hi Everybody. Happy New Year! Not exactly a nice way to start the new decade, but whatever. For me, Downtown is a mixed bag.

To Kim Cooper: The fact you post private emails is a grave violation of trust. For the sake of spin, you neglected to include the email you wrote back to me in between my 1st and 2nd emails. The purpose of my correspondence was to request that the new Gallery Row logo be included on the Downtown Art Walk map so visitors will know they are walking in a gallery district. In your response back to me (I won’t post it), you asked I provide free tours to the public on behalf of your company in exchange for the logo to be placed on your map. Yes, I had hoped for reciprocity: free link exchange, but you wanted me to work for you for free during art walk. I simply found a better deal through Bert who added the logo on his map without asking me for anything. Our exchange took 11 minutes and I’m comfortable with making quick decisions.

Secondly, Niche.LA Video Art is not closed for business. It is only closed during art walk, but open for business by appointment only on every other day of the month. Due to the immense art walk crowd that you and Richard refused to manage, the Spring Arts Tower could no longer control the public. They forced me to close on art walk only, so in a way, my gallery Niche.LA is a casualty of your negligence. Did I complain to you? No, but thank you for your concern over my gallery business.

Lastly, Julie Rico has been slandering me online since 05 when we first met. I’m also comfortable with that. I’ve had a taste of Julie’s wrath and I don’t care to engage her in further discourse so she can write all she wants. I find her obsession with me strange. Here is a newdowntown post Julie wrote during her campaign to discredit GRO. Please note – these are not private emails, but public postings. I would never post a private email.

Post from Julie Rico about GRO.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newdowntown/message/9728

Post from Jose Luis clearing GRO of Julie’s accusations:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newdowntown/message/9792

Post from Eric Richardson clearing GRO of Julie’s accusations:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newdowntown/message/9749

Post from Kjell Hagen
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newdowntown/message/9811

I have better things to do today, but wanted to get some cleaning done. Have fun y’all!
Nic Cha Kim

Are you threatening me, twin skid row poet? Dude, you’ve been in the Row too long. You’re talking like a street rat.

You said you were hungry so I told you where to eat. But why the fuck are you hungry anyway? What are you doing all day to miss all those free feedings?

Just take my advice, twin, and head to Los Angeles and Winston. Trust me: you can get more nutrition out of a $20 half pak than you can from Julie’s garbage.

Say hi to Little Momma for me, dude. I know you know her.

I figure this thread will be shut down anytime now since it’s companion thread was already closed.

Let me just say that mission was accomplished. Kim’s little scheme to use the Grinch award to go after Russ Brown and Art Walk was effectively deflected. She was taken to task along with her supporters nut case Don Noyes-More (who ran away whimpering) and loca Julie Rico (rotten hot dog queen).

Thanks, fake names, for the help. I’ll see you at Jalisco Inn.

……and me? Hey, I’m just an anonymous screen name. Fuck me! Later dudes.

Well, bottle, I guess that the forces for evil in our fair downtown must realize that the community is bigger stronger than they are. Poor Kim, Don & Julie. But I know that we have not seen the last of them. Don and Kim are trying desperately to spin on their twitter accounts (dtlal and kimcooper). Lots of libel there too. If I were one of their targets I’d sue.

thats what i thought, i dont know you, your sarcastic advice about free food only proves how long “you” been on skid row, your anonymous because your a “coward” “bottle rocket” but i give credit where credit is do & you “do” have a way with words too bad your not using the talent you have to create dialouge.

Hi Everybody. Happy New Year! I’m a first time reader of Metblogs and just learned of this thread. Not exactly a nice way to start the new decade, but whatever.

To Kim Cooper: The fact you post private emails is a grave violation of trust. For the sake of spin, you also neglected to include the email you wrote back to me in between my 1st and 2nd emails. The purpose of my correspondence was to request that the new Gallery Row logo be included on the Downtown Art Walk map so visitors will know they are walking in a gallery district. In your response back to me (I won’t post it), you asked I provide free tours to the public on behalf of your company in exchange for the logo to be placed on your map. Yes, I had hoped for reciprocity: free link exchange, but you wanted me to work for you for free during art walk. I simply found a better deal through Bert who added the logo on his map without asking me for anything.

Secondly, Niche.LA Video Art is not closed for business. It is only closed during art walk, but open for business any other day by appointment only. Due to the immense art walk crowd, the Spring Arts Tower could no longer control the public. There were issues with trash and rowdy crowds, so they forced me to close on art walk only. In a way, my gallery Niche.LA is a casualty of your negligence. Did I complain? No, but thank you for your concern over my gallery business.

Lastly, Julie Rico has been slandering me online since 05 when we first met. I’m also comfortable with that. I’ve had a taste of Julie’s wrath and I don’t care to engage her in further discourse so she can write all she wants while this post will be the last you hear of me on this subject. I find her obsession with me strange and mildly flattering. Here is a newdowntown post Julie wrote during her campaign to discredit GRO. Please note – these are not private emails, but public postings. If anybody cares to read all the way through and I suggest you don’t, it’s obvious why I’m not bothered by her anymore.

Post from Julie Rico about GRO.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newdowntown/message/9728

Post from Jose Luis clearing GRO of Julie’s accusations:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newdowntown/message/9792

Post from Eric Richardson clearing me of Julie’s accusations:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newdowntown/message/9749

Post from Kjell Hagen that basically sums up how I feel about all of this:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newdowntown/message/9821

I have better things to do today, but wanted to get some cleaning done. Have fun y’all!
Nic Cha Kim

This was sent to my by a third party, who told me that Nic Kim has been blocked from posting to this thread (Kim’s influence, perhaps?) so I am posting it as a courtesy:

Hi Everybody. Happy New Year! I’m a first time reader of Metblogs and just learned of this thread. Not exactly a nice way to start the new decade, but whatever.

To Kim Cooper: The fact you post private emails is a grave violation of trust. For the sake of spin, you also neglected to include the email you wrote back to me in between my 1st and 2nd emails. The purpose of my correspondence was to request that the new Gallery Row logo be included on the Downtown Art Walk map so visitors will know they are walking in a gallery district. In your response back to me (I won’t post it), you asked I provide free tours to the public on behalf of your company in exchange for the logo to be placed on your map. Yes, I had hoped for reciprocity: free link exchange, but you wanted me to work for you for free during art walk. I simply found a better deal through Bert who added the logo on his map without asking me for anything.

Secondly, Niche.LA Video Art is not closed for business. It is only closed during art walk, but open for business any other day by appointment only. Due to the immense art walk crowd, the Spring Arts Tower could no longer control the public. There were issues with trash and rowdy crowds, so they forced me to close on art walk only. In a way, my gallery Niche.LA is a casualty of your negligence. Did I complain? No, but thank you for your concern over my gallery business.

Lastly, Julie Rico has been slandering me online since 05 when we first met. I’m also comfortable with that. I’ve had a taste of Julie’s wrath and I don’t care to engage her in further discourse so she can write all she wants while this post will be the last you hear of me on this subject. I find her obsession with me strange and mildly flattering.

I have better things to do today, but wanted to get some cleaning done. Have fun y’all!
Nic Cha Kim

Have your crosstalk somewhere else. Do I have to shut these comments down too? Clearly you all have disagreements, but I can’t imagine this is in any way a fruitful place for that to take place. In fact, disagreements should never be conducted via comments or email. Everyone knows they’re way too conducive to flame wars.

Cut it out.

…and no one has been blocked from posting to any threads. I have assiduously refused to take sides in this and implying that we would have blocked one specific person is fucking disgusting. Pick up your toys and go home. Jesus H. Christ.

Wow, remind me never to move to downtown.

Spencer,

Not everyone downtown cares about all this crap. It’s a great place to live, work and play. Not to mention several of those involved in the cat fight don’t even live downtown.

I have to apologize. Two comments from Nic Cha Kim and one from “fakenames” were caught by our spam filters, ostensibly because they had a lot of URL links in them. They are basically all copies of the same original comment by Nic.

I am approving one of the duplicate comments and closing all comments on this post.