Future dog houses on Santa Monica beach?

Will Santa Monica’s sand castles turn into dog houses? Will dogs kick sand in the faces of 98-pound weaklings on Santa Monica’s beaches? Or will the dogs end up in the pound? Those are some of the questions Santa Monica residents may be asking, after the Santa Monica City Council voted yesterday to come up with a pilot program for designating a dog beach, and to present the program to state officials in Sacramento.

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Photographer “discarted” whom I have at least heard of, had a really unfortunate run in with an L.A County Sheriff on the Red Line. Watch the video and try to hold your lunch down. The Sheriff quickly jumps from civility to hostility and accuses the photographer of being a terrorist and stops short accuses him of being an Al Qaeda operative out to blow up the L.A. Subway system.  Next thing we know the dude is cuffed and carted away.  For taking pictures.

Devils advocate for a moment.  When I’ve been asked what I’m doing with a camera I explain its personal use, artistic use and am usually left alone.  Maybe if he answered the same this would not have escalated the way it had?  Regardless of what he could have done differently CrimeScene blog reports the ACLU is involved and suing L.A. County Sheriff over this.

The core of “discarteds” innocence lies in the “Photographers Bill of Rights“.  I carry a copy in my camera bag just in case.

Image by WatchCaddy via a creative commons licence on flickr.

I was catching up on my blog reading and spotted this bit on Truth About Cars.  The maximum fine for driving and using a cell phone is increasing to a maximum of $528.  Bicyclists are being included for the first time as well though their fines are only a maximum of $50.  I think they should be on parity with each other but what the heck at least the disparity is being addressed now.

Link to the senate proposal HERE in pdf format.  Pages 2 and 3 are where the good stuff concerning the changes to the cell phone and driving proposals can be found.

I for one am glad to see some stiffer penalites coming for using the phone while driving.  What say you?

Some of the RVs and campers along 3rd Avenue in Venice

Consider this a parting shot from homeless advocates who have lost the latest battle in the long-running Venice parking war: the National Coalition for the Homeless has named Venice’s “oversize” vehicle nighttime parking restriction one of The 10 Most Ridiculous Anti-Homeless Laws in America.

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Blah, blah, blah...

Since finally discovering the serenitude of the Los Angeles River’s east bank south of Fletcher Drive last month, practically every time I’ve biked it since I’ve marveled at the chuckleworthy overwrought signage in the center of the pic at right (readably biggifiable when clicked), that smacks of having been crafted and finalized by a thinktank of city-contracted attorneys sequestered in a windowless sub-basement chamber deep below City Hall who felt that the discouragement of hanging out along the river with intent to hang out some more required much, much more than just a NO LOITERING sign.

Seriously: “kinder a fire?” And after that, what’s with the nonsensical “wash and cloth or bedding…”

I’m fascinated by the conceit that any transient would bother to read the entire screed, much less move on in abject law-abiding obedience.

Of course,  what would double the hoot would be if the entirely and appropriately to-the-point “NO DOGS OFF LEASH” sign to its right were similarly over-worded, like so:

LAMC SEC. 53.06.2 DOGS – RIVER BED:   No person shall, stand, sit, walk, lollygag, hustle, hop, skip, jump, amble, meander, flit, run, jog, trot, sprint, traverse, canter, drag, tumble, gallop, haul, boogie, truck, prance, tip-toe, or otherwise move forward, backward, sideways, or at any angle and at any speed, with a canine (heretofore referred to as “dog”) of any size, height, width, age, color, sex, pure or mixed breed, disposition and demeanor, without a leash attached to the dog and held securely by the aforementioned person while traversing the official bed of the Los Angeles River.

Yahoo…it may happen and it won’t be a minute too soon in my book.  A commission has looked at the red light cameras as decided they cost more than they get in revenue and too many drivers are getting nailed with tickets even while making a legal right on red turn.  According to the report they could go away as early as this weekend if the city council approves…call your councilman and give them the nudge.  OF course we still have to hear from the camera owners who reap in the bulk of the money from these cameras who probably won’t be too happy to see them go away.  It will be interesting to see what they do to coerce convince the council to keep them in operation.

Hat tip to KTLA for greeting me with this wonderful news when I turned on the tube for news this morning.  Their news bit HERE.

The handmade sign on the front door of mobster James “Whitey” Bulger‘s former home on 3rd Street in Santa Monica reads: “Go Away. People Live Here”. That’s the message I’d like to send to mobsters in Los Angeles and across the country. But they seem to keep popping up near where I live, or vice versa.
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Not only is this MINI parked in the handicap spot closest to the entrance of B&B Hardware in Culver City with no visible handicap parking tag, it also has the license plate “FIT2FIT”. Irony alert, or just coincidence?

Former Chief William J Bratton speaks up on the events from his perspective regarding the May Day incident in Macarthur Park.  I must have missed the news that day, but what happened?  I’d love to see a video if anyone has to share.

Don’t you love all the local PD and FD jumping in on the Social Media bandwagon to keep us informed and engaged?

Alrighty then this semi-funny PSA would have been a lot funnier if these guys camped it up a bit more in the vein of the Village People.  Maybe even break into song to make it a bit funnier.  This video won’t embed so watch it HERE.

The message is a good one, Crimestoppers allow you to report information on crimes anywhere in metro LA anonymously if you so desire.   Maybe this might be a way for those thugs that hammered so badly on Brian Stow, the Giants Fan who is still in a coma weeks after the fact to be caught.

Hat tip to my friends on the Arcadia PD who twatted this out a bit ago.

Remember all those sophisticated tunnels discovered under the border with Mexico? Just good old fashioned drug cartel shenanigans. Right?

Well… Apparently, some unfriendly militants have been setting up shop just 136 miles South of Los Angeles, in Tijuana.

Meet Hezbollah, “recognized by many experts as the “A” team of Muslim terrorist organizations.”

The group is blending into Shi’a Muslim communities in Mexico, including Tijuana. Other pockets along the U.S.-Mexico border region remain largely unidentified as U.S. intelligence agencies are focused on the drug trade.

Happy Cinco de Mayo.

In January the city council told the LA Police Commission to report back on the effectiveness of red light cameras and what to do about them.  Its been reported that the commission voted 3-2 in favor of keeping them.  FULL REPORT HERE.

They did this even noting that 75% of the tickets were for rights on red, they claimed they were rolling rights on red, that don’t come into play with the fatal intersection T-boners that they claim they want to reduce.  The report does show that the awareness factor coupled with the cameras has reduced those kinds of intersection accidents with a commensurate reduction in fatalities.  Hard to argue the results stats, but I still question the right on red tickets.  I’d argue the drop in fatalities is due to stronger safety standards on cars.

What say you on the continuation?  I hate the damn things myself, if I screw up I prefer to get the ticket in person not anonymously in the mail long after the fact where I never knew it happened or could even argue that it had.

(This image used under the Creative Commons Share-Alike License, by Joe Ravi, under a license CC-BY-SA 3.0.)

If you visit Venice and are very observant, you might notice a subtle difference. Things might seem a bit more opened up. You may see more sky. If so, that’s not likely a result of breathing in the pot smoke on Venice Beach. Rather, it may be because Venice homeowners have finally taken action in their long-running battle to restrict recreational vehicles from permanently camping on their streets.  Specifically, in recent months, some Venice streets, such as 3rd Avenue pictured here, now have signs posted which prohibit vehicles over 7 feet high or over 22 feet long from parking between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.

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Dodger Stadium From Praveen31's Flickr Stream

In a swift response to the March 31st beating of Giants fan Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium, LAPD chief Charlie Beck has announced that a zero-tolerance policy will go into effect immediately. Starting with the next game. For reals this time.

In the short term, there will be more police officers – paid for by the Dodgers. In the long-term, they plan to “look at technology, observation posts, lighting, environmental studies and increased community outreach.”

Microchips? Armed guards on a wall? I particularly enjoy the “environmental studies.” Can you imagine: After further review, Chavez Ravine is not an appropriate location for a sports venue. Sorry about evicting all the people that lived there.

The entire announcement is best summed up in the ESPN comment thread by Stark10547:

Since moving back to LA a month I’ve been trying to find cool local resources I didn’t know about and this is definitely one of them.

The purpose of Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers is to prevent and reduce crime, by forming a partnership among the community, law enforcement and the media to offer anonymity and cash rewards to anyone providing information leading to an arrest, thereby making the community a safer place for all who live or work in the region.

It’s a pretty cool approach to tipping off the Po-Po. You can either call or send in a web tip and they give you a code to use to keep the communication open but without giving your details so you can remain anonymous. If you’re tipping on a crime that has a reward attached you can make up to a cool $1k. So if you’re an armchair detective you can finally monetize all those hours of Murder, She Wrote re-runs you’ve been watching. Check them out.

http://lacrimestoppers.org/