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.

I disagree that the Venice overnight (actually, just four hours) parking restriction for RVs and other “oversize” vehicles is either “ridiculous” or “anti-homeless”. In addition to the RV waste dumping issue mentioned by the Coalition, it’s not unreasonable for Venice homeowners and business owners, who pay local taxes, to have some relief from being blocked by RVs permanently camped on Venice streets. Likewise, Venice  visitors should be able to compete for parking spaces.

Moreover, this isn’t just a case of heartless homeowners. The Venice parking restrictions are accompanied by a program pushed by Los Angeles City Council Member Bill Rosendahl to provide safe off-street parking for the RVs that are required to move during the night. And finally, like it or not, parking one’s vehicle on an L.A. street for 72 or more consecutive hours, regardless of the vehicle’s size, is already illegal under Sec. 80.73.2 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code.

So is the Venice vehicle parking restriction a perfect solution? Of course not. Should more be done to assist homeless people who may be forced to live in their vehicles because they have no alternative to protect them from the elements? Definitely, and I’ll bet many Venice homeowners and business owners would agree.

And once again, I expect that we’ll hear more than this parting shot from the car campers’ side in the ongoing Venice parking war.

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.

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.

DMV Special Notice about sending registration renewal notices at the last minute

I checked mine randomly the other day, and saw that it was about to expire. I hadn’t received a notice from the DMV. I called them and they said (very nice and helpful on the phone, by the way) that they had just mailed me a renewal notice. I received it two days before the expiration date. Then I had to scramble to get the renewal done, and when I tried to do so online, the DMV servers weren’t working for quite a few hours.

On top of that, the renewal form and enclosed separate “Special Notice” (see above) seem to disagree about the consequences of late registration. The renewal form has a “Late Payment” box which indicates that renewing even a day late results in penalties in the form of higher fees, and these get higher the later it gets. However, the Special Notice indicates that, due to recent legislation, for renewal fees due on or after July 1, 2011, DMV will no longer send 60-day advance notification of renewals, but rather, will establish a “30-day grace period before penalties are due.” I have read through these materials several times and still can’t figure out what the bottom line is if you pay late. Even if the Special Notice trumps the renewal form, I think the procedural change is going to cause some people a bit of nervousness.

For example, this is summertime, and plenty of people are on vacation, and thus might not get their vehicle registration renewal notices until after their registration expiration date. So again, I recommend checking the date on your registration. If it’s set to expire soon, you can go to dmv.ca.gov, and you should be able to navigate through the renewal and payment process online even if you have not yet received your notice in the mail.

UPDATE 7/11/11: According to the Fresno Bee, this whole procedural change is the result of a legislative proposal, Senate Bill 94, to help close California’s budget deficit by extending the 2009 increase in vehicle fees. Ostensibly to avoid having the wrong fee amount listed on our renewal forms, the bill “halt[s] DMV renewals for vehicle registrants until lawmakers reach a budget deal or the fiscal year ends on July 1. The DMV also would be unable to accept payment on renewals with due dates beyond June.” Governor Brown signed SB 94 in early May.

On June 30, the DMV put out this notice advising motorists not to renew their registrations until they receive a notice from DMV. I think that state officials could have publicized that a bit more at the time, don’t you? Also on June 30, Governor Brown signed a new budget into law. The budget does not extend the 2009 vehicle tax increase, but it does contain a modest vehicle registration fee increase ($12, I believe).

In any event, my attitude is unchanged: since I discovered my upcoming registration expiration date and was able to renew it before that date, there was no chance that I was going to wait until the date slipped, and then hope that the politicians and the police still would be on board with that after the fact.

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.

Bulger’s apartment in the Princess Eugenia building (3 blocks from palisades overlooking the beach and rent-controlled at $ 1,145 per month) was in the same neighborhood as a family member of mine. I walk her dogs in that neighborhood every week. For all I know, the dogs have sniffed Whitey Bulger’s legs. I walked by the Princess Eugenia with the dogs again yesterday, and a bunch of people were milling about in front, including one man with two copies of “Hitman”, a just-released book about Bulger’s Boston crew (conspiracy theorists, are you listening?) that he had purchased down the street at Barnes and Noble on the Third Street Promenade.

Back in the late 80s, I lived in Boston, where I first heard about Whitey Bulger. I remember thinking, only in Boston could the (allegedly) most notorious, most vicious mobster have a brother who was a very prominent local politician, a state Senator and then president of the  Massachusetts Senate.

Before Boston, I grew up in the New York City suburbs, where I knew some (allegedly) “connected” guys and their wives, sons, and daughters. Contrary to the stereotypes and the portrayals in movies and on tv, including Jack Nicholson‘s psycopathic Bulger-based Frank Costello in the above clip from “The Departed” (warning: NSFW language), these folks weren’t necessarily doing violence. Often, if you read the indictments, they operated like the OPEC cartel, allegedly controlling particular industries or unions, fixing prices, doling out contracts, and skimming profits.

But even if you are not a direct victim of Whitey Bulger (allegedly) or other mobsters, they’re not exactly harmless entertainment. In many cases, their activities cause prices of goods and services, such as building construction, to be higher than they would be in the free market. In New York, it is called the “Mafia Tax”. And, needless to say, these folks don’t pay too many taxes on their ill-gotten gains. “This ain’t reality tv”, indeed. Only now there is a reality tv show called “Mob Wives”, but I’m not watching.

Instead, I’m glad Whitey Bulger was apprehended and sent back to Boston, and I would be happy if the rest of the mobsters would just go away. Because people live here.

Yellow HOV sticker

The party is over in the HOV (Carpool lanes) 7/1/11 for those using the yellow HOV sticker and riding single.  This blogger for one is glad to see it come to an end and move them to the regular lanes where us that have a full car don’t have to be stuck behind them while they putz along hypermiling in the carpool lane.  There is a movement afoot to try and extend it, but according to this DMV press release the party is over.

Repeated molestation of a minor by husband/wife – Bail set at $150,000
Baby left in 115-degree car returned to mother – $100,000
Men accused of raping female student – $50,000
Machete-wielding man, 19, arrested near South Coast Plaza – $25,000

But somehow failing to repay damages for spray painting on a wall justifies $320K. Yeah. Nice even hand there.

This of course is on the heels of the MoCA Art In The Streets exhibition which has drawn serious battle lines between those who feel this is a collection of noteworthy and talented artists finally getting the attention they deserve and those who think it’s merely encouraging vandalism in the city. Some are even speculating that the LASD and LAPD have stepped up enforcement of graffiti related offenses in rection to the exhibition.