32% of all collisions in Los Angeles are hit and run, and the penalties for getting caught really don’t discourage this. Recently Celine Mahdavi, the women who clobbered Louis Deliz into 49 days of hospitalization and likely a lifetime a pain and suffering, then fled the scene, was given no jail time, no suspension of license, only 90 days of community service. This is insane. If you you someone with your car and then drive away leaving them for dead, at the very least your license should be pulled. The folks over at Bikeside are initiating the “Life Before License” campaign to fix the law and put some value back on human life. They are proposing the following:

-A hit and run which results in fatality will result in the loss of driving privileges for 10 years.
-A hit and run which results in permanent disability, or causes a life threatening injury will result in the loss of driving privileges for 5 years.
-A hit and run which results in injury, but which does not lead to permanent disability or a life threatening injury, will result in the loss of driving privileges for 2 years.
-A hit and run which results in the damage of property only will result in the loss of driving privileges for 1 year.

But more than just proposing, they are actually trying to make this happen. On Sunday, 10/17, at the Hollywood Adventist Church at 1711 N. Van Ness Ave from 1pm to 3pm there will be an organizational meeting to plan and assign next steps. This is important and it’s worth your attention.

Here’s the tweet, short and sweet.  If you use a cell for calling or texting while driving you will get a ticket like you were warned the other day.

I got it in a couple of  tweets from the CHP.  A multi-agency task force is set to enforce the hands free cell and texting ban on October 5.  All day event  and the tickets aren’t cheap.  They refute the urban legend that the tickets are only $20, they are actually $139 plus court costs which will push you near the $200 mark.   You’ve been warned, the largely unenforced ban will be enforced on Tuesday

Yes, it’s stupidly short notice, but if you’re available and so inclined, how about heading over to the Community Meeting on Medical Marijuana Dispensary Regulations and Enforcement?

It’s TODAY – Tuesday, September 14

6:30 – 7:30pm

Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock

2225 Colorado Blvd.

Los Angeles CA 90041

Sorry, no fancy pictures or links (beyond this kinda crummy one) for you – but your support is critical and I’m just seeing this.

You remember that pesky proposition that took away the right for gay and lesbian couples to marry?  Well the courts are about to release their decision on the first of many challenges.  Judge Vaughn Walker is going to be handing down his verdict on whether or not Prop. 8 is legal.  His decision is expected to be revealed sometime this morning.  Rallies are planned around the state and country regardless of the outcome.  I ask that it be a common sense verdict with the rights restored, but realize this verdict is just one step in the legal process with appeals surely to be filed.

I get a kick out of doing my Constitutional duty, including voting and yes, even filling out my Census form.  It makes me feel part of that nutty experiment called the United States of America, rather than just some guy who lives near Los Angeles, California.  So it was ironic that, this year, I never even received my Census form.

It kind of slipped my mind that I didn’t receive the form.  I thought, maybe not everyone gets one.  Today, however, I received the pictured “Notice of Visit” in my door, with the name and telephone number of the Census worker who left it, asking me to call her this evening.  I checked around, and, apparently, no one else in my building complex received their Census form either.  It’s not clear whether the mix-up occurred with the Census Bureau, the Post Office, or, as I believe, our building’s front office.  So I did a quick search online, and found that anyone who has not received a Census form can call the Census Bureau through July 31 to answer the form’s 10 questions over the phone.

I did just that today.  It’s a quick and painless process.  You call 1-866-872-6868, ignore the voicemail hell, say “representative,” and you’ll quickly get a live human who, unlike a corporation’s customer service representative, is located in the U.S.  It only takes about two minutes to complete the survey (you can find the 10 questions here).

The advantage to responding to the Census form, other than that Census-taking is something our Founding Fathers thought was important enough to write into the Constitution, is that doing so helps ensure that we in California receive the maximum Congressional representation and federal dollars (i.e., our taxpayer money) to which we are entitled.  Do I have any illusions that many others in the Los Angeles area will be as eager and proactive as I was in filling out their Census forms?  Hell no.  But I guess that kind of range of response is part of what makes us ‘merkins.

Venice homeowners who want to restrict overnight parking to stop long-term RV camping on their streets must feel like Charlie Brown after Lucy pulls the football away at the last second, again.  In the long-running battle to establish “overnight parking districts” (OPDs) which would restrict parking to permit holders between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. in several zones in Venice, the Venice homeowners thought they had a solution in their grasp.  In May, they reached a tentative settlement with the California Coastal Commission in which they would withdraw their lawsuit against the Coastal Commission for denying their OPD request in return for the eventual right to establish OPDs after a six-month period in which the City of Los Angeles would permit “oversized vehicle” restrictions in Venice to see if they solved the problem without resorting to OPDs.  But, like Lucy, the Coastal Commission then pulled the football away, backing out of the deal.

Advocates for the homeless are chalking up a victory.  They maintained that the OPDs targeted them, and cut off their access to the beach.  The Coastal Commission agreed, albeit pointing to no real evidence to back up such a charge.  Given that the Venice proposal included relocation of the vehicles to nearby spots, some of which were considerably closer to the beach, during the wee hours of the morning, I am still scratching my head over that one.

The Venice homeowners now have to start over again.  However, they have one head start: last month, the City Council voted to let them restrict “oversized” vehicles (over 7 feet tall or over 22 feet long) from parking overnight.  If such restrictions are enforced, this might solve the issue as to a good number of cases.  But then, given the history of failures in the effort to establish OPDs, I wouldn’t be surprised if the effort to restrict oversized vehicles in Venice hits a roadblock as well.

Back when I lived in Philadelphia, my home was near a Pathmark supermarket that was in turn right across the street from a low-income housing project. I hated shopping there, because the prices were so ridiculously high — almost as though Pathmark knew that, right across Frankford Avenue, was a fairly captive audience of poor people without cars. The principle of the thing bugged me enough without having to pay three bucks for a half gallon of non-organic milk (this was in the early 90s) because I was in a hurry.

The LA City Attorney’s office isn’t accusing Ralph’s of price gouging per se, but the supermarket chain is on the business end of an overcharging accusation, charged by the city attorney with dozens of criminal counts of overcharging on things like salads and fish. I do a lot of shopping at Ralph’s, because I live within walking distance of one, but it’s not without its problems. For instance: My Ralph’s only ever has two checkout lanes open at any given time, which often forces me to use the self-checkout devices, which keep alerting the Ralph’s staff that I might be trying to steal something. But overcharging? Not really in my experience.

What about you? Are you surprised by the allegations? Do you suspect that your supermarket might be putting a bloated corporate thumb on the scale? Are you one of those sanctimonious types who tut-tuts at those of us who shop at the big-box stores? Or do you refuse to eat anything that isn’t partially hydrogenated and flash-frozen? Satisfy my curiosity, readers.

This Saturday, May 8, is the 2nd annual city-wide gun buyback program.

Go to one of the five drop off locations with any type of weapon you want to get rid of and you may receive up to $100 in gift cards for hand guns and up to $200 for assault weapons (as specified in the State of California). You can choose a Ralph’s gift card or a pre-paid Visa card.

It’s all anonymous and there will be no questions asked.

Last year the LAPD collected over 1700 firearms, including a grenade launcher. (Seriously!) Read the full press release from the Mayor’s Office here.

The five buyback locations are open from 10am to 3pm:

EAST LOS ANGELES – Hollenbeck Area
Legacy LA
1350 N. San Pablo Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015

SOUTH LOS ANGELES – Harbor Area
Park & Ride Parking Lot
1300 West Pacific Coast Highway
Wilmington, CA 90744

SOUTH LOS ANGELES – 77th Area
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
7900 South Western Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90047

WEST LOS ANGELES – Hollywood Area
Farm Fresh Ranch Grocery Store
5520 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA  90028

VALLEY – Mission Area
Facey Medical Center Parking Lot
11165 Sepulveda Boulevard
Mission Hills, CA 91345

Okay.  I give.  What’s up with the Mayor, the City Council, the DA and the City Attorney?  Why are they staring at a cash cow in the face and shooing it away?

These are the people we elect who are supposed to be logical and run the city of Los Angeles so it works. I know it’s a really hard job, and I know they are doing they’re best.  Seriously.  I really am grateful that there are people who take these incredibly difficult, thankless jobs on.  Most humans don’t want to deal.  So I’m grateful that they are trying.

But, we’re in a major budget crisis.  So much so, that the mayor proposed last month that we shut down city offices a couple of days a week. School budgets are being flattened, police forces minimized and at last count, the deficit was running at a mere 500 million a year. That’s over a million a day. The state deficit is around 24 billion. Not great prospects for a stable future in this city or state.
That’s a lot of money to be losing. So why are they approving laws, ordinances that will cost the city millions upon millions in lawsuits, enforcement and waste the time of everyone?

Now enter the potential cash cow. A big one. Approximately 590 Marijuana Medical Collectives that are operating smoothly in the city. That’s a lot of potential tax flow.  Mayor Villaragosa and the City Council, instead of considering this new potential tax base to raise a LOT money for the city, have enacted a new ordinance that shuts these serviceable, successful collectives down. Collectives that the people of this city clearly want, support and have lobbied for. There is a need being filled, and the people are happy.  Doesn’t what the people of this city vote for, and more importantly, what they want, matter?

Do the math: Hundreds of millions of dollars they could potentially raise, (say tax each medicine exchange at a dollar), thousands of jobs lost, hundreds of landlords losing tenants and hundreds of thousands of patients who can’t get their medicine easily. No one wins. What am I missing here? Read the rest of this entry →

I don’t spend much time in Arizona. I think I have, like, three friends there, which admittedly is more than I have in most states that don’t hug one of the coasts. And overall there’s not much I like to do there. There’s great hiking, of course, and surprisingly good hummus at a restaurant in Flagstaff whose name I can’t recall. But given the current state of Arizona politics, I don’t have a problem getting my outdoor activities and Middle Eastern cuisine locally.

Your situation, of course, may differ. Maybe you have family in The Copper State; maybe you do business there; maybe you have a weekend cabin near Oak Creek Canyon. I don’t know. But you probably already know that, in the midst of the new anti-immigration law recently passed there, traveling through Arizona just got a heck of a lot more interesting. As residents of a border state, Californians have a lot to be concerned about.

Read the rest of this entry →

I know times are tough and sold ad space is sold ad space, but did you really have to run the Stihl ad on page 16 of the front section of today’s paper? You know, the one partially pictured at right that among a whole passel of fossil-fueled devices features a certifiably badass leafblowing dude sporting the latest in righteous gas-powered leafblower technology beneath the headline “This Spring I Want Something Lightweight” (and to which I answer “Try a fucking rake, blowhard.”).

The reason I ask isn’t because of anything wrong with Stihl, just the primary subject matter of this specific ad because for the last 12 years or so there’s apparently been something you folks there in your downtown bunker might not have heard about known as a citywide ban on gas-powered leafblower use or more officially “Los Angeles City Municipal Code 112.04(c),” which nutshelled says: “Gas powered blowers cannot be used within 500 feet of a residence at anytime.”

See the problems with the devices are myriad: they make a whole mess of noise pollution, and while making all that noise they’re also creating a bunch of air pollutions what with the harmful emissions they shit and all the particulate matter they push off the ground and into the air. Overall it’s a lose/lose but it appears a lack of prevailing wisdom on the subject (or maybe you knew and just don’t give a crap) allowed you to shill for Stihl, and having done so you gotta know that a whole bunch of yard-warrior homeowners are gonna go grab them some of that anti-green goodness and start using it on any given Saturday or Sunday morning, probably around 10 a.m. Hopefully they’ll all live next door to wherever you all get up in the morning.

You see where I’m going with this? Yeah: NOT a very conscientious, connected decision there, guys. Not by a longshot. In fact if there was a Lame Hall Of Fame, I’d nominate you for the Way Out Of Touch category. So in an effort to help you help yourselves and your paper from looking so idiotic in the future, after the jump I’ve put together a quick list of other things your ad sales department might want to just say no to, no matter how much money that four-color half-pager might bring in. It’s far from complete and some of the subjects you’re probably familiar with, but it should give you a place of responsibility and integrity from which to start:

Read the rest of this entry →

Venice has always had a history of being the shady part of the west side. This isn’t news to anyone who lives there and honestly it’s that grit that attracted many of them there in the first place. But there’s a difference between a neighborhood that is a little rougher around the edges and one where you don’t feel safe in your own home. Due to an extremely cut back police force covering the area and a growing homeless population, increasingly, the latter is exactly how Venice residents are describing the situation.

You may think I’m over hyping things but if anything I’m playing them down. For four weeks now residents have been organizing a letter writing campaign where they are literally begging the Mayor, Councilman Rosendhal and many at the LAPD to please protect them. On Friday local site Yo Venice posted an open letter from a resident named Steve who was threatened by a homeless man at his own house:

…This man was trying to sleep behind our gate at our front door. I heard him trying to no open our front door to get inside our home. I was holding my baby. I confronted him to get off my properly and he then threatened to kill me… looked at my baby and told me he would kill her too. He claimed that the house was his. He took a swing at me as I stepped back away from my properly. He kicked our gate over and over as hard as he could…

Steve called 911 and after 45 minutes the police eventually showed up – which is actually an improvement. You might recall Tara posted on Metblogs in December about coming home and finding a homeless person blocking her entrance to her house. Her call to the police for help resulted in no officers ever coming by – even though this was only a few weeks after a Venice resident, pregnant with twins, was raped and murdered in her own home by a transient who just happened to pick her out.

With no one to protect them and a situation that is seemingly getting worse, if the LAPD and local politicians don’t do something to help soon they shouldn’t act surprised when residents are forced to take protecting their own and their family’s safety into their own hands. This situation can only get worse or better, which is it going to be?

On occasion I’ve been known to vigorously rip down unauthorized signage because I’m one of those assholes who takes issue with those assholes who don’t give a shit about illegally blighting our fair city for their own selfish gain.

The law that such basterds fail to observe is Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 28.04, which states as follows: “You cannot be a dick and put a sign up on anything that’s public or utility property, not simply because it’s lame but also because you’re then going to irresponsibly leave that stupid sign there to decay until it becomes someone else’s problem; and seriously no one went to your garage sale anyway much less one that happened two months ago.”

Well aware of that legality, the discovery this morning of the sign, pictured above, found at the median between Highland Avenue and 4th Street was at first modestly disappointing and then semi-rich in irony in that whoever installed this “Need Repairs?” placard did so by damaging its victim tree with a series of screws sunk into its trunk — and all done purposefully high enough to prevent anyone less than 7-feet tall and/or without a ladder handy from removing it. To add their ignorance to the tree’s insult and injury, these aren’t just any arbors. This and every one of the 82-year-old palms that line the center of Highland between Wilshire and Melrose are collectively known as something that goes a little like this: Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Landmark No. 94.

So I called the number on the sign to ask the 818-based handyperson what was up with the double fail, but all I got was an outgoing message that told me I’d reached a guy named Jake and to leave a message. And since he couldn’t tell me to fuck off directly, I assumed him to be an otherwise fine and decent fellow just trying to make a buck in these hard times. With that in mind, after the beep I politely encouraged him to take that trip back over Cahuenga Pass at his earliest convenience to make repairs, so to speak, and take down that sign and any others he may have hung in the vicinity lest some far less tolerant and more angry Hancock Parkians start calling him and/or the office of our sign-hating city attorney.

Just in case he chooses to ignore my suggestion, I’ve put in a request to the Bureau of Street Services, too. Wonder who’ll get there first?

Even people who don’t smoke the pot at all, like myself, know that the current state of semi-legality of dispenseries is a über clusterfuck here in Los Angeles. Reason.tv produced this short documentary about the mess which is worth watching. (via BoingBoing)