In what has to be a first, new LAPD Chief Charlie Back not only listened to a group of cyclists at a transportation committee meeting last night, but agreed with them and promised to better train the officers on the force to help protect cyclists, who he referred to as “our most vulnerable commuters.”

I can’t be the only one completely shocked by this. The LAPD has a long standing history of not only failing to protect but going as far as outright harassing cyclists in this city. As shown in the photo above, last year LAPD officers frequently detained and cited cyclists even after Chief Bratton specifically issued a moratorium on such activities. More recently it’s become clear just how often cyclists are involved with hit and runs in LA and the little follow up work that is done by police. The fact is most officers simply do not know the laws concerning cyclists, and until now had no reason to brush up on them which leads to much of the confusion.

From the LA Times:

Beck’s statements come amid growing complaints from cyclists that their rights are being infringed by drivers. It marks the first time top LAPD brass has publicly addressed the issue.

…

Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger said the training would include a document that would be included in official department policy outlining officers’ responsibilities in dealing with cyclists on the road. He said it was still unclear what would be in the document but said he hoped to meet with bicycle groups and have it ready within 30 days.

Paysinger also said that in less than 45 days the department would create a computer-based “e-learning” agenda that would be mandatory for all police officers to help them better recognize problems and issues involving cyclists.

This could be a great step for Los Angeles.

The LA Weekly is tackling one of my old favorite topics: carrying a gun in Los Angeles. They are specifically talking about carrying one in Starbucks but it’s worth taking the opportunity to discuss the larger issue. Yes, carrying a gun in Los Angeles is legal in a variety of different situations. For anyone who can legally own a gun, carrying the gun exposed and unloaded (though you can also carry the ammo separately) is completely legal assuming you aren’t near a handful of places like a school or bank where it suddenly becomes very illegal. This is a right granted by not just the US constitution but also the CA constitution which you can read more about on CaliforniaOpenCarry.org.

There are many arguments for and against carrying a gun openly. The immediate reaction I hear most often is that it’s a great way to get shot by a police officer. That’s actually not really something to worry about as no officer in his or her right might is going to risk their job by shooting someone for legally carrying a holstered weapon. Now pulling the thing out and waving it around is another story all together. In fact here is a Los Angeles District Attorney memo and a Los Angeles Sheriff Dept memo about open carry explaining it is legal and explaining to officers what actions they can and can’t take. Read the rest of this entry →

According to the good folks at Takeover LA there are some new tactics being deployed in the war against bike thieves. In days of old when someone was caught stealing a bike, especially the bike of a bike messenger the would be thief was usually beat to a pulp and sent home bleeding. Perhaps out of boredom with the same old routine, there are reports that the beatings have stopped and stripping has begun. That’s right, there are a few recent documented cases of people catching bike thieves in the act but instead of violence, they are simple taking everything from the thieves, EVERYTHING, and making them walk home in their underwear. Vigilante justice? Sure, but at least it’s amusing.

So, are you mystified about the state of same-sex marriage in California? At first glance it looks easy. On one side, you’ve got your proponents of same-sex marriage: Advocacy groups like the ACLU; big corporations like Google; and Americans everywhere who think that other people’s romantic lives are none of their business. And on the other side you’ve got rich Mormons, Carrie Prejean, and people who think that marriage is a totally sacred institution that’s always been treated with the utmost respect throughout all of human history and nobody ever gets divorced and Ted Haggard was FRAMED dammit.

But look a little closer, and you’ll find that California has a weird and complex relationship with same-sex marriage, and that proponents of “opposite marriage,” as the eminent Ms. Prejean has termed it, have had quite a fight on their hands when it comes to preserving their way of life, which by the way is honorable and traditional and totally without any problems. Also whenever gay people get married God gives a kitten pancreatic cancer.

Sorry. My point is that the recent history of marriage in California is a bit of a labyrinth, and if you’re going to try to understand the case that began in court last week — Perry v. Schwarzenegger –  you’re going to have to learn a little history.

So here it is.

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Yes, the City Council is STILL (I won’t say “hashing out”) working on the Medical Marijuana ordinance, and there’s an important vote tomorrow.

If you care about making a good law that supports the good dispensaries and gets rid of the creepy drug fronts, how about checking out the sample letter you can send, and the list of all the Council contact info? It’s right here after the jump.

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Yet another example of (borrowing from the estimable Mr Jalopy) Going Out Of Business In LA:   The Santa Monica Food Truck Debacle of 2010.

It was only a matter of time before someone came up with the idea of “hosting” a few of the popular gourmet food trucks (PLEASE don’t call them Roach Coaches!), creating a rotating hub of deliciousness.

The corner of Santa Monica and 14^th was just such a hub, and the magic lasted all of about one day before the City showed up wanting their piece of the pie (or bite of a grilled cheese, or taco, or brisket, or whatever).   The location had its soft open on Monday (Yay, Pete, getting in there!) with India jones, Barbie Q’s, Fishlips, and the Grilled Cheese Truck, and was closed down on Tuesday.

Barely one whole day of operations.

Tuesday’s lineup was supposed to be FrySmith, Barbies Q, India Jones and Dainty Cakes.   The City claims the property owner doesn’t have the right food service paperwork on file. Nevermind all the individual trucks have it – Hey the whole state’s broke – Let’s tax the hell out of small businesses trying to get new ideas off the ground, even if it puts them out of business in the process.

I get it – local brick-and-mortar restaurants are feeling the threat from these trucks. To which I respond, “Free Market, Baby!”  Let the market be free already.

Pissed off? Hungry?

Email the Santa Monica City Council at council@smgov.net and codecompliance@smgov.net. Don’t forget to CC the food truck lot guy at smfoodtrucklot@gmail.com.

Follow the food truck lot guy via Twitter, all you Twitterers –

See you at Santa Monica and 14th — I hope!

I’ve written about my frustration with our fine city’s parking control and the overpriced, frequently broken meters in Hollywood before.  But now, after my experience two mornings ago on Hollywood Blvd, I’m beginning to think that there is something more sinister going on.  Is it possible that parking control officers are giving tickets to cars parked legally, with the required amount of money in the meter for the time, figuring that people will just pay the $50 fine?  Is this a new fund-raising racket that’s on the down low in City Hall?

Because as we all know, paying a ticket is way easier than contesting a ticket.  It takes far far more time in frustration, just getting someone on the phone and sometimes going to a courthouse to physically contest it, than forking over your credit card.  It’s a no win situation and after one try at it, most people will just give up and pay the damn fifty bucks.  I know I did last time. After several fruitless tries, too much time on the phone, I gave up and paid.

But then, it happened again.  Monday, I stopped on Hollywood Blvd around 11:20 am.  I put in 8 quarters for 20 minutes… giving myself an extra 40 minutes.  I was gone 17 minutes.  When I returned I had a ticket.  Fifty bucks.  The ticket was issued seven minutes after I put in my money.  When I checked the meter, I still had lots of time left.  You can imagine my frustration.  It’s as if the city just wants to milk the public, good will be damned.  They know good and well that most people will just pay.  I immediately started down the road of thinking about how much time I was going to have to devote to this.

This time I don’t want to just give up and pay.  Yes, I will contact my council person (Thanks Eric Garcetti, for your offer last time to get in touch, I was working on a show and slammed, so after a phone call to parking control, I just paid).

But really.  What the hell is going on here?  Do these guys get bonuses for volume?  Do they check the meter at all before issuing tickets?  But most of all I was just disappointed.  What kind of city has LA turned into?   Grrrrrrr.

Anyone who follows graffiti art in Los Angeles knows the name REVOK. He’s one of my personal favorites and I’m always psyched when I see a new piece of his around town, and point it out to friends when I see his work up big in other cities while I’m traveling. That might not be happening too much in the near future since he was arrested this weekend by the Sheriffs Dept while attending an event at the 33rd Graffiti Art Store. He’s still tweeting to some extent so I’m not sure how locked up or down he his at this point.

Now before everyone gets all up in arms and is like “it’s illegal anyway” and “about time they arrested these vandals” and whatever other tired crap will get posted in the comments I should point out that YES WE ALL KNOW IT’S ILLEGAL. And yes, this is a risk anyone who decides to be a graffiti artist takes. It doesn’t matter who agrees with it or what merits anyone thinks graffiti has, it is in fact illegal and that’s the game some have chosen to play. What is interesting to me at least, is that while at one time graffiti artists were shadowy figures whose names and faces no one knew, thanks to the internet and twitter and online communities like 55mm Los Angeles as well as a whole host of galleries helping these artists take their work from one medium to another, graffiti artists are much easier to find for anyone looking. And while it’s a safe assumption a lot of the time that law enforcement has no idea how these things work, they are starting to learn and the more out there and available people are the easier it is for a bust like this to happen.

I’m not trying to bash anyone who is high profile, I’m just saying that I think that we like to think we know who is reading and following us, but the truth is we have no idea and I think we’re going to see more of these arrests as artists continue to gain popularity and it becomes easier to predict where they will be at some point in the future. And at the same time, I don’t think we’re going to see folks like REVS behind bars anytime soon.

Every day you hear different stories about the fate of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in LA.:  From the city is banning them outright, to the courts upholding that dispensaries can operate in the absence of guidelines from the city council.  But one thing is for sure.  The dispensaries and access are under heavy attack.

I’ve written about it before, but basically, Trutanich, our new city attorney is on a rampage and has vowed to close them all down.  He seems to have backed off a bit (maybe someone in the city pointed out to him that medical marijuana is NOT against the law and is a smart thing to tax and bring sorely needed revenue to our city…)  Here’s how you can help:

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Sigh.  Maine.  In a scenario all too familiar to those of us in California, gay marriage opponents currently are celebrating their successful drive to prohibit gay marriage via public vote in the Pine Tree State.  For those of you keeping count, that’s the 31st state in our Union to have the issue defeated at the polls.   Meanwhile, one year after the passage of Prop. 8, gay rights proponents will be meeting en masse tonight at the Vermont and Santa Monica Red Line station at 7.  There, Equality Network will host a Death to Discrimination March, led by a New Orleans-style funeral, headed due north to Sunset, then to The Black Cat/Le BarCito in Silver Lake, where a roster of series will rally the troops.  After an appropriate time for mourning and moving through the stages of grief, organizers plan to continue fighting the good fight (i.e., “Don’t mourn.  Organize.”), and hopefully, there will be some talk about education and de-clawing the anti-marriage coalition’s fear tactics.

It’s not over.

A crystal clear case of driver vs biker road rage?  Last year, city prosecutors filed criminal charges against physician Christopher Thompson for deliberately braking hard in front of two cyclists on a narrow stretch of Mandeville Canyon.  After a three-week trial, the jurors came back with convictions in hand: Dr. Thompson was found guilty of, among other charges, assault with a deadly weapon and mayhem.  According to the prosecutors:

… Thompson stopped his car after passing the two cyclists and shouting at them to ride single-file. One cyclist ran face-first into the rear windshield of the doctor’s red Infiniti, breaking his front teeth and nose, and leaving his face scarred. The other was sent hurtling to the sidewalk and suffered a separated shoulder.

Thompson told the response officer that the cyclists flipped him off, so he hit the brakes “to teach them a lesson.”  Thompson’s version is decidedly more benign: he says he pulled over to take a photo of the riders and thought he had left them enough room to get around his car.  Which one sounds more likely?

Two lessons spring to mind.  First, statements you make after an accident can be used for and against you in court, so talk to anyone at your emotionally-charged peril.  And second, don’t effing use your car as a weapon to “teach” someone a lesson.  No apples for you.

Photo courtesy frequent commentator waltarrrrr via the Metblogs Flickr pool.

Well, I guess that happened months ago, perhaps when people started Fairey-ing their Facebook photos. But  I wonder if this  image of a dog with the word “ADOPT,” which I snapped in Marina del Rey, adds to the universal iconography idea that might help Fairey in his lawsuit with the Associated Press.

TMZ, I love you.  I never thought I’d say that.  But that was my reaction after being pointed by the Los Angeles Times Local section online to these photos at TMZ.com purportedly catching First Lady Maria Shriver Schwarzenegger in the act.  No, not an adulterous sex romp, but rather, two cell phone-in-hand chatting sessions while driving, at least one of which reportedly takes place in Los Angeles.  Yeah, it was her husband Arnold who signed  the law that Maria clearly appears to be breaking.

I can’t wait for Maria’s top five excuses:

5.  I was stopped at a red light.
4.  I was stopped in traffic.
3.  The pics are Photoshop phonies.
2.  It wasn’t me, it was Mariel Hemingway (top photo).
1.  It wasn’t me, it was Amy Irving (bottom photo).

This once, I hope a TMZ celebrity story makes front page news and stays there.  Maybe it will save some lives.

It was a year ago tomorrow that I learned his name: John McGraham. A homeless man who was a fixture in the neighborhood radiating out from 3rd Street and Berendo where he could often be found, McGraham, 55, was attacked and murdered there October 9th, 2008, reportedly doused with a flammable liquid and set on fire with a flare.

I biked by there this morning to find the above poster McGraham’s family mounted to the long-empty dentistry office outside of which he had lived and so brutally died.

Such unfathomable violence galvanized the community and after more than three months of intense investigations detectives from LAPD Robbery/Homicide Division arrested 30-year-old Benjamin Matthew Martin in Ranch Mirage, Riverside County on January 22. Though unemployed at the time of his arrest, Martin had reportedly worked as a barber in and around the area where McGraham was killed.

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Mickipedia just spotted this sign somewhere around LA. It says “IT IS A FEDERAL CRIME TO EMPLOY OR PICK-UP DAY LABORERS. PUNISHABLE BY A $5000 FINE”

First off, this is a flat out lie. As we know from LA city legislation not only are day laborers legal but they are being actively protected. Also the lack of citing specifically which federal law is being referenced is a major red flag. My first thought is that this is just a tactic being used to scare people away from hiring them and push them to one of the companies listed on the flyer. There are two companies listed – eMove and Uhaul. I called Uhaul first and the person I spoke with said they have no idea what this is and don’t endorse it at all. The second company emove.com also lists a toll free number which I called and and found a recording directing me to call other numbers depending on what kind of moving help I need. Their website seems just to be a broker for moving help and is registered to a guy named Sam Shoen who lives in Phoenix, AZ. I called several of the numbers and couldn’t get a live person on any of them so I don’t know if they know about this flyer or not.

Either way, regardless of how you feel about day laborers, telling people it’s a federal crime to hire them to try and point business somewhere else is extremely messed up.

Updates! Read the rest of this entry →