Marilyn Cohon, member of Board of Westwood, South of Santa Monica Home Owners Association
As a member of the board of Westwood South of Santa Monica HOA, and a manager of small apartment buildings, I have been trying to inform people about this issue for some time. It has been low on everyone’s radar screen except for the unions pushing this, and LAANE (with Garcetti’s wife as a charter member) as the “think tank” behind these concepts.
This will affect ALL businesses in LA and ALL apartment buildings over 4 units.
This will put out of business all mom-and-pop trash hauling businesses overnight with no compensation. (I met many of them, young hard-working, many from immigrant families at City Hall during the Council hearings.) At these hearings, the unions bus in brigades of young people, groups in red t-shirts, orange, green. They occupy the hearing rooms, the hallways. No one else can even get close to the action.
The Council members all march in lockstep, terrified that the unions will mount successful opposition in their next races.
They have used the cable TV model of exclusive franchises. If you love Time-Warner, you will love this plan.
This will provide slush funds for the elected officials and bureaucracy … trash hauling is very big business. Big money. Big payoffs.
There will be no competition, and customer service will be a distant memory.
They have used environmental groups as a front to distract from the real game … unionization.
People simply don’t know about the plan, and it is already too late. The entire council, including Bonin, does not even ask questions.
It’s a train wreck waiting to happen.
Yolanda Gonzalez of Venice
Venicians wake up to a very serious, dangerous vote that City Council voted on to franchise all trash haulers in our city. I will personally be affected as many of my friends that are housing providers and businesses throughout the city of Los Angeles.
As 11 haulers will be paying $100,000 to the city for that franchise that expense will be passed on to you as a consumer in every business that has to have the trash picked up. And that expense has to be passed on to the tenants, the businesses as well. Let me give you the latest history behind this whole fiasco.
I presently have Athens trash collectors who I have had for several years and I have NEVER NEVER had a problem with them. I have a security gate to my property, they have a key to that gate and they have always picked up on time and have never missed a pick-up. If for any reason I have to have a special pick up they have ALWAYS been there for that special service.
Councilman Jose Huizar, who is my representative in District 14 where my property is, has been on this idea since 2010. Today, since he is so desperate for funding and is up for re-election, needs money for his campaign, and if he does not get re-elected his political career is over. Most Latinos have to go out of their districts to get funding for their campaigns. “Why?” Remember he has a dangerous law suit in his hands due to sexual molestation from one of his ex-staff members. Now nothing has come up or mentioned again. So, he goes to Maria Elena Durazo to endorse this fiasco. Durazo is regarded as one of the most powerful union organizer in the US. She represents 800,000 workers within 300 separate unions. One of them is the trash collectors of the city. Now, do you not smell a dirty rat like what the DWP has pulled by Darcy? These people do not care about us, the citizen, and the future of this city. How can a woman even endorse a man being accused of sexually molesting another woman? Shame on her. Remember her name Maria Elena DURAZO.
This particular item of the trash collectors was not even brought before the Neighborhood Councils of the city. We had to bring it up at the Neighborhood Council Congress and it was still kept hush hush. Why should we put up with this? Do you want to become another New York City that when they decide to go on strike we will be stuck with an over load of trash in our business, streets and buildings. They now have us. I have been in NY City on a trash strike and the smell and trash plus RATS come out. You have never seen a site like it.
I am NOT going to give a key to my property to the city, and if I have to I will have my tenants put their trash in the bags and I go dump it in front of City Hall. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Send in your comments to Mayor Garcetti, tell him NO NO NO. Do not sign this agreement. In Spanish NO SE VA PODER. And send Huizar a message. He ruined his political career and his beautiful family. That is not our fault.
What fund is designated for this money?
Bill Hooey, head of Fair Housing Coalition
Last Tuesday, 04/01/14, The Los Angeles City Council voted to franchise all the trash haulers in our city. They are dividing the city up into eleven trash hauling zones and in the end, they will be putting about 80 trash haulers out of business, creating a monopoly so that any landlord who has a dumpster behind their building will have the choice of only hiring one trash hauler, the one appointed by the city to service that area.
Each of the 11 trash haulers will be paying $100,000 a year to the city for that franchise. That expense will be passed onto their customers. On top of that nothing is going to prevent the trash hauler from raising their rates any time they want because you will not be allowed to switch trash haulers. So if you are about $100 each time they empty the dumpster, get ready to start paying about $300 each time they empty the dumpster.
This is going to affect the price of everything in LA. Auto repair shops, restaurants, doctor’s offices, large retailers, etc. Any business that has a dumpster is going to pass on the increase to their customers. Are you angry yet?
The city claims this is needed because too many trash trucks are criss-crossing the city. Well … there is not going to be any reduction in trash. Those who remain in business will simply buy more trucks. A better idea would be for trash haulers to trade customers so they can cut down on the criss-crossing the city. Why not assign 8 trash haulers to each zone and that way, customers will have choices and no one will be put out of business? Prices will stay low. Maybe some tax breaks will help those trash haulers who lose income in these trading of customers?
On Wednesday 04/02/14, I received a phone call from a local Korean radio station. They were very concerned because many Koreans own apartment buildings and other business where there is a dumpster in the back. They interviewed me on the air and wanted to know where most landlords stood on this idea to put so many legal trash haulers out of business. I told them it was a bad idea and un-American. Imagine working hard to build a legal business for 20 or 30 years and then one day the city decides to close you down. America is changing and now more than ever, we need to fight back against all bad ideas.
Today, 04/06/14, The Los Angeles Daily News ran a story that the City of Los Angeles drives business out of town than any other city in the country. In fact, Detroit has a better record for business growth than LA. Also, because of our political position, we import poverty, from other countries, more than any other city in the country. So, how long can we keep driving business out of LA while more people keep applying for public assistance?
The fact is that about 95% of the public has no idea what the LA City Council is voting on at any given time. Just ask 10 of your friends what the LA City Council voted on last week.
I have an idea…
The LA City Council meets on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, three days a week. That adds up to 12 meetings a month. I would like to find 11 landlords who are each willing to go to one city council meeting a month and write up a report on any bad ideas that the council is considering to pass into law.
I have an e-mail database of 200+ e-mails of everyone in local media. This includes the 88 neighborhood newspapers, news and talk radio stations and all the news departments of local TV stations. No one in the media has a reporter going to every city council session. If we email the media every time a bad idea is about to be passed (probably at least once a week), they might report on it and with some public outrage, we might be able to put a lid on it. The LA City Council knows that so few people are paying attention that they can get away with almost anything.
So, might you be one who would be willing to go downtown once a month and sit on a city council meeting and write up a little report on what happened that day? Maybe someone you know is an aspiring reporter? You might be asked to give an interview to a newspaper or appear on local radio. If you don’t want to talk to the media, I can do that for you.
This is not a Democrat versus Republican situation. We are evolving into a country where there are two groups, those who work for a living and those who vote for a living. With 47 percent of the population receiving a check from the government every month, how much more of your money are you willing to give up to fund another bad idea?
If we have to start our own local mini-news service to make sure that more people are aware of what our local government is up to, then so be it. If I can find 11 people who believe that this needs to be done, then I will put out a weekly e-mail to all landlords about what city council did that week.
Collectively, when we all work together we have a lot of power. In the last four years, we have stopped some ideas from coming to life because we went down to city hall and spoke up in large numbers. This is about winning one battle at a time because the way against unfairness will never be over. There will always be someone trying to get elected who will blame you because others (who are not trying too hard to improve their situation) are going through hard times.
Quite often, when I put out an e-mail I get people writing back to me with opinions but they say they are too busy to get involved. Don’t take this the wrong way but I don’t need more opinions. I need 11 people who are willing to go to one city council meeting a month. Opinions don’t win wars.
If we do this correctly, we might end up with some weekly air time on a major radio station. It could be called “The LA City Council Weekly Report”. So if you know any aspiring journalist, have him/her contact me then we’ll have a meeting and get this production going forward.
Ilana Marosi of Venice
Ref: 320 Sunset Ave
We need as many local signatures as possible ASAP. Please sign to oppose this OFF-SITE beer & wine and full restaurant. Share with all your friends in the area!!!
http://www.change.org/petitions/lupc-stop-full-license-restaurant-bar-with-take-out-beer-wine-sales-at-320-sunset-avenue-venice
Let’s have our voices heard to preserve our creative little corner of Venice!
DeDe Audet, former president of Venice Neighborhood Council
It has come to my attention there has been a lot of stuff going on here in Venice that doesn’t pass muster. I am not at liberty yet to reveal what I now know without revealing informants. But a peak at the information leads me to believe that misinformation may have come from the city attorney’s office in 2011 about the conduct of neighborhood council offices. Please feel free to report that I am investigating these reports
David Ewing of Penmar area …
Maybe we should install devices to tell the City that its curfew law is actually violating state law as well as the state constitution. All the City has to do is get a Coastal Development Permit. It’s been warned about this repeatedly by the Coastal Commission, but it has thumbed its nose at the state for years. The fact that the City has installed these new devices is evidence that it is doubling down on its scofflaw approach to law enforcement. How can people be expected to respect City laws if the City itself shows no respect for the law?
Jon Nahhas boaters coalition
Ref: Doug Fay, candidate, being excluded from Democratic’s Party forum. Fay is a Democratic. Doug Fay has since been invited to the Argonaut debate, 29 April, Mark Twain School.
With the SCOTUS’ McCutcheon ruling and the continued recycling of the politicians, our public decision-making process seems to be getting further out of our reach. The “active fundraising” that Marcia Hanscom has mentioned concerns me. The $9 Million that MRT raised may have won him his seat as District 2 Supervisor (my district) over Bernard Parks’ $4 Million, but at what expense to our residents? My email signature (Webster quote) is currently turned off because people thought it was over-the-top. I still am an optimist but his words ring truer today than they did in the 19th century.
Daniel Webster (18 Jan 1782 to 24 October 1852) is quoted as having said:
“I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe . . . Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger…”
Ref: Small craft Harbor Meet
Los Angeles County agents are, again, pulling a fast one on the public and trying to exclude participation in very contentious subject matter regarding the Marina and the Coast.
Here are the most critical issues that should have been vetted on a Special Night Meeting but instead will be held at 10AM (when the public cannot attend):
1) We now know Gary Jones, Director for the Dept. of Beaches & Harbors, undermined the Small Craft Harbor Commission regarding the moving of the public launch ramp.
2) This will not be a Special Night Meeting as the Commission voted for in their last meeting.
3) They are raising fees, again!!!
4) Venice Sewer Project surfaces in the somewhat hidden “Ongoing Activities Report”.
5) Absent from the agenda – Why the lessees are still not renting the boat slips – continued high slip vacancy rates.
The Small Craft Harbor Commissioners were upset about the idea of moving the public launch ramp adjacent to the Main Channel. Gary Jones and his staff were not answering any questions from the commissioners or the public and we now know that the Department hired Ron Noble Consulting to essentially say that the launch ramp could be moved to the Main Channel (against every other boating expert opinion). Staff remained silent and misled the public and commissioners on their involvement. While some might call this fraud, at the very least this behavior was highly unethical in a LA County Commission Meeting.
The April SCHC meeting should have been a Special Night Meeting to discuss the Marina del Rey Visioning Process. The Department again falsified meeting minutes to reflect an evening meeting regarding the “Visioning Process of Fisherman’s Village”. There is no such thing – there is only the MdR Visioning (the whole Marina). From the February minutes (the March meeting was cancelled because of “a lack of new business”):
“Motion to move that next meeting be an evening meeting and focus on Visioning Process of Fisherman’s Village. Moved by Commissioner Lumian; seconded by Chair Rifkin; unanimously approved. Ayes: 4 – Chair Rifkin, Mr. Lumian, Mr. Lesser and Mr. Alfieri”
The County just went through a process of raising fees on the parking lots, beach permits, and other services just a few years ago (during the recession). Now they are suggesting more fee increases again in Marina del Rey, Venice, Will Rogers SB, Dockweiler SB, etc. that will inevitably restrict public access.
LA County sued the City of LA all the way to the Supreme Court on the Venice Sewer Project and lost. The new Venice Sewer will be coming through the Marina on its way to Hyperian Treatment Facility in El Segundo. This is the project that will severely limit access to the westside of the harbor (and why the County and developers fought so hard against it). A lot of the chaos around the massive development decisions and how this sewer project is going to fit in are being made behind closed doors.
From the Agenda in the “Ongoing Activities Report”: VENICE PUMPING PLANT DUAL FORCE MAIN PROJECT UPDATE
“On March 6, 2014, representatives from the City of Los Angeles and the County Departments of Regional Planning, Public Works, and Beaches and Harbors met to discuss the Coastal Development Permit (CDP) from the County required for the Venice Dual Force Main project. The representatives from the various departments discussed how best to coordinate the Dual Force Main Project with other planned projects in the Marina, to minimize impacts to Marina visitors and residents. A CDP for the project is expected to be filed with the Department of Regional Planning in April of this year. The City will also need to secure a CDP from the Coastal Commission for the segment under the Marina’s main channel.”
High Slip Fees = High Vacancy Rates = Justification For More Landside Development Due to “Appearance of Low Demand” in Boating
The boat slip vacancy rate is now at a whopping 19.8%. The County agents are still counting the slips that are being redeveloped “vacant” (out of service, off line) to mask the fraud on the public boat slips. IF THE PUBLIC CANNOT RENT THE SLIPS, THEY ARE NOT “VACANT”, THEY ARE OFF-LINE, OUT OF SERVICE, or CONDEMNED. The County and its lessees have violated the Coastal Act by manufacturing these vacancies to give the appearance of a low demand in boating in order to obtain more landside development (with its higher profits). Video Attached. It has been nearly 6 years of huge taxpayer losses of reduced rent from not renting the boat slips (DBH estimates $60,000/month = $8 Million loss to date) and denial of coastal access by the County and its lessees. In the February meeting, Commissioner Russ Lesser asked for a report of what can be done by the County to drive the lessees to rent the slips to the public. He asked for a report to be generated on the most egregious situations where the vacancy rates exceeded 20%. No report, no justification, the County continues to throw this very ugly situation under the rug.
Reta Moser
Local environmentalists are questioning the Democratic party’s selection of forum candidates for County board of Supervisors race. Douglas Fay was excluded and is a registered Democrat. He has never run for office before. He has never been beaten at the polls, nor termed out.
Garbage issue sounds like Boston (reference to Revolution, not marathon) on steroids in reverse gear. There didn’t seem to be any warning to this issue. It was just suddenly in the papers.
Well, this is a big issue in Venice. All businesses with bins and all residential property owners with four or more units will be touched.
Please see comments by others. Article did state that haulers had to reach an agreement with workers to not picket or cause other work stoppages. What if one bin in missed this week, another the next?
Who gets the money?
587
Comments–7 April 2014
Marilyn Cohon, member of Board of Westwood, South of Santa Monica Home Owners Association
As a member of the board of Westwood South of Santa Monica HOA, and a manager of small apartment buildings, I have been trying to inform people about this issue for some time. It has been low on everyone’s radar screen except for the unions pushing this, and LAANE (with Garcetti’s wife as a charter member) as the “think tank” behind these concepts.
This will affect ALL businesses in LA and ALL apartment buildings over 4 units.
This will put out of business all mom-and-pop trash hauling businesses overnight with no compensation. (I met many of them, young hard-working, many from immigrant families at City Hall during the Council hearings.) At these hearings, the unions bus in brigades of young people, groups in red t-shirts, orange, green. They occupy the hearing rooms, the hallways. No one else can even get close to the action.
The Council members all march in lockstep, terrified that the unions will mount successful opposition in their next races.
They have used the cable TV model of exclusive franchises. If you love Time-Warner, you will love this plan.
This will provide slush funds for the elected officials and bureaucracy … trash hauling is very big business. Big money. Big payoffs.
There will be no competition, and customer service will be a distant memory.
They have used environmental groups as a front to distract from the real game … unionization.
People simply don’t know about the plan, and it is already too late. The entire council, including Bonin, does not even ask questions.
It’s a train wreck waiting to happen.
Yolanda Gonzalez of Venice
Venicians wake up to a very serious, dangerous vote that City Council voted on to franchise all trash haulers in our city. I will personally be affected as many of my friends that are housing providers and businesses throughout the city of Los Angeles.
As 11 haulers will be paying $100,000 to the city for that franchise that expense will be passed on to you as a consumer in every business that has to have the trash picked up. And that expense has to be passed on to the tenants, the businesses as well. Let me give you the latest history behind this whole fiasco.
I presently have Athens trash collectors who I have had for several years and I have NEVER NEVER had a problem with them. I have a security gate to my property, they have a key to that gate and they have always picked up on time and have never missed a pick-up. If for any reason I have to have a special pick up they have ALWAYS been there for that special service.
Councilman Jose Huizar, who is my representative in District 14 where my property is, has been on this idea since 2010. Today, since he is so desperate for funding and is up for re-election, needs money for his campaign, and if he does not get re-elected his political career is over. Most Latinos have to go out of their districts to get funding for their campaigns. “Why?” Remember he has a dangerous law suit in his hands due to sexual molestation from one of his ex-staff members. Now nothing has come up or mentioned again. So, he goes to Maria Elena Durazo to endorse this fiasco. Durazo is regarded as one of the most powerful union organizer in the US. She represents 800,000 workers within 300 separate unions. One of them is the trash collectors of the city. Now, do you not smell a dirty rat like what the DWP has pulled by Darcy? These people do not care about us, the citizen, and the future of this city. How can a woman even endorse a man being accused of sexually molesting another woman? Shame on her. Remember her name Maria Elena DURAZO.
This particular item of the trash collectors was not even brought before the Neighborhood Councils of the city. We had to bring it up at the Neighborhood Council Congress and it was still kept hush hush. Why should we put up with this? Do you want to become another New York City that when they decide to go on strike we will be stuck with an over load of trash in our business, streets and buildings. They now have us. I have been in NY City on a trash strike and the smell and trash plus RATS come out. You have never seen a site like it.
I am NOT going to give a key to my property to the city, and if I have to I will have my tenants put their trash in the bags and I go dump it in front of City Hall. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Send in your comments to Mayor Garcetti, tell him NO NO NO. Do not sign this agreement. In Spanish NO SE VA PODER. And send Huizar a message. He ruined his political career and his beautiful family. That is not our fault.
What fund is designated for this money?
Bill Hooey, head of Fair Housing Coalition
Last Tuesday, 04/01/14, The Los Angeles City Council voted to franchise all the trash haulers in our city. They are dividing the city up into eleven trash hauling zones and in the end, they will be putting about 80 trash haulers out of business, creating a monopoly so that any landlord who has a dumpster behind their building will have the choice of only hiring one trash hauler, the one appointed by the city to service that area.
Each of the 11 trash haulers will be paying $100,000 a year to the city for that franchise. That expense will be passed onto their customers. On top of that nothing is going to prevent the trash hauler from raising their rates any time they want because you will not be allowed to switch trash haulers. So if you are about $100 each time they empty the dumpster, get ready to start paying about $300 each time they empty the dumpster.
This is going to affect the price of everything in LA. Auto repair shops, restaurants, doctor’s offices, large retailers, etc. Any business that has a dumpster is going to pass on the increase to their customers. Are you angry yet?
The city claims this is needed because too many trash trucks are criss-crossing the city. Well … there is not going to be any reduction in trash. Those who remain in business will simply buy more trucks. A better idea would be for trash haulers to trade customers so they can cut down on the criss-crossing the city. Why not assign 8 trash haulers to each zone and that way, customers will have choices and no one will be put out of business? Prices will stay low. Maybe some tax breaks will help those trash haulers who lose income in these trading of customers?
On Wednesday 04/02/14, I received a phone call from a local Korean radio station. They were very concerned because many Koreans own apartment buildings and other business where there is a dumpster in the back. They interviewed me on the air and wanted to know where most landlords stood on this idea to put so many legal trash haulers out of business. I told them it was a bad idea and un-American. Imagine working hard to build a legal business for 20 or 30 years and then one day the city decides to close you down. America is changing and now more than ever, we need to fight back against all bad ideas.
Today, 04/06/14, The Los Angeles Daily News ran a story that the City of Los Angeles drives business out of town than any other city in the country. In fact, Detroit has a better record for business growth than LA. Also, because of our political position, we import poverty, from other countries, more than any other city in the country. So, how long can we keep driving business out of LA while more people keep applying for public assistance?
The fact is that about 95% of the public has no idea what the LA City Council is voting on at any given time. Just ask 10 of your friends what the LA City Council voted on last week.
I have an idea…
The LA City Council meets on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, three days a week. That adds up to 12 meetings a month. I would like to find 11 landlords who are each willing to go to one city council meeting a month and write up a report on any bad ideas that the council is considering to pass into law.
I have an e-mail database of 200+ e-mails of everyone in local media. This includes the 88 neighborhood newspapers, news and talk radio stations and all the news departments of local TV stations. No one in the media has a reporter going to every city council session. If we email the media every time a bad idea is about to be passed (probably at least once a week), they might report on it and with some public outrage, we might be able to put a lid on it. The LA City Council knows that so few people are paying attention that they can get away with almost anything.
So, might you be one who would be willing to go downtown once a month and sit on a city council meeting and write up a little report on what happened that day? Maybe someone you know is an aspiring reporter? You might be asked to give an interview to a newspaper or appear on local radio. If you don’t want to talk to the media, I can do that for you.
This is not a Democrat versus Republican situation. We are evolving into a country where there are two groups, those who work for a living and those who vote for a living. With 47 percent of the population receiving a check from the government every month, how much more of your money are you willing to give up to fund another bad idea?
If we have to start our own local mini-news service to make sure that more people are aware of what our local government is up to, then so be it. If I can find 11 people who believe that this needs to be done, then I will put out a weekly e-mail to all landlords about what city council did that week.
Collectively, when we all work together we have a lot of power. In the last four years, we have stopped some ideas from coming to life because we went down to city hall and spoke up in large numbers. This is about winning one battle at a time because the way against unfairness will never be over. There will always be someone trying to get elected who will blame you because others (who are not trying too hard to improve their situation) are going through hard times.
Quite often, when I put out an e-mail I get people writing back to me with opinions but they say they are too busy to get involved. Don’t take this the wrong way but I don’t need more opinions. I need 11 people who are willing to go to one city council meeting a month. Opinions don’t win wars.
If we do this correctly, we might end up with some weekly air time on a major radio station. It could be called “The LA City Council Weekly Report”. So if you know any aspiring journalist, have him/her contact me then we’ll have a meeting and get this production going forward.
Ilana Marosi of Venice
Ref: 320 Sunset Ave
We need as many local signatures as possible ASAP. Please sign to oppose this OFF-SITE beer & wine and full restaurant. Share with all your friends in the area!!!
http://www.change.org/petitions/lupc-stop-full-license-restaurant-bar-with-take-out-beer-wine-sales-at-320-sunset-avenue-venice
Let’s have our voices heard to preserve our creative little corner of Venice!
DeDe Audet, former president of Venice Neighborhood Council
It has come to my attention there has been a lot of stuff going on here in Venice that doesn’t pass muster. I am not at liberty yet to reveal what I now know without revealing informants. But a peak at the information leads me to believe that misinformation may have come from the city attorney’s office in 2011 about the conduct of neighborhood council offices. Please feel free to report that I am investigating these reports
David Ewing of Penmar area …
Maybe we should install devices to tell the City that its curfew law is actually violating state law as well as the state constitution. All the City has to do is get a Coastal Development Permit. It’s been warned about this repeatedly by the Coastal Commission, but it has thumbed its nose at the state for years. The fact that the City has installed these new devices is evidence that it is doubling down on its scofflaw approach to law enforcement. How can people be expected to respect City laws if the City itself shows no respect for the law?
Jon Nahhas boaters coalition
Ref: Doug Fay, candidate, being excluded from Democratic’s Party forum. Fay is a Democratic. Doug Fay has since been invited to the Argonaut debate, 29 April, Mark Twain School.
With the SCOTUS’ McCutcheon ruling and the continued recycling of the politicians, our public decision-making process seems to be getting further out of our reach. The “active fundraising” that Marcia Hanscom has mentioned concerns me. The $9 Million that MRT raised may have won him his seat as District 2 Supervisor (my district) over Bernard Parks’ $4 Million, but at what expense to our residents? My email signature (Webster quote) is currently turned off because people thought it was over-the-top. I still am an optimist but his words ring truer today than they did in the 19th century.
Daniel Webster (18 Jan 1782 to 24 October 1852) is quoted as having said:
“I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe . . . Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger…”
Ref: Small craft Harbor Meet
Los Angeles County agents are, again, pulling a fast one on the public and trying to exclude participation in very contentious subject matter regarding the Marina and the Coast.
Here are the most critical issues that should have been vetted on a Special Night Meeting but instead will be held at 10AM (when the public cannot attend):
1) We now know Gary Jones, Director for the Dept. of Beaches & Harbors, undermined the Small Craft Harbor Commission regarding the moving of the public launch ramp.
2) This will not be a Special Night Meeting as the Commission voted for in their last meeting.
3) They are raising fees, again!!!
4) Venice Sewer Project surfaces in the somewhat hidden “Ongoing Activities Report”.
5) Absent from the agenda – Why the lessees are still not renting the boat slips – continued high slip vacancy rates.
The Small Craft Harbor Commissioners were upset about the idea of moving the public launch ramp adjacent to the Main Channel. Gary Jones and his staff were not answering any questions from the commissioners or the public and we now know that the Department hired Ron Noble Consulting to essentially say that the launch ramp could be moved to the Main Channel (against every other boating expert opinion). Staff remained silent and misled the public and commissioners on their involvement. While some might call this fraud, at the very least this behavior was highly unethical in a LA County Commission Meeting.
The April SCHC meeting should have been a Special Night Meeting to discuss the Marina del Rey Visioning Process. The Department again falsified meeting minutes to reflect an evening meeting regarding the “Visioning Process of Fisherman’s Village”. There is no such thing – there is only the MdR Visioning (the whole Marina). From the February minutes (the March meeting was cancelled because of “a lack of new business”):
“Motion to move that next meeting be an evening meeting and focus on Visioning Process of Fisherman’s Village. Moved by Commissioner Lumian; seconded by Chair Rifkin; unanimously approved. Ayes: 4 – Chair Rifkin, Mr. Lumian, Mr. Lesser and Mr. Alfieri”
The County just went through a process of raising fees on the parking lots, beach permits, and other services just a few years ago (during the recession). Now they are suggesting more fee increases again in Marina del Rey, Venice, Will Rogers SB, Dockweiler SB, etc. that will inevitably restrict public access.
LA County sued the City of LA all the way to the Supreme Court on the Venice Sewer Project and lost. The new Venice Sewer will be coming through the Marina on its way to Hyperian Treatment Facility in El Segundo. This is the project that will severely limit access to the westside of the harbor (and why the County and developers fought so hard against it). A lot of the chaos around the massive development decisions and how this sewer project is going to fit in are being made behind closed doors.
From the Agenda in the “Ongoing Activities Report”: VENICE PUMPING PLANT DUAL FORCE MAIN PROJECT UPDATE
“On March 6, 2014, representatives from the City of Los Angeles and the County Departments of Regional Planning, Public Works, and Beaches and Harbors met to discuss the Coastal Development Permit (CDP) from the County required for the Venice Dual Force Main project. The representatives from the various departments discussed how best to coordinate the Dual Force Main Project with other planned projects in the Marina, to minimize impacts to Marina visitors and residents. A CDP for the project is expected to be filed with the Department of Regional Planning in April of this year. The City will also need to secure a CDP from the Coastal Commission for the segment under the Marina’s main channel.”
High Slip Fees = High Vacancy Rates = Justification For More Landside Development Due to “Appearance of Low Demand” in Boating
The boat slip vacancy rate is now at a whopping 19.8%. The County agents are still counting the slips that are being redeveloped “vacant” (out of service, off line) to mask the fraud on the public boat slips. IF THE PUBLIC CANNOT RENT THE SLIPS, THEY ARE NOT “VACANT”, THEY ARE OFF-LINE, OUT OF SERVICE, or CONDEMNED. The County and its lessees have violated the Coastal Act by manufacturing these vacancies to give the appearance of a low demand in boating in order to obtain more landside development (with its higher profits). Video Attached. It has been nearly 6 years of huge taxpayer losses of reduced rent from not renting the boat slips (DBH estimates $60,000/month = $8 Million loss to date) and denial of coastal access by the County and its lessees. In the February meeting, Commissioner Russ Lesser asked for a report of what can be done by the County to drive the lessees to rent the slips to the public. He asked for a report to be generated on the most egregious situations where the vacancy rates exceeded 20%. No report, no justification, the County continues to throw this very ugly situation under the rug.
Reta Moser
Local environmentalists are questioning the Democratic party’s selection of forum candidates for County board of Supervisors race. Douglas Fay was excluded and is a registered Democrat. He has never run for office before. He has never been beaten at the polls, nor termed out.
Garbage issue sounds like Boston (reference to Revolution, not marathon) on steroids in reverse gear. There didn’t seem to be any warning to this issue. It was just suddenly in the papers.
Well, this is a big issue in Venice. All businesses with bins and all residential property owners with four or more units will be touched.
Please see comments by others. Article did state that haulers had to reach an agreement with workers to not picket or cause other work stoppages. What if one bin in missed this week, another the next?
Who gets the money?
Previous Post
Mobile Art?–Looks Like “Chic Bate”
Next Post
MDR Historical Society to Have Grand Opening