After many years of the Altadena Chamber of Commerce making various developers molls and tools and various crooked cronies Altadena Citizen of the Year, the ACC this year has FINALLY chosen to make the Citizen of the Year an HONOR rather than a shame, by appointing Sarah Carnahan who has given a lifetime of selfless service to the community of Altadena.
Finally and its about time ! Let us hope that this is not a abberation as was the year that Delores Hickenbottom had the honor, and then it went right back to being a somewhat dubious award. Let us hope that again a lifetime of SELFLESS service for the BETTERMENT OF THE WHOLE ALTADENA COMMUNITY will be the standard for this award as it is this year.
Congrats Sarah!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
tsk tsk tsk
Tsk Tsk Tsk.... The misinformation wing of the Altadena Clown Council is at it again, or still... Some friends called and asked me to view a tape of this months meeting. Seems the ATC is still trying to sweep under the rug all the actions of the Sheriffs Support Group and a group fronted by Pasadena's All Saints Church flack, Monica Hubbard, during the last election and the candidates they supported. They kept saying that the report mostly didnt reference Town Council Members who were still here, seeming to imply that it referenced Council members either defeated or who have resigned. Nothing could be farther from the truth in fact.
The report drafted by Laura Graham, Greg Mc Phee and Joe Brown actually mentions misdeeds by three seated Clown Council members, the very three who claimed it didn't have anything to do with present members and no time should be spent on any investigation by the Council as to what really happened, lets move forward. Well as they say, who guards the guards. I think "Lets move forward" is newspeak for "It's Chinatown Jake." Maybe something more like "I've got all the cards F you." O.K. an unholy combination of the two.
Oh well, such is what passes for a community forum up here.
The report drafted by Laura Graham, Greg Mc Phee and Joe Brown actually mentions misdeeds by three seated Clown Council members, the very three who claimed it didn't have anything to do with present members and no time should be spent on any investigation by the Council as to what really happened, lets move forward. Well as they say, who guards the guards. I think "Lets move forward" is newspeak for "It's Chinatown Jake." Maybe something more like "I've got all the cards F you." O.K. an unholy combination of the two.
Oh well, such is what passes for a community forum up here.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Lets not tell anyone.........
Summers high heat has burned itself out. Now we have the fall of Southern California, it is much like the burned down embers in a fireplace. There is still the radiant warmth by day, but the blasts of cold night, letting us know the fire is burning out touches our skin and needles our nostrils. The light has gone to deep oranges and purples as the fire wanes.
Our Mountians seem to rise ever more majestic and in this weather with the wind scouring our skies, you can see every guy wire on the towers at Mt. Wilson and feel as if you could reach up and touch the Coulter Pines at Henninger Flats. The shadows are long and fade from the fall deep orange our soil seems to turn to violet to purple.
Light breezes float sycamore leaves gently accross long expanses of land, twitting, dancing, turning, lunging forward, up and eventually gliding and landing, laying gently on land. Oaks suddenly drop layers of pale tan leaves expanding their ground carpets. The non native first generation planted persimmons ripen to a deep burnt orange and proclaim winter will soon arrive. The smoke of time honored eucalyptus/pine-deodar/Oak fuel burns, cleaning flues and balancing heat are begining to be burned. The fire purfume calling back to generations of human habitation in this earthly paradise.
The clouds gather in the evenings as sunset arrives and lay across the skies in bands of long gold and silver gilt layers of orange, green, gray, purple, maroon, teal and red suspended in aqua turning slowly to midnight blue skies. From the hills the cities below are bouncing gems of light caught in the matrix of the clouds and the evolving blackness of the ground.
Fall here in the Southern California Foothills is a time almost no one seems to know about. It slowly majestically unfolds within each day. Many who live here never seem to comment on it, and many seem never to notice, but the air is crisp and lively, it is a prime time to expierience the joy of just being alive. It is far more than any other season in Southern California a naturally gentle time. It is a sweet time. Perhaps that is why we never discuss it. It seems that the moments of joy, of wonder, of the pure pleasure of being have all either been bought and sold back to us, or have been outlawed, redeveloped and populated to destruction, or made, like Christmas, once a time of family, a commercial obligation and nightmare.
Perhaps by never printing the wonders of our fall, by slowly smiling as each moment of the eternal now presents itself and marches by, we preserve that joy and it becomes possible for the future. I often find some local marvel of nature or civilization her eand only tell my dearest friend, fearing Huell Howzer, the Real Estate hoardes or Sunset Magazine will get ahold of it and everyone will crowd about and jamb it full, destroying what it once was.
So fall is here, as it ever has been. Lets not tell anyone but each other and enjoy it as it passes to winter, knowing it is a season still uncluttered and observable in its subtlty.
Our Mountians seem to rise ever more majestic and in this weather with the wind scouring our skies, you can see every guy wire on the towers at Mt. Wilson and feel as if you could reach up and touch the Coulter Pines at Henninger Flats. The shadows are long and fade from the fall deep orange our soil seems to turn to violet to purple.
Light breezes float sycamore leaves gently accross long expanses of land, twitting, dancing, turning, lunging forward, up and eventually gliding and landing, laying gently on land. Oaks suddenly drop layers of pale tan leaves expanding their ground carpets. The non native first generation planted persimmons ripen to a deep burnt orange and proclaim winter will soon arrive. The smoke of time honored eucalyptus/pine-deodar/Oak fuel burns, cleaning flues and balancing heat are begining to be burned. The fire purfume calling back to generations of human habitation in this earthly paradise.
The clouds gather in the evenings as sunset arrives and lay across the skies in bands of long gold and silver gilt layers of orange, green, gray, purple, maroon, teal and red suspended in aqua turning slowly to midnight blue skies. From the hills the cities below are bouncing gems of light caught in the matrix of the clouds and the evolving blackness of the ground.
Fall here in the Southern California Foothills is a time almost no one seems to know about. It slowly majestically unfolds within each day. Many who live here never seem to comment on it, and many seem never to notice, but the air is crisp and lively, it is a prime time to expierience the joy of just being alive. It is far more than any other season in Southern California a naturally gentle time. It is a sweet time. Perhaps that is why we never discuss it. It seems that the moments of joy, of wonder, of the pure pleasure of being have all either been bought and sold back to us, or have been outlawed, redeveloped and populated to destruction, or made, like Christmas, once a time of family, a commercial obligation and nightmare.
Perhaps by never printing the wonders of our fall, by slowly smiling as each moment of the eternal now presents itself and marches by, we preserve that joy and it becomes possible for the future. I often find some local marvel of nature or civilization her eand only tell my dearest friend, fearing Huell Howzer, the Real Estate hoardes or Sunset Magazine will get ahold of it and everyone will crowd about and jamb it full, destroying what it once was.
So fall is here, as it ever has been. Lets not tell anyone but each other and enjoy it as it passes to winter, knowing it is a season still uncluttered and observable in its subtlty.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Measure TT
This November the Pasadena Unified School District is asking citizens to vote for a $340 million bond for School repairs. The PUSD Board claim the schools need the money to be made safe. It seems suddenly that the $240 Million borrowed a decade ago that was going to put the schools ship shape wasn't enough.
Ed Diaz, the PUSD super even claims mistakes were made under Measure Y. First he balmes the 15 Architects hired by the PUSD. Then he claims there was not proper oversight, and the PUSD didnt have a good plan a decade ago, and they didnt have the staff to properly do the job. Thats kind of funny, since PUSD critics, including myself, Rene Amy, John Laraway, and Mary Dee Romney made these exact claims a decade ago,a nd as we criticized out of control and poorly thought out spending were made fun of and direded by PUSD staff and electeds for at least five years. During that time it was very very clear the District had raised money on the necessities but was spending o silly luxuries and doing so without any clear oversight. The people who were actually attempting to have the money well spent were labeled more or less as nutty. It was also often said they were wrong about the care with wich contracts were let and supervised. Now as a argument to give the PUSD another $340 Million borrowed from the Citizens, Mr. diaz without shame, contrition or apology admits that the PUSD had no proper oversight all along. Well, how do you trust an institution with THAT kind of record?
Measure TT relies upon several unproven ideas in order to succeed:
First idea- the State of California will kick in $100 Million..Anyone who has been keeping track of the california State budget knows this is highly unlikely.
Second idea- That the PUSD can find the money to borrow from a willing lender. The world financial system now has the tightest money in memory.
Third idea- The PUSD has staff who can properly oversee these projects. they simply dont still.
Finally, the worst idea of all is that we in the 21st Century should continue to rehab for schools buildings built in the main on standard plans for 19th Century factories. It would actually be cheaper and make more sense to tear them all down, build a auditorium, cafeteria and bathrooms at every school site and park in the PUSD and use portable classrooms as the demographic needs within the District altered and student populations ebbed and flowed from neighborhood to neighborhood.
Measure TT should be opposed because it makes no financial, operational , or educational sense, and because the PUSD is still not capable of effectively managing these projects
Ed Diaz, the PUSD super even claims mistakes were made under Measure Y. First he balmes the 15 Architects hired by the PUSD. Then he claims there was not proper oversight, and the PUSD didnt have a good plan a decade ago, and they didnt have the staff to properly do the job. Thats kind of funny, since PUSD critics, including myself, Rene Amy, John Laraway, and Mary Dee Romney made these exact claims a decade ago,a nd as we criticized out of control and poorly thought out spending were made fun of and direded by PUSD staff and electeds for at least five years. During that time it was very very clear the District had raised money on the necessities but was spending o silly luxuries and doing so without any clear oversight. The people who were actually attempting to have the money well spent were labeled more or less as nutty. It was also often said they were wrong about the care with wich contracts were let and supervised. Now as a argument to give the PUSD another $340 Million borrowed from the Citizens, Mr. diaz without shame, contrition or apology admits that the PUSD had no proper oversight all along. Well, how do you trust an institution with THAT kind of record?
Measure TT relies upon several unproven ideas in order to succeed:
First idea- the State of California will kick in $100 Million..Anyone who has been keeping track of the california State budget knows this is highly unlikely.
Second idea- That the PUSD can find the money to borrow from a willing lender. The world financial system now has the tightest money in memory.
Third idea- The PUSD has staff who can properly oversee these projects. they simply dont still.
Finally, the worst idea of all is that we in the 21st Century should continue to rehab for schools buildings built in the main on standard plans for 19th Century factories. It would actually be cheaper and make more sense to tear them all down, build a auditorium, cafeteria and bathrooms at every school site and park in the PUSD and use portable classrooms as the demographic needs within the District altered and student populations ebbed and flowed from neighborhood to neighborhood.
Measure TT should be opposed because it makes no financial, operational , or educational sense, and because the PUSD is still not capable of effectively managing these projects
Thursday, September 25, 2008
So an old nemesis writes to complain of my Swine Shit post. He doesn't understand why not do something positive? Why not support annexation to (shudder) Pasadena? Now there is a evil idea even beyond all that ails Altadena. I always did say he was a evil guy....
Well, I guess when you've tried positive, and devoted years of your life to a few positive initiatives and seen them barnaclized with every imaginable form of slimy stinky pork self interest to the point that the positives are net negatives, the idea of working for the greater good in the public arena through say local Government, seems like a really twisted bad joke. That's the very long of it, and a short answer to a number of now historical questions. The brief somewhat kind, less than totally bitter answer.
Yes, I could explain at great length, but have I not done that endlessly already? So what becomes the point? To rehash what could, but will not be repaired? Why does this person who claims anyway to know nothing really of Altadena, care except as a platform for his uninformed insults? For more of his posturing? For another attempt at silencing a voice that does not agree with the donors whose campaign contributions he hides behind relatives friends and people who the Tongs gin up? Who can say?
Pasadena annexation? How would the People of Altadena better be served by a City that already isn't serving it's citizens? Didn't most Altadenans move here to escape that mess? Yeah most. True some to the east desire it, and I for one would be only too happy were they alone annexed, but they and here is the oh so funny part, they are not desired alone, because their side of town would not be profitable to serve. You see they have a low population density and a high demand for service.
It's the dirty little secret of city governments: They are businesses. They don't really exist, contrary to popular opinion, to provide residents with services. They exist to provide jobs for people who can't get them in the private sector, and then to provide same with benefits and retirement no private sector employee can dream of.
These benefits are the next looming fiscal crisis that awaits not very far off in the future. Public sector retirements beyond what the People can afford. This is a main driver of over development, the wolf at the door, the gun to the head of every municipal government. That and special interest Not For Profit funding, said funding providing what used to be public services, at a lower level of service and a much higher cost per actual service delivered than even the public sector provides. These Not for Profits must be funded via government or governments can not function.
There is a long history to these deals made more or less with the Devil of expediency, a thirty year shameful history, and one that could go on for pages.
While I like tilting at windmills, I don't like doing it alone and I like to win against the windmill at least on occasion. There is no win here I can imagine for the public, and no win where I would gain personally where I would not be tempted to cut my throat while shaving. I would have thought my nemesis could understand that, having once at the end of his public career having said he often thought of same peaceful end, but he does not.
No, the best thing for me is to save my hundred year old Valencias from whatever it is afflicting them, do what good design work is still possible, make some art, and finish my 1912 Model T. It is what can keep one from being a raving lunatic, a condition my nemesis once took full advantage of.
It is not true that all that is needed for evil to triumph is for the good to do nothing. I think of my friends, Hari, John, Frank, Tim, Mike, who poured out their too short lives doing so much to do good and who were in the end left only with the legacy of long fruitless fights. I love their memories. I treasure the years we had together in battle, more than I was ever able to understand or tell them before they had to die, but that said, I do not wish to die disappointed.
I wish for my oranges to live to be two hundred, for my model T to sing the songs of trembling coils in the nervous youthful songs of propulsion, to make small places once ugly, lovely personal forms of habitation and by so doing also in small ways heal the planet and with it the souls of those who enter. I tried to no avail doing Justice and Righteousness in my generation. It doesn't seem to have been mine to achieve even in a small way. I roll that rock uphill no longer.
I found a early Dodge brothers stamped wishbone for the T, that is enough for a few months, a joy my nemesis will never understand.
I understand that every restoration is a Prophetic work, a gift to the past and future of mankind. The smallest of these is now enough, the would be public good, too painful to see destroyed. better not to speak what can not be made and will only be destroyed.
As some old Jewish prophet wrote in red letters in a book with gold gilded edges "Cast not your pearls before swine." No more of that.
Well, I guess when you've tried positive, and devoted years of your life to a few positive initiatives and seen them barnaclized with every imaginable form of slimy stinky pork self interest to the point that the positives are net negatives, the idea of working for the greater good in the public arena through say local Government, seems like a really twisted bad joke. That's the very long of it, and a short answer to a number of now historical questions. The brief somewhat kind, less than totally bitter answer.
Yes, I could explain at great length, but have I not done that endlessly already? So what becomes the point? To rehash what could, but will not be repaired? Why does this person who claims anyway to know nothing really of Altadena, care except as a platform for his uninformed insults? For more of his posturing? For another attempt at silencing a voice that does not agree with the donors whose campaign contributions he hides behind relatives friends and people who the Tongs gin up? Who can say?
Pasadena annexation? How would the People of Altadena better be served by a City that already isn't serving it's citizens? Didn't most Altadenans move here to escape that mess? Yeah most. True some to the east desire it, and I for one would be only too happy were they alone annexed, but they and here is the oh so funny part, they are not desired alone, because their side of town would not be profitable to serve. You see they have a low population density and a high demand for service.
It's the dirty little secret of city governments: They are businesses. They don't really exist, contrary to popular opinion, to provide residents with services. They exist to provide jobs for people who can't get them in the private sector, and then to provide same with benefits and retirement no private sector employee can dream of.
These benefits are the next looming fiscal crisis that awaits not very far off in the future. Public sector retirements beyond what the People can afford. This is a main driver of over development, the wolf at the door, the gun to the head of every municipal government. That and special interest Not For Profit funding, said funding providing what used to be public services, at a lower level of service and a much higher cost per actual service delivered than even the public sector provides. These Not for Profits must be funded via government or governments can not function.
There is a long history to these deals made more or less with the Devil of expediency, a thirty year shameful history, and one that could go on for pages.
While I like tilting at windmills, I don't like doing it alone and I like to win against the windmill at least on occasion. There is no win here I can imagine for the public, and no win where I would gain personally where I would not be tempted to cut my throat while shaving. I would have thought my nemesis could understand that, having once at the end of his public career having said he often thought of same peaceful end, but he does not.
No, the best thing for me is to save my hundred year old Valencias from whatever it is afflicting them, do what good design work is still possible, make some art, and finish my 1912 Model T. It is what can keep one from being a raving lunatic, a condition my nemesis once took full advantage of.
It is not true that all that is needed for evil to triumph is for the good to do nothing. I think of my friends, Hari, John, Frank, Tim, Mike, who poured out their too short lives doing so much to do good and who were in the end left only with the legacy of long fruitless fights. I love their memories. I treasure the years we had together in battle, more than I was ever able to understand or tell them before they had to die, but that said, I do not wish to die disappointed.
I wish for my oranges to live to be two hundred, for my model T to sing the songs of trembling coils in the nervous youthful songs of propulsion, to make small places once ugly, lovely personal forms of habitation and by so doing also in small ways heal the planet and with it the souls of those who enter. I tried to no avail doing Justice and Righteousness in my generation. It doesn't seem to have been mine to achieve even in a small way. I roll that rock uphill no longer.
I found a early Dodge brothers stamped wishbone for the T, that is enough for a few months, a joy my nemesis will never understand.
I understand that every restoration is a Prophetic work, a gift to the past and future of mankind. The smallest of these is now enough, the would be public good, too painful to see destroyed. better not to speak what can not be made and will only be destroyed.
As some old Jewish prophet wrote in red letters in a book with gold gilded edges "Cast not your pearls before swine." No more of that.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Where and When?
If you heard someone telling you a story where uniformed semi official "police" were taking over and deciding where polling places would be, where and when would you believe I was talking about? If I told you that these folks didn't allow qualified voters to vote where and when would you believe I was talking about? If I told you there was a independent investigation of these irregularities and at least nine more in an election and the same uniformed troops showed up and intimidated the folks who were to rule on the investigation where and when would you believe I was talking about? If I told you that when it came to appoint cabinet officers for this group that the people who had been elected through this seemingly flawed process, the general rules that had always been applied were violated and the violators voted themselves the privilege to change those rules? Where and when would you believe I was talking about?
Would it be:
Moscow in 1926?
Italy in 1927?
Spain in 1928?
Berlin 1933?
Yugoslavia 1945?
Peking 1946?
Nope none of those totalitarian governments.
Try Altadena, 2008. Amazingly enough the shock troops were organized by a local not for profit grant writer, Board member of the League of Women Voters (an organization with a proud history of corrupting Altadena elections) , and All Saints functionary. Go look at the tapes of the July and August 2008 Altadena Town Council meetings. The bylaws only mean in Altadena what the good old East Side White Boys say they mean, and they mean whatever those East Side White Boys need them to mean in the moment, even if they didn't mean that last year, last month, last week or ten minutes ago. The Fearless Leader of EngSoc in 1984 had nothing on these guys when it comes to revisionism. Orwell's novel only suffers from a lack of imagination.
Coming next will be votes on issues where those voting will no longer to bother not disclosing that they have been paid by developers, they will advertise their "donations" and go right ahead and vote while having conflicts of interest large enough to drive a battleship through.
When will the public stop it?
Would it be:
Moscow in 1926?
Italy in 1927?
Spain in 1928?
Berlin 1933?
Yugoslavia 1945?
Peking 1946?
Nope none of those totalitarian governments.
Try Altadena, 2008. Amazingly enough the shock troops were organized by a local not for profit grant writer, Board member of the League of Women Voters (an organization with a proud history of corrupting Altadena elections) , and All Saints functionary. Go look at the tapes of the July and August 2008 Altadena Town Council meetings. The bylaws only mean in Altadena what the good old East Side White Boys say they mean, and they mean whatever those East Side White Boys need them to mean in the moment, even if they didn't mean that last year, last month, last week or ten minutes ago. The Fearless Leader of EngSoc in 1984 had nothing on these guys when it comes to revisionism. Orwell's novel only suffers from a lack of imagination.
Coming next will be votes on issues where those voting will no longer to bother not disclosing that they have been paid by developers, they will advertise their "donations" and go right ahead and vote while having conflicts of interest large enough to drive a battleship through.
When will the public stop it?
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Swine Shit
So there I am. Innocently at my drill press, drilling the 103 extra holes in my second Model T Quadbeck backing plate, making my 90 year old aftermarket brakes lighter so my 1912 Model T speedster will handle better and the Evil telephone rings. It does that, generally when I am trying to have fun or deeply concentrating on work. Its about as welcome in either case. I ignore the phone from hole 73 to hole 77, but it keeps ringing. Dammit. I lay down my backing plate carefully and grumble across the studio, totally annoyed.
I glace down at the telephone and it's Helga's number. I adore Helga. It's amazing what having a good heart and making a tastee Hot Link Taco can do for a persons esteem in my mind. I sigh, however. I know she means to, but Helga never calls me to say hi or see if I want to go have some fun, she calls when there is trouble, and in Altadena there is always trouble.
"Hello Sweetness how are those light eyes today?"
"Brother Steve", she says as if to lightly scold my joking forwardness,
"Brother Steve, they shut down Par."
I was so pissed off I couldn't say anything. I couldn't swear. I just took my stainless steel Architects three sided rule and threw it against my backwall, where it still is embedded three inches into my plaster.(Note to self: fix that...)
SO I went to Lincoln Crossing. I saw the Evil taking place. I consoled the disraught citizens and the small business owners who had been displaced..I hugged Par Aria. We could say nothing to each other. He had worked so hard for Altadena to fulfill the longing for a high quality full service Supermarket. He had become beloved by the good people of Altadena for this effort, reviled and hated by the bad ones. It had become a easy earmark of a persons other qualities, to ask how they liked the market.
I spent the next week, as I had spent much of the last several years, trying to help Par Aria. That fight wages on and will for quite some time , I suspect. I came away from this week with some thoughts:
Living in the County with no direct local government sucks. Yeah yeah I know Mr. Mike, he does everything for us, blah blah bullshit. To think that, you have to enjoy the sensation of vaseline at your backside. The County took twenty years of promising a supermarket and then they tried very hard not to deliver one. We had to organize a army to get one. The shopping center as it was redesigned is a piece of shit. It has terribly constructed buildings that the County signed off on, it has a horribly designed parking lot, the buildings suffer from Grandomania and the site plan is the worst thing I have seen built in over twenty years. Retardete thinking and not even a good example of that. Shit. Pure swine shit. Well as Frank Lloyd Wright always said "When a man builds, you see him for what he is." In this case, the builder, Dorn -Platz, clearly is what they have built. Swine shit. More than that, the County government that is to protect the people from such monstrosities has been deeply involved in the creation of this nightmare in steel, glass, and concrete. They have also been double dealing, pretending to be a neutral arbiter in disputes between the tenants and landlord, when in fact they had months before approved the removal of the tenants with the landlord and conspired in the facilitation of that removal. The County of Los Angeles as an entity and the individuals involved in the defrauding of the public here are complete total swine shit.
Now it must be said here, that I have no great affection for, or illusions regarding the government of the City of Pasadena. They are corrupt. They are little shits themselves, it is undeniable, but at least they are not pure swine shit. At least the City of Pasadena will make you design a decent looking (not great mind you, but not an eyesore either) well functioning development. The City of Pasadena won't stand for this three years behind building schedule either. Build it, get it done, or lose it and it gets bulldozed. I've seen them do that one twice. Hey, they are about the People's business. Its serious. Act right.
Long ago, at the start of Lincoln Crossing an old African-American Republican political hand took me aside and told me he had a message from "on High" for me:
First thing: "The County will see to it the Supermarket fails, there are other plans for that redevelopment, bio-tech is going there no matter what the community thinks."
Second Thing:" Its more important that Mike is seen as being central to the success of any endeavor than the community succeed. The community can not be allowed to succeed without Mike. He will see to that. Remember it."
Now I thought the Kemo for this guys cancer had gotten to his head. I thought he was crazy. Too much time spent helping kids build craft projects, the glue got to him. Uh problem is, he uh seems to have been right. I hate it when the whack job who is more of a conspiracy theorist than I am is right. Makes me feel like I live in an ocean of Swine Shit. I just hate it!
But I do live in an ocean of Swine Shit. Its a undemocratic place where the reflexive question of most in town life regarding any issue is "What does the fearless leader think about this?" Not "whats good for the community?" Certainly almost never "Whats the right thing to do?", not logical stuff like "what are the benefits and liabilities?". No in a ocean of Swine Shit the first question is always: What does the unaccountable fearless leader want? The second question is something like "Who of the fearless leaders friends can be given service contracts for portions of this project?" Pure unadulterated Swine Shit.
That's the biggest problem really with Altadena. Its part of an Empire, the County of Los Angeles, and it has a hostile competing Empire, the City of Pasadena, waiting to rescue it by annexation, not to represent, but again to subjugate and exploit. It has no voice of its own, because any attempt to speak with a voice of for and by Altadena will be opposed fiercely by town "leadership" who are nothing but castrated gagged vassals of the Emperor, who must flog anyone who dare threaten the trough at which they gorge themselves. So we are lead by, surrounded by,awash in Swine Shit.
If we were not awash in Swine Shit, if we were a city of free responsible people, we would not allow any developer to keep our money, destroy our local business people and be three years behind his construction schedule, have already built substandard buildings and be bragging that he is about to start the next phase. What can you say about that situation except everyone involved in pushing it forward is nothing but Swine Shit?
There is a lot of highly paid Swine Shit waddling around the halls of County Offices, Board rooms and community centers. As some old Jewish Prophet dude once said "By their fruits shall you know them." Absolute runny brown smelly Swine Shit.
I glace down at the telephone and it's Helga's number. I adore Helga. It's amazing what having a good heart and making a tastee Hot Link Taco can do for a persons esteem in my mind. I sigh, however. I know she means to, but Helga never calls me to say hi or see if I want to go have some fun, she calls when there is trouble, and in Altadena there is always trouble.
"Hello Sweetness how are those light eyes today?"
"Brother Steve", she says as if to lightly scold my joking forwardness,
"Brother Steve, they shut down Par."
I was so pissed off I couldn't say anything. I couldn't swear. I just took my stainless steel Architects three sided rule and threw it against my backwall, where it still is embedded three inches into my plaster.(Note to self: fix that...)
SO I went to Lincoln Crossing. I saw the Evil taking place. I consoled the disraught citizens and the small business owners who had been displaced..I hugged Par Aria. We could say nothing to each other. He had worked so hard for Altadena to fulfill the longing for a high quality full service Supermarket. He had become beloved by the good people of Altadena for this effort, reviled and hated by the bad ones. It had become a easy earmark of a persons other qualities, to ask how they liked the market.
I spent the next week, as I had spent much of the last several years, trying to help Par Aria. That fight wages on and will for quite some time , I suspect. I came away from this week with some thoughts:
Living in the County with no direct local government sucks. Yeah yeah I know Mr. Mike, he does everything for us, blah blah bullshit. To think that, you have to enjoy the sensation of vaseline at your backside. The County took twenty years of promising a supermarket and then they tried very hard not to deliver one. We had to organize a army to get one. The shopping center as it was redesigned is a piece of shit. It has terribly constructed buildings that the County signed off on, it has a horribly designed parking lot, the buildings suffer from Grandomania and the site plan is the worst thing I have seen built in over twenty years. Retardete thinking and not even a good example of that. Shit. Pure swine shit. Well as Frank Lloyd Wright always said "When a man builds, you see him for what he is." In this case, the builder, Dorn -Platz, clearly is what they have built. Swine shit. More than that, the County government that is to protect the people from such monstrosities has been deeply involved in the creation of this nightmare in steel, glass, and concrete. They have also been double dealing, pretending to be a neutral arbiter in disputes between the tenants and landlord, when in fact they had months before approved the removal of the tenants with the landlord and conspired in the facilitation of that removal. The County of Los Angeles as an entity and the individuals involved in the defrauding of the public here are complete total swine shit.
Now it must be said here, that I have no great affection for, or illusions regarding the government of the City of Pasadena. They are corrupt. They are little shits themselves, it is undeniable, but at least they are not pure swine shit. At least the City of Pasadena will make you design a decent looking (not great mind you, but not an eyesore either) well functioning development. The City of Pasadena won't stand for this three years behind building schedule either. Build it, get it done, or lose it and it gets bulldozed. I've seen them do that one twice. Hey, they are about the People's business. Its serious. Act right.
Long ago, at the start of Lincoln Crossing an old African-American Republican political hand took me aside and told me he had a message from "on High" for me:
First thing: "The County will see to it the Supermarket fails, there are other plans for that redevelopment, bio-tech is going there no matter what the community thinks."
Second Thing:" Its more important that Mike is seen as being central to the success of any endeavor than the community succeed. The community can not be allowed to succeed without Mike. He will see to that. Remember it."
Now I thought the Kemo for this guys cancer had gotten to his head. I thought he was crazy. Too much time spent helping kids build craft projects, the glue got to him. Uh problem is, he uh seems to have been right. I hate it when the whack job who is more of a conspiracy theorist than I am is right. Makes me feel like I live in an ocean of Swine Shit. I just hate it!
But I do live in an ocean of Swine Shit. Its a undemocratic place where the reflexive question of most in town life regarding any issue is "What does the fearless leader think about this?" Not "whats good for the community?" Certainly almost never "Whats the right thing to do?", not logical stuff like "what are the benefits and liabilities?". No in a ocean of Swine Shit the first question is always: What does the unaccountable fearless leader want? The second question is something like "Who of the fearless leaders friends can be given service contracts for portions of this project?" Pure unadulterated Swine Shit.
That's the biggest problem really with Altadena. Its part of an Empire, the County of Los Angeles, and it has a hostile competing Empire, the City of Pasadena, waiting to rescue it by annexation, not to represent, but again to subjugate and exploit. It has no voice of its own, because any attempt to speak with a voice of for and by Altadena will be opposed fiercely by town "leadership" who are nothing but castrated gagged vassals of the Emperor, who must flog anyone who dare threaten the trough at which they gorge themselves. So we are lead by, surrounded by,awash in Swine Shit.
If we were not awash in Swine Shit, if we were a city of free responsible people, we would not allow any developer to keep our money, destroy our local business people and be three years behind his construction schedule, have already built substandard buildings and be bragging that he is about to start the next phase. What can you say about that situation except everyone involved in pushing it forward is nothing but Swine Shit?
There is a lot of highly paid Swine Shit waddling around the halls of County Offices, Board rooms and community centers. As some old Jewish Prophet dude once said "By their fruits shall you know them." Absolute runny brown smelly Swine Shit.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tennis anyone?
Just when you think the PUSD Board can't get anymore stupid than they seem so far, reality comes with a big fat half rotted rough sawn 2"x4" and hits you straight across the cheek. There I was, basking in the glory of private life, of finishing a long half painted oil painting and drilling out the backing plates on my rare Quadbeck model T aftermarket brakes, and someone has to make a midninght document delivery on my patio. Wonder how they got past my new gate without making a sound. Clever activist.
SO I awaken to a manilla envelope with a MOU between the Pasadena Unified School District, the City of Pasadena, and the Altadena Town and Country Club. Lotsa leagalese and bullshit. As I am brewing my morning dose of Motor-Head Coffee I read. I plunge the French Press, swear, and drink down a quarter cup before I re read, thinking I must have misunderstood......
I did misunderstand. it was worse than I thought. Seems the Altadena Town and Country Club is seeking exclusive non school hour use of the publically owned tennis courts Eliot Junior High School. SO... I get a piece of paper, pull out my Farmers Almanac, and I begin to figure out how many hours are available after school, on weekends, in the summer and during Christmas and Easter break for the ATCC to use. Then multiply by 3 (the number of courts to be used exclusively) Hmmmm almost eight thousand hours over a five year period. SO off to the computer I run to figure out what does a tennis court rent for by the hour? Municipal Courts tend to rent for about $12 an hour, Private Courts about $50 an hour....SO the FAIR MARKET VALUE of the lease is worth between a million and four million someplace. The ATCC is willing to pay "up to $50,000" including their insurence coverage. This amount to be for the repair and improvement of the courts, no money ios to be paid to the citizens as a lease for their land and property.
Does that sound like a fair deal? Deprive the public of the use of an asset and pay between 1 1/2 to 5% of the market value?
Aside from the horrible economics of this contract, there are some other considerations such as :
Should a public entity, and the public, be subsidizing a private elitist anti democratic club?
Why does the PUSD need this contract? Didn't they get a $240m bond to repair the schools facilities a decade ago? Are they not trying for another $340m bond this year for the same? Doesn't that $580 million cover repairing the three tennis courts at Eliot?
Don't those Country Club people have any shred of decency that they would attempt such a outrageous contract? A contract that required enforcement of the exclusive use of the site by the ATCC by the police.
Doesn't the public own this property? When will the public be able to use these play fields at school sites for casual un organized recreation?
Who at the PUSD got the gravy on this one?
This turkey of a contract was due to be heard last night, but after the emails began flowing, the item was pulled from the agenda. Look out this bulging bit of pork will return!
SO I awaken to a manilla envelope with a MOU between the Pasadena Unified School District, the City of Pasadena, and the Altadena Town and Country Club. Lotsa leagalese and bullshit. As I am brewing my morning dose of Motor-Head Coffee I read. I plunge the French Press, swear, and drink down a quarter cup before I re read, thinking I must have misunderstood......
I did misunderstand. it was worse than I thought. Seems the Altadena Town and Country Club is seeking exclusive non school hour use of the publically owned tennis courts Eliot Junior High School. SO... I get a piece of paper, pull out my Farmers Almanac, and I begin to figure out how many hours are available after school, on weekends, in the summer and during Christmas and Easter break for the ATCC to use. Then multiply by 3 (the number of courts to be used exclusively) Hmmmm almost eight thousand hours over a five year period. SO off to the computer I run to figure out what does a tennis court rent for by the hour? Municipal Courts tend to rent for about $12 an hour, Private Courts about $50 an hour....SO the FAIR MARKET VALUE of the lease is worth between a million and four million someplace. The ATCC is willing to pay "up to $50,000" including their insurence coverage. This amount to be for the repair and improvement of the courts, no money ios to be paid to the citizens as a lease for their land and property.
Does that sound like a fair deal? Deprive the public of the use of an asset and pay between 1 1/2 to 5% of the market value?
Aside from the horrible economics of this contract, there are some other considerations such as :
Should a public entity, and the public, be subsidizing a private elitist anti democratic club?
Why does the PUSD need this contract? Didn't they get a $240m bond to repair the schools facilities a decade ago? Are they not trying for another $340m bond this year for the same? Doesn't that $580 million cover repairing the three tennis courts at Eliot?
Don't those Country Club people have any shred of decency that they would attempt such a outrageous contract? A contract that required enforcement of the exclusive use of the site by the ATCC by the police.
Doesn't the public own this property? When will the public be able to use these play fields at school sites for casual un organized recreation?
Who at the PUSD got the gravy on this one?
This turkey of a contract was due to be heard last night, but after the emails began flowing, the item was pulled from the agenda. Look out this bulging bit of pork will return!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
We live in a political world
We live in a political world,
love don't have any place-
We're living in times where men commit crimes -
and crime don't have a face.
We live in a political world,
Icicles are hangin down -
All the respectable ones sing,
The Righteous, they are cast to the ground!
We live in a political world,
Wisdom is thrown into Jail,
It rots in a cell, is mistreated as hell,
Leaving no one to pick up the trail.
We live in a political world-
Where Mercy walks the plank-
Life is in mirrors, death disappears
Up the steps into the nearest bank.
We live in a political world,
Where Courage is a thing of the past.
Houses are haunted, your children unwanted-
The next day may be your last!
We live in a political world,
the one you see and feel
Aint no one to check, it's all a stacked deck-
We know for sure, thats whats real!
We live in a political world,
the cities of lonesome fear
Little by little, you turn to the middle,
But, you're never sure that you're here.
We live in a political world,
Under the microscope
You can travel anywhere, and hang yourself there-
You always have more than enough rope.
We live in a political world,
Turning and thrashing about.
Soon as you're awake, you're trained to take-
What looks like the easy way out.
We live in a political world,
the rich they opress the poor,
They have the nerve to claim, God's name-
while to Mammon they whore!
We live in a political world,
God's Servant ain't welcome at all,
He's turned away from the door, made tro wander some more-
Till he's put up against the wall!
Transcribed from Bob Dylan concert by Steve Lamb , 1996
copyright Bob Dylan, 1989
love don't have any place-
We're living in times where men commit crimes -
and crime don't have a face.
We live in a political world,
Icicles are hangin down -
All the respectable ones sing,
The Righteous, they are cast to the ground!
We live in a political world,
Wisdom is thrown into Jail,
It rots in a cell, is mistreated as hell,
Leaving no one to pick up the trail.
We live in a political world-
Where Mercy walks the plank-
Life is in mirrors, death disappears
Up the steps into the nearest bank.
We live in a political world,
Where Courage is a thing of the past.
Houses are haunted, your children unwanted-
The next day may be your last!
We live in a political world,
the one you see and feel
Aint no one to check, it's all a stacked deck-
We know for sure, thats whats real!
We live in a political world,
the cities of lonesome fear
Little by little, you turn to the middle,
But, you're never sure that you're here.
We live in a political world,
Under the microscope
You can travel anywhere, and hang yourself there-
You always have more than enough rope.
We live in a political world,
Turning and thrashing about.
Soon as you're awake, you're trained to take-
What looks like the easy way out.
We live in a political world,
the rich they opress the poor,
They have the nerve to claim, God's name-
while to Mammon they whore!
We live in a political world,
God's Servant ain't welcome at all,
He's turned away from the door, made tro wander some more-
Till he's put up against the wall!
Transcribed from Bob Dylan concert by Steve Lamb , 1996
copyright Bob Dylan, 1989
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