Where The Hell Was The Mayor? Busy Making Yet Another Video?

Did you see the TV news coverage of the "community meeting" in Westlake over the shooting of the knife-wielding illegal alien Guatemalan with the criminal record?  Did you see video of the crowd heckling Chief Beck when he read eyewitness statements?

Did you see the video where the Mayor Villariagosa addressed the concerns of the "community?" Did you see him try to calm everyone down, and explain, in Spanish, that here in America, it's considered "wrong" to attack police with knives?

Of course you didn't, because the Mayor didn't bother to show up. Villaraigosa pulled a "Polloraigosa" and hid from confrontation -- like when he refused to debate yours truly in the 2009 election. This Mayor only has time to show up for happy photo-op events and make videos featuring his favorite person in the whole world: himself.

He has time to make videos about vital issues like "Fashion Night Out," and to stand with fashion models to urge you to buy haute couture in L.A. But he doesn't have time for trifles like trying to prevent rioting in the streets -- rioting by the illegal aliens whose violation of federal law he aids and abets with his "sanctuary city" policies.

Irresponsible. Shameful. Disgraceful. That's the "leader" of America's second-biggest city. This is still technically America, right? You want to fix it? Four little words:  Sheriff Joe for President.

In the meantime, look at how much time Villaraigosa -- too busy to prevent rioting -- spent gazing adoringly at his own reflection in camera lenses for "Fashion Night Out" and dozens of other videos posted to his own YouTube page.  His office produces more video locally than Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC combined. Too bad he never produces any results for taxpayers.

You want more Villaraigosa video? You got it, amigo -- even en espagnol:

We're Number One! Thank You, City Hall!

No wonder Detroit's leaders want to bulldoze entire neighborhoods.  How else could they keep pace with the fantastic achievement produced right here in Los Angeles by Mayor Villaraigosa and the rest of the Spring Street Gang?

By handing hundreds of millions of dollars of your money to developers who, in effect, take the money and run, City Hall has made our city the leader in . . . wait for it . . . vacant lots.

Read all about it in Tim Cavanaugh's essay at Reason.com.

Plus, the hits keep coming:  the LA Weekly reports today on the return of the 1601 N. Vine boondoggle.  Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reported on the Slauson Central Retail boondoggle.

Hundreds of millions of your tax dollars go to these scams every single year through the CRA.

Are All California Officials Megalomaniacs?

Are all California officials megalomaniacs? Is it an unspoken job requirement? Or do they just think voters are really, really stupid?

I ask because, according to the Daily News, Governor Schwarzenegger and unspecified "Los Angeles- area officials" are taking a trip to Asia together, and they want you to believe the purpose of the trip is to convince Asian companies to open factories and businesses here.

They can't possibly think Asian business owners are that stupid, can they? Why would anyone who can manufacture a product elsewhere subject himself to the misery of trying to do business here? Sure, you can essentially bribe one or two companies -- like BYD, about which I wrote on April 29, 2010 -- to open a small office here if you promise them massive governmental contracts. But no one in his right mind opens a factory here to compete in the real market.

Oh, well. Maybe Schwarzenegger, Villaraigosa and whoever can get some nice t-shirts expressing their world view, as in, "Why yes, actually, the world DOES revolve around me."

Were They Supposed To Wait Till He Stabbed Someone?

Hey, you know a great way to prevent illegal aliens from Guatemala who brandish knives from getting shot by LAPD? Enforce the immigration laws.

Here's Channel 7's coverage of the Tuesday night mini-riot:

Judging from Channel 2's coverage last night -- which I saw but could not find a copy of -- it looked as though a few in the crowd were trying to provoke the police.

And why wouldn't they, after all the money Villaraigosa handed illegal aliens without a trial for the "May Day Melee?"

The solution to this kind of BS is simple:  enforce the damn law.  Enforce the immigration laws. Enforce the laws against public drunkenness. Enforce the laws prohibiting people from blocking traffic. Enforce the laws requiring people driving cars to have a license, registration and proof of insurance.

The Los Angeles Times reports that at least 22 people were arrested at last night's riot. How many of them, do you suppose, are in this country legally? Oh, mustn't even ask, because only Nazi Germany and Arizona believe in immigration laws, right?

This isn't rocket science. This is what happens when career politicians treat illegal aliens as if they are above the law, and refuse to lift a finger to protect the quality of life of the City's law-abiding, tax-paying citizens who pay their excessive, unearned salaries.

Labor Day Irony: Villaraigosa's Port Plan Cost Hundreds Their Jobs

Yesterday, I explained how Villaraigosa and the City Council, by imposing $1.6 billion in fees to fund the "clean trucks" program at the Port of Los Angeles, had diverted shipping away from the port, thereby reducing the Port's market share and revenues, and triggering yet another local a debt crisis.

Today, Labor Day, there's more "good news."

The Los Angeles Business Journal reports, in an article entitled, "Port Drivers Will Keep On Truckin'," by Daniel Miller, that Villaraigosa's "clean truck" program has also cost hundreds of independent drivers and small trucking companies their jobs:

Build The Chinese "Straddling Bus," Not The "Subway To The Sea"

The Chinese are working on a clever new concept:  a train or bus on tracks that moves OVER the existing traffic jams.  It looks as though it could be fun, and hold a BUNCH of people, without anyone having to go underground.  I'm guessing we'd need to re-wire some traffic lights, but why spoil our view of the sky with above-ground power lines anyway?  Here's a video from CBS Evening news.

I Told You So: City Hall May As Well Have Mined The Harbor

I told you so, big time.

Over two years ago, yours truly sounded the collision alert on the Port of L.A.  In an essay entitled "Why Don't They Just Mine The L.A. Harbor," I pointed out that Villaraigosa and the City Council, by approving $1.6 billion in additional fees on importers, exporters and trucking companies to fund the "clean trucks" program at the port, would divert shipping to other ports.

Six days after I posted that essay, moreover, the Boston Consulting Group reached the same conclusion, and predicted the Port would lose at least three percent of its business.  The Los Angeles Times reported as much at the time, by the way, in an article entitled, "Risk seen in Port plan; L.A.'s cargo business could shrink under a proposal on truckers."

So the risk was both foreseeable and foreseen.

Now, not only has it happened, but it is triggering another financial crisis by preventing these same geniuses from repaying a $1.65 billion debt they incurred to build the Alameda corridor, a rail line from the port to downtown L.A.