They interviewed me about a program where you and I foot the bill to send performance artists to the Netherlands and other delightful venues, and we don't even get a crummy t-shirt.
Hey, for $12,000, I'll do an interpretive dance among the tulips by the windmill in wooden shoes. Why am I paying for somebody else's European vacation?
Finally some organization has the cojones to put the spotlight on why the City of LA is going broke(r)..... Hopefully, a reporter stuck his/her microphone in the face of CIty Council members and asked WHY these giveaways continue when the liraries are closing and other employees are furloughed and the infrastructure crumbles but somehow if we just tear down the Convention Center and build a football stadium, all of our problems will fade away......
ReplyDeleteThank you, Music Man. Count me in.
ReplyDeleteCan you believe they elected AV head of Mayor's Conference and that he was on MTP yesterday talking about the economy!!!!! Are they joking, blind or just completely uninformed?
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable. Signs of life from the mainstream press in Los Angeles. What's next? The Clippers winning an NBA championship?
ReplyDelete"life from the mainstream press in Los Angeles"?
ReplyDeleteThere is no such creature on God's Earth.
Latest Example: The Los Angeles Times Sunday (6/19/2011) California Section p.r. piece that reads like somebody in Tony Villar's blotted entourage, err, staff wrote it.
Quotations: "In a new role that will raise his national profile...". "will give him higher visability on the national stage...""could... open doors for the next stage of his career"
My favorite: "On the foreign policy front, Villar... called for..."
Tony Villar, foreign policy expert.
With his new "job", it means Tony will now be out of town permanently.
Two years until L.A. gets a mayor again, cause L.A. doesn't have one now.
I hope readers realize that the vacation destinations are all over the world including South America, Africa & Asia. Pick a country and they've probably paid for someone's vacation going there. See the City Clerk contracts for more mayor/city clowncil vacation boondoggles, contracts & idiotic loans. The list is huge!
ReplyDeleteWalter, great job at digging up this waste!
Thanks! And don't you love -- as Fox reed last night -- that they spent stimulus money on this?! Like having artists spend money IN EUROPE is going to create jobs HERE! No wonder L.A. has way-above-average unemployment rates!
ReplyDeleteWalter, Do you love Guadalajara, Mejico?
ReplyDeleteEnter Guadalajara into Basqueroots' City Clerk link above. You'll find where much of our taxpayer money is spent on culture there! And that create jobs here HOW? Maybe the mayor & Garcetti can explain it to us simple folks.
In your browser, add the contract number below to http://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkconnect/index.cfm?fa=ccon.viewrecord&contractnum= to find information on the contracts with "Guadalajara" in them.
Contract Number Title Last Change Records are sorted by Last Change Date in Descending Order
C-117798 JOSE ANTONIO AGUIRRE 09/02/2010
C-117428 LYNN FISHER DBA FRONTERA ARTS 06/25/2010
C-116017 JOHN FRIEDMAN ALICE KIMM ARCHITECTS 04/29/2010
C-115610 PILAR PEREZ 04/02/2010
C-115865 ROBERT KARIMI 02/18/2010
C-116100 WAYNE SHORTER DBA MILKY WAY EXPRESS, INC. 02/10/2010
C-115868 CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS 01/22/2010
C-116018 COMMUNITY ARTS RESOURCES 01/19/2010
C-115874 TIA CHUCHA'S CENTRO CULTURAL 12/10/2009
C-116000 DIAVOLO DANCE THEATER 11/16/2009
C-115998 ACTOR'S GANG 09/17/2009
C-115999 FILM INDEPENDENT 09/17/2009
C-115996 PLAZA DE LA RAZA 09/16/2009
C-115997 PONCHO SANCHEZ ENTERPRISES 09/16/2009
C-115869 GRAND PERFORMANCES 08/21/2009
C-115870 FOUNDATION FOR WORLD ARTS 08/21/2009
C-115871 MUSEUM ASSOCIATES 08/21/2009
C-115872 SOUTHWEST CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY 08/21/2009
C-115873 THE WORLD STAGE PERFORMANCE GALLERY, INC. 08/21/2009
C-115866 CLAREMONT MUSEUM OF ART 08/21/2009
C-115867 OTIS ART INSTITUTE 08/21/2009
Walter, I really like your serious tone on TV. This is no laughing matter. As a Bureau of Street Services employee, I also resent a comment made, during the program, that implied exporting our culture was akin to having streets cleaned. I've heard many complaints by citizens about reductions in their city services, and I take issue with this comment from a recipient of these federal stimulus dollars. There should be no reason to furlough or layoff employees in exchange for cultural exports or mega-tax breaks for hotels. Especially when these federal dollars should be used for infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteThanks and amen.
ReplyDeleteMy test for expenditures is this: Can you look a struggling single mother in the eye and tell her, "We need to take part of your paycheck to pay for this. It's important."
Sending performance artists to Europe does not pass that test. Maintaining streets does.
The council could seriously look anyone in the eye. They could eloquently justify why their projects are so important that they would deny struggling single parents food for their children!
ReplyDeleteWould they honestly DENY spending $500,000 for a great LA RAZA cause? How could they deny LA RAZA $65,000? Deny LA RAZA? No, no se puede!
Sorry moms & dads. They each could and can make excuses for all expenses with a smile on their face.
AMEN, Walter. Maintaining streets and all the city infrastructure must become top priority instead of the council giving it to family and campaign contributors.
ReplyDeleteThis waste should come out of the mayor's & council members' salaries! Share the burden - share the sacrifice, right?
ReplyDeleteAnd here, my neighbor was forced to take the first step at inquiring at the Van Nuys Public Works counter about applying for a ($320) permit to repair 35 square feet of sidewalk, so the neighbor could get by on his wheelchair.
ReplyDeleteDisgusting that our City leaders passed a recent ordinance to place the burden on sidewalk repairs on the property owner while City Hall chooses to send our tax-dollars overseas or south of our border, instead of repairing our sidewalks and streets.
Please get out and vote against Janice Hahn by electing Craig Huey for Congress on your ballot, on July 12th.