WEll we are gpoing to negotiate for a COnvention Center Hotel
Well the first item on the agenda after all of the commendatory resolutions

was the 1/2 cent sales tax. Got a picture of Chief of Police sitting their waitng for his opportunity to speak.
He of course begged as much as he could for those of us in Los Angeles to get m,ore police officers. But to no avail teh City Council voted not to put that sales tax on the ballot. It was the best City Council Meeting ever since I have been there. I was even crying when a young man who lost his fatehr to a robbery accused Jack Weiis and Antonio Villaraigosa of not looking out for the best interests of Los ANgeles . I could tell there was a lot of people who were there , just to make certain council people look bad and of course the mayor. But when this young man who was sincere in what he was saying spoke we all knew he was not there out of any self interest or personal gain , it was heartfelt.

while all this was going on ai Caught these two

getting in a few bites , since we wetn way past noon.

I was in tears, "I Have never seen the City Council so torn ." That was Dennis ZIne and he was right.

anyway we the moved on to the big thing I was there for. The Permission for the city to begin negitiations for a convention center hotel. Tim Leiwekie was there. Along with the SOuth pArk mover s and Shakers. Of course I am the only unpaid lobbyist there. But I know we need a convention center hotel. It passed unanimously.

SO let's see if they can get LOs ANgeles a good deal.

A DAy At City Hall
Tomkorrow is going to be a day at city hall.

The Convention Center HOtel comes up for its first reading at city hall in Council Chambers. I have to go.

We need a Convention center hotel. I Still remember in my mind all of those people who came for that Choir directors conference last weekend. Boy Oh boy! Thye sure were spending money all over LOs Angeles. WE need tons more convetnions with tons more people. I like seeing Downtown Los angeles Crowded with tourists , spending money. ANyway it looks like a fight or I am not sure we will see tomorrow. I haven't' even seen the memoradnum of understanding at all. So tomorrow I will become well informed.

Went to Mamma's Today

Well a very close friend of mine cam eover today.

He is a good guy. He had to move to longbeach because he is a diabetic and he was having problems kepeping from getting infections here in Central City East. BAsically they just had him in the wrong hotel.

So what did we do? We went to Mama's Hot Tamales Cafe.

Well we were going to go to the Promised land , but I said let's do something different.

Mama's HOt Tamales Cafe is in Macarthur PArk , not too far from Downtown Los ANgeles. You can take the redline subway to alvarado / mcarthur park staion and it takes you right there , to 7th street.

Anyway we had some wonderful tamales. I love to choose different types.

If you haven'tbeen you gotta go.

I am Endorsing Mayor JAMES HAHN

I

Don Garza

AM ENdorsing Mayor James Hahn for re election.

As a result of so much politicizing on this weblog I am Changing the Name to Downtown Central City East BLogger

That way I can rant and rave all I want to.

I will be using another site as the LA TOWN CRIER blog.

SO I have to start fresh on that one

WHo won the debate last night?
The Winner is :

ALARCON!!!!

WHy because he knows where the power is.

The only bad point was that the other candidates have districts that are counting on making housing available to all people and all incomes all over teh city. They are despeartely dense areas.

Including the debate over inclusionary zoning.

The folks who were there last night were from the west side which fear their general plans may come under seige.

But more power to the neighborhood Councils.Oh Yea!!!!

Nothing still being doen about the pea spot
I just snapped a photo of the pea spot.

Looks like the lnadlord still refuses to do anything about it.

In still don't think they have any idea of what they are doing.

Or maybe they just don't care.

AS you can see I am having luck keeping the swap meet far towards teh san pedro side of the fence

3 in the morning and I Can't sleep
It is three o,clock in the morning and I can't sleep.

Oh well ,

What can I do. MAybe another MAyoral debate might help me get to sleep. Too bad I have to wait for another one.

Update on the urinating in the cubby hole in frontt of the building
SRO has done nothing.

Nothnig at all to mitigate the effects of that spot on pour health and wefare.

I am not holding my breath.

When it comes to issues such as those , they don't listen, when it comes to making sure they get theri big haevy duty administrative salalalriess then they rally the sro tenants.

Might be nice to get something done .

stolen ballots
Well it looks like the ballot box in the SOuthern hotel was stolen.

Was George Bush Here?

Seems SRO has a problem holding elections for the tenants in the hotels .

You know for a hud funded management company to be in charge of the tenats advisory council is a conflict o interet and then they count the ballots and have the managers in Charge of teh elections?, seems to be a conflict of interest.


The worst part of it was somoene knocking on my door and asking me if I knew where the ballots were and if I had them.

I know what a conflict of interst is and I know that I can't hold onto the ballots.

I amsick of them insulting me over and over and over again. They need to be sued sooner or later for this sort of thinking about it's tenants.

I have contacted the league of women voters and will be putting a petition together today to ask that they run our election in the southern hotel.

.

Well , LA CIty City won't decide
You know ever since I arrived
in Los ANgeles I have found it to be a place even conservatives are free thinkers.

According to the
LA Times

mayor Hahn and councilmember villaraigosa are in a dead heat as well as Hertzberg Hertzberg and .Bernard Parks

ALarcon is in last place with 3%

It seems that We may have
another villaraigosa and Hahn Runnoff
in MArch.

I still haven't made my decision yet
who I will vote for . SKid row still
doesn't have aLADOT DASH service.
ANd both MAyor HAhn and Villaraigosa
got a DASH for boyle heights in the
summer of 2003 after Villaraigosa was
elected. So thet pretty much makes them
even as far as getting dissed , as far as
Central City East / Skid Row goes.

Mayor Hahn and Jan Perry both got us the
CDBG
monies for the JAmes Woods Center ,
at the grand opening MAyor Hahn sent a representative , but didn't come himself.
But at least we got the James Wood
Commuinity Center .

Villaraigosa announced a faith based
initiative to send millions of tax
payer dollars to churches and such
and it is on the Union Rescue Mission Webiste,
again Mayor Hahn's Picture is
also on that website above
Villaraigosas endorsement of the Rescue Mission.

Again makes it even , in not getting dissed.

My opinion is that faith
based initiative monies
should be going to the neighborhoods ,
not huge missions with exorbitant
administartive salaries. But the
UNion Recue Mission is looking in
the right places with the establishement
of off skid row family housing to help
families get on with thier lives.

The biggest question of all is that
with all of the embedded investement
in Central City East , I am referring
to the Rehabilitated Hotels , will we
contintue to receive the restricted
funding from
LAhSA
Word from the low income advocates
is that the market rate developers
want to push us out of here. And
they blame the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance.
I kind of like the ARO .
I am getting all sorts of
benefits like new places
to eat healthy food , instead
of food laced with carbohydrates
and sugar as well as new neighbors
who say I don't belong here.

So who will I vote for.

I know I will be voting for
JAn PErry . That is a given.
But which candidate for mayor.

All of the candidates running for
mayor besides Hertzberg and ALArcon
and the not so name recognized, signed
the Resolution Recognizing me in mY role
as the Downtown Los Angeles Town Crier.
So I may not be able to publicly
endores a candidate for mayor.

One thing is for sure when before
I yelled at candidates HAHN when
I ran into him as he was leaving
the Central Police Station looking
for votes before he won the last race,
he looked at me as I was asking him what
he has done for skid row , what he will
do for skid row, and why none of the
candidates actively campaign here so
we can be inofrmed voters, because
we do vote , he looked at me and told
me that I need to use personal
responsibility if I want to change
things. Instead of someone looking
at me and saying that I was helpless
and hopeless. He said I had something
inside me to change my life and my
neighborhood.
He talked to me as an equal.
Take personal responsibility
for my neighborhood. As he
walked away I yelled at him
and said I wasn't going to
vote for him , no matter how
pretty the campaign people
are who were with him,
( nice looking gals ) ,
because he didn't actively
campaign in central city east
with the over 6 thousand residents
who live here .I didn't vote for him
I voted for Villaraigosa. But the fire he reignited in me has stayed with me.
Personal repsonsibiity . I had forgotten
those words. Even in my situation and condition
I can still practice personal responsibility.

As you can see I have some thinking to do.
And I have to choose at the polls.

Like most angelenos I still can't
make up my mind.