Results tagged “villaraigosa”

The next in a series of community town halls with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, featuring the new LAPD Chief, will be on the Westside next week. On Tuesday when Charlie Beck was chosen, meetings were immediately scheduled for that day in South L.A., followed by one in the Valley on Wednesday and one yesterday in El Sereno.

Tonight's episode of SoCal Connected on KCET will air an episode detailing how some South LA residents are being forced to pay thousands of dollars because they are in some so-called new flood zone, as determined by the all-mighty FEMA.

This morning, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced he will tap Deputy Chief Charlie Beck as the newest head of the LAPD. While we all wish him luck, we are simply dumbstruck by the uncanny and positively eerie resemblance to Mr. Magnum, P.I. himself. Coincidence or underhanded push to increase film production in Los Angeles?

Today is the big day. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will name our new Chief of Police. Per former Chief William Bratton's recommendation, the new LAPD leader is from within the department. The candidates are Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Charlie Beck, Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell and Deputy Chief Michel Moore.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tomorrow is expected to announce his plans in building support for something he calls the "30/10" push to accelerate Measure R transit projects--the voted in half cent sales tax increase--from being completed in 30 years to 10 years.

Remember how Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took two vacations over the summer? First there was one to Iceland and then another to Africa. That bugged KTLA's Eric Spillman enough to go digging for costs, if any, to taxpayers.

We have Pink's Hot Dogs to thank for this one. We get it, OK? Jalapeno dog. Chili. Onions. Guacamole. Villaraigosa is spicy. Caliente. You will probably have really bad breath after chomping on the mayor's weiner. But what's up with lettuce? Lettuce doesn't belong on a hot dog. It's so wrong. And where's the cheese? This dog should definitely be cheesy. What's most amazing is that this hotdog doesn't come with ham. In fact, this dog should just be a big ham stuffed inside of a...no, we won't go there.

There may be a $405-million budget shortfall, but that's not going to affect the levels of police officers employed by the city, according to an accord reached yesterday by a couple City Councilmembers and Mayor Antonio Villaragosa.

Some L.A. City Councilmembers are considering freezing the police department's budget in light of the economy and a downtrend in the city's crime statistics. Specifically, it would affect the goal of hiring 10,000 officers, a Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa campaign promise that is nearing completion. Proponents of the hiring freeze say it doesn't make sense to hire officers and then furlough them.

We always forget so quickly, but yeah, it's that time again when Mayors bet beloved city treasures when their sports teams hit the playoffs or finals. In this day and age, the bets happen on Twitter.

What a hot mess. The Department of Water and Power's commission today voted to not only name and pay a Deputy Mayor as the interim General Manager of the utility, but also continue to pay retired General Manager David Nahai for three months for consulting services. Both will earn over $6,200 a week, equivalent to a salary of $325,000.

KNX1070 is reporting that the head of the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power will resign today. A rash of recent water main breaks, including flooding in Studio City and a fire truck sucking sinkhole in Valley Village, apparently has played a role in CEO David Nahai's decision. An announcement by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected at 1 p.m.

Has the world gone topsy turvy? The city's Department of Transportation is finally using Twitter for real-time updates to their DASH service. That's a great first step as there have been many times we've waited for the Studio City/Van Nuys DASH thinking, "it'd be nice to know if it's ever coming..." You can follow the transit service here and more specifically, the downtown DASH here. Mobility Maven is the department's General Manager, Rita Robinson.

It was baby Andrew Garcia's baptismal celebration the morning he was shot in the head. Earlier and just a few blocks away, a large party was held for the 4-month-old child. At around 1 a.m. on Sunday on Kittridge Street in Van Nuys, Andrew, his mother and a friend, who is pregnant, were sitting in a parked car outside a friend's house. The friend, 28-year-old Anna Contreras, was feeding Andrew while the father and Eric Ramirez, 18, stood outside. Two young men walking by got into a verbal exchange with them, which escalated with several shot gun rounds fired at the family.

Mayor Villaraigosa walked the red carpet at the 2009 Primetime Emmys on Sunday and voiced his support for the celebration and the importance of the industry to the economy of the region.

No longer are the days of inconsistent actions regarding how the city approves and pays for special events like neighborhood block parties, farmers markets, festivals and larger, more notable street closures for events like the Oscars and Emmys (which means street closures this weekend in downtown). Some of those larger events like the Oscars will get half their fees waived while other events like farmers markets are left in the dark. The city says they need to entice events such as the Oscars to stay in Los Angeles as they contribute heavily to the local economy--caterers, flowers, fashion, tourism, etc. Farmers markets also contribute to the economy and organizers fear the new ordinance will force them to shut down as money raised is not enough to pay for street closures. Although Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed the ordinance into law today, his office tells LAist that he fully supports Farmers Markets and knows they are vital assets to our communities (case in point, a local food policy is in the works). The City Council is currently looking into a way to adapt the new ordinance to waive or minimize the fees for the markets.

No details are publicly available until the plan is ratified by union members, but today the City Council took action that reverses this week's earlier decision to cut nearly 1,000 jobs and institute 26 days of furloughs that would help the city fight a $405 million budget shortfall. Instead, the Coalition of L.A. City Unions gave up $78 million in "hard concessions" and will have to contribute an extra .37 percent of paychecks towards the city's pension fund, which will cover the early retirement of some 2,400 employees, according to the LA Times. Although 22,000 employees have membership in this union, other unions may still experience layoffs and furloughs, which could prompt lawsuits.

It's a few minutes shy of 10:30 a.m. and the Los Angeles City Council is in session, however behind closed doors as councilmembers decide on a labor deal. Earlier this week, the council voted to cut close to 1,000 jobs and institute 26 furlough days, but only as a back-up plan if talks didn't go through by the end of the month. The city faces a $405-million deficit and an earlier plan to let thousands of employees retire five years early was found to only save the city a minimal amount of money. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he refused to let any plan go forward that would compromise public safety jobs. A panel this week worked to find a way to reverse this week's decision, which may be voted upon later today.

On the heels of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's announcement about a locally grown food policy, a move by city council has some farmers markets concerned about their survival. On September 1, the L.A. City Council passed a special events ordinance, changing the rules about how and which events are eligible to have fees waived for expenses like street closures. Some community events such as block parties get a break, but farmers markets do not under the current language.

Although the L.A. City Council yesterday voted to move forward with cutting close to 1,000 jobs, many through layoffs, and making employees take 26 days off through furloughs, they still plan to negotiate a deal with a union to avoid such action. The council called their move a safety net, buying time so they can find a way to avoid the job cuts and furloughs while still eliminating a $405-million budget deficit.

Facing a $405-million budget deficit, Mayor Villaraigosa earlier this summer asked city employees to share the sacrifice. A major deal was struck with civilian union employees by letting 2,400 employees retire early within five years. That plan needed City Council approval and with months of no action, things have changed.

                  

Earlier at today's 30th Anniversary of local farmers markets, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the creation of a food policy task force that will provide a report and recommendations in the next six months on a city food policy council and a foodshed assessment. The group, which has not been chosen yet, will look into issues such as urban agriculture and community gardens, food access/transportation and level of regional self sufficiency in food production (see a full list here).

This morning at the Little Tokyo/Arts District Farmers Market, where the city celebrated 30 years of certified farmers markets (even though it began in Gardena), Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the creation of a food policy task force that will provide a report and recommendations in the next six months on a city food policy council and a foodshed assessment (details listed below).

At today's 30 years of the farmers market celebration, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected to announce a task force on food policy and will lead a pledge for local restaurants to use locally grown food.

Although officials don't know for sure, the drowning of a 3-year-old boy last week might have been prevented if rolling cuts were not in effect. To close a $54 million gap in the department's budget, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa cut non-emergency overtime in lieu of furloughs or layoffs. The cut meant shutting down 15 engines and 9 ambulances at rotating locations around the city daily.

In a statement this morning about the deaths of two L.A. County Firefighters, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also mentioned that the LAPD has evacuated 200 residents in the Riverwood and Apline communities of the northeast San Fernando Valley due to the Station Fire. Regarding the recent cutbacks in number of city fire personnel on duty over budgetary reasons, "Interim Chief Millage Peaks has suspended the department’s Modified Coverage Plan to insure every resource is available to fight this fire and protect those at risk," the Mayor said. “Currently, the Los Angeles Fire Department has four strike teams assigned to battling the fire, and has pre-deployed additional resources as a precautionary measure. The Fire Department has also joined the unified command battling the blaze.”

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa later today intends to nominate Battalion Chief Millage Peaks to head the Los Angeles Fire Department, according to sources close to the department speaking under the condition of anonymity. Peaks, a 33-year veteran of the department will replace Chief Barry Douglas, who will retire this weekend. Currently the Chief of Battalion 4 (LAX, Venice and other Pacific coast and inland neighborhoods), Peaks joined the department in 1976 and was promoted to be a captain in 1984. Eight years later, he became a Battalion Chief in South L.A.

Talk about timing, whether planned or not. An 11:30 p.m. e-mail from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office says he will announce his nomination of a new fire chief tomorrow at 11 a.m. After 34 years--two and a half as Chief--Douglas Barry last Spring announced his retirement, taking affect on August 30th. "We have brought about a unity of purpose and have moved our Department to even higher levels of professionalism both operationally and in our work environment," he said his statement in May. "We have made great strides in strengthening our future leaders by giving them the tools they need to be successful." The nominated chief must be confirmed by city council before he or she can officially take command.

On September 19th, Reverend Jeff Carr, the City’s Director of Gang Reduction and Youth Development, will become Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's new Chief of Staff. Carr, who has been charged with the successful (or not?) anti-gang Summer Night Lights program, has been at the city for two years after years of service in the nonprofit sector. "Insiders say Carr will likely have a more demanding style than [current Chief of Staff Robin] Kramer, who is widely respected and well-liked among City Council members and has been considered a major influence in helping the mayor get his policy initiatives approved," notes Rick Orlov at the Daily News. "Kramer's departure and the ascension of Carr gives Villaraigosa an opportunity to reinvigorate his mayoral agenda - and his political future - now that he has decided against running for governor in 2010." Full info from Villaraigosa's office is below.

Officials with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tell NBC4 that the illegal use of sprinkers at his city-owned mansion, The Getty House in Windsor Square, was probably due to "a program malfunction" and now has been fixed. They thanked NBC4 for pointing out the problem and has the Department of Parks and Recreation "double-checking the sprinkler system to make sure it's working right." The good news is that the city has reduced water and energy consumption in record breaking numbers. Despite the illegal sprinkler goof, the announcements help him with his goal of making Los Angeles "the greenest big city in America.”