A City Hall spat, charter schools in trouble, Pico Rivera parents talk recall, and Jose Canseco loses his house. It's last links!
Quite the "Did so!" "Did not!" "Did so!" spat developing between Rocky Delgadillo, L.A.'s city attorney, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Details from Robert Greene in Opinion LA.
A fight over charter schools in the L.A. Unified School District. LADN
Is this the worst dog park on earth? LAist
Altadena woman sentenced to 25 years to life in murder of her newborn baby. Star-News
A cool photo of a snake skeleton at The Contaminated.
Parents threaten recall over Pico Rivera school closures. Wave Newspapers
Missed the May Day demonstrations? Then join the marijuana march. Desert Sun
Compton College years away from accreditation. Wave Newspapers
Former major league baseball player Jose Canseco's home foreclosed. LAT
-- Veronique de Turenne & Jesus Sanchez
Photos: Los Angeles Times
If Rocky had anything to show for himself as City Attorney, he might have an argument -- but his office either is afraid to prosecute high-profile cases, of loses them or farms them out to high-priced firms he'd apparently like to compete with.
Then there's his huge sell-out to ClearChannel/CBS on the billboard issue, going in direct oppostion to directives of the City Council, giving them MORE permission to put and keep up illegal billboards without paying, and adding giant 7-story lighted billboards, too. (Of course, they gave him a half- mil in free ads to get his current job and threw him a recent "thank you" party at a ritzy Beverly Hills Hotel -- the guy is utterly shameless.) Rocky's personal ineptitude is well-known, and earned him a nod for "10 Worst Attorneys in the U. S." from a lawyer's group.
Every dept. is cutting 5% of their budgets, even though they have way fewer admin. support staff to begin with, so this lummox should, too. Period.
Posted by: Wassup | May 01, 2008 at 06:22 PM
Rocky Delgadillo won't cut the same 5% of his staff budget that every other dept. is doing, from the Council Offices to Controller? Just to show he's part of the city and understands the fiscal crisis? Even as the Budget Committee spent all day nickel and diming through every dept. looking for cuts, and they're cutting Park Rangers including for Griffith Park, which means loss of public safety, even clean bathrooms.
Sorry, but that's worth more than Rockard's ego, seeing as his dept. either loses every case they try, or they farm them out to very high-priced law firms, leaving one to wonder, just WHAT does he do? Besides selling out the city to ClearChannel/CBS the greedy, litigious billboard company which gave him half a mil in free ads when he won his current job over community activist, anti-billboard Mike Feuer. (Jill Stewart and Christine Pelicek in the L A Weekly have a good rundown on that major sellout costing our city tens of millions thanks to Rocky -- Patt Morrison and David Zahniser have touched on it in this paper.)
Rocky's done nothing to stop of slow gang crime, and has occasionally been forced to file gang injunctions, which is like fishing for mackerel and casting a wide enough net for porpoises and sea turtles, because they haven't developed a targeted system to go after criminals. Rocky runs hither and yon getting his huge head in various photo ops, promising besieged communities relief, then disappears from sight indefinitely -- from Pacoima and Panorama City to Harbor Gateway and Watts, never mind sticking his big oafish head into Glassell Park or Ramona Gardens. WHAT has he done?
Being named on the "Top Ten Worst Lawyers in the Country" by a legal poll really IS something, but not the kind of thing that deserves being rewarded as the only dept. that won't cut staff.
Posted by: Miss Marple | May 01, 2008 at 08:30 PM
Just a correction: the Pasadena Star News story is about an Alhambra woman, not an Altadena woman.
Posted by: T. Rutt | May 02, 2008 at 08:11 AM