July 2007 Archives

Sierra Madre may name its city manager tonight, though we have all heard that before. Of course, they didn't release the contract (which violates the public records act) and still refuses to tell the public who the candidate is (which, unfortunately, is not). Even though if this is who it is, people from Glendale already know she is the person.
UPDATE: good thing I didn't make any predications. SM postponed the meeting until Wed.

Reporter Frank Girardot said that when he called the FBI to ask about information on how a rocket-propelled grenade found its way to an Industry trash plant, the frazzled spokeswoman said she would try to find out. It appears that she was overwhelmed with requests about Tom Cruise. She later called back and said while the FBI was called about the interesting trash, they would not be responding to the scene because it was not terrorism related. How they knew that without responding to the scene, I have no idea. Now, if there had been a few dead birds that may have gotten their attention.

Thanks to a reader who sent me to Ryan Sholin's blog. He is a reporter who uses multimedia to re-invent journalism.
* UPDATE: maybe not. I should have paid a little more attention to what I was reading, according to my very vocal journalism conscience. I'll be back with a more detailed review.
UPDATE II: I now see what my ( sometimes irritating) conscience is talking about. I should have linked to the post about covering a local race. This blog post I completely disagree with:
"We forgot to bring the advertising department to the party."
No. Journalists shouldn't be involved with those in the advertising department. The reality is that the ad people's job is to please people; our job is greatly weighted toward displeasing people. I haven't been in this business all that long, but too many veteran journalists have told me about stories getting killed because of the advertising dollars at stake. As an editor, I know that there are times certain decisions are made, primarily for special sections, based on advertising, but I try to insulate staff as much as I can. That wall may not be solid, but it still needs to be there. I think this statement is disingenous but has a kernel of truth:
"If you really think your journalism is going to be affected by letting the ad department know there’s room for a 5-second preroll ad position on all that video you’re shooting, you might be in the wrong business."
Once you break down the wall, it won't be just the 5 second position, it will soon be what we write and how we write it. And yes, if that happens, I would be in the wrong business.
- links fixed.

Jill at Eye level Pasadena makes a point about newspapers: "I think that in general, people feel like it makes sense to pay for things they can touch. When we buy books or newspapers or cds, at a gut level, I think we think we're paying for the paper or the the little disk -- not the intellectual property. I'm not trying to make an argument about what people *should* pay for -- I'm just saying that I think the problem is that for some reason it just doesn't feel at a gut level like intellectual property alone -- not bound to some physical object -- is something to pay for. I think that's the problem.
Figuring out how to get money in exchange for pure intellectual property -- and to have it feel normal and right to the general public -- that's the challenge."
- yep.

The power of local bloggers has even surprised me. Besides the effect on hot button issuses, they now appear to be having more influence in areas that get very little attention from the media. For the first time, a local official told me that this type of discussion about Arnold Alvarez-Glasman has had an effect. Glasman is city attorney for a host of SGV cities. But according to this person, "the local bloggers may have did him in" from getting hired as an attorney for a local city or agency. Now, that may be overstating the case, but it's the first time I have ever heard of a purely local blog-driven discussion having that much effect.

Everyone is losing print circulation, not just the Times, though news web sites are gaining readers. People can say they don't cover the greater lacounty area well enough, but they were doing the same thing before the slide.
No one knows how to fix newspapers. Local coverage could be the answer, but it may not be. Blogs could be the answer, but it may not be. Papers as we know it may end; no one knows. Trust me, we are all trying to figure out how the next generation wants their information.
(via foothill cities)

After the problems with kidney transplants, the state decided to look at other Kaiser hospitals. The news wasn't good.

I missed posting this earlier, but it was a Diamond Bar man who asked this youtube question in the Democratic presidential debate. (h/t reporter Jen Mclain).
"In 1982, Anwar Sadat traveled to Israel, a trip that resulted in a peace agreement that has lasted ever since. In the spirit of that type of bold leadership, would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?"
- It was a question that apparently has caused tensions between Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. Sorta's question prompted me to start tracking him down. But so far, I found only one Sorta in Diamond Bar, and it's not him. But I'll track him down if I can.

Too late to make the paper, but the City Council has yet to decide if Elaine Aguilar is their woman, according to reporter Molly Okeon. We will have an online story today, and in the paper tomorrow.

Reporter Molly Okeon talked to the Sierra Madre police chief about this:
Los Angeles County's first-ever female police chief vehemently denies rumors that she is planning to take her leave of the city of 11,000.
"I don't know how that (rumor) got started," said Marilyn Diaz Diaz, who resides in Sierra Madre, on Tuesday afternoon. "I have not applied elsewhere, and I have no plans to. I love working and serving in Sierra Madre. I think it's the perfect place to be a police chief."
She said she was surprised to hear from officers in other police departments who heard she had applied to work for their department.
"Absolutely not," she said of reports of a pending departure from the city she joined as police chief in March 2006.

Kevin Roderick says, "no thanks" to Foothill Cities:
Here is his sarcastic note: "The San Gabriel Valley anony-blogger(s?) who calls himself (themselves?) Publius tries to draw me into a public dialogue about anonymity by claiming some higher principle to masking his (their?) identity(ies?) — evading the personal accountability that most political bloggers and journalists face every day and hiding whatever conflicts of interest, biases and financial or political motives might lie behind his (their?) blind accusations against city officials."
UPDATE: Foothill Cities responds..ahem...energetically to say the least.

Christine Daniels - formerly Mike Penner - made her official debut as a woman during the David Beckham ridiculousness. Paul Oberjuerge *says Daniels is too much of a man to be thought of as a woman, and while he is glad that she is finally at ease in her own body that it will take guys like him some time to adjust. My message to Paul is that Daniels showed what she is made of by honestly, and publicly, coming out. And Paul...showed who he is.
btw, I love this description by the Times of Daniels:
"Christine shocked many readers on April 27, 2007, when she announced her decision to change gender."
- Trust me, outside of the Times making a huge deal out of the change, most readers don't know our names or our bylines (though I think blogs are changing that somewhat). But really the most shocked people were her colleagues and fellow scribes.
* I tried to link to Oberjuerge's blog, but it wouldn't work so I linked to LAObserved.

Kate Keyes will be starting her first day as assistant city editor today. I'm hoping to trick..(I mean) talk her into blogging on Editors' Corner.

(Via Grrlie) Pasadena Weekly has this column from a former weekly writer and now inmate. He dismisses this aspect of dealing with the gang violence in Pasadena:
"Leave out of the equation law enforcement, courts, the probation department, schools and all the phony nonprofit agencies, because all you will get is lip service and more “dialogue.”
First, I think his credibility would be higher if he wasn't in jail for a "drug-related attempted robbery." Two, please give me an example where all of those agencies above weren't part of the plan and the plan worked. Still the article has some solid ideas from a man who should know and one who apparently doesn't take his own advice.

According to an anonymous poster at Foothill Cities, it's Elaine Aguilar, *assistant to the Glendale city manager (and formerly assistant city manager at La Puente).
The poster also takes a dig at reporter Molly Okeon for saying former Bradbury city manager Katie Wilson was on the short list. It's a cheap shot, considering that if the poster knows their stuff, they know Wilson was one of the finalists.
I'll add that if cities weren't so afraid of criticism, they would announce who the top executive candidate is before they vote on hiring the candidate. If a candidate, any candidate, is the best one, why hide it? Show some spine and let residents (you know, the ones who voted for you) to tell you what they think, and then do what's best for the city. That's why you were elected.
UPDATE: A Glendale councilman confirmed that Elaine Aguilar is in negotiation with Sierra Madre. We'll have a short story in the paper Tuesday.
* updated.
UPDATE II: Reporter Tania Chatila's story on the Sierra Madre city manager search.

Aram genuflects at the alter of our boss, Steve "the Legend" Hunt.

The Times 'discovers' that bloggers are covering local government. It mentions the usual suspects like Foothill Cities and Claremont Insider. I do have one bone of contention:
"The website also has been critical of Pomona's high crime rate, saying that the local press ignores the issue."
I think Foothill mostly takes the press to task for taking what Pomona says at face value, whether crime or political decisions, rather than with a critical eye. The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin has made covering the crime issue in Pomona its bread and butter since a California HIghway patrolman was killed a few years ago. To say they aren't, or haven't, covered the high crime rate is wrong. It's nice to see the Times taking the same 'uncritical eye' path. And, by the way, isn't the Times the local press as well or is that beneath them?

* I had as my subject " LA Times slow news day" but Claremont Insider's was much funnier, so I used it instead.

** Claremont Buzz says about the subject hed: "Thanks for the credit for the tagline, but that came from the print edition of the LA Times article. We'd hate to be accused of trying to take credit for a Times editor's good work."

Pasadena Now says Councilman Steve Haderlein will be meeting with the city attorney today about a complaint filed against him.
(via Aaron Proctor)

That's what 91024 is hearing.

Though my hometown Metropolitan's are down right now, there's still time. Aram is blogging the game live, and for some reason disses NY pizza and hot dogs. As if there was really a contest.
UPDATE:No more time left - Dodgers 8 - Mets 6.

Don't know if it's him, but here is one supposedly by Steve Haderlein. While the Pasadena blogosphere continues to explode, wonder where why others in the SGV are not representing.

Reporter Molly Okeon has the scoop for candidates for Sierra Madre: former Bradbury city manager Kate Wilson.
Update: While the city decides what they want to do, I will say this, based on the opinions of people I trust outside of Sierra Madre, Wilson is a good and credible candidate.
Update II: Katie Wilson

from here from Dawave at Sierra Madre 91024.

Capitol Weekly drew a scorecard for legislators voting. The only two legislators not scored were state Sen. Jim Battin, R-Palm Desert, and Assemblywoman...Nell Soto, D-Ontario.

Sheriff Lee Baca doesn't like this Web site too much.

I believe there was an embargo for releasing a review of the book. But the NY Times didn't seem to get the memo.
fyi: here's our Harry Potter site.

Pasadena's Political Underbelly: "With real and meaningful news coverage of Pasadena (and Pasadena politics) seriously absent and editorial opinion controlled by either the powers that be or the wacko libertarians, I thought our Crown City of the Valley deserved a place in the ether-sphere for those so inclined to opine on their own about the state of our city.
Jump in! Give Pasadena a piece of your mind! Read a piece of what small bits are left of mine!"

This blog, which apparently started as a place to fight a Wal-Mart from opening in Rosemead, is still providing a place for residents to comment. And it's also taking a few digs at Wal-Mart.

So Gawker says.

The Adventures of Aaron Proctor in St. Louis"

'First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win'"

Why can't we have fun exchanges like this in the SGV:
"Cook: "You can't see someone changing under a towel. They're not publicly nude."
Coerper: "They're nude under the towel."
Cook: "Under our clothes, we're all nude."

Apparently so.

Sierra Madre police want to go back to the ballot.

The Times today as opposed to us Saturday.

Who will the next city manager be?

(via Daily News)

Daily News blogs on an interview with Cardinal Roger Mahoney today after a settlement was announced in the clergy sex abuse scandal.

Brought to you from our gone but not forgotten Pasadena blog correspondent Aaron Proctor.

Congress. feh.

Hector Gonzalez, long time editor for the Whittier Daily News, will be taking over the city editor job at Pasadena Star News today. Larry Wilson will be handling opinion for all papers in the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group. The open position at the Daily News should be filled soon.

"A nationally lauded program that has helped thousands of mentally ill homeless men and women break the cycle of psychiatric hospitalization, jail time and street life is now on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's list of budget cuts."
- hmm. so what do you think the LA Times think's about this program?

"Except for a tragic accident, the 35th annual Bath Heritage Days parade went off without a hitch." uhm...excuse me?

I only recently learned about the Zoot Suit riots in the '40s; one of my wife's relatives were one of those sent to San Quentin.
Bill Boyarsky mentioned the period here in regards to how the media covered civil rightst:
"When World War II servicemen roamed through downtown Los Angeles attacking Mexican Americans wearing zoot suits-long jackets with wide shoulders, pegged and pleated trousers, long key chains and wide brimmed, flattop hats-the newspapers cheered. Police arrested the zoot suiters rather than the servicemen and, as an example of the slanted news coverage, the old Los Angeles Daily News delightedly reported “zoot suit … gangs of hoodlums continued to lose their trousers to service men, and in many cases nearly lost what was in ‘em.” And the Daily News was the city’s liberal newspaper."
- Not a good time for this city or journalism.

David Zahniser, formerly of the LA Weekly, Daily Breeze, Pasadena Star News and Claremont Courier, has his first story in his new gig at the Times. It's about a politically-connected lobbyists and a power plant in the strange city of Vernon.

"That syphilis outbreak has not only refused to go away, but infection rates among gay and bisexual men have skyrocketed 365 percent between 2001 and 2005 to 1,585 cases."
Considering how AIDs has caused so many deaths, you would think the county would be a bit more active in combatting this alarming trend.

Never hear much about the city, now I can't get people not to tell me. Apparently, after the mysterious decision not to hire Bradley Baxter, I have heard another name who also has a past in the San Gabriel Valley. This one though I have heard only good things about. Let the guessing begin.

I'm a Holmes and Watson fan, much like some are Potter fans. I never heard that Arthur Conan Doyle killed Holmes because he was tired of him, then revived him eight years later in what is my favorite the Hounds of the Baskervilles after a public outcry. Now J.K. Rowling, who said the seventh Potter installment will be the last, is hedging. There is also an online petition to save the boy wizard series.

"Free speech is the linchpin of our republic. All other freedoms flow from it. After all, we don't need a First Amendment to allow us to run boring, inoffensive cartoons. We need constitutional protection for our right to express unpopular views. If we can't discuss the great issues of the day on the pages of our newspapers fearlessly, and without apology, where can we discuss them? In the streets with guns? In cafés with strapped-on bombs?"
--As I have said before, political cartoonists are the last bastion of a truly free press. Doug Marlette, who died yesterday, should have been a household name. Instead, it will be his cartoons like the one above that will last in posterity. After he did "What Would Mohammed Drive?", which was meant to lampoon religious rigidity, he got death threats and other ridiculousness and still believed in what we do.

Let's hope the rest of us can live up to his standard of courage.

(I have decided to leave this up all day in honor of Marlette. I'll see you tomorrow.)

Apparently not in Sierra Madre.
UPDATE: here's reporter Molly Okeon's story.

My wife had full control over our wedding. She had a large binder with different parts of the wedding color coded. Except me, of course. But in the end, while (I think) a good time was had by all, I wish we would have just eloped and saved the ...large ....amount of money we spent. I mean, we could have done it the (former) UCLA way.

West Covina, "the City That Should Have Been a Sewage Facility”. Don't know if the story the writer talks about is true. But it's funny either way.
(via foothills)

Here's the story so far on the expected new Sierra Madre city manager. Reporter Molly Okeon should have more tomorrow.

Don't usually write about the interesting town, but a little birdy told me the new city manager was an old city manager in the San Gabriel Valley who didn't last very long. Reporter Molly Okeon is trying to nail it down.
UPDATE: Okeon confirmed today that the new city manager is going to be Bradley L. Baxter, formerly the short-term city manager at Irwindale.
UPDATE II : I bumped this up, because of some interesting threads at Foothill Cities that may be the same Baxter Sierra Madre is expected to hire. If true, it makes for some interesting news.
UPDATE III: To clarify, Baxter is expected to be appointed as the new CM. As my uncle used to say though, it's a long way from the trough to the slaughterhouse.
UPDATE IV: the 91024 blog has more.

We had a poll over the weekend on if Telemundo anchorwoman Mirthala Salinas should be fired for her affair with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and with more than a 1,000 votes, the poll is separated by only a few votes. What that means, I'm still trying to figure out.
A reader of the above linked story says 'basta:'
"Get over it! Why are we judging the Mayor on his personal virtues. Everybody has personal issues and we should let the Mayor and his wife deal with personal life in private. This is just another issue for the media to blow out of porportion to hook the reader. Let's be honest, shouldn't we be more concerned with his leadership and his agenda? As a good standing citizen I am more concerned about our teachers getting paid, water issues, enviornmental impacts, trade with Mexico, homeland security and everything else that should be more important than the Mayor's personal relationship. Let's stick to the real issue.
Steve"

I'm not a big fan of people coming up to me and asking for money, even if its charities. I'm skeptical by training and upbringing, so I usually just give a curt 'no' when asked. So it's difficult when I'm at Vons and they ask for cancer donations. I feel guilty for saying no, despite the fact that my wife and I already give money to cancer charities due to our own family's direct connection to the disease. Of course, the cashiers' asking me would give me a skeptical look if I told them my story. Sort of the same one I give. How ironic.

Stopping the state from taking your money that you didn't even know you had. What a novel concept.

Tim Rutten looks at the media's saturation of the Villariagosa/Salinas affair, noting a former NYTImes editor's maxim, " It doesn't matter if a reporter sleeps with elephants, so long as they don't cover the circus."
I do differ with him when it comes to his observation that the spike in online attention at the Times and the LA Daily News (our sister paper) has gotten the attention of those in the newsroom. I think it's more the Times than LADN. Remember DN just finished what felt like was a 1,000 part series on the pornography industry in the San Fernando Valley. And it's not the first time, they have covered stories like this. It's the Times newsroom frequent, and reader popular, foray into the the gossip world with Paris Hilton and politicians' affairs that will probably induce changes there. Albeit understandable, I don't think that's a good for the state of journalism in LA.

Well, minor ones at least. U. S beats Brazil in under-20 game.

Thanks once again to the Gore family, we have one more reason to become more environmentally conscious - Speed.

The city has a special meeting Monday in trying to find their next city manager. I'm unsure if they are hiring that city manager but from their agenda they can't because they don't have an item on the public agenda as city manager appointment. Of course, one never knows. Their current manager, Chris Jeffers, is heading to Glendora.

The LA City Council passed an ordinance today requiring firearm dealers to post signs warning buyers about the dangers of possessing guns at home. Shouldn't it be warning the bad guys that it's a danger to enter a home where the owners own a gun? Better yet, gun owners should post signs outside, like those guard dog signs, "Warning, occupant exercising their Second Amendment Rights." For all those people outraged, I do believe in rigorous requirements for ownership, I think we should crack down on illegal gun sales. But I don't believe in an outright ban.

Mommy and me classes at Pomona Unified School District, including in Diamond Bar. Thanks to a new blog called Goddess of Pomona. (via Foothill)

It's an old reporter trick, talk to several people and say it's an "anecdotal" trend. Sort of like this story that talks to five people, and a couple of usual suspects.
Of course this line is probably the most ridiculous I've ever seen:
"Former city councilman Richard Alatorre, who left public office after pleading guilty to tax evasion in 2001, was one of the few current or former Hispanic elected officials willing to talk on the record about the City Hall furor that has riveted Los Angeles. While the recent revelations are not unique to Hispanic politicians, he said, he believes that Hispanic leaders are held to a higher standard of behavior."
- That's right. That's the problem. Standards are too high. sheesh.

Statements of economic interests are supposed to be periodically handed in by elected and top officials so that the public can see if decisions are being made for financial benefit. Part of the reason Steven Carmona is in trouble is because of the gifts he allegedly received from George Torress and didn't report. Going over local officials 700 forms, one gets a feeling that they have no income, don't own anything and are living on fumes. That is probably not the truth, and it's part of the fun of going through the documents. Stay tuned.

This is a past photo, but the water still flows in West Covina, according to reporter Frank Girardot.

At least San Dimas got some love from the Civil Grand Jury: "Brand new facility which includes a jail, computer lab and a disaster command center....should be model for all for future jails..."

Does this make Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa a bad mayor? Should he be recalled? While he handed it all badly, and certainly it reflects badly on him, how does this affect his contributions as a city leader? He didn't do anything illegal. He didn't, not that we know at this point, misuse his office. I heard someone say on the radio this morning that it "beats the Paris Hilton" events. Egads. Sometimes I think I'm in a silly business.
UPDATE: Guess he doesn't agree. (via LAObserved)
UPDATE II: I take it back if this is true - Mayor's girlfriend dated mayor's bf. Say it ain't so.
UPDATE III: Now this is really getting ridiculous. Another guy she dated.
UPDATE IV: More from LAObserved and Foothill Cities thoughts.

More from Foothill Cities on Arnold Alvarez-Glasman.

A Journalist? Only if you think distortions, misrepresentations and Barnum-like tactics are journalist tools of the trade...don't answer that.

Should reporters be allowed to lie?

Delgadillo seems to have connections to our Grocery Owner, now indicted for a host of federal crimes. With the deluge of embarrassing details about the LA City Attorney, Mayor Sam and Witness LA have asked why now? And that's a good question.
UPDATE:Torres pleads not guilty

Assemblywoman Nell Soto, D-Ontario, who was out sick for a loooong time, apparently wasn't sick enough to pick up her $22,032 per diem on those missing 25 days, notes Foothill Cities who broke the original story here.

This sentence really gets to the heart of the problem when it comes to suspected molesters in schools: "The administrator of his contract, Eileen Skone-Rees, said Ruthenbeck didn't protest when she canceled his contract. The two never directly discussed the alleged abuse of Johnson. "I didn't ask, and he didn't offer," she said this week."
While our elected officials continue to pass laws against sex predators, obvious problems when it comes to schools and reporting abuses to police aren't dealt with. I wrote this story last year about a substitute teacher who was banned from several districts but none knew about it. Why? because of privacy concerns.

A local soldier was killed in Iraq Jun. 28.
La Verne resident Cory F. Hiltz, 20, was a private 1st class for the U.S. Army. He was with the 2nd BN, 12th Infantry Reg, 2d Brigade Combat Team, 2d Infantry Division. He died in Baghdad, apparently by IED and small arms fire.
fyi: A resource for tracking soldiers who are killed in combat has been this site. It also has searchable databases. This is an interesting story about the guy who runs it.