Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Is the L.A. City Council wasting time?
Today, an L.A. Times article by Jessica Garrison poked a little fun at the L.A. Council. In No Issue Too Small for L.A. Council, Garrision covers the ban on silly string in Hollywood as well as new stripper rules, dumping trash, and having broken windows on your home, to name a few new Council causes.
It seems the Council is especially fond of neighborhood issues, rather than bigger, long term issues.
But are these issues so small?
Many of these issues might seem inconsequential if you live in Beverly Hills or Thousand Oaks, but not in many parts of L.A. County. Tagging and graffiti are everywhere, all-the-time. Mattresses, couches, bags of garbage and everything else dumped in alleys and on parkways during the night. The city is dirty, and it shouldn't be allowed.
Then there are the shopping carts.
If I go into a grocery store and steal a 50 cent candy bar, I'll get arrested, but if I steal a significantly more expensive shopping cart - No problem.
A whole new business segment has been created around the grocery business - shopping cart wrangler. And what do you think happens when that overloaded truck creates an accident? Who will pay?
Therefore, are these City Council regulations even enforceable? Does anybody really even care?
I completely agree that all of these issues are important for attracting successful business into Los Angeles and Southern California, but how can these laws get enforced? Do the police have the resources to to handle these responsibilities?
It doesn't seem so.
It's great that the City Council is responsive to the needs of neighborhoods, but without a solid plan for enforcing these new regulations, focusing on them might be nothing more than a waste of time.
Not that the City Council is wasting time
Some council members, such as Cindy Miscikowski have been working with the mayor on a plan to update LAX. The development not only will bring jobs to the area, it will also be the first time federal funding is being tied to school development, and other neighborhood improvements.
An unprecedented move, the L.A. Times reports, "Los Angeles officials are also working on a deal with a coalition of airport-area organizations, including several school districts and labor unions, for hundreds of millions of dollars in community improvements."
Football Stadium
No news on whether the City Council is even concerned with a new football stadium in Los Angeles.
Perhaps the City leaders have determined that football is too middle class and doesn't fit L.A.'s Hollywood image.
I still have my fingers crossed.
It seems the Council is especially fond of neighborhood issues, rather than bigger, long term issues.
But are these issues so small?
Many of these issues might seem inconsequential if you live in Beverly Hills or Thousand Oaks, but not in many parts of L.A. County. Tagging and graffiti are everywhere, all-the-time. Mattresses, couches, bags of garbage and everything else dumped in alleys and on parkways during the night. The city is dirty, and it shouldn't be allowed.
Then there are the shopping carts.
If I go into a grocery store and steal a 50 cent candy bar, I'll get arrested, but if I steal a significantly more expensive shopping cart - No problem.
A whole new business segment has been created around the grocery business - shopping cart wrangler. And what do you think happens when that overloaded truck creates an accident? Who will pay?
Therefore, are these City Council regulations even enforceable? Does anybody really even care?
I completely agree that all of these issues are important for attracting successful business into Los Angeles and Southern California, but how can these laws get enforced? Do the police have the resources to to handle these responsibilities?
It doesn't seem so.
It's great that the City Council is responsive to the needs of neighborhoods, but without a solid plan for enforcing these new regulations, focusing on them might be nothing more than a waste of time.
Not that the City Council is wasting time
Some council members, such as Cindy Miscikowski have been working with the mayor on a plan to update LAX. The development not only will bring jobs to the area, it will also be the first time federal funding is being tied to school development, and other neighborhood improvements.
An unprecedented move, the L.A. Times reports, "Los Angeles officials are also working on a deal with a coalition of airport-area organizations, including several school districts and labor unions, for hundreds of millions of dollars in community improvements."
Football Stadium
No news on whether the City Council is even concerned with a new football stadium in Los Angeles.
Perhaps the City leaders have determined that football is too middle class and doesn't fit L.A.'s Hollywood image.
I still have my fingers crossed.
