Someone needs to ask O'Grady how having four children is "sustainable" or "environmentally sensitive"? Of course, they do come in handy as voter bait.
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Tom LaBonge's Yacht Problem
Council District 4 candidate Tomas O'Grady: "Drain the swamp," take City Hall to the people
Many children have played full-court basketball on Tomás O'Grady's living room hardwood floor — though the floor plan would not seem to allow for it.
Tomas O'Grady: A surprise endorsement from the L.A. Times
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O'Grady is running for City Council District 4, a gerrymandered district that stretches from the La Brea Tar Pits to North Hollywood. O'Grady's office is in the basement of the Los Feliz house he built himself, and its wood panels are recycled from a local school gym — a Craigslist find that echoes O'Grady's mantra, "Stop this ridiculous waste."
"What if I told you I was going to cut my salary [and staff] in half?" O'Grady asks.
It's the age of the $179,000 starting salary on the L.A. City Council, higher than the wages of a U.S. congressman. City Council members defend their wages by citing a paragraph in the City Charter that hooks their salaries to the paycheck of Superior Court judges.
"So the first step is fixing that. We're just gonna have to unhook it, aren't we?" O'Grady answers.
From the farms of Ireland, O'Grady landed in the U.S. with $80 in one pocket and hardworking hands in both.
"I saved my money, I worked in a simple fashion," O'Grady says. "I never made money by being a slick packager of deals."
After renovating New Jersey brownstones, in 1999 O'Grady made good on a promise to his wife, Justine, and moved to L.A. They started a family and got involved in the community, and now he is treasurer of the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council.
The people of L.A. are full of distrust — that's a pressing concern to him. "It's just this message that's sent to people," O'Grady says. "Waste, waste, waste. Largess. [District 4 incumbent] Tom LaBonge floats around in a big yacht every day. ... He drives a Cutlass whatever-you-call-it, the city cars. Big beast of a thing."
The L.A. City Council is among only three big-city councils, a Pew Charitable Trust study shows, still insisting that taxpayers provide elected members with free cars (eight for each council office) — and free gas.
Then there's the odd City Hall work ethic. "I don't need you to have a ceremony to open the traffic light, OK?" O'Grady says. "We just need to expose the system for how ridiculous it is, and those council members wouldn't be 'working really hard,' as they say."
The other thing is: "Let the neighborhood councils rise up." He's begun to attract interest, winning the surprise endorsement of the Los Angeles Times.
Referring to annual slush funds of $90,000 that each council member spends without a vote, O'Grady points out, "The money is being doled out based on who the council person likes, and there's a word for that: It's called corruption."
The City Council also now acts as a shadow city department, placing some people at the front of the line while others follow the rules of waiting in line for city services. O'Grady looks up to the sky as he pleads, "You cannot be in the business of delivering stop signs. That's not your job. We already pay a guy to deliver stop signs."
O'Grady insists the City Council must save — so it can spend where it matters.
"The department of street services lost 300 positions last year," O'Grady says. "You know how you get a pothole filled? You get a guy with a shovel. You can have suits there all day long — they are not going to fill potholes."
26 comments
I don't doubt there are more efficient cars Mr. LaBonge could be driving, but as a resident in his district, I've seen him pull the boat (actually more of a trawler than a yacht) over, pull out a trash bag and pick up trash on the streets and throw in the trunk. I drove over the Hyperion Bridge the other day, and sure enough, he was there with the boat - trunk open exposing several buckets of paint that LaBonge himself was using to paint over graffiti on the bridge, and there wasn't a camera crew in sight. Did I mention that was a Sunday morning? One person in the neighborhood watched him put fallen palm fronds into the boat because they were a danger to cyclists and pedestrians, this was a Saturday morning, again, no cameras in sight.
Tomas O Grady is an ambitious, lying individual who has a hidden agenda and has misused his position to his own benefit whenever he had the opportunity. His involvement with Franklin School show his corrupt character all to well. He has harmed children and bullies children to do his biding. It would be a disaster to have him as a city council member!
Lying? What does he have to hide? Ok, elephant in the room, everyone wants to get some credit or fame. That's true. But when it comes to Tomas, he just probably wants a smile, thank you and handshake. Actually, he wants you to help. Work ethic is most important to him. Yeah he ruffles feathers, but hell, he gets work done. Says he has plans and then completes them with help.
Harmed children? That's absolute slander!! I have seen him with kids, he talks to them like adults, but in a fun way. Everyone has a different approach with kids, he has his own style. I don't know what you're talking about but if anything he's probably encouraging the video game generation to learn what labor is and the appreciation you get and see from a completed task.
Hidden agenda? Heck with you on that one. Throw this whole election away and he would continue to do what he's doing... improving the community. What could possibly be hidden? He isn't a religious nut, isn't there for a photo opp, he doesn't need money or kick backs, doesn't want to be president let alone mayor... etc!
Stop the slander. It's making Tom and the other guy look bad.
Please, is LaBonge so desperate that his staff is now relying in ad-hominem attacks when astroturfing? LOL
Since O'Grady's expertise is in schools, why doesn't he run for school board where he's really needed? We don't have a good candidate in our district. O'Grady is well off financially due to his house-flipping successes in New Jersey, so the paltry salary that school board members make would work perfectly for him. His successes in the schools are great, but I've got to say, for a green candidate, I've gotten an awful lot of flyers on my windshield from someone who claims to be green.
Let's be realistic- school board is a better all around fit. For someone to be so ignorant to state in an open forum that people only riot because they are uneducated, is hypocritical... look at all the folks in the UK fighting for their right to public college/graduate school? Let me guess, they're uneducated too???
I don't know the context, didn't hear him say it, but lets just assume this, since he isn't an unintelligent guy.... He more than likely was saying that people who riot (in America) can't figure out a way to make a change through the normal process. Either find your way through the system to make a change or if push comes to shove - March for your rights. Be heard, don't blow the place up.
I will say that I have seen streets repaved and new traffic signals under Tom LaBonge's administration.
For the rest of us which have a little higher standards, that is not very impressive. We call that the bare minimum.
O'Grady claims that his beloved garden at King Middle School is the sole factor in making it the 2nd most improved school in LAUSD- let's be realistic, how about the fact that they added a magnet school which increased their index scores. Other than gardens, O'Grady has nothing tangible to offer and lacks the institutional knowledge and experience that LaBonge has.
Fellow "guest"- I completely agree! O'Grady spews nonsense each forum- flip flopping already on his positions for things that REALLY matter in the 4th district. I have attended all but one of the forums, and have already noticed inconsistencies in his positions. When asked about how he would improve pedestrian safety, he simply said he would plant trees to provide a shaded canopy. What has that done in order to ensure I can cross a street safely without being hit? Absolutely nothing. LaBonge has installed 4 traffic lights in the Los Feliz area alone, improved pedestrian safety at King Middle School through the Safe Routes to Schools Grant funding, created safety valets at various elementary schools with the parents and the list goes on. O'Grady says whatever is convenient to "win friends" and try to "influence people". He was on record at the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council Forum calling Measure L, "Measure Lies"... meanwhile at Marshall you would have thought in the O'Grady vocabulary L stood for L-O-V-E. Pathetic.
Out of the 4 lights LaBonge installed how many of those had fatalities before he finally got off his ass and put those lights up? People in the community are tired of having to go to extremes to get his attention when it should be a given. LaBonge plays favorites with neighborhoods, several people around the poorer areas such as in NOHO near lankershim have repeatedly asked for a crosswalk near the poquito mas restaurant because its so dangerous but he hasn't done anything. Instead? He spent $850,000 on a piece of land in between two streets and called it a 'park.' LaBonge's kids don't even go to public schools so that shows how much faith and effort he has when it comes to LAUSD. At least O'Grady puts his kids where his mouth is. And you should be confused about measure L, if you think these measures are all black and white you're naive. He can support and still feel regret about the actual measure. Its a shame that we have to force libraries to work like this but it seems like no one is going to take the lead and fix the system so that measures like this can be obsolete.
Tomas O'grady is a lying fraud. He has abused the children at Franklin and lies about everything. Because Tom LaBonge got Franklin a crossing Guard on short notice, O'grady circulated a petition to have the crossing guard removed in order to make LaBonge look bad. O'grady was willing to risk the safety of children to harm a political opponent....This is not a man that should hold any public office.
His position seems pretty clear to me...all I had to do was click the top "related link" on this very page:
http://blogs.laweekly.com/info...
Hope that clears things up!
I serve on a neighborhood council and I am happy to hear O'Grady supports us. It is frustrating to feel powerless in this city and I know he will continue meeting with us if elected.
WTF is this with all the O'Grady blah blah from the Weekly? The guy says nothing and you publish it again and again.
How about publishing some substance next time?
"SickofBlather", you are complaining about substance? Did you read your own post?
The more I hear about O'Grady, the more I like him!
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