Suzzie
Ziggy Kruse should run for city council
but wait..
she is not a United States Citizen!
ahhhhhhhhhhh...another carpetbagger~!
News
L.A. City Council District 13 March Election
Hollywood and Tri-Hipster Area Produces Power Players
Silver Lake activist Diane Edwardson is wary. She has lived in L.A. City Council District 13, which includes Hollywood, East Hollywood, Silver Lake, Echo Park, Atwater Village and Glassell Park, for 26 years. There's something about this chunk of L.A. that attracts a huge field of candidates, including many who move there just to try for the high-paying seat — $178,789 per year — on the L.A. City Council.
This year, 23 people hoped to run in the March 5 primary. Twelve of them — more than half of whom recently moved into the area — got organized enough to collect the voter signatures to qualify.
"It seems like we're everyone's starting ground for politics," Edwardson says. "Rather than having someone who's from the neighborhood — and for the neighborhood."
Christine Peters, president of Citizens Committee to Save Elysian Park, who's lived in Echo Park 22 years, comments: "It's quite interesting how all these individuals we've never met before want to represent us. ... People have political ambitions and want to climb the political ladder."
Community activist Ziggy Kruse, who has lived in CD 13 for 16 years, surmises, "A lot of [the candidates] are running because of the business development and the money that's in Hollywood. It has served Councilman Garcetti very nicely."
Eric Garcetti, who has represented CD 13 for 12 years, is running for mayor with endorsements or financial backing from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee and wealthy developers including Marty Shelton, vice president of real estate brokerage NAI Capital; and Maurice Ramirez, executive vice president of developer AMCAL Housing. Former Disney chairman Michael Eisner threw Garcetti an A-list fundraiser at his mansion.
The candidates for Garcetti's open seat are making a mad dash to win one of the most career-advancing City Council seats in California. Its gerrymandered, bizarrely shaped boundaries create a shape like an angry squirrel, and its trendy core has been dubbed by some the "Tri-Hipster Area." Among the top-tier candidates are Matt Szabo, former deputy mayor to Antonio Villaraigosa; Mitch O'Farrell, former senior adviser to Garcetti; John Choi, former director at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; and Alex De Ocampo, senior director for billionaire Haim Saban's charitable organization, Saban Family Foundation.
To be crass but accurate, "It's valuable political real estate," says Michael Woo, now dean of the College of Environmental Design at Cal Poly Pomona, describing Council District 13, which he once represented.
Garcetti is using his CD 13 visibility for his strong run for mayor. In 1993, then–CD 13 Councilman Woo beat many in the mayoral primary but lost the runoff to Richard Riordan. Jackie Goldberg successfully ran for the state Legislature while representing CD 13, serving three terms.
No city council race on the West Coast in the past year has attracted $1 million for a mere primary. But by mid-January, direct contributions to candidates in CD 13 hit $1.05 million. The next-priciest contest in L.A. was downtown's Council District 9, where $687,568 was given to candidates vying to represent that weighty political real estate. The winner will represent skyscraper owners, upscale new areas and the poor.
As of January, the County Fed union and its chief, Maria Elena Durazo, had spent more than $135,000 in CD 13 on a so-called "independent expenditure" ad blitz to elect John Choi, an obscure, $122,000-a-year Public Works commissioner who quit to run for City Council. Choi was virtually unknown to residents until a few months ago.
"New arrivals" to CD 13, as candidate Mitch O'Farrell calls them, include Choi, Szabo, De Ocampo and L.A. Fire Department assistant chief Emile Mack. Each has moved there within the past year or two, raising suspicion that career climbers dominate the ballot. (Similarly, longtime Inglewood politician Curren Price moved to CD 9 and then announced his run there.)
"It's a terrible red flag," says former Los Angeles Daily News editor and City Hall blogger/watchdog Ron Kaye. It signals "that they're looking for opportunity."
The March 5 primary will cut the field of 12 in CD 13 down to two. And those two could advance to the runoff by a margin of just 200 or 300 votes — thanks to voter disinterest in city council elections. Yet CD 13 is home to about 250,000 people and is undergoing wrenching change: Many thousands of working-class Latino families have fled Hollywood, East Hollywood, Echo Park and Silver Lake due to gentrification, creating a massive net population loss not seen in the city since black flight from South L.A. in the 1980s and '90s.
"Carpetbagging," as some dub the politician hopefuls who move to council districts where seats are opening, works. When Goldberg left City Hall for Sacramento in 2000, Garcetti moved to the district and won her seat. With $1 billion being spent to redevelop Hollywood, Garcetti grew close to big developers, attorneys and entertainment honchos. Whoever represents CD 13, Woo explains, that "person has the opportunity to make a lot of relationships outside of the district."
Community activist Edwardson is stressing out: "If a council member has been bought off by big developers," she says, "how can we expect him to work for us? He's supposed to represent us, and if we don't have that, we're in trouble."
Longtime Garcetti aide O'Farrell, a resident of tough Glassell Park since 1992, says some of the March 5 candidates moved in "for the primary purpose to launch their political careers." O'Farrell was a local community activist before landing a job at City Hall in 2002, and describes himself as one of the genuine "neighborhood guys" on the ballot, along with Robert Negrete of Atwater Village, Jose Sigala of Echo Park and Sam Kbushyan of Hollywood.
30 comments
I too am concerned that NONE of the candidates even mention the horrific development plans for Hollywood....or anywhere else in CD 13 for that matter. Will we EVER get someone who represents us in the LA City Council?? Doesn't seem like it.
I've been bombarded with hundreds of pieces of advertising materials from these candidates, contributing to nearly filling up the recycling bin at the back of our building. I do hope they're recyclable. None of these materials has given me any real information about them, nor influenced my voting. Thankfully I came across this article while desperately googling for information before the election.
And...to 'market' re: "Sorry Ms. Kruse, your activism does not mean that you represent the people of Hollywood"
I have been a resident of Hollywood for many, many...many years. Ziggy Kruse is an asset to the Hollywood area and it's residents, working tirelessly toward getting the voices of the residents heard at the City Council level. She's not working alone in that either. It isn't NIMBY; it's about representation. Hollywood residents are not represented in the L.A. City Council. The current councilman is a bought and paid for advocate for the big business entities that contribute to his campaign. These people treat Hollywood like a commodity, rather than a community. It's very sad. I don't think your boy Szabo is the solution either.
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It is interesting that all the candidates running for CD 13 are silent about Garcetti's Hollywood's Plan except to lavish praise. According to Garcetti's own plan, Hollywood lost 26,198 people just between 2005 and 2010 while he was CD 13 councilman.
According to the 2010 Census there were 198,228 persons living in the Hollywood Community Plan Area in 2010. The baseline 2005 population estimate used in the Hollywood Community Plan Update was 224,426 persons. Garcetti's Hollywood Community Plan, 10-3-2011 FEIR p 3.1
Garcetti calls this fleeing from Hollywood a "revitalization," the same way that he called the $1/2 Billion loss on the Hollywood-Highland Project a "revitalization."
All told, Garcetti most likely squandered over $1 Billion in tax dollars on developers and his own Plan says he drove out 26,000 people. As the LA Weekly and LA Times have noted, Garcetti brought about this deterioration while cutting firefighters, fire stations and paramedics for those who stayed. Yet, none of these candidates noticed -- even when the population exodus was published in Garcetti's own community plan!
John Choi is now genuinely making an effort to learn about the District that he moved into 1 year ago: He's following @MitchOFarrell on Twitter. Yes, THAT Mitch O'Farrell. Smart move, John. If you want to learn about the 13th District, there's no one more knowledgable than Mitch.
Figures. This guy is completely suspect, with massive billboards and several glossy advertising sheets per day in my mail. Smell like 'bought and paid for' to me. No thanks!
No one has worked with more diligence to represent Council District 13 than Mitch O'Farrell. No one has more understanding of the district or the needs and concerns of its constituents than he.
We've been waiting for you, Mitch.
@chunababe Did he work diligently to help Garcetti rush this Hollywood Plan through as fast as possible, with as little public input as possible, skirting the law when possible because no one pays attention to this stuff?? Or am I wrong? Perhaps he witnessed the corruption in our City Hall, and wishes to do the right thing? At this point, I think we need public debates for the candidates. Maybe that would draw more voters interest in as well.
@SAMUSA Not true. A publicity event was held on Franklin Avenue, without any notice to surrounding residents, therefore preventing any visible protest to the Hollywood Millenium Project.
I have attended other meetings, and what I found is that residents are virtually tolerated, but have no weight in decisions by elected City Council officials who do not represent the interests of the people who elected them, but rather the developers who line their pockets.
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@chunababe If he is so great, why is Hollywood such a mess? His been Garcetti's since when? 2001?
@scottzwartz @chunababe I agree with your observation, but I must add, Mitch seems like a really nice guy.
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SAM KBUSYHAN for District 13 City Council!!! He is way more legit and caring and ready and able to faithfully represent the district. Please check him out and VOTE FOR SAM KBUSHYAN!
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SAM KBUSYHAN for District 13 City Council!!! He is way more legit and caring and ready and able to faithfully represent the district. Please check him out and VOTE FOR SAM KBUSHYAN!
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@market @lovelovelove What? I don't even know Ziggy Kruse. Sam is a great guy. Not sure who you are supporting but you kind of just sound like a hater.
@SAMUSA Man, you're really a sad case. Why are you tearing down someone who really cares about the community? I'm not aware of her citizenship status, nor does it apply to the situation at hand.
@lovelovelove @market If you do not know Ziggy Kruse, then you can't know much about Hollywood.
sorry, don't mean to come across as a hater, but more of a realist pointing out my experience.
I met with Sam Kabushyan to start a business improvement district in east hollywood. NOTHING Happened!!
I'm sure he is a nice guy, but I'm looking for a candidate that has some backbone, that has actually done something for the community, who has had an active dialogue with the community.
I don't appreciate a candidate or candidate camp knocking on my door telling me how to mark my absentee ballot.
Ziggy Kruse is not our spokesperson! I believe she is one of the many in a group that placed lawsuits on so many projects in Hollywood. It was a popular story in curbed la; known as: NIMBY greenmail http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/01/leaked_settlement_shows_how_nimbys_greenmail_developers_1.php
Sam Kabushyan camp has been intimidating the absentee voter; they fear retaliation for speaking upThis is not an election for ziggy kruse or sam kabushyan
Matt Szabo set up PayPal accounts in city hall to pay for Michael Jacksons funeral, he was also instrumental in an attempt to provide an office space for Occupy LA for $1 a YEAR! Once the media found out about it, the deal was pulled http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_19394416
I believe Ms Kruse sat on that group Sorry Ms. Kruse, your activism does not mean that you represent the people of Hollywood, even if you are a friend of the writer of this story Patrick McDonald
Mr. Abrams: Your numbers ARE WRONG! You stated: Can 23 candidates all be wrong? Time will tell."We don't have 23 candidates!!!!
@market "Your numbers ARE WRONG! You stated: Can 23 candidates all be wrong? Time will tell."We don't have 23 candidates!!!!"
Getting petty here.
suzzie dear...what are the numbers then?
abrams made a statement of 23 candidates, and someone was correcting him..we do not have that many running for the seat
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OMG! I almost threw up my gelato when I saw the cult-like black and white John Choi billboard in Echo Park. No photo, just "I am Choi, I will save you, read my mailers, join my cult." It's all about him. His website says he wants for break the city free from special interests, yet special-interests have spent $135,000 to get him elected; He claimed to have worked on the Echo Park Lake restoration, yet he had NOTHING to do with it; He says he worked miracles while he was one of 5 over paid commissioners on the Board of Public Works, when he was only there for 11 months! He took campaign donations from the people that want to build more than 800 apartments and commercial space in Elysian Park. You can't break us free of the special-interests if they own you, dude. Please stop polluting my hipster paradise with all your junk mail and scary billboards!
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John Choi is the worst example of a carpet-bagger. He moved into the 13th District 1 year ago, 92% of his campaign money comes from outside the District, he's very under-qualified, he's lied and exaggerated in his mailers, and on his website, and special-interest money is the ONLY reason he's even in the conversation and in the race. To win, he will have to buy the election, fool the voters of the 13th District and be the best actor that he can be. He either volunteered to run as a representative of the special interests, or he just completely whored himself to gain their favor and money. It's just the complete worse of any kind of American politics.
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All the carpet bagging money drubbers who want to become King of the Development Corruption are dependent on Judge Goodman and his rubber stamping Garcetti's fraudulent Hollywood Community Plan. The Plan is simply put Garbage -- Garbage in, Garbage out. [The 1601 N Vine Project alone had a $1.4 M appraisal fraud.]
Hollywood's fraudulent nature was exposed when its DEIR was issued in March 2011. It falsely said that Hollywood's population in 2005 was 224,426 ppl, when it was about 206,000 persons. Five years later, the US Census showed that the 2000 population of 201,794 ppl had fallen to only 198,228 people by 2010. We are supposed to believe that the population zoomed up by 13,000 in five years and then crashed down by 26,000 the next five year, yet it would then skyrocket toward 250,000 ppl by 2030. Yep, the Garcetti plan said we had to build high rises for 250,000 people before 2030. Without the fraud of vast and huge population growth, who would finance the outlandish 55 story Millennium towers and the other mega projects in Hollywood?
It is interesting to learn from LA Weekly that over One Million Dollars has already been spent on a primary for CD 13 when everything rests on whether the judge can distinguish a verified 20 plus year population decline from a fictictious miraculous population explosion of 52,000 people in the next few years?
If Facts are Law count for anything, Garcetti's fraudulent Hollywood Community Plan is doomed. Yet, the smart (?) money has already spend over $1 M to gain this most lucrative cash cow. Choi - $192 K, Ocampo, $137 K, Mack $103 K That's a lot of money to spend when the development plan should be remanded for a complete do-over due to its irreconcilable conflicts with Facts and Law. Can 23 candidates all be wrong? Time will tell.
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@abramsrl Facts and Law mean nothing in the face of political stooges and pay offs.
Isn't THAT the truth! I'm still in shock about how things are done even at this level of politics. I more fully understand the nature of what's going on in our US Congress now. It's all the same stuff.
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