Council Blow by Blow for 6-1-09

Ok. We got shit-all on the agenda. Even money Tornek shows this time. Runnin' 5-2 Tyler will come back for public comment again.

They got millions to spend on the Consent Calendar, they're raisin' fees and taxes and takin' on Foothill Transit.

CLOSED SESSION: Surprise, they're not talkin'.

Hey! They're all here this time. Sharkey wins the Tornek pool by guessin' he'll show up late, which is what he does. Madison does the pledge and gets it right.

CEREMONIAL BACK PATS: Madison wants to adjourn for Liman Ennis who died. Guy was an architect who worked a lot around town. Bogaard wants to adjourn for Hugh Smith who developed real estate here.

PUBLIC COMMENT: Christian Perry from Dancing with the Stars pimps his dance studio on Fair Oaks. Miriam Kwan still hates cell towers and rags on the council for not stopping them. She left her tin foil hat home this time. Mary Romney intros David Powell who talks about how if we don't water our lawns more there won't be enough water in the ground so we'll have to use more Metropolitan water that's way more expensive. He wants it to have an environmental review. John Brookheart wants to know if the city will pay for his lawyer to sue the city. Man I hope not. Bill Watkins is hot headed and is an alcoholic who's got a plan to love the law and wants to do something but gets wound up and doesn't get to the point until the end which is about being on time. Victor Gonzales is back about some project at Las Encinas and trees that he says are important to native American heritage. I'm admittin' I don't really get the connection except somehow this guy hates Las Encinas. Maybe Dr. Drew treated his sister for genophobia or phagophobia or something.

MWD SHILL SHILLS COUNCIL: Tim Brick comes to the Council to pitch for Metropolitan Water District. Our representative says there's no extra water anywhere. He says we got normal rain ths year but are still screwed. No mention about cutbacks in cost from MWD. He saus there are incentives but cities gotta have penalties for wasting water. Bogus is conforted that Brick's on the MWD. Tornek's there now and asks about recharging teh aquifer. Brick says 50% to 70% of water use is outside. He says most of that doesn't go into the groundwater anway so Powell's nuts. Nobody asks about MWD saving money or negotiating with unions to cut pay and benefits so we don't have to pay so much for water.

CONSENT CALENDAR: They're spending some money but got a buncha folks out with their tin foil hats to talk about a cell antenna on Oak Knoll Avenue. Nadine Roundinella who looks like she stepped in a big pile of shit and smells it the whole time hates putting the antenna in her neighborhood. She says it's gonna make her property values drop and something about hydrochloride and that T-Mobile doesn't need the antenna. Miriam Nakamura Kwan shows pictures and says T-Mobile doesn't need the tower. Wacko Nancy Nelson says no cell phones. Tornek asks a couple of qs for the T-Mobile guy and gets told they need the antenna. They pass it after some more questions. Madison asks about $1 million for GPS and is told it's needed. They pass that, too.

CITY BUDGET MASH UP: We're all screwed. African American Finance guy Green says the city's gotta cut and the state ain't gonna help, 'specially now. There's people from Portantino and Liu's offices there but they got nothin' to add. Nobody says our Sacto leggies oughta just get their shit together and do a budget before Cali runs outta cash in like three weeks. Sure, that's gonna happen. They're movin' on.

FEE INCREASES: They're raisin some costs but cut one for restaurants in half. Paul Little from the Chamber likes them for this. He's not sayin' anything about what's gonna cost me more, even if I could tell what that is from the report they rush through.

HUD AMENDMENT FOR STIMULUS FUNDING: They're going to get money for housing from HUD for CDBG to the tune of $600K. They want to spend money on La Pint Park for a teen center, photo electric cells on the enterprise center and money to Neighborhood Housing Services for low flow toilets and some other stuff with non-profits. OK let's get some. Who decides who gets the $$$? Public comment from exec director of Door of Hope likes that poor are getting help.

TAXES ARE GOING UP: Duh! Some surprise there. Holden says they're not raising much because the cost of living stayed the same.

$88K more for New York Drive medians. Ok. It's a lot of cash but they did a good job over there. Antonovich is paying some too.

PASADENA'S JOINING FOOTHILL TRANSIT COMPANY: So we get some say in what they do. That makes sense I guess since they do buses here. Radar O'Reilly's dad Fred Dock says it's a good thing to do and costs nothing to be on the board. Wacko Nancy Nelson don't like buses 'cause she almost got run over.

COUNCIL PALS GET APPOINTED TO COMMISSIONS: Same as always. I never heard of any of these people who gotta be big donors. One guy is Fred Claire. Is that the old Dodger GM?

TEE BID CONVENTION CENTER HOTEL TAX: They tax themselves to pay for the convention center somehow that's tough to understand but it's paying for the new place but not the stoopid hats. Lots of acronyms. What's T. O. T.?

ORDINANCES: We got new rules for water wasters that probly make sense s'long as I don't get fined for washing the car. The report says they gotta hire $810K worth of people to enforce this. How about we save the $810K and cut my water bill instead? Or use that $$$ to do something besides hire more expensive people with my tax dollars? Tornek asks about the extra people and Beck says they aren't making new positions yet but Tornek seems more worried about making it work than what it costs customers. Staff dude sounds like they don't really have much of a plan. Public comment: Miriam Nakamura Kwan likes Dave Powell and wanted him to get more time to talk. Wayne Lusvardi says we need to be worried about not watering enough and Tim Brick is full of shit and says the City Council will kill the Raymond Basin water. Nancy Nelson doesn't like this. She says don't punish people reward them. Felicia Williams likes it. Mary Dee Romny says get your shit in order before you do this. Council's going for it big time.

OTHER ORDINANCES: Some zoning changes and park fees get to be spent in parks.

OFFICE BUILDING ON FAIR OAKS: It's called legendary place. Holden bails because his office is in the building. They want to build 55K square feet of office buildings with a restaurant in the basement. They'd knock down what's there now. They need lots of changes to make this fly and they're even taking out (gasp) trees! Gordo thinks it oughta go to the Planning Commission first, but it gets complicated because of due process according to the City Attorney who says they gotta follow the rules. Tornek wants to change the process. McAustin wants toi know if needing a buncha approvals means you need a higher level of scrutiny. Public Comment: Serge Sony says they want to make it work and are trying.

VONS PROJECT ON COLORADO: Another report about Vons wanting to demo and redo the store at Colo and Sierra Madre. They wanna do a new store and build some new ones on the street. What they're doing on Colorado looks crappy.

PUBLIC COMMENT REDUX: Nancy Nelson's gonna make it short and says thanks for the Playhouse trees. She says the council doesn't pay attention to what people say. And she goes on and on and on and on and council shouldn't play God and that she's a mail order minister. Lilia Hernandez says a Marshall kid wanted to invite them to a Latino graduation. So is there a Black graduation, Armenian graduation and white graduation too?

COUNCIL JABBERING: Tornek complains about a project on Colorado Boulevard and he wants to send it to the planning commission. Holden says the Burbank Airport got some study approved. Is it gonna cost me less to fly for work?

POST FIGHT WRAP-UP: Not a lot happening. Tornek seems pretty smart so far. They're gonna pay a lot of money for people to come around and give us tickets for washing our cars.

I'm done.

D.