L.A. COLISEUM "CASH PACKED IN A SUITCASE" SCANDAL: FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS Launch Criminal Investigation into Suitcases Full Of Cash For Union Members [SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL UNION! THEY ARE NOT CRIMINALS DESTROYING THE CITY!]

By Paul Pringle and Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times

February 1, 2012

For at least five years, officials with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum passed bundles of cash totaling more than $1 million to a union representative, sometimes in a suitcase packed with $100 bills.

The payments, ranging from $1,400 to $187,700 each, were to cover the wages of stagehands on Coliseum events — rave concerts, Cinco de Mayo performances and a Lakers championship celebration — according to records and interviews.

Invoice reports from the publicly owned Coliseum, obtained by The Times under the California Public Records Act, show that the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees received the cash advances from March 2006 through last February. But the Coliseum imposed no controls over whether the money ended up in the right pockets, and the commissioners who govern the property say they may have been swindled.

Now criminal investigators for the U.S. Labor Department are looking into the payments, people familiar with the matter say.

With no detailed accounting of what happened to the cash after it left the stadium, the Coliseum Commission does not know how much actually went to wages and whether required contributions were made to employee benefit plans. In addition, the stadium could be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in back payroll and withholding taxes.

It's as though the Coliseum was run "like an underground business," said Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor who studies government corruption. "This idea of cash in suitcases reads like a bad crime novel."


READ MORE/FULL ARTICLE AT LA TIMES

COMING NEXT: L.A. City Controller to hold press conference announcing new audit while putting officials on notice, "bundles of cash in a suitcase will NOT be tolerated."

Crooked Lines! An Article by L.A. City Councilman Bernard Parks on Redistricting [City Council's Professor SPEAKS!] Meeting, Wed, 02/01/12 - Details HERE!

[PICTURED: Zuma Dogg hands the blog over to The Professor of L.A. City Council for some REAL journalism!]

Crooked Lines! 
by Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks

Every 10 years, a citizen's commission is formed to draw a map of Los Angeles that divides the city into 15 districts of equal population. The residents that live within the boundaries of each district then nominate and elect one of their own to serve as their representative on the Los Angeles City Council.

Unfortunately, the process is influenced by numerous special interests who seek maps that establish a political advantage for their particular candidate, party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create desired electoral results. This is called "gerrymandering".

During this latest process, the commission has held numerous public hearings throughout the city and 95% of the public delivered the same message; "I like my District; Keep it intact."

Unfortunately, the Commission did not listen to the public and has proposed a map that radically changes the Eighth District, and in my judgment, violates the City Charter requirement for districts that “keep neighborhoods and communities intact, utilize natural boundaries or street lines, and be geographically compact."

The most egregious examples of this disregard for the public’s wishes and the Charter requirements are:

- Splitting up the historic Leimert Park neighborhood so that only the businesses and park remain in the Eighth District, while all the residences go to the Tenth district

- Splitting Baldwin Vista from the rest of Baldwin Hills and placing it in the Tenth District

- Taking the LAX-adjacent Westchester neighborhood from the 11th District and connecting it to the Eighth District through a narrow strip of land that’s only about a block wide.

The Commission came to this bungled conclusion after making a series of missteps:

• The Commission did not approve a set of guiding principles to help prioritize the general goals to be pursued during the line drawing. While there may have been reasons for tabling the proposed set of guidelines in the early going, the lack of guidance left small discussion groups rudderless to answer major questions about how to prioritize certain goals. The only person who saw the entire map was the staff line drawer, who was neither skilled in applying the law nor familiar with the politics of given districts. Within the small groups, not all of the approaches to handling the major questions were complementary. The choice to hold breakout sessions meant that small groups were creating districts without a joint understanding about the concepts that would resolve difficult areas that required the exercise of discretion.

• The aforementioned problem was exacerbated by the fact that important decisions that carried larger effects on other areas were made in the small independent groups. As several members have noted, for example, the choices made about the population groupings in the Valley districts directly affected the constraints on the configurations in city districts including CD’s 4, 5, and 13. However, neither of these small groups had the ability to address the close relationship between these two regions. The resolution groups also could not resolve major issues, since representatives for some of the affected districts were not present – which meant that no changes were permitted that would alter their proposed configurations.

• Very few of the districts reflect an apparent rationale to support their departures from the clear thrust of public testimony. It should be noted that neither the subgroups nor the line drawer provided an explanation for the particular configurations adopted in this presentation, which was surely one reason for the lack of satisfaction clear in some responses. Without a rationale, one cannot dismiss claims that the Commission engaged in either unfair or illegal considerations in making its decisions. For example, one issue that has often been raised is the treatment of areas like downtown and Korea Town; there is certainly public testimony that differs from the district configurations in the draft map. Another example is the configuration of the downtown area, which was consolidated in CD 14, despite the weight of the testimony expressing satisfaction with CD 9. In both cases, there is no apparent rationale for the decisions to depart from this testimony in designing districts in these areas.

• Similarly, the district boundaries in this map reflect some serious inconsistencies in applying the relevant law. Much could be said about the handling of communities of interest (how they are defined and weighed in the process), but there are more serious considerations that involve clear federal mandates. First, there is no basis apparent in how the Commission approached population deviation – aside from failing to adopt an overall goal for population deviation, the Commission did not explain its reasoning for the varying levels of deviation present in each part of the map. Further, the Voting Rights Act seems to be utilized quite differently in districts that are similarly situated. The populations of majority non-white districts like CD’s 14 and 7 appear to be treated quite differently from the majority population in CD 8, even though all three districts are covered by the same federal anti-discrimination protections and have a history of effective political participation.

If you're like the 95% who testified before the Commission who want their district left alone, and reject the Redistricting Commission’s treatment of the Eighth District as a junkyard - taking parts they want and dumping parts they don’t - I urge you to let them know!

There is a meeting Wednesday, February 1st, at 6:30 P.M., Wilshire Ebell Theatre, 4401 West 8th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90005

The other meetings of interest are as follows:

On Thursday, February 2 at 11 AM at Westchester Recreation Center - 7000 West Manchester Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90045 Councilmember Bernard C. Parks, Councilmember Bill Rosendope (CD11) and their constituents will hold a news conference to announce their solution to the L.A. Redistricting Commission's unpopular decision to separate Westchester from the Los Angeles International Airport(LAX) by putting the community into CD8 and taking it out of CD11.

Thursday, February 2 at 6:30 PM at Westchester Recreation Center, Gym - 7000 West Manchester Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90045- This meeting is especially important because it gives the South L.A. community a chance to support the residents of Westchester as they fight to stay in CD11. Why is this important? If Westchester stays in CD11 and does not move into CD8, it allows CD8 to take back its population (Baldwin Vista, Leimert Park) that was moved out of the district by the map drawers. 

Saturday, February 4th, 9:30 - 11:30 A.M. - ECWANDC Town Hall Meeting  Crenshaw United Methodist Church - 3740 Don Felipe Drive- Neighborhood Council representatives will attempt to vote down a proposed map that goes against our community’s interests.

Wednesday, February 8th at 6:30 P.M.- Redistricting Commission Meeting - L.A. City Hall, John Ferraro Chambers, 200 N. Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

On Saturday, February 11th at 11:00 AM, the Commission will hold a public hearing at West Angeles Church – 3045 Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90016 – to hear feedback on their proposal. 

Please encourage your friends and neighbors to attend, and let’s send a loud and clear message that we want the Eighth District to remain intact!


Make sure you stay up to date with all the latest developments on my webpage http://www.bernardparks.com or twitter @BernardCParks and on Facebook at Facebook.com/CouncilmemberParks and Facebook.com/BernardCParks.


RELATED VIDEO:

MONEY LAUNDERING SECRETS OF THE ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA CONNECTED [Los Angeles Money Laundering Rico Racket 101 For Dummies!]

BEEN BLOGGING ABOUT THE DOWNTOWN CORRUPTION, LIKE THE PRODUCE INDUSTRY AND REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY AND HOW LAUNDERED DRUG MONEY IS USED TO BUY AND DEVELOP DOWNTOWN REAL ESTATE. 

Here's the next round of the story (background to an L.A. KINGPIN EMPIRE) -- and time to change the names (KINGPIN TV SCRIPT STYLE), to protect the guilty. 

L.A. CITY RICO RACKETS:

"Mr Grocery" has always been a mystery man. He gains his clientele’s trust by giving away product in season; or throwing outrageous sales, that are unbeatable in the Grocery industry. 

This trick brings in the low income masses, who get paid in cash (easy to launder), and that live check to check. This is what he thrives and depends on. 

Then companies are formed out of nowhere, by ex-employees, also related to the Mob and their (outside the U.S.) operations, like Mike & Mike Produce, who became  a big money laundering facility for Mr. Grocery. 

Having  Mr Produce King on his side and being the only supplier of produce into his stores, made it an obvious deal. They were laundering money. They were picking it up from Mr. Grocery, directly in his corporate office.

Out of nowhere, Mike & Mike Produce, started as a hole in the wall in 7^th St Market, to big corporation with multiple offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Reno (which they call the belly button to the Western States and the route to anywhere in the U.S ., via semi-trucks.

More to come...

RELATED TWEETS:

• If someone contacts @Villaraigosa and tells him ZD is tweeting Holland Partner fraud cover up & L.A. Produce Industry fraud=HE'LL SCREAM! 12 minutes ago
• Hey @Villaraigosa: ZD has the 2 words YOU are trying to keep covered-up: PARTNERS and HOLLAND (Not necessarily in that order!) #FBI! #FRAUD! 14 minutes ago
• WHY is L.A. City Hall BACK TO VIOLATING Brown Act at lobby check in? Cops back to REQUIRING name to be given to attend council meeting? 16 minutes ago
• #FBI: L.A. Housing Dept lost a MAJOR court ruling. They cite for Building & Safety code violations. THEY ARE HOUSING DEPT, NOT B&S! ILLEGAL!39 minutes ago
• #FBI: Does L.A. Housing Department have a QUOTA inspectors need to meet on placing homes into Rent Escrow Program? (A: YES?) 40 minutes ago
• @BarackObama#EricHolder: Would you CARE if I linked/proved, that your boy Antonio @Villaraigosa is drug cartel's capo-puppet for U.S.? about 2 hours ago
• @Villaraigosa@JoseHuziar: ZD=disenfranchised w Redistricting/Wesson, so exposing cartel that BACKS U, so folks know WHY dumb shit happens!about 2 hours ago
• @JoseHuizar: Don't u just LOVE Northgate Market! ZD does, too! MUCH more than Ralphs, Vons or Number Uno. Was banana u gave me from Rey&Rey? about 3 hours ago
• How $ LAUNDERING WORKS: U own a grocery store. U create produce company w pal. Pay produce pal your drug money for produce for your store. about 3 hours ago
• @VILLARAIGOSA: That Rey & Rey Produce, out of 7th St Market Area SURE IS an American SUCCESS story! Nowhere to HUGE=FAST! ZD=taking U down!about 3 hours ago

RECENT AND RELATED:

Are Downtown L.A. Rat Infested Produce Markets Just A Front For Drug Cartels To Ship REAL PRODUCT Across U.S. via L.A.? [An LA Daily Blog Reader Weighs In.]

Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Carmen Trutanich and the "Fast & Furious" Factions That RUN Los Angeles City...BETTER READ THIS LETTER, GOING AROUND THE INTERNET: Who is REALLY RUNNING THE CITY, STATE & U.S.A.? [I hope it's not drug cartel money!]

VIDEO ALERT!: An URGENT Message to Los Angeles Residents by L.A. Mayoral Candidate, Zuma Dogg [Re: City Hall Under Herb Wesson As Council President...FBI IS OUR ONLY HOPE!]

AND TOM LABONG...We KNOW you are NOT comfortable when public comment speakers expose problems in your district, but you may NOT interrupt the speaker in this fashion, in a bamboozle attempt to cut it off! You MAY tell the speaker he can speak to your deputy, AFTER he is done. MAYBE you should have listened. You ARE the councilman, LOSER! And the D.A. Office has an EZ online Brown Act complaint form.

Los Angeles Mayor ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA: Are YOU Covering Up FRAUD Relating To Your HOLLAND PARTNERS Dealings?

[PICTURED: The guy's got a lot on his mind. He KNEW Zuma Dogg was in the first row, with a camera. SOMETHING SEEMS TO BE WEIGHING HEAVY! "HOLLAND PARTNERS?"]


Just wanted to send a message to Villaraigosa: Zuma Dogg is STILL unsettled on my FEDERAL LAWSUIT that I beat Carmen Trutanich on...and I am getting crankier by the hour. So, just wanted to let the cartel's Kingpin (YOU, Antonio), that the PEOPLES' KINGPING (ME), knows AAAAAAAAAAAALLLL about Holland Partners. (Getting a little nervous, NOW, Brutha?) Wait till I lay in on Number Uno, L.A. produce industry insurance fraud and money laundering. ZD HAS A RIVER OF INFO THAT GOES DEEP, MY MAN! It's just a matter of ZD having to get NUTTY ENOUGH that he is willing to post it. AND I WANTED TO BE SETTLED AND DONE WITH POLITICAL BLOGGING...but Trutanich & Rosendahl keep me blogging...SO KEEP READING ANTONIO!

Are Downtown L.A. Rat Infested Produce Markets Just A Front For Drug Cartels To Ship REAL PRODUCT Across U.S. via L.A.? [An LA Daily Blog Reader Weighs In.]

FROM LA DAILY BLOG READER on Downtown Produce Markets. WHO CARES ABOUT THE LOSS THEY TAKE ON PRODUCE???

For quite some time, now, the LA Produce Market, and the out of code Markets surrounding the Terminal located on 1600 Olympic Blvd, has been a focus on the agenda of every single Code Enforcement Office and Health Officer in the Downtown Area. 

Why doesn't anything ever happen? It’s simple: the Kingpin of Downtown Real Estate involved with the Villaraigosa Government has not allowed them to completely close, when the monthly income of these out of code installations bring well over a million dollars a month; on areas that need no maintenance. This is what anyone will consider the goose with the gold eggs.                       

From the outdated 1920’s 7th St Markets, where the Rats are the size of a medium size cat, with a fetid sewage that flows freely every time we have a heavy rain...to the pollution and trash created on a daily basis by the tenants and buyers of this pig sty.

Back to the subject: The reason why this place hasn’t been closed even after been improperly rebuilt after being condemned by a fire in 2006 seems obvious: The income that it creates it’s just too much to be ignored. (http://lafd.blogspot.com/2006/01/major-fire-damages-las-7th-street.html). 

Plus the fact that the Mob has direct links with some of these businesses, where they land illegal products and re-route them to all areas of the U.S. to their final destinations for street distribution. 

This way, in a very low key manner, the drugs and other items are put in hands of their final consumer in the most innocent way. 

Do you think the Meruelo’s didn’t know? Why you think they purchased the market and everything around it? How does part of the family hang out with these business owners and their posses on a weekly basis, where they drink and party. Have you ever seen the DEA in here? NEVER! I mean they’re just blocks away, you would think that by now they would’ve done their job.   

Families like the "A" Cartel are still involved in the daily traffic of drugs to the U.S. via Produce Companies. The proof is very notorious: How can businesses trash, on a daily basis, the tons and tons of produce that goes bad coming from Sinaloa, Chiapas, Michoacan, Sayula; and not end up bankrupt or closing doors eventually? 

The answer is simple: This is merchandise that they don’t have to pay. The drugs that were packed in the same merchandise are more important than the value of the produce. That’s why the produce is a freebie, if they help move the drugs to a different semi, parked in the premises; with destinations like Seattle Washington, Denver, CO, Dallas, Texas, Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah, Albuquerque, New Mexico and others.

This way, the Market is a big stage for drugs, racketeering and related street activities. When are we, the Angelinos, going to open our eyes to the corruption we have living amongst us and do something about it??

FOLLOW UP TO THE SOARING POST FROM 10 MINUTES AGO:

Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Carmen Trutanich and the "Fast & Furious" Factions That RUN Los Angeles City...BETTER READ THIS LETTER, GOING AROUND THE INTERNET: Who is REALLY RUNNING THE CITY, STATE & U.S.A.? [I hope it's not drug cartel money!]

LOOKS LIKE WE GOT ALL NEW MATERIAL...AND ZD STILL AIN'T SETTLED AND HAS NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN COPY, PASTE and POST, THIS STUFF! Thanks, L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich for keeping me in the political blogging business!!! THE MOB LOVES YA!

Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Carmen Trutanich and the "Fast & Furious" Factions That RUN Los Angeles City...BETTER READ THIS LETTER, GOING AROUND THE INTERNET: Who is REALLY RUNNING THE CITY, STATE & U.S.A.? [I hope it's not drug cartel money!]

Just when I thought I was out, they suck me back in. Zuma Dogg retired from political blogging on Sunday; then someone sends me the HOTTEST F*CKING EMAIL ON THE CORRUPT FACTIONS RUNNING THE CITY, STATE & FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, from a veteran L.A. City worker. Here is part one.


AND, to anyone who is not happy about the direction of ZD's blogging, L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich is HELL BENT on keeping me around as an L.A. City gadfly. (Just ask him or Bill Rosendahl, why.) And as my comedy mentor Jackie Gleason once said, many times, "And awaaaaaaaaay we go!" NO TURNING BACK AFTER I HIT "SEND" BUTTON ON THIS ONE, BABY!!! (And this was just what the person sent me to ask, "Can I write for your blog." I THINK THEY JUST DID):


Dear ZD,


I am a veteran worker for L.A., and have seen it all. There is so much mob involvement in running L.A.’s sudden new great celebrity surrounded grounds.


From the corrupt government; to the families that run the show in the Downtown real estate biz.


The ones whom prevailed in the real estate business have other "not so clean fronts." I know from their other businesses and the way those businesses invested drug cartel money in a big development, we've been watching for the past 10 years. [ZD: Wonder if those are the "asbestos" lofts, Andrew Adelman was too close to exposing. Aka: Pension money of Villar's cronies into PROBLEMATIC loft building.]


L.A. lofts were great for downtown, prior to the overpriced market. But, now it seems only the privileged get to lease these properties.


In conversations with personnel from authorities, related to this matter, they say, “you have no idea...if we get the big fish then we would run out of work. We know how to get to them, but, it’s better to keep our mouths shut, so that we can have a good life."


Are these the Feds, that like the other kids on patrols claim, "to serve and protect?”


Don't look for help from the Feds, because these guys are so dedicated to protect the big drug lords, it's not even funny anymore.


Regarding drugs. They'll make busts for pot. But its about meth, ice, coke, etc. Always get the small guy but never get the Lord that lives in Arcadia, Duarte Hills, Temple City, Pacific Palisades, Malibu or the Valley.


The meth addiction is at an all time high, involving all circles of society; and it’s just the matter of what kind of quality drug the yappy kid from the hills can buy next to the homeless. And how sometimes these distinct circles of society end up in the same place buying drugs from the same distributor on 7th and Central, with cops in every corner and no one will say a thing. Why not?


Sincerely,
A Reader


[And that was under the subject, "I'd like to write for your blog." Can't wait to see what they had in mind.]

PREVIEW: How bout the Meruelos, and their nexus with (rico rackets). How the produce market is the direct front for the mob, and wondering if the meruelos got involved with this whole thing? Are companies in the L.A. produce market, just fronts for completely different things, involving mob faction from outside the U.S.? Are the teamsters from different locals also influence in all of this. And did a certain "Family" here, move drugs for them since the 60’s through a local family in Montebello? [FYI: Richard Meruelo was Antonio Villaraigosa's #1 contributor of money when he was elected Mayor of Los Angeles in 2005. (Drug money?)]


I'VE SPOKEN (HYPER-MEGA RANTED) ON THIS TOPIC, A FEW MONTHS AGO, IN WHAT MAYOR SAM'S BLOG CALLED, "MUST SEE VIDEO!":



LOOKS LIKE WE GOT ALL NEW MATERIAL...AND ZD STILL AIN'T SETTLED AND HAS NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN COPY, PASTE and POST, THIS STUFF! Thanks, L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich for keeping me in the political blogging business!!! THE MOB LOVES YA!


ALSO FROM TODAY: "An URGENT ALERT From Zuma Dogg" [Overall related matter.]

VIDEO ALERT!: An URGENT Message to Los Angeles Residents by L.A. Mayoral Candidate, Zuma Dogg [Re: City Hall Under Herb Wesson As Council President...FBI IS OUR ONLY HOPE!]

IN MY NEARLY SIX YEAR HISTORY AS L.A. BLOGGING-GADFLY, this is the first video with elevated, "URGENT ALERT" warning. (The next level up from, "Citizens' Alert!") YOU NEED TO TAKE ACTION, NOW...OR GET OUTTA TOWN!

CITY HALL IS UNDER SIEGE OF RICO RACKET ORCHESTRA, with Los Angeles City Hall Council President Herb Wesson as new conductor, for L.A. Mayor (and long-time, best-friend) Antonio Villaraigosa. THE SWITCHES ARE BEING PULLED!!! YOU NEED TO ACT, NOW!!!

 

Zuma Dogg QUINTESSENTIAL Vocal Performance in His Follow-Up Smash To, "I Will Always Love You," ZD Sings Dionne, Elton, Stevie & Gladys (san Pips), in Message For Masses

Zuma Dogg likes to give the people what they want, which is singing like Whitney Houston. But, I've done, "I Will Always Love You," enough times, but, I wanted to sing something uplifting, since I just went through a DOOSEY of a past 24 hours. So what BETTER follow up than the beautiful, "That's What Friend Are For." The right song, at the right time for Zuma Dogg to bust out.


[I don't like to do "take two" since it's no mic/no reverb/no mix. This is good enough to get an idea of what has been stunning Malibu for YEARS!]

ALSO FROM THIS WEEK - EVEN BETTER VOCALS:
"Nobody Does It Better (Song About Zuma Dogg)" by Zuma Dogg

About @ZumaDogg: Press Reviews & Viewer Comments ["Brain-seizing artistry" (LA Weekly), "Legend" (KABC), '"Heroic" (KRLA), "Stunned & Amazed" (LA Times) -- www.ZumaDogg.com

A ZD reader in Wimington, NC sent me a facebook message, asking for my help with HIS local city council on 1st Amendment issues and noted, "Zuma Dogg, I consider you a hero to our nation and The People..." (Thanks!) 

And here's what the media, elected officials and more of The People have to say about ZD, just to give the guy in NC some credibility...

* "Andrew Breitbart, try as he might, could never illustrate the disjointed hilarity of Occupy L.A. with the same brilliance."  - LA Weekly on @ZumaDogg

* "I've seen the future of television comedy. Zuma Dogg is the only American comedian today wearing the comedy-genius mantle once borne by Lenny Bruce, Allen Funt and Andy Kaufman." - Michael Heaton/Syndicated Pop-Culture Columnist

* "Brain-seizing artistry. A local underground superstar. -D. Harvey/LA Weekly

* "A public access icon." - M. Fleischer/LA Weekly


* "I'd just as soon vote for Zuma Dogg as Villaraigosa." - Bill Handel/KFI, after having Zuma Dogg on his show for interview.

* "Local Legend" - Doug McIntyre/790-KABC

* "It would be nice to see someone with the heroism of Zuma Dogg in office." - Kevin James/870-KRLA Radio

* Featured on ABC News Nightline, CBS2, KNBC4, KABC7, KCAL9, FOX11 TV and KFI, KABC, K-TALK & KRLA radio as L.A.'s most recognized and respected citizen voice. 

* "Zuma Dogg fought the oppressive, tightly controlled L.A. City Council meetings presided over by Council President Eric Garcetti, who had banned video cameras. After police tried to stop Zuma Dogg from taping the council deliberations, he railed against the big shots for months, slamming Garcetti as “Garshady” on his show and on his whistleblower blog. "Whatever happened to free speech in this country?," Zuma Dogg asked. He prevailed against Garcetti’s rules, and now brings his cameracorder to every council meeting, as can any member of the public thanks to him." - LA Weekly.


* "You're actually one of my favorite people to watch on TV." - Former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan to Zuma Dogg on KABC radio. 

* " Zuma Dogg has distinguished himself as a "mix of curiosity and crusader" fighting for what he considers his free-speech rights."He's been able to do it with humor and at times be more direct and substantive." Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti/Los Angeles Times

* "An original ... another treasure of Venice." - Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl

* " A civic treasure." - Michael Higby/Mayor Sam's Blog (L.A. politics)

* "I've seen you on TV. Keep doing what you're doing." - Dennis Franz

* "Zuma Dogg, not only one of the most recognizable figures at City Hall, cordially greeted by passersby, including security guards and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, he also has the ear of high-level insiders, who feed him information in the hope that he’ll expose, and possibly stop, one questionable government project or another." - LA Weekly (Click here for article.)

* ""He wakes us up; it gets everyone's attention." L.A. City Controller Wendy Greuel/Los Angeles Times

(GOOD! I THINK IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ENOUGH FOR MOST PEOPLE, IF MY ONLY DISTINCTION WAS WAKING THEM UP!)

* "Something between stunned and amazed. "I've never seen anything like it." - Former California Assembly Speaker, Councilman Herb Wesson/Los Angeles Times

THANKS TO THE NEARLY 10,000 PEOPLE who voted for "Zuma Dogg" in the last Los Angeles Mayoral election. (Not a bad number to pull, considering the historically low voter turnout, and the fact that ZD didn't spend a penny on his campaign, and didn't have the luxury of one flier." The mayor spent $3 million, just for comparison.)

* "Zuma Dogg, who is smarter than and knows more about city government than most Council members, has become something of an urban folk hero, skewering City Hall foibles and failures in his frequent public comment appearances broadcast on Channel 35. His campaigns for mayor and now CD2 attracted respectable numbers of votes for a candidate who was not only is penniless but homeless." - Ron Kaye/RonKayeLA.com (IMAGINE IF I HAD PENNIES TO WORK WITH!)

* "I too, as you may know, am a Deming fan. I think your synthesis of his work is fabulous." - Anthony Robbins

* "Very Well Done." - Dr. W. Edwards Deming on "Interpreting Deming's 14 Points," by Zuma Dogg. (Published internationally in "Quality Digest." I was told the letter from Deming had to be a fake, cause all he ever did was scribble red ink on everything. Let alone send a response like that. I had to fax the letter to some folks for verification. LOL! Too good to be true. I was in my 20's and was told, they were expecting someone in their 60's or 70's, because it usually takes that long to be able to write something at that level. Awe Shucks!)

* "I especially liked your of explanation Deming's more controversial points." - Don Dewar/Publisher, Quality Digest

* "You not only took our ideas, but expanded them in ways I thought were very interesting." - Al Ries ("Marketing Warfare," "22 Immutable Laws of Marketing," "Focus.")

Guess networks and cable channels couldn't come up with anything as good as "Zuma Dogg" for all their mulit-million dollar budgets and writers and producers and directors and technical crew and marketing departments. BECAUSE THESE PEOPLE WERE WATCHING "ZUMA DOGG" INSTEAD OF YOU...AND I HAD TO DO IT BY CATCHING THEIR ATTENTION IN A CHANNEL SURF, WITH THE (BY FAR) LOWEST PRODUCTION VALUE OF ANY SHOW IN TELEVISION HISTORY. I WIN, LOSER!:

* "A very funny comedian." - Howard Stern

* "Everyone watches Zuma Dogg!" - Reggie Miller/NBA All Star

* "We watch your videos on our tour bus. We need more." - Dean DeLeo (STP)

* "I am such a fan of your show." - Courteney Cox-Arquette

* "Zuma Dogg is Da Bomb!" - Emilio Estevez 

* "Love your show buddy. I watch it all the time." - Adam Sandler

UNSOLICITED EMAIL COMMENTS FROM REAL PEOPLE WHO CAUGHT "ZUMA DOGG" DURING AN L.A. CABLE TV CHANNEL SURF:

I was not at all prepared for the brilliance of your show.

In all honesty I was absolutely blown away. It was the most fresh, funniest, innovative thing that I've seen on television in the past five years

You're a genius! When can we catch more shows? Do you have any of your old shows available?

honestly, you may have been the funniest person i've ever see. I was laughing so hard I woke up my girlfriend.

If i owned a big TV company your show would be on 24/7!! I have never laughed so hard for so long, it's awesome. Can't wait for the next one, me and my friends will be talkin about it for a week! lol...

How can I get a copy of tonight's episode? It was the funniest thing I've seen in years. Thank you.

I hope you know you have the best show in the history of the planet!

I was wondering if I could maybe get your Autograph...It would mean alot...I know a ton of kids at my skool that love your show too....They are always talking in your voice and going crazy..

you have the best show ever, you are the best white rapper in the world!!!

It was so beautiful that I had tears in my eyes. Let's just say I was moved.

I think your show displays a VERY intelligent and socially conscience realistic view of the world and you do it in a very original and very artistic way.

NOBODY HAS DONE WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Keep it up.

i love your show. it is the most excellent thing in all of televisionland.

My name is Lauren and let me begin by saying you are one of the finest displays of unconventional genius I've seen in a long time.

We just wanted to write to let you know how spectacular we thought your show was.

i was just wondering, if there's anyway i can buy your shows on video or something.

my boyfriend and i just stumbled upon you singing saturday night fever tunes - and we can't stop laughing - thanks...

I caught your last episode. Let me tell you that it was a Classic. The part about Elton John had me laughing all night.

Do you sell your music or dvds of your show? If not, you should. Your latest song is good as hell.

saw your show the other night and let me say,it was some of the funniest shit i've seen on tv in a long time,keep up the good work.

My girlfriend and i caught your show for the first time 3 weeks ago. I recorded it and show it around to friends. It is so g-damn funny. I keep waiting to see you somewhere.

Just to let you know, I dig what you do, you are a funny and talented person. It took me a couple shows to get it but now I got it so keep it up, look forward to the new shows.

I CAN MATCH EVERY ONE OF THESE QUOTES WITH 100 MORE, JUST LIKE IT...but, you will STILL try to come up with a reason why it would NEVER WORK!

"No one would ever watch this. It's not a show. It's not even comedy." - Comedy Central. Meanwhile, I just keep on, keepin' on...growing more legendary and iconic by the day. Like Irene Cara says, "What A Feeling!"
  
Do you think you are ever going to find anyone who can generate buzz like this? It was all out of an empty pocket, mostly while homeless, as it all unfolded LIVE before the people's eyes on local cable TV, radio, newspapers and internet. (The world's most compelling REAL, reality show.)

STORY: Local public access TV personality, Zuma Dogg was told by City Hall he couldn't set up his amp or sell Zuma Dogg shirts, CDs & DVDs at Venice Beach boardwalk, anymore. ZD protested this 1st Amendment violation of the U.S. Constitution inside the chambers of L.A. City Hall, as televised LIVE throughout the city, and created more political backlash against them than any single voice in history -- and woke up the whole city to the fraud, waste and abuse that pushed the city to the edge of bankruptcy. On October 2010, a Federal Judge agreed with Zuma Dogg, who sued the city over this matter, and issued an injunction against the city as they prepare to pay Zuma Dogg for damages.

It's either an Academy Award worthy movie in the right hands or the biggest cable network talk show in television history.

Zuma Dogg

Writer/Producer/Director/Host

The Zuma Dogg Show

ZumaDogg.com