Zuma Dogg rolled into City Council chambers exactly two years ago this month over an issue at Venice Beach that prevented me from making my income. Turns out, last week...Council repealed the ordinance we were complaining about, and made the changes we requested.
So the point is...Zuma Dogg never should have even been in City Hall in the first place. But once I was there, I found out rather quickly that the people living in East L.A.'s CD 14 (Lincoln Heights, Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Eagle Rock, Mt. Washington) were extremely dissatisfied with the way City Hall was running rough-shot over the community and I've been contacted by people in tears over the treatment they have received by CM Jose Huizar. And I know Huizar's people have felt in the past that ZD has it out for Huizar.
I assure you I did not wake up and say, "Hmm, how can I make this guy Jose Huizar who I never heard of, more uncomfortable." Again, it's all based on feedback from the people of his district. And I've always said that CD 14 is the most politically active district in the city. Although the top level info about fraud, waste and abuse comes in from all across the City, ZD feels that a hugely disproportionate amount of the most inside/top level info comes from CD 14. And that community has taught me the most about City workings, by far.
So I wish it had been some other Councilmember who sat down in the peanut gallery bleachers, one row in front of Zuma Dogg, while the ZumaCam was rolling.
But Huizar did indeed sit down in front of Zuma Dogg and sent a message on his BlackBerry. I did a quick scan with my camera, for fun, not really expecting to see any detailed info, beyond showing the CM close to ZD in the pueblos seats, using his BlackBerry.
However, technology is a bitch these days. And not only did the ZumaCam capture the message he was sending to someone during the council meeting which said, "Hello, you are not answering my calls." Followed by a shot of his outbox (it appears) with message subjects like, "I Luv U", "Hello Beautiful", "Why are U lonely" along with the "You are not answering my calls" message. (At least there was also a message about "Ramona Gardens" to Henry Cassas, but I don't think the people of CD 14 would be happy to read what THAT message is about.)
So although it makes me very uncomfortable to share with the community this information, it was obtained during a public city council meeting during a quorum when important business affecting his constituents is being discussed and voted on.
And I DID notice on Friday that Huizar was so visibly shaken that I took some pictures of him biting his lip and making uncomfortable facial gestures as he stood on the side of chambers. And he seemed really sad when I tried to speak with him on camera. I actually called a friend of mine to say, "Damn...I think I gotta lighten up on Huizar. The guy looked really defeated like a sad puppy dog on Friday. Maybe he's worried about some D.A. investigation or he is having trouble with some of his shadiness. (So ZD was taking it from that angle...but I noticed Huizar was so shaken that I felt sorry for him, and even called my friend to see if we could figure what was up.
And late last night, when I was uploading my clips from Friday's meeting off the ZumaCam, perhaps his email outbox explains why?
(You can hit pause at the right time to see the screen, too.)
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