Zuma Dogg For Mayor Campaign Thread (Recent Press)

HERE IS A GOOD THREAD TO EMAIL TO PEOPLE ABOUT "Zuma Dogg For Mayor." (ZumaDoggForMayor.com)

EXCERPT FROM: Issues to Ponder: Pondering Who to Vote for in L.A.
By M Richards

Now pondering on who should be the Mayor of Los Angeles, I have been battling my own thoughts and the thoughts of others.

Antonio Villaraigosa spends about 11% of his 'work' day on city business. This has been written about and is backed by public information and records.

I think the current Mayor of Los Angeles is the only person in L. A. Government who is more into photo opportunities that a certain very local Councilperson.

I haven't been able to find anything real or important that Tony Villar has accomplished with the exception of promoting more taxes for you and me.

The list of candidates is not all that long. It seems nobody is willing to give any of the other candidates any real chance at sending Tony packing and seeking another cozy job.

There is Walter Moore, but I think he is ignorant of the issues in OUR community and he is not written about very well, by others.

And then there is David Saltsburg. You may not know that name but you probably know him by the name he uses, Zuma Dogg: http://zumadogg.com

For the office of Mayor of the city of Los Angeles, I don't think you could do any better than electing Zuma Dogg for that office.

It would be better than allowing Tony Villar (Antonio Villaraigosa) a second term.

Los Angeles has the City Council that makes the laws and (sort of) runs the city. The office of Mayor has become completely ceremonial because of Tony's inaction's, photo ops, glad-handing, and attempts to gain higher attention in the national media.

Zuma Dogg doesn't pull any punches when he tells you what he thinks and he carries around a video camera to make sure you see him in action.

Now I do not believe Zuma should be without medication for long periods of time, but that is probably true for Tony as well.

Zuma would bring more national spotlights onto L. A. and laughter counts in some of the spotlights.

L. A. needs all the attention it can get right now. We do not have any rivers where a large plane can land safely and we don't have a Wall Street crumbling down.

The election of Zuma Dogg might create so much discussion that something actually gets done in the city.

Voters electing Zuma Dogg could all take credit for finding a home for someone who has been described as homeless and living in his van.

I don't think that Zuma Dogg could do any more damage than Tony has done. Zuma seems to look out for the less fortunate and people who don't necessarily donate to his election campaign.

So in closing,

Zuma Dogg for Mayor

http://sanpedroissuestoponder.blogspot.com/2009/01/pondering-who-to-vote-for-in-la.html

LA TIMES QUOTES ZUMA DOGG ON SPECIAL EVENT FEE WAIVERS:

Council waives Grammy Award fees despite Los Angeles budget woes
5:44 PM, January 13, 2009

Los Angeles City Council members have spent much of their time in recent weeks mulling the city's budget woes and the possibility of layoffs, but budget-tightening only goes so far when it comes to gala events like the Grammy Awards.

The council agreed today to waive $124,163 in city fees associated with the Grammy Awards, which will be held Feb. 8 at Staples Center. That might be chump change in the music industry, but the city is facing a $433-million hole in its budget next year — making fee waivers a touchy subject for city officials, particularly when award shows shower performers with thousands of dollars in swag.

Last year, Grammy presenters and performers were offered about $30,000 in gifts. There's no final estimate yet for the value of this year's gift bags, which are being put together by the L.A.-based firm Distinctive Assets, but the bags will include trip vouchers, spa gift certificates, hand-designed Christopher Michael chocolates, Catdaddy liquor, organic skin care products and the Sports Club/LA memberships. In the Xbox 360-sponsored Grammy Talent Lounge, they can pick up additional goodies like sunglasses, jewelry and Gibson guitars.

Was anyone unsettled by such a city waiver during hard times?

Mayoral candidate David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg, a city gadfly, was one of two members of the public who spoke in opposition to the item, which was approved by the 13 council members present without discussion.

"I wonder if the city of Los Angeles constituents, the voters, know that you're giving $100,000 or whatever it is, to the Grammy Awards. This special event fee money is to provide benefit to the community — open to the public — not to be used for commercial private entities," Saltsburg said, adding that it was a "money-sucking, vampire drain on the general fund."

Over the last two fiscal years the city waived about $750,000 in fees for award shows.

The city gives up about $5 million annually, waiving fees for the special events of nonprofit groups, but due to the budget crunch, the council recently gave preliminary approval to a change requiring non-profits to pay for at least half the fees.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa does not have jurisdiction over fee waivers, but his spokesman Matt Szabo said that although Villaraigosa is a "big supporter" of the Grammys, he believes the city's "fee waiver policy is clearly broken and needs to be fixed."

"At a time when we could be facing a half-billion deficit, the council absolutely
must reform a policy, which costs the city upward of $5 million a year," Szabo said.

[MATT: Thanks for backing up what Zuma Dogg was saying!]

LA TIMES (1/13/09) http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/01/grammy-awards-g.html

Although the segment got bumped by international news (will air soon), ABC NEWS has
already given "Zuma Dogg For Mayor" more coverage than the people pushing "No on B." They contacted me for a NIGHTLINE segment, we filmed it, and hopefully, it will air in the next week, or so.

And thanks to LA Weekly for letting people in the City of Los Angeles know that I am
running for mayor, and what I have been up to these past years:

Shutting Down Public-Access TV
AT&T and L.A. City Hall quietly lead a national push to silence the little guy

By Patrick Range McDonald
Published on December 10, 2008

The day before Thanksgiving, Zuma Dogg, an outspoken community activist who has a comedian’s sense of the absurd, stands in the far back of the thinly attended City Council meeting at Los Angeles City Hall, waiting his turn to speak during the public-comment period.

Wearing a black ski cap pulled down to his eyes, with black wraparound sunglasses and a black, long-sleeved T-shirt, he looks like a bank robber. But as host of The Zuma Dogg Show, he’s 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.

Masked avenger: Once derided, Zuma Dogg earned respect on public access TV

Zuma Dogg, who takes his stage name from Zuma Beach and the rapper Snoop Dogg, hears City Council President Eric Garcetti politely call out his name for the hundredth time or so in the past few years. He hustles off to the podium at the front of the cathedral-like chamber, where bright lights shine down from the ceiling and automated television cameras roll for L.A. CityView, the public-access channel that broadcasts every City Council meeting.

After his allotted two minutes are over, Zuma Dogg takes a breath and returns to the back of the council chamber, where strangers, who enjoyed the hard time he was giving to city leaders over the crowded new housing erected in L.A., give him the thumbs-up, shake his hand, and, on two separate occasions, slide him 20-dollar bills. Since he spends most of his time producing public-access shows and attending City Council meetings and hearings, Zuma Dogg doesn’t hold a traditional job. Instead, fans and friends help him get by. In fact, in his first years on the scene, because he sometimes slept in his van, he was quietly derided by insiders, including a gaggle of journalists who attend council meetings, the subtext being, who cares what some homeless guy thinks?

His persistence, and now, even critics must admit, his growing expertise on city policy and city government, have changed all that.

Zuma Dogg fought the oppressive, tightly controlled L.A. City Council meetings presided over by Council President Garcetti, who had banned video cameras. After security guards 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 the whistleblower blog Mayor Sam (mayorsam.blogspot.com). “It was crazy,” Zuma Dogg says. “Whatever happened to free speech in this country?” He prevailed against Garcetti’s rules, and now brings his JVC camera to every council meeting, as can any member of the public thanks to him.

http://www.laweekly.com/2008-12-11/news/shutting-down-public-access-tv

I wonder if the people who are keeping my name out of the election have read my 14 Point Plan based on Dr. W. Edwards Deming? Do a Google search on "Dr. Deming." That's my plan. And he approved my analysis of his 14 points, and it was published internationally in "Quality Digest" recognized as one of the best interpretaions ever.

"Interpreting Deming's 14 Points" by Zuma Dogg

- "I appreciate much the attachment ("Interpreting Deming's 14 Points")
you sent. It is well done." - Dr. W. Edwards Deming.

http://zumadogg.blogspot.com/2007/03/interpreting-w-edwards-demings-14.html

The 14 Points are about methods for management of quality and productivity. It means staying innovative. Improving efficeincy through reducing waste and the 14 points are how you achieve this goal. Let see Antonio's or any other candidate's (in ANY races) plan for this. AND THIS IS WHAT IS NEEDED IN THIS ECONOMIC CRISIS!

Zuma Dogg

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