Alright, today is just about the worst day of my life and I have no idea how I am going to make it through the weekend and this is the darkest funk I have ever been stuck in, but that always makes for some good blogging, at least.
FIRST OF ALL...The FIRST Friday of every month, the City Council meeting is supposed to be held in Van Nuys. It was a promise the city made to the Valley during secession talk.
But today, even though it is the first Friday of the month, it is also Latino Heritage Day, so they kept the meeting at Downtown City Hall, for some reason. There was a big presentation held, the mayor showed up, and at the end, a bunch of these dancers come running out in nice, colorful dresses and drums start banging and it was a lot of fun, although appeared extremely odd in the council chamber setting.
BUT THIS WAS ABOUT LETTING CITY COUNCIL KNOW THAT THEY MADE A COMMITMENT TO MY CONSTITUENTS IN CD 2 AND ACROSS THE VALLEY TO HOLD THE FIRST FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH IN VAN NUYS CITY HALL. IT'S CALLED DISCIPLINE AND YOU SHOULD TRY TO GET SOME.
I WANT MITIGATION FOR MY CONSTITUENTS ON THIS ONE ERIC!
[Update: Zine explained because the city was having a birthday and a bunch of events the meeting was Downtown, and this was an exception and it will be made up to the Valley at another time. But it kills the momentum of having the meetings every Friday when you break it up like this...AND I STILL THINK THE MEETING SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN VAN NUYS AS PLANNED, but that's just me. I'm way too much of a prudent meanie.]
TRAFFIC NIGHTMARE!: Since this is a short post, I should mention something I noticed again, today, getting to the Council meeting in Van Nuys (where I am awaiting public comment):
YOU CANNOT HAVE LEFT TURN ARROWS FOR CARS TIMED ON THE SAME SIGNAL AS THE "WALK" SIGN!!! DON'T YOU GET IT??? HOW DUMB AND UNSAFE CAN THE CITY OF L.A. BE???
Here's what happens that causes more traffic gridlock than anything:
A car is waiting for the left turn arrow. It turns green...BUT, the pedestrian "WALK" sign also turn to "WALK." So the first car in the left lane, waiting to turn on the arrow, HAS TO WAIT UNTIL THE PEDESTRIAN MAKES IT ACROSS. (Sometimes a second pedestrian will walk across, just as the first one finally makes it across...COMPLETELY HALTING TRAFFIC!)
By the time the pedestrian(s) makes it across, the left turn arrow is already turning red.
I checked to make sure the pedestrians were not crossing against the WALK sign, AND IT WAS ILLUMINATED "WALK."
YOU CANNOT HAVE PEDESTRIANS ON THE SAME SIGNAL AS VEHICLES??? ARE YOU CRAZY??? THIS IS THE SINGLE BIGGEST CAUSE OF GRIDLOCK ON OUR STREETS THAT CAN BE FIXED!!!
If you can't figure out the solution, have someone from the city call me and I'll explain. Because if I just post the solution here for free, it will seem to basic and obvious and you will discount it.
CLEAR CHANNEL NON-DIGITAL BILLBOARD BLIGHT: If you look around the streets of Los Angeles at the (non-digital) low-tech billboards that use a new thin vinyl banner and glue process, you will see these billboards have a 100% failure rate in this heat. In other words, as soon as the billboard company sticks the thin banner (billboard) up there with whatever kind of cheap glue...they peel and melt into mush and it turns into ONE BIG BLIGHTED MESS!
AND, the advertisers paying for these billboards are not having their advertisement seen, at all.
AND THE BILLBOARD COMPANY (CLEAR CHANNEL/CBS) KNOWS THIS IS HAPPENING, AND THEY KEEP PUTTING THE FAULTY BILLBOARDS UP. IT LOOKS LIKE FRAUD TO ME SINCE ADVERTISERS ARE NOT GETTING WHAT THEY PAID FOR.
AND, The City Attorney's Office should be going after the billboard companies for blight under REAP (Rent Escrow) just like the city would for mom and pop operators in the city. (BRING IN THE REVENUE THESE "BILLBOARD BLIGHT" FINES WOULD BRING INTO THE CITY!
ELECT ZUMA DOGG ON SEPTEMBER 22, 2009 and I will create a motion to address this issue if that is needed to clean up this mess.
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