Zuma Dogg's BIGGEST "I TOLD YOU SO EVER" -- Board of County Supervisor Antonovich Says, "Grand Ave Project Should Be Abandoned"

First of all, I hope my former editor is reading this, because when I was researching the Grand Avenue Project, and I said, "This thing is never gonna get off the ground -- and I see there is pension money invested," I was told, "Oh Zuma...of course it's going to be built, although maybe scaled back -- everything is a conspiracy with you. And don't focus on the pension money...there is a tree next to the Board of Supervisors building that will be cut down that workers like to each a bagged lunch under, and they'll lose that. YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING!!!!

SO FIRST OF ALL, I DISCOVERED L.A. CITY PENSIONGATE BASED ON THIS PROJECT, EVEN THOUGH I WAS TOLD NOT TO WRITE ABOUT THAT (too boring) -- ALTHOUGH THE CITY HAS ALL BUT TO THROW IN THE TOWEL AND DECLARE BANKRUPTCY OVER PENSION LOSSES...AND NOW...THIS!!! (Aka: STILL not off the ground...and now calls to "pull the plug," on this turkey of a loser project that offered NOTHING anyone needed except Eli Broad's wife and all her billionaire friends. SO PLEASE COLLECT THE $250,000 A MONTH LATE FEE THAT THE GRAND AVE PROJECT DEVELOPERS OWE THE CITY THAT GLORIA MOLINA IS SCARED TO COLLECT BECAUSE THE DEVELOPERS MIGHT PULL OUT...

FUCK THAT YOU FOOL...WE WANT TO KICK THEM OUT...TAKE THE FUCKING $250,000 A MONTH THEY OWE THE CITY -- AND GET THE RETRO PAYMENTS...

YOU, GLORIA MOLINA...I AM SPEAKING DIRECTLY TO YOU, YOU BILLIONAIRE DEVELOPER PROTECTOR...

HEY MOLINA...HEY DUMSLOBSKY...HAVEN'T YOU HEARD...THE CITY AND COUNTY IS UP SHIT'S CREEK, BECAUSE YOU ASSHOLES PUT US THERE...COLLECT THE $250,000 FROM RELATED, OR I'LL BE SHOWING UP IN PERSON TO BLAST IT ON TV, AND IF YOU EVEN WHINCE TOO HARD WHEN I AM SPEAKING I'LL SUE YOU INTO COUNTY BANKRUPTCY.

COLLECT THE MONEY YOU STUPIDVISOR CLOWNS!!! WITTE'S RELATED COS (short for ClOwnS) OWES $250,000 A MONTH FOR TYING UP THE MOST VALUABLE PROPERTY IN THE CITY THAT ZUMA DOGG TOLD HIS BIG SHOT, BIG MOUTH EDITOR THAT IT WOULD NEVER GET OFF THE GROUND, AND THREE YEARS LATER IT HASN'T.

NO APOLOGY NEEDED...BUT PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE HEARD HOW I WAS BELITTLED AND DEGRADED FOR MY OPINION THAT WAS CORRECT. Could have just said you didn't agree. BUT IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE ARROGANT AND FLIPPANT TO ZUMA DOGG, YOU BETTER BE FUCKING RIGHT, NOT 100%, COMPLETELY WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING!

Dubai? No, Condo Glut’s Stalling Grand Avenue

DEVELOPMENT: Doubts about financing add to real estate project’s problems.

By JOEL RUSSELL

Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

Downtown L.A.’s $2.7 billion Grand Avenue urban renewal project won’t be affected by the financial troubles of its main backer in Dubai. That’s because the project is going nowhere fast. The real question is: Will it ever happen at all?

The problem is not just the funding – it’s also the precipitous decline in the downtown condo market.

“The project should be abandoned,” said Paul Novak, land planning deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, the project’s most outspoken critic. “We need to rethink what goes on that land and how the county and city can maximize their returns. But it’s not this deal. We should probably start from scratch and issue a new request for proposals.”

Last week, Dubai World announced it would suspend scheduled debt payments while it restructures half of its $59 billion debt. In 2008, Istithmar World, a subsidiary of Dubai World, invested $100 million in Grand Avenue, a mixed-use project planned near Walt Disney Concert Hall. Istithmar isn’t affected, as it’s reported to be on stable financial footing.

Bill Witte, president of the California division of Related Cos., the Grand Avenue developer, said there was no fixed date to start construction on the project’s first phase, which includes 390 luxury condos, 98 rental apartments and 250,000 square feet of retail space.

“We are in the middle of a deep real estate recession, so we are not about to start,” Witte told the Business Journal. “You couldn’t build a 40-unit condo project in this market. So why would anyone think we would be ready to start now?”

But Witte said Grand Avenue will be built. The land is paid for, all plans have been completed, permits are in hand and Related will begin construction of a park in the summer.

But Novak estimates that phase one will require close to $1 billion. Meanwhile, the developer has only about half that amount secured.

“Where you’re going to find half-a-billion dollars in this market is beyond me,” he said.

Since phase one of the project was approved by the Grand Avenue Authority in February 2008, the downtown condo market has continued to retract. Major downtown developers, including Meruelo Maddox Properties and Namco Capital, have declared bankruptcy. And in early 2010, the Ritz-Carlton Residences near the Staples Center, built by Anschutz Entertainment Group, will flood the market with 224 luxury units. {ZD warned council of the Meruelo-Maddox bankruptcy all this past year before it happened, toward the goal of being able to prepare for it, which they never do.]

Brad Luster, president of downtown brokerage Major Properties, estimated that it would take seven years for the downtown market to absorb the condos in the Grand Avenue project.

“The present economics aren’t supporting new projects,” he said. “Right now there are four projects near LA Live that are in foreclosure or bankruptcy, and there’s a still a long way to go down.”

However, Gerry Hertzberg, policy director for County Supervisor Gloria Molina, chairwoman of the Grand Avenue Authority, said there is no intent to abandon or change the project’s plans.

Zuma MusicRadio 6 - Random Hits "A-Z" (Pt 1) 50 songs

Zuma MusicRadio 7 - Random Hits "A-Z" (Pt 2) 50 songs

All Zuma MusicRadio Playlists at http://ZumaDogg.org
(Poor Man's XM/Sirrius)

LA Weekly's Jill Stewart & LA City Council President Eric Garshady Finally Both Talking Like Zuma Dogg (Jill Called Council, "Dumb & Stupidest")

"There is a real ANGER in this city, right now. There is an anger about a lot of things in this country, but in particular, I think it's an anger that many of us feel around here, too about saying, 'We have to stop doing business the way that we have.' We want our pipes to be fixed and we have ignored that for too long." NO, not Zuma Dogg...that's Los Angeles Shitty Council President Eric Garcetti this week during the council meeting during a discussion of MORE DWP rate hikes.

Hey, he's pretty quick to catch on! Maybe he IS smart and not as DUMB as Zuma Dogg has repeatedly accused him of. NAW? He's just running for office, so he has to start talking "peoples' talk and start saying things that sounds like something Zuma Dogg would say.

ERIC GARCETTI!!!...the PEOPLE'S CHAMP! CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE!!! A CHANGED MAN! HE'S SEEN THE LIGHT! I guess I can't call him "Garshady" anymore. How could I? He's the new VOICE of the PEOPLE!

BUT THE REAL POINT HERE, FROM ZUMA'S STRATEGY TAKE (besides making fun of Garloser) is IMAGINE HOW BAD HE MUST BE FEELING THE OUTRAGE TO OPENLY ADMIT IT ON TV DURING THE MEETING. You know how these Councilmembers are. They NEVER admit anything is bad, until it is SO after the fact and obvious that it doesn't even do any more damage casue everyone already knows. Like when the mayor finally comes out and admits he was dating that reporter. He denied it all along, until the WHOLE WORLD KNEW IT...AND THEN, he admits it.

So for Eric to allow himself to publicly BRING UP how angry people are...means it's bad! And I feel good about that as someone who did a lot to raise awareness of the issue. Even if I'm the Elephant Man and you have to stay away from me and let me rot on the street in pain, today.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "L.A. is a city that almost doesn't work." - Outgoing LAPD Puppet Chief Bill Bratton

LA WEEKLY'S JILL STEWART SEES THE ZD LIGHT!: Ah, gotta love that Jill Stewart, who has the best vocabulary in the business, and has finally been pulled to the ZUMA SIDE and is now "reduced" to using extravagant verbiage such as, "bumbling, dumb and stupidest" to describe Los Angeles City Council and the frustrating madness.

DOESN'T IT FEEL GOOD JILL..TO NOT HAVE TO LAVISH AND FRILL IT UP WITH CALLIGRAPHY-LIKE TALK...AND JUST LOSE YOUR MIND IN FRUSTRATION AND BLAST THEM FOR THE DUMB, STUPIDEST LOSERS THAT THEY ARE. (Oh yeah, you forgot to call them "losers.")

Bumbling L.A. City Council: Let's ban convenience stores in South L.A.

By Jill Stewart (Aka: The new Zuma Dogg)

Wed., Oct. 14 2009 @ 9:12AM

Is the Los Angeles City Council the stupidest political body currently active in Southern California?

These 15 council members each have a personal staff of 15 to 20 (the White House Office staff is 480 roughly, but LA City Council needs an incredible 320 staffers), yet keep proving they are too dumb to do their basic job of overseeing city infrastructure and wisely spending people's money.

YEAH, YEAH!!! NOW I CAN FINALLY UNDERSTAND HER!!! THEY'RE BUMBLING, DUMB AND THE STUPIDEST!!! I knew there was something I didn't like about those guys!

NEXT TIME...TYPE IN ALL CAPS!