Los Angeles Council Members

Mitch O’Farrell and his office staff are amazing. The person. Juan helped me a Housing issue. I don’t know what I would have done without him. He worked very diligently on my behave. The is the first time that I ever reached out to my local councilman for help. I just wanted to thank the staff as a whole.
E.D.

Councilman David Ryu is a joke. I called his office to receive an explanation on why the Parking Violations Bureau claims they cannot contact field officers (liars!) when they are called in advance of a problem, and then I received a ticket on a broken car being worked on at that moment. His field representative offered a proverbial shoulder shrug, adding «I don’t know what to say.»
It’s real easy to get city attention when they make money. Not so much when it costs.
Have a car break-​in? LAPD won’t even show up; they ask you to visit to write a report (even when the guy is seen running down the street). Across the street, the sidewalk (and street) where the tree collapsed 10 months ago is still broken apart with a 12-​foot dead stump shooting from the parkway. Have some idiot park in your driveway? LADOT won’t show up for five hours, and then they leave when the idiot runs outside.
The city is being run by the inmates, and they don’t know what to do. There’s no hope when the politicians don’t even care to look into problems.

Beware of Mitch Englander 12^th District Councilman, firmly and corruptly, in the pockets of, and supported by, oil drilling and fracking interests in Porter Ranch, massive waste company Republic Services which runs polluting, toxic Sunshine Canyon landfill in Granada Hills, and the biggest most powerful developers in the City of Los Angeles. He had the greatest campaign war chest of any candidate ever running for the L.A. City Council in its history.
Englander has flagrantly disregarded his constituents’ needs and requests on urgent and serious issues, and instead has done the direct opposite. Hand-​written, hand-​signed petitions expressing the needs of 80% of those concerned, and 99% of those nearby, have been ignored. Thousands of dollars have been spent by residents to fight Englander’s developer friends (from destroying their neighborhood) in court for over two years. Now in retaliation he intends to destroy even more of their neighborhood.
We are not as lucky as other L.A. City Districts, in that we are represented by an ambitious individual who refuses to represent or even acknowledge the majority of his constituency.

Wow… what an «interesting» category in which to rate. Frankly, I am a bit ambivalent with respect to the fifteen L.A. City Council Members. On one hand, they have an incredibly complex and demanding job. On the other hand, the city council meetings often resemble the opening act of a Barnum & Bailey’s Circus show. It’s kinda frustrating because I WANT to view the city council with the utmost of respect. But here’s the deal: they consistently do things which generate unbelievable frustration in their constituents. I must say, my particular council member for the Los Feliz area (Mr. Tom LaBonge) has been a steadfast and vigorous defender of his district. I have many positive things to say about him and his respective representation. Now, if only the additional council members can join this rank. I’ll watch with cautious optimism.

I stand by my original tip. Only now they passed a law that charges you .10¢ for every bag you get at any grocery store. Guess now’s the time to look into getting my grocery from AMAZON.

Where does one begin?
Eleanor K, your complaint is trivial. You seem like a trivial person in Beverly Hills.
I’m in CD14. In the last year there was a shady power struggle & a redistricting of L.A. council land. Not that it matters. Not sure if one is any different than the other. All my complaints encompass most of them anyway but I had had Jan Perry & am now ever so blessed w/​Jose Huizar.
Been living in CD14 for 2-​yrs. What a joy it’s been.
1. The property I live in was once on the skirt of a peaceful park. The land was legally bound to be a park, indefinitely. Or at least till LAPD & Villaraigosa decided to redefine what was actually meant by, ‘the land will always be a park.’ Clearly that means you get a LAPD office bldg in your living room window so be a good peasant & kiss your property value/​investment goodbye. Not sure how much good Jan Perry did us on that issue & by that I mean she didn’t do any good.
2. Of course LAPD has to be less than 300ft away & OF COURSE they NEED a HELIPAD *right* *there*! I really must tell you how amazing it is to be sound asleep on a Sunday night & be woken up at 2AM cause Charlie Beck forgot his toothbrush. If they aren’t using the heliport that is on top of my home, then Angelino tax payers are paying for helicopters to flitter around on the helipad at City Hall East. Which is just a block away & is as joyfully loud to listen to at all hours of the day/​night. I’ve mentioned this to both Jan & Jose … at LEAST 168 times. «Heeeey, um. Yea. So could ya tell L.A. admin to maybe not use my hood as the DTLA version of LAX? Is that too much?»
3. Another gripe is the misogynistic/​crusty 2^nd St. Cigar Shop next door. They’re the worst neighbors. (I once lived next to a tard who thought he was Tupac. 2^nd St. Cigar Shop are the only other neighbors I’ve had that are on par w/​that fool.) So for the majority of the week my sidewalk is filled w/​nothing but loitering, old, sh*tty men who molest me w/​their eyes while blowing stale, vomituous cigar smoke all over. I can’t mail a fricken letter w/​out feeling like Jenny, hiding in that cornfield, from Forrest Gump. Fridays & Saturdays are the worst. Those are the nights the disrespectful owner pulls out a loud speaker system & blasts trash music to his heart’s content in an effort to lure in the dumbdumbs who flock to the Edison. Then it’s a block party for hours on end. I get an earful of bad Whitney Houston & because I like to keep my windows open for fresh air, a whole aptment that smells like the inside of an old, stale cigar box. How this shop gets away w/​ignoring the 15-​foot rule, loitering, & loud noise violations is beyond me. I know I’ve told LAPD & my councilperson. I’m pretty sure LAPD is busy but I wonder what CD14 council people are doing… other than patting backs.
4. The crime & drug element is amazing. There is a KNOWN — open air — drug market up the street from me. It’s been written up & published. It’s been there for decades. How?! If they KNOW about it — then HOW is it still there? What, pray tell, could they be doing w/​their time in their office if not going, «Huh I know where there’s a major problem. It’s pretty much highlighted w/​a yellow highlighter for me to fix. I think I’ll go to another gallery opening & talk about how great L.A. & culture are.»
5. THIS one is THE BIG ONE. ALL of City Council are dreadfully responsible for this.
I’m going to phrase this for the average news reader to understand the issue beyond news-​bites: Imagine moving to a quiet neighborhood. You chose that area for the quietness & safety. Imagine you work late nights & depend on public transit so you totally need an area that’s safe to walk at 3AM. Now imagine City Council giving your home away, the green spot next door, to a 3-​month drug orgy, for free, w/​out considering the impact on local businesses & local taxpaying residents. The result of Occupy being on my front lawn was astoundingly traumatic. I’m a waitress & got called a 1%‘er because I had to ask Occupy to be respectful of the hood — City Council REFUSED to deal w/​them.
So Perry, Huizar, Alarcon, Rosendhal … all these idiots who live on taxpayer funded pieces of couture property bliss just sold my front lawn to hell in a hand basket & then outright REFUSED to deal w/​the issue … for 3 EF’ING MONTHS!
In that time span crime went way up, some high rolling gang members took over a major portion of Occupy & turned it into a live stage all day/​night hiphop/​preach fest. I watched a guy get robbed on the street, all kinds of nefarious & dark shadows mill about the sidewalks & alleys on my night walks home, creepers dart into & out of tents — stealing whatever they could get their hands on, a young man loped on PCP chase neighbors walking their dogs … list is endless.
All because City Council handed my home over & did nothing about it when it inevitably blew up in their stupid faces.
This, friends, is MY laundry list of L.A. City Council. Your turn.

City council passes a ban on free shopping bags at grocery stores. What a bunch of dolts. They have just instituted an ordinance that promotes lice and filth transfer. I have seen how disgusting some of those reusable bags are when they put them on the conveyor belt. Why would the council make such a short sighted ruling. They didn’t think this one through. One visit to a grocery store and they should be smart enough to see that this new rule is bad and vote to rescind it.

Paul Koretz is my councilman. I would not wish him on Ahmadinejad (that is pronounced-I’m a dinner jacket) To wit: The huge UPS station in West LA abuts my apartment. It has broken windows, a fan from 1861 that sounds like a V2 rocket and is generally filthy. Complaining to UPS is like getting them to deliver packages to your door, an exercise in futility. However, I have a councilman, I live in a representative Democracy, thats my ace in the whole. Right! 3 times my wife called the councilman’s office. Never got a return call. I wrote an e-​mail to the Councilman’s office much like this one. That resulted in a call from one Sarah Mallory who apologized and took full blame for the lack of «service». That was about 10 days ago. She said she had called building and safety and would get right back to me. Never heard from her again. She did not know her own direct line phone number and said she would call me with it. Pretty lame stuff. What really bugs me is that we are paying the salaries of these totally ineffective and incompetent people. Next council election I’m voting for Mao Tze Tung. Dead people do less harm and are far more dependable.

The LA council members seem to be a good group — articulate and democratic. The invited guest speakers were local experts from nearby cities like San Diego, etc. Feedback from constituents and the opposing side were sought for both sides of the issues in a orderly fashion.
In particular, a couple council members stood out — Hahn, Parks, and Wesson. Janice Hahn has both intelligence and sensitivity. Bernard Parks is detailed and also seeks out gaps in the amendment or discussion. Herb J. Wesson is an charismatic speaker. He appears to be objective, and frames his communication in a clear, understandable way.
TV reporters present and the medium sized room had enough screens with closed captioning, close ups, and a list of the current agenda item. Overall, the issues were discussed objectively and thoroughly.