Money Woes

Daily News reports that the City of Gardena is near bankruptcy. Here's a question. Assume it does go under. What happens to the City of Gardena employees who have pensions and/or deferred compensation programs?

This is a very important question!!!

Now's Your Chance!

Trump brings Apprentice to LA. Now we know he's desperate.

Starbucks - SMHS Central

Had coffee with someone from church at the Huntington and San Gabriel location. Actually, I was the only one who had coffee. While we were there, an old friend from high school walked in. We chatted about his old BMW (I was informed that he now has a Porsche). Half an hour later, I ran into another SM alum. Chatted with her about her new job. Got her business card. It was good to see them.

Name Changes

People against the Angels name change always say that it doesn't make sense and it won't generate more revenue.

They are right and wrong. It doesn't make sense. It will generate revenue. Just look at the Chicago/Rockford International Airport (90 miles from Chicago). The LA Times has the piece. LA blog Mayor Sam Yorty gets the hat tip.

All About Urban Planning

The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics has occupational outlook profiles on different careers. Here's the report on Urban Planning.

It's interesting to read. Us Planners tend to always ask ourselves, "What do we do again?". The salary data is old. It also suggests that advancement requires a Masters degree of some sort.

Hm...

Lunch

Anyone who knows me would be shocked that I asked for "no mayo" on my sandwich today. I'm shocked myself. What's next? Broiled over deep fried? That's crazy talk.

Wilshire

Momentum is building for a subway underneath Wilshire Blvd. connecting downtown to the westside, reports the LA Times. Apparently, the safety questions that led to legislation prohibiting the necessary drilling might be satisfied.

"If the report confirms what we've been hearing, I will introduce a proposal to rescind the restriction," [Rep. Henry A.]Waxman said from Washington.

If this dream subway could work out within the next 10 years, I'll be quite pleased.

Wilshire is such an awesome street. I once heard that it was the defining characteristic of LA's built environment. In fact, I think I'll get this book.

Geisha

Hollywood movie. Japanese characters. Chinese actors. You can imagine the usual suspects that are riled up about Memoirs of a Geisha.

Reuters summarizes different reactions, including this over the top criticism:

"She's sold her soul and betrayed her country. Hacking her to death would not be good enough," China's state media quoted one blogger as saying of Zhang. [Emph. added]

A Japanese official was much more dignified in his protest:

"It's a Hollywood movie. It's just entertainment, so what can we do?" said an official at the Kyoto Traditional Musical Art Foundation, which promotes the music, dance and other arts of old Japan. "Hollywood has always done things like ignoring history."

"Complaining about it will just focus attention on it, so we plan to ignore it," he added, saying that the foundation had turned down requests to take part in promotional events connected with the premiere.

I never read the book but I'm admittedly looking forward to seeing Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li, and Michelle Yeoh have good roles in a big time English language movie.

Bicycle

At Slate, Andy Bowers makes the case for biking in LA. Through his secret of taking side streets home, he's apparently rediscovered the city.

Not only has riding my bike enabled me to glide past all this gridlock (in fact, I'm often not even aware it's happening), but it has made me realize that it's an illusion. The city itself is not gridlocked—merely the narrow asphalt ribbons onto which we squeeze all our single-occupant cars. On the back streets I now take, everything is quiet and serene. The main roads may mimic Times Square on New Year's Eve, but the areas between L.A.'s clogged arteries comprise mile after square mile of low-density, low-stress residential bliss (the same is true, I suspect, of most American cities).

It's a good idea that I'd like to try. And it's a good thing he's taking the side streets because if the poor man ever got in my way, I'm afraid I'd have to run him over.

Black Friday

Most of my reluctance to participate in day after thanksgiving frenzied shopping is due to a lack of planning, but I'm also turned off by the name itself.

Isn't Black Friday the 1869 stock market crash? According to wikipedia, it also references various riots, fires, wars, massacres and invasions.

That said, I may still give it a try next year. I hear good things about the midnight Camarillo sale.

Bookish

KTLA takes a look back at recently constructed and remodeled LA libraries. I'm especially interested in the Chinatown branch. I have fond memories of growing up at the Montebello library. I always reread the Time Life books on ghosts. Once I was older, I wanted to like the Pasadena library and its historic architecture. Oddly enough, I could never find the books I was looking for. They were always at the Glendale branch. Besides, Pasadena was always a bit stale and... pungent. I'm not talking about book smell.

And do people use the library for books anymore? As the title states, libraries are increasingly used as "Modern Civic Centers". In college, I mostly studied at the library. Post college, the majority of my library trips were for public meetings. During those times, I also regretfully got the impression that kids use the library primarily for the internet and sketchy chat. I think chat laws have changed so hopefully this isn't the case anymore.

Not Fun Fact

LAX ranks last in airport runway safety. Even though we are the worst, what does this mean in terms of number? From the Mercury News:

The airport has seen between six and 10 incursions annually since 1999, though FAA officials caution those numbers can be misleading. None of the airport's eight incursions in 2005 posed an imminent collision risk, Walker said.

Perfection is a good goal but I'm frankly impressed by how often things go right.

Much Ado About...

North County Times has the report on my union. Only 90 showed up. Traffic was not disrupted. No one was arrested. Did the effort get the union closer to an agreeement?

Thanksgiving

I find that this past weekend was more meaningful than fun. More important than relaxing. I've much to be grateful for. And yeah, thanks also to you, friend.

May we all clearly see that which we should be grateful for.

"Equal Pay for Equal Work"

On Sunday, my union voted to accept nothing less than what employees at the Department of Water and Power recieve. From the union website:

All six EAA represented MOU’s, namely MOU #1, #8, #17, #19, #20, and #21, enthusiastically said they would rather engage in sanctions up to and including a strike against the City rather than being treated like second class employees. [Emph. Added]

The word on the street is that my job classification won't be asked to strike.

Some people around the office have been wearing those black shirts. The back depicts a snake and reads: Will Strike if Provoked.

*** 11/22, 10:50am Update

I'm skeptical but there is an "action" planned at the LAX airport on Sunday from 3pm - 6pm. Hopefully you won't be there...

Sequential Art

While on the way to a Waterfront conference dinner last week, I passed by the Savannah College of Art and Design. There was an exhibit called Panel Progressions: 100 Years of Sequential Art. I call it Comics but you say potato, I say tomato.

I decided to stop by and go to dinner late. The exhibit was great! They had some originals by big names like Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz, but I was most pleased to see old Doom Patrol covers by Richard Case.

On the topic of comics, LA Weekly runs through local comic shops. I'm glad that Comics Factory in Pasadena is properly recognized as one of the areas "best-kept secrets". I've been shopping there for over 10 years now. Even when I was in San Diego I'd wait until I got back to pick up my issue of X-Men or Sandman.

Materialism Maturity?

When my coworker saw my new toy, she said, "Chamster, I'm so proud of you!"

People's Choice Awards

How I Met Your Mother is a The People's Choice Awards candidate for Favorite New TV Comedy! Despite it's worthy candidates, I'm convinced that the new "Friends" deserves, and in fact will, be the clear cut winner.

Vote here.

Comments

It was brought to my attention that comments were limited to people registered with blogger.com. Oops. That has now been changed. Everyone and anyone is welcome.

Thanks for the feedback!

Sail Away

I passed a sailing class!

I wouldn't normally attend a recreational course but I'm grateful that Brian and Allison invited me to join them. During the past four weeks, we learned beginner sail technique at the Leeway Sailing and Acquatics Center. The course covered terminology, knots, rigging, and maneuvering 14 foot Capri boats. Now that we've passed our exam, the plan is to rent out boats for cheese and drink parties. (We will invite non-sailors once we pass the intermediate course.)

For a novice like me, the process has been fascinating. Everything is predicated on the wind. There's something about constantly gauging that somewhat unpredictable force of nature. Focusing to properly channel momentum to get where I want to go is wonderfully satisfying. It almost sounds like a good analogy for life, too.

LOTR Race

Rohirrim


To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

Last Minute Trip

Tomorrow morning, I leave to Savannah, Georgia for a Waterfront Conference. I return on Friday night.

Upside Down Politics

The Los Angeles Times editorial page and I have finally found common ground: Yes on Propositions 74 and 75.

Lately, I’ve also been annoyed at some conservative pundits, especially on Miers and illegal immigration. To my surprise, I've been listening to NPR again and even reading the Los Angeles Times and New York Times Magazines too. From child abuse hysteria, pensions, to feminism, I found the articles compelling, informative, and somewhat convincing.

Most surprising was James Traub’s article, Their Highbrow Hatred of Us – How did virulent anti-Americanism become so respectable? On Nobel Prize winning British playwright Harold Pinter, Mr. Traub writes:

Pinter’s politics are so extreme that they’re almost impossible to parody. “Mr. Bush and his gang,” he said in a speech as the war in Iraq approached, “are determined, quite simply, to control the world and the world’s resources. And they don’t give a damn how many people they murder along the way.” Pinter sees the current president as only the most recent exponent of the American hegemonic impulse. The playwright was just as outraged by NATO’s 1999 air war in Kosovo. Through the bombing was essentially a last resort in the face of Slobodan Milosevic’s savage campaign of ethnic cleansing, Pinter described it as “a criminal act” – the U.N. Security Council hadn’t approved – designed to consolidate “American domination of Europe.” He complained, in fact, of “the demonization and the hysteria” that accompanied the NATO campaign against Milosevic and the Serbs.

These views are hardly unfamiliar in the United States; you can hear them on any major university campus. Among public intellectuals or literary figures, however, it s hard to think of anyone save Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal who would not choke on Pinter’s bile.

I’m compelled to think that media is changing but it could just be me.