/mike

This summer, Daffiney has thrown her hat into the livejournal world, and the results are wonderful. I've added her link to the right side column. Incredibly thoughtful and engaging, make sure to check this one out!

Holy moley! Cindy has been linked in LAblogs.com (check the Los Angeles Digest for July 26th, she is the third blog listed).

The NY Times reports on cutting edge car research. I think Toyota is on to something.

...they describe a car with an antenna that wags, an adjustable body height, headlights that vary in intensity, and hood slits and ornamentation designed to look like eyebrows, eyelids and tears, all of which could glow with colored lights to create moods and physical features.

The inventors believe these features on cars will make driving more entertaining. In the patent they write that "as traffic grows heavier and vehicle use increases, vehicles having expression functions, such as crying and laughing, like people and other animals do, could create a joyful, organic atmosphere rather than the simple comings and goings of inorganic vehicles."

I dig it. And I think that cars that aren't maintained should look "depressed" to communicate their unhappiness.

I saw the Dodgers impressive come from behind win over Astros last night with Jason and Victor. The Angels, on the other hand, continue their free fall into mediocrity. Steve Bisheff of the Orange County Register (registration required) thinks it's time to make some hard decisions, including:

1. Replace Sele with Ortiz (again)
2. Make K-Rod co-closer with Percival
3. Sit Salmon and Davanon for someone new
4. Get a lefty relief pitcher
5. Give up a prospect of two for Randy Johnson

Time is running out. With 5 of the next 8 games scheduled against the first place Texas Rangers, it's about time for the Halos to prove their quality.

Some guy who took pictures of a refinery is now wanted. Reading this reminded me of the time Cindy and I snuck into a gavel pit site to take pictures. A guard eventually came by to see what we were up to but was nice enough to let two harmless looking kids wrap up a few more shots. I bet in this post 9-11 world, guards won't be as flexible to photographers anymore. I hate terrorists. They ruin everything.

Hybrids save money on gas and will potentially get added benefits too, the LA Times (registration required) reports.

Los Angeles is considering granting free parking this fall to the vehicles, which run on both gas and electricity. In Sacramento, lawmakers are on the verge of approving a measure that would allow solo hybrid drivers to use carpool lanes.

A lot of policy wonks have their doubts. Besides, their concern is congestion, not the environment.

These proposals are also undoubtedly pushed and pulled by automakers. It's interesting to see who's doing what. According to MSNBC, Ford, Honda, and Toyota are going hybrid while General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, and Nissan think the future is in hydrogen- or diesel-powered cars. In my circle, everyone seems willing to give hybrids a try.

Fairly positive press on the big project is always welcome news around here. The consultants are almost done with their community outreach and the plan is likely to to be finalized in September.

After a final plan is approved by the harbor commission, expected this fall, permits will be acquired over the next 18 months and then construction will begin on the second phase.

My big contribution will come on the permit side of things. Certainly not glamorous work, but necessary anyway.

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The Los Angeles Business Journal (registration required) reports on progress towards a 24 hour port.

Terminal operators are seeking to shift as much as 50 percent of the hauling of cargo at the ports to the evening or overnight shifts. By coming up with their own plan, they will avoid the mandatory surcharges on daytime cargo that would come with passage of pending legislation in Sacramento.

When this goes through, it will thankfully reduce truck traffic during rush hour. Unfortunately, I think there's enough demand to eventually fill LA highways all 24 hours!

It gets worse.

Statistics show that white people promote in the department in one-third the time people of color rise, if at all. Kumar had taken the promotional exam three times before the court ordered her promoted off the 1998 list. Sixteen people were promoted off the 2001 list. All the blacks, Latinos and Asians on the list except one had taken the test two and usually three times before they were promoted. All the white people were promoted on their first attempt.

This is rather depressing, isn't it.

I love riding rail in LA, but I always get the feeling that its higher on the cool factor than its practicality meter. The Texas Public Policy Foundation goes for the jugular and makes the argument that rail transit is too expensive, ineffective at reducing congestion, doesn't save energy, and doesn't clean the environment.

The stampede to plan and build rail transit lines in American cities has led and is leading to a series of financial and mobility disasters. They are financial disasters because rail projects spend billion of taxpayers' dollars and produce little in return. They are mobility disasters because rail transit almost always increases regional congestion and usually reduces transit's share of commuting and general travel.

I still say there's a place for rail, but I'll acknowledge it probably ain't all it's cracked up to be.

LA Police Chief Bratton has decreased emphasis on traffic citations, according to this Daily Breeze piece.

Police said it's a question of priorities. City officials have not funded hiring more officers, so Police Chief William Bratton has had to cut back on traffic enforcement to put officers into the more important job of combating gangs and violent crime and guarding against terrorism.

Before we go crazy on the roads, note that traffic fatalities are up too (although Police officials don't agree on the reasons for this).

Anyway, I'd much rather the cops stop violent crime than a 50 mph speeder (in a 35 mph zone), but there has got to be a way to more efficiently guard against terrorism. I've seen the new procedures set up at City Hall, the Port office, and LAX... and I'll just say that it isn't really the most efficient use of resources.

That's today's feature article on Slate, which shows the profile of a homely Asian girl in front of a chalkboard full of math equations.

If math was a sport, I would have been a jock.

Cindy thought this story would make good blog material. Enjoy!

It's so hot that I've become delirious. One day I came home and was desperately trying to find creative ways to cool down my apartment. I considered placing tubs of ice water in front of my fan, thinking that the cool air would work as a make shift air conditioner. Unfortunately, I didn't have any ice, ice trays, or a big tub.

All I had was a bunch of empty Hansens and Coke2 cans waiting to be recycled. So in my madness I decided to invent cold candles. I took a knife and cut the tops of the cans off, filled them with water, and then put them in the freezer.

Once my cold candles were frozen, I set them in front of my fan and hoped to spread cold air into my studio. Of course, the effect was negligible. Later, I noticed that the ice had completely melted. I was taking my cold candles back to the freezer for a recharge, when I noticed some frozen black bananas in the freezer (I don't know why I thought I'd ever make banana bread). Since the bananas were frozen solid I decided to use them as a big interim cold candle. The fan was behind a chair, so I set my frozen black mass on the chair and lay back down.

The next morning, I found a blob of mushy black mess on my chair. Ewww.

Zha Zhu Pai is my brother's new website, linked on the sidebar as "Matt". Go see his first batch of pictures from Taiwan!

Compare the two headlines:

(1) Is A Housing Bubble About To Burst?

(2) The Housing Bubble Is About To Burst

The first is an article from Business Week, and the second is a link (from Planetizen) to that same article!

Despite Planetizen's headline, the article doesn't actually say anything. Housing bubble news that end in a question mark have been a dime a dozen for the past 4 years.

Anyone who is a graduate student, knows a graduate student, or just has a sense of humor should check out Jorge Cham's comic strip, PhD.

The Angels and Dodgers shamefully have the #3 and #1 most overpaid players in the major leagues, according to ESPN. Here's what they have to say about Bartolo Colon:

It's possible Colon will set a new major-league record this season -- for most home runs surrendered by a pitcher. The current mark of 50 is held by Bert Blyleven, who accomplished the feat in 271+ innings in 1986. Colon has given up 27 taters in just 104.1 innings.

An overpaid player wastes the owner's money, but more importantly, limits management's options in getting rid of the player. Colon was signed to a four-year, $51 million contract, so he will be taking up space on the Angel starting rotation for years to come. All fans like me can do now is hope for Colon to improve.

The Angels wanted pitching this past off season and Colon was the best available. The valuable lesson learned here is that teams should save their money and should beware of long term commitments. An affordable, mediocre pitcher would have been a better choice. At least it would give the team an opportunity for future trades, unanticipated development of a prospect, or the free agent signing of a "real" ace. Thankfully, ace or not, the Angels are still good enough to compete for the division and more.

The LA Weekly joins in on the City Planning Department bash fest, albeit with more of a focus on ambitious (and crazy) affordable housing ideas.

A handful of frustrated employees in Los Angeles’ Planning Department have begun waging a campaign to oust city planning director Con Howe, charging that Howe fosters unfair treatment, both of workers at the office and of neighborhoods around the city.

The big picture, and the article does a good job in identifying this, is that the instability of Mayor Hahn really opens up a lot of opportunities/challenges to departments in the City of Los Angeles. And I thought only the national election was going to be wild.

I've never heard of the Los Angeles Wave before today, but they sure caught my attention with this headline: Racism rampant in Planning Department. Yikes! The article, which I'm not sure how seriously to take (the link only includes half of the piece), lays it on pretty thick in attacking my former bosses.

And the charges are reaching a fevered pitch as everybody affected - the black, brown and yellow people, the white women and middle-aged staffers who work in it, and the African-American, Latino, Asian and needier neighborhoods in the city which are ignored by it - clamor to rid the Planning Department of its infamous "isms" before the 21st century gets any older.

I read the rest, which is pretty much in the same vein. It's an odd feeling to know about the people accused, as well as the people who are the supposed victims and beneficiaries.

There are a lot of small papers in LA besides the Times. I discovered the Daily News in the Valley... I found the Daily Breeze in the South Bay... Now I'm introduced to a new one.

Q: Is it too early to start planning for a Trash Can Sinatras concert?

A: Never!

The fun hits LA on October 8 at the Troubadour.

Palm trees are on the decline in LA, according to the LA Times (registration required). Among other reasons, Vegas is buying so many that they are getting too expensive for us.

You know, I recognize their importance to LA, but I've never liked them, especially when the heights vary. Unfortunately, I just found out that it's my profession's fault:

The varying height was often accidental. Early city planners used seedlings of Mexican and California fan palms interchangeably. They couldn't tell the difference. A century later, this has become clear. A planting scheme intended to bring order and symmetry to the heart of Los Angeles has achieved a bobbing lyricism instead — allées in which rows of runaway tall and skinny thin-stemmed Mexican palms suddenly give way to stockier, shorter California ones. [Emphasis added.]

What's a guy to do?

The Green Line is the Cinderella of LA's light-rail system. She could be a real princess if her evil stepmother, the FAA, would let her go extend to LAX. The LA Times has a good article about her.

I find it hilarious how hard it is for us Los Angelinos to take mass transit. Here's one guy's commute:

"Traveling down the 105 [Freeway] is always very bad," Wu said. Instead, he drives about 30 minutes from his home in Hacienda Heights to the Norwalk Green Line station.

He then boards the Green Line, reading to pass the time on the 35-minute trip to Nash and El Segundo. From there, he walks the two blocks to his office. Wu said he doesn't save any time by riding the train, but he prefers breaking up his trip because he sometimes feels drowsy after work. [Emphasis added.]

Read the rest, it's full of interesting facts, like how despite it all, the "Green Line is now outperforming the recently opened Gold Line, which connects Pasadena and downtown Los Angeles and has 14,000 boardings a day."

See? No Strike.

The deal gives clerical workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach a no-layoff clause, a pay raise that increases starting wages from $33 to $37.50 an hour over three years and retirement plan improvements.

In exchange, the shipping lines can update their systems with new technology so customers have more efficient access to information needed to move products. New positions created by the technology would be unionized.

Now if only the NHL can get it together...

The Daily Breeze reports on criticism that the Harbor Board of Commissioners have too many conflicts of interest and frequently recuse themselves from important Board discussions and votes.

"Critics say commissioners withdraw from debate too often because of potential conflicts, hurting their effectiveness."

It's a typical situation where the Board will be criticized no matter what they do. And just so you know, these recusals don't hurt their influence or effectiveness one bit.

I wouldn't mind stopping by the Lotus Festival this weekend.

The Port is in the paper a lot more than City Planning, I'll tell you that much. From the L.A. Times (registration required):

The Port of Los Angeles on Wednesday made public its first-ever list of air pollutants produced by port operations, but the report sparked questions from residents who have spent years fighting for more information about the contaminants emitted at the nation's largest port.

Since Mayor Hahn has stated a "no net increase" in port air emissions policy, this report is intended to set the baseline.

Homes were still selling like hot cakes this past May. According to Builder Online, the median price of a California home went up 26.5% to $465,160 that month.

Yesterday, a guy told me that half of all the new residential construction in so-cal is on commercially zoned land. All that infill development will create pockets of higher density in LA. Urban heaven or condo hell, you decide.

A friend recently asked me if there was going to be a strike at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The Daily Breeze reports on how negotiations between Port clerical workers and shipping line operators are going. A strike is always on the table, but I still think it is too early in the process to be alarmed.

This is the last day of my four day weekend.

On Friday, I saw Spiderman 2 with Jorge and Suelika. I say that it's right up there with X2 as the best movie adopted from a comic. I'm always happy to watch James Franco on screen. His character was in good hands too because the screenplay had contributions from two Smallville writers. Those guys have written the best Lex Luthor ever and they are hitting the same tragic note with Harry Osbourne.

I played basketball for the first time in ages! It was fun but I was bad...

I'm concerned that I might have bed bugs. Yuck.

I'll be at the game tonight. Bye!

The Angels are playing HORRIBLE. This past month has been a complete disaster and Mike Scioscia's patience has run dry. He ripped into the team last night in a meeting after a 4-2 loss to Oakland.

Good.

They need a good kick in the ass. I'll be going to Saturday's game against the Dodgers. They better pick it up a notch.

I actually blame Bartolo Colon. The number one pitcher can really pick up a team when stopping losing streaks, BUT Colon has been the opposite. When the team is building momentum, he has a horrible start that sets the team back.

He is the Shawn Green of the Angels.