From the Downtown News
A River Runs Through Him
First District Councilman Ed Reyes is seeking a third and final term to make progress on projects such as revitalizing the Los Angeles River.
For First District Councilman Ed Reyes, Almost Everything Revolves Around Reclaiming the Waterway
by Ryan Vaillancourt
“The cornerstone of this would-be transformation is a 67-year-old, 415-unit housing project, the William Mead Homes. In the heart of the North Central neighborhood, the site represents for Reyes decades of neglect, stagnation and gang culture. In its place, he envisions a denser, mixed-income community that would combine hundreds of new, market-rate apartments with the affordable component already there.
“If I can maintain one-to-one affordable that you see there, and triple the density, I can bring in a middle and upper-middle class range of units that complements a facility that decentralizes the economic ghetto that you find there,” he said. “It’s been there for decades and all it’s done is create generation after generation of gang culture. We need to essentially decentralize, disband and disarm the culture that breeds on violence and drug dealing.”
There are two city planners focusing on the possible project at the William Mead Homes site, and Reyes has so far conducted three meetings with tenants, he said.â€
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Of course Reyes is speaking of the projects known as “Dogtownâ€, which has housed many people, for many years, who are not now and never have been gang members.
But it seems that the buzzword “gang “ is code for eminent destruction of a neighborhood of poor and working class people, and the smacking sound of developers and politicians licking their collective lips in anticipation of, as Reyes describes, “higher density, middle and upper-middle class range of units†can be heard at various high end dining and wining spots where the deals are arranged.
Who does Reyes represent after all? The poor and mostly working class constituents of his district 1 or developers and the upper middle class future residents of his higher density nirvana?
Reyes who will be termed out if he is elected this time is suddenly very busy with multi developments, for the good of his constituents of course.
And again we all get to hear that infamous and bogus term “affordable housing”, oh yeah!
Ed Reyes sucks. His office is totally unresponsive and the chicas that work there are just downright rude and lazy every time I have called about something (which is maybe once or twice a year!). I had the joy of the sitting next to them at a community meeting once and they just talked shit about various constituents in attendance, like really petty shit too just like junior high girls. Our tax dollars at work!
Reyes has such a hard-on for river revitilization (which is not bad thing) but seems to forget that our established communities need assistance with maintenance and quality-of-life-issues. He needs to work on taking care of the constituents he already has, low income as they may be, before he tries to lure in ones with money with the William Mead project.
I saw a flier over by the check cashing place by Fallas Paredes for someone running against him. Doubt anyone will unseat Reyes, but I’ll be casting my vote for one of those, whoever they may be 🙂 Besides being totally useless to my neighborhood, he voted to go forward with the poorly planned and way too expensive elephant exhibit. It’s pretty insulting that they can’t find the money to fix the crumbling sidewalks on my street but the city can service 20+ million dollars of debt to keep a miserable animal captive.
Estoy con ti pitbull girl, the f”ing huevos on this vendido! He publicly ridicules and dogs his own constituents as hopeless gangsters and scum but never mentions why as the “representative” (cough cough), of this same “culture of crime” as he refers to them, he hasn’t done a god damn thing to help the folks out there.
In fact he probably allowed the area to deteriorate even more, so that he could eventually throw up his puny hands and squeal for an upper middle class, “denser” condo hell, that would appeal to a more upwardly mobile clientele. F”’ing parasite person that he is.
And what’s going to happen to his constituents who live in Dogtown? He going to offer them affordable housing over the trash dumpsters in the alley?
This is the same culero that wanted to turn the Rose/Dupont eye clinic bldg into a restaurant, bar, one hundred machine video game parlor, a veritable pleasure island, right in the walking route of students from three schools.
Then in the same stinky breath the mofo shoots down the permit to sell beer and wine for some poor convenience store merchant on N Broadway and Ave 19, if I recall, because Reyes thought there were too many places selling beer in Lincoln Hts.
What a pathetic joke of a Councilperson.
Hey, wait a minute – in that article it spells out some things that he’s done over the past eight years.
One big one, is that there is a lot more park space in North East L.A. since he got elected.
As for his district falling apart – all the major roads in North East L.A. got repaved in the past three years, including Broadway.
There are expensive lights on Broadway and the carousel in Lincoln Park was re-installed.
Obviously, these don’t add up to Everything Is Better Now ™, but they count for something, no?
ubrayj02, Reyes is like the monkey you put in front of a typewriter, sooner or later he’s gonna type out something that might make some sense.
But Reyes is the developers best friend and a constant pusher of more density in housing.
The Dogtown planned development is a prime example of Reyes M O, absolutely no consideration for his own constituents when it comes to his idea of new and better housing. Reyes opts for multi story, multi unit density that targets as he says, middle and upper middle class people (gentrimanderers as Al Desmadre so aptly labeled them), and to hell with the people he is supposed to represent.
Of course Reyes up in Mt Washington, in his single family dwelling, can and does obviously look down on the people who will be displaced by these ugly developments built by his homies.
Reyes is a disgrace and a sellout.
This proposal is ridiculous. They are plenty of other riverfront sites that can be worked on before this one. For instance, how about those massive parking lots off of Pasadena Ave that are empty 6 days of the week or the police impound lot? That area around the Buena Vista Bridge/Pasadena Ave is mostly industrial and you wouldn’t have to uproot a whole community to build anything.
Perhaps I’m missing something but I don’t hear about all that much going on in the William Mead area, y’know gang stuff. Not anymore than I hear about any place else. Also, from what I’ve heard you got families there generations deep. It seems pretty messed up to want to kick them out to put in crappy condos. Reminds me of what’s going on in Wyvernwood.
Also, I happen to like the look of the William Meed housing, it beats stucco faux Mediterranean condo boxes any day.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, DQ.
I hear you DQ, I guess it’s because Reyes has really stepped up with his support for bike issues that my vision is kind of clouded.
Bike policy is one of my big interests, and he pretty much caters to bike nerds like me now. His staff has always been cool with me, but I used to work as a Field Representative for a politician (like a Field Deputy for a councilman), so I kind of know how to approach folks working for a politician and get some advice or help. It isn’t as simple as making a phone call, that is for sure!
About development, I don’t know – Reyes sits on the PLUM committee downtown and he’s not pro-development or anti-development so much as pro-mixed use and pro-walking in his rhetoric. In that article, he did say that he is starting to hold meetings with the community in dog town to get a feel for what is needed.
His point about mixed income is a pretty good one, no? I mean at least the idea is good. Like most things L.A. does, the execution will probably be horrible.
The people I met in my brief stint working as a developer who were “corrupt” were staffers in city departments influenced by consultants being hired by moneyed interests in the city. Every politician gets bribed in a sense, because nobody can afford to run into massive debt in the red to maybe get elected.
His Lincoln Heights guy, Mike Fong, is alright – he really helped a lot when I got a mini-neighborhood watch started (now defunct), and he’s always in the area.
I think I am too wowed by Reyes’ pro-bike stance – so I’m sorry to come off as an apologist or something. On my pet issues, and in my personal experience, he’s done an okay job.
I think it’s quite amazing how politicians have bent over backwards for cyclist. It’s so amazingly classist. Eric Garcetti being so pro-cyclist when the bus stop right next door to his office looks like a trash dump.
I love it too how to “play progressive” all transporatation has to do is play hicey nice with cyclists (who the vast majority have access to cars either because they own them or their spouse does.)
On some levels I think it’s great that a “minority” can get so much attention and press, but on the other hand that “minority” seems to looks and feel eerily similar to the people who have money, but I guess rich people are a “minority” too, since most of us aren’t in that demographic.
ubrayj02, I’m all for bike trails and I think that most of one is being restored along the Arroyo Seco and the LA River as it once existed in the early part of the last century. I’m for parks, and green space, and green, energy star rated, LEED buildings, I like mixed neighborhoods, racial, ethnic, and economic alike.
I too would enjoy the LA River more, as the whole city would, if it was allowed to run as a natural waterway.
I like the fact that someone recognizes that there is a global warming situation that needs attention, I too feel that world peace and the brotherhood of man is a nobel cause, I also think that endangered animals like the polar bear should be protected.
All this is important but my question here would be, what the Hell does this have to do with LA City Councilman Ed Reyes, representing council district 1, Whats Reyes doing about priority issues, that pertain and are vitally important to his constituents, the people that voted for him to represent them?
This is a district that consists of many ethnic and immigrant, working class people, mainly Latino and more specifically Mexican American. Many of these district 1 neighborhoods are multi generational and historic.
There are some pockets of the upper middle class, like Mt Washington, where not surprisingly Ed Reyes resides, but the overwhelming majority of Reyes constituents are working class many who live below the poverty line.
So who should Reyes represent? Is Reyes vision of transportation corridors, surrounded by dense development, multi story guarded gated condo’s, middle and upper middle class, mostly non Latino residents, who have no traditional or cultural ties to these neighborhoods representitive of his (Reyes) constituents?
Is Reyes demand for loosening city codes and zoning laws so that “developers” can develop with less hinderence and interference, insuring more profit and more opportunities for “tear downs” of single family homes and replacement with multi story apartments and condo’s, representing the working class people he is supposed to represent?
Instead of this sellout Reyes castigating and sliming his own constituents as hopeless gangsters, drug dealers, and economic parasites, as he did with Dogtown, while making his pitch for gentrification and dense development, instead of grandstanding about rooftop green spaces, one would think Reyes ought to be protecting what is positive about these old neighborhoods and trying to figure out methods of bringing in clean good paying jobs and industry, making it a better place to grow up for the children who live there now, with improved schools, library’s, boys and girls clubs. Rent control and affordable single family housing, tax breaks for home owners who stay on top of home improvement and maintenance, concerns that matter to the people who presently live in these neighborhoods and not Reyes desired future residents in his condo valhalla’s
And Reyes should be pushing for tougher and more rigid codes and laws, to prevent the Manhattanization of his district. Banning the building of those shitty stucco Section 8 apartments, and guarded gated condo boxes that will one day turn into slums when the phony landscaping is allowed to dry up.
Ed Reyes obviously doesn’t represent his own contituents best interests, but other more lucrative “interests”.
DQ, did you really get all that from a comment about redveloping the dogotwn PJ’s? Is there more to this story I am not getting?
I agree with your points about prioritizing locals, but of all the city councilmen Ive met (and thats a lot) Ed is the nicest, most down to earth person around. I was actually at the “day without a bag” event and after the news conference he hung out and talked with locals for about an hour, without any media coverage, discussing their concerns. I have seen this done numerous times by him, and he has always seemed to have his “ear to the ground” much more than any other councilman Ive met, and usually I expect most brown politicos to be elitist pricks.
Again, I agree with your points about what’s needed int he area, but the Mead Homes are a good candidate for something to be done. They are a community, but also an isolated concetration of extreme poverty surrounded by factories and not one other residence. They also house one of the oldest gang in the city, have serious neglect issues and abut a busy train yard. I would read into it a bit more, but his prioritization of matching (i think they should actually increase) the low income units sounds pretty decent to me, and far frombending over to developers.
I lived in projects where they did bend over to developers, cutting the low income units by 2/3rds, and Reyes does not seem to have that in mind from his coments. That area does need more housing, more mixed income neighborhoods, and more development. I bet a lot of the resdients are going to complain about being isolated amongst only other pobres, having no amenities and no exposure to different demographics; so what do you suppose is a better solution?
The beautiful thing about poverty is how it bonds people and solidifies communities (in certain aspects), but are we now going to subsidize the poverty that breeds these positives. Werent people doing these same good things before these areas became concetrations of poverty?
I mean, HomeBoy Industries is the newest nearby development, and it brings in a lot fo moneyed people who are not fromt eh community ona daily basis. It is also a much wealthier commercial property than the previous light inustrial uses int he area, would this be considered gentrification as well? Would you complain about the locating of homeboy ind. as a prime example of gentrification and “bending over for developers”?
Browne,
You bring up a good point about councilmembers being classist by becoming pro-bike (in the past year). The bike advocates I work with are ethnically a diverse bunch, but we all trend toward the professional, upper class, educated, and left-wing.
One reason I think bike advocates have started gaining traction is that a social movement, that really does include everybody, also has grown to include these sorts of people (my self included). This group has the skill set to lobby effectively.
That is it, as I see it. The council offices don’t seek out groups like “bike riders”. Normally they consider it a recreation and parks issue. We got together and developed the baby steps of a social movement.
This year, bike advocacy (for transportation cycling on the roads of the city, not recreational “bike paths” or whatever) is likely to join ranks with pedestrian advocates, environmentalists, slow food people, etc. and push for an agenda in the next few years to make more of L.A. pedestrian and human-friendly.
As opposed to focusing on whether a starbucks belongs in Boyle Heights, this nascent movement is concerned with how the oldest and youngest, and most vulnerable) in a community can safely get around town without being trapped in an expensive metal shell that runs on fossil fuel.
Reyes is “pro-bike” in this sense. After reading through his Cornfields-Arroyo Seco plan I saw that he took my recommendations to re-classify certain streets in the area to slow down car speeds, widen sidewalks, install bike lanes and bus pick up and drop off zones, etc. That type of ting really clouds my vision of his other achievement (or lack thereof).
When I read DQ’s comments, it’s like a reality check to my believing the guy is such a saint for working to de-car portions of our streets and add parks and other amenities to our public sphere.
Art, if this quote below by Reyes is an example of how he is working for the community then no thanks.
It’s an old story and everyone has a right to be skeptical and suspicious of Reyes motives.
Instead of painting his constituents (that he supposedly represents),with the broad brush of multi-generational gangsters, criminals, drug dealers, and parasites, he might want to ask himself, as a soon to be third term City Councilman, why Dogtown has been allowed to continue to deteriorate, and why the people there have been seemingly been forsaken by his office.
If he wants to improve the area and the residence’s for the people he represents then maybe he might want to not only tone down his negative rhetoric but concentrate on improving the lot and living conditions of the people there before pontificating on his plan to build condos and multi story units for middle and upper middle class future residents.
And Reyes baloney about affordable housing for working people is an old familiar story on the Eastside, that has to my knowledge never come to anything but displacement of long time families for the sake of developers and other intimates with large generous checkbooks.
Reyes is on record over and over stating his vision of District 1 as a high density multi story condo heaven surrounding transit routes. Check out his own website and he proudly states that his plan for the future, along with relaxing codes and zoning for large development firms is what you would witness in Pico Union which is also in his Council district.
His thinking on the future of the Eastside can be judged at present by the existing shitty condominium projects developed on his watch, that are such eyesores and foreign to the communities of the Eastside. Does the alleviating of poverty always mean displacement of the residents in favor of a more middle and upper middle class, new resident? Seems to be the case on the Eastside.
PS, Art I think the inclusion of Home Boy and Home Girl Industries is a step in the right direction but I would never mistake that business development with an upper middle class operation.
Reyes speaks, The Downtown News,
“If I can maintain one-to-one affordable that you see there, and triple the density, I can bring in a middle and upper-middle class range of units that complements a facility that decentralizes the economic ghetto that you find there,†he said. “It’s been there for decades and all it’s done is create generation after generation of gang culture. We need to essentially decentralize, disband and disarm the culture that breeds on violence and drug dealing.â€
“is likely to join ranks with pedestrian advocates”
We’re not pedestrian advocates, we ride the bus. No need to try to dress it up and make it fancy.
Browne
Browne I wasn’t referring to you, but I guess I could consider you a pedestrian advocate?
I know you aren’t referring to me Ubrayj02, I’m referring to this new term “pedestrian advocate” that’s been coming out of cycling world lately. It is highly irritating. I understand that the bus is not glamorous to people in that community, but bus riders on a large part do more for the environment than cyclist.
People who are bus riders tend not to have cars.
People who are bus riders tend to have less money, so they waste less.
People who ride the bus tend to even ride the bus when they have kids or when they turn 40 or if they change jobs or move, they don’t get in their car when it rains.
People who ride the bus usually the whole family rides the bus, not just the guy of the family with a hobby.
The fact that now there seems to be some kind of “make-over” of bus riders (by cyclist) and turning them into pedestrians is silly. And the cycling community in my opinion are only doing it so people like me can’t call them classist jerks, but you still are.
Everyone who is ambulatory is a pedestrian at some point. This new “pedestrian advocacy” term is just a way to say you’re branching out, without actually doing anything.
I know the cycling community doesn’t care anything about the interests of the many people in LA who don’t own a car, because they can’t own a car. Cyclist don’t give a crap about them and neither do politicians.
Cyclist are joining with the slow food movement, really, how about joining with the movement to make sure that people who work at eateries get paid a fair wage?
How about fighting for the Dream Act?
How about fighting for the rights of those who are made to feel like criminals because they weren’t born in the “right” place?
How about joining with other social justice organizations instead of putting yourself in with the greenwashing, bs, upper middle class, gentrify set?
Oh yeah that doesn’t go with making cash. This new touchy feeling rhetoric coming from the cycling world isn’t fooling anybody, except politicians who want to kiss the cycling community’s ass, because its the community that isn’t really part of the other social justice communities, the community that tends to fight for real change instead of just this surface level bullshit and it tends to have more money.
Not the entire cycling community, but in LA there are definite sections that fit into what I’m talking about.
Now to me when the cycling community becomes a true community that includes kids, elderly, disabled and the guy in Watts and the woman in Compton that rides his or her bike then maybe I’ll be more apt to believe this new and improved cycling community.
Cyclists seem to have alot of resources, why doesn’t that community work on shutting down the Exxon Mobile Plant in Torrance. Why doesn’t the well connected community use its resources to do something real instead of getting pretty pictures of their various clubs in glossy lifestyle magazines.
Browne
ubrayj02, sure there should be a place for cyclist’s but Browne laid it out there for you as far as priority’s. And where did the term “pedestrian advocate” come from? I’m not familiar with it but it does sound strange to my ears, kind of us vs them, who would use that kind of description for people and what does it really mean?
The majority of people especially working people need transportation that is cheap and dependable and can transport the whole family in safety.
Pretty straightforward and not some elitist code.
Um … if you ride the bus (or – gasp! – the train) and you advocate for better TRANSIT – wouldn’t that make you a TRANSIT ADVOCATE?
If you advocate for pedestrian’s interests then you would be … a pedestrian advocate? No?
You might even be a part of the:
http://ladot.lacity.org/tf_pedestrian_advisory_committee.htm
PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
Or you could be part of a local group fighting to make walking to school safer, or making access for elderly people crossing the street safer, etc.
In short, there are “pedestrian advocates”, they exist in L.A., and they (I think) share interests with cycling advocates and others. The classicism mentioned above, by Browne, is somewhat true – but mainly because the class of people involved in livable streets issues also includes the same class of people with the education, tools, and social capital to affect change. Their efforts are part of a larger (growing) social movement (I would call it the “Livable Streets Movement”).
Sheesh.
Oh, and as regards Browne’s comments with respect to the cycling movement – we’re not your elected representatives. You want to shut an oil plant down, go ahead and try. I don’t see an effective political strategy emerging from that move, but you are free to come up with one. If it looks good, I’ll put my name on whatever petition or protest you get going to that end.
Back up a little bit and recognize that I’m not writing in some sort of “I secretly oppose everything you love” code, and you’ll see that I’m not saying anything too bad – just my own thoughts. I’m not in any position to force anything on anyone. I’m just a guy working with a few other people on some things I care about.
I definitely respect both of your opinions, but as freely as you criticize my points of view so too will I ask for justification of your criticism.
I don’t think I’ve seen any concrete examples of some of the outrageous claims DQ has made about Reyes – but I def. respect that he was just too pissed off to get extremely technical/historical in a relatively causal blog post. I think Reyes has a big plus side for my pet issue(s), and the access to his office I have been able to get in solving small problems, other than that I’m not so sure he’s the savior of our community (As evidenced in his campaign literature).
The nascent cycling movement (which is still in its infancy in L.A.) is actually something very inclusive (in my experience), and is working in many ways that parallel the fights that neighborhood councils, social justice, etc. movements are working for. In fact, a lot of people involved in those other movements ride bikes and are involved in both mini-communities.
It seems, browne, that you’re more interested in being pissed off and criticizing than in making a factually based critique. It sure is entertaining to read, but in the end it is just … well, it’s just entertainment. With respect towards working to derive a version of truth that we can agree upon, or a practical direction for change – I don’t think you have much of a vision for progress, and it comes across in your writing.
I have spent a lot of time thinking, quite specifically, of what sort of changes I’d like to see done in L.A. My writing is nowhere near as iconoclastic or engaging as yours – but the work I do with other people (I feel) is likely to have a more lasting effect. A few of the small efforts I’ve engaged in have actually led to small, positive, changes greater than I’d ever expected.
Anyway, I look forward to reading what you have to say, because you’ve paid me the same favor.
“I don’t think I’ve seen any concrete examples of some of the outrageous claims DQ has made about Reyes – but I def. respect that he was just too pissed off to get extremely technical/historical in a relatively causal blog post”.
ubrayj02, while I respect your pet projects, namely cycling issues, I wouldn’t categorize them as vital community wide issues on the LA Eastside. And while you have had some success with Reyes office vis a vis the cycling community issues, I would only reply that the major issues that illustrate Reyes disconnect with his constituents are housing, jobs, education, and conservation and improvement of the existing single family abodes that make the Eastside the distinct place that it is and has been.
As for concrete examples of Reyes dysfunction, as regards to his Eastside constituents,
I think my examples are both historical and to the point.
When a representative of the people gives a speech that castigates the very populace that he/she is supposed to support, with the broad brush description as gangsters, criminals, drug dealers, and parasites, and then goes on to suggest that a more upper middle class, high density, and more gentrified housing situation is the cure for his clients (which means tear down and displacement which has occurred many times historically on the Eastside), then I think that my description of Reyes is spot on.
Reyes is the developers friend and one of his main efforts is to get zoning and density laws relaxed so as to enable development of condos and apartments that have in the past, as you well know, displaced and dispersed the residents of the old established Eastside neighborhoods. The proof is in the pudding or more to the point, in the ugly architecture of the guarded, gated, gentrified, stucco shitholes that have already been built on Reyes watch.
Do yourself a favor and check out Reyes own website where he mumbles on about unwarranted fear of change and about high-density bldg along transportation routes i.e.: the Goldline where the children can come out of thier apts and condo’s to play. He actually suggests that the cure for ugly condomania is landscaping. Well I think we’ve all seen the results when after a few years the ivy and cactus plants go to seed.
And Reyes has already shown his true colors as he demonstrated his “concern” about the children of the area, by trying to jam the failed development of the old Rose/Dupont eye clinic bldg up the community’s ass with his ridiculous support of the Las Villas Bar/Restraunt/ video game arcade.
A drinking and leisure establishment not 100 yards away from Lincoln High School, next door to the Little Flower Convent School, and only a short ways away from Gates St Elementary School.
Fortunately the whole Lincoln Hts community went ballistic on his ass and it has been shot down for the moment.
I think I have put up enough evidence to support my claim that Reyes is not beholding to the community he represents but to developers and gentrimanderers who are licking their lips over the possibilities of financial gain by developing the Eastside into a high density nirvana of apts and condos for “other†people.
In the real world of today bicycle issues should be way down on the list of important concerns facing the Eastside communities.
Ubrayj,
My comments are comments, I have posts with plenty of facts.
I have some more entertaining rhetoric for you. I think your whole bicycle thing is about money. You’re here to pub yourself and to sell your bicycles from your store, that’s ok. I also find your enthusiasm about your hobby a really cool thing that I find it fascinating how you can inject it as being REALLY, REALLY important in virtually every conversation.
Livable wages, well that what about cyclists.
Affordable housing, well what about cyclists.
Racism, well what about cyclists.
Immigrant rights, well what about cyclists.
Sexism, well what about cyclists.
Global warming, well what about cyclists.
Cutting bus service, well what about cyclists.
I mean really, know your audience, does this say the cyclist are us in the heading, no. And there are cyclist who are on this blog, but they have common sense.
I find you amazingly skilled to bring the conversation back to you and your little world at every single turn, regardless of the conversation. I find your self centered, opportunist view of the world as what you want as the most important and screw everyone else and everyone else especially entertaining.
The bridge talked about somewhere else on this blog (forgive me whoever wrote that post, i read it i can’t remember who wrote is) is a waste of money, because you don’t have to be anywhere at a particular time that a train that takes ten minutes at certain times would cause you to be late for and it has nothing to do with bicycles, so screw that, it’s a waste of money.
I have question for you in your household does anyone own a car? Do your parents have a car? If the answer is yes maybe you should work on remedying that problem before you start getting the world to care about you and your bicycle.
Everyone walks so everyone is a pedestrian advocate, because if you have given someone someone the finger for almost hitting you, you’ve advocated for yourself, so that would include everyone.
And my problem with the term “pedestrian advocacy” is that it’s the hipster set again redefining what and who people are, because it fits better to what they are doing right now. Screw that and screw the term pedestrian advocate so you can shake the working class slant of bus rider out of the alternative transportation movement.
Bus riders are part of alt transportation, affordable easily accessible housing within civilization is part of alt transportation, livable wages are part of alt transportation, immigrant rights are part of alt transportation movement, the issue of racism is part of the alt transportation movement and these are all very eco and green and all that bs, and if you care about alt transportation you should be embracing all of it, not just the parts that seems more sexy or that benefits you directly.
Browne
A Tough Climb on a Tandem
Jack and Jill have just climbed Le Alp de Huez, one of the steepest peaks in the Alps on their tandem.
“Phew, that was a tough climb” said Jack, leaning over, breathing hard. “That climb was so hard, and we were going so slow, I thought we were never going to make it.”
“Yeah, good thing I kept the brakes on,” said Jill, “or we’d have slid all the way back down!”
Drinking With Tony
A Tough Climb on a Tandem
ubrayj02 and Ed Reyes had just climbed Le Alp de Huez, one of the steepest peaks in the Alps on their tandem.
“Phew, that was a tough climb” said ubrayj02, leaning over, breathing hard. “That climb was so hard, and we were going so slow, I thought we were never going to make it.”
“Yeah, good thing I kept the brakes on,” said Reyes , “or we’d have slid all the way back down!”
Drinking With Tony
It’s all about the walking class!
http://www.thewalkingclass.org/
hehe, sorry i’ll use any excuse to link that site!
I’m going to vote for Reyes just to piss some of you off. You just made Mr. “My Constituents are Scum” a new BFF. I’ll be by your place with a lawn sign in no time.
LULZ
ubrayj
that’s better. i want the ubrayj that i know and love back. this cuddly “lets all try to get along” ubrayj is really not working for me.
browne
I couldn’t comment for a while due to a computer issue, but it’s fixed now and there have been a few things I’ve been thinking and have experienced since this post first came out that I wanted to share. Not that it really matters, but I guess the eve of the election is a fitting time.
-I run into alot of residents of the Dogtown PJs at the “cornfield” park who are there exercising and playing with their kids. They are not gang members or thugs.
-The William Mead homes have clotheslines and they are actually used. The other I was driving by and saw some ladies hanging out wash. Maybe ER just sees that as a sign of the despair and poverty and whatever else gloom and doom he’s pushing but I see it as pretty fucking “green.” Are there going to be clotheslines in this new “green” development ER wants? Doubt it.
-ER’s “green” obsession is pretty obnoxious as the greenest thing to do is use and restore existing buildings instead of knocking them down and using a boatload of raw materials to construct new buildings. ER has at least three HPOZs in his district, two of which have serious outreach and enforcement issues and he hasn’t done a thing to address these issues. He’s no friend to preservation even though study after study shows that historic preservation improves property values, lowers crime,and improves quality of life. Of course, a preserved neighborhood is a harder sell when you want to demolish it for a fancy new development.
-I went to a CD1 candidate forum two weeks ago and of course ER didn’t show. I had high hopes for his opponent Jesse Rosas but was sadly let down. Rosas isn’t very articulate and didn’t really seem to have a platform or a plan or well, anything. He didn’t even give a background or bio of himself. He just talked about graffitti and drive-by shootings (saying of the latter, “they are very sad!”) and how the westside and south Pasadena didn’t have these problems. I kept waiting for him to say something meaningful but it never happened. I approached him privately to ask about a particular city council decision that I use as sort of a litmus test to see if someone is really paying attention and can think critically about something. He didn’t say anything sharp or compelling and when I commented about the city wasting a lot of money on this particular project in a time of economic crisis, he told me that the city wastes money on alot of things. Not really the level of discourse I was hoping for but whatever. No candidate worth voting for this time in CD1, lucky us.
-My distate for ER and the inefficiency of his office never had anything to do with race and I’ve always thought the people who made statements that he was only concerned about his Mexican-American constituents were really far off base. I have received numerous campaign mailers from ER in the past few weeks though and I find it interesting that they only show photos of Latino and/or Chicano constituents. Considering that CD1 has the highest concentration of Asian-Americans of any of the other districts, it seems like maybe he could have had at least one Chinese face on one of those things? Or maybe had one of his affluent white neighbors up on Mt. Washington stand in the background of one of those helping-the-people shots? In his development plans he claims he wants more diversity, but we are already a fairly diverse district. You wouldn’t know it by looking at his campaign materials though.
-ER’s campaign finance reports hint at what’s to come in the next four years and who is going to profit handsomely from overdeveloping our already established neighborhoods. Wonder why so many people in the OC care about ER getting elected? Hmm.
There are going to be many battles in the next four years so I think it will be extra important for info like the story you posted here and DQ’s other post about the communities lost to the freeways and development to get out there. We may be disappointed on election day when we get four more years of this clown but we can’t just sit by and let him talk trash about our neighborhoods and try to plow them under.
WAT DA F**k Man This Shit Is Trippy…
Man I Live There..
Its Full Of Latinos And I Love Living There..
The Gang Don’t Really Matter They Don’t
Bug Not Like The Others..
But They Do Get Down For Their Sh*t…
So I Got Nuthin To Say….SOOO
Peace Out!!!! PAVO WAZ HERE<——
.:PROJEKT RAISED!!!!:.09