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Friday, May 25, 2007

VILLARAIGOSA vs YAROSLAVSKY: MTA GRUDGE MATCH.

Based on the story from LATimes.com

SUMMARY: MTA approves fare hike that wasn't as much as they wanted, but I (allegedly) prevent MTA from having to cut service or borrow money for new buses. And Zev Yaroslavsky hands Antonio his ass in a heated (public) verbal debate. [Best showdown since ZD vs Garshady!]

The first fare increase takes effect July 1. The increases — which apply to both bus and rail service — will be jacked from $52 to $75 by July 1, 2009. The popular day pass will double from $3 to $6 over the same period. [At the same time the City blew the Living Wage Increase to help pay for this...LOL! What's next...an Ad Hoc committee on "reducing the mininimum wage"? How about adding a fee to remove bulky items off the street. Oh yeah, you did.]

The decision by the MTA's Board of Directors marks a stinging defeat [you mean "another" stinging defeat] for Mayor Antonio Villagrosa, who had tried to broker a compromise that would have raised most fares only 5% a year.

The board soundly rejected the mayor's proposal [as everyone always does], saying it would leave the agency with a deep operating deficit and would delay future rail projects. [But Antonio doesn't care...he'll be long gone, somewhere.]

The majority also agreed, that the mayor's plan was unworkable because it would not raise enough revenue -- and called for more borrowing to buy buses. The mayor's proposal was rejected on an 8-5 vote. [That's how the City always does things: Raise some revenue, but not enough to get the job done, then "borrow" the rest. (And when they City says, "borrow", they mean add a new fee.)]

Instead, Supervisor Gloria Molina proposed the alternative that won approval. [Of course, she hasn't blown all her political capital and burnt every bridge in this City.]

Villaraigosa was hoping to bring the board together on a compromise that would soften the blow for riders. Instead, he drew strong criticism from Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who called the mayor's stance disingenuous.

During a heated exchange, Yaroslavsky said Villaraigosa had indicated that he would support a fare increase in a closed session last summer after the MTA board agreed to a new contract with bus drivers and mechanics. [In other words, Tony if we give the union more money, you gotta raise the bus fare to pay for it, bro. Capishe? (Tony never capiches...only says he does, then burns you later.)]

A visibly angry Villaraigosa shot back, accusing Yaroslavsky of mischaracterizing private conversations and then lashing out at the supervisor for sitting in his office while the mayor was in Sacramento on Wednesday trying to get more transportation funding. [The mayor did 500 sit ups, too! And I'm glad Zev was sitting in his office. You should try it some time, Tony. You could have sat in an office, instead of flying to Asia, and everywhere else under the sun.]

Villaraigosa then said Yaroslavsky didn't have the courage to propose his own fare increases, calling him a "sheep who walks in wolf's clothing." [The time to bring that up was BEFORE the agreement, Antonio!?!? And calling someone a "sheep who walks in wolf's clothing." That's like Kermit the Frog making fun of Shrek for being green...YOU BIG DUMMY!!! IT'S A WOLF WHO WALKS IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING. YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT...PEOPLE SAY IT TO YOU ALL DAY LONG.]

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I have the audio (and a crappy video, I was just aiming generically in the audience) somewhere and I will post it. Zev made general comments toward the Mayor, but the way AV took it personally was worth quoting.

May 25, 2007 9:12 PM  

Blogger Walter Moore said:

I love the "sheep in wolf's clothing." We all misspeak from time to time, but sometimes it's funnier than others.

May 25, 2007 10:17 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Tamar Galatzan, a high level B'nai B'rith operative and a former Chief Counsel of the notorious ADL of B'nai B'rith was elected to the seven member Los Angeles Unified School Board yesterday. The ADL is alleged to be a branch of the Israeli MOSSAD. The Los Angeles office of the ADL, where Galatzan had her office, came under close scrutiny recently for spying on Arab, Muslim and Christian activists who are critical of Israel and its policies against the Palestinian people. They collect and maintain extensive files on pro-Palestinian activists in the US which they then send to the MOSSAD in Israel say the allegations.

Tamar Galatzan, as an official of the ADL, was quoted in a Los Angeles news tabloid, saying something very chilling against the publisher of La Voz de Aztlan. She was quoted saying, concerning our publisher, "We're going to keep an eye on him." We believe that her statement was designed to intimidate the staff of this publication into not publishing information critical of Israel. The ADL of B'nai B'rith has also published a significant amount of spurious and false information about La Voz de Aztlan on their website.

Now the Mexican-American community of Los Angeles should keep an eye on Tamar Galatzan and what she does on the school board which will impact the education of our children. Galatzan joins two other "Daughters of the Covenant" on the school board, Marlene Canter and Julie Korenstein.

Ernesto Cienfuegos of La Voz de Aztlan reported on Tamar Galatzan in a May of 2002 article titled, "How journalists are censored" published at http://www.aztlan.net/censored.htm Galatzan is mentioned in the last paragraph of this revealing article.

May 25, 2007 11:24 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

CBS's "60 Minutes" Lesley Stahl interviewed the CNN anti-Mexican xenophobe Lou Dobbs. At one point in the interview Ms. Stahl commented, ". . . given the tone of his show, there's something even more surprising, something he never brings up: the fact that his wife Debi is Mexican-American."

This is quite a shock to many Mexican immigrants who have learned to dislike Dobbs because of his constant hate-mongering against what he calls criminal illegal aliens. He recently insinuated that America has the capability of rounding up all undocumented Mexicans and deporting them. Dobbs has become the "hero" of anti-Mexican xenophobes around the country.

Lou Dobbs has twin daughters with Debi whose maiden name is Segura. Mexican blood runs in the veins of his daughters, Hillary and Heather, yet he never mentions this on his anti-immigration CNN shows.

Lou and Debi Dobbs resides on a 300-acre horse farm in Sussex County, New Jersey with her Mexican parents and his mother. Leslie Stahl showed the parents of his wife and they looked totally Mexican.

About 4 years ago Debi Dobbs was arrested at the Newark Liberty International Airport after airport security found a loaded gun she was carrying in her handbag. She was charged with criminal possession of a weapon. After being fingerprinted and photographed by Port Authority Police, Debi Dobbs was released without bail. Mrs. Dobbs faced arraignment in a Newark court but the outcome of the case is not generally known.

May 25, 2007 11:29 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I love Lou Dobbs. He makes sense.

Now, you know Antonio had to be really pissed because his gang banger, low class, cholo character came out when he went after Zev in front of all the cameras at MTA. A lot of the local media aired the exchange and made Antonio look like an out of control cholo wanting to fight like his old days. Gee, that's ANOTHER FAILURE FOR ANTONIO. Anything he touches is failing. Could this be the KARMA we have all been saying will come back to him because the way he treats people. HELLL YES

May 26, 2007 6:38 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I hope that someone is putting together a montage of all of Tony Villar's unscripted "moments of truth" clips! His tirade against Zev was indeed worthy of publication nationwide. But there are soooo many others over the course of the past years that would make the public reach for the barf bag.

How mamy times have we seen him turn on that hideous phony smile the second he sees a camera???

Also, we need to keep replaying the tape of Villar's appearance on Lou Dobb's show a year ago! IT WAS PRICELESS! Lou Dobbs HUMILIATED him and showed him to be a complete phony! You can bet he will NEVER be in the same room with Dobbs again!

And the debates...my 5 year old son could debate him under the table. I can hardly wait to see him under the national spotlight debating the likes of Pat Buchanan, Tancredo, Hunter, etc.

Happy days are coming!!!!

May 26, 2007 8:09 AM  

Blogger numan said:

The AV comments towards Zev were purely mean. I watch him in amazement ripping Zev. The mayor's team got whipped by the rest of the board. Yikes.

May 26, 2007 9:59 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Yeah, yeah, MAV lost a vote at the MTA. Big deal. If you guys think he's so ineffectual these days, why do you also keep griping that he'll be elected governor and be gone in a few years? Even the voters of the state occasionally figure out if an elected official is screwing up and toss him out of office. Go ask Gray Davis about that. Contrary to popular stupidity, it's not always about the money.

As for Zev, MAV may have gone ghetto on him, but he had one thing right: Zev never fails to be a gravy-training bandwagon jumper. Suggest to one of his staffers that the Supervisor should actually exhibit a little bit of positive leadership and the answer you'll get is, "That's not how Zev works."

Ya think?! How Zev works is exactly how MAV called it: say "no!" to everything and wait for somebody else to fix the problem, then jump in and claim as much credit as he can.

You could say "it takes one to know one," but Villa-lagrossa has occasionally actually done a few things that he deserves credit, or blame, for. Yaroslopsky is just a big talker trying to stay out of the line of fire.

As political food-fights go, it was pretty good.

May 26, 2007 10:21 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Zev endorsed and campaigned for Antonio.

You guys are naive to think that every little disagreement is a full scale war.

These guys make up as soon as one of them needs something.

Get your hands off your dicks.

May 26, 2007 3:38 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Yeah, except Zev went for Antonio because everyone and their mother knew how big of a dud Jim Hahn was. If the choice was between Hertzberg and Antonio, I would bet that Zev would go for Bob. of course, Bob didn't make it past the first round so this is moot anyway.

May 26, 2007 3:55 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

IF Hertzberg ever had a moment, it is long gone. He is marginalized as a player in LA as long as AV is in power. There is no love lost between them and the breach is irrepairable, no matter what Hertberg may say or wish. He crossed the line with Antonio and there is no going back.

Jack Weiss, despite ZD's and some activists' hopings will be unaffected by the failed recall; he may be even strengthened as he will get positive spin off it and lots of ink.

ZD, the amateur dabbling in real politick has no understanding of the meaning of anything he "uncovers". The real reason he finds it first is that no one else who understands the meaning notices the irrelevant. Duh.

There is an incredible waste of time, space and effort. It reminds one of the public comment section of the LA City Council meetings when Dave Elliott does his stale ZD act.

May 26, 2007 4:50 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Tamar Galatzan is Antonio Villaraigosas new squeeze.

When Antonio speaks Tamar
satisfies with pleasure.

That is how you join the school board from now on!

What does Tamar have in common with Monica Lewinsky and Shandra Levy? They are Jewish and like married politicians.

May 28, 2007 9:52 PM  

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