The end of the week means we have analysis of LA stories and politics. Welcome to the Mixer.
Gene Maddaus reports for LA Weekly, Seema Mehta reports for the Los Angeles Times. They joined us to dissect the big stories of the week.
If someone points a finger at you, go ahead and retire. A new report finds that none of the top managers at the LA County Sheriff’s Department will be fired or even demoted for an alleged “a culture of violence” inside county jails. The LA Daily News did a story about this this week.
Instead, the two top objects of consternation in a blue ribbon commission report – Lee Baca and Paul Tanaka – are seeking the Sheriff’s job. Baca, who already has it, and Tanaka, who wants Baca to go.
Meanwhile, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti is in a fight with his taxi czar.
Yes, the city has a taxi czar.
Tom Drischler says those smartphone apps that offer rides to the rideless — companies such as Uber, Lyft and SideCar– are competing with cabbies by being ‘lawless’.
Before Garcetti took office a few months back, Drischler — officially, the city’s taxi administrator — had ordered the apps to go away in Los Angeles. But soon after Garcetti took over, the LA Weekly reports his office ordered Drischler to stop talking to the media.
In our Mixer Elixir, Mayor Garcetti did a lot of talking after kicking it to the curb.
In a new way to open the mayor’s office to the people of LA, the mayor took over a parking space in Boyle Heights. It was a pop-up mayor’s office, complete with AstroTurf (or sod) and flags. And a red desk that looked like it came from IKEA.
Here’s what it looked like, courtesy of the Mayor’s Facebook page:
