Ex-Los Angeles Councilmember Jose Huizar Pleads Guilty to Racketeering and Tax Evasion

Gentle reader,

We write in haste to share with you the remarkable news that Jose Huizar, the crooked politician who has had more to do than anyone else in ruining this beautiful city as the kind of place where artists and musicians and old people and weirdos could survive and thrive while living cheaply in simple accommodations has finally signed his name to a confession of guilt!

We have suffered Huizar’s presence as a power over Los Angeles land use for nearly two decades, and so it seems fitting somehow that we are the people who broke the news this afternoon on social media, scooping the Los Angeles Times and other outlets with an all caps post, followed by a very opinionated live reading of the plea documents.

You can catch up on Twitter or Facebook, and read the docs yourself here and here.

It does feel good to finally see Huizar confess his sins, and to anticipate learning the names of the other powerful goons that he must flip on in order to receive a favorable sentencing recommendation from the Feds, who have been irked with him ever since he agreed to cooperate and reneged years back.

But there’s nothing in the justice system that can truly right the wrongs that we have suffered, as a city, a community, a wider culture, due to the failed leadership and greed of Huizar and his cronies.

We have lost wonderful landmarks and beloved legacy businesses. Good people have been forced out of their homes, some into homelessness and death, others escaping a city that no longer had any place for them. Whole commercial districts have been emptied out, and not “gentrified,” but made into blighted swaths of vacant husks. There are great songs and books and movies that nobody will ever create, because the artists who would have crafted them were not made welcome in this money laundering washing machine masquerading as a city.

There’s no way that Jose Huizar can ever repay what he took away, except by telling the whole ugly truth and implicating every elected and appointed official and every city staffer and lobbyist and lawyer and consultant who helped stack the deck against decency, fairness and Los Angeles.

Others can do more. Our new City Attorney, or anyone, can seek to obtain properties implicated in this corruption for the public good under California’s Section 1090. There are very valuable buildings and parcels for the taking, including the huge LA Grand Hotel that’s been in use since 2020 as emergency Project Roomkey housing.

We hope the Feds have Huizar in protective custody. There are powerful people who know he has their number and nowhere else to turn. He’s worth more dead than alive. We pray for his continued good health—and that he kept excellent notes.

May the fates smile upon Los Angeles, and even its most broken citizen, Jose Huizar. He can still do something wonderful for the city that gave him everything he ever dreamed of, even though his sleazy, greedy dreams were unworthy of the place.

yours for Los Angeles,

Kim & Richard

Esotouric

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