Gentle reader,
This video is a postscript to Wednesday’s newsletter, Will the Historic Los Angeles Times Buildings be Destroyed Because Jose Huizar Sold His City Council Vote?
On Thursday, June 1, the Cultural Heritage Commission heard a presentation from Canadian developer Onni Group about their "proposed rehabilitation plan" for Times Mirror Square, the historic home of the Los Angeles Times.
But it's actually a stealth demolition plan, and a project that reeks of the pay-to-play land use votes that disgraced councilman Jose Huizar has confessed to selling.
At 48:00 minutes into this video, you'll hear an outraged public comment from our Richard Schave, who led the team behind the landmark nomination that Jose Huizar "fixed" when it got to the PLUM Committee, and who is writing a guided tour about Huizar’s crimes.
Richard calls on the Cultural Heritage Commissioner not to dignify with their tacit approval a presentation that's tainted with public corruption, and to instead ask City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto to reject the project approvals.
The commissioners ignore him, and natter on about minor issues in the presentation, and the deliberately deceptive renderings that obscure the size of the proposed tower block. As this is an informational presentation, they don't vote or take any stand at all.
If you wonder why Los Angeles is in such bad shape, look at the City Family, which acts as if nothing is wrong as it rubber stamps the work of a confessed criminal racketeer. Look at the media—not even the Los Angeles Times itself covered this hearing about the demolition of the building Otis Chandler built, where the paper earned its Pulitzers and outgrew its bad reputation. Look at the public: nobody else objected.
The most interesting thing in this presentation is learning that there is no timeline for Onni Group starting work on the long delayed Times Mirror Square project! Maybe we'll hear more about that when Jose Huizar is sent to prison, and presumably provides information to lessen his sentence.
And as frustrating as it is that Times Mirror Square is still an active development project, something remarkable has come out of Jose Huizar’s blatant pay-for-play scheme: State Senator Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) authored a new law, SB 1439, that serves to bar future Huizars from voting on their donors’ development projects.
We don’t know if SB 1439 was nicknamed “The Sleazy Huizy Bill” in Sacramento, but that’s what we’ve been calling it. It’s our sincere hope that this legislation will make it much less attractive for greedy scumbags to run for office in Los Angeles and around the state, and usher in a new era of representatives who actually care about people.
Also on the CHC recording: the contentious nomination of the Disabled American Veterans Hall in Woodland Hills (with allegations of fraud, porn shoots and pandemic health violations by the former tenants) and a truncated selection from the family-initiated nomination for the magical Coronet Theatre on La Cienega. The CHC sent both on to the City Council PLUM Committee for consideration.
Jose Huizar is no longer around to "fix it in PLUM," but we're pulling for the Coronet, which should win on its own merits!
yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
Psst… If you’d like to support our efforts to be the voice of places worth preserving, we have a tip jar and a subscriber edition of this newsletter, vintage Los Angeles webinars available to stream, in-person tours and a souvenir shop you can browse in. Or just share this link with other people who care.
UPCOMING BUS & WALKING TOURS
Highland Park Arroyo Walk (Sat. 6/10) • New! Bunker Hill’s Modernist Marvels with Nathan Marsak Walk (Sat. 6/17) • The Real Black Dahlia Bus Tour (Sat. 6/24) • Echo Park Book of the Dead Bus Tour (Sat. 7/1) • New! The Run: Gay Downtown History Walk (Sat. 7/8) •Westlake Park Walk (Sat. 7/15) • Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles Bus Tour (Sat. 7/22) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue Walk (Sat. 8/5) • Charles Bukowski’s Los Angeles Bus Tour (Sat. 8/12)
The Cultural Heritage Commission hears Onni Group's demo plans for Times Mirror Square, or: Jose Huizar fixed it in PLUM