ValleyVote Update for 01-01-01 |
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Here is a reminder of LA's total failure of the 2000 party where LA wasted $6,000,000 on 5 "parties" which at the city's own estimated drew on 18,000 people that's over $330 per person!! It seems LA has the money to spend here and the 34 Million spent on the DNC. But they can't fix the sidewalks etc. Here is the main portion of the report in indexed html and the PDF file on LA City's website http://www.lacity.org/CTR/millennium.pdf
By Joseph Giordono Staff Writer
It's not often that you get a second chance to ring in the first day of a new millennium.
But Los Angeles officials -- still stinging from the city's monumental flop of a celebration last year -- say they want nothing to do with fireworks, laser shows or lighting up the Hollywood sign on what experts say is really the beginning of the new millennium.
"The only time the city has ever focused on a citywide celebration was for the Y2K, which ended up being rained out," said Peter Hidalgo, spokesman for Mayor Richard Riordan. "There is nothing being thrown by the city this year, but the mayor is encouraging Angelenos to celebrate in their homes or other private parties and have a good time."
City officials are still embarrassed about last year's $6 million celebration that a city audit said failed because of poor leadership, bad planning and inadequate fund raising. [That $333.00 PER person. Ever think of how many miles of sidewalks could have been repaired instead]
In the weeks leading up to the event, organizers said they expected up to 400,000 people at various events throughout the city and the San Fernando Valley. But in the end, only 87,000 tickets were handed out to Los Angeles residents for the five community celebrations planned around the city.
Officials estimated total actual attendance at around 18,000 people, with the largest crowd being the 5,000 who showed up for a disappointing show at Van Nuys Airport.
The centerpiece event for the city -- which was to feature sky divers and a laser light show around the lit-up Hollywood sign -- failed to come off because of neighborhood opposition and rain. Instead, city officials made do with a ceremony that featured the sign lit up with 2.7 million watts of colored lights. "It doesn't get any cheesier than that," cracked comedian Jay Leno, moments after he helped flip the lights on.
Leno wasn't the only one embarrassed by the spectacle, which paled in comparison to celebrations seen around the world from Paris to London to Washington, D.C., and even as close to home as Las Vegas. "Los Angeles has no history of holding a New Year's event. The five community events could be used as the groundwork for continued events. The city may also want to consider having one large event in a central location," the audit said.
But those recommendations are going nowhere. "As far as I know, there are no big plans for anything to go on," said Al Nodal, who led the city's Cultural Affairs Department in last year's planning. "I think last year was a one-shot deal, and it probably will not happen for as long as anyone remembers that."
Re "Valley VOTE, Civil Rights," Letters
to the Valley Edition, Dec. 17.
This Valleyite lives in the Northeast Valley,
which had the highest percent of signatures by voters on the petitions for a
study of possible secession from Los Angels. Fifty-four percent of the people of
Pacoima and 50% in Sylmar [were] in favor of the Local Agency Formation
Commission study, while only 19% in Toluca Lake, 27% in Studio City and 30% in
Tarzana, Encino and Sherman Oaks signed. So much for the myth that the wealthy
"elite" are behind this secession movement.
It's just common sense that a council member with
50,000 constituents will be more accessible than one with 250,000, as presently.
Compare Los Angeles with Burbank. Which city has a better quality of life?
I believe life in the Valley will improve after we
succeed in seceding from L.A.
JAN HOLLE
North Hollywood
By Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer
The Hollywood secession movement, after initially failing to gather enough valid signatures, has now qualified for a cityhood study, county officials said Monday.
Hollywood Voters Organized Toward Empowerment officially joins similar movements in the San Fernando Valley and Harbor area that are seeking to break apart Los Angeles on the 2002 ballot. Hollywood VOTE founder Gene La Pietra said he never doubted that the group would qualify.
"We're a lot happier than I'd say Gore or Bush are right now," La Pietra said. "This has been a great process we've gone through. It's been a difficult one, but we never doubted or wavered. We knew we'd succeed."
Hollywood VOTE's initial signature drive fell short after the county Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office disqualified more than half the 38,003 signatures submitted. The group was required to have 19,848 signatures from people who live in the proposed new city's boundaries.
The group was allowed by state law to have an extra 15 days to collect signatures, and on Monday, the Registrar-Recorder said enough of those signatures were valid. While Hollywood VOTE submitted an additional 7,291 signatures, the Registrar-Recorder stopped counting at 19,867, so it is not certain what the final valid total would have been.
Most of the City Council and Mayor Richard Riordan oppose the cityhood movements, arguing they will leave behind more impoverished neighborhoods, and that the new city charter will improve neighborhood representation. But Valley VOTE chairman Richard Close welcomed Hollywood's inclusion, saying it will increase pro-secession voter turnout.
* Every time Mayor [Richard] Riordan claims the only reason Valleyites have for wanting to secede is to turn our selfish backs on the city's poor, it merely confirms his ignorance of life out here ("Mayor Rips Secession in Address," Nov. 4). But then I suppose that when your excursions north of Mulholland are limited to fund-raising events in Encino, you might suppose that the entire Valley is poverty-free.
BURT PRELUTSKY North Hills
Re "City Hall dropped ball on '00 eve," Aug. 5:
Basically, this story says that the event was botched because of L.A.'s lack of planning, general confusion, inability to properly carry out vague goals; and ended up wasting a whole bunch of money and just ruined the whole deal, making us a mockery for the rest of the world to laugh at.
Now you know why the Valley and Hollywood want to kiss L.A. goodbye and form our own city. Bye-bye L.A.
Allen Elwood San Fernando
Everyone knows that L.A.'s millennial celebration was a flop -- everyone, that is, except for Mayor Richard Riordan.
After Sydney, Paris, London and New York dazzled audiences with spectacular displays, Los Angeles closed out the night by beaming a few old spotlights onto the Hollywood sign. Mercifully, no one thought to start making shadow puppets.
The self-proclaimed capital city of the 21st century provided the one genuine failure of Y2K. Only a computer bug wasn't to blame and it wasn't really the fault of the rain. According to City Controller Rick Tuttle's new audit, the failure was the product of poor leadership and botched planning. see http://www.lacity.org/CTR/millennium.pdf[An LA norm]
Responding to Tuttle's report, Riordan tried to put a happy face on the missed opportunity. "The millennium celebration was successful in several ways," he said, adding that "the city received valuable worldwide exposure." Really? Which world is the mayor talking about, the other world?
Optimism is an important trait in elected officials, as long as it entails being confident in the people's ability to do better -- not pretending that stinkweed smells like roses. But the mayor has been holding his nose a lot lately. He recently argued that the upcoming Democratic National Convention -- with all its protests and traffic jams -- would make L.A. the envy of the world. [34 million dollars of tax payer funds spent]
A dose of reality would be useful here. New Year's eve in L.A. was a bust. As mayor, Riordan can either pretend otherwise -- and fool no one -- or he can commit the rest of his tenure to laying the foundation for a richer civic life in the future. That way we might be ready by the time Y3K rolls around.
By Rick Orlov Staff Writer
Los Angeles’ $6 million millennium celebration turned into a fiasco because of poor leadership, bad planning and inadequate fund raising, according to a city audit released Friday. Inexperience in staging public events and bad weather added to the embarrassing spectacle.
City Controller Rick Tuttle said the New Year’s Eve celebration, which paled in comparison with those of other major world cities, was plagued from its start in July 1997 by having four different groups and three different leaders involved in the planning. It finally was taken over by the city’s Cultural Affairs Department in June 1999.
"There was confusion throughout the project, including who was in charge, fund raising and sponsorship, limitations on the events, and last-minute additions of new elements to the events," the audit said. And then there was rain during the day on New Year’s Eve, dampening enthusiasm and attendance.
"There should have been planning for inclement weather, either rain or heat," the report said. Former Cultural Affairs Director Al Nodal, however, argued there is not much that could have been done about the weather since all the events were outdoors.
More than 87,000 tickets were given to residents to attend one of the five community events held around the city. Officials estimate attendance at 18,700, with the largest number -- some 5,000 -- attending the Van Nuys Airport festivities.
Plans to have sky divers dropping from airplanes throughout the day were shelved because of the weather.
Also, the most heavily hyped event -- a laser light show at the Hollywood sign -- failed to come off as projected because of opposition from area residents who feared traffic jams and the possibility of fires. That left officials with only a lighting of the individual letters of the hillside landmark.
Tuttle also was critical of the various groups for failing to provide proper documentation on spending to help in the audit.
Mayor Richard Riordan said he agreed with the findings that there were lessons to be learned from the events, but said he still considered it a success.
"The millennium celebration was successful in several ways and it met the city’s objective to offer five family-focused community festival events," Riordan said in a statement. "The city developed important private-public sector partnerships in putting on these events. And the city received valuable positive worldwide exposure."
Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who had called for the audit immediately after the events, would not comment until she has had a chance to review it. Even with all the problems and criticism, the audit said there were positive aspects to the events.
"The City of Los Angeles offered its citizens and visitors a choice of five site events, all at no cost to participants, [[Actual taxpayer cost $333.00 per person] providing convenience and creating a neighborhood setting," the report said. "The activities available were family-oriented and provided in a safe environment."
Also, the report said the working partnerships with private groups and other levels of governments were first-of-their-kind efforts for the city.
"Los Angeles has no history of holding a New Year’s Eve event," it said. "It takes time for a tradition to be cultivated and for participation to increase. The five community events . . . could be used as the groundwork for continued events. The city may also want to consider having one large event in a central location."
Tuttle said the Hollywood sign lighting ceremony was designed as a television event rather than one to gather crowds.
"(It) did not demonstrate a willingness or capacity to put on a citywide public gathering intended to gather a large crowd from the entire city in one area," the audit said.
"If the city wishes to develop a tradition of celebrating the New Year that would compare with that of Times Square in New York, it may need to re-examine this approach. "However, it is important to note the Los Angeles celebration would be at a time when much of the world has already retired for the evening."
In conducting the audit, Tuttle said it proved difficult to get information from the private groups involved, including the Los Angeles 2000 Youth Foundation, which was created as a fund-raising arm.
Former Deputy Police Chief Mark Kroeker was placed in charge of the group and was paid $129,000 for his services. What became unclear, the audit said, was what the foundation was to do in its role and how effective it was in attempting to raise money for the millennium celebrations.
Because of the confusion at the time, many producers said they were initially told not to worry about fund raising. However, in the last five months leading up to the events they were forced to scramble to raise money.
In the end, private sources contributed $2.4 million for the events, with the city -- including the Department of Airports, the Harbor Department and the Department of Water and Power -- kicking in the remaining $3.7 million.
I just downloaded AOL version 6.0 to test it. GREAT news now AOL properly reads HTML mail . I would recommend it all AOL users (except those using Windows 2000 which is not ready yet) to get the free update from AOL. It will make all your HTML mail work so you can see the formatting and highlights and use the jumps to see referenced documents.
But to fully see the update and use the jumps you need to go to the website http://www.ValleyVote.org/updates/index.html and read the update from there with all the information that AOL strips.
We have also received complaints the AOL's internet connection times out before getting to our site. If you are serious about the internet and not the AOL content go to a ISP (internet service provider) and get full unrestricted access to the internet. You can still use content on AOL by connecting via the internet at half price.
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