Downtown News has an open spot
Reporter Andrew Moyle is no longer at Downtown News as of last Friday.
Moyle's objective reporting covering both sides of the Central City East Association Arts District BID process, the loss of the "Ed Ruscha Monument", the development of downtown Los Angeles brought Downtown News some respect –– rare for for a weekly that for years had a restricted focus.
Downtown News made great strides in the last year in reporting multiple angles of stories, including Jon Regardie's coverage of the Los Angeles Times misleading information given to guest opinion columnist Tom Slater. (Downtown News came to the rescue to defend CCEA Executive Director Estela Lopez.)
Some of Moyle's clips are after the jump;
Work Crew Destroys Prominent Mural
The "Ed Ruscha Monument" is no more.
Late last week, contractors painted over the 19-year-old landmark mural on the north face of the YWCA Los Angeles Job Corps Center at 1031 S. Hill St., a building owned by the federal Department of Labor.
"They painted him over?" Kent Twitchell, the photorealist painter who created the work between 1978 and 1987, said Friday by cell phone from Northern California, where his daughter would be married later that day.
Kent Twitchell Catches a Break
Three months after his "Ed Rushca Monument" was obliterated from the side of a YWCA Job Corps building in South Park, the muralist famous for his enormous, photorealistic portraits has caught a break.
No, "Ed Ruscha" hasn't magically reappeared. But "Harbor Freeway Overture," depicting 11 Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra musicians (and one of the company's donors) on the 7+Fig parking structure is once again fully visible. A small grove of eucalyptus trees that had obscured three-quarters of the mural was felled earlier this month.
"I just heard," Twitchell said last week. "I have not been over there. It's one of my most important [murals], because of where it is.
When developer Tom Gilmore was preparing his presentation for April's Roses and Lemon Awards breakfast, he took the time to stroll around Downtown and take in the sights. There was a lot the New York transplant didn't like, and one image in particular stood out during his slideshow of Downtown's gaffes.
"Look at this," Gilmore said to a crowd of hundreds of Downtown business and political leaders, gesturing at a slide showing the Broadway side of the Caltrans Building. In the photo, the east face of the building dwarfed a lone passerby.
"Who wants to walk past that?" Gilmore asked.
Nobody, was the correct answer.
Strip Clubs Angers Downtowners
Max Amadi, who is overseeing the details for the Penthouse Club's opening, sat behind the club's desk last week, a telephone receiver pressed to his ear. On the other end of the line was the club's insurer.
"Mechanical devices?" Amadi repeated. "You mean like riding bulls? No. No mechanical devices."
The insurer's questions kept coming, one after the other, and Amadi's answer was always the same. Gambling? No. Athletic events? "Like mud wrestling?" No.
"We're trying to attract rich businessmen, not horny 19-year olds," Amadi declared curtly before hanging up.
A tour of the unfinished establishment showed what he meant. Well appointed with brass fixtures, a fireplace, a DJ booth replete with iron scrollwork, an elevated, glassed-in dining area, a glass-doored wine room and a VIP level overlooking the stage below, the club will seem classy, as far as strip clubs go.
Trying to Solve the Parking Puzzle
The buzz of 21st century Los Angeles promises the completion of stalled rail lines, the start of new ones and, finally, a public grasping of mass transit.
But for now, cars rule. And when it comes to parking them, Downtown is still more Wild Wild West than Tomorrowland. The buzz of 21st century Los Angeles promises the completion of stalled rail lines, the start of new ones and, finally, a public grasping of mass transit.
Bracing for the Demise of Dome Village
For (homeless activist Ted) Hayes, Dome Village was supposed to be a springboard to something much larger.
His audacious, Marshall-esque vision to end homelessness is broken into four stages, each represented by a village of increasing size and complexity. Stage one, intake, would merely get people off the streets into a village short on amenities and long on assistance. Graduation to stage two, orientation and direction, would introduce personal responsibility, with residents increasingly able to take care of their own needs. The third stage, social adjustment, would reinforce the lessons of stages one and two, and give the villagers a chance to prove themselves ready for the final stage.
Street Cleaner Caught Trashing Storm Drain
On June 8, Lili Lakich, a well-known neon artist and longtime Arts District resident, went to the Toy District, where she took a series of digital pictures of a woman who works as a street cleaner for the Central City East Association. In the first photographs, scraps of paper, a piece of cardboard and a paper bag lay before the open mouth of the storm drain. Ensuing pictures show the woman using her broom to stuff trash down the drain, which connects to feeder lines that run to the L.A. River a few blocks east.
"I was absolutely heartbroken," said Estela Lopez, the CCEA's executive director. "It was absolutely shocking to me.
Council Approves Arts District BID
"Obviously, we're very pleased. It's a strong show of support, which is what we always wanted," said Estela Lopez, executive director of the CCEA. "We started with support, and ended with support."
The vote came after the City Clerk tallied ballots submitted by property owners in the BID area. The proposal had to garner support from owners representing more than half of the BID's anticipated assessment area. In the end, it earned just over 64% of the vote, although response was reported to be low.
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Frank Novak, who co-owns the 70,000-square-foot furniture manufacturer Modernica at 2118 E. Seventh Place, expects initially to pay roughly $8,000 per year to be in the BID area. He complained that unlike residential building owners who can pass the increased costs on to their tenants, he cannot afford the BID assessment.
"The council says we want to keep business Downtown. They should make their minds up," Novak said. "[The BID assessment] is just another penalty and another reason to move somewhere like Vernon."
Michael Donovan, the owner of what will be the e2 lofts at 941 E. Second St., didn't seem to mind. His building, a warehouse converted to lofts, will rack up $2,700 per year in BID taxes, which will translate to between $150 and $300 per year per tenant, depending on the size of the units.
"We think [loft owners] can swallow that, if they see people riding by on bicycles and cleaning the streets," Donovan said.
The BID has a five-year term. It will come up for another district-wide vote in 2011, although property owners representing 50% or more of the BID's assessed value can, starting in 2007, petition to disestablish it at the end of each year.
The cover stories for last Friday's Downtown News are Downtown Gets Festive, Big Week on Skid Row and Eager Eyes for Expo Lines
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