Thanks to someone who may desire anonymity (but who is welcome to claim my public thanks for the asking), this past Wednesday night I was able to attend the 3rd Annual Dinner and Celebration for OCCORD (Orange County Communities Organizing for Responsible Development) at the union-compliant Anaheim Hilton. (It occurs to me now that I really could have gotten a press pass, but the fact is that I hadn’t tried.) So I have some nice photos and cool video for you.
I only got about 13 minutes of the main event, the keynote speech by Los Angeles County AFL-CIO head Maria Elena Durazo, but I’ll be happy to explain how she finished the vignette she was telling in comments. As for the shorter video, when El Centro Cultural de Mexico goes to pick up an award, they put on quite a show! Other award recipients include the Bravo family (read about them here), Victor Becerra and the Community Outreach Partnership Center at UC Irvine, and … well, I’ll save that last one for after the videos. Let’s start with El Centro:
Next time I get an award at a formal dinner, that is totally what I’m going to do! (By the way, both videos cut out early because my camera phone was near capacity.)
Now this is going to be 13 minutes long, but it’s really good stuff. My camera work is shaky (working without a tripod and switching hands as they tired), but the audio is much more important than the video. If you want to know why so many of us are excited about the new labor movement, listen to Maria Elena Durazo:
That story ends up, by the way, with the college student telling her that they were much more effective when wearing the t-shirts from their own colleges rather than the union-provided shirts printed. It’s a lesson on “learning from people on the front lines” that Durazo took humbly, with good nature, and with what it seems like a lot of enthusiasm for being around people who could explain when they could do something better.
That was great stuff, but closest to the heart of the blogging community (at least the better parts of it) would be the only award recipient I haven’t yet mentioned: these guys:
Yes, the merry Musketeers of the best journalistic outlet in town, the Voice of OC. (It turns out that you can get the usually serious Norberto to smile if you make merciless fun of Adam.)
Norberto, VOC’s Editor, spoke for the group in accepting the award. It was a wonderful presentation about journalism in Orange County — and afflicting the powerful. (That includes the Voice’s willingness to take on it’s initial financial backer, the Nick Berardino’s Orange County Employee Aassociation. He has that latitude because he knows that he quite seriously cannot be replaced by anyone with his knowledge and skills.)
I wish that I had recorded a video of it … or an audio … or taken notes … buy hey, I’m not the one who went to J-School! Maybe Norberto will publish it himself at some point. (Note: Jason Young did get it on video, so it’s not lost to history.)
I went and sat at the table with the journalistic heroes as the dinner ended. A highlight for me was being able to introduce Norberto to “Save Anaheim’s” Jason Young, who it seems have had a mutual admiration society going for a while regarding each others very different venues, without having yet met.
In the course of that conversation, Norberto mentioned how much things had changed since he’d been with the Register. Quite seriously, none of us are sure that the activism regarding Anaheim — however successful it may ultimately turn out to be — would have been possible without the Voice of OC’s leadership. And he was gracious enough to acknowledge Jason’s critical role in it as well — and, after what was probably no more than two minutes of my loudly clearing my throat and gesturing at him — the Orange Juice Blog’s occasionally useful contributions as well. He was nice enough, even, to give me a story idea — and you know it’s something big because I’ll even have to interview someone for it.
These are time of great turmoil in local political journalism — although the Register’s getting out of the brokering-naming-rights business is a good step in the right direction — but in many ways things truly are looking up for those who want to see real investigative journalism in OC.
Of that, those of us celebrating OCCORD were in accord.
This is your Weekend Open Thread. Talk about that, or anything else you’d like, without broad bounds of decency and decorum. If you missed the Dearthwatch — a late addition to last year’s WOT — go back and check it out. I won’t do one this week, but the good news is that we’re back under 753,000!
Uh, Oh! Are you gonna get it from Augusto, about all those pix of Adam!
hahahahahaha
Did OCReg suddenly find their principles, after listening to 3(?) weeks of (sound of crickets) to their ARCTIC overtures? And how about Anaheim? After GIVING AWAY naming rights to the Stadium, hoping to redeem themselves with a ‘Killer Deal’ on the TRAIN STATION? If that had worked, would “Solid Waste Transfer Station’ be NEXT? Heck, I’d pay $50.- to honor a certain ex Mayor thusly! Laugh(?) or Cry(?) – I’m perplexed!
Hi Greg. I hope your family’s relatives in Philippines are doing well after the devastating typhoon.
Thanks, Ricardo. My relatives are from western Luzon, Manila and north. Manila was drenched, but was far enough from the center if the hurricane that it was a bad storm. Those in the Central Phils, by contrast, were hammered: as of this morning it was 1200 dead. By now, probably worse.
The word from PI is fucking horrendous. While I have not been back for many years, my days as a college student and visiting and experiencing the negative effects of “People Power” first hand in ’86-’87 when Aquino and the PPCG began the slow destruction of the economy.
My heart pains for these people. And I would opine there is NO BETTER charity to donate to than the American Red Cross. Nothing against a battered womans shelter in Anaheim, but seriously……These people need water, food and basic services. All things I suspect the Eli house is ill equipped to deliver.
To the people of the islands: “maaaring diyos pagpalain mo”
The American Red Cross has been criticized by the Haiti Action Network, questioning the use of the funds raised for the victims of the earthquake:
http://haitiaction.net/
Two other well known relief organizations are : doctorswithoutborders.org/
and oxfamamerica.org/
Another WOT, WITHOUT wierd humor from YouTube? Nyah, we can’t have THAT!
Oh, we CAN? …..Oh, sorry……
“although the Register’s getting out of the brokering-naming-rights business is a good step in the right direction”
Who says they’re out of that business? Could be they realized that nobody wants naming rights to a mausoleum.
OTOH, that would take some perspicacity that doesn’t seem to fit the profile.
Talking about activism, and politics, the LAT has reprinted several essays by Orwell .
“For anyone interested in the politics of left and right — and in political journalism as it is practiced at the highest level — George Orwell’s works are indispensable. This week, in the year marking the 110th anniversary of his birth, we present a personal list of his five greatest essays. ”
“Politics and the English language” essay can be applied to the words being used lately by the LOC editor describing his adversaries. Dan C ‘s inspiration is Karl Rovers.
Another interesting essay is about Ghandi as a political activist.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/#axzz2kH6IAZMT
Salon.com has an essay about some aspects of the Libertarians’ ideology, which seems to have a significant presence in OC politics.
http://www.salon.com/2013/11/08/libertarians_are_very_confused_about_capitalism/
…………. He has that latitude because he knows that he quite seriously cannot be replaced by anyone with his knowledge and skills.)
??????
Well, there’s somewhere with a WORSE uninformed Electorate than here, but still nothing to be HAPPY about! (Article had no info about turnout rate)
http://news.yahoo.com/white-guy-pretends-to-be-black-to-win-election-212328015.html?vp=1
I’ll bet the blogs are lousy there!
Mendez seems full of shit, but in reality Bernadette (sp) is quite correct:
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/wall-street-elizabeth-warren-president-2016-elections-99697.html?hp=t1
I found this while looking at other MLB cities for comparison with Anaheim, and while not part of it, thought it of interest in view of recent news involving police and marijuana in Anaheim. Didn’t want to break any threads, so I’ll put it here before it gets lost!
http://www.businessinsider.com/seattle-pd-handing-out-doritos-at-pot-festival-has-hilarious-twitter-2013-8
Different slant on community policing! lol.
I know, the headline is beyond predictable, but including the follow up article for the enlarged picture of the ‘police’ sticker ! Greg, see the very top line!
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/08/seattle-pd-ran-out-their-free-hempfest-doritos-10-minutes/68449/
Love it! “Harm reduction” in action! (Except perhaps for the Doritos themselves….)
From CNN –
If voter ID suppressed votes, we should see a drop in turnout, right? Well, according to the Texas secretary of state’s office, nine amendments went up for vote in 2013. The amendment that attracted the most votes, Proposition One, attracted 1,144,844. The average number of votes cast in 2013 was 1,099,670. So, in terms of raw votes, turnout in 2013 increased by about 63% over turnout in 2011 in comparable elections. But that’s statewide. How about in areas the anti-voter ID side predicted should see “suppression”?
Turnout for the 2011 election was 5.37% of registered voters; for 2013 it was about 8%.
Democrats allege that voter ID will suppress the vote in predominantly Hispanic regions. Hidalgo County sits on the Texas-Mexico border and is 90% Hispanic. In 2011, an average of just over 4,000 voted in the constitutional amendment election. In 2013, an average of over 16,000 voted.
If voter ID was intended to suppress votes, it is failing as spectacularly as HealthCare.gov.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/12/opinion/preston-texas-id-laws/index.html?iref=allsearch
I believe that Vern will be reporting on this in much greater depth — but the news from Newport Beach’s hearing on Poseidon is in, so let’s report it! This is from an Associated Press report obtained through the Boston Globe — no one in Greater LA seems to have it yet: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/11/13/calif-board-weighs-disputed-desalination-plant/mqBOu2j0LTELW8C150trGN/story.html
So — delayed at a minimum, and possibly dead! More — MUCH more — coming up!
Far from dead. Probably another year to fight it. Complicated. Give me a day. I got up at 5:30 yesterday to get down there early, and didn’t get home till after dark…
Obamacare Schadenfreudarama – To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at the unraveling of Obamacare.
First, the obligatory caveats. It is no laughing matter that millions of Americans’ lives have been thrown into anxious chaos as they lose their health insurance, their doctors, their money, or all three. Nor is it particularly amusing to think of the incredible waste of time and tax dollars that has gone into Obamacare’s construction. And the still-unfolding violence that this misbegotten legislation will visit on the economy and our liberties is not funny either.
But come on, people.
If you can’t take some joy, some modicum of relief and mirth, in the unprecedentedly spectacular beclowning of the president, his administration, its enablers, and, to no small degree, liberalism itself, then you need to ask yourself why you’re following politics in the first place.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/363907/obamacare-schadenfreudarama-jonah-goldberg
The really cool thing, from the perspective of skally and the National Review, is that if it’s not actually happening that’s not a problem — you can always make it up!
Where’s skally’s heart been bleeding when people have been priced out of the market with 50% per year increases in their premiums for years before now? It’s like he didn’t even know it was happening!
He probably said it served them right; that they should just have worked harder in their lives to be able to afford their insurance.
Right. And Boutwell would have said they could have saved enough for insurance if they’d just do things like set their thermostat to 55 degrees during the winter.
Have not read this entire thread, but we should be turning down thermostats to save energy during the winter…may not be enough to pay for insurance but possibly enough for a $50 contribution to an emergency fund.
Let them eat cake!
Well, a lot of people with good, employer-based insurance ARE clueless when it comes to the struggles some people were having with insurance companies. Willful ignorance.
Yes, a lot of employees are clueless with insurance provided by employers. I certainly was when I was an employee. Now that I am one who signs the front of checks, I have been forced to be educated. Employers struggle with the insurance world also. We try to provide the best for our employees (we pay 100% of the employee’s insurance- health/vision/dental) and rates go up and up each year- we obviously plan for it and are ready for it but does not mean we like it at all. We try hard to keep the costs down while still providing for our employees.
I sympathize with employers. Rates have been going up at alarming, er, rates, and that has been true for over a decade. Only time will tell if the ACA contributes to the cost curve going down, or at least stabilizing. If THAT happens, I’d say employers will have quite a different view of the ACA in the long term.
Yes, time will certainly tell. I hope it does work…I personally have no deep down desire for ACA to fail. I want everyone to get the healthcare that they need.
However, in the short term it sure seems that ACA has driven employer based insurance rates up. So many employers are doing “early renewal” in December instead of regular renewals in January simply because rates are around 7 to 10% lower the month before ACA goes into play. That, in my mind, is probably 85% attributable to ACA (the other 15% would be regular increases). If ACA was not pushing insurance rates up then we would only be seeing minimal increases in that one month.
In addition to the rate increases, we are seeing the removal of some high deductible plans/health savings accounts…I think in the $5K deductible range. Those plans work great for some of us that remain healthy, are good consumers of healthcare (i.e. get deals), and have the financial blessings to save for the down payment in a health savings account (not just an emergency fund but a true HSA). Some have accumulated years of deductibles. I think that those plans are no longer allowed due to the ACA…at least they were not until the executive order extension I suppose which who knows if carriers will put them back in.
Maria Elena Durazo lends her support to the destruction/gentrification of the historic Wyvernwood community in Boyle Heights while residents fight back to save it. #IrresponsibleDevelopment
Wait, you don’t live there, do you? You aren’t allowed to comment on that!
Sounds like a good topic for a story, GSR. I’ll look forward to reading it. I can imagine disagreeing with her on specific issues — just as I have done on candidate endorsements and just as I have done with local unions on big projects like GardenWalk, Poseidon, the 405, etc. When I do so, though, I don’t presume that they’re evil — I presume that they see their charge as creating jobs without worrying too much about consumer and economic consequences. They’re supposed to be advocates, after all.
“Destruction” and “gentrification” are different enough, by the way, that I’d hesitate to lump them together with a slash. One is reversible.
As for the “frontin'” vs. “payin’ attention to mi primos” stance — I sentence you to having to reread everything you write once per month starting ten years from now, when you’re probably going to be a “respectable” capitalist like your patron.
Ten years from now you’ll still be a Bloviating goon of the Democratic party.
And ten years from now, you’ll still have no idea what “bloviate” means or of what constitutes being a “goon” — and you’ll still be proud of your amazing lack of grasp of what is going on with the local Democratic Party.
Congratulations on electing a socialist to the Seattle City Council, though! What a game-changer, eh?
Says the Bloviator who wants more people of color on the Anaheim city council via district elections but whose own blog has a stark lack of diversity in terms of contributors, most of whom are white.
It’s not my blog, it’s Vern’s. And we’re open to new contributors — ideally ones with a little thicker skin than you and Gustavo.
You hear that Ricardo and Francisco? Gabriel wants you both to write a little more.
Where’s the Fifteen group developer based?
So if you live in LA, that means you can’t comment on Anaheim.
I think you can see how silly that whole meme is.
The difference is I ain’t frontin’ like I’m part of Comite de la Esperanza, but I am paying attention to my ‘primos’ to the north
It will be interesting to see where the chips fall with the Guinida Lane “revitalization” plan here in Anaheim.
Well, if we’re talking about your role as an objective journalist, you’re not really SUPPOSED to “front.”
If we’re talking about your role as a citizen/activist, then it’s unfair to call what you say here “paying attention” and what Vern and Greg do “frontin’.”
Or are you saying that Vern and Greg shouldn’t comment on issues that affect the Latino community because they’re white?
Ultimately, they can say whatever the fuck they want. Now, congrats ‘anon’ for this little game of roundabout that wholly sidesteps the OG comment. Maybe someday, you’ll post under your real name. Or not.
LOL…this is the other one I love…someone feels a little cornered and the last vestige of defense is wanting to know the identity of an anonymous commenter.
Lame.
But for the record, as a general principle, I oppose any redevelopment efforts that fail to give current residents and business owners a meaningful, beneficial stake in the process and in the results. At some point, however, many of our older communities WILL need to be redeveloped…nobody likes to live amidst blight.
Feeling cornered? Ha! Please.
You’re right. No one like to live in “blight,” but getting pushed out is worse plight. Complex facelifts don’t address any root causes: declining wages, unaccountable slumlords, total lack of tenant rights, rent control, etc.
I will always defend (or at least understand) subaltern forms of economic survival in the midst of Anaheim’s whack-a-mole approach to appease the NIMBYs and Resort cabal.
Well, I happen to believe that the “complex facelifts” you speak of CAN address some of those root causes. It’s possible. The solutions are holistic…the root causes you speak of DO need to be addressed, as well as the removal of blight. I think there is an element of dignity involved when it comes to developments that don’t push people out, yet improve their living conditions. That’s not just some sort of crass “facelift”…that is a very REAL improvement that people can see and feel.
No one here cares about Guinida Lane because it only negatively affects people that don’t seem to matter. I have not heard any outrage about this.
I do care about it, but I may have missed some recent development. I think of the issues there as being (1) police oversight, (2) political self-determination, which is related to district elections, and (3) maintaining Anaheim’s future revenue to fund social services, which is related to corporate giveaways. I’ve been active on all three.
So can you fill in some of the details on your complaint? What’s the latest outrage? What can be done about it?
Gabriel wrote this report:
http://www.ocweekly.com/2013-11-14/news/guinida-lane-anaheim/
Sort of a weak story. The Acevedo killing does demand independent investigation and justice, and the basis on which people like Zia Back are driven from the community demands scrutiny, but Aztec ceremonies and yet another forum for Duane Roberts are unlikely to provide it. It’s a “feel good” simulacrum of activism.
What would real activism be? Take this:
and figure out a legal way to hold them to it, because we all seem on the same page in suspecting that it isn’t true.
Improving the composition of the City Council would help too — but unfortunately some people find electoral politics beneath them.
Bloviator: Here’s a novel concept: The residents themselves, now informed when previously kept in the dark by the city for four months, will determine the scope and focus of their response.
That you would dismiss the centuries-old indigenous practice Day of the Dead as merely ‘feel good’ is quite telling. Share the opinion with those whose loved ones are pictured and were lost to hood/police violence. Day of the Dead, the act of remembrance, and continuing an indigenous tradition becomes quite political in Anaheim’s internal colonies (aka ‘priority neighborhoods’) when the deceased were lost to the fratricidal violence of the colonized or that of the state.
As for Roberts, he was presented with more or less the same anecdotal observations that Los Amigos was given earlier by Back. Had the breakfast club taken them up as things in motion that required due attention, they would have been central to the story. But that didn’t happen.
As for council composition, the form of economic survival that will be deemed ‘overcrowding’ on Guinida will result in displacement long before “the right people” get elected.
For the record: The previous two ‘revitalizations’ of Hermosa Village and Avon/Dakota in Anaheim were carried out by Bill Witte’s Related Companies. Witte has stuffed the campaign coffers of Mayor Tait and Lorri Galloway voted to ‘revitalize’ Avon/Dakota in 2010.
Have a drive around the neighborhood and see if you don’t sense the barrio being encircled by gentrification, especially with the adjacent Colony Townhomes. That is, if you give a shit.
Poseur/Echón: And here’s a novel concept for you. “Alt-journalist” in guise of faux-revolutionary prods community members to ever greater symbolic action, while waving his hands when asked about actual substantive program and saying merely that “the people will act” and “their religious traditions will empower them.” Then, having bagged his story and struck his pose, he goes back to his much more comfortable life at home while others put their asses on the line. But he’ll be right back when there’s more violence, to write about it, once doing so would not imperil him personally. And he’ll raise his mighty pen and complain mightily, brandishing the power of disdain.
The family into which I’ve married does engage in, and take solace from, Day of the Dead practices. They don’t mix them up with substantive politics. Where do you see the waving of burning sage leading — widespread resistance? Social revolution? Storming the freaking Bastille? Or … people silently being picked off and driven out because all of the noise coming from the Weekly turns out to mean nothing once your purpose of posing as revolutionary this week has passed? A noted scholar once called religion the opiate of the masses — do you think that that only applies to Roman Catholic incense but not to sage?
You’re focused in on a legitimate cause — and good for you. But don’t flatter yourself to think that your article does much of anything other than strike a pose. Driving around the neighborhood is, again, weak tea. Go live in the neighborhood and try to actually organize the community towards effective action — if you can think of anything more effective than trashing Los Amigos and other should-be-if-you-had-a-real-program allies who might be sympathetic — but who could read your story over 1000 times and still be left wondering what you suggest that people should be doing about these issues so that they “will determine the scope and focus of their response.” As you well know, that bold but strikingly vague statement is just fuzzy-minded crap dressed up as manifesto. It’s a long way of saying “I got nothing.”
You don’t scare anyone in power with your article, Gabriel — and you’re supposed to be in the business of scaring people, not of self-indulgence. It was well-intentioned — to the extent that it was promoting the people of Guinida instead of the catering to Duane and Gustavo — but it was pretty weak.
The Bloviator from Brea telling someone to go live somewhere in Anaheim while he vomits transcripts/self-indulgent analysis of Anaheim council meetings regularly in the self-delusion that it threatens power is the height of hilarity!
No, I’m not telling “someone” to go live in Anaheim. I’m telling the writer who is pissing all over others for not engaging in the particular neighborhood activism that he’d like to see to put his own ass on the line.
Thanks Gabriel, but like I said, no one here cares about my neighborhood. The Barrio Run /ceremony ‘s purpose was to promote peace, dignity, and healing. I had hope that those that never experienced bloodshed in their streets could be awakened somewhat. I won’t give up that hope but I won’t bring it here.
(pee ess: I keep my sage in the car.I seem to be targeted more by the APD while I’m driving)
Donna, for that purpose, the ceremony was fine. To say that it’s a political program — as Gabriel suggests while pissing on others with derogatory names like “the Breakfast Club” for Los Amigos — is not fine.
I don’t think that having had sage in the car would have helped your son or anyone else’s son that has been killed by the APD. I think that political activism, political reform, and political solidarity MAY have helped — or may at least help future ones.
I’m sorry that Gabriel seems to be trying to convince you that political success comes from anything other than hard work — which so far you have been doing. I’m a bit insulted that you think that no one here cares about Guinida Lane, but given your burdens you have the right to think what you want without strong challenges. Self-promoting GSR does not.
Bloviator, bloviator, bloviator…
“To say that it’s a political program — as Gabriel suggests while pissing on others with derogatory names like “the Breakfast Club” for Los Amigos — is not fine.”
This is nonsense. I didn’t suggest that the barrio run was a political program to combat gentrification. But neither was it simply a “feel good” thing. That’s rather callous to brush off in such a manner. You already know this. You’re just bloviating in circles.
The breakfast club wasn’t part of the story, because it wasn’t. You want to take a knock because Roberts is, well, the truth is complaints came before Los Amigos first. Had they done something with it, then that would be the story. Oh well.
LOL The police would probably accuse me of driving under the influence of sage.
I guess what pisses me off so much is that Zia was pointing out these problems since last year. It caught the attention of a certain blogger here but only for a second. Others were also told about what is going on and we were lied to. Last city council , I attended the ‘Beautification’ workshop. Kris Murray was given ‘shout outs’ from her fellow council members. It was voted on. 5-0
When do they plan to unveil their plans to the people that DO LIVE HERE?
Oh and by the way, I also have a cross and a pic of the Virgin Mary in my car. I can’t say it has helped but I need to believe in some things. I’m still alive though 🙂
(shut up Vern…lol)