All Aboard!

Tuesday, June 29-- Congrats to Mayor Pro Tem Ken Genser who successfully defended his title behind the wheel of the Big Blue Bus during the annual Bus Rodeo Sunday morning.

Genser defeated four other council members, proving that practice makes -- well, not perfect -- but pretty darn good.

"Last year I practiced a lot," Genser said. "This time I practiced about an hour, and when I did it this time stuff came really easy."

Still, the tight right turns were tough, and the competition... well, not so hot.

"I didn't do that well," Genser said. "I'm surprised I won. The rest must have really screwed up."

The final tallies showed Freshman Councilman Richard Bloom finishing a
respectable second, followed by Paul Rosenstein, while Mayor O'Connor and
Kevin McKeown shared last place.

"Ken was a champion defending his title," O'Connor said, "and none of us
could pick him off."

After the rodeo, city council assistant Sonia Ramos took her bosses for
a ride.

"We wooped it up," said McKeown, who took the picture of Genser at the wheel,
showing he may be a bad driver, but a darn good photog and gracious loser.

So what does the defending champ think of Ramos' driving?

"I figured the safest place to be when Sonia Ramos is driving the bus
is in that bus," Genser said.

Pussycat, Pussycat

When he took over the Pussycat Theater and promised to rid downtown of what
most considered to be an eyesore, Howard Jacobs was something of a golden-boy developer in Santa Monica.

He rubbed a few people the wrong way, perhaps, when he argued against the
plan that the city had come up with to revitalize 2nd Street, which would have precluded him from doing the kind of commercial office project he wanted.

But the fact that he was young, bright, eager - and wasn't suggesting turning the Pussycat into, say, a Hooters - gave the new guy a thumbs up from most at City Hall.

Jacobs started showing up for a lot of city council meetings.

He started hanging out in the hallways.

Then, not only was he hanging in the hallways, he was hanging in the hallways with development attorney Chris Harding, who is anything BUT the
city council's golden boy when it comes to development.

Next thing you know, Jacobs buys the former Boulangerie site on Main Street
and proposes turning the place into an apartment complex.

Hmmmm.

If the OPCO neighbors end up fighting the Boulangerie project, wonder who
Jacobs will hire to represent him before the dais?