 |
THE
LOW-DOWN ON
THE TOWN
Impudent, uncensored
account
By C.
Castle |
Jiggling The Playa Vista Crack & Instant Karma
Jiggling The Playa Vista Crack
So, by now you've heard that Dream Works has pulled out of Playa Vista.
And
that Playa Vista has vowed to build a movie studio anyway -- with the
help
of Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter and Mayor Richard Riordan.
Why would Playa Vista's partners mention Galanter and Riordan at all
in a press
release about the unraveling of its key project? Why would the press release
keep
mentioning that Playa Vista plans to continue working closely with the
City of Los
Angeles on the development project? Politics.
Playa Vista needs Los Angeles.
The project's partners may be feeling pressured to help Galanter save
face now that
the deal she fought so hard to bring to the Westside - and the incentives
she pushed
so hard to get for Dreamworks - have fallen apart. And, to a lesser exent,
the same
thing holds true for Riordan.
The project's managers owe a lot to the city and it's not a good thing
when a key piece
of the project unravels.
Plus, Playa Vista may want to send a warning to the anti-Playa Vista
activists that this
is no victory and that, in fact, they face even tougher challenges ahead.
Riordan has
proven that he is formidable, willing to throw his weight and his money
behind the
projects he believes in - charter reform, Los Angeles Unified School District,
certain
Los Angeles City Council candidates.
Playa Vista could be next on the list.
Where does Santa Monica fit in all this?
Expect councilmembers Richard Bloom, Michael Feinstein and Kevin McKeown
to
use this latest turn of events to further the city's own efforts to defeat
the project. For
example, the three are still working on a plan to take back Lincoln Boulevard
from
CALTRANS in order to have more control over traffic volume flows traveling
from
Jefferson Boulevard and the Playa Vista area.
Losing Dream Works is a crack in Playa Vista's foundation; count on
Santa
Monica to jiggle the crack even wider.
Instant Karma
Councilman Michael Feinstein practices environmentalism as hard as he
preaches
it. He eats only vegetarian (no dairy products even), rides a bicycle
or roller
blades and washes the dishes in a trickle of water.
But being environmentaly friendly doesn't always guarantee instant karma.
In recent weeks, Feinstein has had his bicycle stolen, and now he had
the cap
on a front tooth he once chipped munching on a vegetarian taco elbowed
off
during a basketball game. The tooth accident came just days before a council
meting, sending Feinstein scrambling for his dentist.
As luck would have it, voters recently approved salary and benefits for
council
members, so Feinstein had his tooth capped in time for the cameras.
Now there's good karma. |