Gift link - NYT - LA Mayoral race and the hospitality industry

Non-regional discussions Food in the news & other media
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Gift link - NYT - LA Mayoral race and the hospitality industry.

The article is mid; I voted yesterday.

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Spencer Pratt campaign video with Norm Langer? Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

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I agree.

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More than almost anybody else, I can understand why Norm is supporting Spencer Pratt. I presume he’s a single issue voter, with that single issue being “clean up the fucking area around the restaurant”. Karen Bass has failed (even after meeting him for lunch) and given her views, Nithya Raman is significantly less likely than Karen Bass to help him accomplish that goal. That leaves him with Spencer Pratt, who has campaigned on cleaning up the streets.

I’m not suggesting Pratt would actually be able to keep the area cleaner and safer in the long run, nor am I condoning whatever methods he might employ. I believe him to be wildly unqualified personally and professionally and a noxious force in our local politics. I would never vote for him.

But I get why Norm is supporting the guy. The mayor of LA is not a strong position, but directing city departments and pushing the police to enforce laws and clean up streets is something very much in their wheelhouse. It makes a heck of a lot more sense for Norm to blame Karen Bass for not cleaning up the area (something she has some control over), then for all the people I know who blame her for the fires (something she had no control over - yes I know “the reservoir was empty” but investigations have concluded it would not have made a difference even if it was full).

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I kind of understand why a longtime business owner in MacArthur Park would support someone capable of change. However, I think the kind of politician most likely to make huge changes is someone deeply connected to many constituencies, and also maybe someone who skirts a racketeering charge or two while also completing a major public works project. Witness the 6th Street Bridge, one of the longtime pet project$ of Josè Huizar.

Back to NYT and the article subject, it’s disturbing how many column inches they’ve given Pratt and not the other candidates.

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