I’ve written about it before, but basically, Trutanich, our new city attorney is on a rampage and has vowed to close them all down.  He seems to have backed off a bit (maybe someone in the city pointed out to him that medical marijuana is NOT against the law and is a smart thing to tax and bring sorely needed revenue to our city…)  Here’s how you can help:

Even though the majority of citizens support patients safe access to cannabis, the ordinance that is being proposed right now would pretty much end any access by patients, unless they worked in a non-profit collective, which is very difficult if you are fighting cancer or another difficult illness that cannabis eases.

This coming Monday, November 16th, there’s a hearing downtown with PLUM (Planning and Land Use Committee) and members of the city council to discuss and get input from the general public.  I urge you to attend if you care about this.

Even a simple phone call can make a big difference! Just call the committee members and say, “I am a medical cannabis supporter calling to ask the Councilmember to reject the draft medical cannabis ordinance prepared by City Attorney Carmen Trutanich.”  Here’s a list of the council people who will be drafting this:

Ed Reyes-Chair (213)-473-7001
councilmember.reyes@lacity.org

Dennis Zine (213)-473-7003
councilmember.zine@lacity.org

Jose Huizar (213)-473-7014
councilmember.huizar@lacity.org

Tony Cardenas (213) -473-7006
councilmember.cardenas@lacity.org

Jan Perry (213)-473-7009
Jan.Perry@lacity.org

Greig Smith (213)-473-7012
councilmember.smith@lacity.org

If you really want to support it, show up Monday, November 16, to ask committee members in person to reject the ordinance, and adopt one that protects patients’ privacy and ensures that collectives can stay open. This is an important point in the process, because the draft ordinance may go to the full City Council for approval after this committee hearing.

What:  Joint PLUM and Public Safety Committee meeting

When:  9:30 AM * Monday, November 16

Where:  Room 350, City Hall, 200 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Public Transit Info:  http://www.mta.net/riding_metro/default.htm

Arrive early to complete a public speaker’s card if you want to talk with the joint committee on Monday. You may have as little as one minute to speak. Keep your comments brief and on topic!

You can download a copy of the City Attorney’s draft ordinance:
http://safeaccessnow.org/downloads/four … LA_ord.pdf

A couple of weekends ago, a gang of us met at Lake Cachuma to celebrate a friends birthday…. and it was a blast! We rented a pontoon boat and cruised around the lake, just enjoying the day and each other. It was spectacular! Tons of herons in secret lagoons that fingered off the main lake, thousands of birds bobbing in the water. Although we don’t fish, I hear it’s great fishing.

As we putted around, we found lots of adventures; sandy coves to picnic on, trails, but mostly, we simply drank in the sheer beauty of nature. There’s campsites all around one side of the lake and even yurts you can rent. The boats come in all sizes, easily rented from the marina. Call and check the prices… I know the pontoons are around $150, but split between a couple of people, it’s a deal.  We got a huge one with lots of space and a canvas shade overhead. It was perfect for the day and easily pulled up on the different areas of shore we wanted to explore. Super fun way to spend a fall day!

Makes me wonder, why is Silly String so threatening? Surely the cost of cleaning up silly string doesn’t rival the Halloween revelers street mess. Does anyone even use silly string anymore? This just makes me want to go out and buy a couple of cans to blast someone with tonight!

Still, it’s nice to get off the grid sometimes.  In fact, I’ve decided that about once a week, I need a sojourn into the wild to keep my sanity intact. So this past weekend, Dan the man and I packed up some supplies and hit the road to Joshua Tree National Park for a little stargazing.

We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect weekend.  New Moon situation, so the starlight was blasting in full force.  Warm, balmy weather, so even at that high altitude it only got nippy at 4am or so.  But, oh!  The STARS!!!!! We discovered a whole new universe.. or many of them, exploding up there.  Seriously, there were more meteor showers than I could ever count. Either that or we have some crazy UFO’s doing light shows up there.

You couldn’t look up for more than a minute before catching a cascade of swirling light.  And the cool part…. on new moon weekends, they have actual star parties in Joshua Tree.  Astronomy societies come up there with big ass telescopes, and other ardent star gazers contribute their scopes.  So everyone parties and looks at the amazing sky.  But even without the telescopes it’s awesome!  I highly recommend checking it out.  It’s completely free (okay, there’s a $15 admittance fee to the park, but well worth it) and it’s ridiculously beautiful.  And romantic.  And calming.  And the dawn is absolutely stunning too!  Just sayin’.  We are lucky to live in LA next to such a treasure.

If you are a seriously ill patient, or someone who doesn’t have the time to grow your own…. forget about getting easy access to your medicine.  This new ordinance would also outlaw edibles and concentrates, items that every single cancer patient I know uses. It would prohibit the sale of medical marijuana and any edibles.

If you care about this at all…. please write your city council person today and request that they reject this new ordinance.  It is titled, “Third Revised Draft Ordinance Establishing Regulations Regarding Medical Marijuana Collectives”.  Go to: here (http://lacity.org/lacity/YourGovernment/CityCouncil/index.htm)and scroll to “my neighborhood” to find your council person.  Eric Garcetti is President of the City Council… write him and let him know your views… and Eric, I hope you are reading this.  We need input and a fair draft of this ordinance by patients, citizens, dispensary owners…. not just the City Attorney and the police department.  This proposal violates all the rights patients have worked so hard to achieve.

Personally,  I have a friend who was diagnosed with throat and esophagus cancer 5 weeks ago.  He began treatment immediately and was told that he may need a feeding tube because of the side effects of chemo/radiation.  The only way he has avoided this is by eating a medical marijuana brownie and/or using THC drops once a day to keep his appetite up.  His doctor told him to keep eating them so he can continue treatment without a feeding tube.  Thank good he has been able to get a prescription and there is a medical marijuana dispensary within walking distance to his house.,

Patients like this will just be out of luck with this new law.  Under this measure, the city also allows anyone from the police department or the dept of building and safety to look at records, videotape and walk in to do inspections at any time without a warrant.  Isn’t this in direct violation of our constitutional rights to privacy?

Would they enact laws like this for a CVS pharmacy?  Or any other business?  It’s treating dispensaries as if they are illegal again.

Citizens of this state and city have voted over and over again to allow safe access to medical marijuana.  This is just another attempt by the city attorney to shut down safe access.  The city attorney, the new guy Trutanovich, who was elected in part by saying he would work with medical marijuana activists to put new regulations on the books that would help patients…. but clearly now has reneged on that promise, is behind this new ordinance.

Another aspect…. what about all the money the city is throwing away?  Why close down the hundreds of dispensaries that have sprung up, when the city… and state… needs money so badly?  Just tax the medicine.  Oakland, Berkeley, and many other CA cities have all done the intelligent thing and made sensible regulations and appropriate taxes.  Why throw away an awesome income stream for the city?  And what about all the jobs lost, the landlords who will lose their leases…. it’s a downward economic spiral.  Has the city council lost it’s intelligent connection to the people of this city?

Councilman Reyes is in charge of this proposal (that’s what I was told) and has publicly said that dispensaries shouldn’t be allowed to make so much money… and all of them should be closed!  Should he even be in office when the citizens of this state and city have voted for safe access over and over again?  If indeed we are calling this medical marijuana… and the majority of Angelenos have voted and in polls said they want marijuana to be legal, let’s stop treating it like an illicit drug. Let’s look at this issue with compassion and an eye towards making this ordinance one that will serve the people.  Is that so hard?

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in Los Angeles are CLEARLY serving a need, otherwise, they wouldn’t be in business.  Please take a moment and let your councilperson know you don’t want this ordinance.  They are voting on this immediately.

I’ve only met one of the contenders… Frank Sheftel… a down to earth guy who was born and raised in the Valley and has run several businesses there his whole life, and I like him for several reasons.

For the past twenty years, Frank has owned and run The Candy Factory located smack dab in the district, so he knows the area well.  He also owns a couple of rental properties in the area, so is familiar with property ownership issues.  But what I really like, is that he’s also a strong community activist… for everyday concerns most people have.  He’s not a life-long career politician, firmly planted in the system.  He actually seems to want to represent normal people concerns, not big businesses or paybacks to downtown cronies.

But what really catches my fancy is that Frank Sheftel has been a strong voice for services for the valley that benefit the people who live there AND he’s nbeen an educated  advocate on the medical marijuana issues that LA County has faced for the past several years.  We need someone who has this experience and viewpoint on the City Council.  Because heck, as far as I can see, the City Council is slowly but surely eroding and crushing all the rights voters have endorsed to have safe access to medical marijuana dispensaries.

From everything I know and have read about the other contenders, one of the biggest problems is that several others, Christine Essel and Paul Krekorian aren’t locals to the area, (both got addresses in the district in May, perhaps to qualify for this election?) so how can they properly represent the people who live there? They also both happen to be the best funded, so are mowing down their opponents with well financed campaigns.

I know it’s a small election… but getting out there and voting is the only way to get your voice heard… so I’m urging you to get out there and vote if you live in the district.

Silly me, I thought that would be enough to do a simple transaction, so imagine my surprise when I strolled out to see a ticket on my windshield.
Checked my watch. 15 minutes on the nose, no parking officer in the vicinity… so how did I get a ticket? Are the meters rigged to run less than 15 minutes?

And then I glanced at the fine. FIFTY DOLLARS!!!!!!! Fifty big ones for either being two minutes late, or the meter went off early. The hourly rate is $2.00, so the fine is 25 times the fee. Seems a bit off. And clearly designed to irritate people who live here. It’s bad enough that we pay higher parking fees when everyone is hurting for money… but the fine seems pretty hateful. Makes me hate the city government who decided that the very people who elect them should pay outrageously for parking fines and any parking in the city.

I suppose I will just chalk it up to the occasional random charge I get for living in Los Angeles.

Tonight, we’ve got a treat because from around midnight til 5am, there’s a blast of meteors, some theorize there will be one every minute or so.  Of course, we live in a dense, overlit city, so it may be hard to catch a lot of them… and there’s a pretty bright moon tonight.

Nevertheless, I for one, will be laying out under the stars to catch some summer starlight showers.  I may even cruise over to Malibu… or out into the wilds of Tujunga to try and get away from the city light.  And if you are reading this and know of someplace to get to that’s not to far that might be shielded from our bright LA light… lay it on us!

It’s super irritating. And I’m only a neighbor, not the one they are stalking.  I can’t imagine what it must be like to try and have any semblance of a ‘normal’ life if you are the object of their affection!

When I simply pulled up to take their picture, and there were about three times as many lounging around waiting, they immediately, and very aggressively turned their cameras on me.  And forget talking to them, reminding them this is a neighborhood where people actually live and want to easily pass on the street without them blocking the way, they got downright abusive, shouting and wanting to know where I lived.

I know this is a problem specific to LA, and in the grand scheme of things a minor one… but it really does seem like there should be better laws in our city that prohibit paparazzi from blocking the sidewalk and the street.  And aggressively pursuing people.

After a couple of days of this, I stopped a police person one morning who happened to be in the neighborhood and he said there was nothing he could do.  He agreed to stop by the address and check to see if any of the photographers cars were missing front or back plates, and give out tickets for that.  He said that typically they remove their plates to avoid traffic tickets from the traffic-cams when they are running red lights in pursuit of the celebrity.

I guess it is part of what comes with the territory…. but it affects a lot of people, not just the person who chose to be a celebrity.

Photo courtesy of Pixie Vision Productions

This past Friday night I went to the performance of Cirque Berzerk and wow!  I was blown away!  It was a wild, fantastic and downright fun way to usher in the weekend.  I’m a sucker for any kind of performance:  movies, dance, theater, performance art, spur of the moment expression, whatever… I’m in.   It takes a special kind of drive to make art and I really respect it’s forms.  So of course, I see a lot of weird, not so great marginal stuff.  Not this time.  My mouth was hanging open and I laughed and sighed in excitement every moment.

The creators of Cirque Berzerk deserve an award.  I didn’t realize it when I went, but Kevin Borque, who created the show (he’s the riveting ringmaster as well) is someone I used to work with.  He’s one talented hombre, writing, producing, performing and running the show.  He and his partners have created a wonderful fantasy of performance, dressed it up with some sexy burlesque dancers and topped it off with a big wollop of circus acrobatics that will blow your mind.  From the moment you arrive you are caught up in an alternative atmosphere.  And it’s all about fun.

The main tent houses the performance, but before the show and during intermission there’s a fantastic band playing in another open air tent, with a great bar and characters of all sorts.  The crowd is as impressive as the performers.  You really step into another world when you get there.

Alas, this is the last week for Cirque Berzerk… and I can only say…don’t miss it.  The show has been extended a couple of times, but this is finally the last weekend.  It runs this Thursday through Sunday, closing on August 9th.  It’s downtown close to Chinatown at the Los Angeles State Park.  You can read more about it from an earlier post by Burns! here and see more pix to whet your appetite.