A little more information

The two main activities in my life: Helping the hungry in the late hours of the night and helping guitar players sound better one amp at a time.

I always try to remember that in order to do good one has to take action and actually do something.

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I have watched the city and Southern California change for well over half a century.

I can be found on facebook at www.facebook.com/mylesr or on twitter at www.twitter.com/myles111us

As of late 2019 the music related links and prints noted on this page which had their links to by GAB (Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting) website are no longer accessible. I grew weary of updating my GAB website and let it go away. You can contact me on Facebook. Saunders Stewart Models continues full operation but we are not accepting new clients without a referral.

Los Angeles Architectural History

Los Angeles Architectural History
1935 Art Deco at some of its finest: No. 168 - Griffith Observatory- (click on the photo for information)

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Guess Who's Coming to Town (to Screw Up Our Traffic!)?

Guess Who's Coming to Town (to Screw Up Our Traffic!)?: LAist

The other day I posted the link above on my facebook page.  I was concerned with the traffic and tried to stay out of the politics.


Here are a few of the comments and dialogue from my facebook wall.

My first comment which I posted with the link:  Remember his last L.A. visit? Stopped folks for HOURS and gas was half the cost that it is today. The traffic, the delays, the idiot folks that planned this and after utter chaos finally used a helicopter at the end of the debocle.

I added:  If his idiot staff does not use a helicopter (plenty of places to land on a movie lot) and asks for ANY street closures in a city which already has record breaking traffic issues, I will start my own campaign against the man in the next election. If he repeats his mistakes it means he either does not learn from past mistakes, does not care how he impacts millions of people or has no control over his staff in how they plan these things.

Then the other comments started coming in ....

Yep! I wish it was only traffic he made mistakes on!
Tuesday at 7:00pm

I believe the guy doesn't have a clue.
Tuesday at 8:29pm

I believe Doug is correct! Myles, let me know when you want to start your campaign!
Tuesday at 11:21pm

by Myles Rose Lance - if he stops the city in it's tracks again I will be posting on the fact. It will be posted here, twitter, blogger, stumble upon, digg and about 75 other places.
Yesterday at 10:03am

Obama does like to play the game "Clue" Doug... Heck can you blame him board games are boring!
23 hours ago

Obama playes Clue, too bad he doen't have one!
23 hours ago

And to think that all I started was a warning about traffic ....

I am not getting into the political fray, I was only talking traffic but ... Here we are only four months into Republican control of the House of Representatives and the government is shutting down. Take a look at this story, one side of the issue - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/republican-shutdown-shuts_b_845889.html

21 hours ago

Sorry Myles. Didn't mean to make it political. I knew you meant traffic. There is just a LITTLE of that in LA isn't there :)
21 hours ago

The Huffpost piece just shows us that it is business as usual in Washington. The rep. are doing the same thing the dems did with health care.
21 hours ago

Myles Rose Doug - no apology necessary ... and if folks want to make this political that is fine with me. One aspect of America that is still left intact inspite of the economy IS free speech :-)
21 hours ago

Huffington Post... oh there is a unbiased new source! LOL!!
9 hours ago

Just as unbiased as Fox news!!
5 hours ago

Yep Carol, pretty much the same, and that's ok
5 hours ago

He makes Hillary and Gates face the music with those he offends while he golfs, vacation, and campaigns. He really doesn't like to his job. He likes to campaign! Remember this in Nov, 2012!
4 hours ago

We sure will Tim!
4 hours ago

Shut r down! Time to send him packin along with all the czars and Michelle's 17 servants!
37 minutes ago

Right on Steven!
35 minutes ago

Myles Rose:  Steven - what do you expect Government employees who have home mortgages, car payments, need to feed their kids .... to do when they get no paycheck? Expecting a tax return? Not if they stop processing paper tax forms?

You think Michelle... Obama had more "servants" than other first ladies of the White House?

Thinking that shutting down the government is a stupid knee jerk reaction where the view of some is so narrow it is beyond my comprehension. It took a long time for our country to get into this mess. It will take even longer to climb out of the muck. Unfortunately our multi party system seems to spend most of its effort blocking action in ANY direction and throwing up roadblocks regardless of the proposed action. It took years to send jobs overseas. It was not all our government, it was American workers expecting to be paid big money to do little work. We used to build the finest airplanes, computers, cars, appliances on the planet. Not any more. American companies outsourced the work not the government. It was greed and profit than cause other countries to be able to produce a better item for less money. Now we have raging unemployment and the tax base has been drastically reduced.

Big business pays little if any tax. The most wealthy segment of the population pay less in taxes. We send troops overseas and maintain a very costly military machine in many locations on the planet. And folks think things are going to get better? Really? By magic? By shutting down the government and sending home government employees that are not at the top of the economic engine but who are consumers who will stop spending, not have income for gasoline, food, clothes or rent.

This is much more than a political issue. This is an issue of people in positions of running our country who accomplish little more than bickering and pointing fingers at others.

Don't look now. Unless things change in a big way the only thing that will look better is the Dow Jones and that only helps the smallest segment of our population. The rest of the country will have to sit back and watch their quality of life decline as they read stories and watch news items where one party continues to blame the other.

Shame on the leaders of America. If you make over $250,000 per year you have no clue as to what the other 99.95% of Americans face every day.

And to think this started with me being concerned about traffic :-)

Update as of 4/20/11

Story in the L.A. Times today.  Only time will tell if our President makes the same mistakes he made last time.  The cost of gas is even higher today than it was last time he cost our city millions of dollars in traffic delays, gas consumption, pollution and the rape of time for perhaps millions of Los Angeles residents.

By Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer  April 20, 2011, 12:26 p.m.

Officials are warning that President Obama's trip to Los Angeles on Thursday could result in major traffic gridlock.

The president will be traveling through the Westside and perhaps other areas of the city -- including during the Thursday afternoon rush hour.

Sources told The Times that while all details have not been released, much of the president's travels in L.A. will be done on surface streets. That would require a complex series of "hard closures" of streets as his motorcade goes by. Officials have posted temporary "No Parking" signs on some streets.

UCLA released a traffic advisory noting that the president would be at Sony Studios in Culver City, as well as at a Brentwood restaurant.

"Please expect heavy traffic on the Westside," the UCLA statement said.

Obama felt the sting of Angeleno road rage last summer when street closures for his motorcade stretched commutes that normally take 45 minutes to several hours. The Mid-City area, Westside and Hancock Park were particularly hard hit. In his next visit, Obama used a helicopter for portions of his trip, reducing gridlock.

4/21/11 - Some recent commentary from folks on facebook:

Oh no, We are headed right into this. We're going to Culver City to see a play tomorrow night.

It was soooo bad last time. Hold your breath today, it's not a pretty sight. All for that ****.

a man with all the answers? don't listen to what he says but what he does

Exactly, all talk. That's why they pushed him into campaign mode. He can only campaign, nothing else. arggghhhh.

Don, that's just tragic. Good luck. Last time some of us were caught behind barricades for 4 freakin hours...

try to stay home if poss or stay away from his route..I never had any probs with any pres comin to town not even with all the hoopla with Reagan going to the Base and over to the Mort. thae Day I took my mom to the Dr right across the street from there..Matter of fact i took alot of pics of all the flowers from the people of all countries out front..The Hearst had arrived, they took him in the back..no traffic jams...just sayin.  I do remember the freeway being closed "the 405 to the 134 for Michael Jackson...most people had no prob with that..I think maybe its a case of if you like the person or not just how tolerant you will be???

Kathy - look at what happened last year when Obama, NOT Michael Jackson was in town. People were stranded for HOURS. Hundreds and thousands of people. Most of the people had a HUGE problem, were delayed and paid more in the end for gas and general wear and tear on their vehicles. It caused such a problem that on the return leg of his travel in L.A. they changed to a helicopter rather than motorcade. Impacting this many people when there are other ways of travel is nothing short of criminal and inconsiderate.

Kathy - are you insane? Suggesting a million plus folks to try to stay at home? Stay away from what is the only main route to and from major centers of work? Come out of your shell and open your eyes to the real working world, for those... still fortunate enough to have jobs who are not Wall Street investors. As a side note, I initially had hope for Obama. I am one of those folks who are now counted in his dropping approval figures.   John put it in a nutshell ... "don't listen to what he says but what he does".   I am watching to see what he does and to see if he learned his lesson from his last visit or whether he has no control over his staff and just follow their directions to impact millions of people.

Who did u vote for? If that person was coming to town would you be saying the same thing??  about the traffic..I ddon't know what their plans are as I am out of state right now but , are they not considering a hehcopter after what happened last yr??

Who did I vote for?  It really is none of your business BUT I will say that the person I did vote for IS the one coming to town.  As I said, this has nothing to do with Democrat or Republican.  It is about one man being so inconsiderate toward so many others, or, showing that he has no control or influence over his staff.  Would I vote for him again? Probably not. As I was trying to say, this has nothing to do with politics. It is a simple matter of somebody having no consideration for others when there are other ways of doing the same thing.  So Kathy, what is your take on Obama's inconsiderate actions that will cost so many people so much. Folks that cannot just avoid the area or sit at home? What can you say that would justify this type of inconsiderate action? Add to the fact that this visit is for him to campaign. Well, he can forget my vote. If somebody like Palin or Trump run next time around I guess I will vote independent unless they add a "none of the above" box. We really need to have that option. If candidates get more NO than YES votes they should be tossed out and the party has to go back and pick somebody else.

Obama Comes To Los Angeles
One of the first stories at - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/21/obama-los-angeles_n_852145.html

Obama arrives in L.A.; traffic problems coming to parts of Westside
April 21, 2011 2:39 pm

One comment from another story today looking back on Obama's last Los Angeles visit:  "I told the White House they might have raised $1 million, but they lost one million votes," a city councilman fumed.

At 6:00pm today the news reported business is killed due to no parking.  Buses have stopped on many routes.  Delays are being reported by the Government with phrases such as "15 minutes after the President passes an area the traffic is allowed to resume travel".  What they do not say (but the local media thankfully reports) is that parking has been removed along the route all day, businesses have no street parking which impacts their livelihood, bus routes have been cancelled, delays for motorists are once again excessive.

The man will not receive my vote in the future and I will be watching what he does more closely than I had in the past.

West L.A. gridlock reported as Obama arrives for fundraising events


April 21, 2011  4:14 pm


A few side points - parking, bus service, road closures and delays were rampant regardless of what the administration reported or the Los Angeles City government reported.  Opening a closed major street 15 minutes after a motorcade passes and counting it as a 15 minutes closure is pure nonsense.  The roads were closed for hours, parking was shut down in front of street business along the route and the resulting delays and gas consumption (and lost time) were more that what most would describe as excessive and unreasonable by any standard of measure and cost.

Gridlock conditions were reported Thursday afternoon in West Los Angeles after President Obama arrived at LAX and then boarded a helicopter as he kicked off a fundraising sweep.

Numerous exits on the 405 Freeway were closed as the president’s motorcade made its way along surface streets. Olympic Boulevard remained open, but there were reports of bumper-to-bumper conditions on the roadway, jammed with motorists who were honking, yelling through windows and violating traffic rules in an effort to get around the mess.

According to a White House pool reporter, Obama’s helicopter landed at Barrington Recreation Center at 2:46 p.m., and he was taken by motorcade to the Beverly Hilton.

Along the route, according to the pool report, a nun in full habit stood along the curb holding a sign above her head that said "God Bless you," while a group of children jumped up and down, waving miniature American flags. A young woman held a sign that said, "I (heart) you Obama."

The motorcade passed a gas station where fuel was selling for $4.19 a gallon and a Chevron where it was $4.35.

Obama's visit to L.A. last summer closed numerous streets from downtown L.A. through the Westside, turning 45-minute commutes into three-hour ordeals.

In his last visit in the fall, he used a helicopter for some stops, and the traffic situation improved.

L.A. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl urged Westside residents to plan activities at home during the time the president will be moving around or face “putting yourself into potential gridlock.”

Rosendahl said that after the traffic nightmare last summer, he talked to White House officials and urged them to use a helicopter, which they ultimately did.

He said the president’s advance team gave “encouraging signs that they appreciated that situation on the Westside.” While there will be some hard closures and parking bans on designated streets, efforts would be made to quickly reopen them after the president’s motorcade passes by, he said.

Side note ... closed down for hours or the day UNTIL the motorcade passed.  Don't get the idea this was some short closure.

1 comment:

  1. I guess I expect them to do the same thing I would do if my plant closed or I found myself out of a job, or was laid off. Why is it that they don't know what to do?

    ReplyDelete