Stephen Box, City Council Candidate, Likens L.A. to Titanic Heading Toward Iceberg (VIDEO)

Tom LaBonge like the rest of the incumbents has a paid staff who have gone to all the candidate's forums and have written emails to constituents telling a outright lie about LaBonge's role in "saving the Hollywood Sign" even though they know it was a fraud - all of this using your hard earned tax payer dollars.

Instead of listening to anybody or "guest," listen to all three candidates in their own words being interviewed on Pat Morrison's radio show: http://media.scpr.org/audio/up...

Here is the good news, you don't listen to a City-paid staff person who has a financial stake in keeping the incumbents in office who failed to deal with problems earlier.

The incumbent's experience was wasted for 10 years and put Los Angeles in the worst financial position in its history.

Don't even listen to me, judge for yourself independently and listen to all 3 candidates on the radio podcast with Patt Morrison on KPCC: http://media.scpr.org/audio/up...

I just did a on-line search of California public records and found many adverse things against people named "Stephen Box" -- it turns out that Stephen Box is a very common name and I found none linked to the Stephen Box who is running for City Council. Then if we go to the federal level, there have to be thousands of people with that name.

I find a lot of negative stuff about T O'Grady. If I pretended all "T O'Gradys" were Tomas O'Grady, then I would declare him to be a bigamist -- that claim would be a dirty campaign trick, especially against a devoted family man.

When I search for Labonge, I find a "Thomas LaBonge" with a criminal case -- in Indio County. It would be a dirty trick to pretend that our councilman had a criminal record just because someone with the same name was a bad person.

So who's playing dirty politics?

It is clear that "Guest" has had no involvement with The Garfield Park. Over the last 8 to 10 years, LaBonge has adamantly opposed a community park or any other community benefit for vacant lot.

1- LaBonge proposed to tear down another acre of homes to construct the 2 acre fire station -- The city finally voted to place the fire station west of the Hollywood Freeway at a site with easier access to the Hills.

2- Next LaBonge supported a phony proposal to construct a Whole Foods market. That sham fell to piece when Whole Foods was informed what was taking place in its name and Whole Foods disavowed it.

3- LaBonge then supported a huge apartment complex with only 3 foot set back along Garfield. The developer misrepresented that the project was low income housing and had about 50 Armenian speaking senior citizens appear at a Neighborhood Council meeting to support it. When someone who spoke both Armenia and English explained to them how they had been duped, all the senior citizens got up and walked out. That project fell apart.

4 - The current project is again being touted as low income housing, but LaBonge does not tell people is that the CRA, who now heads the project, is being abolished by the Governor.

After the Friends of the Garfield Park and prominent members of the Armenian Community again announced their support for the Garfield Park with basketball courts, store front police station, memorial for the Armenian Genocide and underground parking, LaBonge had a huge poster erected at the site, again misleading the elderly to believe that this project is for low income housing. Abolished agencies like the CRA construct nothing.

LaBonge gives $52 Million to billionaire Eli Broad to have a parking structure next to his art museum in downtown LA, but LaBonge cannot find $10 M for underground parking and a park in Little Armenia.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

I wonder if the mysterious Mr. GUEST here is the same guy with the false claims about tax liens. As others noted, it is the Mayor who is following Box.

Box knows more about the city budget than LaBonge and O'Grady put together. Neither attended a single budget meeting while Mr. Box attended every meeting and co-founded BugetLA. Stephen Box found $25 M in state money to improve Wilshire Boulevard, but LaBonge was too lazy to cash the check -- but LaBonge was not too lazy to give $52 Million to the billionaire Eli Broad so he could have his own parking garage next to his museum.

When Stephen Box explained the details of the budget to the LA TIMES, their eyes glazed over and they complained about "minutiae." What the LA Times meant was the Stephen Box is the candidate Who Knows Too Much. Box knows which dept duplicates what other department. Box knows which functions should be under one agency to save money. Box knows where to find hundreds of millions of dollars to give LA a surplus rather than a deficit. For the LA Times, all the knowledge is Minutiae -- which brings us to Tomas O'Grady, whom the LA Times endorsed.

Tomas O'Grady is a fine man. The mystery about Mr. O'Grady is -- why City Council? O'Grady's admirable work has been with two schools in a small section of Los Feliz. Outside his proven passion for education, Mr. O'Grady has no experience with City Council issues. The School Board sets education policy.

O'Grady has had no involvement in activities other than a couple schools. Four non-school issues that concern Los Feliz - and there was no Tom O'Grady.

1 -- LaBonge's attempt to close the Saint Andrews Stairs up to Tyron. The stairs are a fire escape route for people caught in a forest fire in the Oaks, but LaBonge wanted to close them so his friend could have a private staircase in her hillside garden.

2 -- The downsizing of the 2 acre Regional Fire Station #82 to 1/2 acre. This station will serve the eastern part of Los Feliz, yet O'Grady says nothing when it is downsized by 75%

3 -- The Hollywood Grove HPOZ -- the only section of Los Feliz that formed an HPOZ was Hollywood Grove -- O'Grady was MIA

4 -- Labonge's support for the demolition of a 1916 craftsman style home on Saint Andrews. Although the code said, "No demolitions," LaBonge thought that meant "no demolition that increases floor space." Really? Yes, the City confirmed that "no demolition" actually meant "everyone home could be demolished." O'Grady said nothing, even though LFIA opposed the demolition.

O'Grady is a nice guy but he is limited to one issue, education, and he is limited to one small part of Los Feliz -- which is one of 20 neighborhoods of CD 4. Let's put Tomas O'Grady on the school board where he belongs and put Stephen Box on City Council where he belongs.

Guest 1

You got it backwards. After the mayor fell off his bike, he blamed a phantom cab and then decided that perhaps the autos and bikes should be separated on the roads. The mayor was Johnny Come Lately to a principle which the City recognized in its 1915 Traffic Study -- different modes of transportation should be separated. It took close to a century and Stephen Box to start protecting us motorists from those damn bikes.

I hate it when a bike zips up on me as I am about to exit my vehicle or sneaks along a curb as I start to turn right. With clearly marked bike lanes, the bikes stay there so I know where they are and if they aren't there, they can be ticketed.

As for Box's knowledge -- far far beyond what most city councilmen have. He started BudgetLA and he attended every budget session -- LaBonge appeared at one and then walked out (no cameras). O'Grady attended no budget session.

And since O'Grady will cut his staff in half, he won't have enough staff to cover budget sessions, liaison with the school district, the LAPD, the LAFD, the County, the State, Planning, DWP, with the Feds to find some of that extra transportation moolah. Nor will his staff be able to cover all the Neighborhood Councils and grassroots organizations like LFIA and the HPOZ. Since O'Grady has never ventured even into the eastern part of Los Feliz, he doesn't have a clue what's what in the city except for what he reads in the LA Times. O'Grady is such a neophyte, he doesn't realize what a 3rd rate rag the LA Times has always been. The LA Times endorsed O'Grady to steal votes for Box because the powers that be are afraid Box will win.

O'Grady is a very nice man and he is very smart and thoughtful. He just has not had time to appreciate the magnitude of the problems. Maybe in 4 years, he'll be great for the School Board.

That bike plan was a long-time in the making, and if you are informed at all, and have taken time to research the matter, you'd know that 2)Box isn't 100% pleased with the plan and b) he's got more specifics on how to get this city in line than the other two combined.

Whatever you say Mrs. LaBonge.

Tonight at Park LaBrea, LaBonge was all over the place except in answering the question. Solar Power? Jimmy Carter. This is 2011, not 1978. We need someone in office who is coherent.