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Town Crier Competition

By Eric Richardson — June 05, 2005

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The first Los Angeles Town Crier Competition happened this weekend. The brainchild of Los Angeles Town Crier Don Garza, the competition was sponsored by several local organizations, including the 9th Council District and DLANC. We had six criers participate, from California, Washington, and Canada. It was a great time, and I really look forward to the next...


Everyday

Cornfield Complaints on the PR Wire

By Eric Richardson — June 02, 2005

A couple months ago there was news about an art project using a portion of the land in the future Cornfield park as a -- well, a corn field. Some people aren't happy about that, and today there's a fun press release on the free news wires. It's titled "Community Duped By Annenberg Foundation, State Parks Promise to Be Inclusive States Antonio." Seeing as we...


Everyday

LAT Calendar Takes a Look at the Blue Bongo

By Eric Richardson — June 01, 2005

There's a fun piece on Little Pedro's in the LA Times calendar section today. Getting capricious clubgoers to frequent a place with a dubious past (and one off the beaten path, no less) without totally remodeling it or establishing a whole new identity is nearly impossible. But Little Pedro's is not only doing it, it's doing it with no money, no velvet...


Everyday

MPAA Cameras in the Fashion District

By Eric Richardson — June 01, 2005

The new MPAA-funded cameras in the Fashion District are up now. I enjoyed a quote from this article on p2pnet: "The MPAA is delighted to assist the fine and dedicated efforts of Los Angeles law enforcement officials in catching people selling illegal DVDs," said MPAA mouthpiece John G. Malcolm. "It is our pleasure to assist them with these cameras...


Everyday

DLANC Special Election Results

By Eric Richardson — May 31, 2005
6 Comments

Jim did indeed beat me to the punch, posting details from tonight's DLANC special election for Area-Wide Resident. j. russell brown won the special election for a new at-large representative to the downtown los angeles neighborhood council with 16 votes to run-off runner-up david poffenberger's 14. there was one abstention in the run-off -- the guy who...


Everyday

Last Chance for DLANC Special Election

By Eric Richardson — May 31, 2005

Just a quick reminder that the DLANC Special Election to fill the Area-wide Resident seat is tonight, at the Los Angeles Theatre on Broadway. Registration begins at 6:30pm, and the vote will happen at 7:30.


Everyday

NBC on Downtown Animal Sales

By Eric Richardson — May 31, 2005

NBC4 has a story (with images and video) online today about illegal animal sales Downtown. But there's also a big business illegal going on in selling live animals on the street. Parakeets by the thousand have been sold this year, reported Kriegel. Little iguanas that will grow to be five feet long are sold. Also for sale are small turtles, which can give...


Everyday

Sitting Around and Counting Buses on Spring Street

By Eric Richardson — May 27, 2005
1 Comment

I know, I get sort of single-tracked in some of these issues, but the idea of taking an overall look at how traffic and parking functions on Spring Street intrigues me. Today I took a little time to sit out in front of my apartment and count buses. Yes, this is my idea of fun. _No_, I don't get out much. Anyway, take a guess at how many buses pass southbound...


Everyday

Guardian Lays Into Grand Ave.

By Eric Richardson — May 27, 2005

The Guardian takes a thoroughly English swipe at Downtown today. Dan Glaister's piece, "Downtown Looks Up," is full of juicy bits like: As it stands, Grand Avenue is not one of the great avenues of the world. Home to Frank Gehry's unremittingly hostile Disney Concert Hall - a chunk of Italian futurist fascism to make Boccioni blush - the dullard Dorothy...


Everyday

An Illustrated Look at Parking on Spring

By Eric Richardson — May 26, 2005

Typical Signage

Given the context of this morning's decision on the contra-flow lane, I thought it appropriate to take a walk down Spring from 1st to 9th in order to get a more solid feel for the current parking restrictions. I took some pictures, and have put them together in a Spring Street Parking flickr set. It is my firm opinion that the removal of the contra-flow lane...