....© 2000, Kimit A. Muston
I don't want to get personal but I think Los Angeles Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg may have gone off the deep end. And not for the first time, I don't think.
You may remember councilwoman Goldberg's staunch support for that Hollywood bathhouse a couple of years ago. The fact that it was in the middle of a residential neighborhood and just down the street from an elementary school didn't matter to her. The health department's concern about the very survival of the houses' patrons in this age of aids didn't bother her either. And the anger of a lot of voters in her own district didn't seem to phase her at all. It was surreal politics according to Goldberg, from start to finish.
Her most recent argument with reality came when the Democratic Party appeared hat-in-hand before the L.A. City Council asking for four million dollars to help pay for their convention to be held at the Staples Center in August. They knew the council, hungry for the one hundred fifty million bucks the convention is promised to bring into town, would cough up the dough. Even if the donkeys only bring in half what they promise, four million dollars is still a bargain. After all, the elephants from the G.O.P. held up Philadelphia for a lot more money.
The L.A. City Council, after the usual grousing and complaining, came up deadlocked. And that was when the councilwoman seized the moment. Her vote was crucial and that gave her power. She decided to play hard ball politics. If the mayor and the Democratic party wanted her vote they were going to have to pay her price.
And what, pray tell, did the councilwoman demand? Perhaps a plank in the Democratic platform pledging support for L.A.'s mass transit system? No. Party support for same sex marriages? No. How about a chance for Jackie to speak at the convention, on national TV? No. How about a comic book and a Snicker's bar? No.
So what did the crafty councilwoman demand in exchange for her four million dollar vote? This is what she demanded and got: that the LAPD, the Secret Service, the FBI, the California Highway Patrol and the Mayor all pledge to go against their better judgement and turn Pershing Square into a "cop free zone" during the convention, a designated safe gathering place for the demonstrators about to descend upon the city, each and every left and right winger amongst them eager and willing to do whatever it takes to get their issue on national television. Does the phrase "Debacle in Seattle" ring a bell?
Pershing Square? Isn't the Jewelry Mart right next door to Pershing square? Hmmmmmm. How much business do you think those dozens of little shops are going to do that week with cops, barricades, television cameras and the constant potential for immanent violence right across the street? And there are lots of other businesses all round the square. Can you say, "Broken windows?" Can you say, "Arson?" Can you say, "Looting?"
I'll tell you what I think. I don't think this is a good idea. I think the F.B.I. and the LAPD probably know more about crowd control than Councilwoman Goldberg does. I think of all the things she could have demanded in exchange for her vote, she might as well have demanded the anarchists from Seattle be given free bricks.
I think that if you were planning on shopping at the Jewelry Mart for a wedding ring or an anniversary gift in August, I'd go in July. And if you own a small shop in the Mart, I'd drop Jackie a line and thank her for the enforced vacation. And ask her if she can offer any help in paying your bills while you are locked out of your shop.
You know with government like this, what do we need with anarchists?
Kimit A.Muston is a writer living in North Hollywood. His work may be also be read in the Los Angeles Times