Even though the matter of the Times Mirror Square / Historic-Cultural Monument was officially deemed “Council action final” on 12/07/2018, we keep that hoping new indictments will finally blow the lid off the obviously corrupt vote. This vote would result in the partial demolition of the otherwise protected Los Angeles Times headquarters, a landmark nomination we produced, only to see it rewritten by confessed racketeer Jose Huizar in the aftermath of his FBI raids. One such long awaited indictment happened yesterday, so we’ve submitted this new public comment to the council file (and you can, too!):
Dear City Council members, District Attorney’s staff, FBI, DOJ and citizens of Los Angeles reading this comment in 2023 and in the future:
As of June 13, 2023 40% of the PLUM Committee members who voted to rewrite our Times Mirror Square landmark nomination—which Marqueece Harris-Dawson told us was being done at the explicit direction of former chair Jose Huizar after he was raided by the FBI—have either been sentenced to Federal prison for corruption (Mitchell Englander) or indicted for corruption (Curren Price).
PLUM Committee member Gil Cedillo, Huizar’s replacement, was disgraced after the public learned of his participation in an illegal meeting seeking to disenfranchise voters by manipulating redistricting maps, and ignored calls to step down from the Governor of California and President of the United States.
That’s 60% of PLUM making major land use decisions that citizens have every reason to suspect were bought and paid for.
This vote to rewrite our nomination stunk in the immediate aftermath of Jose Huizar’s FBI raids, and it reeks today. If the Los Angeles Times building where Otis Chandler built a great American newspaper is actually demolished for Onni Group’s tower, then the stench of corruption will forever taint its near neighbor, Los Angeles City Hall. Reverse these crooked approvals.
Yours disgustedly, and for Los Angeles,
Kim Cooper & Richard Schave
Esotouric
https://esotouric.com/latimes-comment/
Huizar’s guilty plea entered January 19, 2023 includes an agreement to serve a minimum 9 years in prison. The latest request to postpone the sentencing hearing for Jose Huizar to January 26, 2024 includes a supplemental declaration filed under seal, which means the document is kept secret.
That may be very significant.
Jose Huizar doesn’t want to spend 9 years in Federal prison, but has already committed to it.
How can Huizar possibly reduce his prison sentence?
Singing. Squealing. Squawking.
Anyone with questionably legal activities past, present or future of which Huizar may have knowledge – that information is now provided to federal investigators.
That’s an interesting observation, and indeed, when you try to access this document, PACER returns the notice “No matter of public record has been filed.” Much as we’ve anticipated some consequences for the man who did so much to wreck Los Angeles, implicating others who are still in positions of influence could be a greater good than the punishment of such a long incarceration. But could the sealed documents be for an ongoing investigation that has nothing to do with any cooperation agreement? Hope the answers come early in the new year.