Of course you’re aware that the City of Los Angeles agreed on March 6, 2019 to settle the monumental civil rights case Mitchell v. Los Angeles brought against it on behalf of homeless people whose property has been seized and destroyed by the police and other agents of the City. Settling was the only prudent course for the City to take because the City, clearly and provably guilty of all they were accused of, was going to lose and lose big if it went to trial.
That this is so has been clear enough to all sane observers at least since 2016 when the federal court issued a preliminary injunction preventing the City from seizing the property of its homeless victims. But of course, in the City of Los Angeles not all the observers are sane, and thus at least since the Summer of 2018 the certified domestic terrorist organization known as the Central City Association of Los Angeles led a concerted lobbying effort to convince the City to take the case to trial rather than settling.
And one of the effects of this campaign and its fairly crazed propaganda was the sorry spectacle of zillionaires and their minions swarming by the tens and dozens to every possible public forum where they could bitch, moan, and piss about how settling Mitchell would cause typhus epidemics, leprosy, locust plagues, an oversupply of crack-smoking prostitutes, and wanton smiting of presumptive unsmitables. The commentary spanned the entire gamut of zillionaire affective styles, all the way from slavering insanity to third generation liberal-inflected psychopathy.
And one of the favored means by which these kings and queens of our City make their displeasure known is by writing to their pet officials and demanding meetings. Just for instance, behold this pallid little number by South Park BID Board member Terry Rubenroit to Deputy City Attorney for the Placation of Rich People WRT Homelessophobia Gita O’Neill. Also be sure to behold the fact that Rubenroit CCed Jessica Lall, who is Eternal Queen of Downtown but not in a good way Carol Schatz’s handpicked successor to the CCALA throne.
And that, friends, was Rubenroit’s first mistake! And her last! Jessica Lall flipped out on her and told her to never ever ever do that again because it messed with the incomprehensible-to-minions-such-as-Rubenroit eleven dimensional chess being played by Lall and her elite peers on the eleventy-first floors of the skyscraping towers of Downtown Los Angeles. And then Rubenroit rolled over and bared her throat in a quantum-level appeasement display! And then Lall accepted her submission! Read on for transcriptions of all of it!
The story begins on February 7, 2019, at the height of the don’t settle Mitchell hysteria, with this email from Terry Rubenroit to Gita O’Neill:
Subject: Meeting to discuss DTLA health & safety
From: Terry Rubinroit <Rubinroit@aol.com>
Date: 2/7/19, 5:01 PM
To: Gita O’Niell <gita.oneill@lacity.org>
CC: Ellen Riotto <ellen@southpark.la>, Jessica Lall <jlall@ccala.org>
Hi Gita,
I was at the committee hearing yesterday and saw you at the Council table.You might remember that we met a couple months ago when some of us DTLA stakeholders met with Mike Feurer to urge him not to settle the Mitchell case. I am on the board of the South Park BID and have lived in DTLA for 10 years.
Several of yesterday’s speakers expressed their deep concern for the health issues associated with the homeless living in tents on the streets and, most specifically, to the typhus epidemic. Today’s news about one of your own colleagues being stricken with typhoid at City Hall East underscores the problem we are all facing. The health issues being created by unsanitary conditions on the streets should trump every other issue.
Anyway, back when we met, I stated that DTLA felt less safe than when I moved here 10 years ago. I gave examples of crimes I witnessed where the police declined to book the perpetrator because they would never be prosecuted. There is a lot of finger pointing going on between those charged with protecting the health and saftey of the City’s residents. At that meeting you offered to arrange another meeting with the stakeholders, and the City Attorney, the Police Chief, and the Mayor. Could you please use your good auspices to arrange such a meeting?
Thank you,
Terry Rubinroit
213-493-4531 downtown
310-430-9207 cell
And then blammo! A mere 15 hours later, and that’s not much for Jessica Lall who, as we can only imagine from down here at street level, has more oars in more waters, more fingers in more pies, more metaphors for more involvement in more matters than we could even conceive of even if anyone were willing to try to explain, Rubenroit received this smackdown from the eleventy-first floor:
Subject: Fwd: Meeting to discuss DTLA health & safety
From: Jessica Lall <jlall@ccala.org>
Date: 2/8/19, 8:15 AM
To: Terry Rubinroit <rubinroit@aol.com>
CC: “ellen@southpark.la” <ellen@southpark.la>
Hi Terry:
Thanks again for coming out to the hearing this week. We do appreciate your and Howard’s commitment on this impt issue. I do have to ask that you pls don’t copy anyone from CCA on emails like this to City officials – especially those that we are working with as they assume that we are a part of such a request. I had to reach out to Gita last night to do a some damage control given that we had just requested a big mtg with the Chief of Police on this issue and explain that we were in no way aware or affiliated with your personal request. These issues are extremely complicated, fast moving and politically sensitive, and if I am copied it is assumed we support/are involved in the request. You’re more than welcome to give me a heads up on a separate email chain, or work thru Ellen who is more in touch with the day to day details. Thanks for your understanding.
JL
Sent from my iPad
Oh! It is almost, not quite but almost, enough to allow me to imagine what it might be like to pity Rubenroit, who waited a mere 100 minutes to pronounce peace in our time and this is the note she was waving as she stepped off the plane:
Subject: Fwd: Meeting to discuss DTLA health & safety
From: Jessica Lall <jlall@ccala.org>
Date: 2/8/19, 8:15 AM
To: Terry Rubinroit <rubinroit@aol.com>
CC: “ellen@southpark.la” <ellen@southpark.la>
Really sorry, Jess. Lesson learned. I will work closer with Ellen to get timely informed updates.
Best,
Terry Rubinroit
213-493-4531 downtown
310-430-9207 cell
See how she calls her “Jess”?! And what is it with this “lesson learned” crapola?! How do they all learn to say that phrase? Some airport spirituality business cult book I never heard of?! It’s freaking eerie. But it was enough for Queen Jess, who sent this gracious acceptance of the display of submission, with which we shall close this post:
Subject: Re: Meeting to discuss DTLA health & safety
From: Jessica Lall <jlall@ccala.org>
Date: 2/8/19, 10:08 AM
To: Terry Rubinroit <Rubinroit@aol.com>
CC: “ellen@southpark.la” <ellen@southpark.la>
All good! Thank you!
Best,
Jessica
213-416-7512 (o)
Sent from my iPhone, please excuse brevity and typos.
Image of Jessica Lall is ©2019 MichaelKohlhaas.Org and it mighta had a lil o’ this and that to do with this Jessica Lall over here.
