Category Archives: Business Improvement Districts

Hollywood Property Owners Alliance, Hypocrisy, The Race Card

Kerry Morrison and the Hollywood Property Owners Alliance Hate on Mexican-American Artistic Themes as Part of their Cultural Ethnic Cleansing Campaign in Hollywood

July 16, 2016 kohlhaas Leave a comment

Tile artwork by Gilbert Luján in the Hollywood/Vine Metro station. According to Kerry Morrison and the HPOA this kind of art is not acceptable in Hollywood.

The HPOA is famous for hating on dark-skinned nightclub patrons in Hollywood so it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that they¹ also hate on graffiti-inspired artwork, which is strongly associated with Latino/Angeleno culture. But it’s a surprise anyway. The depth of the crazy always is. The fact that the HPOA supports graffiti art when it’s produced by white Europeans makes the whole thing even more shameful.

Here’s the story. Yesterday, the HPOA announced a competition to select artwork for ten utility boxes on Hollywood Boulevard.² The first two requirements for submissions are:

The theme of each project must include “Hollywood”. Be inspired by the city, its history and future!
NO³ Cartoon Images or Graffiti work of any kind will be considered.

Do you see the contradiction here? The history of “Hollywood”⁴ and even more so the future of Hollywood includes cartoon images and graffiti work, both of which styles are inextricably associated with Latino culture in Los Angeles, including, to the evident dismay of the HPOA, Hollywood itself. And even bracketing this uncaring aggressive ignorance about the local culture, we have to wonder who says something like that out loud? Hate graffiti art if you will, or any kind of art, but if you’re announcing a public contest to choose art for public display to be paid for with public money, have the self-awareness to understand that by announcing out loud that you won’t consider a style of art that’s so strongly associated with Latinos you’re making yourself look like a ignorant racist yahoo. Just a fact. You don’t have to believe us, ask your PR firm.⁵

Just for instance, consider the world-famous Hollywood/Vine Red Line station. Metro commissioned artwork from world-famous Los Angeles artist Gilbert Luján to decorate the station. According to Metro:

Artist and architect worked together to evoke the history, glamour and excitement of the Hollywood film industry’s yesteryears and its great movie palaces.

and according to the artist statement:
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Hollywood Property Owners Alliance, Hypocrisy

MK.org Correspondent Followed Out of BID Board Meeting By Crazed Associate of Steve Seyler, Accused of Being “Possessed of an Evil Spirit,” Told He Will Be Prayed For, Jury Still Out on Whether the Law-and-Order Loving Kerry Morrison Tacitly Approves of Menacing Tactics

July 12, 2016 kohlhaas Leave a comment

If you have a problem, like being possessed of an evil spirit, this guy will pray for you. Now you have two problems.

After tonight’s Sunset Vine BID Board Meeting Steve Seyler, Joe Salazar, and the angry guy pictured in this video, who is obviously a close personal friend if not a relative of Seyler’s, blocked the front door of HPOA headquarters so that our correspondent would have had to walk through them to leave. It wasn’t completely obvious that they were waiting there to hassle him, but pacifism über alles is everyone’s motto around here, so he asked Devin Strecker if he could go out the back door and the ever-courtly Strecker walked back there with him and let him out.

More or less proving that he, Seyler, and Salazar had in fact been laying in wait for our correspondent, the guy pictured here ran out after him and accosted him in the parking lot. Our correspondent asked him “do I know you?” Mr. 5150 said “no.” He proceeded to accuse our correspondent of being possessed of an evil spirit (this is literally what he said). It took too long to turn on the camera, so all we captured was this clip of him following way too closely, asking “how did you let it in?” and then repeating “it’s true” over and over again. When our correspondent turned away the angry guy yelled “I’ll be praying for you!” So that happened.
Continue reading MK.org Correspondent Followed Out of BID Board Meeting By Crazed Associate of Steve Seyler, Accused of Being “Possessed of an Evil Spirit,” Told He Will Be Prayed For, Jury Still Out on Whether the Law-and-Order Loving Kerry Morrison Tacitly Approves of Menacing Tactics →

Announcements, Hollywood BID Patrol

Audio Recordings of Three City Council Public Safety Committee Meetings from 1999 and 2000 May Shed Further Light on BID Patrol Police Commission Registration Issues

July 12, 2016 Mike Leave a comment

Former Los Angeles City Council Member Laura Chick (right).

Through the good graces of Los Angeles City archivist Michael Holland I recently obtained recordings of three meetings of the Public Safety Committee of the LA City Council from 1999 and 2000 at which the issue of BID Security registration with the LA Police Commission was discussed. If you’ve been following the story you’ll recall that LAMC 52.34 seems to require that BID security register with the Police Commission, and that they do not so register, and that no one seems to know why. I copied the entire Council file on the issue but the reason is still not clear. These meetings may shed some light on what’s going on. There’s a brief guide to one of them after the break.
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Hollywood BID Patrol

BID Patrol Officers Dennis Watkins and Steven Sewell Forcibly Removed Law-Abiding Non-Threatening Citizen From Hollywood Main Streets in 2015 Because “He Will Use the Most Vulgar Language”

July 11, 2016 Mike Leave a comment

"He is slight of build and not a physical threat." Then why is the BID Patrol forcing him out of public view? — “He is slight of build and not a physical threat.” Then why is the BID Patrol forcing him out of public view?

I’m searching through the 2015 BID Patrol daily logs and also the 2015 arrest reports as part of a major project I’m working on,⁶ and I just keep coming across more surreal and upsetting (albeit tangential) episodes. For instance, on June 25, 2015 BID Patrol gunmen Dennis Watkins (badge #104) and Steven Sewell (badge #111), whose pictures Kerry Morrison is willing to lie and to break the law in order to keep secret,⁷ told the following story:⁸
RADIO CALL: 6923 HOLLYWOOD BLVD. 415 MAN IN FRONT OF THE “METRO”. UPON ARRIVAL NUMEROUS PEOPLE WERE POINTING TO THE SUBJECT. THE SUBJECT IS “C***** B****’ A M / W / 40-45 YRS. HE IS A TRANSIENT AND CAUSES PROBLEMS WERE EVER HE MAY BE. HE HAS PERIODS OF TIME WHERE HE WILL USE THE MOST VULGAR LANGUAGE TOWARD ANYONE IN EAR SHOT. HE PULLS A CHILD TYPE WAGON WITH ALL OF HIS POSSESSIONS. THERE IS NO REASONING OR CALMING THIS INDIVIDUAL DOWN. OFFICERS HAVE TO TAKE A FIRM POSTURE AND DIRECT HIM AWAY FROM PEOPLE. OFFICERS WILL ESCORT HIM TO A SIDE STREET OR OTHER LESS TRAVELED LOCATION. HE IS SWEARING AT THE OFFICERS DURING ALL OF THIS. IT IS UNKNOWN IF HE IS UNDER A DOCTORS CARE. IT IS AMAZING THAT HE HAS NOT BEEN ASSAULTED BY OTHER CITIZENS. HE IS SLIGHT OF BUILD AND NOT A PHYSICAL THREAT.

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Hollywood BID Patrol, Municipal Ethics

City of Inglewood Practice of Post-Retirement Rehiring, Like Steve Seyler was Rehired, Denounced by City Treasurer Wanda Brown in 2014: “Nothing on Their Desk But Their Telephone and Their Feet.”

July 11, 2016 kohlhaas Leave a comment

Wanda Brown, long-time treasurer for the City of Inglewood, in 2014.

Long-time readers of this blog will recall our revelation of the fact that Steve Seyler, executive director of the BID Patrol, formerly a police officer with the City of Inglewood, continues to moonlight for the IPD on weekends doing whatever it is that he does over there. This, naturally, is in addition to the more than $66,000 in retirement he’s collecting. Well today, thanks to a tip and a clip from the incomparable Dehol Truth, we can demonstrate that this kind of thing not only seems shady to anyone with some perspective, but that even to Wanda Brown, long-time Inglewood City Treasurer, speaking at a Inglewood City Council meeting in 2014:

But again, I could say, back in the nineties, I’ve been here twenty seven years, we’ve always had too many employees here. ALWAYS. And I can recall, during the times in the nineties, when certain folks were allowed to retire and come back and work part time doing nothing. Because I went by their office and saw nothing on their desk but their telephone and their feet.

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Hollywood BID Patrol, Hypocrisy

Kerry Morrison Goes Around Hollywood Peering into Cars to see if Homeless People are Living in them and then Sends the BID Patrol to Investigate

July 9, 2016 kohlhaas Leave a comment

Kerry Morrison with her detective hat on.

There is all kinds of interesting stuff in the BID Patrol daily log files, and some of it is too weird to even describe. This little story is from April 24, 2015, written by BID Patrol officers Mike Coogle and his frequent partner Mike Ayala:

OUTREACH- 1500 BLOCK OF GORDON AVENUE- E/ SIDE OF STREET
YESTERDAY WE RECEIVED A CALL FROM KERRY’S OFFICE REGARDING A VEHICLE SHE OBSERVED. THE VEHICLE, A GREY BUICK LIC#XXXXXXX, WAS UNOCCUPIED BUT CONTAINED A CHILD SEAT, FORMULA AND OTHER ITEMS POSSIBLY INDICATING THE OWNER OF THE VEHICLE IS HOMELESS WITH A CHILD. YESTERDAY WE LEFT A PATH CARD AND FLIER WITH LOCAL, FAMILY FRIENDLY HOMELESS SERVICES ON THE WINDSHIELD. THIS MORNING, THE CARD AND PAPER WERE GONE. THE VEHICLE WAS UNOCCUPIED AND SOME ITEMS APPEARED TO BE IN DIFFERENT SPOTS.

So yeah, people of Hollywood. Don’t you feel safer knowing that Ms. Kerry Morrison is peering in your car to see if you look homeless and then sending her armed minions the BID Patrol to follow your car around to see if you’re parked in the same place and if you moved stuff in your car around? And for such a vocal advocate of law and civic order as is our Ms. Morrison, this kind of thing is surprisingly illegal. Read on for the details!
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Hollywood BID Patrol, Hypocrisy

Steve Seyler is “a Little Fuzzy on the Criteria for Laura’s Law,” Advocates for the Forcible Psychiatric Treatment of Homeless People Because it’d Be “Great for the Quality of Life” of the BID Patrol…Wait. What?

July 6, 2016 Mike Leave a comment

Steve Seyler in 2014 looking a little fuzzy.

I reported yesterday that BID Patrol Director Steve Seyler had assisted Kerry Morrison in securing evidence to be used in conservatorship hearings against a Hollywood homeless man. However, the bulk of Seyler’s amateurish mental health investigations are related to Laura’s Law, which allows for forcible outpatient treatment of people with serious mental illness and a history of noncompliance with doctors’ orders. Not that he bothered to read or understand the law first. In August 2015, in an email accompanying yet another report to the LAPD about a Laura’s Law candidate, Seyler stated that he was “a little fuzzy on the criteria for Laura’s Law so please advise…”

In fact, Seyler is much more than “a little fuzzy.” In that same email, with reference to the person, RM, who he’s reporting, Seyler states:

It would also be great for the quality of life of all concerned to get him into a program as he causes a huge amount of disruption and many calls for service. He is a burden on BID Security, the LAPD, Paramedics, hospitals etc.

I know the criteria for Laura’s Law are a little hard to follow, Steve, but here’s a clue: There isn’t a law in this country that authorizes forcible involuntary medical treatment because it would be convenient for a bunch of security guards. It’s just never going to happen that a law would allow that. If the guy is a burden on BID Security, maybe BID Security should consider giving up the pretense that they’re some kind of a social service agency and go back to doing the kind of security guard stuff that the law allows them to do, which, by the way, is emphatically not doing psychiatric evaluations.⁹

There isn’t a law in this country that authorizes forcible involuntary medical treatment for the convenience of the police either. We just don’t lock people up or force pills down their throats because it makes the lives of cops easier. The fact that this kind of nonsense even seems plausible to Seyler is yet another reason why he ought to stick to security-guarding and leave the social work to the licensed professionals.

And it’s not just in this one case that Seyler is confused. He’s confused throughout. Turn the page for a list of the actual criteria for using Laura’s Law to force psychiatric treatment on people and another example of how badly and how dangerously Steve Seyler and HPOA executive director Kerry Morrison misunderstand and seek to abuse this law.
Continue reading Steve Seyler is “a Little Fuzzy on the Criteria for Laura’s Law,” Advocates for the Forcible Psychiatric Treatment of Homeless People Because it’d Be “Great for the Quality of Life” of the BID Patrol…Wait. What? →

Venice Beach BID

A Dark Day in Los Angeles: Venice Beach BID Ordinance Approved by Council on Friday. Final Hearing August 23 at 10 a.m. in Council.

July 5, 2016 Mike Leave a comment

The sun sets on a free Venice Beach for the last time as a new era of totalitarian private/public partnership threatens to ruin everything.

On Friday, July 1, the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles signed an ordinance of intention to establish a Venice Beach BID. It seems that this isn’t final, and there will be a hearing on August 23, 2016 at 10 a.m. “to determine whether to establish the District.” Please mark it on your calendars and come put the integrity of our City Council to the test. After all, if 169 signatures below one of the most eloquent anti-BID statements I’ve ever had the good fortune to read didn’t sway them, I don’t imagine that a huge public outcry will do much. But that’s no reason for remaining silent.

You can read a description of the boundaries of the proposed BID in the ordinance, although it’s a little hard to follow even for someone who grew up out there. The District seems to be bounded roughly by the Boardwalk on the West, by North Venice Boulevard to the South, by Pacific Avenue to the East, and by Rose on the North. Now, I don’t know how much you know about the history of race relations in Venice, but it’s essential to an understanding of the deep politics of this BID¹⁰ to know that the area roughly bounded by Electric Avenue, North Venice Blvd., Lincoln Blvd, and (maybe) Brooks Avenue, known as Oakwood, was originally the only area of Venice that non-white people were allowed to own property in. Thus ownership of commercial property in the area encompassed by the proposed BID, like most such areas in Los Angeles, was restricted to white people only until sometime in the late 1960s, and then only as a matter of law. There is no question that the huge majority of that property is, even now, due to the way that commercial property is passed down in families, owned by white people.
Continue reading A Dark Day in Los Angeles: Venice Beach BID Ordinance Approved by Council on Friday. Final Hearing August 23 at 10 a.m. in Council. →

Hollywood Property Owners Alliance, Hypocrisy

It Appears that Kerry Morrison, HPOA, BID Patrol Instituted Conservatorship Proceedings Against Homeless Man Solely to Thwart his Return to Hollywood

July 5, 2016 Mike Leave a comment

Photo of RB from a BID Patrol report that seemingly set off the process of getting this man conserved to keep him out of Hollywood.

On July 20, 2015, Steve Seyler sent Kerry Morrison an email containing a report on a homeless man whose initials are RB. Seyler stated that RB had not been seen by the BID Patrol for 18 months preceding July 15, 2015. Furthermore, there was an active court order forbidding RB from returning to the Hollywood Entertainment District, and thus the BID Patrol called the LAPD and had him arrested on that date. Four days later, on July 24, 2015, Kerry Morrison wrote to Seyler asking him to have the BID Patrol collect some information on RB because “[t]here is some effort underway to move RB towards a conservatorship.” Kerry doesn’t say whose effort it is, but she’s clearly involved in it and she certainly doesn’t say it’s not her making the effort.

Flash forward to September 2015. On the 15th of that month Seyler emailed Morrison and former LAPD Hollywood Station captain Peter Zarcone discussing RB’s conservatorship hearing, scheduled for September 16, 2015:

Kerry any ideas on who else I can call? We only get one shot at this so I don’t want to waste this chance.

According to a daily activity log filed on the 15th by BID Patrol officer Mike Coogle, he was asked by Steve Seyler to attend the hearing. According to Coogle’s log for the 16th he actually did attend the hearing, and RB was conserved. It’s worth reading his account of the hearing, which also appears after the break. And see how suspicious the timing is?
Continue reading It Appears that Kerry Morrison, HPOA, BID Patrol Instituted Conservatorship Proceedings Against Homeless Man Solely to Thwart his Return to Hollywood →

Venice Beach BID

169 Signatures on Petition Opposing Venice Beach BID Placed into Council File Today

June 29, 2016 Mike Leave a comment

You can look down on Venice but Venice will never look down on you. Venezia mi ama e io amo Venezia. — You can look down on Venice but Venice will never look down on you. *Venezia mi ama e io amo Venezia.*

As tragic as the demise of Venice has been to watch over the last five years or so, it turns out that she still has some life in her. If anyone had asked me five years ago which neighborhood of Los Angeles might successfully oppose a BID, I would have said Venice without even having to think about it. But the last half-decade, what with sociopathic techbros of both sexes in possession of orders of magnitude more money than sense buying every sliver of land in sight and thereby running the prices up into the stratosphere even as they’re hogging the waves with their irremediably Barneyfied GoPro equipped styrofoam surfboards, zillionaires remodeling the canals into a nightmare AirBnB horror show, stupid fucking restaurants that…evidently leave me speechless, all this had driven me into what I thought was an inescapable well of cynical despair with respect to the fate of this dearest of all areas of our City.

Well, tonight the Clerk’s office placed a petition with 169 signatures of Venice residents opposing the formation of a BID there and, just like that, my hope in Venice is restored! They oppose it articulately, wisely, and for all the right reasons, too:

We, the undersigned, oppose the establishment of a Venice Beach Business Improvement District (BID). We believe in public control of public resources and oppose the privatization of those resources. We support renters’ rights, both for residential and commercial renters, and oppose taxation without representation. BIDs impose taxes that renters often pay, but which landlords decide upon. BID private security forces have a track record of infringing on the rights of our lowest-income neighbors, especially those people who are unhoused. We oppose private security fources controlled exclusively by commercial and industrial interests when their impact will affect the entire community, especially those disenfranchised from BID governance.

And it’s worth reading the cover sheet, too, which is signed by a number of right-thinking organizations and lays out a spot-on general anti-BID theory in the highly specific context of opposing this BID. You can read it here and there’s a transcription after the break:
Continue reading 169 Signatures on Petition Opposing Venice Beach BID Placed into Council File Today →