LAist: Credibility of the Times and what defines residency?

Zach Behrens

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:05:52 -0800

Given that she's an old woman and about to retire, this strikes me as a non story No one gets a pass. Whether it be a first term city council member or someone that has has one month left. I compare this story with the coverage the Times gave to the Burbank city council woman who was busted for cocaine possession and child endangerment. Turns out she and her boyfriend had been doing regular business with the local Latino gangsters, a group that included the perps in Burbank's only cop killing. Burke doesn't sleep in the right house, front page news. Stacy Jo Murphy buys loads of coke and hangs w/ cop killers, a short item in the back pages. I do not recall the placement of that story, but good catch!

guest

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:32:57 -0800

So we caught ms burke in violation of a technicality. Bad supervisor, bad! Given that she's an old woman and about to retire, this strikes me as a non story. Even if she slept within the boundaries of the district, she still wouldn't be living in el barrio. She'd have a big house on the hill in Culver City, Ladera Heights, or Baldwin Hills w/ the other rich Negroes. Now I dig that the Times doesn't much care for Negroes, especially rich, powerful Negroes, but the real issue is Burke's job performance, not whether she spends the night off of Pico in Mar Vista, or twenty minutes away in Brentwood. (I suspect that if she and her rich hubby had stayed out of Brentwood no one would care where they lived. After all, we know what happened with the last shvartze living in Brentwood.) I compare this story with the coverage the Times gave to the Burbank city council woman who was busted for cocaine possession and child endangerment. Turns out she and her boyfriend had been doing regular business with the local Latino gangsters, a group that included the perps in Burbank's only cop killing. Burke doesn't sleep in the right house, front page news. Stacy Jo Murphy buys loads of coke and hangs w/ cop killers, a short item in the back pages.

guest

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 20:01:31 -0800

I was on my way home from the Central Avenue Jazz Festival today 7/29/07 having this very conversation with my good friend. We both live in Burke's district. I didn't vote for her (though she ran unopposed). And I am a Black female lifelong resident of Supervisorial District 2. Burke has been the most ineffective supervisor, especially as it relates to the King-Drew hospital. Perhaps this is a lesson to us all: people who don't actually live in a district cannot be effective leaders because they will use resources and be most concerned about the district in which they SLEE -- every night. Apparently, for Burke, that would be in Zev Yaroslavsky's district (District 3). God forbid if Burke ever needed emergency room care, the paramedics would take her either to St. Johns Hospital, or UCLA Medical Center, two of the best hospitals in the state. I wish to holy hell that Burke is recalled. Her behavior is appalling, and we need to hold these people accountable.

Zach Behrens

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:08:20 -0800

LOL Militant! Good stuff Guest #2. You bring up a great point with King-Drew.

guest

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:25:06 -0800

If Burke was too confused by what "residency" means in her case, she could have easily gotten legal counsel on the matter. But she seemed to show she was in knowing non-compliance by all the sneaking around to and from her Mar Vista townhouse (earlier she'd rented other places she never lived in, either), to meet her driver, and pick up the mail she used to "prove" her residency. (Why does a woman who can clearly drive her own vehicle to her bogus residence, need a city-paid chauffeur, anyway? That and her comment that her townhouse had been uninhabitable until she brought it "up to my par," shows a haughtiness out of sync with "her" people.) All that sneaking around shows she has a lot of energy for a 74-year-old -- unfortunately, ill-spent. Although her district includes Watts, Mar Vista, Culver City and Hollywood have perfectly tony areas. But if she knew in advance that she and her also career-city official husband couldn't handle leaving and renting out their Brentwood home, she shouldn't have run for election. Maybe then the area would have had a rep who cared more about fixing King-Drew hospital, in the off-chance they might actually end up there, instead of just refusing to acknowledge its problems or necessary closure unless "over my dead body."

Militant Angeleno

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:06:41 -0800

She should have responded, "Well, at least I still sleep with my spouse!"