Steve Jobs resigns, time for Apple to think different. Sunset Junction street fair cancelled. The man they call Dr. No – A look at GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul. Are Democrats on the offensive against the Tea Party? LAX dis-connect. Pennies from your thoughts – can city residents solve L.A.’s cash crunch?
Steve Jobs resigns, time for Apple to think different
The man who co-founded Apple Inc. in a garage in 1976, has resigned as Chief Executive Officer from the tech giant. The 56 year-old Steve Jobs, a survivor of pancreatic cancer, has been on medical leave since January for unspecified health issues. Jobs has left the company in the hands of longtime Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook to show they can keep building best-selling products that change how people communicate and compute. While Cook is a trusted deputy who has been leading Apple during Jobs’ medical leave, some analysts feel Jobs’ vision have been essential to Apple’s magic. What impact will Jobs’ resignation have on the big Apple?
Guest:
Peter Burrows, Tech Reporter for Bloomberg News
No party at Sunset Junction
Days before one of the city's oldest and most popular music festivals was scheduled to begin, Los Angeles officials cancelled the Sunset Junction Street Fair in a dispute over $260,000 in unpaid fees. Yesterday, the Los Angeles Board of Public Works rejected a special event permit today for this weekend's planned festival, likely meaning the end of the Silver Lake festival's 30-year run. Live Nation stepped in to pay off the festival's debt, according to the LA Weekly, but festival organizers told the board Wednesday morning that they didn't have a check for the $141,000 for this year's fees in hand, which led the board to deny their permit. The city says that the organization actually owes around $400,000 for both this year and last year's festivals, but that they would have accepted the smaller amount for now. Reaction to the decision ranged from outrage to relief. Many Silver Lake residents have long favored cancelling the event because of the noise and traffic it brings to their community but festival organizers warned of lawsuits by bands and sponsors who’d been booked for the event. Is this the end of an era of street festivals in Silver Lake and will you miss this event? Or do you favor the cancellation and hope the festival is replaced with a smaller more home grown one?
Guest:
Andrea Domanick, reporter for the LA Weekly
The man they call Dr. No – A look at GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul
He's long been dubbed an outsider by the Republican establishment for refusing to toe the party line. But in an era of blowback against all things “establishment,” could 2012 be the year for Ron Paul? Tea Party politics that are newly en vogue to the GOP faithful are old hat for the 76-year old, twelve-term Congressman. A devout libertarian, Paul is the original small-government, anti-interventionist, cut-taxes candidate (or as The New York Times describes him “The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement-Administration, Anti-Medicare Candidate”). The practicing obstetrician is well known for refusing Medicare and Medicaid funding from patients -- sometimes offering free care instead. He’s opted out of a pension when he leaves office. He doesn’t want support from “the welfare state” for himself – or anyone else. He’s respected for being one of the most consistent and principled politicians inside the beltway. Despite being nicknamed Dr. No for going alone against bills with Republican or bipartisan support, he's praised as a gentle and likeable man. Blustery Democratic Congressman Barney Frank compliments Paul as being one of the easiest colleagues to work with on the Hill: “He is independent but not ornery.” What else do you want to know about Ron Paul? Why has he come under fire from the NAACP and organized labor in the past? How do his pro-life views mesh with his small government ideals? Can he sell abolishing the Federal Reserve and the IRS? If politics is the art of the possible, can Dr. No be effective as President?
Guests:
Doug Miller, Political reporter, KHOU
Robert Stein, Professor of Political Science, Rice University and Fellow in Urban Politics, James Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University
Will the Tea Party win the battle but lose the war?
The Tea Party is the hot new thing in politics and as such they’re getting a lot of attention. The media are touting their strength and power within the Republican Party, while Republican leaders consistently toe the Tea Party line. This was particularly evident in the debate over the debt ceiling. More centrist or mainstream Republicans were ready to make a deal long before Tea Party favorites like Florida Congressman Allen West signed off on it. But…there’s a but. The Tea Party is wildly unpopular with most Americans. They consistently poll lower than either party and in a recent survey they ranked lower than atheists and Muslims in popularity. That being said, Tea Party darlings like Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry are the frontrunners for the Republican nomination for president. Either one of them can win the nomination but can either of them win a national election? Is the Republican Party shooting themselves in the foot by giving the Tea Party too much power?
Guest:
Judson Phillips, Founder and CEO of Tea Party Nation
LAX dis-connect
Almost every major city in the world that has a mass transit system, uses said system to get people to the airport. But NOT Los Angeles. On Tuesday, transit officials held the first of three public meetings to get input on ways to connect LA’s Metro system to Los Angeles International Airport. Why, when the Green Line was built, didn’t it go all the way to LAX? The answer is unclear but it seems that airport commissioners blocked those efforts more than two decades ago because of concerns over parking revenue and the possibility that electric train lines would interfere with airport radar systems. A variety of options are now being considered including a light rail connection, a dedicated bus road, an automatic people mover, and, according to Metro spokeswoman Renee Berlin, “anything else that comes up that…is worthy of meeting the project’s goals and objectives.” But none of the current proposals include plans to connect the Green Line directly with LAX. Additional public meetings will be held Thursday, August 25 at Metro Headquarters in Downtown LA and on Tuesday, August 30 at the Veterans' Memorial Complex. Before you head over to one of those, share your ideas with us. Should the Green Line and LAX come together at last? How?
Guest:
Renee Berlin, Executive Officer, Countywide Planning for Metro
Pennies from your thoughts – can city residents solve L.A.’s cash crunch?
The Daily News recently conducted an informal poll asking readers for ideas on how Los Angeles can solve its cash crunch in order to preserve essential services. Some of the more creative suggestions submitted included having Controller Wendy Greuel do an audit of city closets to determine what items could be sold off, and revamping LA’s self-marketing campaign. “Remember The Valley? Relocate!” Readers also proposed slashing pay and perks for city officials, replacing the blue recycle bins with locked versions to protect valuable recyclables from being looted and cutting back on street sweeping in residential areas so fewer workers would be needed for the program. Some of the suggested changes have already been implemented: Mayor Villaraigosa took a 16% pay cut and many City Council members have taken cuts between 5-10% in their pay. Others, have been deemed undoable. The $7-billion budget signed by the Mayor in July cut an array of city services, and still, the projected deficit tops 300-million buckaroos. So what’s a cash-strapped city to do? Put on your thinking caps, as we consider the efficacy of the money-generating ideas on the table and ask for your suggestions. A city lottery? Bake sale? Sign up lawmakers for medical tests? Sell calendars featuring our Councilmembers (Garcetti on the cover, LaBonge in Speedos!)? Auction off Angelyne billboards?
Guest:
Rick Orlov, City Hall reporter, The Daily News
Bernard Parks, Los Angeles City Councilman 8th District, Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee