Comments@THE GUSS REPORT-Shortly after LA City Councilmember Nury Martinez was chosen to be that body’s president, she was widely accused of not embracing the day-to-day function, tedium and responsibility of the gig.
As I wrote last week, one LA City Hall gadfly taunted Martinez for this at a meeting before the Coronavirus outbreak, saying, “Now you wanna get that kind of respect, you be like the boys. Get that skirt off, put some pants on and do your job.”
The gadfly’s assessment was humorous, cringeworthy and truthful.
But Martinez wasn’t leading even before her ascension to replace her controversial predecessor Herb Wesson. The Sepulveda Basin in her District was a wretched home to hundreds of homeless people and animals, with at least two babies born there. It still is, though with fewer occupants. Martinez allowed conditions to dangerously fester there until homeless campfires started erupting. . .and until it was apparent that she would be Wesson’s replacement. Then she ordered several clean-ups with the residents attempting to move back after each one.
The homeless simply migrated to the backside of nearby on-ramps where they panhandle with children and animals. They also relocated behind the local Best Western motel. Then they moved to a hovel alongside the 405, just north of the Target on Sepulveda Boulevard. More recently, they shifted again to an empty lot that was once a bustling market next to a large framed structure that once was an office building further north.
Since Martinez and her senior staff steadfastly refuse to respond to this column’s inquiries, I emailed her and Tweeted a challenge to see if she would respond to the problems existing on a single, disgusting corner in her District, complaints about which she had ignored for weeks. As the most powerful lawmaker of the third-largest city in North America with billions of dollars available, would one Tweet and a sub-Tweet to Mayor Eric Garcetti garner results?
Within hours, the Tweet was shared dozens of times, garnering hundreds of clicks and thousands of interactions. You may click-thru to see how thirty-six hours of social media pressure transformed the corner.
Tweeting might have been an effective way to embarrass unsure politicians into doing their jobs, but that isn’t how it is supposed to be. The LA City Council is the highest-paid local legislative body in the nation because, they tell us, “they are prohibited from having other forms of employment.” But whether it’s Martinez, Wesson, Garcetti or Alex Padilla (the current and prior three LA City Council presidents for the past two decades), they are collectively responsible for the present-day sewer that is Los Angeles, even before the COVID-19 scourge arrived on our doorstep.
And check out their online biographies to see when the last time was that any of them held a leadership role in the private sector. Politicians stay in government primarily because they would never make it in the private sector, except in some variation of lobbyist or government consultant.
When I finally saw the corner cleaned up (though we don’t know if it was disinfected from the fecal chunks deposited there), I wrote back to Mrs. Martinez and her staffers, “I see the place has been cleaned up after more 5,000 views of my Tweet. Next time, let me know if you are on the case so social media calling-out is not necessary. That is not my goal in my storytelling. I am always available to do positive stories when there is cooperation and communication, but not in its absence. Stay safe. Dan.”
I never heard a word from Team Martinez, yet she heard my message loud and clear from everyone else with each ping of a Like or Re-Tweet on her and Garcetti’s phones. As of Sunday morning, my challenge to her, not including the sub-Tweets, was re-Tweeted 92 times, with 5,352 interactions and 12,428 views, more than double any of Martinez’s recent self-generated Tweets despite her having more than 13-times as many followers.
Last year, before Nury Martinez became Council president and got a significant raise, the taxpayers paid her $206,011.23 in salary plus $77,277 in benefits for a total compensation (not including free travel perks, etc.) of $283,288.23.
Still, Martinez’s priorities remain askew. On the LA City Council agenda last week, before it goes on yet another lengthy recess in the middle of a deadly, global emergency, she worked in approvals for new property liens and liquor licenses, as though LA needs more of either.
I gather she didn’t need a social media shaming to get those on the agenda.
Nury Martinez shouldn’t do her job in response to one journalist’s Tweet. She should do it proactively because she is paid to lead, deliver results and took a sworn pledge to do so. But we can do this again if the message still isn’t clear.
(Daniel Guss, MBA, is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, and has contributed to CityWatchLA, KFI AM-640, iHeartMedia, 790-KABC, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal, Pasadena Star News, Los Angeles Downtown News, and the Los Angeles Times in its Sports, Opinion and Entertainment sections and Sunday Magazine, among other publishers. Follow him on Twitter @TheGussReport. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
