Boston ferns and birds of paradise
Posted on | April 20, 2010 | 4 Comments
As a somber Mayor of Los Angeles delivered his State of the City address this afternoon, the set dressing said as much as the speech. Los Angeles is a place flagging as much from failure of imagination as from a monetary crisis. Fluffing out the rim of the podium were a mix of Boston ferns and birds of paradise. Behind the Mayor were crumpled-looking American flags.
This is not the stage set worthy of our Mayor, our city or our region. There is no reason for gratuitous greenery when announcing painful budget cuts, or any other occasion. Better no plants than the wrong ones. Better no flags than rumpled ones.
But, if we must decorate, then let’s decorate with our best asset, our natural beauty. Let’s fly our city flag for State of the City addresses. When our Mayor speaks of stalwartness, let’s surround him with rugged agaves instead of ferns. And let’s not just do it as stage setting. Let’s follow suit by landscaping all public property in Los Angeles, starting with City Hall, with our glorious indigenous plants. Let’s build a vernacular of hope built on what we have, not mismatched flora from New Zealand and South Africa. When we talk about conservation, let’s do so from a city that is a living example of it. The best part? The city would be able to, say, restore cut library hours on what it would save on mowing and blowing turfgrass, a plant that is as unsuited to this region as a Boston fern is at a Los Angeles State of the City speech.
Unqualified? You’re hired
Posted on | April 20, 2010 | 3 Comments
UPDATE WEDNESDAY APRIL 21, 2010: New interim LADWP general manager Austin Beutner will guest on KCRW’s “Which Way LA?” tonight at 7.27pm. Click here for details.
For those who missed today’s article in the Los Angeles Times about the appointment of First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner as interim head of the Department of Water and Power, here’s the best line. “With this appointment, Beutner becomes the DWP’s ninth general manager in the last 10 years.”
Whatever one thought of Beutner’s two predecessors, H. David Nahai, or S. David Freeman, both men knew water and Freeman also understood power.
Beutner, described by a local public radio affiliate as a former Wall Street trader, knows neither, prompting the blog Griffith Park Wayist to ask, “Will he look at the safety of the City’s water supply as a risk-v.-return proposition?” LA Observed business columnist Mark Lacter put it this way: “While Beutner has a sterling record in the investment world (first at Blackstone and then at investment banking firm Evercore Partners), he has virtually no experience in municipal government. The joke is that he’s so green he doesn’t know what can’t be done, so he’ll never say no to an idea. That’s an admirable trait, yet you have to wonder whether this is the best time for on-the-job training. On the other hand, the guy knows all about finance, which is a skill set sorely lacking at City Hall.”
Water economics blogger David Zetland has this comment. “LADWP is ALL ABOUT money, and it’s more important to maintain a good bond rating than good service. And green energy? That’s the biggest growth area for financial engineers these days. Let’s see what happens…”
The appointment is made by the Mayor. According to a statement from the Mayor’s office, “Villaraigosa will immediately charge Beutner with developing and executing reform initiatives to change the culture at DWP, clear out the bureaucracy and lead a new era of accountable management and transparency.”
Curious choice, Wall Street trader as reformer. However, as reported in LA Weekly, Beutner’s first order of business will be finding a suitable replacement for himself.
“Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa seemed frustrated with the applicant pool for the job, noting he’s tired of getting candidates from public utilities 1/10th the size of DWP,” reported the Weekly.
I’m not sure I follow the thinking. Qualified candidates come from smaller agencies, so why not give the job to someone where neither size of his former agency, nor experience in water matters?
This post has been updated. It has been edited to accommodate new comments and links to Griffith Park Wayist, LA Observed and David Zetland’s Aguanomics.
Rain likely
Posted on | April 20, 2010 | 1 Comment
Click here for your forecast. Graphic: South Australia Water.
Since you asked
Posted on | April 18, 2010 | 11 Comments
Interviewing Richard Schulhof should have been simple, a rote exercise of announcing that the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden has a new Chief Executive Officer, imparting a few quotes as to his plans, then wrapping it up with a time-will-tell remark. That’s the approach that I took six years ago, when the last CEO arrived.
It was about as successful as the last CEO, who in 2008 left the place much as he found it — an Arcadia picnic ground full of exotic plants and free-ranging peafowl.
The recent decision to interview the Titanic’s, excuse me, the Arboretum’s new CEO was a reluctant one. In fact, it was made only after Schulhof gamely responded to a dismissive reference on this site to the effect that the Arboretum’s 127 acres are a monument to the gardenesque philosophy that is draining our water supply.
“I thank you for throwing the gauntlet!” Schulhof wrote back in February. “We look forward to enriching those picnics with peacocks, and are making steady progress with new programs focused on permaculture, and the best of adapted plants for Southern California.”
I don’t recall having said anything about the want of permaculture programs, but he invited me out there, I went, and, last week, the resulting interview appeared in my column in the Los Angeles Times. It being an interview, it was fitting that he did most of the talking. He has nice ideas, which I hope were recounted respectfully. But since one of the things that he emphasized was that he is in listening mode, it would be remiss not to thank him by also giving him an earful.
Click here to keep reading
Dirty glow
Posted on | April 18, 2010 | No Comments
The ash storm over Europe caused by the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull Volcano has brought the kind of hot sunsets long familiar in smoggy Los Angeles. Click on this image of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh by Scottish photographer Murdo MacLeod to be taken to a photo gallery in the Guardian newspaper of ashen sunsets over the United Kingdom and Ireland.
North American Native Plant Societies
After the lawn
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