Leaf-Blown Miscikowski Looks to Rustle Up Less-Thorny Issues

For City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, today’s enforcement of the controversial gas-powered leaf-blower ban was occasion for both relief and trepidation.

Relief because a conclusion seemed to be in view. Trepidation because her council colleagues had balked at enforcing the rule before--and it was not completely outside the realm of possibility they might do so again.

Freshman Miscikowski found herself in the center of the storm on the issue--perhaps the most heated to hit City Hall in recent memory--even though it was her predecessor, Marvin Braude, not her, who got the whole ball rolling. But the ban had strong support among her Westside and Valley constituents. So when a move came to rescind it, she was launched into the fray, like it or not. Some way to get broken in.

This week she was talking about moving on to issues markedly more benign: infrastructure improvements, community councils. Who could blame her?

As the leaf-blower ban took effect, anti-blower activist Jack Allen put a new spin on the class issues the debate has provoked.

Angry gardeners have tried to portray the ban against the noisy-but-useful blowers as an attack on the working classes. But Allen shifted the focus Thursday to an even more voiceless constituency: leaves.

“The leaves are not that bad,” he said, in a plea for their undisturbed peace.

More seriously, Allen contended that it’s the gardeners who are insisting on immaculate, Beverly Hills-style standards for yard maintenance--proving Westsiders, too, can play the class card.

The Politics of Dining

Moving into Valentine’s weekend, thoughts turn to restaurants, and the gastrointestinal health of couples who are thinking about marking their devotion in the soft, candle-lit glow of a fancy dinner.

More specifically, about how politics could kind of muck things up. Most of the 88 cities in Los Angeles County have so far failed to sign up for the county’s plan to make restaurants publicly post the “letter grade” results of their health inspections.

Some cities, like Los Angeles, have not yet decided, but Pasadena--home to many yuppies and their favorite watering holes--has out-and-out refused to participate. And the county, it turns out, doesn’t have the power to make them.

In an effort to remedy this, county Supervisor Mike Antonovich on Thursday called on the Legislature to adopt the system in which restaurants statewide would be required to post their report cards.

The Board of Supervisors will consider supporting the call for state action at its meeting on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, lovers who don’t want their stomachs to become star-crossed might do well to check the Web site of radio station KFWB-AM, which has posted the results of all county restaurant inspections. The site is at www.kfwb.com.

Only problem, the list is organized not by the names of restaurants, but from best to worst, with grades calculated just like in school: 90 and above is an A, 80 to 89 is a B, etc.

So it’s difficult to search by name. But maybe searching by grade is better anyway.

Here’s one tidbit from the list, lest the county get too smug about its leadership in this area: The cafeteria in the Hall of Administration received a grade of 57 out of 100--there isn’t even a letter grade that corresponds with it.

2 Weddings, 0 Honeymoons

Meanwhile, this Valentine’s Day weekend will see two major political weddings, but no honeymoons.

Neither Mayor Richard Riordan, who will wed longtime sweetheart Nancy Daly on Saturday, nor County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who ties the knot with Christine Hu on Sunday, plan to take wedding trips right away.

Riordan is going on a business trip to Asia next Friday, accompanied by staff members and his new wife, and Antonovich plans to end the long Presidents Day weekend bright and early on Tuesday: He’s got a morning meeting planned with Chief Administrative Officer David Jansen, and then he’s planning to attend the Board of Supervisors meeting in the afternoon.

C’mon guys. How about a nice trip to Vegas? We wanna see some tin cans rattling from the back of some painted-up Fords.

Charter Chatter

On another front, the Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission issued this week a key report on its progress that perhaps raised more questions than it answered about exactly what reform will accomplish.

The 20-page document that will be the basis of the commission’s deliberations began by gently questioning some of the most sacred maxims of the charter reform movement. Maybe the charter isn’t so long and complicated after all, it hinted. Maybe the mayor has enough power.

“While the charter has often been described as filled with redundancies and irrelevancies, the actual charter has less empty material than is widely believed,” the report said, noting that about a third of the document deals with pensions and benefits-- uncuttable stuff, really. As for the mayor, he has more power than some people think, it said.

The report’s measured tone seems counter to prospects of revolutionary change. But the commission toils on undeterred.