Let’s Hope You Get What You Vote For

It wasn’t so much an out-of-body experience as an out-of-district experience for El Sereno resident Lou Santillan. When he drove by the area headquarters of his new councilman, he noticed that the name over the entrance was “Alex Padilla.”

Santillan should have found a sign for 14th District Councilman Nick Pacheco. Padilla is actually the new councilman in the 7th District, which is located about 20 miles away in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

Pacheco is replacing Richard Alatorre. Padilla is replacing Richard Alarcon (not to be confused with Richard Alatorre).

When the misplaced Padilla sign appeared, “we heard from constituents who said, ‘That’s not the guy we voted for,’ ” said Delia Ibarra, a spokesman for Pacheco.

The Padilla sign has been removed. But there was still one other problem when your columnist paid a visit to the shopping center where the office is located. One of the two Pacheco signs on the parking lot marquee was misspelled “Pachecco” (see photos).

BUT PLEASE DON’T DRINK AND KICK: One store in Huntington Park offers items that pack a punch--or a kick (see photo).

PARKING IS STREET SORROW: The allegations that 14 UCLA football players illegally acquired handicapped parking permits are only the latest offbeat parking stories in space-challenged Southern California. Some others over the years:

* Two Palos Verdes Estates women are handcuffed and hauled off to jail after allegedly erasing the meter maid’s chalk marks on their tires in a shopping center. One later agrees to pay a fine; the second fights the charge in court and is found not guilty.

* Then-Mayor Tom Bradley, flying home from a trip abroad, finds no limo waiting for him. It had been towed away after the chauffeur illegally parked it at the curb at LAX.

* A motorist, infuriated by a parking ticket in Santa Monica, pulls the keys from the officer’s ignition and speeds off in his own car. Police have no trouble finding him; the copy of the ticket contained his license plate number.

* A limo driver aims a BB gun at another limo driver vying for the same parking space at a Redondo Beach supermarket. Witnesses hear the second driver say, “I’ll show you a real weapon,” as he flashes a shotgun. Luckily, sanity prevails and no shots are fired.

* A Beverly Hills art gallery owner insists on parking his Rolls Royce all day in a one-hour metered zone by having his chauffeur feed the machine every sixty minutes. The city says it is illegal to hold a space this way and gives him an estimated 1,000 tickets over several weeks, totaling more than $13,000.

A LONG CHASE FOR A STORY: L.A.’s renown as the capital of car chases is spreading. Correspondent Claes Andreasson of Swedish National Public Radio recently interviewed your faithful correspondent on the subject. I was surprised at Sweden’s interest inasmuch as Volvos are seldom involved in high-speed chases here, despite their superior acceleration.

Funny thing is, when I was interviewed by a couple of Viennese journalists last year, they also were fascinated by L.A.’s car culture. They more or less came to the conclusion that automobiles in Southern California were not equipped with turn signals, because they never saw anyone use them.

Especially during car chases.

miscelLAny:

The heat must be getting to me. The newspaper blurb from a reader that I printed about Hungary being composed of the Czech and Slovak republics was not a mistake, after all, but a joke in a Dave Barry column. True fact. Hey, just the other day I showed you the envelope that was addressed to “Los Angeles, California, 90291, Canada.” Who can tell what’s a joke anymore? Especially in my mail. Anyway, I’m taking the rest of the week off. And maybe moving to Sweden. Or at least Canada, wherever that is.