Ari L. Noonan
Forfeiting a Brilliant Career
Saddest tale of the week for the political community on the Westside is The Fall from Grace of Martin Ludlow.
Last seen, he was negotiating a perspiration-soaked deal with federal prosecutors to reportedly avoid a jail term. He was said to be seeking a plea bargain whereby he would ante up a quarter of a million dollars in assessments while agreeing to be barred from union leadership or public office for more than a decade.
That sounds like the final out of the game. With a funereal dirge playing in the background, you probably can throw a shovel of dirt on Mr. Ludlow’s celebrity.
Last seen, he was negotiating a perspiration-soaked deal with federal prosecutors to reportedly avoid a jail term. He was said to be seeking a plea bargain whereby he would ante up a quarter of a million dollars in assessments while agreeing to be barred from union leadership or public office for more than a decade.
That sounds like the final out of the game. With a funereal dirge playing in the background, you probably can throw a shovel of dirt on Mr. Ludlow’s celebrity.
Gross Charges Foe With Grandstanding
The presumably dead possibility of changing the prospective Skateboard Park from the grassy Upper Level of Culver City Park to the plainer Lower Level poked its dusty, ghoulish head out of the grave on Tuesday night.
Over the pooh-poohing of City Councilperson Carol Gross, Councilman Alan Corlin, the driving force for switching the location, pulled off the unlikely.
He convinced all three of his colleagues who were present to agree to officially reopen the issue.
It is expected to be included on a City Council agenda in early March.
Ms. Gross, a foursquare opponent of moving the location or reopening the piping hot subject, had a few words afterward for her colleague Mr. Corlin.
Mr. Baquet, Fire This Reporter
If you believe that the case is made in the following essay, dear readers, I recommend that you write a letter to the Los Angeles Times, urging Editor Dean Baquet to fire Paris-based correspondent Sebastian Rotella for consistently cowardly, viciously dishonest reporting. Ethically, journalistically, the gentleman is stone deaf.
My comments are bold-faced.
In a lengthy story on Page Three on Tuesday morning, Mr. Rotella reported on a particularly horrifying crime in Paris.
It is the most despicable destruction of one Jew — for being Jewish — that I have heard of in decades.
Beyond the Abstract, a Student Production
If you take students who are serious about their music, tell them to create a stage show using their talents and those of their friends’, the result might be something like "Beyond the Abstract."
Students from Culver City High School's Academy of Visual and Performing Arts will perform their own original music in this unique one-night show. The showcase will be on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Robert Frost Auditorium, 4401 Elenda Ave., Culver City. Tickets are $10/general or $7 ASB/seniors/children.
“Beyond the Abstract” will include an eclectic mix of styles and ensembles as well as soloists. Members of AVPA's Chamber Singers and the AVPA Jazz Combo will also perform.
Saturday is Little Leagues Opening Day
More than a thousand persons are expected to attend Opening Day ceremonies on Saturday when the Culver City National Little League opens its fifty-first season.
The program at Bill Botts Field at the top of Culver City Park begins at 10 a.m.
Among the dignitaries will be Mayor Albert Vera, Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger, Council members Steve Rose, Alan Corlin and Carol Gross, Chief Administrative Officer Jerry Fulwood, Parks and Rec Director Bill LaPointe, Asst. Police Chief Hank Davies, School Board members Saundra Davis, Jessica Beagles-Roos and Dana Russell, special guest speaker Artie Harris, a scout for the Dodgers, amomng other personalities.
New-Look Silbiger Talks Light Rail and Mobile Homes
Seven weeks before Election Day, it can be reported that Gary Silbiger,
the incumbent City Councilman, bears only a ghost of a resemblance to the
immigration lawyer who winged his way into office four years ago.
Mr. Silbiger, who has essayed a distinct reputation by casting himself as a laser-focused populist, has a surprise for City Hall watchers who think he will be a one-termer.
He has matured into a formidable politician.
As he sat down to talk about the campaign along with his much-analyzed votes on light rail and the mobile home parks on Grandview Boulevard, the change in him was as obvious as his perennial congeniality.
Instead of taking a distant seat behind the large desk in his Washington Boulevard office, he drew a chair near to his interrogator. He crossed his legs, relaxed his back, and his eye contact never strayed.
Westside Calendar – 2/25/06
Saturday, Feb. 25
6 p.m. — Fundraiser for City Council candidate Scott Malsin, 10950 Washington Blvd., NFL Network Soundstage. Silent or auction and cocktails followed by dinner at 7:30. Fee. RSVP: 310.945.5499 or scott@vote4scott.org.
To list your event or show in thefrontpageonline.com, email your information to Ross Hawkins at rjhculvercity@aol.com. Include time, location, telephone number or email to obtain
information and whether event is free or there is a charge.
Westside Calendar – 2/24/06
Friday, Feb. 24 7:30 p.m. — Free play reading, Colin Mitchell’s “Breaking and Entering,” presented by the Culver City Playhouse at the Vets Auditorium, 4117 Overland Ave. Free. 310.839.8312.
To list your event or show in thefrontpageonline.com, email your information to Ross Hawkins at rjhculvercity@aol.com. Include time, location, telephone number or email to obtain information and whether event is free or there is a charge.
Westside Calendar
Saturday, April 1
11 a.m. — The Art of Cultural Modernism, by architect Steven Ehrlich, in The Art of…Series, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, Washington Boulevard, Culver City. Free. RSVP: 310.253.5777.
11:30 a.m. — A Laurel and Hardy Special, a film, the Flying Deuces, at San Gennaro Café, 9543 Culver Blvd., a program of the Lions Club. Fee. 310.839.2090 or 310.204.6920.
8 p.m. — Culver City Symphony concert, at Vets Auditorium, 4117 Overland Ave. , Culver City. Free. 310. 253.6630.
Westside Calendar – 2/18/06
Saturday, Feb. 18
6 p.m. — Shamrock ‘n Roll, Fundraiser for City Council candidate Mehaul O’Leary. Music, food, auction, raffle. Imperial Building, 3849 Main St. RSVP: 310.837.1917 or 310.559.1872 or email vote4mehaul@pacbell.net.
