From the Venice Stakeholders Association:
Venice Stakeholders Association
November 30, 2010
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
Los Angeles City Hall
200 North Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Re: Alleged Dirty Tricks by Los Angeles City Associate Director of Transportation Jim Bickhart
Dear Mayor Villaraigosa:
I am writing to ask that your office investigate a report on the Yo!Venice! website that suggests that a senior member of your administration has engaged in political “dirty tricks” to the end of maligning the reputation of our organization and inflaming public opinion against those who desire overnight restricted parking in Venice.
The editor of Yo!Venice! has asked publicly (and apparently also privately) if the poster of hostile and hateful comments about those who dwell in RVs and campers, identified on Yo!Venice! as “Snakepliskin,” is actually Jim Bickhart, an associate director of transportation in your administration. The editor’s questions have gone unanswered by Mr. Bickhart. Over the past few months this individual has posted the following:
“We got what we wanted on the RVs and campers. Who do we go after next? We can’t stop until this place is all cleansed. Wash away the scum. ALL of it.”
“Who cares? Villa-la-grossa is just as big a coward as Rosendahl. Maybe the Stakeholders are right – if these folks won’t leave, we should get someone to come around with a semi, load the homeless scum into it like stinking sardines and drive them out to the Mojave. Dump ‘em there in the dead of night blindfolded and drive away. Period. End of story.”
“Next time one of those wussies heckles you, just pop ‘em one. No . They protect scum, they should be treated like scum. It doesn’t matter if they make money sucking on the goverment tit or if there Wolfgang frigging *#!%$!. Time is running short.”
In the second paragraph the poster links our group, Venice Stakeholders, to these reprehensible comments.
If these posts were indeed made by Mr. Bickhart, we question his suitability for a position of public trust. If he wrote it and believes what he wrote, in our opinion he does not belong in public service. If, on the other hand, he wrote it but does not believe what he wrote, and propagated these remarks to discredit our group (and Yo!Venice! and others who support overnight restricted parking), then his behavior amounts to a political dirty trick, which is intolerable in a public official.
Please advise us at your earliest convenience of the results of your investigation.
Sincerely yours,
Mark Ryavec
Mark Ryavec, President
cc: Carmen Trutanich, Los Angeles City Attorney
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