October 10, 2025 • 33 mins
The John Kobylt Show Hour 1 (10/10) - Mark Thompson fills in for John. Michael Monks joins to talk about the legislations signed by Governor Newsom overhauling local zoning to build more housing.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Can if I am six forty you're listening to the
John Cobelt podcast on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
App John Cobelt Show. I spoke to him last night,
Mark Thompson. Here, John was packing even as I spoke
to him. It's very exciting. He's got a European itinerary
he's going to. Isn't he going to Iceland or something?
Also didn't get into it. Deborah, Well, you know, Deborah
has a like a situation room back there, tracking John's
(00:28):
whereabouts across the globe. You know, with these little different
colored pins, it looks like a murder investigation back there.
We'll talk more about it as the afternoon wear is on,
but just be me for the day, and I'm excited
to be here on a day where there's a lot
of news and not the least of that news comes
out of Sacramento and a new bill just signed by
(00:49):
the governor overhauling local zoning to build more housing. Now
we need more housing, Michael monks, But I'm told this
is very specific housing.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
It is very specific housing. And this particular piece of
legislation has been sitting on Governor Newsom's desk for a
few weeks now, it's one of the high ticket items
that came out of the General Assembly just this year
because it involves housing. We know that there is a
so called housing crisis, as it's been characterized. There's not
enough housing, and if there were more housing, a lot
(01:19):
of people argue that maybe rents would be cheaper and
more people would be able to afford to live in California,
specifically big cities like Los Angeles where it is extremely expensive.
So this particular bill was called Senate Bill seventy nine,
got a nice ring to it. Yeah, indeed, it's a
good number. You want a good number attached to your bill.
(01:40):
SB seventy nine flows right off the tongue, and it
flowed off a lot of tongues here in LA even
among people who tend to be pro housing, they say,
we need more housing.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
But opposed this bill.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
This clears the way for zoning changes around transit locations,
specifically subway stations, light rail stations. But also, and this
is where it gets a little murky and confusing for folks,
some bus stops, not all. We're talking about those rapid
bus lines or heavy trafficked bus lines. So there's been
(02:12):
a lot of fear in communities about what this means
for their neighborhoods because they look outside, they see a
bus stop on the corner and they think, some big
apartment tower is coming into my single family home neighborhood
and it's not gonna fit. This allows for dense housing
up to seven stories near these transit areas, even if
(02:35):
local zoning disallows it.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
So there was a big bush here, I mean, that's
how this stuff gets across the finish line.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
There were some real lobby efforts on both sides.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Are you familiar with the yimbi versus the nimbi? Yeah,
this is a good thing. Please talk about this, sure, Yes,
in my backyard.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Know, in my backyard, nimby has been a thing for
a long time. It's been a sort of a pejorative
that you could throw at people who say, I don't
want that business, that development in my neighborhood, and they're
just nimbi's. They're nimbis, they're nimbies. But this new movement
has developed very strongly in California called yimbi's. Yes, we
want all the housing belt, we want it all. And
(03:13):
there are people who are concerned about the way neighborhoods
look and that you don't want to disrupt the flow,
and Zoni exists for a reason. It's to keep continuity
in neighborhoods, is to keep character, it's to preserve historic
residences and those.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Sorts of things.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Supporters of this bill say, don't worry, this is not
here to disrupt any of that. What it is to
do is to find all of those empty lots or
those underutilized lots near these transit lines where we can
now build larger apartment buildings and put people living there
who don't necessarily want.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
To drive cars.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
So you're addressing a couple of things.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
We're also talking about traffic congestion as well, so you're
hyping up metro for example. Another thing to keep in
mind is this is a state law that wise spek's
way more than just LA. It does, but not as
much as you might think. Oh, really, eight counties only.
It originally was going to be statewide, but this bill
got a lot of attention and it now only applies
(04:08):
to the larger counties. Los Angeles and Orange Counties are
among them, but the other ones are San Diego, Santa Clair, Alameda, Sacramento,
San Francisco, and San Mateo. This issue came up at
La City Hall and it was one of the more
contentious debates that I had seen there. Every now and then,
the Board of Supervisors or the city Council, and really
all over the place, they'll vote to endorse a piece
(04:29):
of state legislation or federal legislation, and sometimes there's a
little teeth to it, like their own lobbying firms in
the Capitol or in Washington.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Will work to push this.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
But they voted specifically on this one, and by a
vote of eight to five. The City of Los Angeles
is on the record as opposing this bill. Here is
what Councilwoman Tracy Park, who represents the Palisades, had to
say about it.
Speaker 6 (04:51):
Cities that have done the work to responsibly address housing
shouldn't be lumped in with the same mandates that apply
to city that have done nothing.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
SB seventy nine.
Speaker 6 (05:04):
Overrides our progress, It disregards our communities and opens the
floodgates for developers to target vulnerable neighborhoods, places where families
have lived for generations, and Sacramento isn't footing the bill.
The costs of upgrading schools, utilities, roads, public safety, all
of that will fall squarely on the shoulders of Angelino's.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
What the councilwoman is saying is, look, Los Angeles recognizes
that there is a housing shortage, heir, but Los Angeles
is also doing its part.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
That's her claim.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Others would disagree, certainly, including other members of city Council
who said we're not doing enough. We're absolutely not doing enough,
so there was a tight vote. She is particularly concerned
about Palisades, and so are a lot of people. As
the Palisades starts to rebuild, will it have the same
character or as close to the same character as it
did before if legislation like this exists. Many proponents, vocal
(05:59):
proponents of this legislation say this will not touch the Palisades.
This is not relevant to the Palisades at all. There
are no metro stations in the Palisades and there are
no rapid bus lines, so have no fear. But that
fear does still exist.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yah, and she represents that the Palisades, she'd expect her
to articulate something related to her constituency there, you know exactly.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
And Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who also voted against supporting this
bill on the City level, a ceremonial vote who represents
the northeastern San Fernando Valley.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Her concern was.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
That she believes that this bill could apply to future
lines that don't necessarily exist yet. So when you think
about the metro system as it exists today and the
maps of the future, that's what she's concerned about, because
there are often maps created that never come to fruition.
So if you start to put the cart before the
(06:53):
horse here and you are building these tall buildings next
to a planned metro state that never opens up, then
you might have a development that's out of character without
the transit to support it.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
That's really thinking way ahead in the movie, isn't it.
But I mean that is not without some valid, valid
point in the analysis. Yeah, the idea somehow that this
is an urbanization of areas that are already urbanized or overdevelopment.
Is that an issue anymore? Or is the need for
housing so immense that people just bump that issue out
(07:28):
of them.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
This gets back into the ymbi versus nimby thing, because
I think even if you are somebody who is who
might fall into that nimbi bucket, just generically you are
still able to recognize that more housing is needed. It
affects the market, and if there is more on the market,
then the price should go down. It's supply and demand.
The concerns are simply about neighborhood character, and you are right,
(07:51):
is my suburban style neighborhood going to be urbanized by
a seven story tower next to the metro station? Valid concern,
But there are others who say, well, it's time to
urbanize because we're not using our land properly. We have
all of you might live in a suburban neighborhood that
has a gas station with a good sized parking lot,
(08:13):
neither of which are open or utilized right now. So
why try to bring another gas station in there when
you could put a tower and one hundred, one hundred
and fifty more residents who would be taking the train
into the city to work.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Well, it would be there in proximity to take in
the train, but they may or may not take the train.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Yeah, that's right, that there's that too. It's going to require.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
A lot of coordination between the development and Metro really
coming to fruition here. Now there's a lot of train
stations already and some usable land around those train stations,
as well as some of those bus stops that are
along these rapid transit lines that will lend themselves very
easily to this type of development. You're right, does this
(08:59):
immediately ease congestion on the five and that sort of
thing to be determined. The system itself needs to be
cleaned up and inviting to folks in ways that go
beyond the paper, the ways that go beyond the map.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
That was the next point I was going to make.
I mean, they have to clean up mass transit. I
mean you have to make it something that you know,
where it's not life threatening or sketchy to get on board.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
There is a police department coming to Metro in twenty
twenty nine, so by the time these buildings are able
to even open, and we know how long it takes
to build anything around here, But if you're thinking years
in advance, let's say a building is going to open
in twenty thirty two. Ideally, we know how government works
around here, not always great. Ideally, you got yourself a
nice building. You're right next to a train stop, and
(09:43):
that train is clean and well patrolled.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Monks, nice stuff. SB.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Seventy nine. It is law now in California indeed signed it.
So thanks for the update, my pleasure. We'll watch for
an apartment building near you as soon. It is the
co Belt Show. Mark Thompson sitting in for John. I'm
KFI AM six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (10:07):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
I am struck by, as I'm sure many of you
might have been, the blow up around the Katie Porter
outtakes now that have hobbled her campaign for governor. I mean,
she was the darling of many Democrats and even some
(10:40):
independence I mean in middle of the roots felt like,
you know, she speaks truth the power. She's the one
with that whiteboard. She breaks concepts down in a way
that they need to be broken down and explained, and
she could be an advocate for, you know, the every person.
And this whole thing started as the pushback in that
(11:06):
was it a CBS interview she was doing that k
col She had just I guess had one of those
days if you want to try to kind of see
it from her perspective. You know, Debra, you sit down
with a candidate and you asked a couple of tough questions.
You know, who's really good at that taking off the
microphone and walking away is zoo Donald Trump? I mean,
(11:26):
he's walked out of many an interview. You know, it
seems to work for him.
Speaker 8 (11:30):
But what was interesting about with Katie Porters She didn't
like the follow up questions. And I was talking to
John about this yesterday. What good reporter doesn't ask a
follow up question? You're taught that in you know, beginning journalism,
that you have a list of questions and depending on
the person that you're interviewing and how they answer, you
follow up.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Sure, I mean you could. It was a weird follow
up only from the and yet not it was sort
of a benign follow up in a way. It was about,
you know, so if you don't get all the Democrats
to vote for you, you're going to have to get some
independence and Republicans. It would seem what do you say
to those Republicans? You know, how do you communicate a
(12:11):
message that sparks some interest in Republicans who are not
traditionally your supporters. I mean it's a fair question, you know,
And by the way, that's when I say it's a
benign question. It's an easy question for a politician to field.
I mean, if that's the question that is going to
get your backup, then it's sort of weird. But again,
I don't know long day whatever it might be. And
(12:34):
let me just say this, I'll just say it right
up front. If this was a dude, if this was
a guy, I promise you they'd be giving him more roly.
You know, he wouldn't take any crap with you know,
he he was tired of taking any grief. I mean, again,
Trump's gotten away with it. A lot of guys have
gotten away with it, Like Trump continues to call out Trump.
(12:54):
How can you ask such a stupid question? You know,
your organization is is awful. News is terrible, your fake news,
and Trump gets away with it. Katie Porter, it's off
brand for her, which is why it's so if she
was typically combative, if she had that kind of coarse exterior,
(13:15):
the kind of that exterior that Trump has when he's
not trying to be charming, then it might be different.
I mean, i'd suggest this is impolitic. You know, this
doesn't work for you if you're a politician, no matter what.
So it really doesn't matter in a way what her
brand would have been, because it's just a bad idea
to blow up at a journalist. And then once it
(13:37):
started with the back and forth, she just was taken
on water. I thought, oh no, this is just terrible
for you. So what's happened now is that every time
she's blown up at anybody, we're seeing the video and
it's all floating to the surface.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
So Mario, we've got to this is.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I guess her yelling at a staffer back in twenty
twenty one when they were setting up a camera shot
and they were shooting something about electric vehicles for the
Biden administration, and the staffer was attempting to correct one
of her talking points, and this happened.
Speaker 9 (14:16):
We did a study recently this fall in September, and
what it showed is if we don't electrify or transportation sector,
that we're going to lose more than half a million
Californians dying prematurely to air pollution and other problems, and
the state could lose out of my shot.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
I wanted to tell you that that's actually incorrect.
Speaker 9 (14:39):
It's not that it's electric vehicles, it's that you don't
need a commitment as any of the Paris climate for.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
Okay, it does.
Speaker 10 (14:46):
Okay, you also were in my shot before that, Stay
out of my shot. Okay, I'm going to start again
with electric vehicle savingus money.
Speaker 11 (14:56):
Perfect.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Okay, So.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
You know, not the best look. Yelling at a staffer
is never good. I don't know, you know, maybe it's
just me, Debora. I'm trying to be sympathetic. I'm always
sympathetic to people who are, you know, trying to communicate
something and they get distracted by something. But maybe I'm
(15:23):
just bending over backwards. I mean, it's really hard for me.
She's got a reputation of kind of being a hothead.
Speaker 11 (15:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (15:28):
I don't think you should treat your staff people or
anybody that works for you like that.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
But if you can't treat your staff that way, then
who can you treat them?
Speaker 8 (15:38):
That's very true, Mark, that is I don't really have
an answer for that.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
If we can get some aving confidence around.
Speaker 8 (15:46):
Here, and then politicians I think are so dumb for
doing that because that always leaks out. We always hear
from ex staffers speaking with celebrities. We always hear about
those that treat their people badly.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Well, she now it just has dropped like a stone
in terms of it would seem her her general profile
as a legitimate gubernatorial candidates. I say, and she was
very much in the conversation. Now she's very much in
a different conversation, and it's not good for that candidacy,
(16:19):
you know. She filed for divorce in twenty thirteen, and
part of the divorce, the ex husband claimed she was
a hothead abused him verbally through toys, books, and other objects.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Potatos.
Speaker 8 (16:30):
John calls her missus potato, not me. I don't call
her that. That's John Cobalt.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
The claim from.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
The ex who tried to get a restraining order, claiming
that she would call him an effing idiot, effing incompetent,
shattered a glass coffee pot in the kitchen when she
felt the house wasn't clean enough. To be fair, how
are you going to communicate that the house isn't cleaned
unless you break a few coffee Well.
Speaker 12 (17:04):
I guess that's the way to do it. Gravatantrum.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
She would not let me have a cell phone because
she said you were too effing dumbed operated.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
The ex husband said, well, why would.
Speaker 8 (17:13):
You let your wife decide if you can or cannot
have a self.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
It sounds like an odd relationship to begin with. When
she gets angry, she will claw and scratch her arms
and then say to.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Me, look what you made me do?
Speaker 12 (17:26):
Oh god, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Again, I think she was out of line. I think
as a politician, you have to do better, as Deborah's
basically said, you know, And I didn't think that that
line of questioning was out of control.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
I get it. It's sort of vexing.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
It's irritating when someone's saying, well, what are you saying
you're going to get every vote you know from the Democrats?
I mean, don't you need to get some votes? And
then well, I'm saying that I you know, I'm going
to bring my message, and really, do you think your
message is going to somehow resonate with Republicans? I mean,
instead of, as Deborah says, you know, getting your backup
(18:07):
about the follow ups. Just to handle the follow ups
like the politician you are are.
Speaker 8 (18:10):
Your pr person needs to sit down and say to you, hey, look,
you're going to agree to an interview. There's going to
be follow up questions.
Speaker 12 (18:17):
End of story.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah, in two thousand and six, this is the ex
husband again. I always feel like if you're if you're
reading the divorce accounts, you're getting pretty much the worst
possible profile of somebody. But anyway, having said that, in
two thousand and six, the ex husband Hoffman said she
took a issue that his porter did Katie Porter, with
(18:39):
how he was preparing mashed potatoes for dinner. I just
remembering this for the Cobalt audience that might have missed
it the last time, asking him, can't you read the
effing instructions? Then her ex husband said that she raised
a ceramic bowl of steaming hot potatoes and dumped it
on his head, burning his scalp. Wow, Yeah, there's no
(19:05):
real I'm sorry, I can't spend that for her.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
I cannot.
Speaker 12 (19:09):
That's a hard one.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah, but why can't he read the effing instructions? Okay,
maybe that's.
Speaker 8 (19:14):
Where I don't read instructions that well when it comes
to cooking either. But hopefully my husband would never throw
a heat potatoes.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Steaming, certainly not steaming hot potatoes. Yeah, that's the story
on Katie Porter. She's in trouble. The reputational harm from
something like that is real. You've seen it before, and
sadly it's great copy, meaning You're going to see it
over and over. I mean, it's the kind of virality
that will carry for days. So everybody's going to see it,
hear it, talk about it, and as a result.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
It just it takes on a life of its own.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
So it opens up the field in such a big
way in the gubernatorial race. And we'll talk about that
in the days ahead. It's a John Covelt Joe Mark
Thompson sitting in on KFI AM six forty. We're live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (20:00):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Debra keeping track of John's movements. I think he's just
catching a flight today it all begins, but a little
bit later we will will track his progress in itinerary,
which is quite exciting. Meantime, there is blowback about this
Nobel Prize, the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize
(20:28):
did not go to Donald Trump. You know, the White
House had been campaigning, has had many around the President
calling for Donald Trump to win the prize. And even
when this Maria Carrino Machado won. She's the Venezuelan democracy crusader.
(20:49):
You know her story it's kind of a wild story.
In Venezuela. Her party the opposition party from Maduro, and
she wasn't the candidate, but she was like a you know,
a real crusader for this opposition party, calling out the
authoritarianism and the fascism of this Maduro Guy's a bad dude.
Well they won, they won the election, but Maduro denied
(21:14):
the results, controls the military in Venezuela and forced the
opposition candidate into exile, forced her this Maria Corina Machando,
the one who won the Nobel Prize, forced her.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
Into hiding.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
So for the last year they've been and she's been
heading up this effort talking about the fact that you know,
he is holding office illegally in denial of what the
election results were, and she's trying to restore democracy to Venezuela. Well,
(21:57):
this is worthy the Nobel Committee's view of a Nobel
Peace Prize. Now the Trump people are saying, what do
we gotta do? We ended the Gaza conflict. We got
all these signatories to these multi stage blueprints associated with
ending the Gaza conflict. And it was Donald Trump who
(22:21):
helped make that happen. I mean, isn't that Nobel Peace
Prize worthy. Now, to be fair to the Nobel Committee,
I don't really know, maybe you do, Deborah, how the
actual timing of the vote works. But a little like
oscar voting, you know, some of the votes come in
before the peace plan announcement comes in. I mean, after all,
(22:44):
the Gaza peace Plan was just announced in the last
couple of.
Speaker 8 (22:46):
Days exactly, and I heard people talking about that. I
heard a talk show host talking about that that it
probably was already locked Inmever it was just because President
Trump was successful in getting peace.
Speaker 12 (22:59):
In the Middle East.
Speaker 8 (22:59):
Hopefully it's going to go through and everything will work out,
the hostages will go home Monday Tuesday. But yeah, they
probably already made that decision way before this happened exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
So the cake was baked already there was no way
to redo it. But the White House, as I say,
did not immediately congratulate her. I think Donald Trump guessing
here because you know, there's been no official word, but
just seems kind of consistent with him that he's probably
(23:30):
not super happy.
Speaker 12 (23:31):
I'm sure he's pissed off being left.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Out of the Nobel Peace Prize conversation. So all of
these things have riled up MAGA. So you know, his
real fans, the merch wearing, merch buying super megaheads, they
are not happy and they're angry about this. But I
think what we've just done is we've provided at least
(23:55):
some logical explanation for why Trump may have not been
in that conversation. It may literally have been a timing thing.
Now you could say, well, you know, he's blowing boats
out of the water, and you know these judicial killings,
and you know he's turning troops on American cities. So
(24:16):
it's for that reason that he wasn't included. Well maybe, okay, maybe,
but I'm thinking that this gossip deal is pretty big,
and that they might have really felt as though he
was worthy on some level. I mean, he really did
say what you want, I mean, give the devil his due.
He really did get these parties intractable as they were
(24:41):
to sign on to a deal. And as Deborah says,
hostages come back, cessation of hostilities, humanitarian aid six hundred
trucks a day. Things radically changed. And I think it
really was the result of his heavy lift bad they.
Speaker 8 (25:00):
Couldn't award two yeah rises, right, So this is the
one that they had locked in, right, and because of
the Mid East and everything that's going on, they decide
to add a second you know, second place.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Yeah, or a tie. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
It's like the Oscars though, you know, I mean, where's
show Business Town?
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Sometimes feel like, gosh, how can you even compare these
two movies? They're both fabulous, but there can be only
one winner.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
And but this was.
Speaker 8 (25:28):
Different because because this piece planned losing my voice hang on, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
It's not critical fortunately in this medium that you have
a voice.
Speaker 12 (25:38):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 8 (25:40):
You know what I'm getting at is that unfortunately the
peace plan wasn't ironed out sooner right for him to
have gotten the award. And with the Oscars, the movies,
they all have to be out at a certain.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Time, that's right, I mean, And the Oscars movies will
tell you that they oftentimes, if they want to be
in the Oscar Conversation, they release movies later in the
year because the ones in January and February get forgotten
in the Oscar Conversation. So this is a note to
all of you who are going to, you know, work
for peace in the world. If you're really angling for
(26:10):
a Nobel Peace Prize, don't get the piece days before
they announced it.
Speaker 12 (26:16):
It should have been months ago exactly. Bride and Trump
do that.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Don't even bother if it's only going to be a
couple of days before the Nobel Peace Prize announcement. It's
the John co Belt Show, Mark Thompson here on KFI
AM six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (26:32):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
We've got a conversation at top of the hour with
someone who really, single handedly and kind of that's why
I wanted to talk to her, began a legislative process
that just passed the finish line, Governor Newsom, passing really
a landmark bill when it comes to animals. Love talk
(27:00):
to her about that top of the hour. I mean,
like most things, it's interesting. You know, once you pass
a bill, you know you have a quite a gaggle
of people around you taking credit for it, but the
actual lift starts oftentimes with one person. And I love
those stories because I feel like it's a message to
(27:21):
all of us that, you know, if there's something that's
angering you, if you're outraged by something in your neighborhood
or your community. You may just feel overmatched by the mayor,
by the city council, whatever it might be. And the
reality can be that just or big money. In this case,
I think it's a big money thing. You could totally
(27:41):
outspend by the opposition a little bit more into a
top of the hour, But this is the triumph of
one person against all those things. So we'll do that.
Just after two o'clock. I just kind of got into this.
I was talking to John Cobalt about this the other day.
The city controller, the La City Controller, Kenneth Maheea, is
(28:04):
everybody familiar with him. He's really an interesting character because
he's got a social media presence and that is the
way to communicate with people increasingly. And he talks about
on his social media the way that he is trying
to audit the city as the La City Controller. He's
trying to track money in the city and how he's
(28:24):
getting big timed and stonewalled by the mayor and by
those in office in the city. This is in La
who are it would seem And this is the kind
of suggestion maybe protecting questions about how money is spent,
(28:45):
particularly on what the same thing that we're all outraged
by homelessness, that homeless industrial complex that just gets money
poured into it and the results are questionable. So this
Kenneth Mahia again, the LA City Controller. He's got an
Instagram account, and I've kind of gotten into watching it
(29:06):
because he sort of spells it out, like I'm trying
to get some answers for the people of Los Angeles,
but I'm getting stonewalled by city leadership. Here's a bit
of him on Instagram. Kenneth Mahia, Go ahead, Mario is
Oscar distracting you in there? And this is like great, yeah,
(29:29):
because I'm filling in, so no big deal. Come on,
you can all right? Are you ready?
Speaker 11 (29:34):
This is Kenneth Mehia millions of dollars to avoid transparency
and accountability by yours truly, Kenneth Mahia, your.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
City controller, if you didn't know.
Speaker 11 (29:44):
The City of Los Angeles was sued over its homelessness efforts,
and part of that case, the city had to undergo
an audit, and instead of going with the independently elected
city controller who was the city's auditor, who actually would
have done this for free, the city ended up spending
nearly three million dollars on an outside firm who is
(30:05):
not an audit firm to actually conduct this audit over
homelessness spending and also homelessness efforts as well. And so
when the results came back, the city actually disparaged the results.
You know, they didn't call it a real audit, it
was an assessment. And so here we are today, and
the judge, instead of appointing a receivership over all of
(30:27):
the city's homelessness efforts, decided that the city needs a
monitor over its homelessness spending and efforts in real time.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
And so wow, here's another opportunity for oversight.
Speaker 11 (30:39):
And the plaintiffs suing the city actually recommended our office,
the current city Controller's office, to be a monitor, but the.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
City of La rejected that. They said, no, not you again.
Speaker 11 (30:51):
And so you know, my audit team, we have decades
of experience in technical expertise with data, homelessness subject matter
experts we created the city's homelessness.
Speaker 5 (31:04):
Dashboard were also independent. So I thought, wow, this would
have been perfect because we're already doing the work.
Speaker 11 (31:10):
But the city decided that they're going to pick.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
The former city controller, my predecessor.
Speaker 11 (31:17):
And so I thought, wow, it's not that they don't
want the city controller. They don't want this city controller,
me ken Ath and Mihia, the independent elected city controller
that you all wanted me to bring that transparency and accountability.
But anyways, I'm here to make sure that we will
continue to provide that independence and that oversight that you
(31:39):
will want.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
And voted for.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
Okay, so we'll keep you all posted.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
I really feel as though he lays it out well,
it's inexcusable what's happening with spending around homelessness in Los Angeles.
It's just inexcusable. This is a system and almostness programs
that are so suspect, some of them, and certainly as
a collective that you have independent judgments saying there must
(32:06):
be an audit, there must be a monitor. So Mahem
makes a really good argument. It's also a low cost argument.
He's already there, his people are already there, and to me,
it's inexcusable. And it's one more way that you're seeing
(32:26):
waste in the city of Los Angeles, and this just
did the City of LA doesn't have money to waste.
Kenneth Mahee you can follow him on Instagram. He's got
a pretty robust social media following because he spells stuff
out just like that. When we come back, it's the
power of one person to get a law passed in California.
(32:50):
Amazing story. It took a while. Doctor Jennifer Conrad talks
to us next about that process and it finally getting
over the finish line. In the last It's The Cobalt Show.
Thompson sitting in on KFI AM six forty. We're live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Hey, you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast.
You can always hear the show live on KFI AM
six forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Can if I am six forty you're listening to the
John Cobelt podcast on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
App John Cobelt Show. I spoke to him last night,
Mark Thompson. Here, John was packing even as I spoke
to him. It's very exciting. He's got a European itinerary
he's going to. Isn't he going to Iceland or something?
Also didn't get into it. Deborah, Well, you know, Deborah
has a like a situation room back there, tracking John's
(00:28):
whereabouts across the globe. You know, with these little different
colored pins, it looks like a murder investigation back there.
We'll talk more about it as the afternoon wear is on,
but just be me for the day, and I'm excited
to be here on a day where there's a lot
of news and not the least of that news comes
out of Sacramento and a new bill just signed by
(00:49):
the governor overhauling local zoning to build more housing. Now
we need more housing, Michael monks, But I'm told this
is very specific housing.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
It is very specific housing. And this particular piece of
legislation has been sitting on Governor Newsom's desk for a
few weeks now, it's one of the high ticket items
that came out of the General Assembly just this year
because it involves housing. We know that there is a
so called housing crisis, as it's been characterized. There's not
enough housing, and if there were more housing, a lot
(01:19):
of people argue that maybe rents would be cheaper and
more people would be able to afford to live in California,
specifically big cities like Los Angeles where it is extremely expensive.
So this particular bill was called Senate Bill seventy nine,
got a nice ring to it. Yeah, indeed, it's a
good number. You want a good number attached to your bill.
(01:40):
SB seventy nine flows right off the tongue, and it
flowed off a lot of tongues here in LA even
among people who tend to be pro housing, they say,
we need more housing.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
But opposed this bill.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
This clears the way for zoning changes around transit locations,
specifically subway stations, light rail stations. But also, and this
is where it gets a little murky and confusing for folks,
some bus stops, not all. We're talking about those rapid
bus lines or heavy trafficked bus lines. So there's been
(02:12):
a lot of fear in communities about what this means
for their neighborhoods because they look outside, they see a
bus stop on the corner and they think, some big
apartment tower is coming into my single family home neighborhood
and it's not gonna fit. This allows for dense housing
up to seven stories near these transit areas, even if
(02:35):
local zoning disallows it.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
So there was a big bush here, I mean, that's
how this stuff gets across the finish line.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
There were some real lobby efforts on both sides.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Are you familiar with the yimbi versus the nimbi? Yeah,
this is a good thing. Please talk about this, sure, Yes,
in my backyard.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Know, in my backyard, nimby has been a thing for
a long time. It's been a sort of a pejorative
that you could throw at people who say, I don't
want that business, that development in my neighborhood, and they're
just nimbi's. They're nimbis, they're nimbies. But this new movement
has developed very strongly in California called yimbi's. Yes, we
want all the housing belt, we want it all. And
(03:13):
there are people who are concerned about the way neighborhoods
look and that you don't want to disrupt the flow,
and Zoni exists for a reason. It's to keep continuity
in neighborhoods, is to keep character, it's to preserve historic
residences and those.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Sorts of things.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Supporters of this bill say, don't worry, this is not
here to disrupt any of that. What it is to
do is to find all of those empty lots or
those underutilized lots near these transit lines where we can
now build larger apartment buildings and put people living there
who don't necessarily want.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
To drive cars.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
So you're addressing a couple of things.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
We're also talking about traffic congestion as well, so you're
hyping up metro for example. Another thing to keep in
mind is this is a state law that wise spek's
way more than just LA. It does, but not as
much as you might think. Oh, really, eight counties only.
It originally was going to be statewide, but this bill
got a lot of attention and it now only applies
(04:08):
to the larger counties. Los Angeles and Orange Counties are
among them, but the other ones are San Diego, Santa Clair, Alameda, Sacramento,
San Francisco, and San Mateo. This issue came up at
La City Hall and it was one of the more
contentious debates that I had seen there. Every now and then,
the Board of Supervisors or the city Council, and really
all over the place, they'll vote to endorse a piece
(04:29):
of state legislation or federal legislation, and sometimes there's a
little teeth to it, like their own lobbying firms in
the Capitol or in Washington.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Will work to push this.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
But they voted specifically on this one, and by a
vote of eight to five. The City of Los Angeles
is on the record as opposing this bill. Here is
what Councilwoman Tracy Park, who represents the Palisades, had to
say about it.
Speaker 6 (04:51):
Cities that have done the work to responsibly address housing
shouldn't be lumped in with the same mandates that apply
to city that have done nothing.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
SB seventy nine.
Speaker 6 (05:04):
Overrides our progress, It disregards our communities and opens the
floodgates for developers to target vulnerable neighborhoods, places where families
have lived for generations, and Sacramento isn't footing the bill.
The costs of upgrading schools, utilities, roads, public safety, all
of that will fall squarely on the shoulders of Angelino's.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
What the councilwoman is saying is, look, Los Angeles recognizes
that there is a housing shortage, heir, but Los Angeles
is also doing its part.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
That's her claim.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Others would disagree, certainly, including other members of city Council
who said we're not doing enough. We're absolutely not doing enough,
so there was a tight vote. She is particularly concerned
about Palisades, and so are a lot of people. As
the Palisades starts to rebuild, will it have the same
character or as close to the same character as it
did before if legislation like this exists. Many proponents, vocal
(05:59):
proponents of this legislation say this will not touch the Palisades.
This is not relevant to the Palisades at all. There
are no metro stations in the Palisades and there are
no rapid bus lines, so have no fear. But that
fear does still exist.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yah, and she represents that the Palisades, she'd expect her
to articulate something related to her constituency there, you know exactly.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
And Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who also voted against supporting this
bill on the City level, a ceremonial vote who represents
the northeastern San Fernando Valley.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Her concern was.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
That she believes that this bill could apply to future
lines that don't necessarily exist yet. So when you think
about the metro system as it exists today and the
maps of the future, that's what she's concerned about, because
there are often maps created that never come to fruition.
So if you start to put the cart before the
(06:53):
horse here and you are building these tall buildings next
to a planned metro state that never opens up, then
you might have a development that's out of character without
the transit to support it.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
That's really thinking way ahead in the movie, isn't it.
But I mean that is not without some valid, valid
point in the analysis. Yeah, the idea somehow that this
is an urbanization of areas that are already urbanized or overdevelopment.
Is that an issue anymore? Or is the need for
housing so immense that people just bump that issue out
(07:28):
of them.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
This gets back into the ymbi versus nimby thing, because
I think even if you are somebody who is who
might fall into that nimbi bucket, just generically you are
still able to recognize that more housing is needed. It
affects the market, and if there is more on the market,
then the price should go down. It's supply and demand.
The concerns are simply about neighborhood character, and you are right,
(07:51):
is my suburban style neighborhood going to be urbanized by
a seven story tower next to the metro station? Valid concern,
But there are others who say, well, it's time to
urbanize because we're not using our land properly. We have
all of you might live in a suburban neighborhood that
has a gas station with a good sized parking lot,
(08:13):
neither of which are open or utilized right now. So
why try to bring another gas station in there when
you could put a tower and one hundred, one hundred
and fifty more residents who would be taking the train
into the city to work.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Well, it would be there in proximity to take in
the train, but they may or may not take the train.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Yeah, that's right, that there's that too. It's going to require.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
A lot of coordination between the development and Metro really
coming to fruition here. Now there's a lot of train
stations already and some usable land around those train stations,
as well as some of those bus stops that are
along these rapid transit lines that will lend themselves very
easily to this type of development. You're right, does this
(08:59):
immediately ease congestion on the five and that sort of
thing to be determined. The system itself needs to be
cleaned up and inviting to folks in ways that go
beyond the paper, the ways that go beyond the map.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
That was the next point I was going to make.
I mean, they have to clean up mass transit. I
mean you have to make it something that you know,
where it's not life threatening or sketchy to get on board.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
There is a police department coming to Metro in twenty
twenty nine, so by the time these buildings are able
to even open, and we know how long it takes
to build anything around here, But if you're thinking years
in advance, let's say a building is going to open
in twenty thirty two. Ideally, we know how government works
around here, not always great. Ideally, you got yourself a
nice building. You're right next to a train stop, and
(09:43):
that train is clean and well patrolled.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Monks, nice stuff. SB.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Seventy nine. It is law now in California indeed signed it.
So thanks for the update, my pleasure. We'll watch for
an apartment building near you as soon. It is the
co Belt Show. Mark Thompson sitting in for John. I'm
KFI AM six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (10:07):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
I am struck by, as I'm sure many of you
might have been, the blow up around the Katie Porter
outtakes now that have hobbled her campaign for governor. I mean,
she was the darling of many Democrats and even some
(10:40):
independence I mean in middle of the roots felt like,
you know, she speaks truth the power. She's the one
with that whiteboard. She breaks concepts down in a way
that they need to be broken down and explained, and
she could be an advocate for, you know, the every person.
And this whole thing started as the pushback in that
(11:06):
was it a CBS interview she was doing that k
col She had just I guess had one of those
days if you want to try to kind of see
it from her perspective. You know, Debra, you sit down
with a candidate and you asked a couple of tough questions.
You know, who's really good at that taking off the
microphone and walking away is zoo Donald Trump? I mean,
(11:26):
he's walked out of many an interview. You know, it
seems to work for him.
Speaker 8 (11:30):
But what was interesting about with Katie Porters She didn't
like the follow up questions. And I was talking to
John about this yesterday. What good reporter doesn't ask a
follow up question? You're taught that in you know, beginning journalism,
that you have a list of questions and depending on
the person that you're interviewing and how they answer, you
follow up.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Sure, I mean you could. It was a weird follow
up only from the and yet not it was sort
of a benign follow up in a way. It was about,
you know, so if you don't get all the Democrats
to vote for you, you're going to have to get some
independence and Republicans. It would seem what do you say
to those Republicans? You know, how do you communicate a
(12:11):
message that sparks some interest in Republicans who are not
traditionally your supporters. I mean it's a fair question, you know,
And by the way, that's when I say it's a
benign question. It's an easy question for a politician to field.
I mean, if that's the question that is going to
get your backup, then it's sort of weird. But again,
I don't know long day whatever it might be. And
(12:34):
let me just say this, I'll just say it right
up front. If this was a dude, if this was
a guy, I promise you they'd be giving him more roly.
You know, he wouldn't take any crap with you know,
he he was tired of taking any grief. I mean, again,
Trump's gotten away with it. A lot of guys have
gotten away with it, Like Trump continues to call out Trump.
(12:54):
How can you ask such a stupid question? You know,
your organization is is awful. News is terrible, your fake news,
and Trump gets away with it. Katie Porter, it's off
brand for her, which is why it's so if she
was typically combative, if she had that kind of coarse exterior,
(13:15):
the kind of that exterior that Trump has when he's
not trying to be charming, then it might be different.
I mean, i'd suggest this is impolitic. You know, this
doesn't work for you if you're a politician, no matter what.
So it really doesn't matter in a way what her
brand would have been, because it's just a bad idea
to blow up at a journalist. And then once it
(13:37):
started with the back and forth, she just was taken
on water. I thought, oh no, this is just terrible
for you. So what's happened now is that every time
she's blown up at anybody, we're seeing the video and
it's all floating to the surface.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
So Mario, we've got to this is.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I guess her yelling at a staffer back in twenty
twenty one when they were setting up a camera shot
and they were shooting something about electric vehicles for the
Biden administration, and the staffer was attempting to correct one
of her talking points, and this happened.
Speaker 9 (14:16):
We did a study recently this fall in September, and
what it showed is if we don't electrify or transportation sector,
that we're going to lose more than half a million
Californians dying prematurely to air pollution and other problems, and
the state could lose out of my shot.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
I wanted to tell you that that's actually incorrect.
Speaker 9 (14:39):
It's not that it's electric vehicles, it's that you don't
need a commitment as any of the Paris climate for.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
Okay, it does.
Speaker 10 (14:46):
Okay, you also were in my shot before that, Stay
out of my shot. Okay, I'm going to start again
with electric vehicle savingus money.
Speaker 11 (14:56):
Perfect.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Okay, So.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
You know, not the best look. Yelling at a staffer
is never good. I don't know, you know, maybe it's
just me, Debora. I'm trying to be sympathetic. I'm always
sympathetic to people who are, you know, trying to communicate
something and they get distracted by something. But maybe I'm
(15:23):
just bending over backwards. I mean, it's really hard for me.
She's got a reputation of kind of being a hothead.
Speaker 11 (15:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (15:28):
I don't think you should treat your staff people or
anybody that works for you like that.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
But if you can't treat your staff that way, then
who can you treat them?
Speaker 8 (15:38):
That's very true, Mark, that is I don't really have
an answer for that.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
If we can get some aving confidence around.
Speaker 8 (15:46):
Here, and then politicians I think are so dumb for
doing that because that always leaks out. We always hear
from ex staffers speaking with celebrities. We always hear about
those that treat their people badly.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Well, she now it just has dropped like a stone
in terms of it would seem her her general profile
as a legitimate gubernatorial candidates. I say, and she was
very much in the conversation. Now she's very much in
a different conversation, and it's not good for that candidacy,
(16:19):
you know. She filed for divorce in twenty thirteen, and
part of the divorce, the ex husband claimed she was
a hothead abused him verbally through toys, books, and other objects.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Potatos.
Speaker 8 (16:30):
John calls her missus potato, not me. I don't call
her that. That's John Cobalt.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
The claim from.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
The ex who tried to get a restraining order, claiming
that she would call him an effing idiot, effing incompetent,
shattered a glass coffee pot in the kitchen when she
felt the house wasn't clean enough. To be fair, how
are you going to communicate that the house isn't cleaned
unless you break a few coffee Well.
Speaker 12 (17:04):
I guess that's the way to do it. Gravatantrum.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
She would not let me have a cell phone because
she said you were too effing dumbed operated.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
The ex husband said, well, why would.
Speaker 8 (17:13):
You let your wife decide if you can or cannot
have a self.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
It sounds like an odd relationship to begin with. When
she gets angry, she will claw and scratch her arms
and then say to.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Me, look what you made me do?
Speaker 12 (17:26):
Oh god, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Again, I think she was out of line. I think
as a politician, you have to do better, as Deborah's
basically said, you know, And I didn't think that that
line of questioning was out of control.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
I get it. It's sort of vexing.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
It's irritating when someone's saying, well, what are you saying
you're going to get every vote you know from the Democrats?
I mean, don't you need to get some votes? And
then well, I'm saying that I you know, I'm going
to bring my message, and really, do you think your
message is going to somehow resonate with Republicans? I mean,
instead of, as Deborah says, you know, getting your backup
(18:07):
about the follow ups. Just to handle the follow ups
like the politician you are are.
Speaker 8 (18:10):
Your pr person needs to sit down and say to you, hey, look,
you're going to agree to an interview. There's going to
be follow up questions.
Speaker 12 (18:17):
End of story.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah, in two thousand and six, this is the ex
husband again. I always feel like if you're if you're
reading the divorce accounts, you're getting pretty much the worst
possible profile of somebody. But anyway, having said that, in
two thousand and six, the ex husband Hoffman said she
took a issue that his porter did Katie Porter, with
(18:39):
how he was preparing mashed potatoes for dinner. I just
remembering this for the Cobalt audience that might have missed
it the last time, asking him, can't you read the
effing instructions? Then her ex husband said that she raised
a ceramic bowl of steaming hot potatoes and dumped it
on his head, burning his scalp. Wow, Yeah, there's no
(19:05):
real I'm sorry, I can't spend that for her.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
I cannot.
Speaker 12 (19:09):
That's a hard one.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah, but why can't he read the effing instructions? Okay,
maybe that's.
Speaker 8 (19:14):
Where I don't read instructions that well when it comes
to cooking either. But hopefully my husband would never throw
a heat potatoes.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Steaming, certainly not steaming hot potatoes. Yeah, that's the story
on Katie Porter. She's in trouble. The reputational harm from
something like that is real. You've seen it before, and
sadly it's great copy, meaning You're going to see it
over and over. I mean, it's the kind of virality
that will carry for days. So everybody's going to see it,
hear it, talk about it, and as a result.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
It just it takes on a life of its own.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
So it opens up the field in such a big
way in the gubernatorial race. And we'll talk about that
in the days ahead. It's a John Covelt Joe Mark
Thompson sitting in on KFI AM six forty. We're live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (20:00):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Debra keeping track of John's movements. I think he's just
catching a flight today it all begins, but a little
bit later we will will track his progress in itinerary,
which is quite exciting. Meantime, there is blowback about this
Nobel Prize, the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize
(20:28):
did not go to Donald Trump. You know, the White
House had been campaigning, has had many around the President
calling for Donald Trump to win the prize. And even
when this Maria Carrino Machado won. She's the Venezuelan democracy crusader.
(20:49):
You know her story it's kind of a wild story.
In Venezuela. Her party the opposition party from Maduro, and
she wasn't the candidate, but she was like a you know,
a real crusader for this opposition party, calling out the
authoritarianism and the fascism of this Maduro Guy's a bad dude.
Well they won, they won the election, but Maduro denied
(21:14):
the results, controls the military in Venezuela and forced the
opposition candidate into exile, forced her this Maria Corina Machando,
the one who won the Nobel Prize, forced her.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
Into hiding.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
So for the last year they've been and she's been
heading up this effort talking about the fact that you know,
he is holding office illegally in denial of what the
election results were, and she's trying to restore democracy to Venezuela. Well,
(21:57):
this is worthy the Nobel Committee's view of a Nobel
Peace Prize. Now the Trump people are saying, what do
we gotta do? We ended the Gaza conflict. We got
all these signatories to these multi stage blueprints associated with
ending the Gaza conflict. And it was Donald Trump who
(22:21):
helped make that happen. I mean, isn't that Nobel Peace
Prize worthy. Now, to be fair to the Nobel Committee,
I don't really know, maybe you do, Deborah, how the
actual timing of the vote works. But a little like
oscar voting, you know, some of the votes come in
before the peace plan announcement comes in. I mean, after all,
(22:44):
the Gaza peace Plan was just announced in the last
couple of.
Speaker 8 (22:46):
Days exactly, and I heard people talking about that. I
heard a talk show host talking about that that it
probably was already locked Inmever it was just because President
Trump was successful in getting peace.
Speaker 12 (22:59):
In the Middle East.
Speaker 8 (22:59):
Hopefully it's going to go through and everything will work out,
the hostages will go home Monday Tuesday. But yeah, they
probably already made that decision way before this happened exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
So the cake was baked already there was no way
to redo it. But the White House, as I say,
did not immediately congratulate her. I think Donald Trump guessing
here because you know, there's been no official word, but
just seems kind of consistent with him that he's probably
(23:30):
not super happy.
Speaker 12 (23:31):
I'm sure he's pissed off being left.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Out of the Nobel Peace Prize conversation. So all of
these things have riled up MAGA. So you know, his
real fans, the merch wearing, merch buying super megaheads, they
are not happy and they're angry about this. But I
think what we've just done is we've provided at least
(23:55):
some logical explanation for why Trump may have not been
in that conversation. It may literally have been a timing thing.
Now you could say, well, you know, he's blowing boats
out of the water, and you know these judicial killings,
and you know he's turning troops on American cities. So
(24:16):
it's for that reason that he wasn't included. Well maybe, okay, maybe,
but I'm thinking that this gossip deal is pretty big,
and that they might have really felt as though he
was worthy on some level. I mean, he really did
say what you want, I mean, give the devil his due.
He really did get these parties intractable as they were
(24:41):
to sign on to a deal. And as Deborah says,
hostages come back, cessation of hostilities, humanitarian aid six hundred
trucks a day. Things radically changed. And I think it
really was the result of his heavy lift bad they.
Speaker 8 (25:00):
Couldn't award two yeah rises, right, So this is the
one that they had locked in, right, and because of
the Mid East and everything that's going on, they decide
to add a second you know, second place.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Yeah, or a tie. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
It's like the Oscars though, you know, I mean, where's
show Business Town?
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Sometimes feel like, gosh, how can you even compare these
two movies? They're both fabulous, but there can be only
one winner.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
And but this was.
Speaker 8 (25:28):
Different because because this piece planned losing my voice hang on, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
It's not critical fortunately in this medium that you have
a voice.
Speaker 12 (25:38):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 8 (25:40):
You know what I'm getting at is that unfortunately the
peace plan wasn't ironed out sooner right for him to
have gotten the award. And with the Oscars, the movies,
they all have to be out at a certain.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Time, that's right, I mean, And the Oscars movies will
tell you that they oftentimes, if they want to be
in the Oscar Conversation, they release movies later in the
year because the ones in January and February get forgotten
in the Oscar Conversation. So this is a note to
all of you who are going to, you know, work
for peace in the world. If you're really angling for
(26:10):
a Nobel Peace Prize, don't get the piece days before
they announced it.
Speaker 12 (26:16):
It should have been months ago exactly. Bride and Trump
do that.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Don't even bother if it's only going to be a
couple of days before the Nobel Peace Prize announcement. It's
the John co Belt Show, Mark Thompson here on KFI
AM six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (26:32):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
We've got a conversation at top of the hour with
someone who really, single handedly and kind of that's why
I wanted to talk to her, began a legislative process
that just passed the finish line, Governor Newsom, passing really
a landmark bill when it comes to animals. Love talk
(27:00):
to her about that top of the hour. I mean,
like most things, it's interesting. You know, once you pass
a bill, you know you have a quite a gaggle
of people around you taking credit for it, but the
actual lift starts oftentimes with one person. And I love
those stories because I feel like it's a message to
(27:21):
all of us that, you know, if there's something that's
angering you, if you're outraged by something in your neighborhood
or your community. You may just feel overmatched by the mayor,
by the city council, whatever it might be. And the
reality can be that just or big money. In this case,
I think it's a big money thing. You could totally
(27:41):
outspend by the opposition a little bit more into a
top of the hour, But this is the triumph of
one person against all those things. So we'll do that.
Just after two o'clock. I just kind of got into this.
I was talking to John Cobalt about this the other day.
The city controller, the La City Controller, Kenneth Maheea, is
(28:04):
everybody familiar with him. He's really an interesting character because
he's got a social media presence and that is the
way to communicate with people increasingly. And he talks about
on his social media the way that he is trying
to audit the city as the La City Controller. He's
trying to track money in the city and how he's
(28:24):
getting big timed and stonewalled by the mayor and by
those in office in the city. This is in La
who are it would seem And this is the kind
of suggestion maybe protecting questions about how money is spent,
(28:45):
particularly on what the same thing that we're all outraged
by homelessness, that homeless industrial complex that just gets money
poured into it and the results are questionable. So this
Kenneth Mahia again, the LA City Controller. He's got an
Instagram account, and I've kind of gotten into watching it
(29:06):
because he sort of spells it out, like I'm trying
to get some answers for the people of Los Angeles,
but I'm getting stonewalled by city leadership. Here's a bit
of him on Instagram. Kenneth Mahia, Go ahead, Mario is
Oscar distracting you in there? And this is like great, yeah,
(29:29):
because I'm filling in, so no big deal. Come on,
you can all right? Are you ready?
Speaker 11 (29:34):
This is Kenneth Mehia millions of dollars to avoid transparency
and accountability by yours truly, Kenneth Mahia, your.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
City controller, if you didn't know.
Speaker 11 (29:44):
The City of Los Angeles was sued over its homelessness efforts,
and part of that case, the city had to undergo
an audit, and instead of going with the independently elected
city controller who was the city's auditor, who actually would
have done this for free, the city ended up spending
nearly three million dollars on an outside firm who is
(30:05):
not an audit firm to actually conduct this audit over
homelessness spending and also homelessness efforts as well. And so
when the results came back, the city actually disparaged the results.
You know, they didn't call it a real audit, it
was an assessment. And so here we are today, and
the judge, instead of appointing a receivership over all of
(30:27):
the city's homelessness efforts, decided that the city needs a
monitor over its homelessness spending and efforts in real time.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
And so wow, here's another opportunity for oversight.
Speaker 11 (30:39):
And the plaintiffs suing the city actually recommended our office,
the current city Controller's office, to be a monitor, but the.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
City of La rejected that. They said, no, not you again.
Speaker 11 (30:51):
And so you know, my audit team, we have decades
of experience in technical expertise with data, homelessness subject matter
experts we created the city's homelessness.
Speaker 5 (31:04):
Dashboard were also independent. So I thought, wow, this would
have been perfect because we're already doing the work.
Speaker 11 (31:10):
But the city decided that they're going to pick.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
The former city controller, my predecessor.
Speaker 11 (31:17):
And so I thought, wow, it's not that they don't
want the city controller. They don't want this city controller,
me ken Ath and Mihia, the independent elected city controller
that you all wanted me to bring that transparency and accountability.
But anyways, I'm here to make sure that we will
continue to provide that independence and that oversight that you
(31:39):
will want.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
And voted for.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
Okay, so we'll keep you all posted.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
I really feel as though he lays it out well,
it's inexcusable what's happening with spending around homelessness in Los Angeles.
It's just inexcusable. This is a system and almostness programs
that are so suspect, some of them, and certainly as
a collective that you have independent judgments saying there must
(32:06):
be an audit, there must be a monitor. So Mahem
makes a really good argument. It's also a low cost argument.
He's already there, his people are already there, and to me,
it's inexcusable. And it's one more way that you're seeing
(32:26):
waste in the city of Los Angeles, and this just
did the City of LA doesn't have money to waste.
Kenneth Mahee you can follow him on Instagram. He's got
a pretty robust social media following because he spells stuff
out just like that. When we come back, it's the
power of one person to get a law passed in California.
(32:50):
Amazing story. It took a while. Doctor Jennifer Conrad talks
to us next about that process and it finally getting
over the finish line. In the last It's The Cobalt Show.
Thompson sitting in on KFI AM six forty. We're live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Hey, you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast.
You can always hear the show live on KFI AM
six forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The John Kobylt Show News
Host
John Kobylt
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