August 11, 2026 • 33 mins
Hour 2 - The County District Attorney faces backlash after charging an LAPD officer who recorded colleagues’ racist remarks. Plus, county supervisors consider creating an Office of Gender Equity, LAUSD confronts a severe budget crisis, and a long-promised L.A. River bike path hits a billion-dollar roadblock.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Monks in maryl mosted by Michael Monks and
Chris Merrill. This is Monks and Merrill.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Demand before we get into the latest on this, I
guess surreptitious recording. Did you see President trumpets coming out?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Now? President Trump was there.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
There were concerns about Iron wanting to assassinate him. This
is when he was in Turkey, and the controversy at
the time was that he didn't take the new Air
Force one back, the one that was donated by Cutter,
because it didn't have the right technology on it. So
he was They said, well, he flew back on the
old Air Force one because it had the anti missile
(00:44):
tech or whatever it was. Come to find out, he
didn't even fly back on the old Air Force one
because he got onto the old Air Force one. And
then he went out in one of those food service elevator.
I don't know what you call those carriers. I guess what.
They put him in a box, put him in the box,
and then they took that over to the to where
Pete Hegxas's plane, and then they elevated again like they
(01:06):
were delivering more food to the other plane, but they
were actually delivering the President into the other plane, so
he did a little bit of a Houdini and then
he flew back, well, he went back to the UK
before he switched back into his cutter plane. It seems
like a kind of sneaky, sneaky and they got the
president out and you know, with a looming threat. Yeah,
it seems like a security lapse. Nonetheless, that they were
(01:30):
even close to getting on a plane that they ultimately
at the last moment determined was not ready.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
You know, I don't know what the president, I.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Don't know how much behind the scenes with that, because
he wasn't on either plane that he could have been
on that we thought.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
They ended up putting him on the other one.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
And I'm assuming that the security on the other plane
carrying cabinet members and Defense secretary and whatnot, that's probably
got advanced technologies as well anti missile technologies. So I
was fascinated by kind of the behind it. We don't
get to see behind the scenes of what the Secret
Service does to avoid obviously, but I mean, if they
if they being whoever these bad guys were ended up
(02:05):
targeting either of the Air Force one, they would have
gotten the media or some staff. Yeah, That's the other
thing is that the Air Force One was then set
up as a decoy. So there were other people on
the original Air Force One that thought the White House
president is here with us. Yeah, the White House pool
and other staff members. Yeah, we're still on there thinking
the president's in the back. And yeah, I had somebody
(02:26):
tried to take that plane out then, but I'm not
I'm assuming that they still went with their defensive measures
on the old air It's not like they wanted that
to blow up. Yeah, yeah, because that would be a
pr nightmare too. Let's let's face it. I would like
to hear Trump's telling of this now. I think the
White House hasn't completely commented on this. I think the
Washington Post was first to report these new details. Yeah,
(02:48):
we knew that you didn't travel on the main the
new Air Force One, and White House was very defensive
about the original reporting that came out about you know,
the uncertainty around this gift, right, But now these new
details are that Trump was clandestinely removed from Air Force One.
I don't know, like he was holding a tablecloth over
(03:09):
himself or something.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
It wasn't like that probably been more.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Fun full mission impossible to snuck out in some sort
of a serving cart.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
In the meantime, closer to home, we have talked about
this in the past, and that is that there was
an LA officer who was recording his coworkers because they
were making these comments that were racist, sexist, homophobic. Some
chalked it up to locker room talk. Some said, it
doesn't matter if it's a locker room or not. You're
professional law enforcement officers. If you're joking about those things,
(03:39):
you're unprofessional. You shouldn't hold those views. So this guy
took the recordings to internal affairs, and internal affairs said,
thank you very much, you're under arrest. And he's under
arrest for the recordings because we're a dual consent state,
two party consent state, so everybody has to know if
you're recording. You can't just record someone without their knowledge.
(04:01):
That's a felony, and so Dia Hakman says, you can't
do that.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
So now.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It's a bit of a weird situation because it seems
like this whistleblower was trying Look, these are still allegations
against the other officers, let's be clear, but he was
trying to have proof that there was some bad behavior
going on in this section of LAPD. His lawsuit against
the department says the remarks made about, you know, stereotypes
about black people eating watermelon, women being untrustworthy, b words.
(04:32):
There were remarks about gay officers, there were results of
remarks about Asian people, and one supervisor, according to this lawsuit,
allegedly joked that Dodger's legend Fernando Valenzuela died because he
ate too many tacos. That's not even funny, is that
A Is that a racist joker? A fat joe man?
Speaker 3 (04:49):
I don't know what it is.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
LAPD officer Daniel Flores. Appearing in public for the first
time since his bombshell case was made public. Flores was
in court for a brief hearing, pleading not guilty to
charges he illegally recorded his fellow officers as they made
a slew of racist, misogynistic, and homophobic comments.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Does not forget us fat people. We need to be
represented to made fat shaming jokes.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Flores spoke only once, as the judge asked him whether
he understood the court's instructions.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Jos yes, ROMI that was exciting.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
But the story now from cbsladit, that's all you're gonna get.
The story now is that d. A. Hawkman is facing
backlash from some prominent folks for going after this guy,
Daniel Flores. So keep in mind the officer has a
lawsuit against the department, but he's now facing sixteen felonies
for secretly recording. But Hawkman has faced some criticism from
(05:46):
Mayor Karen Bass and just today we got word from
the office of City Council and Hugosta Martinez that he
has introduced a resolution condemning Hawkman for his decision to
charge Flores with sixteen felony counts. So this is a
resolution that hasn't been voted on yet, but Soda Martinez says,
the DA is sending a chilling message if you report
(06:07):
misconduct through the appropriate channels, you could be prosecuted. Beyond that,
dismissing racist, misogynistic, and homophobic behavior as locker room talk
is unacceptable. The DA should drop these charges immediately. I'm
having some issues with this because I don't think everybody
I don't think anybody's right.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, everybody's everybody's a little wrong on this. Yeah, because
one you're an officer of the law. You can't break
the law. Individual ante sense, right, He's going to say,
I was investigating, and when you're an officer investigating things,
then the law doesn't apply to you, kind of does.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
The flip side is the LAPD is.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Not telling us anything about what sort of consequences use
the letter officers face. They just said, it's an internal matter.
We dealt with it. How did you deal with it?
The public means to know that you're dealing with things
in a manner that restores our faith in the integrity
of the LAPD, which, let's face it, that bar is
pretty low. It's not very high. We'd like to have
(07:03):
a little bit of integrity here. And when you operate
in silence and you don't share these things with us,
you don't tell us what happened. I don't need names.
You just got to tell me what you did with
these officers. They've been bumped down, they've been removed from duty,
they're no longer whatever it is, right, you gotta tell
us what's going on, because now what we're seeing is
the guys who hate the other members of their community.
(07:26):
The racist, the misogynists, the homophobes, whatever it is, they're
getting away with stuff. But the guy who wanted to
bring this to light and make society better, he's being
punished with sixteen felons. That's the message that the public's
taking away from this. The LA County government is looking
to add yet another office, this one based on United
Nations principles. M Yeah, okay, what could this possibly be?
(07:51):
That's next on Monks and marriage office is going to
fix the potholes?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
No, oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on demand from KFI
am six.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Fting more stimulating talk.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
It is Monks and Marylyn Michael Monks alongside Chris Merrill.
A new department coming possibly to LA County government. Supervisor
Lindsay Horvath wants LA County to study the creation of
an Office of Gender Equity.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Now.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Supporters see a central authority that could coordinate what they
see as fragmented programs. I want to let you know
that the La County Board of Supervisors is meeting right
this moment. They have already approved this motion to explore
good use of time the Office of Gender Equity. Now,
this is something based on United Nations principles which seek
(08:39):
to eliminate discrimination against women. So that sounds nice. I
didn't realize it was worth some time at the supervisors
meeting today. I think this is another example of the
local elected officials not focusing on the things on a
base level that are not functioning. You know, if everything
(09:02):
else were fine, if homelessness were not a problem, if
you weren't if you weren't trying to create new departments
to deal with homelessness, if if we had to, you know,
whatever the other issues are that the county is facing
right now, if all of these things were straightened out,
then we'd go, all right, what is something that can
help to improve our lives beyond the basics infrastructure, fire, medical,
(09:24):
you know, first responder, sheriff's department, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Now you can look at some of the other stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Right when we're talking about the United Nations, they're dealing
with countries that still have such an equality that women
aren't allowed to drive or leave the house without their
husband's permission kind of thing. Well, sure, right, when we've
got some inequality here still, there's no question about it.
It's not like it's when they say, oh, it's modeled
after the United Nations. The United Nations is dealing with
a totally different issue of gender equality.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Do you know we only paid Deborah nine dollars an hour?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Did you know that.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
That's not equitable? That is not and I'm working on
a new contract. It isn't going very well.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
We might be able to see county, you might get
more now with the new Board of Gender Equality. Well,
this is something that they say would offer around the
principles of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women. La County incorporated those
principles into county laws five years ago. Okay, why are
(10:22):
they doing this now? Well, staff would recommend where the
office should sit, wish existing resources it could use.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Keep in mind we're in a fiscal crisis at the
cast the Sandwiches is going to cost us.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
They want to know what additional resources it would need
and whether the county has to amend its existing organizes.
This is something where if there is an instance of
gender inequality, it's brought to the DA to investigate.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
That's it. That's it. That's all it is.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
This is no that's how it should be. What they're
doing is they're creating an office to create busy work.
What do you ways say about the local government. It's
not about getting things done. It's a jobs program. And
that's another example of what this is. Let's create a
whole new department to create a jobs This is certainly
I'm saying there is any equity. I'm not saying there
isn't a problem, but creating a new department is not
(11:06):
the solution to it. It's true, but if they were
busy with infrastructure and solving homelessness and that sort of thing,
when would they have time for this type of grand standing.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
They love this.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
By the way, also in the agenda today, and this
isn't me hating on women. I mean I agree that
there's a discrimination. Hold on before you move on to
other agenda items. There's already a Commission for Women. Yeah,
Office of Health Equity, and Office of Violence Prevention, and
a gender Impact Assessment program.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Those already exist.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
We just thought we need to create another one. They
are also on the agenda with and the reason I
wanted to bring this one up semi related to women,
ensuring best practices for menopause education and treatment. Those are
all worthy. What is the county's role, Well, the county
does oversee certain health initiatives. I mean, it is important.
But when you look at the County Board of Supervisors
(11:57):
meeting agenda, first of all, their meetings takes between seven
and nine hours every Tuesday.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Brutal because they all have to talk.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
They treat each item that's going to be brought to
the floor for discussion individually, so all the public comment
takes place. It is a disaster of a meeting. It
is completely unlistenable. What if we were to create just
hear me out, an Office of Meetings? Oh, that sounds fun. Yeah,
(12:27):
I would chair that committee. Yeah, I think it'd be
a really good office coordinate office meeting class.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
I love a meeting about a meeting.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Well, I think we could have plenty of meetings about
having forming a committee for more meetings in as part
of our Office of Meeting office. I got a statement
from Supervisor horror As She says La County has a
responsibility to lead on gender equity and to make it
real in the policies, programs and services we deliver. We
have built a strong foundation for this work, that's what
(12:55):
you're talking. But she says we need sustained leadership to
carry dog whistles and embedded gender equity across county government.
That means building systems that work for everyone. Hold on,
because here's the list of people this will apply to.
Maybe you're one of them. It's not just women, because
she lists women those identify as women, girls, transgender. Yeah
(13:19):
you think I'm stopping there because I'm not. No, no
questioning gender expansive, gender expansive folks and a man, woman
and a duck gender non conforming people. Okay, so this
doesn't mean anything when it applies to everyone. It's the
same saying that when you expand the queer umbrella to
(13:39):
meaning anybody who dyes their hair purple, it doesn't mean anything.
If it applies to everyone, You've diluted the entire ecosystem.
It's boring now used to be fun. Well, I think
it's because everyone wants to be a part of a
special They do exactly. Every special interest group wants to
expand their tent. Exactly right. I want to get back
to before we before we move. Unless you've got something else, please,
(13:59):
I'm on the mass head. It doesn't matter that steamroll over, Danny,
the DA bring these charges against the cop who was recording.
We had some feedback on that I wanted to share, right, yeah,
some people said here, So here's the first So if
you missed it, there's a guy.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
He's a cop.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
He recorded other cops saying some pretty horrible things, racist, homophobic,
and misogynistic. YadA, YadA, YadA. We don't know what happened
to the cops and said those things. He took the
recording to I A, and I A said, oh good,
you're under arrest. You can't record people without their permission.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
Hi, guys, this is Pat from Sherman Oaks. Hawkman is
doing what he's supposed to do. I mean, a cop
should know that he needs a warrant to do a
wire tap or to record somebody without their knowledge, even
to do an investigation. What he overheard himself could be
the basis to get that warrant, but he still needs
(14:52):
that warrant, and that has to be very clear.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Police can't abuse the law.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
And I disagree with you. I just think that's a
little I agree with everything you said, actually, but yeah,
is it more nuanced than that, because we also talk
about kind of the boys club and if I had
have gone to internal affairs and I would have been
identified and now I would have been a target of retribution.
I know, policy is always oh you know, no one
is going to get in trouble for being a whistleblower.
(15:19):
Tough position for I think everybody here. But I think
that take is right. I think hawkman is doing, you know,
what you're supposed to do under the law. This guy
violated the law and doing what he did despite his intentions.
You got to file the charges and you've got to
prosecute him. Yeah, but your point's well taken too, because
if you're surrounded by people who would never turn on
the other ones despite they behave.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Sometimes you got to bend the rules to make things better,
don't you.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yes, but there are consequences to that. But the point
that the gentleman who called the point he made is,
I think you've poisoned the well with the illegal acquisition
of the remarks, So can they be used in any
type of a discipline or even prosecution.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
It's actually it's uh, it's funny you see.
Speaker 7 (16:00):
That Hey, Monks and Meryl. Hey, I worked in Ia
for a few years. Internal Unfortunately, this officer, he essentially
poisoned the well. So when he recorded those conversations, they
can't be used. It just causes a ton of problems. Now,
I don't think they're gonna come down really hard on
him ultimately, even though that's what it looks like right now.
(16:21):
But boy, talk about a can of worms that's been opened,
because now all the officers know about it, everybody knows
about it, and there's all kinds of stuff probably going down.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, great, great, it's fantastic. Whatever.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Who cares, nothing matters. Meanwhile, officer official, excuse me or
pleading with you, do not worry about the money. They'd
love to say, don't worry about the money until the
money runs out. What we know is that even a
fourth grader can tell you the balance sheet isn't balancing,
which means the schools might get sent to detention, who
may soon make the choices that lausd that the leaders
(16:53):
have been avoiding.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Is next.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on demand from.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Tomorrow on the program. Did you know that in the
state of California you can get married at any age?
Any age? Any age? Kind of creepy okay, Like if
I'm ninety or nine, stop it, yep. What if I'm
ninety and I want to marry a nine year old?
Is that legal?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yep? Stop it? Yep? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
So some former let's call him victims of the child
bride industry are speaking out about that. But a very
interesting group is saying, nah, this is a bad idea,
and you're gonna find out who that is tomorrow on
the show.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
They want to keep it going.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
I don't know that they want to keep it going,
but they have some objections to stopping. We'll I'll tune in.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
I think you're gonna like it. I think you're gonna
like what you hear. I want to say this too.
We had d A.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Hockman has brought charges against the officer who was recording
his coworkers saying some pretty horrible things. He brought charges
against the guy making the recordings, though, because in California
you have to have all party consent when you're recording.
Most states don't require that, believe it or not. Most
states just somebody that's being recorded needs to know that
(18:10):
it's that it's being recorded. I said, sometimes you got
to break the rules in order to make things better. Oh,
I'm getting all kinds of grief on that. All kinds
of grief must be a day that inst in why yeah,
no kidding, no kidding.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Hey, guys, help me understand this.
Speaker 7 (18:27):
You can't record anybody, but yet in public you can
record anybody.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
With a video and audio. Yeah, I don't know. Something
doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
It's kind of weird.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
I like that observation. That has got to stop at
some point. But he said the oh, just no recording
at all. Well, I mean, if there's a lot of
videos that are posted online to embarrass people who don't
even know that they're doing something embarrassing, you know, like, oh,
look at this this guy's butts hanging out of his
pants in line. Yeah, okay, let me get a shot
of it and let me post it online and everyone
can laugh at it. Eh, that doesn't seem right. It's
(19:01):
punching down right. Well, it's not just punching down. But
I mean there was no consent there. That's recorded, so
that's a record. He said that The key phrase that
is in public, because can you give a certain amount
of consent? There's no expectation of privacy. Be the star
of someone's viral video. There's got to be some nuance there.
When you go in public, you are putting yourself on display. Yeah,
(19:21):
there's no expectation of privacy, whereas these were private conversations.
There is an expectation of privacy. I I get why
I'm getting pushed back for saying, sometimes you got to
bend the rules a little bit, but I also understand
the laws.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
You can just not do anything snaky. What he should
have done is recorded the conversations. Then might have transcript
gone to a whistle blowing office.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
And said I think she's in the wheel.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
A whistle blow in office and said I remember from
conversations what people said and written it down. You would
not have gotten into trouble. There's nothing wrong with doing that.
I have recorded one way conversation. I didn't get caught
and I didn't get in trouble on Euston as a
reference point for future conversations.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Yeah, I don't believe that.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Lisa kay, I know you said somebody saying I've got
some as Co tea for you. Uh yeah, Well, we
were just talking about La County and the officer of
a gender equity that they're looking to open up.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
And what they've got all the money in the world
to do.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Well, That's what I was saying, is that we were
talking about them in the context of the greater good
of the people, and they seem so seldom focused on that,
playing its special interest groups or pandering to women, you know,
like they're doing today this office. It's probably a long
way from coming to fruition, and it's redundant from fort
but it gives great talking points for certain constituencies, I suppose.
(20:42):
But they're a broke government, just like the City of
Los Angeles, LA County is really low on funds. And
so imagine my surprise when I read about the struggles
that la USD. The school district is also having more
than broke, and the county threatening them, saying, well, we're
going to have to take over because you can't manage
your money. According to La Times, LA public schools back
(21:05):
in session tomorrow. That's right, summer's over, folks. District leaders
are downplaying fears that a looming budget crisis could lead
to a county takeover as they navigate a mandate from
the county no Less to move forward with plans to
cut thousands of jobs, pressure employees to accept unpaid furlough days,
and close an unspecified number of school buildings or campuses. Yeah,
(21:27):
so the school district is saying, guys, don't worry about
the fact that we're totally broken, can't pay any of
our bills, and that the county is looming and they're
gonna and they're gonna step in here and take over.
Don't worry about that, we'll figure it out. But they
also told us don't worry about the new contract with
the unions. We'll figure that out. And then they send
contracts that they they knew they couldn't pencil out and
make and they couldn't afford. What you said, though, I
(21:48):
think is really interesting the county. The threat is that
the county's going to come in and take them over.
What is this county going to do any differently?
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Right? How's the county going to make this any.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
They don't have a fiscal record that we can trust.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Even if they did.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
What can they do that's going to be different than
what the schools are doing?
Speaker 5 (22:04):
Well?
Speaker 2 (22:05):
That I don't completely agree with. If the county had
a good fiscal record, and it's like our accounting department,
our auditors, they are on the ball. We have a
surplus of money. All of our tax dollars are accounted
for and yours aren't. We can send our team in
there to take it over and do it. I think
LAUSD's tax dollars are accounted for. I think that they've
spent more than they have. I don't think this is
an issue of that there's money hiding under their couch cushions.
(22:28):
I think this is an issue of they just started
basically running like an eighteen year old with a new
credit card. Yeah, yeah, we'll get this, and we'll get
this and we'll get this. And they go, well, you're
gonna have to close schools, and they go, yeah, we
don't want.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
To cut back.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
That's where a takeover would work. If it were a
government you could trust, you could come in and say,
I'm sorry, but by state law or whatever law allows
us to do this, we're taking over. And yes you
are firing a thousand employees, Yes you are forcing furlough days,
and yes we are closing this, this, this, and this
campus immediately. So what's I mean it's going to happen
one way or another. Is somebody's going to have to
do lausdre you gonna get the mess and say listen.
(23:00):
If we don't, they're going to And at least if
we do it, we have a little more say in
what happens. Well, the teachers are not completely powerless here.
They're very influential, very well organized unions. Well they would
be if the county took over too, and that's what
I think would stop it. So what will the unions
have to say about this? That's what we'll be watching for.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
You.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Meanwhile, voted, you voted, you voted yeah, to spend three
hundred and sixty five million dollars to close a gap
along the La River. There's a gap in the La River.
Not for the water, but for those of us who
want to walk or ride a bike alongside it. Here
we are ten years later. Surprise, surprise, Why don't you
just take your e bike in the river. That's where
(23:41):
everybody else does. They just ride it along the concrete. Oh,
you're going to have to because nobody has poured the path,
that's true. And that three hundred and sixty five million
dollar price tag that we all approved.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Oh no, honey, no, it's blown past a billion dollars. Next,
how government turned a bike ride into a mega project
mega failure occur.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
You're listening to Monks and Meryl on Denir from kf
I AM six ft.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Available anywhere on the Iart radio app. It is monks
and Meryl, Meryl, wh's the last time you were on
a bicycle?
Speaker 3 (24:17):
What are you saying?
Speaker 2 (24:19):
I'm not saying anything except I'm asking when was the
last time?
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Hot men?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
And I should also point out there are no tickets
to cycling available right now at the Olympics.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
My window just opened.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Oh, you were selected in the second draw. Yeah, and
what are you seeing? Nothing for cycling? I got selected
also for the second time.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
But because I already bought twelve tickets in the first round,
I don't think I'm allowed to buy.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Tickets this time.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I want to go to beach volleyball, but I think
those are all Oh no, there's uh men's or women's prelams. Oh, no,
standard tickets currently unavailable. Does that mean that that tickets
classified as standard are not open for purchase? Oh I
could get Oh I see they've got wheelchair accessible or yeah,
my ambulatory I see. Well, if you don't get back
(25:02):
on task, I could break your legs and then you'll
need a wheelchair for the games. All right, matask Metro
has estimated that closing an eight mile gap on the
La River Path could cost between a billion and one points.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Well, this is how we do things here, we.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Identify a worthwhile project, we asked the people if they
wanted The people say, yeah, that sounds great, and there's
a certain price tag. Whether it's the people mover, whether
it's the high speed rail. You know, a lot of
these projects sound good when they're pitched to us, like, Okay,
that's a reasonable price, we'll pay the price. So when
we believe that closing that eight mile gap was three
(25:40):
hundred and sixty five million dollars, oh my god, forty
million dollars a mile for a bike path, well it
probably had a lot of infrastructure work and it's eight
miles and a lot of union kickbacks and a lot
of other corruption. I can agree that even that price
was pretty hefty. That's pretty hefty. But it's tripled now
our quadrupled. It's now a billion to one point two billion.
(26:02):
This is ten years later. They haven't dropped a lick
of pavement, not a lick.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
And now we're up over a bit. This is as
bad as the high speed rail.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
The reason that it costs so much, even in the
earlier estimates, is because this is a design that requires
miles of elevated structures, So you're not just paving a
road or carving out a bike lane. It also crosses
the river. There are some railroad overpasses involved, so this
is a complicated construction project as well as being located
(26:31):
inside a flood control channel. That's why the prices are high.
At least that's what you're being told, is why the hype.
Well that is the explanation, and I mean I can
buy that. It is expensive to build things, especially in
these types of environments.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
It is not as expensive as they make it out
to build these things. Sure you can.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Build them in other countries for far far less. But
go ahead, no, no, no, no, please take it on,
take it all along. I'm still looking for cycling tickets.
This is a path along the La River, a bike
path that ends near Riverside Drive and Alesian Valley.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I drive past this every day. Yeah, and then it
picks up again in Vernon, Okay. So that's an eight
mile gap. Riders have to navigate busy streets through Lincoln Heights,
through Chinatown, through Downtown LA, through Boyle Heights to get
between these two sections. Now, this was originally funded through
Measure M. Do you remember measure M. This was a
transportation related thing and allocated three hundred and sixty five
(27:25):
million dollars in twenty sixteen for what Metro called a
relatively simple path, primarily following one side.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Of the river.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Might I address what you just said, a relatively simple path.
Remember all those things you said about why it's so complicated? Yeah,
A relatively simple path means it's not that company. You
think they bid off more than they can chew? Or
do you think somebody's lying lying? Okay, because even with inflation,
three hundred and sixty five million dollars is not one
point two billion. No, right, So what they did is
(27:58):
they found all these reasons they could keep jacking up
the price. This Every project that we deal with is
like it's it's like if you're remodeling and you hire
a bad contractor, yeah, and the contractor comes in and goes, yeah,
I think I could redo your kitchen and let's see
seventy five hundred dollars and you go, that sounds really good.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Was that your Karen Bass?
Speaker 5 (28:17):
No?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
No, no, this is this is your contract. This is
my contractor. Yeah, this is my New York Schister contract. Okay,
we'll work like seventy five hundred dollars and then they go,
you go, aho, seventy five hundred dollars. We're gonna think, yeah, yeah,
yeah'll get you all the Dravate team you want. I
got a guy right, okay, see polish, I don't know
what what this is. That's what he's He's from New York. Okay, yeah,
he's moved here because he got kicked down in New York.
So then so then he goes, oh ay, okay, okay, okay,
(28:42):
and a dial came in. It was a little more expensive.
It looks like your total price now is going to
be about eleven grand, or I could just stop where
I am.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
And you go, oh, okay, what do you mean eleven time?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yeah, well you know the supply of the price is
it gone up because you know straight of horm mos.
And you go, oh, I guess I have to pay more.
And then I was in this eleven times and he
goes all right, good, hey, don't worry. We're gonna get
this done. We're gonna get you something nice in here.
I gotta sink a fell off a truck we'll put in.
You're gonna like it. And then he goes, oh, bad news.
(29:16):
You know that kind of top you wanted. Yeah, the mine.
It was a Columbia earthquake hit it. All the rocks
fell in. Can't get you that rock anymore. I can
get you some really good stuff though, fell off the
back of a truck. Total price is gonna be about
fifteen grand, now, right, That's what every single one of
these projects is here.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Yeah, okay, so they said it's a simple project, and
then they go, oh did we say simple pod?
Speaker 2 (29:37):
What I meant was, hey, we gotta make this whole
bike path earthquake proof. You know that the dialect improved
as it went on, But I will say the scenario
was a little overwrought. But point taken. Okay, I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Again.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Measure M allocated three hundred and sixty five million dollars
for this ten years ago, and now Metro is trying
to figure out out some alternatives. They've got five options.
They all range between a billion and one point two
billion dollars, and there are two shortened alternatives because they
always present us with, well, what if I can't give
you what you originally agreed to, I'll give you something worse.
Even those are more expensive five hundred and ninety five
(30:15):
million dollars and six hundred and ninety million dollars without
completing the continuous route. I mean, doesn't that just irritate you?
Doesn't just grind your gears? I mean it did. But
I got good news from not this guy again, got
a guy maybe I had a bike path fall at
the back of a truck. I can make you a
deal on this now. I mean it's a tough project,
(30:37):
it really is. This is six or seven river crossings,
nine to eleven access points and ramps that cross active
railroad tracks. It also has to navigate freight bridges, metrolink tracks, freeways,
power infrastructure, and existing road bridges. So it's rough terrain,
all of those things too complicated. But why were we
sold then on a relatively simple project? Lies or maybe
(31:00):
it was relatively simple, and now they're justifying their incompetence
by saying, well, it is a little bit of a
difficult terrain.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
By the way, about one way or another, somebody's mistaken.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Forty percent of the current estimate is contingency money for
uncertain construction conditions and cost volatility, which means we think
it's simple, but if something pops up.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
I mean they.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Basically doubled their price. Yeah, that's what happened here. They
basically doubled their estimate just to be safe. And now
they're saying, oh, double in other words, the original estimate
on this, and I think my numbers are pretty close here.
Originally Metrolink was thinking we could do this for metro
excuse me, we can do this for two hundred million.
(31:44):
We'll clear three hundred and sixty five million. That way,
if things go wrong, we'll have enough money. And now
they're saying, oh, did we say three sixty five We
meant a billion plus, which means it's five times more
than what their own internal estimates were to start with. Yep,
just like the people mover, just like the high speed rail.
I mean, I don't know what it is about California
about it. We just can't build things here. We don't
(32:06):
build things here. I think, you know, we talk about
the homeless industrial complex. I think we have a corruption
industrial complex. I think we have an entire system of
people who have just figured out how to screw us
all over and they keep going back to the well, and.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
We we have leadership that goes.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Okay, how would your contractor friend speak about that? I'm
not playing into your silliness. I'm you're you and your
silly games. I'm not doing that. Okay, I'm not doing it.
Neither is Tony. Maybe he's doing that. Tony throws to break.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Hey you watch.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Hollywood work disappear from a city that created it. But
I know a guy, you got a streaming giant now
says hey, I think Los Angeles is okay? What is
that promise really worth? You're gonna find out when the
streamers say no, we're all in. That's next month, samielky
if I AM six forty, we are live everywhere in
the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
App, KFI on demand.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
You've been listening to Monks and Merrill here the show
live weekdays from noon to three on KFI AM six
forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
This is Monks in maryl mosted by Michael Monks and
Chris Merrill. This is Monks and Merrill.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Demand before we get into the latest on this, I
guess surreptitious recording. Did you see President trumpets coming out?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Now? President Trump was there.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
There were concerns about Iron wanting to assassinate him. This
is when he was in Turkey, and the controversy at
the time was that he didn't take the new Air
Force one back, the one that was donated by Cutter,
because it didn't have the right technology on it. So
he was They said, well, he flew back on the
old Air Force one because it had the anti missile
(00:44):
tech or whatever it was. Come to find out, he
didn't even fly back on the old Air Force one
because he got onto the old Air Force one. And
then he went out in one of those food service elevator.
I don't know what you call those carriers. I guess what.
They put him in a box, put him in the box,
and then they took that over to the to where
Pete Hegxas's plane, and then they elevated again like they
(01:06):
were delivering more food to the other plane, but they
were actually delivering the President into the other plane, so
he did a little bit of a Houdini and then
he flew back, well, he went back to the UK
before he switched back into his cutter plane. It seems
like a kind of sneaky, sneaky and they got the
president out and you know, with a looming threat. Yeah,
it seems like a security lapse. Nonetheless, that they were
(01:30):
even close to getting on a plane that they ultimately
at the last moment determined was not ready.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
You know, I don't know what the president, I.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Don't know how much behind the scenes with that, because
he wasn't on either plane that he could have been
on that we thought.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
They ended up putting him on the other one.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
And I'm assuming that the security on the other plane
carrying cabinet members and Defense secretary and whatnot, that's probably
got advanced technologies as well anti missile technologies. So I
was fascinated by kind of the behind it. We don't
get to see behind the scenes of what the Secret
Service does to avoid obviously, but I mean, if they
if they being whoever these bad guys were ended up
(02:05):
targeting either of the Air Force one, they would have
gotten the media or some staff. Yeah, That's the other
thing is that the Air Force One was then set
up as a decoy. So there were other people on
the original Air Force One that thought the White House
president is here with us. Yeah, the White House pool
and other staff members. Yeah, we're still on there thinking
the president's in the back. And yeah, I had somebody
(02:26):
tried to take that plane out then, but I'm not
I'm assuming that they still went with their defensive measures
on the old air It's not like they wanted that
to blow up. Yeah, yeah, because that would be a
pr nightmare too. Let's let's face it. I would like
to hear Trump's telling of this now. I think the
White House hasn't completely commented on this. I think the
Washington Post was first to report these new details. Yeah,
(02:48):
we knew that you didn't travel on the main the
new Air Force One, and White House was very defensive
about the original reporting that came out about you know,
the uncertainty around this gift, right, But now these new
details are that Trump was clandestinely removed from Air Force One.
I don't know, like he was holding a tablecloth over
(03:09):
himself or something.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
It wasn't like that probably been more.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Fun full mission impossible to snuck out in some sort
of a serving cart.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
In the meantime, closer to home, we have talked about
this in the past, and that is that there was
an LA officer who was recording his coworkers because they
were making these comments that were racist, sexist, homophobic. Some
chalked it up to locker room talk. Some said, it
doesn't matter if it's a locker room or not. You're
professional law enforcement officers. If you're joking about those things,
(03:39):
you're unprofessional. You shouldn't hold those views. So this guy
took the recordings to internal affairs, and internal affairs said,
thank you very much, you're under arrest. And he's under
arrest for the recordings because we're a dual consent state,
two party consent state, so everybody has to know if
you're recording. You can't just record someone without their knowledge.
(04:01):
That's a felony, and so Dia Hakman says, you can't
do that.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
So now.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It's a bit of a weird situation because it seems
like this whistleblower was trying Look, these are still allegations
against the other officers, let's be clear, but he was
trying to have proof that there was some bad behavior
going on in this section of LAPD. His lawsuit against
the department says the remarks made about, you know, stereotypes
about black people eating watermelon, women being untrustworthy, b words.
(04:32):
There were remarks about gay officers, there were results of
remarks about Asian people, and one supervisor, according to this lawsuit,
allegedly joked that Dodger's legend Fernando Valenzuela died because he
ate too many tacos. That's not even funny, is that
A Is that a racist joker? A fat joe man?
Speaker 3 (04:49):
I don't know what it is.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
LAPD officer Daniel Flores. Appearing in public for the first
time since his bombshell case was made public. Flores was
in court for a brief hearing, pleading not guilty to
charges he illegally recorded his fellow officers as they made
a slew of racist, misogynistic, and homophobic comments.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Does not forget us fat people. We need to be
represented to made fat shaming jokes.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Flores spoke only once, as the judge asked him whether
he understood the court's instructions.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Jos yes, ROMI that was exciting.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
But the story now from cbsladit, that's all you're gonna get.
The story now is that d. A. Hawkman is facing
backlash from some prominent folks for going after this guy,
Daniel Flores. So keep in mind the officer has a
lawsuit against the department, but he's now facing sixteen felonies
for secretly recording. But Hawkman has faced some criticism from
(05:46):
Mayor Karen Bass and just today we got word from
the office of City Council and Hugosta Martinez that he
has introduced a resolution condemning Hawkman for his decision to
charge Flores with sixteen felony counts. So this is a
resolution that hasn't been voted on yet, but Soda Martinez says,
the DA is sending a chilling message if you report
(06:07):
misconduct through the appropriate channels, you could be prosecuted. Beyond that,
dismissing racist, misogynistic, and homophobic behavior as locker room talk
is unacceptable. The DA should drop these charges immediately. I'm
having some issues with this because I don't think everybody
I don't think anybody's right.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, everybody's everybody's a little wrong on this. Yeah, because
one you're an officer of the law. You can't break
the law. Individual ante sense, right, He's going to say,
I was investigating, and when you're an officer investigating things,
then the law doesn't apply to you, kind of does.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
The flip side is the LAPD is.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Not telling us anything about what sort of consequences use
the letter officers face. They just said, it's an internal matter.
We dealt with it. How did you deal with it?
The public means to know that you're dealing with things
in a manner that restores our faith in the integrity
of the LAPD, which, let's face it, that bar is
pretty low. It's not very high. We'd like to have
(07:03):
a little bit of integrity here. And when you operate
in silence and you don't share these things with us,
you don't tell us what happened. I don't need names.
You just got to tell me what you did with
these officers. They've been bumped down, they've been removed from duty,
they're no longer whatever it is, right, you gotta tell
us what's going on, because now what we're seeing is
the guys who hate the other members of their community.
(07:26):
The racist, the misogynists, the homophobes, whatever it is, they're
getting away with stuff. But the guy who wanted to
bring this to light and make society better, he's being
punished with sixteen felons. That's the message that the public's
taking away from this. The LA County government is looking
to add yet another office, this one based on United
Nations principles. M Yeah, okay, what could this possibly be?
(07:51):
That's next on Monks and marriage office is going to
fix the potholes?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
No, oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on demand from KFI
am six.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Fting more stimulating talk.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
It is Monks and Marylyn Michael Monks alongside Chris Merrill.
A new department coming possibly to LA County government. Supervisor
Lindsay Horvath wants LA County to study the creation of
an Office of Gender Equity.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Now.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Supporters see a central authority that could coordinate what they
see as fragmented programs. I want to let you know
that the La County Board of Supervisors is meeting right
this moment. They have already approved this motion to explore
good use of time the Office of Gender Equity. Now,
this is something based on United Nations principles which seek
(08:39):
to eliminate discrimination against women. So that sounds nice. I
didn't realize it was worth some time at the supervisors
meeting today. I think this is another example of the
local elected officials not focusing on the things on a
base level that are not functioning. You know, if everything
(09:02):
else were fine, if homelessness were not a problem, if
you weren't if you weren't trying to create new departments
to deal with homelessness, if if we had to, you know,
whatever the other issues are that the county is facing
right now, if all of these things were straightened out,
then we'd go, all right, what is something that can
help to improve our lives beyond the basics infrastructure, fire, medical,
(09:24):
you know, first responder, sheriff's department, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Now you can look at some of the other stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Right when we're talking about the United Nations, they're dealing
with countries that still have such an equality that women
aren't allowed to drive or leave the house without their
husband's permission kind of thing. Well, sure, right, when we've
got some inequality here still, there's no question about it.
It's not like it's when they say, oh, it's modeled
after the United Nations. The United Nations is dealing with
a totally different issue of gender equality.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Do you know we only paid Deborah nine dollars an hour?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Did you know that.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
That's not equitable? That is not and I'm working on
a new contract. It isn't going very well.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
We might be able to see county, you might get
more now with the new Board of Gender Equality. Well,
this is something that they say would offer around the
principles of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women. La County incorporated those
principles into county laws five years ago. Okay, why are
(10:22):
they doing this now? Well, staff would recommend where the
office should sit, wish existing resources it could use.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Keep in mind we're in a fiscal crisis at the
cast the Sandwiches is going to cost us.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
They want to know what additional resources it would need
and whether the county has to amend its existing organizes.
This is something where if there is an instance of
gender inequality, it's brought to the DA to investigate.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
That's it. That's it. That's all it is.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
This is no that's how it should be. What they're
doing is they're creating an office to create busy work.
What do you ways say about the local government. It's
not about getting things done. It's a jobs program. And
that's another example of what this is. Let's create a
whole new department to create a jobs This is certainly
I'm saying there is any equity. I'm not saying there
isn't a problem, but creating a new department is not
(11:06):
the solution to it. It's true, but if they were
busy with infrastructure and solving homelessness and that sort of thing,
when would they have time for this type of grand standing.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
They love this.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
By the way, also in the agenda today, and this
isn't me hating on women. I mean I agree that
there's a discrimination. Hold on before you move on to
other agenda items. There's already a Commission for Women. Yeah,
Office of Health Equity, and Office of Violence Prevention, and
a gender Impact Assessment program.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Those already exist.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
We just thought we need to create another one. They
are also on the agenda with and the reason I
wanted to bring this one up semi related to women,
ensuring best practices for menopause education and treatment. Those are
all worthy. What is the county's role, Well, the county
does oversee certain health initiatives. I mean, it is important.
But when you look at the County Board of Supervisors
(11:57):
meeting agenda, first of all, their meetings takes between seven
and nine hours every Tuesday.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Brutal because they all have to talk.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
They treat each item that's going to be brought to
the floor for discussion individually, so all the public comment
takes place. It is a disaster of a meeting. It
is completely unlistenable. What if we were to create just
hear me out, an Office of Meetings? Oh, that sounds fun. Yeah,
(12:27):
I would chair that committee. Yeah, I think it'd be
a really good office coordinate office meeting class.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
I love a meeting about a meeting.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Well, I think we could have plenty of meetings about
having forming a committee for more meetings in as part
of our Office of Meeting office. I got a statement
from Supervisor horror As She says La County has a
responsibility to lead on gender equity and to make it
real in the policies, programs and services we deliver. We
have built a strong foundation for this work, that's what
(12:55):
you're talking. But she says we need sustained leadership to
carry dog whistles and embedded gender equity across county government.
That means building systems that work for everyone. Hold on,
because here's the list of people this will apply to.
Maybe you're one of them. It's not just women, because
she lists women those identify as women, girls, transgender. Yeah
(13:19):
you think I'm stopping there because I'm not. No, no
questioning gender expansive, gender expansive folks and a man, woman
and a duck gender non conforming people. Okay, so this
doesn't mean anything when it applies to everyone. It's the
same saying that when you expand the queer umbrella to
(13:39):
meaning anybody who dyes their hair purple, it doesn't mean anything.
If it applies to everyone, You've diluted the entire ecosystem.
It's boring now used to be fun. Well, I think
it's because everyone wants to be a part of a
special They do exactly. Every special interest group wants to
expand their tent. Exactly right. I want to get back
to before we before we move. Unless you've got something else, please,
(13:59):
I'm on the mass head. It doesn't matter that steamroll over, Danny,
the DA bring these charges against the cop who was recording.
We had some feedback on that I wanted to share, right, yeah,
some people said here, So here's the first So if
you missed it, there's a guy.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
He's a cop.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
He recorded other cops saying some pretty horrible things, racist, homophobic,
and misogynistic. YadA, YadA, YadA. We don't know what happened
to the cops and said those things. He took the
recording to I A, and I A said, oh good,
you're under arrest. You can't record people without their permission.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
Hi, guys, this is Pat from Sherman Oaks. Hawkman is
doing what he's supposed to do. I mean, a cop
should know that he needs a warrant to do a
wire tap or to record somebody without their knowledge, even
to do an investigation. What he overheard himself could be
the basis to get that warrant, but he still needs
(14:52):
that warrant, and that has to be very clear.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Police can't abuse the law.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
And I disagree with you. I just think that's a
little I agree with everything you said, actually, but yeah,
is it more nuanced than that, because we also talk
about kind of the boys club and if I had
have gone to internal affairs and I would have been
identified and now I would have been a target of retribution.
I know, policy is always oh you know, no one
is going to get in trouble for being a whistleblower.
(15:19):
Tough position for I think everybody here. But I think
that take is right. I think hawkman is doing, you know,
what you're supposed to do under the law. This guy
violated the law and doing what he did despite his intentions.
You got to file the charges and you've got to
prosecute him. Yeah, but your point's well taken too, because
if you're surrounded by people who would never turn on
the other ones despite they behave.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Sometimes you got to bend the rules to make things better,
don't you.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yes, but there are consequences to that. But the point
that the gentleman who called the point he made is,
I think you've poisoned the well with the illegal acquisition
of the remarks, So can they be used in any
type of a discipline or even prosecution.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
It's actually it's uh, it's funny you see.
Speaker 7 (16:00):
That Hey, Monks and Meryl. Hey, I worked in Ia
for a few years. Internal Unfortunately, this officer, he essentially
poisoned the well. So when he recorded those conversations, they
can't be used. It just causes a ton of problems. Now,
I don't think they're gonna come down really hard on
him ultimately, even though that's what it looks like right now.
(16:21):
But boy, talk about a can of worms that's been opened,
because now all the officers know about it, everybody knows
about it, and there's all kinds of stuff probably going down.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, great, great, it's fantastic. Whatever.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Who cares, nothing matters. Meanwhile, officer official, excuse me or
pleading with you, do not worry about the money. They'd
love to say, don't worry about the money until the
money runs out. What we know is that even a
fourth grader can tell you the balance sheet isn't balancing,
which means the schools might get sent to detention, who
may soon make the choices that lausd that the leaders
(16:53):
have been avoiding.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Is next.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on demand from.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Tomorrow on the program. Did you know that in the
state of California you can get married at any age?
Any age? Any age? Kind of creepy okay, Like if
I'm ninety or nine, stop it, yep. What if I'm
ninety and I want to marry a nine year old?
Is that legal?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yep? Stop it? Yep? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
So some former let's call him victims of the child
bride industry are speaking out about that. But a very
interesting group is saying, nah, this is a bad idea,
and you're gonna find out who that is tomorrow on
the show.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
They want to keep it going.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
I don't know that they want to keep it going,
but they have some objections to stopping. We'll I'll tune in.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
I think you're gonna like it. I think you're gonna
like what you hear. I want to say this too.
We had d A.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Hockman has brought charges against the officer who was recording
his coworkers saying some pretty horrible things. He brought charges
against the guy making the recordings, though, because in California
you have to have all party consent when you're recording.
Most states don't require that, believe it or not. Most
states just somebody that's being recorded needs to know that
(18:10):
it's that it's being recorded. I said, sometimes you got
to break the rules in order to make things better. Oh,
I'm getting all kinds of grief on that. All kinds
of grief must be a day that inst in why yeah,
no kidding, no kidding.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Hey, guys, help me understand this.
Speaker 7 (18:27):
You can't record anybody, but yet in public you can
record anybody.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
With a video and audio. Yeah, I don't know. Something
doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
It's kind of weird.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
I like that observation. That has got to stop at
some point. But he said the oh, just no recording
at all. Well, I mean, if there's a lot of
videos that are posted online to embarrass people who don't
even know that they're doing something embarrassing, you know, like, oh,
look at this this guy's butts hanging out of his
pants in line. Yeah, okay, let me get a shot
of it and let me post it online and everyone
can laugh at it. Eh, that doesn't seem right. It's
(19:01):
punching down right. Well, it's not just punching down. But
I mean there was no consent there. That's recorded, so
that's a record. He said that The key phrase that
is in public, because can you give a certain amount
of consent? There's no expectation of privacy. Be the star
of someone's viral video. There's got to be some nuance there.
When you go in public, you are putting yourself on display. Yeah,
(19:21):
there's no expectation of privacy, whereas these were private conversations.
There is an expectation of privacy. I I get why
I'm getting pushed back for saying, sometimes you got to
bend the rules a little bit, but I also understand
the laws.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
You can just not do anything snaky. What he should
have done is recorded the conversations. Then might have transcript
gone to a whistle blowing office.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
And said I think she's in the wheel.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
A whistle blow in office and said I remember from
conversations what people said and written it down. You would
not have gotten into trouble. There's nothing wrong with doing that.
I have recorded one way conversation. I didn't get caught
and I didn't get in trouble on Euston as a
reference point for future conversations.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Yeah, I don't believe that.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Lisa kay, I know you said somebody saying I've got
some as Co tea for you. Uh yeah, Well, we
were just talking about La County and the officer of
a gender equity that they're looking to open up.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
And what they've got all the money in the world
to do.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Well, That's what I was saying, is that we were
talking about them in the context of the greater good
of the people, and they seem so seldom focused on that,
playing its special interest groups or pandering to women, you know,
like they're doing today this office. It's probably a long
way from coming to fruition, and it's redundant from fort
but it gives great talking points for certain constituencies, I suppose.
(20:42):
But they're a broke government, just like the City of
Los Angeles, LA County is really low on funds. And
so imagine my surprise when I read about the struggles
that la USD. The school district is also having more
than broke, and the county threatening them, saying, well, we're
going to have to take over because you can't manage
your money. According to La Times, LA public schools back
(21:05):
in session tomorrow. That's right, summer's over, folks. District leaders
are downplaying fears that a looming budget crisis could lead
to a county takeover as they navigate a mandate from
the county no Less to move forward with plans to
cut thousands of jobs, pressure employees to accept unpaid furlough days,
and close an unspecified number of school buildings or campuses. Yeah,
(21:27):
so the school district is saying, guys, don't worry about
the fact that we're totally broken, can't pay any of
our bills, and that the county is looming and they're
gonna and they're gonna step in here and take over.
Don't worry about that, we'll figure it out. But they
also told us don't worry about the new contract with
the unions. We'll figure that out. And then they send
contracts that they they knew they couldn't pencil out and
make and they couldn't afford. What you said, though, I
(21:48):
think is really interesting the county. The threat is that
the county's going to come in and take them over.
What is this county going to do any differently?
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Right? How's the county going to make this any.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
They don't have a fiscal record that we can trust.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Even if they did.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
What can they do that's going to be different than
what the schools are doing?
Speaker 5 (22:04):
Well?
Speaker 2 (22:05):
That I don't completely agree with. If the county had
a good fiscal record, and it's like our accounting department,
our auditors, they are on the ball. We have a
surplus of money. All of our tax dollars are accounted
for and yours aren't. We can send our team in
there to take it over and do it. I think
LAUSD's tax dollars are accounted for. I think that they've
spent more than they have. I don't think this is
an issue of that there's money hiding under their couch cushions.
(22:28):
I think this is an issue of they just started
basically running like an eighteen year old with a new
credit card. Yeah, yeah, we'll get this, and we'll get
this and we'll get this. And they go, well, you're
gonna have to close schools, and they go, yeah, we
don't want.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
To cut back.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
That's where a takeover would work. If it were a
government you could trust, you could come in and say,
I'm sorry, but by state law or whatever law allows
us to do this, we're taking over. And yes you
are firing a thousand employees, Yes you are forcing furlough days,
and yes we are closing this, this, this, and this
campus immediately. So what's I mean it's going to happen
one way or another. Is somebody's going to have to
do lausdre you gonna get the mess and say listen.
(23:00):
If we don't, they're going to And at least if
we do it, we have a little more say in
what happens. Well, the teachers are not completely powerless here.
They're very influential, very well organized unions. Well they would
be if the county took over too, and that's what
I think would stop it. So what will the unions
have to say about this? That's what we'll be watching for.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
You.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Meanwhile, voted, you voted, you voted yeah, to spend three
hundred and sixty five million dollars to close a gap
along the La River. There's a gap in the La River.
Not for the water, but for those of us who
want to walk or ride a bike alongside it. Here
we are ten years later. Surprise, surprise, Why don't you
just take your e bike in the river. That's where
(23:41):
everybody else does. They just ride it along the concrete. Oh,
you're going to have to because nobody has poured the path,
that's true. And that three hundred and sixty five million
dollar price tag that we all approved.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Oh no, honey, no, it's blown past a billion dollars. Next,
how government turned a bike ride into a mega project
mega failure occur.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
You're listening to Monks and Meryl on Denir from kf
I AM six ft.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Available anywhere on the Iart radio app. It is monks
and Meryl, Meryl, wh's the last time you were on
a bicycle?
Speaker 3 (24:17):
What are you saying?
Speaker 2 (24:19):
I'm not saying anything except I'm asking when was the
last time?
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Hot men?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
And I should also point out there are no tickets
to cycling available right now at the Olympics.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
My window just opened.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Oh, you were selected in the second draw. Yeah, and
what are you seeing? Nothing for cycling? I got selected
also for the second time.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
But because I already bought twelve tickets in the first round,
I don't think I'm allowed to buy.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Tickets this time.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I want to go to beach volleyball, but I think
those are all Oh no, there's uh men's or women's prelams. Oh, no,
standard tickets currently unavailable. Does that mean that that tickets
classified as standard are not open for purchase? Oh I
could get Oh I see they've got wheelchair accessible or yeah,
my ambulatory I see. Well, if you don't get back
(25:02):
on task, I could break your legs and then you'll
need a wheelchair for the games. All right, matask Metro
has estimated that closing an eight mile gap on the
La River Path could cost between a billion and one points.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Well, this is how we do things here, we.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Identify a worthwhile project, we asked the people if they
wanted The people say, yeah, that sounds great, and there's
a certain price tag. Whether it's the people mover, whether
it's the high speed rail. You know, a lot of
these projects sound good when they're pitched to us, like, Okay,
that's a reasonable price, we'll pay the price. So when
we believe that closing that eight mile gap was three
(25:40):
hundred and sixty five million dollars, oh my god, forty
million dollars a mile for a bike path, well it
probably had a lot of infrastructure work and it's eight
miles and a lot of union kickbacks and a lot
of other corruption. I can agree that even that price
was pretty hefty. That's pretty hefty. But it's tripled now
our quadrupled. It's now a billion to one point two billion.
(26:02):
This is ten years later. They haven't dropped a lick
of pavement, not a lick.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
And now we're up over a bit. This is as
bad as the high speed rail.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
The reason that it costs so much, even in the
earlier estimates, is because this is a design that requires
miles of elevated structures, So you're not just paving a
road or carving out a bike lane. It also crosses
the river. There are some railroad overpasses involved, so this
is a complicated construction project as well as being located
(26:31):
inside a flood control channel. That's why the prices are high.
At least that's what you're being told, is why the hype.
Well that is the explanation, and I mean I can
buy that. It is expensive to build things, especially in
these types of environments.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
It is not as expensive as they make it out
to build these things. Sure you can.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Build them in other countries for far far less. But
go ahead, no, no, no, no, please take it on,
take it all along. I'm still looking for cycling tickets.
This is a path along the La River, a bike
path that ends near Riverside Drive and Alesian Valley.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I drive past this every day. Yeah, and then it
picks up again in Vernon, Okay. So that's an eight
mile gap. Riders have to navigate busy streets through Lincoln Heights,
through Chinatown, through Downtown LA, through Boyle Heights to get
between these two sections. Now, this was originally funded through
Measure M. Do you remember measure M. This was a
transportation related thing and allocated three hundred and sixty five
(27:25):
million dollars in twenty sixteen for what Metro called a
relatively simple path, primarily following one side.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Of the river.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Might I address what you just said, a relatively simple path.
Remember all those things you said about why it's so complicated? Yeah,
A relatively simple path means it's not that company. You
think they bid off more than they can chew? Or
do you think somebody's lying lying? Okay, because even with inflation,
three hundred and sixty five million dollars is not one
point two billion. No, right, So what they did is
(27:58):
they found all these reasons they could keep jacking up
the price. This Every project that we deal with is
like it's it's like if you're remodeling and you hire
a bad contractor, yeah, and the contractor comes in and goes, yeah,
I think I could redo your kitchen and let's see
seventy five hundred dollars and you go, that sounds really good.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Was that your Karen Bass?
Speaker 5 (28:17):
No?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
No, no, this is this is your contract. This is
my contractor. Yeah, this is my New York Schister contract. Okay,
we'll work like seventy five hundred dollars and then they go,
you go, aho, seventy five hundred dollars. We're gonna think, yeah, yeah,
yeah'll get you all the Dravate team you want. I
got a guy right, okay, see polish, I don't know
what what this is. That's what he's He's from New York. Okay, yeah,
he's moved here because he got kicked down in New York.
So then so then he goes, oh ay, okay, okay, okay,
(28:42):
and a dial came in. It was a little more expensive.
It looks like your total price now is going to
be about eleven grand, or I could just stop where
I am.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
And you go, oh, okay, what do you mean eleven time?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yeah, well you know the supply of the price is
it gone up because you know straight of horm mos.
And you go, oh, I guess I have to pay more.
And then I was in this eleven times and he
goes all right, good, hey, don't worry. We're gonna get
this done. We're gonna get you something nice in here.
I gotta sink a fell off a truck we'll put in.
You're gonna like it. And then he goes, oh, bad news.
(29:16):
You know that kind of top you wanted. Yeah, the mine.
It was a Columbia earthquake hit it. All the rocks
fell in. Can't get you that rock anymore. I can
get you some really good stuff though, fell off the
back of a truck. Total price is gonna be about
fifteen grand, now, right, That's what every single one of
these projects is here.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Yeah, okay, so they said it's a simple project, and
then they go, oh did we say simple pod?
Speaker 2 (29:37):
What I meant was, hey, we gotta make this whole
bike path earthquake proof. You know that the dialect improved
as it went on, But I will say the scenario
was a little overwrought. But point taken. Okay, I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Again.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Measure M allocated three hundred and sixty five million dollars
for this ten years ago, and now Metro is trying
to figure out out some alternatives. They've got five options.
They all range between a billion and one point two
billion dollars, and there are two shortened alternatives because they
always present us with, well, what if I can't give
you what you originally agreed to, I'll give you something worse.
Even those are more expensive five hundred and ninety five
(30:15):
million dollars and six hundred and ninety million dollars without
completing the continuous route. I mean, doesn't that just irritate you?
Doesn't just grind your gears? I mean it did. But
I got good news from not this guy again, got
a guy maybe I had a bike path fall at
the back of a truck. I can make you a
deal on this now. I mean it's a tough project,
(30:37):
it really is. This is six or seven river crossings,
nine to eleven access points and ramps that cross active
railroad tracks. It also has to navigate freight bridges, metrolink tracks, freeways,
power infrastructure, and existing road bridges. So it's rough terrain,
all of those things too complicated. But why were we
sold then on a relatively simple project? Lies or maybe
(31:00):
it was relatively simple, and now they're justifying their incompetence
by saying, well, it is a little bit of a
difficult terrain.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
By the way, about one way or another, somebody's mistaken.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Forty percent of the current estimate is contingency money for
uncertain construction conditions and cost volatility, which means we think
it's simple, but if something pops up.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
I mean they.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Basically doubled their price. Yeah, that's what happened here. They
basically doubled their estimate just to be safe. And now
they're saying, oh, double in other words, the original estimate
on this, and I think my numbers are pretty close here.
Originally Metrolink was thinking we could do this for metro
excuse me, we can do this for two hundred million.
(31:44):
We'll clear three hundred and sixty five million. That way,
if things go wrong, we'll have enough money. And now
they're saying, oh, did we say three sixty five We
meant a billion plus, which means it's five times more
than what their own internal estimates were to start with. Yep,
just like the people mover, just like the high speed rail.
I mean, I don't know what it is about California
about it. We just can't build things here. We don't
(32:06):
build things here. I think, you know, we talk about
the homeless industrial complex. I think we have a corruption
industrial complex. I think we have an entire system of
people who have just figured out how to screw us
all over and they keep going back to the well, and.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
We we have leadership that goes.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Okay, how would your contractor friend speak about that? I'm
not playing into your silliness. I'm you're you and your
silly games. I'm not doing that. Okay, I'm not doing it.
Neither is Tony. Maybe he's doing that. Tony throws to break.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Hey you watch.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Hollywood work disappear from a city that created it. But
I know a guy, you got a streaming giant now
says hey, I think Los Angeles is okay? What is
that promise really worth? You're gonna find out when the
streamers say no, we're all in. That's next month, samielky
if I AM six forty, we are live everywhere in
the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
App, KFI on demand.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
You've been listening to Monks and Merrill here the show
live weekdays from noon to three on KFI AM six
forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
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