September 26, 2024 • 21 mins
Los Angeles has to rezone the entire city. Why are officials protecting single-family-home neighborhoods. Federal judge Orders UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Baseball Stadium locked down under lawsuit over veterans housing. Amazon demands a lot from their drivers… now they’re pushing back.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty and this is KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
KFI Wow, I'm going to try out for the Vienna
Boys Choir.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Some of the big stories we are looking at.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hurricane Helene is just barreling down the Gulf Coast and
it's going to hit the Panhandle of Florida and it's
going to be a god awful mess, life threatening and
they're not kidding. And then US France allies are calling
for an immediate ceasefire in between hasbe Llah and Israel I.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Mean, this thing is just exploding. None of it's fun. Okay,
let's get local for a moment.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
And this is a story about a report that was
just released by La City.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
But it affects all.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Of the communities in southern California because every one of
these communities have something in common, and that is, single
family homes are basically their upper class homes. If you're
looking at access to good schools, if you're looking at
living in better neighborhoods, and if you're white, because if
(01:27):
you're not, let's say per capita, you're Hispanic, you're black,
per capita, you're going to have fewer ownership of single.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Family homes, and therein lies the problem.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
LA is looking at redrafting the blueprints for all of
LA according to this plan. Now here is what really
doesn't change. And this report is big. It's hundreds of pages.
It's one hundred and twenty four page study that just
came out that the city in fact had made three
years in the making. And it studies, you know, the zoning.
(02:00):
Do we change the zoning? And they're saying, yeah, we
have to change things. Single family homes although they are
the fabric of Los Angeles. We grew up with single
family homes. That's what makes southern California so neat and wonderful. Well,
it's we don't have enough, and the only way to
have more is to get into multi multifamily density.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
You've got to put more on less land.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And so they accept that, Okay, we have to put
more on less land, and then when you start looking
at it, they go, well, what we're really not going
to do is put more on less land. Single family
homes will for the most part, be left alone. It's
going to be rezoning on multiple multiple family areas or
(02:47):
multiple multiple dwelling areas. So for example, if the zoning
now allows eight units on a given piece of property,
they'll say, you can put twelve units on that same
piece of property.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So therefore you'll have more affordable you'll have more units,
and we're gonna leave alone.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
For the most part, those lots have a single family home.
And why is that Well, because those of us that
own single family homes like it. And if you look
at the kind of power single family homeowners I have,
it's it's pretty intense. It's pretty intense, even though you
(03:24):
have builders that are going the other way. I don't
want to give up my house. I don't want next
door to me an apartment building that has forty six units,
although Neil, you have the forty six unit apartment building
on either side and across the street.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
You know, it's it's sad that, you know, these hundred
plus year old homes are being torn down. People are
buying them, sometimes corporations are buying them, knocking them down
because there are two or three or four and putting
up you know, six eight units of these very expense
to town homes and the like, and it kind of
(04:02):
it sucks.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It just LA has.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Some really neat homes and We've seen this happen and
a bunker hill and the like, and now it's happening
all over the place.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
It is because we just need more homes.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
But certain neighborhoods it will never happen like the majority
of neighborhoods, and yours is kind of I won't even
say it's an outlier. You live in a part of
the city that's very dense, you live in a part
of the city where the homes are old, they are
I would say the neighborhood is Would you argue your
(04:35):
neighborhood is sketchy, you know.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
There's listen, surrounding areas are sketchy. My area is, yeah,
is nice. I really like my area a lot. It's
a very hip neighborhood. Yeah, However, we are adjacent to
a lot of issues, and I can walk half a
block and get killed, have stuff, and have stuff that
(04:59):
you wouldn't norm.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
By the way, there was a real big move. I
just want to share this in Sana. Yeah, Neil does
not often refer to this, but there was actually a
move to call his neighborhood toilet town, and.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
It was you know what I would sign off on.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
That the point I'm making is even this study which
talks for rezoning is saying we're gonna leave single family
dwellings alone, and our idea of rezoning is just to
put more multiple housing on top of zoning for multiple housing.
That's the answer. It's going to be an answer, a
(05:35):
part of the answer. But LA is going to stay
for the most part the way it is right now.
You own a home on a lot, you want to
keep it that way. I would fight like crazy. I
would fight like crazy. I don't want four units next
to me. I don't want Neil's neighbors next to me.
I can't hear you, Neil.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Sorry, I turned my mic off on accident. So two
houses over, they built an entire home another home, twenty
five hundred square foot home in their backyard.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
As an adu.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, it's two actual They have two actual houses. And
I don't you know if you want to do that,
it's your property. That's the way things go at capitalist society.
But it does suck when you see these really cool
old craftsman style homes being torn down to put up
a cracker box stacked you know, condos.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Or real Quickly, let me ask you about the demand
for your kind of home, huge maintenance issues, I mean
insane maintenance issues, remodel issues.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Remodeling.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yes, the kitchens are small, the closets are small, the
rooms are small, and the bathrooms are small.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
It's a different because I.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Know it was built at a different time. I understand that,
and nineteen.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Twelve they weren't worried. They didn't even have electricity on the.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Oh, understood, understood. But the point I make is, is
your home and yours globally disappearing? Is it just making
no more sense because of cost relative to maintenance, relative
to what's going on in the neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I bet your newer homes, I bet you newer homes
built after the eighties probably have more problems than our
home does. Okay, they're built incredibly well.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, no, it's incredibly well.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
So all the piping has been redone wiring, you know
it's I bet you our house gives us less maintenance problems.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Maybe.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
I remember, well, I had a duplex that was built
nineteen twenty seven that I lived in. But the two
by fours were real two by fours made out of redwood,
I mean old.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
They have like a you know, two hundred lines of
growth or whatever on them. You can't we keep everything
when we have to remove a wall or something like that.
When we had you know, American Vision windows come in
and put a new doors in, we kept all the
old wood because it's amazing stuff and you can reuse
it for other things.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
All right.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Now, a real interesting thing is going on at the
Veterans Administration, the Veterans Administration, and this is across the
street from the Veterans Cemetery, which is extraordinary, and you
go across and I think it's Sawtel and you've got
this large campus, three hundred and something acre campus. That
land was donated to the Veterans Administration. Actually it was
(08:32):
donated in the late eighteen hundreds for an old soldier's home,
because you had soldiers that fought in the Civil War
that were a mess and there was a movement to say,
let's take care of them, and it was to help
out veterans.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
That was what the land was donated for.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Well, in recent years what has happened is the Veterans
Administration that owns the land leased it out UCLA baseball
team and the stadium is Jackie Robinson Stadium, Brentwood.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
The Brentwood School sort of high end.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
College prep school and oil company of their private interests,
and Veterans Organization sued to say, hey, you know, this
is for veterans affairs. This is for veterans. That's what
was donated for. That's what it's about. And Judge David
o'carter said, you're absolutely right. All the leases that are
on the land are shut down, and he ordered the
(09:32):
stadium be shut down.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
And he said, hey, let me tell you something.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
You don't do exactly what I'm ordering to do, and
that's set up housing that's using the land. Here's what
I'm gonna do is first of all, he did terminate
the leases and he said, the swimming pool that belongs
to UCLA I will fill with sand. The stadium I
have shut down. All of those interests are gone there.
(10:01):
There's an oil company there. I mean that land has
become basically private land. It's it's like when you lease
land from the government for whatever, except this case is
at the expense of the veterans. And this is an
car David o'carter. O'carter said, you know what, veterans need housing,
(10:22):
and this is the land that was donated to the
veterans that became the Veterans Administration, and that's where it's.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Going to go. And here's what we need to do.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
And he ordered thousands of units to be built or
at least be zoned, be allowed to be built and
then don't have to worry about zoning because that is
federal property.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
And he this is what David o'carter is an interesting guy. Uh.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
If you remember the lawsuit that was filed by the
residents along the Santa Anna River, uh and where they
were going to be moved, and it was a huge scandal.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
He gave his decision was for the people that were
there in terms of housing, shelters, et cetera. He actually
walked the river and I think Todd Spitzer walked with
if I'm not mistaken, federal judge walked the river. And
what the federal judge did this is David o'cardner. He says,
I'm shutting everything down. By the way, I'm going down
(11:20):
there and I'm personally gonna walk the area to make sure.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
That it's all shut down.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
I mean, this is a federal judge that gets involved,
for sure, and it has the whole thing the VA.
And this is what the Judge Rode for the last
fifty years, the VA in West LA has been infected
by bribery, corruption, influence of the powerful influence of the
lobbyists that have set up all of these private endeavors,
(11:51):
private enterprise. So he wants the VA to build ordered
the v to build seven hundred and fifty units of
temporary housing within eighteen months and then permanent housing of
about twelve hundred units already being planned. And he just said,
we're going to go balls to the wall on this one,
so good for him, and the veterans are going to
(12:12):
win on this one, which usually they don't. Okay, we
were talking this morning about Amazon and drivers in general,
ups specifically by the way, Neil was pointing out that
in his neighborhood, the drivers, PARTICULARLYBS drivers, as they come
(12:33):
up to the door after having of course navigated the
people living on the sidewalks and people sticking guns to
your faces, so they have survived by the time they
get to the front door.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
And he just thought, there are some of the.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Greatest people out there, which by the way, they are. Well,
there's a little fight going on now with Amazon, and
I didn't know this. This was an La Times article
now I want to preface this with this is a
very anti Amazon article. This is as biased as I've
(13:07):
seen in terms of being anti Amazon, so please keep
that in mind. And it's about this guy, Raj Paul Singh,
who and I'm not going to make any jokes about
call centers.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I'm not. And he's an Amazon driver and.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
He drives in the area of Lancaster and Palmdale, and
if you've ever been up there, particularly during the summer,
it gets insanely hot. I mean, this is up right
next to the Mojave Desert, I think, and it's just
and they're driving around and in their vehicles it's over
(13:50):
one hundred degrees. And so he gets nineteen dollars and
seventy five cents an hour.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
And he was not being paid bought and was is
an operative word here. He was not being paid by Amazon.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
He was being paid by a company called Battle Tested Strategies.
It's a delivery company that Amazon is its only client.
The story that was in the La Times about this
Amazon driver Raj Dah Raj Paul sing I am guessing
that he's Indian, just a wild ass guests and he
(14:26):
drives for Amazon around Lancaster and Palmdale and is hotter
than hell. And it's just it's miserable, it is. And
he gets the nineteen dollars and seventy five cents an hour,
not working for Amazon, working for a company called Battle
Tested Strategies delivery company that Amazon Amazon, it's its only client.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
And there's a whole world together. So a whole world there.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
So sing and other drivers because they talk to each other,
banded together and they demanded better working conditions. And we're
talking about unionizing. Now you put union in front of Amazon,
just the word union, and you've got yourself a battle
that's unbelievable. I think there are two or three Amazon
(15:11):
warehouses that are unionized.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
And Amazon fought it like hell.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And let me tell you what happened to this company,
Battle Tested Strategies. They're drivers by the way, for Amazon
for the most part, don't work for Amazon. They work
for these third party companies that Amazon helped set up.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
They had a program.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
That they started back in twenty twenty two and they
ran ads and said, how'd you like to start your
own business and delivering for us? And the Raj bil
Raj Paul Singh was hired by Battle Tested Strategies to drive.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Now.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
The owner of battle Test Strategies is a veteran and
this program was for veterans, and the program said, we
can help you set up your own business driving for us,
delivering for us, and you have to buy the van
or lease it from us, and you have to be
trained by us.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
And what you're going to get is you your drivers are.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Going to get nineteen dollars to seventy five cents an
hour because that's what Amazon suggested, and that's what they do.
And by the way, battle Test of Strategies has shut
down because the owner was in favor of the drivers unionizing.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
The owner was in favor of better.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Working conditions, and when the union went public or when
the drivers went public, he backed them up. Amazon effectively
shut down this company. Just shut it down. Amazon is brutal.
Let me tell you, this is a company that is
absolutely brutal. I mean, the most obviously the most successful
internet company that's ever been certainly in terms of sales,
(16:56):
it does what five hundred and seventy five billion dollars
a year, more revenue and more business and a lot
of countries do. But there have been frustrations over pay
and working conditions, and these drivers went to the National
Labor Relations Board and they sort of went both ways.
One uh in one regional director of the eneral and
(17:21):
LRB said Amazon, it's a The drivers work for both companies.
Your delivery company that's independent, you say, and you and
the fight is going on like crazy. The teamsters are
now involved because they're involved in unionizing these companies UPS.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
It's simple UPS. Drivers work for UPS. That's it. You
get your pay, which is very good. You have a problem.
They're unionized.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
It's a pretty simple business arrangement between the drivers and
the company UPS. And drivers love working for UPS. Although
all you do is make right turns. You know, they're
so strategy minded they do.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Look look it up.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
They the way they plan their deliveries, the way the
system works is make as many right turns as possible
because left turns are all delays. You're waiting in line,
you get caught in the left turn lane and it's Neil.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
You're giving me the look. I'm telling you, fascinating. Look
it up.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
It's crazy when I was told this. And by the way,
it could be a it could be an urban myth.
It could be like the lady who dried her poodle
in a microwave, although I doubt it. By the way,
that's probably more true than the right hand turns on ups.
But the point is is that Amazon is probably going
to lose this battle because one of the things that
(18:55):
Amazon did and accused of doing. Remember this is out
of the La Times article, and it's anti Amazon.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I told you that. So keep that in mind.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Is that they fight, fight, fight, and a lot of
employees are bitching and moaning like crazy. How about the
people that work in the fulfillment setters and the Amazon
work in the Amazon warehouses. We've had story after story
coming out about the working conditions and how fast they
have to pack and deliver the packages to the other
(19:26):
part of the warehouse, and so we've got complaints like
crazy about them or about Amazon on that level. Let
me tell you, I mean, the bottom line is that
Amazon is a tough place to work. And in the
case of the guy who owns battle tested Strategies, unfortunately
(19:49):
he got nailed. They just canceled his contract. They just
said no. And they're saying, oh, because you're the truck.
There was a problem with the light on the truck.
A license plate was put on improperly, according to the owner,
and they gave him sixty days notice and he said
he lost his shirt.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
All right, let's do this. Oh, I have a story
for you.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
The immigrants that oppose immigration, and I'll tell you a
personal story in my life. And what is going on
and why Donald Trump is actually gaining traction with hispanics.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
That's all coming up.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
And I'm coughing, kf I am six forty live everywhere,
stop laughing stock live everywhere.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
I do it, No, I do?
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Oh yeah, is cough on it? You know why I
don't use the cough button. Maybe I'm wrong on this.
You're our technical director, Kono. I've always thought that metal
fingers come out from under the desk and you hear
a voice that says, turn your head left and cough.
By the way, that's an old joke because that's what
(21:03):
they used to do. Doctors used to do that to
check for hernias.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Did you know that?
Speaker 3 (21:08):
And then they would cup your your scrob uh yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah, yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
For some reason, how can you tell that's the hernia?
I don't understand.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
It wasn't.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
The doctor was messing with you fell flor it.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Okay, we're gonna come back okay, because we just went
off on a tangent, did we not? There you go
o kf I am six forty Live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Catch My Show Monday through Friday six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty and this is KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
KFI Wow, I'm going to try out for the Vienna
Boys Choir.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Some of the big stories we are looking at.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hurricane Helene is just barreling down the Gulf Coast and
it's going to hit the Panhandle of Florida and it's
going to be a god awful mess, life threatening and
they're not kidding. And then US France allies are calling
for an immediate ceasefire in between hasbe Llah and Israel I.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Mean, this thing is just exploding. None of it's fun. Okay,
let's get local for a moment.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
And this is a story about a report that was
just released by La City.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
But it affects all.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Of the communities in southern California because every one of
these communities have something in common, and that is, single
family homes are basically their upper class homes. If you're
looking at access to good schools, if you're looking at
living in better neighborhoods, and if you're white, because if
(01:27):
you're not, let's say per capita, you're Hispanic, you're black,
per capita, you're going to have fewer ownership of single.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Family homes, and therein lies the problem.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
LA is looking at redrafting the blueprints for all of
LA according to this plan. Now here is what really
doesn't change. And this report is big. It's hundreds of pages.
It's one hundred and twenty four page study that just
came out that the city in fact had made three
years in the making. And it studies, you know, the zoning.
(02:00):
Do we change the zoning? And they're saying, yeah, we
have to change things. Single family homes although they are
the fabric of Los Angeles. We grew up with single
family homes. That's what makes southern California so neat and wonderful. Well,
it's we don't have enough, and the only way to
have more is to get into multi multifamily density.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
You've got to put more on less land.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And so they accept that, Okay, we have to put
more on less land, and then when you start looking
at it, they go, well, what we're really not going
to do is put more on less land. Single family
homes will for the most part, be left alone. It's
going to be rezoning on multiple multiple family areas or
(02:47):
multiple multiple dwelling areas. So for example, if the zoning
now allows eight units on a given piece of property,
they'll say, you can put twelve units on that same
piece of property.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So therefore you'll have more affordable you'll have more units,
and we're gonna leave alone.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
For the most part, those lots have a single family home.
And why is that Well, because those of us that
own single family homes like it. And if you look
at the kind of power single family homeowners I have,
it's it's pretty intense. It's pretty intense, even though you
(03:24):
have builders that are going the other way. I don't
want to give up my house. I don't want next
door to me an apartment building that has forty six units,
although Neil, you have the forty six unit apartment building
on either side and across the street.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
You know, it's it's sad that, you know, these hundred
plus year old homes are being torn down. People are
buying them, sometimes corporations are buying them, knocking them down
because there are two or three or four and putting
up you know, six eight units of these very expense
to town homes and the like, and it kind of
(04:02):
it sucks.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It just LA has.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Some really neat homes and We've seen this happen and
a bunker hill and the like, and now it's happening
all over the place.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
It is because we just need more homes.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
But certain neighborhoods it will never happen like the majority
of neighborhoods, and yours is kind of I won't even
say it's an outlier. You live in a part of
the city that's very dense, you live in a part
of the city where the homes are old, they are
I would say the neighborhood is Would you argue your
(04:35):
neighborhood is sketchy, you know.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
There's listen, surrounding areas are sketchy. My area is, yeah,
is nice. I really like my area a lot. It's
a very hip neighborhood. Yeah, However, we are adjacent to
a lot of issues, and I can walk half a
block and get killed, have stuff, and have stuff that
(04:59):
you wouldn't norm.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
By the way, there was a real big move. I
just want to share this in Sana. Yeah, Neil does
not often refer to this, but there was actually a
move to call his neighborhood toilet town, and.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
It was you know what I would sign off on.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
That the point I'm making is even this study which
talks for rezoning is saying we're gonna leave single family
dwellings alone, and our idea of rezoning is just to
put more multiple housing on top of zoning for multiple housing.
That's the answer. It's going to be an answer, a
(05:35):
part of the answer. But LA is going to stay
for the most part the way it is right now.
You own a home on a lot, you want to
keep it that way. I would fight like crazy. I
would fight like crazy. I don't want four units next
to me. I don't want Neil's neighbors next to me.
I can't hear you, Neil.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Sorry, I turned my mic off on accident. So two
houses over, they built an entire home another home, twenty
five hundred square foot home in their backyard.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
As an adu.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, it's two actual They have two actual houses. And
I don't you know if you want to do that,
it's your property. That's the way things go at capitalist society.
But it does suck when you see these really cool
old craftsman style homes being torn down to put up
a cracker box stacked you know, condos.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Or real Quickly, let me ask you about the demand
for your kind of home, huge maintenance issues, I mean
insane maintenance issues, remodel issues.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Remodeling.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yes, the kitchens are small, the closets are small, the
rooms are small, and the bathrooms are small.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
It's a different because I.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Know it was built at a different time. I understand that,
and nineteen.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Twelve they weren't worried. They didn't even have electricity on the.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Oh, understood, understood. But the point I make is, is
your home and yours globally disappearing? Is it just making
no more sense because of cost relative to maintenance, relative
to what's going on in the neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I bet your newer homes, I bet you newer homes
built after the eighties probably have more problems than our
home does. Okay, they're built incredibly well.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, no, it's incredibly well.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
So all the piping has been redone wiring, you know
it's I bet you our house gives us less maintenance problems.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Maybe.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
I remember, well, I had a duplex that was built
nineteen twenty seven that I lived in. But the two
by fours were real two by fours made out of redwood,
I mean old.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
They have like a you know, two hundred lines of
growth or whatever on them. You can't we keep everything
when we have to remove a wall or something like that.
When we had you know, American Vision windows come in
and put a new doors in, we kept all the
old wood because it's amazing stuff and you can reuse
it for other things.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
All right.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Now, a real interesting thing is going on at the
Veterans Administration, the Veterans Administration, and this is across the
street from the Veterans Cemetery, which is extraordinary, and you
go across and I think it's Sawtel and you've got
this large campus, three hundred and something acre campus. That
land was donated to the Veterans Administration. Actually it was
(08:32):
donated in the late eighteen hundreds for an old soldier's home,
because you had soldiers that fought in the Civil War
that were a mess and there was a movement to say,
let's take care of them, and it was to help
out veterans.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
That was what the land was donated for.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Well, in recent years what has happened is the Veterans
Administration that owns the land leased it out UCLA baseball
team and the stadium is Jackie Robinson Stadium, Brentwood.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
The Brentwood School sort of high end.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
College prep school and oil company of their private interests,
and Veterans Organization sued to say, hey, you know, this
is for veterans affairs. This is for veterans. That's what
was donated for. That's what it's about. And Judge David
o'carter said, you're absolutely right. All the leases that are
on the land are shut down, and he ordered the
(09:32):
stadium be shut down.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
And he said, hey, let me tell you something.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
You don't do exactly what I'm ordering to do, and
that's set up housing that's using the land. Here's what
I'm gonna do is first of all, he did terminate
the leases and he said, the swimming pool that belongs
to UCLA I will fill with sand. The stadium I
have shut down. All of those interests are gone there.
(10:01):
There's an oil company there. I mean that land has
become basically private land. It's it's like when you lease
land from the government for whatever, except this case is
at the expense of the veterans. And this is an
car David o'carter. O'carter said, you know what, veterans need housing,
(10:22):
and this is the land that was donated to the
veterans that became the Veterans Administration, and that's where it's.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Going to go. And here's what we need to do.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
And he ordered thousands of units to be built or
at least be zoned, be allowed to be built and
then don't have to worry about zoning because that is
federal property.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
And he this is what David o'carter is an interesting guy. Uh.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
If you remember the lawsuit that was filed by the
residents along the Santa Anna River, uh and where they
were going to be moved, and it was a huge scandal.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
He gave his decision was for the people that were
there in terms of housing, shelters, et cetera. He actually
walked the river and I think Todd Spitzer walked with
if I'm not mistaken, federal judge walked the river. And
what the federal judge did this is David o'cardner. He says,
I'm shutting everything down. By the way, I'm going down
(11:20):
there and I'm personally gonna walk the area to make sure.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
That it's all shut down.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
I mean, this is a federal judge that gets involved,
for sure, and it has the whole thing the VA.
And this is what the Judge Rode for the last
fifty years, the VA in West LA has been infected
by bribery, corruption, influence of the powerful influence of the
lobbyists that have set up all of these private endeavors,
(11:51):
private enterprise. So he wants the VA to build ordered
the v to build seven hundred and fifty units of
temporary housing within eighteen months and then permanent housing of
about twelve hundred units already being planned. And he just said,
we're going to go balls to the wall on this one,
so good for him, and the veterans are going to
(12:12):
win on this one, which usually they don't. Okay, we
were talking this morning about Amazon and drivers in general,
ups specifically by the way, Neil was pointing out that
in his neighborhood, the drivers, PARTICULARLYBS drivers, as they come
(12:33):
up to the door after having of course navigated the
people living on the sidewalks and people sticking guns to
your faces, so they have survived by the time they
get to the front door.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
And he just thought, there are some of the.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Greatest people out there, which by the way, they are. Well,
there's a little fight going on now with Amazon, and
I didn't know this. This was an La Times article
now I want to preface this with this is a
very anti Amazon article. This is as biased as I've
(13:07):
seen in terms of being anti Amazon, so please keep
that in mind. And it's about this guy, Raj Paul Singh,
who and I'm not going to make any jokes about
call centers.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I'm not. And he's an Amazon driver and.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
He drives in the area of Lancaster and Palmdale, and
if you've ever been up there, particularly during the summer,
it gets insanely hot. I mean, this is up right
next to the Mojave Desert, I think, and it's just
and they're driving around and in their vehicles it's over
(13:50):
one hundred degrees. And so he gets nineteen dollars and
seventy five cents an hour.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
And he was not being paid bought and was is
an operative word here. He was not being paid by Amazon.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
He was being paid by a company called Battle Tested Strategies.
It's a delivery company that Amazon is its only client.
The story that was in the La Times about this
Amazon driver Raj Dah Raj Paul sing I am guessing
that he's Indian, just a wild ass guests and he
(14:26):
drives for Amazon around Lancaster and Palmdale and is hotter
than hell. And it's just it's miserable, it is. And
he gets the nineteen dollars and seventy five cents an hour,
not working for Amazon, working for a company called Battle
Tested Strategies delivery company that Amazon Amazon, it's its only client.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
And there's a whole world together. So a whole world there.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
So sing and other drivers because they talk to each other,
banded together and they demanded better working conditions. And we're
talking about unionizing. Now you put union in front of Amazon,
just the word union, and you've got yourself a battle
that's unbelievable. I think there are two or three Amazon
(15:11):
warehouses that are unionized.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
And Amazon fought it like hell.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And let me tell you what happened to this company,
Battle Tested Strategies. They're drivers by the way, for Amazon
for the most part, don't work for Amazon. They work
for these third party companies that Amazon helped set up.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
They had a program.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
That they started back in twenty twenty two and they
ran ads and said, how'd you like to start your
own business and delivering for us? And the Raj bil
Raj Paul Singh was hired by Battle Tested Strategies to drive.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Now.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
The owner of battle Test Strategies is a veteran and
this program was for veterans, and the program said, we
can help you set up your own business driving for us,
delivering for us, and you have to buy the van
or lease it from us, and you have to be
trained by us.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
And what you're going to get is you your drivers are.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Going to get nineteen dollars to seventy five cents an
hour because that's what Amazon suggested, and that's what they do.
And by the way, battle Test of Strategies has shut
down because the owner was in favor of the drivers unionizing.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
The owner was in favor of better.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Working conditions, and when the union went public or when
the drivers went public, he backed them up. Amazon effectively
shut down this company. Just shut it down. Amazon is brutal.
Let me tell you, this is a company that is
absolutely brutal. I mean, the most obviously the most successful
internet company that's ever been certainly in terms of sales,
(16:56):
it does what five hundred and seventy five billion dollars
a year, more revenue and more business and a lot
of countries do. But there have been frustrations over pay
and working conditions, and these drivers went to the National
Labor Relations Board and they sort of went both ways.
One uh in one regional director of the eneral and
(17:21):
LRB said Amazon, it's a The drivers work for both companies.
Your delivery company that's independent, you say, and you and
the fight is going on like crazy. The teamsters are
now involved because they're involved in unionizing these companies UPS.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
It's simple UPS. Drivers work for UPS. That's it. You
get your pay, which is very good. You have a problem.
They're unionized.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
It's a pretty simple business arrangement between the drivers and
the company UPS. And drivers love working for UPS. Although
all you do is make right turns. You know, they're
so strategy minded they do.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Look look it up.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
They the way they plan their deliveries, the way the
system works is make as many right turns as possible
because left turns are all delays. You're waiting in line,
you get caught in the left turn lane and it's Neil.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
You're giving me the look. I'm telling you, fascinating. Look
it up.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
It's crazy when I was told this. And by the way,
it could be a it could be an urban myth.
It could be like the lady who dried her poodle
in a microwave, although I doubt it. By the way,
that's probably more true than the right hand turns on ups.
But the point is is that Amazon is probably going
to lose this battle because one of the things that
(18:55):
Amazon did and accused of doing. Remember this is out
of the La Times article, and it's anti Amazon.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I told you that. So keep that in mind.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Is that they fight, fight, fight, and a lot of
employees are bitching and moaning like crazy. How about the
people that work in the fulfillment setters and the Amazon
work in the Amazon warehouses. We've had story after story
coming out about the working conditions and how fast they
have to pack and deliver the packages to the other
(19:26):
part of the warehouse, and so we've got complaints like
crazy about them or about Amazon on that level. Let
me tell you, I mean, the bottom line is that
Amazon is a tough place to work. And in the
case of the guy who owns battle tested Strategies, unfortunately
(19:49):
he got nailed. They just canceled his contract. They just
said no. And they're saying, oh, because you're the truck.
There was a problem with the light on the truck.
A license plate was put on improperly, according to the owner,
and they gave him sixty days notice and he said
he lost his shirt.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
All right, let's do this. Oh, I have a story
for you.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
The immigrants that oppose immigration, and I'll tell you a
personal story in my life. And what is going on
and why Donald Trump is actually gaining traction with hispanics.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
That's all coming up.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
And I'm coughing, kf I am six forty live everywhere,
stop laughing stock live everywhere.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
I do it, No, I do?
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Oh yeah, is cough on it? You know why I
don't use the cough button. Maybe I'm wrong on this.
You're our technical director, Kono. I've always thought that metal
fingers come out from under the desk and you hear
a voice that says, turn your head left and cough.
By the way, that's an old joke because that's what
(21:03):
they used to do. Doctors used to do that to
check for hernias.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Did you know that?
Speaker 3 (21:08):
And then they would cup your your scrob uh yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah, yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
For some reason, how can you tell that's the hernia?
I don't understand.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
It wasn't.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
The doctor was messing with you fell flor it.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Okay, we're gonna come back okay, because we just went
off on a tangent, did we not? There you go
o kf I am six forty Live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Catch My Show Monday through Friday six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
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