Michael dives into LA's new effort to oversee homelessness spending after audits exposed transparency issues—Councilwoman Nithya Raman weighs in. Meanwhile, LA28 Olympic Chair Casey Wasserman reassures global leaders that U.S. politics won't block athletes' entry into the 2028 Games. Plus, Michael reveals a shocking report: LA Metro buses are cumulatively delayed by a full decade every single day, costing riders valuable time and money. And if you're hoping to buy a home in SoCal, brace yourself—the market just set another record.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monks Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
We got another hour to go together. Nine o'clock is
when we will stop. And the news out of City
Hall continues to be strange. I guess, if not outright
dire when it comes to the city's finances. I know
(00:26):
you've heard my reports on the auditing of the various
homeless accounts that are out there. They're never good audits,
and the most recent one that was ordered by a
federal judge of both the City of Los Angeles and
the LA Homeless Services Authority and the way they spend
money on homeless programs, that was bad. It was bad
(00:46):
because the auditors themselves came back and said, we did
our best, but we just couldn't get all the information
that we needed because they don't have it. The accounting
practices are bad, the money that is spent, the contracts
that go out don't have metrics or goals that need
to be listed. How was this program successful? Basically two
(01:09):
point three billion dollars not unaccounted for, but poorly accounted
for quick civics lessons. The La Homeless Services Authority, also
known as LASA, is a joint operation by the City
of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles. It
is governed by a board that has six people on it,
(01:31):
half appointed by the city, half appointed by the County.
Now the County seems to have had its fill of
LASA and they have moved to create their own department.
We heard on this very program when Supervisor Lindsay Horvath
joined us. They plan to have the department basically stood
up by this summer. They're moving fast. The City of
(01:53):
Los Angeles has had Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez say something similar.
She said it a year ago that she wanted a
city department rather than working with Loss of BE because
she's so suspicious of how loss is spending money. Well,
we don't have a department coming to the City of
Los Angeles. We do possibly have a bureau coming to
(02:16):
the City of Los Angeles. The City Council advanced a
proposal for a new oversight bureau on homelessness. This was
a thirteen to nothing vote, and it was of course
following growing concerns about transparency on homelessness spending, and council
(02:36):
members say that the formation of this new bureau should
ensure taxpayer funds are resulting in the appropriate outcomes. I
want you to hear from Councilman Nithia Rahman as she
explains the situation at City Hall.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
But right now, when our funding for this issue has
grown so much, we do not have anyone in City
Hall that is tasked with ensuring that our dollars are
yielding the performance they should be. No one in City
Hall is tasked with knowing, for example, how often encampments
are being visited by outreach workers, how many shelter beds
(03:11):
are filled on any given night, how many vacancies do
we have across our PSAH units, and how long are
those vacancies taking to get filled. This motion proposes a
lightweight and fiscally responsible response to this gap which is
housing this kind of performance and oversight in the Housing Department,
which holds our contracts with LASA.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
She is the chair of the Homeless Committee on the
LA City Council. And I want you I hope you
heard what she said there. Basically, we've never had more
money to spend on homelessness before, and there's nobody in
this building who's keeping an eye on it, and not
just the money, but the outcomes. We are told to
(03:58):
support homeless programs because you will be getting homeless people
into housing, into shelter beds, and the city doesn't know
if that's working. LASA doesn't know if it's working. So
the City Council voted thirteen to nothing, with two people absent,
including Monica Rodriguez, who had called for a department to
be created to create this bureau. The city currently works
(04:25):
with multiple agents and agencies on homelessness. This is to
give you an overview of the bureaucracy at work here.
The Housing Authority of Los Angeles also known as HACKLA,
the LA Housing Department, the LA Sanitation and Environment Department LASA,
(04:46):
and multiple departments from the county. So there's all kinds
of moving pieces here, but all of those involve the city,
and there's no point person at City Hall that you
can ask for a simple response to a question, how
many people did we house last week? What was that
check written? For? Lightweight and fiscally responsible is what Ramen says.
(05:18):
The bureau will be created within this Housing Department, which
handles the contracts with LASA, the same contracts that we
learned through the audit are poorly accounted for that do
not have the goals listed. We don't know whether the
outcomes are working now. Councilman Ramen says that some of
(05:40):
the programs are working. She says, quote, our work that
has already been happening on this issue, thanks to funding
from philanthropy, has yielded results from collecting data and looking
at outcomes. We've been able to increase the number of
units that are being filled monthly in our city funded
units from seventy four per month to over two hundred
fifty per month, and we are reducing vacancies so that
(06:02):
we are at over ninety percent occupancy. She says. Imagine
if we enshrine this in our city, held someone accountable
for it, and made sure that we were monitoring those
dollars regularly.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Do you.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I nearly fell over. I'm just a reporter, right, I'm
just there listening. What I have heard this week at
city Hall has been shocking because everyone seems so surprised
by how broke they are and how poorly managed some
of their areas are. She said. Imagine if we enshrine
(06:41):
this in our city, held someone accountable for it, and
made sure that we were monitoring those dollars regularly. Yeah,
imagine that, that's a quote she said in the meeting.
Imagine if we held someone accountable for it and made
(07:03):
sure that we were monitoring those dollars regularly. Imagine if
they applied that philosophy and actually execute it to every
facet of local government, we might not be staring at
a one billion dollar budget shortfall as we prepare to
host the world at the twenty twenty eight Olympics. I've
(07:28):
asked you to participate in the conversation and you have.
All you have to do is open up the iHeartRadio app,
click on the talkback button, and we will play some
of your messages.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
Role.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
I think we've got some more. Let's hear what, Michael.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Maybe we need to get people into office that really
care about the city, state, county that they're working for,
rather than going in there just with their own agendas.
They need to work for the greater good instead of
just their own good.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Not bad advice. Well, let's hear the next one.
Speaker 6 (08:01):
Okay, we all know that a lot of these people
are in that, but when are we going to stop
voting for strictly these for Democrats or ours for Republicans.
It's got to be who's going to have the solution
to ending our corrupt government.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
In California which is out of control.
Speaker 6 (08:24):
Good Night.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I think that is an excellent point. What if we
elected people based on their ideas and their policy proposals
rather than their alignment to a certain national ideology. Not
a bad suggestion. And I've got another one to play.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
Aaron Bess is nothing more than a take the knee,
follow along Democrats, socialist, Marxist, just like the rest of
that city council. They're coming down hard on landlords, housing providers,
giving tenants free lawyers and tenant protections to sue their landlords,
(09:00):
and all these balcony inspections and new laws that they're
putting on landlords. People are leaving. That's why there's no money.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
You can join the conversation to open up the iHeartRadio app,
click on the talkback button. We will play more throughout
the rest of this hour. Coming up next. The LA
twenty eight Olympic Committee went to Greece and made a
presentation to the International Olympic Committee. They talked about traffic
and how we might be dealing with that, as well
(09:29):
as the relationship with the Trump administration and whether there
are any concerns about foreign travelers and athletes getting visas
to come to LA for those games. That's up next.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Demand KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monk's reports on Michael Monks from KFI
News with you till nine o'clock tonight. Things have really
fallen apart At Ropperina in Lexington, Kentucky. The UCLA brewin
are now down fifteen to second seeded Tennessee with a
(10:04):
trip to the Sweet sixteen on the line. Right now,
the volunteers are up forty six to thirty one, just
over fourteen minutes to play. We'll keep an eye on
that one. Speaking of sports, we've got some big sports
coming to Los Angeles in just a few years. Will
this broke city get its act together in order to
put on a good show? Organizers say yes. In fact,
(10:25):
those organizers of the LA twenty eight committee were in
Greece this week presenting to the International Olympic Committee along
with all of the various Olympic cities across the globe
that are hosting upcoming games. They seem to think things
are going well and that LA will be ready to
(10:45):
put on a good show, just like they did in
nineteen thirty two, just like they did in nineteen eighty four.
And Casey Wasserman, the powerful Hollywood agent who is leading
the LA twenty eight charge, he spoke on behalf of
the city and the local organizer committee, and I really
did like one thing he said when he was addressing
(11:06):
the recovery from the fires. Let's hear this one.
Speaker 7 (11:10):
While fire has brought us the unimaginable, our Olympics will
open with the lighting of a flame. That will be
our new symbol of hope for the city of Angels.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
So I thought that was rather poetic. Obviously, we're dealing
with tragedy here and still in the very early stages
of recovering from the devastating wildfires in LA County. But
that was that I hadn't thought of yet. You know that,
of course, the symbol of the Olympics is the Olympic flame,
the Olympic torch, and so we will have hopefully moved
(11:41):
on from these bad fires by then and that fire
will mean something different when the games come, but there
are also serious issues to consider. There is, of course
a new president in office, and one who doesn't like
certain countries and is very open about that has been
somewhat hostile to other countries, and he and his supporters
(12:03):
would certainly say justifiably so. But some critics have expressed
concerns about what that might mean for the Olympic Games,
and Casey Wasserman was asked whether he anticipates any challenges
for athletes from some countries to make their way to
America in twenty twenty eight because President Trump will still
be president, then will there be difficulties? This is what
(12:25):
Casey Wasserman said.
Speaker 7 (12:26):
I have met with President Trump and his team both
prior to his inauguration and again last month, and we
have a regular cadence across all federal agencies with leadership
from the President to make sure that these games deliver
for all our constituents. I understand what's out there. The
Commerce and the State Department under Biden at the end,
(12:47):
created an accelerated visa program for athletes, specifically for athletes,
and in my many conversations with President Trump and Secretary
of Rubio. They understand the scale and complexity required to
deliver these games, the access required for not just athletes
but for delegations, and the incredibly short timeframe on which
(13:09):
to do those It is a non normal circumstance. And
with all due respect to FIFA, it is not the
same as the World Cup, which is one of the
things people talk about. We understand that, and they understand that.
And we will have a fully staffed desk at State
focusing just on this issue in the next twelve months
to get prepared for this. And I don't anticipate any
(13:31):
problems from any country.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
So he's saying that LA twenty eight will have a
fully staffed desk at the US State Department to prepare
for the Olympic Games in twenty twenty eight. Does not
anticipate any challenges at all. He has conversations with President Trump,
he says, and President Trump and Secretary of State Marco
Rubio are on board with making sure athletes don't have
any difficulty coming to Los Angeles. Now, let's think about
(13:56):
when folks get to Los Angeles traffic. I don't have
to tell you I've only been here two years. It
is not pleasant. It brings out the demons in all
of us. I think, as we there's just no there's
no escaping it. You know, That's what really irritates me
the most. There's there's no escaping it. There's no sneaky
way around anything anywhere. You're just gonna have to deal
(14:18):
with it. So what happens when an event like the
Olympics comes to town. Apparently in nineteen eighty four it
was handled fairly well. Obviously in nineteen thirty two not
as big a deal. But let's hear what Casey Wasserman
had to say about plans for traffic.
Speaker 7 (14:35):
A joke in Los Angeles is, if you want to
get trip traffic in Los Angeles, either make every day
a Jewish holiday or bring the Olympics back. You can laugh,
that's funny, is it. Don't worry. I'm not gonna say
anything else. Relax. Look, for seventeen days we can fix
(14:56):
any problem in the world, And for seventeen days we
can manage traffic and movement of people in a way
that you can't every day normally. And so, whether it's
the things they did in eighty four, we're moving trucks
from the streets, deliveries from the streets except between mid
ninety five. Obviously, creating remote work now is a very
practical solution. There is tens of billions of dollars of
(15:16):
infrastructure in terms of transportation, not for the Olympics, not
related to the Olympics, but it will be done by
the Olympics. Will be meaningfully different than nineteen eighty four
and nineteen eighty four we were building freeways. Literally today
we're building I think the second largest metro construction project
on Earth, and so we are very confident in our
ability to deliver. And let's not get confused. Our venues
(15:39):
are designed for people, and our city is designed for
people to drive their cars to events. They won't drive
them in the same quantities at the same scale they
do today, but that will also be a part of
our delivery because it would be a mistake not to
take advantage of the venues that are designed and the
use cases they are designed for.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Now.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I don't know what that joke was at the beginning.
I think he flubbed it a bit. I assuming that
the joke has to do if if you don't want
traffic in Los Angeles, make every day a Jewish holiday
or the Olympics. I think he just kind of messed
up the delivery and the suggestion being that one if
it if it's a Jewish holiday, there's not a lot
of traffic, and to when the Olympics were here in
(16:20):
nineteen eighty four they handled traffic apparently, Well, that's what
I've been told, that's what I've what I've read, So
that's what he hopes to do here. Now we've heard
Mayor Bass and Metro officials say they hope to make
this a car free Olympics. Right, They're gonna need tons
of buses, They're gonna need these new train these subway
extensions open and ready to go to get people all
(16:40):
around town. But we know that that has been problematic
as well managing Metro, keeping it clean, keeping it safe.
And in our next segment, I'm going to talk about
one piece of Metro that, to keep with the theme
of the evening, officials have admitted is not working financially
(17:01):
and some alternative is going to have to be found.
In addition, when your bus is delayed by Metro, it
doesn't just cost you time, it also cost you money.
That's next here on Michael Monks Reports.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monks Reports on Michael Monks from KFI
News with you till nine o'clock tonight. You know, because
it's my job around here, I watch a lot of
government meetings and the La Metro Board will have its
(17:44):
full meeting in the coming week. But this week there
was a committee meeting that I thought was interesting, so
I pulled it up toomed In and it fits with
the theme of tonight's program, where you hear public officials
say what we're doing isn't working, but there's no concrete
answer on what they're going to do to fix it.
So this was this was a committee related to public
(18:07):
safety and some infrastructure stuff and the issue of the
Metro bikes came up. Now, maybe you've seen these around town.
You're supposed to be able to use your Metro tap
card to pull one of these bikes out. I've used them.
They don't make it easy for me. I've often had
trouble with my tap card not getting the bike out
(18:28):
for me. But I'll tell you who it's really not
working for Metro. This is a program that costs about
fourteen million dollars a year to operate. It is a
shared operation between Metro and the city where they spend
half and half on operations and the city spends sixty
(18:50):
five percent to Metros thirty five percent on maintenance of
these bikes and the various stations. I'm watching this meeting
and what the commit dy was being asked was to
approve another eight million dollars on the long standing contract
from twenty sixteen to keep this bike system managed by
(19:11):
the same group through the end of November. It would
basically raise the lifetime cost of the contract to over
one hundred and twenty four million dollars since twenty sixteen
on these bikes. I'm going to play a clip. You're
going to hear two different voices. The first one will
be Lacity Councilman Katie Rslovsky, who sits on the Metro board,
and then you will hear Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins talk
(19:35):
about the price tag, the cost. It's a very large
contract amount. It's eighteen hundred bikes. It did the math,
it's almost seventy thousand dollars a bike.
Speaker 8 (19:45):
I do want to be clear the current model is
not sustainable.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
We agree with you one hundred percent.
Speaker 8 (19:50):
We've been working over the last twelve to fifteen eighteen months,
working with the board to come up with a new
business model because this current model is not sustainable.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Okay, So you heard some tablecloth or napkin math from
Katie Arslovsky, the Lacity Counciloman and Metro board members say, look,
this is costing about seventy thousand dollars per bike and
we're not bringing in the revenue. This doesn't look like
a sustainable operation. And then you have Metro CEO Stephanie
Wiggans say, I agree, and we're aware of it, and
(20:24):
the board it should be aware of it, and staff
is aware of it, and we've been working on it
for twelve to eighteen months to come up with an idea.
So I sat there waiting, well, let's hear it. Well,
they don't have it yet. There was no idea presented
on how to make Metro bikes a sustainable operation that
(20:45):
they've been talking about for a year to a year
and a half. Seventy thousand dollars per bike. Again, I'm
a Metro user. I live downtown LA I take the
subway I take a bus, I'm taking these bikes. Stephanie
Wiggins said, some cities have stopped allowing the bikes. They've
(21:07):
ended the partnership because they see that it's not sustainable,
it's not financially responsible, so they stopped doing it. And
that is the agency that is going to play a
crucial role and are so called Car Free Olympics. There
is a new report out from an organization called Streets
(21:30):
for All that I thought was very interesting. They did
a deep, deep analysis on bus delays in Los Angeles
and they found, based on this analysis that bus riders
in Los Angeles are delayed more than five million minutes
every weekday. In fact, the total number is five million,
(21:54):
five hundred and thirty eight five hundred minutes of delays
are more than ten years of lost time per day
according to Streets for All. And they do note that
the folks who rely on these buses tend to be
lower income folks median household incomes less than fifty thousand,
(22:15):
seventy eight percent don't have access to a car. These
buses are important to get people to work. I mean,
some people are taking multiple buses all across LA. I mean,
imagine if you live in San Pedro and you work
in a Suza and you don't have a car, I mean,
(22:39):
that's tough. And if the bus isn't on time, or
if the train is worse, you're kind of stuck. What
was interesting about this report is that a plurality of
these delays are on five percent of the lane miles.
(23:00):
To say, some of the routes are worse than others,
and they call them these these hot spots where folks
are really struggling to get to their destinations on time.
Los Felass Boulevard between Vermont Avenue and Griffith Park Boulevard.
They see nine seven and twenty nine minutes of rider
(23:22):
delay every single day on just two routes that service
that area. So if you're going to work and you
need the bus and it's not coming on time, then
what are you supposed to do?
Speaker 9 (23:40):
Well?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
They have some suggestions at Streets for All. They they
identified some of these hot spots like Wilshire Boulevard, Santa
Monica Boulevard, Western Avenue, fifth and sixth Street in downtown La.
I'm very familiar with the delays down there, Slawson and
Pacific third Street. Alvaraz In Westlake. Basically, what they say
(24:02):
is add bus lanes. Now. I have seen these bus
lanes in downtown LA because I do also drive a
vehicle and in rush hour leaving DTLA to come here
to Burbank to do radio for you find folks, it's
those bus lanes look effective, but all it takes is
(24:22):
for one jerk to park there, throw those flashers on
where they think it's a get out of jail free
card park wherever you want, and then the buses are
having to get out of the bus lane and then
back into the regular lane. And I tell you, Downtown LA,
for example, is just one of those places where if
one thing goes wrong in any lane, everything goes wrong
(24:43):
and all of the rest of them and then it
is back up, back up, back up. And these are
where these delays come from. So really the suggestion from
this organization is more bus lanes are needed in these
hot spot areas. If they made buses faster, if they
made trains cleaner and safer, and if the bikes were
(25:11):
more accessible and you could ride them in parts of
the city that made you feel comfortable, I think a
lot more people would use them because the traffic in
Los Angeles Is. I mean, it's worse than anything anybody
ever told me before I moved here. It's shocking, it's
so frustrating, it's so irritating, and I do prefer to
(25:35):
take the train. I can take a train from downtown
to Studio City, hop on a burbank bus and get
right here to the front door, and it takes about
forty five minutes to an hour. That's how long it
takes me to drive. But at least on the train
or the bus. Ideally I don't have the frustration of traffic.
I don't have to pay attention to the road. Even
(25:57):
on the train. You have to keep your wits about you.
If Metro and the city and the county made these
things a little more attractive, I think more people would
use them.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monk's reports on Michael Monks from KFI
News wrapping up things here on this Saturday night with
you all. We've talked a lot about the city's financial
problems and various other agencies associated with the city and
their financial problems and you've weighed in. We're going to
(26:34):
place some of the talkbacks now that we have not
had a chance to hear. Raoul hit us with the
next one.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
Nthia Rahman is the biggest socialist, Communist Marxist in city Council.
She wants more bureaucratic agencies so she can hide more money.
What she's doing is counting tense and she's counting people
of five. If the tent is empty, it's a big
(27:02):
money grab. We have anti camping laws. Enforce the anti
camping laws.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
That comment appears to be in response to Councilwoman Nitia
Rahman's push to have a new Bureau of Homelessness at
La City Hall, because apparently no one at City Hall
was tasked with keeping track of the spending on homeless programs.
Although I would like that caller to watch her mouth
because La City Council people are pushing forward a motion
(27:31):
to make sure that you can't say the N word
or the C word, and I think the swearing is
going to come next. Those those meetings get out of hand.
People say horrible things to these members of council. So
even if you want to say it, you got to
say it privately, not not in front of people where
kids are watching. All right, we've got another one. Let's
hear it.
Speaker 9 (27:51):
The word she says, well, Lala land is she living in?
She showed absolutely no compassion, regret, or camaraderie for the
people of LA. It's just a matter of time. Let's
just just let her talk. Nobody's listening to her.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
That's in response to Mayor Bass's comments that she is
working with other city leaders to figure out a path
forward on the one billion dollar budget deficit that is
looming at Los Angeles City Hall. Let's hear the next one.
Speaker 10 (28:19):
Hello, my name is Kevin. I like your program, first
time I've listened to it. What I would say is
that it looks like the city of LA needs a doge.
Maybe instead of lighting Tesla Dealership from fire, they should
invite Elon to town to figure out what and where
(28:41):
the money that we get is being wasted.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Period.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Good day, Hey, thanks for listening, Thanks for the call.
I think whatever needs to happen at Los Angeles City
Hall should probably happen with very serious precision. And I
have to say, base on some of my observations, there
are going to be members of city Council calling for
cuts to the police department's budget. Because it is the
(29:09):
largest department, it gets the most funding by far compared
to all of the other ones, way more even than
the fire department, which comes in next. So there needs
to be a lot of precision because whereas Doge has
done some blanket things, they've maybe realized after the fact
that they cut too deeply. And at La City Hall,
(29:31):
if that's what happens, then your services, which are already
terrible in a lot of areas, even the city admits
it's going to get worse. So the Doge is coming
in the form of these budget hearings. And I know
not all of you like to sit through those types
of meetings. I don't really either, but I do love
(29:52):
reporting on them, so that's why I do it for you.
Just tune into the news here at KFI all through
the week and then on Saturday nights when we get
the to talk longer, and we'll break it down for you.
All right, let's hear one more. Of course, everyone gets
upset when anything seems like it's not on the political
correct spectrum.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
But he's a Jewish man, of course he can make
that joke so ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Oh, I get it. We played a clip from Casey Wasserman,
the Hollywood agent who is the chairman of LA twenty eight,
our local Olympic organizing committee. He was in Greece talking
to the International Olympic Committee and they had asked him
a question about how the city plans to deal with traffic,
and he said a joke that I think has been
(30:37):
told before. But I don't think we were criticizing him
as not being able to make the joke. I think
he flubbed the joke and then asked for a laugh,
and I think that's where the confusion was. A verbatim
from him was, you know what they say in LA,
if you want traffic, have a Jewish holiday or the Olympics.
(31:01):
And that's the opposite of what the joke. I think
traditionally is if you don't want traffic, make it a
Jewish holiday or have the Olympics, because there's not as
much traffic on a Jewish holiday, and apparently in nineteen
eighty four there was not as much traffic. Of course,
he's welcome to make the jokes, but he I think
he just stated it clumsily and it did not get
a reaction from that international crowd and then said it's
(31:22):
okay to laugh, and then got maybe some polite laughter.
So that's all that was. Things have gone from bad
to worse in Lexington for your beloved UCLA Bruins, it
is starting to get a bit out of hand. Minute
and a half left, volunteers are up sixty four to
fifty the second seeded Tennessee volunteers. Looks like the Bruins
(31:46):
and the seventh seed are going to be coming back
to Los Angeles with a record of twenty three and eleven.
But congratulations to them on a second round appearance in
the NCAA tournament. I have to say it's very interesting.
I know rop Arena very well. This is where they're playing,
have been there many times being from Kentucky, and you
used to be able to see like the home courts
(32:08):
that these teams are playing on. But the Nsgate Tournament
does not mess around anymore. All the branding is just
March madness this NCAA that it does not look like
rapp Aerina to me at all. It's a tiny little
University of Kentucky logo in the corner. It's just this
thing is big money and that's all there is to
it role, Well, how is your bracket looking?
Speaker 10 (32:27):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (32:28):
I was done when Creighton won, I was like, that
was I was done right away Creighton. Oh in the
first round, Oh yeah, me too. They were playing Louisville
and I was banking on a big Louisville run that
did not come. And I had a good first day otherwise.
I won fourteen of those sixteen games, like this is
(32:49):
my year finally. But I have fallen apart today and
picked Ucla to pull off. The upset here did not
work out. But I hope the rest of you are
doing well. I'm so grateful that you tuned in. We're
here every Saturday night for Michael Monks's reports, and you
can hear me Monday through Friday here doing the news
at KFI and appearing on all the shows and doing
the news reports. Thanks for your support. Follow me online
(33:09):
at Mike Monk's LA. That's m I C M O
n ks LA, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok those things. You can
hit me up there and we will talk again soon.
Malcolm Gladwell and Revisionist History is coming up next here
on kf I AM six
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Forty, KFI AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monks Reports on Michael Monks from KFI News.
We got another hour to go together. Nine o'clock is
when we will stop. And the news out of City
Hall continues to be strange. I guess, if not outright
dire when it comes to the city's finances. I know
(00:26):
you've heard my reports on the auditing of the various
homeless accounts that are out there. They're never good audits,
and the most recent one that was ordered by a
federal judge of both the City of Los Angeles and
the LA Homeless Services Authority and the way they spend
money on homeless programs, that was bad. It was bad
(00:46):
because the auditors themselves came back and said, we did
our best, but we just couldn't get all the information
that we needed because they don't have it. The accounting
practices are bad, the money that is spent, the contracts
that go out don't have metrics or goals that need
to be listed. How was this program successful? Basically two
(01:09):
point three billion dollars not unaccounted for, but poorly accounted
for quick civics lessons. The La Homeless Services Authority, also
known as LASA, is a joint operation by the City
of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles. It
is governed by a board that has six people on it,
(01:31):
half appointed by the city, half appointed by the County.
Now the County seems to have had its fill of
LASA and they have moved to create their own department.
We heard on this very program when Supervisor Lindsay Horvath
joined us. They plan to have the department basically stood
up by this summer. They're moving fast. The City of
(01:53):
Los Angeles has had Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez say something similar.
She said it a year ago that she wanted a
city department rather than working with Loss of BE because
she's so suspicious of how loss is spending money. Well,
we don't have a department coming to the City of
Los Angeles. We do possibly have a bureau coming to
(02:16):
the City of Los Angeles. The City Council advanced a
proposal for a new oversight bureau on homelessness. This was
a thirteen to nothing vote, and it was of course
following growing concerns about transparency on homelessness spending, and council
(02:36):
members say that the formation of this new bureau should
ensure taxpayer funds are resulting in the appropriate outcomes. I
want you to hear from Councilman Nithia Rahman as she
explains the situation at City Hall.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
But right now, when our funding for this issue has
grown so much, we do not have anyone in City
Hall that is tasked with ensuring that our dollars are
yielding the performance they should be. No one in City
Hall is tasked with knowing, for example, how often encampments
are being visited by outreach workers, how many shelter beds
(03:11):
are filled on any given night, how many vacancies do
we have across our PSAH units, and how long are
those vacancies taking to get filled. This motion proposes a
lightweight and fiscally responsible response to this gap which is
housing this kind of performance and oversight in the Housing Department,
which holds our contracts with LASA.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
She is the chair of the Homeless Committee on the
LA City Council. And I want you I hope you
heard what she said there. Basically, we've never had more
money to spend on homelessness before, and there's nobody in
this building who's keeping an eye on it, and not
just the money, but the outcomes. We are told to
(03:58):
support homeless programs because you will be getting homeless people
into housing, into shelter beds, and the city doesn't know
if that's working. LASA doesn't know if it's working. So
the City Council voted thirteen to nothing, with two people absent,
including Monica Rodriguez, who had called for a department to
be created to create this bureau. The city currently works
(04:25):
with multiple agents and agencies on homelessness. This is to
give you an overview of the bureaucracy at work here.
The Housing Authority of Los Angeles also known as HACKLA,
the LA Housing Department, the LA Sanitation and Environment Department LASA,
(04:46):
and multiple departments from the county. So there's all kinds
of moving pieces here, but all of those involve the city,
and there's no point person at City Hall that you
can ask for a simple response to a question, how
many people did we house last week? What was that
check written? For? Lightweight and fiscally responsible is what Ramen says.
(05:18):
The bureau will be created within this Housing Department, which
handles the contracts with LASA, the same contracts that we
learned through the audit are poorly accounted for that do
not have the goals listed. We don't know whether the
outcomes are working now. Councilman Ramen says that some of
(05:40):
the programs are working. She says, quote, our work that
has already been happening on this issue, thanks to funding
from philanthropy, has yielded results from collecting data and looking
at outcomes. We've been able to increase the number of
units that are being filled monthly in our city funded
units from seventy four per month to over two hundred
fifty per month, and we are reducing vacancies so that
(06:02):
we are at over ninety percent occupancy. She says. Imagine
if we enshrine this in our city, held someone accountable
for it, and made sure that we were monitoring those
dollars regularly.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Do you.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I nearly fell over. I'm just a reporter, right, I'm
just there listening. What I have heard this week at
city Hall has been shocking because everyone seems so surprised
by how broke they are and how poorly managed some
of their areas are. She said. Imagine if we enshrine
(06:41):
this in our city, held someone accountable for it, and
made sure that we were monitoring those dollars regularly. Yeah,
imagine that, that's a quote she said in the meeting.
Imagine if we held someone accountable for it and made
(07:03):
sure that we were monitoring those dollars regularly. Imagine if
they applied that philosophy and actually execute it to every
facet of local government, we might not be staring at
a one billion dollar budget shortfall as we prepare to
host the world at the twenty twenty eight Olympics. I've
(07:28):
asked you to participate in the conversation and you have.
All you have to do is open up the iHeartRadio app,
click on the talkback button, and we will play some
of your messages.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
Role.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
I think we've got some more. Let's hear what, Michael.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Maybe we need to get people into office that really
care about the city, state, county that they're working for,
rather than going in there just with their own agendas.
They need to work for the greater good instead of
just their own good.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Not bad advice. Well, let's hear the next one.
Speaker 6 (08:01):
Okay, we all know that a lot of these people
are in that, but when are we going to stop
voting for strictly these for Democrats or ours for Republicans.
It's got to be who's going to have the solution
to ending our corrupt government.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
In California which is out of control.
Speaker 6 (08:24):
Good Night.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I think that is an excellent point. What if we
elected people based on their ideas and their policy proposals
rather than their alignment to a certain national ideology. Not
a bad suggestion. And I've got another one to play.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
Aaron Bess is nothing more than a take the knee,
follow along Democrats, socialist, Marxist, just like the rest of
that city council. They're coming down hard on landlords, housing providers,
giving tenants free lawyers and tenant protections to sue their landlords,
(09:00):
and all these balcony inspections and new laws that they're
putting on landlords. People are leaving. That's why there's no money.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
You can join the conversation to open up the iHeartRadio app,
click on the talkback button. We will play more throughout
the rest of this hour. Coming up next. The LA
twenty eight Olympic Committee went to Greece and made a
presentation to the International Olympic Committee. They talked about traffic
and how we might be dealing with that, as well
(09:29):
as the relationship with the Trump administration and whether there
are any concerns about foreign travelers and athletes getting visas
to come to LA for those games. That's up next.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Demand KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monk's reports on Michael Monks from KFI
News with you till nine o'clock tonight. Things have really
fallen apart At Ropperina in Lexington, Kentucky. The UCLA brewin
are now down fifteen to second seeded Tennessee with a
(10:04):
trip to the Sweet sixteen on the line. Right now,
the volunteers are up forty six to thirty one, just
over fourteen minutes to play. We'll keep an eye on
that one. Speaking of sports, we've got some big sports
coming to Los Angeles in just a few years. Will
this broke city get its act together in order to
put on a good show? Organizers say yes. In fact,
(10:25):
those organizers of the LA twenty eight committee were in
Greece this week presenting to the International Olympic Committee along
with all of the various Olympic cities across the globe
that are hosting upcoming games. They seem to think things
are going well and that LA will be ready to
(10:45):
put on a good show, just like they did in
nineteen thirty two, just like they did in nineteen eighty four.
And Casey Wasserman, the powerful Hollywood agent who is leading
the LA twenty eight charge, he spoke on behalf of
the city and the local organizer committee, and I really
did like one thing he said when he was addressing
(11:06):
the recovery from the fires. Let's hear this one.
Speaker 7 (11:10):
While fire has brought us the unimaginable, our Olympics will
open with the lighting of a flame. That will be
our new symbol of hope for the city of Angels.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
So I thought that was rather poetic. Obviously, we're dealing
with tragedy here and still in the very early stages
of recovering from the devastating wildfires in LA County. But
that was that I hadn't thought of yet. You know that,
of course, the symbol of the Olympics is the Olympic flame,
the Olympic torch, and so we will have hopefully moved
(11:41):
on from these bad fires by then and that fire
will mean something different when the games come, but there
are also serious issues to consider. There is, of course
a new president in office, and one who doesn't like
certain countries and is very open about that has been
somewhat hostile to other countries, and he and his supporters
(12:03):
would certainly say justifiably so. But some critics have expressed
concerns about what that might mean for the Olympic Games,
and Casey Wasserman was asked whether he anticipates any challenges
for athletes from some countries to make their way to
America in twenty twenty eight because President Trump will still
be president, then will there be difficulties? This is what
(12:25):
Casey Wasserman said.
Speaker 7 (12:26):
I have met with President Trump and his team both
prior to his inauguration and again last month, and we
have a regular cadence across all federal agencies with leadership
from the President to make sure that these games deliver
for all our constituents. I understand what's out there. The
Commerce and the State Department under Biden at the end,
(12:47):
created an accelerated visa program for athletes, specifically for athletes,
and in my many conversations with President Trump and Secretary
of Rubio. They understand the scale and complexity required to
deliver these games, the access required for not just athletes
but for delegations, and the incredibly short timeframe on which
(13:09):
to do those It is a non normal circumstance. And
with all due respect to FIFA, it is not the
same as the World Cup, which is one of the
things people talk about. We understand that, and they understand that.
And we will have a fully staffed desk at State
focusing just on this issue in the next twelve months
to get prepared for this. And I don't anticipate any
(13:31):
problems from any country.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
So he's saying that LA twenty eight will have a
fully staffed desk at the US State Department to prepare
for the Olympic Games in twenty twenty eight. Does not
anticipate any challenges at all. He has conversations with President Trump,
he says, and President Trump and Secretary of State Marco
Rubio are on board with making sure athletes don't have
any difficulty coming to Los Angeles. Now, let's think about
(13:56):
when folks get to Los Angeles traffic. I don't have
to tell you I've only been here two years. It
is not pleasant. It brings out the demons in all
of us. I think, as we there's just no there's
no escaping it. You know, That's what really irritates me
the most. There's there's no escaping it. There's no sneaky
way around anything anywhere. You're just gonna have to deal
(14:18):
with it. So what happens when an event like the
Olympics comes to town. Apparently in nineteen eighty four it
was handled fairly well. Obviously in nineteen thirty two not
as big a deal. But let's hear what Casey Wasserman
had to say about plans for traffic.
Speaker 7 (14:35):
A joke in Los Angeles is, if you want to
get trip traffic in Los Angeles, either make every day
a Jewish holiday or bring the Olympics back. You can laugh,
that's funny, is it. Don't worry. I'm not gonna say
anything else. Relax. Look, for seventeen days we can fix
(14:56):
any problem in the world, And for seventeen days we
can manage traffic and movement of people in a way
that you can't every day normally. And so, whether it's
the things they did in eighty four, we're moving trucks
from the streets, deliveries from the streets except between mid
ninety five. Obviously, creating remote work now is a very
practical solution. There is tens of billions of dollars of
(15:16):
infrastructure in terms of transportation, not for the Olympics, not
related to the Olympics, but it will be done by
the Olympics. Will be meaningfully different than nineteen eighty four
and nineteen eighty four we were building freeways. Literally today
we're building I think the second largest metro construction project
on Earth, and so we are very confident in our
ability to deliver. And let's not get confused. Our venues
(15:39):
are designed for people, and our city is designed for
people to drive their cars to events. They won't drive
them in the same quantities at the same scale they
do today, but that will also be a part of
our delivery because it would be a mistake not to
take advantage of the venues that are designed and the
use cases they are designed for.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Now.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I don't know what that joke was at the beginning.
I think he flubbed it a bit. I assuming that
the joke has to do if if you don't want
traffic in Los Angeles, make every day a Jewish holiday
or the Olympics. I think he just kind of messed
up the delivery and the suggestion being that one if
it if it's a Jewish holiday, there's not a lot
of traffic, and to when the Olympics were here in
(16:20):
nineteen eighty four they handled traffic apparently, Well, that's what
I've been told, that's what I've what I've read, So
that's what he hopes to do here. Now we've heard
Mayor Bass and Metro officials say they hope to make
this a car free Olympics. Right, They're gonna need tons
of buses, They're gonna need these new train these subway
extensions open and ready to go to get people all
(16:40):
around town. But we know that that has been problematic
as well managing Metro, keeping it clean, keeping it safe.
And in our next segment, I'm going to talk about
one piece of Metro that, to keep with the theme
of the evening, officials have admitted is not working financially
(17:01):
and some alternative is going to have to be found.
In addition, when your bus is delayed by Metro, it
doesn't just cost you time, it also cost you money.
That's next here on Michael Monks Reports.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monks Reports on Michael Monks from KFI
News with you till nine o'clock tonight. You know, because
it's my job around here, I watch a lot of
government meetings and the La Metro Board will have its
(17:44):
full meeting in the coming week. But this week there
was a committee meeting that I thought was interesting, so
I pulled it up toomed In and it fits with
the theme of tonight's program, where you hear public officials
say what we're doing isn't working, but there's no concrete
answer on what they're going to do to fix it.
So this was this was a committee related to public
(18:07):
safety and some infrastructure stuff and the issue of the
Metro bikes came up. Now, maybe you've seen these around town.
You're supposed to be able to use your Metro tap
card to pull one of these bikes out. I've used them.
They don't make it easy for me. I've often had
trouble with my tap card not getting the bike out
(18:28):
for me. But I'll tell you who it's really not
working for Metro. This is a program that costs about
fourteen million dollars a year to operate. It is a
shared operation between Metro and the city where they spend
half and half on operations and the city spends sixty
(18:50):
five percent to Metros thirty five percent on maintenance of
these bikes and the various stations. I'm watching this meeting
and what the commit dy was being asked was to
approve another eight million dollars on the long standing contract
from twenty sixteen to keep this bike system managed by
(19:11):
the same group through the end of November. It would
basically raise the lifetime cost of the contract to over
one hundred and twenty four million dollars since twenty sixteen
on these bikes. I'm going to play a clip. You're
going to hear two different voices. The first one will
be Lacity Councilman Katie Rslovsky, who sits on the Metro board,
and then you will hear Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins talk
(19:35):
about the price tag, the cost. It's a very large
contract amount. It's eighteen hundred bikes. It did the math,
it's almost seventy thousand dollars a bike.
Speaker 8 (19:45):
I do want to be clear the current model is
not sustainable.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
We agree with you one hundred percent.
Speaker 8 (19:50):
We've been working over the last twelve to fifteen eighteen months,
working with the board to come up with a new
business model because this current model is not sustainable.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Okay, So you heard some tablecloth or napkin math from
Katie Arslovsky, the Lacity Counciloman and Metro board members say, look,
this is costing about seventy thousand dollars per bike and
we're not bringing in the revenue. This doesn't look like
a sustainable operation. And then you have Metro CEO Stephanie
Wiggans say, I agree, and we're aware of it, and
(20:24):
the board it should be aware of it, and staff
is aware of it, and we've been working on it
for twelve to eighteen months to come up with an idea.
So I sat there waiting, well, let's hear it. Well,
they don't have it yet. There was no idea presented
on how to make Metro bikes a sustainable operation that
(20:45):
they've been talking about for a year to a year
and a half. Seventy thousand dollars per bike. Again, I'm
a Metro user. I live downtown LA I take the
subway I take a bus, I'm taking these bikes. Stephanie
Wiggins said, some cities have stopped allowing the bikes. They've
(21:07):
ended the partnership because they see that it's not sustainable,
it's not financially responsible, so they stopped doing it. And
that is the agency that is going to play a
crucial role and are so called Car Free Olympics. There
is a new report out from an organization called Streets
(21:30):
for All that I thought was very interesting. They did
a deep, deep analysis on bus delays in Los Angeles
and they found, based on this analysis that bus riders
in Los Angeles are delayed more than five million minutes
every weekday. In fact, the total number is five million,
(21:54):
five hundred and thirty eight five hundred minutes of delays
are more than ten years of lost time per day
according to Streets for All. And they do note that
the folks who rely on these buses tend to be
lower income folks median household incomes less than fifty thousand,
(22:15):
seventy eight percent don't have access to a car. These
buses are important to get people to work. I mean,
some people are taking multiple buses all across LA. I mean,
imagine if you live in San Pedro and you work
in a Suza and you don't have a car, I mean,
(22:39):
that's tough. And if the bus isn't on time, or
if the train is worse, you're kind of stuck. What
was interesting about this report is that a plurality of
these delays are on five percent of the lane miles.
(23:00):
To say, some of the routes are worse than others,
and they call them these these hot spots where folks
are really struggling to get to their destinations on time.
Los Felass Boulevard between Vermont Avenue and Griffith Park Boulevard.
They see nine seven and twenty nine minutes of rider
(23:22):
delay every single day on just two routes that service
that area. So if you're going to work and you
need the bus and it's not coming on time, then
what are you supposed to do?
Speaker 9 (23:40):
Well?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
They have some suggestions at Streets for All. They they
identified some of these hot spots like Wilshire Boulevard, Santa
Monica Boulevard, Western Avenue, fifth and sixth Street in downtown La.
I'm very familiar with the delays down there, Slawson and
Pacific third Street. Alvaraz In Westlake. Basically, what they say
(24:02):
is add bus lanes. Now. I have seen these bus
lanes in downtown LA because I do also drive a
vehicle and in rush hour leaving DTLA to come here
to Burbank to do radio for you find folks, it's
those bus lanes look effective, but all it takes is
(24:22):
for one jerk to park there, throw those flashers on
where they think it's a get out of jail free
card park wherever you want, and then the buses are
having to get out of the bus lane and then
back into the regular lane. And I tell you, Downtown LA,
for example, is just one of those places where if
one thing goes wrong in any lane, everything goes wrong
(24:43):
and all of the rest of them and then it
is back up, back up, back up. And these are
where these delays come from. So really the suggestion from
this organization is more bus lanes are needed in these
hot spot areas. If they made buses faster, if they
made trains cleaner and safer, and if the bikes were
(25:11):
more accessible and you could ride them in parts of
the city that made you feel comfortable, I think a
lot more people would use them because the traffic in
Los Angeles Is. I mean, it's worse than anything anybody
ever told me before I moved here. It's shocking, it's
so frustrating, it's so irritating, and I do prefer to
(25:35):
take the train. I can take a train from downtown
to Studio City, hop on a burbank bus and get
right here to the front door, and it takes about
forty five minutes to an hour. That's how long it
takes me to drive. But at least on the train
or the bus. Ideally I don't have the frustration of traffic.
I don't have to pay attention to the road. Even
(25:57):
on the train. You have to keep your wits about you.
If Metro and the city and the county made these
things a little more attractive, I think more people would
use them.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
This is Michael Monk's reports on Michael Monks from KFI
News wrapping up things here on this Saturday night with
you all. We've talked a lot about the city's financial
problems and various other agencies associated with the city and
their financial problems and you've weighed in. We're going to
(26:34):
place some of the talkbacks now that we have not
had a chance to hear. Raoul hit us with the
next one.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
Nthia Rahman is the biggest socialist, Communist Marxist in city Council.
She wants more bureaucratic agencies so she can hide more money.
What she's doing is counting tense and she's counting people
of five. If the tent is empty, it's a big
(27:02):
money grab. We have anti camping laws. Enforce the anti
camping laws.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
That comment appears to be in response to Councilwoman Nitia
Rahman's push to have a new Bureau of Homelessness at
La City Hall, because apparently no one at City Hall
was tasked with keeping track of the spending on homeless programs.
Although I would like that caller to watch her mouth
because La City Council people are pushing forward a motion
(27:31):
to make sure that you can't say the N word
or the C word, and I think the swearing is
going to come next. Those those meetings get out of hand.
People say horrible things to these members of council. So
even if you want to say it, you got to
say it privately, not not in front of people where
kids are watching. All right, we've got another one. Let's
hear it.
Speaker 9 (27:51):
The word she says, well, Lala land is she living in?
She showed absolutely no compassion, regret, or camaraderie for the
people of LA. It's just a matter of time. Let's
just just let her talk. Nobody's listening to her.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
That's in response to Mayor Bass's comments that she is
working with other city leaders to figure out a path
forward on the one billion dollar budget deficit that is
looming at Los Angeles City Hall. Let's hear the next one.
Speaker 10 (28:19):
Hello, my name is Kevin. I like your program, first
time I've listened to it. What I would say is
that it looks like the city of LA needs a doge.
Maybe instead of lighting Tesla Dealership from fire, they should
invite Elon to town to figure out what and where
(28:41):
the money that we get is being wasted.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Period.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Good day, Hey, thanks for listening, Thanks for the call.
I think whatever needs to happen at Los Angeles City
Hall should probably happen with very serious precision. And I
have to say, base on some of my observations, there
are going to be members of city Council calling for
cuts to the police department's budget. Because it is the
(29:09):
largest department, it gets the most funding by far compared
to all of the other ones, way more even than
the fire department, which comes in next. So there needs
to be a lot of precision because whereas Doge has
done some blanket things, they've maybe realized after the fact
that they cut too deeply. And at La City Hall,
(29:31):
if that's what happens, then your services, which are already
terrible in a lot of areas, even the city admits
it's going to get worse. So the Doge is coming
in the form of these budget hearings. And I know
not all of you like to sit through those types
of meetings. I don't really either, but I do love
(29:52):
reporting on them, so that's why I do it for you.
Just tune into the news here at KFI all through
the week and then on Saturday nights when we get
the to talk longer, and we'll break it down for you.
All right, let's hear one more. Of course, everyone gets
upset when anything seems like it's not on the political
correct spectrum.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
But he's a Jewish man, of course he can make
that joke so ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Oh, I get it. We played a clip from Casey Wasserman,
the Hollywood agent who is the chairman of LA twenty eight,
our local Olympic organizing committee. He was in Greece talking
to the International Olympic Committee and they had asked him
a question about how the city plans to deal with traffic,
and he said a joke that I think has been
(30:37):
told before. But I don't think we were criticizing him
as not being able to make the joke. I think
he flubbed the joke and then asked for a laugh,
and I think that's where the confusion was. A verbatim
from him was, you know what they say in LA,
if you want traffic, have a Jewish holiday or the Olympics.
(31:01):
And that's the opposite of what the joke. I think
traditionally is if you don't want traffic, make it a
Jewish holiday or have the Olympics, because there's not as
much traffic on a Jewish holiday, and apparently in nineteen
eighty four there was not as much traffic. Of course,
he's welcome to make the jokes, but he I think
he just stated it clumsily and it did not get
a reaction from that international crowd and then said it's
(31:22):
okay to laugh, and then got maybe some polite laughter.
So that's all that was. Things have gone from bad
to worse in Lexington for your beloved UCLA Bruins, it
is starting to get a bit out of hand. Minute
and a half left, volunteers are up sixty four to
fifty the second seeded Tennessee volunteers. Looks like the Bruins
(31:46):
and the seventh seed are going to be coming back
to Los Angeles with a record of twenty three and eleven.
But congratulations to them on a second round appearance in
the NCAA tournament. I have to say it's very interesting.
I know rop Arena very well. This is where they're playing,
have been there many times being from Kentucky, and you
used to be able to see like the home courts
(32:08):
that these teams are playing on. But the Nsgate Tournament
does not mess around anymore. All the branding is just
March madness this NCAA that it does not look like
rapp Aerina to me at all. It's a tiny little
University of Kentucky logo in the corner. It's just this
thing is big money and that's all there is to
it role, Well, how is your bracket looking?
Speaker 10 (32:27):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (32:28):
I was done when Creighton won, I was like, that
was I was done right away Creighton. Oh in the
first round, Oh yeah, me too. They were playing Louisville
and I was banking on a big Louisville run that
did not come. And I had a good first day otherwise.
I won fourteen of those sixteen games, like this is
(32:49):
my year finally. But I have fallen apart today and
picked Ucla to pull off. The upset here did not
work out. But I hope the rest of you are
doing well. I'm so grateful that you tuned in. We're
here every Saturday night for Michael Monks's reports, and you
can hear me Monday through Friday here doing the news
at KFI and appearing on all the shows and doing
the news reports. Thanks for your support. Follow me online
(33:09):
at Mike Monk's LA. That's m I C M O
n ks LA, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok those things. You can
hit me up there and we will talk again soon.
Malcolm Gladwell and Revisionist History is coming up next here
on kf I AM six
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Forty, KFI AM six forty on demand
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