Disney Penetrates Downtown
No, instead Disney bought the building, for nefarious purposes, no doubt. I don't see a Disney Store in our future (except at the 2,700,000 square foot retail delusion that's been proposed, where there will likely be two Disney Stores, one at either end, in case you don't feel like walking.), as the location isn't right for it. It's probably just for offices for cruise ship business.
I don't know how I feel about this. On one hand, it's evidence that Disney intends to continue to expand their presence at the Los Angeles side of the port, which is good for taxes, businesses and all that. On the other hand, Disney is right behind Coca-Cola in my list of non-tobacco related companies that I loathe.
And so far, I'm counting Aaron as the 1st casualty in the oncoming gentrification. He's keeping a studio in Pedro, but the next casualty might not have the love and cajones to stick around when they get the boot.
5 Comments:
Told you. Didn't I? I hope this give you an idea just how influential your arts community really is in the grand (or should I say, "grande") scheme of things. If any or all of you become an inconvenience to the big business interests that currently have their eye on Pedro, you will be brushed out of the way like gnats. And this holds true no matter how much of a businessman you fancy yourself, and no matter how much you suck up to these people.
Believe me, when your turn comes you'll really find out just who was, erm, driving the bulldozer all along.
Oh, and fuck taxes. More to the point, fuck tax revenue. That's the carrot that every rapacious piece of shit corporation holds in front of desperate mayors/city council members/voters every time they want a subsidy or a fast-tracked approval process for one of their piece of shit big box stores / football teams / car dealerships /cruise ship terminals / retail-oriented waterfront development schemes.
The notion that it's necessary or even beneficial to "attract" big corporations into an area in order to revive it, because of the wondrous tax revenue windfalls that will surely follow, is truly a poison idea. That it's so commonly accepted as to seem like an article of faith, questioned only by malcontents and tinfoil-hat types, doesn't make it any less destructive.
Yeah, I know none of that last bit had anything really to do with Aaron White's studio. I went off on a tangent, like I always do. But I feel better now. **Ahhhh.**
Let's not take this totally out of context here. Outside of this unfortunate incident, I haven't seen any movement in rents or efforts to displace the artist community in San Pedro. Aaron's rental situation was unfortunante, and he didn't secure a good lease that could have protected him, or even prevented the sale. It's more of a wrong place at the wrong time situation. The real asshole in the story isn't Disney (I just hate them and love to dig at them), it's the local landlord who doesn't give a shit for his tenants, who has a history of fucking over the tenants in that building (I've seen this sort of thing happen before in that same building).
In fact, more artists are coming in, more artist lofts are being built or otherwise becoming available (not the condos, but some projects on Pacific are coming onto the market, most notably the restoration of the building on 8th and Pacific). Lots of empty retail downtown is prime for artists to move in, and the rents are still way below market anywhere else in Los Angeles. The real estate boom has screwed things up, because a lot of us who were looking to buy, are now going to stay renters for the forseeable future. The business community has been incredibly supportive of the arts community (remember the arts community is a business community), and good dialogue about each other's needs exists.
There are a lot of hands on the bulldozer, I am aware that my interests are not the only ones of import or value in this town. I'm not Hitler, I don't get to take my hometown and rebuild it to my facist whims.
Fuck tax revenue? Tell that to the kids at 15th Street School who are finally getting a new building, or the folks who are finally getting their trees trimmed or streets re-paved after 20 year waits? Taxes form the basis of government and its ability to provide proper services. I don't know if you read the city budget, but the City of Los Angeles is royally up fucked right now (a lot of it due to Rampart. Thanks LAPD, for the incompetence, short sightedness and corruption).
If you are a cruise terminal, it is necessary to attract big corporations, Carnival and Princess and all of them aren't run by hippie co-ops. Large corporations are not in and of themselves a bad or evil thing. We're not talking about the irrational urge to attract big business, for taxes sake, which is always a stupid argument. We are talking about maximising tax and other ancillary revenue from an existing asset.
If you are a cruise terminal, it is necessary to attract big corporations like Carnival and Princess because they pay rent, not because they pay taxes. Your counterexample is inapposite, I'm afraid. Nice try, though.
Speaking of which, the adorable, big-eyed kids who form the basis of your argumentum ad misericordiam would get their new school building even if Disney weren't snatching up studios in downtown Pedro. The tax systems in this city, state and country are a bit more complex than you seem to think they are; and amazingly enough, public schools have managed to be built and run since long before the advent of the megacorporation.
Incidentally, I don't think you quite got the point I was trying to make about the bulldozer, which is that any influence that you think you have on it is an illusion (I'm trying to be nice and not say delusion) to begin with. They don't give away turns behind the controls of that thing to just anybody, and you're nowhere near enough of a high roller to get anything from the 'dozer's owners but a patronizing clap on the back from time to time. I suspect you've already gotten a few. But don't kid yourself; it's unhealthy.
They pay rent, and generate tax revenue at a variety of levels. You are right, that the primary, and most measurable income from a cruise terminal is rent, but that's not . For example, the Department of Cultural Affairs is funded, almost entirely, by the 1% hotel bed tax, often paid by visitors, tourists and travelers - people who might be taking a cruise out of, or arriving in, L.A. (Question - do cruise ships laving from LA charge this tax to their passengers? Maybe they should...)
We're not making arguments on the level of serious debate where we have to acccuse one another of logical fallacies, are we? No one here, including you, is structuring their arguments in a way that is immune from that type of criticism. Your retreat to both Latin and logic does not serve your argument, it's a dodge, and not one I am interested in participating in. This is a blog, not a thesus.
Public schools, in the United States, are funded via taxes, in California most school building initiatives are funded by new taxes or bond measures, either at the state or local level. Public education is a recent development, dating from the industrial age. Hell, we were still in the one-room-schoolhouse model until the 20's. Notice how the public school system's development occurs parallel to the rise of the industrial/corporate age? Systems, relating to one another, driving society...
I got your point about the bulldozer. You don't have to be nice here (to me at least), I don't have the kind of ego that other people get to bruise. Look, I don't even deal with the dickheads with dollar signs in their eyes. I don't want to chat with them, shout at their deaf ears or anything else. I just want to be part of the public that has input. When I'm talking about driving the bulldozer, I'm not imagining myself as an individual being heard, I'm just interested in being part of the collective process of positive change. It takes a lot of hands for the public to have any real control over the process. I certainly don't wake up with the delusion that I'm a high roller, and I've got enough reminders to keep me humble, don't worry about me.
No, No
that was not why Aaron White got kicked out,
the actual landlord JERICO never consented to AVF Process Controls renting out the space to begin with. Too bad nobody KNEW that when agreements were made. AVF was hard up for the money.
I was sad to see Aaron leave.
Not sure if i believe the Disney rumor.
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