Speaking of Los Angeles legends ... I'm watching the Dodgers beating the Giants at Dodger Stadium, and it's just turned into a rainout. A rainout in LA!? Those usually don't happen until July ... or August. (Photo --- You might recognize Los Angeles City Hall as the "Daily Planet Building" from the old Superman TV series; nothing magical about it, but both interiors and exteriors of it have been seen in hundreds of films and TV shows).
And now, two auto-related news stories out of (where else?) Los Angeles, the world's Capitol of Cars and, also no coincidence, legislation which attempts to manage, control and charge for them all. One story tells of a proven way for California drivers to help pay our way to cleaner air, our second story is about a gadget which reminds the owner when a car payment is due.
Both of these tales of woe are courtesy the Los Angeles Times and KTLA/TV5, the first commercial TV station west of the Mighty Mississippi ... These one-time legends of news and purveyors of sport both suffer from having the same incumbent owner, a slumlord from Chicago called Sam Zell, who created some sort of financial dodge which puts the holdings of the former Tribune Corporation into the hands of the employees, at least the ones left after Zell finishes his corporate slashing and burning. (Photo --- Sam Zell).
But Angelenos, never fear; Zell apparently hates Chi-town as much as he loathes LA ... He's 
already announced the impending sale of not only the Chicago Cubs (also a former Trib property) but their Wrigley Field, too, where they started playing in 1916. The gum-making Wrigley family, who also owned the team and the stadium at one time, also owned most of Santa Catalina Island, just "26 miles across the sea" from Los Angeles, as the Four Preps sang in 1958, and those very same baseball Cubs wintered for many years on Catalina Island, honing their baseball, uh, skills, we guess you'd call them ... In 1936, Ronald Reagan, as a young radio announcer for WHO in Des Moines, Iowa, traveled to Catalina Island to cover the Cubs during their spring training. While there, he took a screen test and was offered an acting role. How different our world might have been but for the Wrigleys ... But enough of the past! Here's the latest "auto news" from So Cal:
A Riverside County company is cashing in on the subprime credit crunch.
Murrieta-based, Sekurus, sells a device that will disable a driver's car if a payment is missed.
The so-called 'On-Time' device is actually a little box mounted underneath the dashboard that forces high risk car-buyers to make their payments on time.
A light on the plastic box flashes when a payment is due. If the payment isn't made the vehicle won't start. The next step is a visit from the repo man.
Sekurus has sold 250,000 devices at up to $250 each. Most are purchased by finance companies or dealers who cater to car buyers with troubled credit histories.
The privately held Sekurus has grown at a 30% rate in recent years. Revenue goal this year: $20 million.
For the next story, click on the link below:
Proposition 13, officially titled the "People's Initiative to Limit Property Taxation," was a ballot initiative to amend the constitution of the state of California. The initiative was passed by the voters of California in 1978. The proposition's passage resulted in a cap on property tax rates in the state, reducing them by an average of 57%. The initiative also contained language requiring a two-thirds majority in both legislative houses for future increases in all state tax rates or amounts of revenue collected, including income tax rates. (Photos --- Above, The facade of Los Angeles' Petersen Automotive Museum on the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard, along that portion of Wilshire known alternately as "Museum Row" and the "Miracle Mile"; Below, Robert Petersen, founder/publisher of HOT ROD, MOTOR TREND, CAR CRAFT, FOUR WHEEL OFF-ROAD and many other automotive magazines, was one of the key people who made Los Angeles the city driven by the automobile almost more than any other; here he posed with his Ghia-bodied Cadillac, now displayed in the museum which bears his name).
More and more, Sacramento legislators are coming to their senses and realizing that 
"Proposition 13" was a huge boondoggle --- Even if it did garner the leader of Prop. 13 movement, Howard Jarvis, a cameo in the 1980 spoof, "Airplane!" It sure looked good at the time, and since its 1978 passing, being "anti-13" has been the surest, swiftest way to guarantee political suicide in California. But, with Arnold Schwarzenegger now in the Governor's Mansion (or at least living in a hotel suite across the street from the Capitol) and clearly "testing the waters" for future "revenue enhancers" without actually calling something a "tax increase," more and more California politicos are telling the public not what they want to hear, but something very different, called "the truth". And this truth is: If people want police, fire and emergency medical assistance, libraries, schools, roads and almost every other detail of "civilized" life, then someone has to PAY for it, one way or another. Here's one way the County of Los Angeles intends to help pay for improvements and additions to mass transit, of which there is very little throughout the state, and relieve traffic congestion --- almost always a sure bet for voters. Here are key parts of the story:
Voters would be able to decide whether to approve a "climate change mitigation and adaptation fee" under legislation being considered by state lawmakers and endorsed by the board of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).
The money would fund improvements to mass transit and programs to relieve traffic congestion at a time when transportation dollars from Washington and Sacramento are hard to come by. (Photo --- Often called "The building built by the Beatles", Capitol Records' Hollywood headquarters is known worldwide and, like every other building in Southern California, accessible only by foot and car).
But opponents already are rallying against the measure, saying it exploits public concern about climate change to tap taxpayers for the MTA's regular services: providing bus and rail lines.
The bill would allow the MTA board to ask voters either for a fee of up to 3% of the retail price of gas, or for a vehicle registration fee of up to $90 per year. The money would pay for programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The registration fee would be higher for cars, trucks and SUVs that produce more carbon emissions, a feature that backers said would discourage drivers from using higher-polluting vehicles.
Either alternative could produce $400 million a year for public transit projects.
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