Non Stop Burglaries in the San Fernando Valley

00:00:00
Speaker 1: And we continue at two o five in the afternoon on The Giant Phillip Show, Mister Randy Wags in Culver City, John, we have a.

00:00:07
Speaker 2: New bombshell allegation from California Attorney General Bob Banta, Bob Bonta. Bob Bonta says Amazon's been price fixing with its competitors and ripping you off.

00:00:21
Speaker 1: So the Village Idiot is going to go to war with Jeff Bezos.

00:00:24
Speaker 2: Huh yeah, I'm fine with that. Screw Bezos, Bob Bonta.

00:00:29
Speaker 1: Here's what I think is gonna happen. If Village Idiot keeps pushing. At some point, Jeff Bezos is gonna get him in a room and he's gonna say, let's hash these things out, just you and I. He's gonna put Bob Banta in a chair and he's gonna say, you know what, I've got to take a call. I'll be right back. Bob Banta is then gonna fall asleep in that chair with his head hanging off the backside of it. And then when I I'd love to see happen, is Lauren Sanchez just drop both of her breasts right on his head and snap it right off.

00:01:09
Speaker 2: Wow, Bob Bonta, I didn't know where you were going with that. One.

00:01:23
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number? What eight hundred two two two five two two two. Right now, it's time to open up the California crime Blodder. It's happened yet again, NYE.

00:01:39
Speaker 3: See time for the California crime blodder and Randy.

00:01:44
Speaker 1: There's a bit of a theme to today's blotters.

00:01:47
Speaker 2: They all took place this weekend in the San Fernando Valley. Four different crime blodder stories in four different parts of the valley. In this wave of burglaries and break ins that yesterday, the LAPD chief MacDonald and Karen Bass had a press conference where the best advice was make sure your doors are locked. Let's start with a jewelry store in Sherman Oaks. Here is ABC seven.

00:02:21
Speaker 4: But first, a shocking jewelry store burglary and Sherman Oaks. New surveillance video showing the thieves making their way inside. And this is just one of several incidents in the San Fernando Valley. I'm Nico Gazori in for Lisby.

00:02:34
Speaker 1: And I'm Jey Ran.

00:02:35
Speaker 2: This comes after the LA's mayor says she was going to ramp up police patrols across the area.

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Speaker 5: I went.

00:02:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, nobody's believing that. I went Desersia Port.

00:02:45
Speaker 2: Tim Pulliam live in Sherman Oaks tonight with the latest.

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Speaker 1: Tim.

00:02:51
Speaker 5: Yeah, guys.

00:02:51
Speaker 6: I spoke with the business owner off camera and he tells me he is emotional and upset. His business was burglarized just a few years ago and he nearly lost everything.

00:03:01
Speaker 1: And you didn't move. It takes some people a little bit longer to learn than others.

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Speaker 2: You don't hear of that many jewelry store robberies at South Coast Plaza, No, you don't.

00:03:15
Speaker 6: This weekend, these we're back at it. Security video shows the thieves smashing items inside need A jewelry store on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks. Lapd says the thieves broke into a business next door to the jewelry store and then tore through this connecting wall inside a bathroom.

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Speaker 2: This is the new trend. You don't break into the jewelry store. You break into whatever is next to the jewelry store in the strip mall, and then you tunnel through the bathroom.

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Speaker 1: And keep in mind many of these jewelry stores don't have insurance.

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Speaker 6: Look at this enormous hole left behind.

00:03:51
Speaker 1: I'm not saving that. We're just gonna move on.

00:04:02
Speaker 6: This camera angle shows the moment the burglars slithered their way in. Police say the crooks were unable to get away with the owner's jewelry locked in a safe, but they created this mess while taking off with some of the owner's property.

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Speaker 2: First time I've ever heard of a safe actually being safe.

00:04:20
Speaker 1: Well, there's a first for everything.

00:04:22
Speaker 2: But of course, his building is destroyed and probably needs to get red dagged.

00:04:27
Speaker 1: Well, I'm sure it looks like a bomb went off in there.

00:04:30
Speaker 7: I heard for that guy, he's a good man.

00:04:32
Speaker 6: Matt Hawk owns Sonny's Handcrafted ice Cream and shaved ice a few doors down.

00:04:37
Speaker 1: I wonder if he has a brother named Mike. It's possible.

00:04:44
Speaker 6: He too, has been victimized by burglars three break ins in ten years.

00:04:49
Speaker 7: Ours was more pretty brazen, of a rock being thrown through the door. They get in, they look for something to steal.

00:04:58
Speaker 6: In North Hollywood, thieves h Carravana coffee shop. It's the third time in five months.

00:05:04
Speaker 1: Crime is down. Everybody, if you were smart enough to understand statistics. You would know that too.

00:05:10
Speaker 2: The whole deal is the valley is supposed to be boring but safe. Now the valley is boring and dangerous.

00:05:22
Speaker 6: And Granada Hills neighbors have reported a rash of break ins over the last several weeks. This week, several homes in Valley Village were targeted. Nina lives in Studio City, where she says her home was invaded back in January.

00:05:35
Speaker 8: After they were taking the report about my home invasion, they got another call of another home invasion within a mile away.

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Speaker 2: The LAPD does, more than anything else, take reports of something that already happened.

00:05:54
Speaker 1: At what point do they just adopt the Oakland philosophy and tell these people to fill out a form online? So yeah, it's pretty scary.

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Speaker 6: People living and working in the San Fernando Valley says something needs to be done to cut down on break INDs. In response, Mayor Karen Bass ordering LAPD to step up air and ground patrols along the busy Ventor Bull ofvar business and residential corridor.

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Speaker 1: She even called for horse cops bring in the.

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Speaker 6: Cavalry, an effort to make officers more visible in areas prone to burglaries like the Strip mall where Matt runs his ice cream shop.

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Speaker 7: I haven't seen any extra patrols in our neighborhood here nor at home, so I'll be looking to see if there has actually follow up to the promise.

00:06:43
Speaker 1: Of course not, We've been through this how many times. No, what they don't want is they don't want the local news to cover it, because if the local news covers it, then they people will be aware of the fact that there's crime going on and.

00:06:57
Speaker 7: We'll see what happens. I want peace of mind, and I've had it. These stories are starting to invade, you know, my serenity.

00:07:07
Speaker 1: Serenity.

00:07:08
Speaker 2: Now, let's move on to a CBSLA story about some burglaries in North Hollywood.

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Speaker 1: Well, nearly every night for the last two weeks, burglars have broken into homes in the San Fernando Valley.

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Speaker 9: It seems like a surgeon.

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Speaker 1: Police officers isn't stopping crimes either.

00:07:26
Speaker 8: You don't say, cbsla's Zach Boeto live in North Hollywood where people.

00:07:30
Speaker 1: Are taking matters into their own hand.

00:07:32
Speaker 10: Sack, Hey, go, Leslie, good evening, and man we talked to who's lived here in North Hollywood since the seventies, says it's never been like this, and now he and his neighbors are leaning on each other. After Mayor Karen Bass says that LAPD would be boosting patrols here in the valley.

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Speaker 2: But you know, as much as people like Karen Bass and Garcetti before her love to say that, you know, crime is lower than it's been since the nineteen fifties. There are plenty of people who have lived in the valley their entire lives who will disagree with that.

00:08:05
Speaker 1: They will not only disagree, they'll look at you like you're on drugs.

00:08:09
Speaker 10: A home here in North Hollywood still hit overnight. This neighborhood dog walk in North Hollywood Sunday is doubling as neighborhood watch.

00:08:19
Speaker 1: It's nice.

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Speaker 11: It's very nice to have a community.

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Speaker 1: We look out for each other.

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Speaker 2: Sure, we pay taxes to have the police protect us, but because they're so understaffed and or mostly on the other side of the hill all the time, we're doing our own neighborhood watch with dog walking.

00:08:35
Speaker 1: You know, if you just voted differently, you wouldn't have to live like this. Yeah, we're not going to do that. This is Los Angeles.

00:08:43
Speaker 2: It's very important, right how many points did Rick Calaruso lose by a lot?

00:08:48
Speaker 1: It's very important right now.

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Speaker 10: The group walks there neighborhood nightly, but tonight is different. After a home they walk by nearly every day was broken into less than twenty four hours ago.

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Speaker 12: It's disturbing.

00:09:01
Speaker 3: Well.

00:09:01
Speaker 10: LAPD says no one was home during the burglary. The department says the thieves did get away with cash and jewelry. Skycow was overhead as LAPD officers searched the home with guns drawn.

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Speaker 2: They were long gone, guys, that's what they pull out their peace. Yes, it's all for show. It's really they know they're not allowed to do their jobs, so they're going to play the part.

00:09:26
Speaker 11: It's just really disturbing because there's been so many and you hear about them in Studio City and now here.

00:09:32
Speaker 1: It's even the dogs pissed off. Will you be uncomfortable?

00:09:38
Speaker 10: The burglary comes just two days after Mayor Karen Bass said LAPD would be boosting patrols along Ventor of Boulevard because of a rash of home breakings in the San Fernando Valley just within the last week. Break ins also happening in Tuluca Lake, Valley Village, Sherman Oaks, and Granada Hills.

00:09:57
Speaker 1: But one over the valley minute, why not send in the social workers. I thought they were supposed to take care of all of these problems.

00:10:04
Speaker 10: But one resident says, it's going to take more than city resources to stop the crime.

00:10:09
Speaker 2: It's great if you know the community, like does stuff are attacked always that stuff for sure, and that should be expected.

00:10:14
Speaker 13: But I think in the end, you should do what you need to do to protect yourself.

00:10:18
Speaker 5: Wow.

00:10:18
Speaker 1: I think that means get a gun. Yeah, well guess what if you actually use it, you're going to be decried as a racist and put in prison.

00:10:25
Speaker 5: Wow.

00:10:25
Speaker 10: Home surveillance cameras and the neighborhood dogs can be strong deterrents for criminals looking for loot. These neighbors are banding together.

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Speaker 2: By the way, the cameras are no deterrent whatsoever. This current crop of organized criminals. They cut your powers, so all of the cameras are dead.

00:10:44
Speaker 5: You know.

00:10:44
Speaker 1: I think part of the problem is that many of these organized, professionalized operations, they're from other countries. What is it Chili?

00:10:53
Speaker 2: Some of them from Chile, some of them from Paraguay, some of them from Uruguay.

00:10:57
Speaker 1: I think part of the issue is they really we do not want to arrest them because then they'd have to deport them.

00:11:03
Speaker 2: Well, there is that these I mean, you could say the same exact thing about all the Honda and drug dealers in the Tenderloin who we don't want to deport.

00:11:11
Speaker 10: These neighbors are banding together hoping their presence may give their streets another layer of protection.

00:11:18
Speaker 12: Luck has a lot to do with it at this point, because it just can't be enough people out here patrolling all the homes and keeping an eye out for something that doesn't seem right, just doesn't happen.

00:11:29
Speaker 2: It is such a small portion of the population that wants to victimize the rest of us. But of course we don't want to put them in prison.

00:11:36
Speaker 1: Nope, we've handcuffed ourselves.

00:11:38
Speaker 9: Now.

00:11:38
Speaker 10: It was Friday that Bass's office had made the statement about boosting patrols here in the valley. We reached out to them today about two more burglaries that happen this weekend. Have not yet heard back Geo Leslie.

00:11:51
Speaker 2: So that's what happened in North Hollywood. Now let's move to the northern part of the valley and go to Silmar. Here's KTLA for our top story.

00:11:59
Speaker 8: Tonight, a string of home burglaries across the San Fernando Valley, leaving residents on edge in the place they should feel the safest.

00:12:07
Speaker 13: Tonight, extra patrols are out there on the streets as residents.

00:12:10
Speaker 2: And by the way, if Karen Bess wasn't running for reelection, she would have not even said she was going to do anything or even how they press conference, because that's usually her move is to ignore it and like every mayor before her, completely ignore the valley.

00:12:27
Speaker 1: And then, to the extent that you acknowledge it at all, you claim that they're spreading this information.

00:12:33
Speaker 13: Tonight, extra patrols are out there on the streets as residents. Believe that the same crew has hit multiple homes in recent weeks. In fact, the thieves were caught on surveillance video and at least one of those break ins, these suspects hitting a home in Somar earlier this week.

00:12:48
Speaker 1: Katiela's christ voting differently isn't even enough.

00:12:51
Speaker 2: All these neighborhoods should incorporate everyone thinks they're cities anyway. Yeah, as long as they remain part of the City of Los Angeles. They're not going to receive any legitimate services.

00:13:04
Speaker 8: KTLA's Chris wolf Is live.

00:13:05
Speaker 2: The dumbest thing that ever happened. And he can't blame me because I wasn't old enough to vote. Was not going forward with the valley secession movement in exchange for neighborhood councils that nobody pays attention to.

00:13:18
Speaker 1: No, but part of the problem is having a very large valley city would present its own problems. What they need to do is they need to break off into a bunch of little cities like they do in Orange County.

00:13:29
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, KTLA's Chris walf is.

00:13:31
Speaker 1: Panorama City should be a city. Yes.

00:13:34
Speaker 8: KTLA's Chris wolf Is live and Somar. That's where he spoke with some of the victims and has video you'll see only on five.

00:13:41
Speaker 9: Hi, Chris, that's.

00:13:44
Speaker 14: Right, good evening, Kren and Rick. I can tell you we did see an LAPD patrol through the neighborhood tonight. As you said, this is Somar. It is part of the San Fernando Valley and sadly this area has been a hotbed for residential crime lately. Home security cameras in Silmar capture intruders lurking around the property at about eight pm Wednesday, April fifteenth. The hooded, masked, and gloved figures don't seem to be in a hurry, but.

00:14:19
Speaker 1: They're not going to get COVID well. They're very concerned about slowing the spread.

00:14:25
Speaker 14: Or concerned that the homeowners may arrive at any moment. They made entry by smashing a sliding glass door. The house on Heron Street in the White Hawk Estates was unoccupied at the time, and the thieves spent nearly one hour at the location.

00:14:43
Speaker 1: An hour. I thought they were supposed to be in and out fast.

00:14:49
Speaker 2: Apparently these guys aren't in a rush, really take their time.

00:14:53
Speaker 1: They watched the.

00:14:54
Speaker 14: Netflix, searching for valuables and violating someone else's sacred They eventually disabled the surveillance cameras and tossed bedroom after bedroom after bedroom.

00:15:08
Speaker 10: Very concerning, alarming and.

00:15:11
Speaker 2: So the owners weren't home, But none of the neighbors notice all this ruck is going on for an hour.

00:15:18
Speaker 1: It's like institutionally everyone has given up. The cops have given up, the courts have given up, the neighbors have given up. Even the dogs have given up. I feel like it's taken away my safety.

00:15:30
Speaker 11: I'm having a really hard time dealing with it, to be honest, and accepting the fact that this has happened.

00:15:34
Speaker 14: The victims report a loss of money and jewelry totally about three hundred thousand dollars.

00:15:41
Speaker 1: Holy cow, that's a lot of money.

00:15:44
Speaker 14: They believe the same criminals are responsible for similar break ins in the neighborhood within the past few weeks.

00:15:50
Speaker 1: I don't feel comfortable even being here in my own home.

00:15:53
Speaker 11: I'm not a gun person, but I do want to, you know, purchase a gun now.

00:15:58
Speaker 1: Yep, Okay, that's fine, but you also need to vote differently. No, they're not going to do that.

00:16:06
Speaker 11: It's scary. Like I don't even want to leave my daughter by herself, or my fourteen year old daughter by herself, so I'm not going.

00:16:15
Speaker 14: To This case is just one of the latest home break ins in a rash of similar crimes across the San Fernando Valley, and homeowners are fed up.

00:16:26
Speaker 2: You know how irritating it was to fly back into La take a lift to the valley and as I'm scrolling through my phone to see, hey, what did I miss While I was on the plane. Valley burglary, after Valley burglary, after Valley burglary, after Valley burglary. I bet you wish that flight got canceled. Seriously, American, the one time you're on time.

00:16:48
Speaker 1: This is the last time of the police department. Everybody said this welding about their heads up. They were long gone.

00:16:56
Speaker 14: Some properties have been targeted and hit multiple times in Porter Ranch Friday night, April seventeenth, We've.

00:17:04
Speaker 2: Almost shouted out every neighborhood in the valley.

00:17:06
Speaker 1: Oh, we have one more to go.

00:17:08
Speaker 14: Thugs tried to cut power, jam the internet, and get inside with the homeowner there. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass just announced she's directed the LAPD to strategically deploy resources and patrols to keep valley residents safe.

00:17:25
Speaker 1: And it didn't work.

00:17:26
Speaker 2: Now, let's move to a neighborhood that wishes they would be annexed by Burbank. To Luca Lank, here's NBCLA.

00:17:33
Speaker 15: Tonight, we continue to follow the latest in a string of home burglaries in and around the San Fernando Valley.

00:17:38
Speaker 2: It's actually a really good idea that I just came up with. Burbank take to Luca Lake. They don't want to be part of LA anymore.

00:17:46
Speaker 1: Can you blame them?

00:17:47
Speaker 15: Round? The San Fernando Valley Police say the latest was early this morning in the Hollywood Hills. At another last night into Luca Lake. Marbass has already prompted the LAPD to increase patrols along Ventura Boulevard. NBC four is reported on several other burglaries. You can see them here on this map, all since last Friday.

00:18:04
Speaker 2: And this is so embarrassing and any other mayor would not get away with it.

00:18:08
Speaker 1: But it is LA, of course.

00:18:11
Speaker 2: NBC fourth Camilla Arounbaldi joining us live right now from North Hollywood with more details.

00:18:15
Speaker 16: Camilla, Kathy and Jonathan. Over the last week, we have learned about at least a dozen reported burglaries in and around the San Fernando Valley. Some neighbors that we spoke with that tonight telling us they are on edge and now worried for their own safety. Police can be seen outside another home in the San Fernando Valley. This was last night into Luca Lake off Strom Avenue. The LAPD says at about nine forty five officers responded to reports of a residential burglary here.

00:18:46
Speaker 15: It's actually really scary knowing that all these robberies are happening, and I'm scared for the neighbors.

00:18:51
Speaker 16: Police say, two men in dark clothing.

00:18:53
Speaker 3: Map.

00:18:53
Speaker 2: You notice how Burbank's in the valley, and none of these stories are in Burbank. Different city clothing masks, Calabasas. No stories about Calabasas. There's lots of fancy homes there.

00:19:07
Speaker 1: You know, Bob Hope, you used to live into Luca.

00:19:09
Speaker 16: Lake clothing masks and gloves appear to have used a ladder that was in the backyard to get in through an upstairs window. Police say the thieves took off with an estimated two hundred thousand dollars worth of property. The laped says the people who live inside were not home at the time and no one was injured.

00:19:26
Speaker 11: That's gotta be really scary, because I know how I felt what I walked.

00:19:30
Speaker 16: In ingrid Geyer lives in the neighborhood.

00:19:33
Speaker 11: I got burglarised twice letters in San Francisco, so I know what it's like.

00:19:38
Speaker 9: I walked in and she shot.

00:19:40
Speaker 2: She was moving from the busy city to a safe, boring neighborhood and now it's all happening there. There you go, Johnny. How many neighborhoods were shouted out about burglaries that all have happened in the last week in the valley?

00:19:53
Speaker 1: I think just about all of them. Eight one eight Welcome home, Randy. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is a cellphone number? What eight hundred two two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny, don't like show at gmail dot com. Randy. Any emails catching your eye.

00:20:23
Speaker 2: Well, I'm responding to the one that's a woman asking me where to go in Santa Fe.

00:20:27
Speaker 1: But also.

00:20:29
Speaker 2: There I can't even read this on the air, but somebody really liked the thing that you said about Bezos's wife at the top of the hour. If you missed it, you can listen to it on the podcast.

00:20:40
Speaker 1: And Randy, now that we're about twenty five minutes away from the end of the show, if you want to continue listening after we sign off at three, that's easy to do.

00:20:48
Speaker 2: If you want to hear the inappropriate thing John said at the top of the hour. At about three oh five. You'll see it on the podcast. Search for the John Phillips Show wherever you get your podcast, whether it's the Apple podcast app, Iheartspot, search for the John Phillips Show, hit subscribe you get download all the episodes.

00:21:04
Speaker 1: You can do a Google on the YouTube.

00:21:05
Speaker 2: Get the free KABC app or the ksffo app, or how about the KMJ now app. We're on that station Saturdays at noon. So many different ways to listen. Live to this show wherever you are and listen whenever you want with podcasts, and you can take them with you. Listen to the podcast while you're working out, while you're driving, or while you're shopping at Target.

00:21:23
Speaker 1: Now ghetto does have to lug up the sock. So every fourth of July since two thousand and eleven, there's been an event in Long Beach called Long Beach's Big Bang on the Bay Fireworks Show. It's something that people in Long Beach love to see. Of course. It's a beautiful part of Long Beach. Right there downtown by the Aquarium. You have the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean of downtown Long Beach. It's a nice spot to look at the fireworks when you celebrate Independence Day. However, this year, the California Coastal Commission has stepped in and denied a permit to the individuals who put the show on. The man who is behind the show is the proprietor of the restaurant boat House on the Bay. You can get it online at boathouse Ondebay dot com. He is the owner of Boathouse on the Bay, John Morris. John Morris, thanks so much for stopping.

00:22:26
Speaker 5: By, My pleasure, my pleasure.

00:22:32
Speaker 1: So let's start out with the origins of the story. Just exactly when did you start doing this and what gave you the impetus to put on a fireworks show in Long Beach.

00:22:43
Speaker 3: Well, originally when I came here back in about twenty ten. I've been in the front business in Long Beach going on fifty years, and I've been in the Belmont Shore area of the downtown area. I'm known as like the pioneer of the town Long Beach, and throughout that process, holiday weekend have always been slow. And then when I came to this location, I was excited. I'm on the water. In my first July fourth here, of course, we were very very quiet, and then I realized still Long Beach people leave the area to go to the beaches in Seal Beach, and I thought, what can I do to create something? And the city wouldn't let me do it on the north and mainly it's because we really don't have the resources to do the Queen Mary fireworks and then do this fireworks. So I kind of fought back, and then I was approached by the fire Marshal and he said they wanted the ten year anniversary of nine to eleven is coming up and they need to do a celebration of life because they've never actually done that, and they asked me to organize an event, and he said, if you'll organize the event for us and want to end it.

00:23:44
Speaker 5: With fireworks, we'll do the fireworks. So the whole show we did.

00:23:48
Speaker 3: Three thousand motorcyclists from Cook's Corner and Orange County Highway Patrol escort up Pacific Coast Highway pulled into the parking lot. We had food vendors, stage music. It was believable and then it was set up with the fireworks and the neighborhood did not know the fireworks were going to happen, and of course they thought maybe the Long Beach poll just got blown up with the ten year anniversary, but.

00:24:12
Speaker 5: It was such it was.

00:24:14
Speaker 3: I knew it was going to be beautiful in Alixis Bay, but it was way beyond beautiful.

00:24:20
Speaker 5: It's unbelievable. And after the event, with.

00:24:23
Speaker 3: The massive success that it was, the fire chief came to me and said the city had said you can do any night you want for fireworks, but you can't do the fourth. Of course, I just said right away, we'll do the third because nobody has to wake up on the fourth.

00:24:37
Speaker 5: So that's how it started.

00:24:39
Speaker 3: And I started right away and we were raising money the firefighters, widows and orphans. Kind of fun they have here, and we raised money for them for a couple of years, and then nice skiers and brought in their community charities, thinking that that would help me with the buffer with this. At the first I was thinking to give me the problem because I do have my relationship with the city, And turns out it was the Coastal Commission that was the problem from day one, and they went after me. But we always I hired a environmental company and.

00:25:11
Speaker 5: We test the water before the fireworks, we test the order. After the fireworks.

00:25:15
Speaker 3: We send a robo camera down into the bay to make sure there's no debris. And for ten years I've had environmental reports that have never once been questioned, never once by the Coastal Commission. Did they write us up for anything. Then for eight years we did bird reports and the same thing, squeaky clean birds came back, not a problem with the nesting.

00:25:38
Speaker 5: And three years.

00:25:38
Speaker 3: Ago they sued me. The SERF Organization sued me in federal court, spent three years in federal court fitting we were proved in federal court we don't pollute and we don't affect the bird life. They appeal that decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. I won that case two to one vote. They appealed that and I won that appeal on a three zero vote. We spent three hundred thousand dollars defending ourselves with the Coastal Commission, the Surf Organization, and we win all those cases. And they still say were polluting the water and affecting the BirdLife. It's a joke, it is a true. And last week when they approved San Diego one hour before me, when I have a ride it in front of me here that March of twenty twenty five, the Surf Organization the Coastal Commission cited SeaWorld for polluting the water, at which at that time they were not doing any of the conditions that.

00:26:39
Speaker 5: We have on our firework show. They could do.

00:26:41
Speaker 3: Anything they wanted, and they settled and wrote a check for two hundred and fifty grand to that nonprofit down there, and then they issued them forty.

00:26:50
Speaker 5: Firework shows this year.

00:26:51
Speaker 3: And then I go up thirty minutes later and they go no, by bringing up pollution the environment.

00:26:58
Speaker 5: It's all really, you can't use that word, but.

00:27:04
Speaker 1: It's complete insanity because you look at the professional fireworks shows that go on all the time, whether it's Disneyland or the Angels or the Dodgers or fill in the blank. They go on all over the place, and they go on without a hitch if you hire professionals and you do it the right way, which clearly you were doing. This is something that goes on in every big city in America every single year. It's no big deal. The fact that the California Coastal Commission would single you out and would single your fireworks show out while allowing everything else to go on in this state is beyond my ability to comprehend. I would also add as someone who's lived in the state my entire life and spent the Fourth of July in Orange County, in LA, in the Inland Empire, in San Francisco, and in Oakland. There are a bazillion illegal firework shows that go off on Fourth of July weekend, not just on the fourth, but three or four days before and three or four days after all over the place, where they don't take any of the precautions that you take.

00:28:16
Speaker 3: No none whatsoever. You know, they bring up the PTSD and animals work with the VA hospital. We've had the VA the veterans come over here for the firework shows. And again, the benefit of a schedule show is they know, Okay, between nine and nine twenty it's going to be banging. I'll put my head set out, I'll turn the stereo up, I'll drug my dog, or do what they need to do.

00:28:38
Speaker 5: But like you said, it's not about the firework show. They should be more worried.

00:28:42
Speaker 3: About all the illegal fireworks that are going on for seven hours that but they can't separate it. It's the personal preference to drive drone shows down our throats and drones and the fium batteries they're plastic, they'll fall in the bay. The birds don't like the drones. We have video of the birds attacking the drones. But it's just it's the air personal preference that the jamming down everybody's throat.

00:29:08
Speaker 1: In terms of a state that has extreme fire risk, I can't think of a safer place to do fireworks than at the beach. I mean, when you think about it, with the sand, it's just one big ass tray to begin with. Where do they want you to do the fireworks show in the canyons where the fires can start.

00:29:27
Speaker 3: They don't want me to do fireworks. They want me to do drones. And the city has already informed them in three meetings we had bor like in October, novemb December, and Alameda's babe, I was to do if I was to pull off a drone show and did it the right way, take over a thousand drones. Now you can't have any people in the bay in the boats, you can't be underneath the drones. You can have people on the beach underneath the drones. So then I go, well, who the hell is going to watch it?

00:29:55
Speaker 5: It's crazy.

00:29:56
Speaker 3: We don't have the capabilities of doing drone show to that extent in Alamus Bay, and the city told them that that.

00:30:02
Speaker 5: They didn't care. They told me, I need to do a drone show.

00:30:08
Speaker 1: So what's the status as of now, As of now this fourth of July or I guess the day before the fourth of July, there's going to be no fireworks because the Coastal Commission has put their foot downy.

00:30:19
Speaker 3: I did stand today that's where it's at. But last Friday, Gavin News's office came out and said.

00:30:24
Speaker 5: He's looking into it.

00:30:25
Speaker 3: Yesterday State Senate Delena Gonzalez, who in all honesty has been a great supporter of this event. I mean, we get over one hundred and thirty thousand people surrounding the bay watching the fireworks, Seal Beach as thirty five to fifth thousand watching the same firework show.

00:30:42
Speaker 5: And she went to bat for.

00:30:43
Speaker 3: As yesterday with Gavin Newsom and I don't know what this is at this moment of the decision he's going to make, but it's this thing has gone viral.

00:30:53
Speaker 5: It's truly gone viral.

00:30:54
Speaker 3: I mean, my own sister called me from Pennsylvania yesterday. I'm watching you on the news right now. So people are tick. They really ticked off because the the bias against me for they don't like me because I went in court. So they just they're very vindictive. The leaders, they are pullies at least to the max.

00:31:15
Speaker 1: Well, and the Coastal Commission in particular has the absolute worst reputation. I have never spoken with a single individual who's done, ever, done any work with the Coastal Commission who has anything nice to say about them. It's like the world's worst hoa. They're all a bunch of neighborhood napoleons.

00:31:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, but to me, it's dealing with the staff of the Coastal Commission is brutal. So then they write up the report and give it to the commissioners, and then the commissioners just take their word for everything, you know. But then they're in bed with the environmentalists. They're all collusioned together. And when I go to that hearing last week, it was like, wow, they're all here, all the environmental people. But we we had a position with twenty five hundred residents around the water in support of the fireworks. I mean, we had Congressman Garcia then in a letter in support of it. Lena Gonzalez, the state senator from this region sent a letter of support. A Seentleman John Lenthal sent a letter of support. The Mayor of Longbeach sent in a letter report. The city council sent a letter of report. Twenty five hundred citizens in the petition didn't mean.

00:32:27
Speaker 1: Nope, can't use that word either, but thank you so much that it's okay. Thank you so much for fighting the good fight and trying to make sure this firework show goes off this Independence Day weekend. We certainly hope that you're successful. You were successful in court, and I hope that Gaven Neussam and others continue to lean on the Coastal Commission so that they give you approval to make sure this fireworks happened this year, as it's happened every year since twenty eleven. John Morris on A Yeah.

00:33:01
Speaker 3: Just a quick note, we've raised two million dollars on this firework so for kids, Primes and Lung Beach two million dollars.

00:33:10
Speaker 1: Well, that is excellent, excellent work. John Morris, proprietor of boat House on the Bay. You can get them online at boat House Ondebay dot com and of course dine there whenever you're in Long Beach Hopefully you'll be able to go down there on this July fourth weekend, see the fireworks, have a nice meal, and enjoy yourself in a very cool location when it's hot everywhere else in southern California. John Morris, thanks so much for stopping by.

00:33:39
Speaker 5: Thank you.

00:33:40
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two two two is telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two. Well, there is a sneaky tax on the ballot in Los Angeles to pay for copper wire because so much copper wire is being stolen and the city is refusing to put any one in jail over it. So instead of putting the crooks in jail, what they're doing is wanting to raise taxes on the homeowners so they can just buy more copper wire.

00:34:10
Speaker 2: I got the petition in my mailbox yesterday where I get to either vote yes or no on a property tax assessment jacking up the fees that I pay to the city because they can't keep the lights on. Great and knowing how the city votes, we're probably going to say yes to it. But for more on the assessment in the city of La to pay for all the broken street lights, here's Fox eleven and Matthew Sedorf.

00:34:42
Speaker 1: Micha got to turn off the music first. Now we can start tonight.

00:34:48
Speaker 17: A city in the dark and a costly plan to light it back up.

00:34:52
Speaker 1: The mayor now pushing.

00:34:53
Speaker 17: Voters to prove a fee increase estimated around one hundred and twenty percent to pay for the city to replace more than two hundred thousand street lights. Fox Levin's Matthew Sudorf is in Cheviot Hills with details.

00:35:06
Speaker 1: I guess you could call this the bass tax. Oh, they're more on the way.

00:35:13
Speaker 18: Street lights now flickering back on in Cheviot Hills, a road that just days ago was completely dark.

00:35:19
Speaker 5: That's definitely a plus to have lights.

00:35:21
Speaker 18: Across La Copper thieves continues striking, ripping wire from underground fiber lines and above ground, knocking out streetwhights for entire neighborhoods.

00:35:31
Speaker 1: And that's totally fine because it's anything goes here. Well, what are we gonna do? Criminalize it?

00:35:37
Speaker 9: You know, let's criminalize kind of lists of converters. Let's criminalize copper.

00:35:41
Speaker 1: He's probably gonna win reelection. Good lord.

00:35:46
Speaker 18: More than thirty two thousand street whight repair request still pending citywide.

00:35:50
Speaker 19: We are going to install sixty thousand new street.

00:35:54
Speaker 2: Lights if we can get the taxpayers to pony up the bill.

00:36:00
Speaker 1: It's so wild to be that from her point of view, the only people who are expected to follow the rules or pay the bills are the middle class, and we just can't expect anyone else to do that. So stop asking. And what did we learn yesterday?

00:36:15
Speaker 2: Oh, some of that stolen copper wire is in the homeless shelters that we're also paying for.

00:36:21
Speaker 19: Great, that installation is already underway.

00:36:24
Speaker 18: But now a decision mini voters may not know about. It's called Prop two eighteen, a street Light Assessment, and it would raise fees to help replace the cities more than two hundred thousand street lights. And for property owners that means they could be paying about one hundred and twenty percent more to fund the one hundred and twenty five million dollar program currently generating forty five million.

00:36:44
Speaker 9: Ballots go out this week.

00:36:46
Speaker 19: As long as voters support the street wide city, the.

00:36:50
Speaker 2: Street luck so because the city is bad at its job, I have to pay more money.

00:36:55
Speaker 1: Think about this, Think about the stories that we did earlier. Today we are bending over backwards, dealing with a completely polluted River in San Diego County because we can't tell the Mexicans to stop dumping raw sewage into it. We have to raise taxes on homeowners in Los Angeles because we can't tell the crackheads to stop stealing the copper wire.

00:37:24
Speaker 9: Ballots go out this week.

00:37:25
Speaker 19: As long as voters support the street wide city the street lighting assessment, we will be able to replace all two one hundred thousand lights as needed.

00:37:38
Speaker 1: And then what happens when those get vandalized. Then she's going to need a new tax in the city. Something long, long, I don't.

00:37:45
Speaker 2: Know when taxes became piecemeal. But oh you like street lights, you need a specific tax for that. Oh you like firefighters, you need a specific tax for that. That's not how this is supposed to work.

00:37:56
Speaker 1: No, we pay a fortune to live here. They need to manage their better in the city.

00:38:02
Speaker 19: Something long, long, long over due.

00:38:04
Speaker 1: So someone has priked this panel loops.

00:38:06
Speaker 18: Earlier this year, we did a ride along with LAPD looking at copper wire thefts.

00:38:10
Speaker 9: Someone in this area are getting city power.

00:38:14
Speaker 18: Their task force designed to target these crooks essentially dismantled.

00:38:18
Speaker 9: What happened to it?

00:38:19
Speaker 1: So about two.

00:38:20
Speaker 2: Years ago, the last person from that union retired and we had to shutter that unit because.

00:38:24
Speaker 1: Of the lack of resources. So we're not even trying to arrest them anymore. No, we don't do that.

00:38:31
Speaker 18: For some the wait for new lights has stretched more than a year, so there is the move.

00:38:35
Speaker 9: Well, others are now seen on the street again.

00:38:37
Speaker 11: I'm glad the street is lit, but there are a lot of criminals now in West LA.

00:38:41
Speaker 1: They're stealing a lot.

00:38:42
Speaker 18: About six hundred thousand property owners across LA are going to be getting those ballots for Prop. Two eighteen sometime in the next couple of days. Reporting in Chevy Hills, Matthew Sedo or Fox Love News.

00:38:53
Speaker 1: Think I'm voting now, good, Tell your neighbors to vote no too. If you are a homeowner in the city of La, check your mailbox. You may have just gotten this thing and they're counting on very few people even paying attention to it. All right, that's going to do it for us today. But we'll be back tomorrow at noon for another edition of The John Phillips Show.