The Bus Bench

Eternal Phone Dialer

Hello? Hello? Hello? . . . 

 

 

Trimana Trash

One wonders how Trimana (this one is at the base of the Library Tower on Fifth near Flower) maintains an "A" rating from the city when at least once a week the pastries are left outside the door, on teh ground (in this couplea shots, near the trash!) where it is not uncommon for bums to sleep and relieve themselves.
 
Bon appetit!

-BusTard

On Buses, Metro Promotes Cars.

Today at noon, Pam from Santa Monica is pushing the false idea that Metro wants you to go car-less. But once on board, one stands a good chance of having to watch the promotion of private motor vehicles and auto shows. What gives?And how many of Metro's execs take the very public transportation they actively promote, and how frequently do they take it?

But back to the problem at hand. It may not be "active denigration" per se, but one need not have to have read Thorstein Veblen's book, The Theory of The Leisure Class, to understand that the nature of public transportation in Los Angeles is so dismal as to appeal to no-one, which means that nearly anyone who can get off the bus forever will do so. The remaining captive audience is thereafter forced to endure lengthy stretches of TransitTV promoting the thrills and girls attracted by those who not only own private motor vehicles (i.e., folk who do not have to ride the bus like the bums, working class schmucks and other little people what have no choice) but are further enraged—or should be!—by the fact that their taxes have been stolen to repair Freeways, offer assistance to private motor vehicles and to pay for the vehicle on which they are presently having to watch how they are nothing less than losers for having no money to buy their own car and get off the god-damned bus forever.

More kvetching plus some vids after the jump. . .

Photo Triptych In Tujunga

Is it art? Is it vandalism? Is it even known to exist? All I know is that it was taped to an out-of-the-way electrical pole on Pinewood at Foothill Blvd in Tujunga.

-BusTard

 

 

Sometimes The CIA Gets It Frighteningly Right.

Damn good thing there are over 6.5 billion experiments awaiting the right way to be tortured:

"Torture 'is basically subject to perception,' CIA counterterrorism lawyer Jonathan Fredman told a group of military and intelligence officials gathered at the U.S.-run detention camp in Cuba on Oct. 2, 2002, according to minutes of the meeting. 'If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong.'"

Washington Post, "CIA Played Larger Role In Advising Pentagon,"

By Joby Warrick

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 18, 2008; Page A01

Metro Offers $3 Day Pass!

In the real world, the lawsuits would have long since devastated any firm that continued to advertise false terms. But in Los Angeles, where Metro is unhesitant in rail-roading its largest group of patrons—the working-class—it should not be a surprise that several bus stop shelters in South L.A. display that which Metro should be legally upheld to fulfill: the $3 Day Pass. I am sure the argument is that it was out of neglect, to which I would respond that there is a clear system of neglect owing to the many bus shelters that have obviously been neglected for nigh on half a decade. In any case, this video clearly shows that Metro does not give a shit about you, or you, or even you.

-BusTard

 

 

Pictures of Tom LaBonge

On MetBlogs and Griffith Park, Interrupted, a couplea long threads have broken out about an incident involving one woman's desire to not have BBQ fires allowed at Griffith Park and the way her councilmember, Blowhard Tom LaBonge, reacted. Having dealt with Tom, I chimed in about his pattern of behaviour, mentioning I had some interesting photos. Someone challenged me to post them. Here are three of them, after the jump. . .
-BusTard

Metro Quietly Becomes Private Property

I imagine I missed the meeting whereby Metro became a private endeavour. I suppose our taxes will show a decrease as the public will no longer be expected to subsidise the poorly run formerly public transit system, hm?

-BusTard

 

 

 

Another Slow Day In Cement Central aka Pershing Square

What is so dangerous about a few fledgling film students in Pershing Square? Apparently quite a bit, for as we all know, the LAPD knows something we don't. I imagine that is why they are always beating picnicking protesters in other nearby parks; the kids in this vid got off easy.

When the movie industry runs roughshod—day and night, at all hours—with street blockages, generator noise, left-behind trash and a remarkably bad attitude toward those who dare to question their asshole behaviour, the LAPD is on hand to protect the assholes against aggravated tenants demanding to see the film permits.

I suppose the rest of us are just too stupid to understand it all.

-BusTard

 

 

One Bus For Them, Another One For The Unwashed Masses

For the few middle class in Sunland-Tujunga and Shadow Hills who have eschewed their private motor vehicles for the bus, there is an option: DOT's wonderful Commuter Express. Plush, high-back seats set two in a row all the way back, clean interiors and a much quicker jaunt into downtown in the a.m. and back in the afternoon, all for a dollar or so more. And there are always empty seats after the last passenger is picked up.

The other shoe drops after the jump. . .