(updated) The Bus Bench to Sam Zell, L.A. Times: DROP DEAD.

My Foot, Your Ass—The L.A. Times has proved without a doubt that it ain't phoning it in. It's blogging it in. Hector Becerra filed a fine piece of bench-work that he very likely picked up from The Bus Bench. It was not the first time in the past week that the L.A. Times has sat on The Bus Bench and taken note of the conversation and then sold the gossip as its own idea. Steve Lopez, who has long been aware of The Bus Bench, "penned" a piece about obnoxious billboards that was remarkably similar to a Bus Bench article that was posted two weeks earlier. (It's funny what passes for news these days, eh, Steve?) However, the captain of the rotting ship that proclaims itself the one remaining metropolitan daily in this Not-tropolis was unavailable for comment, and so the Bus Bench is leaving this Lutheran memo nailed to the Times' figurative door: Screw you, Sam; and Up the L.A. Times.

Earlier today, Hector Becerra's smudgy fingerprints were found on a metro piece about Metro that had been posted by The Bus Bench—nearly one month prior. Although Becerra quoted Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension (MGLEE) project manager Dennis Mori regarding the broken-up concrete and the electrical problems that prompted the action, it was an exclusive bit of key information that was known by nearly no-one outside of Metro and its contractors—until The Bus Bench broadcast the news in mid-August.

Metro_Scoop_08aug2009
transcribed from the above video, starting at 00:30 and going until 00:50 seconds:

BusTard: "...the Eastside Extension, [and how] they haven't opened it up yet."

Metro Contractor: "[Metro] had a problem with the [contractors] that were building it. They had problems with the signals. . ."

B: "Oh, really?"

MC: ". . . cables and stuff. They had to break up the cement to get at [the problem]."

B: "Oh, yeah? So that's why [the opening] is going to be December?"

MC: "Oh, you knew about December?"

B: "I knew about it being December when [the Gold Line] is supposed to [open], but I didn't know why."

But there is plenty of malaise to spread on this crap-sandwich, a fair chunk of which is reserved for Metro executives—whose propensity for outright lies has found a new low. When on 05 August 2009 the Metro PR staff were asked point-blank by Bus Bench editor Browne Molyneux "if it's true that the Gold Line East LA extension won't be opening up until at least December since [the contractors] have to pull up the cement owing to the electrical wiring," Molyneux was informed that  "[Metro is] not at the point of setting an opening date yet." When pressed whether an electrical problem required concrete being "pull[ed] up," the Metro PR exec flatly stated, "Not that I’m aware of, no."

The Bus Bench discovered not only that the opening date for the MGLEE was to be no later (and basically, no sooner) than November, but that Metro has known about this date for a few years even as it announced that the MGLEE was to open in mid-2009. The Bus Bench also unearthed the reason why the MGLEE absolutely had to be finished by November of 2009—yet another significant point in Becerra's bit that had never been mentioned anywhere else before Bus Benchers dug out the gem—as well as why Metro has done as little as possible so as to make the date: federal funding that will no longer be available AFTER November 2009.

In late July and again in early August, Bus Benchers got a whiff of the stench that wafted from One Gateway Plaza and the over-ripe MGLEE that had yet to be opened. Metro PR executives, when asked about the electrical problems and broken-up concrete, said that they were unaware of any such problems. The same Metro personnel also stated that the MGLEE was due to open no later than October, a patent falsehood that was hurriedly spun one week after The Bus Bench posted the exclusive piece—an article replete with Metro documents dating back to January 2007 that clearly stated the MGLEE's opening date of December 2009.

Here's a tip for Sam, Hector and Steve: contact The Bus Bench so we can tell you where to send the checks for the pieces you schmucks stole. Until then, stick it where the sun doesn't shine—and yeah, we mean the Gold Line.

-Randall BusTard

("L.A. Newspapers are Full of..." image from AT#20 • ©1998 Angry Thoreauan MagaZine)

Comments

[loveandhatela]

Hey right on Bus Bench to call them on their Bull-s*it!

You know they could of saved some money and used Gloria Molina to crack that concrete.
She's as big as a wrecking ball..jejeje!

It is a sad day-how desperate they have become.
Less readers,less revenue = put the nail on the coffin...the bitch is dead!
The only time recently that i head over to the latimes.com is to read my horoscope and thats for entertainment purposes.
Keep on doing the good work- we sincerely appreciate it.

"bad cop = no donut"

[Boyle Heights Man]

The Los Angeles Times is bankrupt and kaput. The paper has been in bankruptcy court for 10 months now. It's a pretty bad paper to read now. Not surprised they're stealing stuff off of the internet to put in the paper.

[El Random Hero]

I've been trying to say the same thing, but you guys said it WAY better than I could. OHH LA Times, how did things get soo bad that you have to steal. Not ethical. Not ethical at all. That's one of the first things I learned in Journalism 101. DON"T STEAL SHIT !!!

[WALT!]

I feel your pain. Luckily, so far its only has been low-level newspaper and blogs copying me: http://highlandpark.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/youre-killing-the-internets/