LAMayor2017.com: Meruelo Maddux

Showing posts with label Meruelo Maddux. Show all posts

Monday, March 30, 2009

Villaraigosa's Top Campaign Contributor Contributes "Los Angeles Bankruptcy" To The Taxpayers of L.A.

Zuma Dogg's "Zuma Times" blog has been covering the story of how the biggest landlord in Los Angeles, Meruelo Maddux (Downtown's biggest property owning fish, and biggest campaign contributor to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa when he was elected in 2005) has declared bankruptcy.

Now Wall Street Journal is covering the Meruelo Maddux downtown developer debacle. IT'S BIG KIDDIES. And Zuma Times has heard from inside sources that when the banks have to come in to take over, and starts looking into the books, they just might find massive fraud, as we have seen with Enron and Bernie Madoff. Look for someone to go to jail over this. Almost forgot that Meruelo Maddux's American Apparel factory whose slogan is, "Made in Downtown L.A." (by non-documented workers) is also part of this mess. So unfortunatley, we may see even more illegal immigrants out of work now. If so, have them call their mentor Antonio Villaraigrosa for a job at city hall. He's always willing to help out any undocumented workers.

And in possibly related matters, it was announced last week that the City of Los Angeles pension and retirement fund (LACER) lost $7 billion in the stock market, last year, and Zuma Dogg says if you look into the bad LACER investments, you may find LACER was strong-armed into investing in loser Downtown development projects like Related Cos., Grand Ave Project (that is still yet to get moving forward due to money problems); and perhaps Meruelo Maddux projects, as well. Zuma Dogg made so much noise over LACERS investment into Grand Ave Project, they DID indeed eventually pull out of that project, whether it was because of my noise, or not. Point is, ZD said it was shady and risky for LACER pension money to be invested in, and LACER agreed, and now the biggest real estate landlord and operator of the Villaraigosa-friendly "American Apparel/Legalize L.A." has gone bankrupt, and I would bet every penny in Vegas you will find the money went out the back door, and in this down economy, there wasn't Wall Street money pouring in anymore to cover the "front-end loaded management" contacts and flat-out fraud. One Los Angeles City Councilmember tells Zuma Dogg that the City of Los Angeles is tied in with some CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) projects that are funded with taxpayer money. So those investments are probably down the drain.

Here's what Zuma Dogg would like to know: The city doesn't manage these portfolios, themselves. They hire Wall Street investment firms to manage the accounts. LACER is supposed to stick with high-quality, investment grade, investments. Not this risky Wall Street stuff that all went "belly up" with all the fraud, waste and abuse, and not in shady, specualtive land deals, that as you can see ended up in bankruptcy, because this economy can't handle the profit pilferage any longer. How much money, if any, did the people running these portfolios contribute to Villaraigosa to get the accounts. How much of the portfolio was "out on a limb" with risky investments as opposed to "investment grade" and did the managers walk off with bonuses after losing $7 billion in a year?

Now, the problem is that the City of Los Angeles is legally required to pay full LACER benefits, and it was announced that the city will be paying 56% of every dollar toward this bailout starting by 2012.

Click here for video of Zuma Dogg addressing this issue before Los Angeles City Council.

AND NOW, The WSJ, much more shallow take.

From WALL STREET JOURNAL

By Eric Morath

The factory behind American Apparel’s “Made in Downtown LA” slogan is in bankruptcy. The Alameda Square development in downtown Los Angeles, home to clothing maker American Apparel Inc.’s headquarters and factory, was among the 40 properties that developer Meruelo Maddux Properties put into bankruptcy Friday.

The factory is the focal point of the cotton-clad company’s “Legalize LA” campaign. The company, which prides itself on manufacturing its hipster-friendly t-shirts and leggings in the U.S., is a vocal advocate for a path to legalization for California’s undocumented workers. Politicians, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, have used the factory as a backdrop to talk about legalization.

An American Apparel spokesman declined to comment on Meruelo Maddux’s bankruptcy filing. The Los Angles developer said Friday that its financial reorganization won’t affect its tenants.

In additional to American Apparel, Alameda Square is also home to the Alameda Produce Market and Meruelo Maddux’s headquarters.

FYI from ZD's email inbox: Zuma,

Just as an FYI, Maddeux doesn't operate or have anything to do with
American Apparel's factory outside of being the owner. American
Apparel is a tenant and Muereulo Maddux is the landlord. Their
bankruptcy might eventually change who the company's rent goes to or
whether the property comes on the market, but it has no relationship
to the financials of AA.

NOTE: Los Angeles Downtown News is also covering the Meruelo Maddux situation HERE.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Los Angeles To Go BANKRUPT Over $7 Billion LACER Pension Bailout!

REGARDING LACERS PENSION BAILOUT STORY THAT ONLY ZUMA DOGG IS COVERING, AND I FINALLY GOT ON THE RADIO TODAY ABOUT IT...IT WAS A "NATIONAL" RADIO SHOW...LOL! (Hello local L.A. talk show hosts, ZD's first radio call on the matter was on a NATIONAL talk show, you circus clowns. Meanwhile, someone sent me this in the email so I may as well post it.)

New ZUMA TIMES readers, look on this blog for more exclusive coverage of the $7 BILLION LACER pension fund bailout, that will bankrupt the City of Los Angeles in the next fiscal budget, if extreme measures are not taken. At this point, there is NO avoiding the pain. WE ARE SERIOOUSLY LOOKING AT DECLARING "BANKRUPTCY" AS THE ONLY OPTION, which would allow the city to renegotiate city worker contracts, because the unions are too greedy and won't give anything back, so extreme measures will have to be taken. In 2012, the city budget experts (CAO's office) declared that 56% of every city dollar, from the general fund, will be going to pay for this pension and retirement bailout.

AND ZUMA DOGG SAYS IF AND WHEN THEY LOOK INTO THE INVESTMENTS BEING MADE, AND LOS ANGELES MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIOGSA'S INFLUENCE INTO RISKY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS; YOU COULD SEE SOME FOLKS GOING TO PRISION!

ZUMA DOGG ALSO PREDICTS THE MERUELO MADDUX DOWNTOWN DEVELOPER THAT JUST DECLARED BANKRPUTCY MAY END UP LOOKING LIKE A BERNIE MADOFF/ENRON BAMBOOZLE. (It's all being exposed in this down economy, as they are all caught with their pants down during this game of musical chairs, and when the music stopped, there were no seats availble. So look for massive fraud in the downtown development bankruptcy scandal. CRA (taxpayer money) was invested in these projects, and I wonder how much LACER was invested in all this "belly-up" real estate development.

So new readers, THANKS TO the new link to Zuma Times' blog at http://news.alltop.com/ with all the heavy hitting news sites from across the country. It's almost a joke. But the link wouldn't be there if the blog wasn't worthy. So hello, "ALL TOP" readers and hello to Guy Kawasaki, THE KING OF TWITTER, Y'ALL! And to NEENZ for ALL TOP (All Top News) for the hook-up! ;)

Check out "ALL TOP" and ignore the LA Times links. And check this blog for more on the LACERS/Murelo Maddox real estate problems that will be sinking the City of Los Angeles with MUCH more to come.
------------------------------

Zuma,

If the trustees for the city pension investment fund invested in the speculative LA Projects (downtown condos etc) one can make the argument that they truly violated the prudent man role.

If the trustees are the mayors appointees and the developer who ran the investments that the pensions invested in was a substantial contributor to the mayor one could argue that the investments in the projects was compensation for the contributions.

A link between violating the prudent man role by investment in poor quality developments that produced political contributions could result in criminal prosecution of the Major and will certainly dampened his ability to run for governor.

Send me the link and I'll see what I can do with it.

...A fiduciary shall act with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent person acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use."

From the Prudent Investor Rule
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prudent_man_rule

prudent man rule n. the requirement that a trustee, investment manager of pension funds, treasurer of a city or county, or any fiduciary (a trusted agent) must only invest funds entrusted to him/her as would a person of prudence, I.e. with discretion, care and intelligence. Thus solid "blue chip" securities, secured loans, federally guaranteed mortgages, treasury certificates, and other conservative investments providing a reasonable return are within the prudent man rule. Some states have statutes which list the types of investments allowable under the rule.

Unfortunately, the rule is subjective, and some financial managers have put funds into speculative investments to achieve higher rates of return, which has resulted in bankruptcy and disaster as in the case of Orange County, California (1994). (See: fiduciary, trustee)

Friday, March 27, 2009

Zuma Dogg on L.A.'s $7 BILLION Pension Bail-Out (Public Comment)

YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS PUBLIC COMMENT BY ZUMA DOGG: The Daniel Hannan of L.A. City politics.

1) "Zuma Dogg Public Comment on Los Angeles City $7 BILLION in Pension Losses and BAIL-OUT: “CLICK HERE...>> Councilmember Greuel: zuma...”

2) More ZD Public Comment on LA City $7 BILLION LACER Investment Losses (FRAUD!) “CLICK HERE...Mr. Zuma dogg,”

3) Mr. Dogg, on "The Era of Transparancy." “CLICK HERE...Mr. Dogg, zuma dogg....”

ZUMA DOGG'S "I TOLD YOU SO'S" (WARNING/ALERTS):

Neighborhood Council Blog: City of Los Angeles Faces $600-$700 ...
Hey Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Zuma Dogg's Batcomputer just crunched ... LACER PENSION FUND ALERT: I hope LACER wasn't over-extended in risky ...

Zuma Dogg Blog: Downtown Los Angeles Presents: Eli' Broad, Related ...
More on Zuma Dogg and ZAP You may have heard of the nearly $2 Billion Downtown CRA .... I hope LACER pension money isn't being invested into this project, ...

L.A. Daily Blog: MUNICIPAL BOND MARKET IN TROUBLE: LA Times ...

29 Feb 2008 by zumadogg@gmail.com (zuma dogg)
LA Times finally reports today (Friday 2/29/08) what Zuma Dogg already reported about two weeks ago. (If you are an investor, do you know how much difference two weeks makes, in a situation like this? Someone should sue the LA Times for not ... Hope LACER/CALPERS ISN'T HOLDING THESE. Taxpayers are set up for a bigger burn than Malibu. click here. AND NOW, LA Times (2/29/08) re-hash of ZD's two week old blog posts. (Wow! Better renew your newspaper subscriptions.) ...

LACER: And, oh no...someone just sent ZD the recent LACER audit with all those answers to ZD's questions about risky stock investments. And, oh no...it lists that info. It's 344 pages, and I don't have that much blaze...but I'll try and sniff out the shadiness and report back. Meanwhile, if any of my "legalese-busters/ZD helpers" think they can sift out any important insights from this report, send me an email, and I'll send you a link.

Posted by Zuma Dogg (on Mayor Sam's Blog) @ 2/23/2008

I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO SAY??? AFTER THREE YEARS OF ZD AT CITY HALL, LOOKING AT THE AGENDA, AND ANALYZING THE IMPACT, INCLUDING THE GLOBAL ECONOMY AND WALL STREET, I THINK IT'S SAFE TO SAY, I SHOWED UP AT CITY AND WARNED ABOUT ALL OF THIS AND BLOGGED ABOUT IT FOR THE RECORD, AND I HAVE BEEN RIGHT AS CAN BE, EVERY STEP OF THE WAY!!!

IT'S GETTING PRETTY TENSE IN COUNCIL CHAMBERS WHEN ZUMA DOGG IS SHOWING UP DELIVERING THESE TYPES OF SPEECHES.

The people are now seeing how F*CKING right I have been EVERY STEP OF THE WAY...So there will be increasing pressure from the people for council to shut the f*ck up and start doing what Zuma Dogg is saying. He's right, and they're the one's responsible for making him right. But on this LACER stuff, I think the LAST thing Villaraigosa will be worried about is winning Governor. No, there will be HUGE legal messes to be dealing with. WAIT UNTIL THEY LOOK INTO THE LACER INVESTMENTS! And oh yeah, Muerello Maddox filed for bankruptcy today. And that plays into it, too. More to come.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

ALERT: City of Los Angeles To Go BANKRUPT Over City Employee Pension & Retirement Funds (Councilmember Calls It "Armageddon!")

EXCUSE ME!!! Zuma Dogg was absolutley floored and flabbergasted in a VERY REAL way today, during Item 28 of today's Los Angeles City Council meeting. I'm sure it will be all you hear about for the next two years. At the end of the discussion that you can see HERE -- starting off with ZUMA DOGG's Public Comment and followed by the discussion that unviels it all, right before your very eyes and ears. Basically, it was announced that in 2012, if measures (that Zuma Dogg details in the public comment) are not taken, 56% of the city's general fund, 56% of every L.A. City dollar, will have to go to cover the city employee's pension and retirement funds. You see, the city's investment team played fast and loose with the city taxpayer money, and Zuma Dogg feels the mayor strongarmed LACER into investing in risky city development projects and projects of his favorite developers. (See Meurello Maxxox and Grand Ave Project stories) and now LACER has lost $7 BILLION DOLLARS THIS PAST YEAR!!!

And guess what kiddies, these pension and retirement funds are guaranteed by the city, so the city has to pay the difference out of the general fund!!!

As I heard this, and literally became flabbergasted, as you can see in my follow up public comment on the next item (a pure Emmy Award level comedic performance), I asked one of the CMs (who I won't name or CMs may not talk to me), if it was as bad as it sounds, because I don't wanna over-exaggerate: The CM said, "It's Armmagedon." Then did add, "Measures can be taken to help." But the feeling was, massive pain at this point cannot be avoided. Again, if you want to see what it will take to help reduce the financial strain, I detail it in my public comment, that is followed by the discussion. IT'S A DOOSEY! And I am not being arrogant when I say, "I detail" as though "I" came up with the solutions and the city better listen. NO, just the opposite: The benefit of Zuma Dogg being at the Council meetings, allows me access to Councilmembers and top City Hall staffers who I interviewed before the agenda item, to ask the what the things Zuma Dogg needs to be saying that the other CMs are scared or don't want to say. THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE, BUT THE COUNCILMEMBERS AND OTHERS DON'T REALLY WANT TO COME OUT AND SAY IT, SO THEY ACTUALLY DON'T MIND TELLING ME, knowing that I will say it for everyone else. AND OF COURSE YOU COULD HAVE HEARD ALL OF THIS ONLINE DURING THE BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETING HEARINGS, WHERE IT WAS ALL SAID.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO SAY...IF I DO NOT HEAR THE AM RADIO TALK SHOW HOSTS TALKING ABOUT THIS ONE...IT WILL REALLY SAY A LOT TO ME. I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE IT WOULD TAKE FOR A TALK SHOW HOST IN THIS TOWN TO TALK ABOUT SOMETHING BESIDES ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. THAT IS A PROBLEM, BUT IT IS POSSIBLE TO TALK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE BESIDES BARACK OBAMA BASHING AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. I can't wait to tune in. I really am optimistic that even local AM Talk Radio show circus clowns can't ignore this one.

MORE ZUMA DOGG PUBLIC COMMENTS FROM WEDNESDAY'S MEETING:

Runway Film & TV Production: Click here (So that's 3 public comments to see on this blog post.)

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Meruelo Maddux Story (L.A. Downtown Developer) Is The BIG Story, People! (A Couple LA City Councilmembers probably not real comfortable, today.)

[3/12/09 4:00 PM UPDATE: See top comment in the comment section of this post for some good background information on this story.]

Alright folks. You've seen the type of blogging I have done over the past three years. And many of you may recognize, every now and then, ZD's "Rainman" Five Minutes to Wapner feeling kicks in. Peter Parker calls it his "Spidey-senses." Well, ZD has a feeling about this whole Meruelo Maddux story that hit the newswires yesterday.

Meruelo Maddux Announces 2008 Fourth Quarter and Calendar Year Results PR Newswire (press release) - ‎21 hours ago‎LOS ANGELES , March 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Meruelo Maddux

Meruelo Maddux says it may file for bankruptcy San Francisco Chronicle - ‎9 hours ago‎Southern California real estate developer Meruelo Maddux Properties Inc. says it has been unable to service much of its debt and may have to file for ...

Big L.A. landlord Meruelo Maddux may file for bankruptcy Los Angeles Times - ‎17 hours ago‎The company reports steep losses in the fourth quarter and says it is unable to meet its debt payments. By Roger Vincent Meruelo Maddux Properties Inc., ...

Meruelo Maddux Warns About Finances Los Angeles Business Journal - ‎19 hours ago‎By DEBORAH CROWE Meruelo Maddux Properties said Wednesday it had stopped making payments on 26 real estate loans totaling $266 million, and that independent ...

And the feeling is based on things I have heard over the past three years, as people tend to like to tell ZD all the shady things that are going down in Downtown. (They keep telling me to see "Chinatown.") So when I saw this story yesterday, a whole bunch of names came to mind and dots were connected in my mind, and here's the post based on it all.

From what I have heard on the streets of Los Angeles and inside Council chambers is that Meruelo Maddux is probably the biggest developer in Downtown Los Angeles. If you check the campaign contributions of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (now running for Governor of California), during the campaign when he first got elected mayor, you'll probably see this name near the top of the list of overall contributors. THAT'S A LOT OF CASHOLA!!!

BUT, Zuma Dogg keeps reminding people to read the story of the "Frog and the Scorpion" before they do business with Antonio Villariagosa, because YOU are the frog and HE is the scorpion. So he will always treat YOU the same as he treats everyone, whether you are a member of some small community group he makes a campaign promise to, or one of his biggest campaign contributors. As soon as he got into office, he slammed the door on EVERYONE, including these guys, too.

So Antonio probably doesn't have to be as nervous about this (outside of the fact big contributors aren't real happy when they get "NADA" for the dinero).

BUT NOT SO FAST RICHARD ALARCON AND TONY CARDENAS! If ANY two people at city hall should be nervous as f*ck that the bottom has fallen out on this "front end loaded management/money pilfering/public stock fraud case waiting to happen" it's those two.

About the FIRST thing ZD was pulled over to the side and told about by City Hall insiders frustrated by the situation, is that Alarcon, Cardenas, former L.A. City Councilmember Alex Padilla and ASSemblymember Fuentes have their own little developer power-base going with some HEAVY connections that are more powerful forces than some little councilmember, who is nothing more than a bullet-train stop through town in the long run. (Councilmembers come and go. Powerful, connected developers see 'em all come and go thanks to term limits. (Which aren't so limited anymore.)

AND the power-base that backs the above mentioned elected officials is Jim Aveedo. (Last name changed slightly to protect the innocent, like me.) Jim pushes his little puppets around and has them get sh*t done, for him. And, they get to stay in office and get moved into other offices when they are termed out.

AND, if you look around, like at the CRA, for example, you may find that Meruelo-Maddux is pretty "warm and fuzzy" with Alarcon, Cardenas, Padilla and Fuentes.

So it's like the MM crew vs Antonio's crew. Both side fighting for their piece of your pie.

BUT, as we all know, the economy can no longer sustain all this "front end loaded management contracts" and overall fund cyphoning and pilferage the way we used to be able to sustain it.

So with all that expensive downtown property sitting vacant, sinking in value...now the LA Times reports, "The company reports steep losses in the fourth quarter and says it is unable to meet its debt payments." Well, I wish the Church Lady were here to say, "Well isn't THAT special." Sorry kiddies, all the money disappeard at this PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANY, and the shares are about to be worth about a penny on the dollar.

But less importantly than the Wall Street investors who got burnt...THIS WILL SINK THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES! SO MUCH FOR RETURNING DOWNTOWN TO THE ECONOMIC HUB IT SO FOOLISHLY THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO DO.

Grand Ave...A BUST! And now, the biggest Downtown developer is going belly-up like Enron and the rest of the flim-flam, scam artists.

AND YOU WILL SEE PEOPLE GOING TO JAIL OVER THIS! So that's why some folks around the city aren't real comfortable, right now.

PEOPLE...this could end up being just some typical news story that comes and goes in the news cycle like the rest of them. BUT, I think this will be the biggest story that will be UN-RAVELING like a cheap sweater bringing down a whole lot of schemes, and I think you'll see at least ONE PERSON take the fall in court. So it's a matter of who else gets caught up in the collatoral damage. AND ZD FEELS THERE WILL BE!

zumadogg@gmail.com