Recent News in the 43rd District

You're sitting in freeway traffic on a Saturday and all the lanes are jammed. Well, almost all. You notice the carpool lane sits empty but you don't dare take advantage and risk a $341 fine. So you stew in bumper-to-bumper gridlock, euphemistically called non-peak traffic.

In Southern California, carpool lane restrictions are in place 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Not so in Northern California, where a single driver can move in and out of the carpool or High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane during non-peak times, which usually means weekdays after 7 p.m., between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and all the time on weekends.

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What gets me mad about driving in Los Angeles?

Traffic, of course. That’s a given. The many public officials who have done nothing or obstructed efforts to improve it deserve to spend a few years of their lives immobilized at dusk on the eastbound side of the Santa Monica Freeway.

But what gets my blood boiling? Getting a ticket for parking at a broken meter.

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SACRAMENTO—More than 200 activists, from every corner of California, joined the Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region (ANCA-WR) on Monday, April 15 for the Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in the California State Legislature and for their annual Advocacy Day.

Activists spent the entire day advocating issues concerning the community, educating their legislators about the consequences of the denial of the Genocide, and were able to view the month long exhibit of Armenian American inventors that have contributed to the wellbeing of the American population.

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Sacramento, CA – Assemblyman Mike Gatto’s (D-Los Angeles) legislation to criminalize the dangerous and increasingly prevalent crime known as “swatting”, cleared a major legislative hurdle today, passing the Assembly Public Safety Committee by a unanimous vote of 7-0.  Swatting is a perilous prank by anonymous mischief-makers who alert police to a bogus crime situation, prompting a tactical response — sometimes by special weapons and tactics (SWAT) officers — that then involves a high-risk search for phantom assailants.  AB 47 is the legislature’s most comprehensive legislation to address the issue, and the only pending bill to increase criminal penalties for swatting.

AB 47 would increase the criminal fines and penalties for anyone who makes a call to 911 resulting in the deployment of police personnel when no emergency exists.  Under the provisions of the bill, anyone who makes such a call would be subject to a $2,000 fine and a year in jail, and significantly increased fine and jail time if the call results in bodily harm.  Finally, the bill stipulates that any swatting call that results in a death can be considered manslaughter.  Assemblyman Gatto introduced AB 47 on December 19, 2012, even before the recent spate of high-profile swatting incidents.

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(Sacramento).- On April 15th, the California State Assembly marked the annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide with a ceremony honoring the memory of the victims of that horrible occasion. The legislature passed Assembly Joint Resolution AJR 2, by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles), that would designate the week of April 18 to 24, 2013, as “California Week of Remembrance for the Armenian Genocide of 1915–1923,” and calls on Congress and the President of the United States to observe the California Week of Remembrance for the Armenian Genocide by participating in the Armenian Genocide Commemorative Project. The Assembly prayer was led by His Eminence, Archbishop Hovnan Derderian of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church and the nation of Armenia was represented by Deputy Consul General, Mr. Artak Galstyan

(Sacramento) – Each year the California State Assembly honors Holocaust survivors, liberators, and the children of survivors during California Holocaust Remembrance Week.  This year Assemblymember Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) read the poetry of Burbank resident David Meyerhof, a child of holocaust survivors, during the ceremonies on the Assembly floor.  Assemblyman Gatto read Meyerhof’s four-line poem “Silence.”  Another of Meyerhof’s poems, “My Mother,” was distributed to all Members in attendance.  “My Mother” tells the tale of Mr. Meyerhof’s mother escaping Germany in the aftermath of Kristallnacht.

The poetry of Burbank resident David Meyerhof, child of holocaust survivors, has been read around the world, and yesterday, was read by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) on the floor of the California State Assembly. Meyerhof’s poetry was featured at the State Capitol’s Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony, at the request of Gatto.  The ceremony honors Holocaust survivors, liberators, and the children of survivors.

Meyerhof, a retired-middle-school teacher who taught for 33 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District, is the child of two Holocaust survivors.  During the ceremony, Assemblyman Gatto spoke of the courage of Meyerhof’s parents, and all Holocaust survivors, and described how generations now have used art – music, films, paintings, novels, and poetry – to better fathom the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust.  The Assemblyman then read one of Meyerhof’s poems aloud to the chamber.

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A bill by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Sliver Lake) that would allow solo drivers to use carpool lanes during non-peak hours on the Ventura (134) Freeway in Glendale and Burbank has been amended to possibly include other local freeways.

Gatto’s bill, AB 405, passed its first hurdle Monday after it was approved by the Assembly Transportation Committee on a 15-1 vote.

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Sacramento, CA – The poetry of Burbank resident David Meyerhof, child of holocaust survivors, has been read around the world, and yesterday, was read by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) on the floor of the California State Assembly.  Meyerhof's poetry was featured at the State Capitol's Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony, at the request of Gatto.  The ceremony honors Holocaust survivors, liberators, and the children of survivors.

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The Los Angeles City Council is expected to consider a motion Tuesday to crack down on “swatting” incidents, in which police are dispatched to celebrities’ homes on false crime reports.

Councilman Paul Koretz will ask the council to consider assigning several city agencies to help with the effort.

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