L.A. Disconnected

This morning at The Foundry on Melrose, Los Angeles Magazine convened a panel to talk about President Obama. There was plenty of that — some of which inspired my KCRW segment today on the Obama visit and the non-starter nomination of Thomas Saenz to a job in the Administration — but the discussion evolved into a "more general group-gripe about what’s wrong with L.A.," as Jewish Journal editor Rob Eshman put it in a blog post this afternoon. The panelists were columnist and Zocalo founder Gregory Rodriguez and top Democratic lawyer (and Music Center board chairman) John Emerson. Steve Oney from the magazine moderated. Eshman:

It was important conversation, but not completely unfamiliar to anyone who has been to any gathering of more than two civic-minded Angelenos anywhere in LA any time in the past 20 years.

It is a huge, horizontal city made up of discrete immigrant, ethnic, socioeconomic and interest groups that don’t operate with a sense of larger civic pride.

“There are so many worlds in LA it’s almost naive to thing we can come together in that first generation of immigrants,“ Rodriguez said.

Emerson cited a dearth of great corporate or civic leaders. He recounted how the Music Center was founded when Dorothy Chandler brought the heads of major LA companies into a board room and went around the table extracting million-dollar-plus contributions.

“Those companies don’t even exist any more,“ he said.

Big-pocketed donors do—he mentioned Eli Broad, Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, Gloria [sic] Kaufman—but Emerson said that doesn’t amount to civic leadership.

“None of them but Eli Broad has a sense of tremendous civic responsibility,“ he said.

Guests included Controller-elect Wendy Greuel, Councilman Tom LaBonge, former state Controller Kathleen Brown, Times book editor David Ulin, author Gina Nahai and Democratic consultant Donna Bojarsky. One surprise was Rodriguez, a frequent critic of Antonio Villaraigosa, saying the mayor has done a decent enough job — but that he should resume the pace of public appearance he kept before the controversy over his affair. “I miss Antonio,“ said Rodriguez.

Add LaBonge: Oney profiles the councilman and native Angeleno in this month's issue. "Not because we think he is flawless (we don’t) but because he represents something rare in L.A.," editor Kit Rachlis says in his note. "He’s a throwback, a politician who’s energized by meet-and-greets and ribbon-cuttings, who makes sure that the trash is picked up and street lamps are turned on."