I am relieved Jerry Brown defeated Meg Whitman. I have been out of work for over 2 1/2 years and she is SO anti-labor - that if she had been elected, I think California would implode. We are already circling the drain with $19 billion in debt. I just hope the media and voters will understand all the problems Jerry Brown is inheiriting date back to deficit spending since WWII. Now the media and lots of folks want Obama's head on a platter because in 2 years he hasn't fixed the mess it took Bush 8 years of inept bumbling to create. Whenever a candidate is elected - for about 6 months there is a "halo effect" and the honeymoon is over when a politican isn't able to pull a rabbit out of their hat and perform instant miracles. American voters and media have very limited attention spans and want INSTANT results. Every president dating back to Harry Truman practiced HUGE defict spending - with the exception of Bill Clinton - who in 8 years - cleared up Bush & Regan's huge deficit - Clinton left office with a surplus in the treasury of approximately $700 billion. Bush plowed through that in his first 2 years as President - then left us with the biggest deficit in the entire history of America dating back to 1776. I don't envy Jerry Brown or Obama - I wouldn't want their job for all the tea in China - not even if George Clooney offered to marry me and give me a $100 million pre-nup! BTW - I am NOT a "liberal" and I am NOT a registered Democrat. I'm a independent, swing voter and a Moderate Centrist with zero affliiation to ANY political party. IMHO - Republicans and Democrat parties are the "Republicrats" - we don't have a 2 party system we have a 1 party system...........IBM You BM - we all BM for IBM. Fortune 500 corporate cartels have hegemonic control over the President, Congress, Senate. Fortune 500 companies give EQUAL campaign donations to politicians running in the same race. Doesn't matter WHO wins - since whoever is elected BOTH candidates accepted PAC Campaign donation money from the same corporation.

Why doesn't the morons in Congress, Senate, White House give some of the $800 billion bail out economic stimulus package money to Le Petit Paris? The only govt funding I see going to help businesses is being given to trans national corporate cartels and Corporate Mafia. I thought it was heartbreaking when Hina's Tea closed down due to their sociopathic landlord from hell - nobody wants to rent that property now that the word out on the street is that the landlord is a cretin. When I walk around Midtown I see so many empty storefronts. will the last person leaving Midtown please turn out the lights?

It is my understanding, the Maloof Brothers who are billionaires and owners of Arco Arena expect the City to GIVE FREE OF CHARGE this land to build a brand new stadium. Isn't this called "CORPORATE WELFARE?" It is bad enough the City overpaid for this land by $2.5 million dollars - now the Maloof Brothers want "CORPORATE WELFARE" and to be given this land for FREE. It burnt my toast when I learned the Mayor and City Council gave tons of "corporate welfare" to out of town developers = plus out of town restaraunt chains about 5 years ago when Downtown and Midtown had a huge spurt of over-priced high rise condos, restauraunts. Now about the Maloof Brothers - having a NBA basketball team does NOT make a city world class. What makes a city world class is culture, ballet, opera, affordable housing, art house indie cinemas, museums, beautifully landscaped parks, excellent and affordable public transit, walkable neighborhoods, bike friendly neighborhoods, extensive tree planting to create an urban forest, community gardens, well funded public schools, outstanding public universities that are properly funded............this is what makes a world class city - I have nothing against the Kings, nothing against basketball - but a NBA team does NOT make a city "world class".

great to hear a grocery store is opening in the downtown midtown grid - i do not like to shop at big chain stores like safeway and want to support, indie, mom and pop grocers.

Any one with common sense knows if a retail tenant refuses to pay the rent they will be OUT on the street and evicted within 60 to 90 days, depending on what county the store is in. Five days after not paying rent, a landlord can issue a "Pay Or Quit Premises" notice. If the rent is not paid, then eviction papers follow. Within 60 to 90 days the Deputy Sheriff shows up with "Writ of Execution" paperwork and physically takes possession of the premises, and if the tenant's stuff is still in the store - it gets put out on the sidewalk. Bottom line is if a tenant does not pay rent, there is NO WAY they could hunker down and stay in a retail store for EIGHT MONTHS - so something sounds "off" regarding the landlord's statement. It doesn't matter if the retailer's lawyers were Jesus and the 12 Apostles in terms of manipulating a situation - if a tenant did not pay rent - it is logistically and legally impossible for them to retain custody of the premises for eight months. If litigation has gone on for EIGHT MONTHS, I seriously doubt there is ANY merit to landlord Gary Orr's allegation Hina's Tea defaulted on paying the rent. I haven't seen the hundreds of pages of court papers, because I am not privvy to those proprietary confidential details......but I am siding with the folks at Hina's.......why would Hina jeopardize a business which took her many years to build up a huge, loyally devout clientele base? Hina would have to be dumber than a boiled turnip to refuse to pay the rent - the whole thing reeks of harrassment from a landlord who is a conflict seeking personality (?) Would Hina want to be stuck unloading her entire inventory selling it off at cost without making one cent of profit in a "fire sale"? Nope, no retailer wants this scenario.......giving up their entire inventory and fixtures at 50% to 30% discount and seeing a going concern be shut down. I am confident rent was paid and there are other issues causing this fracas. Midtown is full of empty, ghostly, forlorn looking retail stores lacking a tenant. There is nothing sadder than seeing yet another great indie retail store go into the "Blank Zone" with dead space. I doubt Gary Orr will be able to recruit a new tenant - with all the negative publicity and brouhaha, what tenant in their right mind would want to take a risk on getting enmeshed with this kind of litigious landlord? Blockbuster DVD store is leaving as of April 18th, the store across the street from Hina's Tea has been vacant for ages, the former Jamba Juice on J Street has been vacant for well over 2 1/2 years, there is a vacant space on 23rd near K that has been vacant for so long I lost track of when it was closed down, the former Weave Thrift Shop on 20th near J was vacant over one year and then two new different tenants who moved into the old Weave Thrift Shop space went belly up and their business failed - leaving that landlord with vacant space for about 4 years until finally Green Sacramento moved in and will be a stable, long term tenant......the list goes on and on - almost every single block in the business section of Midtown has an empty ghostly looking forlorn retail store with no tenant. I think pigs will grow wings and fly around 23rd & K before this empty store gets rented!