Proposal Would Give Stuckey Consulting Pay
Fired Animal Services Director Guerdon Stuckey would be paid $50,000 under a 12-week consulting contract in exchange for dropping the appeal challenging his termination under a plan to be considered today by the City Council, the Daily News of Los Angeles reported. Under a proposed contract, Stuckey would begin work on Feb. 5 as a consultant. Following his termination on Dec. 15, Stuckey had sought a severance package that would have totaled 11 months of his $154,000-a-year salary. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa rejected that demand and a majority of City Council members were said to be supporting him in resisting such a high payout.
Cleaner Port Air Sought by Union
The largest dockworkers union in the U.S. joined the fight to curb air pollution at West Coast ports, pushing a plan on Monday that would cut by 20 percent pollution spewed by diesel-burning cargo ships, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported. International Longshore and Warehouse Union leaders joined with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to announce the move at a transport conference being held in Long Beach to study ways to improve air quality at the ports of L.A. and Long Beach. Currently, there are no rules for diesel-burning engines, an area the ILWU and Villaraigosa want to see regulated. They also want the visiting ships to use “green technologies,” such as clean fuels and more efficient engines.
Angels Owner Didn’t Consult City Over Name Change
The owner of the Angels testified Monday that he did not talk with the city of Anaheim while buying the team, did not read the stadium terms regarding the team’s name and did not think the team’s name was a factor in the deal. Arte Moreno continued to assert that he was allowed to call the team the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim under the terms of a 1996 stadium lease agreement. Attorneys for the Orange County city claim Moreno violated that contract and cost the city $100 million in tourism revenue and publicity when he changed the team’s name in 2005 from Anaheim Angels, the Associated Press reported. Moreno bought the team from The Walt Disney Co. in 2003, but the city says he is bound by Disney’s lease agreement with Anaheim.
Ex-Dreamworks Figure Takes Post at MGM
Former DreamWorks SKG President Rick Sands landed a new job as chief operating officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. Sands will work to market MGM’s extensive library of some 4,000 films and 10,400 television episodes on video and television, and will supervise finance, operations and business affairs. He also will help identify programming opportunities for MGM and partners Sony Corp. and Comcast Corp. Sands recently left DreamWorks, where he worked since 2005, in the wake of the studio’s sale to Paramount Pictures, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Pasadena Gets Affordable-Housing Priority
Local residents and workers will move to the front of the line in qualifying for low-cost housing units, the City Council said Monday. Many low-income families are being forced out of the city by rising housing costs. By giving local families first crack at new low-income housing, the city is trying to stem the tide, the Pasadena Star-News reported. The new priority will apply to low-cost housing developed under a variety of city programs and regulations. Most designated affordable apartments and condominiums are built under an ordinance that requires developers to either pay a fee or make a portion of their projects available to poor residents. The new rules give first priority to Pasadena residents who also work in the city.
