Can we get a moat up in here, while we're at it? |
The mayor is afraid. Very afraid. Much like the L.A. City Councilmembers, who quiver at the thought of potential Los Angeles Loughners with an eye on City Hall, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa believes he is in danger, and therefore needs a six-foot security wall erected around L.A.'s official mayoral residence in Windsor Square [Park La Brea News].
It's called the Getty House, and apparently, its stumpy rectangular bushes -- all manicured and Tudor-styled -- are not sufficient protection from the, er, elements of the surrounding neighborhood, described by Wikipedia as "small, historic and wealthy."
But no 'hood is small or wealthy enough to protect his royal highness. Much to the dismay of the Windsor Square Association, whose residents generally abide by the city's 42-inch yard-wall limit, Villaraigosa just applied for a six-footer:
On Feb. 2, the mayor's office submitted paperwork to receive a variance to city bylaws to build a security wall surrounding the Getty House in Windsor Square. ...
The newly developed plan is actually revised from the eight-and-a-half-foot wall that was originally bandied about a couple of months ago and rejected outright by the Windsor Square Association. The new proposal calls for a six-foot wall, still greater than the allotted 42 inches that is permitted.
John Welborne, the Windsor Square Association's VP for planning and land use, puts his disapproval smoothly to the News:
"I would note ... that virtually everyone in the City of Los Angeles who erects, or seeks to erect, an over-in-height fence or wall in the required, open, front yard setback area of a single-family residence says the reason is 'for security.' Should all of Los Angeles, including its historic residential neighborhoods, become a collection of walled compounds?"
Indeed, we're having trouble thinking of a single instance in which the mayor was subjected to some danger that the rest of Los Angeles hasn't been subjected to as well.
Oh right -- librarians and city workers with picket signs. Scary stuff, really: In April, the library folk went so far as to sit on the mayor's lawn, where they brought out the big guns -- BOOKS -- and read them aloud to children.
Nothing a blighty "F y'all" wall can't fix! And not just any wall: This one will have special "security features ... embedded in the construction," according to the News. Slightly more outrageous is the fact that the mayor currently has "around-the-clock security" patrolling his residence, and can thus pitch the wall as a taxpayer money-saver.
Stalk while you still can: Villaraigosa lives at 605 South Irving Boulevard. And no offense, mayor, but we think Lindsay Lohan could use it more.