Some Republicans who supported the measure did so with reservations.  “I don’t like this bill that’s before us, but I like even less the idea of increasing the tax burden on working Americans,” said Rep. David Drier, the top Republican on the Rules Committee, who voted for the bill. But Drier’s Republican colleague, Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, rose to say he would oppose it because the extensions did not go far enough.  “It’s a bad deal for taxpayers; it will do little to create jobs and I cannot support it,” Pence said. “This is a tough call. No Republican in this Congress wants to see taxes raised on any American, but uncertainty is the enemy of prosperity.”

After the vote, Speaker-designate John Boehner praised his colleagues for approving the legislation and called on President Obama to work with Republicans in the next Congress to create more jobs.  “With nearly one in 10 Americans out of work, acting to ensure no American’s taxes go up on Jan. 1 was critically important. Failing to stop all the tax hikes would have destroyed more jobs and deepened the uncertainty in our economy,” Boehner stated. “Stopping all the tax hikes is a good first step in our efforts to reduce the uncertainty family-owned small businesses are facing, but much more needs to be done, including cutting spending, permanently eliminating the threat of job-killing tax hikes, and repealing the job-killing health care law. These are critical priorities the new majority has pledged to act on in the next Congress, and I hope President Obama will listen to the American people and work with us to stop Washington’s job-killing policies.”

The bill continues dozens of tax breaks and credits for people from the bottom of the income spectrum to the top.  If a deal hadn’t been reached, ordinary families would have returned to pre-2001 rates that would left them $3,000 a year worse off, an outcome the president described as unacceptable in a recession.

The price tag for the two-year tax cut bonanza has been estimated at $860 billion.  The government hopes that by extending these tax breaks companies will reach in their pocket and hire new staff, expand their business and reinvest their profits.

Stabilizing the real estate market remains a high priority, and continuing the Bush tax breaks is a step in the right direction.  The uncertainty over the potential tax hike had slowed the market, especially in the commercial market with a potential rise in capital gains taxes hanging over everyone’s heads.

While extending the Bush tax cuts is great move to bring the economy back to life, more incentive programs are needed to get our country back on track.  Many banks are still holding onto their funds with very strict lending standards in place.

While unemployment remains high with no major changes on the horizon, government incentives could make a great difference.  Imagine the government investing in companies by giving tax breaks to all businesses that hire new staff and keep them employed for over 6 months.  There are many ideas being tossed around that could help reduce the unemployment rate, but our government needs to take action, just as they did by extending the tax cuts.

Years ago creativity was defined by invention of mechanical products.  The the cotton gin, the telephone and the assembly line were regarded as creative feats, which they were.  Today, video games are more complex than ever, televison shows and feature films are less formulaic than in the past, and art expands far beyond the canvas.  Americans are constantly looking to break new ground and explore what has not been yet discovered.

While it has been asked, what changed creativity in America, there are a few areas to visit in our educational system.  From an early age children are asked to color within the lines and are graded for such.  The better grades go to those who stay within the lines.  But it is those who see no boundries that are expressing their creativity in another way. 

The article in Newsweek continued to focus on the educational system in our country as well, noting that with the packed curriculum there is very little time for creative classes.  Art and music departments are being cut and replaced with higher level math and English courses.  Our children are being educated, but only to fit into corporate America.

As I read on it was mentioned that a prime leadership requirement is creativity.  With all that is focused every day within our schools you would think we would be preserving the creative courses somehow.  But then again, why would we – the education system in our country has been designed to help children grow into adults who fit into society’s little box.  But leaders are born, not taught.  To bring America’s creativity back we just have to begin to accept those that do differently than we do and appreciate their efforts.

Now relocated on Los Angeles’ Museum Row, A+D continues to be the only museum in Los Angeles where continuous exhibits of architecture and design are on view.  Through exhibits, symposia, multi-disciplinary projects, educational and community programming, A+D serves as a showcase for the work of important regional, national and international designers, providing a forum for contemporary issues in architecture, urbanism, and design that are helping to shape the city.

A+D Museum is located at:
6032 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA  90036

For Tickets and Event info:

http://aplusd.org/v5/celebrate2010/details-tickets/

Brewery ArtWalk
Spring 2010 – April 17 & 18
11:00 am – 6:00 pm

2100 North Main Street
Los Angeles, CA 90031.
http://breweryartwalk.com/ 

Art & the City: Los Angeles An Ovation TV Original Thursday, April 15, 2010 @ 9:30pm Explore the Los Angeles art scene from home – Just Program your DVR. Host David Keeps uncovers discoveries of arts and design in highly regarded attractions as well as uncovered corners throughout the US and Europe. In this episode, David explores the scene in Los Angeles. Ovation is a television specialty channel that airs programming dedicated to the arts and contemporary culture. It features programming devoted to performance, people, art, music and film. In addition, Ovation features in-depth profiles on various artists and performers, Arts news from the U.S and around the world. 

Lebonge commissioned a feasibility report to be completed by Metro Staff. The report would include the environmental impacts of adding a service car to the Red and Purple Lines that would service a new station at Sixth Street near Santa Fe Avenue. Lebonge wanted to make it clear that no new track would need to be constructed and a platform could easily be erected either there or near Third Street.

LaBonge envisions the line extension as a way for people to get to and from SCI-Arc and the Arts and Industrial districts, and possibly as an opportunity to reduce congestion at Union Station’s Patsaouras Transit Plaza.

“If I can use a baseball analogy, a lot of times you try to get a hit and maybe you get a hit to the outfield but you don’t score,” LaBonge said. “I didn’t hit this one out of the park, but we’re at least in play to get around the bases.”

The factors considered for this ranking are 

·        unemployment rate
·       job growth
·       expectations for continued job growth
·      positive change in median sale price for single-family homes
·        metropolitan gross domestic product 

Los Angeles has strong banking and finance industries and a housing market that, while it suffered a major pricing bubble and burst, has seen an increase in demand.  After falling to a median $311,100 in the second quarter of 2009, home sale prices jumped 11% in the third quarter and another 2% between the third and fourth quarter of 2009 to a median of $342,700, according to the National Association of Realtors, making Los Angeles number four in sales price improvement for all U.S. metropolitan cities. 

Part of L.A.’s dramatic rise is due to the fact that our real estate woes began earlier and were more pronounced than most of the country, so our easing began a little sooner.  Some of the economic reasons for this recovery are the evergreen industries that comprise our city… industries like government, defense, education and technology – sectors that will always provide work, even in a national slump.  Our industry diversity, a business infrastructure not solely invested in one industry, gives us a healthy, resilient economy and very good prospects for the future.

The MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House announced its most ambitious project to date: How Many Billboards? Art In Stead. This large-scale urban exhibition debuts 23 new works by leading contemporary artists, presented simultaneously on billboards throughout Los Angeles for seven weeks from February 5 through March 26, 2010.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an overview exhibition and orientation station at the Schindler House, which opens on February 23, as well as a series of public programs and bus tours. Twenty-three artists working in the vein of California’s conceptual art movement have been commissioned to create a new work that critically responds to the medium of the billboard and interprets its role in the urban landscape. The exhibition looks at California’s conceptually-orientated art history and examines the relationships between outdoor media and architecture in the city, and also suggests in-depth consideration of participating artists’ broader contributions to contemporary art. Investigating art as an idea as well as art as a media for critical intervention, the exhibition highlights the interaction of Pop, conceptualism and architecture in Los Angeles since the late 1960s.

To get more info on this event, go to: www.howmanybillboards.org

Today, January 21, 2010, the CRA is considering the request to add office and production studio space to the site, while reducing the number of hotel rooms that were part of the original LA Live master plan. This doesn’t come as a surprise since the hotel industry is still hurting the recent recession. More hotels have gone out of business in the last 3 years compared to the previous 10 years combined.

This would allow for AEG to add approximately 600,000 square feet of office space. No timeline has been provided. In addition the above mentioned project, the City Planning Commission separately considered plans for AEG to develop a 269,182 square foot broadcasting studio at LA Live that could accommodate a nationwide cable television network.

A recent move, at the end of a decade replants this seasoned Angeleno as a new resident of Lincoln Heights… Not unfamiliar with this area that’s a pocket of cultural diversity, this area also is home to many visual artists, and the hip canyon dwellers of Mount Washington. Where is this, “pocket”, you ask? Try Avenue 26 at Lacy Street :: Lacy Studio Lofts. Home to small businesses like Marketing and Branding, Design, Fashion, Film Production, Photography that make live work look like chic modes opperendo of the free world.

Knowing that the Metro is just down the street, is something that cannot be ignored- After spending 9 years of commuting up and down freeways and side routes (to work!)  but also across town to music venues, like the Wiltern, or the Hollywood Bowl, fighting for parking to no avail….the Metro Line is romancing us from the corner : I welcome it with open arms. Having only been a resident of Lacy for a few weeks – the holidays are here – and X is playing a Christmas show with Calexico at the Wiltern-Awesome! – A Band that is from Los Angeles, and has influenced hundreds since the 80′s…and BONUS! No driving and No parking : The Metro is just on the corner, sweet…..

So, because we could have an extra cocktail, we did, and we enjoyed our wait for the train that much more, but also the scenic journey: The Metro rolls up…we board,and as we roll west towards Union station where we transfer to the purple line that will take us to destination The Wiltern, we are happy to see the layout of our city as if we are on a monorail ride at Disneyland- but better, it was Chinatown! Seeing the city glitter passing over Chinatown with a birds eye view, I have to tell you, is quite cool.  And no driving mind you- Look Los Angeles, going across town no longer requires hands.

Not only can we travel to great music venues in a jiff, we can also get to view some of the hippest Art galleries, and Events, all happening downtown, such as…..”Live the Dream 2010″ > Jerico, the original artist bar,  is hosting an event this Thursday Jan 14th at 7pm, featuring the best of the best L.A. Downtown Artists, and will be featuring one of the Lacy Tenants, Emmeric Konrad. Of course….I’m going, and, I’m taking the Train