Someone apparently decided that Obama's $2,500-a-plate dinner at the house of "West Wing" producer John Wells necessitated shutting down most of the major east-west through streets in Los Angeles.
As of this writing, they are saying that large stretches of Olympic Boulevard will be shut until 9 p.m. I have also seen indications on the road and on the radio that huge portions of Pico and Santa Monica boulevards are also closed.
Those of you who are familiar with Los Angeles know that closing these three streets mean the entire city will be gridlocked. On LaPeer and Olympic, I was literally barricaded in on a small, residential block for over an hour with at least 50 people.
I can't imagine how many hundreds of others must be stuck in other areas of the city. I also can't imagine how many medical emergencies and accidents have been exacerbated by the gridlock.
If the President was unable to get to John Wells' house without causing this level of disruption, then perhaps he should have done his fundraising somewhere else — like somewhere accessible by helicopter. Going through this gridlock is extra-painful because I know it is due to partisan fundraising rather than state business.
I don't know who specifically was responsible for the mess — LADOT, the LAPD or the Secret Service, but I know that it was inexcusable.
