Who is Petra Ecclestone? Well if you do not know her name now...you will. She is the 22 year old daughter of Bernie Ecclestone and super model Slavica and a men's fashion designer. Bernie of course if basically the owner of Formula 1 racing and he is a true billionaire worth about $4 billion. Petra makes all other heiresses that you see and hear about look like frauds. She spends lots of money and she has no remorse. Earlier this year her father bought a $91 million dollar house in London for her and her fiance. Apparently she said it was for her 5 dogs. Now her father has bought her the most expensive home in the U.S. That is right he bought her the 57,000 square foot Spelling Manor, the largest home in L.A. County. The price tag was $150 million and she did not lower the price though it was suggested many times. It has been said that Petra actually wanted the 40,0000 Fleur de Lys home up the block, but the deal did not go through for some reason. Is she spoiled? That is an understatement. This is her L.A. home, so maybe she will not even live there, her father bought a home and never lived in it, then sold it to another billionaire for a record sum of cash. If she does choose to live there the she will instantly become a celebrity like Paris Hilton and other "famous" heiresses have. This purchase just shows me that the world's economy may not be as bad as the U.S. economy. Billionaires are willing to spend big bucks on homes and yachts again, but I am not seeing it so much in the U.S. Still I am giving Petra Ecclestone a Digit Up for making a big splash in the U.S. with the purchase of a home.
AEG has been leading the way when it comes to bringing a NFL team back to Los Angeles. They already have, somehow, secured the naming rights to a stadium that has yet to be built nor have they purchased land for it. That has not stopped them from talking to teams though. As AEG owner Philip Anschutz said in an interview with the Orange County Register, "St. Louis, Jacksonville, not extensively, certainly Oakland, San Diego, Minnesota are still in the mix. We're not packing any [moving] vans right now." Oddly enough though it will cost them $1.35 billion, at this point in time, to build a stadium, but AEG is also committing to write checks to cover any bridge between a debt on stadium bonds and revenue created. They may have the upper hand. Whenever the current NFL lockout end the bill for that will fall in the lap of Roger Goodell. The best way for him to save his money would be to facilitate the sale of a team, or the expansion of the league, and the fees those moves generally put in the pockets of all owners. So it will basically be like buying a house when the market is down in your dream neighborhood because the owners were forced to sell...something like that. Either way it seems like AEG is going to get a team within the next 3 years which kind of sucks for me because I wanted to own a NFL team and move them to L.A. but this does mean I do not have to pay those crazy Cali taxes and I could buy any other team, except for the Packers, for a lot less. I am giving AEG a Digit Up, though this could backfire on them 10 years down the road.
Sad news this morning, Dame Elizabeth Taylor has passed away at the age of 79. She died this morning in Los Angeles of congestive heart failure. She had been in the hospital for 6 weeks, but recently her children said she was doing better and feeling better, so much so that they were planning on bringing her home soon. For everything she was on screen she was even more off screen. A mother to 4 children, a grandmother to 10 grandchildren and a great-grandmother to 4. A wife, 8 times over to 7 men. A brand, possibly one of the 1st actresses to brand herself, we all have heard of White Diamond, my mom still loves it. She was a great philanthropist, known around the world for her AIDS work, even starting the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1991. Many things will be said about her, 90% good. She was a friend to many, a hero to others and a trailblazer for every actress today. She was the 1st actress to be paid $1 million for a film, Cleopatra. he was nominated for 5 Oscars, she won 2, and she won a special Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. From 12 to now she was in the spotlight and she carried herself as a lady should, with poise and civility. Maybe Sir Elton John summed it up best when he said, “We have just lost a Hollywood giant; more importantly, we have lost an incredible human being.” This is news gets 2 Digits Down.
I have been self-loathing lately because I gained about 6 pounds but this story is changing that for me. Kelly Gneiting is a 3 time U.S. Sumo wrestler and he did something that I could not even do if I wanted to, he completed the Los Angeles marathon. Why is this amazing? Well if the word "Sumo" did not give it away, he is a large man, a 400 pound man to be exact. He jogged the first eight miles of the race and walked the last 18, often stopping at intersections and stoplights because he was well behind the 13-minute-per-mile pace set by race organizers. He says he became delirious after mile 10 and only realized he hit the 15-mile mark when a friend gave him a clean pair of socks, I wonder if socks is code for underwear because I have seen the stories about people having bowel movements in sports... He finished the marathon in 9 hours 48 minutes and 23 seconds setting a Guinness World Record (they just hand these things out like food stamps)for the heaviest person ever to complete a marathon. I find this a tad inspirational. I am not going to run a marathon, but I will be hitting the gym harder, and dieting harder as well. Kelly plans on doing more things to she that he is fit in the future, near future. I am giving Kelly Gneiting a Digit Up for this.
I love art. Good art and bad art, though I am not sure what is considered "bad" art, art is art. Artist Michael Kalish has created an amazing piece of art, if I say so myself. His work of art contains 1,300 punching bags, stands two stories high, fills up 15,00 cubic feet and includes 5 miles of stainless steel, 2 miles of aluminum tubing. All of this goes into creating an image. The image is of 3 time heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali. Ali's wife approached the artist 3 years ago after seeing his work of license plates. The meeting eventually lead to this wonderful creation. I am loving this. It is like having a statue, but better because it belongs on the inside and birds cannot poop on it. For those in the Los Angeles area on March 25th the official unveiling of the piece, along with other works from other artist, will be at the Nokia Plaza. I am going to give Michael a Digit Up for sure.
Well Los Angeles does not have a football team nor do they even have a stadium to host them, the coliseum will not due anymore, also they do not have a approval for a stadium to be built. With all of that said there is one thing they have, naming rights! Famers Insurance has agreed to pay $700 million for 30 years on their future, maybe, stadium. Terms of the deal were not released but a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that AEG would get $700 million over 30 years if the firm builds the 64,000-seat venue, to be called Farmers Field, and secures an NFL team to play there. In any case, AEG promises Farmers a minimum of 50 events per year, with an attendance of at least 40,000 per event. AEG, the company building the stadium who also owns and operates the Staples Arena, has promised to put more than $1 billion toward construction costs, but is not above sweet-talking the L.A. City Council into helping out with the rest with $350 million in public bonds. Majestic Realty Co. Vice President John Semcken said after Leiweke briefed a City Council committee last week that the bond arrangement would leave the city saddled with debt. Majestic wants to build a stadium as well, but they are not nearly as far along as AEG. Either way this is okay, no team has committed to moving there so there is just money in the air. Al Davis, owner of the Oakland Raiders, said if they build a stadium he would move back to L.A. Yay...? I wanted to bring football back to L.A., but that seems to be fading. Oh well.I will just buy a team and move them to Oklahoma or something. I am giving this a Digit Up, why not.
Bell, California has been in the news for months since it was reported this Summer that 8 of its city officials gave themselves outstanding salaries. Bell is a suburb South of Los Angeles and has about 40,000 residents. It is not a wealthy city, most the families average about $30,00 a year. When the residents found out that some of its officials gave themselves huge salaries they, along with America, became angry and upset. Robert Rizzo, a former city manager, was the most disliked when it was discovered he had a salary twice that of the President's at $800,000 a year! Former assistant city manager Angela Spaccia gave herself a salary of $376,288 while four others gave themselves nearly $100,000. Those arrested were: Former City Manager Robert Rizzo, Mayor Oscar Hernandez, former Councilman George Cole, former assistant city manager Angela Spaccia, Vice Mayor Teresa Jacobo, council members George Mirabal and Luis Artiga and former council member Victor Bello. Someone who was not arrested was former Police Chief Randy Adams, who made $457,000 and was looked upon in the same way as the others in the resident's eyes. This is an example of a corrupt government or as Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley called it, "corruption steroids." They are making an example out of these people, and I could not be happier. I hope that this is just the start of things like this. No matter how big or small the city or town may be no one should steal from its people or the government, eventually you will get caught and once you mess with the government you cannot by your way out of it. I hope the money is repaid, as much of it as they can, because the city of Bell is not a wealthy city, 1 out of 6 residents live in poverty. It is very working class and the people living there right now are struggling with a lot of issues, even before this all came about. I am giving the city a Digit Up for making the proper move and I do hope that this is a warning shot seen and heard across this nation.
The controversial stimulus packages that President Obama pushed for to help retain and create jobs seems to have done exactly that. In Los Angeles $111 million in stimulus spending by the city's Department of Transportation and Department of Public Works found that the money went to projects that created or retained just 54 jobs. That works out to roughly $2 million per job. But wait there is more. $71 million was given to the Department of Public Works to fund 15 road projects and save or create 238 jobs, but it only managed to create 7.76 jobs, or about $10 million per job, and saved 37.7 jobs, well below the projected number. Some of the projects they completed were installing new LED light bulbs in traffic lights and installing 65 new left-turn arrows. Both projects came to $13 million total. Obviously the money was not spent or handled properly and it needs to be looked into deeper. The audits show that the money was spent on actual projects but they just spend too much money on the projects. I think hat sounds fishy... California has had a couple of smaller towns that had corrupt officials giving themselves annual salaries that rivaled and even surpassed the President's, who makes $400,000 as President and is the highest paid government official. I must give this a Digit Down. In the economy no government money should be wasted on silly things that could be held off for a better day.
Who is Petra Ecclestone? Well if you do not know her name now...you will. She is the 22 year old daughter of Bernie Ecclestone and super model Slavica and a men's fashion designer. Bernie of course if basically the owner of Formula 1 racing and he is a true billionaire worth about $4 billion. Petra makes all other heiresses that you see and hear about look like frauds. She spends lots of money and she has no remorse. Earlier this year her father bought a $91 million dollar house in London for her and her fiance. Apparently she said it was for her 5 dogs. Now her father has bought her the most expensive home in the U.S. That is right he bought her the 57,000 square foot Spelling Manor, the largest home in L.A. County. The price tag was $150 million and she did not lower the price though it was suggested many times. It has been said that Petra actually wanted the 40,0000 Fleur de Lys home up the block, but the deal did not go through for some reason. Is she spoiled? That is an understatement. This is her L.A. home, so maybe she will not
even live there, her father bought a home and never lived in it, then sold it to another billionaire for a record sum of cash. If she does choose to live there the she will instantly become a celebrity like Paris Hilton and other "famous" heiresses have. This purchase just shows me that the world's economy may not be as bad as the U.S. economy. Billionaires are willing to spend big bucks on homes and yachts again, but I am not seeing it so much in the U.S. Still I am giving Petra Ecclestone a Digit Up for making a big splash in the U.S. with the purchase of a home.
