8 ms·

LA Mayor Shuts Off Power at Hollywood Hills House That Hosted Large Parties

45 points by stx 6y ago

showdeadtest 6y ago
I’m sure the notoriety that comes from hosting a party so epic the mayor holds a news conference about it will lead to a dramatic uptick in rule-following.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- sudhirj 6y ago
  No, but it will lead to a dramatic up tick in property owners telling party hosts to take their money and get lost, which is the point.
  - showdeadtest 6y ago
    The point is clear; whether this action will advance public health goals is not.
    - DangitBobby 6y ago
      Well, as long as they keep taking this action consistently, it seems pretty clear that it will advance public health goals.
      - showdeadtest 6y ago
        Speaking as somebody who sees friends posting party footage on Instagram Stories, I would not be so confident. There are many places to host parties. With the mayor giving them attention, people will be afraid they are missing out.
      - donw 6y ago
        I think you underestimate American willingness to tell authority figures to go fuck themselves. I don't have a better way of phrasing that. This is, perhaps, both the best and worst part of our culture. On the one hand, it gives you rebels that challenge the status quo. That don't take "no" or "that's impossible" for an answer. On the other hand, it gives you a population that would slice off their own noses if the government told them that having one was mandatory. I think our best course of action would have been to just... ask. Across the board. Republicans and Democrats, carnivores and vegetarians, people that understand that the toilet paper needs to go over the top of the roll and inhuman monsters bent on the destruction of all that is good in the world... all of them needed to agree that Masks Probably Couldn't Hurt And We Should Just Wear The Damn Things. Do everybody a solid, and wear a mask. No, we won't fine you, or shoot you. There's nothing to rebel against when people just sort of shrug and go "okay, whatever". Also, work overtime to make the masks cool. I think we'd have a higher rate of mask use with the Carrot and the Meh, as opposed to just the Stick.
        brendawalsh 6y ago
        I think you underestimate the government’s ability to mess with people’s cashflow. If the property owner faces a financial burden, that will incentivize a change in behavior.
        DangitBobby 6y ago
        > best and worst part of our culture I admire your ability to see the silver lining. I see it as selfishness to the point of toxicity. I think the ship has sailed on asking people to wear masks. These people--whether they have a borderline ODD tendency to "question authority" and "stick it to the man" for the sake of "personal freedom" (read: selfish masquerading as principled), or if they just can't care about how their choices affect other people anymore because we are n months into a pandemic with no end in sight--have made their choice. They are not willing to do the bare minimum such as wear a mask or not attend giant parties. I have to say, as far as measures to slow the spread go, these two requirements are incredibly fucking easy to abide by. So I say shut the power to their party so it sucks, and make it harder for them to spread the virus even faster. Fines based on a percentage of income would be better.
gorgoiler 6y ago
When working with children, losing ones temper is a great way to show them that they have “won”.
- DangitBobby 6y ago
  Do you think the people who had the power shut down on their party house feel like they have won?
  - showdeadtest 6y ago
    100% yes. Like you would not believe.
    - DangitBobby 6y ago
      I don't get it. > Haha! They shut us down! We sure showed them! Wouldn't they rather being able to continue partying with the power on?
      - apple4ever 6y ago
        They can buy generators and pay for it with cover charges. So the city stops nothing and the people keep party. Sounds like they will win.
        14 6y ago
        I agree that they will just find a work around but I think it still helps. The more of an effort they need to party the less it will happen. The city can just keep adding problems to the party until it becomes too much of a hassle. They could hire parking enforcers for night shifts and when a party happens start towing cars not parked properly. They can set up police road blocks and annoy people and hassle them. I’m not very creative but I’m sure there are enough ways a city can mess with you to deter a party. They can do property assessments and city could argue due to popularity this property is worth even more and tax them. Just sitting idle certainly will not deter them though.
kstenerud 6y ago
A simple fine or some other existing punishment would have sufficed. The legal system has had the tools to deal with rule breakers for centuries already. Cutting off water and electricity for order violations sets a very bad precedent, and is highly irresponsible. I'm shocked that it's even legal to do so.
- Pungsnigel 6y ago
  Is it even legal?
  - threeseed 6y ago
    Yes it is legal. Here is the motion: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/davidryucc/pages/2849/attachments/original/1596648069/08.05.20_Code_Violation_Enforcement_motion.pdf?1596648069 https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/davidryucc/pages/2849/...
    - arvinsim 6y ago
      Maybe we ought to change our laws to account for the super rich who can just bypass most penalties using their wealth or connections.
      - kstenerud 6y ago
        The existing legal framework provides for increasing fines and even criminal charges for repeated violations, and has already been successfully used against rich and poor alike for noise, fire & safety, occupancy rules etc. There's absolutely no need for new "tools" to deal with this. Any calls for additional powers should be viewed with extreme suspicion and scepticism.
      - me_me_me 6y ago
        I remember listening to some podcast, it was something about inequality or etc doesn't matter. As part of it this woman was to interview some rich guy. He offered to do it over a dinner and picked her up in his lambo. When they arrived there was no free space so he parked in the disabled space. When she mentioned that to him he replied. "Don't worry its a $400 parking space" The thing is he is not wrong. There are myriad of stories of companies making millions cheating and when caught paying thousands in fines. Thats not a deterrent but attractor of bad behaviour. The fines meant to be fines - something that stings and burns - and not get out of jail free for one's who can afford it.
swarnie_ 6y ago
Can we get a recap of the Corona figures broken down by country just for a laugh? I get the impression some countries aren't taking this as seriously as others.
- threeseed 6y ago
  The leading countries are Australia, NZ, South Korea etc: https://covid19.healthdata.org https://covid19.healthdata.org The estimate is that the US will be at 300,000 deaths by end of year. Whilst NZ will be at 22. US is 65x more populous so if they adopted similar policies would have been at 1430 deaths. And it could even be a million deaths by the time a vaccine is readily available. And people like to bring up the island nonsense but fact is that the borders are largely closed with Canada and Mexico so the problem is purely to do with domestic policies and behaviours.
  - lostlogin 6y ago
    We are locked down here in Auckland, and had an admission to ICU today - I hope you are right that the death toll doesn’t rise. The new outbreak has been a bit of a shock out of complacency. I wouldn’t choose to be in any other country at the moment, but this second lockdown has caused much more negativity than the first. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/424048/covid-19-what-happened-in-new-zealand-on-20-august https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/424048/covid-19-what-hap...
    - makomk 6y ago
      There seems to be a certain amount of spin in news coverage of New Zealand too. Like, I was amazed to find out that New Zealand's prime minister had been repeatedly telling everyone that workers in quarantine hotels were being tested weekly for two months, when in reality most of them had never been tested at all, then blamed the staff for not getting tested. Then, when everyone was finally tested, a maintenance worker tested positive and it was traced back to someone quarantined there over a fortnight earlier that he'd never had any kind of contact with, implying there was some intermediate case that went undetected due to the lack of testing and that it's probably too late to identify them via testing now. This seems like something that would be a major political scandal if done by someone the press didn't want to portray as a success, but it just seems to have been quietly glossed over by the news coverage in places like the UK and even somewhat in their local news.
dmode 6y ago
Why people would voluntarily go to large crowded gatherings at this time is beyond me
- lostlogin 6y ago
  Going to a 200 person party at this time seems unwise, but to then get shot.
- neom 6y ago
  Scroll to 1:08: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87tlULQxfR8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87tlULQxfR8 (this channel is like the TMZ for youtuber/tiktok)
  - bartread 6y ago
    I'm absolutely dumbfounded by the ignorance and stupidity on display here. Beyond that, I simply don't understand the appeal of this kind of influencer: she has literally nothing interesting to say and what she does say she delivers in the most aggravating cartoon parody of the "valley girl" stereotype and clearly with no sense of irony. What kind of role model is this for young people? Just awful.
    - icebraining 6y ago
      I'm not sure she has much appeal. As the first comment says "Most of these people Idk. I’m just watching because I’m bored". If you're willing to expose your private life and you have access to parties of actual celebrities, then you're going to get some amount of attention by people scrolling their feeds and auto-playing YT recommendations.
- Keverw 6y ago
  Probably because they don't know anyone who had COVID personally and think the media is hyping it up. Plus the numbers are low compared to population. If you were an accountant, this would be a rounding error in the large picture. Then some areas of the country they aren't as serious about locking things down like in Tennessee, Utah, South Dakota or Wyoming. Heard a radio ad promoting road trips to Wyoming, they even mention they have freedom "ready to be free again". I guess that makes sense though if the rest of the country is locked down, other places can take advantage of it and profit. Supply and Demand. I'm curious how the results after Sturgis will be in 2 weeks, other places being closed and people from all over the country flocked there. Well they attract a bunch of people every year from all over anyways, but I figured this year be more so since less opportunities for entertainment right now. Then our own president said some people didn't even know they had it comparing it to a cold. Then reports that some doctors have been threatened to lose their job if they don't sign off on COVID because the hospital gets extra money even if someone died from Cancer. Then another doctor thought the ventilators were doing more harm than good so if the doctors kill people with ventilators that's a extra 50 grand. Some people are worth more dead than alive. I think there's a virus just like other things but we're being played in a way to influence the election. Just like how with Obama they were scaring everyone about Swine Flu, working on a new vaccine for that too but that just kinda fizzled out. I know I'm skeptical personally and it is very concerning all the big sites are censoring this stuff. I think because the big drug companies run advertising on these sites, I know in other countries they banned advertising drugs but in the USA that's big business.
LordHog 6y ago
Welcome to communist California, at least LA. Perfectly fine to gather in large groups of thousands, ten's of thousands, for "peaceful" protesting, but a house party is crossing the line. So glad I don't live in LA county anymore
DoreenMichele 6y ago
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said on Wednesday that he had authorized the city to disconnect utility service at a Hollywood Hills house after it hosted several large parties in "flagrant violation" of COVID-19 public health orders. The announcement comes two weeks after Garcetti first warned that properties hosting "un-permitted large gatherings" could have their water and power service shut off as a consequence. Seems completely reasonable to me. I find it bizarre that the internet has an issue with it, the same internet that talks like the Gestapo about trying to force every last person to wear a mask at gun point.
- true_religion 6y ago
  It’s because heat stroke and dehydration can kill during the summer. Punishments granted for health violations shouldn’t make the situation even more dangerous. This won’t stop parties.
  - DoreenMichele 6y ago
    Given the context, it will be more of a speed bump than fines.
hotz 6y ago
For their next party trick, they'll take away your water and electricity for wrongthink or not voting for the "correct" party. Shocking that some people think this is acceptable. If freedom falls in the US, the rest of the world suffers too.
- rsa25519 6y ago
  Hmm, I think cancelling parties (that have no political affiliation) is different from policing thought. I'm a free speech absolutist, but I support governments limiting non-speech freedoms for the sake of public health
- hluska 6y ago
  I don’t recall reading anything about freedom to make unbelievably stupid, selfish decisions in the US constitution.
  - zelly 6y ago
    It's mentioned about 30 times. Ctrl+F "vote"
    - hluska 6y ago
      Joke aside, I’m serious. How is throwing big parties in the middle of a pandemic a’freedom’ issue?? The house was warned many times and now they’re facing a reasonable repercussion.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      - lodovic 6y ago
        Because your right to stay free from Covid, requires people to behave in a certain way (masks, social distancing) which is at odds with the right to self determination. Sure, it's stupid, but people should be allowed to make stupid decisions for themselves. Not saying I agree but I definitely see the freedom issue.
sushshshsh 6y ago
Time for solar panels, batteries, maybe a generator, and some other electrical knowhow to make the system efficient and failure resistant
brendawalsh 6y ago
Flagged? Come on. This is about electricity and the law and COVID-19.
argggg 6y ago
Regardless of the rigthness/wrongness of the situation as a whole, how is shutting off someone's power in the summer not cruel and unusual punishment?

45 points by stx 6y ago

I’m sure the notoriety that comes from hosting a party so epic the mayor holds a news conference about it will lead to a dramatic uptick in rule-following.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
sudhirj 6y ago
No, but it will lead to a dramatic up tick in property owners telling party hosts to take their money and get lost, which is the point.
- showdeadtest 6y ago
  The point is clear; whether this action will advance public health goals is not.
  - DangitBobby 6y ago
    Well, as long as they keep taking this action consistently, it seems pretty clear that it will advance public health goals.
    - showdeadtest 6y ago
      Speaking as somebody who sees friends posting party footage on Instagram Stories, I would not be so confident. There are many places to host parties. With the mayor giving them attention, people will be afraid they are missing out.
    - donw 6y ago
      I think you underestimate American willingness to tell authority figures to go fuck themselves. I don't have a better way of phrasing that. This is, perhaps, both the best and worst part of our culture. On the one hand, it gives you rebels that challenge the status quo. That don't take "no" or "that's impossible" for an answer. On the other hand, it gives you a population that would slice off their own noses if the government told them that having one was mandatory. I think our best course of action would have been to just... ask. Across the board. Republicans and Democrats, carnivores and vegetarians, people that understand that the toilet paper needs to go over the top of the roll and inhuman monsters bent on the destruction of all that is good in the world... all of them needed to agree that Masks Probably Couldn't Hurt And We Should Just Wear The Damn Things. Do everybody a solid, and wear a mask. No, we won't fine you, or shoot you. There's nothing to rebel against when people just sort of shrug and go "okay, whatever". Also, work overtime to make the masks cool. I think we'd have a higher rate of mask use with the Carrot and the Meh, as opposed to just the Stick.
      - brendawalsh 6y ago
        I think you underestimate the government’s ability to mess with people’s cashflow. If the property owner faces a financial burden, that will incentivize a change in behavior.
      - DangitBobby 6y ago
        > best and worst part of our culture I admire your ability to see the silver lining. I see it as selfishness to the point of toxicity. I think the ship has sailed on asking people to wear masks. These people--whether they have a borderline ODD tendency to "question authority" and "stick it to the man" for the sake of "personal freedom" (read: selfish masquerading as principled), or if they just can't care about how their choices affect other people anymore because we are n months into a pandemic with no end in sight--have made their choice. They are not willing to do the bare minimum such as wear a mask or not attend giant parties. I have to say, as far as measures to slow the spread go, these two requirements are incredibly fucking easy to abide by. So I say shut the power to their party so it sucks, and make it harder for them to spread the virus even faster. Fines based on a percentage of income would be better.

gorgoiler 6y ago

When working with children, losing ones temper is a great way to show them that they have “won”.

DangitBobby 6y ago
Do you think the people who had the power shut down on their party house feel like they have won?
- showdeadtest 6y ago
  100% yes. Like you would not believe.
  - DangitBobby 6y ago
    I don't get it. > Haha! They shut us down! We sure showed them! Wouldn't they rather being able to continue partying with the power on?
    - apple4ever 6y ago
      They can buy generators and pay for it with cover charges. So the city stops nothing and the people keep party. Sounds like they will win.
      - 14 6y ago
        I agree that they will just find a work around but I think it still helps. The more of an effort they need to party the less it will happen. The city can just keep adding problems to the party until it becomes too much of a hassle. They could hire parking enforcers for night shifts and when a party happens start towing cars not parked properly. They can set up police road blocks and annoy people and hassle them. I’m not very creative but I’m sure there are enough ways a city can mess with you to deter a party. They can do property assessments and city could argue due to popularity this property is worth even more and tax them. Just sitting idle certainly will not deter them though.

kstenerud 6y ago

A simple fine or some other existing punishment would have sufficed. The legal system has had the tools to deal with rule breakers for centuries already. Cutting off water and electricity for order violations sets a very bad precedent, and is highly irresponsible. I'm shocked that it's even legal to do so.

Pungsnigel 6y ago
Is it even legal?
- threeseed 6y ago
  Yes it is legal. Here is the motion: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/davidryucc/pages/2849/attachments/original/1596648069/08.05.20_Code_Violation_Enforcement_motion.pdf?1596648069 https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/davidryucc/pages/2849/...
  - arvinsim 6y ago
    Maybe we ought to change our laws to account for the super rich who can just bypass most penalties using their wealth or connections.
    - kstenerud 6y ago
      The existing legal framework provides for increasing fines and even criminal charges for repeated violations, and has already been successfully used against rich and poor alike for noise, fire & safety, occupancy rules etc. There's absolutely no need for new "tools" to deal with this. Any calls for additional powers should be viewed with extreme suspicion and scepticism.
    - me_me_me 6y ago
      I remember listening to some podcast, it was something about inequality or etc doesn't matter. As part of it this woman was to interview some rich guy. He offered to do it over a dinner and picked her up in his lambo. When they arrived there was no free space so he parked in the disabled space. When she mentioned that to him he replied. "Don't worry its a $400 parking space" The thing is he is not wrong. There are myriad of stories of companies making millions cheating and when caught paying thousands in fines. Thats not a deterrent but attractor of bad behaviour. The fines meant to be fines - something that stings and burns - and not get out of jail free for one's who can afford it.

swarnie_ 6y ago

Can we get a recap of the Corona figures broken down by country just for a laugh? I get the impression some countries aren't taking this as seriously as others.

threeseed 6y ago
The leading countries are Australia, NZ, South Korea etc: https://covid19.healthdata.org https://covid19.healthdata.org The estimate is that the US will be at 300,000 deaths by end of year. Whilst NZ will be at 22. US is 65x more populous so if they adopted similar policies would have been at 1430 deaths. And it could even be a million deaths by the time a vaccine is readily available. And people like to bring up the island nonsense but fact is that the borders are largely closed with Canada and Mexico so the problem is purely to do with domestic policies and behaviours.
- lostlogin 6y ago
  We are locked down here in Auckland, and had an admission to ICU today - I hope you are right that the death toll doesn’t rise. The new outbreak has been a bit of a shock out of complacency. I wouldn’t choose to be in any other country at the moment, but this second lockdown has caused much more negativity than the first. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/424048/covid-19-what-happened-in-new-zealand-on-20-august https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/424048/covid-19-what-hap...
  - makomk 6y ago
    There seems to be a certain amount of spin in news coverage of New Zealand too. Like, I was amazed to find out that New Zealand's prime minister had been repeatedly telling everyone that workers in quarantine hotels were being tested weekly for two months, when in reality most of them had never been tested at all, then blamed the staff for not getting tested. Then, when everyone was finally tested, a maintenance worker tested positive and it was traced back to someone quarantined there over a fortnight earlier that he'd never had any kind of contact with, implying there was some intermediate case that went undetected due to the lack of testing and that it's probably too late to identify them via testing now. This seems like something that would be a major political scandal if done by someone the press didn't want to portray as a success, but it just seems to have been quietly glossed over by the news coverage in places like the UK and even somewhat in their local news.

dmode 6y ago

Why people would voluntarily go to large crowded gatherings at this time is beyond me

lostlogin 6y ago
Going to a 200 person party at this time seems unwise, but to then get shot.
neom 6y ago
Scroll to 1:08: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87tlULQxfR8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87tlULQxfR8 (this channel is like the TMZ for youtuber/tiktok)
- bartread 6y ago
  I'm absolutely dumbfounded by the ignorance and stupidity on display here. Beyond that, I simply don't understand the appeal of this kind of influencer: she has literally nothing interesting to say and what she does say she delivers in the most aggravating cartoon parody of the "valley girl" stereotype and clearly with no sense of irony. What kind of role model is this for young people? Just awful.
  - icebraining 6y ago
    I'm not sure she has much appeal. As the first comment says "Most of these people Idk. I’m just watching because I’m bored". If you're willing to expose your private life and you have access to parties of actual celebrities, then you're going to get some amount of attention by people scrolling their feeds and auto-playing YT recommendations.
Keverw 6y ago
Probably because they don't know anyone who had COVID personally and think the media is hyping it up. Plus the numbers are low compared to population. If you were an accountant, this would be a rounding error in the large picture. Then some areas of the country they aren't as serious about locking things down like in Tennessee, Utah, South Dakota or Wyoming. Heard a radio ad promoting road trips to Wyoming, they even mention they have freedom "ready to be free again". I guess that makes sense though if the rest of the country is locked down, other places can take advantage of it and profit. Supply and Demand. I'm curious how the results after Sturgis will be in 2 weeks, other places being closed and people from all over the country flocked there. Well they attract a bunch of people every year from all over anyways, but I figured this year be more so since less opportunities for entertainment right now. Then our own president said some people didn't even know they had it comparing it to a cold. Then reports that some doctors have been threatened to lose their job if they don't sign off on COVID because the hospital gets extra money even if someone died from Cancer. Then another doctor thought the ventilators were doing more harm than good so if the doctors kill people with ventilators that's a extra 50 grand. Some people are worth more dead than alive. I think there's a virus just like other things but we're being played in a way to influence the election. Just like how with Obama they were scaring everyone about Swine Flu, working on a new vaccine for that too but that just kinda fizzled out. I know I'm skeptical personally and it is very concerning all the big sites are censoring this stuff. I think because the big drug companies run advertising on these sites, I know in other countries they banned advertising drugs but in the USA that's big business.

LordHog 6y ago

Welcome to communist California, at least LA. Perfectly fine to gather in large groups of thousands, ten's of thousands, for "peaceful" protesting, but a house party is crossing the line. So glad I don't live in LA county anymore

DoreenMichele 6y ago

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said on Wednesday that he had authorized the city to disconnect utility service at a Hollywood Hills house after it hosted several large parties in "flagrant violation" of COVID-19 public health orders. The announcement comes two weeks after Garcetti first warned that properties hosting "un-permitted large gatherings" could have their water and power service shut off as a consequence. Seems completely reasonable to me. I find it bizarre that the internet has an issue with it, the same internet that talks like the Gestapo about trying to force every last person to wear a mask at gun point.

true_religion 6y ago
It’s because heat stroke and dehydration can kill during the summer. Punishments granted for health violations shouldn’t make the situation even more dangerous. This won’t stop parties.
- DoreenMichele 6y ago
  Given the context, it will be more of a speed bump than fines.

hotz 6y ago

For their next party trick, they'll take away your water and electricity for wrongthink or not voting for the "correct" party. Shocking that some people think this is acceptable. If freedom falls in the US, the rest of the world suffers too.

rsa25519 6y ago
Hmm, I think cancelling parties (that have no political affiliation) is different from policing thought. I'm a free speech absolutist, but I support governments limiting non-speech freedoms for the sake of public health
hluska 6y ago
I don’t recall reading anything about freedom to make unbelievably stupid, selfish decisions in the US constitution.
- zelly 6y ago
  It's mentioned about 30 times. Ctrl+F "vote"
  - hluska 6y ago
    Joke aside, I’m serious. How is throwing big parties in the middle of a pandemic a’freedom’ issue?? The house was warned many times and now they’re facing a reasonable repercussion.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - lodovic 6y ago
      Because your right to stay free from Covid, requires people to behave in a certain way (masks, social distancing) which is at odds with the right to self determination. Sure, it's stupid, but people should be allowed to make stupid decisions for themselves. Not saying I agree but I definitely see the freedom issue.

sushshshsh 6y ago

Time for solar panels, batteries, maybe a generator, and some other electrical knowhow to make the system efficient and failure resistant

brendawalsh 6y ago

Flagged? Come on. This is about electricity and the law and COVID-19.

argggg 6y ago

Regardless of the rigthness/wrongness of the situation as a whole, how is shutting off someone's power in the summer not cruel and unusual punishment?