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No new surprises at yesterday's candidate forum held at city hall by VASI, the Venice area pilots' association. An audience of mostly out-of-town pilots and airport hangers-on gave rousing moments of applause to Harbhajan Singh Ahluwalia (aka Harry Walia, photo above taken at the VASI forum) and Emilio Carlesimo. Some token limp applause went to Ahluwalia's opponent, Jim Bennett, while Carlesimo's opponent, Ted Koszarski, wisely decided to skip the whole mess and host a veterans' war seminar instead.
Ahluwalia took the bold step of stating, although not explicitly at first, that since he lived in town longer than his opponent, that gave Ahluwalia more ownership rights in both the town he lives in and in the seat in government that he is seeking. This culminated in Ahluwalia's claim of total ownership of Venice when, in a boomingly loud voice, he shouted "If you don't like me, move out of my town! I'll even pay for new tires for your car."
Ahluwalia made it obvious that he was directing the comment both at his opponent and at me for uncovering and publishing stories about his past and present shady behavior. The VASI audience laughed heartily and approvingly at the comment.
In the same speech, he talked about how he will listen to all views and return city hall to a time when anyone could speak their mind and be listened to. Ahluwalia never stated when such a time existed.
Ahluwalia stated that he lives near the airport and that complaints about noise are exaggerated. He stated that the noise is no worse than a rattling home air conditioner or an older model dishwasher.
Carlesimo's comments about the airport mirrored his speech at VASI last year, when he made the now-infamous comment, "When I hear jets, I hear the sound of money."
Carlesimo stated he was in favor of selling the airport portion of the land that Sharky's restaurant sits on to the restaurant, apparently unaware that the city would be the purchaser of the section of land, not Sharky's. He was opposed to the city buying the Venice Jet Center, which makes sense if you understand that Carlesimo supporter E.G. 'Dan' Boone can make more money for himself and future clients at taxpayer expense if the Jet Center is managed by private entities rather than by the city. Not that the city has such a great track record at running anything profitably, that due in a large part to many prior meddlings by Boone.
In the same speech, he talked about how he will listen to all views and return city hall to a time when anyone could speak their mind and be listened to. Ahluwalia never stated when such a time existed.
Ahluwalia stated that he lives near the airport and that complaints about noise are exaggerated. He stated that the noise is no worse than a rattling home air conditioner or an older model dishwasher.
Carlesimo's comments about the airport mirrored his speech at VASI last year, when he made the now-infamous comment, "When I hear jets, I hear the sound of money."
Carlesimo stated he was in favor of selling the airport portion of the land that Sharky's restaurant sits on to the restaurant, apparently unaware that the city would be the purchaser of the section of land, not Sharky's. He was opposed to the city buying the Venice Jet Center, which makes sense if you understand that Carlesimo supporter E.G. 'Dan' Boone can make more money for himself and future clients at taxpayer expense if the Jet Center is managed by private entities rather than by the city. Not that the city has such a great track record at running anything profitably, that due in a large part to many prior meddlings by Boone.
(photo credit: J. Patten)
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