Twitter: 90007 and Villaraigosa

     Most people, and no one blames them, don't follow local politics. Reading up on local politics  can be time consuming and boring, and it often misses the "so what?" elements. (Plus, to be perfectly honest, local politicians can be wildly incompetent...it's depressing.)

     The whole thing is unfortunate because local politics, believe it or not, tends to have a greater impact on people's daily lives than any other kind of politics. How the school board votes, for example, will have a greater impact on your child tomorrow than any Race to the Top bill. How the city decides to rezone property near your neighborhood will have a bigger effect on your immediate property value than anything the state passes. And just take little things...like if the city decides to change parking laws or increase the price of tickets. It could negatively impact you everyday for a very long time. 

     Policies that local politicians pass will have a much greater and immediate impact than national or state policies. It's local, it's faster...like it or not..that's the way it is..

     Plus, people who don't follow local politics are missing out on some quality entertainment. Have you ever seen the "bar flies" of city council meetings? Have you seen the people who religiously go to every meeting, every week like the council room is their Mecca? Trust me, it's so much better than any soap opera or reality TV show. And if you secretly enjoys things like the Blago chronicles or the Sanford saga, then you'd love local politics. It's like national scandal but on crack. 

     A couple years ago, for example, the people of Orange elected a complete loon onto to their Orange School Board. No one really understands how he won the election. Some people think he might've won because his name was first on the ballot and he gave himself the title "educator." He actually didn't campaign at all. ( It shows how little people follow local politics.) 

     So the people elected him, Steve Rocco, to be an Orange School Board Member. He started going to every meeting and accusing the Orange School District, and the other Orange School Board Members, of all these crazy conspiracies. 

     Rocco accused his colleagues of many things; one of his accusations being that his colleagues were trying to censor him at meetings and violating his freedom of speech. He tried to sue them but lost. 

     Of course, the fun didn't end there. Rocco decided to go to Chapman University, two of the Chapman professors did a documentary on Rocco, and steal a Heinz ketchup bottle from the cafeteria. The city actually prosecuted him for stealing a 25 cent ketchup bottle. 

    If that isn't entertaining...please tell me what is. I mean, come on! It's so amazing it's delicious. 

     So anyway, now that you know you want to follow local politics, if for any reason at all at least for the entertainment, you can actually do it in five minutes or less.

      And the answer is...drum roll ..TWITTER! YA! Yes, you heard me, that website that named itself after bird chirps. I know it sounds stupid, but if you want to hear about local political happenings in no time then go to twitter. 

    I went to the Twitter search engine and typed in "Villaraigosa." In the zipcode I put 90007 and clicked that I wanted to read tweets within a five mile radius. And battabing, battaboom, out came news about some new Villaraigosa happenings. For example, did you know...

     Or what about this...