Thursday Thirteen - Thirteen Things To Hate About Living in Los Angeles

People living in and around the valley and Los Angeles have a love/hate relationship with where they live. If you ask them why they feel this way they’re sure to give you a different answer each time. Here are Thirteen reasons to dislike living in L.A.

Freeway traffic - Ah! The morning commute, bumper to bumper traffic, car accidents, speeders, tailgaters, freeway debris, disabled cars blocking the lane, carpool lanes that are moving slower than the other lanes. It’s all in a morning drive.

The neglected yard next door to your maintained and trimmed yard

Living so close to Hollywood it’s easy to recognize a lot of the streets and background scenes used in television and movies.

Just because we live close to Hollywood all of our relatives living in another state think we live next to Hollywood celebrities and talk over the backyard wall.

What happens if you participate in a contest and the grand prize is airfare and hotel to Hollywood, California to visit the stars? Since we already live here will the contest judges fly us somewhere else, maybe Disney world in Florida?

High Speed Camera’s – when you run the run light say cheese it’s your two minutes of fame. That camera just took your picture of you face and your license plate and you’ll be receiving some fan mail in the form of a hefty traffic ticket.

No matter how we try to disguise it L.A. is still a desert and the temperatures in July, August and September are uncomfortable and unbearable.

No-one makes eye contact with the next person. We keep to ourselves and rarely think of extending a morning greeting to the person next to us, of course, when you do you’ll usually get asked to give someone money.

We set the standard that bigger is better from our SUV’s, our box stores and those 7,000 sq. ft. home sticking out of the hillsides

Our Mayor’s Pet name given to the people of Los Angeles - “Angelino’s”

Those darn skinny people that have made it acceptable to be a size zero

L.A. drivers view the posted speed limit as something to be challenged and exceeded

Sunshine everyday makes you feel like going to the beach instead of work

The Britney Law

It was written to protect her and other high profile celebrities. It was written because of her and the harrassment she receives. If it becomes a law it will remain on the law books in Hollywood history, long after Britney Spears has sung her final note.

It's the Britney Law, proposed by Los Angeles Councilman Dennis Zine and this law would provide a 20 yard "personal safety bubble" around high profile celebrities to protect them from the packs of paparazzi who continually pursue them. After Britneys escapade on Jan 31 to the U.C.L.A. psychiatric ward, it took 20 police officers a helicopter and a team of intervetion specialists to guide her through the streets at the cost of $12,000. The motorcade which was a football field in length still got stuck in the middle of the swarming media.

The paparazzi are such a nuisance in L.A. trailing the stars that they might as well be considered stalkers. Wherever Britney goes the paparazzi are sure to follow breaking all kinds of traffic laws in an effort to keep tabs on her. One might think that imposing this law would improve things and why hasn't it been done before.

Is law enforcement really incapable of protecting the stars from the media?

Does imposing a law telling the paparazzi to stay away at 20 yards really going to keep them away?

Why can't law enforcement communicate that to the media?

How does this law interfere with Freedom of the Press?

Why haven't the stars started using their own body guards to better protect themselves from the harrassing paparazzi?

why should Britney or any other high profile star be escorted using tax payers dollars? Yes, it's the responsibilty of the police to keep the streets safe, but shouldn't the high profile stars using the forces of the city's police officers pay the bill. These people are pulling the police officers away from crimes that could have serious consequences.

Nobody Walks in L.A.

Lace up those running shoes, put on your number jersey and take your place at the starting line for the 22nd annual Los Angeles Marathon. Tomorrow's event, March 2will be run through the streets of Los Angeles with over 10,000 runners. This annual event first started in 1986 takes place on the first Sunday in March. Although the course has changed since last year, participants will still pass through several L.A. landmarks as well as a number of the city's diverse neighborhoods. Runners will pass the Hollywood Bowl, the Coliseum and the Convention Center and down famous streets such as Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevards and the "Walk of Fame."