I'm Powerfully Annoying And Possibly Annoyingly Powerful
As Joan Crawford once said, "Don't fuck with me, fellas!" And, while we're on the subject of inappropriate behavior, don't be killing the volunteer-staffed free mediation program for LA residents that makes fair resolution of disputes available to all people.

I've been working as a volunteer mediator since September, doing free dispute resolution for LA residents. I get a signed agreement -- successful resolution almost every single case I do -- and I'm told I bring in more mediations than anybody, even the most senior people.

Bizarrely, the LA City Attorney, Mike Feuer (who's running for Mayor) is killing the program -- the grant-funded, volunteer-staffed Dispute Resolution Program.

This makes so little fiscal sense -- simply for how many LAPD Dispatch calls we eliminate (by warring neighbors) -- that some of my fellow volunteer mediators and I feel this has to be politically or personally motivated.

I've been fighting to save the program -- with op-eds, flurries of tweets, shares on Facebook and elsewhere, and by generally putting the word out to anyone who will fucking listen. (I even tweeted to Feuer's rabbis at Temple Beth El -- hashtag "tzedakah," which roughly means charity/righteousness -- to ask them to ask him not to kill the program that helps the poor.

There was even a car blasting music near me -- I went out across the street to tell them we could hear it indoors, through closed doors and windows. They were so nice, I said something like, "You guys are so nice. I should tell you about this program that's getting killled..."

Yes, I am your worst enemy, if you have an enemy -- the one who keeps on and keeps keeping on out of principle.

I wrote about some of what's behind this in an op-ed published in Sunday's LA Daily News. Here's an excerpt, but I hope you'll read the whole thing -- on how "access to justice" doesn't just mean access to court remedies for the rich:

Of course, a person can adjudicate noise issues in the courts -- file a civil suit against the noisemaker stealing their sleep -- but even middle-class or well-to-do people often don't have the time, money, or emotional fortitude for that. This effectively means that numerous Los Angeles residents are left to be victimized by others with no chance for redress -- which ultimately means we offer justice for some, not justice for all. However, since 1989, justice in non-criminal, quality-of-life matters has been available to even the poorest people in Los Angeles, via the free Dispute Resolution Program in the Office of the Los Angeles City Attorney.

This program, founded by Avis Ridley-Thomas, provides free mediation of community members disputes by highly-trained volunteer mediators like me -- community members helping community members. The program is partly grant-funded and, save for three paid supervisors and a clerical worker, is entirely staffed by volunteers. In fact, it could be completely grant-funded if City Attorney Mike Feuer would just allow the program to apply for more grants.

While court cases are expensive, lengthy, and emotionally consuming, we volunteer mediators in the Dispute Resolution Program typically do our work in a matter of hours -- for free. We facilitate a discussion between the parties, helping them hear and understand each other. Through that understanding, we help them collaborate to come up with an agreement they'll sign for how they'll go forward, peacefully, and even amicably.

The program prevents homelessness through the many landlord-tenant mediations we do. And very importantly, it stops a needless drain on LAPD crime-fighting resources, resolving problems that previously led residents to call LAPD Dispatch sometimes dozens of times a year on a neighbor or neighboring business.

Bizarrely, City Attorney Mike Feuer, who presents himself as a champion of progressive causes and a guardian of the poor and defenseless, is gutting the Dispute Resolution Program. He's cutting out the heart of the program: volunteer mediators providing free dispute resolution for community members. In doing that, he's killing what's called "access to justice" for a broad swath of the Los Angeles population: those without wealth and powerbrokers in their smartphone contacts.

RELATED: My earlier op-ed on this in the LA Daily Journal, the legal newspaper for Los Angeles.