Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand JESSEKFI.
Speaker 2: AM sixty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Happy Saturday Tea,
Speaker 2: It's Tiffany Hobbs. Here Saturdays with Tiffany from five until
Speaker 2: seven pm. Thanks for hanging out with me on this.
Speaker 2: If you're in southern California, another dreary day and as
Speaker 2: I look at NBC Channel four, what to expect tomorrow's
Speaker 2: scattered showers it seems for the Oscars right in time
Speaker 2: for that red carpet arrival, and throughout the beginning of
Speaker 2: next week some more rains. So the warm weather the
Speaker 2: sunny skies did not last very long. I hope you
Speaker 2: enjoyed it last week while you were out. I personally
Speaker 2: now have the sniffles because all this back and forth
Speaker 2: with the weather is wreaking havoc on my immune system.
Speaker 2: I'm trying trying to keep myself healthy. I hope you
Speaker 2: are too. And whatever you're doing today, again, thanks for
Speaker 2: joining us well. As I was telling Neil during the
Speaker 2: Fork Report, this is a full show. It's all over
Speaker 2: the place, but it is expected to act as a
Speaker 2: reprieve for you from kind of the heavy hitting news
Speaker 2: of the week. I have a mixture of stories in store,
Speaker 2: from again, what happens to you if you should die
Speaker 2: on an airplane on a flight, if you're up there
Speaker 2: thirty thousand feet in the air, what happens to your body?
Speaker 2: Or unfortunately, if a passenger dies near you, what that
Speaker 2: might mean for you as an accompanying passenger on that plane.
Speaker 2: And a story that's making its round in the news
Speaker 2: about a person who in fact did die on a
Speaker 2: plane and what happened to the passengers who are unfortunately
Speaker 2: seated near that person. We're all kind of asking the
Speaker 2: questions now of what happens to us if that tragedy
Speaker 2: should occur, A question I didn't think I'd be asking myself,
Speaker 2: but that story has definitely been very interesting. We're also
Speaker 2: going to talk about the fentinel fold. We're going to
Speaker 2: take a deeper dive around six point thirty, and it's
Speaker 2: our new segment Deeper Dives, where we really look at
Speaker 2: some sort of longer form story, spend some more time
Speaker 2: on it, do some investigative journalism, and in this case,
Speaker 2: we're going to investigate what the fentinal fold is. It's
Speaker 2: not the newest dance craze. It's not something that you
Speaker 2: can put on, but it is something that is a
Speaker 2: consequence of what people are putting in into their bodies.
Speaker 2: And you have undoubtedly seen it. This Finnyl fold. It
Speaker 2: is all the rage around southern California, and the optics
Speaker 2: that it provides are absolutely horrendous. Horrendous also horrendous. Home
Speaker 2: burglaries are up across the San Fernando Valley, across the
Speaker 2: Eastern Valley as well, and I'll tell you some tips
Speaker 2: to how you can keep your home and your property safe,
Speaker 2: especially if you have cameras. Why the cameras you have
Speaker 2: may not necessarily be the best for being able to
Speaker 2: spot some of assailant. So I'll give you some updates
Speaker 2: about what's going on with those home burglaries. At five
Speaker 2: point thirty, we're going to talk to Rick Poliitzi. He
Speaker 2: is the producer of The Simpsons, a former producer of
Speaker 2: The Simpsons beloved series, and if you are a watcher
Speaker 2: of the series, you know they have a fun Halloween
Speaker 2: special every year. Well, Rick Polizzi used one of those
Speaker 2: aspects of that Halloween special, a tree house, created a
Speaker 2: tree house himself twenty four years ago, a life size one,
Speaker 2: a huge one, and it was made for his two daughters.
Speaker 2: And now, after twenty four years and lots of fun
Speaker 2: with that treehouse in the neighborhood, the city is demanding
Speaker 2: that Rick take it down or else. So we'll be
Speaker 2: talking to Rick Polizzi at five thirty so he can
Speaker 2: give his side of this story and any updates that
Speaker 2: have happened since he was told last week that it
Speaker 2: had to come down. At six o'clock, we're going to
Speaker 2: talk to a woman named Judy Mancuso. She's with the
Speaker 2: animal advocacy or organization Social Compassion, which deals with legislation
Speaker 2: for our furry friends in California. They have a twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five list of campaigns that they're working on, things
Speaker 2: that you will be able to vote on in the
Speaker 2: near future, and Judy is going to be here to
Speaker 2: tell us about that campaign as well as how their
Speaker 2: work with Social Compassion integrated with what was going on
Speaker 2: with the Eaten fire and Past Palisades fire, what they
Speaker 2: were doing out there to support victims of that fire.
Speaker 2: And we're going to start with and update about what's
Speaker 2: going on with former Chief Kristen Crowley. As you know,
Speaker 2: after what happened in the Palisades fire occurred, there was
Speaker 2: a lot of controversy. We've been talking about it. Every
Speaker 2: show has been talking about it at nauseum. That's not
Speaker 2: the news. You know that, We all know that. But
Speaker 2: there are updates to this story and they seem to
Speaker 2: be unfolding by the day. And so what's going on
Speaker 2: on is that Kristin Crowley was fired by the mayor. Well,
Speaker 2: Kristin Crowley, as a public servant, was told, hey, you
Speaker 2: can appeal the firing because of your position, and if
Speaker 2: an overwhelming majority of the city council votes in your
Speaker 2: favor for that, during that appeal process, you can be
Speaker 2: reinstated as the LAFD chief. Well, Kristin Crowley took a
Speaker 2: few days where we all were wondering what she was
Speaker 2: going to do, and just this week she announced that
Speaker 2: she is in fact going to appeal her dismissal as
Speaker 2: La Fire Department chief. So what that entels is she
Speaker 2: needs ten of the council's fifteen members to be reinstated
Speaker 2: as chief. There are fifteen members on the city council.
Speaker 2: She needs two thirds of She needs two thirds of
Speaker 2: them to be able to say that they overwhelmingly support
Speaker 2: her reinstatement. If she gets it, that would be effective immediately.
Speaker 2: The council was expecting to meet just yesterday. They called
Speaker 2: a special meeting Thursday evening for Friday. Now here's the kicker.
Speaker 2: Many firefighters, many of whom represent the LAFD union, different
Speaker 2: unions that support our public servants as well, said, you
Speaker 2: know what, we weren't informed of this special meeting that
Speaker 2: was supposed to be held on Friday. You can't go
Speaker 2: and schedule this meeting without fore warning us so that
Speaker 2: we can make provisions in our schedules to be there.
Speaker 2: So the pushback actually required the city Council to reschedule
Speaker 2: this meeting, and now the new meeting to address the
Speaker 2: appeal will be this coming Tuesday, March fourth, at ten
Speaker 2: a m. There was a ten day window of when
Speaker 2: the city Council could meet, and this new date still
Speaker 2: falls within that window and allows for everyone who wants
Speaker 2: to be there, who has a say, to actually be there.
Speaker 2: The thing is, there are very clear lines being drawn,
Speaker 2: and there's one really big line being drawn in the sand.
Speaker 2: Those lines are about support for Kristin Crowley or support
Speaker 2: for Mayor Bass. And the one line that has to
Speaker 2: do with who's on what side in terms of support
Speaker 2: is seeing developments daily. What we're seeing is that more
Speaker 2: city council members in the last week have come out
Speaker 2: in support of Mayor Karen Bass's decision to dismiss Kristin
Speaker 2: Crowley as fire chief. However, on the other side, in
Speaker 2: the other corner of the ring are the actual firefighters
Speaker 2: and the firefighters Union LAFD Firefighters Union, who say unequivocally
Speaker 2: they support Kristin Crowley and that they want her re stated.
Speaker 2: And I don't know about you. I'm no firefighter. I'm
Speaker 2: not a fire expert. I know nothing of firefighting outside
Speaker 2: of appreciating the work that they do. But I am
Speaker 2: inclined to believe firefighters when they say that they feel
Speaker 2: that their fire chief or their department heads were treated unfairly,
Speaker 2: and that is in fact what they're saying. I'll tell
Speaker 2: you specifically what the fire department or the fire union
Speaker 2: said in a statement they released last week regarding how
Speaker 2: they feel about Kristin Crowley and how they feel about
Speaker 2: Mayor Karen Bass. But we'll do that on the other
Speaker 2: side of the break, and then we'll come back with
Speaker 2: what's going on with that bicyclist group that beat that
Speaker 2: man in the mid Wiltshire district in the Hancock area
Speaker 2: right over there, Hancock Park area, right over there where
Speaker 2: Neil was today for his remote. There are some updates
Speaker 2: to that story, including the victim speaking. We'll get to
Speaker 2: all of that on the other side of the break.
Speaker 2: Stay tuned KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on the
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app Tiffany Hobbs here with You.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: Kf I AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: Tiffany Hobbs here with You. It's Saturdays with Tiffany from
Speaker 2: five until seven. Thanks for hanging out, and I was
Speaker 2: just giving you an update about what's going on with
Speaker 2: former LAFD chief Kristen Crowley. She has decided to appeal
Speaker 2: and to let you know where the people stand. The
Speaker 2: line drawn in the sand there in one corner is
Speaker 2: the group of people are the group of people who
Speaker 2: support Mayor Karen Bass's decision. On the other side, you
Speaker 2: have people who are in full support of former Chief
Speaker 2: Crowley and who are vocal and becoming more and more vocal.
Speaker 2: It seems as days go by about that support and
Speaker 2: how they feel about Mayor Bass's decision. One such group
Speaker 2: is the LAFD Union, and I believe them because they
Speaker 2: do the work that they are talking about. They are
Speaker 2: the ones boots on the ground literally who have worked
Speaker 2: with Kristin Crowley, know what this work entails, know the
Speaker 2: ins and outs of the department. I don't know if
Speaker 2: anyone on the city Council has ever been a firefighter,
Speaker 2: but I don't think they have. And I say that
Speaker 2: with pretty sure, pretty short assurance. I'm pretty close dollars
Speaker 2: to donuts that no one on the city Council has
Speaker 2: been a firefighter and has not been a fire chief.
Speaker 2: So I am inclined to believe the Firefighters union and
Speaker 2: firefighters who are speaking out saying that Kristin Crowley and
Speaker 2: their words is being scape goaded. Here is the actual
Speaker 2: statement from the LAFD Union. They said last week quote
Speaker 2: our rank and file firefighters on the ground strongly support
Speaker 2: Chief Crowley. They know the truth, We have her back,
Speaker 2: and we will fight for her right to set the
Speaker 2: record straight. This is the first city council meeting that
Speaker 2: we are aware of, perhaps ever, that has been scheduled
Speaker 2: on twenty four hour notice for a Friday at five pm.
Speaker 2: Side note that meeting has since been rescheduled for this
Speaker 2: coming Tuesday because of the pushback from the union. Back
Speaker 2: to the quote, it's obvious that some on this city
Speaker 2: council are attempting to bury this issue when nobody is
Speaker 2: watching and holding them accountable. City council members will have
Speaker 2: to ask themselves if this is the way they want
Speaker 2: to decide the fate of our fire chief. What's happening
Speaker 2: is wrong, and everyone knows it. End quote. Those are
Speaker 2: pretty strong words from the fire Department Union, and I
Speaker 2: believe them because they are firefighters and they know again
Speaker 2: what being a fire chief fire department chief requires, So
Speaker 2: for them to speak out so strongly, so passionately, and
Speaker 2: so quickly, I am inclined to go with what they
Speaker 2: are saying as being truth. So we'll see what happens
Speaker 2: at this meeting coming Tuesday. I'm sure we'll have some
Speaker 2: updates from our KFI newsroom from all of our hosts,
Speaker 2: because I as we've seen, these updates continue to keep coming.
Speaker 2: They are becoming a bit more bombastic every time we report.
Speaker 2: Let's get into something else that's becoming a bit more bombastic,
Speaker 2: and that is crime. Crime around the city. Crime around
Speaker 2: the city is going buck wild crazy. It's everywhere Hancock Park,
Speaker 2: San Fernando Valley, and it's coming to you if you're
Speaker 2: not careful, but it probably is because it's out of control.
Speaker 2: And we're gonna give a little update about what's going
Speaker 2: on with that bicyclist who was pulled out of his
Speaker 2: car in the Hancock Park area. What's going on with him?
Speaker 3: It was so vanilla like, all I wanted to do
Speaker 3: was go to the show, get my tangerine juice, Oh.
Speaker 2: The Lakers.
Speaker 4: Baniam says it all started when a group of cyclists
Speaker 4: took over the intersection as he tried to drive through.
Speaker 4: Baniam says he honked to alert one of the riders.
Speaker 3: Then I'll try to like notify the kid that it's
Speaker 3: turning red. I'm going to be right behind you and
Speaker 3: trying to tell him that you know I'm behind him
Speaker 3: and make sure he doesn't hit me. And his friend
Speaker 3: got upset.
Speaker 4: The cyclist then threatened benigh him, saying he had a
Speaker 4: gun in his bag, before smashing his right tail light.
Speaker 4: Sensing the situation escalating, Baniams stopped the car and got out,
Speaker 4: but before he could react, the group surrounded him and
Speaker 4: began beating him. By the time police arrived, the cyclist,
Speaker 4: believed to be between sixteen and eighteen years old, had fled.
Speaker 5: To do that to someone and leave my son in
Speaker 5: the middle of the street, like if he was a nothing.
Speaker 4: Then i AM's mom, Yes, miil Yell, was out of
Speaker 4: town when she got the call. She says she felt powerless.
Speaker 1: My heart was breaking.
Speaker 6: The worst thing was to hear him crying.
Speaker 4: Then i Am suffered injuries to his head and face.
Speaker 4: Nearly a week later, he is still in pain, struggling
Speaker 4: to sleep due to his injuries and PTSD from the attack.
Speaker 3: Daily it gets better. Every day I find something else
Speaker 3: to be happy about.
Speaker 4: So far, two teens have been arrested, but police are
Speaker 4: still searching for others.
Speaker 3: I hope that it's a sign for either them or
Speaker 3: their friends to maybe put down the violence.
Speaker 2: It's not. It's not a sign. It's not a sign
Speaker 2: for them to put down the violence, because if you
Speaker 2: engage in this type of violence, then this is a
Speaker 2: choice you're making. That's your line in the sand. And
Speaker 2: these kids, this group of about fifteen teenagers as they
Speaker 2: continued to be identified. Their ages are validating that these
Speaker 2: are in fact kids as they are making these choices.
Speaker 2: This is the pattern that they are participating in. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: they probably have done this before. Unfortunately, they probably will
Speaker 2: do this again. There's a lack of remorse when it
Speaker 2: comes to crime, and it's evident with these sorts of issues.
Speaker 2: We see people being pulled out of their cars or
Speaker 2: having their cars rammed with these bikes, these little motorbikes
Speaker 2: all across the city, especially kind of in denser populated
Speaker 2: areas where these bicyclists and these mini motorbike riders like
Speaker 2: to traverse. This poor guy was just out trying to
Speaker 2: get his tangerine juice. He just wanted to watch the
Speaker 2: Laker game, get a bite to eat, make it a
Speaker 2: very vanilla evening. And he couldn't even do that because
Speaker 2: these kids caused all that havoc. Let's say he did,
Speaker 2: in fact decide to stay home. Well, here's the thing.
Speaker 2: Home isn't safe either, because knock knock burglaries are on
Speaker 2: the rise all across southern California and especially in the
Speaker 2: San Fernando Valley.
Speaker 5: These crews police tell me our hitting homes between dinnertime
Speaker 5: and midnight and pat They don't care if you've got cameras.
Speaker 5: They are after certain things in your home and we'll
Speaker 5: stop at nothing to get them. Shattered glass scattered across
Speaker 5: the floor, the living room in disarray, all signs of
Speaker 5: a break in, my kids bedrooms.
Speaker 7: Drawers were pulled, Everything was on the floor. Everything that
Speaker 7: we had in the house, as far as jewelry was gone.
Speaker 7: All designer purses were gone.
Speaker 5: This Canoga Park homeowner asked us not to use her
Speaker 5: name because the burglars also stole her license while she
Speaker 5: and her family were away in Big Bear for Valentine's Day.
Speaker 5: Around seven thirty that night, they got notifications from their
Speaker 5: security system, but the cameras were offline.
Speaker 7: It was just strength that the Wi Fi went out
Speaker 7: for that little bit of time and then it went
Speaker 7: back up.
Speaker 5: LAPD says this is one of twenty seven burglaries that
Speaker 5: occurred over seven days in the LAPDS to Panga Division,
Speaker 5: which covers Canoga Park, West Hills, Chatsworth, Wineka, and Woodland Hills.
Speaker 6: That high number.
Speaker 5: Lieutenant Doug Humphrey, LAPD Detective Commanding Officer, says there's been
Speaker 5: a recent spike in both residential and commercial burglaries at
Speaker 5: night two weeks prior, he says, crime was down.
Speaker 6: We believe that this is coordinated crews. We make that
Speaker 6: determination based upon what we consider the mo what tom
Speaker 6: of day that they're hitting, the fact that they're usually
Speaker 6: coming in multiple cars and there's multiple suspects.
Speaker 5: The organized crews are after certain things.
Speaker 6: Small items of high value and significance, something that they
Speaker 6: could trade sometimes on the on the open markets like
Speaker 6: the Facebook marketplace.
Speaker 8: Would you have one.
Speaker 5: By one, Humphrey says, there are things you could do
Speaker 5: to better protect your home. Lighting is key, audible alarms,
Speaker 5: and cameras in the front and back of your property.
Speaker 6: Having infrared cameras where these burglars are current at night,
Speaker 6: but we have black and white images. Sometimes it is
Speaker 6: in sufficient for us to really follow up and get
Speaker 6: a good lead on.
Speaker 5: Investigators work to track down the thieves. Neighbors are looking
Speaker 5: out for each other online.
Speaker 7: An hour after me, there was another woman down the
Speaker 7: street hit and same thing. They only took the designer
Speaker 7: bags and all of the jewelry, but the house was
Speaker 7: completely ransacked. They came in through the back patio, shattered it.
Speaker 7: Same exact situation, and then I just started to see
Speaker 7: a pattern on the Facebook Crimebuster's page that they were
Speaker 7: all doing the same thing.
Speaker 5: Now, police tell me they are responding to all these calls,
Speaker 5: but say staffing shortages are making it more hard difficult
Speaker 5: for them to reduce crime. Still, they tell me that's
Speaker 5: not stopping detectives and investigators and officers from working overtime
Speaker 5: to protect this community.
Speaker 2: Staffing shortages again, another LA City department that is suffering
Speaker 2: under all of the things needed and necessary to make
Speaker 2: departments flourish to be able to protect the citizens of
Speaker 2: Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. So really quickly again,
Speaker 2: if you want to secure your home quick little rundown,
Speaker 2: make sure you'd lock all your windows and doors. Don't
Speaker 2: leave without doing that. You don't live in Mulberry. Lock
Speaker 2: everything up. Ensure that your home is well illuminated on
Speaker 2: the outside, no dark crevices and corners. When you get
Speaker 2: these cameras, make sure that they don't just do infrared tracking.
Speaker 2: Make sure that you have a better equipped camera system,
Speaker 2: and then just be on the lookout, keep an eye out.
Speaker 2: The new bill makes it so that in California you
Speaker 2: won't be able to necessarily use a little extra intimidation,
Speaker 2: if you know what I mean. So you're going to
Speaker 2: have to figure out other ways to be able to
Speaker 2: protect your property and your family. Speaking of property, when
Speaker 2: we come back, we're going to talk to Rick Poliitzi.
Speaker 2: He's the former producer of the Simpsons who built a
Speaker 2: really cool treehouse out there in the valley and now
Speaker 2: the city wants him to tear it down immediately after
Speaker 2: twenty four years with no issue. We'll get his side
Speaker 2: of this story, what's going on, and hopefully some good
Speaker 2: news when we come back. I am six forty Live
Speaker 2: everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Tiffany Hobbs Here with You.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: Kf I Am six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio
Speaker 2: app Tiffany Hobbs Here with You. It's Saturdays with Tiffany.
Speaker 2: And doesn't that music just puts you in a place.
Speaker 2: Raoul's smiling. It just feels good. The Simpsons just a
Speaker 2: series beloved by everyone, kid, adolescent, adult, one of those
Speaker 2: things you can put on and really enjoy with the
Speaker 2: entire family. I remember the first episode, and I remember
Speaker 2: one of those first few episodes when they introduced the
Speaker 2: pet dog, Sanna's Little Helper, it actually propelled me to
Speaker 2: ask my mom for a dog, and I got my
Speaker 2: first puppy. So The Simpsons was not only a beloved
Speaker 2: series to watch, but influential in the homes of children everywhere.
Speaker 2: And it still lives on today. And it doesn't just
Speaker 2: live on in visual form on the screen, but it
Speaker 2: lives on through them of one of its animating producers,
Speaker 2: Rick Politzi. He's an animation producer of The Simpsons, a
Speaker 2: three time Emmy winner for that. He's an author of
Speaker 2: the book Spinnekin, which deals with board games and his
Speaker 2: love of board games. And even though Rick Poliitzi has
Speaker 2: had all of these career accomplishments, he could have just
Speaker 2: sat back, put his feet up, and enjoyed kind of
Speaker 2: a sunset perpetually from all of the money he undoubtedly
Speaker 2: raked in from being a producer on The Simpsons, Rick
Speaker 2: decided that he wanted to give back and give back
Speaker 2: in a big way so that children in the Los
Speaker 2: Angeles area and families could enjoy the spirit of Halloween.
Speaker 2: I love Halloween. It's one of my favorite seasons and
Speaker 2: I know, I'm always looking for something to do, and
Speaker 2: it seems that after COVID that was few and far
Speaker 2: in between the available things you couldn't do. But Rick
Speaker 2: Politze twenty four years ago created something that has become
Speaker 2: a beloved treasure all over LA and it's located there
Speaker 2: in Sherman Oaks in his front yard. It was a
Speaker 2: beautiful tree house that many people visited. He also is
Speaker 2: the creator of the very popular Boney Island dedicated to skeletons. Again,
Speaker 2: I love Halloween. So these are things that are just
Speaker 2: speaking to my heart and my personal interests and maybe
Speaker 2: yours as well. But even though all of these accomplishments
Speaker 2: and all these creations are wonderful and encourage families to
Speaker 2: come together and kids to get out and enjoy themselves
Speaker 2: in a fun and free and safe way, the city
Speaker 2: is now asking Rick Politze to tear down this tree house,
Speaker 2: and not only tear it down, but tear it down
Speaker 2: immediately lest he faced some very harsh consequences. So I
Speaker 2: want to welcome Rick Politze too the Saturdays with Tiffany's
Speaker 2: show so that we can get his side of the
Speaker 2: story about what's going on with this treehouse and what's
Speaker 2: going on with the city. Why all of this pushback
Speaker 2: now twenty four years later, and hopefully we'll get some
Speaker 2: good news. I have my fingers crossed because I've been refreshing, refreshing, refreshing,
Speaker 2: trying to get some updates on this story. So welcome
Speaker 2: Rick to the show. I really appreciate you coming on.
Speaker 8: Well, thanks for having me on, Tiffany, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: You're so welcome. And I found Rick. I knew the
Speaker 2: story because Tim Conway Junior covered it last week and
Speaker 2: I was listening and I went, oh, my gosh, no,
Speaker 2: not the treehouse. I've never actually visited, but I've always
Speaker 2: wanted to go. Just I better. I think I might
Speaker 2: have to come tonight at this point because we're in
Speaker 2: dire streets. We're up against the clock here. But you know,
Speaker 2: I saw the story. One of the local outlets carried
Speaker 2: the story and the social media posting of that story,
Speaker 2: and you were in the comments interacting with people, which
Speaker 2: I really appreciate that you made yourself available to people
Speaker 2: to discuss what was going on, and I said, gotta
Speaker 2: have them on. So Rick, what the heck is going on?
Speaker 2: Why now? After twenty four years with the city of
Speaker 2: La do this and demand this of you.
Speaker 8: Well, it's you mentioned Boney Island. We did that at
Speaker 8: the house. So my family and another family put this
Speaker 8: on and it was a free, family friendly event. I'd
Speaker 8: never cared for gore or scares or people jumping at
Speaker 8: you with chainsaws, so we wanted to. Yeah, we wanted
Speaker 8: to do something fun and funny, and we turned our
Speaker 8: front yard into like a skeleton carnival called Boney Island.
Speaker 8: So there were rides, the skeletons were going on and
Speaker 8: they're singing, telling jokes. You felt like you were at Disneyland.
Speaker 8: That's what everybody would tell me. And almost anybody you
Speaker 8: saw on TV and movies were always here with their
Speaker 8: families because it was not amazed. It was a you know,
Speaker 8: just free flowing. But anywhere you looked there were little
Speaker 8: jokes and fun vignettes, so everybody flocked to it. One
Speaker 8: neighbor across the street who's always looking out her window.
Speaker 2: You know, it's always that one.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and she kept trying to get it shut down.
Speaker 8: She didn't want people on the street in front of
Speaker 8: her house and didn't like the crowds, which I understand.
Speaker 8: It got crowded. We were a victim of our own success.
Speaker 8: But kept calling the city trying to get us shut down,
Speaker 8: and when the city didn't do it quickly enough, she
Speaker 8: called the city saying that the treehouse we had was
Speaker 8: being run as a cafe. And so the city came
Speaker 8: out and said, she's crazy. There's no cafe here. You
Speaker 8: can barely turn around in it. But do you have
Speaker 8: a permit for this? And so I said I didn't
Speaker 8: need one. I built it with a friend and he
Speaker 8: was in construction, so it was it's really well built.
Speaker 8: There's a show called Treehouse Masters on the Discovery channel
Speaker 8: animal Planet. They came out and did a story on it.
Speaker 8: It's you know, it's been in commercials and TV shows.
Speaker 8: But I've just been battling this thing. I'm trying to
Speaker 8: get the zoning for it, which we ultimately did. It
Speaker 8: cost us about fifty thousand dollars and I thought we
Speaker 8: were home free, and they said no, Now you just
Speaker 8: need to get the building permit. And that's what's been
Speaker 8: so tough. So it's a criminal case. Now. We went
Speaker 8: to pre trial last month and it was just so
Speaker 8: frustrating and horrible. We didn't get to say anything. So
Speaker 8: now they set the trial for March twelfth, and I'm
Speaker 8: not going back. That's going to be another you're doney
Speaker 8: twenty thousand dollars. I got to stop the bleeding, so
Speaker 8: I'm not going back to court. I'm tearing it down myself.
Speaker 8: So they dismissed the So they dismissed the charges, which
Speaker 8: you know, I'll probably tear it down in the next
Speaker 8: few days if I don't hear from from anybody. But
Speaker 8: it's gotten anybody from the city. I tried to go
Speaker 8: to the city council meeting yesterday. They wouldn't let me speak.
Speaker 8: It's just frustrating, but there's been a ton of articles
Speaker 8: and just so much support that I'm shocked that so
Speaker 8: many people were here. It was It's great to hear,
Speaker 8: but I got to get this. I got to get
Speaker 8: this resolved before the twelve.
Speaker 2: And let me ask you, Rick, when it comes to
Speaker 2: the financial burden, the fifty thousand and now the twenty
Speaker 2: plus thousand that you would incur to continue to try
Speaker 2: to save the treehouse, have you thought of maybe doing
Speaker 2: some crowdfunding. I know we're up against the clock here
Speaker 2: in many ways, including here on our shows. So just
Speaker 2: you have you thought about doing crowdfund funding people volunteered
Speaker 2: in any way.
Speaker 8: No, I don't want anybody to have to pay for this.
Speaker 8: Oh bless you something I built. There's no reason anybody
Speaker 8: should have to donate to this. It's silly. It shouldn't
Speaker 8: have really gotten this far. But it was just you know,
Speaker 8: you know, pay this thousand dollars. Fine, here, now we
Speaker 8: need to bring surveyors out to get your year zoning permit.
Speaker 8: It was always one thousand here, two thousand, and it
Speaker 8: added up to fifty. And I just said, you know,
Speaker 8: you know, we should have been spending that money on
Speaker 8: our kids or or or vacation. Yeah, it's silly to
Speaker 8: just keep dumping this into the city and lawyers. It's ridiculous. Also,
Speaker 8: the city said if we go to trial next month,
Speaker 8: they're going to come after us to pay the city
Speaker 8: legal fees. So that's even more of a taxic gear tactic.
Speaker 8: Like it just seems overreach of the government and somewhat bullying.
Speaker 8: You know that they can't. And also Boney Island, the
Speaker 8: city shut that down. We now do it at the
Speaker 8: Museum of Natural History as their fundraiser. Okay, So I'm
Speaker 8: just saying, I'm trying to help the city raise money.
Speaker 8: Can't the city work with us? I mean, this is
Speaker 8: ridiculous that it's come this far.
Speaker 2: It is ridiculous, And you would expect, like you say,
Speaker 2: for a city that says it has it's constituency's best
Speaker 2: interests at heart, that they would in fact extend some
Speaker 2: sort of support wave, some sort of fee or whatever
Speaker 2: it is, so that you could continue continue to provide
Speaker 2: this free and safe service for kids. The alternative. The
Speaker 2: alternative is bleak, So why would they put you in
Speaker 2: this situation?
Speaker 8: But it's going to go to a landfill? Basically you
Speaker 8: have to tear this down in the next few weeks.
Speaker 8: But also Tiffany, they are they with these Palisades and
Speaker 8: Altadena fires. They're saying, we're going to have one stop shopping,
Speaker 8: so when you want to rebuild, it's going to be
Speaker 8: so easy to get a permit. I have been working
Speaker 8: for years trying to get this permit for a tree house,
Speaker 8: and I can't get return calls from anybody. They're not
Speaker 8: even returning calls or inquiries when we email, so it's
Speaker 8: been so frustrating. I just feel bad for fire victims
Speaker 8: that they're going to run into this mess as well,
Speaker 8: because there's no way they're expediting building a whole community
Speaker 8: quickly if they can't even give me an answer for
Speaker 8: the treehouse.
Speaker 2: I love that you said that, Rick. Can I keep
Speaker 2: you on for another segment because I want to get
Speaker 2: into the good of the treehouse, what prompted it. I
Speaker 2: want you to be able to talk about the good
Speaker 2: things and things that stood out, and as well, I
Speaker 2: have questions about you being a New Orleanian. It's Marty
Speaker 2: gross season. I wonder if I want to talk to you.
Speaker 8: I want to talk to you.
Speaker 2: I want to talk to you about New Orleans because
Speaker 2: I love it too.
Speaker 8: Right, I'm here for whatever you need.
Speaker 2: We'll do all that. On the other side of the break,
Speaker 2: hang on kf I am six forty live everywhere on
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app. We're talking to Rick Poleet's the owner
Speaker 2: of the treehouse in Sherman Oaks that unfortunately will be
Speaker 2: coming down soon. It's been a wonderful main stay and
Speaker 2: staple of the community for the last twenty four years.
Speaker 2: Really sucky story, but we're talking to him. We'll get
Speaker 2: some more details about that. On the other side of
Speaker 2: the break.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand, kf.
Speaker 2: I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: Tiffany Hobbs here with you until seven o'clock and then
Speaker 2: Michael Monks comes aboard, so stay tuned for that. We've
Speaker 2: been talking to Rick Poliitzi. He is an author, he
Speaker 2: is an animation producer for The Simpsons. He's creator of
Speaker 2: Boney Island, which you can now see at the Natural
Speaker 2: History Museum every Halloween season if you're a lover of
Speaker 2: Halloween like I am. And he is the constructor of
Speaker 2: a very popular and beloved tree house in his Sherman
Speaker 2: Oaks neighborhood, in his front yard. In fact, that has
Speaker 2: been available to anyone and everyone to come and experience
Speaker 2: for the last twenty four years, and unfortunately now the
Speaker 2: city of Los Angeles is demanding that he take it
Speaker 2: down because one nosy neighbor across the street stuck her
Speaker 2: nose and Rick Poliitzi's business and everyone who enjoys that
Speaker 2: treehouse and what he does there and demanded that that
Speaker 2: tree house come down. What just you know, there's so
Speaker 2: many words for that neighbor, and I know you don't
Speaker 2: want to say him because you're an upstanding guy. You
Speaker 2: built this treehouse, so you're obviously upstanding. I can't say
Speaker 2: it because of FCC regulations. But we don't like her
Speaker 2: very much. How dare she ruin a good thing?
Speaker 8: You know? It's annoying And right now I am talking
Speaker 8: to you while I'm inside the treehouse. Oh Rick, there
Speaker 8: were some people. There's some people around, and you know,
Speaker 8: people come by all the time and I let them
Speaker 8: go in it. I don't, you know, I let them
Speaker 8: take a look and take pictures. But yeah, very frustrating
Speaker 8: that this, with all the blight in the city, this
Speaker 8: is what the city atturn he chooses to go after.
Speaker 8: You know, it's just frustrating and it's a head scratcher.
Speaker 2: I agree. It's like when you're driving down the street
Speaker 2: and you maybe turn too quickly and go through the
Speaker 2: crosswalk on a red light or something, and whoop, here
Speaker 2: come the police. They pull you over, but there's literally
Speaker 2: a murder happening across the street and they bypass that
Speaker 2: to come and get you. It's like, yeah, bigger priorities.
Speaker 8: Yeah, they keep The city attorney keep saying we're not
Speaker 8: dropping it, We're worried about safety and squatters, and so
Speaker 8: I'm like, God, have you gone to any underpaths? I mean,
Speaker 8: I'm navigating through tents and stuff, and you're worried about
Speaker 8: my treehouse that has double locked gates that you're worried
Speaker 8: about a squatter there. Come on.
Speaker 2: You know, it's kind of a backhanded compliment to you,
Speaker 2: Rick that your construction skills are really good.
Speaker 8: The buck it is, you know, it is.
Speaker 2: It is, and that, unfortunately has become synonymous with our
Speaker 2: city leaders as evidence with what's going on with the
Speaker 2: fires and with now Chief Crowley. But let's not talk
Speaker 2: about that. Let's do some good news and kind of
Speaker 2: take a look back at a retrospective at the Treehouse.
Speaker 2: You again, are from New Orleans, Louisiana, Marty gras Is
Speaker 2: this Tuesday. I know New Orleans, well, not from there,
Speaker 2: but it's my second city. I claim it. I love it,
Speaker 2: and I know that when it comes to Halloween, New
Speaker 2: Orleans does it big. They love their Halloween. Were you
Speaker 2: influenced by being born and raised there for what you
Speaker 2: created with Boney Island and with the Treehouse here in
Speaker 2: Los Angeles?
Speaker 8: Yeah, because you know in New Orleans it was really
Speaker 8: a small town. Even though it's, you know, a pretty
Speaker 8: famous place. Everybody knew their neighbors, you know, and here
Speaker 8: in La it just seems more standoffish. So I love
Speaker 8: Marty Gras. In fact, I was a king on one
Speaker 8: of the parade.
Speaker 2: Parade what parade it was the Crew of.
Speaker 8: Mid City Okay, and uh it's it was the fifth
Speaker 8: oldest parade in the in in Marty Grass I was. Yeah,
Speaker 8: I'm not saying I'm famous, but it was just a thrill.
Speaker 8: And I've written on floats in parades, So I loved it,
Speaker 8: and I love the I love I love having people around.
Speaker 8: It just feels a lot of a lot of people
Speaker 8: keep to themselves. So that's why I wanted to do
Speaker 8: Boney Island as this big free for all fun. It
Speaker 8: was you know, it was free, there was no charge
Speaker 8: and it was, like I said, family friendly, So everybody
Speaker 8: showed up, and uh, that's what I really That's what
Speaker 8: I really liked about the way we did it. We
Speaker 8: didn't have a maze, we didn't have people jumping and
Speaker 8: scaring you. So it was a big Halloween celebration.
Speaker 2: Got you now, I did see that. Since this story
Speaker 2: broke last week, council member Nathia Rahman, who's from your district,
Speaker 2: extended her help. What does that mean? It's kind of
Speaker 2: vague her help. What is is what is she planning to.
Speaker 8: Do well this? I contacted her office last April or May,
Speaker 8: so almost a year ago, and I talked to three
Speaker 8: different staffers, three you know, a couple of zoom calls, emails,
Speaker 8: and ultimately they said there's nothing they can do to help.
Speaker 8: So that was I think in maybe April or May.
Speaker 8: And so I know that they put out a statement
Speaker 8: saying we've been trying hard to do it, but I
Speaker 8: have not heard from them, and they just simply dropped
Speaker 8: the the idea of helping last May. Now that it's
Speaker 8: gotten a lot of publicity and stuff, I think they
Speaker 8: may be trying again, but I have not heard back
Speaker 8: from them. I just need to hear that the city
Speaker 8: attorney would dismiss a silly case like this in criminal court,
Speaker 8: or the Department of Building and Safety can give me
Speaker 8: an exemption on something that is one hundred and fifteen
Speaker 8: square feet and it's you know, it's they're calling it
Speaker 8: an adu. So they're telling me I need to get
Speaker 8: soil samples structural architectural drawings again, which is going to
Speaker 8: be another ten twenty thousand, And that's still not a
Speaker 8: guarantee that they're going to come back and say, okay,
Speaker 8: keep it. They're going to say you got to take
Speaker 8: this out and remove this. And they're saying you can't
Speaker 8: have landscape lights in your tree. They're saying that that's
Speaker 8: a no no, we'll never approve that. So it's just
Speaker 8: a bunch of little nitpicky things. And and you know,
Speaker 8: my family, most everybody's still in New Orleans. They're constantly
Speaker 8: calling to say, you know, come back home. Yeah, they're
Speaker 8: always doing that. And they kept calling during the fires,
Speaker 8: you know, where's the fire now? And I had to
Speaker 8: keep telling them, God, it's okay. The mud slides are
Speaker 8: putting out the fires. Don't worry about us, don't worry
Speaker 8: about us. Everything's fine. But boy, I am tempted to
Speaker 8: go back.
Speaker 2: And a lot of people are just down. Take a
Speaker 2: lot of people are tempted right now, and they're weighing
Speaker 2: your options about whether or not to stay in LA
Speaker 2: In thirty seconds or less, Rick, can you tell us
Speaker 2: what to look for look look out for for you next?
Speaker 2: Where can people find you social media. If you have
Speaker 2: that kind of a quick little wrap.
Speaker 8: Up, sure you can go to my website. You can
Speaker 8: see pictures of the treehouse as well. It is Rick
Speaker 8: ri c K Polizzy p Isn't Paul p o l
Speaker 8: I Zzi ricpolizy dot com and you can you can
Speaker 8: see pictures. Also. I'm always around my house and if
Speaker 8: people are walking by and we're chatting, I let him
Speaker 8: go in the treehouse and take pictures and just hang out.
Speaker 8: I like having people around and that's why I built
Speaker 8: it as well.
Speaker 2: Beautiful. Thank you for everything you did, Rick and continue
Speaker 2: to do. Thank you for Bony Island. You know, you're
Speaker 2: just a stand up guy, and I'm really sorry that
Speaker 2: this is happening to you and that the city is
Speaker 2: coming after you. Of all people, you're probably one of
Speaker 2: the least deserving people to have this kind of pressure
Speaker 2: and this kind of monkey on your back when it
Speaker 2: comes to what's going on. So I'm really sorry for it.
Speaker 8: Yeah, that's nice to say. That's nice for you to say.
Speaker 8: I agree with you, and hopefully things can get resolved
Speaker 8: in the next few days.
Speaker 2: Got it. So we're talking to author, producer, architect King
Speaker 2: of Marti Gras. Dare I say King of Marti Gras
Speaker 2: At one point, Rick Polizi, who just detailed everything that's
Speaker 2: going on with his treehouse. You can catch that tree
Speaker 2: house in the next couple of days. Go out there,
Speaker 2: you can google him. You can find him on rickpoliit
Speaker 2: Ce dot com, ri I c K p S and
Speaker 2: paul O l I z z I dot com. Get
Speaker 2: out there, see that treehouse. Maybe drop a couple bucks
Speaker 2: in a way give back to Rick Poliitze because he's
Speaker 2: given so much to the city of la and we
Speaker 2: are all better for it. Rick, thank you so much
Speaker 2: for coming on the show tonight, and I look forward
Speaker 2: to what you do next. All right. KFI AM six
Speaker 2: forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: App, KFI AM six forty on demand,