Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has decreed that The Occupy Los Angeles encampment on the City Hall lawn will be shut down effective 12:01 a.m. on Monday, November 28. If this is the first you’ve heard about it, know that it’s because you weren’t meant to – the Mayor made the announcement at a closed press conference in the late afternoon on Black Friday.

Mayor Villaraigosa put a positive spin on the closure:

Occupy LA has brought needed attention to the growing disparities in our country and I look forward to its ongoing efforts to build an economy that works for everyone. As we continue to respect the exercise of everyone’s First Amendment rights in our civic center and throughout Los Angeles, City Hall Park is temporarily closing out of concern for the public safety implications of a long-term encampment.

Many in the Occupy Los Angeles encampment intend to resist the eviction, and are reaching out to the public for help. Supporters of the Occupy movement are encouraged to show their solidarity at a “block party” tonight on the streets surrounding the City Hall encampment.

The Mob Museum in Las Vegas is not scheduled to open until February of 2012. But thanks to a little Jerry Bruckheimer magic, the city’s recently departed mayor will be gunned down in front of a completed version of the building on tonight’s episode of CSI.

Oscar Goodman (pictured) last worked as an actor in Martin Scorsese‘s 1995 classic Goodfellas. He tells Vegas CBS affiliate Channel 8 that a replica of the Mob Museum was built in LA and that his gruesome TV scene will cap appearances in three other segments:

“Some 12 million people, I understand, will be looking at this particular episode and that will show time and time again,” Goodman said. “So the exposure that Las Vegas is getting, that the Mob Museum is getting is extraordinary. I mean as far as advertising dollars is just monumental.”

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Antonio Villaraigosa was in our nation’s capital yesterday to check out President Obama’s big jobs speech. Within a few hours of arriving, Fox News’ Laura Ingraham had already backed up the welcome wagon. Into his legs.

Welcome to DC Mr. Mayor!

H/T Media Matters

The LA City Council adjourned yesterday to honor the memory of former LA Times reporter and East LA native George Ramos, who died last weekend at the age of 63 in his Morro Bay home. Virtually the entire city government took time to offer their words about Ramos.

“George was a tenacious reporter and a brilliant story teller who always wrote from the heart,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. “A proud son of the Eastside, he intimately captured the Latino experience in Los Angeles and never lost sight of the human dimension in journalism. He will be greatly missed but his legacy and enduring love for our City will live on through the many young journalists he mentored throughout the years.”

City Council President Eric Garcetti and the majority of the rest of the council offered their words as well.

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What’s the fun of a 2011 Power List if a reader can’t revamp it?

That seems to be the thinking of Los Angeles Downtown News executive editor Jon Regardie. After sharing his picks earlier this week for the 42 most powerful people in the corner of town that Tom Gilmore helped build, he is asking readers to chime in with their Top Ten remix. The best such lists will be shared in a future issue of the free weekly publication.

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Despite the protestations of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the city council officially killed plans to contract out nine city parking lots to a private company in exchange for a lump sum payment to fill a $54 million budget gap. Villaraigosa sent a letter to the council asking them to reconsider, but the deal appears dead, thank God. That hasn’t stopped the Mayor’s press flack Matt Szabo from weighing in, however.

“The outcome from this process turned out to be a counterproductive waste of time that ultimately will not serve the best interests of the city,” Szabo told the LA Times.

Best interests of the city, huh? Anyone up in the air about whether or not that was the right decision should read this piece in the Dallas Star-Telegram analyzing Chicago’s private parking meter deal. See how well that deal worked out for their city.

H/T Matt Taibbi

LA Weekly‘s Jill Stewart analyzes the fallout from the weekend publication by website Latinopoliticsblog.com of an incendiary email written by Michael Trujillo (pictured), campaign consultant for District 14 City Councilman Jose Huizar. She suggests a further level of culpability beyond that of Trujillo being fired late yesterday and the object of his “bullet in the forehead” remarks, candidate Rudy Martinez, calling on the police to investigate.

Writes Stewart:

The media never tell the public what’s really going on with negative researchers like Trujillo, so this is an unusual story breaking into the open. Journalists sometimes use the ugly information supplied in quiet phone calls by people like Trujillo – and sometimes without thoroughly vetting it.

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There was a big to-do on the Paramount Pictures lot yesterday involving LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Paramount Pictures Chairman and CEO Brad Grey, California Film Commissioner Amy Lemisch and Indian producers Bobby Bedi and L. Suresh.

As part of a city declaration, it was agreed that efforts will be made to create something called the Los Angeles-India Film Council to nurture more Southern California shoots for Bollywood film and TV projects. Recent large-budget Indian productions filmed locally include My Name is Khan (2010), Kites (2010) and Kambakkht Ishq (2009). (Yes, Bollyood is friendly with the letter “K”.)

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Oh how we love geeks and their geek money!

Hugo Martin writes:

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected to announce Monday that the city will host Microsoft Corp.’s Worldwide Partner Conference 2011, a gathering of the company’s staffers and business partners July 10 to 14 next year.

The conference is expected to bring about 15,000 attendees, who would spend an estimated $45 million, officials say. It would be one of the biggest gatherings at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The article also speculates that LA is in the running for Comic Con. We say it’s a red herring. Downtown San Diego was built on nerd sweat and they will do anything they can to keep their golden geeky goose. They will likely do far more to keep Comic Con in San Diego than LA or Vegas will do to move them.

What do you guys think? Discuss.

Here’s all you need to know about the City’s budget crisis:

We’re broke. The 15 members of the City Council each make more than US Senators $178,789 plus ample perks. And we still don’t tax weed.

Our City is dysfunctional on a successful day and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa bucking all our snickering about how uninterested he is in working has suggested a three day work week for non-public safety employees to save money.

Well according to Gene Maddaus at LA Weekly, the mayor doesn’t have the authority to furlough workers. So…maybe he’ll just lead by example and all city workers can go campaign for their buddies instead of focusing on their current position. The mayor suggests you work less. He’s a great leader for that.

Previously on FBLA: