#  LA City Councilmember Mike Bonin Came Out Swinging

     Details    Eric Preven & Joshua Preven   ![logo](https://www.citywatchla.com//templates/ja_teline_v/images/logo.png)         September 28 2017      [  ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Sept-2017/078e.png)    ](https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/14098-la-city-councilmember-mike-bonin-came-out-swinging)

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> THE PREVEN REPORT-There's no better way to describe it: the vehemence with which Mr. Bonin reacted upon learning that our August 17 *CityWatch* article about his "road diet" policies [("But Councilman Bonin, You Promised!")](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/los-angeles-for-rss/13823-but-councilman-bonin-you-promised) had been posted on the Facebook page of the *Palisades News*, which is the Pacific Palisades' hometown newspaper.

 Within minutes of the article's Facebook debut, Bonin's Deputy Chief-Of-Staff David Graham-Caso added a comment to the post denouncing our piece as "glaringly inaccurate." We added a "reply" to his Facebook comment and a brief but very heated Facebook interchange ensued. It's worth reading that interchange, which gets a bit ugly, because it speaks to Councilmember Bonin's credibility on the "road diet" issue.

Here's a link to Mr. [Graham-Caso's comment](https://www.dropbox.com/s/ku8ev0wnjkgy5lb/Link%20to%20David%20Graham-Caso%27s%20Letter.pdf?dl=0) on Facebook denouncing our *Citywatch* article.

Here's a screenshot of the Facebook exchange sparked by that comment:

![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Sept-2017/078f.png)

Here are live versions of the links which appear in the screenshot above:

- [westsidemobilityplan.com/.../Project....](http://www.westsidemobilityplan.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Project-Description-Station.pdf)
- [scribd.com/.../Lincoln-Bridge-GAD-Overview](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scribd.com%2Fdocument%2F357999522%2FLincoln-Bridge-GAD-Overview&h=ATMk_Y-FilQiwlVWttzMLF8jo3wrRgdE7S33FocYrVyuAjpU9aZTRTY1ZdyXXQ0nAGqaWN2WrqWE_gy1sBQFSVtFQIViysQ3V6fk99tOf27UvThTxWL0QPlBcIwXa2TUxXPY0x9QIJPGY3I)

At this point, it's been three weeks and still no answer from Councilmember Bonin, who we know from an email was aware of Mr. Graham-Caso's abrupt retreat from the dialogue.

Perhaps the reason Mr. Bonin won't respond is that he knows the document posted by Mr. Graham-Caso is a long defunct 2010 drawing with no meaningful connection to the project as it stands.

At least $1.5 million has been spent over the past five years on designs for the Lincoln Boulevard Bridge project -- virtually all of that money allocated because of motions introduced by Mike Bonin. An elaborate feasibility study was completed in 2014 by Fehr &amp; Peers.

Where are the *real* plans for the bridge? Why is Councilmember Bonin posting old news?

*(Eric Preven and Joshua Preven are public advocates for better transparency in local government and are occasional contributors to CityWatch. A piece they wrote for CityWatch "*[*It’s Time to End LA’s Secret Meetings: What Do City Council Members and LA’s County Supervisors Have to Hide?"*](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/los-angeles/11747-it-s-time-to-end-la-s-secret-meetings-what-do-city-council-members-and-la-s-county-supervisors-have-to-hide) *won the LA Press Club award for Online Political Commentary.) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.*

*-cw*

  - [  Previous Article **California Legislature Muffs a Chance to Improve the Lives of Our Children** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14100:california-legislature-muffs-a-chance-to-improve-the-lives-of-our-children&catid=312)
- [  Next Article **PPIC Poll: Is Feinstein in Trouble? Not Likely** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14096:ppic-poll-is-feinstein-in-trouble-not-likely&catid=312)
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