David and Gitel Rubin emails their guests about tonight’s desert reception in honor of their daughter’s engagement (she is marrying Aryeh, child of Chaim and Rochelle Ribak): “President Obama has decided to be part of our simcha with a dinner event nearby in Hancock Park tonight. Security personnel will be closing down 3rd street and other streets around the area. Please be prepared to take Beverly Blvd and other alternate routes to be able to celebrate with us. Looking forward to seeing you all here!”
The Los Angeles Times reports: The massive traffic jam that resulted from President Obama’s motorcade and speech Monday night in Hancock Park is prompting calls for an investigation from some residents, who say they were caught in traffic for hours.
Obama was only in L.A. for a few hours, but his presence caused numerous streets to be blocked off.
Residents reported that commutes and errands that typically took minutes turned into hours-long ordeals. One particular complaint was that streets remained blocked for hours — even when Obama was inside TV producer John Wells’ Hancock Park home at a fund-raiser.
“What has occurred is way beyond reasonable and can only be described as negligent,” L.A. resident Kevin McCarthy said in an e-mail to The Times. “If it isn’t my story, currently evolving, of beginning my 1 mile journey home at 5pm and at 7:50pm now being 3 miles from home with no viable idea of how to get closer, it should be about the two sirens-wailing ambulances I have witnessed stuck in this unnecessary gridlock.”
