CityWatch

CONTRACEPTION POLITICS - In all the fussing over the sales of emergency contraception over the counter, it’s easy to forget that there’s another contraception drug out there that should be available over the counter (OTC) but isn’t: the ordinary, everyday birth control pill. The American College of… Read More...

MUSE WITH ME - Exhausted beyond measure at the close of Big Sunday, a city-wide day of public service, there is nothing I want more than to cry. Not for Big, Noble reasons like the relief that comes following a difficult task, completed. And not because my muscles ache, either. I am bereft because… Read More...

TRANSPORTATION POLITICS - Maybe it's because I recently saw the wonderful movie "42", and maybe it's because I'm a transportation advocate, and maybe it's because I despise racism of any sort, but I tire of the double-standard being applied to the oft-discussed Leimert Park Station in Park Mesa… Read More...

URBAN PERSPECTIVE - High stakes test question: A female science student conducts an experiment with chemicals that explodes in a classroom, causes no damage and no injuries. Who gets to be the adventurous teenage genius mad scientist and who gets to be the criminal led away in handcuffs facing two… Read More...

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE - Last week the world was stunned by the sudden collapse of a factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh which killed 370 people - the factory’s owner is currently being held by police after he was accused of illegally adding 3 floors to the workplace structure. Now, the true cost of cheap… Read More...

LOWDOWN - After 11 years of U.S. military operations, Afghanistan produces 90 percent of the world's poppies and 75 percent of the planet's heroin. After 11 years of war, $664 billion spent, 2,210 Americans dead, more than 35,000 of our troops maimed and shattered, and our good reputation spent —… Read More...

PEOPLE POWER - Walmart might have viewed their plans to open in an existing building in Los Angeles Chinatown as a bullet-proof strategy. The retail giant would open its new store in the Grand Plaza, an existing building, that unlike new construction, would allow the retailer to proceed without a… Read More...

ALPERN AT LARGE - Much of the reason why this City (and County) of Los Angeles is hurting is because we rely on a very biased and myopic Editorial Board of the LA Times to do our thinking for us--when, in fact, that Editorial Board often gets it wrong, which it has (again!) in its ridiculous… Read More...

POLITICAL SCANDAL COMEBACKS - A quick Google search of “politicians are” returns the following four suggestions: like diapers, sociopaths, the lowest form of life, and liars. A recent Public Policy Polling study found politicians to be less popular than the conqueror Genghis Khan or cockroaches.… Read More...

LA WATCHDOG - On Tuesday, the Paul Krekorian-led Budget and Finance Committee will begin two long, tedious weeks of public hearings to review and analyze Mayor Villaraigosa’s recently released $7.7 billion “balanced” budget. These meetings will give each department head the opportunity to outline… Read More...

EDUCATION POLITICS - Volunteer badge prominently and proudly displayed, this morning I observed a PE class in a LAUSD middle school on a special bell schedule, preparatory to engulfing its students in hours of imminent CST tests. The sight is profound. Embodied there is the raison d’etre of public… Read More...

ENVIRONMENT POLITICS - My heart aches for the people of West, Texas, the tiny town where a fertilizer plant recently blew up. Many of the folks who perished in the blast were heroic volunteer firefighters who ran into danger instead of away from it. With 14 dead and 200 injured, and a nearby… Read More...

ALMOST CERTAIN ETHICS VIOLATION - LA City Controller Wendy Greuel's campaign for mayor has come under scrutiny after a Cerritos newspaper published emails showing the Controller soliciting campaign contributions, discussing endorsements and communicating with campaign staff during office hours… Read More...

GLOBAL WARMING - Should we weep or cheer on Earth Day? Both. The first step toward any recovery is admitting that we have a problem. In fact, beaucoup problems. For example, despite the squawking of profiteering polluters and professional deniers, our very atmosphere — without which everyone and… Read More...