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ERIC PREVEN’S NOTEBOOK -
Dear Rebecca — and the Rest of You
Thanks for doing the gumshoe work. Really. When a newsroom actually lifts the rug and shows what’s under it — like your exposé on paid plaintiffs and the $4-billion county settlement — it’s oxygen for the rest of us.The least we can do, from the opinion side of the glass, is blow hard about what to do better.
The County should pause the conveyor belt of payouts long enough for an independent audit — a fast, clean review of sample files, funded from the county’s bloated admin budget, to catch duplicative or suspect claims before more checks get cut. Vetting after payment is damage control; the cleanup has to start while the trail’s still warm.
Then ditch the clubby little Claims Board that greenlights all this in secret. Replace it with a Public Claims Review Board — half electeds, half watchdogs — that meets in the open, twice a month, to review large settlements and publish short summaries before votes. Not bureaucracy — daylight.
I helped win ACLU / Preven v. Los Angeles County to pry open legal-billing records, proving that “attorney–client privilege” isn’t a force field. The same logic applies here: vet first, pay later.
Right now the “oversight” process looks like a paper shuffle dressed up as accountability. When you’re hemorrhaging billions, sunlight isn’t optional — it’s triage.
So again, thanks, Rebecca. Keep filing. We’ll keep barking. The best democracy we’ve got is a messy duet between those who dig for facts and those who won’t shut up about them.
Warmly (and with exasperation),
Eric Preven
Studio City
Across Temple Street: Tuesday with the Supervisors
Wells Fargo? M Go Blue was humiliated by USC, who will face Notre Dame next Saturday.
The Board of Supervisors loves a good “recovery” story. This week’s agenda is heavy on structure, light on sunlight.
Set Matter 1 – CEO Budget Report (11:15 a.m.)
The temperature check. Watch for mid-year pivots — hiring freezes, quiet trims, new federal-state traps. This report frames the rest of the day.
Item 19 – $370 Million in BHCIP Capital (DMH / DHCS)
Massive mental-health build-out at Metro Phase 2 and Harbor-UCLA. Ask for timelines, bed counts, and sustainable operating dollars. Bricks alone don’t treat people.
Items 10 + 1-D + 20 – Metro State Hospital Expansion
Weingart’s ENA plus a $106-million Swinerton contract in Norwalk. Demand clarity on unit mix, wrap-around services, and community input before the concrete hardens.
Item 17 – Elections Infrastructure
A new BlueCrest signature-recognition machine can process 135 k ballots an hour. Efficiency’s fine — scrutiny’s better. Ask about audit trails and public observation rules.
Items 16 & 21 – Perpetual “Emergency” Contracting
Another no-bid extension for January’s wind-and-fire disasters. Without a ledger and a sunset date, “emergency” becomes the business model.
Settlements (24–26)
$700 K for excessive force, $220 K for a crash, $175 K for another. Ask for corrective-action plans, not just checks cut in silence.
Closed Session Stack
AB 218 exposure, two fresh “anticipated” cases, labor talks, department-head reviews — classic daylight squeeze.
LACDA 2-D – NPLH / AHTF Loans
Five affordable-housing projects on the line. Ask for per-unit costs before the applause.
Altadena Wildfire Recovery IFD (Item 13)
I support recovery for fire victims, but the Board should reject the proposed Altadena Wildfire Recovery Infrastructure Financing District until the public gets full transparency.
Should the County skim property-tax growth for decades under the banner of “recovery” — without releasing the map or the project list? Everything else is noise.
Tax-increment financing sounds technical, but it’s a siphon: future property-tax increases that should go to the general fund get redirected into an automatic pot for decades. The district will be run by three Supervisors and two “public” members. Who those two are will decide whether the district serves residents or developers.
The continuance to October 21 is a tell that staff isn’t ready to show the receipts. Without the map or plan, calling this “recovery” is premature.
Meanwhile, City Hall wants to exempt mansion sales from the wildfire tax. Compassion’s the cover; loopholes are the prize.
Neighbors are already suing the Getty Museum, alleging unmanaged brush worsened the fires. If a billion-dollar institution might be negligent, why are homeowners being asked to bankroll “infrastructure recovery” with no transparency at all?
No approval should move until the public sees the map, the project list, and the financials. Fix water, fuel breaks, and oversight first — then talk about tax diversion.
We’ve buried enough in this county. Don’t bury the numbers too.
This Week in City Corruption — Sorry, City Council
City Hall loves to dress up simple things in complicated outfits. Street-light fees are taxes. Shared housing is roommates. “Special meetings” are often political cover. Strip away the jargon and it’s about accountability — who pays, who benefits, who’s kept out of the room. Democracy only works if we show up....at the free Swiftie events hosted by Adrin Nazarian (CD2)
Impressive that Adrin Nazarian and Nithya Raman (CD4) got Taylor Swift's permission to use that image! (If they did.)
Tuesday, October 14 – Full Council 10 a.m.
Seven districts hold Proposition 218 hearings on new streetlights — translation: do you want to pay higher property taxes for illumination that used to be free? Once approved, the fee sticks.
Next, a TEFRA hearing authorizing up to $50 million in tax-exempt bonds for Valley private-school expansions. Chaminade! Not City money, but it makes the borrowing cheaper — so who wins and what do we get?
And near LAX, the City’s giving up 92nd Street for Lulu’s Place, a youth-sports campus built on an old environmental report that already admitted it’ll worsen air quality. Jobs and recreation are the sugar, but the smog’s still in the cake.
Wednesday, October 15 – Full Council 10 a.m.
Escheatment day: LAPD and the Treasurer will move $1.4 million in unclaimed arrest cash into the general fund. Legal, sure — but how much of it belongs to people who never knew how to reclaim it?
Smart Speaker: Yeah, why do we keep doing this, if we can see the problem. Eunisses, fix it!
City Attorney: You are banned, removed and canceled.
Then a $247 k refund for a Bel-Air project — Building & Safety moving fast when the ZIP code’s right.
Marquee Item: “Know Your Rights” posters on sanitation trucks. Picture garbage trucks rolling through your neighborhood reminding you of your rights during police or immigration stops. Lovely idea — if it’s more than a PR truck parade. Follow the contracts. Follow the dollars.
Housing & Homelessness 2 p.m.
Three new mayoral alternates to the regional housing agency, plus the long-awaited “Shared Housing Typologies Report.” The fix is simple: define it, license it, inspect it, protect tenants, and stop carving rent-controlled apartments into micro-rooms.
Public Safety 2:30 p.m.
A “special” one-item meeting to confirm Jeffrey Skobin to the Police Commission — a procedural trick - a Special meeting that skips general public comment. Fast-track confirmation, minimal sunlight.
Friday, October 17 – Civil Rights 2 p.m.
A feel-good agenda worth reading closely: a $1 million bump for Represent LA, towing-fee waivers for detained immigrants, a new land-acknowledgment with funding for signage and translation, plus senior-nutrition and Little League grants. All good ideas — if they land where promised. [See Rightsizing the acknowlegement] Intriguing Excerpt:
Judge Nieto: I don't want to get into the merits.
Smart Speaker: Well, that is what we're talking about. I do not like coming to court. I came here because this was the fastest way to get the court that "missed it" twice to rectify. I want to emphasize that your honor, because it wasn't you, so it's not personal.
Judge Nieto: I don't take things personally.
Smart Speaker: Well, we all do.
Hangar 45: The Other President’s Motorcade
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani gestures next to President Donald Trum at Al Udeid Air Base, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (AP Photo/Alex)
Los Angeles can’t keep a park bathroom open past dusk, but give it time — this city’s already practicing its ribbon-cutting grin for Hangar 45, a Qatari-funded shrine to Donald Trump’s 747 set to rise in Washington, D.C. When money waves from abroad, L.A. always finds a way to curtsy, even across time zones.
No lifeguards on Monday, plenty of polished concrete and a ribbon to lasso a jet. Civic math: plumbing’s extra, hypocrisy’s standard.
Qatar’s been wooing L.A. for years. At USC, a Qatari prince turned Beverly Hills into a dorm with sirens — midnight motorcades, receipts sprouting zeros like thorns. City Hall called it “cultural exchange.”
The real Hangar 45 may be sprouting in D.C., but the lobbying air-traffic pattern feels familiar. Qatar’s runway for influence stretches coast to coast — and L.A. is always cleared for landing.
Ex-mayor Eric Garcetti, now chilling in Encino, once pitched Doha as L.A.’s lost borough: air routes, trade delegations, “shared prosperity” photo ops. Even Sheriff Lee Baca, between indictments, moonlighted as a security consultant. L.A. classic — reputations go to a spa, come back glowing.
USC’s the nexus. Varsity Blues parents bought admissions, royals bought lifestyle, Tom Girardi bought credibility wholesale. Ethics? An elective, dropped if your donor tier’s platinum.
Meet Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, South L.A.’s maestro, gliding in SUV 1, equity slogan on the bumper. He’s fluent in “community wealth,” swearing this hangar fights climate change beside a Qatari envoy. Carbon offsets for all — except the jet.
Picture the launch: Garcetti Zooms from Encino, Mayor Bass beams “jobs,” Harris-Dawson grips the scissors, the Emir smiles like he wrote the script. A plaque gleams: Funded by Hypocrisy, LLC. L.A. claps — we’d throw a groundbreaking for a pothole.
At the Retrofit Summit, the five Supervisors don ceremonial hijabs for the camera — not a jab at faith, just L.A. wearing what the money demands.
Hangar 45’s a mirror. Even if it’s 2,600 miles away, every deal we wave through here stares back.
Build it. Sell Equity Roast in the gift shop.
Welcome to L.A. Fasten your equity belts.
Our earthquakes have sponsors.
Cowards in the Cloud: Apple, Google, and the Art of Flinching
On October 3, 2025, Apple and Google quietly deleted apps that helped communities track ICE agents. One was ICEBlock — a digital neighborhood watch warning families of raids that could split them apart.
Then the Attorney General called. Within hours, both companies complied. Google cited “risky content”; Apple, predictably, stayed silent.
These weren’t weapons; they were shields. Yet when power glared, trillion-dollar giants flinched.
Three days later, the Supreme Court ordered Google to stop running its app store like a monopoly after Epic Games proved it skimmed 30 percent off every purchase. Competition isn’t optional, the Court said — and Google fought it for years to protect its empire, not our innovators.
“The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it’s conformity.” — Rollo May
Courage? Try cubicle-level conformity.
Monsters in the Cloud, Heroes in Our Backyard
When Apple and Google axed ICEBlock, they didn’t just erase an app — they abandoned immigrant families. When the Supreme Court pried open Google’s monopoly, it exposed how Big Tech strangles local creators dreaming of the next big app.
These aren’t Silicon Valley stories; they’re ours. Big Tech’s cowardice — caving to pressure, clinging to profit — threatens the safety and success of our neighborhoods.
But L.A. breeds heroes: neighbors shielding each other, entrepreneurs building better futures.
Let’s fight back. Demand city-council hearings to grill Apple and Google — why betray our families and businesses? Rally behind immigrant-aid groups and local developers. Share their stories on X with #HeroesNotMonsters.
From City Hall to County Square, let’s unleash our heroes — and slay the monsters in the cloud.
(Eric Preven is a Studio City-based television writer-producer, award-winning journalist, and longtime community activist. He is known for his sharp commentary on transparency and accountability in local government. Eric successfully brought and won two landmark open government cases in California, reinforcing the public’s right to know. A regular contributor to CityWatch, he combines investigative insight with grassroots advocacy to shine a light on civic issues across Los Angeles.)
