GUEST COMMENTARY--More than two weeks ago, a group of over 50 neighborhood council leaders sent a letter to the Mayor and to the City Council asking to have a citizen’s interview panel created to do pre interviews of new general manager candidates for the Department of Neighborhood Councils. 

NEW GEOGRAPHY--Twenty-one businesses have closed in less than two years since the city of Los Angeles reconfigured a 0.8 stretch of Venice Boulevard in the west side’s Mar Vista neighborhood.

CALIFORNIA POLITICS-The date was Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2017, in Sacramento CA, when Senator Scott D. Wiener introduced SB 384, a bill amending the California Business and Professions Code to permit the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to extend the required closing hours of operation for the sale of alcoholic beverages from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. (so that “last call” at any bar, restaurant or other service establishment would be 4 a.m.).

EASTSIDER-I know it seems like the world is divided into FoxNews, MSNBC, and Facebook (roll your own) universes these days. But underneath the distractions, some very bad things are happening to people who live in rural areas and are not well to do. 

TRANSIT WATCH--Riding buses for the work commute share time calculations like driving.

EDUCATION POLITICS--LIKE MANY SCHOOL DISTRICTS in the post-Columbine era of the late 1990s, Los Angeles’ responded to misbehavior with zero-tolerance toughness.

CLIMATE POLITICS-Permafrost covers 25% of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the world’s largest icebox, and its landmass is 4.5xs larger than Antarctica, 6.5xs larger than the United States.

OTHERWORDS--Some brave hetero activists are attempting to organize a “Straight Pride Parade” in Boston.

FIRST PERSON--I first met Danielle by her tent in the spring of 2018 on Fairfax Avenue during my daily walks. She lived with a male partner who was often sitting with her in their tent. Sometimes she sat near Fairfax Avenue panhandling. 

SPECIAL REPORT-Housing Is A Human Right has released a sweeping investigative report about government-sanctioned gentrification in Los Angeles. Mayor Eric Garcetti stands at the center of this important exposé.

ECONOMY--Congratulations on that nice pay raise you got last year. A 7 percent hike — wow!

ALPERN AT LARGE--We should be as grateful to those who have served us well, while scornful to those who did not. One such person who recently retired is a man who few, outside of neighborhood/civic leadership, knew well ... but those who knew him were grateful to have known him. That man is Mo Blorfroshan. 

FESTIVAL WATCH--First, they claim their name is meaningless. Then they say it means “one thousand cranes. And one of them is always awake.”

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Some people believe that the world is teleological, that is, that the world is moving toward some pre-set purpose.

WORLD WATCH-Two weeks ago, a 29-year-old Roma woman was physically attacked in the middle of the day in Kosovo, after a false accusation spread that the victim had been kidnaping children.