GUEST COMMENTARY--A homeless encampment on North Berendo Street—at Hollywood Boulevard—in Los Feliz has been taken over by a street gang that is listed among the top 10 in Los Angeles as most dangerous.

MY TURN-There was a lot of optimism on November 9, 2019, as dozens of candidates diligently filed paperwork and took historic pictures or videos as they kicked off campaigns to save the City.  

GELFAND’S WORLD-As reported in two previous columns, there has been a continuing uncertainty over the planning and administration of the neighborhood council congress, an annual event in which nearly a thousand neighborhood council participants come together to discuss their mutual issues and interests. 

STANDARDS FOR WHAT WE EAT--Imagine a food so filthy that it requires chemical disinfection prior to packaging and sale.

PENSION POLITICS--Environmental organizers across the country are converging in Northern Minnesota in support of Indigenous Water Protectors, to stop the construction of the Line 3 pipeline expansion.

@THE GUSS REPORT-In the past 20 years, nowhere in Los Angeles has quality of life fallen harder than in Venice.

THE DOCTOR IS IN--Vaccines aren't perfect, and the requirement of getting vaccinated does not exist in a free society.

DESPERATE MIGRATIONS-Thousands of desperate migrants, mostly from Central America, are stuck at the U.S.-Mexico border. Most are families and unaccompanied children. 

HEALTH RIGHTS--I (Leslie) am a clinician and have been for many years. I’ve been Black for many more years, all my life. 

ANIMAL WATCH-The stern face of a Pit Bull adorns the Best Friends’ Animal Society’s Facebook  announcement, “Together, We Made LA a No-Kill City,” but there is no mention of Los Angeles Animal Services nor General Manager Brenda Barnette as part of this accomplishment.

VIEW FROM HERE--When the Mad Tweeter was assaulting us each morning with his insane rantings, we never got around to discussing macro-economics and the national welfare.

DC DISPATCH-As she surveys the sea of planes at Montgomery County’s Fixed Base Operator, Ashley King knows she is a lucky woman: 

GREEN ENERGY-Reuters reports that President Biden intends to slash tax subsidies for fossil fuels like coal and petroleum and to use taxes instead to encourage renewable energy.

LIVING WAGE DEBATE-Missing from the Congressional debate over raising the $7.25 federal minimum wage to $15 an hour is any acknowledgement that poverty-level wages are integral to a class system that rewards the rich and punishes the poor.

PLAYTIME POLITICS-Echo Park is no stranger to me. As a boy in the early 1960s, my family would go there, a favorite of my dad who worked downtown and knew the park.