LOS ANGELES

EASTSIDER-While most of us are suddenly huddled in our homes for the duration, yet there is a great need to help one another, how did the Neighborhood Councils get left out of the program? And what can we do about it? 

OTHER WORDS-Social distancing is hard, and it’s not fun.

CITYWATCH SPECIAL REPORT--In 2001, the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System or LACERS* was 100.4% funded, it had a surplus of $557.7 million (no unfunded liability), and its annual contribution from the City was approximately $70 million. 

PLANNING WATCH-When I was a college student, one of my wisest professors taught us that deep crises were the best time to understand a society.

BCK FILE--With most of us sheltered in place, in tandem with 24/7 media coverage  and online exposure, it’s common to experience high levels of anxiety about COVID-19.

VOICES-The City of Los Angeles’ six animal shelters are closed to the public because of Coronavirus and Mayor Garcetti’s “Safer at Home” orders.

DEEGAN ON LA-Like in the winnowing process, where the wheat is separated from the chaff, the politico in LA who right now emerges with the highest intrinsic value to our city is Mayor Eric Garcetti.

VOICES-Suddenly we're living with a new reality. It's no longer business-as-usual in the City of LA, or anywhere else.

ALPERN AT LARGE--(Sung to the tune of “My Sharona” by The Knack, with apologies to Berton Averre and the late Doug Fieger—I’m under the delusion that I have a knack for this sort of thing) 

AT LENGTH-With the greater part of Los Angeles County on lockdown, it wouldn’t be difficult to imagine just how much worse things could get.

MY TURN-Whether it's lions culling the weaker members out of a zebra herd or a virus or other micro-organisms attacking humans, the gene pool of every living species on earth only retains its viability by continuing to be subjected to these apparent hostile attacks of nature.

@TheGussReport – What I find most maddening about The Great ‘Rona Outbreak of 2020 isn’t a lack of groceries that inconvenienced my neighborhood for a couple of weeks.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Ironically, the Liar-in-Chief declares that we are at war. The number one lie which everyone is supposed to accept is: “Now is not the time to blame.”

POLITICAL CORRUPTION COMES HOME TO LA COUNCIL—In what could be the tip of a corruption iceberg, a political fundraiser has agreed to plead guilty to a federal bribery offense for coordinating a $500,000 cash payment that was intended to secure the help of an elected member of the Los Angeles City Council in resolving a labor organization’s appeal of a major real estate development project in the councilmember’s district.

CITYWATCH SPECIAL REPORT--In 2001, the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System or LACERS* was 100.4% funded, it had a surplus of $557.7 million (no unfunded liability), and its annual contribution from the City was approximately $70 million. 

VOICES-“I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken Nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. . . The only thing we have to fear is. . .fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. . .”

-- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, March 4, 1933. 

PLANNING WATCH-I am indebted to Hydee Feldstein, Chief Legislative Director of Better Way California, for her detailed analysis of Senator Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 902.

PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS-It is important that I start off this article with my background. I worked in hospitals and nursing homes for about seven years in my 20s while pursuing a degree in nursing.

PERSPECTIVE-It is clear now that Biden will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2020 barring unforeseen circumstances.

VIRUS CRISIS--As Americans do everything they can to stay safe and limit their exposure to COVID-19, we are seeing more clearly the great divides in our society.

ALPERN AT LARGE--It's normal to find the need to blame someone, or some entity, for a given crisis. It's also normal to misplace the blame and lose focus as to how to respond to a crisis or prevent a future crisis by that lack of focus.