LOS ANGELES

VOICES--Dear City Clerk, I would like to challenge the election for the Neighborhood Council of Valley Village, held on May 16th, 2019.  

GELFAND’S WORLD--It's almost amusing that there is a move to break up Facebook due to its semi-monopoly power.

GUEST WORDS--A year-round fire season, excessive heat, drought, flooding and mudslides are the new normal in Los Angeles. 

ABORTION POLITICS--With six of fifty states having recently passed restrictive abortion legislation, reproductive rights are almost assured to be central to the 2020 election cycle. 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-The phrase often attributed to Edmund Burke that all it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to remain silent rests on the questionable premise that people who remain silent in the face of evil are good people. The more apt word is “coward.” 

ENVIRONMENT POLITICS--There has been a lot of alarm in the areas impacted by the Woolsey Fire about the risk of exposure to radiation.

ALPERN AT LARGE—Only in California could something as awful as SB 50 have had a chance of becoming reality. 

LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS-Direct democracy works like a charm. Check out Venezuela’s Communes. They are ubiquitous proof that direct democracy works.

SURVIVAL FOR THE WORLD OF TOMORROW-Over the last year, the country has been shocked by reports of the inhumane treatment of children and families in immigrant detention. Now, the Trump administration appears to be increasing the scope and severity of its immigrant detention scheme by potentially detaining immigrants at Guantanamo Bay. 

CLIMATE POLITICS--Years ago, tobacco companies discovered the link between their products and lung cancer. Did they warn their customers? No — they denied the link entirely, misleading the public for decades while killing their customers.

PLATKIN ON PLANNING:  The intense debate over Senate Bill 50 really turns on a more important, but poorly articulated debate about California’s real housing crisis. 

YOUNG LEARNERS IN JEOPARDY-In California, three percent of the state’s enrolled K-12 students or over 200,000 -- as well as a couple hundred thousand college students -- are living in cars, motels, shelters, on the street, or in crowded homes shared with other families. This is the largest number of homeless students in any state. Other states also have thousands of homeless high school and college students. 

EDUCATION POLITICS--It has been 296 days since Ref Rodriguez pleaded guilty to felony charges and was forced from the  Board District 5 seat.

EASTSIDER-You’ve heard the headlines time and again: “The Economy Is Doing Great, Unemployment is at Its Lowest Ever, and Wages are Rising.”  

DRIVE THRU PRIVACY--The great thing about corporate giants is that they’re such amazing business innovators. For example, in the category of “wheel-spinning” innovation — i.e., trying to change a corporation’s course without actually changing anything — it’s hard to top McDonald’s.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Thursday, the Appropriations Committee killed SB 50. Together we did it!  Killing the worst law proposed in 25 years, a land grab that would have put a ban on single-family housing, razed affordable housing, threatened historic neighborhoods, and attacked homeownership.

POLITICS--It seems absurd to believe that America could make the same mistake again, to elect an ignorant and vulgar narcissist to the most powerful position in the world.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-According to Former FBI Director James Comey, “Proximity to an amoral leader reveals something depressing… Accomplished people lacking inner strength can’t resist the compromises necessary to survive… Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites.”  

STRIKE SCHOOL--Educators in Los Angeles, the second-largest school district in the country, went on strike in January 2019. By deciding to walk out for smaller class sizes, more support staff, fewer standardized tests and charter school regulation, LA’s teachers became part of a strike wave that shows no signs of ebbing anytime soon. 

NEW GEOGRAPHY--For decades California’s regulatory and tax policies have undermined our middle class, driving millions out of this most favored state.

ALPERN AT LARGE--In theory, education is meant to teach children, among other things, the power of critical thinking. In theory, throwing more money at a problem isn't necessarily going to make things better. In practice, however, our hearts are the right motivators while our brains are the right executors of how we operate.