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CityWatch Los Angeles
Politics. Perspective. Participation.
ALPERN AT LARGE--Some of us care a great deal about history and science, and demand debate with multiple points of view, and some of us demand unity and "purity" of thought to the extent that there will be punishment and ostracism for those who don't agree with the "correct" point of view.
OTHER WORDS-Right now, thousands of Californians are fleeing raging wildfires, while millions sit in the dark. And for-profit utilities may be to blame.
LA LABOR --A few days ago, Dolores Huerta, the indefatigable, 89-year-old labor union and civil rights activist, wanted to share her wisdom.
ARCHETECHTURE POLITICS-This Wednesday, the LA County Museum of Art’s proposal to build a bridge across Wilshire Boulevard will face its first hurdle in city government.
CHARTER WARS-The astroturf groups Parent Revolution and SpeakUp are flooding social media of late with their PR-honed contention that opposing LAUSD charter-advocacy-backed members Nick Melvoin’s and Kelly Gonez’ School Performance Framework (“SPF”), is “hiding” data from parents.
@THE GUSS REPORT-Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey is eating her words lately, resulting in a bad case of Gascón, as it were, as in George Gascón, the San Francisco District Attorney and former LAPD copper, who announced his return to LA to run against Lacey to helm the largest local prosecutorial office in the United States.
POWER GAMES-We Californians are watching our state burn. Our houses are literally on fire, and yet we should not be surprised.
GELFAND’S WORLD--As CNN reports, “All four White House officials who are scheduled to give depositions on Monday during the House’s impeachment inquiry won’t show up, as a source with knowledge of the situation tells CNN that National Security Council lawyers Jon Eisenberg and Michael Ellis will not testify.”
DEEGAN ON LA-Too late to help the thousands of Los Angeles renters that have been thrown out of their apartments, and not soon enough for the developers that used the Act to leverage rent-controlled housing into market rate bonanzas, the Ellis Act is finally facing reform.
SPIKING INCOME INEQUALITY-Despite the upbeat words from America’s billionaire president about the “economic miracle” he has produced, economic inequality in the United States is on the rise.
ONE MAN’S OPINION-The hows and whys of judicial corruption are very complex. Although California state courts may be the most corrupt in the nation, the plague of corrupt judges has beset mankind throughout history.
SPORTS POLITICS- The NCAA’s board of governors finally decided to throw a bone to the world-class entertainers that fill the stadiums with fans and their coffers with cash.
DIGITAL WIZARDS MISS THE BOAT-From the VC “masters of the universe” on Sand Hill Road and Y Combinator to the social media FAANG monopolists to the adolescent male libertarian bros with their internet startups — all share the fundamentalist faith in electricity.
GUEST COMMENTARY--Here’s how to put an end to PG&E’s reign of error.
PLANNING WATCH-In the United States one of seven adults goes to bed hungry, and the plight of children is even worse; one in five do not get enough to eat! In Los Angeles, the Regional Food Bank reports that 2,000,000 Los Angeles County residents are food deprived.
EASTSIDER-Back in 2009, Fred Buenrostro and Alfred Villalobos were simply CalPERS insider crooks who got caught and sent to jail.
ALPERN AT LARGE--Happy Halloween, everybody! Want to hear a good joke? Here goes:
VIEW FROM HERE-If any theory of psychology explains the fierce devotion motivating Trump's base, it has to be social identity theory, an idea popularized by the social psychologist Henri Tajfel (1919-1982) in the 1970s.
@THE GUSS REPORT-A frantic LA City Council president Herb Wesson released a statement a few days ago in the wake of a front-page story in the LA Times on his latest self-dealing, corrupt move involving one of his sons, claiming that the story is a “hit piece” funded by those seeking to derail his shaky campaign to become the next LA County Supervisor from the 2nd District.
HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT--California State Sen. Scott Wiener continues to roll in campaign cash from Big Real Estate.
SOUTH OF THE 10--The site will be the home of the Los Angeles Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams plus Super Bowl LVI in 2022 and the College Football National Championship in 2023 and the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2028 Olympic Games.
Photo taken on June 18, 2026, L.A. City General Services’ crew reconstructs concrete bus pads, street gutters, and ADA- compliant corner curb ramps.
Nithya Raman, Bob Blumenfield
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