LOS ANGELES

CAL MATTERS--Gun control, school spending, curbs on greenhouse gases: With Democrats holding more power at the Capitol than they’ve had since the 19th century, California’s legislative pipeline is full this year with big, blue-state ideas.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Last night, a group of ethnically, politically, and socioeconomically diverse individuals discussed briefly what to do with the segment of the northern side of the 405 freeway along Venice Blvd.

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Senate Bill 50, Scott Wiener's proposed “More Housing” bill, is barreling through the California State Senate in Sacramento.

EASTSIDER-Back in January, the Durazo/Carillo/DeLeon/Gomez State Democratic Party Establishment (under the title of Working Progressives) beat the actual non-establishment United Progressive Democrats big time.

CLIMATE POLITICS--Los Angeles just launched its very own Green New Deal, setting up the second-largest city in the country to have a carbon-neutral economy by 2050.

GUEST WORDS--Last week, I legally purchased a recreational drug powerful enough that it can cause blackouts, paralysis and even fatal brain damage.

SB 50 BATTLE--In an interview with NBC4’s Conan Nolan, former LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky spoke about the status of SB 50’s impact on Los Angeles. SB 50, proposed by Senator Scott Wiener, has passed out of the Senate Housing and Governance and Finance Committees thus far. SB 50 will allow increased development densities and loosen zoning restrictions not just near transit stops but extends to basically every significant bus line in the LA basin.

GELFAND’S WORLD--Defining priorities sometimes comes across as belaboring the obvious, but we are at a moment when focus becomes necessary. A substantial part of the civilized population is concentrated on defeating and replacing Donald Trump. It's legitimate to ask, "With what?" It's not as trivial as it sounds, because there are two distinct and serious questions.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Sen. Scott Wiener’s SB 50 shows that Corruptionism by any other name still sinks. Like its horrid predecessor, SB 1818, Affordable Housing, SB 50 has nothing to do with quality of life. Likewise, Los Angeles City Council density advocates care naught for quality of life.  

EVICTION … ANOTHER WORD FOR GOODBYE--Joe Ryes was homeless and living on the streets for five months in Los Angeles when he died of a heart attack on August 20, 2018. He was 56 years old. After he died Los Angeles City Council held a moment of silence in his honor.  

PRESERVE LA--Zev Yaroslavsky, L.A.’s most respected political figure of this generation, today condemned Senate Bill 50 — an unprecedented attempt by the state legislature to end single-family housing and transform California’s residential streets into tall multi-family rental towers.

NEW GEOGRAPHY--It’s far too early to predict which party will win next year’s election, but not too early to announce the national media as a clear loser in terms of national influence and prestige.

CLIMATE POLITICS--I have a saying: it attempts to describe a part of the human condition, that seemingly human beings always know how to screw things up royally, it goes like this: there is no problem too great or too small that can’t be made worse by the proper application of the human mind.

AS WE ALL WATCHED--I read recently that America was added to the list of countries most dangerous in the world for journalists.

INCOME INEQUALITY-Editor’s note: This piece originally ran in April 2018. It’s been adapted for re-publication in April 2019. 

REMEMBERING THE MISSION-UCLA is an institution with many moving parts. Something that goes under the radar, though: its side business ventures that don’t directly relate to its educational mission. In this series, staff columnist Mariah Furtek looks at how the blue-and-gold laden university’s often questionable cash grabs affect the campus and local community.

@THE GUSS REPORT-The University of Southern California (USC) is struggling with how to present itself in these early innings of the college admissions scandal that grabbed so many recent national news headlines. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--Welcome to hell, everybody!

A young man who hated Jews, and who hated President Trump's pro-Jewish/Israel efforts, and who was likely inspired by the recent slaughter of Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, just shot up a Poway synagogue on the last day of Passover. One dead, others wounded, and everyone in the area, if not the country, is understandably shook up.

BCK FILE--Saturday, congregants in Poway, California’s Congregation Chabad, north of San Diego, gathered to celebrate the last day of Passover, the Jewish Festival of Freedom.

POLITICS-Those who are “City Watchers” will understand two key issues – the importance of our upcoming elections and the need for candidates in all City races to be educated on a number of issues. 

RANTZ & RAVEZ- As the unreliable Los Angeles Homeless Count numbers are currently being tabulated from the last Homeless Count and scheduled to be released to the public at a later date, millions of dollars for homeless programs are piling up from voter approved tax measures along with dollars from Sacramento.