LOS ANGELES

OTHERWORDS--For years, most of the U.S. has been changing death penalty laws in the direction of phasing it out, or at least applying it in a more humane way. California’s governor Newsom generated considerable controversy recently as he moved to use his own resources to put a halt to the death penalty.

ALPERN AT LARGE--The last two nights I witnessed a couple of Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) committee meetings that addressed development, traffic, and the environment. Discussions were had, the presenters were smart and sensitive to those doing the questioning, and the MVCC did what it does best: they were reasonable. 

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-By now most CityWatch readers are familiar with SB 50, California State Senator Scott Wiener’s reboot of last year’s SB 827, a bill that died in committee. 

LEANING LEFT— As long as the GOP can fool some of the people all of the time, they don't give a rat's ass about the rest of us.

EASTSIDER-Back in May of last year I wrote a column in CityWatch on the secret, underhanded hiring of Austin Beutner in violation of the Brown Act. Now we find out that, as Jackie Lacey runs for re-election for District Attorney, it was all a misunderstanding and there was no problem. 

NEW GEOGRAPHY--Californians need to give up on their dream of a “ranch-house lifestyle” and an “ample backyard” and the state should become “more like New York City,” writes LA Times columnist George Skelton (reprinted in the Mercury-News and East Bay Times in case you run into the LA Times paywall). After reading his article, the Antiplanner has just one question: Why?

PERSPECTIVE-Many in the American Jewish community are worried about a rise in anti-Semitism and have recently focused their concern on the words of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar. That focus is misplaced. The real and actual threat comes from white extremists. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Councilman Paul Koretz declared on September 18, 2018," We did it! Today my City Council colleagues voted unanimously to ban the sale and manufacture of fur in the City of LA as of 2020!"

ONE MAN’S OPINION-How do mental illness, vulturism and politicos interact with each other? All three are vast subject areas meriting research, books to be written, and extensive public discussion, but one initial step is to recognize their existence. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--People need a place to live--I've still not forgotten my earlier days in medical school, and as a resident, and certainly I care deeply about my nurses and my patients. Where are they going to live? Hence my decades-long efforts to encourage affordable and innovative ways for people to live, work, and enjoy a quality of life.

GUEST WORDS--Many people thought Cesar Chavez was crazy to think he could build a union among migrant farmworkers. Since the early 1900s, unions had been trying and failing to organize California’s unskilled agricultural workers. Whether the workers were Anglos, Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, or Mexican Americans, these efforts met the same fate. 

POLITICS--On Monday, April 1^st, 2019, the City Council Budget Committee will meet to discuss Council File 19-0145. Agenda Item 9 states: 

CLIMATE POLITICS-Global warming is a fact of life that haunts society with consequences that hit hard, and exponentially, especially where nobody lives. It’s happening hyper fast and is downright scary as the major ecosystems of the planet turn upside down in a nasty fashion. 

BCK FILE--Immigration and fear of “the other” have been hallmarks of Trump’s 2016 campaign and presidency. His political brand is deeply rooted in fear and intolerance. He has referred to Mexican immigrants as “rapists, criminals, and drug dealers,” to African countries with a terribly pejorative term. One of his first acts as president was to sign an executive order to ban Muslim travelers from the U.S.

@THE GUSS REPORT-Did the three most powerful politicians in the City of Los Angeles, namely Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Council president Herb Wesson and City Attorney Mike Feuer, criminally conspire to protect Garcetti by closely scrutinizing potential misconduct in some civil lawsuits against the city, while ignoring others? 

GELFAND’S WORLD--Drivers on the 110 freeway have recently been accosted with a digital billboard that flashes everything from the latest movie posters to attorney ads.

DEEGAN ON LA-The convergence of statistics and baseball dating back even to Branch Rickey’s time nearly a century ago has, in recent years, been exemplified by the Oakland A’s former general manager Billy Beane, who started a revolution in “America’s favorite sport” with an analytical system that became known as “Moneyball.” 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-The FBI’s been nosing around LA for some time. Gee whiz, corruption in Los Angeles? Talk about Johnny-Come-Lately. Los Angeles has literally been dying due to the billions of dollars in developer corruption and the FBI only now is asking questions?

DANCING WITH DEVELOPERS-From emails obtained by Circling the News, it appears that Councilman Mike Bonin and his office took an active part in ensuring that the proposed eldercare facility on Palisades Drive received City approval. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--Looks like we got no Justice, so there will be no Peace. 

EASTSIDER-The Department of Neighborhood Empowerment’s (DONE) handling of the Neighborhood Councils recently reminds me of what happens when the first stage of a space rocket fails to ignite. They are so gloriously incompetent that the whole shebang is going BOOM even as DONE marches forward toward the 2019 Neighborhood Council Elections.