LOS ANGELES

EXPLAINING THE DENSITY PROGRAM-In 2005 the California State Legislature passed SB 1818 which requires local governments to offer density bonuses for developers in exchange for their setting aside a percentage of the units they construct for very low, low or moderate-income housing.

GELFAND’S WORLD--The publication of The Big Ones by Dr. Lucy Jones provides a chance for Californians to consider where we are in terms of preparedness against a really big and violent act of nature such as a flood or an earthquake.

EDUCATION POLITICS--Since the 1990s, California’s leaders have promised to make preschool universal for every child.

FIRST PERSON-Might there be a glimmer of hope for the environment and our species’ long-term survival on this planet, now that MacDonald’s has finally acknowledged a plastic-in-the-environment crisis of epic proportions?

EIGHT MOST READ - PERSPECTIVE-In April of this year, the Los Angeles City Council declared an emergency shelter crisis, and Mayor Eric Garcetti followed up by announcing “A Bridge Home,” a new initiative intended to fast-track the construction of temporary homeless shelters.

CAL MATTERS--Ballots are still being counted, but last week’s election is already offering good news for Democrats hoping to take back the House of Representatives in November.

PERSPECTIVE--There once was a time in America when people of means weren’t keen on the idea of living right next to a rail station. Real estate developers, as a general matter, didn’t throw lots of capital into these communities, many of which quite literally defined the proverbial “other side of the tracks.” 

EDUCATION POLITICS-With more than half a billion dollars socked away for next school year, the Los Angeles Unified School District hardly seems just two years from financial ruin. It’s a scenario that is especially tough to swallow if you’re a low-wage worker seeking a raise or a teacher who wants smaller classes.

CORRUPTION WATCH-The Commission on Judicial Performance finds nothing amiss with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gregory Wilson Alarcon. Looking at his ratings from The Robing Room, we see why the Federal Court blames California for having an epidemic of misconduct. Alarcon may be bad, but he is not the worst. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--There is an undeniable affordable housing crisis in the state of California, and it is NOT merely supply and demand forces that have caused it. 

SPORTS POLITICS--It’s become almost a summer tradition in the California Capitol.

BELL VIEW--Remember when George W. Bush said that establishing democracy in Iraq would cause a domino effect in the Middle East – like pushing a giant re-set button?

EASTSIDER-It should come as no surprise that both political parties are total control freaks over their declining percentage of voters. I argue that real, small ‘d’ democracy works just fine, and the Dems should let it be. 

WHO’S PULLING THE STRINGS?-As founder and executive director of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition, Damien Goodmon spent years organizing his community in support of adding a Leimert Park stop along the planned Crenshaw-LAX light rail line in Los Angeles, scheduled to open in 2019.

WORKING TOGETHER WORKS-“I love when people that have been through hell walk out of the flames carrying buckets of water for those still consumed by the fire.” ~ Stephanie Sparkle 

GUEST WORDS--The University of Southern California in Los Angeles has been at the center of a sexual abuse scandal involving a health center gynecologist.

ALPERN-AT-LARGE-The goal of a north-south rail line between the San Fernando Valley and the Westside, and by extension to LAX, has been the "holy grail" of the countywide rail expansion for decades.

GELFAND’S WORLD--The political assassination that Donald Trump carried out this weekend wasn't against a person, but against a whole way of life. His attack on the G7 alliance has brought a particularly painful form of realization to a head. As David Leonhardt pointed out in a New York Times op ed and Josh Marshall pointed out a day or two earlier in his own blog, one thing is abundantly clear: 

CORRUPTION WATCH-Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion in the June 4, 2018, Masterpiece Cake shop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (The Gay Cake Case) represents the best of American jurisprudence.

BCK FILE--On Wednesday of last week, we learned fashion designer Kate Spade had hanged herself in her New York apartment. Just two days later, celebrity chef and travel documentarian Anthony Bourdain (photo above) had ended his life in a Strasbourg hotel. 

GUEST WORDS--In November, Californians will have a historic opportunity to vote for a ballot measure — the Affordable Housing Act — that would restore the rights of California cities to implement strong rent control laws.