LOS ANGELES

CALIFORNIA--There are not as many propositions on the June ballot as usual, but none has fewer supporters than Proposition 70, a constitutional amendment calling for a one-time, two-thirds vote in 2024 to determine how the billions of dollars generated by California’s cap-and-trade program will be spent.

D.C. DISPATCH-(Editor’s Note: Alan Lowenthal is United States Congressman for California’s 47^thDistrict … which is centered in Long Beach and extends through western Orange county. This interview with Mr. Lowenthal is the first of a two-part series.) 

GELFAND’S WORLD--Was this the week that signified the beginning of the decline of the American Century? 

PERSPECTIVE--The only thing as bad as Congress impulsively passing a tax reform bill, is conjuring a half-baked, equally impulsive countermeasure.

MOMENTS IN TIME-(Editor’s Note: This is the first of an ongoing series.) There are moments in time that are transformative. January 3, 2018 was one such moment.

CAL MATTERS-The political whirlwind raging around California’s “sanctuary” laws isn’t doing much damage to the laws themselves, according to many state legal experts. In fact, the brunt of any legal damage may be felt most by the small city that started the rebellion.

ALPERN AT LARGE-Much that is wrong in life cannot be helped. When others in power do stupid things, and promote stupid ideas, there is little that the rest of us can do but protest.  But we don't need to double down on stupid. 

WHY THIS MATTERS TO YOU-Eric Garcetti wants to be seen as the greenest Mayor in the nation.

DEEGAN ON LA-Housing anxiety does not discriminate -- from the homeless who have no permanent housing to tenants in rent-controlled apartments who are afraid of losing what they have, to single family residents of homes near transit lines who see zoning variances that could put their neighborhoods into play -- everyone except the upper-middle and upper classes can be hit by the same thought: “Where will I live tomorrow?”  

CORRUPTION WATCH-In January 2015, the federal courts warned Californians that our entire state judicial system was suffering from an “epidemic of misconduct.”

VOICES-- In its new budget, the Los Angeles City Council is throwing another $91 million of taxpayer dollars into road diets ignoring the fact that Venice Boulevard --  the plan’s “poster child” – has proven to be an Epic Fail during its year-long pilot test, according to data from the city’s own Department of Transportation.

@THE GUSS REPORT-The corporate chaos continues at the Los Angeles Timesand its parent company, Tronc, which may be resulting in poor supervision over transparency on stories it publishes. 

RANTZ & RAVEZ-I am sure like most voters you have felt duped in previous elections when you were promised one thing for agreeing to tax increases but ended up with something else that was hiding deep in the proposition.

ICE RAID, UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL—(Editor’s note: Numerous similar ICE raids are occurring regularly in our own SoCal backyard.) A woman in southern California repeatedly told Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents that her seven children were present and demanded to see their warrant as they forced their way—guns drawn and using heavy shields—into the family's home.

BELL VIEW-I have a conservative friend from my old neighborhood. Let’s call her Jane (not her real name). She lives in a comfortable suburb of Chicago, has a couple kids who graduated college, and voted for Donald Trump. Even though she herself graduated college, she voted the same as forty-four percent of college-educated white women. 

FIRST PERSON-Why is the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) limited by regulation as to how much residentially produced solar electricity it can buy from residential customers like you and me?

CAL BUZZ REPORT--Nothing that transpired in Tuesday’s “debate” among candidates for governor of California changed the one and only political question worth discussing about the June 5 preliminary vote: Will Antonio Villaraigosa finish second and set up a serious runoff contest, or will the fall campaign be the Gavin Newsom Coronation Tour?

EASTSIDER-When Ann Stausboll retired from CalPERS a couple of years ago, everyone knew there was going to be a sea change. What no one knew was how much worse the governance of the nation’s largest ($350 billion) public pension plan was going to get. 

RENTERS’ REDEMPTION-Real estate speculation and price-gouging are driving Californians to impossible commutes, overcrowded housing, and into the streets.

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Finally, some potentially good news. The Los Angeles City Council has taken a long over due baby step to create a new City department, whose mission will be adaptation to and mitigation of climate change.  

GUEST WORDS--Urban planning exists to serve people and communities, not the other way around. Unfortunately, urban planners these days, perhaps under the influence of academic arrogance as well as the lure of developer dollars, seem to forget this simple truism.