LOS ANGELES

On October 25, 2017,  protestors from the Catholic Worker and the LA Community action Network entered Los Angeles City Hall carrying covered toilets protesting lack of hygiene among homeless who have an outbreak of hepatitis A. The protestors tried to deliver the toilets to Mayor Garcetti.

EDUCATION WATCH-Silicon Valley-based Rocketship is a charter school chain with a bevy of star backers that has reported sky-high student achievement and recently landed a $12.6 million grant from Betsy DeVos’ Department of Education. But beyond the hype is a galaxy of problems, including plummeting test scores, litigation and allegations of student mistreatment. 

@THE GUSS REPORT-2017 is the 70^th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and faced a tidal wave of hatred ranging from being spit upon to receiving death threats. His doing so, and his succeeding at his job, is not just an element of baseball history, but of American history. As such, Robinson’s 42 uniform number has been retired by every team in both MLB leagues. 

DEEGAN ON LA-A pioneer in so many ways, he was also an early NIMBY-type that railed against development. He was so angry, so distraught about the constructions that were happening outside his dining room window, the stain on his view, the assault on his senses that Frank Lloyd Wright felt he had no other option than blocking out the offending view by boarding up his window. This nugget of information was provided by docents who lead tours through the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio  in Oak Park, a leafy, Wright-residence-filled western suburb of Chicago. 

GUEST WORDS-The recent release of Ken Burns’ Vietnam documentary transported me back to the politics of my youth and the ugly hypocrisy of Lyndon Johnson, whose story contains a critical lesson for California today. 

POLITICS--LA planning commissioners, who wield tremendous power and influence, should obviously have a background in urban planning and land use, right? Not according to Mayor Eric Garcetti. He’s nominated a political consultant for the California Democratic Party to the Central Los Angeles Area Planning Commission.  (Photo above: Mayor Garcetti on right with State Senator Kevin de Leon.)

RANTZ AND RAVEZ-In previous columns, I’ve written about numerous critical issues facing the City of Los Angeles and the State of California, and the elected officials who are responsible for the governance of our City of the Angels and the Golden State of California. 

GUEST WORDS--Let’s play with a word and an idea. “Hegemony” means the dominance of one political group over all others. That, at this moment, is the Republican brand. President Donald J. Trump, a Republican Senate, a Republican House, and a conservative, if not Republican, court system that will judge the law and Constitution for years to come. Hegemony. (Photo above: Jennifer Yarnal searches for keepsakes in the rubble of her home just a few days ago in Santa Rosa, California. LA Times/Getty image.)

CALMATTERS--From the minute you stepped into the carpeted ballroom foyer that separated the California GOP’s semi-annual convention from the rest of the Anaheim Marriott, you could see that something in the Republican party had changed.

THE SERIES, UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL--Almost a day has gone by and I’m still processing last night’s heartbreaking World Series Game 2 Dodger loss, which I attended with my brother Richard, my niece Grace and my son Vin.

GUN SHOWS VS. GUN LAWS-Firearms-related deaths and injuries increased 70 percent in parts of California in the weeks after gun shows in neighboring Nevada, which has fewer regulations on such events, a University of California, Berkeley study released on Monday found. 

WHAT, CITY HALL WORRY?—At a site known simply as Jefferson, 36 oil wells are pumping closely – too closely, residents say — to occupied multi-unit apartment buildings at a drilling site on Jefferson Boulevard, just west of the University of Southern California.

EASTSIDER-Can you be both fiscally responsible and socially progressive? Two very different democratic candidates for governor visited the EAPD on October 24, and the small group of dedicated political activists who chose this meeting over the World Series Game 1 got a real treat. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--A judge ... a California judge ... a California AND an Obama-appointed judge ... just rejected a bid by 18 of our United States to revive subsidies to health plan for covering patients as part of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA.  Should we call that a defeat for health care?  Shall we call it a victory over federal government over reach?  Or both? 

GUEST COMMENTARY-The legislative season is over, and we finally have begun to see our California legislature act on the housing crisis in this state. The Governor signed 15 bills that were intended to smooth the way to more housing being built. 

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Like jackalopes and unicorns, NIMBY’s (Not in my backyard) are imaginary beings. Nevertheless, real estate “developers” still spread much ill will about them. They are also endlessly pilloried by City Hall lobbyists, campaign consultants, hired pens, mainstream journalists, Internet trolls, and neo-liberal academics – all of whom have joined the welcome wagon for real estate speculation. 

BELL VIEW-I started out life as a good kid, a nice guy. As my interest in the opposite sex increased, I began to notice that the bad boys got all the girls. So, I switched. I started smoking, drinking, hanging out with the bad kids, and acting like I didn’t care about anything. Deep down, I like to think I was still basically a nice guy – but I have my regrets. 

420 FILE-A new Gallup poll finds the highest level of public support for marijuana legalization since the organization first posed the question almost five decades ago. (Editor’s note: Recreational marijuana becomes legal in California next January 1.) 

ALPERN AT LARGE--No need to belabor this point, because we see it every day:  LA’s homeless  numbers are getting worse. So while I am sure that I will be excoriated as a hater, a monster, a racist, and an unfeeling demon (regardless of the fact that I treat and offer free health care to the homeless and poor every day), let's go back to a language we can all understand:  the ABC's. 

A as in Hepatitis A:  It's become a statewide emergency; While not untreatable, it can put people in the hospital and even be fatal.  Mother Nature doesn't give a rip about social justice causes--in fact, she's a real witch.  But when any state or nation allows homelessness to rise and run rampant, infectious disease will inevitably follow. 

B as in Behavior:  Throw more money and resources and love at lawless behavior, and you get more of it.  We passed Measure H and HHH after demonstrating years to decades of poor spending habits and lousy records of truly helping the homeless.  So what could go wrong? Shocker--we have more, not fewer, homeless amongst us. 

C as in Childishness:  Children scream to "help the poor" and "help the environment" and "end homelessness", which is how children SHOULD be thinking ... with their hearts.  But adults might be motivated with their hearts yet realize they must think with their heads.  Not all homeless are the same, and some will need help but most need a combination of help but also RULES to re-establish their place in society. 

D as in Denying the Citizenry their rights.  Allowing people to live in tents and on the streets not only leads to more disease and crime, but it also denies those in the majority (who are overtaxed, exhausted, and working multiple jobs) of their rights.  Ridiculous and out-of-touch judges may make decrees, and Sacramento may disempower the working majority, but cities can fight back and do what's right to really, really, REALLY reduce the homeless amongst us. 

E as in Eliminating Roadblocks to Affordable Housing: The truth will set you free.  Affordable housing almost always means SENIOR affordable housing, STUDENT affordable housing, and WORKFORCE affordable housing.  When we create policies that reward small, appropriately-sized and sustainable affordable housing, and not gobs and gobs of gentrification, we'll get more affordable housing. 

F as in Forever demolishing the middle class:  By raising utility, taxes and other costs, the City of Los Angeles keeps smashing the middle class and promoting developments that were meant only for the wealthy while claiming it was for the poor.  City Hall is run by developers and professional liars.  This may infuriate the wealthier of the middle class, but the lower middle class is being run out of town.  And that's just not fair nor economically smart. 

G as in Good Policy.  Policy that demands responsibilities and rights for all of us.  Policy that states that if you are homeless with ties to the community, you will have to abide by the rules or leave.  Policy that states that those without ties to the community do NOT have to live here.  Policy that prevents this City of the Angels from being the homeless magnet from hell. 

H as in the road to hell.  The road to hell is paved with good intentions, of course, but we need not continue down that road.  We can be smart as well as kind, and we can be focused on results as well as on good ideas that don't always turn out.  

We're doing this wrong, folks.  Some of it right, as with the veterans and the VA Medical Center ... but a lot of it is just wrong.  And looking at the proliferation of the homeless after we passed Measures H and HHH, even a child can figure that out.

(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D. is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud father and husband to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He is also a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He was co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chaired the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected]. He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.) 

-cw

SPECIAL TO CITYWATCH--Gloria Allred is an institution.  She didn't invent, but she did perfect, the art of lawyering in the court of public opinion.  She knew how and when to hold a press conference.  Allred knew the right cases to pick—sympathetic victims against usually famous and powerful men—Bill Cosby, Roman Polanski, and Rush Limbaugh, to name a few. (Graphic above l-r: Gloria Allred, Harvey Weinstein, Lisa Bloom) 

GUEST WORDS--California’s wine country fires delivered a vivid demonstration of the critical importance of governments being able to assemble armies of public safety workers when needed. Citizens expect their governments to provide public safety — but they also expect parks, animal shelters, transportation, road, sidewalk and tree maintenance, housing for the homeless, libraries and much more.