LOS ANGELES

GUEST COMMENTARY - Historic preservation can get ugly.  In the constant push-and-pull between protecting the past and building the future, there are bound to be disagreements, and sometimes the arguments get heated. 

HOUSING CRISIS - Under the guise of housing, LA’s tiny home villages serve to contain and banish unhoused people.

GUEST COMMENTARY - ABAV. That’s the answer I get most when I ask, “Who’re you voting for for sheriff?”

PLANNING WATCH - The 30^th anniversary of L.A.’s historic 1992 uprising ushered in long overdue press coverage of this nearly forgotten event. 

HOUSING WATCH - A Los Angeles coalition that wants to increase the tax on the sale of mega-mansions and other high-value real estate to fund programs for the homeless says it has enough signatures to put the proposal on the ballot in November.

ESSAY ON LA IMMIGRANTS - Generations ago, in the parenthesis of years between Hitler’s 1933 rise to power and the end of World War II, a deluge of European artists and intellectuals came to the U.S., seeking refuge from the rising tide of fascism.

YESTERDAY LA - When Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley opened Dodger Stadium on April 10, 1962, his ticket price structure was simple, straightforward, and inexpensive:

HOUSING CRISIS - It's been said that everything starts in California.

DEEGAN ON LA—The right answer is “both”—but, first triage their mental health needs, and then tuck them into a warm bed. But, how? 

REVISITING LA UPRISING - Thirty years ago this week, four Los Angeles Police Department officers (Sgt. Stacey C. Koon, Officer Theodore J. Briseno, Officer Timothy E. Wind and Officer Laurence Powell) were acquitted of brutally beating a Black man by the name of Rodney King.

OP/ED - For years, Los Angeles “leaders” have debated crises in affordability, homelessness, crime, the pandemic, and more. And as with seemingly everything, they have accomplished nothing.

PLANNING WATCH - To the surprise of virtually no one, the homeless crisis in California is getting worse, despite – or more likely because of – the programs rolled out by elected officials and the policy wonks who work for them.  

DEEGAN ON LA—-Is there a leg up for several first-time candidates running for city council seats in the June 7 Primary Election? 

THE VIEW FROM HERE - June 7, 2022 may be the only election for Los Angeles Mayor.  Although it is called a primary, the two top vote getters do not necessary face each other in the November 2022 general election.

RantZ and RaveZ - The annual Baker to Las Vegas Law Enforcement relay race was held the first weekend in April. 

TENANTS RIGHTS - The promising new tool in the fight to preserve affordable housing: a coalition of tenant unions. 

UNION AGREEMENT - For two years as the pandemic consumed day-to-day life, supermarket workers literally risked their lives to keep shelves stocked and customers fed.

LA GOVERNMENT - Does the City of LA need to update its Municipal Lobbying Ordinance (MLO)?  The Ethics Commission thinks so, and they’re proposing a number of amendments to the LA Municipal Code.

DEEGAN ON LA - Alex Gruenenfelder Smith is a big-tent, practical, Progressive running for Mayor, staking out room on the left-leaning spectrum for thoughtful reforms; preaching progress through supportable change, not by radically retooling how the city is managed. 

THE VIEW FROM HERE - Whether one believes that the economy is capitalist or socialist, the government’s role should be the same – to protect the Price System. 

EDUCATION WATCH - Poverty has increased in LAUSD post-covid. And in two board districts the late Eli Broad’s plan to transfer half of LAUSD into “charter school seats” is nearly fulfilled.