LOS ANGELES

GUEST COLUMN - Los Angeles and San Francisco have been hammered by a brazen crime trend: the “smash-and-grab” robbery.

LA REDISTRICTING - Representatives of advocate groups and individuals pleaded for equity, justice and improved economic opportunities in conjunction with community assets, first with the Commission (LACCRC 2021), then the LA City Ad Hoc Redistricting Committee, and finally with the City Council. 

RantZ and RaveZ - We have seen TV news reports of groups of young thugs and robbers caravanning in business areas and swarming into high-end retail stores in various cities across California and other communities.

PLANNING WATCH - By now you could fill a small library with books and articles about the decline of the United States as a global empire. 

EDUCATION POLITICS - Just as the LAUSD was shutting down for the Thanksgiving holiday, Jose Cole-Gutierrez’s Charter School Division released its latest summary of the past-due amounts owed by charter schools for overallocation fees.

DEEGAN ON LA—You don’t need Bob Dylan to tell you which way the wind Is blowing.

THE DOCTOR IS IN - The Great Resignation is real, and for those of you who don't know about it, then it's long overdue that you learn about it, and long overdue that it's occurring.

THE EASTSIDER - Bear with me.  This one goes back to DONE’s incredible mishandling of the Neighborhood Council Elections in 2021.

THE VIEW FROM HERE - The Torah-Bible is important not because Moses wrote it or because it is divinely inspired.

THE DOCTOR IS IN - Let's reiterate COVID-19's latest, whether you, Friend Reader, believe these bullet points or not: 

RANDOM LENGTHS NEWS - Until recently, every time you turn around something seems to be in “crisis.”

HOUSING WATCH - In the ongoing and increasingly heated discussions about housing, urban planning, and zoning, I often return to Greta Thunberg’s seething indictment of our world’s decision-makers: “Here we are at the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can do is talk about money and fairytales of eternal economic growth.”

THE DOCTOR IS IN - These times challenge our souls, health, and pocketbooks...to nothing of our collective sanity.

LA LAW - On December 7^th, 2020, the newly elected Los Angeles County District Attorney, George Gascon, was sworn into office.

REDISTRICTING - The Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) Memorandum of Nov. 8, provides an update on the Nov. 5, L.A. City Ad Hoc Redistricting Committee (Ad Hoc Committee) approved redistricting draft map (Hybrid Map), considered by Council at its Nov 9 meeting.

LAPD SPYING - The company’s letter to the LA police chief comes after the Guardian revealed that the department partnered with a tech firm that enables undercover spying.

RantZ and RaveZ - Is the Los Angeles City Crime Picture as bad as reported in the local media?

PLANNING WATCH -  In recent weeks I have written two critical Planning Watch columns about LA’s 2021-2029 Housing Element. 

THE VIEW FROM HERE - People love to believe in a teleological view of history, i.e. that history is working towards some wonderful conclusion. 

EDUCATION WATCH - In the winter of 2019, two oddities swept Los Angeles: rain and a teachers’ strike.

RANDOM LENGTHS NEWS - South Beacon Street in San Pedro overlooking the Port of Los Angeles is certainly not anything like Skid Row, but you wouldn’t know it by the actions of Councilman Joe  Buscaino.