NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts dodged criminal prosecution in 2013 when the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declared it wasn’t illegal for him to ask companies competing for a lucrative city trash contract to hire his unemployed brother. (Photo above: Inglewood Mayor Butts.) 

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--When Inglewood's city council approved a $100-million waste-collection contract in 2012, the job went not to the low bidder but to another company with higher fees — and a link to Mayor James Butts Jr. 

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS---This February and March, the City Clerk is holding workshops across the City to discuss and learn about Neighborhood Council elections.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--When I first moved to Pedro in 1973, there was a lying crook in the White House, massive demonstrations in the streets of America and an unpopular war in a distant land. The wisdom of pursuing that war and its most infamous alibi that “we had to destroy the village to save the town” was as arrogant and stupid then as it is now. Not much has changed except the players in this rather dark Shakespearean drama and the village this time is our own. Back to square one, it seems. The past is our future. 

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Making Los Angeles a more walkable city is one of my top priorities. That's why I'm thrilled to announce that we are about to dedicate several new pedestrian safety improvements throughout the 13th District! (Photo above: LA Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell pushing for a walkable city.) Here’s a recap of what to expect in the coming weeks:

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--The new owners wasted little time. Soon after completing their purchase of a dilapidated set of apartment buildings in South Los Angeles, they greeted their 70-some tenants with a message: Get out, and do it two weeks before Christmas.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--In reading the article about the Venice NC and the issues with DONE, I remind the public that the bigger issue is the cost to taxpayers when a department acts recklessly violating ordinances, commission policy and more.   

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS-In a city of smaller communities, it’s the Neighborhood Councils that connect the Mayor’s Office and the Council with the issues facing each neighborhood. The job of EmpowerLA and the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) is to support the Neighborhood Councils. But what happens when Empower LA drops the ball? 

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Television City, the large studio complex at the corner of Beverly and Fairfax, was the West Coast headquarters of the CBS network for more than five decades. Some of the most iconic television shows originated there, from “The Jack Benny Program” to “The Price Is Right.” The sight of its signature red awning is etched on the minds of many viewers of a certain age, as is the voice-over that began so many of the shows once filmed there: “From Television City in Hollywood.…”

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS—Check out the graphic at the top of this article. This is what we will be seeing at Olympic and Figueroa when the new hotel-residential-commercial project is built there, probably in 2022.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS—Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilmembers José Huizar, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, and Curren Price today officially opened the Skid Row Community ReFresh Spot, a personal care center that will provide new access to showers and toilet facilities for Angelenos experiencing homelessness.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Five current and former police officers of Asian descent filed a lawsuit last week against the San Gabriel police department in Los Angeles county, California, alleging that fellow officers openly disparaged people of Asian heritage. 

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Wells Fargo & Company has decided to evict a popular tree-lighting festival from the parking lot of one of its branches, a move coming at a time when the bank is working to rebuild its image in the aftermath of a scandal involving the opening of accounts for millions of customers without their permission.

EASTSIDER-After writing about the recent Skid Row election, and discovering that DONE’s grievance panel system was a fraud, I was surprised to discover another 2016 Election which is turning out to make Skid Row’s debacle look like child’s play! 

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--The Los Angeles City Council Public Works and Gang Reduction committee approved a motion earlier in November to hire homeless individuals to collect garbage. The motion, which was written by city councilmembers Bob Blumenfield and Joe Buscaino, also aims to address the excess garbage on public walkways and streets – one of the issues residents most frequently report to the city.  

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Community Relations Officer John King promoted the idea that Rancho San Pedro’s public housing residents and the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles are on a journey together. King spoke at an Oct. 26 meeting regarding the public housing’s redevelopment. 

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Working with our community partners, we took action this week to preserve two landmarks in the 13th Council District.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Affordable housing is vulnerable to new development in the highly sought Hollywood Hills west area. 

On Tuesday, October 18, the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council (HHWNC) unanimously opposed the proposed demolition of 1719 –1731 Whitely Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90028. The project has stirred up the community since March 2016 and has been debated numerous times at Neighborhood Council committee meetings.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Water service reliability has increased in the Mar Vista area and surrounding communities thanks to the rehabilitation of the Grand View Regulator Station by Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) crews. The 66 year-old Grand View Regulator Station is one of the first stations to be rehabilitated under LADWP’s five-year $2.4 billion Water Infrastructure Plan, which aims to also replace or upgrade mainline pipes, trunk lines, large valves, pump stations, water meters and in-city reservoirs and water tanks.

IMPEACHMENT EFFORT GROWS--West Valley Resistance is a grassroots community organization who spearheaded the passage of the impeachment resolution in the L.A. City Council, is standing up to defend the integrity of our American Democracy. This local group joins a nation-wide call for a Congressional Investigation. It is urgently necessary to determine whether sufficient grounds exist for the impeachment of Donald Trump. 

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--The city of Carson is considering its options regarding recent changes to statewide cannabis regulation: ban commercial cannabis in a city-designated “drug-free” since 2008, or take what could be considerable tax revenue.