LA WATCHDOG--San Francisco based Carmel Partners, a multibillion dollar private equity firm, has “agreed to pay $1.2 million to resolve a federal criminal investigation that focused on the Company’s relationship with former Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar, who voted to approve its 35-story project” located at 520 Mateo Avenue in the low rise Arts District, just west of the railyards and the Los Angeles River, at the entrance to the iconic 4th Street Bridge.
PERSPECTIVE--President-elect Biden frequently calls for “healing the soul of our country.” Lincoln wrote of “binding up the nation’s wounds.”
GUEST COMMENTARY-Some people like attention. But remember the old adage: Fools’ names and fools’ faces often appear in public places.
PLANNING WATCH-Last week I explained why LA’s updated General Plan Housing Element (i.e., chapter) was a big bamboozle, a cavalier exercise to reverse engineer zone changes that further enrich real estate speculators already profiting from a housing boom.
CORONA POLITICS-While most companies claim they put customer service ahead of everything, those of us who spend hours trying to resolve issues with our banks, our health insurers, our telephone companies, know that's not true.
PERSPECTIVE--Maybe I hit my head on the tree limb harder than I thought, or did I get a glimpse of the Biden-McConnell Co-Presidency?
EASTSIDER-Scratch the politics. Let’s talk about real life and death.
A NEW WORLD-We did it. We took control of the Senate from Mitch McConnell.
THE DOCTOR IS IN! There's a lot of politics and bloviating right now, as there should be--but the downfall of Donald J. Trump and the rise of Joe Biden rested, and still does rest, on one thing ONLY:
OTHER WORDS-In the interest of stemming the QAnon conspiracy theories about Satanist pedophile rings in Hollywood, I’d like to share my experience with actual Satanists in Hollywood.
COUP POLITICS--The year 2020 will be remembered in history for a deadly pandemic and a deep economic crisis that touched almost every country on earth. Hopes for a brighter 2021 were one of the few things most people could agree on.
HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT-With the recent unveiling of the COVID-19 relief package, the Biden Administration made a simple, yet extraordinary statement: housing is a right.
GUEST WORDS--Americans often ask what a President’s “legacy” will be. Donald Trump revealed a great and terrible truth: who America “really” is.
IN DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY-On January 5, 2021, one day before Trump sparked his fascist Attack on the Capitol, the liberal New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg called for Americans “to defend democracy” by “investigating” Trump and wrote these words:
ANIMAL WATCH-A Los Angeles Animal Services memo on December 21, 2020, to the LA County Health Department confirms it is investigating a dog attack at 19602 Citrus Ridge Drive, Tarzana CA -- the home of Rapper Chris Brown -- which occurred on December 12.