LOS ANGELES

LABOR WATCH - Nearly 50,000 academic workers at the University of California launched a historic strike on November 14 after contract negotiations with their employer failed.

PLANNING WATCH - While I wait for the phone to ring, I have several modest proposals to share with LA’s Mayor-elect, Karen Bass, and the reconstituted City Council.  

THE EASTSIDER - As this article was being prepped for posting, it was announced that Karen Bass won the Mayor’s race.  However, it still clear that Angelenos are seriously divided. 

VETERANS ADMIN LAWSUIT - Disabled, unhoused veterans are suing to force the West LA VA to provide permanent housing and remove noncompliant leases from the West LA VA campus.

HOUSE EVICTION - We are heartbroken and outraged by the news of a tenant in Hollywood who tragically took their own life in the face of losing their home when 2 sheriff officers, a building manager, and a locksmith showed up at their door to forcibly evict them.

REFORMS LA - Albert Einstein saw a crisis not as a time to panic and act irrationally, but as an opportunity for us to find the very best in ourselves and become inventive.

PLANNING WATCH - In six weeks Los Angeles will have a new Mayor, City Attorney, City Controller, and several City Council members. 

RantZ and RaveZ - As the months pass and we approach the end of 2022, the Los Angeles City crime picture continues to claim more victims as reflected by the October 29th LAPD crime statistics. 

LAUSD EDUCATION - While some kids will succeed despite the purposeful, generational, and unaccountable incompetence of LAUSD's generational monkey business as usual,

EDUCATION WATCH - In the Los Angeles Unified School District, some 50 public schools share their campuses with charter schools. It is often a contentious relationship.

DEEGAN ON LA—The future of LA politics has arrived ahead of schedule, even before the November 8 election. The Old Guard is being unceremoniously pushed aside by a New Wave of tidal proportions.

PLANNING WATCH - Judging by my email, the New York Times has many readers in LA, especially for columnist Ezra Klein’s take on homelessness and his doubts that either Karen Bass or Rick Caruso can handle this crisis. 

LA CITY GOVERNMENT - Listening to the recording of ex-councilmember Nury Martinez:

LA TRANSPO - To those of us who followed the recent adoption of the new City street furniture program “STAP” (Street and Transit Amenity Program), the emergence of yet another advertising program “IKE” (Interactive Kiosk Experience) comes as no surprise. 

THE VIEW FROM HERE - When something breaks, people look for the cause, believing that if they find out what caused the problem, then they know how to fix it.

ACCORDING TO LIZ - Last week Ron Galperin released another of his excellent reports, this time dropping the bombshell on the Mayor and City Council that they really, truly MUST improve emergency preparedness – people, plans and provisions – for the people of Los Angeles. 

PLANNING WATCH - The LA Times recently published a detailed series on the history of overcrowded housing in Los Angeles. 

THE VIEW FROM HERE - About eight percent (8%) of the city of Los Angeles is Black. About forty-eight percent (48%) is Hispanics. Mexicans are the largest subgroup of Hispanics with thirty-seven (37%) of the city.

LA CITY COUNCIL - The time has long since passed that Neighborhood Councils be given some real authority.

THE DOCTOR IS IN - I am a huge fan of parks, pools, waterways, museums, etc.

HOUSING CRISIS - By almost any measure, Los Angeles has one of the most serious housing crises of any major American city. Polls repeatedly show that the public ranks housing and homelessness as Los Angeles’ most serious problems.