LA’s Downtown is Flowering … Bikes Make a Difference

BIKE FRIENDLY--I’ve had to spend most of the last week and a half in downtown Los Angeles, hanging around the Central Library. When I was young this would have been a terribly boring location -- not the Library itself, as I’ve always been a bookworm, but the neighborhood. Now, though, I could hardly wait for breaks so I could get outside and explore Flower Street, Seventh Street, the Maguire Gardens at the west end of the library (once a parking lot), the Bunker Hill Steps, and, well, just about everything. 

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LA Development Debate Getting Intense: Opponent Says Neighborhood Integrity Initiative has Fatal Flaw (Video)

A CONVERSATION WITH MOTT SMITH--The Neighborhood Integrity Initiative, which is slated to appear on the November 2016 ballot, has provoked an intense debate on future development in Los Angeles. The Miracle Mile Residential Association, as part of its ongoing effort to inform its residents on the pros and cons of the initiative, has produced several videos on the topic for its MMRA Channel on YouTube. (Photo above: Mott Smith)

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Inspecting Remaining Aliso Canyon Gas Wells a Must

GUEST COMMENTARY-The State Legislature is undertaking emergency action to address the major natural gas leak in the Aliso Canyon fields – a leak that drove thousands of people from their homes last October in search of relief. Senate Bill 380 builds upon an emergency order issued by Governor Jerry Brown earlier this year. It is an urgency measure, which means the Governor can immediately sign it into law once it reaches his desk. 

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City Attorney Sipping that Special Kool-Aid: Won’t let Neighborhood Councils Give Grants to Schools

EASTSIDER-I don’t know if City Attorney Mike Feuer has simply lost control of the City Attorney’s Office, or if he’s been drinking some of the special kool-aid they’re handing out to his staff. But here’s a nutso note on their latest legal bombshell to Neighborhood Councils: 

“If any Board member of a Neighborhood Council has a child in school, the entire Board is not allowed to vote for a grant to any private, non-profit, or LAUSD School!” 

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Charter Schools: New Face of Segregation

EDUCATION POLITICS-Charter schools are, in fact, the new face of segregation, the enabling excuse for exclusivity and alienation. The Charter School movement glorifies the illusion of “choice” even while entitling homogeneity. 

This is borne out in the numbers and confessed every day via parent-to-parent euphemisms: “this school is a better ‘fit',” “‘safety’ is my top priority,” “my child only responds to a ‘nurturing environment',” “smaller class sizes are necessary for my child,” “I want my child immersed in a specialized program.”  

So much sorting and selecting sets up a double whammy for segregation. On one level families self-select according to like-mindedness and socioeconomic comfort level. At the same time the very process of school selection siphons highly involved families away from public district schools. 

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Center Questions Author Goldstein’s Motives in ‘Attack’ on the Wiesenthal Center

TALKBACK—(This is a response to Scott Goldstein’s CityWatch article: ‘Silence in the Face of Evil’.)  Every four years during presidential campaigns, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which never endorses candidates for any political office, receives numerous requests from members of the public to react to statements made by various politicians who they believe have crossed the line. 

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