LOS ANGELES

GELFAND’S WORLD--With all due respect to the learned statisticians and pollsters, the simple question of who finished the debate ahead on points – who educated the voters more on issues of federal reserve policy or steel tariffs -- isn’t very important.

PLANNING WATCH-Robert Reich is a distinguished UC Berkeley professor of public policy, a former Secretary of Labor, and a frequent ed-op writer.

THE CITY-It can honestly be stated that the Los Angeles Police Department is top-heavy with Command staff and that many of them are not qualified to hold those positions. 

420 FILE--I have a vested interest for the Los ANGELES Department Cannabis Regulation ( LA DCR) ‘social equity’ licensing process to work and ACTUALLY licensing cannabis operators for retail storefronts. 

TONY CASTRO’S AMERICA-I stopped watching the Presidential debate Tuesday night after the first few minutes when it became apparent that Donald Trump had maintained enough self-control to not pull out his White House machete,

EASTSIDER-Seems to me that much of the back and forth over Amy Coney Barrett‘s nomination to become a U.S. Supreme Court Judge is misplaced. Let’s see what the Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell process tells us about the players and the Court. 

REVENGER-IN-CHIEF-During its planning process for Point Reyes National Seashore, the National Park Service received overwhelming public input opposing commercial ranching on and supporting the recovery of the rare tule elk. (photo above)

RANTZ & RAVEZ-Many of the elected officials at Los Angeles City Hall and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors have lost sight of their responsibility to the voters who have elected them to office.

LEANING RIGHT-We live in a pandemic world that is vastly, ever-more-complicated (beyond words, really) by competing perspectives of the right approach to getting through this health/economic crisis, and anyone who tries to address it either "has to say the right things" or ignores the obvious, two-faced reality of it all:

OTHER WORDS--Today I looked at a graph of income inequality over time in America. This was not new information to me, and yet it was still shocking.

CLIMATE POLITICS-Global warming is ravaging forests throughout the world. 

THE VIEW FROM HERE-“Sure, I'm willing to do that...Proud Boys, stand back and stand by! But I'll tell you what...somebody's got to do something about Antifa and the left." President Trump Sept 29, 2020 

GELFAND’S WORLD--Lily Tomlin once said, “No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up.”

GUEST COMMENTARY-There has been a lot of ink about José Huizar’s precipitous fall from being the all-powerful chair of the Los Angeles City Council Planning and Land Use Management Committee (PLUM) to being indicted on Federal racketeering charges. 

SPECIAL REPORT--Mob-like intimidation tactics deployed against our community leaders, using Black and Brown people's retirement dollars to cut backroom deals that harm Black and Brown communities, and bringing in corrupt Black developers and telling bold-faced lies in an attempt to divide the community:

@THE GUSS REPORT-Politicians should learn to embrace their mistakes and say hey, I’m human and made a mistake, can we let this one go?

ELECTION POLITICS-I moved to Koreatown more than twenty years ago. The organization I worked for opened its office here.

LEANING RIGHT--It's not unusual for a politician to divert and diminish glaring problems so that he/she can avoid being the obvious perpetrator or enabler of said problems.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING-Which would you say the City of LA needs more of right now, hotels or housing? 

HOUSING POLITICS-Two of three HHH Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) projects in Skid Row have estimated completion dates for the fall of this year, while the third project is specified for completion in the winter of 2021.

HOUSING POLITICS--In analyzing Proposition 21 earlier this year, California’s nonpartisan independent Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) noted that the anti-housing initiative could result in a decline in property values for homeowners and impact renters as well.