LOS ANGELES

GELFAND’S WORLD--Interesting times indeed. I’d like to start with a modest editorial in support of all the crazy things that our state and local government are doing.

VIRUS STATUS (WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW) --Mayor Garcetti announced via Facebook Live on Sunday that he would be issuing an executive order to close Los Angeles entertainment venues, bars, movie theaters, nightclubs, and gyms through March 31.

DEEGAN ON LA-It seems so retro: the mix of an elected politico, booze, hookers, and envelopes of cash, but the Feds have jolted the city into the reality that dirty politicos are not an extinct species.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Despite my best hopes for our nation avoiding a panic, as evidenced at our grocery stores, it appears that as individuals Americans are panicking as much as Wall Street.  

@THE GUSS REPORT-Has Prince Eric, his Royal Garcettiness of LA, abandoned his Mayoral throne?

ONE MAN’S OPINION--Because the self-proclaimed “stable genius” is a “fucking moron,” it is easy to overlook the actual origin of the current crisis. 

VOICES-As many of us know, the conflict with Iran has been rapidly escalating.

WORLD WATCH-It is said where are two Jews, there are three opinions. And in the state of Israel, there is yet another version: where there are five Jews, there are nine political parties.

GELFAND’S WORLD--I won’t be the first to compare the President’s Wednesday night speech with the zombie apocalypse.

@TheGussReport – My original title for this column was going to be “LAPD Distances Itself from Indicted Mitch Englander…..But Not Entirely.”  But then I had an epiphany, though you’ll have to wait until the end of this column to find out what it is.  

GUEST WORDS-You often compare our economy to those of other countries, proud to say that California boasts the fifth largest in the world.

PLANNING WATCH-If you work as a city planner in Los Angeles, you quickly learn to roll with the punches, typically when visitors ask you, “What’s it like to work in an unplanned city?”

EASTSIDER-Back in late January, CityWatch colleague Jack Humphreville posted an article on the proposal for a DWP Inspector General, which you can find here.  

RANTZ & RAVEZ- “We can and must do something to address homelessness.” -- LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas

ALPERN AT LARGE--What IS it with Scott Wiener (and his enabling state senators and assembly members in Sacramento) who, after his latest attempt at making environmental scofflaws enabled to kill our state's health and quality of life, does it yet AGAIN?

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Although most people are too young to have heard these words when uttered by Oliver Hardy in a series of movies from 1929 to 1951, almost everyone has heard the meme.

OTHER WORDS-My granddaughter’s school has planned a trip to Thailand. 

PERSPECTIVE--Like the rest of the country, scholar and activist Dorian Warren woke up today to a new political reality: Joe Biden is suddenly the front-runner in the race to take on Donald Trump in November.

@TheGussReport – At LA City Hall, nobody wore their arrogance more defiantly than then-LA City Councilmember Mitch Englander who, after serving as chief-of-staff to his predecessor Greig Smith, represented the northwestern-most portion of the City of LA in the San Fernando Valley’s District 12 from 2011 thru 2018.

GELFAND’S WORLD--For the Democratic Party, winning this time is as simple as not losing -- again.

DEEGAN ON LA-While several challengers did not upset incumbent candidates in the March 3 primary election -- resulting in a continuation of the same politicos for most of the council district seats up for election --