LOS ANGELES

AT LENGTH-The sky was overcast on Saturday, Feb. 8 when I showed up at the foot of Kaiser Point at the intersection of 22nd and Miner streets for the street renaming ceremony in honor of labor icon Dave Arian.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-In the February 21, 2020 issue of Forward, which was established by Socialist Jews in 1897, Aiden Pink writes: 

HEALTH POLITICS-Lyndon Johnson had a saying about special interests trying to get his support to pass some blatantly self-serving legislation: “They can’t make chicken salad out of chicken (bleep)!”

PLANNING WATCH-In American elections politicians veer left during campaigns to catch the attention of the electorate, which is more progressive on the issues than the two major political parties.

VOTING FOR GREEN SOLUTIONS-In 2018, California committed to getting all its electricity from climate-friendly sources by 2045.

GUEST WORDS--Los Angeles County is premiering a voting system this month that officials think could become a model for the nation. 

EASTSIDER-When Charter Reform was passed in 2000 establishing the Neighborhood Council System, everything worked well for the first few years. Under a hands-off Mayor James Hahn. You can read about these heady days here.   

ALPERN AT LARGE--There are a few things that some of President Trump's most ardent opponents will concede that they agree with that Orange Man in the White House--not the least of which is that China is a problem.

SOUTH OF THE 10--Former Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Charlie Beck has come out of retirement, temporarily, to serve the city of Chicago as its Interim Police Superintendent.

SCIENCE POLITICS--Science and new information about the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) was what I expected to hear from our CAL EPA Secretary Jared Blumenfeld at this last Thursday’s Work Group meeting in Simi Valley.

MY TURN-In looking at the primary race on March 3 for the office of Los Angeles District Attorney between incumbent Jackie Lacey and her challengers George Gascon and Rachel Rossi, I find it astounding that none of them are willing to deal with the critically important underlying causes for the disproportionate targeting of minorities by the DA and the LAPD.

MAN’S OPINION ONE -In a nation founded on the basis that our Republic is the best form of government to secure the inalienable rights of every individual, Angelenos prefer feudalism.

PROGRESSIVE CAPITALISM-I went to see Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel-prize-winning economist, speak at USF last week. Lectures by economists don’t tend to fill up large rooms, but in this case, the place was packed, with a long line out the door and people bringing in extra chairs. 

CLIMATE POLITICS-This month Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro proposed a new bill promoting mining, expanded agriculture, and energy production on indigenous lands in the Amazon.

GELFAND’S WORLD--In a previous CityWatch column, I asked whether a city agency, in this case DONE -- the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment – could punish a neighborhood council based merely on an allegation.

ABSTRACT-We need housing that is affordable and accessible for all. But there is a significant difference between housing that working-class households can afford and what is called “Affordable Housing.”

CAL BUZZ-Two national news headlines defined the state of play in the first weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign: 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-In an article originally published in The Federalist on October 2, 2019, The Honorable Chuck DeVore notes that, according to a new poll from the Institute of Governmental Studies at U.C. Berkeley, a full 74 percent of the state’s very conservative voters say they’re looking into moving, and 84 percent of those cite California’s political culture as their rationale for leaving. 

OTHER WORDS-I recently spent three weeks at the border between El Paso, Texas and Juárez, Mexico. The experience strengthened my resolve, as a person of faith and Sister of Mercy, to share more about how the situation there concerns all of us in the United States. 

GUEST COMMENTARY---Modern problems require modern solutions.

@THE GUSS REPORT-In some other dimension, the late John Walsh, the eccentric, crusty and crotchety Dean of LA City Hall gadflies, is probably gesticulating wildly while proclaiming, “I told you so!”