LOS ANGELES

RANTZ & RAVEZ-The battle to combat the increasing homeless population in Los Angeles and surrounding cities continues to draw the attention and anger of residents, media and politicians.

EDUCATION POLITICS--The weight of her backpack is what comes to mind when Andrea Morín thinks about crossing the United States–Mexico border between Tijuana and San Diego every weekday to attend San Diego State University.

YOU HAVE TO STAND FOR SOMETHING---Every time I drive from my home to the airport, I pass the ruins of a concentration camp. I live in the Twin Cities, in Minnesota, where the Minneapolis−Saint Paul International Airport sits next to Fort Snelling.

GENTRIFICATION AND THE REAL ESTATE STATE--Samuel Stein, who has no relationship of me, has written an amazing book Capital City:  Gentrification and the Real Estate State that explains why housing in U.S. cities is becoming too expensive for millions of people. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--For those Angelenos who are anguished, concerned, or otherwise sympathetic towards the plight of the Third World (think of Venezuela, South Sudan, or Bangladesh), we now have a wonderful opportunity to get over our collective liberal guilt and witness our own little slice of the Third World!  

EASTSIDER-Like the little boy putting his finger in the dike to hold back the ocean, it looks like CD 13 has come up with another project to spend HHH money with years till completion, bags of money involved, and little effect on homelessness. 

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Few Angelenos know that Los Angeles has a detailed General (Comprehensive) Plan, including the city’s on-and-off 50-year-old break up with comprehensive planning.

@THE GUSS REPORT-Once again, the LA Times doesn’t give its readers the whole story.

CLIMATE POLITICS--The East Siberian Arctic Shelf (“ESAS”) is the epicenter of a methane-rich zone that could turn the world upside down. 

OTHER WORDS-The satirical website McSweeney’s recently published a piece called “My Coming Out Story, Sponsored by Bank of America.”  

GUEST WORDS--There’s little that LA’s politicians are as good at as shoveling millions of tax dollars into projects with little or no value for the residents of this city (save for those employed as lobbyists). For example, this past August, the Los Angeles City Council pledged to fork over $600 million to build and run a streetcar on a four-mile loop in downtown Los Angeles -- a route already covered by the city’s DASH buses.  

GUEST WORDS--Another day, another camp. The latest vagrant camp has emerged on Inglewood Blvd. under the 90 freeway, by the very upscale Sunkist Park.

NEW GEOGRAPHY--The recent California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco exposed the divide between the state’s progressive and working-class voters.

COUNTING THE HOMELESS--At the June meeting of the Los Angeles Regional Homelessness Advisory Council (RHAC), the Los Angeles Homeless Services authority (LAHSA) presented the 2019 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count.

GELFAND’S WORLD--The Hollywood Fringe is once again in full swing. The following brief reviews (and one little comment on our national politics) are intended to introduce you to some possibilities.

TRANSIT TALK-As I have asked before, “Who is in charge of bus stops?” I ask this because as a regular bus rider in Los Angeles since 1992 I have experienced too many instances of bus stops being closed without advance notice, throwing my transit life into chaos and stress. 

THE BADGE AS A TARGET-"Blue Lives in Jepopardy - When the Badge Becomes the Target," recently released by co-authors Former LA District Attorney Steve Cooley and Los Angeles County career-prosecutor and office historian Robert (Bob) Schirn, is the second in a trilogy of books examining actual line-of-duty events that have ended the lives of law enforcement officers in Los Angeles County.

CALIFORNIA POLITICS-A “cut and gut” technically may be legal but it is not moral or good governance.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Alex Datig is the person behind the petition to recall our ‘beloved’ Mayor Eric Garcetti.

@THE GUSS REPORT-The saying “a fish rots from the head” certainly applies to LA on Mayor Eric Garcetti’s watch.

SPORTS POLITICS--On the basketball court, Ed O'Bannon never made a huge name for himself.