LOS ANGELES

AT LENGTH-The stage is set and the battle lines are drawn in the fight over automation at the Port of Los Angeles’ Pier 400.

@THE GUSS REPORT-At just 5’2” tall, the smallest person on the Democrat debate stage over two nights last week was the only one with the courage and verbal wingspan, as it were, to punch former vice president Joe Biden’s 76-year old glass jaw, making the politically engaged portion of America sit up and take notice of California’s junior senator Kamala Harris. 

FIRST PERSON-Whether to use a public single-payer government run or a private for-profit insurance company, each system's ultimate effectiveness -- or lack of same -- comes down to the convergence of three factors: 

OLYMPICS POLITICS--Mayor Eric Garcetti recently boasted that the 2028 Olympic Games that will be held in Los Angeles should turn a profit of $1 billion. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--As I stated in my last CityWatch article, the heart-rending photo of a drowned father and daughter brings home the risks and calamity of those trying to flee for their lives and for their futures. 

The Los Angeles City Council is moving forward on Tuesday, July 3, all but unnoticed by Angelenos, with a formal vote on creating special taxing districts -- purportedly to fund infrastructure -- that could instead destroy the heavily Latino and working-class neighborhoods along the Los Angeles River. 

THE CITY--It’s Wednesday, and I am off to another City Hall meeting. “What’s special about today,” you might ask?

URBAN PERSPECTIVE--Two significant news reports within days of each other tossed a dubious glare back on L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey.

CALIFORNIA POLITICS--AB 1197 as introduced in February was described as a bill to establish a streamlined administrative and judicial review process for affordable housing projects under CEQA on a statewide basis.  

GELFAND’S WORLD--What was the point of Donald Trump's acting out at the G20 Summit over the weekend?

OTHERWORDS--As the Fourth of July rolls around, I think plenty of us are eager for barbecues, corn on the cob, watermelon, and fireworks, but our feelings about our country are somewhat more complicated.

DEEGAN ON LA-“Everything we’re doing now represents, in my view, Band-Aids on a hemorrhage... we need 5,000 beds now. We need another 5,000 beds next month, and another 5,000 the next month.

GUEST WORDS-Every investor craves the perpetual income source, the cash cow, the cornucopia of everlasting rents and fees handed over by payers who assure with their acquiescence or ignorance that the payments will stretch long into the future and way out over the horizon.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-In response to one of my articles about the Recall of Mayor Eric Garcetti, one reader wrote an extensive and thoughtful email. Below is an excerpt: 

BEACH REPORT CARD-California beach water quality sagged slightly in 2018-19, driven in large part by increased rainfall, according to the 29^th annual Beach Report Card that the environmental-advocacy nonprofit released today.

CLIMATE CHANGE POLITICS--James Lovelock (photo above)  theorized Gaia while working for NASA in the 1960s when he was hired to determine if there was “life on Mars.” 

GUEST WORDS--If Donald Trump actually follows through on his recently tweeted promise that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “will begin deporting the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States … as fast as they come in,” what will you do?

EASTSIDER-Donald Trump became President in part because he promised to end the endless wars in which the United States has become permanently embroiled.

NEW GEOGRAPHY--I’ll start by giving you all a chance to consider some basic questions that Mayor Eric Garcetti and his staff failed to address –-

ALPERN AT LARGE--Let's start on the right note: the horrible, heart wrenching photo of a drowned father and daughter fleeing from Central America is--as was the gut-rendering photo of a drowned boy fleeing from Syria--a depiction of unspeakable tragedy.

GELFAND’S WORLD--Jim Murray used to call it "getting the ribbon clerks out of the game." That's what happens in round one.