LOS ANGELES

BILLBOARD BAN UPDATE-First, a refresher on the two draft versions of the sign ordinance that are in the file (skip this paragraph if you are up to speed): The Planning Commission Version, known as B Plus, has a high takedown ratio, requiring the removal of 10 static signs in exchange for erection of one digital billboard.

VOICES-Most of the opposition I see to Measure EE seems to come from Republicans, including many Republicans who are authors of articles against the measure. I am a Democrat. And I’m writing to explain why I believe that Democrats should be voting against Measure EE on June 4. 

CLIMATE POLITICS--I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this way, but here goes: I can’t deal with climate change. I can’t read about it, I can’t watch documentaries on it, and I can’t think about it. I feel too powerless, and it hurts too much. 

GUEST COMMENTARY--They say home is where the heart is.

But politicians’ pretty words won’t address homelessness in Los Angeles.

TALKBACK--Unfortunately, this op-ed published on CityWatchLA.com is riddled with false claims about SB 330 by state Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley. (Senator Skinner: Photo above.)

ALPERN AT LARGE--Perhaps this article should be entitled "Where's the Beef When It Comes to Ethics?" but perhaps I'm dating myself. Not everyone, particularly those born or come to adulthood after the turn of the century, would remember the "Where's the Beef?" commercials or reference.

MIRACLE MILE MESS-While all eyes were on Peter Zumthor’s controversial design for a new museum spanning Wilshire Boulevard, little attention has been given to LACMA’s plan to construct a five-story parking facility (rendering above) on the residential block of South Ogden Drive to replace their existing surface parking lot on the southeast corner of Wilshire and Spaulding. 

CONNECTING CALIFORNIA--Elizabeth Warren, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, gets on her knees to pick spinach while discussing single-payer health care with farmworkers in the Salinas Valley. Beto O’Rourke, in a wetsuit with his campaign logo, tries to stand on a surfboard in the waves off La Jolla, but falls face first into the water.

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Once upon a time, in world far, far away, Los Angeles called itself the city of the future. In 1985 Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley assembled a blue-ribbon panel drawn from the city’s elites to chart the future of Los Angeles.

EASTSIDER-Lots of folks have written about DONE GM, Grayce Liu, leaving for a posh City job in the Personnel Department, but she isn’t gone yet. And so far, neither she nor the rest of the City bureaucracy has stopped interfering with the NC system. Consider this: 

BCK FILE--Six months ago, FBI agents raided the third story suite of Councilman Jose Huizar.

ENVIRONMENT POLITICS-The above map is from the Federal EPA’s Radiological Study Report.

ONE MAN’S OPINION--Since the 2020 election is a year and one-half away, the tea leaves are barely in the cup and reading them is quite premature. 

 NEW GEOGRAPHY-A metropolitan economy, if it is working well, is constantly transforming many poor people into middle-class people, many illiterates into skilled people, many greenhorns into competent citizens. . . . Cities don’t lure the middle class. They create it. -- Jane Jacobs 

CAL MATTERS-Mary Nichols, the powerful head of the California Air Resources Board, didn’t even need to explicitly threaten a ban on gas-powered cars last week to get the attention of carmakers. 

PLATKIN ON PLANNING:  Unlike Senator Scott Wiener’s and California YIMBY’s SB 50, which could not withstand a torrent of public opposition, other supply-side housing bills have managed to survive.  The worst are SB 330 and AB 1279, whose multiple shortcomings are discussed below. 

ALPERN ON MEMORIAL DAY--My son and I again woke up early Saturday morning to help our Boy Scout troop … for whom he and I are still loyal despite my son aging out at 18 years of age … plant flags in honor of our fallen troops at the West Los Angeles Memorial Cemetery. An ocean of flags came up within minutes at each and every grave of our fallen heroes. 

HUMAN RIGHTS--Carrie Severino leads the Judicial Crisis Network, a 501(c)(4) secret-money "social welfare" nonprofit that has spent millions of dollars promoting conservative judges and plays a key role in the campaign to ban legal abortion in the U.S.

@TheGussReport – For precisely 100 tedious but remarkably uncomfortable minutes last week, the LA City Council debated ways for its 15 members to legally accept bribes for selling their votes, but without all the hubbub and inconvenience of the FBI raiding their home and City Hall office, followed by indictment, prosecution, incarceration, appeal, parole, bankruptcy, divorce, custody battle, etc.

GELFAND’S WORLD--While our giant metropolis was anticipating a long weekend of barbecues and Indi racing, nineteen neighborhood council activists showed up to work on a plan to educate our residents about saving their own lives (and health) during a natural disaster.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Back in 2011, I wrote on CityWatch : "Hollywood’s decline correlates with the number of new CRA Projects. In brief, density causes deterioration.