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Tue, Apr

Sex and Race Collide Again In the Fairfax Case

URBAN PERSPECTIVE--How many times have we seen this act? A woman claims that a prominent African-American celebrity or politician has engaged in sexual misconduct with her. I mean the names of the men who have been hit with the charge can fill up a small telephone book. Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin E. Fairfax is just the latest in the long list of these men. 

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METRO’s Left Hand Knoweth not what its Right Hand Doeth

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Curbed LA reported this week that METRO’s transit ridership has continued to decline. METRO not only has long-term declining bus ridership, but also declining rail ridership. These trends are not good, but METRO’s assessment of this situation makes partial sense, even if it continues to ignore its own policies, while promoting LA City land use policies that further undermine ridership.  

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Extremism in Pursuit of Virtue is a Vice

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Perhaps the worst evil that flows from Group Rights is the belief that extremism in pursuit of ideological purity is laudable. It results in the burning of witches at the stake, expulsion of Jews from one European country after another, the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust and a gazillion individual evils like the crucifying of Matthew Shepard on a windy hill top in Wyoming, not to mention Trump’s cowardly attack upon Transgender individuals in his belief that they are weak and he can trample them into the dust. 

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Why Do Neighborhood Councils Matter?

DEEGAN ON LA-“If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu,” according to Senator Elizabeth Warren. This familiar political aphorism has relevance no matter what level of politics you exist in, from the local community level to a city, state or the national level. 

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Football in the Age of Trump

BCK FILE---It’s doesn’t come as much of a surprise that President Trump picked the Patriots to win Super Bowl LIII. This is much larger than football. California has been a target for the president’s animus since he took office. 

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FBI Notebook: Why Feds Should Zero-In on Herb Wesson

@THE GUSS REPORT-Did disgraced Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar tip his hand on one way that alleged land development corruption may work between himself, City Council president Herb Wesson and those seeking to buy their favor with campaign cash, trips to Las Vegas and sundry other favors? 

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Lobbying Contract with Sebastian Ridley-Thomas Isn’t Beutner’s First Dance with Scandal-Plagued Former Assemblyman

EDUCATION POLITICS--Instead of meeting with United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) in the days leading up to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) strike, Superintendent Austin Beutner and Board President Monica Garcia were in Sacramento in an effort to “drum up lawmaker opposition to the teachers strike.

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Good News! The ‘Holy Grail’ of LA’s Transit System IS Being Built!

ALPERN AT LARGE--Last night was a blast from the past--wonderful people like Darrell Clarke, Jody Litvak, and Cory Zelmer, some of the greatest "transit heroes" I've ever met, were at the kickoff of three meetings of what I've referred to as "the Holy Grail" of our transit system which is the north-south transit line from the San Fernando Valley to LAX...starting with the San Fernando Valley to the Expo Line/Westside. 

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Malibu Residents See Woolsey Fire Through Different Eyes

GELFAND’S WORLD--In my previous CityWatch column, I discussed the lessons of the Woolsey Fire. For that analysis, I used the reports of the City Manager of Malibu, the former mayor of Malibu, and an official from Bell Canyon, all of whom spoke at a meeting of the Neighborhood Council Emergency Preparedness Alliance.  The major lessons I took from those reports were the following: 

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Can Gavin Newsom Save CalPERS?

EASTSIDER-I like Gavin Newsom. Even though I initially supported John Chiang, it was pretty clear that Gavin was the best/most likely to succeed candidate in the pack. Lack of name recognition in Southern California aside.

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