LOS ANGELES

GUEST WORDS--Many people thought Cesar Chavez was crazy to think he could build a union among migrant farmworkers. Since the early 1900s, unions had been trying and failing to organize California’s unskilled agricultural workers. Whether the workers were Anglos, Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, or Mexican Americans, these efforts met the same fate. 

POLITICS--On Monday, April 1^st, 2019, the City Council Budget Committee will meet to discuss Council File 19-0145. Agenda Item 9 states: 

CLIMATE POLITICS-Global warming is a fact of life that haunts society with consequences that hit hard, and exponentially, especially where nobody lives. It’s happening hyper fast and is downright scary as the major ecosystems of the planet turn upside down in a nasty fashion. 

BCK FILE--Immigration and fear of “the other” have been hallmarks of Trump’s 2016 campaign and presidency. His political brand is deeply rooted in fear and intolerance. He has referred to Mexican immigrants as “rapists, criminals, and drug dealers,” to African countries with a terribly pejorative term. One of his first acts as president was to sign an executive order to ban Muslim travelers from the U.S.

@THE GUSS REPORT-Did the three most powerful politicians in the City of Los Angeles, namely Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Council president Herb Wesson and City Attorney Mike Feuer, criminally conspire to protect Garcetti by closely scrutinizing potential misconduct in some civil lawsuits against the city, while ignoring others? 

GELFAND’S WORLD--Drivers on the 110 freeway have recently been accosted with a digital billboard that flashes everything from the latest movie posters to attorney ads.

DEEGAN ON LA-The convergence of statistics and baseball dating back even to Branch Rickey’s time nearly a century ago has, in recent years, been exemplified by the Oakland A’s former general manager Billy Beane, who started a revolution in “America’s favorite sport” with an analytical system that became known as “Moneyball.” 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-The FBI’s been nosing around LA for some time. Gee whiz, corruption in Los Angeles? Talk about Johnny-Come-Lately. Los Angeles has literally been dying due to the billions of dollars in developer corruption and the FBI only now is asking questions?

DANCING WITH DEVELOPERS-From emails obtained by Circling the News, it appears that Councilman Mike Bonin and his office took an active part in ensuring that the proposed eldercare facility on Palisades Drive received City approval. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--Looks like we got no Justice, so there will be no Peace. 

EASTSIDER-The Department of Neighborhood Empowerment’s (DONE) handling of the Neighborhood Councils recently reminds me of what happens when the first stage of a space rocket fails to ignite. They are so gloriously incompetent that the whole shebang is going BOOM even as DONE marches forward toward the 2019 Neighborhood Council Elections. 

URBAN PERSPECTIVE-Actor Jussie Smollett may well have lied, committed mail fraud, paid off accomplices, and, of course, staged a fake racist, anti-gay attack on himself.

CAL MATTERS --Rudy Torres had no idea that he’s among the most influential Republicans in California.

THE COLOR OF DODGER BALL--On opening day of the 2019 season, March 28, one of the most multicultural fan bases in Major League Baseball will once again fill Chavez Ravine to cheer on their Dodgers.

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Last week the City Council’s Energy, Climate Change and Environmental Justice Committee (ECCEJ) moved forward in establishing a Los Angeles Climate Emergency Mobilization Department.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-People tell themselves that they base their decisions on facts and logic because it’s a myth that makes them feel good. For almost everyone, major life decisions are based on feelings. 

SURFER POLITICS--Women surfers scored a big win in California last year when an obscure government commission decided it would only lease a public beach to the Mavericks global surf competition if men and women were awarded the same amount of prize money.

ANIMAL WATCH-On Tuesday morning, March 19, a Clearlake, CA, police officer requested immediate assistance from Animal Care and Control to capture two loose aggressive Pit Bulls that had threatened a pedestrian and bitten another. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--As I wrote in my previous article, they want us GONE. "Us" of course, being those reading this who work hard, help others, and have given it our all in the hopes of an affordable, rules-abiding, sustainable California. 

IMPACT--This report takes a close look at the impact of California’s very high residential prices on the ability of construction workers — the very people who build our homes — to afford to live within the markets where they are work.

AT LENGTH-There seems to be a very good argument going around these days that says, “You can’t stop the advancement of new technology.” The history of civilization seems to bear this out.