LOS ANGELES

CONNECTING CALIFORNIA--Los Angeles is a city of more than four million people. And in its next budget, it might—I repeat, might—launch an Office of Civic Engagement to help all residents better participate in their city government. (Representatives of EmpowerLA visited polling places last November to educate voters about their Neighborhood Councils. Courtesy of EmpowerLA.)

NEW GEOGRAPHY--The people who build our homes increasingly can no longer afford them. As the state elite and their academic cheering crew celebrate our progressive boom, even the most skilled, unionized construction workers, notes an upcoming study, cannot afford to live anywhere close to the state’s major job centers.

ALPERN AT LARGE--The controversies swirling around the Venice Blvd. Road Diet, the California High-Speed Rail, and the elimination of city/county/local planning and zoning isn't about me and isn't about thee. The question to be answered is whether "leadership" in the guise of tyranny is acceptable in a democratic society. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Of all the loathsome things that have been done to destroy the reputation, morale and credibility of Los Angeles Animal Services under General Manager Brenda Barnette, her latest attempt to turn LA's  shelters into "puppy mills" -- providing living products from late-term pregnant dogs for “rescuers” to sell in Councilman Paul Koretz' highly profitable "new business-model pet stores" -- is one of the most disturbing. 

DEEGAN ON LA-Zoning issues, not wildlife protection, is what many think about when hearing the name, “LA Department of City Planning.” But the department, as directed by Councilmember Paul Koretz (CD5), may be signaling that it’s time to make room in developers’ dreams for the wellbeing of the Big Cats, commonly called cougars or pumas -- the mountain lions that make their home in the Santa Monica Mountains. 

VOICES-The Neighborhood Council system was created to give the public a voice. The Los Angeles City Charter states that their purpose is, "To promote more citizen participation in government."

GELFAND’S WORLD--A local CBS television outlet defined fake news last Friday when it featured a Trump rant as if it were legitimate.

BCK FILE--The Los Angeles City Council has introduced a Fair Workweek measure that could mandate two-week advance schedule notice to hourly workers in a move that could impact around 70,000 retail workers in the city.

@THE GUSS REPORT-Kudos to LA’s homeless population, their civil rights attorneys and poverty rights advocates, as the City of LA last week settled their lawsuit, Carl Mitchell v. Los Angeles. 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-For millennia, Western Civilization has relied on Group Rights in which each person’s rights and liabilities rested on the group to which he or she belonged.

RANTZ & RAVEZ-When Jim Mc Donald lost his re-election to continue as Sheriff of Los Angeles County, a new Sheriff arrived to take over the reins of the Department: retired Sheriff Lieutenant Alex Villanueva (photo above, left) who won -- to the shock of many pundits. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--Arguably, the most hurtful accusation against those of us who've fought for affordable housing and transit-oriented development (and ditto for resolving the homeless issue and creating an environmentally-sustainable city and state) is that WE are the problem because WE are the ones who oppose affordable housing and transit-oriented development.

EDUCATION POLITICS--With new fast-tracked transparency rules for charter schools in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has fulfilled a January pledge to bring “long overdue” accountability measures to this growing sector of public schools.

NEW GEOGRAPHY--“If it turns out that there is a God … the worst that you can say about him is that basically he’s an underachiever.”—Woody Allen

If you go into a Reform or Conservative temple, it’s likely that you will notice two things: The congregation is becoming smaller and older. Across the United States and Europe, Jewish congregations are aging at a rapid rate, a phenomenon increasingly common for mainstream religions across the high-income world.

EASTSIDER-As democrats we all advocate for open, transparent, and inclusive elections -- for elected public officials. But what about internal elections, such as the recent County delegate election for AD51? 

UNCOVERING THE COVER-UP-It’s time for Democrats and Republicans alike to prepare for the possibility, no, the probability that Donald Trump won’t be the Republican nominee in 2020.

BCK FILE-Last weekend at a Costa Mesa house party, a group of Orange County high school students played beer pong. During the evening, some of the students arranged the red cups into a swastika. A dozen or so partygoers posed around the display, raising their arms in a sieg heil salute, an image some of the students shared on Snapchat and other social media sites. 

GUEST VIEWPOINT-UCLA is playing Jenga with students. And soon enough, it’ll all come crashing down.

CONNECTING CALIFORNIA--Whose job it is to revive local journalism in California?

FIRST PERSON-Why would any Los Angeles property taxpayer in their right mind vote on June 4 this year to pay an average increase of $450 on their property tax bill to subsidize a still purposefully mismanaged LAUSD that has remained on the verge of bankruptcy for years? 

ANIMAL WATCH-At the February 26, 2019 meeting of the Los Angeles Animal Services Commission, appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti, two of the three expenditures on reports for which General Manager Brenda Barnette was asking approval did not include an estimated cost or dollar limit. These omissions were brought to the attention of the Commission by a member of the public prior to consideration of the items.