LOS ANGELES

HOUSING TAX - Almost 80 years ago, in 1943, Los Angeles introduced the rest of the United States to the phenomenon of smog. At one point that year, the haze had visibility down a frightening three city blocks.

PLANNING WATCH - Real estate speculators have another reason to toast the heroic efforts of elected officials to pave the city’s private parcels with another layer of gold. 

RantZ & RaveZ - The final results from the June 7th Los Angeles Primary Municipal Election are in and the future of Los Angeles’ Political Leadership is in for some DRASTIC and RADICAL changes as we move to the November General Election. 

PLANNING WATCH - Los Angeles does not have a shrinking and mediocre urban forest by chance. 

THE EASTSIDER - Recently, I’ve made a number of train trips to and from Los Angeles and New Mexico.

DEEGAN ON LA—Bike chop shops operating in the public right of way have come under the glare of the same city hall politicos that targeted homeless encampments in the public right of way. 

GUEST COMMENTARY - As the sun went down June 7, Dr. Rocío Rivas refreshed her phone at her Election Night gathering in Highland Park.

PLANNING WATCH - If you wonder why LA’s housing crisis gets steadily worse, you need not look any further than the old adage: “Garbage in; garbage out.” 

RantZ and RaveZ - I would like to begin in Memory of the two El Monte Police Officers who were killed in the line of duty responding to a radio call last week.  

ACCORDING TO LIZ - Progressives went into meltdown mode in the wake of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s (above right) recall in San Francisco two weeks ago. 

DEEGAN ON LA—-A complete unknown, with no previous political experience and very little money, did almost as well as the politically established Kevin De Leon (CD14) in the mayoral race primary results.

PLANNING WATCH - Calls for more cops and mass incarceration are sure fire ways for candidates to obtain favorable press coverage and generous donations from wealthy donors. 

ACCORDING TO LIZ - It was 4:46 in the morning when the first shock shook many of the residents of Eagle Rock awake.

HOUSING WATCH - “More than 4,000 units of affordable housing and counting!” 

DEEGAN ON LA - A “practical progressive” can suddenly tilt the CD13 election runoff and should be feared by incumbent Mitch O’Farrell (CD13) more than he may be wary of his titular opponent Hugo Soto-Martinez. 

RantZ and RaveZ - The L.A. voters have set the tone for the November General Election.

PLANNING WATCH - The entry of highly successful shopping mall developer Rick Caruso into LA’s mayoral race, included spending over $30 million of his own money on campaign advertising, has generated detailed scrutiny of Mr. Caruso’s Grove Shopping Mall (photo above). 

DEEGAN ON LA—The sounds of kids having fun in school yards will be out of earshot of the homeless if the City Council and the LAUSD get a proposed 500-foot exclusionary zone prohibiting the homeless from settling near schools and day care centers.

THE VIEW FROM HERE - California’s Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans’ interim report was issued on Wednesday, June 1, 2022. It is worse than expected!

ACCORDING TO LIZ - At a time when the country is still reeling from a wave of mass shootings over the weekend, this article is about death on the streets of L.A. 

PLANNING WATCH - To answer this question, let’s look at some rare good news.