LOS ANGELES

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Last week I explained why Los Angeles is so poorly planned, but there is no reason that Angelinos must be tied to the substandard city planning that emanates from City Hall. It is one thing to explain it, as I did in my previous column, but it quite another thing to put up with it. 

CA LEADING THE FREE WORLD, NOT US--Over the weekend, as the acting United States ambassador to China was resigning from his post following the Trump administration's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, California Governor Jerry Brown was over in the Chinese city of Chengdu, hanging out with a rotating cast of Chinese diplomats as part of a weeklong trip aimed at climate collaboration. He also made time to see the pandas at an eco-tourism park in Chengdu.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Asking others, and asking ourselves, to do the right thing is often much, MUCH harder to do in the real world, the adult world, the world that IS, compared to the world that we wished it would be. 

BELL VIEW--When I was a kid growing up in Chicago, Channel 7 News had a weatherman we used to call “Crazy John Coleman.” Compared to actual 21^st Century media craziness John Coleman doesn’t really stack up. But he was undeniably a goof. He’s made his way back into the news by denying that manmade climate change is real.  

PET POLITICS--Earlier this week, Phyllis Daugherty published an analysis of some of the failures of the 2012 Los Angeles ban on cat, dog, and rabbit sales. Her piece is worth reading in full as the Senate considers a misguided bill, Assembly Bill 485, to ban these pet sales statewide. As a fellow animal advocate who also opposed the 2012 ban, I join Ms. Daugherty in shining a spotlight on what the state Assembly risked by passing AB 485 last week. 

EDUCATION POLITICS--Three of the nation’s five most expensive schools are in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Each ranks among the lowest performing schools in California.

GUEST WORDS-What should not be lost in the wake of our article exposing the lies used to manipulate the elimination of mandatory sentences for gun crimes is the cavalier dismissal of victims of gun crime.    

RANTZ AND RAVEZ-I begin with a reply to Dr. Dana Sherman, a professor I have known for a number of years, who I respect for his work at a local university and the volunteer time he spends at a local boy’s home. The doctor and I share mutual interests in volunteering for charitable organizations and in bicycle riding. He replied to my last article on the city’s plan to spend $24 million on Vision Zero, a program to end all fatal collisions in Los Angeles by the year 2025. 

CAP & MAIN REPORT--Our grandchildren moved to San Clemente earlier this year. They’re a stone’s throw over the county line from San Diego County. More important, they can walk to their favorite surf spot – “Trestles.” Disturbingly, they now live about three miles from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. It no longer produces electricity, but a pile of radioactive waste sits there waiting to be moved somewhere.

CORRUPTION WATCH-What is the impact on the overall LA economy when Angelenos have to pay thousands extra per month for mortgages or rent? 

RESISTANCE WATCH--Inspired by the Pixar film “UP,” artist Anne Hars placed balloon bouquets at noon, June 4, on two apartment complexes slated for demolition by luxury housing developer Michael Cohanzad of The Wiseman Group. 

THE BUTCHER SHOP … NO BONES ABOUT IT--A small, influential group of celebrities and animal activists have reinvigorated their failed 2009 campaign to move Billy the elephant out of the LA Zoo. On April 19, Councilmember Paul Koretz introduced a motion to “immediately cancel any current or future elephant breeding activities” and to move Billy to a “sanctuary environment.” 

TRANSIT WATCH--Money is best spent well, and to its credit, LA Metro has overall earned the bragging rights to money well spent, and to not taking the taxpayers' money for granted.  But we've seen lots of interesting data, and we've not always had the best partners in Sacramento and Washington...so how do we best proceed? 

DEEGAN ON LA-"Who's on first?", the comedy routine made famous by Abbott and Costello, came to mind listening to representatives of official Los Angeles explaining how the city’s little understood housing “vacancy rate” is established. But comedy turns to tragedy as we look at the consequences brought on when this controversial, almost secret “rate” is implemented to allow developers to convert affordable rent-stabilized housing into condos.

THIS IS WHAT I KNOW-California’s State Senate and Assembly have been busy writing and voting on legislation that would stall Trump’s agenda – or at least, protect Californians from fallout. 

GELFAND’S WORLD--So there I was, sitting in the front row of a little theater on Santa Monica Blvd when a rolled-up pair of socks came flying through the air and hit me in the back of the head. I wasn't alone, since the actor on stage was himself getting bombarded with socks. Within a few minutes, the stage was covered with socks. Thus begins my account of this year's Hollywood Fringe festival. 

RESISTANCE WATCH--A bill that would create the first state-level single payer healthcare system in the United States passed the California Senate on Thursday, generating applause as a major step forward in creating a necessary proving ground for a national 'Medicare for All' program.

The state of California is working to reduce urban per capita water use by 20 percent by the end of 2020. One major concern to reaching this goal is the car washing industry.  

TRUMP WATCH--Donald Trump’s favorite local TV chain is about to get a lot bigger thanks to — wait for it — Donald Trump.

EDUCATION POLITICS-When New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg spent half a million dollars to kick Steve Zimmer off the LA School Board, Zimmer (photo above) picked up the phone. In a departure from his self-described “conflict averse” nature, he wanted to pitch his version of collaborative school reform to the “education mayor.” 

ANIMAL WATCH-After much media fanfare on October 24, 2012, regarding passage of a ban on pet shops selling "mill-bred" puppies, kittens and rabbits, Mayor Eric Garcetti, Councilman Paul Koretz and LA Animal Services' General Manager Brenda Barnette have been notably silent on its success.