LOS ANGELES

THE VIEW FROM HERE - This rule of politics explains why most voters end up voting for the lesser of two evils.

PLANNING WATCH - The Planning Report’s 30 year old article by Richard Platkin on the Ventura/Cahuenga Boulevard Specific Plan is still mostly current and correct.   

GUEST COMMENTARY - For much of the 20th century, Los Angeles symbolized the future. Over the course of the century, the population grew 40-fold to nearly four million people.

LA TRANSPO - At first glance the Sidewalk and Transit Amenities Program (STAP) program would appear to be the answer to years-long neglect of the needs of LA’s transit riders. 

PLANNING WATCH - The new 2022 LA City and LA County homeless census is now available from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority  (LAHSA).  

THE VIEW FROM HERE - While Yoda did not say the above, he could have.  People confuse the fact that they get to vote with living in a democracy. 

RantZ and RaveZ - When is Enough Patience and Understanding by law abiding citizens Enough?

COLLEGE EDUCATION - Los Angeles has an image that everyone loves to relate to. The beaches of Malibu and Santa Monica and the lights of Hollywood make the place prestigious. Not forgetting the spectacular San Gabriel Mountains and the rich culture.

LA FOOD VENDOR - “I was shot right over there,” says Jose Luis Millán, pointing north toward Alameda Street.

GUEST COMMENTARY - Los Angeles' current homeless policies hurt everyone. The County's and the City's politicians' vision of harm reduction and their acceptance of criminal behavior have failed the people they are trying to help and the citizens of this City.

HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT - As part of its “Save Our SROs” advocacy campaign, Housing Is A Human Right has found more than 4,600 housing units in the Downtown Los Angeles area that are sitting vacant or are waiting to be built or have been converted from low-income housing to other uses.

VETERAN HOUSING - The sprawling 388-acre West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs (VA) Campus, deeded to veterans in 1888 as the “National Home for Disabled Soldiers,” contains 140 “Tiny Home” shelters.

PLANNING WATCH - The Sunday, September 4, 2022, Los Angeles Times had a top-of-the-fold front page article comparing the homeless proposals of the two LA mayoral candidates, Karen Bass and Rick Caruso. 

GUEST COMMENTARY - As one who understands elections from a first-hand perspective, I also understand the risk that is assumed when endorsing a candidate or cause.

PLANNING WATCH - Who has the time to keep track of the real estate scams that regularly wallow up at City Hall, always packaged with fanciful justifications that fall apart when scrutinized? 

LA POLITICS - Of all the Los Angeles City Councilmembers who voted to suspend CD 10 representative Mark Ridley-Thomas (MR-T), Councilmember Paul Koretz’s agenda is indeed, the most difficult to discern. 

CD 10 FILE- Los Angeles City council has not had a black woman serve as a member since Jan Perry and this was over a decade ago.

THE EASTSIDER - Back in the 90’s, I was living in a Loft at the Brewery in Lincoln Heights, and working downtown. 

PLANNING WATCH - We are surrounded by crime, such as the petty street crimes that the media relish, as well as other types of crime that rarely get prosecuted or generate media coverage.

GUEST COMMENTARY – What is happening? The City Council’s Public Works and Finance Committees are holding a joint meeting to consider approval of the contract and environmental clearances for the new STAP/Street Furniture program. 

LA POLITICS - Eunisses Hernandez’s toppling of Los Angeles City Councilmember Gil Cedillo came as part of a progressive temblor that shook Los Angeles politics in June.