In the News
The California Initiative Process is Here to Stay … The People will See to That
For starters, he would count Proposition 11, the citizens redistricting measure from 2008, as a success. Legislative leaders publicly flirted with the idea of putting this constitutional amendment before voters, but never seriously cons…
DWP has More Immediate LA Issues to Fix before State’s Climate Concerns
GUEST COMMENTARY--Good intentions are great until they lead to unfavorable outcomes. Unfortunately, California’s state legislature’s good i…
California Reaches Deal On $15 Minimum Wage … Avoids a Ballot Box Battle
WORKERS TAKE A BREATH--Hoping to avoid a costly ballot fight, California lawmakers and labor unions on Saturday reportedly reached an agree…
Help Needed Now! Tiny House Project Could be a Stop Gap for LA’s Homeless
GUEST WORDS--With some of the richest celebrities in the world — and thousands of people on the streets — Los Angeles is the definition of…
Throwing Some Heat into LA’s Development Debate
DEEGAN ON LA-Have you ever heard of an “urban heat island?” Do you know how it affects our environment? Do you know how developers can use…
Residents Stage a Coup … Want to Topple Crazy Bel Air Neighborhood Association Leaders
NEIGHBORHOODS LA--Oh no, Los Angeles's most entertaining homeowners association seems like it might be getting its shit together. But at le…
Biz Response to California’s Minimum Wage Deal: What about Us?
FOX ON POLITICS--Labor unions, legislative leaders and the governor came together on a minimum wage deal to presumably keep a minimum wage…
LA’s Biggest R-2 Hurdle: Common Decency
TRANSIT POLITICS--Having just returned from Charleston, Savannah, and Atlanta for a weeklong family vacation, I can assure you that cities…
UTLA, LAUSD … Hard to Tell Them Apart
EDUCATION POLITICS-Every week for the last five years I have been contacted by what seems to be a never ending parade of targeted senior te…
Gotta Sweat the Little Stuff: Valley Councilwoman in Hot Water Over $5 and $10 Donations
THIS IS WHAT I KNOW--A Los Angeles neighborhood grassroots matching funds program may have opened the door to a second candidate landing in…
Retirement: A California Mirage?
RETIREMENT POLITICS--More than seven million people—over one-fifth of California’s population—work without a path to retirement. They have…
Without Accountability Business Bashing Will Continue as CA’s Most Popular Sport
BUSINESS WATCH--Recently, when my firm, Spectrum Location Solutions, completed a study that found about ten thousand companies left Califor…
Will the Los Angeles River Become a Playground for the Rich?
REVITALIZATION POLITICS--In the early 13th century, a wealthy merchant’s son knelt before a crucifix in a small, crumbling chapel near Assi…
The Target Store Shell Still Haunts the Corner of Sunset and Western … Here’s Why
INSIDER VIEW--After Target tried to construct a patently illegal store at the corner of Sunset and Western in Hollywood, the courts ordered…
The ‘Republic’ of Santa Monica Regulates Airbnb: Is LA Listening?
EASTSIDER-I know it must seem like I beat up on the City of Santa Monica. I have to admit, though, it’s just so easy to do. But hey, it’s o…
The Drone Crisis: LAX Must Act Now
GUEST WORDS--Another week, another drone scare at LAX. Last week, a drone came within 200 feet of a plane that was preparing to land. Air…
Terrorism and Crime: Not Going Away Anytime Soon
JUST THE FACTS-This week we witnessed another horrifying terrorist attack on innocent people, this time at the Brussels airport and at a su…
Reading, Writing, and Revolution
BICYCLE REVOLUTION--The bicycle is proving itself as an instrument of gentle revolution, helping to change not just how cities are used, bu…
Is Target on Sunset Targeting More Litigation?
VOICES--For almost two years the looming skeleton structure (photo above) that was expected to be an operating TARGET store by the Holiday…
Hollywood Hills ‘Hood Bonds Over Party House Debacle
NEIGHBORHOOD NIGHTMARES-From the Hills of Hollywood to the Malibu coast and even the Valley, pricey real estate has provided the backdrop f…
