LOS ANGELES

PLANNING WATCH - If you live, work in, or pass through Hollywood, Downtown LA, Koreatown, Warner Center, or other LA neighborhood with new, expensive, high-rise apartment buildings, you can witness eight trends: 

RantZ and RaveZ - How bad can Violent Street Crimes be in Hollywood and other neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles? 

LABOR VIEW - When the Los Angeles City Council approved a measure last month strengthening pay and security protections for hotel workers, it wasn’t merely a victory for union organizers and the thousands whom they represent.

PLANNING WATCH - If you are still a newspaper reader, you probably know that the Los Angeles Times has twice weighed in on L. A.’s primary election results, concluding that candidates from what they call the left, the far left, or progressives are changing politics in Los Angeles. 

THE EASTSIDER - Here’s the scenario. CalPERS General Council Matte Jacobs and his puppet CEO Marcie Frost have finally rid themselves of any Board members who would dare stand up and ask real questions of the Executive Committee.

DEEGAN ON LA — The far left Democratic progressives, hoping to increase their number of city council seat-holders, got one solid “yes” and two “maybes” in the recent primary election.

LA POLITICS - Money in politics. We need more of it… said no one, ever. 

THE EASTSIDER - There is a lot of talk about the homeless this election year, but is anyone really addressing their plight? You decide.

LA TRANSPO - I am no stranger to riding buses and trains in the Metro network, and other municipal bus agencies.

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.