The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors this week voted unanimously to authorize a $250 million bond initiative that would enhance fire and seismic safety at the two major county museums. Sources confirmed that the initiative also could provide the lion’s share of funding for the controversial proposed $200 million Rem Koolhaas reconstruction of the […]
Month: July 2018
News From Up North
PARIS IS A CITY OF THE NORTH, LOCATED ALONG THE SAME 49TH PARALLEL that forms the U.S.-Canada border. That’s why, in mid-July, you still need your sunglasses at 9 p.m. and twilight waits until 10:30 to conquer the day. During their warm and blessed 10-hour summer afternoons, couples and families cluster in the parks and […]
Cooley Cops Out
It’s no longer up to Steve, our almost brand-new district attorney, who last week formally abandoned any further interest in the Rampart-area police-corruption cases. These are the very cases, you‘ll recall, whose neglect helped Steve Cooley beat incumbent Gil Garcetti in last year’s election. Too bad about that. Many, many voters expected much more.Cooley himself […]
The Battle for Tujunga
It‘s important to realize that the impossible diversity of L.A.’s 2nd Council District came about 15 years ago as a move aimed at dumping Joel Wachs. The suave, cosmopolitan Wachs was seldom popular with his council colleagues. And never less so than in 1986, when the death of Councilman Howard Finn during a planning hearing […]
L.A.’s Watchdog
Maybe it was simply that in the end, she had to fight her way into a job she‘d planned to walk into — unchallenged — in this year’s election. But Laura Chick came out swinging and won big. Now, Los Angeles‘ new controller has managed to land some hard punches in her first 100 days […]
Beyond Potholes
1. A new LAPD chief.2. A ban on memorializing public figures who have been convicted of crimes. This would eliminate former Supervisor Pete Schabarum’s name on a south-county park and Richard Alatorre’s memorial by the MTA Building.3. An LAPD civilian review board.4. A district attorney to be appointed by the local state appeal court — […]
Trouble in Paradise
Just last month, Mary Angle was a star in the rarefied firmament of Southern California natural-resource management.She had been a park ranger, a member of former Senator Alan Cranston’s staff and an executive for Save the Redwoods before taking on the $77,000-a-year job as director of the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and […]
Redistricting Revulsion
By this summer, if her colleagues adopt their favored redistricting plan, Ruth Galanter could end up representing some 246,000 San Fernando Valley residents during her last year in office. The new turf is about seven miles north of her present Westside district.Galanter, one of the three most senior members of the L.A. City Council, would […]
Hahn to Bernie: Drop Out
Two hours before Mayor Jim Hahn began his Tuesday news conference to state his opposition to Bernie Parks getting a second term as police chief, South Los Angeles activist Najee Ali was already reacting. He’d gone to the Los Angeles City Clerk’s Office to file papers to petition for the recall of Hahn.“No one has […]
Twisting Slowly
The debate is over on Bernie Parks. It‘s a foregone conclusion that the Los Angeles Police Commission will support the mayor’s wish that the police chief not be re-appointed for another term, and informal polling suggests the City Council will not override that decision.All of the talk about ”process“ and the independence of the mayor-appointed […]