The ideological battle lines in California’s just-ended budget fight were recently broken by a surprising foray out of right field. The largest local chamber of commerce in the state asked the Legislature to pass a temporary sales tax increase to help finance away the state’s monster revenue shortfall. Even though the Los Angeles Area Chamber […]
Category: LA Times
‘Reform’ Imperils a Force for Clean Air * Schwarzenegger’s plan could kill a board responsible for giant strides.
The worn 1981 coupe in my driveway emits more pollution — in the form of oil drips, vapors and gas fumes — while parked under its tarp than a new Honda Accord going 70 mph. OK, only under certain, limited conditions. But there’s no denying the astonishing technological advances in less than a generation that […]
County Should Look for a Merger, Not a Miracle
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors seems unable to decide how to blunt the disaster facing its Department of Health Services. As one union representative recently put it, “There seems to be no operating plan for the future between total disaster and business as usual.” Here’s what’s at stake. In November, the county’s health […]
Is L.A. Charter Reform Headed for a Crash Landing?
Is this the beginning of the endgame or the beginning of the end for Los Angeles’ 20th-century fling with charter reform? As the days grow shorter, so does the time left to conclude the reinvention of city government. But recent events have revealed more discord than concord in the primary workplace where the new charter […]
Help Renters Be Buyers
LOS ANGELES faces an enormous rental housing crisis. Condominium conversions are taking thousands of apartment units off the market, which is driving up rents even as the number of people who can only afford to rent increases. About 12,000 rent-controlled apartments have been converted into condos or demolished in the last five years — 8,000 […]
L.A.’s vanishing vacancies
Last week’s City Council vote to double and possibly triple relocation fees that condominium developers must pay tenants before evicting them is not a real solution to Los Angeles’ condo-convers- ion crisis. The condo still gets built, and the unit is off the rental housing market in a city where 60% of the residents rent. […]
Another California Trend: Gun Ownership Isn’t Chic
It’s scarcely a decade since some Angelenos met for dates on pistol ranges. But today, even some conservative Republicans are coming around to the idea that firearms are not fashionable. For example, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a presidential contender, has said that he would consider a ban on assault guns. Texas Gov. George W. Bush, […]