Hardly anyone ever notices that the fourth largest city in the nation’s most populous county is Torrance. This is probably because the larger cities — such as L.A. and Long Beach — are so much more interesting.So are many smaller ones. Even Torrance’s motto, “A balanced city — commercial, residential, industrial,” is sheer anhedonia. Torrance […]
Category: LA Weekly
Killer Bob
Who would have thought the confession — media-wise as the debut of a new luxury SUV — by former Senator Bob Kerrey that he was responsible for the massacre of at least 14 Vietnamese women and children would evoke so much sympathy?Well, there’s ol’ Killer Bob himself, for one. Whose grizzled mug appeared on the […]
Fathers and Sons
Gil Garcetti was hard put to make the right choice for his son, Eric. “Do you think this one would be quite right?” he asked a fellow customer at a Westside Trader Joe’s last Sunday. The other allowed that for $2.99 a bottle, that particular chardonnay wasn’t actually bad. “Then it will do for this […]
Antonio’s Line
It was probably as much Dick Riordan’s paternalism as his lingering aversion to City Attorney Jim Hahn that birthed the ultimate endorsement of the 2001 Los Angeles mayor’s race. Distant as they might be on pure ideology, and as contrastingly beguiling and unbeguiling personally, Antonio Villaraigosa and Richard Riordan, the up-from-poverty legislator and the well-born […]
The New Alignment
Much has happened in the 35 years since young Mexican-Americans first marched to demand social justice and economic opportunity. As the conflict gradually moved off the streets and into the voting booths, the city councils, the state legislatures and Congress, the issues and personalities became increasingly complex. The goals have changed too. What began as […]
The World Senator
Alan Cranston may not have been the only retired congressman who wanted to save the world. But he was the only one I ever met who spent his last years trying to do it. Born at the beginning of World War I, he died on the literal eve of the new millennium for which, he […]
Power to the People
I haven‘t heard back from the mayor yet about whether he’s going to fire David Freeman, the head of L.A.‘s Department of Water and Power (DWP) and the man most responsible for Los Angeles’ preposterously fortunate position during the California electrical debacle. But I read and hear that Mayor Richard Riordan is surprisingly upset with […]
Cross of Gold
TwitteremailPrint ArticleAASACRAMENTO — It was good guys vs. bad guys, heroes vs. villains and gold standard vs. silver at the California Air Resources Board (CARB) last week, but I‘m still not sure who won. The arguments were technical, but the cognitive conflict at the 11-hour-marathon hearing was as primeval as Cain and Abel’s.You really had […]
Role Call
The little gray man in the red tie came to the LAPD Rampart Station to bury Police Commission President Gerry Chaleff, but he didn’t have the guts to tell us that on Friday. Instead he talked about a new pension plan, a higher LAPD entry salary (already in excess of what LAUSD teachers receive, but […]
1 Person, 0 Vote
The Los Angeles City Council voted against both the letter and the spirit of the new city charter last week. The issue was whether to appoint a temporary 13th District City Council replacement, as the charter requires.By their vote, council members declared the vacancy to be no big deal. Nor is the ACLU‘s pending federal […]