There is the good news and bad news regarding the proposed CRA gift of $4.6 million to a Class A office building at 1601 North Vine in Hollywood, located between Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards.
The good news is that for the second time, on August 17, the City Council deferred action on this $57 million project. The Community Redevelopment Agency is proposing a sweetheart deal to sell this prime piece of Hollywood real estate to Hal Katersky’s Pacifica Ventures for $825,000. This is a $4.6 million (85%) discount from the October 2006 purchase price of $5.4 million, indirectly paid to Ullman Investments, the subject of an unfavorable 2000 audit by the Controller.
Councilmembers Garcetti and Krekorian have both utilized iPhone Apps as tools for connecting their constituents with City Hall, earning accolades for their innovation and vision. This small step begs the question, what would happen if LA simply rebooted City Hall, embracing the way of the iPhone’s creator … Apple Computers, Inc … and installing the latest iGovernment Operating System?
It's easy to just complain and whine about what's wrong with L.A., including its horrendous laissez faire Planning paradigms that threaten to undermine any advances made to transportation or other infrastructure, but progress IS being made to transform areas like the Westside, Eastside and Downtown regions into a 21st-century place to live and do business (we'll see about quality of life).
The Los Angeles Times is currently publishing a series of articles on LA’s teachers and schools … including evaluations called ‘value added’ ratings. About 6,000 Los Angeles elementary school teachers and 470 elementary schools are included in the ‘added value’ data base. (Click here to find out how your children’s teachers and schools rated.)
You’d have to be a Martian who just woke up from a few centuries of suspended animation not to have heard that according to the latest survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, one in five Americans think that President Barack Obama is a Muslim. The number is up substantially from last year when one in 10 Americans thought the president wasn’t a Christian.
TALKING POINTS Lee Kanon Alpert
(Note: This is a response from LADWP Board of Commissioners President, Lee Kanon Alpert to Jack Humphreville’s CityWatch article “Something is Out of Whack.”)
Thank you for your article regarding the work and effort of our team in attempting to protect the finances of our ratepayers, responsibly protect the environment and resolve the issues relating to once through cooling.
Angelenos can revert to the 19th Century or move ahead towards the 22nd Century; it’s our choice.
In the last several years, Wall Street diverted billions of dollars of our retirement funds and other savings away from productive investments into various scams like credit default swaps.
Recent months aside, Antonio Villaraigosa has gotten quite a bit of what he wanted over the years. The Mayor’s skills … divide and threaten … honed on years of union organizing and negotiating and maneuvering the Sacramento political maze … were responsible for much of that success. They were apparent again this week in the announcement that he has struck a deal with the Engineers and Architects Association that will see the EAA members picking up a bigger share of their healthcare costs.
You know something is out of whack when our environmentally oriented Department of Water and Power is willing to take on the politically powerful, well financed environmental lobby over the obscure issue of Once Thru Cooling (“OTC”).
Last week, the Department of City Planning released draft Residential, Commercial and Industrial Design Guidelines, which are aimed at improving the quality of design for new construction in Los Angeles. Unless you think that Los Angeles’ commercial streets are paragons of beauty and a pedestrian paradise, this is a good thing.
The city of Los Angeles may be broke but you can bet your last dollar that there will always be a handout available for rich and powerful.
Two weeks ago we learned from a Los Angeles Times article [LINK] that the mammoth Hanjin International Corporation and Thomas Properties Group are again proposing to tear down their Wilshire Grand Hotel and replace it with a new hotel and related projects.
The City is wishing and hoping that the sale of the City’s revenue producing parking facilities will result in a $53 million contribution to the General Fund. However, this money will essentially be flushed down the toilet. ...
As we continue through a bad budget crisis, it is becoming more apparent that there is truly NO plan in place for the short and long term fiscal health of Los Angeles.
A Blood and Guts Plan to Fix California’s Fiscal Mess
ALPERN AT LARGE Ken Alpern
There’s lots of talk about how to solve California’s financial problems. Talk is cheap, however, when it comes to seriously acknowledging that we’re making our children indentured servants to our excesses. So do we really, REAL...
Planning for Billion Dollar Project: LA City, County MIA
LA: TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADERS Stephen Box
This past week, nine people gathered at the Metro's 405/Sepulveda Project headquarters in an effort to prepare for a meeting they did not intend to attend. If not attending a meeting requires the participation of nine engineers, consultan...
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES Stephen Box
LA City Council's Transportation Committee is poised to approve two motions that will direct nine City Departments and "all affected" Council Districts to make recommendations on the restri...
As a result of the ECAF Fiasco, there is a general consensus for the need for an independent Ratepayers Advocate to oversee the Department of Water & Power. However, the role, responsibili...
On vacation with a few other families this weekend at Lake Arrowhead, I was as impressed with its beauty as I was with its amazing proximity to our fair City of the Angels (well, when tr...
This fiscal year, the cash strapped City unilaterally imposed a $17.5 million General Fund Cost Reimbursement charge on the Department of Recreation & Parks.
To look at the Port of Los Angeles from deep inside is to gaze upon the character of the City of Los Angeles. I say this not because I've been readi...
The Coalition for Economic Survival is a member of The National Alliance of HUD Tenants (NAHT). NAHT is the leading national organization of HUD tenants ...
cilmembers Garcetti and Krekorian have both utilized iPhone Apps as tools for connecting their constituents with City Hall, earning accolades for their innovation and vision. This small step begs the question, what would happen if LA simply rebooted City Hall, embracing the way of the iPhone’s creator … Apple Computers, Inc … and installing the latest iGovernment Operating System?
or Villaraigosa is crowing about the recently approved proposal offered by the city to the EAA. [
y to just complain and whine about what's wrong with L.A., including its horrendous laissez faire Planning paradigms that threaten to undermine any advances made to transportation or other infrastructure, but progress IS being made to transform areas like the Westside, Eastside and Downtown regions into a 21st-century place to live and do business (we'll see about quality of life).
have to be a Martian who just woke up from a few centuries of suspended animation not to have heard that according to the latest survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, one in five Americans think that President Barack Obama is a Muslim. The number is up substantially from last year when one in 10 Americans thought the president wasn’t a Christian.
lenos can revert to the 19th Century or move ahead towards the 22nd Century; it’s our choice.
t months aside, Antonio Villaraigosa has gotten quite a bit of what he wanted over the years. The Mayor’s skills … divide and threaten … honed on years of union organizing and negotiating and maneuvering the Sacramento political maze … were responsible for much of that success. They were apparent again this week in the announcement that he has struck a deal with the Engineers and Architects Association that will see the EAA members picking up a bigger share of their healthcare costs.
now something is out of whack when our environmentally oriented Department of Water and Power is willing to take on the politically powerful, well financed environmental lobby over the obscure issue of Once Thru Cooling (“OTC”).
st week, the Department of City Planning released draft Residential, Commercial and Industrial Design Guidelines, which are aimed at improving the quality of design for new construction in Los Angeles. Unless you think that Los Angeles’ commercial streets are paragons of beauty and a pedestrian paradise, this is a good thing.
