CityWatch

CAPITAL AND MAIN-The California Chamber of Commerce represents more than 13,000 businesses, from companies such as Microsoft and Walt Disney, to local companies with small numbers of employees. From its K Street headquarters in Sacramento, the “Cal Chamber,” as it’s colloquially known, analyzes some 3,000 pieces of legislation every year. In the past 10 years, 341 of 353 — nearly 97 percent — of the bills identified by the California Chamber of Commerce failed to become law. The vast majority of these were never passed by the Legislature and sent to the Governor. Instead, they were killed in committee or voted down by the Legislature or amended to take out provisions opposed by the chamber. Read More...

MAILANDER’S LA-How many times on network television--if you still have a television--have you seen an excited boy or girl barely out of his teens waving a ticket on American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance or another talent magnet jumping up and down and saying, "I'm going to Hollywood!" For every such nationwide flashing of a contestant's ticket, thousands with similar or ancillary dreams of entertainment careers, whether performing or scripting, directing or lighting or producing, arrive in Hollywood--even as people at the other end of their careers check out of the place. Read More...

CONNECTING CALIFORNIA-News item: A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge last week ordered the Irwindale, California plant that produces the highly popular “rooster sauce” Sriracha to cease operations until it can stop emitting odors that are “extremely annoying, irritating, and offensive to the senses warranting consideration as a public nuisance.” Reaction: Too bad the judge didn’t apply the same logic to the city government of Irwindale and shut it down too.  Read More...

THE VIEW FROM HERE-Many people out there call our system a Nanny State and fear the repercussions. I call it the Granny State and welcome it with open arms. Remember your grandma when you were little? She was there to pick you up when you fell and kissed the boo-boos and made them better. When others abandoned you as you got older, she was always there for support and might even have advanced you a little money until you could get on your feet. When you started to drive, she made sure you buckled up and knew the rules of the road for everyone’s well-being. In essence, she was your safety net, but she taught you at the same time that becoming independent and self-sufficient should and would be your ultimate goal.  Read More...

RELIGION POLITICS-Forget, for the moment, that he is the pope, and that Holy Father Francis’ apostolic exhortation last week was addressed “to the bishops, clergy, consecrated persons and the lay faithful.” Even if, like me, you don’t fall into one of those categories and also take issue with the Catholic Church’s teachings on a number of contested social issues, it is difficult to deny the inherent wisdom and clarity of the pontiff’s critique of the modern capitalist economy. No one else has put it as powerfully and succinctly. Read More...

EDUCATION POLITICS-For almost a year I’ve been struggling to articulate what it is about public schools that people — people-with-options, members of a once- though perhaps only now aspiring-middle class — what is it that compatriots of my own depreciated class reject as inconceivable for entrusting with their own children?  Read More...

GELFAND ON … THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS-OK, I'm kidding. There is no such postseason college football game with that name. Actually, there are 3, each taking one part of the wording. There is, I swear, a Russell Athletic Bowl, and according to ESPN prognosticators, we are likely to see Louisville (I thought that was a baseball bat) play Virginia Tech. Notre Dame and Michigan would be quivering in their boots. I'll leave it to you to fill in your own joke about the people who make the Athletic Bowl a reality.  Read More...

ALPERN AT LARGE-A fascinating article by Brooke Donatone in Slate online represents a fascinating and increasingly-observed phenomenon about the… Read More...

AT LENGTH-We received a letter to the editor from one of our readers last week about the dangers crossing San Pedro’s Gaffey Street to pedestrians… Read More...

REFLECTIONS-One of the most admirable, staunch old grandma-supporters of public school children I have witnessed died last night.( LA Times report.)… Read More...

LEANING RIGHT-We have seen that losing does not pay the bills and now we know that winning does not provide any hard and fast guarantees. Ed Orgeron… Read More...

NEIGHBORHOODS LA-This time of year is usually filled with news of people doing good things … feeding the hungry…collecting toys and gifts for those… READ MORE...

CERDAFIED-Corruption is under attack! Using technology to protect the whistle blowers, computer experts are finding their niche in the world of crime… READ MORE...

LA WATCHDOG-Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Herb Wesson led City Council of Los Angeles have refused the recognize the severity of the City’s almost $10… READ MORE...

THE BOSTICK REPORT-As soon as I heard that the Los Angeles City Council was considering a citywide moratorium on feeding the homeless in public,… READ MORE...

EL SERENO-Last August Billy Branch of El Sereno set up a Facebook page as part of his one-man campaign to get a buckled and broken section of sidewalk on Cudahy Street near Locke Avenue fixed up.  READ MORE...

THE VALLEY - The Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils (VANC) held its monthly meeting at the Sherman Oaks Hospital, complementing a full agenda with a few moments of celebration as the representatives of the 34 Neighborhood Councils in the San Fernando Valley honored VANC Founder and Sherman… READ MORE...

LA NC COALITION - The Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition held its monthly meeting at the Hollywood City Hall and featured Board of Public Works Commission President Kevin James, who has long been a partner with LANCC and the many Neighborhood Councils that represent the four million people… READ MORE...

SILVER LAKE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL - SilverLake Neighborhood Council got to experience a taste of mob democracy Wednesday night when an 8-8 tie vote failed to support a motion NOT to support the proposed gang injunction aimed at about three hundred members of six criminal street gangs along the… READ MORE...