Julie Siegler stood on the north side of Sunset Boulevard and looked at her school bus, parked on south Cliffwood Avenue. She looked to her left, began to cross the street and hesitated, getting knocked to the ground by one vehicle and then run over by a second vehicle.
Much can be made of the fact that Julia crossed the street against a red light, and it has. But not much has been made of the fact the two motorists left the scene of the traffic collision before the Los Angeles Police Department arrived.
The first LAPD press conference offered up incorrect information of the crash and of the motorists, sending the public and the LAPD on a goose chase that was resolved later that day when the two motorists made contact with the LAPD.
At a recent BudgetLA meeting, Deputy Mayor Larry Frank told a crowd of neighborhood council volunteers they were “over-regulated, over-lawyered, and over-bureaucratized.” At the City Council’s Education and Neighborhoods Committee last week, he said advising the mayor and council members—not beautification projects and street fairs—is the core mission of neighborhood councils. It’s a hopeful sign that Frank is saying the right things.
The Mayor, his staff, and his political operatives at the Department of Water and Power are once again trying to establish a blank check for the Renewables program by implementing the recently announced $2.50 Carbon Surcharge ($42 million a year) and increasing rates by $700 million a year.
LA’S BROKEN BUDGET By Paul Hatfield (Posted first at Village to Village) [LINK]
Councilman Bernard Parks, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, spoke at a meeting of the Los Angeles Coalition of Neighborhood Councils this past Saturday.
As the person in City Hall with the most power to deal with the almost $700 million deficit we face over the next eighteen months, you would think he’d embrace an aggressive strategy to deal with the core of the problem – compensation and benefits.
(Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has vetoed a funding transfer for a transit-related project in Councilman Tony Cardenas’ District. Click here for the Council File. Here’s is the Mayor’s veto letter. )
Ten of the City’s parking facilities (and possibly three new structures) are officially for sale. On February 5, the City sent out a Request for Qualifications [LINK] (the “RFQ”) a 38-page document with enough rules and regulations to scare off many well-heeled buyers.
RFQ’s were due on March 4. Qualified Bidders are expected to sign Confidentiality Agreements on or around March 12, at which time they will be given an Investment Memorandum to review and analyze.
CALIFORNIA By Brian Leubitz (Posted first at calitics.com)
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) now regulates much of the environmental procedures in the state, especially for new construction projects. It requires projects to go through a fairly vigorous environmental review process. (What is CEQA?) [LINK]
It’s easy to wonder how furloughed state or city workers make ends meet, or to wonder what they do on their days off. I suspect they’re asked to do 100% of their jobs within the 90% of work time still available to them. Maybe they’d go back to school part-time, spend more time with their families and friends, or revisit the “to-do” list that never gets addressed.
Or maybe they’d do what I do: work overtime in any venue legally available.
CASE AGAINST LAYOFFS By Jeffrey Pfeffer (Posted first at Newsweek.com)
On Sept. 12, 2001, there were no commercial flights in the United States. It was uncertain when airlines would be permitted to start flying again—or how many customers would be on them.
Airlines faced not only the tragedy of 9/11 but the fact that economy was entering a recession. So almost immediately, all the U.S. airlines, save one, did what so many U.S. corporations are particularly skilled at doing: they began announcing tens of thousands of layoffs.
(Editor’s note: James Harris is the former Chair of the Empowerment Congress Southwest Area Neighborhood Council. The LA District Attorney has charged him with misappropriating $152,000, embezzlement and falsifying receipts. In late January Mr. Harris pleaded not guilty to those charges.)
Much has been written about [LINK] me, so I ask that you allow me to take a few minutes to introduce James Harris, the man.
First let me say I will not be discussing my case due to legal parameters. This has been advised against by my legal council. What I can and will do is paint a picture and you can draw your own conclusion.
The idea of eliminating 4,000 job positions sent a shock wave though the city. Now come the aftershocks: awareness of what services will be lost and the realization that the 4,000 cuts can’t be made in time to save the City as many dollars as originally thought.
We are constantly reminded by the Office of the City Attorney that it is a legal office not a policy office.
That’s true when the office is asked for legal advice from its clients. We expect it to be the best possible advice -- dispassionate regarding the City Attorney’s own policy preferences.
BILLBOARD ARREST By Celeste Fremon (Posted first at WitnessLA.com)
Well, I’m glad someone has written about it.
Tim Rutten calls it government [LINK] by tantrum —which try as I might not to endlessly criticize the actions of our city attorney, Carmen Trutanich—is about right when it comes to describing his latest escapade with the city’s legal system.
A 13-year-old girl attempting to catch her school bus began to cross Sunset Boulevard at Cliffwood Avenue. She stepped off the curb, into the crosswalk and against the red light just as two cars approached.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is planning to impose a “Carbon Surcharge” of $2.50 a month ($30 a year) on Power System customers to help the Department of Water and Power finance its Renewables program, according to a
While it seems everyone involved with neighborhood councils is focusing on elections and budgets, there’s also a group working on offering recommendations for better bylaws.
Will a Badly Mismanaged City Department take LA’s Neighborhood Councils Down with It?
DONE ON THE EDGE By Max Tves (Posted first at LAWeekly.com)
Stephen Box can neatly trace his metamorphosis from guy helping the Greater Echo Park–Elysian Neighborhood Council to organizer of a middle-class insubordination cum revolution, which began with an un...
When it comes to living within our means, and testing our personal and societal limits, we really ARE our own worst enemies, aren’t we? After all, don’t we all know it when we drink too much, eat too much, party too much…or ove...
In July 2008, the City Council approved the Rate Restructuring Plan (the “Plan”) for consumers which increased the Energy Service Charge for Tier 2 rates to 8.5¢ per kilowatt, a 21% increase over Tier 1 rates of 7¢.&n...
Americans coast to coast are angry at their government and while Congress is doing its level best to corner the market of dysfunctional legislative bodies, sadly you folks in the Los Angeles City Council have them beat.
SCHOOLS By Celeste Fremon (Posted first at WitnessLA.com)
The ACLU of So Cal along with two other groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of students at three of the city’s worst-performing middle schools co...
If you’ve been away from the planet for a couple of months you may have missed it: LA’s Mayor wants to merge the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment with the Community Development Depa...
It’s nice to know that, while the immediate financial and budgetary crises are dragging local, state and federal governments into the muck that long-term planning and major project construction is s...
At a recent BudgetLA meeting, Deputy Mayor Larry Frank told a crowd of neighborhood council volunteers they were “over-regulated, over-lawyered, and over-bureaucratized.” At the City Council’s Education and Neighborhoods Committee last week, he said advising the mayor and council members—not beautification projects and street fairs—is the core mission of neighborhood councils. It’s a hopeful sign that Frank is saying the right things.
The Mayor, his staff, and his political operatives at the Department of Water and Power are once again trying to establish a blank check for the Renewables program by implementing the recently announced $2.50 Carbon Surcharge ($42 million a year) and increasing rates by $700 million a year.
Councilman Bernard Parks, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, spoke at a meeting of the Los Angeles Coalition of Neighborhood Councils this past Saturday.
(Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has vetoed a funding transfer for a transit-related project in Councilman Tony Cardenas’ District. Click here for the Council File. Here’s is the Mayor’s veto 
Ten of the City’s parking facilities (and possibly three new structures) are officially for sale. On February 5, the City sent out a Request for Qualifications [
alifornia Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) now regulates much of the environmental procedures in the state, especially for new construction projects. It requires projects to go through a fairly vigorous environmental review process. (What is CEQA?) [
s easy to wonder how furloughed state or city workers make ends meet, or to wonder what they do on their days off. I suspect they’re asked to do 100% of their jobs within the 90% of work time still available to them. Maybe they’d go back to school part-time, spend more time with their families and friends, or revisit the “to-do” list that never gets addressed.
On Sept. 12, 2001, there were no commercial flights in the United States. It was uncertain when airlines would be permitted to start flying again—or how many customers would be on them. 
(Editor’s note: James Harris is the former Chair of the Empowerment Congress Southwest Area Neighborhood Council. The LA District Attorney has charged him with misappropriating $152,000, embezzlement and falsifying receipts. In late January Mr. Harris pleaded not guilty to those charges.)
The idea of eliminating 4,000 job positions sent a shock wave though the city. Now come the aftershocks: awareness of what services will be lost and the realization that the 4,000 cuts can’t be made in time to save the City as many dollars as originally thought.
We are constantly reminded by the Office of the City Attorney that it is a legal office not a policy office.
Well, I’m glad someone has written about it.
