CityWatch

PERSPECTIVE - With all the sturm und drang of the past couple of weeks over the NSA revelations, we haven't heard a lot about the possible solutions. Greg Sargent had a well circulated column about possible fixes and David Atkins wrote about it here as well. My personal view is that biggest threat is the gargantuan size and scope of our surveillance bureaucracy and that job one is to scale it back --- and not just the NSA, but across our whole security apparatus. The mere existence of such a system is offensive to a free society in my opinion. Read More...

POLITICS - I dropped in on one of Los Angeles Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti’s town hall meetings this week, one of six he is holding in different geographic areas of the city (and another he plans to hold online). As part of his transition plan, Garcetti is meeting with constituents asking them for suggestions on how the city can do things better. The meetings are broken into working groups of 15-20 people and they are asked to opine on three topics: the economy & jobs, government efficiencies and neighborhoods. Under these topics are sub-topics, for instance, transportation issues fell under neighborhoods column. The goal: to gather many ideas for the new administration to consider. Read More...

PLANET WATCH - Our country is addicted to oil and gas. In recent years the technique of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, or fracking, has gotten greater attention, both positive and negative. It is a Trojan horse, sold to us as a way to become energy independent, provide local jobs, and stimulate the economy. As an MD, I need to note that the disease, death and destruction of fracking outweigh its appeal. Fracking is a process where a large amount of water is mixed with sand and/or chemicals that are then injected deep underground into rock formations, fracturing the geologic formations to release petroleum, natural gas, or other substances for extraction. With today’s technologies horizontal bores can be drilled for miles away from the well. Read More...

LA WATCHDOG - As a result of an increasingly nasty dispute with the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation has collected a sufficient number of signatures to qualify its “City of Los Angeles Public Health Protection Act” (the “Initiative”) for the ballot in June of 2014. If passed by a majority of the voters, the act would require the City to establish its own Public Health Department within 120 days after the ordinance is enacted. At the same time, the City would be prohibited from working with the County in enforcing public health laws. Read More...

VOICES - Billionaire shopping center developer, Rick Caruso, has proposed that the block-long, fixed rail trolley line at the Farmers Market / Grove shopping center in LA’s Beverly-Fairfax neighborhood be expanded. He would like to connect it to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art via Fairfax Avenue and to Beverly Center shopping center via Third Street. While the precise details, if they even exist, have not yet been made public, the estimated cost of this expanded trolley line is $70 – 80 million. Mr. Caruso also stated that his company is willing to pay an unspecified portion of these costs.  Read More...

GETTING THERE FROM HERE - Whenever street space is allocated for bicycling, someone will inevitably level the accusation that the city is waging a “war on cars.” But it turns out the people in those cars want separate space for bicycles too, according to surveys conducted in two major California metropolitan areas. Bike lanes make everyone feel safer — even drivers. Rebecca Sanders is a doctoral candidate in transportation planning and urban design at the University of California-Berkeley. She’s spent a lot of time asking people — drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians — what kinds of street treatments would make them feel safer, giving them a list of safety improvements to choose from. Most drivers said their top priority was bike lanes.  Read More...

ENERGY POLITICS - Nobody who has paid attention to what's happened to solar panels over the last several decades can help but be impressed. Prices declined an astonishing 75 percent from 2008 to 2012. In the United States, solar capacity has quintupled since 2008, and grown by more than 50 times since 2000, according to US Energy Information Administration data. In 1977, solar panels cost $77 per watt. Today, they are less than a dollar per watt. So it came as a shock to many and an offense to some to learn that new nuclear plants still cost substantially less than solar. Solar advocates have challenged our recent analysis finding that the electricity from Finland's beleaguered Olkiluoto plant is still four times cheaper than electricity from Germany's solar program, claiming that we cherry-picked cases to make nuclear look good and solar look bad.  Read More...

ALPERN AT LARGE - As a CityWatch columnist, I have to call it as I see it: Read More...

PERSPECTIVE - There is never a clear winner in any war waged in the Middle East. One conflict simply sets the stage for the next. In the case of… Read More...

EDUCATION POLITICS - Why would a bunch of rabble-rousers invoke imagery of murder and mayhem when engaging parents? Read More...

Overseas Report - As I stood in one of the grand halls at the National Opera House of Paris, Read More...

MARKETING POLITICS - A few months ago, I walked into a J.C. Penney store for the first time in at least a decade. READ MORE...

MY TURN - I was writing at the Starbucks on Fifth Street in San Pedro when a woman wandered in. She walked boldly up to me, explaining that she and… READ MORE...

FILM CRITIC - “The Great Gatsby” is not, I think, a great novel. READ MORE...

IMMIGRATION POLITICS - Like many great Americans, Sierra Club founder John Muir was an immigrant. READ MORE...

LARCHMONT CHRONICLE - While the 1.1 million square foot, $664 million Hollywood Millennium Project at Hollywood and Vine is two miles north of Larchmont Village, it will have a negative impact on all the neighborhoods served by the Larchmont Chronicle.  READ MORE...

GREATER GRIFFITH PARK? - At a special meeting convened solely to decide whether or not one of Los Angeles’ oldest neighborhood councils would keep its original name, GGPNC board members debated for nearly three hours before approving ‘Los Feliz Neighborhood Council’ in a 13-3-1 vote. READ MORE...

EAST LA - Dave Munoz is proud of his East Los Angeles neighborhood. “This is where they caught him,” the 20-year-old college student said Friday. “They caught him on my street. Richard Ramirez. My neighbors caught him.”  READ MORE...

NEIGHBORHOODS - “Great Balls of Fire”—I’m probably dating myself by using that Jerry Lee Lewis song lyric, but it best describes three things that happened in the last two months with Neighborhood Councils that have made me both incredulous and optimistic!  READ MORE...

RANDOM LENGTHS - I have lived in this seaport community for 40 years now and I’m still discovering secrets in this close-knit town. Secrets that even some of the long-time residents don’t know or understand. READ MORE...