LOS ANGELES

EASTSIDER-When LA City passed term limits in 1991 and the last of the old guard had termed out around 2001, the nature of money and politics changed in Northeast LA forever. 

GUEST WORDS--It’s the phrase “border security” that freezes my soul every time I hear it uttered, every time I see it in print — so simplistically obvious, the equivalent of keeping your door locked. Did you ever have your cellphone swiped? If you’re careless about this, you’ll pay the price.

ENVIRONMENT POLITICS-Insect abundance is plummeting with wild abandon, worldwide. Species evolve and go extinct as part of nature’s normal course over thousands and millions of years, but the current rate of devastation is off the charts and downright scary. 

MY TURN-Since the announcement of the illegitimate election results, there has been an onslaught of misinformation, manbaby antics, outrageous distractions, outright lies, emotional outbursts and the most unprofessional and mismanaged conditions that Washington, D.C. and our government has ever experienced.

AT LENGTH-For some 50 years, I have witnessed the comings and goings of “great” plans for community development here in the Los Angeles Harbor Area and Long Beach. 

CORRUPTION WATCH-METRO, whose Board is dominated by Eric Garcetti and the other density mavens in the LA City Council, wants individual Angelenos who get caught in our horrid traffic to be fined for the privilege of being abused each morning and evening. Really?

POLITICS THAT RHYME--I like my roads fixed through and through, And I think you feel the same way, too!  But call me silly, and such a fool, 'Cuz I hate being used as a stupid tool.

PLANNING EMERGENCY-In this time of recurring climate-induced wildfire disasters, where many have died, and thousands of homes, schools, and businesses have burned to the ground, should we be putting more people in the path of danger by building flammable communities out in the flammable wilds? 

GUEST WORDS--Ms. Berlin and her close ally and friend, Ms. MacKay, have conveniently overlooked some pertinent facts in their inflammatory revisionist rewrite of the 2016 SCNC post-election Grievance Panel capers. 

@THE GUSS REPORT-It says a lot that neither of the two men at the top of the City of Los Angeles political food chain actually wants to be Mayor. 

DEEGAN ON LA-He’s baaack! State Senator Scott Wiener (SD11) has introduced a new density bill in the state legislature called SB-50 Planning and zoning: housing development: equitable communities incentive. 

BCK FILE--When the new legislation session opened last week in Sacramento, legislators introduced bills for the 2019-2020 session. Two of those bills address a California Supreme Court decision that made a strong statement about the “gig economy.” 

FIRST PERSON-Probably the greatest advantage the United States has had over most other countries up until now has been its pragmatic and ever evolving definition of what it means to be an American.

MY TURN-I was born on a military base and raised in a military family. The concept of patriotism was something that was ingrained and yet also very personal.

CORRUPTION WATCH-With the passing of former President George H. W. Bush (Bush 41), the nation pauses. The country unites in remembering 41's decency and humanity.

CAL MATTERS--Six years ago, as California strained to emerge from the Great Recession, Gov. Jerry Brown worked a minor political miracle—a rebalancing of the massive state pension systems for public employees.

WORLD WATCH--To dramatically slow the flow of illegal immigration and even end it does not rest on building walls or sending troops to the border, or by heartlessly snatching children from their mothers’ arms, or by incarceration, deportation, or prosecution.

ALPERN AT LARGE--It's NOT a secret that Donald J. Trump does not see eye to eye with many environmentalists, including the Sierra Club.

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Note to CityWatchLA readers: United Neighborhoods for LA (UN4LA) recently sent this letter outlining an alternative to the proposed Purple Line Extension Transit Neighborhood (Up-zoning) Plan to the three-members of the City Council whose Districts include this potential Specific Plan.

COST OF LIVING, EXPLAINED--Following a much hotter late summer and early fall, LADWP received calls from customers who felt their bills were higher than in prior years. 

@THE GUSS REPORT-Aye yai yai! How do these people keep getting elected? On Tuesday, LA City Council moved toward banning plastic straws that, while a promising ecological goal, exposed its preference for hyperbole misrepresented as the truth.