LOS ANGELES

RANTZ & RAVEZ-The headline reads: “LA lawmaker astonished at holdup in making city sidewalk repairs.” The article goes on to say that Los Angeles leaders planned to spend $27 million on sidewalk repairs this budget year -- much more than the year before.

ALPERN AT LARGE--I am a liberal.  I am also a conservative.  I didn't like it when Presidential candidate George H.W. Bush used "liberal" as a pejorative word, and I don't like it when the term "conservative" is used as a pejorative word, either. 

LGBTQ WATCH--In 2011, the U.S. secretary of state made history when she declared at a United Nations assembly in Geneva that “gay rights are human rights”: 

HOMELESS POLITICS--In 2018 there is new urgency for saving Parker Center, the midcentury masterpiece by Welton Becket that has stood empty for years a block from City Hall, and which Mayor Eric Garcetti should recreate as the Parker Center Housing Complex for homeless residents.

SKID ROW, DTLA-Last week, Mayor Eric Garcetti’s State of the City address focused a great deal on creating shelters across the City to house thousands of needy homeless people. While at face value it may sound like a good thing, a deeper probe uncovers numerous harsh realities. 

CORRUPTION WATCH-Goldilocks knew the answer to LA’s problems. When the porridge was too hot or too cold, she passed on it. When she tried the three chairs and the first two were too big, she settled on the third chair which was just right. Wanting to take a nap, she tried one bed and it was too hard. The next bed was too soft, but the third was just right. 

HEALTHCARE POLICY-In March, a coalition of unions, health-care advocacy groups, and immigrant-rights organizations, promoting a campaign dubbed Care4All California, unveiled a package of roughly 20 pieces of legislation that they believe are achievable in the next year or two; are affordable; and that, if passed, would move the state toward a level of coverage of between 97 and 99 percent of the population – a level roughly comparable to that of Canada, France and most other countries with “universal” systems. 

FIRST PERSON-For years now, thousands of teachers and other certificated and classified staff that the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and similar public school districts around the state and country have been unjustly and illegally targeted and terminated in violation of their fundamental rights. This includes the constitutionally guaranteed right to basic due process of law from an independent entity, in which the presumption of guilt is not a foregone conclusion. (Photo above: Acting Superintendent Vivian Ekchian.) 

FLAWED LAW-The necessity of the "Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act of 2018" continues to be demonstrated by the early release of violent inmates under Prop 57. The initiative will fix one flaw of Prop 57, which purported to release only "non-violent" inmates while deliberately failing to define which crimes qualified as "non-violent."

EASTSIDER-Recently I caught up with a friend, Caroline Aguirre, and boy did she have some interesting things to say about our latest professional Latino politician, Wendy Carrillo (D-AD 51). Caroline attended a meet and greet held in Eagle Rock on April 14 and got an earful. 

CRIME POLITICS--Comedian Bill Cosbywas found guilty on Thursday on three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault by a Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, jury. 

420 FILE--On Wednesday, the CA Assembly Labor and Employment Committee approved a bill to end employment discrimination against workers who use medical cannabis to treat a disability or medical condition.

CAL BUZZ ON POLITICS--(Ed Note: Jerry Roberts spends most of his energy these days wrangling horses and politicos in Santa Barbara, where he is the RW Apple of hyper-local concerns. Occasionally he lifts his sights beyond Santa Maria to offer his thoughts on the state at large. This is from a recent post on the Santa Barbara Independent.)

WHEN ENOUGH IS ENOUGH--On April 19, the Outreach Committee of the Venice Neighborhood Council held a town hall meeting to discuss the viability of a movement known as Vexit, the de-annexation of Venice from the City of Los Angeles. 

REQUIUM FOR THE SO-CALLED WELL-OFF-In 2015, if your household income was $186,000, you were average.

CONNECTING CALIFORNIA--Your Majesty, I realize you move slowly, and I don’t mean to rush someone who turned 92 this week.

DEEGAN ON LA-Mayor Garcetti has finally backed up years of promises to help ease the intractable homeless problem by proposing several new initiatives using money from the HHH bond measure (November_2016) passed in November 2016.

@THE GUSS REPORT-Leave it to politicians, such as Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Krekorian, to take tragic statistics about the enormous number of American gun deaths since the 1999 massacre at Colorado’s Columbine High School and bastardize them for dramatic effect as he did last Friday, the 19^thanniversary of the incident. 

BCK FILE--The Trump Administration has spawned an activist movement. At least one weekend a month, throngs bearing signs congregate in Pershing Square and at various locations throughout the city. 

GUEST COMMENTARY-Every Neighborhood Council has experienced it: Bad advice from the City Attorney. Conflicting advice from the City Attorney. No training from DONE. Scolding from DONE.

Well, enough is enough.

AT LENGTH-Fresh from milking political cows in Iowa, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on April 16 gave his annual State of the City address at City Hall.