LOS ANGELES

INSIDER REPORT-First, de León can best be described as a career politician. He served as both a California State assemblyman and State senator. He termed out of office.

GELFAND’S WORLD--Barely more than a week ago, elected board members from four neighborhood councils from the harbor area submitted a letter to the mayor of Los Angeles, asking him to take action against the newly appointed General Manager of the city’s Department of Neighborhood Empowerment.

@TheGussReport – As shown in local headlines often prompted by this column, LA City Councilmember Herb Wesson loves to rig the game, big or small, if it enriches himself and his family. 

CAL BUZZ-Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has taken the lead in the California Democratic primary with a little help — $30 million in broadcast advertising — from one of the billionaires he loves to rail against: former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. 

THE CITY-Despite last week’s announcement of the infusion of $50 million into the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s fund for its new building bridging Wilshire Boulevard, LACMA is still deceiving the public and its donors about the true costs of the proposed span.

ALPERN AT LARGE--One way of preventing the answers to a problem is to ask all sorts of questions to distract the questioner and keep him/her stumbling off-balance. 

INSIDE POLITICS---At one point when he felt under siege by possible indictments and impeachable offenses, the president whined petulantly, “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” 

GUEST WORDS-The problems with SB50 and its companion bills have been well stated by many.  But the public is still asking what should the State Legislature do about housing? 

NEW GEOGRAPHY--Frank Gehry doesn’t have any particular penchant for the concrete that lines the LA River.

LA SKID ROW- On February 5, 2020, the much-anticipated trial for the Skid Row Neighborhood Council-Formation Committee (Plaintiffs) v. City of Los Angeles (Respondents) took place.

Planning Watch:  Three strikes and you are out may apply to baseball, but it does not apply to California State Senator Scott Wiener’s failed effort to offer a sweet heart deal to real estate developers of in-fill commercial and residential parcels.

ALPERN AT LARGE--State Senators Scott Weiner and Toni Atkins have been defeated yet again in their attempts to destroy California, and create a zoning/planning nightmarish, hellish, environmental wasteland.