LOS ANGELES

ALPERN AT LARGE--In my last CityWatch piece, I raised the questions surrounding whether we have the Courage to truly, really, meaningfully help Labor.  That means the courage to protect Dreamers, and to protect native-born Americans, and to protect the Rules, Laws, and Constitution of the United States. 

FANS DESERVE BETTER THAN SPINMIESTERS--Much has been written, much of it in frustration, about the Dodgers’ recent and historic meltdown.  It’s gotten to the point where some people are prepared to believe it’s a curse.  It’s hard to fathom that a team which was so good this year has suddenly, inexplicably, changed course and is now “the worst team in baseball,” as Dodger third baseman Justin Turner recently said in a moment of frustration -- and refreshing honesty. 

@THE GUSS REPORT-Kevin B. Taylor’s job as Senior Trial Counsel for the State Bar of California is to mete out punishment for misbehaving attorneys. He may soon find himself in a world of hurt for his own misconduct. 

THE PREVEN REPORT--Just last year Herbalife was fined $200 million by the Federal Trade Commission for being a pyramid scheme—and yet this coming Saturday, September 16th, at Malibu’s Zuma Beach, thousands of participants and spectators will gather for the “Herbalife International Distance Race Triathlon.”    (Photo above: 2016 Malibu Triathlon.) 

CAL MATTERS--The cultural firestorm over statues, flags and other symbols of the Confederacy, ignited by a violent clash of white supremacists and their opponents in Charlottesville, Virginia, would seem far removed from California.

A LITTLE COMMON SENSE-(Editor’s Note: This is the first of a series on Fear of Riding in LA.) It seems some, or maybe many, men and women are fearful of riding buses and trains. I find this quizzical and disturbing. I became a regular rider of Los Angeles mass transit in 1992, to do my part to reduce air pollution in the LA Region, the major environmental issue at the time. While I am always cautious, but I do not believe I am fearful. 

PERSPECTIVE-As I wrote in an earlier article, State Senator Bob Hertzberg is a master of the English language. According to his bio, as an undergraduate English major, he wrote a 400-page handbook titled A Commonsense Approach to English. 

CONNECTING CALIFORNIA--No one can know for sure whether any of California’s four National Football League teams—the 49ers, Raiders, Rams, and Chargers—will emerge as big winners in the new season.

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-In city planning circles Houston is (in)famous for its lack of zoning laws.  Furthermore, Houston only adopted its first General Plan in January 2017, which means blind market forces continue to determine all of its local land use decisions. The result is that developers can and do build anything they want anywhere, and that includes areas with a long history of flooding.  

GELFAND’S WORLD--The simple equation is that a garden variety hurricane passing above overly-hot seawater is what is required to create a monster storm.  The transition from category 1 to category 4 or 5 can happen within hours, as we've seen twice just within the past weeks. As the average seawater temperature in the gulf rises year by year -- this is where global warming comes in -- the total number of hurricanes may not rise, but from that total, the number of hurricanes that become monsters appears to be going up. 

BELL VIEW—‘When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, `I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.’-Matthew 27:24 

EASTSIDER-It seems clear by now that the phrase “climate change” means that we can look forward to erratic and wide fluctuations in our weather for the foreseeable future. Witness sudden years of drought followed by equally sudden massive rain and flooding. Like we experienced recently. It’s a prescription fraught with dangers to our water supply. 

STREET LEVEL REALITY-Los Angeles politicians and developers dread saying the words “gentrification” and “displacement.” In fact, Mayor Eric Garcetti rarely utters the g-word in public.  It causes all kinds of political headaches, so they resort to using code words that are more palatable for public consumption.

CORRUPTION WATCH-The City of Los Angeles is losing population, but no one wants to admit it. When the City bases planning for the future on the falsehood of a rapidly increasing population, the observation that it is really losing population is unwelcome at City Hall.

ANIMAL WATCH--As firefighters continue battling largest fire in the City of Los Angeles history, hundreds of horses, dogs, cats, goats, chickens and more have been evacuated and are filling our already filled to the brim City shelters and being temporarily housed at evacuation sites such as Hanson Dam and Pierce College.

AT LENGTH-Two years ago, the City of Los Angeles woke up to the shocking realization that it had a homeless crisis after a young activist by the name of Elvis Summers started building tiny homes and giving them to homeless people. (Photo above left: LA City Councilmember Joe Buscaino with Mayor Garcetti.)

ALPERN ON LABOR--There are those of us who "Resist".  There are those of us who want to "Make America Great Again".  And then there are those who point to Neo-Nazis, ANTIFA, RINO's, DINO's, Globalists, and Social Justice Warriors (or a combination thereof) as the forces destroying the American Dream. But that Dream is ... what, now?  And Labor's role is ... what, now?

BACKTALK---Denyse Selesnick recently authored in CityWatch an article entitled, “Fake News: My Very Own Focus Group.” In that article, she alleges that the statistics regarding the registration overages in the California voter rolls exposed by Election Integrity Project California are “fake news.” As she proceeds to explain herself, it becomes clear wherein her error lies. 

LAST STRAW BETRAYAL-The Los Angeles City Council should reject a recommendation by Fred Pickel, Director of the Office of Public Accountability at the LADWP, that the city back tunnels altering water diversions South from the San Francisco Bay Delta, and should fire him for once again favoring utility over ratepayer interests, Consumer Watchdog said today.

@THE GUSS REPORT-Race and racism come with an asterisk at LA City Council, where last week it discussed whether to locally change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. 

LABOR DAY 2017--To many of us, September’s’ first Monday is a three-day weekend to close out the summer season with burger and hot dogs on the grill, pool parties, a last wearing of white pants. But, historically, Labor Day was created by the Labor Movement to celebrate the social and economic achievements of American workers.