LOS ANGELES

HERE’S WHAT I KNOW-(CityWatch reported this disturbing story … an example of how money blinds, how greedy green can overwhelm green parks and wildlife … earlier this month. This is a sad follow to that story.) The Make Good Group LLC, a marketing agency that bills itself as The Social Impact Company, is behind the three-day, multi-stage AngelFest that could bring 65,000 visitors per day to the Sepulveda Basin (photo above) this October, but not without continued pushback from neighbors and conservation groups including the Audubon Society. 

EASTSIDER-In lieu of my normal straight reporting job on these events, let me just say my take-away from Tuesday evening’s DWP Reform Forum, organized by the Pat Brown Institute and CSULA, is all in the headline above -- after attending this forum, trying to put DWP Governance Reform on this year’s ballot would be a colossal mistake. 

PERSPECTIVE-California has got its own version of a Runaway Train, a 1985 Oscar-nominated movie about escaped convicts who steal a train. It does not end well, as the out-of-control consist hurdles towards a violent end, with the lives of the convicts and their hostages at stake. 

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Sometimes it is important to step back from the weighty city planning and environmental issues confronting Los Angeles to focus on the small, personal steps we can take to make LA a more attractive and sustainable city. This is why I want to focus on drought tolerant gardens, something the minority of Angelenos who live in single-family homes can act on. 

DEATH POLITICS--When California’s aid-in-dying law takes effect this June, terminally ill patients who decide to end their lives could be faced with a hefty bill for the lethal medication. It retails for more than $3,000. Valeant Pharmaceuticals, the company that makes the drug most commonly used in physician-assisted suicide, doubled the drug’s price last year, one month after California lawmakers proposed legalizing the practice.  

A LIFE POSTSCRIPT--Whether it's common sense, common decency, or common courtesy, there is just often too little of such "common" commoditites.  But sometimes there are individuals who stand out and show that YES, those sorts of things can be achieved ... with honesty to boot.  As my friend and colleague Gary Walker of the Argonaut reported so well, we've lost a great man who's earned a cherished and lasting memory within our hearts:  Bill Rosendahl. 

MY TURN-Many people have described Richard Alarcon as a great example of the “professional politician.” He prefers to think of himself as the advocate for community service, having been involved in the political arena most of his adult life. In the last three years, though, it has been mostly on the dark side. 

RETIREMENT POLITICS--More than seven million people—over one-fifth of California’s population—work without a path to retirement. They have neither a 401(k) — the so-called “roller-coaster plan” tied to the stock market — nor a traditional pension that was once considered a worker’s right and which is now a rare species outside of government employment or the public education system.

THIS IS WHAT I KNOW--A Los Angeles neighborhood grassroots matching funds program may have opened the door to a second candidate landing in hot water. LA City Council Member Nury Martinez is under Federal investigation in connection with her 2015 reelection efforts.

EDUCATION POLITICS-Every week for the last five years I have been contacted by what seems to be a never ending parade of targeted senior teachers. These are the professionals that are at the top of the salary scale who make up 93% of teachers being charged and subsequently removed from their careers at LAUSD.

TRANSIT POLITICS--Having just returned from Charleston, Savannah, and Atlanta for a weeklong family vacation, I can assure you that cities both small and large do what they can to encourage a local economy, encourage proper neighborhood preservation and densification, and create jobs and affordable housing.  

FOX ON POLITICS--Labor unions, legislative leaders and the governor came together on a minimum wage deal to presumably keep a minimum wage initiative off the ballot – presumably because there is more than one way to get on the ballot. More on that later.

NEIGHBORHOODS LA--Oh no, Los Angeles's most entertaining homeowners association seems like it might be getting its shit together. But at least it's going out in a blaze of restraining orders and nasty emails.

DEEGAN ON LA-Have you ever heard of an “urban heat island?” Do you know how it affects our environment? Do you know how developers can use carbon management techniques to help offset the effects of the heat and carbon impacts generated by the tall vertical masses they want to build? 

GUEST WORDS--With some of the richest celebrities in the world — and thousands of people on the streets — Los Angeles is the definition of an economically divided city. 

WORKERS TAKE A BREATH--Hoping to avoid a costly ballot fight, California lawmakers and labor unions on Saturday reportedly reached an agreement to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour gradually by 2023. 

GUEST COMMENTARY--Good intentions are great until they lead to unfavorable outcomes. Unfortunately, California’s state legislature’s good intentions may push Los Angeles residents into a tough spot. 

GUEST WORDS--It is not impossible to tell how Hiram Johnson  … great American progressive and one-time California governor … would be keeping score on his Progressive Era reforms, and in particular the initiative process. He would clearly see some successes to set beside the shortcomings the Bee editorial board pointed out last week. 

VOICES--For almost two years the looming skeleton structure (photo above) that was expected to be an operating TARGET store by the Holiday Season of 2014 might have to remain looming in place for a while longer.

HERE’S WHAT I KNOW-An initiative to raise the state minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2021 has qualified for the November election, adding to an already jam-packed ballot. Should the Fair Wage Act of 2016 pass, California would become the largest state to improve the standard of living for the 3.3 million low-wage earners in the state, including 600,000 in Los Angeles County alone, perhaps setting the stage for a higher minimum wage across the U.S.  San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf are co-chairs of the initiative campaign. 

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Based on a debate I participated in over the Neighborhood Integrity Ordinance, it is clearer to me than ever before that Angelenos live in two parallel universes when it comes to their take of the frenzied waves of real estate speculation now rolling over the city.