LOS ANGELES

RANTZ & RAVEZ-I recently attended the League of California Cities and Board of Directors Installation Ceremony and Dinner at the Calabasas Civic Center.

PLANNING WATCH - By August 16, 2021, the California State Legislature may have approved two pieces of contentious legislation, Senate Bills (SB) 9 and 10.

STASHING THE CASH - Based on a review of more than 100 money-laundering cases, a new study finds that the U.S. has become a preferred destination for those looking to stash illicit funds through property. 

HOMELESS POLITICS-Los Angeles City Council Members Joe Buscaino and Paul Koretz have entered a motion for the city to withdraw from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA.

EASTSIDER - After all of the General Managers we’ve had at  the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE), both good and bad, never has anyone risen to the forefront with a move which jeopardizes the entire system. Not until “She Who Must Be Obeyed,” the current General Manager Raquel Beltrán. 

COVID WATCH - After months of reluctance, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday mandated that all California school employees be vaccinated for COVID-19 or be tested weekly.

ERIC PREVEN'S NOTEBOOK - Mapping the future.  A map letting unhoused Angelenos know where they are allowed to sit, sleep, and lie down is going to be needed.

GELFAND’S WORLD - I have an old friend who was running for a neighborhood council board seat a few months ago. One of her political opponents made claims about her that she says were false.

The Biden administration has given new life to a national discussion about the dangers of social media-induced misinformation following its request that Facebook censor Covid-19 anti-vaccination propaganda.

LABOR VIEW - The first time I met Rich Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO who suddenly died this past Thursday, was in early 2008.

Two wheelbarrows full — that’s how much soil a composted human body creates. In California, it could soon be legal for people to be transformed into soil after death.  

THE DOCTOR IS IN - I say this as a Republican who LOVES all my patients, and anyone reading this, be they Democrat, Republican, Independent, or otherwise. I just don't want any of us to die.

Buscaino wins the anti-camping ordinance, but it’s still not a solution

THE DOCTOR IS IN - I say this as a Republican who LOVES transportation/infrastructure (T/I) but T/I spent WELL. 

GELFAND’S WORLD - In a previous article, I told you about a proposal from city government that would give unprecedented authority to one person to censor and punish neighborhood council board members for thought crimes.

LGBTQ NATION - Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner, who is transgender, spent years living in front of a television camera as part of the Kardashian clan.

President Joe Biden has nominated Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti as ambassador to India.

EDUCATION POLITICS - The full-court press* against public education began in earnest during the Reagan administration.

CLIMATE POLITICS - On July 21, I was walking in the forests surrounding the German Air Force Base at Büchel in the Eifel Mountains with three Catholic Worker friends,

PLANNING GONE AWRY-Re: Opposition to March 2021 Guidance Memo from Director of Planning Vince Bertoni Regarding the Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan. 

EASTSIDER-This week I have two stories that you couldn’t make up even if you smoked a doobie and drank a bunch of alcohol.