LOS ANGELES

ENVIRONMENT POLITICS -- The Alliance of River Communities (ARC) held its monthly public meeting on December 16 at El Rio de Los Angeles State Park in Cypress Park to hear the most current updates on LA River projects.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Question: What is it called when a 79-year-old widow is forced to wash linens make beds, clean two entire houses with nine bedrooms and sweep the patios and sidewalks and then Judge Lippitt steals 150% of the widow’s wages? Answer: Business as usual in LA County’s Conservancy (Probate) court. 

PERSPECTIVE--The lawsuit recently filed by City Attorney Mike Feuer against the FAA and supported by LA council members Paul Krekorian, David Ryu and Paul Koretz, all of whom are voting members of the Burbank Airport Noise Task Force, is demanding that all departure paths from Burbank return to pre-Next Generation flight tracks.

GUEST WORDS--You don’t know me, but I’ve been a defense attorney in LA for almost 25 years. 

@THE GUSS REPORT-As the Tuesday morning celebration for City Council’s new president Nury Martinez died-down, she walked up the steps to the raised podium where the most influential lawmaker in the City of LA sits during meetings.

PLANNING WATCH-It almost seems normal that most of our national political leaders are marching us over a cliff to fossil fuel driven extinction. So no one should be too surprised when state and local leaders respond to immediate issues, like housing, with similar self-defeating approaches.

OTHER WORDS-As we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., it’s natural to remember his courageous advocacy for racial equity. But before he was assassinated, King had also begun to broaden his efforts to unify around economic justice. 

FOSSIL FUEL POLITICS-Late last year, The Washington Post reported a remarkable poll finding: Nearly half of American adults — 46 percent — believe the U.S. needs to “drastically reduce” fossil fuel use in the near future to address the climate crisis. Another 41 percent favor a more gradual reduction.

EASTSIDER-Remember those Monsters Commercials for Spectrum? At one time there were something like 13 of them, and they live on in YouTube.

ALPERN AT LARGE-Since many who read and write for CityWatch are caught up in the President's actions or antics, and blame President Trump for the killing of Iran's General Soleimani, and as well for the downing of the passenger jet to Ukraine, the question of "who is to blame" for violence is a good one.

RANTZ & RAVEZ-Most of the honest, law-abiding Los Angeles residents have run out of patience, understanding and compassion when dealing with the expanding homeless population.

HOUSING POLITICS--Housing Is A Human Right has released today a special report about Big Tech, California YIMBY, and State Sen. Scott Wiener, all of whom push a troubling “trickle-down” housing agenda that fuels gentrification. That includes SB 50 — California’s controversial, land-use deregulation bill. As the SB 50 battle unfolds, this revealing investigation connects the dots about the relationships and money ties between Big Tech, California YIMBY, and Wiener. 

GUEST COMMENTARY--Why is Los Angeles City Cannabis policy and implementation the largest most bungled failure in the United States? 

DEEGAN ON LA---In the mid-sixties movie “The Graduate”, a confused recent graduate, played by Dustin Horrman as Ben, is pulled into the corner by a family friend to be ordained with the secret of the future: “It’s plastics”, the man confidentially whispers into Ben’s ear.  

VOICES-The mainstream press is filled with stories about violent “anti-Semitic” (i.e. anti-Jewish) incidents in the United States, as well as a large march against anti-Semitism in New York City.

GELFAND’S WORLD--To give you an idea of how uninterested I am in the British royal family, I had to look up how to spell Meghan Markle’s name, and, in addition, make sure that her husband is, indeed, Prince Harry.

VOICES--A Los Feliz homeowner who claims nearby homeless facilities will make his property “less desirable” is trying to thwart a planned homeless shelter at the base of Griffith Park. 

NEW GEOGRAPHY--Perhaps nothing so animates the progressive Left today as the notion of an increasingly race-conscious society, segregated by ethnic identity and dismissive of the traditional ideal of assimilation.

ALPERN AT LARGE--You would think that the only person willing to turn California into a sewer sump is a chump.

CLIMATE POLITICS-Throughout the world, mega droughts are hitting hard with a ferocity not seen in decades and in some cases not seen in centuries.

AT LENGTH-California Gov. Gavin Newsom just announced a bold initiative to add some $1.4 billion to the budget to address the homeless crisis on the local level. He has called for an all-hands-on-deck approach from state agencies.