LOS ANGELES

@THE GUSS REPORT-A friend in the health field wrote last week to advise of a gnarly encounter on the way to work: 

OTHER WORDS-When I teach about race in sociology classes, I often begin by asking students how and when the idea of race came about. 

DIGITIZED NEIGHBORHOODS--The most recent meeting of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee of the City Council did not move the ball forward.

DEEGAN ON LA-Several days ago, an iconic figure in American life and lore turned 75: Happy Birthday, Smokey the Bear!

PERSPECTIVE--Donald Trump has kept his promise, reportedly made to Xi Jinping in June, that Washington would “tone down” its comments on the spiraling HK protests. “Very tough situation” Trump tweeted on August 12. “I hope it works out for everybody, including China.”

CLIMATE POLITICS-Environmentalist and famed TV science educator Bill Nye is speaking out against President Donald Trump’s repeated dismissals of global warming, sounding the alarm on his refusal to act before it’s too late. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--Suddenly, Greenland is in the news. Trump raised the idea of buying Greenland but wasn't too serious.

GUEST WORDS--The debate on solving California’s housing affordability crisis has reached a fever pitch, and the level of noise is drowning out solutions.

GELFAND’S WORLD--It's easy to find comments by the dozens about who is leading in the polls or nitpicks by the hundreds about small differences among health care proposals. 

METRO’S FOLLIES--Metro and I have a problem. Maybe it is because Metro has dropped the word Transportation from its name as well as Authority.

PUBLIC SECTOR ACCOUNTABILITY-Imagine your business could treat borrowings as revenues, avoid cost recognition by not paying expenses and report less debt than actually owed. 

MY TURN-What has become endemic to large dysfunctional organizations like the non-profit Cedars Sinai Medical Center, is that they don't have enough staff to accomplish even their most basic functions.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Duh. What’s prodromal? As we all recall from our high school Greek class, prodrome is derived from the Greek word prodromos, meaning "running before." (Yeah, like I took Greek in high school.)

CHATMATES-As we move toward Election 2020 (in about 444 days), much has been made about this current president. 

ENERGY POLICY-The California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) plans to make all homes and businesses use electricity only means electricity will need to take up the duties that natural gas has been performing, and provide continuously uninterruptable power as California is on a path toward 100% renewables and “zero-carbon” sources in electricity by 2045. 

PERSPECTIVE--How can racism be a threat to the public health of an all-white small town?

GUEST COMMENTARY--In a new grim grotesquerie, sales of bulletproof backpacks are up as much as 300% as parents frantic to keep their children alive prepare to send them to this year's killing fields - once called going back to school - after our latest slaughter in El Paso and Dayton.

RANTZ & RAVEZ-Mayor Eric Garcetti is the 42nd mayor of the City of Los Angeles. He is an educated, respected and very nice man with an annual city salary of $248,141, in addition to having a city-provided residence, a city car and driver, and an LAPD security detail for his every move around Los Angeles and the world.

ALPERN AT LARGE--For those of us who remember when Mayor Riordan established Neighborhood Councils in the year 2000 (approximately), and for those of us who remember when they sprouted up all over the City, and for those of us who thought that our opinions meant something...it's very hard to see THIS evil nonsense:

EASTSIDER--Clearly, Metro’s plan for a NoHo to Pasadena BRT project has torn the community of Eagle Rock apart.  So where do we go from here? 

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-The Los Angeles City Charter, Sections 554-558,and the State of California’s planning laws require all cities and counties to have a General Plan.