LOS ANGELES

NEW GEOGRAPHY-The term “useful idiot,” often credited to Vladimir Lenin, applies to people supporting a cause or movement injurious to their own self-interest.

GELFAND’S WORLD--I walked into Fry's Electronics in Manhattan Beach on Saturday afternoon. My first clue that something was amiss was that the parking lot was nearly empty.

DEEGAN ON LA-“We are never going to get our planet back to the way it was,” exclaimed 16-year-old Claremont high school student Sofia Cervantes, whose role model is 16-year-old Swedish schoolgirl climate activist and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Greta Thunberg (photo above). 

BUSINESS POLITICS-Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote of being leery of a fast-talking huckster who visited his home: “The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons,” Emerson exclaimed. 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Family therapists know that families often ignore the elephant in the living room.

CALBUZZ--Joe Biden’s tossed word-salad response in the last Democratic debate on the question of how government or society ought to respond to the legacy of slavery –

LIES MATTER-My entire working life has been dictated by offshoring. I’ve spent my career jumping from one factory closing to another. 

SOUTH OF THE 10---After his office had “no comment” to a proposed 577 unit housing, with zero set aside for low-income residents, L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson is proposing ‘anti-displacement zones’ to keep rent prices down around certain market rate developments. One in particular being the new Crenshaw/LAX rail line.

AN AMERICAN CRISIS--During a fundraising trip to California this week, President Donald Trump hinted at his administration’s imminent crackdown on the state’s homelessness crisis.

CITY LAB REPORT--This week, senior Trump administration officials are making their way to Los Angeles as part of the president’s high-profile promise to intervene in California’s homelessness crisis.

RANTZ & RAVEZ-Recent political moves by Governor Newsom clearly demonstrate he doesn’t give a damn about victims of crime or the law enforcement officers who enforce the laws to keep people safe in the once Golden State of California.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Let me start this article that I remain an unswerving, unrepentant law-and-order kind of guy. Don't want prisoner abuse, don't want to see innocent people get prosecuted, don't want to short-change rehab programs...

EASTSIDER-A recent Community meeting in Glassell Park highlighted the twin joys of being the next great gentrification target and having no oversight to control the three Council Districts (CD1, CD13, and CD 14) that get to divvy up the spoils. 

PERSPECTIVE-The second Burbank Airport Noise Task Force forum was held this past Wednesday, September 11.

OTHER WORDS-I’ll be honest: Writing a weekly opinion column about the environment during the Trump era is depressing — and boring.

GUEST COMMENTARY--Even if US intelligence decisively shows that some of the drones and cruise missiles used in the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields originated in Iran, a decision to go to war with Iran would be inexcusable and insupportable.

Planning Watch: The record of California Democrats on the housing crisis, including those who run city governments, like Los Angeles, is not good.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-The road to Hell is paved by the law of unintended consequences. Can one change horses in mid-stream because there was no stitch in time to save nine?

THE CITY-On Sep 11, 2019, stakeholders from Greater Echo Park filled the John Ferraro Council Chambers to stop the LA City Council from approving Item 28, Report with Recommendations, that starts the process for Affordable Housing Opportunities at “1140 N. Glendale Boulevard.”

AT LENGTH-From Long Beach’s rising Gerald Desmond bridge to the growing skyline of Los Angeles and out to the edge of Venice’s “Silicon Beach” the development cycle is booming with ever increasing intensity.

ALPERN AT LARGE--Congratulations, California--not only have you made this a one-party state (kind of like Alabama, but on the other side of the political spectrum), but you've now allowed the Golden State to become an environmental nightmare.