LOS ANGELES

GUEST COMMENTARY--Let's call the homeless issue what it is. A crime against humanity. 

ONE MAN’S OPINION-Some people believe that the world is teleological, that is, that the world is moving toward some pre-set purpose.

FESTIVAL WATCH--First, they claim their name is meaningless. Then they say it means “one thousand cranes. And one of them is always awake.”

ALPERN AT LARGE--We should be as grateful to those who have served us well, while scornful to those who did not. One such person who recently retired is a man who few, outside of neighborhood/civic leadership, knew well ... but those who knew him were grateful to have known him. That man is Mo Blorfroshan. 

SPECIAL REPORT-Housing Is A Human Right has released a sweeping investigative report about government-sanctioned gentrification in Los Angeles. Mayor Eric Garcetti stands at the center of this important exposé.

FIRST PERSON--I first met Danielle by her tent in the spring of 2018 on Fairfax Avenue during my daily walks. She lived with a male partner who was often sitting with her in their tent. Sometimes she sat near Fairfax Avenue panhandling. 

OTHERWORDS--Some brave hetero activists are attempting to organize a “Straight Pride Parade” in Boston.

CLIMATE POLITICS-Permafrost covers 25% of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the world’s largest icebox, and its landmass is 4.5xs larger than Antarctica, 6.5xs larger than the United States.

EDUCATION POLITICS--LIKE MANY SCHOOL DISTRICTS in the post-Columbine era of the late 1990s, Los Angeles’ responded to misbehavior with zero-tolerance toughness.

TRANSIT WATCH--Riding buses for the work commute share time calculations like driving.

CALIFORNIA POLITICS-The date was Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2017, in Sacramento CA, when Senator Scott D. Wiener introduced SB 384, a bill amending the California Business and Professions Code to permit the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to extend the required closing hours of operation for the sale of alcoholic beverages from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. (so that “last call” at any bar, restaurant or other service establishment would be 4 a.m.).

EASTSIDER-I know it seems like the world is divided into FoxNews, MSNBC, and Facebook (roll your own) universes these days. But underneath the distractions, some very bad things are happening to people who live in rural areas and are not well to do. 

NEW GEOGRAPHY--Twenty-one businesses have closed in less than two years since the city of Los Angeles reconfigured a 0.8 stretch of Venice Boulevard in the west side’s Mar Vista neighborhood.

GUEST COMMENTARY--More than two weeks ago, a group of over 50 neighborhood council leaders sent a letter to the Mayor and to the City Council asking to have a citizen’s interview panel created to do pre interviews of new general manager candidates for the Department of Neighborhood Councils. 

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Even though LA City officials were taken aback by the city’s recent 16 percent increase in homelessness, they shouldn’t be.

ONE MAN’S OPINION-If robbers invade your home and steal your jewelry, the criminals are at fault. 

FIRST PERSON-The longstanding endemic corruption at the dysfunctional and nearly bankrupt Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will not be cleaned up until the school district’s operational practices – both financial and academic -- are finally addressed, eliminated, or radically changed. 

COMMUNITY ARTS-Watts is a village, not a riot. Poet, playwright, actor and world champion in blind judo, Lynn Manning, (photo above) had a vision powerful enough to transform the way people would see his people and his city.

GELFAND’S WORLD--It's time once again for the Hollywood Fringe festival and this year, CityWatch will be ramping up its coverage with at least two reviewers following the action.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS-After over half a year of intense struggle, the Hillside Villa Tenants Association is close to a major victory. All that stands in the way presently is the greed of the landlords, Tom and Chloe Botz, as well as that of their sleazy lawyer, Brandon Dimond.  

ALPERN AT LARGE--Let's face it: we just loooooove writing for new measures to tax ourselves, but we suck at demanding that the taxes get spent in a measurable and cost-effective manner. I mean REALLY now ... are we that blind and childish as to presume throwing money at a problem necessarily fixes it?