LOS ANGELES

BCK FILE--California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has become one of President Trump’s most formidable legal opponents since Trump took office and he does not appear to be slowing down.

ALPERN AT LARGE--I was, still am, and always will be a promoter of high-speed rail, if not higher-speed rail, when it works and makes cost-effective sense.

TRANSIT TALK-The excuse is given repeatedly: some will not ride buses or trains because they do not feel safe. They are afraid. Yet, they seem to have no second-thoughts about driving. 

VOICES-There are plenty of people in LA who want to see housing costs come down. Anybody who's renting an apartment or looking to buy a home in the area has felt the sting of sky-high prices.

HUNTINGTON BEACH RIDES WAVE OF HATE AND LITIGATION--Who says you can’t build anything in California? Huntington Beach is busy constructing a wall of denial around whatever is left of its soul. (Photo above--Four people cooling off at Huntington Beach on a hot summer day.)

GELFAND’S WORLD--It's a national disgrace that two unrepresentative states -- Iowa and New Hampshire -- once again get to lead the way in deciding who will be the next president of the United States.

@THE GUSS REPORT-While Eric Garcetti, LA’s lame duck Mayor, keeps foolishly Tweeting #MayorsGetThingsDone, the phrase does fit if the subject is LA’s booming homelessness across the city and literally at the front doors of City Hall, imperiling the health and safety of thousands of people who work, visit or pass by the complex each weekday. 

URBAN PERSPECTIVE-When I visited the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, D.C., a volunteer docent asked the following question: “Who freed the slaves after the Civil War?” 

ALPERN AT LARGE--Wow! Is Governor Gavin Newsom's brain insane as he pulls the High-Speed Rail train funding down the drain? 

OVER-DEVELOPMENT ON THE WAY-Developers got an awesome gift on Christmas Day 2013 when the Warner Center 2035 Specific Plan went into effect.

CORRUPTION WATCH-Capitalism’s birth date is often designated as 1776 when Adam Smith published Wealth of Nations.  No doubt the signing of the Declaration of Independence that same year has re-enforced using 1776 as a pivotal year.

CLIMATE POLITICS--Capitalism not only owns global warming, there’s a big red mitigation arrow pointed at the heart of today’s rampant capitalism, which is eerily like the loosie goosie version of the Roaring Twenties, but with a high-tech twist. 

PERSPECTIVE-I’ve written several articles over the years critical of California’s high-speed rail debacle. The last one was in November 2017. I suggested that gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom might come to his senses and end the project. After all, he was once against it, but flipped lest he alienate his union supporters in the primary. 

CAL MATTERS--Pacific Gas & Electric’s bankruptcy has set off a financial race among creditors, bondholders, wildfire victims, insurers and others hoping to recover as much money as they can from California’s largest utility.

EASTSIDER-Now that the voters have approved LA County Stormwater Measure W with a 69% vote in favor of the parcel tax, let’s look at what the voters actually bought. 

AT LENGTH-It seems almost incomprehensible that after having shuttered the government for 35 days President Donald Trump could stand before Congress and ask for bipartisanship and compromise. Perhaps it’s just that America has grown accustomed to this particular occupant of the Oval Office lying so frequently that it no longer seems to matter. 

BACK TALK--In a recent CityWatch article on congestion pricing, Jack Humphreville railed against our city leader's proposed "money grab" in the guise of addressing our ever-worsening traffic woes. 

ANIMAL WATCH-LA Dog Bite Law Attorney Kenneth M. Phillips released his first Super Bowl video in a series, "Do Not Adopt a Pit Bull" in 2018.  

CHEAP AND THIRD RATE IS NOT OKAY-This is a tale of two transit concepts and what it could be like if the Valley gets its unfair share again.

REAL ESTATE PREDATORS-Malcolm X famously said, “You show me a capitalist, I’ll show you a bloodsucker.” But Steven Taylor is truly something special. 

TO VACCINATE OR NOT--Three years after California stopped allowing families to easily opt out of childhood vaccines, the number of kids getting medical waivers has tripled—the result, critics say, of some doctors loosely issuing exemptions to help families get around the law.