LOS ANGELES

PERSPECTIVE--There once was a time in America when people of means weren’t keen on the idea of living right next to a rail station. Real estate developers, as a general matter, didn’t throw lots of capital into these communities, many of which quite literally defined the proverbial “other side of the tracks.” 

EDUCATION POLITICS-With more than half a billion dollars socked away for next school year, the Los Angeles Unified School District hardly seems just two years from financial ruin. It’s a scenario that is especially tough to swallow if you’re a low-wage worker seeking a raise or a teacher who wants smaller classes.

CORRUPTION WATCH-The Commission on Judicial Performance finds nothing amiss with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gregory Wilson Alarcon. Looking at his ratings from The Robing Room, we see why the Federal Court blames California for having an epidemic of misconduct. Alarcon may be bad, but he is not the worst. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--There is an undeniable affordable housing crisis in the state of California, and it is NOT merely supply and demand forces that have caused it. 

SPORTS POLITICS--It’s become almost a summer tradition in the California Capitol.

BELL VIEW--Remember when George W. Bush said that establishing democracy in Iraq would cause a domino effect in the Middle East – like pushing a giant re-set button?

EASTSIDER-It should come as no surprise that both political parties are total control freaks over their declining percentage of voters. I argue that real, small ‘d’ democracy works just fine, and the Dems should let it be. 

WHO’S PULLING THE STRINGS?-As founder and executive director of the Crenshaw Subway Coalition, Damien Goodmon spent years organizing his community in support of adding a Leimert Park stop along the planned Crenshaw-LAX light rail line in Los Angeles, scheduled to open in 2019.

WORKING TOGETHER WORKS-“I love when people that have been through hell walk out of the flames carrying buckets of water for those still consumed by the fire.” ~ Stephanie Sparkle 

GUEST WORDS--The University of Southern California in Los Angeles has been at the center of a sexual abuse scandal involving a health center gynecologist.

ALPERN-AT-LARGE-The goal of a north-south rail line between the San Fernando Valley and the Westside, and by extension to LAX, has been the "holy grail" of the countywide rail expansion for decades.

GELFAND’S WORLD--The political assassination that Donald Trump carried out this weekend wasn't against a person, but against a whole way of life. His attack on the G7 alliance has brought a particularly painful form of realization to a head. As David Leonhardt pointed out in a New York Times op ed and Josh Marshall pointed out a day or two earlier in his own blog, one thing is abundantly clear: 

CORRUPTION WATCH-Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion in the June 4, 2018, Masterpiece Cake shop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (The Gay Cake Case) represents the best of American jurisprudence.

BCK FILE--On Wednesday of last week, we learned fashion designer Kate Spade had hanged herself in her New York apartment. Just two days later, celebrity chef and travel documentarian Anthony Bourdain (photo above) had ended his life in a Strasbourg hotel. 

GUEST WORDS--In November, Californians will have a historic opportunity to vote for a ballot measure — the Affordable Housing Act — that would restore the rights of California cities to implement strong rent control laws.

@THE GUSS REPORT-Los Angeles, we have a problem…and a pattern.

DTLA SKID ROW-The culmination of recent presentations and reports have led to an eye-opening glimpse into the collective mindset of the City of Los Angeles and how it plans to “attack” the widespread, out-of-control existence of homelessness across the city. 

DEEGAN ON LA-A special interest group composed of parents who are speaking up for their kids is emerging as a loud voice in a Fairfax area community dispute with developer Ira Smedra.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?--You live in a lovely, single family neighborhood, tree-shaded, consisting mainly of single story homes. Sadly, your elderly neighbor, who raised her family in the home next door, dies, leaving it to her children. 

420 FILE--Amid all the excitement around marijuana legalization in America, another newly legal crop has received comparatively little attention: hemp. And yet hemp may prove to be even more transformative, especially in the West's arid landscapes.

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-In cities like Los Angeles, where private greed, not human need and adopted plans, control the real estate development process, we are no longer surprised when new luxury apartment towers spring up next to homeless encampments.