LOS ANGELES

PLANNING--The battle lines around the pro-development (and pro-gentrification) SB 827 are becoming increasingly clear, with 37 grassroots organizations from LA yesterday releasing a letter detailing their opposition.

BCK FILE—(Editor’s Note: One of the lessons that 50 years of journalism have taught me is: All stories do NOT have two sides. This is one of them. We have got to stop killing our innocent kids on playgrounds and in classrooms where safety is an absolute and wonderful rite of passage. Yes, an entitlement! You and I must do something … and, not knowing what to do is not an acceptable excuse for ignoring your responsibility. Do something. Do anything. Stand up. Speak out. Organize. Demand. Vote wiser. Hold electeds accountable. One more child’s death is on you and me. Beginning this moment, CityWatch pledges to use its 4.5 million click/week platform to give you a voice and to keep reminding all of us to DO SOMETHING … and to continue to REJECT THE BS! Beth Cone Kramer’s perspective, along with other related postings, is the beginning. DO SOMETHING. Otherwise, shame on you! Shame on us all!-Ken Draper, CityWatch Editor.)

FIRST PERSON-Since finishing my three-day teacher credential revocation hearing before the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) and Judge Aileen Cohn on Wednesday, February 14, I have been gratified to receive numerous calls and emails from all over the country asking how my hearing went. 

TRUMP WATCH--How many ‘enough’s’ does it take before too much becomes enough?

Call your members of Congress now. Tell them no gun regulation reform, no political careers for them come November.

Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121

SPECIAL TO CITYWATCH--Roosevelt High School teacher Brian Gibbs spent 15 years educating Boyle Heights students about their high school's historic structures, from its vast auditorium to its Bauhaus stairway, teaching them that the buildings weren't merely handsome and old, but a "built environment" that served as a "text that tells a story." 

DEEGAN ON LA-Possibly energized by the vacuum of the March 2017 defeat of Measure S, which would have imposed a moratorium for up to two years on construction that increases development density, among other strictures, comes an organized, visibly youngish, social media savvy group named Abundant Housing LA. They call themselves “an all-volunteer housing advocacy organization” and they are attempting to hit the delete key for the letters NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) and enter the acronym YIMBY (yes-in-my- backyard). 

ALPERN AT LARGE--There used to be a time when Transportation and Planning meant something like "discussion, debate, and public policy based on data and obeying the laws of physics".  Of course, now that they've been co-opted by the developers and activists, Transportation and Planning increasingly means: 

CORRUPTION WATCH-The phrase “Liar, Liar, pants on fire” may explain why judges wear robes. Due to their habitual lying, all their pants caught on fire. What will they do, oh, what will they do, if the taunt becomes “Liar, Liar, robes on fire?” 

@THE GUSS REPORT-The politicians at LA City Hall and other local electeds last week got a taste of their own “you can’t beat City Hall” medicine as federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents descended into local communities to arrest undocumented immigrants with criminal histories, causing an unfortunate – and 100% predictable and preventable – consequence:  undocumented immigrants without criminal histories were scooped up from their beds, the breakfast table and workplaces, too. 

GELFAND’S WORLD-- (This is another article in a continuing campaign to inform, educate and energize  Angelenos on the reformation of city government … explaining the how, the why and the possibilities.) 

When I wrote the first of my series of articles on LA governmental reform, I received an inquiry from a fellow CityWatch author. He asked what I thought of the proposed initiative by governor candidate John Cox (photo above). Since I had never heard of the proposal, I didn't answer at the time. Here is my take on an interesting attempt that -- like so many other initiative attempts -- was dropped on the public without advance warning and most importantly, without an attempt to build a consensus among the voters that something like it would be helpful. 

CAL MATTERS--Well folks, it looks like we may have an old-fashioned, down-to-the-wire political race this year for governor, something Californians haven’t seen for quite a few years.

ALPERN AT LARGE--We're so used to presuming that the crises coming from the city, county, or state governmental halls of power are Truth that we've forgotten that they could be existing only because of stupidity, incompetance, or downright manipulation.  So Washington's declarations of a given crisis are to be ignored, but it's OK coming from LA or Sacramento? 

BELL VIEW-Living in Los Angeles for the past twenty years has driven home to me the power of the vote. The first time I supported a Quixotic campaign against an incumbent City Councilmen (and all of mine have been men since I’ve been here), our side got absolutely clobbered – when you looked at the results based on percentages. The incumbent got more than 80% of the vote. But when you looked at the numbers themselves – in the second-largest city in America – the margin of victory looked incredibly thin. Less than 8,000 votes separated victory from defeat.  

EASTSIDER-After a recent presentation by DWP about the status of remediation of underground water in the San Fernando Valley, I realized two things; first, they are doing a great job at building facilities to remove the underground toxins in these areas from the useful water for us Angelinos, and second, none of these measures are going to directly increase the water supply to Southern California. Which leaves us with a big question -- how do we ensure our water supply in this desert we inhabit? 

MY TURN--Whether you hate or love Walmart–they are not alone in locking up products.  

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Last week I heard from a number of readers about my recent CityWatch column critical of California Senate Bill 827. They told me that Scott Wiener’s proposed legislation would inflict far more damage on Los Angeles than imposing taller height limits, eliminating parking requirements, and gutting zoning overlay districts, such as Historic Preservation Overlay Zones (HPOZs). They told me it would also allow the construction of by-right apartment buildings on parcels that the City Council previously zoned for single-family residences. And, it will put the on-going, City Hall-supported gentrification of Los Angeles on steroids. 

RESISTANCE WATCH--Students who survived Wednesday's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida unequivocally rejected the "prayers and condolences" offered by President Donald Trump—calling on him to enact strict gun control laws instead.

CORRUPTION WATCH-Which should rule the decisions of the Los Angeles City Council – Quality of Life or Profits of Developers? Since every developer project receives unanimous approval of the LA City Council, we know that Quality of Life plays no role. In fact, when ruling that the criminal bribery system that controls the LA City Council was above the law (i.e. non-justiciable), Judge Richard Fruin accepted as true the proposition that the LA City Council decade’s long violation of Penal Code § 86 was criminal. His ruling was that criminal behavior by the City Council was nobody’s business. Thus, the situation shall not be changing unless the federal courts decide that criminality is a bad thing. 

CONNECTING CALIFORNIA-Here’s the good news in Sacramento: “Lady Bird,” a coming-of-age film set in Sacramento -- and written and directed by the California capital’s own Greta Gerwig -- has been nominated for five Academy Awards, including best picture. 

MORE THAN THE MIDDLE IS MISSING!--At Scott Wiener’s February 3 town hall in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset neighborhood, I was startled to hear the city’s state senator say that his controversial new bill, SB 827, co-sponsored by Senator Nancy Skinner and drafted by California YIMBY Executive Director Brian Hanlon, was all about fostering the construction of the “missing middle”—“small to mid-sized apartment” buildings that are three to five stories tall with “maybe 8 to 20 units.”

SMALL BIZ---In an address to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), a non-profit which counts over 325,000 small business owners among its members, Vice President Mike Pence gushed that small businesses “create jobs.