LOS ANGELES

GUEST COMMENTARY --On Feb. 13, 2018, a fire demolished the last standing structure at the corner of 84th and Vermont. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but this was far from the first time this lot owned by Sassony Commercial Development has been a public nuisance. Blighted for 26 years, it has been an ongoing source of embarrassment for residents and a daily reminder of how difficult it has been to rebuild the spirit and wealth of South Los Angeles since the Civil Unrest. 

BELL VIEW--Turns out 3% of the American population own 50% of the guns. On average, these “gun enthusiasts” own 17 guns a piece. Talk about your self-defense! We also know that fewer than 2% of Americans killed by guns die in the types of mass shootings like we saw in Florida last week. So, it’s not as if every one of these patriotic defenders of the right to bear arms is a threat to society. I have gun-nut friends, and none of them is likely to walk into a school and start shooting anytime soon.

EASTSIDER-After an overdose of Republicans vs Democrats, uncivil debate, and the gutting of the economic underpinnings of our society, I thought it was time to take a pause and look at the issues that define all of us, not just our deeply flawed political parties. 

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-As a frequent critic of Senator Scott Wiener’s free market, trickle-down, deregulatory approach to city planning in my CityWatchLA columns, I welcomed a recent Streetsblog LA article, “Senate Bill 827, Equity, and the Need for Coalition Building in the YIMBY movement.” Jason Islas’ analysis is clearly more nuanced that than typical YIMBY sermons about the imminent, all-encompassing benefits of scuttling planning, zoning, and environmental laws. In their view, Senator Wiener’s unfettered supply-side approach to planning will cure California’s growing and overlapping housing, transit, and environmental crises. 

CAL MATTERS--The essence of California’s pension crisis was on display last week when the California Public Employees Retirement System made a relatively small change in its amortization policy.

TRANSIT POLITICS--The Trump Infrastructure plan has finally been released. The critics are out in force, especially those with particular interest in rapid transit. The plan would reduce funding to the federal “new starts” program, which provides funding for new urban rail and busway systems. The Los Angeles Times editorial board expressed angst at this proposal. According to The Times, the "…public transit building boom in L.A. County relies on federal funding that would be slashed under the president's infrastructure and budget proposals. The Purple Line subway to Westwood was slated to receive more than $1 billion, or roughly 45% of the total cost, from the federal government. Without that money, it will be extremely difficult to complete that project, as well as others, in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.” (Photo above: LA Olympics 1984.)

D.C. DISPATCH-Just yesterday in Washington, news broke that Rick Gates had allegedly agreed to cooperate with the Special Counsel’s office in his case against Paul Manafort. Today, Mueller filed new charges under seal against both Manafort and Gates. Mueller is obviously upping the ante to get Gates to fold and for some reason he is stalling. Could Trump be considering offering pardons? 

GUEST WORDS--After four years of Mayor Garcetti, the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County have more homeless than any other U.S city:  34,000 homeless people in the city of Los Angeles with 58,790 in the County in January 2017. Three-quarters of Los Angeles’s city homeless or 25,500 people resemble the poor in Calcutta’s slums:  they live in tents on sidewalks, in canyons, riverbeds and alleys. The nation’s homelessness has increased to 554,000. Why so many homeless? How can they be helped to get into homes? 

RANTZ AND RAVEZ-When the elected officials and pundits from the City of Los Angeles proposed tax increases to address the growing homeless population, I was skeptical and warned you about my concerns. 

MY TURN-Like with anything Black people do that receives too much high praise and critical acclaim, there’s always at least one descendant of a colonizer at the ready to make sure that we don’t get too big for our britches. This time around its criticism of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther film for their so-called “lack of LGBT representation.” 

EDITOR’S NOTE: On February 1, 2018, CityWatch Los Angeles published an article with a number of false statements regarding Partnerships to Uplift Communities (PUC). The article titled "Public's Right to Know: How Did Ref Rodriguez Spend $30 Million of Taxpayer Bond Money?" was malicious, misleading and false, ~nd did not meet CityWatch Los Angeles' editorial standards. As a result, the article has been retracted and links to the story have been disabled.

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.