LOS ANGELES

ALPERN AT LARGE--After hundreds of thousands of Westsiders from the Santa Monica Mountains to Playa Del Rey were terrified by what appeared to be a toxic natural gas leak (is it OUR home, or the neighbor's home?!), the answer appears to be … a leaking barrel of Mercaptan odorant near the Rancho Park golf course. 

PREVEN REPORT--The LA City Ethics Commission audits the campaign finances of any candidate for city office who raises or spends more than $100,000 … why do the audits take so long? 

CORRUPTION WATCH-Los Angeles, the nation’s greatest city, is being poisoned by an amalgam of corrupt politicos, Wall Street, and a corrupt judiciary. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Steve Cooley, former three-term LA County District Attorney and co-author of just-released Blue Lives Matter: In the Line of Duty, is not commonly known as a former LAPD Reserve Officer.

A GUSS REPORT EXCLUSIVE--For the second consecutive time, notorious Los Angeles City Hall gadfly Wayne Spindler has defeated LA City Attorney Mike Feuer, as a federal judge ruled that Spindler did not threaten Herb Wesson, the LA City Council president, in an incident back on May 11, 2016. 

GELFAND’S WORLD--Sometimes I overreact. At least that's what various relatives have told me over the years. But on Saturday, I found that a room full of people agreed with me in being exasperated with our government representatives. The occasion was the monthly meeting of the LA Neighborhood Council Coalition (LANCC). The context was a preliminary report from the LA Department of Transportation (LADOT) and the city's planning department about an expected update to something called the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Ordinance. 

HOW GOLD IS THE GOLDEN STATE? --Twice each year, once in January and again in May, Gov. Jerry Brown warns Californians that the economic prosperity their state has enjoyed in recent years won’t last forever.

GELFAND’S WORLD--He sure knew how to deal with parking meters. The irritation of the parking control system here in Los Angeles is one issue that is worth talking about in a broader context. It provides a clear example of why obvious reforms are nearly impossible to execute if we leave them to the City Council and the mayor. However, there may be a way to fix things. 

CAL MATTERS--Let’s say you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company that’s under scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission for accounting irregularities.

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-On Saturday, December 2, City Watch readers are invited to attend the Resist Gentrification Action Summit. The conference, sponsored by Housing is a Human Right.org,  takes place at Audubon Junior High School, 4120-11^th Avenue, Los Angeles, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

CALIFORNIA-Why is housing in booming U.S. cities increasingly unaffordable to everyone but the wealthiest? In early September The New York Times published a provocative op-ed that answered this question from a market-oriented perspective. 

CAPITAL & MAIN REPORT--No crowds of outraged demonstrators descended on Capitol Hill chanting, “Cut Corporate Taxes! Cut Corporate Taxes!” And scathing nonpartisan analyses uniformly showed that the biggest cuts in the GOP tax plan go to the wealthy and to corporations, while many middle- and lower-income families will face increases.

BELL VIEW-I’m confused. I don’t know what to do anymore. I can’t keep up. For years, I’ve been advocating strategic thinking when it comes to elections. Hillary Clinton is better than Donald Trump – yes? Sure, she voted for the Iraq War. And sure, she was smart enough to know better. But she had a political future to think of. And – yeah – Bill Clinton had sex with an intern (an intern) when he was President of the United States – but he was so good at getting under the skin of Republicans, and, you know, winning elections. 

ALPERN AT LARGE--Today's a special day for me and my family:  after years of fighting for the Expo Line, I get to see my Overland Avenue Elementary School daughter and her whole grade walk to the local station at Westwood/Exposition to access the LA Museum of Natural History.  Ironically, those who fought the line (and prevented a rail bridge by demanding an underground line) are nowhere to be found. 

BCK FILE--I’ve written my past few columns about what seems to be a floodgate of sexual harassment victims and each week, a few more men seem to be added to the list that is already bursting at the seams. Although pundits and social media commenters try to paint this as a partisan or “Hollywood” issue, harassment occurs in every industry and town. 

PERSPECTIVE-As much as the California High Speed Rail Authority would like to hold its own version of the Golden Spike ceremony that marked the completion of the first transcontinental railroad, it is more likely to experience rusty nails driven into its already beleaguered and overly-optimistic business plan. 

CORRUPTION WATCH-What exactly is the “role of government?” Answer: to provide the context within which people can live their individual lives. Our government was established back when colonialists were victimized by the abuse of power exercised by England’s King George who was mentally unstable. As educated and wealthy men, American Revolutionary leaders recognized this fact and, accordingly, espoused some basic principles: 

POLITICS--Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, D-Pacoima, announced Monday that he would not seek re-election and immediately resign from his leadership position of Assembly Whip.

FROM A TRANSIT WAR CORRESPONDENT--It was the simple act of trying to watch on television the Division Playoffs and World Series games of the Los Angeles Dodgers. From a commercial during the games I was not expecting the assault on transit which was personal because I ride transit. 

@THE GUSS REPORT-With Governor Jerry Brown recently signing a law which will soon allow some California sex offenders to be free of the requirement of having to register for rest of their lives (an idea which may have some merit depending on circumstances) Angelenos are already at greater inherent risk if today’s column is any indication. 

TRUTHDIG--“If there is a silver lining to what is happening today, it’s that people really feel and see the urgency,” said Martha Arévalo, describing the grass-roots workers at the Central American Resource Center in Los Angeles who are trying to stop President Donald Trump’s assault on immigrants. “People who haven’t been involved say, ‘Wait a minute, we are fighting for our lives.’ “ (Photo above: United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez in 1975.)