In the News
The Great Mass Transit Disaster Waiting in the Wings
Religions operate in a similar manner. They direct your attention in one direction so that you completely miss something else that is extremely important: they are looting our pocketbooks. Wild animals that lurk in hallways by elevators is…
Time to Get Off the Train
BELL VIEW-When I was just a kid, I liked Ronald Reagan. He seemed upbeat, competent, presidential. He had a sense of humor. Then, during th…
Fake News: My Very Own Focus Group
MY TURN-Continuing my quest to identify and combat fake news has become almost an obsession. I have spent hours tracking down a ton of fake…
Garcetti Keeping the Lid on LA’s $1.2 Billion Homeless-Reduction Bond Measure
THE PREVEN REPORT--In a July 17 CityWatch piece, we cited the following response given by Mayor Eric Garcetti to a question about how he ma…
If LA is ‘No Kill,’ What’s with the Dead and Disappearing Dogs and Cats?
@THE GUSS REPORT-My neighbors took in four tiny foster kittens last week because the LA Animal Services shelter nearest us said that they w…
It Will Take More than Promises to Repair the PUC’s Tarnished Image
CAL MATTERS--The California Public Utilities Commission must, by its nature, straddle the fine line between providing consumers with depend…
Preservation Playbook – Could ‘Hollywood Heritage’ Become an Oxymoron?
DEEGAN ON LA-What do we remember…and why? That’s an intriguing question. How important are concepts like legacy and heritage? Why is #TBT (…
Subsidized Granny Flats: LA Testing New Approach to Fighting Homelessness
California's budding YIMBY movement is up for a real test. Under a new pilot program approved last week, Los Angeles County homeowners are…
The Cost of Silence: How a Wealthy LA Democratic Donor Muted an Entire Political Party
REVEALED--The silence from LA’s Democratic community on the recent death of a 26-year-old Black gay male escort in the West Hollywood apart…
The Usual Anti-Transit Suspects: Still Wrong ... But Not ALL Wrong
GETTING THERE FROM HERE--As outlined in my last CityWatch article, the problems facing Angelenos and other Californians are mainly local/st…
Trump Screwed Up Democracy, Silicon Valley Will Finish the Job
NEW GEOGRAPHY--When Democrats made their post-election populist “Better Deal” pitch, they took a strong stance against pharmaceutical and f…
All Thoughts Not Golden … There is LA Angst Over the Olympics
CAPITAL & MAIN REPORT--For Mayor Eric Garcetti and the rest of the bid committee working to bring the Summer Olympics back to Southern…
Congress of Neighborhoods Needs to Tackle the BIG Issues
JUST ASKIN’-Once a year, volunteers from LA’s neighborhood council system get together and orchestrate an NC "Congress."
Could the Uptick in California Crime Make It a Political Football Again?
CAL MATTERS-In the main, issues that dominate any session of the California Legislature reflect what the public and news media consider at…
Free Speech and the Right to Assemble: No Need for a ‘Mother May I’ Permit
EASTSIDER-Coming out of the free speech/anti-war movement of Berkeley in the 60’s, I hoped that we, as a society, had already tested the bo…
How to Deal with the World’s First Troll-Based Presidency
BELL VIEW-What is a troll? I’ve been accused of being one myself – although I never thought I fit the profile. In fact, it took me forever…
Is California Hiding the Truth about Our Mentally Ill
GETTING THE FACTS-Recently there was a story on local NPR affiliate KPCC about how the homeless population, which disproportionately suffer…
Is LA for Sale? Mayor Solicits Millions for His Favored Causes
KPCC SPECIAL REPORT--Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti — a longtime critic of big money in local politics — has set a surprising city record…
Los Angeles: Who Has the Right to Live in the City?
GUEST WORDS—In 1950 my parents and grandmother were able to afford to buy a duplex for us to live in for $11,000 a mile north of the LaBrea…
Spay and Neuter War Heads to Local Dog Parks
NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS-There is a war going on in Long Beach, a war fought in the most unlikely of places: the dog park. It can be seen in t…
