LOS ANGELES

GUEST WORDS--It is not impossible to tell how Hiram Johnson  … great American progressive and one-time California governor … would be keeping score on his Progressive Era reforms, and in particular the initiative process. He would clearly see some successes to set beside the shortcomings the Bee editorial board pointed out last week. 

GUEST COMMENTARY--Good intentions are great until they lead to unfavorable outcomes. Unfortunately, California’s state legislature’s good intentions may push Los Angeles residents into a tough spot. 

WORKERS TAKE A BREATH--Hoping to avoid a costly ballot fight, California lawmakers and labor unions on Saturday reportedly reached an agreement to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour gradually by 2023. 

GUEST WORDS--With some of the richest celebrities in the world — and thousands of people on the streets — Los Angeles is the definition of an economically divided city. 

DEEGAN ON LA-Have you ever heard of an “urban heat island?” Do you know how it affects our environment? Do you know how developers can use carbon management techniques to help offset the effects of the heat and carbon impacts generated by the tall vertical masses they want to build? 

NEIGHBORHOODS LA--Oh no, Los Angeles's most entertaining homeowners association seems like it might be getting its shit together. But at least it's going out in a blaze of restraining orders and nasty emails.

FOX ON POLITICS--Labor unions, legislative leaders and the governor came together on a minimum wage deal to presumably keep a minimum wage initiative off the ballot – presumably because there is more than one way to get on the ballot. More on that later.

TRANSIT POLITICS--Having just returned from Charleston, Savannah, and Atlanta for a weeklong family vacation, I can assure you that cities both small and large do what they can to encourage a local economy, encourage proper neighborhood preservation and densification, and create jobs and affordable housing.  

EDUCATION POLITICS-Every week for the last five years I have been contacted by what seems to be a never ending parade of targeted senior teachers. These are the professionals that are at the top of the salary scale who make up 93% of teachers being charged and subsequently removed from their careers at LAUSD.

THIS IS WHAT I KNOW--A Los Angeles neighborhood grassroots matching funds program may have opened the door to a second candidate landing in hot water. LA City Council Member Nury Martinez is under Federal investigation in connection with her 2015 reelection efforts.

RETIREMENT POLITICS--More than seven million people—over one-fifth of California’s population—work without a path to retirement. They have neither a 401(k) — the so-called “roller-coaster plan” tied to the stock market — nor a traditional pension that was once considered a worker’s right and which is now a rare species outside of government employment or the public education system.

BUSINESS WATCH--Recently, when my firm, Spectrum Location Solutions, completed a study that found about ten thousand companies left California in the last eight years, it hardly surprised leaders in the business community. 

REVITALIZATION POLITICS--In the early 13th century, a wealthy merchant’s son knelt before a crucifix in a small, crumbling chapel near Assisi, a village in Italy, and received a message from the Lord: “Go, Francis, and repair my house, which as you see is falling into ruin.”

INSIDER VIEW--After Target tried to construct a patently illegal store at the corner of Sunset and Western in Hollywood, the courts ordered Target to stop construction. 

Upset that it could not build a 75 foot store in a zone which limited the height to 35 feet, Target decided to continue the legal fight while changing the law so that its illegal building would be legal. 

EASTSIDER-I know it must seem like I beat up on the City of Santa Monica. I have to admit, though, it’s just so easy to do. But hey, it’s only fair to commend them when they get one right -- in this case, their recent June 2015 Home Sharing Ordinance. 

GUEST WORDS--Another week, another drone scare at LAX.  Last week, a drone came within 200 feet of a plane that was preparing to land.  Airports must do something now before a serious tragedy happens.   

JUST THE FACTS-This week we witnessed another horrifying terrorist attack on innocent people, this time at the Brussels airport and at a subway station in that city. The current victim count is 31 innocent people dead with 300 plus wounded. This brings to mind the previous terrorist attacks that have taken place in America and other parts of the world in recent years. Some are closer to home while others are across the sea in faraway places. 

BICYCLE REVOLUTION--The bicycle is proving itself as an instrument of gentle revolution, helping to change not just how cities are used, but how they are shaped. Bike lanes do more than facilitate low-impact travel; they enrichen businesses and create community where before there was only stress, noise, and smog. More and more people saddle up for city travel every day, often counting on smartphone apps to help them make sense of this new old way of moving. The revolution proceeds apace, and everyone, it seems, is joining in.

VOICES--For almost two years the looming skeleton structure (photo above) that was expected to be an operating TARGET store by the Holiday Season of 2014 might have to remain looming in place for a while longer.

NEIGHBORHOOD NIGHTMARES-From the Hills of Hollywood to the Malibu coast and even the Valley, pricey real estate has provided the backdrop for countless reality shows and some out-control parties, as well as a nice income stream for investors, including developer Danny Fitzgerald who owns a cluster of glass manses in the Hollywood Dell. 

PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Based on a debate I participated in over the Neighborhood Integrity Ordinance, it is clearer to me than ever before that Angelenos live in two parallel universes when it comes to their take of the frenzied waves of real estate speculation now rolling over the city.