LOS ANGELES

PLANNING WATCH - Lately my in-box has included emails from local community activists dealing with “progressives” who won recent Neighborhood Council elections. 

COMMENTARY - We all have needs that have to be fulfilled, first to survive and then to achieve some degree of that ephemeral state known as happiness.

VIEW FROM HERE - Homeowners vote!   There is a no more consistent voter than a homeowner.  Is it wise for Newsom to attack homeownership? 

RANTZ & RAVEZ- Which one are you a member of: the American Independent Party, Democratic Party, Green Party, Libertarian Party, Peace and Freedom Party, Republican Party?

CALIFORNIA RECALL-With around 90% of the signatures for the Newsom Recall belonging to Republicans, it is safe to say this is a Republican recall.

ERIC PREVEN'S NOTEBOOK -  Capri Maddox is leading a racial equity audit and plans to address barriers among a range of disenfranchised...not the least of whom are African Americans.    

SENIOR POLITICS - I am 72 years of age. I have lived in California most of my life. And I am urging every California senior to vote NO on the recall of Governor Gavin Newsom.

EASTSIDER - It is always challenging when a highly placed Union official also sits on a third-party pension plan. Who are they representing?

Blackwater founder Erik Prince on Wednesday faced fresh accusations of being a war profiteer in response to reporting that he's charging $6,500 per person for a seat on an evacuation flight out of Kabul.

ERIC PREVEN’S NOTEBOOK - Handing out cold water bottles is the one thing people all agree is an important component to Outreach to the homeless.

WIEW FROM HERE - Candidate Biden was centrist when he said during the campaign that the election was about “Your family,” meaning that it was not GOP or Dem, it was not Black or White, it was not the Coasts vs the Heartland. 

COMMENTARY-I have a dilemma. How can we ensure we don’t get the worst of the worst if the recall passes?

COMMENTARY - WIMBY’s (“Wall St. In My Back-Yard,” a term which was coined by Zev Yaroslavsky and Jill Stewart in TPR), density fetishists, urban supremacists, and assorted anti-housing pluralism ideologues of all stripes are increasingly sensitive about how their crusade against single-family neighborhoods almost reflexively paints them as Wall Street and developer shills. 

COMMENTARY-Washington Post released an opinion piece slamming Larry Elder’s position on minimum wage, citing 2016 poll numbers and calling $7.25 federal minimum wage “paltry.”

DEEGAN ON LA - (Number 6 in a series about Councilperson Nithya Raman (CD4).) Councilmember Nithya Raman (CD4) is not ready to “press play” on clearing out homeless encampments.

CA HOUSING POLICIES-California had a huge and growing housing problem before COVID-19 reared its ugly head 18 months ago, falling well short each year of state construction goals. 

THE DOCTOR IS IN - After dozens of executive orders from newly-elected President Joe Biden, it was obvious that he tried to reverse history and "de-Trumpify" the federal government. 

COVID WATCH - New York City was first. It was on Aug. 3 that the city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, announced that people wishing to dine indoors at a restaurant, go to a gym, catch a concert or take in a Broadway show would need to show proof of at least one dose of COVID vaccination first.

COVID WATCH - Even as pediatric COVID-19 cases have risen dramatically across the country, the Los Angeles Unified School District has decided not to disclose to some parents that students in their children’s classrooms have tested positive for the disease.

TODAY'S POLITICS - Some pundits and politicians are hailing the Senate’s approval of a bipartisan infrastructure bill — with all 50 Democrats and 19 Republicans voting in support — as evidence that bipartisanship is possible and that there’s no need to scuttle the filibuster rule that requires 60 votes to pass any legislation.

THE DOCTOR IS IN - While there is a great deal of confusion and mixed messaging (and NO, Dr. Fauci or President Biden, you've not been the best communicator to the American People with respect to a clear approach to dealing with the COVID-19 virus), the need for vaccination and booster shots to COVID-19 has never been more clear.