Monthly Archives: October 2008

Fingerpointing in LAPD’s Fingerprint Scandal Independent prosecutor needed to find truth about botched investigations

Posted on October 20, 2008 by

Innocent people arrested, jailed and even extradited. Rapists and other criminals walking the streets free to carry on their mayhem. Officials breast-beating and butt-covering with calls for public hearings and private investigations. Only in L.A. This is a town where … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | 7 Comments

Echo Park Named “One of America’s Great Neighborhoods” — So Why Would City Hall destroy it?

Posted on October 18, 2008 by

When I listened to Los Angeles Planning Department General Manager Gail Goldberg boast last week about how Echo Park was named “one of America’s 10 greatest neighborhoods,” I couldn’t help but laugh. The city has had little or nothing to … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Community Activists, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | 4 Comments

The Hills are on Fire: A first-person account

Posted on October 18, 2008 by

Editor’s Note: Two North Valley mobile home parks were engulfed by this week’s brush fires. At Sky Terrace Mobile Lodge, where residents already were under siege from a developer, dozens of homes were destroyed. Down the raod at Blue Star … Continue reading →

Posted in Community Activists, The Valley | 7 Comments

Unhappy with the direction L.A.’s going? Do something about it, run for office

Posted on October 18, 2008 by

Editor’s Note: The deadline to run for city office in the March primary is Nov. 8, just three weeks away. By Sandy Sand Correspondent From letters to the editor, comments on ronkayela.com and those that I read in the L.A.Times, … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Community Activists, Los Angeles | 7 Comments

Billboard Scandal: A Bill of Indictment

Posted on October 17, 2008 by

At the outset of the hearing Thursday on the city’s billboard policy, Planning Commission President Jane Usher took the audience through a PowerPoint presentation she put together on the history of how City Hall bungled the situation. It read like … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | 45 Comments

“The Wrath of the People Becomes the Voice of God”

Posted on October 16, 2008 by

That was the wisdom shared by City Planning Commission, Father Spencer Kezios, as he and his colleagues listened to one community activist after another express the “wrath of the people” Thursday over the giant electronic billboards going up all over … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Community Activists, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | 1 Comment

CalPERS bungles investments, loses $70 billion…where’s the outcry, where’s the press?

Posted on October 16, 2008 by

Here’s big news that somehow is below the radar of political outrage and press coverage: The massive state pension fund CalPERS is getting clobbered in the market to the tune of losses totaling $70 billion or more than 25 percent … Continue reading →

Posted in Hot Topics | 8 Comments

Meet Bill Delvac — top City Hall Lobbyist — and see how he combats community activists

Posted on October 15, 2008 by

The issues were preservation of Griffith Park and the Southwest Museum and both sides sent advocates to the City Council on Wednesday to help make their cases. It provided the chance to what a contrast there is between how the … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, LAUSD | 9 Comments

Let the sun shine in on DWP’s dirty little solar deal

Posted on October 15, 2008 by

Here’s your civics lesson for today: You don’t elect city officials in L.A.; DWP union boss Brian D’Arcy appoints them so they do his bidding and send you the bill. It’s worked that way for so long that when D’Arcy … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Hot Topics, Los Angeles, Solar Energy | 7 Comments

Horse Lovers: How the “Family” of Owners and Volunteers Came Together When the Fires Erupted

Posted on October 14, 2008 by

You see it all the time in L.A. despite the sprawl and fragmented civic culture: Neighborhoods, communities of interest, social networks come together and achieve something greater than themselves. In the last 48 hours, the people who own horses, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Community Activists, Los Angeles | 1 Comment