Monthly Archives: October 2010

UPDATED: Demand for a Criminal Investigation of the CRA Deal for 1601 N. Vine St.

Posted on October 21, 2010 by

UPDATE: LA Weekly’s Jill Stewart picked up on this item and wrote that to call for an investigation, the “mini-Politburo — 15 Los Angeles City Council members … would have to vote to sic (City Attorney) Trutanich on themselves. God, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 30 Comments

Trutanich Cracks Down on Massive Health Insurance Fraud Scheme

Posted on October 20, 2010 by

After a long investigation, LA City Attorney Carmen Trutanich filed charges Wednesday against three affiliated health insurance companies controlled by investment bankers Goldman Sachs and the Blackstone accusing them of fraud. The criminal branch filing accuses the firms of engaging … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, LA Clean Sweep | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

How Good Works Turn into Dirty Deals at City Hall

Posted on October 20, 2010 by

Back in July, Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood ran a nice little item about how Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pulled off a coup and got Warner Bros. to screen nine popular kids’ films in 24 city parks as part of his “Summer … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Community Activists, Hot Topics, LAUSD, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Squelching the Voices of the People

Posted on October 19, 2010 by

BY POPULAR DEMAND Dennis Zine and Paul Koretz teamed up Friday to squelch Zuma Dogg and Matt Dowd from raising questions about allowing indicted felon Richard ALarcon to allocate discretionary funds from his Council account. Then Tom LaBonge proposed cutting … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall | Tagged , , , , , , , | 38 Comments

City Pension Crisis: Business-Civic Leaders Demand Total Reform

Posted on October 19, 2010 by

Suddenly — years after the runaway cost of public employee pensions became apparent to one and all — the mayor and City Council leadership have decided to do something about the havoc their policies have caused. On Monday, Mayor Antonio … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Community Activists, DWP, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

L.A. at the Tipping Point — The Choice Is Yours

Posted on October 18, 2010 by

Few places on Earth needs to worry more about the impact of global warming than Los Angeles. If we lose this climate, we won’t have a lot left. The big banks and big stores have all left town or closed … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Community Activists, Development/CRA, DWP, Hot Topics, LA Clean Sweep, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

The $500,000 Job Nobody Wants and Nobody Can Do: DWP General Manager

Posted on October 15, 2010 by

You can trace the decline and fall of the nation’s largest municipal utility, our very own Department of Water and Power, back to October 1996 when the City Council in it all too finite wisdom vetoed a 10 percent raise … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, DWP, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , , , | 22 Comments

City Council vs. DWP — and the Unspeakable Name of Austin Beutner

Posted on October 14, 2010 by

Like the name of God that must remain unspoken, Austin Beutner’s name never was uttered during the lengthy City Council debate Wednesday on why the Department of Water and Power’s Board of Commissioners unilaterally cut the utility’ss ties to the … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, DWP, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , | 15 Comments

The War Is Over! Greuel and Trutanich Make Peace on Worker Comp… Sort of

Posted on October 13, 2010 by

If only the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would end with the same whimpers and face-saving statements as the war between the City Controller and City Attorney did on Wednesday. Controller Wendy Greuel released her audit of how the City … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Welfare for Billionaires: AEG Wants $1 Billion in Your Money to Bring the NFL to Downtown LA

Posted on October 13, 2010 by

“This is simple. If the private sector is going to step in and spend a billion — and we’re going to have to do that,  that’s only way it’s going to happen — then shouldn’t we as a community spend … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Development/CRA, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments