Tag Archives: paul koretz

Sign of the Times: City Set to Authorize $40 Million in Tax-Free Bonds for Exclusive Buckley School in Sherman Oaks

Posted on June 25, 2012 by

Leave it to Tom LaBonge and Paul Koretz to step up to the plate on behalf of the exclusive Buckley School in Sherman Oaks to provide the city’s authority so it can borrow $40 million in tax exempt bonds to … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Hot Topics, LAUSD, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Pulling the Plug on Public Access to Save $20,967 — What Are You Going to Do About It?

Posted on June 19, 2012 by

Back in 2003 when Mitch Englander was his chief of staff, Councilman Greig Smith, with support from Janice Hahn, proposed creating a network of video conferencing stations with fax machines and computers available for ordinary citizens to communicate with City … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Community Activists, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , | 21 Comments

Director’s Commentary on the ‘Temple of Democracy’

Posted on October 16, 2011 by

EDITOR’S NOTE: It was self-indulgent but I thought the movie I made from Friday’s City Council session which featured a long debate that depended on what the meaning of the word ‘local’ is — the city or the county — … Continue reading →

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

Watch This Movie — Write Your Own Script

Posted on October 15, 2011 by

I will publish my script on Sunday.

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

AEG’s NFL Stadium: What’s In It For You and Me?

Posted on June 28, 2011 by

“Los Angeles has lost something. It no longer fields the kind of seasoned political leadership that inspires confidence. That’s a loss far greater than a football team.” The ink was hardly dry on those words of LA Times columnist Jim … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Community Activists, Hot Topics, Los Angeles, NFL Stadium | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Rate Payer Advocate at DWP: A Stark Example of Why City Hall Cannot Reform Itself

Posted on June 13, 2011 by

Three months after voters approved setting up a Ratepayer Advocate and independent watchdog agency on the Department of Water and Power, the City Council got around to taking the first tentative steps needed to bring it to life. The meeting … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, DWP, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

W(Rec)k and Parks, The Movie: Starring Barry “Commercial Signs Aren’t Advertising” Sanders

Posted on April 29, 2011 by

Rec and Parks Commission President Barry Sanders insisted to the City Council’s Budget Committee Thursday that plastering every surface in city parks with commercial messages isn’t advertising — it’s “recognition” that they love LA so  much they want to donate … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

A Blueprint for Holding City Council Members Accountable to the Community

Posted on March 2, 2011 by

Hooray for Marcia Selz and the CD5 Coalition for showing community groups how to pin down their City Council member and hold them accountable. They conducted a survey of leaders of the 36 homeowner groups in the coalition on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Killing Solar Energy Hopes for LA — The Battle to Reform the DWP

Posted on November 12, 2010 by

The problem seriously ignorant people like Tom LaBonge often have is they think everyone is as uninformed and ill-informed as they are and that no one is smart enough to understand what they’re really saying in their torrent of mostly … Continue reading →

Posted in Community Activists, DWP, Hot Topics, Los Angeles, Solar Energy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

In City Hall’s Animal Farm, One Pig Is More Equal Than All the Others

Posted on October 26, 2010 by

It was a thing of beauty watching the City Council cower and weasel in the face of union bully Brian D’Arcy and a room filled with his IBEW Local 18.  At issue was whether new hires by the Department of … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, DWP, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , | 19 Comments