Tag Archives: paul koretz

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

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

City Hall’s No. 1 Uncollected Bill: The Bill for Incompetence, Inefficiency & Indifference

Posted on October 5, 2010 by

Imagine you’re running a $4 billion-a-year enterprise that is spending $1 million every day more than it takes in and expects the loss to rise to $2 million and then $3 million a day in the next two years, what … Continue reading →

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

Howling in the Streets: Who Needs Libraries When We’ve Got Millions of Dogs and Cats

Posted on September 16, 2010 by

Isn’t it about time we paid a little attention to what’s going on in our city with a leadership that increasingly looks like it is drawn from the homeless mentally denizens of Skid Row? For a measly $10 million out … Continue reading →

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

Beutner Faces the Music: No Trust, No Transparency

Posted on May 4, 2010 by

In advance of Tuesday’s grilling by the full City Council, Austin Beutner and  his DWP management team faced questioning from the Budget and Finance Committee on its spending and rate hike plans. Smooth as always, Beutner outlined in general terms … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, DWP, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

City Hall: The LA Soap Opera

Posted on April 7, 2010 by

UPDATE: Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry Miller shot down the mayor’s plan to close most city government agencies two days a week starting Monday, saying he does not have the “unilateral” authority to carry out his threat. Council members said they … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, DWP, Hot Topics, LAUSD | Tagged , , , , , | 29 Comments

Who’s Killing Your Neighborhood? It’s Not a Mystery Anymore

Posted on October 23, 2009 by

For the last 18 months I tracked how the city dealt with the illegal conversion of a single-family home into a three-apartment tenement and wrote it as a 16-part mystery called “Whodunit: Who’s Killing My Neighborhood?” Now, I learn from … Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Community Activists, Hot Topics, Los Angeles | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Cutting City Officials’ Salaries in Half Doesn’t Go Far Enough…

Posted on September 10, 2009 by

I’ve suddenly got second thoughts about this initiative drive to cut the salaries of the Mayor, City Council, Controller and City Attorney in half — it doesn’t go far enough. They should all get the “living wage” they’re so proud … Continue reading →

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

The People’s Hero, Sally Choi: City’s Sweetheart Early Retirement Deal Blowing Up

Posted on August 4, 2009 by

In an extraordinary session two months too late, the City Council was thrown into turmoil Tuesday by facing the facts of the real costs of the sweetheart early retirement deal it offered to city unions. It took Sally Choi, general … Continue reading →

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