Community Redevelopment Agency

Why Did the L.A. Times Endorse Felipe 'Worst Legislator in California' Fuentes For L.A. City Council?

One of the most troubling endorsement's this campaign season came from the Los Angeles Times when the paper recently backed former state Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, also known as the "Worst Legislator in California." He's running for the L.A. City Council District 7 seat in the northeast San Fernand ... More >>

Buckley School, Sherman Oaks Campus for Super Rich Kids, Granted $40M Charity Loan by L.A. City Hall

Of all disintegrating LAUSD campuses that need a tax-exempt loan to build new facilities, the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks for isn't even in the top 700. This place attracts the richest of the rich. It's like Candyland meets Secret Garden meets Enchanted Forest: Buckley describes itself as "a bea ... More >>

MOCA Fires Paul Schimmel, Chief Curator: Is This Part of Eli Broad's Downtown Takeover?

Update: MOCA has completed its transformation to trendster heaven by contracting the studio of L.A. street-art celeb Shepard Fairey to do all major design work. Details below. Local arts blogger Mat Gleason broke the game-changing news last night that Paul Schimmel, chief curator at the Los Angeles ... More >>

CicLAvia Rules! How Bicyclists Made L.A. a Better Place

Sunset Gordon, Eric Garcetti's High-rise Pet Project, Slated to Break Ground in Hollywood Next Week

The latest chapter in a six-year Hollywood development saga starts next week when money-bags real estate conglomerate CIM Group will reportedly break ground on a controversial project that has already eaten up millions of dollars of city money in a protracted legal fight with perturbed neighbors. ... More >>

Million-Dollar City Yacht Is Really More of a Boat, Insists L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Awww! L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says the darndest things when he's caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Dogged CBS LA investigator David Goldstein asked the mayor why, so deep in a budget hole, the city is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain a million-dollar touring yacht ... More >>

L.A. Redistricting: Eric Garcetti's District 13 Looks Like an Evil Squirrel

Simone Wilson​While gazing at the recently proposed boundaries for L.A.'s 15 voting districts -- which is clearly what we like to do in our spare time -- we realized that the gerrymandered City Council District 13 is the spitting image of an evil squirrel. And so begins our (badly Photoshoppe ... More >>

Academy Awards at Theater With No Name? Kodak, Seeking Bankruptcy Protection, Wants Out

Rajiv Patel​This year's Academy Awards are loaded with controversy, and they haven't even been handed out yet. Brett Ratner pulled out of producing the show after uttering anti-gay slur. Then onetime friend-of-the-tranny Eddie Murphy followed him out the door (irony?). Now it looks like The H ... More >>

Party Review: 'Drop Dead CRA Day' at City Hall

Out with a bang.​Today is a very special day. Today is the day that all 400 redevelopment agencies (RDAs) across California -- including the massive L.A. Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) -- are shut down for good. And all the property taxes they've been raking in, for buildings within are ... More >>

'Drop Dead CRA Day' Will Celebrate L.A. Community Redevelopment Agency's Demise (With Special Kool-Aid)

A pack of veteran L.A. City Hall gadflies will have a little fun, this Wednesday, with Governor Jerry Brown's big bloody butchering of California's redevelopment agencies (RDAs) -- and the notorious L.A. Community Redevelopment Agency, in particular. Miki Jackson (No. 1 enemy of the slimy Community ... More >>

Villaraigosa's SOTU Response for U.S. Conference of Mayors: We Interpret for You

L.A.'s own Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave the official response to President Obama's State of the Union address last night for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Mayor V. is the president of the group. (And we know he didn't use his sizable staff of taxpayer-funded public relations advisers to write t ... More >>

Marriott Hotels to Be Erected Across From L.A. Live -- and Subsidized by Taxpayers

The new Courtyard and Residence Inns (right) will sit directly across from two more Marriott hotels.​A double Marriott hotel project that will occupy the lot across from L.A. Live just got a huge boost from you, the Los Angeles taxpayer. You have the L.A. City Council -- and downtown Councilw ... More >>

Air Pollution Monitors Could Come to L.A. Freeways

By Taylor Freitas For Southern Californians living near freeways, in what we at LA Weekly call "Black Lung Lofts," breathing in dirty air has been a concern for years, and it's one that's been neglected by Los Angeles and federal officials. The highly publicized Children's Health Study, released b ... More >>

Should Hollywood Be Skyscrapers?

L.A. developers seek yet another Century City

Redevelopment Agencies Across California, Including L.A. CRA, Abolished: Governor Jerry Brown Victorious

The struggle between hundreds of California redevelopment agencies and Governor Jerry Brown, who bashed them for stealing millions from schools and essential services, is over. The governor wins this round, with flying colors. Not only did a California Supreme Court judge rule, this morning, that ... More >>

LAPD Mistakes Hyde Park Library Cleanup for 'Occupy' Protest, Orders Youth Group to Disperse

Maegan Ortiz via Lockerz"Youth Justice Coalition meeting across fence since LAPD separated them."​What should have been a warm 'n' fuzzy cleanup of the abandoned Hyde Park Library in South L.A. this morning went awry when responding LAPD officers reportedly mistook the Youth Justice Coalition ... More >>

NFL Stadium Along L.A. River a Better Idea Than Farmers Field-Convention Center Proposal?

AEGAn artist's rendering of Farmers Field.​LA Neighbors United, the group founded by City Controller hopeful Cary Brazeman, suggests in a letter to top city officials this week that alternatives to the downtown NFL stadium proposal have not at all been taken seriously. The group wonders aloud ... More >>

Hollywood Is About to Become a Sea of Skyscrapers: Here's Your Last Chance to Fight L.A. City Hall's 'Community Plan'

LA CurbedTwo towering 'scrapers adjacent to Capitol Records will only be the beginning.​Tomorrow morning, at the ungodly hour of 8:30 a.m., the L.A. Planning Commission will vote on a new "community plan" for Hollywood that could change our city as we know it. It's not as glamorous, PR-friend ... More >>

L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa Puts Occupy L.A. Price Tag at Over $1 Million; City Spent More Than That on Michael Jackson Memorial

One of the most common criticisms of Occupy L.A. and its two-month stint at City Hall is the massive amount of city resources it's been sucking up to sustain itself. Policing. Litigation. Cleanup. More policing. Refurbishing the pathetic remains of what used to be a lovely front lawn. L.A. Mayor An ... More >>

San Pedro's Ugly-Tank Cleanup is Finally a Reality: 136 Westway Tanks Will be Demolished at Port of Los Angeles

Good bye to these hideous Westway tanks in San Pedro​Way, way good news for folks in San Pedro living within breathable proximity of the abandoned, Westway tank farm, which the Port of L.A. will finally demolish. Locals hope that dirty industry on this fill-dirt pier will give way to beautific ... More >>

Eli Broad, L.A. Elite, Offers $250K Prize to Charter Schools That Serve Low-Income Kids

New YorkerEli Broad, lover of L.A. art and equality in education.​Opponents of the burgeoning charter-school industry like to paint it as a corporate wolf in "reform" clothing -- stealing money from struggling district-run schools while receiving an even steadier cash flow from billionaires. ... More >>

Mid City Blight Created by 70-foot Wall; Councilman Wesson Denies Any Problems

Ted SoquiMid City residents' beautiful view of a concrete wall​A few months ago Mars Melnicoff chronicled the on-going saga surrounding the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) created blight of a Lowes Home Improvement Center in Mid City. The newly erected 70-foot south wall of th ... More >>

L.A. City Hall Offers Gensler, Wealthy SaMo Architect, $1 Million in Community Grants to Move East

Funny how L.A. City Councilmembers are acting all sympathetic toward the 99 percent camping on their front lawn -- then making sweet deals with millionaire companies so the well-off don't have to pay a dime. When as far as we can tell, that's pretty much exactly the type of behavior Occupy is spitti ... More >>

Broad Museum Construction Cam: Watch L.A. Blow $52M on Billionaire's Parking Garage, in Real Time!

Slow is beautiful.​GOD, you must be wondering. WHY CAN'T THE BROAD MUSEUM BE DONE ALREADY, so I can get my FREAKING INTELLECT ON? Well, young connoisseur of finer things, we regret to inform you that construction on Eli Broad's much-anticipated downtown palace won't be completed until an unfo ... More >>

Bogus Bike Plan

CIM Group's Bitter Lesson to Mid-City

Neighborhoods must sue L.A. City Hall to avert Lowe's-like disasters

[VIDEO] Goats Devour Downtown L.A.

YouTubeHide your dying grasses​One of the best things about living in Los Angeles, as opposed to that other black hole of concrete and emissions: Goats. If you don't know what we're talking about, you chose the wrong neighbors. But there's hope for you yet -- a herd of baying, devouring goatki ... More >>

Why Brown Gave Redevelopers a Haircut

Hollywood Faces a Heroin Summer

A promising Kenyan-American dies amidst a risky Hollywood club scene

Lowe's Home Improvement Fiasco

A ruined working-class neighborhood in Mid-City demands answers

Los Angeles CRA Creates Blight

California Redevelopment Agencies' Demise

California Redevelopment Agencies Forced to Share Millions With Low-Income Schools?

Hollywood High, movie-star hotspot gone crazy ghetto, might finally get some glory back​Updated after the jump: Redevelopment honchos aren't going to take this sitting down. Budget-butchering California Governor Jerry Brown watched angrily the last few months as the state's rogue redevelopmen ... More >>

Speaker John Pérez, Cousin of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Denounces Nepotism in Vernon

John Perez says no to nepotism​Speaker John Pérez is taking a strong stand against nepotism.Yes, you read that right. The cousin of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has decided that it's a bad thing for people in power to get jobs for their relatives. Can't have that. Well, at least not in Vernon.This ... More >>

Angelino Heights Victorian Enclave Saved by Murray Burns: How a Los Angeles Resident Saved an Entire, Amazing Neighborhood

Murry Burns and Planaria Price were the subject of a People Issue KNBCMurray Burns and Planaria Price, urban pioneers​profile by Los Angeles Weekly four years ago, and now they've landed on NBC talking about how Burns led a private effort that rehabbed and saved the most extensive enclave of V ... More >>

Eli Broad Gets $52 Million of Your Money For Parking Garage: Thanks, L.A. City Council

An artist's rendering of the Broad Museum.​We told you it was happening, and now it has. The cash-strapped city of L.A., which is having trouble hiring cops and keeping fire stations manned, is officially giving billionaire El Broad $52 million for a parking lot. You heard it right. The L.A. ... More >>

Hollywood Alley Will Go From Public Urinal to Bustling Party Walkway

Google MapsThe Hollwood alley, at bottom.​After news of the weekend's sexual assault on a young woman in Hollywood parking lot, we're not sure the community needs a dark alley closed off to traffic. But at a groundbreaking at the Cahuenga Cooridor alley, perhaps best known for its role as a d ... More >>

Huge Subsidy for Stadium Architect

Villaraigosa quietly plans to hand Gensler $1 million meant for the poor

Rich Developer's Wilshire-Vermont Towers Need $17 Million of Your Money

J.H. SnyderAn artist's vision of the towers.​Who wants $17.5 million in public money? Why we all do, of course. But we're going to guess that the people who gave $100,000 to L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's pet causes, including his last school board committee, will be in line way ahead of u ... More >>

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's 2011 'State of the City' Message: Rip Up the Teacher Union Contract if You Want School Reform

zap2itMayor Antonio Villaraigosa is a father with several grandchildren.​Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gets major credit for two seldom-seen qualities tonight in his 2011 State of the City address: 1) He's got an attention span, focused on LAUSD's awful schools -- which constitute the ... More >>

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Failed Green Revolution: City Cuts Losses, Sells Clean Tech 'Cornerstone'

sci-arcThe mayor in October 2010, with Clean Tech architect hopefuls​Throughout his campaign, his rocky term and his innumerable trips to Washington, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has sold himself as Mother Nature's closest ally. His devotion to expanding freeway-mangled Southern Cal ... More >>

L.A. CRA Scandal Outdoes Itself: City Council Calls Special Meeting to Steal $1 Billion From State on Election Day, After Weeks of Stalling

Jerry Brown is coming, and L.A. won't go down gracefully.​Update: The City Council votes to shield about $1 billion from Governor Jerry Brown after Councilman Paul Krekorian begs them not to, revealing the City Council only got their huge, complex reports yesterday. See jump. The Los Angeles Com ... More >>

John Chiang Audit Hammers California Redevelopment Agencies: Millions of Dollars Gone from Affordable Housing Funds

Is this California's definition of "blight" if the neighbors are too sick or too fat?​Update: The Los Angeles City Council is deciding today whether to hide $1 billion in redevelopment cash from Governor Jerry Brown. Few overweight or sickly Californians ever knew that the Los Angeles City Co ... More >>

Villaraigosa screws Jerry Brown: Los Angeles redevelopment honchos had '48 hours of panic' while devising poison pill to shelter $1 billion.

Ron Kaye snags the secret CRA documents.​Read the blow-by-blow here about the possibly illegal doings by the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency in January, as it went into panic mode to squirrel away $1 billion that Gov. Jerry Brown says must be shifted from subsidizing rich L.A. devel ... More >>

Tomas O'Grady, District 4 City Council Challenger Calls Shuttering Libraries "Biggest Scam"

L.A. CurbedOn Tom LaBonge's watch: the $875 thou median known as Vermont Triangle Park ​Tomas O'Grady, the L.A. Times endorsed City Council District 4 challenger, told LA Weekly that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council's decision to shutter L.A. Libraries two days a week "was the bigg ... More >>

California Redevelopment Goes to Wall Street: L.A. Mayor Begs Governor Brown for Mercy, County Supervisor Calls It 'Loan Sharking'

Pretty please, Governor?​Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is intent on saving the L.A. Community Redevelopment Agency -- no matter what it takes. The mayor's latest plea to Governor Jerry Brown (who plans to ax the state's redevelopment agencies unless he's presented with a satisfactory ... More >>

California Governor Jerry Brown's Plan to Abolish Redevelopment Agencies: 1601 Vine Street in Los Angeles is Exhibit A

City Hall ​Los Angeles City Hall watchdog Jack Humpreville is making the case that Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to wipe out Community Redevelopment Agencies has an "Exhibit A" in the dubious money pit at 1601 Vine Street. City activists uncovered a hidden appraisal that shows the CRA overpaid by $1.4 ... More >>

Fight for Council District 12

Valley citizens try to crack open L.A. City Hall

Love-Hate Relationship on the South Lawn: Choir of L.A. City Workers to Present Mayor With Loaded Valentine

sumthinblue.comCity Hall and L.A. employees: Their love wasn't strong enough for furloughs​Don't be fooled: The bestowing of red jumbo Valentine cards by L.A. city workers upon L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his City Councilmembers this February 14 outside City Hall (that is, if any of t ... More >>