Government Spending

Voters Favor Strict Limits on Marijuana Dispensaries

Most of you want to limit the number of marijuana dispensaries in town to 135 or less. So says a USC Sol Price School of Public Policy/Los Angeles Times poll of 500 likely voters conducted last week and released over the weekend. That means that you're probably favoring the City Hall-sponsored Mea ... More >>

A SNAP Iron Chef Challenge in Santa Monica

To show how meals with fresh food can be made on a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) budget, chefs Nyesha Arrington of Wilshire Restaurant and Stefano de Lorenzo of La Botte will be facing off tomorrow, April 27, at The Gourmandise School in Santa Monica Iron Chef-style. Arrington and ... More >>

Council President Herb Wesson Taps Mickey Kantor To Study L.A.'s Budget Woes

In the wake of the failure of a half-cent sales tax increase, L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson has recruited Mickey Kantor, the former U.S. Commerce Secretary, to head up a commission to examine L.A.'s troubled finances.Kantor is putting together a group of business and labor leaders to study ... More >>

Proposition A Los Angeles Sales Tax Election Results: Voters Rejecting Tax Hike by Eight Points

Update, Wednesday morning: In a huge embarrassment for City Council President Herb Wesson and the City Hall establishment, voters resoundingly rejected the citywide sales tax hike, 55.17 percent to 44.82 percent. See details on next page. With additional reporting by Jill Stewart. Update, 12:40 PM: ... More >>

Proposition A Los Angeles Sales Tax: Absentee Ballot Results Show Villaraigosa's Latest Tax Hike Losing By Ten Points

See: L.A. Sales Tax Hike: Will $211 Million Increase Fix City's Problems? The early absentee ballots are in, and while it's still early on, it's begining to look like your taxes are not going up. With around six percent of votes counted, Proposition A is losing by ten points, 45 to 55 percent. Th ... More >>

Proposition A Sales Tax Increase Will Slam Los Angeles Poor, Profs and Students Say at Protest

Please also read Proposition A Sales Tax Increase: Do People Trust the L.A. City Council? By David Stamp Los Angeles City College poli-sci teacher Salvador Sanchez says "Nobody has time for this but we have to do it" -- it being to ask L.A. voters to defeat Prop. A, a tax increase on the March 5 b ... More >>

Proposition A Los Angeles Sales Tax: Is This Another City Hall Scam?

Read L.A. Weekly's news story "L.A. Sales Tax Hike: Will $211 Million Increase Fix City's Problems?" Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council president Herb Wesson say they need to raise the city's sales tax by one-half percent to close a looming $216 million budget deficit, but can ... More >>

Eric Garcetti Bills Himself As A "Practical Problem Solver" In First TV Ad

Wendy Greuel had the airwaves to herself for two full weeks -- but no longer. Her chief rival in the race for L.A. mayor, Councilman Eric Garcetti, launched his own TV ad today, highlighting his record as a "practical problem solver" with "proven results." (Video after the jump.)The ad continue ... More >>

UCLA Anderson Forecast Predicts Massive Economic Okayness

You've been waiting since 2007 for the economy to really turn a corner and this (re) election has you excited that the go-go days of Bill Clinton are about to return to America. You bought a new car, took your girl to have a nice meal at Chez Douche, and you're pondering a purchase of some of that ... More >>

Antonio Villaraigosa Joins Committee to Fix the Debt, Completing Plutocratic Conversion

Update below: Online petition calls for mayor to resign from Fix the Debt. Villaraigosa responds.Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has joined the Committee to Fix the Debt, thus completing his transformation from firebrand Chicano organizer to servant of the plutocracy.Fix the Debt wants lawmakers to addre ... More >>

Proposition 39 Absentee Ballot Results: Voters Torn Over $550 Million Yearly for Green Projects, Higher Tax on Business

Update: Prop. 39 surged ahead as precincts began reporting from around California. See next page for more. Early returns show California voters almost evenly split on Proposition 39, which the fiar-minded, non-partisan California Legislative Analyst's Office says could pour up to $1 billion into st ... More >>

Proposition 30 Jerry Brown Tax Hike: Absentee Ballots and Early Returns Show Voter Opposition of 51 Percent

Governor Jerry Brown's Proposition 30 is not faring well, with the secretary of state web site showing that voters oppose the initiative by 51 percent. Forty-eight percent of voters support Prop. 30. For weeks, polls showed that support among likely voters for the tax-hike initiative had steadily d ... More >>

Propositions 30 and 38: Field Poll Says Support Has Dropped For Tax Measures

The Field Poll released its latest report on Thursday, and it's looking bad for both Governor Jerry Brown's Proposition 30 and civil rights attorney Molly Munger's Proposition 38 -- especially Prop. 38. With less than a week until Election Day on Nov. 6, according to the Field Poll, likely voters s ... More >>

Proposition 38 Campaign: Pasadena Unified's Ed Honowitz Warns California Schools Could Fall Off 'Fiscal Cliff'

Pasadena Unified School District board member Ed Honowitz, who, like many other California public education officials, has been dealing with drastic state budget cuts, warns that if voters don't pass Proposition 30 or Proposition 38, California schools could fall off a "fiscal cliff." "Failure of b ... More >>

California Immigrants Do the Jobs You Don't Want to

There's been a lot misinformation about immigrants going around on Facebook, fact sheets with completely inaccurate figures ("More than 43% of food stamps are given to illegals") designed, essentially, to feed the anti-Latino diet of racists. Immigration is a hot topic this election season, especia ... More >>

Jerry Brown Takes to YouTube to Announce $16 Billion Deficit: Revised Budget Today

Updated at the bottom with Brown's slash-and-burn budget. First posted at 6:06 a.m. Gray Davis? Arnold Schwarzenegger? Jerry Brown II? It's deja vu all over again. Brown took to YouTube over the weekend to deliver the bad news that the state deficit has hit $16 billion, far greater than the $9 or ... More >>

Ecstasy Emblazoned With Obama's Likeness Found in California And 14 Other States

Springtime brings party season back to Southern California, the rave capital of the nation. But what's that on your tongue? Obama, you say? Be careful. Obama, as any Republican will tell you, might not be all that he claims to be. Consider:

Jerry Brown Says $1 Billion in Emergency State Cuts Required: Universities, Colleges Targeted

JB.​All those Occupy and ReFund California protesters pissed off over the rising cost of college in California could find a new reason to be mad today. Gov. Jerry Brown announced that the state budget would have to undergo an additional $1 billion in cuts after tax revenues didn't meet rosy p ... More >>

Anchor Baby Benefits in L.A. Cost Taxpayers $54 Million in June: County Leader Mike Antonovich is Pissed at Price of Illegals

Antonovich.​L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich is continuing his campaign against illegal aliens, announcing that undocumented families that have so-called American-citizen anchor babies cost area taxpayers $54 million in welfare benefits in June alone. He says the projected cost of such ... More >>

Matt Fong, Former California Treasurer And Longtime Angeleno, Dies at 57

Matt Fong.​Updated at the bottom with reaction from L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich. Matt Fong, a longtime Angeleno and onetime U.S. Senate hopeful, has died, according to the Sacramento Bee. Fong's mother is beloved Democrat March Fong Eu, who was elected California's Secretary of St ... More >>

California Sales Tax Set to Go Down 1 Percentage Point This Summer: L.A. City Could See 8.75 Percent Rate

​California's massive budget deficit has shrunk by more than a third -- to Tom Cruise-size, about $10 billion -- thanks to unexpected income tax revenues. But the taxpayer giveth and she also taketh away. A 1 percentage point sales tax increase that went into effect in 2009 is set to expire ... More >>

L.A. City Councilman Dennis Zine, in Final Moments Before Budget Passage: What About Cutting $150 Million in City-Worker Bonuses?

WikipediaExcuse the councilman's Dr. Evilness; he's got your money in mind.​City Councilman Dennis Zine got 99 problems, but a blind eye to L.A.'s extravagant set of city-worker privileges ain't one. His op-ed in the LA Daily News this morning calls out his fellow politicians for gutting cruci ... More >>

Los Angeles: Broke and Broken

City Council clueless about vast, hidden costs in Villaraigosa's $6.9 billion budget

Antonio Villaraigosa's 2011-2012 Budget Debate Starts Today: Can the Mayor Stop City Hall's Overspending of $52,168 an Hour?

Firing the budget proposal debate: fire safety cuts​Last week, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced his proposed 2011-12 budget, designed to stop City Hall from overspending by $1.25 million per day, or $52,168 per hour. Next, the L.A. City Council must tell Villaraigosa thumbs up or ... More >>

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's 2011 Budget: Nobody Fired, But 1000s of City Workers, Mainly LAPD, Must Choose Between Furloughs or Blows to Benefits

LAPD-City Hall relations are about to get a lot hairier​The city budget is here! The city budget is here! (Much like the Royal Wedding. Almost.) It's not the finalized budget for 2011-2012 -- many grueling meetings separate us from that glorious summer day -- but we have before us the mayor' ... More >>

Japan's Crisis Will Hit L.A.'s Pocketbook: City Prepared to See Fewer Tourists, Less Trade

L.A.'s Little Tokyo.​What's bad for Japan is bad for L.A. And while we can't belittle the pain and suffering of that nation, we can say that its triple disaster (earthquake, tsunami, nuclear crisis) will put a dent in our own economy. That's because Japan is the Port of Los Angeles' number-tw ... 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 >>

L.A.'s Library Measure L

There's lots of hidden City Hall fat to fuel the 73 shuttered libraries

LAPD vs. Libraries: Cops Oppose Library Funding Measure, Fearing Cuts to Police Budget

Protesters oppose cuts to library funding outside the Central Library last year​The union that represents LAPD officers came out strongly today against Measure L, an item on the March 8 ballot that would set aside funding for the Los Angeles Public Library system.In a statement, Los Angeles Police ... More >>

Welcome To 2011: Worst Potholes Ever, Los Angeles?

The year of the pothole: 2011​Are these the worst potholes in Los Angeles in modern times? We had the second wettest December on record (leading to some pretty deep craters), the city budget is on thin ice (leading some to wonder who will fill the holes), and friends are starting to post photo ... More >>

Whose Dole Is It, Anyway?

City of Airheads: Villaraigosa Dismantles L.A.'s Vaunted Library System

Mayor mirrors Detroit's disastrous choice

Tom Campbell Aims For Barbara Boxer's Senate Seat

​Former Congressman Tom Campbell announced in Los Angeles Thursday that he's pulling out of a crowded Republican slate in California's gubernatorial race to challenge Democrat Barbara Boxer for her U.S. Senate seat. "I initially made the decision to run for governor because I believe that my ... More >>

Congressional Report Suggests L.A. Sting Against ACORN Crossed Legal Line

ACORN.​A Congressional Research Service report into the controversial voter-registration work of nonprofit group ACORN -- which has long been a target of conservatives -- suggests that a right-wing video sting against local ACORN offices and those elsewhere could have been illegal. The sting ... More >>

Villaraigosa Lofts a Hail Mary at Transit Projects

​​Perhaps to remind us that he can attract media attention simply by suggesting pie-in-the-sky ideas, Mayor Villaraigosa yesterday and today made headlines by declaring that he will do in 10 years what everyone says will take 30. That is, he vowed to fast-track several rail projects throughout L ... More >>

L.A. Loses Out on Federal Money for Water and Power Improvements

DWP's downtown headquarters​Only two cities in L.A. County will receive a portion of the White House's $3.4 billion stimulus funding for energy efficiency programs. Los Angeles is not one of them. Burbank and Glendale will each get $20 million in federal funding to help them develop "smart grid" p ... More >>

L.A.'s Homeleand Security Spending Spree

In 2004 the L.A. Weekly examined the free-spending ways of the Department of Homeland Security, calling DHS largesse to academia and local law enforcement agencies "a 21st-century New Deal for the military-industrial complex." Now, on the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a report is ... More >>

L.A.: Where's Our Stimulus Money?

If Los Angeles was thinking Christmas in July as far as stimulus money is concerned, it's got another think coming. Today Bay Area communities from Vallejo to Hayward are celebrating the windfalls their police departments are receiving -- nearly $71 million that will, among other things, add or reta ... More >>

U.S. Grant to Speed Cops' DNA Logjam

Cal State L.A. announced today it will receive a $1 million federal grant to help clear the backlog of DNA samples that have been stored for pending rape cases. That's a bit of good news following Sheriff Lee Baca's recent declaration that the budget crunch will force his department to halt the head ... More >>

Villaraigosa Skips Town . . . Again

It's no secret that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa lives the life of a jet-setter. Last summer, for example, he took 10 trips in 10 weeks to New York City, Chicago, Hawaii, England, San Francisco, Israel and more. But not everyone knows that when Villaraigosa is away all that time, someone e ... More >>

By the Numbers

A Statistical Guide to Rental Los Angeles

Condom Wars

New guidelines gut HIV prevention — and endanger young people’s lives

University of Fear

How the Department of Homeland Security is becoming a big man on campus

Almost Aboard

Eastside L.A. ponders its transit future

The Pretender

Illegitimate and ill at ease, George W. Bush begins what looks to be a retro presidency

Bill and Al's Excellent Adventure

How Bill Bradley Learned to be a Principled Liberal, but not how to Campaign, and how Al Gore Learned to be a Terrific Campaigner, while Trashing his Party's Historic Principles.

Tuned In, Turned On and Locked Out

KPFA struggle recalls ’60s, but this time lefties are fighting each other

Weld Wars

Lincoln loses control over study to prevent collapse of skyscrapers

AIDS housing agency can't spend fast enough

L.A. School Officials Dodge State Auditors

Millions in federal dollars diverted to salaries