Government and Politics

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Wants Occupy L.A. Gone By Monday

​Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants Occupy L.A. to decamp by next Monday, according to notes of a meeting between the mayor's office and Occupy protesters.The mayor's office and the protesters are trying to work out an agreement. But those negotiations took a big step backward today, following discl ... More >>

Mark Cuban, Would-be Dodgers Owner, Says Idea of Higher Corporate Taxes Hindering Hiring is 'Nonsense'

Mark Cuban.​Mark Cuban, one of the billionaires named as a possible Dodgers' bidder (he has said the price was too high), is spoiling the trickle-down tax-break arguments of Republican lawmakers again. The Dallas Mavericks owner had previously sided with billionaire Warren Buffet in declaring ... More >>

Jan Perry Quits as L.A.'s Council President Pro Tem After Backroom Deals Leave Her in The Cold

Jan Perry.​Strange. Jan Perry has had no trouble with the backroom planning leading up to the L.A. City Council's rubber-spine stance on a proposed stadium that would be plopped down onto taxpayer property. She's as gung-ho as they come, even if the process has been less than transparent. But ... More >>

Skid Row vs. Gensler

Who should get $1 million in poverty funds, the rich or the poor?

For Vernon Mayor Hilario Gonzales, Pay Cut Makes Retirement More Enticing

Hilario "Larry" Gonzales​Vernon Mayor Hilario Gonzales may have resigned Monday because he got tired of defending the city from corruption charges. But he also had "economic reasons" for leaving City Hall, according to John Van de Kamp, the city's ethics adviser.The Vernon council members recently ... More >>

L.A. County Federation Of Labor To Require Democratic Politicians to Clean Toilets And Change Bedpans

​The L.A. County Federation of Labor can make or break a politician's career. The Fed's endorsement brings an army of precinct walkers and door knockers, which can turn the tide in a local race. But now that endorsement is becoming harder to get. Under new requirements rolled out at Fed headquarte ... More >>

Occupy L.A.: City Council Resolution Supports Anti-Wall Street Protesters, Lets Them Keep Sleeping on Front Lawn

Council District 11 via TwitterCouncilman Bill Rosendahl bonds with the many characters of Occupy L.A.​L.A. City Councilmembers Richard Alarcon and Bill Rosendahl introduced a resolution to support the Occupy L.A. movement today -- a gesture that would essentially attach the City of Los Angele ... More >>

Will Stop SB 48 Get Anti-Gay History Initiative on 2012 Ballot?

​"Stop SB 48," the group that wants to repeal a state law that allows California students to learn about important people in history who were gay, claimed in an email to supporters yesterday afternoon that its petition drive for a ballot measure will be successful. "The signed petitions are ... More >>

Brenda Barnette's Animal Services Mishaps

Do unproven groups and extremist Pamelyn Ferdin have City Hall's ear?

Governor Brown Lifts Ban on Infused Alcohol

Caroline on CrackMartini made with Earl Grey-infused gin​ Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 32 into law yesterday, granting California bartenders the right to infuse spirits and wine products with foods, herbs, and spices, and to serve the infusions to customers in-house. The State Assembly deliv ... More >>

SLDN's Aubrey Sarvis Talks About Repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and HBO Documentary

​Today, September 20, the repeal of the ban of gays and lesbians serving in the military, also known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," goes into full effect, with celebrations happening across the country, including in West Hollywood. HBO will also air the documentary The Strange History of Don't ... More >>

Beverly Hills to Gift Floundering City of Bell $10K in Restructuring Advice

Beverly Hills City Manager Jeff Kolin feels bad for Bell.​Cities don't come more opposite than Bell and Beverly Hills. The former is 90 percent Latino, with an average household income of $30,000 per year. Its city government is drowning in an impossible pile of debt, and residents are still ... More >>

Eric Garcetti Makes It Official: He's Running For Mayor

Eric Garcetti​Update 3:14 p.m.: Zev Yaroslavsky will jump in "sooner rather than later."Councilman Eric Garcetti announced this morning that he's running for mayor.Garcetti's entry into the race has been expected for months, and the chatter had been picking up lately that he would announce soon af ... More >>

Farmers Field or Blade Runner Stadium?

The downtown NFL arena deal allows a sea of billboards, congestion and millions in public costs

Buy Spray Paint in L.A., Give Your Address And ID For a Possible Police File Under Councilman Dennis Zine's Anti-Graffiti Proposal

Krylon​Updated at the bottom with reaction from the ACLU, which says this might not survive a constitutional challenge (what with freedom of speech and all). First posted at 2:35 p.m. Dennis Zine is the L.A. City Councilman who successfully got Aaron Brothers to back off its graffiti-themed b ... More >>

Toothless Arizona Boycott

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 >>

L.A. City Councilmember Jose Huizar Has Missed Half His Meetings This Summer

No one plays hooky like Jose Huizar.​Leave it to Ron Kaye, former editor of the LA Daily News (til' he got too crazy -- read: too Valley -- for that shit), to comb through the L.A. City Council's abysmal attendance records for the last couple months, callin' out councilmembers on their devil-m ... More >>

NFL Stadium Hearing at L.A. City Hall Draws Hundreds of Football, AEG Lovers; Answers Few Questions

AEG​When LA Weekly reporter David Futch showed up at L.A. City Hall this morning for a hearing on Anschutz Entertainment Group's proposed L.A. football stadium, he thought he was in for just another L.A. City Council meeting. What Futch failed to realize is that, when one attends a meeting on ... More >>

Capitol Resource Institute Gets Okay To Gather Signatures for Anti-Gay History Ballot Measure

​The Capitol Resource Institute (CRI) has been given the okay from the state of California to start a petition drive for a ballot measure that will seek to repeal a state law that ensures the contributions of gays and lesbians are mentioned in school textbooks, reports Frontiers news editor K ... More >>

Stop SB 48 Campaign Seeks to Repeal California's Gay History Law

​Gay Californians and their straight allies may soon have to fight off another ballot measure. Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a state bill into law that ensures that the contributions of gays and gay rights are included in school textbooks. A group called Stop SB 48 now wants to repeal ... More >>

Venetian Casino in Las Vegas Sues Tea Party Group for Skipping Out on $600K Bill

​Fiscal responsibility. It is the mantra of the Tea Party. One of its "core values." So it is of particular interest that the Venetian Casino Resort in Las Vegas has just sued a Tea Party group for allegedly ducking out on a more than $600,000 tab.

Beverly Hills Versus the Westside Subway

Richard Nixon's War on Drugs: Happy Anniversary! Candlelight Vigil Marks the Occasion

Richard Nixon checks out a package of marijuana​As part of Richard Nixon's farewell to the press and the nation, he famously said, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore." But tody, June 17 - the 40th anniversary of Nixon officially declaring a "war on drugs" - is a special exception. Fo ... More >>

Red-Light Cameras: L.A. City Council Split on Whether to Nix 32 Expensive, Unpopular Ticket Traps

Illustration by Kyle T. Webster$500 richer?​The red-light rebels of L.A. were all kinds of thrilled yesterday to learn that the LAPD's Board of Police Commissioners had voted 5-0 to tear down incriminating cameras placed at 32 of the city's busiest intersections, just waiting for a careless ca ... More >>

City of Vernon in Fight to Death With Assembly Speaker John Perez

Lies Abound About Why Senate Bill 18, to Limit and Ban Gifts to California Legislators, Was Killed by those Legislators

madashelland.comCalifornia legislators were awash in lies as they killed another gift-giving reform.​Remember the names Kevin de Leon, Fran Pavley, Curren Price and Ted Lieu among California legislators who helped kill Senate Bill 18, which would have banned their sleazy acceptance of luxury g ... More >>

Un-Gerrymandering Los Angeles

Get ready for the brawl of cutting Southern California in pieces, on paper

Charlie Beck, L.A. Police Chief, Required to Cut $40 Million to Balance Budget, But Given No Guidance

Kyle T. Websteroops ​Today L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will receive amendments made by the City Council to his 2011-12 proposed City budget. The big issue is more than $40 million that Villaraigosa had wanted to borrow on commercial paper. That debt plan has now been trashed, and the bur ... More >>

Equality California Seeking Relevance With Prospect of Pro-Gay Marriage Ballot Measure?

​And so Equality California leaders came to West Hollywood yesterday, holding one of their town hall meetings to understand if ordinary gays and lesbians in California want to go back to the voting booth with a pro-gay marriage ballot measure in 2012. There are many critics of such an expens ... More >>

L.A. City Council Claims to Have Solved Budget Shortfall -- But Their $7B 'Plan' Tiptoes Around Unions, Makes No Real Plans at All

Council Prez. Eric Garcetti: game face.​This morning, the LA Daily News and Daily Breeze throw around the word "realistic" in their wire-service headlines on the City Council's 2011-12 budget, approved last night. How horribly misleading. The piece begins with an eerie quote from City Council ... More >>

Eric Garceitti, City Council President, Yet to Take Action For Budget Transparency

Kyle T. Webster​L.A. Mayor Antonio Villlaraigosa's proposed 2011-12 City budget is anything but transparent, as illustrated in L.A. Weekly's Broke and Broken. Even the simple basics -- the number and cost of his own staff -- are calculated with smoke and mirrors. Today City Council will begi ... More >>

Roland Palencia, New Equality California Executive Director, Repeats Old Excuses for Proposition 8 Loss

Debra EvansEQCA Executive Director Roland Palencia​On Monday, Roland Palencia was named the new executive director of Equality California, the statewide gay rights group. He is replacing Geoff Kors, who built the organization into a political powerhouse while also playing a major role in the ... More >>

Mayor Villaraigosa's Plan to Borrow $50 Million on Commercial Paper Dumped, Neighborhood Councils On Axing Block, What Else? JUST IN

Kyle T. Webster​Less than 60 minutes ago Jay Handal received a "courtesy call." Handal chairs a committee for the 93 neighborhood councils called the Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates. "Basically they are gutting and shutting down the neighborhood council system," Handal says. L.A. May ... More >>

Los Angeles: Broke and Broken

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

Does Million Trees L.A. Honcho Lisa Sarno Think Her Job Is To Help People Make Friends?

Villaraigosa aide Lisa Sarno, middle, receives an award.​It seems we struck a nerve at the Los Angeles Mayor's Office the other day when we wrote about Antonio Villaraigosa's long-suffering Million Trees LA project. The much-publicized program kicked off in 2006, and few people, if any, know ... More >>

Arizona Border Fence: In Effort to Attract Internet Donors, State Senator Russell Pearce Spews False Immigrant Crime Statistics

Senator Russell Pearce​Annnd... Arizona's anti-immigration campaign hurtles still further into red-state ridiculousness. This morning, Governor Jan Brewer announced her latest, greatest battle plan in the war against illegal border-crossers: collect Internet donations to build a massive fence ... More >>

Yi Qing Chen, L.A. County Resident, Gets 25 Years For Agreeing to Import Shoulder-Fired Missiles From China to U.S.

Feds say Yi Qing Chen agreed to import these from China.​We admire Angeleno Yi Qing Chen for the breadth of his criminal appetite. If you're going to be an outlaw douche, you mind as well own it. Feds say the 49-year-old from Rosemead just got handed 25 years behind bars for trying to smugg ... More >>

LA's Budget Problem: More Like City Employee Bonus Problem

Do you smell something? ​L.A. City Council member Bill Rosendahl calls it "gold in the gutter." L.A. watchdog Ron Kaye likens it more aptly to "pennies in the gutter." They are talking about what is actually changeable in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's proposed 2011-12 budget. 85 percent of the ... More >>

Laying Odds on Mayoral Race

2013 Los Angeles Mayor Race: Who Has the Best Chance of Replacing Antonio Villaraigosa?

Who will replace this guy, Antonio Villaraigosa, as the next mayor of L.A.?​Update: Link to L.A. Weeklyexclusive on who the experts say will be the next mayor. Believe it or not, someone wants to be the next mayor of Los Angeles in 2013, when Antonio Villaraigosa will be termed out of office ... More >>

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 >>

With Cultural War Brewing in West Hollywood, Will Mayor John Duran Shake Up Status Quo?

Ted SoquiWest Hollywood Mayor John Duran​Will John Duran, who was installed last night as the new mayor of West Hollywood, shake up the status quo with the help of recently elected City Councilman John D'Amico? That's the big question in West Hollywood political circles these days -- in 2010 ... More >>

Huge Subsidy for Stadium Architect

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

How Lobbyist John Ek Gets His Way at City Hall

Barack Obama is Definitely Not a Socialist, Says Joseph Kishore, National Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party

Joseph Kishore, an actual socialist.​Socialism returned to the United States in an odd way three years ago when pundits took to the airwaves to scream about gulags and breadlines, but the talking heads never actually explained what Socialism as a political ideology stood for. What better way t ... 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 >>

Tax Day Blues: Super Rich Pay Low Tax Rate; Some, Like the Dodgers' McCourts, Don't Pay at All

Frank McCourt is poorer than you (on paper).​Ah, tax day. Don't let the complicated line items and nonsensical deductions get you down. That's all gravy compared to this fact: Nearly half of U.S. households don't even pay income taxes. And the super rich are paying less than they did a few y ... More >>

Austin Beutner Retires From The Mayor's Office To Make Way For 2013 Run

Austin Beutner​After a little more than a year in government, private equity baron Austin Beutner has resigned from the office of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a move that frees him up to campaign for his boss's job in 2013.Beutner also filed paperwork today with the city Ethics Commission that will ... More >>

Ali Saleh Chosen as Bell's Next Mayor as City Turns New Leaf Following Salary Scandal

Ali Saleh.​We told you he was going for the gig, and he got it. On Monday night Bell's new City Council elected Ali Saleh as mayor. In a town that's overwhelmingly Latino, with allegations of corruption levied at former officials who were white and Latino, the newcomers installed a real outs ... More >>