Greig Smith

Los Angeles City Attorney Primary: Absentee Ballot Results Show Carmen Trutanich Well Behind Mike Feuer

Carmen Trutanich is well behind Mike Feuer in the early vote results for Los Angeles city attorney, with Feuer getting 41,248 votes or 40.6 percent and Trutanich 34,330 votes or 33.8 percent. Trailing well behind is Noel Weiss at 9,326 votes or 9 percent and Greg Smith at 16,751 or 16.5 percent. T ... More >>

Los Angeles City Attorney Primary Election Results: Mike Feuer and Carmen Trutanich to Face Each Other May 21

Mike Feuer appeared to widen his lead 43 percent to 32 percent over Carmen Trutanich for Los Angeles City Attorney, and the two now look good to face one another in the May 21 runoff. Wealthy litigator Greg Smith was far behind them with 16 percent. Environmental attorney Noel Weiss was in fourth pl ... More >>

L.A. Councilman Mitchell Englander Wants To Raise Campaign Finance Limits

Councilman Mitchell Englander​Mitchell Englander was just sworn in as the newest member of the L.A. City Council. To get there, he raised half a million dollars, $500 at a time.He doesn't want to relive that particular torment. One of his first orders of business as a councilman is raising the cit ... 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 >>

Mitch Englander vs. Brad Smith: Los Angeles City Council District 12 Election Results

Welcome Mitchell Englander to the City Hall fraternity​Update: A grand turnout of 19,819 District 12 residents cast their votes in the City Council election yesterday. All said and done, Englander stayed in the No. 1 spot with 57.76 percent of the vote, and Smith trailed at a distant but admir ... More >>

Measure H, Clean Money: Election Results

​L.A. is voting tonight to bar city contractors from donating to campaigns. Measure H is passing easily with 74% of the vote.From now on, bidders on city contracts and their executive-level employees will be banned from giving to candidates for city office. (They join registered lobbyists in that ... More >>

L.A. City Council Candidate Mitchell Englander, Heir To The Incumbent, Nears Half-Million Mark As Top Competitor Brad Smith Drops From Race

Mitch Englander For City CouncilSitting pretty in District 12​Update: The race is back on! District 12 Candidate Brad Smith says: "One week ago, we had to put this campaign on hold because of very real issues that anyone working in today's economy can identify with; today, those issues have be ... More >>

L.A. City Council Election 2011: Remaining Stragglers Turn In Candidacy Paperwork

LA Talk RadioFrank Sheftel, the guy who once carved chocolate statues in the likeness of Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley for their '90s wedding, now thinks he can run City District 4​The last of the L.A. City Council candidates have filed for the March 2011 municipal election. There are ... More >>

Rushed and Confused L.A. City Council

Library, weed, DWP measures aimed for ballot all get short shrift

L.A. City Councilman Greig Smith Overrides City's Arizona Boycott -- Again -- To Maintain Ties With Taser Company, Of All Things

City of Los AngelesCouncilman Greig Smith likes him an Arizona Taser​When L.A. City Councilmembers approved an economic boycott of Arizona back in May (a trendy move at the time, echoed by the likes of Lady Gaga and Rage Against the Machine), they must have thought themselves mighty noble in t ... More >>

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

Mayor mirrors Detroit's disastrous choice

Bike Wars: L.A. Neighborhood Councils Could Get Some Say In Bike Issues

Councilman Greig Smith​Damien Newton of LA Streetsblog has an interesting piece about a potential conflict between bike activists and neighborhood councils, though it may wind up in peace, love and harmony. Backstory: City Councilman Greig Smith, who represents district 12 in the Valley, has ... More >>

L.A. City Worker Deliberately Mows Over Lawn Chairs At Sepulveda Basin Dog Park

​A city maintenance worker deliberately mowed over about two dozen chairs at the Sepulveda Basin Dog Park last week, leaving behind a trail of plastic shards and broken parts according to the Daily News. The lawn chairs, which people brought over the years for public use, were said to be nuisa ... More >>

Do As The City Wants And Put In Drought Tolerant Plants, And Then Get Fined

Giga Granada Hills blogDrought resistant landscaping? Pay a fine.​ File this under: Your city government, not helping. (But with a nice ending.) Here's the story, as reported by the Giga Granada Hills blog. Several years ago the Department of Water and Power enacted an incentive program to ge ... More >>

L.A. Council Votes Unanimously 99.993% Of The Time

L.A. City Hall: beacon of unanimity​A rather startling stat from the Center for Governmental Studies report on money and politics in L.A.:In the first seven months of 2009, the council voted unanimously 99.993% of the time. Even considering that most votes are on uncontroversial matters, that's pr ... More >>

L.A. Council Puts Off Vote On Possible Arizona Boycott Buster

​The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday put off for one day a vote on whether or not to grant a red-light camera operator based in Scottsdale an exception to its economic boycott of Arizona travel and business. The council decided to delay the vote because a key member of the Public Safety ... More >>

Mayor Villaraigosa Praises Business For Not Leaving City, Proposes 'Tax Holiday' For Firms That Relocate To L.A.

​Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday praised a local business for not leaving L.A. and, at the same time, backed a proposed three-year "tax holiday" for out-of-town businesses that locate in the city. Nothing says your city leader is confident in its economy like a press conference touting a ... More >>

L.A. Councilman Wants To Let LAPD Officers Travel To Arizona For Conference

​Speaking of Los Angeles police officers who don't exactly disagree with Arizona's controversial immigration law, a city councilman is asking the City Hall to make an exception to its Arizona boycott and travel ban so that four Los Angeles Police Department helicoptor division employees can st ... More >>

Neighborhood Council Defies L.A. City Hall's Arizona Boycott

Photo by S.C. Asher via Flickr​When the Los Angeles City Council approved a boycott of Arizona travel and business last month, the vote was almost unanimous, with only Valley Councilman Greig Smith going against the group. Who could blame the body? With nearly one in two people in L.A. being L ... More >>

L.A. Councilman's No Vote On Arizona Boycott Explained

Councilman Greig Smith.​So, you're a municipal representative in a city where nearly one of every two people is Latino, and you had the sole "no" vote on a measure that would boycott Arizona over an immigration law most Latinos (seven out of 10) oppose? The law allows police to ask people the ... More >>

L.A. City Council Approves Arizona Boycott

​The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved an economic boycott of Arizona over the state's new immigration law that would allow police to ask people they stop for proof of legal immigration status. L.A.'s move, which only councilman Greig Smith opposed, would ban official city travel ... More >>

L.A. Council Wants Control Of Department Of Water And Power

​As the mayor's office continued to argue for the need for Department of Water and Power rate hikes, the City Council on Wednesday approved motions that would put council control of the department before voters. Councilman Greig Smith introduced the idea of a ballot initiative that, if appro ... More >>

Councilman Calls B.S. On Mayor Villaraigosa's Utility Hikes

Councilman Greig Smith.​In a rare rebuke of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa by a Los Angeles City Council member, Valley representative Greig Smith characterized the mayor's recent plan to raise Department of Water and Power rates by as much as 28.4 percent as a disingenuous rush job. In an open l ... More >>

In Face Of City Hall Budget Crisis, Everybody Goes To Washington

​You might have gotten the idea somewhere that the city's facing a historic budget crisis with 4,000 layoffs planned, departments closing, libraries cutting hours, less cops on the beat, and fire engine companies being furloughed. But someone has yet to inform the Los Angeles City Council that ... More >>

Black Lung Lofts

Many children being raised in L.A.'s hip, new freeway-adjacent housing are damaged for life

Facing Catastrophic Deficit, L.A. Council Actually Adds To Red Ink

​After seeing the Los Angeles City Council drag its feet for years over regulating medical marijuana dispensaries it should be no surprise that, when faced with the worse budget crisis any of the council members have ever seen, the body actually added to City Hall's red ink and put off any har ... More >>

Council Committee Recommends Cuts To Police, Fire Departments

​Getting down to serious business, the Los Angeles City Council's Budget and Finance Committee on Monday recommended that cuts be made to the police and fire department -- sacred cows in city budgeting -- as well as to council offices, including the mayor's. The city is operating $208.5 milli ... More >>

Many On Council Admit To Having Smoked Pot

​As the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday gave its final approval to a law that would shut down hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, several City Council members recalled their own relationships with the drug. KPCC (89.9 FM) reporter Frank Stoltze queried the representati ... More >>

Smith Waives Public Hearing, Trutanich's Pot Ordinance Moves to City Council

Los Angeles City Councilman Greig Smith, who chairs the council's Public Safety Committee, has waived a public hearing for L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich's draft ordinance on medical marijuana dispensary regulations. Smith hopes the matter will be heard before the full city council in early Nov ... More >>

Long Knives Slice Up Bratton

As it overspends by $1 million daily, the City Council goes after the departing chief

Jimmy On the Edge of Town

A Homeless Christian-Muslim From Palestine Pitches a Tent Behind Bed Bath & Beyond in Northridge. Then Come the Railroad Men and Feral Cat Activists.

Greig Smith Hits Back Over LAPD Hiring Freeze

Now it's getting interesting. Last Friday night, 12th District City Councilman Greig Smith released his own salvo over a proposal to freeze the hiring of LAPD officers during Los Angeles's budget crisis, claiming Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was engaging in "scare tactics and fear mongering." Office o ... More >>

L.A. Parking Meters: The New Corporate ATMs?

City News Service reports that, in its endless quest to resolve L.A.'s budget crisis, the City Council has approved half a million dollars to study the benefits of selling off six city-owned  garages and 41,000 parking meters. That's right -- in the near future, depending on where you park, you ... More >>

Pen Pushers Break Bank: Cash-Strapped L.A. City Hall Spends $1 Million on Calligraphy

Despite fiscal free fall, Villaraigosa and City Council spend public money on scrolls

Kaye Rebuffs Rumor

Nine days ago, PolitickerCA.com wondered aloud if former Daily News editor Ron Kaye, who had just left the Valley newspaper, would be running for city council in Greig Smith's district--Smith plans to vacate the seat after his term is over. Kaye would undoubtedly make for an interesting candidate, ... More >>

Rocky Delgadillo's Flameout

Once a rising star, the city attorney muffs it with endless screwups

First-Day Chatters

José and Herb can’t be bothered by the public on their inaugural day

No Life Without Sunshine

Antonio backs off a campaign promise to close hated Valley dump

DWP’s Salary Shock

Sweet contract proposal once again raises questions about who’s running L.A.’s public utility

Council Bliss

L.A. unites on gay marriage

Your City Council (Not) at Work

What keeps L.A.’s politicians from delivering on their progressive dreams

Deluged

The larger lessons of the DWP’s bad day at City Hall

In the Lap of Lobbyists

Monty Python and the Flipping Bird

The Sky is Falling

Gil's Calling. Who?

The Swinging Door

A new council, rich lobbyists and a sheriff who doesn’t want to leave

Labor Is Back

Ludlow’s victory revives dreams of L.A. movement

Still L.A. — With Regrets

The citywide implications of a Valley election

L.A. Weekly’s Choices