Greig Smith

Wendy Greuel's Inside Game

The controller's union ties could be her biggest advantage in the race for L.A. mayor — or her biggest liability

Devin Petelski's Death in Crash With LAPD Prompted $5 Million City Settlement: Cops Appeared to Lie

The case of Devin Petelski vs. the LAPD came to a quiet end last year. The 25-year-old was killed when her BMW was T-boned by an LAPD cruiser on Venice Boulevard on the night Oct. 15, 2009. Her family sued the department, alleging that the officer behind the wheel was speeding with no emergency lig ... More >>

March 8 L.A. Ballot Measures

New city taxes and modest reform of pensions and campaign finance

LA Daily News, Los Angeles Times Endorse Non-Incumbents in District 4 City Council Race

Neon TommyCity Council challengers Stephen Box (left) and Tomas O'Grady (right) at a debate​We can't remember the last time both big L.A. dailies endorsed a non-incumbent with relatively light campaign funding in one of the City Council races -- and, even more unusually, the District 4 endorse ... More >>

Fight for Council District 12

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

Art-House Blues

The Bikeroots

City Council candidate Stephen Box and L.A. bicyclists roll into the halls of power

L.A. City Council Spends Thousands of Your Money on Top Restaurants, Clubs Hotels (Even for a 'Personal Fiesta')

Tony Cardenas​Despite the budget crunch of the last few years, some L.A. City Council members have been ... let's say liberal with your tax dollars when it comes to restaurant and hotel spending. (And remember, these are the highest-paid elected city officials in the nation). San Fernando Val ... More >>

City of L.A. Still Investing Over $1 Million in 200-Car Executive Fleet

Destination 360Hey -- if we're gonna sit in traffic, might as well do it on city dime​LA Daily News columnist Kerry Cananaugh keeps it short and sweet today with a ball-busting column on those 200-plus "car crazy" city employees who just can't bring themselves to give up their city-funded ride ... More >>

L.A. City Council Bums

Entrenched and ridiculed, they line up for a March 8 "coronation"

Eight L.A. City Councilmembers Give Up Potential Control Of DWP -- Bowing To Mayor Villaraigosa, Powerful DWP Union

City Councilman Paul Krekorian changed his position on DWP power play since last week​Updated throughout. Originally posted at 2:34 p.m. Jesus, guys -- we thought the vote would at least be close. Then again, we should have known. Caving to a long history of bullish pressure from the Departm ... More >>

Reform At Corrupt L.A. Department Of Water And Power Takes Another Step Backward, With Help Of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

PHOTO BY TED SOQUIThe mayor is in Chicago today -- a fitting host for his Chicago politics​Updated after the jump: Will there be enough council strength to override the mayor's veto next Wednesday? Originally posted on Dec. 8 at 12:30 p.m. Given the amount of time and talk devoted to the Los ... More >>

L.A. May Say Good-bye to EIRs and public notice

City Council tries to upend Community Plans and zoning protection

DWP Oversight Office Watered Down, Barely Moved Toward Ballot After L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti And Seven Other Councilmembers Crumble To DWP Intimidation

Could that be the DWP in Garcetti's ear?​Yes, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is as bad as you've heard. 1) Its overpaid suits proposed unwarranted 28-percent rate hikes on residents last spring while guarding a $73.5 million surplus like territorial dogs. 2) They only show up t ... More >>

The Worst Legislator in California

San Fernando Valley Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes takes Sacramento bill-peddling to a new low

Antonio Villaraigosa and L.A. City Council, Badly Slimed for Airhead Library Cuts, Get a Solution -- They'll Probably Ignore

Ted SoquiDemonstrators at a recent rally where budget cuts to the L.A. Public Library system were denounced​Almost certainly prompted by queries from L.A. Weekly as it gathered info for its blockbuster story "City of Airheads," council members Tom LaBonge and Janice Hahn are asking for a dela ... More >>

Ratepayer Advocate For L.A. 'Water And Power' Customers One Step Closer To Reality

​Nearly half of the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday expressed support for putting a measure on the March ballot that would ask voters to create Department of Water and Power ratepayer advocate. The move comes in the wake of the council's tug of war with the powerful DWP over transparency, ... More >>

LAPD Cancels Plans To Send Officers To Arizona

​The Los Angeles Police Department this week quietly canceled longstanding plans to send four officers to a training conference in Tucson next month, apparently in deference to the City Council's economic and travel boycott of Arizona, according to the union that represents L.A. police. The Lo ... More >>

Lieutenant Governor of Paper Clips

Janice Hahn, a product of the L.A. City Council, hopes to be a heartbeat away from governor of California

Was The City Council Hoodwinked In Approving Permanent Electricity Rate Hike?

​It appeared as if the battle between the Los Angeles City Council and the Department of Water and Power over proposed electricity rate hikes came to an end last week when the DWP commission authorized a council vote to increase rates by nearly five percent for the quarter starting July 1. Th ... More >>

Big Job Openings, Record Pay, At L.A. City Hall

Ron Kaye, former editor of the Daily News.​At $178,789 a year, they're some of the highest paid elected city officials in the nation, and seven openings are coming up. San Fernando Valley political activist Ron Kaye is looking for a few good men and women to fill those gigs and he's promising ... More >>

City Hall's 2010 DWP Debacle

How Beutner, Carr, Carson, D'Arcy, Freeman, Greuel, Raj, Santana, Szabo, Villaraigosa & Co. pushed L.A. to the cliff edge

'City Hall Seven' Gets Slammed For Refusing Salary Cuts

Councilman Bill Rosendahl says I'm not going to try it -- you try it.​In this time of severe economic hardship for the city, when 4,000 workers are slated to lose jobs, potholes go unfilled, and fewer cops roam the streets, you would think that Los Angeles City Council members are doing their ... More >>

LAPD Audit: Bratton's fiscal mess

New chief Charlie Beck releases a report showing broad mismanagement

L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti Flip-flops on Medical Weed?

Has Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti flip-flopped on medical weed shops?It was only a few weeks ago, on November 6, that Garcetti, now a leading voice in the debate over a medical marijuana ordinance, told L.A. Weekly that he thought medical marijuana stores don't "need to be everywh ... More >>

Trutanich Probes Pot Backer Duncan

Having done little homework, the City Council prepares to approve a medical pot law

L.A.'s Medical-Weed Wars

How the potheads outwitted Antonio Villaraigosa and the L.A. City Council

Cirque Du DWP

Nahai gets $82K via immaculate conception as Freeman tries not to step in it

Is L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich Screwing Over a Little Guy?

Ever since his arrival as the new Los Angeles City Attorney this summer, Carmen Trutanich has loved to come across as a man of the people.L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich​Trutanich has sparred with the L.A. City Council to the delight of many community activists; he has also personally held a t ... More >>

On Jimmy on the Edge, Funk Spirit and the Nuclear Family

Update: Naser 'Jimmy' Nasralla Finds A Lawyer

Naser Nasralla, the homeless man known as "Jimmy" who lives in a tent near a stretch of railroad tracks in Northridge, woke up this Monday after only a few hours sleep. As usual, he fed the stray, abandoned cats in his neighborhood until the early morning. But now Jimmy needed to take care of himsel ... More >>

Claiming Poverty, L.A. City Council Tries to Defund Its Critics

But then drops its threat to slash the 90 neighborhood councils

L.A. City Council Clings to Stunning Perks and Pay

They can't bear to give up those record-high $178,898 salaries

Bill Rosendahl Unexpectedly Votes for LAPD Hiring Freeze

Over the course of Bill Rosendahl's run as L.A.'s 11th District councilman, he has been called a lot of things by friends and foes alike: eccentric, opportunistic, someone who knows the issues and gets the job done. Few people have ever considered calling the politician courageous, but as a member o ... More >>

Measure B: Tweet Against the Machine

How L.A. City Hall power was struck down by blogs and online social networks

Eli Broad's Grand Avenue Follies

Mecca for the monied can't get a loan, but is likely to get City Council's nod

Billboards Gone Wild: 4,000 Illegal Billboards Choke L.A.'s Neighborhoods

Is City Hall corrupt, or just inept?

Better Than Phone Tax

Villaraigosa makes a Lazarus play to keep alive a pricey, illegal tax on residents

Payout for Dog Food Prank?

Rumors swirl that Delgadillo’s office will settle with firefighter Tennie Pierce

The Last Egg Man

Defending his poultry farm, Ken Arno faces off against the Valley’s king of rezoning

Gravy Train

A line forms as City Council confronts the $2.7 million dog-food debacle

New Egos and Agendas

The battles ahead for the City Council

A Private Chick

City controller can’t shake off last week’s political games over her secret memo

Out of the Darkness

Some city leaders call for DWP to shed light on secret settlements. . . some don’t

The Sputtering Riordan Machine

Remaking L.A. from the outside in

This Rocky Can Handle a Punch

Turning to a Newspaperman for Ethics

And assorted other City Council maneuvers

Parks and Recreation

Endorsements

Our recommendations in the March 4 Los Angeles municipal election