Jack Humphreville

Garcetti and Greuel's Worst Days in Power

Setting aside promises, how have they behaved?

Gray Davis, David Fleming Defend "LA 20/20" to Criticism the Group is Light on High-Tech, Hollywood or Entrepreneurs

Is LA 20/20, the high-powered committee that includes former Gov. Gray Davis and was selected by former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Mickey Kantor and multimillionaire Austin Beutner to find ways to bring economic health to L.A., a bit light on entrepreneurs and others who can create jobs? Jack Hump ... 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 >>

Jack Humphreville Fights Lone-Wolf Campaign Against City Hall Power Brokers and Los Angeles' Proposition A Sale Tax Measure

Read L.A. Weekly's news story on Proposition A: "L.A. Sales Tax Hike: Will $211 Million Increase Fix City's Problems?" While nearly all of L.A.'s political establishment -- Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Council President Herb Wesson, and deep-pocketed special interests -- are lining up behind Pr ... More >>

L.A. Sales Tax Hike: Will $211 Million Increase Fix City's Problems?

Do people trust the City Council?

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

Measure J Transit Tax -- Too Soon?

'Temporary' hike would last to 2068, after most current voters are dead

Richard Riordan Pension Reform Surprise

He throws a lightning rod into the 2013 Los Angeles mayoral race

New California Bill Will Let L.A. Squeeze in More Bike Lanes, Sans Environmental Review

Although they're hard to hear over the impassioned roar of cycling advocates at L.A. City Hall, some local homeowners and car-drivers are freaking out over AB 2245, a feel-good state bill pitched by Assemblyman Cameron Smyth (R-Santa Clarita) as a fast-track to a greener Los Angeles County. Jim O'S ... More >>

L.A. Overspends by $27,378 an Hour

Two key perks: free gas and cars

L.A. DWP Is 'Ringleader' of 'Secret Society' Running America's Largest Water District, Complains San Diego

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power already has a pretty awful reputation among its own constituents. Hand-in-hand with City Hall politicians, DWP officials have more than once tried to dupe ratepayers into unwarranted bill hikes -- despite a fat surplus at the department, and despite the ... More >>

Green Bike Lanes in Los Angeles: City Officials Waste $15K on Premature Paint Job

LADOT Bike Blog via FlickrSecond time's a charm. (We hope.)​Mixed feelings, these past few weeks, about L.A.'s quickly expanding arsenal of green bike lanes -- part of an adorable national trend. The new lanes are, literally, neon green. Though some grumpy drivers see it as yet another blight ... More >>

Search for L.A. Department of Water and Power 'Ratepayer Advocate' Off to Terrible Start

The DWP needs some oversight for its oversight.​Remember that feel-good ballot measure you voted on last spring, having to do with your electricity/water bill and government oversight and transparency and all that jazz? Or didn't vote on, but should have? Well, sort of feel-bad news on that ... 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 >>

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

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 >>

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Soliciting Donations to Pay For Ethics Violations Fines Related to Ticketgate

Villaraigosa and his children at the Oscars.​We likened the $42,000 in fines Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will have to pay for accepting valuable sports and entertainment tickets from folks who do business with City Hall to a light slap on the wrist. Well, it looks like the mayor will don kid g ... More >>

The Bikeroots

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

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. City Council Candidate Stephen Box Goes Where No Councilmember (Especially Opponent Tom LaBonge) Has Gone Before: The Internet

L.A. City Council candidate and "avid cyclist" Stephen Box​Reality-TV star Rudy Martinez isn't the only non-incumbent with a pointed plan of attack for crashing the insular tea party at L.A. City Hall next year. It seems watchdog Paul Hatfield [via the Village to Village blog] has picked a n ... More >>

L.A. Has a Jammed 2011 Ballot

Residents will be asked to rein in DWP, save libraries from Villaraigosa's pen

Rudy Martinez, Reality-TV Star Up For City Council, Bashes Incumbent Jose Huizar For His Watered-Down DWP Vote

A&ERudy Martinez at his day job​Exclusive: Fiery response from Camp Huizar after the jump! Originally posted at 11:30 a.m. To be an L.A. City Councilmember last Tuesday, voting on the creation of an Office of Public Accountability for the Department of Water and Power, was a lose-lose situati ... More >>

Richard MacNaughton Draws A Bead On Eric Garcetti, Demands Trutanich Probe Coverup And Dirty Land Deal At Selma And Vine

W Hotel, short walk from "blighted" block​ UPDATE: At 12:53 pm: Why can't they be honest at City Hall? The City Council delayed their vote under public pressure, and blamed Obama. See below. UPDATE: More amazing sleaze regarding today's upcoming vote explained at CityWatch, below.Updates with ... More >>

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 >>

L.A. City Council To Again Consider Fate of 1601 N. Vine

​Having at least twice pushed off final approval for sale of 1601 N. Vine to developer Hal Katersky, the City Council will again consider today what to do with the prime spot, though at this point their desire to slow walk it is understandable. As the Times noted in a brutal profile that ran ... More >>

L.A. City Pensioner Lonnie Franklin Jr.

Grim Sleeper suspect will haul in $1 million from taxpayers and city

What Ever Happened to 'Transparency' at L.A. City Hall?

L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti​L.A. City Hall watchdog and CityWatch columnist Jack Humphreville sounds the alarm today about the City Council's apparent lack of transparency when dealing with pension reform and the possible sale of the city's parking garages. "The sale of the cit ... 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

As L.A. City Downsizes, DWP Has Been Growing

​As a deficit-strapped city of Los Angeles ponders cuts of more than 750 workers, not including decreases in overtime for police that have resulted in less officers on the streets, the embattled Department of Water and Power has been growing. Jack Humphreville writes at LA CityWatch that the ... More >>

City Hall's Gift to Goldman Sachs

A vast upsizing of the Playa Vista minicity means $146 million for Wall Street partners

HOLY SEVERANCE PAY, BATMAN!

City Pension Funds Sitting On $11.5 Billion In Red Ink, City Hall Oblivious -- Report

​The city of Los Angeles might be facing a $400 million deficit, but a tide of red ink much larger than that confronts its pension funds, according to CityWatch LA. Combined deficits at the city's two major pension funds amount to a near state-of-California-sized budget hole: $11.5 billion. W ... More >>

MICHAEL JACKSON: THE POST-MORTEM SPENDING SPREE

The blame and the buck fly furiously after the pop icon's burial

$4 Million Jackson Memorial Cost to Taxpayers?

By Tibby Rothman City Hall is begging Jackson fans for alms, but upset L.A. residents face paying a king's ransom for the memorial to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. During the hours leading up to today's globally viewed memorial, the Los Angeles Police Department and other city offices were str ... More >>

Envirowimps: L.A.'s Big Green Groups Get Comfy

Activists leave the street-fighting to the little guys

DWP Slush Fund

In Los Angeles vs. All Persons, a tough judge makes Villaraigosa return $30 million

Jan Perry's Grand Avenue Conflict

An L.A. politician votes for public subsidies that boost her home's value

Measure B: Tweet Against the Machine

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

Los Angeles' Bungled Solar Plan

How D'Arcy and Villaraigosa turned clean energy into a dirty dispute

Measure B: Baffled DWP can't name one "on time" solar project

By Daniel HeimpelAt a special meeting this morning of the Los Angeles City Council's Energy and Environment Committee, the topic was the council's March 3 ballot measure that, purportedly, will drape 1,500 acres of silicon solar panels on rooftops in L.A.On the defensive after taking a media hammeri ... More >>

L.A.'s Solar-Energy Ballot-Measure Melodrama

David S. Freeman: City Hall "is capable of screwing up a two-car funeral"

Obama insider, IBEW, SEIU, fire back at L.A. bloggers in solar war

By Daniel HeimpelWhat do you get when the top chieftains at City Hall, plus Barack Obama's wildly successful California campaign director, plus one of L.A.'s most politically-connected government unions all pit themselves against a few gadflies whose power is their ability to blog and dissent?Those ... More >>

L.A. City Council Makes Solar Look Bad

Shenaningans taint a clean-energy plan, and the council lays it all on voters

"Valley Vote" and the "All About Me Mayor"

I guess they really do read LA Weekly in the San Fernando Valley. Monday night, Weekly writer Patrick McDonald was covering a meeting of Valley Vote, which spearheaded the Valley secession movement in 2001-02 and is still a highly active voice in questioning the leadership at Los Angeles City Hall. ... More >>

The All-About-Me Mayor: Antonio Villaraigosa's Frenetic Self-Promotion

Hours of travel, fund-raising and PR leave little time for his job