John Walsh

Million-Dollar Home Sales In California At 5-Year High; Somebody's Ballin'

This economy's got you down, you say? You're still worried about buying that next house, car or even smartphone? Ah, if you were a rich man ... While the rest of us suffer, the wealthy have just added to their cash piles during the Great Recession and its aftershocks. Proof that the upper crust fe ... More >>

Barack Obama Doesn't Give Antonio Villaraigosa Democratic National Committee Job

One Washington D.C. job can now be marked off the list for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who appears to have his eyes on a major gig in the national's capital after he leaves office on June 30, 2013. Last month, Politico columnist Alexander Burns wrote that Villaraigosa was "high on some ... More >>

Innocence of Muslims: Gadfly John Walsh Warned Us of June 30 Hollywood Screening

City Hall gadfly John Walsh, no stranger to controversy, warned the L.A. City Council about the possibility the local film that would become Innocence of Muslims was "alarming." The locally produced, anti-Muslim film, or rather a YouTube trailer for it, is being blamed for a rash of anti-American v ... More >>

Rape Is on the Rise in Los Angeles County

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck held their biannual crime-stats press conference today in typical feel-good fashion: They were proud to announce that for the first half of 2012, violent crimes were down 8.8 percent from last year. But the same cannot be said for reported ... More >>

Eric Bauman v. Gloria Romero in Assembly District 46

Proposition 29 Cigarette Tax

Why it may fail in liberal California

Fast Times at L.A. City Hall: Pot-Shop Ban Pushed Forward After Shady Closed Session

What happened behind closed doors at yesterday's L.A. City Council meeting? Given the whole closed-door thing, it's hard to say. What we do know is that before L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson formed a secret huddle that lasted for over half an hour, a soft/sane proposal for pot-shop regulat ... More >>

Rape on Melrose: Woman Reportedly Dragged Into Alley on Way Home From the Darkroom

CBS2 is reporting a midnight rape on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning along trendy Melrose Avenue -- but as of this morning, the LAPD is withholding details. The police department's media-relations office says it's waiting on information from the Robbery-Homicide Division, who's in charge of the inv ... More >>

L.A. Metro Unveils New Expo Line, Approves Billions More in Rail; Gadfly in Obama Mask Isn't Happy

The inimitable John Walsh, L.A.'s favorite gadfly (unless you work at City Hall), will show up to protest the triumphant Expo Line opening at USC today, where the train will reportedly break through a welcome banner as confetti and cannon fireworks go off in the background. The Bus Riders Union is ... More >>

Villaraigosa Flips Out, Walks Out of Metro Meeting After County Leader Antonovich Says Constituents 'Gang Raped' by Sales Tax Plan

Updated at the bottom with feedback from Antonovich's camp. First posted at 1:08 p.m. In a rare showing of rage and emotion, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa walked out of a Metro meeting today after L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich said that a proposed a permanent extension of a transportation tax ... More >>

Los Angeles Gadflies on Fire

City Hall politicians want them gone

Manhattan Beach Gay-Sex Ring: Should Police, Media Have Circulated Suspect Mugshots?

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center blasted an angry presser yesterday, calling out sister news stations CBS2 and KCAL9 for printing/airing the "mug shots, names and birthdates for the 18 men who were recently charged in an undercover sex sting operation at a Manhattan Beach public restroom." We were a l ... More >>

Party Review: 'Drop Dead CRA Day' at City Hall

Out with a bang.​Today is a very special day. Today is the day that all 400 redevelopment agencies (RDAs) across California -- including the massive L.A. Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) -- are shut down for good. And all the property taxes they've been raking in, for buildings within are ... More >>

'Drop Dead CRA Day' Will Celebrate L.A. Community Redevelopment Agency's Demise (With Special Kool-Aid)

A pack of veteran L.A. City Hall gadflies will have a little fun, this Wednesday, with Governor Jerry Brown's big bloody butchering of California's redevelopment agencies (RDAs) -- and the notorious L.A. Community Redevelopment Agency, in particular. Miki Jackson (No. 1 enemy of the slimy Community ... More >>

L.A. City Council Silences Public Commenter for Saying 'Pussies' (VIDEO)

About an hour into another snoozeworthy L.A. City Council meeting yesterday morning, a female public commenter injected a little color into the conversation. Antonia Ramirez told her elected officials that some sheriff's deputies in East L.A. had been acting like "unethical corrupted pussies." (OK, ... More >>

Hollywood Is About to Become a Sea of Skyscrapers: Here's Your Last Chance to Fight L.A. City Hall's 'Community Plan'

LA CurbedTwo towering 'scrapers adjacent to Capitol Records will only be the beginning.​Tomorrow morning, at the ungodly hour of 8:30 a.m., the L.A. Planning Commission will vote on a new "community plan" for Hollywood that could change our city as we know it. It's not as glamorous, PR-friend ... More >>

Occupy L.A. versus Zuma Dogg: OG City Activist Tries to Out-Shout Occupiers

ladailyblog.blogspot.comBattle L.A.: Who can free-speech louder?​Leave it to Zuma Dogg, perpetual public commenter at every single L.A. City Council meeting ever (rivaled only in civic involvement by John Walsh of the insane neckties and Einstein hair), to add even more confusion to the Occupy ... More >>

Scott Svonkin, San Gabriel Unified Board Member, Lets Teachers Down: Plays Hooky to Campaign For L.A. Community College Board

Scott Svonkin plays hooky, schmoozes it up ​Scott Svonkin, San Gabriel Unified School District Board member, describes himself as the "only one who cares about the teachers." He is running for a seat on the vastly more powerful Los Angeles Community College Board and will face Lydia Gutierrez ... More >>

L.A. CRA Scandal Outdoes Itself: City Council Calls Special Meeting to Steal $1 Billion From State on Election Day, After Weeks of Stalling

Jerry Brown is coming, and L.A. won't go down gracefully.​Update: The City Council votes to shield about $1 billion from Governor Jerry Brown after Councilman Paul Krekorian begs them not to, revealing the City Council only got their huge, complex reports yesterday. See jump. The Los Angeles Com ... More >>

L.A. City Council Takes Anti-Gun Stance, Agrees With Obama That Gun Magazines Should Have 10-Round Ammo Cap

Is L.A. the next Tucson?​Aside from the fact that this was the biggest L.A. City Hall time-waster since the Arizona boycott (FYI: nothing from Arizona was ever boycotted), we'd like to note that a few scattered Angelenos were feeling pretty huffy about yesterday's H.R. 308 resolution -- aka, b ... More >>

Will L.A. City Council and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Ever Resuscitate Public Access TV?

​Will the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ever help resuscitate public access television in Los Angeles? It's a question public access advocates continue to put forward, although it seems to fall on deaf ears. In response, public access TV producer Leslie Dutton, act ... More >>

LAUSD School Board Promotes John Deasy To Superintendent -- Without So Much As A Job Interview

John Deasy, man of the hour​Well, we were right: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's superintendent of choice made it past the L.A. School Board yesterday. Board members voted him in 6-0; only Steve Zimmer, of Board District 4, abstained. John Deasy will now be promoted from deputy superintendent to ... More >>

Is Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Pushing To Replace L.A. Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines With John Deasy?

LAUSD Deputy Superintendent John Deasy​The conventional wisdom in local public education circles was that Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Ramon Cortines would retire this spring... well, so much for that. HollywoodHighlands.org bloggers John Walsh and Miki Jackson and the ... More >>

L.A. City Councilman Eric Garcetti And Hollywood's 'Elegant Density' -- A Love Story

Simone WilsonElegant, if not harmonious​Hollywood Patch opened its doors last Thursday -- hey guys! -- and we're not particularly surprised to see that editor Anna Bakalis' first story attempts to tackle the Hollywood Farmers Market vs. L.A. Film School beast. Its the latest in a line of many ... More >>

Was Public Comment Period for Subway to Sea a Sham? MTA Staff Suggests Route Before Citizens Fully Weigh In

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa​Metropolitan Transportation Authority staffers have recommended a route for the Westside subway extension, also known as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's legacy project called Subway to the Sea, LAist reports. Some communities will be less than please ... More >>

$9 Billion Subway-to-Sea Rip-off

War of words erupts when data show tiny ridership won't help jammed L.A. or Westside

SoCal's Most Wanted: Alleged Molester Frederick McLean Still On The Run

U.S. Marshals ServiceFrederick McLean.​(Speaking in the voice of America's Most Wanted's John Walsh): We've seen a lot of scumbags in our day, but this guy takes the cake. Frederick McLean is an alleged sexual predator of the lowest kind. Authorities allege McLean met many of the child vict ... More >>

Was Antonio Villaraigosa Napping at an MTA Meeting?

Was Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa napping at a Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board meeting in late October?According to Hollywood community activist John Walsh, who attended the meeting, the answer is an unqualified YES!L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa​On his blo ... More >>

U.S. Senator Inouye Puts Villaraigosa, MTA on Notice

U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii has sent a letter to the MTA regarding a pet project of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, "strongly" urging the transportation agency to "be responsive to the concerns and ideas of both residents and businesses located in Little Tokyo." Local community acti ... More >>

Gadfly Extraordinaire John Walsh Finally Turns to Blogging

Longtime Hollywood resident John Walsh may not be as famous as such bloggers as Perez Hilton or Matt Drudge, but among gadflies, community activists and City Hall insiders in Los Angeles, he's something of a legend.Kevin ScanlonHollywood gadflies (l-r) John Walsh, Chris Shabel, and Miki Jackson​Fo ... More >>

Sticker Shock Treatment: Fake Governor to Pay Real Sales Tax

At the stroke of midnight Angelenos will get hit by a double dose of sales-tax increases that will bring our county's up to 9.75 percent -- tying us with Alameda County for having the state's highest countywide tax. (Some individual cities, such as Pico Rivera and South Gate, will be even higher -- ... More >>

ABC's 'Nightline' Picks Up L.A. Weekly Story

If you tune into ABC's Nightline at 11:35 p.m. tonight, and you've been reading L.A. Weekly lately, you'll notice a story that may seem familiar. It's all about how former California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and a foot-dragging City Council essentially killed pub ... More >>

(Not) Silencing the Little Guy: L.A. Public Access Video Picks for Zuma Dogg, Squirt Salon, Full Disclosure & Neighborhood Point of View

My childhood memories of public television are foggy, at best, and are mostly frustrated recollections of trying to imitate quirky painting instructor Bob Ross. The Joy of Painting, please. An entire masterpiece in 30 minutes -- 30 minutes! He made those "happy little trees" look so easy, didn't he? ... More >>

Shutting Down Public-Access TV

AT&T and L.A. City Hall quietly lead a national push to silence the little guy

Proposition R: The Most Expensive

Suburbanites hold the cards in approving a countywide sales-tax increase for mass transit

John Walsh, Chris Shabel and Miki Jackson

Hollywood gadflies

MTA's $1 Billion Development Scheme

Eleven transit honchos were barred from voting due to money conflicts. So they drew straws.

Baghdad on the Bayou

Scenes of loss and hope from America’s Lost Coast

Extremities

The video passions of Bill Viola

Masquerades: WeHo Family Values

America's Most Unwanted

Style and Substance

LAPD Secrets

Judge refused to keep you from reading this convention plan

I Shot Patrick Bateman

Mary Harron on her American Psycho

Keystone Nostalgiacs

They love Hollywood, but can they save it from themselves?

The Mayor Plays Hardball

Riordan gets his charter, and it’s not pretty

Dig No More

But is this anyway to kill a subway?

Spin Doctors

Riordan’s Funny Bone

Cracked Elvis