Layoffs and Downsizing

Eric Garcetti's Solyndra: As CODA Declares Bankruptcy, Little Hope Seen Of Recouping L.A.'s Investment

CODA Automotive filed for bankruptcy this week, reigniting a controversy over whether the City of Los Angeles should have pledged $1 million to lure the electric car-maker from Santa Monica.Councilman Eric Garcetti, a candidate for mayor, spearheaded the relocation in 2011, saying it would bring 500 ... More >>

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

A Child Left Behind

Union Workers Picket Hotel Bel-Air, Favorite Haunt of Hollywood Celebrities

Picketers outside the Hotel Bel Air​Several hundred union demonstrators picketed outside the Hotel Bel-Air this evening, calling on managers to rehire workers who were laid off when the hotel closed for renovations."They say go away! We say no way!" the protesters chanted. After a march down to Su ... More >>

Why Is NBC L.A. Phasing Out Its Latino Reporters?

Ana Garcia: 6 p.m. golden girl, no more.​A cross lettersent to KNBC President and General Manager Craig Robinson by the California Chicano News Media Association yesterday points to a strange trend, given L.A.'s booming Latino population: Five Latino news anchors working for Channel 4 have bee ... More >>

John Schwada, FOX11 Investigative Reporter, Pushed Out Just Weeks After Winning Lifetime Achievement Award

John Schwada​Update: Fox spokeswoman Claudia Russo says she "can confirm that John's contract has not been renewed," and that "an extensive search for his replacement" is underway. She will not explain why, exactly, Schwada is being let go, but says "it's just him" -- not part of a larger roun ... More >>

Important News If You Still Remember Your MySpace Password

Ahh, the good ol' days​If you're still mackin' on MySpace, we have some bad news: Not only will the site issue massive layoffs this week, it also will probably be sold for the price of a few bacon-wrapped hot dogs. As Gawker reported yesterday, the social media site that News Corp. paid $580 ... 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 >>

UTLA's FUBAR L.A. Times Op Ed: Teacher Leaders Russom and Baranwal Call Simple Teacher Duties "Reforms." Scary Stuff

Sean TeagardenLAUSD's Dance of the Lemons​How embarrassing to read the op-ed on how great United Teachers Los Angeles is, in the LA Times today. Two teachers, UTLA union leaders, touted "reforms" that described routine duties expected of teachers for decades. How clueless. And revealing. Kirt ... More >>

Perhaps L.A. City Leaders Need To Appoint A Second Set Of City Leaders To Do Their Jobs

Walter Moore.​In the silly, bureaucratic tangle we call Los Angeles City Hall, where there's much more tussling over the nearest TV news crew than there is actual problem solving, the solution to many a major problem, even when there is zero gravy to go around, is to hire a big gun to take car ... More >>

What Made Max Mermelstein Run?

L.A. City Could Shift Sidewalk Repair Costs To Property Owners

​The childhood saying goes, "Step on a crack, break your mother's back." In the city of Los Angeles, maybe it should be, "If your sidewalk has a crack, it might break the bank." You see, the City Council is pondering a move that would leave it up to home- and business-owners to repair sidewalk ... More >>

Mayor Villaraigosa's L.A. City Budget Rejected As 'Fantasy'

Councilman Bernard Parks.​Considering that the city of Los Angeles still hasn't solved its $222 million deficit, and that another $485 million in red ink is due July 1, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's proposed budget for the fiscal year starting in summer was a bit optimistic. Gone were the thous ... More >>

Villaraigosa 2010-11 budget: look for Wall Street-style backdoors, city asset sales, flip-flops

The mayor will release his official Los Angeles 2010-11 fiscal year city budget today, and it's widely expected to contain more flip-flops than a sidewalk sale at a 99-cent store. The Los Angeles City Council appears stunned by yesterday's announcement by Antonio Villaraigosa that the city doesn't n ... More >>

Villaraigosa Opens the Bidding at 750 Layoffs and Transfers

​In advance of tomorrow's State of the City address, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa sent a letter to the council today listing 3,546 positions he intends to cut out of next year's budget.Most of those are vacant, but the list does include 750 filled positions that would be cut through layoffs or trans ... More >>

Villaraigosa Can't Impose Three-Day Work Week; City Credit Gets Another Wall Street Downgrade

​It turns out Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was more bark than bite Tuesday when he announced that he would pursue putting most city services on a three-days-a-week schedule to take a bite out of Los Angeles' deficit. The city's chief legislative analyst, Gerry Miller, said Wednesday that the ma ... More >>

Amid Budget Crisis, Some L.A. City Employees Get Raises

​No, we're not talking about the two- to four-percent raises given to some Department of Water and Power workers late last year as the City Council knew the budget crisis was looming. Rather, a handful of employees who transferred to the DWP in order to save their jobs and shave money off the ... More >>

Meet Kristen Heather, L.A.'s First Layoff

Councilwoman Janice Hahn.​Kristen Heather is the curator at the historic Point Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro. But not for long, as she got her two weeks' termination notice this week.Heather is the first of 4,000 city employees expected to be laid off in this round of city budget cuts. For mo ... More >>

Standard & Poor's downgrades L.A.'s credit rating

More bad news on the city budget, as City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana told the council today that Standard & Poor's has downgraded the city's credit rating.The move follows a warning last week from Moody's Investors Service, which noted that the city is in danger of draining its reserv ... More >>

Villaraigosa Promises No Bankrupty For L.A. On His Watch

Mayor V.​Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says he will "guarantee" the city will not go bankrupt on his watch despite perilous red tape that will eat up most of the municipal budget's reserves by July. "There is no scenario, none, while I am mayor of Los Angeles where this city will eve ... More >>

Council Members Faced With Slashing Own Salaries

​Los Angeles city administrative officer Miguel Santana on Wednesday put a buffet of budget-cutting options on the table for the City Council's consideration as it faces a ballooning $218 million deficit. One of the options is slashing council members salaries -- at $ 178,789 the highest of an ... More >>

Arts Advocates To Fight Looming City Cuts

Angels Gate Cultural Center​Advocates for arts programs in Los Angeles were scheduled to meet up Monday night as part of a letter-writing campaign to urge the city to back off possible staff reductions at the Department of Cultural Affairs and a proposed elimination of $2.2 million in arts gra ... 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 >>

City Is Tapped: Bernard Parks Says Off With Workers' Heads

Bernard Parks.​Ever the Debbie Downer of City Hall, Councilman Bernard Parks says it's time to pay the piper: The city faces a $408 million deficit next year, a $98 million deficit this year, and the likelihood that layoffs will cut into Los Angeles' 30,000-strong workforce. While the rest of ... More >>

City Employees Ratify Budget Pact

After a week of balloting, an umbrella coalition of city employee unions representing 22,000 members has just announced those members have ratified an agreement recently struck with the city's Chief Administrative Officer. Under its terms, employees belonging to the Coalition of L.A. City Unions wil ... More >>

Union Seeks to Block City's Early Retirement Pact

Bob Aquino must feel a little besieged these days. Not only has the Los Angeles city employees union he heads been the target of membership raids by a rival union, but now his members find themselves on the municipal chopping block as the first municipal employees facing layoff notices. The story h ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Jackson Unburied Funeral arrangements for Michael Jackson remain pending, according to his father, who says the family is still seeking answers to the singer's death. L.A. Daily NewsBaby, the Rain Won't Fall Los Angeles is poised to record its fourth straight year of below-normal rainfall. L.A. Time ... More >>

Solutions for the Freshly Freelance

The "I don't love the inside of my car that much" edition

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Is Home Shuling Next? L.A.'s Jewish day schools are facing big problems as the economy continues to teeter. L.A. TimesPrick Up Your Ears City officials are accusing mercenary dog rescuers of "cherry picking" their pound purchases based on later, lucrative resale value. L.A. Daily News Arboretum ... More >>

Judge Blocks Teachers' Strike

The L.A. Times reports that Superior Court Judge James Chalfant has blocked plans by the teachers union to walk out Friday. A one-day strike had been called by United Teachers L.A. to protest pending layoffs, in spite of a no-strike contract the membership recently ratified.Noting that Chalfant had ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Coroner: Leroy Barnes Shot in Back; Chief Seeks Probe A coroner's report has contradicted Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian's claim that cops did not fatally shoot black motorist Leroy Barnes in the back last February. (Barnes sustained 10-11 bullet wounds.) Melekian has now called for a federa ... More >>

L.A. School Board OK's 8,846 Pink Slips

Faced with a rapidly deteriorating financial outlook (a $718 million budget shortfall), the Los Angeles Unified School District voted this afternoon to authorize up to 8,846 employee layoffs by the end of June. (About 2,000 teachers have already agreed to take early retirement.) While today's decisi ... More >>

Is SoCal Aerospace Crashing -- Again?

In an ominous sign that Southern California's aerospace industry might be repeating the massive downsizing of the 1990s, Northrop Grumman today announced 750 layoffs, to occur within the next few months. According to the Daily Breeze, most of the terminations are expected to fall at the company's El ... More >>

Seminal Indie Label Touch & Go Lays Off 20, Leaving Crystal Antlers Without a Label and PPM Without Distribution

Very very sad news in the world of true-blue punk rock. Estimable Midwest label Touch & Go announced today that it was laying off its 20 employees and scaling back its operations. The label, responsible for releasing some of the great post-punk records of 80s, 90s and 00s, played home to legends, i ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Mayor Meets With Other Clinton Today Antonio Villaraigosa and former President Bill Clinton will make a joint City Hall announcement about replacing the city's current street lights with  energy efficient LEDs. L.A. TimesClear Channel Future Murky for AV The Antelope Valley might see a reductio ... More >>

Teachers' Union Marches Thursday

Last week A.J. Duffy, the president of the 48,000-member United Teachers of Los Angeles, appeared impatiently pleased. He'd just heard the news that school superintendent Ramon Cortines had decided not to decide who would be cut from the payroll in order to balance the L.A. Unified School District's ... More >>

SEC Investigating American Apparel?

UPDATE: See American Apparel's response to story.A New York Post item claims that the Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing a trove of emails that were pilfered December 24 when American Apparel's computers were accessed by an unidentified hacker. One of the messages is purportedly from AA ... More >>

Orange County's Pink Slips

The O.C. Register reports online that Orange County's top five employers have announced they will lay off 2,500 employees in the coming year. The full list is topped by Irvine's J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, which plans to issue 514 pink slips, with Aliso Viejo's Marvell Semiconductor Inc. only sacking on ... More >>

Stage Raw: L.A. Stage Alliance Approaches L.A. Weekly

L.A. Stage Alliance Approaches L.A. Weekly over job cut News of L.A. Weekly's elimination of its Theatre Editor staff position, which I held until Wednesday -- as well as that of film critic Ella Taylor -- spread across the city last Friday, in a swirl of arts staff layoffs that also included Th ... More >>

Statement from Indie 103's Ownership, Entravision, on the Terrestrial Station's Demise

This just in from Entravision:"We've made the very difficult decision to cease broadcasting Indie 103.1 over the air. Instead, Indie 103.1 can be heard online on the station's website: www.indie1031.com. A range of factors contributed to this decision, including changes in the radio industry's metho ... More >>

Signs of the Times

Sinking Globes, Rising Cruise, and Winning Blus

Miss a week of Deadline Hollywood Daily? Here’s your fix!

Dean of Sycophants

All the news the Times should be covering and isn’t

Front-Porch Campaign

In a bellwether city in a battleground state, the Democrats are walking the walk

Masters of Charity

Time catches up with Pallotta Teamworks