Mark Ridley-Thomas

L.A. County Supervisors Spent Thousands on V.I.P. Chauffer Service in D.C.

After years of criticizing the every move of Los Angeles County's five-member governing board, gadfly extraordinaire Eric Preven -- known by county supervisors as the pesky mosquito who's never missed a meeting -- finally gets his crowing and legitimizing moment this week with a juicy expose on the ... More >>

Financial Takeover of Coliseum Proposed by L.A. County Supervisors Ridley-Thomas, Knabe

L.A. County wants to take over the finances of the troubled L.A. Coliseum Commission, which has been rocked by scandal stemming from 2010's Electric Daisy Carnival rave and leading to allegations that a venue official also worked for the party promoter. A unanimous vote by the L.A. County Board of ... More >>

L.A. County Approves Status Quo Redistricting Plan -- Denying Second Latino Seat

Mark Ridley-Thomas​After hearing six hours of testimony, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted today to approve a status-quo redistricting map, denying Latino activists' quest for a second Latino seat.The vote hinged on Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who had proposed a map that would create a ... More >>

The L.A. County Redistricting Battle Explained -- Without Maps!

Redistricting-- without the maps!​The redistricting battle at the L.A. County Board of Supervisors is the ultimate arcane, inside-baseball political fight. From a distance, all you can see is a bunch of people squabbling over some maps.So let's try to simplify it a little bit. And the first thing ... More >>

California Prison Parolees in L.A. Might End up Under Sheriff's Supervision Because County Probation Department is so Troubled

Sheriff Lee Baca, left, with county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.​How bad is the L.A. County Probation Department? So bad that the county's leaders are actually looking at giving state parolee supervision duties, which would normally be taken over by local probation officials, to the departm ... More >>

Train to LAX Could See Streetscape Improvements Even if it Might Not Stop in The Heart of L.A.'s Black Community

Metro​L.A. is a strange place. While Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is busy busy lobbying Washington for cash for a "subway to the sea" many Westsiders wouldn't touch with a 10-foot iPad (and, heck, the people of Beverly Hills would probably be happy if it would just skip their town altogether), ... More >>

Endeavor Space Shuttle to Get Permanent Home at California Science Center in Exposition Park, NASA Says

NASAEndeavor.​Updated after the jump with reaction from Exposition Park-area county leader Mark Ridley-Thomas. As NASA retires its space shuttle program, L.A. will get a piece of that history -- permanently. The space agency announced today that the California Science Center in Exposition Pa ... More >>

Supervisor Don Knabe Resists Union Deal For MTA Contracts

Don Knabe​Supervisor Don Knabe is resisting union efforts to require a labor agreement for a broad range of construction projects at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.The brewing MTA labor battle has yet to spill into public view. But behind the scenes, Knabe has refused to take action on ... More >>

Mark Ridley-Thomas To NFL: Call Me When You're Serious About Coming Back To L.A.

Mark Ridley-Thomas​AEG and Majestic Realty are duking it out in yet another act of the endless drama over whether the NFL will return to Los Angeles.Like Charlie Brown, Angelenos have had this particular football yanked away several times, so they can be forgiven for tuning the drama out. And spea ... More >>

Expo Line Will Have A Bridge Over Sepulveda Blvd., Union Labor

Expo Phase 2​The second phase of the Expo light-rail line took a big leap forward today, as the Expo Construction Authority awarded a $541 million contract to Skanska/Rados.The authority also voted to approve a bridge over Sepulveda Boulevard, which could go some way toward mollifying homeowners w ... More >>

Bernard Parks Was Targeted as Union Object Lesson

$1.2 million buys a lot of fear at L.A. City Hall if that's your aim

Event Today to 'Talk Truth' About L.A. City Councilman Bernard Parks' Dead Endorsers

Bernard Parks.​Update: Bernard Parks' camp responds, says he had no role whatsoever in the mailer. After the Weekly broke the news that several dead people were listed in a mailer endorsing the re-election of L.A. city Councilman Bernard Parks, a rally took place in Baldwin Hills this afterno ... More >>

The Next Electric Daisy Carnival Rave At The Los Angeles Coliseum Will Have To Be Approved By Politicians

Electric Daisy Carnival.​We reported how the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission made a sneaky move and voted to lift its temporary ban on raves earlier this month when no one was looking (and when some of its more rave-wary members were clearly unable to attend). Well, the body on Wednesday gave ... More >>

Los Angeles County Bans Plastic Bags At Grocery And Convenience Stores

Bags be damned in L.A. County.​Updated after the jump: Fixes date the ban would go into effect. First posted at 12:45 p.m. The California legislature couldn't do it. The city of Los Angeles hasn't done it. But the L.A. County Board of Supervisors got it done: It voted to ban plastic bags in g ... More >>

MTA Audit Finds Flaws In Oversight Of Legal Costs

​The Daily Journal broke the news in January that the MTA had spent $32 million litigating a single case against contractor Tutor-Saliba. The contractor sued the MTA for $16 million way back in 1995 over the construction of the Red Line. In hindsight, it would have been cheaper to hand Ron Tutor t ... More >>

Supervisor Mark-Ridley Thomas Wants To Get A Handle On Number Of Deaths Of Children In L.A. County's Care

Mark Ridley-Thomas wants to get a handle on the number of deaths of county-supported kids.​Update: The County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday unanimously approved a motion to have one entity at the county track these deaths (PDF). First posted Oct. 28 at 7 a.m. Kids under the care of your c ... More >>

L.A. County Throws $1.4 Million Lifeline To Gang Intervention Group Homeboy Industries

Boyle's bestseller.​The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday threw a nearly $1.4 million lifeline to the financially ailing gang intervention organization Homeboy Industries, which in spring announced it had laid off 330 of 427 employees and would require a $5 million injection t ... More >>

Juvenile Probation: L.A. County Board To Consider $8 Million Infusion After U.S. Justice Authorities Decry Rate Of Reform

Mark Ridley-Thomas.​After receiving a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice expressing concern with the pace of progress in Los Angeles County's promised juvenile probation reforms, the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider a nearly $8 million infusion of cash to help imple ... More >>

National NAACP Asks Federal Authorities To Probe L.A. Probation Department

Mark Ridley-Thomas.​The national NAACP on Thursday passed an emergency resolution calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigated the troubled Los Angeles County Probation Department following a wave of troubles for the embattled law-enforcement organization, including alleged physic ... More >>

The Los Angeles River Is A 'Navigable Waterway?' Indeed, According To The EPA

​Reporters, urban explorers and environmentalists have been canoeing down the Los Angeles River since at least 1958, often as a jaw-dropping stunt to draw attention to the contrast between concrete jungle and undeterred nature along the waterway. Now the river has been declared a "traditional ... More >>

Los Angeles County Creates Rave Task Force

​The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to create a task force that will look into health and safety issues at raves hosted at public venues in the region. The move comes in response to the death of a 15-year-old girl who had attended the Electric Daisy Carnival rave at ... More >>

Federal Probe Of County Probation Department Sought By Mark Ridley-Thomas

Mark Ridley-Thomas.​County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas on Wednesday called for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the county Department of Probation, which was recently scandalized by revelations that some of its employees used county issued credit cards to buy personal items such ... More >>

Free Mega-Health-Care Clinic Planned For L.A.

County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.​Even as President Obama celebrates passage of his universal health-care plan, the need for medical services for Los Angeles' uninsured and under-insured is as great as ever. With that in mind, county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas on Monday announced that a ... More >>

L.A. Probation Reforms Urged By Mark Ridley-Thomas

County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.​Following a report in the Los Angeles Times outlining cases where 11 county probation officers have been convicted or disciplined for inappropriate contact with juveniles under their supervision, a county supervisor said Tuesday he wants to expand the prob ... More >>

Supervisor Calls For Audit Of MTA After $30 Million Settlement

MTA​County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas has proposed that his fellow board members help authorize an auditor-controller's office look into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's "cost management process" after it recently settled a lawsuit for $30 million. Ridley-Thomas notes that the a ... More >>

Politician Ridley-Thomas Puts $707,000 Office Renovation, Using Taxpayer Money, On Ice

​After getting hammered on the issue, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas hit the pause button on a planned $707,000 renovation of his office by referring the matter to the county's CEO for a review to determine if code violations, safety concerns and energy efficiency could be a ... More >>

County Supervisor Under Fire For Planned, $707,000 Office Renovation

Mark Ridley-Thomas.​Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas has been under fire for his planned, $707,000 renovation of his office, and at least one report questions whether the matter will come before a meeting of the powerful county Board of Supervisors Tuesday. John North at ABC7 ... More >>

Light Rail Coming To The 'Wood And Beyond

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Thursday approved a light-rail line that would run down the "Crenshaw corridor" from Exposition Boulevard to LAX. The line, which could open in 2018, would run through parts of Inglewood, Hawthorne and El Segundo as a much-needed north-sou ... More >>

Wise Move Or Copout? King Hospital Given To Private Hands

​The deal to reopen the troubled Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital will take it from county management and put it private hands. And while you might be scratching your head justifiably, wondering why a public institution is being given away, we would point to evidence that this might just be a g ... More >>

Bratton's Endorsement of Ridley-Thomas Gets Weird

Yesterday, we mentioned how political endorsements have a funny way of coming back to haunt the people who do the endorsing. Los Angeles Police Department Chief Bill Bratton is now learning that lesson in spades.Ridley-Thomas campaign mailer​Even though critics, police experts and even the Los An ... More >>

Supervisors Vote to Resurrect MLK Hospital

Today the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to fully reopen Martin Luther LACHS​King Jr.-Harbor Hospital. In doing so, the board will also reopen wounds and political accusations that were temporarily forgotten when most of the medical center was shut down two years ago. Calling t ... More >>

It's Alive! King-Harbor Medical Center to Re-open

For the past few days there have promises of news about the re-opening of Martin Luther King-Harbor Medical Center, the sprawling campus near Watts that was once better known as King-Drew Hospital -- a name that became synonymous with administrative incompetence, medical malpractice, racial cronyism ... More >>

Two Trains Running -- Or Maybe Not

MTA Headquarters: Have the deciders decided?Photo: Dave Parker/WikipediaDamien Goodmon, South L.A.'s indefatigable public transportation activist, is sounding an alarm about the possible shelving of rail projects in his heavily African American community. Goodmon's group, the Citizens' Campaign to F ... More >>

Election '08 Voting Guide: Endorsements From a Freethinker — No on 8, Yes on 11. And a Nod to Mark Ridley-Thomas

Why siding with Arnold on redistricting makes sense, and other ballot notes

Reading the Fine Print: How to Spot the Loopholes, Legal Doozies and Loose Phrasing in California's Ballot Initiatives

Voter beware the phrases "associated with," "other uses" and "related issues"

L.A. Board of Supervisors Second District Race

Parks, Ridley-Thomas and a vast labor machine duke it out. What about voters?

Broken Bridges

Did City Hall’s plan to fight gangs bankroll a gangster?

Not in My Neighborhood Council

What can save L.A.’s broken neighborhood councils?

Preying for Money

L.A. considers law to slam door on unethical loans

Giving In to Cops

The sense and nonsense of a short workweek

Rocky’s Road

Delgadillo is driven to develop L.A. — and his career

Voices in the ’Hood

Not easy getting City Hall’s attention

It’s Not Easy Being Green

Some brilliant — and bungled — attempts to save the urban forest

No Respect

Police Commission falters on Rampart

Letters

Damn the Eulogies

Richard Fulton, rest in peace — the pols have left the building

The Accidental Populist

Magic Johnson gives some back

Pomp Over Circumstance

You're either with Councilman Ridley-Thomas, or he's against you

Councilman Fouls Magic

Ridley-Thomas fumes as Johnson passes on Coliseum