Paul Koretz

Dogs & Cats Won't Have To Be Left Home Alone At L.A. Shelters Under New Proposal

Labor and animal rights activists joined hands to fight a proposal that would leave cats and dogs home alone overnight at L.A. city shelters. The proposal to end overnight supervision by animal care technicians was much-needed in the face of budget woes, said Los Angeles Animal Services general man ... More >>

Wendy Greuel And Eric Garcetti Have The Same Position On Pensions; So What's This Fight About?

When Wendy Greuel got the endorsement of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, it was quickly chalked up to her objections to pension cuts. Since then, there has been talk that she wanted to renegotiate those cuts; or maybe she didn't.The truth, however, is that Greuel and her opp ... More >>

L.A. City Hall Wants To Shut Down Most Marijuana Dispensaries (Again)

During one of the lowest-turnout elections of the year, L.A. voters will get to vote on three marijuana dispensary measures for the city. The City Council approved putting its own measure before voters during the May 21 municipal election, although five on the council dissented. Are they trying to ... More >>

Marijuana Initiatives Head For May Ballot: Some Dispensaries Back L.A. City Proposal

The L.A. City Council today approved two competing marijuana initiatives for the May 21 ballot and came a step closer to putting its own, third measure before voters, too. At the same time one of the initiatives' backers, the Greater Los Angeles Collective Alliance, said it would abandon campaignin ... More >>

Ka Pasasouk: State Considered Northridge Suspect Prone To Violence

Would Ka Pasasouk, the man police believe murdered four people in Northridge last weekend, have been on the street had it not been for California's controversial prison-realignment program? A state prison official told us yes: He served his time and was due to get out last January in any case. The ... More >>

Buckley School, Sherman Oaks Campus for Super Rich Kids, Granted $40M Charity Loan by L.A. City Hall

Of all disintegrating LAUSD campuses that need a tax-exempt loan to build new facilities, the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks for isn't even in the top 700. This place attracts the richest of the rich. It's like Candyland meets Secret Garden meets Enchanted Forest: Buckley describes itself as "a bea ... More >>

Marijuana Dispensary Ban Passed by L.A. Committee: Only One Vote Left Before Pot Shops Wiped Out

You've heard it before: The L.A. City Council is trying to ban all marijuana dispensaries from the streets of Los Angeles. But things just got real. Councilman Jose Huizar's proposal was solidified into an ordinance today -- meaning only one single meeting on July 22 stands between our current pot- ... More >>

Historic Plastic Bag Ban Vote Tomorrow Will Bring Heal The Bay to L.A. City Hall

The L.A. City Council this week could make ours the biggest city in America to not only bag plastic bags at markets, but also prohibit paper bags. The body finally takes up the historic proposal on Wednesday. And environmentalists and supporters of Heal the Bay will be there:

Los Angeles Gadflies on Fire

City Hall politicians want them gone

Strict Double Ban on Plastic, Paper Bags in L.A. Could Happen This Month

While other cities have famously banned plastic bags from your favorite Ralphs, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Markets, L.A. city leaders have, as usual, been sitting back, twiddling their thumbs, and considering the fine language "in committee." City Hall's motion to ban such bags has been sitting a ... More >>

We Open in Venice

Buscaino vs. Furutani

L.A. City Council race is about preserving lifer politicians

Joe Buscaino vs. Warren Furutani for L.A. City Council: Police Union's New 'Public Safety First' Yard Signs Could Sway Election

lapd.comNow on 6,500 lawns across L.A.​Like in national elections, it takes a democracy-numbing amount of time and money to win a political post in Los Angeles. Just ask Ron Kaye, LA Daily News editor turned City Hall watchdog. (If you ever feel like witnessing a city official burned at the ... More >>

Red-Light Camera Tickets: Calm Down, L.A., You Still Don't Have to Pay Them

The debacle that refused to die.​Looks like all those goody two shoes who paid their red-light camera tickets last month -- against the hard advice of select City Councilmembers, traffic lawyers and, well, this very blogger -- just screwed things up for the rest of us. Though the L.A. City Co ... More >>

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 >>

Animal Control Shenanigans

Los Angeles Libraries to Re-Open on Mondays

Back from the dead.​Libraries are so in right now. This, thanks mostly to the fact that, last election, voters finally woke up and saw the wreckage: L.A. City Councilmembers had been hacking the public library system to bits, a non-solution to the hole of debt they'd dug themselves into. Bu ... More >>

Bus-Only Lane Will Run 7.7 Miles Down Wilshire Boulevard -- Conveniently Sparing Westwood's 'Condo Canyon'

LAStreetsBlogThe 720 -- home free!​Screwed year-in and year-out by rail-happy L.A. politicians and transportation officials, the Bus Riders Union finally gets to pop the bubbly tonight -- in celebration of a 7.7-mile bus lane it's taken them six years to win. (That is, if it's approved by L.A ... More >>

Los Angeles: Broke and Broken

City Council clueless about vast, hidden costs in Villaraigosa's $6.9 billion budget

Benedict Canyon Palace 'Size of Hearst Castle' Proposed, Will Make Playboy Mansion Look Like a Bungalow

Save the regular-size mansions, man!​A rich guy trying to build a mega-mansion in a neighborhood of just-regular mansions? How dare he! What sucks about having a Hearst Castle-sized home go up next to your Playboy Mansion-sized home in Benedict Canyon is the relative size. Must be like thinki ... 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 >>

Jews and Latinos Band Together for Ultimate L.A. Domination

4urpets.comThis is not a joke: Jonesy the Mexican Rabbi​Wow. This is epic. This is like the U.S. of China. Or Alien plus Predator... or the merging of Home Depot and Wal-Mart. Or the lovey part of "Westside Story," if Tony was Jewish, or whatever. In today's issue of the Jewish Journal, Jonah Lo ... More >>

March 8 L.A. Ballot Measures

New city taxes and modest reform of pensions and campaign finance

Council Tweaks Parking Deal To Please Plaintive Merchants

​The L.A. City Council just changed the proposed deal to lease nine parking garages, responding to criticism from business groups in Hollywood and Westwood.The details have not been released, but City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said the new agreement would be presented next week to pote ... More >>

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 >>

Rushed and Confused L.A. City Council

Library, weed, DWP measures aimed for ballot all get short shrift

West Los Angeles Locals Say 100 Remaining Digital Billboards Gotta' Go!

Are drivers watching the road or the digital sign?​ Environmental advocates are ramping up their efforts to combat the proliferation of what they call "weapons of mass distraction," by urging local lawmakers to

City Coffers Owed More Than $540 Million -- Enough To Have Avoided Budget Crisis That Almost Bankrupted Los Angeles

​Los Angeles' worst budget crisis in years -- this spring -- was over a deficit that neared $500 million and even surpassed it as the City Council spent more cash and failed to cut costs until last-minute. On Monday city officials announced that more than $540 million owed to the city has not ... More >>

Food Paparazzi Capture Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Sipping Bubbly & Promoting DineLA

Celia SoudryMob of photogs​ Tuesday morning, September 21st, Napa Valley Grille in Westwood Village promoted upcoming DineLA, a two-week event featuring over 300 restaurants, beginning October 3. The launch party and cook-off starred local politicians and chefs, including Mayor Antonio Villara ... 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 >>

City of Airheads: Villaraigosa Dismantles L.A.'s Vaunted Library System

Mayor mirrors Detroit's disastrous choice

Pot Shops Who Could Be Shut Down To Face A Judge Today

​The long, strange saga of L.A.'s medicinal marijuana ordinance continues today as 121 shops -- ruled by the City Clerk as not meeting requirements for final stamp of approval from the city -- will face Judge Anthony J. Mohr, who is expected to create a time-line for allowing shop proprietors ... More >>

L.A. City Council In Possible Clash With City Attorney Over Pot Shops

​In the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of L.A.'s attempt to regulate medical marijuana, the office of City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, via the City Clerk's office, found that just 41 pot shops -- out of the more than 500 that existed when the ordinance took effect in June -- met the qualifi ... More >>

Hush-hush at the Los Angeles DWP

Promising "transparency," chief Austin Beutner paints the tarnished utility even darker

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 >>

L.A. City Council Backs State Law That Would Ban Open Display Of Firearms

​The Los Angeles City Council this week backed a proposed state law that would ban the open display of handguns in public, a practice that has been advocated in recent months by the pro-gun "Open Carry" movement. The law, proposed by San Diego Democratic Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña, would most ... More >>

City Hall's Gift to Goldman Sachs

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

L.A. Weekly Counts 545 Pot Shops in Los Angeles

From the Wall Street Journal to the Daily News to members of the Los Angeles City Council, a lot of people seem to think there are up to 1,000 medical weed stores in this city. Guess they still haven't looked at L.A. Weekly's PDF linked in our November cover story: "L.A.'s Medical-Weed Wars."Gregory ... More >>

Invasion of the Granny Flat

Los Angeles weighs a plan to allow back yard dwellings and car parking on lawns

Will L.A. City Council Put Off Medical Weed Vote Until 2010?

The maps, the maps! Where are those darn maps?!L.A. City Councilman Ed Reyes​Once again missing key facts, that's the question some Los Angeles City Council members were asking Planning Department officials at today's council meeting at City Hall. The uncompleted maps, among other things, may caus ... More >>

Trutanich Probes Pot Backer Duncan

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

Field Poll: Californians, whether Dem or GOP, really, really hate their politicians

Californians finally agree strongly on something: 72 percent of Democrats, 86 percent of Republicans and 77 percent of "decline to state" voters (people who generally can't stand the two-party system), all disapprove of the California State Legislature.That's what the new Field Poll says, the lowest ... More >>

Another Pipe Bursts: Street Flooding 'Normal' in September, Says DWP

The oft-arid nature of this city belies a subterranean water world that sometimes flows like an El Nino storm in reverse. This, of course, is what happened Saturday when a 95-year-old water main ruptured on Cold Water Canyon Avenue near Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, sending cars adrift, flooding ... More >>

Rocky Delgadillo Dreams of Being California Attorney General?

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo got slammed by voters in his last run for California Attorney General, losing to the "old man," as twenty-somethings call Attorney General Jerry Brown. Now, City News Service says he is thinking of trying again. Brown, of course, was a comeback king who pulled the crap ... More >>

California's May 19 Election

Schwarzenegger, Villaraigosa, Weiss, Bratton, Bass, all repudiated

The Activist Candidates

WeHo’s legacy is at stake in this Assembly race

L.A. Weekly Voter's Guide

The L.A. Weekly’s Endorsements

Rough Justice

Voting Guide