Tom LaBonge

Sherman Oaks Residents Enraged Over Fire Station Secrecy

Los Angeles Gadflies on Fire

City Hall politicians want them gone

L.A. Redistricting: Tom LaBonge's District 4 Looks Like a Losing Matador

This is the third chapter in a (badly Photoshopped) series on the L.A. Redistricting Commission's gerrymandered new voting districts. Previously: "Eric Garcetti's District 13 Looks Like an Evil Squirrel" "Bernard Parks' District 8 Looks Like a U.S. Army Tank" This has to be a joke, right? City Coun ... More >>

Tomas O'Grady, District 4 City Council Challenger Calls Shuttering Libraries "Biggest Scam"

L.A. CurbedOn Tom LaBonge's watch: the $875 thou median known as Vermont Triangle Park ​Tomas O'Grady, the L.A. Times endorsed City Council District 4 challenger, told LA Weekly that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council's decision to shutter L.A. Libraries two days a week "was the bigg ... More >>

Bike Zeal

The Bikeroots

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

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 >>

Ever the Slick Salesman, Antonio Villaraigosa Turned to Twitter to Combat Opponents of Subway to Sea

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa​At the Metropolitan Transportation Authority meeting yesterday, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wasn't taking any chances that his legacy project -- Subway to the Sea, or maybe we should start calling it "Subway to Westwood" -- might somehow be, uh, dera ... 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

City Council Hears Testimony on Food Trucks

LA Weekly Flickr pool/ricardodiaz11food truck caravan​ As J. Patrick Coolican reports in the Weekly's news blog, this afternoon a City Council committee heard testimony on how exactly to regulate the food trucks that have set off a minor food fight along Wilshire Boulevard and other food-truck ... More >>

Food Truck Battle: City Council Hears Testimony

​The Wild West era of Los Angeles mobile food trucks is likely coming to an end, as a City Council committee heard testimony today on how to regulate the 4,000 trucks that are a prandial delight to many but a nuisance to others. The transportation committee, led by Councilman Bill Rosendahl, ... More >>

Tom LaBonge With The Quote Of The Day At City Council Meeting

Councilman Tom LaBonge​ During a discussion of reforming the city's pension system, Tom LaBonge notes that pension benefits were sweetened to keep LAPD competitive with other departments so L.A. could recruit and retain police. Then came this:

Food Truck Reps Take their Fight To Adam Carolla & His National Podcast Audience

AdamCarolla.comFrom left: Carolla, Case and Gellar​Welcome to another installment of L.A. Food Trucks versus City Council Member Tom LaBonge. In this episode, Southern California's Mobile Vendors Association (SCMVA) co-founders Matt Gellar and Coleen Craig, along with Cool Haus Truck founder N ... More >>

Atwater Village Activists Fear L.A. Councilman Tom LaBonge's Push For High-Density Redevelopment

L.A. City Councilman Tom LaBonge​Friends of Atwater Village sounded the alarm on Sunday, with the neighborhood activist group writing on its news blog that L.A. City Councilman Tom LaBonge's controversial and "long-time dream" to redevelop a section of the community may finally come true. Mo ... More >>

Are Restaurant Owners Blocking Parking Spaces To Ward Off Food Trucks?

​An ongoing battle between food trucks and restaurants on the 5700 block of Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile has now reached a new level. According to LAist, passenger vehicles could be taking up all the parking spaces on the boulevard -- on purpose? -- parking there all-day and getting ... More >>

L.A. Councilman Proposes Food Truck Parking Zones

​Wary of food trucks that park in one-hour zones, overstay their time, then absorb parking tickets as the cost of rent, Los Angeles city Councilman Tom LaBonge on Wednesday proposed food-truck only parking zones for the city. "I'm not against the catering trucks," LaBonge said. "My concern is ... More >>

Home Of L.A. Councilman LaBonge Burglarized

Councilman Tom LaBonge.​A spokeswoman for Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge confirmed to LA Weekly Tuesday a report stating that his home had been burglarized recently. According tot he Los Angeles Times, LaBonge and and his family realized their home had been burglarized Friday afterno ... More >>

Northeast L.A. Sees A Spike In Crime

LAPD Northeast Area.​As the Los Angeles Police Department struggles to maintain its staffing numbers amid a historic city budget crisis, Councilman Tom LaBonge on Tuesday pointed to a spike in crime in some of the Northeast Los Angeles communities he represents. "There has been a surge in cri ... More >>

L.A. Council Votes To Close 475 Marijuana Dispensaries

​The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday gave tentative approval to a law that would eventually shut down all but 70 of the city's medical marijuana dispensaries. The ordinance would some day close down 475 of the 545 pot stores that the Weekly has found to be up and operating. The council ha ... More >>

City Councilman Makes A Pretty Calendar For 2010

Tom LaBonge's calendar.​If after looking at the city's looming, $400 million deficit, its difficulties in hiring cops, and its five-year (losing) battle with mushrooming marijuana dispensaries, you thought the Los Angeles City Council was useless, we would kindly ask you to take a second look. ... More >>

Of Munchkins and George Hamilton

Don't try to find street parking in front of the Knitting Factory between around 10 a.m. and noon today. For one thing, George Hamilton is getting his Walk of Fame star at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard as a 70th birthday present. For another, tough-guy actor James Caan is scheduled to speak at the touris ... More >>

Sister City Act: Tom LaBonge, Our Man in the U.K.

Petra Fried at Mayor Sam's Sister City took umbrage today twice -- over City Councilman Tom LaBonge's absence from the council and the fact that he's apparently junketing in Northern England, doubtlessly impressing locals there with his plenipotentiary powers as District Four's man in the U.K. What ... More >>

City to Ban Sidewalk Bicycling?

LAist reports that the L.A. City Council's Transportation Committee is looking at banning cyclists from riding on sidewalks. On the one hand, this is good news for the city's beaten-down pedestrians -- on the other, though, it would force a lot of young and inexperienced cyclists into L.A.'s hellish ... More >>

Ruining the L.A. Marathon

Preachers pressured City Hall to change it. Now the race faces uncertainties

City Council Postpones Controversial Billboard Vote

The Los Angeles City Council postponed a vote on a sweeping billboard law that would ban digital billboards and giant supergraphics, but allow them in specially designated "sign districts." Facing a barrage of criticism from anti-clutter activists and business leaders, council members agreed to hol ... More >>

Griffith Park Wins Landmark Status

By David FerrellWith  Councilman Tom LaBonge hailing it as "the greatest gift ever given to the city of Los Angeles," the L.A. City Council granted unanimous final approval today to naming sprawling, mountainous Griffith Park a historic landmark.The hard-won designation, supported by neighborho ... More >>

Griffith Park Shenanigans

La Bonge's landmark designation leaves big loopholes for chains and hotels

Now He Tells Us! Tom LaBonge's Second Thoughts

LAist editor-writer Zack Behrens caught a Channel 11 interview with District Four City Councilman Tom LaBonge, in which LaBonge now expresses regrets for approving the increase of city parking meter fees and their hours of operation. The L.A. Times and L.A. Daily News have recently reported how afte ... More >>

The $850,000 Crosswalk, a.k.a. the Island of Dr. LaBonge

Your Los Angeles City Council at work

Tom LaBonge's Griffith Park Body Language

Does his tortured public behavior mean treachery or support for saving it from hotels and chain stores?

Digital Billboards Become a Bohemian Blasphemy

Silver Lake, Hollywood, the Valley and Westside take on City Hall's anti-green transformation of LA

Branding Griffith Park: Heirs of Land's Bequeather Fight Commercialization Plan

Griffith J. Griffith's great-grandson: "It’s not a theme park. It’s not a movie studio. People don’t want to see it turned into Disneyland ..."

Why L.A. Is Park Poor

A "broke" City Council and befuddled downtown bureaucrats sit on $130 million

Sol's Day

On the trail to a 92nd birthday celebration in Griffith Park

Cut the Mustard

What to do with Griffith, the most misunderstood park in the land?

Close Call for Fire Station 35

Firefight at Griffith Park’s Hogback Trail Bridge

Tom Labonge: The Mayor of (Fire-Blackened) Griffith Park

On the day that fire threatened Los Feliz, LaBonge behaved like a councilman should.

MIA on DWP

In search of wise council on the Owens Valley mess

Summer’s Welcome Man

The Sky is Falling

L.A.’s War of Words

L.A.’s Slow March to Peace

Yanking the Welcome Mat

Hikers lose their gate of choice at Runyon Canyon

Money Can’t Buy Garfield Love

LaBonge rides his fire trucks to victory

Power Turf

In the 4th District race, attitude may be more important than aptitude

The Garfield Gamble

An endorsement

Two for the Money

Top spenders will vie to replace the late John Ferraro

An Appealing Shade of Green

Denise Munro Robb for City Council