David Zahniser

Friends in High-Rise Places

David Zahniser
THE HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATIONS that cover much of the Westside let out a collective groan last March after developer Beny Alagem unveiled plans for dramatically remaking the Beverly Hilton — razing the tiki bar known as Trader Vic’s and building two 13-story condominium towers on the site. After all, neighborhood leaders......

Tit for Tat

David Zahniser
LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCILWOMAN Janice Hahn has not exactly been a fan of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s bid for power at the Los Angeles Unified School District. When the mayor gave his State of the City speech in April — one focusing heavily on his plan for L.A. Unified — Hahn......

Where Did the Love Go?

David Zahniser
FOR WEEKS, IT SEEMED LIKE Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had assembled a perfect coalition to support his plan for seizing power at L.A. Unified, a harmonious group that would normally be at each other’s throats: business groups and labor unions, liberal Democrats and moderate centrists, teachers and, well, other teachers. Last......
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Culture Clash

David Zahniser
THE OPENING PARAGRAPHS OF “RAMPART RECONSIDERED,” the much-ballyhooed, 89-page report on the corruption scandal that rocked the Los Angeles Police Department seven years ago, don’t offer many surprises. A handful of players, it says, were permitted to engage in corrupt practices at the LAPD’s Rampart Division, with higher-ups either looking......

Bullied by Teachers

David Zahniser
DEMOCRACY ISN’T PRETTY, and nowhere was that more true than on Wednesday night than at the boisterous and occasionally chaotic meeting of the United Teachers Los Angeles, whose leaders booed, hissed and shouted at each other as they debated Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s compromise plan for seizing power at the Los......

Power of Dirty Money

David Zahniser
THE LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL finally got serious about campaign-finance reform last week, devoting nearly an hour to a proposal for radically reworking the way candidates for Los Angeles mayor, City Council and other municipal offices raise money for their campaigns. Well, serious isn’t exactly the right word. More like......

Antonio's Big Test

David Zahniser
HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER WARREN FLETCHER had just hung up the phone, finishing yet another call urging a colleague to show up at an emergency meeting of the legislative body that governs United Teachers Los Angeles, the powerful union at the Los Angeles Unified School District. Three weeks after Mayor Antonio......

Shooting Down Trains

David Zahniser
Standing before A ROOM FULL OF lobbyists, lawyers and airport contractors last week, the woman hired by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to run Los Angeles International Airport put her cards on the table regarding the Metro Green Line, the light-rail system that stops just shy of LAX. In her usual no-nonsense......

The Sixth Supervisor

David Zahniser
IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND COUNTY POLITICS, a good way to start is by attending a grade-school music recital, preferably one featuring a piano or another instrument that sounds good by itself. Student solo recitals usually feature at least one child who flails. Maybe the child has trouble with a......

Antonio's Theory of Relativity

David Zahniser
DOZENS OF PARENTS GATHERED MONDAY outside the 29-story headquarters of the Los Angeles Unified School District for a demonstration staged by grassroots groups such as ACORN, One L.A. and Green Dot, the charter-school organization taking over Jefferson High School in South Los Angeles. Carrying signs that read “Stop the Waste,”......