Robert Greene

Any dedicated and talented urbanist who applies to become the next planning director of Los Angeles is either brave, foolhardy, or never heard about the recent City Council display of righteous-indignation one-upmanship over the entire troubled department. It’s been put to rest now, but it started with Councilman Ed Reyes’......

The closer we get to election day the more insubstantial everything about the mayor’s race becomes. First there was that televised debate a couple weeks ago at 5 p.m. on a weeknight. It’s as if the political Powers That Be tried desperately to find a time to stage an appearance......

Illustrations by Chandler WoodStanding room only at Rancho Cienega Park, and although it’s outdoors on a sun-streaked Saturday, it feels like Sunday morning in church. Not one of those quiet churches; something more like First AME. The men are wearing dark suits and ties, the women are wearing their Sunday......

Photos by Ted SoquiBob Hertzberg told us he ran for mayor to break up the school district, and the other candidates scoffed. “Schools!” they whispered to each other at debates, giggling and elbowing each other in the ribs and blowing spitballs at Hertzberg (figuratively, of course) whenever the former Assembly......

Photo by Slobodan DimitrovJim Hahn is still with us, politically speaking, and that was enough to make the Conga Room rock. His sister, Councilwoman Janice Hahn, danced onstage, and his son, Jackson, shouted “Four more years!” into the microphone for an adoring crowd. They were naturals. Then Jim came up,......

Photo by Art CuetoLos Angeles is about to select a leader whose vision, skill and personality will determine the city’s course through a wrenching period of growth and reinvention. The person who gets the job will place an indelible stamp on L.A., making decisions that will determine how smooth traffic......

It’s not that TV spots and campaign mailers are a bad way to inform voters about the real issues facing the city. Well, yes they are. In 30 seconds, or in the case of Richard Alarcón’s spots, 15, a candidate hardly has time to say hello. There is room only......

An undercurrent of gay-bashing has emerged in the hard-fought 11th District City Council race, but in this case it is a straight candidate, Flora Gil Krisiloff, who claims to be victimized by a campaign of innuendo that she is anti-gay. Krisiloff alleges that one of her two opponents, Bill Rosendahl,......

On the day in June 2002 when the Los Angeles City Council booted Ruth Galanter from the coastal district she had represented for 15 years, when it shaved off some black neighborhoods to the east and joined the funky beaches to mansion-laden Brentwood and Pacific Palisades, forging a new 11th......

That’s term limits for you. Who knew they would end up giving every elected Los Angeles city official a shot at two four-year terms in City Hall. This year, only one of them — City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski — is coming to the end of her second term, so there’s......