Recently in Government
Where We Are:
The investigation is widening to include grand jury testimony by several state legislators. More records of contractors have been subpoenaed. Behind the corruption probe are the ties between small time politicians and big city political operatives.
Where We Are:
Termed-out state legislators fill city council seats that would have been filled in the past by crusaders, activists, and community organizers. Conflict is muted in a body that has begun to look like an adjunct to Sacramento. And that's not a good thing.
Where We Are:
According to Rick Cole, "Simply speeding up the dysfunctional (development approval) process is clearly not the solution." And Ron Kaye says the result will be "a revolutionary change that allows every project to be put up for sale to fund political corruption."
Where We Are:
CEQA - the state's increasingly beleaguered environmental review process - empowers neighborhood residents to question development plans. Will a question of parking put new teeth in the law at the expense of streamlining the process?
Where We Are:
Murkier and murkier grow the politics of the Central Basin Municipal Water District.
Where We Are:
That the Los Angeles region is pretty dense already is the counter-intuitive finding of a new Census Bureau report.
Where We Are:
The palm is definitely found; CEQA is severely questioned; Proposition 13's doubters have their own. And "where we are" gets a bit clearer.
Where We Are:
Would expressly shielding cities from liability lead to more dog parks? Lawyers, insurance providers, city council members, and legislators don't necessarily agree that it would.
Government:
Ever so slowly, California has begun unwinding a tax policy called the "third rail" of politics for its presumed ability to take down any politician who dares touch it.
Where We Are:
Skid Row is a "Petri dish" for cultivating human misery. That now includes a strain of tuberculosis that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had tagged as unique to downtown. What began as a "health crisis" has become a "moral crisis."
Where We Are:
AEG is off the market, its leadership in disarray. What's to become of Farmer's Field? Only the NFL knows.
Where We Are:
An alphabet soup of the promoters, players, and policies are shaping Los Angeles. It's not an appetizing mix.
Where We Are:
As cars and trucks become more fuel efficient and more all electric and hybrid vehicles take to the road, states are seeing gas tax revenues shrink.
Where We Are:
Cities are supposed to carry out the state's affordable housing mandates. Except the state has clawed back the money that's supposed to build the homes that working-class Californians need.
Where We Are:
No NFL team has expressed "serious interest" in moving to Los Angeles, and the game clock runs out in six weeks.
Where We Are:
Opossums wander our backyards by night and occasionally startle a homeowner, who imagines that nothing so wild could be part of everyday life.
Where We Are:
Does your city have too many police officers or not enough? A new study suggests there is an answer, but it's not likely to be one that your city council will care to hear.
Where We Are:
While the national media focused on El Monte's soda tax and the regional media tracked Measure J's almost win, other local elections were reshaping the political landscape.
Government:
San Bernardino County voters ended what is likely one of the state's most colorful political eras by ousting incumbent District 3 Supervisor Neil Derry, a Republican, in favor of Democrat James Ramos, former chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.
Government:
California's desert has voted, with turnout running around 50%, and the results of each Congressional race will likely surprise no one - but it looks as though the region may have shifted ever so slightly toward the liberal end of the spectrum.
SoCal Focus is a blog about the people, places, and issues in and around Southern California.
I Am Los Angeles: Strings of Success
Sasha is content just to be living his life on his own terms, doing something he thoroughly enjoys: building and playing guitars.
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