LOS ANGELES

VIEW FROM HERE - No government can function without social messaging.  To the extent the government replies on power, however, facts and transparency are not tools for communication.

BEING WATCHED - Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. continues to rule the city with an iron fist.  Despite the COVID pandemic continuing to wreak havoc on the world, Butts openly defies mask mandates, and continues to remove the public from participating in the weekly council meetings.

ERIC PREVEN’S NOTEBOOK - Pocket Full of Posers: The Chief Legislative Analyst's (CLA) report on what to do about Public Comment was simply not harsh enough for Paul Krekorian. 

National Socialism, Maoism and Marxism-Leninism all have one thing in common: they boil down human experience to one aspect, such as race or class, and diminish the struggles and achievements of much of humanity.

RANTZ & RAVEZ-I recently attended the League of California Cities and Board of Directors Installation Ceremony and Dinner at the Calabasas Civic Center.

PLANNING WATCH - By August 16, 2021, the California State Legislature may have approved two pieces of contentious legislation, Senate Bills (SB) 9 and 10.

STASHING THE CASH - Based on a review of more than 100 money-laundering cases, a new study finds that the U.S. has become a preferred destination for those looking to stash illicit funds through property. 

HOMELESS POLITICS-Los Angeles City Council Members Joe Buscaino and Paul Koretz have entered a motion for the city to withdraw from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA.

EASTSIDER - After all of the General Managers we’ve had at  the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE), both good and bad, never has anyone risen to the forefront with a move which jeopardizes the entire system. Not until “She Who Must Be Obeyed,” the current General Manager Raquel Beltrán. 

COVID WATCH - After months of reluctance, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday mandated that all California school employees be vaccinated for COVID-19 or be tested weekly.

ERIC PREVEN'S NOTEBOOK - Mapping the future.  A map letting unhoused Angelenos know where they are allowed to sit, sleep, and lie down is going to be needed.

GELFAND’S WORLD - I have an old friend who was running for a neighborhood council board seat a few months ago. One of her political opponents made claims about her that she says were false.

The Biden administration has given new life to a national discussion about the dangers of social media-induced misinformation following its request that Facebook censor Covid-19 anti-vaccination propaganda.

LABOR VIEW - The first time I met Rich Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO who suddenly died this past Thursday, was in early 2008.

Two wheelbarrows full — that’s how much soil a composted human body creates. In California, it could soon be legal for people to be transformed into soil after death.  

THE DOCTOR IS IN - I say this as a Republican who LOVES all my patients, and anyone reading this, be they Democrat, Republican, Independent, or otherwise. I just don't want any of us to die.

Buscaino wins the anti-camping ordinance, but it’s still not a solution

THE DOCTOR IS IN - I say this as a Republican who LOVES transportation/infrastructure (T/I) but T/I spent WELL. 

GELFAND’S WORLD - In a previous article, I told you about a proposal from city government that would give unprecedented authority to one person to censor and punish neighborhood council board members for thought crimes.

LGBTQ NATION - Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner, who is transgender, spent years living in front of a television camera as part of the Kardashian clan.

President Joe Biden has nominated Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti as ambassador to India.