June 2009 Archives

He supported a bikini contest, OK'd the painting an elephant and proposed a pit-bull academy for ex-cons - all in the name of helping animals. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.

But what critics dubbed the Ed Boks Show ends today as the most colorful Animal Services Department manager in Los Angeles history cleans out his desk.

Hired in January 2006 to enact a "no kill" animal shelter policy, Ed Boks became mired in controversy followed by a string of no-confidence complaints. But the outgoing ex-minister defended his record as among the very best in the nation.

In what city officials warned could be the beginning of a long and painful summer, the first handful of layoff notices were sent out Monday to six departments, which have two days to decide who goes.Daily News.

While only 11 jobs are now on the line, the number is expected to grow to at least 76 and possibly up to 400 this year if a tentative agreement with the Coalition of City Unions is rejected.

All of the jobs that will receive layoff notices in this initial round are held by members of the Engineers and Architects Association, which refused to participate in the negotiations and has threatened a lawsuit against the proposed deal.

Bargain hunters at Woodland Hills Camera & Telescopes moaned this spring when a 1 percent increase in the sales tax boosted the cost of binoculars, tripods and lenses.Sue Doyle in the Daily News.

Customers at the San Fernando Valley shop and other stores in the region will grumble even louder this week, when the sales tax in Los Angeles County rises an additional half-percent or a half-cent on the dollar.

Beginning Wednesday, the sales tax in Los Angeles County will reach 9.75 percent because of voter-approved

Some 200 Valley residents braved the heat to attend a town hall meeting Sunday held by U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, voicing their concerns over the lingering recession, health care, foreign affairs and other pertinent issues for the congressman. Talai Ansari in the Daily News.

Sherman, who serves on the House Committee on Financial Services, opened the meeting by addressing economic issues facing the nation including bailouts and state budget woes. Sherman reminded his constituents that he did not vote for the Wall Street bailout, to which the crowd applauded.

But he warned attendees at the packed Reseda High School auditorium that "the recession would be hard on us for another two years."

Out with the old....

Every politician reaches that point when it's time to move on - usually because they've been voted out of office or, these days, face term limits. Daily News.

Los Angeles Unified school board members Julie Korenstein and Marlene Canter decided to step down on their own - allowing two new members to join the seven-person board at a time when many fear the district's basic survival is at risk.

In with the new....
Just days before the start of their terms on the Los Angeles Unified school board, Steve Zimmer and Nury Martinez are not daunted by the monumental challenge facing the nation's second-largest district. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The pair starts work Wednesday with the district shackled by a $1.1 billion deficit over the next three years, a frustrated work force frightened of further layoffs and a community clamoring for reform.

TIPOFFS: A new round of political guessing games to start.

Four years ago, when he took his first oath of office, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa asked Los Angeles to dream with him - of bringing a new vitality to the city.Daily News.

As he prepares to take the oath of office for his second term on Wednesday, Villaraiogsa instead is looking at less visionary promises and more practical tangibles to deliver to a city with a sinking economy and a skeptical view of City Hall.

The city is grappling with a $530 million shortfall and the prospect of shutting off municipal services twice a month, problems that prompted Villaraigosa last week to announce he would not run for governor next year.

"I can't leave this city in the middle of a crisis," Villaraigosa said during an interview on CNN. "It's as simple as that."

On Wednesday, July 1, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo will complete his second and final term as Los Angeles' top prosecutor. By all accounts, his eight years have included significant successes and some serious stumbles. Downtown News

As the third largest public law office in the state, the Los Angeles City Attorney handles approximately 100,000 civil and criminal cases a year. The position entails defending the city's interests in civil lawsuits and claims, prosecuting criminal misdemeanors and serving as general counsel to all city departments and officials.

Even as the White House held a summit on immigration Thursday, Latino leaders in Los Angeles called on President Obama to quickly press immigration reform legislation despite reports the votes aren't there in Congress for its passage. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

"Rest assured that the individuals gathered at this conference are impatient for action now on a broken immigration system," Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, said on the opening day of the group's annual conference.

"We are ready to work with this president, this Congress, in partnership to assure that this reform occurs. We need it now. It can't wait. We need it in the first term of this president."

An 8-acre landmark site on Ventura Boulevard that was both an entertainment venue and worship site for a half-century has been foreclosed on, a victim of the recession.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Bank of America seized the property on April 21, after a development company that planned to build a 340-unit condominium and retail project there defaulted on the loan, according to Los Angeles County Assessor's Office records.

The property at 20600 Ventura Blvd., an area known as Chalk Hill, was purchased by Jefferson at Woodland Hills, an entity of Irving, Texas-based JPI Development in April 2007 for $49.5 million, documents show. It owed $41.8 million at the time of the foreclosure.

The Los Angeles district attorney issued search warrants this week at several Ivy Academia campuses, one of the state's top performing charter schools, in connection with an ongoing investigation, officials said Wednesday.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

"A series of search warrants were issued at several locations (Tuesday)," said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's office.

"They are in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation by the District Attorney's public integrity division."

Elected officials and transportation leaders broke ground today on an extension of the Metro Orange Line that will stretch the popular busway to Chatsworth, making it the first project funded by Measure R tax funds to begin construction. Daily News.

The $215.6 million project will extend the Orange Line -- which operates on a dedicated busway across the San Fernando Valley -- four miles from its western end point in Canoga Park to the Metrolink/Amtrak station in Chatsworth.

Los Angeles County residents face nearly twice the risk of cancer from air pollution compared with the rest of the nation, with a slice of Cerritos facing the greatest potential harm, according to a federal study released Wednesday. Dana Bartholomew and Susan Abramn in the Daily News.

The Environmental Protection Agency reported that county residents face a 63-in-a-million cancer risk from 80 toxic chemicals released by cars, factories and similar polluters.

The average cancer risk across the country is 36-in-1 million, according to the report, which is based on 2002 data, the most recent available.

That's an improvement from the 2006 report which, based on 1999 emissions, calculated a 42-in-a-million cancer risk.

Los Angeles city officials said Wednesday they are close to an agreement with city unions that would cover nearly half of the $530 million shortfall the city is facing this year. Daily News.

The City Council also approved plans Wednesday to borrow $1.1 billion against future tax revenue - the largest it has ever borrowed in this way - to cover short-term costs.

The labor agreement would call for workers covered by the Coalition of City Unions to forego a cost of living raise for up to two years and increase their contributions to the pension system to pay for an early retirement program.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa returns to his "energizer" schedule today, as he prepares for his second term in a week where he announced he is not running for governor
His day begins with a ground breaking -- bring out those golden shovels -- for the Orange Line expansion in Chatsworth. He will be joimed by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavskly and Councilman Greig Smith.
Then, he's off to Sacamento to head a delegation of mayors to appeal to the state to not take
gas tax funds that could affect street maintenence work. In addition, that is money the state would not have to repay cities.

os Angeles City Controller Laura Chick does not have the authority to conduct performance audits of elected city officials or programs in their offices, a judge ruled Tuesday, short-changing Chick's bid to subpoena employees of the City Attorney's Office. Daily News.

Chick and City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo have been at loggerheads over her attempt to conduct a performance audit of a workers' compensation program overseen by the City Attorney's Office.

The L.A. Unified school board Tuesday adopted a $5.5 billion budget for the upcoming school year that will force some 2,500 teacher layoffs, larger class sizes and the elimination of many popular programs.

The board also signed off on $130 million in new cuts for the current 2008-09 school year that ends next week, prompted by the failure of state ballot measures in March.

San Fernando Valley home sales crept up 5.5 percent in May from a year earlier as more evidence emerged that a real-estate market recovery is gaining traction, a trade association said Tuesday. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Valley families and investors bought 708 previously owned houses last month, up from 669 a year earlier, said the Van Nuys-based Southland Regional Association of Realtors. That was 2.5 percent more than in April, when 691 homes changed hands.

Home sales have now increased from the prior year for 11 consecutive months - enough to reduce the inventory to a 3.8 month supply, a low level reminiscent of the boom market at the early part of the decade.

n effort by a group of Van Nuys residents to have their community join Sherman Oaks received support Tuesday from a key panel despite sharp arguments against the proposed change. Daily News.

The City Council Education and Neighborhood Committee, overruling the recommendations of two neighborhood councils, voted 2-0 in favor of the year-long effort to change the name. The plan was recommended by Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who represents the area.

In one of her last actions representing the Second Council District, Councilwoman Wendy Greuel said Monday she supports allowing a portion of Van Nuys to adopt the name Sherman Oaks, which it now abuts. Daily News.

Greuel, who will become City Controller on July 1, wrote an open letter to the community saying her decision was difficult.

"I have considered all possible courses of action and possible alternatives," Greuel said. "Neither the city's previous decisions on similar cases nor city policy on community naming provides any grounds for denying this request."

To running for governor.
In an announcement on CNN, Mayor Antonio villaraigosa said he will pass on a run for governor next year. See details in the Daily News.

Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be announcing whether he will run for governor of California this afternoon at 4:00 EST on CNN's "Situation Room." Politico

Villaraigosa's intentions have been closely scrutinized by California politicos, and he has kept his future political plans closely under wraps.

In 2005, Villaraigosa became the first Hispanic mayor of Los Angeles in over a century - winning him a wave of national publicity -- but the city's economic struggles has dimmed his starpower since then.

City Council candidate Christene Essel announced Monday that she has hired a campaign team that has been among the most successful in recent local elections, including that of Councilwoman Wendy Greuel.
"My campaign is about making L.A. work," Essel said. "I have worked to put together a campaign team that will help me deliver this message to the voters of the 2nd District."
The race is to fill out the two years left in the seat being vacated by Greuel, who was elected at City Controller.
John Shallman, who managed Greuel's successful campaign for Controller as well as that of City Attorney-elect Carmen Trutanich, will serve as general consultant for the campaign. Shallman also has managed a number of other City Council races.
Essel also has hired pollsters John Fairbank and Jonathan Brown of Public Opinoin Research ***Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates, whose campaigns have included Greuel, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavksy and Attorney General Jerry Brown, among others.
Tom Berman, who also worked on Greuel's campaign and several others, will serve as campaign manager.

Here we go again. Mike Zapler in the Daily News.

When it comes to the state budget, the only thing that seems to change is the number of billions by which it's out of balance. A year ago, an unthinkable $15billion.

A few months later, an insurmountable $40billion. And now, even after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators passed a package of spending cuts and tax hikes that was believed to have tamed the deficit, the state faces a staggering $24billion shortfall through mid-next year.

Staples of the modern-day state - from welfare and health care for the poor to funding for our children's education - are on the chopping block. State Controller John Chiang has implored the Legislature to pass a budget soon to avoid a fiscal meltdown this summer. But legislators are expected to take at least a few weeks.

Before they learned words like dioxin and perchlorate, mothers let sons and daughters play near streams that trickled down from hills that hid some of the government's biggest secrets.Susan Abram in the Daily News.

Families who settled in neighborhoods blooming in Chatsworth, West Hills and Simi Valley led idyllic lives, even when their bedroom and kitchen windows rattled from the roar of rocket engines being tested at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in the Simi Hills.

But in May 1989, surveys from the Department of Energy - reported exclusively in the Daily News - revealed that radioactive and toxic contamination from decades of nuclear experiments and rocket tests had leaked into soil, groundwater and bedrock at the hilltop site.

Tipoffs: Mayor keeps them -- and us -- guessing. Inaugural plans, such as they are.

Days from the start of his second term, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has earned tepid job approval ratings from city voters, and a plurality opposes his entrance into the upcoming race for governor, according to a new Los Angeles Times poll.

Los Angeles' brooding electorate, battered by job losses and home foreclosures that rise above national and state trends, feels strongly that the city is on the wrong track. And almost half believes the city needs to move in a direction different from that charted by Villaraigosa, rebuking the policies of a mayor they reelected a little more than three months ago.

Councilman-elect Paul Koretz said today he has hired Chief Deputy City Attorney Rich Llewellyn to serve as his chief of staff for when he takes office on July 1.
Llewellyn has an extensive City Hall background, having worked as chief deputy for City Council President Eric Garcetti and for former Councilman Marvin Braude.
former Supervisor Ed Edelman.
Koretz said he is continuing to interview for other staff jobs.
One interesting tidbit is that Koretz and his opponent, Neighborhood Council leader David Vahedi, have yet to have direct contact over the election.
Vahedi has conceded the contest, but only through the media and messages he left for Koretz.
"I understand it," Koretz said. "It was a pretty rough and tumble campaign and neither of us feel particularly warm and fuzzy toward each other at this point."

The Los Angeles Unified School District unveiled a financial blueprint for the next three years Thursday that projected a $1.1 billion deficit through 2012, likely causing more class size increases, program cuts and steep reductions to services. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

District officials are weighing whether to propose a new parcel tax that could help support LAUSD's budget.

They said all federal stimulus dollars have been used to plug holes and fund required programs. They asked employee unions for concessions and community members for support of the potential tax that could be voted on as early as this fall.

Amid one of the worst recessions in California history, the percentage of underemployed workers in Los Angeles County has doubled in the past year to 18 percent, according to a new study from a nonprofit group to be released Friday. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Underemployment takes a broader look at the economy than official state unemployment figures because it also includes those who have given up on looking for a job or have been involuntarily reduced to part-time employment.

Underemployment in the county grew from 8 percent in 2007 to 18percent last year, according to the "Ebbing Tides in the Golden State" report by the Economic Roundtable. In California it grew from 8 percent in 2007 to 17percent in 2008.

Advocates for those with AIDS and HIV called on the Los Angeles County Health Department on Thursday to force condom use on production sets in the adult entertainment industry.Susan Abram in the Daily News.

"We're calling on the county to shut down porn sets that do not use condoms," said Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

California charter school leaders unveiled a plan Wednesday to push for higher academic standards at the more than 750 independent public schools statewide.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Under the plan the California Charter School Association, made up of school operators and leaders, will set new student achievement goals for charter campuses and would force schools to close if they don't meet minimum guidelines.

Current law gives charter schools options to remain open when they perform poorly on state standardized tests.

The move comes after a nationwide study revealed that charter school students are not performing as well as their traditional school counterparts.

The watchdog office that keeps tabs on how the Los Angeles Unified School District spends taxpayer money now faces a 25 percent budget cut, not the 75 percent originally recommended by Superintendent Ramon Cortines. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Inspector General Jerry Thornton said he could "live with" the new proposal from Cortines to cut his budget by one-quarter.

"I understand the conditions the district finds itself (in) financially, ..." he said Wednesday. "With these cuts I believe we can continue to provide adequate and quality service to the children of this district."

Thornton said a 75 percent cut would have been "catastrophic" to his office.

As thousands of Iranians protested the election results in their country this week, most leaders of the San Fernando Valley's Iranian-American community sided with the dissidents and said they hope to eventually see an end to Islamic rule in their native land.Tony Castro in the Daily News.

Cyrus Sharafshahi, editor of the 10,000-circulation Sobh Iran daily published in Encino, said all Iranian-Americans he knows "want a change in the government that is committing injustices against the Iranian people."

A state appellate court Wednesday upheld the validity of the LAPD's Special Order 40, the controversial policy that bans officers from asking the immigration status of crime victims and witnesses.Daily News.

In affirming a lower-court ruling, the three-judge panel said the 30-year-old order strikes the appropriate balance between immigrants' rights to equal protection and the Los Angeles Police Department's need to protect communities.

In 2006, a conservative organization and a Los Angeles resident filed suit to challenge Special Order 40, saying it violates federal immigration law and asking the court to prevent the use of taxpayer money to enforce the order.

Bicyclists from throughout the city complained Wednesday about the danger they face from motorists and road conditions as well as ongoing problems with police officers. Daily News.

The City Council's Transportation Committee heard from more than three dozen bicyclists about the time it has taken to update the city's bicycle plan - first begun more than a year ago - and the need for more public outreach.

Bicyclists from throughout the city complained Wednesday about the danger they face from motorists and road conditions as well as ongoing problems with police officers. Daily News.

The City Council's Transportation Committee heard from more than three dozen bicyclists about the time it has taken to update the city's bicycle plan - first begun more than a year ago - and the need for more public outreach.

George Gascon, chief of the Mesa, Ariz., police force and former chief deputy in the Los Angeles Police Department has been selected by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to head the SFPD.
Newsom, a candidate for governor, had been urged to look within the SFPD for a new chief, but said Gascon's record made him a top candidate.
"I know going outside is a risk," Newsom told the San Francisco Chronicle Tuesday about his decision not to select a replacement for outgoing chief Heather Fong from within the police department. "But (Gascon) is a nuts-and-bolts-type of chief, a cop's cop and very active in community policing."
Gascon, 55, has been police chief of Mesa, a city of 460,000 that is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area, since 2006. Before that, he was an assistant police chief in Los Angeles.

California Democrats should be riding high after a surge in voter registration and the emergence of a strong cast set to audition for next year's gubernatorial race. AP in the Daiily News.

But enthusiasm is being tempered by the state's fiscal problems, which have forced the state's majority party to take unpopular actions. Democratic lawmakers have angered the party's traditional supporters by making deep cuts in state services and upset centrists by passing billions in tax increases.

County prepared to help adoptive parents
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to work with state lawmakers to help parents of adopted foster children adjust if steep cuts to benefits are made.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

To close an estimated $24 billion budget gap, state lawmakers are considering slicing up to 25 percent from assistance payments to parents of adopted foster children.

LAUSD prepares for more cuts

Union leaders of the Los Angeles Unified School District came together Tuesday to blast proposed state budget cuts to transportation that could total more than $400 million statewide.
Connie Llanos in the Daily News.
The latest state budget proposal would cut transportation funding to schools by 65 percent, equivalent to about $443 million according to union leaders.

Retired police officers who work on movie and television shoots to direct traffic and help with crowd control would no longer be able to wear their LAPD uniforms if Chief William Bratton gets his way.Daily News.

Under Bratton's plan, which was outlined Tuesday and would take effect in 90 days unless the City Council overturns it, retired officers would have to wear uniforms that make them look more like security guards - white shirts with patches, no badge and with luminescent vests reading "Film Detail."

Retired officers and the entertainment industry blasted the idea, saying it would force film companies to hire active-duty cops wearing official uniforms at higher rates and add to the already-expensive costs of production in Los Angeles

Despite hundreds of reforms made by the LAPD under an 8-year-old consent decree, a federal judge declined Monday to lift the strict oversight tool until the department addresses three key areas. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess extended the consent decree for two more weeks rather than accepting a two-year transition agreement hammered out by the Justice Department and the LAPD. That would have allowed the decree to expire today while the Los Angeles Police Department tackled the remaining issues.

The Justice Department says the LAPD has implemented sufficient reforms to be free of the federal oversight imposed in 2001, in the aftermath of the Rampart corruption scandal.

To preserve benefits for 380,000 CalWORKS welfare recipients in Los Angeles County, Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka on Monday proposed a radical overhaul of the welfare-to-work system that would drop requirements that low-income parents of young children have jobs.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The proposal would save the state about $200 million by reducing the need to provide expensive child care services to parents.

Fujioka, who is expected to make a presentation on the matter to the Board of Supervisors today, recommended in the report that CalWORKS parents with a child under 2, or at least two children under 6 years old, should be exempt from the requirement to participate in welfare-to-work activities.

Charter school students are not performing as well as their peers at traditional public schools, according to a landmark report released Monday that also pointed to a need for more accountability at the increasingly popular alternative campuses. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The study by Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes looked at more than 70 percent of that nation's charter school students, providing one of the first national snapshots of their academic performance.

California and the rest of the nation should start to slowly recover from the deep recession in September with Los Angeles leading the way, according to the quarterly UCLA Anderson forecast released today.Gregory J. Willcox in the Daily News.

"L.A. is one of the centers for alternative energy research and development and that's one area that's going to get a lot of investment," said Senior Anderson economist Jerry Nickelsburg, who wrote the California forecast.

William Roberts, director of the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge, concurs.

"I think L.A. will come out of it before San Francisco and certainly before the Central Valley and Inland Empire," he said.

San Fernando Valley motorists are used to paying higher gas prices during the summer, but the pain at the pump hits with a harder punch this year. Laura Nelson in the Daily News.

Not only are customers having to reach deeper into their pockets as the average price nears $3 a gallon, they're finding less cash in their wallets as the recession lingers.

"Gas is cheaper than it was last year, but the economy is bad, and together the two are pretty bad," said restaurant worker Rod Perez, filling up his Honda Civic at a Shell station in Woodland Hills. "It's rough for people right now."

It was a busy weekend for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
First, he went to the start of the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Providence, R.I., on Friday and Saturday, returning to L.A. on Sunday to take part in the gay pride parade in West Hollywood and then return to Providence to wrap up the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting.
Villarigosa, as mayor of the nation's second largest city, is taking a more prominent role with the organization and was to be named a vice chair of the group.
While on the trip, the mayor also found himself faced with crossing a picket line for the second time in his career.
Firefighters in Providence are in a contract dispute and picketed the meeting and prompting Vice President Joe Biden and a number of other officials to cancel their appearances.
No comment from the mayor's office yet on his crossing of the picket line. Villaraigosa crossed picket lines two years ago during a demonstration by the Engineers and Architects Association in a contract dispute with the city.
***Aides to the mayor said the firefighters had a brief demonstration across the street from the meeting place and that he would not have cross any picket line.

For more than a half-century, Spectrolab Inc. has been at the forefront of America's exploration of space. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Harnessing the commercial and technological power of the sun beginning in the mid-1950s, the Sylmar-based company has grown from a company with a small team of engineers into one of the world's leading manufacturers of solar cells and panels.

Now employing 450 workers and a subsidiary of Boeing Co., Spectrolab will be inducted Thursday into the Valley Industry and Commerce Association's Business Hall of Fame. Four other San Fernando Valley organizations will also be honored.

Brian Kohler, 79, sat on the sidewalk to take in the sights and sounds before the start of the L.A. Pride parade Sunday. Talal Ansari in the Daily News.

There was the usual jubilation of the event that drew 400,000 within the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community, as well as friends, loved ones and other supporters. But this year also saw an air of discontent. In Kohler's hands was a sign that read: "I do support the freedom to marry."

In the wake of last month's California Supreme Court decision to uphold Proposition 8, Sunday's 39th annual Pride celebration and parade in West Hollywood took a quasi-political theme.

TIPOFFS: With no real challenge to his leadership, Council President Eric Garcetti seeking a second two-year term to a job once compared to tryrig to herding cats.

It wasn't the highest old time you could imagine at the inaugural THC Expo held at the Los Angeles Convention Center this weekend.Bob Strauss in the Daily News.

But even though actual consumption of marijuana was strictly forbidden at the two-day trade show, the capacity crowd seemed to enjoy the contact high of checking out booths full of everything from hemp-oil massage lotions to Marley Brand Jamaican coffee to brochures from groups like Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - active and retired cops who want to, well, legalize everything.

"We're gonna do this constantly," said West Hills-based Expo co-producer Todd McCormick, a legalization advocate who says marijuana helped him survive a cancer-ridden childhood of severe chemotherapy side effects.

With his opponent finally conceding last month's runoff election, former Assemblyman Paul Koretz on Saturday said he finally feels comfortable with the title of councilman-elect for the 5th City Council District.
"I guess that makes it somewhat semi-official," Koretz said after being told that opponent David Vahedi was conceding the election. "It gives me a chance to complete some interviews and begin to hire a staff."
Vahedi, on Friday, told the Daily News he was conceding the close-fought election as returns continue to come in and widening the gap between the two.
The most recent figures show Vahedi trailing 17,825 to 19,547 for Koretz.The final returns are expected June 19.
Koretz said he also has begun to think about committee assignments he would like to see once he takes office officially on July 1.
"Transportation is one of the top issues for the district," Koretz said. "On the west side, we have severe problems and in the Valley, I would like to see us expand the Orange Line."
He also is interested in government efficiency and environmental issues, areas in which he has worked as a member of the state Assembly.
Koretz is succeeding Councilman Jack Weiss, who gave up the seat to run for City Attorney.
Since the election, Koretz said he has been trying to deal with calls from constituents who are urging him to try to influence city decisions.
"I'm not in the office yet and I tell them to wait just a bit longer," Koretz said.

While there is a lot of speculation about whether Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is running for governor next year, there has been no question about the ambitions of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.
Villaraigosa has yet to announce what he will do as Newsom has created an exploratory committee and been traveling up and down the state to develop support.
And, the two will have a lot to talk about over that when they appear together Saturday at the annual gay rights parade in West Hollywood.
Both men will be at a news conference kicking of the day's festivities and will ride in the parade _ although it was not known if they will be in the same car.
They will have lots of company from the Los Angeles City Council, including the two members who represent Hollywood _ Eric Garcetti and Tom LaBonge _ along with Councilman Bill Rosendahl and Councilman Dennis Zine, who will be in leathers and on his motorycle.
Zine said City Attorney-elect Carmen Trutanich, who rides a Harley Davidson, also planned to be there on his motorcycle.

Conceding that Los Angeles County welfare policies have helped create the nation's worst homelessness problem, a welfare commission on Thursday recommended an increase in monthly General Relief checks from $221 to $400 to help get the homeless off the streets. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The amount of the monthly relief checks hasn't been adjusted since 1996 -- even though the cost of living has increased 42 percent since then.

The check is not enough to rent the cheapest apartments in the county -- costing at least $400 a month, said Leonard Schneiderman, dean emeritus of the UCLA School of Social Welfare and member of the Commission for Public Social Services.

Carrying signs that read "Hunger Kills!" and "Salvation not Starvation!" nearly 200 people crammed into a Los Angeles auditorium Thursday to protest a vote that would have cut funding to food programs that serve those with HIV and AIDS. Susan Abram in the Daily News.

Members of Los Angeles County's Commission on HIV considered cutting $350,000 from a nutrition service, which includes a pantry and distribution center in North Hollywood. The services reach roughly 3,000 people a month.

But after hearing comments by dozens of clients, volunteers and staff from AIDS Project Los Angeles, Project Angel Food, and Bienestar among others, the commission voted to send the issue back to a committee for further discussion.

A historic Studio City club where the Beatles once held a press conference was the site of a major police gang raid early Thursday morning, when 17 South Los Angeles gangbangers were arrested and a "Hood Party" of 400 people broken up. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

The party was held to celebrate the designated birthday of the notorious Rollin' 60s Neighborhood Crips gang. Police said they may have come to the Valley because they are facing a court injunction preventing them from gathering in public in parts of South L.A.

Nine gang members were arrested for parole violations, five for probation violations and three for outstanding warrants at Platinum Live, 11345 Ventura Blvd., at about 1:30 a.m., police said.

After hiring a feng shui expert and spending more than $7.4 million on a special exhibit, Los Angeles will not be getting three rare golden monkeys from China promised in a 2002 trip led by former Mayor James Hahn, officials said Wednesday. Daily News.

"It was a decision by the Chinese government and we're disappointed," said Councilman Tom LaBonge, whose district includes the Greater Los Angeles Zoo. "But, it is not a waste. We have a beautiful facility and we will put other animals on display there."

The agreement to bring in the golden monkeys, identifiable by their blue faces and long flowing blond hair, was developed by Hahn during his trip to China.

A woman who works in the adult entertainment industry has tested positive for HIV, but health workers from the San Fernando Valley clinic where she is a client said Wednesday rumors of an outbreak are unfounded. Susan Abram in the Dailoy News.

The case is an isolated one, the clinic said, and is significantly different from the HIV scare which jolted the industry five years ago.

"There has been misinformation posted on the (online) boards regarding a person testing positive for HIV," said Brooke Hunter, clinical administrator for the Valley-based, nonprofit Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation.

As if the movie and TV production slowdown wasn't bad enough in L.A., a study released Wednesday shows that Hollywood is even losing ground on TV pilots. Bob Strauss in the Daily News.

Not only has the filming of single episodes of proposed new television series declined overall, L.A.'s share of the production has also plunged, according to a five-year report issued by FilmL.A.

"The most significant finding is that the number of pilots produced for television has declined by roughly 17 percent over the last five years," said Todd Lindgren, vice president for communications at FilmL.A., which serves as a clearinghouse for location shooting permits in the city and parts of Los Angeles County.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- or one of his staffers -- took his dispute with the state over funding to the blogsphere today.
On Fox and Hounds, the mayor made the case that he has been trtyighn to make with state officials for the past month.
On it, he says:
Year in and year out, it seems like our state faces the same predicament: An historic deficit; a deadlocked legislature; budget negotiations hijacked by a few hard-liners making unreasonable demands, and stalled by a two-thirds rule that impedes progress and weakens our ability to govern.

A few weeks ago - after the defeat of a series of measures designed to soften the blow of our budget shortfall - a coalition of mayors and city officials came together to call on our state representatives to follow a different path; to take responsibility for the public purse; to find a better way to navigate the choppy economic waters before us and lay the foundation for a stronger, more stable financial future.

Members of the Screen Actors Guild have voted to ratify a two-year contract covering movies and prime-time TV shows made by the major Hollywood studios.AP in the Daily News.

The vote, with 78 percent in favor of the deal, follows a bitter dispute that saw Guild members fighting among themselves and left them further behind than where they started.

The contract immediately raises the minimum pay for union members. But it does not improve compensation for Internet content beyond what other unions have already accepted.

The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to eliminate 11 commissions, committees and boards that haven't met for a long time or have had very low attendance by commissioners. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The unanimous vote came as Los Angeles County faces the loss of up to $1.8 billion in state cuts and amid calls by Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka to have departments cut their budgets by up to 15 percent.

"Los Angeles County is experiencing an unprecedented fiscal crisis," Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said. "Thus far, departmental budget cuts total $160 million. Further cuts may threaten core direct services vital to the residents of Los Angeles County, including children and families."

The Los Angeles City Council took the first steps Tuesday to close existing medical marijuana clinics and prevent the opening of new ones until a permanent law governing their use is adopted. Daily News.

The actions were taken two years after the city passed a temporary moratorium on new clinics that has proven ineffective. Hundreds of operators have opened without getting full authorization from the city by using a "hardship exemption" loophole.

On Tuesday, the city effectively began reviewing each of the hardship exemption requests, denying all 14 they heard. Ultimately, all of the clinics that opened with a hardship exemption must get approval from the city to legitimately operate as a business.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa returned to Sacramento on Tuesday for the second time in three weeks, leading a delegation of mayors trying to block state legislators from taking local funds.
Daily News.
At the same time, hundreds of city workers descended on Los Angeles City Hall to protest plans to furlough workers 26 days and close down basic services twice a month.

Villaraigosa, joined by the mayors of San Diego, Santa Ana and Sacramento, pleaded with the state to repay any funds that it takes from cities.

Los Angeles teacher union officials filed 14 complaints against the L.A. Unified School District on Monday, claiming it allowed schools to spend too much federal stimulus money on out-of-classroom jobs, which they said would boost class sizes and jeopardize learning.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

School district officials, who have a number of days to respond to the complaints, permitted individual schools to use federal stimulus money to buy back a number of teachers and other workers whose jobs were set to be eliminated because of budget cuts.

At the end of the buyback program, a total of 2,668 teaching, counseling and other jobs were bought back in the district, and 1,056 of them were out-of-classroom jobs, LAUSD officials said Monday.

As Los Angeles County braces for nearly $2 billion in state cuts, an audit released Monday found the Probation Department exceeded its overtime budget by an average of 126 percent over the past five years.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Among the startling findings, the audit said some employees hold contests to see who can work the most overtime and engage in "shopping for overtime." The vast majority of those audited worked more overtime than the county allows, it found.

"We are definitely not happy to see overtime being used this way," Auditor-Controller Wendy Watanabe said. "I know they have a difficult task because of the size of the department, but especially with this economy and funding dwindling everywhere, we really need to have much better controls over overtime."

Despite assurances that policing in the cash-strapped city will not be scaled back, the Police Protective League has mounted a campaign to generate public opposition to LAPD furloughs.
Daily News
The PPL sent an e-mail to 400,000 registered voters, asking them to contact Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council and express their opposition to any furlough of Los Angeles Police Department officers.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and mayors from some of the state's largest cities head off to Sacramento again on Tuesday to try to head of more cuts as the state goes back into its gudget.
Vilaraigosa and San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin will meet with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders.
The state has a $24 billion shortfall and and is considering plans to borrow money from local government as well as cuts in services, taking local gas tax dollars and reducing funding for police, fire and transportation services.
It is the second trip by Villaraigosa and the mayors to Sacrament since the special election where voters rejected four ballot propostions.

Refugees of rape, torture and mass slaughter led a march of more than 2,000 Angelenos on Sunday fighting to end genocide a half a world away. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.

Residents from 60 Jewish synagogues and others gathered to save suffering people of Darfur, Sudan.

"I was thinking about how hard their lives are compared to ours," said 13-year-old Tanner Milford, of Oak Park, who had just finished the 3-mile Walk for Darfur: Walk to End Genocide.

"We have Paradise compared to their lives," he said. "They literally have nothing."

Chris Van Beveren jokes that her husband thinks she's over-reacting when she comes home from her evening walk complaining about the water running down their neighbors' driveways. Daily News.

"I'm not mad or anything like that," said Van Beveren, a travel agent who has lived in her Chatsworth home for more than 20years. "The whole idea is the big picture. We have a water shortage and everyone needs to do their part."

Van Beveren has assumed the role of a Drought Buster who reports violators, going so far as to get the DWP to write a strongly worded letter to Caltrans when the agency violated water restrictions.

Tipoffs: Wendy Greuel prepares to take office: City Council facing its own furloughs.

The arrest Friday of LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus took on an even more bizarre twist for the L.A. Weekly, which profiled her ina diffrent context.
"Weird happenings in our grim, big city: Accused Los Angeles Police Department detective Stephanie Lazarus, who police today said killed Sherri Rae Rasmussen, the wife of her lover, and got away with it for more than two decades until getting tripped up by a DNA test, was featured this year in LA Weekly's popular April 23 People Issue.

In the Weekly profile of LAPD cop Don Hrycyk by writer Mark Groubert, Lazarus is described as an art expert and ringer for Tyne Daly..."

Struggling to balance a booming demand for services against a funding shortage, officials with San Fernando Valley poverty-assistance agencies said Thursday they need to reorganize and connect with a new generation of social activists. Sue Doyle in the Daily News.

The discussion was part of the second annual "Mending Poverty" conference, held Thursday at Meet Each Need With Dignity in Pacoima.

Nearly 100 members from various social service agencies -- food pantries and providers of mental health, health care and housing programs -- focused on how to best advocate for the poor during a state budget crisis and an unsteady economy.

The government is charging Angelo Mozilo, the former chief executive of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp., and two other company executives with civil fraud. Daily News.

The case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission also accuses Mozilo of illegal insider trading, according to an agency spokesman.

Countrywide was a major player in the subprime mortgage market, the collapse of which in 2007 touched off the financial crisis that has gripped the U.S. and global economies.

Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, D-Burbank, is renting an apartment in Valley Glen to meet the residency deadline as he considers a run for the Los Angeles City Council. Daily News.

The last day to move into the district to be eligible to run in the special election is Saturday.

Eight years after he approved a sweeping consent decree designed to root out problems in the LAPD, a federal judge is expected Monday to consider withdrawing the costly and restrictive order.Daily News.

Chief William Bratton, widely credited with reforming the Los Angeles Police Department, said Thursday he is "cautiously optimistic" the decree will be lifted.

Bratton believes the agency can now police its own problems without the independent monitor who has cost Los Angeles taxpayers $2 million a year.

A new injunction granted Wednesday against one of the San Fernando Valley's largest street gangs takes the unusual step of singling out the Van Nuys government center, in addition to Van Nuys High School, as part of a "safety zone" needing special protection from gang violence. Daily News.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant said he hopes the injunction he granted against the Barrio Van Nuys gang will help make the government center safer for employees and those doing business there, and that it will stop gang recruitment at the high school.

"The gang acts by and through its members, individually and collectively and in concert, conducts its affairs and activities in the Van Nuys area, particularly near Van Nuys High School," Chalfant said in his decision granting the preliminary injunction.

Even before all the ballots were counted in the race for city attorney, the rumors began flying that Councilman Jack Weiss would be hired by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for a $200,000 a year job in his office. Daily News.

Villaraigosa and his aides deny it. Weiss also denies it.

Yet it continues to make its way around, usually with a subject header: "Can you believe this?" or "This cannot be allowed to stand."

The Los Angeles County government stands to lose a "catastrophic" $1.8 billion under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget-balancing plan, officials said Wednesday. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

In a report to the Board of Supervisors, CEO Bill Fujioka warned that the county could lose $1.5 billion in state revenues through June 30, 2010, plus an additional $302 million in property tax revenues the state may seek to borrow from the county.

That action could force the county to cut more than 380,000 people from the welfare rolls and make numerous other reductions in mental health, health and social service programs. The county would also lose $109 million earmarked to repair potholes and maintain infrastructure.

Playing coy on both the political and romantic fronts, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa deflected questions Wednesday about whether he plans to run for governor and outright refused to discuss his budding relationship with television anchor Lu Parker. Daily News.

The mayor's news conference, called initially to discuss the city's tax amnesty program, was his first full availability to the press since it was disclosed he is now dating Parker, a reporter-anchor at KTLA (Channel 5). The two were spotted over the weekend at a bookstore in the Larchmont area. The mayor's divorce from his wife, Corina, is still pending.

Signaling the seriousness of the city's financial problems, the Los Angeles City Council decided late Wednesday to move ahead with 26 furlough days for all civilian employees these coming year.
As part of the work reduction, individual departments will have to come up with plans on how to maximize the furloughs -- by having departments shut down completely one day to get additional savings by hving a bulding closed down to safe on heating, lighting, water and other expenses.
At some departments, it might make sense to operate with a skeleton crew because ther are fixed costs or the loss in revenue would be significant.
The City Council said it will continue to review the impact on the most popular services, such as parks and libraries.

Burbank resident Dave Cowan never thought he'd go to a food pantry.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

But since he was laid off in February from a job he'd held for 12 years, the former sales manager at a motion picture industry lighting company has been picking up bags of food at the Burbank Temporary Aid Center to feed himself and his 9-year-old son.

"I'm a single father," said Cowan, 39. "I have my son 24-7. I go every day and look for a job. ... But I've got to tell you, the bills keep coming and you have to eat. My son looks at me every day to provide and it gets very, very stressful."

Every politician wants reporters on his side. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa goes a bit further.
Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.
The news that Villaraigosa has been dating Channel 5 reporter and anchorwoman Lu Parker, the 1994 Miss USA and a sometime actress and model, was greeted Tuesday with a mix of yawns and alarm.

The yawns were from gossip connoisseurs who find the story all too familiar, coming two years after Villaraigosa wooed Channel 52 newswoman Mirthala Salinas amid the breakup of his 20-year marriage.

A $7.01 billion budget characterized as a work in progress, which calls for layoffs and furloughs of thousands of workers, was signed into law Tuesday by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.Daily News.

"Our work on this budget, however, is far from complete," Villaraigosa wrote to the City Council. "The nature of the economic crisis will require us to calibrate and adjust the budget to constantly evolving realities.

"The duration and depth of the recession, the impact of the state budget crisis on the city and the outcome of negotiations with our labor partners remain uncertain."

Anti-Semitic incidents soared 21 percent in California last year, led by a spike in vandalism, harassment and violence against Jews in the San Fernando Valley and other parts of Los Angeles, according to a report released Monday by the Anti-Defamation League. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

While the number of incidents fell 7 percent nationwide to 1,352, complaints in California rose from 186 in 2007 to 226 last year. They included a Molotov cocktail attack at the Bernard Milken Jewish Community Campus in West Hills and the beating of an Orthodox man in North Hollywood.

"It's almost like a virus," said Amanda Susskind, regional director of the ADL.

"It started in January and February when there were a large number of incidents in the San Fernando Valley. It may have been the same perpetrator or a series of copy-cat incidents. I can't tell you why it increased, but it does come in waves."

For years, the Burbank Police Department has systematically discriminated against minority and women officers and tolerated racial, ethnic and gender slurs against them, the lawyer for five officers suing the city and department alleged Monday. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

And when the department has hired and promoted minority officers, it has chosen only those who were "white enough," attorney Solomon E. Gresen said.

"What's going on in Burbank, let's make no mistake - it's illegal," Gresen told a news conference at his West Los Angeles office.

With door-hangers, mail inserts and advertising serving as warnings, Los Angeles imposed tougher restrictions - including higher rates for water-wasters - as it seeks a 15 percent reduction in summer water use.Daily News.

"We have no choice but to enact mandatory conservation," DWP General Manager David Nahai said. "With both a natural drought statewide and restrictions on the importaton of water from the (Sacramento) Delta, our water supplies are significantly reduced.

Even as conservative groups bask in their recent legal victory upholding the ban on gay marriage in California, gay-rights supporters remain confident the tide of history is on their side.
Tony Castro in the Daily News.
Calling their cause a logical extension of the civil-rights struggle in America, they see the success of that movement predicting their own eventual victory, whether through the courts or new ballot measures.

Backers of traditional marriage, however, say it's unfair to compare the two - that the question of defining marriage does not parallel the struggle against the repression of ethnic minorities.