October 2010 Archives

It is a potentially historic election with a distinctly Californian scent. Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

That's not only because Tuesday's California ballot comes with a strong whiff of Proposition 19, which asks voters to make the nation's leading marijuana-growing state the first to legalize recreational pot use.

Statewide candidates include two of California's most storied officeholders, as well a pair of Silicon Valley business icons, and rising political stars. Legislative and congressional races find Republicans fighting uphill to win control of one of the famously Democratic-leaning states. Initiatives offer big changes for a state government that has been called uniquely dysfunctional.

Citing concerns that the leadership of neighborhood councils could be hijacked by special interests, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich called Friday for tightening the rules on who can vote in the local elections. Daily News.

Trutanich said his office had been contacted by numerous neighborhood council members concerned that outsiders or people with only marginal connections to a community are able to participate in council elections.

Those concerns were echoed in a report from the City Clerk's Office, which oversees the elections. Officials said so-called "factual basis" voters made up nearly 17 percent of those who cast ballots in recent neighborhood council elections.

About 100 Granada Hills community members and parents gathered Saturday afternoon to hear from two groups competing to operate a new public high school next fall in this suburban neighborhood.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Valley Region High School #4 is one of 12 Los Angeles Unified campuses up for bid this year under the district's second round of "Public School Choice." The reform program lets outside groups like charter operators and nonprofits, as well as district-based teachers and administrators, compete to run new and under-performing schools.

The Center for Governmental Studies has produced an objective voter guide for Tuesday's election, that explains all nine ballot propositions.
It also has urged voters to go to the California Channel, where it can see interviews with most of the statewide candidates as well as the three state Supreme Court jusstices who are up for election.

Staples Center owner AEG is working on plans to build a downtown "events center" and bring an NFL team to Los Angeles in deals that could be finalized by year's end, the company's chief executive said Thursday.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News,

AEG is willing to invest $1 billion in a stadium complex and $300 million in a renovation of the Los Angeles Convention Center, creating a complex that would crown Los Angeles the "event capital of the word," CEO and President Tim Leiweke said.

In an unusually sharp response by a public official to scathing Internet postings, Assemblyman Mike Gatto this week forced a political blogger to remove reports that the San Fernando Valley-area Democrat claimed were defamatory.Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

Gatto's attorney threatened legal action against Michael Higby, who runs the Los Angeles-based Mayor Sam's Sister City blog, and Scott Johnson, who writes for the website.

Union workers on Thursday protested the city's plan to redeploy up to 100 LAPD officers as jailers, saying those cops be on the street and not in positions now held by civilian workers. Daily News,

The shift was authorized in last year's budget as a money-saving move, but the unions are concerned that officials may renew it in the next budget.

Lax oversight in the hiring of consultants in Los Angeles Unified's Facilities Department resulted in rampant conflicts of interest over a four-year period, according to an audit released Wednesday by City Controller Wendy Greuel. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The district requested the review this year after facilities consultant Bassam Raslan was indicted on conflict of interest charges for allegedly using his district position to hire employees from a company he runs.

The audit found some 225 instances between 2002 and 2006 in which consultants working in temporary management positions for the district hired others from their own firm, leading to potential conflicts.

With retirement costs threatening to further erode future city services, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proposed Wednesday making what he called moderate changes in the pension system for new municipal workers. Daily News.

The proposal comes a day after the City Council approved a measure for the March 8 ballot that would reduce pensions for new police officers and firefighters.

"The economic downturn has forced cities and states to make changes in their publicly funded pension systems," Villaraigosa said at a City Hall news conference. "The fact remains that Los Angeles cannot afford to continue down an unsustainable path."

"Subway to the Sea" sounds so much cooler than "Subway to the VA." Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

But Metro officials say the current plan for a $4.2 billion subway extension - partly funded by the Measure R sales tax - would take the line only to Westwood. Building it to the Pacific Ocean, as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has repeatedly promised, would take an additional $1.7 billion.

"Under Measure R, we never planned to go all the way to the sea," Metro spokesman Marc Littman said. "It was just to get to Westwood. If they get additional funds, they can go to Santa Monica."

Los Angeles Unified officials Tuesday unanimously voted to scale down a new round of borrowing for facilities projects, approving only $125 million in new loans while also delaying up to 1,000 planned campus upgrades. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The school board had originally planned to borrow $320 million for projects that included relocating a school police station and computer system upgrades.

But facing bleak budget forecasts and still weeks away from approving a new master plan, the board downsized the loan and postponed up to 1,000 already-approved modernization projects at least until future bond revenues come in, expected no earlier than 2014.

he City Council agreed Tuesday to ask Los Angeles voters to scale back pensions for new police officers and firefighters to rein in spiraling costs, but balked at a plan to also take control of DWP retirement benefits.Daily News.

If approved by voters March 8, the police and fire pension reforms would save an estimated $152 million over 10 years by requiring new hires to work longer and pay more into retirement and health care systems than current workers.

"The reason we are having this discussion is for the long-term to make this system sustainable," City Administrative Office Miguel Santana told the council.

California Dreaming: Republicans and Democrats are gearing up for a knock down, drag out fight for Sen. Barbara Boxer's (D) Senate seat this week -- despite new public polling that shows Boxer holding a lead. National Journal.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is dropping a massive $3 million TV ad buy in California this week, committee sources tell Hotline On Call.

With this ad buy, the NRSC's will have spent nearly $8 million in support of former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina's (R) campaign. The spending is also a sure sign that the NRSC believes it has a good shot of knocking off Boxer.

The ad buy comes one day after a Los Angeles Times/USC poll showed Boxer opening up an eight point lead -- 50 percent to 42 percent -- a major boon to Boxer's campaign.

Republicans are pushing back on that poll, however, saying their internal numbers show the race much tighter. The NRSC is conducting two tracking polls in California, and committee sources say both showed Fiorina only one point down at the end of last week.

Not to be outdone, the Boxer campaign is launching an even larger $4 million dollar ad buy this week, according to campaign sources. The buy should virtually blanket the state's airwaves.

"We are on the air in ten media markets including Spanish language stations," said Rose Kapolczynski, Boxer's campaign manager.

VAN NUYS - To the buoyant sound of the Doobie Brothers, an energetic crowd on Sunday greeted gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer like they were rock stars, lining up to shake their hands and chant their names. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Billed as "The Rally in the Valley," Brown, Boxer, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and a slate of other Democratic candidates on the Nov. 2 ballot spoke to a cheering crowd of more than 200 during a rare appearance at the Van Nuys headquarters of the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley.

Her first campaign could have been doubly demoralizing, enough to make her never seek office again, let alone do it over and over. Kevin Modestiin the Daily News

In 2002, Armineh Chelebian got just 4 percent of the vote and finished 10th in a 13-person election for one seat on the San Fernando Valley City Council.

Then it turned out the seat didn't even exist, and Chelebian's effort was rendered academic when the referendum to make the Valley a city was defeated the same day.

Discouraged?

Tipoff: Nearly 30-4o percent of vote already cast.

The Tea Party movement rolled into the San Fernando Valley Saturday afternoon, motivating a small but boisterous crowd of locals to grab flags and copies of the Constitution and join their pre-election rallying cry. Connie Llanos and Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

The roadside gathering on the lawn of the Valley's Republican headquarters in Woodland Hills was organized by the Northern California Tea Party Patriots as one of its final stops on a week-long California bus tour.

While the event only attracted some two dozen local "patriots," organizers were still happy with the results.

To even the most casual obsrever, this year's election in California has been mind boggling.
The Fair Political Practice Commission last week reported that spending for the governor's race alone is at $186 million and climibing toward $200 million _ figures once large enough for a national campaign.
Most of that spending has come from Republican Meg Whitman, who has been running television commercials since the first of hhe year, first to introduce herself and, secondly to attack Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown.
Heading in to the fine week, Brown was holding on to a lead over Whitman, according to a poll conducted by USC and the Los Angeles Times.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-CA, and Republican Carly Fiorina were locked in a too-close-to-call race,.
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The USC.LA Times Poll shows Boxer with a 50-42 percent lead.

Even with close races for governor and senate hear, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is going on the campaign trail again _ in Colorado.
Villaraigosa's weekend schedule includes get out the vote efforts on behalf of Sen. Michael Beennett in Colorado and Rep. Ed Perlmutte.
Villaraigosa did appear at a Friday rally with President Obama on behalf of the Democratic ticket of Sen. Barbara Boxer and Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, both of whom could use his help in the Latino and Los Angeles communities.

USC's Annenberg Center is live streaming the rally with President Obama.
It can be linked at: http://www.livestream.com/uscannenberg/

In a season of mailboxes overstuffed with hyperbolic campaign literature, a few mailers stand out this year for their sheer brazenness. Troy Anderson in the Daily News,

Take one piece that was recently sent to 1 million California households by a Newport Beach slate mailer firm calling itself "Continuing the Republican Revolution." The mailer is emblazoned with a red-white-and-blue Republican elephant, an American eagle and a quote praising Ronald Reagan.

Then it recommends votes on state measures that are the exact opposite of most Republican positions on the Nov. 2 statewide ballot.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman on Thursday accused her Democratic opponent of lying to voters about her stance on immigration to undercut her support among Latinos.AP in the Daily News,

After meeting with Latino metal workers during a campaign stop in South Los Angeles, Whitman said Jerry Brown lied when he said she supports Arizona's tough new law to curb illegal immigration, which put local police officers on the front lines of enforcing federal immigration law.

"He is saying that I am for the Arizona law. It's a bold-faced lie," Whitman said.

SHERMAN OAKS -- Rep. Howard Berman found himself forced to defend his long career in Congress when he faced two fired-up opponents and a pro-Republican crowd Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

Republican challenger Merlin Froyd labeled Berman an "extremist," noting the 14-term congressman sides with the Democratic majority on 98.7 percent of House votes.

Despite learning Tuesday that Los Angeles County faces a $26 billion tab over coming decades to cover pension and retiree health care costs, the Board of Supervisors delayed pursuing reforms to the retirement system after unions threatened legal action.Trpy Anderspn in the Daily News.

The supervisors were preparing to consider a series of reforms that included raising the county's minimum retirement age and asking employees to contribute more to their plans.

But unions hinted at legal action to stop the reforms and said the political process would be more difficult than the supervisors expected.

Home sales in the San Fernando Valley fell 14 percent in September from a year earlier, although prices inched up slightly and foreclosure activity eased, a research center said Tuesday.Gregory J Wilcox in the Daily News,

A total of 1,289 homes were sold last month in the area stretching from Glendale to Calabasas, compared with 1,493 a year earlier and 1,318 in August.

The so-called year of the Tea Party in most of the country has been a bust in California, where the two top-of-the- ticket races have become virtual toss-ups between experienced Democrats and upstart Republicans.Tony Catsro in the Daily News.

In the two major races, former Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown is battling to overcome Republican billionaire Meg Whitman's record spending to return to the office he held three decades ago; and three-term U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer is trying to stave off Republican challenger Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard.

"In California, it's the year of economic worry, it's the year of fiscal uncertainty, it's the year in which you've got experience versus relative newcomers - political savvy versus business know-how," said Mark Baldassare, director of research at the Public Policy Institute of California.

Election roundup in todayh';s Daily News.

Tipoff: The LAPPL gets heavily involved in state politices.

CHICO, Calif.--Republican governor candidate Meg Whitman continued her culinary tour of California eateries Saturday, taking shots at Democratic nominee Jerry Brown along the way.AP in the Daily Newsl,
With last week's third and final debate behind her and the election less than three weeks away, the billionaire former eBay chief executive is trying to rally Republicans to the polls and independents to her side with a bus tour through friendly areas of the state.

She ordered broasted chicken and two kinds of pie for campaign aides at Chico's Cozy Diner, a Bob's Big Bear Burger at a Black Bear Diner in Redding, and bought peaches and grapes at a Dairyville farm stand in between.

Clinton praises Brown, Newsom

Former President Bill Clinton is continuing his swing through California to mobilize Democrats on behalf of vulnerable candidates locked in tight election contests.S.F. chronicle.

Clinton is scheduled to appear Sunday evening at San Jose State University with gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom, who is running for lieutenant governor. He will first make a stop in Napa with Congressman Mike Thompson.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/10/17/politics/p060034D77.DTL&type=politics#ixzz12dGWxiKQ

A new audit of Los Angeles Unified's massive $20 billion building program raises concerns about the district using overly optimistic projections in its budgeting and cautions officials about authorizing new construction projects.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The report comes as the school board is set Tuesday to finalize $320 million in loans for new capital improvement projects such as installing solar panels and relocating a police station.

The report by Capital Program Management, Inc. warns the district that while it expects nearly $900 million in bond funds owed by the state, it should only count on receiving about $220 million for now.

GLENDALE - Endeavor Diagnostics billed itself as a thriving medical laboratory that performed more than $1 million of work for Medicare patients. AP in the Daily News,

When two FBI agents went to inspect it, they found an empty San Fernando Valley office with only a desk and a fax machine. There were no workers, no patients and no biological samples.

Behind the door of the facade were signs tying the operation to a sprawling network of phantom enterprises allegedly set up by Armenian mobsters to try to defraud Medicare of $163 million for services never provided.

As Los Angeles County faces record demand for welfare benefits, officials said Thursday the recently adopted state budget cuts funding for thousands of mentally ill children, but largely spares welfare programs. Troy Anderson in the Daily News,

County Department of Public Social Services Director Phillip Browning said he was relieved the final state budget doesn't eliminate the CalWORKS welfare program or make large cuts in the In-Home Supportive Services program as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger originally proposed.

Although the county expects to lose a total of $89 million in funding, Browning said his department "escaped a real bullet."

Renewing a familiar complaint, a San Fernando Valley business group on Thursday claimed that the Valley's representation falls short at City Hall. Daily News.

Eight of the city's 44 commissions have no Valley representation, according to a new review by the Valley Industry and Commerce Association.

Also, while the Valley represents 38 percent of the city's population, Valley residents only make up 22 percent of city commissioners, the group said.

California's gubernatorial candidates engaged in a heated back-and-forth Tuesday over taxes, job creation and the state's economy as each tried to chart a hopeful course for the future of the troubled state in their third and final debate.AP in the Daily News.

Republican Meg Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown began their verbal jousting a few minutes into the debate at Dominican University in San Rafael as the conversation turned to Proposition 13, the measure approved by California voters that caps property taxes.

Brown accused Whitman, the former eBay chief executive, of promoting a plan to cut regulations and taxes that is designed to help her and her wealthy friends, particularly her proposal to eliminate the capital gains tax. Brown said that would benefit millionaires and billionaires most.

After a lengthy and heated discussion, the Los Angeles Unified school board on Tuesday sided with Superintendent Ramon Cortines over a controversial plan to reduce the number of plant managers at district schools.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

On a 4-3 vote, the board rejected a plan to restore the staffing of one plant manager at every school, a proposal that had led to Cortines threatening to resign last week.

The resolution would have overruled a previously approved cost-cutting plan drafted by Cortines to cut up to 250 plant managers - who oversee maintenance and facilities issues at schools - to save the district about $11 million.

After weeks of lectures and threats, City Council President Eric Garcetti on Tuesday canceled a scheduled meeting after a quorum of 10 members failed to appear in chambers within 20 minutes.Daily News

"I've been talking about this for several weeks," Garcetti said, closing the meeting for the first time in at least a year.

"We have an obligation to be here at 10 o'clock on meeting days. We leave the public waiting and it is the wrong message to send. It's a violation of our rules and we shouldn't ask the public to waste their time."

Attorney General Jerry Brown and businesswoman Meg Whitman are scheduled to hold their third and final debate at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday from Fresno, San Rafael
The one-hour debate is scheduled tob e broadcast by KNBC-TV (Channel 4).
Radio station KCRW (89.9 FM) also plans to broadcast the debate, followed by an hour-long analysis hosted by Warren Olney.

Taking advantage of the state's early voting procedures. Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer is not waiting until Nov. 2 to cast her ballot.
Boxer, who is in a tough re-election campaign against Republican Carly Fiorina, announced she will cast her ballot at 10 a.m., Tuesday, at the Riverside County Registrar's office.
Anywhere between 25 and up to 50 percent of the votes in this election are expected to be cast through early voting or by vote by mail procedures.

Councilwoman Janice Hahn says she wants the puiblic to have a chance to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers, but not have the city shell out any money for the team.
Hahn said she has asked the City Council to ask Congress to withdraw protections given Major League Baseball to allow residents to come together to purchase the team.
However, she said, she does not believe the city should be in the position of purhcasing the team.
"She is not proposing that the City of Los Angeles purchase the
Dodgers or that tax money be used," a statement from her office said. "She would like fans to have the opportunity to buy stock in the team through a public offering--much like the Green Bay Packers."

As local governments face a severe fiscal crunch, some Los Angeles politicians have responded by trimming the size of their own staffs - some a little more than others.Daily News

Figures obtained under a California Public Records Act and through research reveal a sharp disparity in staffing sizes among similar offices at City Hall and in county government.

Claiming they are throwing lavish parties and wasting money during tough times, a Long Beach resident is suing the Board of Supervisors alleging they are illegally spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars for their own benefit. Troy Anderson in the Daily News,

In the lawsuit, Robert Glen Golightly alleges the supervisors have a "slush fund" they use to burnish their public image, pay for chauffeurs, throw parties for friends and lobbyists and support "personal pet projects that are intended to garner political support rather than provide material benefits to the citizens."

The changing face of one of Southern California's wealthiest counties helped Democrat Loretta Sanchez win an upset election to Congress 14 years ago, as Latinos arrived as a political force. Now, a rising tide of Vietnamese political clout has her fighting to hang onto her seat.AP in the Daily News.

To the surprise of many voters in California's gritty, urban 47th District - which shares little with the affluent beachfront communities that give Orange County its fame - Sanchez recently injected the thorny issue of race into the campaign. Speaking on Spanish-language network Univision, she said "the Vietnamese and Republicans" were trying "to take this seat from us ... and give it to this Van Tran who is very anti-immigrant and very anti-Hispanic" - words she later conceded were poorly chosen.

Tipoff: Advisory Council wants a separate commission.

Faced with spiraling costs for city pensions, City Council President Eric Garcetti on Friday proposed a series of changes to the retirement system for civilian employees.Daily Nerws

"City Hall must fundamentally reform the way it does business and reforming the pension system is a key component to that," Garcetti said. "The status quo is unacceptable."

His proposal would raise the retirement age to 60, from 55 currently, calculate pensions based on a three-year average of the employee's salary rather than the single highest year of earnings; and prohibit double-dipping, where an employee can draw a pension while working a city job.

Upset over a policy disagreement with the school board, Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines offered his resignation Friday, only to later be persuaded to stay on, according to several district officials.Connie Llanos in the Daily News,

Cortines, 78, had already planned to retire in spring, but sent an email around noon Friday to board members saying he would resign in December, according to several officials who saw the email.

"There was a letter, there was a misunderstanding, a lot of conversation and resolution but there is no resignation," said Monica Garcia, LAUSD board president.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is among several officials scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama Monday at the White House on spending on infrastructure in his third trip to the nation's capital in four weeks.

Villaraigosa has been seeking congressional support for a plan to accelerate the construction of 12 major transit projects in Los Angeles County.

His so-called 30/10 initiative calls for finishing the projects -- including a portion of the so-called Subway to the Sea and a regional connector to link several light rail lines passing through downtown Los Angeles -- in 10 years instead of 30 as initially planned.

He estimated the cost of building the projects over 30 years is $18.5 billion. Accelerating construction to 10 years would reduce the cost to $14 billion, Villaraigosa said.

The campaign of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown apologized Thursday after one of his aides was overheard referring to Republican rival Meg Whitman as a "whore" in a taped telephone message.Sacramento Bee.

The recording of the conversation was circulated to the press Thursday. It was captured on a telephone answering machine when Brown left a message after calling the Los Angeles Police Protective League last month.

Joined by civil rights lawyers and Los Angeles Unified officials, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged the local teachers union Thursday to back efforts to reform layoff procedures or get left behind.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The collective plea was issued days after the LAUSD school board announced its unanimous approval of a legal settlement that, once finalized by a judge, would eliminate the practice of basing all layoff decisions on seniority.

In response to numerous complaints about noise and crime, Los Angeles officials have prepared a sweeping ordinance to regulate group homes and banish them from single-family neighborhoods.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Two years in the making, the proposed Community Care Facility Ordinance provides clear guidelines for state-licensed and unlicensed boarding homes

In the wake of a recent string of gay teen suicides across the country, Los Angeles Unified officials joined forces with gay rights advocates Thursday to announce a targeted effort to eliminate bullying of homosexual youth at local schools.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Working with the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, district officials said they plan to launch an information campaign this month that will include handing out some 1,500 "Safe School Kits" to local secondary schools to create safer environments for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.

SACRAMENTO -- The state Assembly on Thursday passed the main bill in a legislative package aimed at ending California's record budget impasse and closing a $19 billion deficit.AP in the Daily News.

Lawmakers voted 54-1 in favor of the measure, SB870, getting just enough support in the 80-member house to reach the required two-thirds vote threshold. The bill moved to the state Senate, where lawmakers were expected to take it up later Thursday.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--The two candidates for California lieutenant governor on Thursday tried to dispel notions that they are both moderates cut from the same political cloth, sparring in their first live debate over issues ranging from the environment to immigration. AP in the Daily News.

Incumbent Abel Maldonado and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom tried to persuade an audience made up of members of a Silicon Valley employers group that they would use the largely unsung second-in-command post to create jobs, restore the state's public universities and overcome the partisan stalemate gripping Sacramento.

After months of negotiations, Los Angeles Unified officials unanimously approved a landmark legal settlement Tuesday that could end the district's practice of basing layoff decisions on eniority.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The proposed settlement has to be finalized by a judge but is not subject to negotiation with the teachers union.

According to district officials, the settlement would protect up to 45 LAUSD schools from suffering any teacher layoffs during budget cuts.

New budget could mean more layoffs\
The Los Angeles Unified board Tuesday unanimously approved a budget plan for the next two years that could require thousands of layoffs to address a shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The action followed a conflict with the county Office of Education earlier this year because the district had initially authored a one-year plan, ignoring state law that calls for three-year budgets. The county then demanded a three-year plan by Oct. 8.

But district officials continued to insist Tuesday that was it unrealistic to plan that far in advance because of uncertainty in the state budget, so Superintendent Ramon Cortines drafted a two-year plan that could lead to substantial cuts in services and employees.

DAVIS, Calif.--The major party candidates for state attorney general clashed Tuesday on issues ranging from the environment to the death penalty as they tried to distinguish themselves in their only scheduled debate before Election Day. AP in the Daily News.

From his opening statement, Republican Steve Cooley painted Democrat Kamala Harris as soft on crime for her personal opposition to capital punishment.

Cooley is the Los Angeles County district attorney, while Harris holds the same position in San Francisco.

You can beat City Hall and Big Brother, even if you're new to the game.Tony Castro in the Daily News,

That's how a group of Northridge residents feel after persuading the city to reject an application by T-Mobile to erect a cellular tower at Saticoy Street and Louise Avenue.

"It was David going against Goliath - it's really what it was, and David won," said Clifton J. Burwell, 82, who spearheaded the opposition. "It was people power."

Residency restrictions in neighboring cities have forced an influx of sex offenders into Los Angeles, where the difficulty in housing them has led to a spike in homeless parolees, police said Tuesday.C.J. Lin in the Daily News.

Of the 5,100 registered sex offenders living in Los Angeles, about 1,020 - or 20 percent - are on parole or probation and thus prohibited from living within 2,000 feet of schools or parks where children gather, LAPD Detective Diane Webb told the Police Commission.

Power and water usage at a home where City Councilman Richard Alarcón claimed to live with his wife and two children was so low that it barely covered one light bulb and one short shower per day, utility officials said in newly released grand jury transcripts for the councilman's residency trial.Daily News.

A 24-count indictment charges Alarcón and his wife with fraud, perjury and related charges for allegedly living in a home outside his 7th Council District and lying about it in official documents.

Maggie Hernandez leads her Taefit group training class at Spectrum Athletic Club in Canoga Park, Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010. (Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer) Tony Castro in the Daily News.

When Maggi Hernandez's older daughter Ariana was 3, the youngster got the urge to take up tae kwon do - and her mom, a transplant from Connecticut to West Hills, tried to accommodate her.

"The martial arts studio we went to enroll her in didn't want to take her because she was so young," Hernandez recalls. "But I talked to them into taking her, and she was hooked - and soon so was I."

Soon, too, Hernandez decided to turn her own workout devotion into a full-time, seven-days-a-week business that in eight years has blossomed into a profitable physical fitness and nutrition-based enterprise with a solid San Fernando Valley following.

Spurred by a new report showing the city has failed to collect more than $540 million in delinquent debts, officials announced a host of measures Monday to begin recouping the money they say is desperately needed to fund programs and avoid layoffs. Daily News.

The Commission on Revenue Enhancement said Los Angeles can no longer afford to carry such massive debt and recommended, among other things, the appointment of a "collections sheriff" to coordinate the effort to round up old debt.

Drafted over the past several months, the commission's Blueprint for Reforms of City Collections calls for hiring an inspector general to oversee collections for two to three years. The blueprint also suggests centralizing collection and penalizing departments that fail to collect what's owed them.

The largest part of the electorate began casting ballots on Monday when vote-by-mail ballots went out to some 6 million voters in the state, Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced.
The nearly month-long period leading up to the Nov. 2 election has became a new target audience for candates as their advertising campaign is now directed at the early voters.
"Voting by mail is becoming an increasingly popular choice for Californians," Bowen said. "Ballots cast by mail comprised 57.9 percent of the total votes cast in the June 8 primary. In the May 19, 2009, Statewide Special Election, a record 62 percent of voters cast their ballots by mail. "
All voters can apply to vote by mail by returning the forms on the sample ballots that have been mailed to them.
"When you vote by mail, your mailbox is your polling place," Bowen said. "As more and more Californians opt for the ease and convenience of voting by mail, Election Day has really turned into Election Month."
More than six million Californians are registered as permanent vote-by-mail voters. Hundreds of thousands more voters choose to cast their ballots through the mail on a one-time basis each election.

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BUDGET CASUALTY?
Child care services could be hurt in state spending plan
By Tony Castro, Staff Writer
Posted: 10/03/2010 07:56:46 PM PDT
Updated: 10/03/2010 08:03:45 PM PDT

Peggy Nairn walks children from Valley Region School #12 to her 24 Hour Childcare center at the end of the regular school day. Her School could be closed if the California State Budget is not passed soon. North Hills, CA 9/30/2010 (John McCoy/Staff Photographer)
Click photo to enlarge
Saeed Habbas 8-months old looks up at Infant room teacher Maria... (John McCoy/Staff Photographer)

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As a child care operator, Peggy Nairn faces a prospect she thought she would never see.

"We are facing a nightmare - a crisis - and every day I have parents coming in here crying, families falling apart, people reaching the breaking point," says Nairn, who operates a 24-hour-a-day child care facility in North Hills.

"People are afraid of losing their child care funding, and if they lose that, they'll have no one to take care of their children. They'll have to stay home, and they'll lose their jobs, and we'll be closing down."

Nairn is describing the worst-case scenario for child care centers for low-income families and others who depend on state funding.

For months now, they have been on edge as lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger failed again and again to reach a deal to close the state's $19 billion budget deficit - holding up billions of dollars in payments since July 1 to thousands of businesses and individuals that depend on state funding.

But after a tentative agreement was struck Friday between legislative leaders and the governor, Nairn and others who depend on state services can only hold their breath hoping it goes through and funding resumes as quickly as possible.

"I don't even think of what could happen if Sacramento doesn't come up with a budget," says Michael Olenick, head of the Chatsworth-based Child Care Resource Center that funnels state funding to child care centers for low-income families in the San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley.

"Without state funds, our cash flow will have (soon) exhausted, as will all our reserves and all of our line of credit ... at which point I'm not so sure what we can do."

At risk, according to Olenick, are the funds to provide care for the 16,000 children of the 11,000 families at some 7,639 child care facilities like Nairn's in the region.

Schwarzenegger and leaders of both parties announced late Friday night that they had reached a deal to close the deficit without raising taxes, more than three months after the deadline for approving a budget.

They released few details, however, and the leaders still have to convince two-thirds of the Legislature to support the deal.

More information is expected to be released during a hearing Wednesday, with a legislative vote tentatively scheduled for Thursday.

Sacramento did not pay an estimated $3.3 billion in bills in July and August, nearly 10 percent of all state costs, according to Controller John Chiang's office. The state is projected to miss another $3.1 billion in payments last month.

This is the longest the state has ever gone beyond the July 1 start of its fiscal
BUDGET NIGHTMARE
"
We are facing a nightmare a crisis and every day I have parents coming in here crying, families falling apart, people reaching the breaking point."
-- Peggy Naim
year without an approved spending plan.

Last week a Public Policy Institute of California poll found that 75 percent of voters disapprove of the job legislators are doing. A recent Field Poll reported that lawmakers' ratings are at an all-time low, with only 10 percent of registered voters approving of their performance.

Voters in the two polls blamed both legislators and the governor for the long budget delay.

Child care providers are among the small businesses hardest hit by the budget stalemate, along with nursing homes and other private facilities that rely on the bulk of their income from the state and have few cash reserves to help them through rough patches.

But that is only the tip of the iceberg on the impact the budget deadlock will have in Los Angeles, where hundreds of college students remain without payment of their Cal Grants for the year - and where city officials have already had to throw together a patchwork of loans to keep two programs afloat.

At Pierce College alone, some 687 students have not been paid their Cal Grants totaling more than $1 million for 2010-2011.

"Students receiving Cal Grants have had tuition waivers, but they have been denied this money from their Cal Grants to pay for books, lab fees and any other costs associated with school," said Anafe Robinson, director of financial aid at Pierce.

California's community colleges are now owed at least $840 million in state funds held up by the budget standoff, according to state officials.

Many community colleges are scrambling to freeze purchases, hold off vendor payments and take out costly loans.

"The interest on those loans is not paid for by the state," said Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh, vice president of academic affairs at Pierce. "It comes out of whatever the budget is, and that means the colleges actually have less money to offer in instruction and in providing services we normally do."

Last month the City Council provided a $3.1 million bridge loan to the Department of Aging to keep meals programs running, and the city has also had to loan $5.6 million a month out of gas tax funds to allow road projects to continue.

But City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana cautioned that these kinds of loans cannot continue indefinitely.

"We will run out of gas tax money by the end of October and then will have to dip into our reserve fund," Santana said. "As for Aging, we are telling them to tell their providers to look for other sources once this money is gone." Tony Castro in the Daily News.

Statewide, the budget impasse has resulted in the reduction or loss of early education and child care services for more than 28,000 children and their families, the reduction of hours or layoff of 1,141 child care workers and the closure or reduction in services at 234 preschool centers or sites.

"It's a disgrace what the Legislature has allowed to happen," said Olenick, "and there seems to be no sense of crisis for the Legislature.

"Meanwhile, we're all here picking up the pieces and seeing everything beginning to implode."

Local officials are starting to make progress in luring Hollywood studios to do more filming in Los Angeles.Daily News.

Now they just have to convince the people who live here that that's a good thing.

Film L.A., the nonprofit that coordinates Los Angeles County film permitting, is preparing a countywide ad campaign to remind local residents about what the entertainment industry means to the region.

Tipoffs: The long battle over LAFD stafff assistants to escalate.

The attorney for Meg Whitman's former housekeeper released a copy Thursday of a purported 2003 letter that she says shows the Republican gubernatorial candidate knew all along that the maid might be an illegal immigrant. AP in the Daily News.

The letter from the Social Security Administration has emerged as a potentially explosive document in the California governor's race between Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown. Whitman has called for tougher sanctions against employers who hire illegal workers, and the fact that she had an illegal immigrant on her payroll for a number of years could undercut her credibility.

As more Americans lost their homes to foreclosure last month than at any time in history, Los Angeles County has become the "national epicenter of mortgage fraud," federal officials said Thursday.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The Los Angeles area now ranks No. 1 in the nation in the number of mortgage fraud reports made since 2008, officials said during Los Angeles Mortgage Fraud Summit.

Tony West, assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., said 1.7 million American homeowners received foreclosure notices in the first half of this year and the number of properties banks have taken back hit an all-time high last month.

Before the end of the year, Pacoima residents will see ground broken on a job center that developers hope will combat poverty, crime, gangs and school dropouts in one of the poorest areas of the San Fernando Valley.C.J. Lin in the Daily News.

Scheduled to open next fall, the $1.2 million Job and Training Opportunity Center will offer violence prevention, gang intervention, parenting advice, therapeutic counseling, life skills and job development tailored to each client.

Setting up a rare public conflict with his own fire chief, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday ordered 51 Los Angeles Fire Department assistants to the front lines during this wildfire season to temporarily end reduced staffing at stations. Daily News,

The move would nearly return the Fire Department to full strength, after budget cuts had taken 15 firetrucks and nine ambulances out of commission last year to save $39 million. The firetrucks will be restored, but not the ambulances.