January 2011 Archives

It's been, by most accounts, a good first month for Jerry Brown. Sacramento Bee.

The third-term governor settled into a trendy Sacramento loft, took in a corgi named Sutter, drafted a team of advisers and issued his first executive order: a popular, if heavily symbolic, measure recalling thousands of state- issued cell phones.

Brad Smith
Brad Smith likes to talk about his deep roots in the northwest San Fernando Valley, roots planted when less of the land had been developed. Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

Smith, 46, said that's the inspiration behind his first run for office, an effort he and his wife, Maria, never considered before he looked at the prospective candidates for City Council District 12 last fall and saw no big names set to take on "City Hall insiders."

Navraj Singh

Navraj Singh's life story includes exploits as an Indian Army captain in the 1971 Indo- Pakistani War, and success as a restaurateur after he came to the United States "with $7 in my pocket." Daily News,.

Tipoff: AEG to announce naming rights for "event center".

A $4.2 million Community Redevelopment Agency business assistance program for the east San Fernando Valley got off to a good start last week. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

About 30 businesses requested applications for the loan funds approved last September by the City Council, said Jim Dantona, chief deputy to agency Chief Executive Officer Christine Essel.

Processing of the first applications should start this week, he said.

Councilman Tony Cardenas, who has held state and local elected offices for 15 years, is facing three relative political neophytes as he seeks his third and final term on the Los Angeles City Council. Daily News

Cardenas, who has far outpaced his rivals in fundraising, said he will try to explain to voters what he has been able to accomplish on environmental issues, anti-gang programs and service to the district.

"This is so much different than Sacramento," said Cardenas, 47, who was previously a state assemblyman. "In Sacramento, you have more time and deal with wholesale issues, with associations that represent groups. Here, it's all retail politics.

Rob Wilcox, who served as press deputy to Laura Chick in her jobs as Los Angeles City Controller and, later, as the state's Inspector General over the federal stimulus program, has been hired as communications director for the new state redistricting commission.
The panel, created by voters to redraw the state's political boundaries, is just beginning its work and is expected to result in major changes to create more competitive districts.

Hoping to boost academic achievement among its elementary school students, the Los Angeles Archdiocese announced Thursday it will add 20 days to its school calendar, which will boost tuition by 10 percent next year. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The calendar change will affect 52,000 students at 210 Catholic elementary schools in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, and makes the system the first in the state to have a 200-day calendar.

While each campus will be allowed to set its own calendar, officials said they expect classes at most schools will start in mid-August and run through June.

In case anyone has forgotten about one of the most controversial and longest-running issues facing the Los Angeles Police Department, Chief Charlie Beck on Thursday called a press conference to remind the public of the department's continuing support for Special Order 40. Daily News.

The order, created in 1979, prevents police officers from stopping people specifically to ask about their immigration status. It has been questioned for years by conservative critics who maintain it removes a tool from law enforcement and requires officers to ignore potential violations of federal law.

Beck and the department prepared a series of public service announcements on the order, working with the consuls general from Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

Mayors of the state's biggest cities on Wednesday stepped up their campaign against Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to shut down redevelopment agencies, making a direct appeal to the governor that argued their funds are vital to urban development. Daily News.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the heads of nine of California's other biggest cities said they told the governor the redevelopment agencies and related enterprise zones are their only source of money to leverage new development to create jobs.

"I would be negligent and accused of malfeasance if I allowed the state to decide, without me in the room, to take away $930 million for job creation," Villaraigosa said after the meeting. "For many of us, these are the only funds we have available to create new jobs."

After two years of increases, the number of single-family home and condo sales tumbled last year from 2009, according to two overlapping reports.Gregpry J. Wilcox in the Daily News,

The Southland Regional Association of Realtors said combined single-family home and condo sales dropped nearly 10percent in neighborhoods from Toluca Lake to Calabasas. The median price of a single-family home was $390,000 in 2010, up 4.7 percent from the previous year.

"We were a little disappointed in the volume of transactions. The year started so much better," said Jim Link, CEO of the Realtors group.

Los Angeles Unified officials unanimously approved a plan Tuesday to offer an unprecedented 25,000 classroom seats to 81 charter schools on district campuses, although charter advocates argued the proposal does not comply with state law. Connie Llanoso in the Daily News.

LAUSD has historically struggled with sharing its facilities with the independently run alternative schools.

Charter advocates have sued the district twice for failing to comply with Proposition 39, which states that district facilities must be shared "fairly among all public school pupils, including those in charter schools."

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and eight other leaders of California's largest cities will meet today with Gov. Jerry Brown to try to persuade him to back away from his call to end redevelopment agencies. Daily News

"I understand and respect the daunting fiscal challenge facing the governor and Legislature and want to help craft an alternative that protects economic development for our communities most desperate for jobs," Villaraigosa said.

"I know the governor shares that priority and I am confident that we can work together to find a reasonable solution."

Starting today, parents, community members and students will get a chance to help determine who will run two new high schools in the San Fernando Valley. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The community vote is a key element of Los Angeles Unified's Public School Choice plan. The landmark reform lets charter operators and nonprofit groups compete against district staff for the right to run new and existing campuses.

The Los Angeles City Council moved closer Monday to the possibility of shutting down most city services for one day a week to deal with the ongoing budget shortfall. Daily News.

The city is facing a deficit of at least $40 million in its $7 billion budget from now through the end of the fiscal year in June.

The council's Budget and Finance Committee reviewed a series of proposed cuts to deal with the shortfall that ranged from euthanizing more animals in shelters to prosecuting fewer criminal cases in court.

With community redevelopment agencies around the state targeted for potential shutdown, state Controller John Chiang announced Monday he will review CRA operations in Los Angeles and 17 other locales. Daily News.

Gov. Jerry Brown has called for shuttering CRAs, which would put properties in the project areas back on the local tax rolls so they could generate revenue for schools and help relieve the budget crisis.

"The heated debate over whether redevelopment agencies are the engines of local economic and job growth or are simply scams providing windfalls to political cronies ... has largely been based on anecdotal evidence," Chiang said.

Questioning whether the San Fernando Valley is getting its fair share of housing funds, City Councilman Richard Alarcón has requested an audit of the city's Housing Department. Daily News.

The Northeast Valley councilman has asked City Controller Wendy Greuel to review how the agency awards money from its Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

Alarcon said the Valley only received $260,000 out of $4million awarded in a recent round of grants for energy efficiency programs.

-The shelves hold stories. Hundreds of accounts and tales about the everyday lives of Southern Californians over a century - what they ate and celebrated, the plants they collected and smelled, the items they bought and sold. Susan Abrams iin the Daily news.

Inside a specially designated room within the Calabasas Library, scholars, history buffs and students will learn of the sunshine and rolling hills, ranches and massive oak trees, American Indian trails and free spirits that helped shape the West San Fernando Valley.

The library and members of the Calabasas Historical Society have been working to assemble a new archive for the public that combines a collection formerly housed at Pierce College and the society's own artifacts.

Tipoffs: Anschutz and Roski dueling over sites.

In a landmark decision that could lead to scrapping seniority-based layoff policies at schools statewide, a judge ruled Friday that L.A. Unified could not fire new teachers at 45 campuses because the high turnover unfairly disadvantages students. C.J. Lin in the Daily News.

Applauded by education reformers but blasted by teachers union leaders who plan to appeal it, the ruling is aimed at protecting students at hard-to-staff schools in the current climate of mass layoffs.

In recent years, some troubled schools at LAUSD have lost more than half their teachers because only recent graduates new to teaching are willing to work there.

The Los Angeles City Council adopted a new law Friday creating a lottery system for medical marijuana clinics, while also looking at a new approach offered by television talk show host Montel Williams. Daily News.

The lottery system was prompted by a court order striking down parts of the city's new ordinance regulating clinics.

Council members were concerned that failing to act on the lottery measure would leave the city open to the same "Wild Wild West" atmosphere as when illegal clinics were opening throughout the city. The council voted 12-0 to adopt the new ordinance.

In a scene that put thousands of faces on California's persistent mortgage crisis, a line of struggling homeowners wrapped around two sides of the Los Angeles Sports Arena on Thursday morning, eager to get into an event meant to help them deal with stubborn lenders. Kevin Moodedsti in Daily News.

Organizers estimated 200 people camped overnight, 5,000 more waited as the doors opened, and 100,000 people will file through the arena in the 11 days of the Save-the-Dream Tour, put on by the non-profit Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America.

The event, called the largest-ever event of its kind, began a week after a RealtyTrac report showed that California accounts for one-fifth of the nation's 2.8 million foreclosure filings in 2010.

Even with Los Angeles and California pioneering new limits on public smoking over the past two decades, the American Lung Association on Thursday issued failing grades to two-thirds of the state's cities and counties for tobacco control. Daily News.

"Once a national leader in tobacco control policies, California now earns mixed results," the organization said as it released a report that also grades the federal government and all 50 states.

Los Angeles city was given a C grade on the city-by-city report card, even though it recently implemented more restrictive measures on outdoor smoking, while Calabasas and Glendale earned A's.

President Obama met Thursday with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and a delegation of mayors, offering assurances of continued investment in cities.Daily News,

Villaraigosa, who chaired the delegation as part of the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, D.C., said he was encouraged by the president's remarks and meetings he held with Republican leaders.

"The president made it abundantly clear that job No. 1, the highest priority, is creating jobs," Villaraigosa said in a telephone interview after the hour-long meeting.

Less than a week after he dropped out of the race for a City Council seat representing the northwest San Fernando Valley, Brad Smith dropped back in Wednesday. Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

Smith said he planned to tell supporters he will be able to begin campaigning full time after he arranged for an unpaid leave of absence from his job as a business-development specialist with Pasadena-based Parsons Corp.

Smith, 46, a Granada Hills resident, had cited "personal and financial" reasons when he announced Jan. 13 that he was out of the March8 election in Council District12.

A City Council panel created a working group Wednesday to negotiate with AEG over its plans to replace part of the Convention Center and build a $1 billion stadium to lure an NFL team to Los Angeles. Daily News.

During the first public hearing on the plan, Anschutz Entertainment Group President Tim Leiweke told a council committee that the developer wants the project to generate convention business for the city and is prepared to foot the bill to build it.

Veteran energy-industry consultant Ron Nichols was confirmed Tuesday as the DWP's sixth general manager in four years after pledging to try to restore public trust in the utility.
Daily News,

Nichols, 57, who had been managing director of Seattle-based Navigant Consulting, Inc., was confirmed 11-0 by the City Council, which questioned his experience and his plans for the nation's largest municipal utility.

"When you have challenges, you also have opportunities," said Nichols, who will be paid $345,000 a year. "I think there is a good opportunity to work more proactively with the community and the department.

If the Los Angeles Unified School District had to cover all of its long-term health care promises to current and past employees today, the tab would reach nearly $10 billion, district officials said Tuesday. Connie Llanos in the Daily News,

A generous health benefits plan, coupled with skyrocketing medical costs, declining revenues and a growing population of retired employees, have caused the steady climb of health care expenditures at the school district over the last decade, officials said during a presentation to the school board.

LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines told the board that if the "astronomical" figure was not addressed as soon as possible, the district could be facing serious consequences.

Ron L. Wood, a former Daily News and economic development executive, began work Tuesday as the new president and CEO of the Valley Economic Alliance.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Wood, 61, of Pasadena, succeeds Bruce Ackerman, who ran the organization from 2000 until his death last summer. He is the alliance's third chief executive since it was formed in 1995 to help the San Fernando Valley's business community recover from the '94 Northridge Earthquake.

"I'm trying to get my arms around all the activities," Wood said. "There is a lot going on."

Leaders of the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Wednesday will be signing a "Civility Accord," asking all public officials to restrain from personal attacks in their debates on policy issues.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is first vice president of the organization, is scheduled to take part in the event with Tucson Mayor Robert Walkup, Conference of Mayors President Elizabeth Katz of Burnsville and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.
The signing will serve as the kick-off of the three day event where the mayors will meet with President Obama and congressional leaders.

Jerry Brown's call to end community redevelopment agencies could trigger a prolonged battle this budget season that might pit the newly elected governor and local school districts against city halls and business groups. Daily News

While it's not exactly clear how closing down the agencies will affect school districts, Brown wants to transfer tax dollars destined for CRAs to school districts and counties.

The governor thinks closing down CRAs - designed to improve blighted areas of cities by offering developers property tax incentives - could bring the state an extra $1 billion a year.

Tipoff: Candidate withdrawl leaves party without a candidates.

Opponents of Los Angeles City Council candidate Mitchell Englander protested recently that he overstates his law-enforcement role as an LAPD reserve officer by identifying himself as a "policeman" on the primary ballot.Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

Election officials say the objection came too late to change the March 8 voter material, even if they saw the need.

But the flap draws attention to the complications - and occasional comedy - that arise when politicians try to squeeze selected high points of their resumes into the brief phrases printed below their names on ballots.

The San Fernando Valley's residential construction sector is finally getting some action. Gregory Jl Wilcox in the Daily News,

The 43-year-old shuttered Kmart store at Corbin Avenue and Plummer Street in Northridge has been demolished in preparation for construction of an apartment complex.

This project dates back to mid-2008, when San Diego-based Fairfield Residential LLC bought the site for $42 million, with plans to build a mixed-use project consisting of 418 apartments units over commercial space.

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday approved $18.2 million in cuts and savings to the city budget, but it put off making decisions on the most controversial proposals, including furloughs and layoffs of city workers. Daily News.

The cuts include $1 million from the budgets of the mayor and City Council, $1 million from the city attorney, $200,000 from the LAPD, $3 million from citywide salary savings and $12 million in savings from capital projects.

Also, the city Department of Transportation plans to look at speeding up the conversion of another 10,000 parking meters to take credit cards to collect higher fees. Revenue from credit card meters is up 50 percent, officials said.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be among 200 mayors descending on Washington, D.C., next week to lobby the new Congress on the need for funding for cities.
The mayors will meet with President Obama and his cabinet and hold discussions on strategies to improve jobs creation.
The mayors are concerned about how the federal government can help cities with the unemployed.
Villaraigosa is scheduled to lead a panel discussion the importance of the Community Development Block Grant programs.
He also is scheduled to be a keynote speaker at one if its luncheons.
Villaraigosa is to become president of the organization this summer.

Achieving a major clean-air goal ahead of state targets, the DWP generated 20 percent of its power in 2010 through wind, water, solar and geothermal systems, city officials announced Thursday. Daily News,

"This is a big deal," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a City Hall news conference with environmental leaders. "When we set this goal in 2005, the DWP was the dirtiest utility in the nation. Today, it's the cleanest and we have been able to do it at a cost lower than any other utility in California."

In 2005, the Department of Water and Power generated roughly 5 percent of its energy from renewable sources. Last year, however, that surged to a high of 28 percent for a short time.

No more Tater Tots, chicken nuggets or even - gasp - ketchup. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

These foods are among those that would be eliminated from school cafeteria menus nationwide under guidelines proposed Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as it tries to reduce calories, fat, sodium and sugar from students' diets.

The revamped regulations also would add more fresh fruits and vegetables, marking the first time in 15 years that standards have been raised for the school meal program that feeds 32 million children everyday.

Need a smoke with your food or coffee? Take it outside - and then keep going.C.J. Lin in the Daily News.

The one-year grace period on a city-wide ban on smoking in outdoor eating areas expires soon and the law will be enforced beginning March 8, officials reminded the public Thursday from the patio of a Starbucks in Porter Ranch.

If caught, and ticketed - although one official said that would likely be rare - the smoker and eating establishment could both face $250 in fines.

A little more than a year ago, Paul Krekorian was the outsider looking to be part of the City of Los Angeles.Daily News.

Today, he is the incumbent councilman facing his first re-election challenge.

And his challenger, taking a second stab at the seat, is less than impressed with what the council's newest member accomplished his first year.

Brad Smith withdraws from race
Candidate Brad Smith said Thursday he has withdrawn from the race to succeed retiring City Councilman Greig Smith as representative of the northwest San Fernando Valley.
Kevin Modesti in the Daily News,

Brad Smith made the announcement in an e-mail to supporters and a message on his campaign web site.

"For very real personal and financial issues, I will not be able to devote the time and energy necessary to this campaign," wrote Smith, 46, a Granada Hills resident who is employed as a business-development specialist by Pasadena-based Parsons Corporation.

After a full day of contentious debate, Los Angeles City Council members agreed Wednesday to move forward with a plan to lease city garages, but the money will not likely arrive in time to help bridge this year's $63million budget gap. Daily News.

Leasing the garages for 50 years is expected to raise an immediate $53million - and up to $1 billion over time - and is supported by most city workers, who've been told to expect more layoffs and furloughs if the plan does not go ahead.

But Councilman Bernard Parks, who chairs the city's Budget and Finance Committee, said the council's authorization Wednesday to begin negotiations to lease the garages would probably not result in any money until July, when next year's budget starts. The city is already expecting a deficit of $353 million in the next fiscal year.

Reviews from local officials began filtering in Tuesday about Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to balance the state budget over the next 18 months - and they were far from positive. Daily News.

Los Angeles officials - from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to the City Council and county supervisors - each criticized the proposed $84.6 billion spending plan and Brown's call to end community redevelopment agencies and enterprise zones.

Villaraigosa said he has ordered his staff to thoroughly review the budget, although he's already made up his mind on two main points.

Propelled by year-end commercial and feature shoots, filming jumped 15 percent in the Los Angeles region in 2010 as producers took advantage of state tax credits, according to a report released Tuesday. Bob Strauss in the Daily News,

Film crews in Los Angeles logged 43,646 permitted production days last year, compared with 37,979 the previous year, according to FilmL.A., the not-for-profit group that coordinates and processes permits.

In addition, movie and TV show production off of studio lots surged 28.1 and 49.9 percent, respectively, in the fourth quarter of last year compared with 2009.

After waiting years for the city to soundproof their homes, residents living near Van Nuys Airport find themselves in limbo as officials seek new federal funding to continue the program. C.J. Lin in the Daily News.

Los Angeles World Airports previously spent $10.7 million in airport revenue to soundproof 718 homes in neighborhoods around Van Nuys Airport, where the rumble of jet engines and the thwap-thwap of helicopter rotors can exceed 65 decibels, officials say.

Now, however, the cash-strapped city wants to use federal money to complete the work on about 50 other homes. That means homeowners have to wait while grant applications are filed and considered.

Promising to reform Los Angeles Unified schools and improve student achievement even in the face of crippling budget shortfalls, John Deasy was hired Tuesday as the next superintendent of the nation's second-largest school district. Connie Llanoso in the Daily News,

"In the past I've been criticized for moving too quickly ... but that is a criticism I will not accept," Deasy said, addressing the crowd that attended a scheduled news conference to announce his appointment.

"I will work to make this district best in the west and first in the nation."

Gov. Jerry Brown is hanging up his state-issued cell phone, and he's ordered half the state bureaucrats who have government-paid cell phones to do the same. AP in the Daily News,

"It is difficult for me to believe that 40 percent of all state employees must be equipped with taxpayer-funded cell phones," the new governor said Tuesday. "The current number of phones out there is astounding."

Brown used his first executive order since taking office a week ago to instruct department heads to cut off 48,000 state employee cell phones by June.

After giving himself an extra week in office, Gavin Newsom used the time to put a final stamp on his seven years as mayor.S.F. Chronicle

He pushed his choice for interim mayor in a final skirmish with his more liberal rivals on the Board of Supervisors. He moved the police chief he once hired over to the district attorney's office. And he announced major agreements with bankers and environmentalists while generally cleaning his desk before moving to Sacramento.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/01/09/BABG1H6DGC.DTL#ixzz1Adr7Vg1z

For two seasons, TNT's "Men of a Certain Age" has been showcasing the San Fernando Valley as it really is.Bob Strauss in the Daily News,

Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher star as three longtime buddies coping with midlife crises during scenes filmed at the Valley's golf courses and car dealerships, and along its mountain trails and endless streets.

Created by Romano and his "Everybody Loves Raymond" writer-producer Mike Royce, the Monday night comic drama views Valley life as an essentially all-American phenomenon, adjacent to the glamorous world over the hills but a distinct place of its own.

Just last spring, San Fernando Valley leaders toasted millions of dollars in tax incentives expected to mean thousands of jobs for the area's top business centers, while northeast Valley residents celebrated completion of the $60 million Plaza Pacoima commercial complex on the once-contaminated site of a shuttered foundry. Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

Those bits of happy economic news were products of enterprise-zone and community-redevelopment programs, seen by many as examples of the good that government seed money can do.

Thus the same leaders were stung last week when a report from Sacramento touched off speculation that California's enterprise zones and redevelopment agencies would be eliminated under the state budget to be proposed Monday by new Gov. Jerry Brown.

Tipoff: Rats coming our at night; Cooley cautions wannabes: I'm not done yet.

CHATSWORTH - The campaign for the only open seat in the 2011 Los Angeles City Council elections began Wednesday night with candidates trying to outdo each other in their loathing of business taxes and love of horses.Kevin Modesti in the Daily News,

The occasion was a public question-and-answer session - put on by the Chatsworth Neighborhood Council - that marked the first joint appearance by the five men and one woman vying to succeed retiring City Councilman Greig Smith as representative of District 12 in the northwest San Fernando Valley.

In the order they'll appear on the March 8 ballot, they are engineer Dinesh "Danny" Lakhanpal, real-estate agency owner Kelly M. Lord Jr., business development specialist Brad Smith, restaurateur Navraj "Singh"

New state schools superintendent Tom Torlakson declared a financial "state of emergency" Thursday for all California schools, while pledging to support any budget plan or ballot measure that prevents further cuts. Connie Llanos in the Daily News,

"The law won't let me call out the National Guard," Torlakson said, noting that 174 school districts are in financial jeopardy. "But it's time we call it what it is ... This is an emergency."

In his first official press conference since taking office Monday, Torlakson said he plans to complete a "top to bottom" review of the state Department of Education in an effort to cut costs.

New state schools superintendent Tom Torlakson declared a financial "state of emergency" Thursday for all California schools, while pledging to support any budget plan or ballot measure that prevents further cuts.

"The law won't let me call out the National Guard," Torlakson said, noting that 174 school districts are in financial jeopardy. "But it's time we call it what it is ... This is an emergency."

In his first official press conference since taking office Monday, Torlakson said he plans to complete a "top to bottom" review of the state Department of Education in an effort to cut costs.

The Los Angeles Unified school board is expected to officially appoint John Deasy - the district's current No. 2 - as superintendent on Tuesday, according to district sources. Connie Llanos in the Daily News,

Deasy was recruited last year from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and was being groomed as the likely successor to Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who announced he was retiring this spring.

Cortines had already vacated his office for his deputy superintendent, so the move was widely expected. Terms of Deasy's contract, including salary and length of term, were still being negotiated. He is expected to take office 90 days after the contract is signed, which board members expect to happen by Tuesday.

Billionaire philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Thursday unveiled the design for the downtown museum that will bear their name and house their 2,000-piece collection of contemporary art.Tony Castro in the Daily News

"It will be called simply 'The Broad,'" said Broad, whose museum will be the cornerstone of hiscq Grand Avenue vision for the renaissance of downtown Los Angeles.

The three-story museum will feature almost an acre of column-free display space enclosed with what the architects describe as a porous honeycomb "veil," visible through a top-floor, sky-lit gallery.

Citing a drop in major crimes for the ninth straight year, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pressured the City Council Thursday to back his plan to continue hiring LAPD officers.
Daily News.

"Make no mistake about it, there is a direct correlation between the drop in crime and the number of cops we have on the street," Villaraigosa said at a news conference with police Chief Charlie Beck and other officials.

A report issued this week by Los Angeles' top budget analyst said the city needs to save an additional $53million this year because of delays in a proposed lease-sale of municipal parking garages, adding new pressure to cut more services and hiring.

An army of street repair crews will hit the streets of Los Angeles this weekend, seeking to catch up with the backlog of potholes generated from the recent rain storms.Daily Newsl

Fifty crews have been assigned to Operation Pothole for this weekend as part of the ongoing effort to repair streets and prevent them from falling into further disrepair.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday called the case involving the son of former Speaker Fabian Nunez a tragedy, but insisted he had not talked with former Gov. Armold Schwarzenegger over commuting a portion of the sentence.
"This is a tragedy on all fronts," Villaraigosa said. "It is terrible for a family to lose a son...one with so much promise."
The younger Nunez pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in a case where a student at San Diego State University was stabbeed to death.
Villaraigosa had written a letter on behalf of Esteban Nunez prior to his sentencing last January to 17 years in prison.
Schwarzenegger, in one of his last acts of governor, commuted a portion of the sentence, calling it overly harsh and sentenced him to seven years.
Villaraigosa said he had not talked with the governor over the case.
--30--

In one of his first major actions during his first full day in office, Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday announced seven appointments to the 11-member State Board of Education.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Brown's additions - including several veteran educators, a teacher's union lobbyist and a former state superintendent - replace a slate of self-proclaimed "reformers" who in the last year have pushed for major changes to the state's school system.

Among the ousted board members was Ben Austin, founder of Parent Revolution and creator of the controversial "Parent Trigger" law, which allows parents to petition for major overhauls at low-performing schools. The law has been strongly opposed by teacher unions.

The city's budget director Wednesday painted an even grimmer picture of Los Angeles' financial health, saying steeper cuts - including 10 more furlough days and shutting down some departments one day a week - would be needed to balance this year's spending plan. Daily News.

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said the lack of progress on the proposed sale of city-owned garages, partly due to growing public opposition, could add $53 million to the city's projected shortfall of $350 million.

"It would be irresponsible of my office to not take note of this and recommend we take actions now to reduce the impact," Santana said. "And, we can't put all our eggs in one basket. We need to take steps now or we will be left with no reserve fund at the end of the year."

Each workday morning, Phil Englander inhales two cups of coffee, plants kisses on his two kids, then flies out the door to move tons of metal. Dana Barftholomew in the Daily News.

For the hottest salesman at Galpin Ford - just named the world's largest Ford dealer for 21 years in a row - it's a 12-hour labor of love.

"I bleed blue," said the 39-year-old sales hotshot, standing by an F-150 pickup, Ford and Galpin's best-selling vehicle for 2010. "I dream of Fords, dancing in my head.

Los Angeles Unified officials unanimously approved a plan Tuesday that allows charter school operators for the first time to control their special education funding and run their programs, free of district rules and mandates. Connie Llanos in the Daily News,

Charter schools have asked to control their special education funding for years, as they do for their general student population. But LAUSD officials had advised against it, citing concern over the low rates of severely disabled students served by local charter schools.

Under the new plan, charter operators will be able to control their programs with only administrative oversight from LAUSD, which charter advocates assure will allow more of the alternative schools to serve a broader range of students.

For the first time in more than four decades, Los Angeles finished the year with fewer than 300 murders as crime continued to fall for a ninth year, officials announced Tuesday. C.J. Lin in the Daily News,

The 297 murders reported in 2010 was the lowest number of homicides since 1967, when there were 281 killings. And the murder rate was .74 per 10,000 people, the lowest per capita rate since 1964, when the city had a per capita rate of .66 and 30 percent fewer people.

"When you think about that and the population that we had back then, it's nothing short of amazing," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a news conference. "This is not just a year-end statistic. It is perhaps the most powerful statement on the state of our city and our police department."

The City Council on Tuesday hired a Costa Mesa firm to build a $271 million new heating and cooling system at LAX, a controversial decision because of a council member's romantic ties to a lobbyist for a rival contractor and other questions about the bidding process. Daily News.

City Councilman Dennis Zine recused himself from the vote because of his relationship with a lobbyist at Tutor-Perini, the Sylmar-based firm which also bid on the contract but was disqualified before the final decision.

SACRAMENTO - Democrat Jerry Brown was sworn in Monday as California's 39th governor, returning to the office he left 28 years ago but inheriting a much different and more troubled state than the one he led then. AP in the Daily News.

The man who once was California's most famous bachelor took the oath of office after being introduced by his wife of five years, former Gap Inc. executive Anne Gust Brown, inside Sacramento Memorial Auditorium.

As California Supreme Court Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye administered the oath, Gust Brown held a Bible that had belonged to her grandfather and was used during her wedding with Brown.

The city's war against mobile billboards took a bizarre turn Monday when a Stetson-wearing opponent of a new law confronted local officials in a Wild West-style standoff. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

Bruce Boyer, 49, who has become the face of the mobile billboard industry in Los Angeles, disrupted a late morning news conference at which Councilman Dennis Zine and other officials had planned to tout a weekend sweep of the controversial trailer signs.

Instead, Boyer imposed himself at the side of the podium and lambasted the officials, whose voices were nearly drowned out as they tried to address reporters and TV cameras.

Despite objections from Los Angeles' golfing community, the city took over golf-cart rentals at municipal courses over the New Year's weekend in a move to boost revenue and keep city employees working. Daily News.

Unfortunately, the city did not get off to an auspicious start.

The electric carts at all of the municipal courses had been left unplugged and had to be recharged, forcing golfers to walk the courses, said James Ward, the city's director of golf operations.

SACRAMENTO - Jerry Brown, the enigmatic former governor who always seemed to be eyeing his next political post, returns to the state capital today to lead a much different California than the one he oversaw 28 years ago.AP In the Daily News,

The state's finances are in a deep hole, term limits mean he will be dealing with a revolving door of lawmakers eyeing their next election, political polarization has all but paralyzed the Capitol, and the state's population is larger and far more diverse than when he left the Governor's Office in 1983.

After convincing Californians last November that they need an elder statesman to guide them through the state's fiscal abyss, the 72-year-old veteran politician will have to overcome the hyper-partisanship that has overtaken political discourse in Sacramento.

Officers towed more than a dozen so-called mobile billboards parked in the West San Fernando Valley on Sunday in an unprecedented crackdown against a controversial industry officials are trying to get off city streets.Tony Castro in the Daily News,

A cadre of city traffic enforcement officers also cited 32 offending vehicles with signs in a two-day sweep that included warning, fining, and impounding mobile billboard advertising displays.

Tipoff: Mayor, City Council looking to turn things around in 2011 after a year of defending themselves.

The Terminator always said he'd be back. AP in the Daily News.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is sifting through a stack of corporate, Hollywood and real estate offers as the celebrity politician nears an inevitable career crossroad: On Monday, he's out of a job.

His next act? After seven years in Sacramento, the former strongman and film star will by his own account hit the speech circuit, keep a hand in political activism and possibly write the autobiography that publishers have wanted him to do for years.

What many of us wouldn't give for a little peace and quiet. Like, a whole year of it. Kevin Modesti in the jDaily News.

We've just ended a year that will be remembered as one long Meg Whitman commercial, accompanied by the drone of soccer fans' vuvuzelas, played to the nervous tapping rhythm of millions of Twitterers kvetching about all the ruckus.

Fortunately, now comes a non-major election, non-World Cup, non-Olympic year that could allow for some relaxation - at least until the inevitable surprises.

I's not exactly topping the best-seller charts, but a new book by City Councilman Greig Smith provides a few chuckles and an insider's insights into the machinations and history of Los Angeles City Hall. Daily News.

Smith started working on the self-published 114-page text, "If City Hall's Walls Could Talk," when he was a young aide at City Hall and began compiling remarks by the colorful late former councilman, Gilbert Lindsay.

Over the years, as he researched more of the history of City Hall, Smith began to pull together information that found its way into the book.