December 2011 Archives

Angelenos said goodbye to old friends and welcomed new civic leaders in 2011. They watched as protesters occupied downtown and as, for one anticlimatic July weekend, cars abandoned the freeways. Susan Abram in the Daily News,

It was a year in which the whole nation still struggled to emerge from the supposedly-over recession. Almost every government agency and school district was forced to make more budget cuts, while employers both public and private continued doling out layoffs.

And - just like almost every year since the dawn of Hollywood - the world watched in fascination as L.A.'s entertainment idols made fools of themselves once again, letting down fans with escapades that ranged from secret love children to over-hyped-but-short-lived weddings

This week's court ruling on redevelopment agencies marked another devastating setback for San Fernando Valley residents hoping to replace the 63-year-old Reseda Theater.Dakota Smith in the Daily News

The ruling kills recently announced plans by a local developer to renovate the theater, a Community Redevelopment Agency-owned building that's been boarded-up for more than two decades.

"I'm very upset about this," said Nancy Sweeney, president of Revitalize Reseda, a nonprofit group that focuses on quality-of-life issues.

The California Supreme Court dealt a lethal blow Thursday to the state's 400 community redevelopment agencies, ruling unanimously that the Legislature had the power to dissolve the organizations and seize more than $1 billion in tax revenue. Barbara Jones in the Daily News.

In its 83-page ruling, the court upheld a new law that abolishes the CRAs, but invalidated a companion bill that would have enabled the agencies to continue operating if they transferred a large chunk of their revenues to the state.

Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers hailed the ruling, saying it validates the Legislature's authority over the state budget and guarantees ongoing funding for schools and public safety. Officials estimate that K-12 schools will reap more than $1 billion this year and could conceivably receive that much next year, based on complex funding formulas

Heading in to his final full year in office, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he refuses to let the soft economy stop him from pushing for bold initiatives as the city continues to fight its way out of the recession next year. | Spotlight cools on mayor's personal life Daily News,

"I am dogged," Villaraigosa said in an interview in his City Hall offices after his return from a trade mission to China. "When I say I'm dogged, I'm like a Chihuahua. I don't give up. I keep after it until I get something done."

Villaraigosa said he is now focusing only on what can be accomplished in his final 18 months in office, and is not motivated by anything that would position himself for a future political office. He will continue to push for development and tax reform, seek to finalize funds for the 30/10 plan, and continue work on green reforms for the city.

A bright light flashed under a row of low-lying tree branches one recent evening in the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area, revealing scattered remains of secret vices and fleeting pleasures.Susan Abram in the Daily News.

Beach towels. Used condoms. Rusted syringes. Empty beer cans.

The debris is a reminder that anyone will do anything, anywhere, as long as they believe they won't get caught.

"After 10:30, we'll see men sitting alone in parked cars," said Victor Carrasco, a police officer with Los Angeles' General Services who patrols Sepulveda Dam at night.

Former Los Angeles Councilman Gilbert Lindsay once noted: "The problem with City Hall is it takes too long to get nothing done." Daily News.

Never were truer words spoken to sum up the City Council's accomplishments, or lack thereof, in 2011.

For starters, the council faced an overwhelming public mandate when voters in March approved the creation of a ratepayer advocate to scrutinize rate hikes proposed by the Department of Water and Power.

Nine months later, the position has yet to be filled. With new rate hike proposals already on the table, the committee tasked with filling the position just started meeting in September and the appointment itself is not expected to be made until at least mid-January.

Warner Center - a collection of office buildings, indoor malls and low-rise apartment buildings - is showing its age. Dakota Smith in the Daily News,.

The smoked glass office parks retain a Reagan-era look. Ditto the sprawling parking lots. And the super-blocks along Topanga Canyon Boulevard, created in the '90s to speed up traffic, discourage pedestrian life.

But the city is looking to modernize the Woodland Hills center. A new blueprint released this month seeks "a cosmopolitan, 21st century" look for Warner Center, said Ken Bernstein, principal planner at the city's Planning Department.

When Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies in the Antelope Valley saw an explosion in the number of graffiti and monikers of taggers painting the town, they barely had to leave the station to ID the perps. C.J. Lin in the Daily News,

The evidence was in plain view right on Facebook and Myspace -- pictures of the crew's work, videos of taggers bragging and discussion about graffiti they were planning to do and even where to steal or buy paint.

It was enough for deputies to serve search warrants. In May, they arrested 10 suspected members of crew FDK, all juveniles, who are believed to have caused an estimated $1.3 million in damages by tagging signs, poles, sidewalks, bridges, buildings and electrical boxes in Lancaster and Palmdale.

Tipoff: Los Angeles Police Protective League fight goes to court.

Last weekend, an unlicensed driver ran down a 60-year-old woman trying to cross the street in Panorama City, killing her.Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News,.

The death renewed calls Monday to reverse a pending city policy to go easy on unlicensed drivers - many of them illegal immigrants - by not immediately impounding their cars.

"The tragic accident in Panorama City shows how the mayor's new policy can result in innocent people being injured or killed," said Paul M. Weber, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, in a statement

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has launched a new investigation into Los Angeles' beleaguered housing authority, officials revealed this week.

The investigation of the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles began on Dec. 16, said Gene Gibson, regional public affairs officer for HUD's San Francisco bureau. Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

It follows an audit released last week by City Controller Wendy Greuel that found a lack of oversight in the agency's travel budget, including double- and triple-billing on meals.

The new investigation is considered unique because HUD officials are working with City Controller Wendy Greuel, according to Gibson.

"The joint audit team will look at HACLA's management, financial operations and compliance with federal regulations," said Gibson, adding the new inquiry was sparked by Greuel's audit.

Police officers respond to a loud noise call and are confronted by a 30-year-old man wielding a sharp cane. The man lunges forward and attacks one of the officers after he's ordered to drop the makeshift weapon.AP in the Daily News.

As the man pins one of the officers against a wall and repeatedly hits him with the cane, another officer opens fire and the suspect later dies at a hospital.

The scenario that played out in August at an apartment complex has been part of a disturbing trend in Los Angeles this year where both assaults on officers and officer- involved shootings have risen, despite violent crime dropping nearly 8 percent across the nation's second largest city.

This spring, a group of California Democrats gathered at a modern, airy office building just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. The meeting was House members only - no aides allowed - and the mission was seemingly impossible. Pro Publica in the Daily News.

In previous years, the party had used its perennial control of California's state Legislature to draw district maps that protected Democratic incumbents. But in 2010, California voters put redistricting in the hands of a citizens' commission where decisions would be guided by public testimony and open debate.

The question facing House Democrats as they met to contemplate the state's new realities was delicate: How could they influence an avowedly nonpartisan process? Alexis Marks, a House aide who invited members to the meeting, warned the representatives that secrecy was paramount. "Never say anything AT ALL about redistricting - no speculation, no predictions, NOTHING," Marks wrote in an email. "Anything can come back to haunt you."

Amid the final frenzy of Christmas shopping, a city councilman Wednesday urged shoppers to stay away from buying pirated goods and knockoffs. Daily News.

Councilman Tom LaBonge is asking officials to report on how much pirated goods cost the city, as well as what steps can be taken to crack down on the trade of knockoffs.

"People who make and sell bogus products, and even the people who buy them, cost us all," LaBonge said. "The most dangerous foe to legitimate commerce is piracy."

Concerned that aggressive advertising for Lap-Band surgery may be misleading patients, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday launched a new effort to further regulate the ads and surgeons who perform the weight-loss procedure. Christina Villacorte in the Daily News,

The federal Food and Drug Administration last week ordered marketing firm 1-800-GET-THIN and eight Southern California surgical centers to pull ads that failed to disclose all the risks, or disclosed them in such small type as to be unreadable.

The supervisors asked county attorneys to look into what legal options they had to ensure truthfulness in the ads.

The cameras mounted atop light poles on Van Nuys Boulevard capture everyday life in Pacoima: A white Chevy pulling into a liquor store parking lot, a speeding black Saab, gunning to make a yellow light, and a young man on his phone, strolling toward a laundromat. Dakota Smth in the Daily News.

The watchful electronic eyes come courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Department, which recently installed eight new security cameras on a two-mile stretch of Van Nuys Boulevard in Pacoima between the Golden State (5) Freeway and Foothill Boulevard.

The Los Angeles Unified Board of Education unanimously approved Monday a landmark agreement that gives the district's individual campuses the freedom of charters, but also holds them accountable for how well students perform.Daily News.
The board endorsed the deal during a special meeting Monday. Last week, the Los Angeles teachers union overwhelmingly approved the agreement with nearly 70 percent of the 19,500 members casting ballots in favor of the so-called School Stabilization and Empowerment Initiative.

A coy Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa traveled to Denver over the weekend to meet with officials there and also take in the Denver Broncos-New England Patriot game - sitting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Daily News.

"I had a couple of meetings there with the mayor of Denver, Mike Hancock, and the governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper and got to take in the game," Villaraigosa said Monday, when questioned by reporters.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday endorsed the first of six new community plans due this coming year, the newest focusing on Hollywood and his vision of "elegant density." Daily News.

The Hollywood plan encourages tall buildings near transit corridors, while discouraging dense development in the hillsides and in single-family neighborhoods, according to the Mayor's Office.

"Up until now, planning has been done in a piecemeal fashion," Villaraigosa said at a news conference held on the rooftop of the historic Hollywood Tower apartments.

Tipoff: New council president preparing for changes, solidifying political base.

Nearly 140 Los Angeles Unified schools that lack Wi-Fi access will get a technology upgrade over the next several years, using $99 million in voter-approved bond funds.Barbara Jonews in the Daily News

About 50 schools in the San Fernando Valley are among the 138 campuses that will benefit from the modernization program approved last week by the school board.

Officials say the upgrade will free teachers and students from having to use computers only in hard-wired classrooms, offering greater flexibility in devising more creative lesson plans and better learning tools.

t was a reunion they would never forget. Christina Villacorte in the Daily News.

When California Army National Guardsman Maj. Noland Flores arrived home from his last tour of duty in Iraq a few hours earlier than expected, he and his wife decided to surprise their kids.

"We were hiding, waiting for them to come down the hill, and then Noland just jumped out," Lizabeth Flores recounted.

"The kids couldn't believe it," she added with a laugh. "They didn't even move, they just stood there across the street and then they ran and they just jumped on him."

Six students. Barbara Jones in the Daily News,.

Had just a half-dozen more students at the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies applied for free or discounted lunches, the magnet school would have qualified to continue receiving federal money for campuses with high numbers of poor youngsters.

Instead, under tighter guidelines passed this week by the Los Angeles school board, SOCES will no longer qualify for Title I funds, blowing a $400,000 hole in its budget for the 2012-13 school year.

"When I heard we were losing Title I money and I heard it was nearly $400,000, I knew we were sunk," said Alex Wald, who has two children at SOCES and is active in the school's PTA. "There's no way we can raise that."

A Cal State Northridge professor's campus-based Web page calling for a boycott of Israel has sparked charges of anti-Semitism, but the school president and others are defending it as an expression of protected academic free speech. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News,

CSUN President Jolene Koester, after receiving complaints about the "Boycott Israel Resource Page" by mathematics Professor David Klein, called for a full administrative review. It found no violation of California State University web use policy.

"While we recognize this finding will not satisfy everyone, the conclusions are based on the important tenets of academic freedom and free speech," the outgoing president wrote Dec. 5.

Councilwoman Jan Perry, noting lawsuits had been filed against smaller cities, said she believes "we have to do this right" before prohibiting the use of plastic and paper bags at markets.Daily News.

"I am for a prohibition on the use of plastic bags, but I am not sure we want to ban all single-use bags," Perry said. "But, before we do anything, I think we have to do this right, to study the environmental impact and the fiscal impact to the city."

Los Angeles has been studying various proposals since 2003 and the most recent recommendation from the Bureau of Sanitation is to ban both plastic and paper single use bags.

Developer Anschutz Entertainment Group's aggressive yearlong marketing push for its downtown stadium lost a whiff of momentum this week following news that the NFL isn't planning an immediate return to the area.Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

Speaking to reporters in Dallas on Wednesday, National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell called Los Angeles a very "viable market" but said bringing a team back for the 2012 season - which AEG had initially hoped for - isn't likely.

"(Los Angeles) is a viable market in the sense that we know there are millions of fans in that market who want to see football return there," said Goodell, according to a transcript of the news conference.

Depicting himself as "salesman in chief" for Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa returned Thursday from his two-week trade mission to Asia and defended the trip as necessary to bring business to the city. Daily News.

"I probably should have gone there more often," Villaraigosa said at a news conference at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. "One-third of the Chinese imports come in to Los Angeles. Our tourism from China is up 151 percent compared with five years ago.

"This is without question where we want to be if we want to get investment, trade and tourism in Los Angeles."

The Valley Industry and Commerce Association, reviving a theme from a decade ago, announced plans on Thursday to have a new "Ax the Tax" campaign designed to force city officials to repeal the business tax. Daily News,

"The momentum at City Hall has finally shifted toward doing away with this burdensome business tax," VICA Chairman David Adelman said.

"VICA has been working to eliminate the gross receipts tax for years, and we plan on being in the forefront when it finally gets the ax."

The Los Angeles teachers union has overwhelmingly ratified a landmark agreement that gives the district's individual campuses the freedom of charters, but also holds them accountable for how well students perform. Barbara Jones in the Daily News.

United Teachers Los Angeles announced Thursday that nearly 70 percent of the 19,500 members who voted cast ballots in favor of the so-called School Stabilization and Empowerment Initiative.

The three-year agreement requires administrators and teachers at low-performing schools to draft improvement plans, but also gives other campuses the option of signing on.

Even on a Casual Friday, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom still looks sharp. Capitol Weekly.

In a fitted navy suit and a cup of green tea freshly steeping in his manicured grasp, the political professional breaks from the bustling city streets with ease. Upon entering the Founders Den, a downtown San Francisco co-op that provides office space for fledgling online companies and serves as his headquarters, Newsom is quick to confess a sense of urgency that perhaps only a new father would understand.

Los Angeles Unified filed suit late Wednesday against Gov. Jerry Brown and other state officials, seeking to block budget cuts that would gut the district's transportation program for magnet and special-education students. Barbarar Jones in the Daily News.
The 22-page suit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, challenging efforts to withhold $117 million in home-to-school transportation funding over the next two years, including $38 million for the semester that begins in January.

The lawsuit formalized previous arguments made by LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy that the budget cuts triggered by a revenue shortfall violate a court-ordered desegregation plan, as well as state and federal mandates to transport students with disabilities.

A ballot measure requiring porn companies in Los Angeles to use condoms during film shoots has pitted City Attorney Carmen Trutanich against several City Council members in a debate focused on actor safety and taxpayer funds. Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

Trutanich last week filed a lawsuit against backers of the measure, seeing it as unnecessary and a potential waste of city resources.

But the move surprised the City Council and angered several members who support providing workplace protections to adult performers.

Environmentalists and employers clashed at a City Council hearing Wednesday over a proposal to ban both paper and plastic single-use bags. Daily News.

Environmental groups have hailed the plan to outlaw disposable bags, which would be among the state's most stringent bans by prohibiting paper and plastic. But plastics industry groups call the proposal a job-killer.

Kathy Brown, general manager of Crown Poly in Huntington Park, said a city ban on plastic bags would force layoffs at her company, which employs 300 people.

With San Fernando Valley activists feeling the city ignores or misunderstands their concerns about Van Nuys Airport, the City Council on Wednesday approved a study looking at creating a separate commission to oversee the facility. Daily News.

Currently, Los Angeles World Airports and the Board of Airport Commissioners oversee Van Nuys, along with Los Angeles International and Ontario International airports.

"Los Angeles World Airports staff has focused on LAX with Van Nuys Airport receiving little if any attention over the years," said Don Schultz, a longtime community activist. "Look at the years it has taken to finalize a simple project such as the Propeller Park.

LAPD officials are struggling with their policy on impounding cars of unlicensed drivers, acknowledging Tuesday that conflicting city codes lead to inconsistent treatment of violators. C.J. Lin in the Daily News.

The city currently has two separate codes for dealing with first-time unlicensed drivers; one allows the officer to impound the car for 30 days, while the other does not set the length of the time for the impound, according to Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief Michel Moore.

Federal money to help impoverished students will be diverted from 23 Los Angeles Unified schools, including nine in the San Fernando Valley, to campuses with higher numbers of low-income students under new guidelines adopted Tuesday by the school board. Barbara Jones in the Daily News.

Valley board member Tamar Galatzan led a spirited debate as she fought the proposal to raise the threshold for receiving Title I money, which helps pay for things like dropout specialists, counselors and after-school programs.

Already embarrassed by reports of lavish spending, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles was slammed again Tuesday in an audit detailing high-end meals and travel expenses by an agency that serves the city's poorest residents.Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

In the first of a two-part audit, City Controller Wendy Greuel said HACLA employees dined on $1,000 meals, expensed hotel rooms they never stayed at, and took pricey -- and unnecessary --irline flights from Los Angeles to San Diego.

Vowing to fight "immoral" reductions in state funding, LAUSD's chief has crafted a complex strategy that would defer millions of dollars in cuts until next year - when programs like adult and early-childhood education could be gutted - and use the courts to block the disruption of student busing. Barbara Jones in the Daily News.

The California Department of Financial is set to announce today whether the state has generated an additional $4 billion in revenue. A shortfall would trigger up to $2 billion in cuts to social services, universities and public schools, including $188 million for Los Angeles Unified.

When the city's redevelopment agency backed the NoHo 14 project in North Hollywood in 2004, officials touted it as ideal for people who rely on mass transit because it's so close to the Metro Red Line station. Dakota smith in the Daily News.

But one disabled prospective tenant says she wasn't welcome at the building.

Mei Ling, a 57-year wheelchair-bound North Hollywood resident, is suing the Community Redevelopment Agency, saying she faced discrimination at NoHo 14 and the Lofts at NoHo Commons.

Men's Central Jail is an imposing hulk of concrete and steel that hides a lot of vulnerabilities.Christina Villacorte in the Daily News.

"The plumbing!" Operations Sgt. George Hosac said with a grimace while walking over to a row of jail cells. "Pipes break, and it's not unusual to see water coming out of the ceiling."

Toilets inside jail cells occasionally flood, he added, and inmates have to be taken out so they are not standing in their own sewage.

It took Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa breaking his elbow in a bicycle accident last year to breathe new life into activists' moribund hopes to make bikes part of the city's overall transit plans.Daily News.

Now officials are pedaling forward with a fourfold increase in developing bike lanes and networks throughout Los Angeles.

Still, skepticism remains among bicycle enthusiasts who have seen flaws in the initial work and would like the city to be even more ambitious.

Tipoff: Disagreement over contract at heart of dispute; Christmas giving?

he centennial year for San Fernando wasn't supposed to end this way. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.

Not with allegations of a police chief deflowering a teen cadet, a male dispatcher flashing in a strip mall or a beat cop romancing a City Council member.

And certainly not with news of the mayor, picked up even by British tabloids, trumpeting an affair with another councilwoman. From City Hall. In front of his wife, from whom he claims to have been separated since June.

When the recent windstorms knocked down thousands of tree branches and limbs -- damaging cars, blocking streets and presenting a general public nuisance -- it fell to a budget-ravaged city agency to clean up the mess. Bob Strauss in the Daily News.

Like many city departments in recent years, the Urban Forestry Division of the city's Bureau of Street Services has seen its financial resources pruned and its personnel lopped.

Its 2010-11 budget was about $10.1 million -- down more than 25 percent from the $14.3 million it had in 2008-09. During the same period, the division lost almost 100 positions, a figure that includes other jobs such as landscape maintenance, not just tree crews.

Still facing criminal charges for alleged fraud about his residency, City Councilman Richard Alarcón recently changed homes again in preparation for yet another run for the state Legislature. Daily News,

Alarcón's new home in Mission Hills is still in his current City Council district, but the move brings new public attention to the residency issue, which will be heard in court in January.

Alarcón is facing prosecution for a variety of charges related to allegations that he lived in a home outside his district and lied about his residence on official documents.

It's been nearly four years since popular Chatsworth Park South was fenced off, shutting down a community jewel and limiting access to a nearby mountainous state historic park. Melissa Pamer in the Daily News,

Contamination from lead bullets used in the 1950s and '60s at a former gun club owned by actor Roy Rogers prompted the closure in February 2008. Since then, two tennis courts, playgrounds, a large recreation center and a grassy field have sat in an eerie quiet broken only by the occasional vandal or tagger.

Some in the community are increasingly fed up with the closure and want to see at least part of the 81-acre park reopened.

Two political watchdog agencies indicated Thursday they are willing to give some leeway to political candidates who lost money because of alleged campaign embezzlement by Burbank-based treasurer Kinde Durkee. Daily News,

The state Fair Political Practices Commission and the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission issued advice letters saying those who lost money should be given additional time in which to close out accounts.

Durkee has been accused of mail fraud and misusing perhaps millions of dollars of campaign funds under her management.

San Diego has branded itself as "America's Finest City," while Hershey, Pa., is rightly known as "The Sweetest Place on Earth." Barbara Jones in the Daily News.

Closer to home, Burbank has long sold itself as the world's media capital, Simi Valley boasts of its connection to the Reagan Presidential Library, while the High Desert city of Lancaster wants the world to know about its sunny skies.

Glendale recently joined cities with its own snappy slogan: Your Life. Animated. It's the core of a marketing campaign that officials hope will spotlight the community's assets and spur economic growth.

The interim chief of the Los Angeles housing authority has resigned, days after news that his predecessor got a $1.2 million payout.AP in the Daily News,

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa asked Ken Simmons to step down Thursday, but was ensnared with questions of whether he and his staff had approved the money received by previous housing head Rudolf Montiel, who resigned in the spring.

City Controller Wendy Greuel, who has led scrutiny of the agency's restaurant and travel spending, praised Simmons's departure in a statement.

Personal information of LAPD command staff, including home addresses, phone numbers and children's names, were posted online this week -- apparently by hackers retaliating for the police raid on Occupy L.A., officials said Wednesday. CJ Lin in the Daily News.

Police were investigating the posting, which also included mortgage information, political campaign contributions and names of family members of about two dozen high-ranking Los Angeles Police Department officials.

The information was posted on a third-party website on Monday by hacker group CabinCr3w in a move known as "doxing," Internet slang for publishing personal information online.

Looking to drive economic investment and revive the Los Angeles River as a free-flowing waterway, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved a new overlay plan for development along the riverfront. Daily News.

"This is the final step for us at the city to offer a map to developers on what the river can offer," said Councilman Ed Reyes, who heads the council's Ad Hoc River Committee.

"It has taken us eight years to get to this point and we can use this as a way to convince the Obama administration to provide the funds to the Army Corps of Engineers to complete its study."

With the hope that new-car dealers will return to Los Angeles, the City Council on Wednesday asked a measure be drafted to eliminate the business tax on their operations. Daily News.

Pushed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and several members of the City Council, the proposal is designed to bring back many of the car dealers that have left the city over the past 25 years as part of an overall package of tax reforms to make the city more business friendly.

"At one time, we had 150 new-car dealers," Councilman Bill Rosendahl said. "Today, we have only 52. I agree we need to make the city more business friendly, but we also need to look at the impact."

Water rates may soon be going up, if the Department of Water and Power gets a newly approved increase through the City Council next month Melssa Pamer in the Daily News.

On Tuesday, the Board of Water and Power Commissioners passed a rate uptick that would add about $1.50 to the typical home's monthly water bill, averaged over the course of this fiscal year. In 2012-13, the increase would tack on another $6, depending on how much snow the mountains get this winter.

The increase is desperately needed, department officials said, to fund federally required reservoir projects that can no longer be delayed.

Los Angeles Unified students will learn recycling and composting along with reading and writing under a $40 million trash-removal contract that includes a plan to educate kids about conservation.Barbara Jones in the Daily News,

Under a five-year deal approved Tuesday by the school board, Consolidated Disposal Service plans to work with the district on ways to keep thousands of tons of rubbish -- primarily food waste and recyclables -- out of Sunshine Canyon and other local landfills. The goal is to divert 70 percent of the estimated 114,251 tons of waste generated annually by schools and offices, up from the nearly 64 percent diverted from dumps last year.

"Consolidated is taking a holistic approach to waste management," with composting and recycling included along with solid-waste disposal, said John Sterritt, director of Los Angeles Unified's Office of Environmental Health and Safety. "The intent is to minimize what we're putting in the landfill."

The City Council voted Tuesday to give trash haulers five years notice of the city's intent to dramatically overhaul private waste collection - a shift that could force many smaller waste companies out of the city.Daily News,

The unanimous vote Tuesday was the opening salvo in a controversial fight over how businesses and apartment complexes dispose of trash and recyclables.

The city currently has an open market system, in which about 145 private trash haulers negotiate directly with commercial customers to pick up their trash. The Bureau of Sanitation wants to transition to a so-called exclusive franchise system, in which haulers would compete with each other for city contracts to pick up trash in designated areas.

Rahael Sonenshein, a political science professor, author and expert on governance, was named today as new executive director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Californa State University, Los Angeles.
Sonenshein, who served as executive director of the Appointed Charter Reform Commission, will replace Jaime Regalado, who is retiring. The institute is a non-partisan public policy center.
"It's a great honor to follow in the footsteps of Jaime Regalado," Sonenshein said. "PBI is a jewel, one that reflects the vision of the great governor for whom it is named, and the work of the many people who built and have sustained it for more than two decades."
Sonenmshein is scheduled to take over in February.

A top adviser to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged a City Council committee Monday to pass an ordinance that would allow advertising in the Los Angeles Zoo and city parks. Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

Brian Currey, an attorney for Villaraigosa's Office, made a personal appearance before the Planning and Land Use Committee meeting, saying the city is looking for "innovative revenue sources."

"We are in a very difficult time, facing a $70 million deficit," said Currey.

"The mayor's position is: Let's not rule out any options."

Angry and embarrassed at a $1.2 million settlement paid to the fired head of the Housing Authority, Los Angeles city officials on Monday called for a detailed audit of how the agency spent tax dollars. Daily News.

"To me, this is outright theft," said Councilman Dennis Zine, who chairs the City Council's Audit Committee. "How can they approve a $1.2 million settlement to this guy when so much was wrong."

The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, which receives most of its funding from the federal government to oversee public housing and Section 8 programs, recently approved the settlement for Rudy Montiel

With all the partisan gridlock in Washington these days, it's nice to know that not all fights split along Democrat vs. Republican lines. Bob Strauss in the Daily News

In the struggle against Internet piracy, for example, the sides in their most simplest terms boil down to Silicon Valley vs. Hollywood, with members of the two political parties lining up on both teams.

Those battle lines have formed as a House Judiciary Committee vote on the Stop Online Piracy Act (HR 3261) looms in the coming weeks.

Thanks to a new online registration program and aggressive community outreach efforts, a record number of students are applying for Los Angeles Unified's magnet schools, long considered the "jewels" of the sprawling district.Barbara Jones in the Daily News,

With two weeks remaining before the Dec. 16 deadline, nearly 17,000 students have applied for about 20,000 vacant seats in the 172 magnet programs. That compares with about 2,500 applicants through Nov. 30 of last year, with online access credited for nearly all of the surge.

Tipoff: With Public Safety First campaign, police unnion setting its sights on 2013.

A slick online video based on "The Hangover Part II" that targets City Attorney Carmen Trutanich's still-undeclared candidacy for county district attorney is at the center of a new campaign legal spat. Melissa Pamer in the Daily News,

A photographer who worked for Trutanich is suggesting he may take legal action against district attorney candidate Alan Jackson for unauthorized use of photos of the city attorney in Jackson's campaign video.

Jackson, whose campaign manager is convinced that Trutanich himself is behind the threat, defended the video, but declined to discuss the photographer's copyright concerns.

The last of the protesters arrested at the Occupy L.A. site were set to leave jail Friday night amid claims by civil rights attorneys that the group had been "overdetained." Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

Since the Los Angeles Police Department officers swept the camp early Wednesday morning, city attorney staff have been busy reviewing the cases of the 291 protesters arrested.

More than 200 remained in jail Friday morning - an unnecessarily long time, argued National Lawyers Guild-Los Angeles attorney Cynthia Andersen-Barker.

With a DWP fiscal watchdog position still vacant nine months after it was created by voters, the City Council on Friday decided to spend $350,000 on an outside consultant to study the need for an emergency water rate hike. Daily News.

Voters authorized the ratepayer advocate position in March, following a bruising battle over electricity rate hikes between the City Council and the Department of Water and Power.

But, with city officials now estimating the position won't be filled until at least mid-January, DWP officials say they need to raise rates now and can't wait until the new office - tasked with reviewing rate proposals before they are approved - is established.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will have a large group accompanying him to Asia when he begins his trip on Saturday.
Twenty people are accompanying him on the trade mission to China, Japan and South Korea _ expected to cost $295,000 and being funded by LAWA and the Port of Los Angeles. The private business delegation members are paying their own way.
On the city staff who are going, the mayor will be accompanied by Elga Sharpe - Chief of Protocol; Matt Karatz, Deputy Mayor of Business and Economic Policy; Eileen Decker, Deputy Mayor of Homeland Security; Stephen Cheung, Managing Director of Business and Economic Policy; Nicole Legacki, Director of Business and Economic Policy;
Casey Hernandez - Press Secretary and Gabriela Ortiz, Special Assistant to the Mayor
Other city delegation members include Gina-Marie Lindsey, Executive Director, Los Angeles World Airports, Michael Lawson, President- Board of Airport Commissioners,
Kathryn McDermott, Deputy Executive Director of Port of Los Angeles; Patti MacJennett, Senior Vice President of Marketing at LA INC,;Mary Carley, - Associate Vice President, Travel Industry Marketing at LA INC.,Jim Featherstone, general manager of the Emergency Management Department.
The business delegation includes Mickey Kantor, partner at Mayer Brown; Thomas "Mack" McLarty, president of McLarty Associates; David Fisher, chairman of Capital Group; Jose Villarreal, senior advisor of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Don Chang, chief exeuctive of Forever 21; Dr. Sung Won Sohn, vice chair of Forever 21 and a Harbor Commission.
***
The delegation includes two former high-ranking officials from the Clinton Administration.
Kantor served as both U.S. Trade Representative and Secretary of Commerce. McLarty served as chief of staff to Clinton.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa leaves Saturday with a delegation of local business and political leaders for his second major trip to Asia, with stops planned in China, South Korea and Japan in a bid to bring more business to Los Angeles.Daily News,

About two dozen people are accompanying the mayor, including former U.S. Trade Secretary Mickey Kantor, Capital Group Cos. Chairman David Fisher and Ambassador Jose Villarreal, commissioner general of the U.S. Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo.

The estimated cost of $295,000 for the mayor and city employees is being paid by Los Angeles World Airports and the Port of Los Angeles. The business people are paying their own way.