Recently in Los Angeles Category

Councilman Tony Cardenas has hired Rabbi Allen Freehling, who headed the city's Human Relations Commission, as a deputy chief of staff.
The commission was a victim of this year's budget problems and combined into a new city agency with the Children, Youth and Families Commission.
Aides to Cardenas said Freehling, who was head rabbi at the University Synagogue in West Los Angeles for 30 years before taking on the city post, will be involved in a variety of projects designed to take advantage of his experience.
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Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office announced late Thursday that he is out of the city on vacation thorugh July 10. No word on where he went, other than to say that Council President Eric Garcetti is acting mayor in his absence.
** Sources indicate the mayor is going to South Africa to participate in a scholarship program for 400 young people, which has featured Nelson Mandela and former President Bill Clinton in the past.
And, for the curious, the mayor is taking his new friend, television reporter Lu Parker, with him.

The Los Angeles Unified school board voted to convert Birmingham High School to a charter Wednesday, ending a long and bitter battle between teachers and parents at the district's largest campus.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The board also made Birmingham's journalism and communications magnet a separate campus, housing about 500 students.

The 5-2 vote came a day after Birmingham's principal and athletic director, lead petitioners of the charter, were disciplined for their approval of student athletes being used in a racy GQ magazine photo shoot featuring "Bruno" star Sacha Baron Cohen.

Mayor committed to city
Chastened and humbled, Mayor Antonio Villaraiogsa took the oath of office Wednesday for a second term, saying he wants to be held accountable for promises he will "write in concrete rather than poetry" and pledging to focus on "deadlines over headlines." Daily News.

On a warm and sunny afternoon with more than 1,000 supporters on the South Lawn of City Hall, Villaraigosa said he recognizes he still has much to do to return to the popularity he had when he first took office four years ago.

Greuel, Trutanich promise transparency

A paper name plate reading City Attorney Carmen Trutanich covered the Rocky Delgadillo signs on his eighth floor office Wednesday as workers also finished installing Controller Wendy Greuel's new signs on her third floor office. Daily News

And, on the first day of their new job, the two showed clearly they plan to be different from their predecessors with the promise of greater independendence and more public transparency.

New LAUSD members
Two new school board members were sworn in to the Los Angeles Unified School District's board of education Wednesday, launching the district's 155th year. Connie Llanos in the Daily News

Nury Martinez, representing the east San Fernando Valley, replaced 22-year school board veteran Julie Korenstein in District 6. Steve Zimmer, representing parts of West Los Angeles and the West Valley, replaced Marlene Canter in District 4.

Following an unusually charged debate, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to scour the Sheriff's Department budget to look for other revenue sources instead of closing a Castaic jail. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The vote came as Sheriff Lee Baca insisted he had no choice but to close the Pitchess Detention Center North Facility and redeploy 187 personnel unless the supervisors gave him additional funding.

"Instead of taking such a drastic measure that compromises public safety, all other options must be exhausted," Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said.

Los Angeles Unified board members are expected to decide today whether to approve a plan to split Birmingham High School into an independent charter and a district magnet high school - putting to rest a months-long battle between faculty and parents at the 3,200-student campus.Connie LLanos in the Daily News.

Charter proponents say they want to bring reform and financial freedom to a school that has suffered from worse-than-average dropout rates and declining test scores over the years.

With the city facing one of its worst economic crises, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be sworn in today to his second term of office, with a more humble tone and promises of specific goals to get the city moving.Daily News.

"You can call it a rededication to the job and a demand for accountability," spokesman Matt Szabo said. "Accountability from him and from others."

Villaraigosa, who was re-elected with 55 percent of the vote last March against a crowded field of relatively unknown and underfunded candidates, feels a sense of humility and appreciation in being re-elected to a second term, Szabo said.

Greuel optimistic about Controller's job

Her last day as a member of the City Council carried a number of surprises for Councilwoman Wendy Greuel. Daily News

They included proclamations, flowers, a sudden appearance by her husband, Dean Schramm and son, Thomas, in the City Council chambers and an hour-long tribute by the people she has worked with since 2002 - hailing her as the city's Pothole Queen for her inner toughness and sunny demeanor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Out with the old....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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