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Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Councilman Herb Wesson -- both former speakers of the state Assembly -- are scheduled to be in Sacramento on Tuesday to witness the historic swearing in of Assemblywoman Karen Bass.
They are to be joined by former San Francisco Mayor and Speaker Willie Brown to see the passing of the gavel from Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez to Bass.
More than two-thirds of Los Angeles city workers earned overtime last year, totaling $355 million, even as the mayor issued a directive to curtail such payouts, a Daily News review has found. Beth Barrett in the Daily News.
More than 29,000 employees worked overtime in the 12 months through April, with nearly 1,500 earning more than $50,000 each in overtime pay alone.
The soaring OT has become a major contributor to a gross annual city payroll that now costs $120 million more to compensate the same size work force as a year ago, according to a Daily News review of salary and overtime data obtained from the City Controller's Office under the California Public Records Act.
And de
Police radio: $5,000.
Uniform and accessories: $1,620.
Service pistol and ammunition: $1,300.
Protecting and serving the nation's second-largest city: priceless.
If you think gas and food prices are high, try outfitting a new Los Angeles Police Department recruit. Jason Kandel in the Daily News.
Prices for everything from buttons to badges and bullets are way up, boosting the cost to outfit a single recruit to $9,000 this year, up 20percent from last year.
"It's a lot of
Tipoffs: Who local superdelegates support in presidential race; 5th district race gets crowded..
As Los Angeles grapples with its largest budget deficit in history, lucrative compensation packages for thousands of city workers are driving much of the gap, and there's little end in sight. Beth Barrett in the Daily News.
In the past year alone, gross annual payroll costs have soared $120 million for nearly 48,000 city employees - $90 million of that going to 35,000 civilian and sworn workers - and bumped the total payroll up to $3.2 billion, or nearly half Los Angeles' $7 billion budget.
While city leaders seek to close a looming $406 million budget shortfall with everything from fee hikes to service cuts, a Daily News review of salary data shows more than 21,000 city workers take home $70,000 or more a year and more than 6,000 take home more than $100,000.
Cit y Salary Database
Maintaining and boosting Southern California's transportation system over the next three decades could cost some $531 billion and require new taxes, tolls and user fees, a regional planning group said Friday. Harrison Sheppard and Kerrty Cavanaugh in the Daily News.
In its latest 30-year plan, the Southern California Association of Governments spelled out a range of projects that the region desperately needs to keep people and goods moving - from high-tech maglev rail lines to low-tech pothole repairs.
And the region has to plan for at least an additional 6million people in the next 30 years, said Gary Ovitt, immediate past president of SCAG and a San Bernardino County supervisor.
"That means more vehicles and more people traveling," he said. "We really want to get these projects done - and we would love to do even more because we can't afford to take the risk that we don't implement changes to improve the quality of life."
Nielson Weng always expected it would take hard work to get into college - but he never imagined it would be quite this suspenseful.
Weng is a prize catch for colleges - valedictorian at El Camino Real High, president of six school clubs, an immigrant success story. But despite all that, he's been placed on the waiting lists at five colleges to which he applied. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.
And he's not alone as colleges this year are faced with a surge of applicants - higher than even during the peak baby boomer years - and have resorted to putting more students than ever on the dreaded "wait list."
That means even as their friends are celebrating this month as college acceptance letters come in, many more students such as Weng are left in limbo, waiting and wondering.
"It isn't fair," s
A botched street-beautification project that snarled downtown Canoga Park for three weeks came at a hefty price: $303,650. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.
And city officials demanded Friday to know what went wrong and why work has yet to begin on the three new crosswalks at the heart of the project.
"I want some answers," said Councilman Dennis Zine during a City Council investigative hearing, which was referred to a committee. "As a representative of that community, I'm very upset. I want some answers."
With government funding drying up, a local private foundation has gathered donations to buy 485 acres in the Verdugo Mountains for public open space.Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.
The Fond Land Preservation Foundation will dedicate the open space acquisition today, adding another piece to a growing swath of public land in an area eyed for development.
"Most people would not have guessed that it was still possible to purchase 485 acres of open space in the city of Los Angeles," said Bill Eick, a Shadow Hills resident and member of the Fond foundation's board of directors.
While Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants to let the "shoe shine guy" comments of radio's Rush Limbaugh pass without comment, MALDEF officials are stepping forward to challenge the talk show host on his behalf.
John Trasviña, President and General Counsel of MALDEF, sent a letter objecting to Limbaugh's description of the mayor.
On May 5, Limbaugh appeared on FOX News to discuss Sen. Hillary Clinton's joke that he had a crush on her. Limbaugh responded with a story about how former President Bill Clinton allegedly "hit on" Limbaugh's date and introduced Villaraigosa to Limbaugh in order to distract him.
"The fact that your stated first impression of [Mayor Villaraigosa] was to consider him "a shoeshine boy" instead of the elected mayor of America's second largest city speaks volumes about your view of America and the role or status of people who do not fit your preconceived notion of what an elected official should be," Trasviña wrote.
"Perhaps as our community continues to increase its presence as the teachers, lawyers, professionals and civic leaders that our country depends on, you will finally move beyond your outdated mindset which attempts to exclude an entire American population from being the leaders of this nation."
Here's another example of the internet gone wild this week.
Numerous reports from London were that Police Chief Bill Bratton was either a) Leaving to become top cop there or b) planning to spend more time consulting with London's new mayor, Boris Johnson.
Neither is the case.
``I have had no conversations with Mr. Johnson,'' Bratton said in a
statement released late Thursday. ``I have not spoken with any members of his administration, and I have not been approached to act as an adviser as it relates to matters of crime reduction.''
The London tabloid Daily Mail and numerous other internet sites reported that Johnson said he was naming Bratton as an adivsor to develop a
"zero tolerance" program for grafitti and othe rminor crimes.
Bratton had served as a consultant to former London Mayor Ken Livingston on a vareith of security matters as well as with teh British national government, so the thinking was not completel out of line.
``I would certainly be willing to do so, if asked, for the new mayor in
my official capacity as chief of the Los Angeles Police Department,'' Bratton
said.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's nominee to oversee Los Angeles' finances is facing growing opposition from the City Council over his lobbyist connections and his request for a $290,000 salary - far higher than the pay of the current city administrative officer. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.
The mayor nominated his former chief deputy, Marcus Allen, in March and since then Allen has been meeting with council members to lay out his plans for the post and discuss his salary request, which is $70,000 more than the salary of outgoing CAO Karen Sisson.
The pay request comes even as the city faces a $406million budget shortfall and would make Allen the fourth-highest-paid official in the city - making even more than the mayor.
Despite a massive budget shortfall facing the city, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa assured San Fernando Valley business leaders on Thursday that he plans to continue business-tax reforms to reduce costs and simplify procedures.Daily News.
In a far-ranging speech about his proposed $7.01 billion budget and Los Angeles' economy, Villaraigosa told those attending the annual summit-style meeting of the Economic Alliance that he recognizes the need to encourage businesses to open and remain in the city.
"These are tough economic times," Villaraigosa said. "The fact is a lot of economists, a lot smarter than I am, didn't see this coming. A year ago, no one expected us to have the problems we are to the extent we are.
Los Angeles prosecutors and police told hundreds of Sylmar and San Fernando residents Wednesday that an injunction limiting gang movements is needed to stamp out a violent San Fernando Valley gang, despite fears that the measure would criminalize their communities and cause home values to plummet. Brandon Lowrey in the Daily News.
The injunction was requested last month against the San Fers, one of the San Fernando Valley's oldest gangs, which has ties to the drug trade and the Mexican Mafia.
"This is a long-term problem and a gang injunction is truly a long-term solution," said Bruce Riordan, head of anti-gang operations for the City Attorney's Office.
Ambitious state plans to unclog one of the world's busiest interchanges could slice into a popular San Fernando Valley wildlife refuge or close a heavily used 101 Freeway on-ramp.Sue Doyle in the Daily News.
Traffic planners say the options, outlined in a recently released environmental impact report, are crucial for boosting traffic flow from the southbound San Diego Freeway to the northbound Ventura Freeway.
Built in the 1950s, the freeway connector was designed to handle up to 1,500 vehicles an hour but now has been swamped with 1,790 autos per hour.
Angelenos selling condominiums shouldn't have to pay the city $150 to fund an affordable-housing process that has never produced homes for low-income residents, according to a review by city officials. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.
The Daily News reported last year that since April 2007, residents selling condos have confronted a little-known law that gives the city of Los Angeles the right of first refusal to buy most condominiums built after 1974.
The city has always waived its right to buy the condos, but last April the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles began charging sellers $150 to cover the administrative cost of the processing the waiver.
Los Angeles city officials on Wednesday called for tighter regulations on how all contracts are awarded as they moved to clear two contested contracts doled out for work at Los Angeles International Airport. Daily News.
Members of the City Council's Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee said they want to avoid the types of problems and conflicts over contract awards that have plagued the Los Angeles World Airports agency. With multibillion-dollar modernization of LAX on the horizon, the agency is headed by an executive director appointed last year.
"We have to make sure that there are no questions so that we can go ahead and do the work that we all support," Councilwoman Janice Hahn said. "I am all for modernization of the airport. We all know it needs to be done and done quickly.
California and the United States are in the midst of a mild recession brought on by the bursting housing bubble and higher gas and energy prices, the Milken Institute is reporting today.Daily News.
In an economic forecast, the institute says California is suffering the most and that the economic ills are not expected to ease soon.
"If the U.S. economy has the sniffles, California has a full-blown cold - with all the associated aches and pains," the report said. "California will experience a more severe recession than the nation overall, but the recession will still be mild by historical standards."
The Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners on Tuesday approved a new electrical rate restructuring plan that charges higher rates for customers who use the most electricity.Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.
If approved by the City Council, the plan would create three rate tiers from June through September, and a so-called hot zone - including the San Fernando Valley, the Eastside and South L.A. - in which residents would get to use more power before they are bumped into a higher rate tier.
Environmental groups praised the plan as a way to push energy conservation, while neighborhood council leaders requested better outreach and information for residents who may face big bills this summer when higher electricity rates and the rate restructuring kick in.
Boxy, oversized houses on small lots would be banned in most areas of the city under a new mansionization ordinance approved by the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.
The rule comes after three years of debate over whether the city should limit the size of new homes to protect neighbors and neighborhood character.
"The city of Los Angeles is a city of great neighborhoods and the only way to keep it that way is to protect it," said Councilman Tom LaBonge, who proposed the mansionization ordinance.
Just steps away from the flurry of car pools and Metro buses clamoring down the Harbor Transitway, a man lay curled on the ground, sleeping soundly. Sue Doyle in the Daily News.
Wedged against a concrete bike rack, the 47-year-old schizophrenic, swathed in a thick winter jacket and red sweat pants, was hidden behind two paper bags stuffed with groceries.
"At least he's spending his money on food and not on alcohol or drugs," Suzanne Newberry, a counselor and nurse with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, said as she peered into the sacks.
Reviving a long-standing debate, the Los Angeles Fire Commission on Tuesday began preparing to phase out dealings with the operator of its youth Explorer program because of its relationship with the Boy Scouts of America.
In a 5-0 vote, the panel asked for a legal opinion from the City Attorney's Office to determine whether the Learning for Life program is separate from the Boy Scouts, which condemns homosexuality.
"It is not our intention to suspend the Explorer program," Commission Chairwoman Genethia Hudley-Hayes said. "Our issue is simply of legal concern that cannot be ignored ... to make sure we are not in violation of any policy of the city of Los Angeles. The city clearly has a nondiscriminatory policy."
Grappling to cover a projected $406 million budget shortfall, a Los Angeles city panel on Tuesday continued to explore potential cuts and fee increases - particularly on parking tickets - to close the spending gap.Daily News.
In an in-depth review of the mayor's proposed $7.01 billion budget, the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee called for further studies into delaying certain building programs, shifting some service hours to accommodate the public and searching for other revenue sources.
Chief among new potential revenue sources is a possible increase in an array of parking fines.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has decided discretion is the better part of valor.
Or, you don't get into a shouting match with the man who owns the microphone.
Rather than respond to the slight by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, the mayor is letting pass a slur being seized on in the blogosphere.
Limbaugh, on his radio show, was talking about a recent time when he met with former President Clinton and Villaraigosa:
"I shook [Clinton's] hand, he left, comes back [with] the mayor of Los Angeles," Limbaugh said. "I thought it was a Secret Service agent, maybe a shoeshine guy. Turns out he gives me his card, I said, 'Oh, my gosh, it's the mayor of Los Angeles.'"
Villaraigosa aides said the mayor had heard the story several months ago and didn't believe it merited a response. "He's been called worst than that," one aide said.
l
Residents in the sweltering San Fernando Valley, South L.A. and the eastern half of the city would get a slight break on their power bills during the summer months under a proposed Department of Water and Power rate restructuring plan that seeks higher rates for those who use the most electricity. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.
The rate plan sets three tiers of rates based on power usage, and it allows residents in the "hot zone" to use more electricity before they are bumped into the higher-rate tier. The Board of Water and Power Commissioners will consider the proposal on Tuesday.
Angelenos who have air conditioning, pool pumps, multiple plasma TVs, old refrigerators and other power suckers would pay a premium for their electricity. People who live in smaller homes without air conditioning and with minimal power usage would pay lower rates.
Plans to send a subway rumbling below Westside streets to link the traffic-choked region to Eastside rail lines have been narrowed to four possible routes estimated to cost up to $6.5 billion.Sue Doyle in the Daily News.
And even with no available funding source, Metro is forging ahead and preparing what it hopes will eventually be an attractive package to federal officials who have not offered any financial support for a subway beyond repealing a 1985 ban last year on federal money for construction under Wilshire Boulevard.
"There is a long way to go before the subway extension can become a reality," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, a Metro board member. "But building support for, and selecting, a preferred route is the prerequisite to the next difficult step - finding a way to pay its $450 million-per-mile cost."
Most Los Angeles residents love the city but are troubled by the high cost of living, the lack of government accountability and a widespread sense that no area is getting its fair share of services - the same sentiment that fueled the San Fernando Valley secession drive, according to a survey released today. Daily News.
Living in Los Angeles is "enjoyably frustrating," said one of the 65 people who participated in a daylong conference in September put together by the Accenture Institute for Public Service Value as part of the international consulting firm's study of the views of people living in eight major cities worldwide.
Descriptions offered by other participants included "creative," "stressful," "diverse," "eccentric," "crowded," "disorganized" and "a city where anything is possible."
Tipoffs: What wouyld you pay to have your name on the new police hq?
Call Doris Wise Montrose of Woodland Hills an atypical child of a Holocaust survivor. To mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, she likely won't be attending any of the commemorations around Los Angeles. Tony Castro in the Daily News.
"Remembering and memorializing is all good and well," says Montrose, who heads up Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Los Angeles, an ad hoc political advocacy group.
"But I believe in taking steps that go beyond rhetoric. I'm an activist."
Facing one of the worst job markets in years, many college grads will head back to school in the fall to bag an advanced degree in fields such as law or business while they wait out the hard times. Barbara Correa in the Daily News.
But for grads who absolutely need a paycheck, experts advise: Send your resume to the federal government, Mervyns or Target or a health-care provider.
"With the economy not doing well, people are thinking they'll get into a graduate program and sit it out for a while. Historically, that's what goes on," said Wendy Margolis, director of communications for the Law School Admission Council, which tracks law school applications and test registrations.
- Soaring prices at the supermarket are taking their toll on families across the Southland as the rising cost of everything from milk to eggs is stretching already-thin finances to the limit. Susan Abram and Sue Doyle in the Daily News.
The Melgar family used to load up the cart at Costco with jugs of nuts and tire-size cheese wheels, but those days are over. Special cookies and treats for the three kids are left on the shelves. And restaurant dining has become too much of a luxury.
"We are trying to economize at home," said Norma Melgar, who plans to shut off her cell phone to help offset the rising food costs. "Little by little, we are cutting back."
Despite the economic downturn, San Fernando Valley businesses are upbeat about their prospects, with more than half expecting sales growth in 2008, according to a survey set to be released this week. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.
The annual survey - conducted by the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge - revealed optimism among the owners of midsize businesses in key segments of the local economy.
"I was a little bit surprised by this, given all the (gloomy) news that's going on. These are key industries, and they are the industries that are generating jobs, so that's good news for the Valley," said Daniel Blake, CSUN economics professor and director of the research center.
Less than two years into the tenure of Los Angeles Unified Superintendent David Brewer III, all responsibilities for day-to-day operations at the district have quietly been shifted to a veteran educator who has been a key adviser to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Naush Boghossian in the Daily News.
Under the shift, all of the LAUSD's top senior personnel now report directly to Ramon Cortines, who played a crucial role in the mayor's efforts to reform the district and who now will report on district operations to Brewer.
District officials say Cortines' experience will allow Brewer to focus on big issues. But others are questioning whether it indicates that the school board is losing confidence in Brewer.
Los Angeles' population has surpassed 4 million for the first time, officials announced Thursday.Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.
While state officials said last year that L.A. had passed that milestone on Jan. 1, 2007, they said final tabulations on that earlier estimate showed the city's population was actually 3.996 million.
However, the city's population grew 1.2 percent last year to reach 4,045,873 residents as of Jan. 1, 2008, according to the state Department of Finance.
Linking the need for immigration reform to a renewed call for officials to end raids on businesses, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday complained that the federal government needs to revise its priorities.Daily News
"When Immigration and Custom Enforcement doesn't have the resources to go after criminal gang members, they shouldn't be targeting legitimate businesses," Villaraigosa said at a MacArthur Park news conference as demonstrators gathered for a May Day rally and march.
"It is time for the federal government to acknowledge it has a failed immigration policy and (instead) put its resources where it would do the most good."
Villaraigosa released a study prepared by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. that examined three industries in Los Angeles that have high levels of immigrant workers - fashion, furniture manufacturing and food.
The strike involving nearly 300 paramedics and emergency medical technicians in the Antelope, Santa Clarita and San Gabriel valleys has ended.Jerry Berrios in the Daily News.
AMR, a private ambulance company that contracts with Los Angeles County, and the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics came to a tentative labor agreement Wednesday night.
"The strike is over," said AMR spokesman Jason Sorrick. "Our employees are coming back to work. We are moving forward, and we will continue to provide the best emergency service to the citizens we serve."
A simmering dispute between a prominent Jewish philanthropist and the head of the Los Angeles chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference reached a resolution Thursday with the two agreeing to look beyond their own issues.Daily News
In a meeting in the Beverly Hills mansion of Daphna Ziman, Ziman and the Rev. Eric Lee - brought together by religious leaders from New York City and Atlanta - said they will work together to try to eliminate racism and anti-Semitism in the community and beyond.
The two also said they hope to develop some cross-cultural events between African-American and Jewish youngsters. The two said they mutually agreed not to discuss the incident that had caused the rift - a dinner at which Ziman was being honored by an African-American group and was on the receiving end of remarks by Lee that she said were anti-Semitic.
Thousands of people are crowding the streets of downtown Los Angeles, many carrying yellow signs and others with American flags, descended on downtown Los Angeles as part of the annual immigration rights march.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he would not attend the protest.
"I've not been a shrinking violet when it comes to this issue," Villaraigosa said. "I don't feel the need to be at every march."
One of the big issues for immigrants recently has been the recent raids by Immigration and Custom Enforcement on downtown employers.
Just one month after Los Angeles Unified offered space on its campuses for nearly 40 charter schools, district officials said Wednesday they have withdrawn seven of the offers and are considering yanking five more.Naush Boghossian in the Daily News.
The withdrawals come amid a growing outcry by the teachers union as well as charter schools and traditional schools unhappy with the prospect of sharing dozens of campuses.
In a letter outlining the plan, Senior Deputy Superintendent Ray Cortines said he decided to withdraw the offers based on the "instructional impacts the charter co-location would impose."
A guide to street closures during the May Day marches.
Facing a civilian oversight commission skeptical about LAPD's investigation of racial profiling complaints, Chief William Bratton said Tuesday he will launch a wide-ranging review of police practices. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.
Members of the Los Angeles Police Commission said during their meeting Tuesday that they were baffled by internal LAPD findings that no officers engaged in racial profiling, despite hundreds of complaints in 2007.
Commissioner John Mack, a longtime civil-rights activist and former head of the Urban League, ticked off the complaints, scoffing at investigators who cleared hundreds of officers of wrongdoing.
St. Bernardine of Siena Parish in Woodland Hills has donated nearly $1.5 million of its savings to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to help fund last year's multimillion-dollar settlement of clergy sex abuse cases.
The donation is unprecedented in the archdiocese, which has called on 101 churches with identified savings of at least $1 million each to help offset the more than $660 million payout to victims of clergy sexual abuse, according to archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg.Tony Castro in the Daily News.
"While it may not sit well with everyone in the parish, it is an extraordinary gesture of community and family on the part of St. Bernardine Parish," said Tamberg, who called the gift "emotionally moving."
Cardinal Roger Mahony was out of town Tuesday and not available for comment on the donation.
The donati
While Los Angeles grapples with the largest budget deficit in city history, all but one group of city employee unions have refused to reopen their contracts and consider concessions.Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.
Unions representing police officers, firefighters, airport peace officers, engineers and architects, and managing city attorneys all declined when City Administrative Officer Karen Sisson requested that they come to the negotiating table to talk about contract changes to save the city money.
One group - the Coalition of L.A. City Unions - has agreed to negotiate with Sisson's office - because its contract included a reopener clause that requires discussions if city revenue drops 1 percent.
A bill to study adding greater portions of the San Fernando Valley to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area passed through Congress on Wednesday and is headed to the White House, where President Bush is expected to sign it. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.
The study would look at a proposal to create a Rim of the Valley Corridor - adding some 500,000 acres of mountain land above the San Fernando, La Crescenta, Santa Clarita, Simi and Conejo valleys to the existing protected parkland.
The bill was co-authored by U.S. Reps. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, and Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena.
Identifying herself as the former, former, former, Jackie Goldberg made a rare appearance at City Hall on Tuesday, urging the City Council to hire more gang workers and provide more youth jobs.
Goldberg, a former school board member, former council member and former assemblywoman, is now working at UCLA and in Compton, she said.
"These are the mean streets and I do mean mean streets," Goldberg told the council as part of an appeal made by a group calling itself the Community Justice Coalition.
Goldberg warned that the city could be in for a long, hot summer involving gangs unless action is taken to hire more gang workers and try to create jobs for young people.