Apparently, 23-seconds can be a long time for some. That's how long it takes to listen to Mayor Villaraigosa's "Welcome to 3-1-1" speech when you call the city's 24-hour operator hotline which is available for connection to any city service except emergency 911 calls. It's so long, in fact, some crotchety residents rather deal with their local council office than sit around for the speech, that includes an additional 10-seconds that explains pressing 1 for......

Be careful who you root for. L.A. County Federation of Labor's leader Maria Elena Durazo is taking some heat for her recent endorsement of Barack Obama, and her subsequent decision to take a leave from her post to work on his campaign. Speaking of labor...today was the launch of the Los Angeles County Business Federation, a coalition of local businesses hoping to emulate--and perhaps defend against--the organizational power of unions. The group "so far......

Dear LAist, Lordy, lord, lord. Today I called 311 about a issue: a noise complaint about a neighbor's dog that had been barking for 2 straight hours. The 311 lady asked me my zip code than transferred me to the LAPD. The annoyed LAPD operator explained to me that the police didn't handle barking dog noise complaints. I explained that this was where the 311 operator had transferred me. The LAPD operator then transferred......

Via Steve Hymon's Monday LA Times column on all things local government, apartment dwellers are finally able to participate in the city recycling program:What can apartment dwellers in Los Angeles do this week that they couldn't do a couple of weeks ago? Recycle. For reasons difficult to explain, apartment and condo dwellers in Los Angeles have for decades had their trash picked up by private haulers instead of city crews. That, too, has meant......

In every budget, there is give and take, there are sacrifices and there are unintended consequences. When you add 100 more police officers or 20 new traffic control officers at bad intersections, something has to go. In the case of this year's city budget proposal from the mayor, the tree trimming cycle goes to 10 years (it really should be 3-5 and is currently at 8) and 3-1-1's graveyard shift go R.I.P. But more......