State of California, Park Rangers: "'The park system we have is not set up to be an answer to social services' but exists as a recreation and vacation venue, [Roy Stearns, a state Department of Parks and Recreation spokesman,] said. He said churches and community centers would be more appropriate as sites for feeding the homeless." Interfaith Needs Network (represented by ACLU): "'We are not inciting a riot,' Siler said. 'We are simply feeding our......

"Who Watches The Watchers", by ~db~ via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr. A year after the LAPD launched an offensive to rid Downtown of drugs and crime, the results are mixed. Violent crime is down and shoplifting is up, but some opponents of this broken windows campaign are deriding the heavy handed tactics they say police have used. But officials said, look at the results and, hey, it worked for Giuliani in NYC......

Photo by rink_rat via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Stay in school kids, especially if you live in the Valley. Yesterday the truant police hauled in 137 middle and high school kids who were ditching classes and chilling in public. 5 members of a church group were involved in an accident this morning on the eastbound Pomona Freeway. Sadly, three of the victims were killed and the others injured. The driver had......

Photo by astacia5 via Flickr We've heard before that the sinking housing market would actually serve to increase the rent on apartments in Los Angeles, and we've had a few lively discussions about proposals to undo rent control laws. But who knew the rate increases would be so drastic? Today's LA Times is reporting on the going rates for a four-bedroom, eight-bath (eight???) Malibu beach house: $150 grand. Per month. Alright, granted this is......

Jim Moriarty, Executive Director of the Surfrider Foundation at yesterday's California Coastal Commission hearing | Photo by Branimir Kvartuc of EpicSurf.com Commuters and some politicians say the Foothill South 241 toll road needs to finish in order "to relieve congestion and accommodate development southern Orange County and take some of the burden off Interstate 5, the heaviest traveled corridor between Los Angeles and San Diego," the LA Times is reporting. A section of the......

Jacob Soboroff takes to Venice Beach telling locals the Superbowl was moved to Tuesday to make a good point.......

What will Hike The Geek do?!?! In order to face up to budget-balancing woes and a state-wide financial crunch, Governor Schwartzenegger has proposed to close 48 different national park sites, as well as cut funding to many school, health care, and criminal justice programs. Parks in the L.A. area like the Will Rogers State Historic Park, Topanga State Park, and Pio Pico State Historic Park in Whittier will all be shut down, affecting many......

Just in case you haven't heard, a few corporations have recently decided that a really awesome way to get lots of free publicity would be to rent a beach house in Malibu, throw a ton of parties for celebs (some with quotation marks, some without) and invite the paparazzi along to ensure that photos of said celebs interacting with said corporation's product get splashed all over the web and certain print publications. It seems......

Several years ago, I used to be a Westsider and part of my weekly routine was to hit up the beach, whether playing ball on the blacktop at Venice, laying out and reading a book at Ocean Park, or people watching at Santa Monica. It was super-relaxing to be out in the sun, soaking up the ocean breeze, and enjoying the local culture. Part of the culture was stopping off at some of the......

LAist Editor Tony Pierce has blogged here non-stop for more than a year deserving a well-earned vacation (and did he ever earn it). While out of town, we decided to have a little fun and bring some guest day editors in from around the blogLAsphere. Monday we had Green LA Girl and Tuesday saw Fred Camino of MetroRiderLA. Today, get ready for Zuma Dogg who has his own website, but also contributes to Mayor......

The good thing about Chicago is that the beach that lines its Eastern border is all public beach. That's not so true about the city's suburbs. And in Malibu, it's tricky at best (remember the whole Geffen debacle?) But there are workarounds and if you want to get your sexy nerd tan on, the Los Angeles Urban Rangers have announced their "Malibu Public Beaches" Safari: The "Malibu Public Beaches" safaris will show you how......

The California Coastal Commission voted unanimously last week to sell billionaire David Geffen a 10-foot buffer zone of the public beach that abuts his Carbon Beach-front property in Malibu. For about $140,000, the Trip-C supposedly put to rest a decades-long debate over Geffen's property rights (Geffen finally granted access to the beach in 2005). We visited Carbon Beach to assess how this deal might work out and found only about a dozen or so......