An LA City Council committee has made a unanimous decision to ban new fast-food restaurants in South LA for one year; the decision goes to the full council and the mayor this week. Spearheaded by Councilwoman Jan Perry, the ban would "prevent fast-food chains from opening new restaurants in a 32-square-mile area, including West Adams, Baldwin Village and Leimert Park. The moratorium would be in effect for one year, with the possibility of two......

Styrofoam food containers will be banned in city buildings, at LAX, and at city-sponsored events beginning next July and plastic bags will be ordered pulled from store checkout counters July 1, 2010, in accordance with a ban approved today by LA City Council. The decision comes just weeks after a similar measure in Manhattan Beach passed despite the threat of a lawsuit. Malibu banned plastic bags in May and the debate stalled on the issue......

What? So, Metro is set to vote this week on a mixed-use residential/commercial development that will literally be feet from the Orange Line Sepulveda station in Van Nuys (you know, in that huge parking lot no one uses). "When they first came to me about it, it was supposed to be all residential," Councilman Tony Cardenas, who represents the area, is quoted saying in the Daily News. "Now they are talking about having commercial development."......

Following in the footsteps of Los Angeles (even calling it a fiscal emergency and all, too) and other area cities, LA County's second largest city, Long Beach, will consider putting a phone tax on November's ballot at a meeting Tuesday night. The City Council will also vote on placing a parcel tax on the ballot that would raise $571 million for an infrastructure plan that would improve "improve hundreds of miles of streets, sidewalks and......

Photo by Pro-Zak via Flickr It's 11:45 a.m. and City Council is in session getting ready to vote on an item supporting Metro's proposed half-cent sales tax for transportation projects. Their vote would also tell Metro which projects are priorities for the city, including the possibility of a downtown streetcar and getting the Green Line to actually hit LAX. Councilman Jose Huizar spoke up to get some clarification on projects within the city. "Is......

Photo by Jonathan Alcorn (Sundogg) via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr When the beaches at Venice, Dockweiler, Playa del Rey and Del Rey Lagoon get packed with over 100,000 people, the city has to deploy and/or extend services to make sure things run smoothly and that the afternoon and nighttime beach exodus doesn't hinder the neighborhood streets too much. But to do that, purely for administrative reasons, the City Council must go through a......

Yesterday, the LA City Council voted for increases in fees for things relating to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (like the boot fee went up $30 to $150). What the majority of the city deals with are parking meters, which are going to a minimum rate of $1.00 an hour citywide (but remember, it's prorated, so a quarter is 15-minutes). Some high usage parts of the city will have higher fees, costing up to......

Councilwoman Jan Perry made do with a one-year moratorium on the addition of new fast food restaurants in South Los Angeles that went into effect last year, but now she's gearing up to fight the battle of the bulge in a more permanent way by asking for a complete ban on new fast food joints in the area. According to the Los Angeles Business Journal, "The ban is intended to stop the proliferation of eateries......

Photo by Susan Catherine via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Special Order 40 is a nearly 30-year-old law in Los Angeles that prohibits Los Angeles police officers from asking people about their immigration status. Part of the intent is to get more community cooperation when investigating a crime. Illegal immigrants who witness or know something about a crime would more likely avoid police because of their status without the order. A 2006 citizen filed......

By the end of 2008, there will have been three elections, the last one being the Presidential. But after that, things won't be calming down as major city races head into full swing mode. Councilwoman Wendy Greuel will run for City Controller and City Controller Laura Chick will probably run for City Council. But of note is who will run against Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for the biggest job of all? Rumors and talk of who......

Photo by AZAdam via Flickr Only 102 of the 958 city buildings expected to get CFLs have installed the energy-efficient lightbulbs and City Controller Laura Chick is saying that the program is not going fast enough. So far, the city has replaced enough to save $1.5 million on the annual $27-million power bill. However, replacing the bulbs came at the price of $5 million, but costs are expected to be recovered over time with......

Ah, the dark underbelly of local politics... The Mayor of El Monte, Ernie Gutierrez, has been accused by a resident of being intoxicated at a city-sponsored event recently, which may have led him to shout vulgarities and publicly grope his alleged girlfriend, Graciela Solano. Gutierrez, who is married, did not respond to the accusations, which were raised earlier this month in a City Council meeting. In response, City Manager Jim Mussenden says "a report on......

Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick is bringing up one of LAist's favorite topics: Los Angeles. The once City Councilwoman (and probably future City Councilwoman when she runs and probably wins) wanted Los Angeles to be tourist friendly and not just for tourists, but for residents. "When I first got elected, I asked why we weren't doing more to market Los Angeles," Chick was quoted saying in the Daily News. "I recently went to Chicago......

Members of a Los Angeles City Council committee took 50 hours to deliberate, but finally put their stamp of approval on a $7 billion budget for the city. In the past weeks, news of proposed cuts to services and the elimination of several jobs have rippled through the city, causing anger and apprehension about what life would be like for some Angelenos under the new plan. However, some of the proposed cuts were reversed in......

Photo by discarted via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Contrasting the Los Angeles City Council's vote earlier today on mansionization, affecting single-family homes, another ordinance was passed today -- one that replaces a temporary 2005 law regarding downtown residential hotels, mostly used by low-income and nearly homeless people. The ordinance protects single-room-occumpancy (SRO) and residential hotels within Los Angeles from becoming expensive lofts and condos. If owners want to convert their buildings, they must......

An uncharacteristic home on Sunnyslope Ave. in Sherman Oaks | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist The Los Angeles City Council passed the first citywide anti-mansionization ordinance today, stopping the development of single-family houses that are built more than the half the size of their lots. Mansionization has been an ongoing point of discussion in neighborhoods as community members saw out of scale and uncharacteristic homes built by developers. For example, on a block full of......

Here's one simple step on how to lose a city's morale and trust of city government, via Kerry Cavanaugh at the Daily News: The council discussed adding scheduled street sweeping to 8,600 miles of city streets. By installing signs that indicate "no parking" during scheduled street-sweeping times, the city could establish regular, more effective sweeping - and, potentially, earn $20 million by ticketing cars parked during sweeping times. "We have a lot of opportunity in......

Photo by Tracy_O via Flickr Today, Mayor Villaraigosa is set to release budget recommendations for the next fiscal year. He already said we are $406 million short this year and like last year, there will be much discussion and debate at the city council level of what to save and what to keep cut. Here are two lists, a top 5 of what to save and what to cut. What to Cut and Slash......

As reported earlier today, the LA City Council was set to vote and approve rate hikes for the Department of Water and Power over the next four years. Now that all is said and done, the council approved the increases. Rick Orlov of the Daily News blogged updates throughout the meeting with some great talking points: Trust & Transparency (link)Councilwoman Janice Hahn said part of the problem facing the DWP is the lack of public......

The paparazzi's extreme Britney coverage is costly to taxpayers | Photo by pointnshoot via Flickr Citing that there are already laws on the books, the LAPD opposed a proposal to make a "personal safety zone" paparazzi law to the Police Commission today. 3rd District Councilman Dennis Zine introduced the idea after the LAPD used $25,000 to transport Britney Spears to UCLA Medical a mere 6 or so miles in order to keep her safe......

Photo by Beige Alert via Flickr Since the perk of giving Hybrid owners a free ride when it comes to Los Angeles city parking meters has been in the news lately, the always fiscally conservative Daily News opined on the issue today: "The right thing is for the council to kill the hybrid car perk." Even though the estimated losses are little, "a drop in the bucket," they say, the Daily News stays with......

Photo of the DWP Parking lot by Omar Omar via Flickr This morning, the Los Angeles City Council gave a first round of approval for water and power rate hikes, saying infrastructure is needed to be updated. Over the next year and a half, monthly rates are expected to increase to around $7.25 (plus tax). Both General Manager for the Department of Water and Power David Nahai and Councilman Bill Rosendahl pointed towards last......

Photo of Tom LaBonge by Greg Katz for LAist If you missed Tom LaBonge talking with Patt Morrison on KPCC Tuesday, you missed hearing the charismatic council member for Silver Lake, Miracle Mile, and North Hollywood say that he sleeps with his lights on. The subject of their chat was the latest DWP rate hike. When asked whether he thought the DWP should use a carrot-and-stick strategy to compel energy conservation, LaBonge went off......

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......

"Sister Cities" | Photo by Stephanie Asher via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr An update on yesterday's Harbor-Gateway shooting of a 6-year-old in a car. LAPD Chief Bratton announced: "We are very confident that we have the people who were involved in the actual shooting in custody." For the Lakers fans out there, LA City Councilman Bernard Parks declared today as "Derek Fisher Day." 1,817. That's the number of teacher layoffs so......

As we lamented in February, Beyond Baroque was in danger of losing its lease and Venice was in danger of losing one of the most unique places for poets to gather and perform their work. Mere hours before their lease was to expire, L.A. City Council voted to extend the lease for 25 more years - at only $1 a year! What could be more exciting than Beyond Baroque getting a stay of execution? The......

"...And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming" by kpe II via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr Newly elected state speaker, a Democrat named Karen Bass who was raised in Los Angeles, has made friends on both sides of the aisle, the LA Times said. She is the first African-American to assume the top spot and has some pretty lofty goals, including providing healthcare and improving education. Wait, those are things EVERY......

Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist A posthumous tribute wall dedicated to singer/songwriter Elliott Smith sat defaced by graffiti for months on end -- LAist said enough, so did the fans and city council.SFist was surprised to learn that chronic presidential candidate Ralph Nader picked former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez as his running mate.Phillyist explored the possibilities of green cleaning.In the latest edition of Reel Toronto, a bi-weekly feature looking at films shot in Toronto......

For the last ten years, state representatives from Los Angeles have dominated the role of Speaker of the Assembly, including Mayor Villaraigosa, LA City Council Herb Wesson and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle. Today, Karen Bass, the assemblywoman who represents neighborhoods from West LA to Culver City to Baldwin Hills, had enough votes to become Speaker of the Assembly up in Sacramento. The job of speaker is to be the leader of the California State Assembly,......

Santa Monica is getting ready to put a drastic bag ban measure on the table next week. Previous musings about a state-level ban have made waves already this year, and the movement by the public to carry reusable bags is steadily gaining momentum. Per a press release, their proposal includes directives from the staff, asking that the City Council: 1. direct the City Attorney to draft an ordinance banning the free distribution to customers of......