Hailing the West Valley, Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine appeared on Comedy Central's Daily Show to talk up the Britney Spears law. Be warned, this video is aurally NSFW. Related - Britney Spears' $25000 6-Mile LAPD Escort - LAPD Says 'No Thanks' to Paparazzi Law - Paparazzi Get Arrested Blocking Sidewalk Stalking Britney Spears - No Paparazzi Gangbang at Britney Spears' Court Hearing - Video of Paparazzi Running in Traffic - Some Justice......

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......

Downtown Los Angeles, by kpe II via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr. Hey, who's ready for another strike? The actors might be after the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists voted to split with the Screen Actors Guild, heightening fears that Hollywood may be in for another work stoppage. The last one cost Los Angeles County more than $1 billion. Time to switch from Whole Foods to Trader Joes, actors. OK, so......

Photo by WishByNight via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr The neighborhood lock-down in Glassell Park is over after an earlier shoot-out involving police left one dead and other suspects unaccounted for throughout the afternoon. Skateland in Northridge is turning 50! Time to call up the extended family and ask them if they have any good memories of this classic Valley fun zone. (Because my family is FROM here. Babies.) What's with all......

Video found via Markland at blogging.la This is Britney Spears on Wednesday after being released from UCLA. She may be troubled these days, but who is insane? The Paparazzi. Is anything being done about this? One City Councilman is trying, but non-paparazzi media worry how it could affect them.......

In a quite quickly put-together press conference slated for 2:00 p.m. today at the First Street Steps at City Hall, Councilmen Eric Garcetti and Dennis Zine will be reminding voters that if you're nonpartisan or 'decline to state,' you must mark the box at the top of the ballot if you want to vote for an American Independent or Democratic candidate. Unconfirmed field reports are saying that the LA County Registrar is expecting to disqualify......

The paparazzi's extreme Britney coverage is costly to taxpayers | Photo by pointnshoot via Flickr It took the LAPD nearly "two dozen police officers, a helicopter and a special team" to block roads and escort Britney Spears in an ambulance with covered windows from her Mulholland Drive Studio City Home to UCLA Medical Center early yesterday morning. They even had a code name, The Package, for her so paparazzi listening to police scanners would......

Rain, rain, don't go away, don't come again another day! Wet weather is on its way. And not a moment too soon for some portions of the city. A lack of water in the Valley might slow growth: "West San Fernando Valley Councilman Dennis Zine said he called for the mandatory water conservation in new development after Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plea for voluntary water saving was largely ignored by Angelenos." You know all that......

Back in November, it was announced that the West Valley would be getting an additional LAPD station in a former sex toy manufacturing plant on Schoenborn Street between Owensmouth and Canoga in Canoga Park. Tentatively called the Northwest Division, it will serve Woodland Hills, West Hills, Canoga Park, and Winnetka when it opens this or next year. Those neighborhoods lay within Council Districts 3 and 12, both represented by LAPD Reserve Officers, Councilman Dennis Zine......

Every Monday morning, Rick Orlov of the Daily News and Steve Hymon of the LA Times write their weekly "what's going on at city hall" columns. Orlov brings an interesting story about City Council Member Dennis Zine, who represents the 3rd District in the West Valley. Zine has been given a cease and desist order from Warner Bros. over a lapel pin he has used for years as a political token to supporters. It......

Los Angeles has over 180 official neighborhoods. These are those communities designated with the city sealed blue sign. However, if you tried to figure out your neighborhood and its official boundary, there's a good chance you are going to come upon a) conflicting information b) no information, or c) confusing information. Trust us, we know. We've been digging into official Los Angeles city neighborhoods with our Neighborhood Project and have yet to come upon......

In 2003, the New York City Council voted to oppose the war in Iraq. Two years later, they drew a resolution for the "orderly and rapid withdrawal" of Iraq. Now, three days short of exactly two years after New York, the Los Angeles City Council, in a 12-2 vote, voted yesterday to support pulling out of Iraq.The council said it approved the resolution because it wants the federal government to end the war, which......

Don Duncan of the California Patients Group in Hollywood talks to reporters through the door broken by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) As the Los Angeles City Council placed a moratorium on new facilities so rules could be drafted to better regulate them, federal agents raided 10 local medical marijuana facilities on Wednesday [LA Times]. What follows are pictures from the raid at the California Patients Group in Hollywood.......

Today, Councilman Dennis Zine's office announced in a press release a victory for the City in a court case against Frisky Kitty Strip Club, located in Tarzana. Basically, LAMC 12.70, a City of Los Angeles municipal code, prohibits nude dancing within 500 feet of a residential community. Today, the court issued a permanent injunction ordering the owners of the Frisky Kitty to comply with LAMC 12.70 immediately, and imposed $90,000 on the owner of the......

Co-founder of In-N-Out Burger, Esther Snyder, has passed. We salute you with 4x4s and Grilled Cheeses. Steve Lopez visits Hillary Hauser, former Santa Barbara News-Press reporter and Ocean Environmentalist/Activist. Lopez's column comes after last week's five part series - Altered Oceans. The Warner Center in Woodland Hills might become more of mini-downtown for the Valley. Former music industry producer, Mark Steele, wants to build a $100 million dollar event center to produce events from......

As of right now, we are en route to the Aqua Line (usually referred to as Expo Line) running between Downtown and Culver City. But city councilman Bernard Parks doesn't like it. And there are so many more choices: amber, copper, olive, plum, rose, sienna, gray, lemon, lime, pink, purple, salmon, sky, tan, teal and violet. What would you name it? The Amgen Tour of California bicycle race will finishline in Long Beach next......

Chief of Police, William Bratton, has been making headlines after a July 6th KTLA interview where he said that councilmen Dennis Zine (former police sergeant) and Bernard Parks (former Chief of police) didn't "know what the hell they're talking about" when both disagreed with Bratton's loosening of hiring standards when it comes to drug use in the "distant past." LAist asks you: Does it matter to you that there are some police officers in......

target this - 46 cities will be getting counterterrorism grants in a new round of funding from the Department of Homeland Security. The good news is, we're on the list. The bad news is they're only passing out a total of $270 million. adding insult to injury - A woman who paid $125,000 to a Beverly Hills matchmaker sued after not finding the right guy. Yesterday she was awarded $2.1 million in the case......

With a new team of detectives on the case, Councilman Dennis Zine thinks it's time for somebody to come forward with some usable new evidence in the still unsolved murder of Christopher Wallace aka Biggie Smalls aka The Notorious B.I.G. aka the Black Frank White. He's proposed that the city pony up $50,000 for a short time and see what happens. Hmmm, now that 'Suge' is filing for bankruptcy maybe he's got a tip......

Editor's Note: Darren Faulk joins LAist to cover the politics beat. Ho, hum, you say? Keep reading... Contrary to popular belief, LA politics isn’t boring, it’s just really poorly covered. That’s somewhat a problem with the structural nature of news coverage. There’s quite a lot actually going on, and quite a lot of really interesting personalities, each with their quirks, closeted (and not-so-closeted) skeletons, and dreams of power. It’s just hard to fit all......

A California state appellate court is calling on local elected officials to make a New Year’s resolution to listen up—to their constituents, that is. A ruling handed down last Thursday is a result of a lawsuit brought by owners of the Blue Zebra, an East Los Angeles strip club. Roger Jon Diamond, attorney for the Blue Zebra, addressed the Los Angeles City Council in June 2003 regarding a request to allow the club to......

Video games entered the vice-y realms of drinking and stripping as the L.A. City Council agreed to an ordinance regulating public internet parlors - specifically, the kinds designed to run high-end online games. There are about 30 establishments in the city that qualify as "cyber-cafes" under the new rules. Councilman Dennis Zine pushed the legislation after a string of cafe-related shootings in his district. Mack Reed at LA Voice is pissed, but it seems to......

It's a P.R. extravaganza as Al Sharpton holds a meeting/photo-op with LAPD Chief Bill Bratton in response to the videotaped MAG-light beating of Stanley Miller. Perhaps LAist should cut the cynicism and count its blessings - Bratton is handling this situation in a far better manner than one might have expected from video-game designer Daryl Gates. B&S know what they're doing - the LA press is a lot less, um, aggressive compared to the NYC......