After a recent visit with students at Nightingale Middle School by reps from CicLAvia and the Flying Pigeon LA bike shop, one of the kids decided to take it to the neighborhood's top dog and straight up ask for more bicycle lanes in his community, because, frankly, his community is full of unhealthy kids. more ›

The Los Angeles Police Department is asking for the public's help solving the murders of two Lincoln Heights women whose bodies were dumped on the side of the freeway—though the department insists the cases are not connected. more ›

City Councilmember Ed Reyes is holding a community meeting tomorrow evening to get input on a draft of the city's proposed Mural Ordinance. The ordinance would allow murals to be painted on private property (imagine that!). more ›

City Councilman Ed Reyes and other members of the National League of Cities' Advisory Council are slated to meet with President Barack Obama today in Washington, D.C. to talk L.A. River. Reyes and company are on a mission to gain Obama's support in projects related to the river that will create jobs plus improve community health and the environment. more ›

You didn't forget that the City of Los Angeles (mostly) objects to Arizona, right? Remember we passed a boycott of our neighbor-state in May 2010 following their signing into law SB 1070, a controversial immigration policy. (Then L.A. and CA got boycott happy!) So how are we holding up on that boycott? more ›

Since most of L.A.'s top officials have to head in and out of City Hall to get their work done, what they think of the current "occupation" of the area by protesters is surely worth noting. It took one of the Council's regular meeting speakers, John Walsh (L.A. Now generous calls him "a well-known political gadfly" to goad the Councilmembers to not only acknowledge the Occupy L.A. participants, but to go outside and tour their "tent city" and talk to the protesters. more ›

If you've spent much of your career in Los Angeles as a "shock jock" known for advising men on how to bag women, is that reason enough to turn down a generous donation towards a growing reward fund to help bag some criminals? Tom Leykis is beginning to wonder if that is what's going on with the $50,000 he offered the City of Los Angeles to put towards the pool of money offered for information leading to the arrest of the suspects who beat Giants fan Bryan Stow at Dodger Stadium. more ›

What better day is there than the Tuesday than during National Library Week for the Los Angeles City Council's Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee to take up the vital discussion of the permissibility of internet porn in our libraries? more ›

In a unanimous (12-0) vote yesterday, the Los Angeles City Council adopted the City's Bicycle Plan, which lays out 1,680 miles of interconnected bikeways and calls for more than 200 miles of new bicycle routes every five years Citywide, including along the Los Angeles River. Several years in the works, the ambitious plan signals to many a shift in the relationship between the local government, city planners, and bicyclists. more ›

Miguel Santana, Administrative Officer for the City of Los Angeles, wants to cut the graffiti removal program in half to save city budget dollars and residents in graffiti-heavy neighborhoods are none too pleased, according to the Venice Patch. Slashing the graffiti program down to the bare essentials will save the city $1.5 million - a figure that many supporters of the program believe is paltry compared with other programs that could be cut and would save the city far more dollars with less negative impact. more ›

In a move that seemingly goes against the belief that "safe and prosperous communities start with clean streets," a top financial advisor to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recommended this week that Los Angeles diminish by half its graffiti-removal budget "as part of a round of short-term cuts," reports the LA Times. more ›

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and several surrounding parking lots aren't going to be swiftly sold off to the University of Southern California, as the school's interest in buying the property got a yellow light of sorts from The Board of Directors for Exposition Park and the California Science Center, who yesterday opted to "continue studying" the offer, according to the Daily News. more ›

In a move to perhaps "even the playing field," the Los Angeles City Council this morning directed city staff to create a proposal that would help the restaurant industry compete with food trucks. The report, due back in 30 days, should look at decreasing business taxes for restaurants, but also confusingly requests... more ›

After a two week break, the Los Angeles City Council went back to work on Tuesday. And it wasn't too long before there was a collective WTF going on around City Hall. It's apparently not unusual for the post-labor day facial hair game, but this year some are questioning Council President Eric Garcetti's approach. more ›

Now with the L.A. River defined as a navigable, there's a movement afloat to make it usable for residents. Today L.A. City Councilmember Ed Reyes, who leads the city's river committee on the river and spearheaded the river revitalization master plan, introduced a motion to establish a boating program. more ›

With Arizona's controversial SB 1070 law set to become law next week Friday, the city of Los Angeles today approved a resolution declaring August as Immigrant Pride Month. The city of Los Angeles is made up of 1.6 million -- that's 40% of the population -- immigrants, according to the proposal's authors, Councilmembers Ed Reyes and Jose Huizar. more ›

There may be a boycott on doing business with Arizona, but the L.A. City Council appears posted to likely approve a 10-month contract extension with a company located there for enforcement of intersections with red light cameras, according to the LA Times. more ›

Coach Phil Jackson earlier this month expressed his view on basketball and immigration saying that, basically, the two shouldn't be mixed. Despite that, a group is planning to picket outside tonight's game between the Lakers and the Phoeix Suns, the team that wore "Los Suns" jerseys on Cinco de Mayo, both as part of their team tradition and in opposition to SB 1070. more ›

At a news conference held today, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa went on record in support of a boycott of Arizona by the City of Los Angeles, according to LA Now. The Mayor calls the neighboring state's new SB 1070 immigration law "unpatriotic and unconstitutional." Joining Councilmen Ed Reyes and Jose Huizar to speak on the issue, Villaraigosa expressed awareness that an economic boycott of Arizona would be difficult more ›

This morning, two Los Angeles City Councilmembers introduced a resolution calling for a boycott of Arizona after the passing of SB 1070. "The resolution will call for Los Angeles, and all of its departments, to end any and all contracts with Arizona-based companies and to stop doing business with the state," a media advisory said this morning. more ›

Los Angeles could be seeing some neighborhoods with bicycle rental kiosks in the near future, perhaps Hollywood, Koreatown, downtown and around the USC campus. For over a year, the City Council has been interested in exploring bicycle sharing programs that have been seen in Paris, Montreal, Washington D.C. and in Denver at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. more ›

On Monday, crews will begin construction on the LA River bike path, extending it further south towards downtown. The 2.5 mile stretch will go from Fletcher Drive to Barclay Street over an asphalt easement previously owned by the Army Corps of Engineers. The current path, running from the northern end of Griffith Park to Fletcher Drive is about 4.25 miles. The project is expected to take 6 to 7 months based on preliminary reports. more ›

Skipping the bureaucracies of Metro and the city's own Department of Transportation, a coalition of downtown stakeholders, including government officials, voted last week to create a nonprofit to build a 3-mile streetcar line that would travel mostly along Broadway from LA Live to the some-day Grand Avenue Project. more ›

In 2004, live-feed cameras, paid for by donations, were installed in MacArthur Park. Police said crime went down. Then the cameras started not working, maintenance was not happening. Crime is supposedly on the increase. more ›

Dedicated bike paths, more bike lanes, and bike rental programs, oh my! more ›

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... more ›

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... more ›

See the 1995 60 Minutes segment about the horrendous Red Line subway construction. Apparently, in democracy you cannot run against your boss' political allies without getting fired. That's what happened when city councilman Ed Reyes fired his office manager after she lost the 2005 election to Jose Huizar. She sued. She won. All the Wilshire Blvd. bus lane info you could want. The Zaca wildfire has been going for a month and now Governor... more ›

On the front page of the LA Times website tonight we found the sad note that LA River swimmer Little Antonio has died: more ›

LAist Rants are strictly the opinions of the author in question. Uncanny as it is, they are written in first person! We keep them on Sundays because even the hive mind needs a rest. more ›