Photo by pink_fish13 via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr For over a year now, the plan to make both Olympic and Pico one-way(ish) streets has been thought and fought, presented and resented. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Councilman Jack Weiss, the major city backers of the project, were set to go forth with the project this week. That is, until Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John Torribio said "not so fast." In his......

Earlier this year, Mayor Villaraigosa introduced his 2008 Traffic Relief Initiatives, which outlines ten proposals for improving driving conditions throughout the city (full document downloadable here). One of the initiatives is called "Pico East Olympic West" (or, alternatively "Olympic West Pico East") which was labeled a "Priority Express Corridor." The three-phase project will see a "seven-mile stretch of both streets between La Brea Boulevard and Centinela Avenue" have more "consistent rush hour parking restrictions"......

Meet the future location of Studio Oaks Park where a grassroots effort is the only way this strip of unusable, rat-infested land will become a park. In Los Angeles, if you really want to get something done, you've got to take it upon yourself. In the southeast Valley, residents are doing just that.......

Photo by Marshall Astor - Food Pornographer via Flickr Two murders in nearly two days, two men walking on the street and now two hefty financial rewards for tips leading the prosecution to both of the separate slayings. Both the city and county of Los Angeles are offering these rewards because "someone knows who committed this senseless crime," LA City Councilman Jack Weiss told the Daily News of the March 9 murder in Hollywood.......

Pledging to introduce new laws to stop illegal gun dealing and prevent violent crime, City Councilman Jack Weiss today released statistics on gun violence in Los Angeles. “It’s time to act aggressively and creatively with new laws to stop the killing," Weiss said in a statement. As provided by the LAPD, here's the data for 2007: Gunshot victims 1,905; Gang related gunshot victims 1,323 Total homicides 394; 80% of all homicides involved the use of......

The Police Commission approved earlier this month to agree with the LAPD federal consent decree that officers in specialized units dealing with narcotics and gangs must "disclose all of their sole and jointly owned assets, liabilities and income every two years. Refusal to disclose such information would bar officers from working in those units." And refusal is what they will do if the city writes the policy down as law. 500 LAPD officers in these specialized units will request transfers or retire before abiding by this 'draconian' financial disclosure requirement....

City Councilman Jack Weiss and O'Melveny and Myers law firm partner, Carolyn Kubota, teamed up yesterday in a Daily News op-ed piece urging the need to explore funding public transportation in Los Angeles by private sources. Chicago did it with the Skyway and Denver with their transit plan. So why not us? They say everyone can agree on three things. One, a subway between downtown and the Westside is absolutely need; two, the subway......

Today, in his weekly city hall column, Steve Hymon takes on funding that darn 'Subway to the Sea.' It's projected to cost a dazzling $5-billion and we can't seem to find a tree that grow this amount of money. Here are the funding ideas Hymon uncovers: The feds tend to contribute half, but some say they won't if the next bullet item is not repealed. In 1998, voters declined the government to use local......

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......

Silly Jack Weiss! He thinks the Valley is different from the City. Tsk tsk! The Daily News takes the Councilman to task (lovingly) for his slip of the tongue. Halloween events abound in the city this time of year, and LAist is your best source for the hottest spooky spots: check out our continuing Halloween coverage here. OMGZZZ Kitten Cops! I can has ratburgerz?? The LAPD is recruiting feral cats to root out rodents......

North County just can't catch a break lately: another fatal freeway pileup near Antelope Valley today, this one involving eight vehicles and at least one fatality. The freeway has been closed in both directions. Things Not Worth Beating Someone With a Hammer For: six dollars? A group of males accosted and hammered a man in Canoga Park last night; then they blew the cash on penny candy and stamps. Not really, but six bucks??......

The movement to recall LA Westside Councilman Jack Weiss is going strong with close to half the signatures necessary already in. The Governator wants HIS healthcare plan enacted, Democrats be damned! The Big One could be up to 15 times larger than the 1994 Northridge earthquake, according to a newly released study by USC geologists. Why not try your hand at naming chef Alain Giraud's newest brasserie? The second in a series of "All-American......

When a celebrity moves next door, so does the parking and traffic problems caused by paparazzi. So who do you call to solve the problem? Well, the city of course. And in this town, local politicians are no stranger to loving or hating celebs, whether it be Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and most recently, City Councilman Jack Weiss: An embattled city councilman who has been accused of making the gut-wrenching Los......

This was taken on a field trip last year with Councilman Jack Weiss' office to see the LAPD cameras in action. The purpose: to see if this was something fit for any areas in his district. When I took out my camera, I asked if I could take pictures and video. And with no hesitation, they said yes. And with no hesitation, the police department said yes to putting it on the internet. The......

Paris gets 45 days. Watch out for the new video, Some Big Black Chick's 45 Days in Paris - Daily News Beware a woman scored - Jon Peters was minding his own business driving to Hollywood to get his star on Hollywood Blvd. yesterday and as soon as he got out of the limo he was served with legal papers - his wife, it appears claims he's a deadbeat dad - NY Post Southern......

Beyond Obama in '08, local politicos are already talking about 2009 elections here in LA. From Controller to Council, here comes Chick. Who the hell is going to oppose the powerhouse of Mayor V? Wendy and Weiss will leave council and try their hands at Controller and City Attorney. But there are some people, like those who call Weiss "Wacko Jacko," that are petitioning someone else to run for City Attorney in 2009. In what......

"We need to ban billboard blight in Los Angeles as we strive to make our city greener and more livable!" ~ CBBB The answer is yes according to the CBBB. The Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight says that Los Angeles City Council unanimously agreed "to settle a lawsuit that would allow hundreds of new or illegal billboards to get permits; allow second billboards on existing structures; and allow high-tech, digital billboards which can display......

Friday, November 3rd will see the long awaited reopening of the Griffith Observatory. Last night, City Council invited members from their districts to a preview (thank you Jack Weiss!). While LA Observed saw it last week, we walked it last night and bumped into Metroblogging Los Angeles. The sweetest moment of the night was overhearing a conversation between a friend who lived here and a friend who didn't. "See why this city is so......

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......

In the hailstorm of blogging that's taking place at the Democratic Convention in Boston, I've taken a liking to Harold Meyerson's missives. Meyerson's been to a boat-load of conventions - he's old enough to remember when they were, y'know, meaningful - so his instant opinions might be useful in comparison to the rest of the Wall of Blogger that's been mortared together for the week. Yesterday, he stoked the fires of the Antonio-to-run rumors (wasn't......