Today in his LA Times column, Steve Lopez takes a look at Chicago--who beat us out for the 2016 Olympics, no less--and wonders if Los Angeles can use the "Windy City" as a "role model" for a better way of living and running a metropolis. He asks three pointed questions of direct comparison: But why does a city that's under ice half the year have a better system of bike lanes, not to mention a......

Fundraising events when re-election campaigns are imminent are nothing all that noteworthy, unless you happen to be the Mayor of Los Angeles getting cash in another Mayor's territory, namely Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco. Tonight at the Neiman-Marcus store in SF's Union Square, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be the central feature of an "invitation-only champagne reception" which is "expected to raise tens of thousands of dollars for his re-election bid next spring," reports SF......

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"......

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has once again set off for another city that is not his own to help a candidate that has no stake in running Los Angeles. And you could be paying for it. This time, Mayor Tony set off on a five-city, five-day tour to help Hillary Clinton win the Texas Primary so critical to her presidential aspirations. (As of now, polling indicates a dead heat, with some polls indicating Obama has an......

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed one of the country's most stringent pet sterilization laws yesterday, requiring dog and cat owners to spay/neuter their pets or face hefty fines. What does this mean for you and fido or fluffy? It means that you must have them spayed or neuteured by the time they reach four months of age. All dogs? All cats? Pretty much. The only animals exempted from the new law are those that compete in......

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has begun to get the word out that he plans on running for a second term. According to the LA Times, Mayor Tony made mention of his plans, along with "his most personal remarks to date about the political fallout from his extramarital affair" on Wednesday during an interview on the Charlie Rose show. The Mayor was also asked about his plans to run for governor, which have been circulating in the......

Now here's the quote of the day via the Daily News: ""I think if there were laws that required mayors to take transit, you'd see transit systems improve remarkably." That's Ted Balaker, a policy analyst for the Reason Foundation who spoke to transit beat writer Sue Doyle, who wrote a piece on Mayors across the country and their public transit use. Locally, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vowed to take public transit once a week last month......

Live blogging the Democratic Debate 7:43 The spin is winding down and the media room is beginning to empty. Reporters are putting the finishing touches on their debate articles and the crew is beginning to clean up the bottles and box dinners provided. But the next six days until Super Tuesday will be anything but quiet. Commercials will continue to fill the airwaves, candidates will have events around Southern California and LAist will party......

Photo by manmadepants via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr "Traffic congestion is unfortunately a way of life for most commuters in Los Angeles," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa starts off in his introduction to the 2008 Traffic Relief Initiatives report released on Wednesday. The recent budget crisis you-better-vote-for-measure-S-next-Tuesday theme and undertones are definitely present: "Now more than ever, as the City faces tight budgets and an uncertain economy, we have an obligation to deliver......

DineLA's Restaurant Week officially starts today! LAist was there for the kickoff event hosted by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Neal Fraser at Grace. LAist's Callie Miller let us in on her dirty little secret this week: she loves Pinkberry. GIANT KILLER CUPCAKE!!!! Okay, so it's not exactly 50 feet tall, but jumbo cupcakes from French pâtisserie La Provence in Beverly Hills still look massively good to us. Fresh & Easy has finally opened in......

Downtown's historic Broadway Theater District could soon be getting a boost from the City. The Downtown News is reporting that a press conference on the area is planned for tomorrow morning, and that City Coucilman José Huizar (14th district) and Mayor Villaraigosa will be on hand to share with local business and land owners their goals and intentions. As revitalization takes place throughout LA's downtown area, many are seeking to extend the developments and improvements......

The Grove's new neighbor is considerably less trendy than an outpost of Abercrombie & Fitch, but also far more important. A symbolic ground-breaking ceremony was held yesterday in Pan Pacific Park (pictured) for the new permanent facilities of Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. The Museum is a development of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, and will be the only museum in the city to focus exclusively on the Holocaust. Yesterday's ceremony also marked......

Mayor Villaraigosa serves the city / Photo by Elise Thompson dineLA Restaurant Week kicked off in style yesterday at Neal Fraser's Grace on Beverly Boulevard. Neal Fraser is the only Angeleno ever to have won Iron Chef, against none other than Cat Cora. The Two Hot Tamales, Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, were the belles of the ball. I just had a moment to chat with them regarding a funny story they had......

"Ducttape Superhero" by The Eye of Brad via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr With exactly one year to go until a new president is inaugurated (and one more year of Jon Stewart's hilarious Bush headlines), the field of Republican hopefuls just got smaller. After poor showings in, well, every primary, caucus and poll, San Diego Congressman Duncan Hunter is ditching the presidential race. No word on what he will do now, but......

Federline family values: Fading pop diva and the ex-Mrs. K-Fed who sent law enforcement and the paparazzi into a tailspin last night has lost visitation rights to see her two sons, a court ruled today. Sole custody has been temporarily award to her babies' daddy, meanwhile, Britney remains involuntarily hospitalized. What is it going to take to get Ms. Spears back on track? The homicide tally for 2008 moves up another notch with the reporting......

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......

The City of Los Angeles in 2007 saw a 5% drop in serious crimes, bringing the number of homicides down to the lowest it's been in 37 years. The LA Times reports that, "The Watts area alone last year saw a nearly 50% drop in homicides, according to LAPD crime statistics." The Times goes on to report that LAPD Chief William J. Bratton claims that this drop can be attributed to police officers doing their......

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, one of Hillary Clinton's national campaign chairs, is returning to Iowa to campaign for her, the Daily News reports. It is caucus day, so there's not much campaigning left to do. He was in Iowa the 29th-31st, came back to LA, and now he's off again. What exactly is he doing there? Is Hillary's campaign so worried about her numbers that they've put out an all-hands-on-deck, now or never call? Is......

In El Salvador there are two prisons that are purely devoted to two gangs that originated in Los Angeles. How did this transnational network come about? Deportation for one. When a gang member serves a sentence in California and then deported to their home country, the gang business moves with them. Bruce Riordan, director of anti-gang operations in the LA city attorney's office told the New York Times that, "these gangs are the new......

How apropos; today on LAist it's Sex Saturday, but today also happens to be World AIDS Day. Several events took place yesterday and will happen today in order to remind the world community that HIV/AIDS remains a global threat. The LA Times reports today on President Bush's public appearance yesterday at a church in northern Maryland, and that his speeches did not propose new plans or funding, but rather focused on humanitarianism. According to the......

“Carol Baker Tharp loved the City of Los Angeles and spent the past year working to strengthen its neighborhoods as the General Manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said today in a statement announcing the passing of Carol Baker Tharp. "Though we mourn her passing today, we take comfort in the fact that her work and ideas will continue to yield positive benefits for the people of Los Angeles.” Tharp was......

Los Angeles' most-powerful bachelor just got more eligible. After being outted by a sex-blogger nearly a year ago that his marriage was on the outs, it soon became news that Mayor Tony was playing hide-the-taquito with the hottest anchor on Telemundo. Tonight the LA Times is reporting that the Mayor has one less Christmas card to send out this year. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and television news reporter Mirthala Salinas have ended their romantic relationship,......

"This is not. . . targeting or profiling. It is an effort to understand communities." Police Chief William J. Bratton defending a LAPD counter-terrorism program that uses "U.S. census data and other demographic information to pinpoint various Muslim communities and then reach out to them through social service agencies." [LA Times] "Over my dead body." Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on any limit of his goals of expanding the LAPD. A fiscally conservative and wary City......

It's Halloween and that means it's a big day at CreepyLA.com. Among many stories posted today, an interview about today's holiday with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. How does one do a green Halloween? Do like Siel: organic pumpkins, drink and go by public transit and send eco-Halloween e-cards. There's plenty to do in the ghost town that was tonight. Head Downtown! And while Downtown, Mayor Sam has some updates from political ghosting at City Hall.......

George Bush issued the fourth veto of his presidency today, nixing a bill that would have provided insurance to poor children. Bush said the program was too costly, apparently cool with the fact that the Iraq war now costs over $455-billion. That's B for billion. And B for Bitch. Curbed LA takes a gander at a new development planned for West LA. In as much as the structure looks like a monument to cubism,......

The recent political scandal involving married republican senator Larry Craig, who is accused of soliciting homosexual sex in a public bathroom, reminds me of just how unscrupulous politicians can be. Craig voluntarily pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct, but then tried to retract and cried, “I’m not gay, I made a mistake pleading guilty.” It was political suicide, although he had already hung himself. The arresting officer, Sgt. Dave Karsnia, is......

Last year Kaiser Permanente donated $1.2 million to the city to help keep 15 city swimming pools open an extra two weeks at the end of the summer. This year Kaiser cut their donation by 90%, and still, magically the city announced that thanks to the HMO, 14 city pools will remain open two weeks longer than originally scheduled. Because of a $121,000 donation from Kaiser Permanente, 14 swimming pools operated by the Los......

... but there's not much Los Angeles in the latest issue of Plenty, a bi-monthly magazine on environmental news and commentary. There's a feature story on the negative environmental impact of surfing and good tips for going to the farmer's market (use it with the new Farmer's Market Google Map), but our dear home is not but a mere mention in a small, but fun brief. With the fact that "urban areas are responsible for......

I may not remember much from college. But one phrase uttered by my dear Professor Richard "Poopsie" Schwarzlose at journalism school is branded on my brain: conflict of interest. Even today, if there's ever a question, I think, WWPD: What Would Poopsie Do? Well Poopsie probably wouldn't be happy with one Mirthala Salinas, the local Telemundo newscaster who, involved in an on-the-DL affair with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, was also cheekily reporting, "the rumors are......

As just the latest of high-profile California lawmakers to endorse her presidential bid, Senator Dianne Feinstein should add a bit more West Coast mojo to Hillary Clinton's already momentous campaign. The latest poll figures have her up 49% to 24% over Barack Obama in California, and she is leading the field in most other early primary states — though not in the fund-raising department, where Obama is kicking some serious tush. Her latest California......