Oh, you've got to love rumors, especially those that both anger and please people, depending on who you're speaking with. This rumor comes via a report during the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council* meeting last Monday night. During a Land Use Committee report, someone asked what the status was on the old Ventura Club building at Colbath and Ventura (just East of Hazeltine). Originally it was slated as a Walgreens, but after that got scrapped, the......

After releasing a transportation vision on YouTube last week, the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council took yet another step in becoming a more transit friendly neighborhood, specifically in regards to bicyclists. The Bike Writers' Collective, a coalition of top bicycle bloggers in Los Angeles (which includes an LAist contributor) presented the "Cyclists' Bill of Rights" to the council, who unanimously passed a motion to endorse it. In a statement from the cycling writers group, it said......

A puppet show without Kermit: Concrete Folk Variations at The Manual Archives / Photo by Susan Simpson MEET THE PO-PO The public’s invited to meet the police and talk about safety issues at a neighborhood meeting between the Atwater Village Neighborhood Council, the Glassell Park Safety Committee and LAPD. Senior Lead Officer for Atwater Village Gina Chovan, gang detectives and City Attorney Donna Wong will be in attendance. 4 pm // Glassell Park Community......

This past Saturday, the Boardmembers, stakeholders and guests of the Woodland Hills Warner Center Neighborhood Council met at the WH Marriott for an all-day Retreat and Board Workshop. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky opened the session with a passionate dissection of SB1818 and the LA's City Council current approach to bringing the City into compliance with State law. Calling the law "a poorly thought-out effort to create affordable housing" Zev contends that LA's proposed ordinance "places......

This week Zach Behrens became the sixth editor of LAist. Behrens is no stranger to LAist staff or readers -- he was Co-Editor for nearly a year before taking the reins from Tony Pierce and contributed more than 1100 posts since 2005. We asked Zach a variety of questions to put in perspective how and why he came to be editor of the best city blog this side of the Hudson. Andy: When and why......

The white smoke flowed from the chimney, doves were released, and virgins scattered to deliver the Good News that the newest Editor of LAist is Zach Behrens. Valley boy Zach has been a contributer to this fine blog since 2005, he's an outdoorsman, he sits on the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council, he's a vegetarian, he volunteers selflessly, and yes ladies, he's single. Softspoken, strong-willed, and determined to get you to ride public transportation, Zach......

Sherman Oaks has a lot going for it. From movie and TV stars to community activism, from dingy Valley corner strip malls to high-end boutiques, this neighborhood of nearly 52,000 residents is never a bore (come on, Desperate Housewives films a bunch here). It is named after General Moses Hazeltine Sherman, a well known real estate developer who bought a good amount of land in the area and sold it off. The community was......

Today's Daily News discusses yesterday morning's Congress of Neighborhoods where city's 89 neighborhood councils met in a convention style environment to learn skills such as media relations and working with city departments. Throughout the day, one major focus of chatter surrounded how to "wield their increasing influence." The Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council recently succeeded in a community effort in halting a Home Depot from coming to their neighborhood. The Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council is......

Two explosions ripped through a convoy carrying former Pakistani premier and maybe the country's best hope for Democracy, Benazir Bhutto, following her triumphant return after an eight-year exile. She was not hurt, but hundreds were killed and injured. How did the White House respond? By tying it back to the war on terrah, of course, saying, "Those responsible seek only to foster fear and limit freedom." A dump truck is in a "precarious spot"......

For 36 years, The Wiener Factory has been serving hot dogs out of their Sherman Oaks stand to loyal and new customers alike. Good for hot dog lovers, bad for residents craving Pinkberry:Officials with Pinkberry, a nonfat frozen-yogurt chain, were expected to tell a Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council panel Monday night that they wanted to raze the small hot-dog restaurant and build another Pinkberry store. "Historically, many things come and go. But we have......

Brady Westwater at the blog, LA Cowboy, asked some fair questions on his blog yesterday about the former head of the city’s transportation department, who was fired last week: “Why Did The Press TOTALLY Fail Us On The Gloria Jeff Disaster?” After some research, he found that “not a word was ever printed about her past” – if that’s true, Gloria Jeff is in the wrong business. Get this woman to a PR firm......

The West Hollywood Transportation Commission meets tonight at 7pm to grapple with the challenge of encouraging cycling as a positive transportation choice while figuring out where the cyclists are supposed to ride. The streets are dangerous, the sidewalks are crowded and the bike lanes are few and far between. Where exactly should a cyclist ride? Motorists who want cyclists to ride on the sidewalk, pedestrians who want cyclists to ride on the street and cyclists......

spotted in Hollywood on Gower at Franklin ... before someone calls 311 and gets it abated. I'm a big fan of graffiti art. But I'm also a big fan of getting rid of it. How can I contradict myself like that? To me it is like a game and I'm always going to win. I enjoy some of graffiti, but it's still illegal. Artist enjoy making it and partly because of the lure of......

The Venice Neighborhood Council is announcing an interesting way to read and/or listen to a classic American tale. Read the complete Moby Dick on the Beach with The Venice Oceanarium. Come to the breakwater rocks at the end of Windward. 9 a.m - 9 p.m on Saturday 7/14 & Sunday 7/15. For more information: 310-500-5941 And since there's a week before the big reading, can someone build the Oceanarium a web site? ktnhx. photo......

Since 2004, Chow Bella have been implicated in the deaths of three dogs, been the focus of numerous complaints from community activists and on the wrong end of scorn from those whose pets sustained injuries while staying at Chow Bella. ...

The first in a series of interviews with members of the Los Angeles political scene, politicians, political connectors and the politically connected, I had a short chat with Brady Westwater, downtown advocate, one of the busiest men in LA politics and the LA Cowboy. What is the LA Cowboy’s role in the LA political arena? I started the LA Cowboy before I became apart of the LA Downtown Council and it was going to......

According to a recent study by the neighborhood blogging aggregator Outside.in (backed by Netscape and Ning cofounder Marc Andreesen, among others), Downtown LA is #3 on the list of "America's Top Ten Bloggiest Neighborhoods": "The common themes are real estate prices and local politics," Outside.In CPO John Geraci told CNET. "People also post reviews about restaurants and other local businesses." Well-earned congrats to our friend Eric Richardson for being singled out per below:3. Downtown......

Yesterday on doorsteps of homes in Studio City came flyers telling people to vote in today's Studio City Neighborhood Council (SCNC) election. Yesterday in the e-mail boxes of many Valley residents was an e-mail telling them to vote tomorrow. If you know anything about Neighborhood Councils... Actually, let's rephrase that. If you don't know anything about Neighborhood Councils and these elections, there is a good reason to that: outreach is hard. So one would think......

It looks like neighborhood councils are back in style with two new hires for General Manager and Assistant General Manager at the city's Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE). Their first "whirlwind" week on the job has come on the heels of two new neighborhood councils: Panorama City and Rampart (making a total of 89 councils in LA). In their first letters to the public and neighborhood council members, General Manager Carol Baker Tharp shares......

Tomorrow night, Councilwoman for District 2, Wendy Greuel, will be hosting a rather large public town hall meeting on crime in The Valley. Even LAist is showing up to represent a booth (okay, we'll actually be repping a neighborhood council). In any case, if you live in the Valley and you want the best part of LA to stay the best, then this meeting is extremely important. Greuel, along with the LAPD will declare......

I do not remember who told me this, but he must have been important. We were at a fundraising party all wearing fancy suits and the Mayor Villaraigosa was there. He started talking about the Director of the Bureau of Street Services for the city, Bill Robertson: "There's a thing about Bill you have to know." At this point, the tone of his voice sounded like it was going to turn into an angry......

Voluntary Trans Fats Bans Announced Today & Other Body News "Harvard University researchers link trans fats and the coronary damage they cause to as many as 100,000 premature deaths a year. Los Angeles County was contemplating a law banning trans fats, but recently found that it doesn't have the legal authority to do so. Instead, both the county and the city are announcing new, voluntary initiatives Tuesday." (The California Report [MP3 Warning]) From Paramount......

So back in November we asked the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, who oversees Neighborhood Councils, for a quick 5 question interview... LAist: Okay, so what the heck is a DONE Advocate and what are these Neighborhood Councils all about? DONE: ... LAist: Why should our readers get to know their Neighborhood Council? DONE: ... LAist: What is one step our readers can do right now to participate to help mold the future of Los......

Oops! CNN puts "Where's Obama" where it should have been "Where's Osama." Wha? You don' know who Obama is? You Should. Need inspiration to bike commute in Los Angeles? Meet Monica Howe. "In an unusual match-up, Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas will face four challengers, including three candidates from the Van Nuys Neighborhood Council, in the March 6 election." "L-A-X hasn't had a major overhaul since the 1984 Summer Olympics and the Tom......

As the year comes to a close, LAist is asking famous celebs, local politicians, and other movers & shakers of LA to tell us what they thought were tops of 2006. LACityNerd hit the blogging scene earlier this year and this cat has blown us away with the knowledge and history that is spewed upon the blog. Who is it? We will never know. At least we are allowed to ask questions. Lots of......

Today, the Information Technology Administration (ITA) along with the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE), announced some Los Angeles E-Democracy, as they call it. What does this mean? A bunch of online toys for us city nerds. Here's some of what they've done in the past 24 months: Online Council Votes: stalk follow your councilmember's voting track record. Online Council File Index: Keep track of any legislation considered and/or acted upon. Online Council Docs: We......

It's not even Tuesday and Prop R is history. But thanks to Marty and Doc, we totally know. Why go to the future to get rich off stocks when you can just plan parties over Election Day results? The people behind NCs Opposed to Prop R/Not PropR Committee (NC is lingo for Neighborhood Council) will be partying it up in the lounge at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. "You are cordially invited to join members......

Let's look back at a week in which no site in the -ist network adopted anyone from Africa... -Austinist reveled in the dumb antics of some U.T. law students and posted some great audio from former New Orleans natives who've decided to stay in Austin. But the best news for Austinist? They were voted Best Local Entertainment Web Site by the local Austin alt-weekly. Congrats, Austinist. -DCist gloried in being told their musical tastes made......

In an undisputed landslide of mythical proportions, LAist contributor and performance artist Zach Behrens last night was sworn in as a councilmember of the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council. Running unopposed (because, come on, who would dare compete with someone who contributes to this fine blog), Zach racked up an impressive 32 votes in the ridiculously apathetic Valley election. Zach has been a tour-de-force here at LAist, and if we find out that his council......

Back in February, I got an e-mail with the subject line, "blog tip." With a link to the blog, all the e-mail said was, "just some information - nothing flashy. Glad to know you. LACN." Overtime, the anonymous LACityNerd became an authority to all things, city of Los Angeles. I don't know who the nerd is. I don't even know if the nerd is a male, female, child or beast. All I know is......