Notice that all of the San Fernando Valley is covered except Studio City and Toluca Lake. Other parts of the city that fall into the hot zone are on the Eastside and South LA | Map via Dept. of Water & Power This map shows summer average daily temperatures for the microclimates of the City of Los Angeles and was performed by the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at UCLA. The two temperature zones were......

As reported earlier today, the LA City Council was set to vote and approve rate hikes for the Department of Water and Power over the next four years. Now that all is said and done, the council approved the increases. Rick Orlov of the Daily News blogged updates throughout the meeting with some great talking points: Trust & Transparency (link)Councilwoman Janice Hahn said part of the problem facing the DWP is the lack of public......

Today, the city council is doing their second round of approval for the DWP rate hikes. And while politicians have spun it saying it will only go up a little by stating facts within certain contexts, the LA Times today did the math: "electricity bills will go up at least 23% over a four-year period, thanks to the Department of Water and Power's decision to ask ratepayers to absorb the higher cost of natural gas......

Photo by neonspecs via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr The LA City Council today voted to postpone a vote on proposed DWP fee hikes until April 2nd. Citing the need for widespread infrastructure upgrades that would ideally prevent customers from losing power when the demand is high, for example in summer's probably heat waves, the DWP is looking to increase "base power rates by 8½ percent and water rates by more than six percent......

The LA Department of Water and Power seem to think that LA will just sit back and let them raise rates, hide money, and allow themselves to get rich. In the last few weeks the public utility has been exposed for a few troubling trends and actions that we quietly await to see what Mayor Tony, and our other elected officials, will do about it. On Sunday the LA Daily News discovered that over......

In the midst of our driest rain season to date, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is urging the people of Los Angeles cut back on water consumption by 10%. Along with the drought here in LA (just 3.21 inches of rain in downtown since July 1 of last year, down 12 inches from the average) eastern Sierra Nevada which supplies Angelenos with about half of our water is also experiencing record low rainfall and an abnormally small......

The unruly and weakening winds of last week made it easier for the lighter winds and rains of this week to cause more power outage havoc. All morning, our grid flickered on and off with teases of energy consumption. Finally, it just gave up -- not a surprise at all. Not too long after, a group of six trucks worked its way up the street returning electricity fast and moving on to the next......

Does this sound like something the City of Los Angeles should do? The city of Moorpark has slapped a $25,000 fine against Time Warner Cable over what it says is poor service provided to customers. The City Council voted 4-0 to fine the company over technical problems, long waiting times and telephone prompts that didn’t lead to the right answer. “Time Warner has, for a period of time, not lived up to the obligations that......

Oh man, Mom's in town and already she's all wah wah wah about how she wants to visit a museum. A real museum. Last time she was here she declared the Museum of Online Museums "not a real museum," and she got so confused in a bad way by the Museum of Jurassic Technology that she forgot to pick up the bill at dinner that night. Damn. You're not gonna let that happen again.......

If you live in an older building or one with subterranean parking, you might see this weekly. A small and zippy tow trucks flies into your parking lot, quickly snaps up the garbage bin and races back to the mama garbage truck that can't fit into your apartment complex. How many keys and gate clickers must the tow truck operator keep organized? Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds..........