Zach Behrens

Plagued city budget woes, the LAPD has been refocusing officers assigned to specialized units to the streets. In the past 11 days, 19 people have been killed--mostly cited as gang-related crimes in the Northeast Valley and Eastside--increasing the homicide rate just short of last year's, the LA Times is reporting. Chief Charlie Beck, however, told the L.A. Police Commission today that “the nature of homicide in Los Angeles" is upticks in crime and calm....

Photo by fredcamino via Flickr It's been a topic for some time now. The Warner Center in the West Valley is one place that could use a local circulator, perhaps a "people mover," some believe. Three years ago, 300 residents came out to work towards an integrated transportation network for the Woodland Hills neighborhood and now, with state money available via grants, Los Angeles wants in. Today, the L.A. City Council approved a grant...

Once a four lane road, Verdugo Avenue in Burbank now is two lanes with bicycle lanes and a "suicide" lane, which is also referred to as a continuous center lane. Damien Newton at StreetsblogLA takes note: "Until recently, Verdugo Avenue was a four-lane throughway used by commuters as an alternative to busier streets such as Alameda and Magnolia. However, with parks and schools along the road, including John Burroughs High School, the Buena Vista...

He has launched a policy blog, made some useful Google maps and now the newly elected Los Angeles Councilman Paul Krekorian is preparing to launch an iPhone App in April, says ABC News. "We're living in a time where people expect more efficiency, more engagement and acocuntablity from their elected officials. This is a vehicle to accomplish all of those things," he said. The app is expected to act as a conduit for emergency...

Pulled over in his city car Thursday night for speeding and then found to be drunk, City Administrative Office Miguel Santana has taken a leave of absence to enroll at an alcohol treatment center. "It could be weeks. It might be longer than that," said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa whose "heart and my prayers are with him and his family." In the meantime, budget veteran Ray Ciranna will take over and continue to work on...

No insurance, no worries? Photo by bcmacsac1 via Flickr In addition to an initiative seeking an increase in alcohol taxes by, ohhhh, 10,000%, two others were cleared for signature gathering last week. One deals with auto insurance and the other with congressional districts. The auto insurance initiative (.pdf) asks Californians to "repeal laws that require every driver to maintain automobile liability insurance." Commercial drivers and those with certain vehicular crimes on their record, however,...

Photo by prayitno via Flickr An initiative backers hope will make a future ballot has the potential to change the state's budget process in big ways. Question is, will the outcomes be good or bad? Per the language (.pdf), it would "bring democracy to the California legislature by ensuring that all legislative actions on revenue and budget must be determined by a majority vote" because "the current 2/3 vote requirement for revenue and budget...

Watching the Sunset from the Palos Verdes Peninsula | Photo by JsonStone via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr CNN's Anderson Cooper this weekend will air a special investigation called "Gangs of Hollenbeck" about the LAPD's eastside police division. More weekend TV listings can be found in our daily TV Junkie post. Metro has some oddball clipping/notching policy regarding inoperable TAP cards. The return of the carhop? Come Monday, Ruby’s Diner will open its first...

What was at first a traffic stop for speeding on a surface street ended up being a DUI arrest when 40-year-old Miguel Santana early this morning failed a field sobriety test, according to the LA Times. Santana, the top budget advisor for the city of Los Angeles, was on his way home from the an annual political roast, which is a charity event for the American Diabetes Association. This year's "roastee" was L.A. County...

Beginning June 26th, Amtrak engineers will be contracted to operate Metrolink's seven commuter lines. The move comes after the deadly Metrolink crash in 2008, which left 25 people dead and 125 injured. It was found that engineer, a contracted employee from Veolia, ran a red light and was texting at the time of the incident. "Amtrak is proud of our safety record and we are dedicated to providing excellent and efficient service to Metrolink...

Today the L.A. Department of Transportation Bikeways office launched a blog in an effort to reach out to the bicycle community. Behind it is an intern, who is an Urban Planning masters student at USC named Chris. In his first post, he takes the first step, admitting the office has a problem. "A lot of friction between the L.A. bicycle community and LADOT Bikeways has risen from our inability to effectively communicate our goals and rationale to a growing, vocal, and increasingly connected bicycle community,"

A state senate bill making its way through Sacramento has ruffled the feathers of some Los Angeles politicians. SB 949, authored by Senator Jenny Oropeza of Long Beach, would strip a local municipalities right to enact moving violations penalties...