Zach Behrens

Photo by hall.chris25 via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr If this fiscal year isn't bad city coffers--a $212 million deficit, prompting major cuts and thousands of layoffs--let's look at next year's, which begins on July 1st and has a projected $484 million shortfall. Add to that today's news from City Controller Wendy Greuel who says the coming year will be even more brutal in her economic forecast for 2010-2011. “While we believe that the...

Back in December, LAist speculated that ArcLight would be opening a Pasadena location. Officials back then would not confirm it, but today they are. "The conversion of the Pacific Paseo Theater in the Paseo Colorado center will give our many Pasadena area members the ArcLight experience right at their doorstep," the company said in a statement. "As with our current locations, at ArcLight Pasadena you will be able to enjoy the unparalleled sight and...

Dakota Smith at Curbed LA stuck it out into the wee hours of this morning as the large illegal supergraphic that landed one businessman in jail over the weekend was taken down. As she witnessed the slow operation alongside David Berger, special assistant to the City Attorney, the businessman's lawyer, Andrew Stein, asked why other supergraphics and billboards got to stay up. "Why is that one legal, because it's part of the building?" he...

Photo: mondolind via LAist Featured Photos/Flickr Most people don't know, but today is election day in the San Fernando Valley for 11 neighborhoods. If you live, work or are otherwise a stakeholder in Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Granada Hills North, Granada Hills South, North Hills West, Northridge East, Northridge West, Porter Ranch, West Hills, Winnetka, and Woodland Hills, you may be eligible to vote. Unfortunately, June Lagmay and her City Clerk's Office have done a...

With L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Senator Dianne Feinstein all out of the way, Attorney General and former Governor Jerry Brown is expected to announce his official gubernatorial candidacy tomorrow, according to the LA Times. Brown had filed to form an exploratory committee in September of last year, but he "resisted making it official while two would-be Republican contenders have openly battled for their party's nod," noted the paper....

Photo by Ross Reyes via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr The National Weather Service is reporting rain in California today, but not much is expected to hit Los Angeles. "We'll probably see less than two-tenths of rain," explained Bonnie Bartling, a weather specialist with the Service, about today's storm. "It's a week system and most of the action will be north of Point Conception." Tomorrow's storm is expected to be similar, with most rain...

Photo by = manny = via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Looks like it. The board of the L.A. Unified School District is poised to vote on the large layoff package to fight off their $640 million budget shortfall (to compare, the city of L.A. is currently facing a $212 million shortfall and an expected $484 million deficit next fiscal year, starting in July. They are planning on sacking some 4,000 employees). "Recommended by...

Californians continued to drive less last November, according to state numbers on gasoline and diesel use released today. 1.170 billion gallons of gasoline were consumed compared to the 1.246 billion gallons the month before and the 1.198 billion gallons in November 2008 (2.3% difference). That all equates to $72 million in estimated taxes the cash-strapped state did not get. Diesel consumption also dropped by 3.2% compared to the year before, according to the Board...

The Sign Bandit struck the length of Ventura Boulevard this weekend The owner of a building who installed an illegal supergraphic at Hollywood and Highland went to jail over the weekend (and with $1 million set as bail!), but owners of the numerous properties across the city with Fuel poster-sized billboards on site are still in limbo, it appears. Back in December, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case between the city...

The popular new stadium to sea route is sure doing the marathon a service as it's almost sold out. “In the past, thousands of entries have come in at essentially the last minute,” said the race's president Russ Pillar today. “That will not be possible this year as we have a cap of 25,000 entrants on the new Stadium to the Sea course and we’re more than 90% full already." So if you're planning...

Mulholland Drive closed near Coldwater Canyon | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist As Los Angeles faces a $212-million budget shortfall and depleting reserves, the rain went ahead monkeyed around with Mulholland drive, causing erosion and forcing officials to close a one-mile portion of the scenic artery on February 7th. The price tag to fix the 10 by 35-foot washed out section was over a half million, but who's going to pony up the money?The road...

Kayvan Setareh, the man accused of posting a large supergraphic on a building at Hollywood and Highland, spent the weekend in jail while being held on $1 million bail. Today in court, however, bail was reduced to $100,000 because Setareh agreed to take the sign down. At issue is the city's ban on new supergraphics, which went into effect last year. The sign, on the other hand, went up last week without any permits....