LA Times

A local approach to bigger paychecks

Sun, 30 Mar 2014 18:28:42 +0000

Many cities are pricey places to live. Acknowledging that reality, a growing number of cities have adopted higher minimum-wage standards than those set by the federal and state governments. San Francisco is on that list, as are San Jose, Seattle (where efforts are underway to raise the hourly minimum to $15), Washington (and two adjacent Maryland counties), Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M. Even in San Diego, no bastion of liberalism, the City Council is moving to put a wage hike before local voters.

L.A. and N.Y.: Two new mayors but two different agendas

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 17:16:34 +0000

New York and Los Angeles have a lot in common. Each city suffers from income polarization, a shrinking middle class and a vast low-wage service sector. Each is heavily Democratic and is home to an effective labor-liberal political alliance. Each elected a progressive Democrat as its mayor.

A Labor Day proposal for labor

Tue, 03 Sep 2013 03:15:06 +0000

Labor Day this year finds American unions plunging into the unknown. Fast-food and retail workers in roughly 60 cities have been demonstrating for a living wage, though how exactly they will win concessions from such mega-corporations as McDonald's remains fuzzy at best. The AFL-CIO, which will convene its biennial national convention in Los Angeles this month, is considering throwing open its ranks to workers who may not actually be union members. Activity is plentiful; uncertainty is rife.

The California exception on immigration

Thu, 11 Jul 2013 08:00:00 +0000

The fight for immigration reform has landed in the lap of House Republicans, which is a bad place for it to land. Though it's hard to see a way that Republicans can retake the White House as long as they remain intent on denying citizenship to Latinos and Asians who are in the country illegally, the House Republicans seem blissfully indifferent to political consequences. By controlling just one house of Congress, they have discovered, they can bring government either to a standstill or close to it, and increasingly, that seems to be their raison d'etre.

L.A.'s civic disengagement

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 22:22:20 +0000

At first glance, two stories much in the news in Los Angeles of late would seem to have nothing to do with each other. The first concerns the fate of the Museum of Contemporary Art — whether it will affiliate with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art or USC or the National Gallery in Washington — and the outsized role its primary benefactor, Eli Broad, is likely to play in the choice. The second concerns the low voter turnout in the first round of the city's mayoral election this month.

CA to GOP: Adios

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:00:00 +0000

There are many ways to illustrate the descent of the California Republican Party into oblivion. A starting point is the demographic breakdown of the members of Congress elected last week in the state.

Assuming the leaders in the few remaining close races hold their leads, there will be 38 Democrats and 15 Republicans representing California in Congress come January. Of those 38 Democrats, 18 are women, nine are Latinos, five are Asian Americans, three are African Americans, four are Jews and at least one is gay. Just 12 are white men. Of the 15 Republicans, on the other hand, all are white men — not a woman, let alone a member of a racial minority or a Jew, among them.

Michael Antonovich, sofa supervisor?

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who's served on the five-member county board since 1980, is trying to persuade his colleagues to put a measure on November's ballot that would extend the number of four-year terms a supervisor can serve from three to five. L.A. County voters established supervisorial term limits by initiative in 2002. They weren't retroactive, so Antonovich's clock began to tick when he was reelected in 2004. Now, with time's winged chariot threatening to run him down in 2016, he wants voters to let him serve longer.

Bankrupt cities? Don't blame unions

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 08:00:00 +0000

The reporting and commentary on the bankruptcies of California cities over the last month haven't been journalism's finest hour. From reading the voluminous accounts of the fiscal woes of Stockton and San Bernardino, you'd think that municipal unions and feckless city officials are primarily what led these cities down the path to fiscal ruin.

12 days in cellphone hell

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Have you ever heard anyone — anyone — rave about their phone carrier's service? Say, "Wow, that customer service rep solved my problem in no time flat"?

If you haven't, there's a reason: The companies don't compete on service. Indeed, their service contracts are designed to keep you from jumping to other carriers unless you pony up several hundred bucks.

Don't let Americans Elect muddy the 2012 race

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Are political centrists in America without a political home? Do we need a third-party presidential candidate to represent those socially progressive, fiscally austere voters who find our two parties too extreme?

There's no disputing that the Republican Party continues to move rightward at warp speed. Virtually every GOP elected official who's been in office for more than a couple of years has had to repudiate previously mainstream Republican positions (such as creating a health insurance system with an individual mandate, an idea cooked up by a right-wing think tank) to keep today's more rabid Republican activists from challenging them in party primaries or caucuses. Such longtime conservative stalwarts as Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Richard Lugar of Indiana could lose their party's renomination this spring from just such challenges.