Photo by digitalshay via Flickr In January, the Los Angeles Police Commission agreed with an LAPD federal consent decree that said officers in specialized units dealing with narcotics and gangs must "disclose all of their sole and jointly owned assets, liabilities and income every two years. Refusal to disclose such information would bar officers from working in those units." And even though officers said they would quit, leave the department or request a transfer......

The Police Commission approved earlier this month to agree with the LAPD federal consent decree that officers in specialized units dealing with narcotics and gangs must "disclose all of their sole and jointly owned assets, liabilities and income every two years. Refusal to disclose such information would bar officers from working in those units." And refusal is what they will do if the city writes the policy down as law. 500 LAPD officers in these specialized units will request transfers or retire before abiding by this 'draconian' financial disclosure requirement....

Photo: The Japanese Garden with the Administration Building (which looks like a 70's monorail station) This is one of our city's hidden gems and if you were looking for something to do on a Sunday afternoon or a weekday, here it is (many pictures after the jump) When the Federal Water Quality Act passed in 1965 came about, so did the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant (after some embattled years and a consent......

The LAPD's civil rights consent decree just got extended this past summer for another three years. Do videos like this and witness accounts help end this decree and get more officers back on the street instead of desk duty for consent decree paperwork? Not really. Here is some excerpts from Daniel Hernandez's blog: "The sight of cops standing shoulder-to-shoulder menacingly holding batons drew more onlookers, which drew more cops, which drew more onlookers. The......

It was last Thursday. A trip to Echo Park, car free. The 750 Rapid down Ventura Blvd. to the Universal Red Line Station. Take the Red Line, get off at MacArthur Park, and take the 200 down Alvarado to Sunset. It was rush hour and both buses were packed to the brim. Now that the consent decree is no longer in effect, will this be the sign of the times? Does this brand of......

Some updates since yesterday... After the day cooled down... LAPD's blog was updated and the commenters have taken sides. It gets Federal The FBI is now looking into the video: LA Observed | CNN Power to the Tube At 4 pm on Thursday, the video on YouTube had been viewed just under 4,000 times. At 11:15 pm, the video had been viewed just shy of 27,000 times. As of 12:30 pm today, the video......

Yesterday, Sean Bonner of Metroblogging Los Angeles, who helped the LAPD birth a blog of their own, caught wind of a video taken on August 11 and posted on YouTube on October 18, showing a splice of an arrest with an officer punching a man in the face. Immediately, LAist wrote Council District 13, requesting a response. They were not aware of it and said they would let us know of any details to......

The Bus Riders Union is making their rounds to neighborhood council meetings and other organizations asking for support in the consent decree extension and a few more items: No fare increases and service cuts 3,000 bus fleet by 2010 Prioritizing and securing funding for the Wilshire Bus-Only Lane from Downtown to Santa Monica (plus implementing 10 bus-only lanes by 2010) Moratorium on rail and subway expansion until all consent decree obligations are met and......

unhappy trails The Donald is ruffling feathers in Rancho Palos Verdes with a request to rename the street that leads to his new development Trump National Drive. So far, city officials are sticking with the current Ocean Trails Drive. fake TV Also from Palos Verdes (buzzing with news today, the PV!): a man who claimed to be producing a government-backed TV show about the Department of Homeland Security is expected to plead guilty today......

Few people in Los Angeles are as plugged into the urban and cultural planning scenes and other fascinating areas of overlap as James Rojas. In addition to his 9-to-5 as a project manager at the MTA, James's irons in the fire include helming the Latino Urban Forum and lecturing on various planning and cultural issues at venues that range from the university to the community grass roots level. He's also co-owner of the Gallery......

Wilshire Boulevard commuters are up in arms over the MTA's decision to extend their Westside dedicated bus lane experiment, a program that has led to even more teeth-grinding traffic than usual along the heavily congested Federal to Centinela corridor. Commute times along the one-mile test route have doubled. Businesses say they are losing money due to the loss of on-street parking. There are no indications that anyone is giving up their car to take......