Photo by mklingo via Flickr The Daily News has published a series of articles today regarding the financial layout of the Los Angeles Unified School District's administration, and points to what appears to be a bit of an upper-tier bloat. As the LAUSD preps to face a massive budget cut, some wonder if now is the time to trim the fat downtown at their administrative headquarters. By conducting a public records search, the Daily......

"The budget will cut $33 million from Medi-Cal, $8 million from probation camps, $10 million from mental health and $6 million from alcohol and drug programs, according to a memo by county Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka... The state budget will also cost the Metropolitan Transportation Authority about $133 million this year"......

Just as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated all the funding--$1 million--for beach water quality monitoring in the state budget, Heal the Bay comes out with their annual Beach Report Card showing a near-record water quality statewide. With over 500 beaches listed, 92% of them earned an A or B, something the group claims is a success of the water quality monitoring program that was just cut. Locally, beaches with failing grades or at least a D......

County Supervisor Michael Antonovich responded early this evening to Mayor Villaraigosa's letter from yesterday that urged a reverse vote to put a sales tax increase for transit funding on the November ballot. The increase could raise $30 to $40 billion for the county in 30 years, all dedicated to transit, but mostly public transit (and it could still make the ballot if state politicians pass a bill allowing voters to authorize a tax, albeit......

At West Hollywood's 'Wedding Park' in June (more photos here) | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist We've been following Proposition 8, which seeks to eliminate gay marriage on the November ballot, for some time now. The trend, as of late, has been that new issues and announcements come one at a time, maybe every other day. But more recently, the twists and turns in navigating the proposition has been more than a daily one. Today,......

Photo by KingoftheHill via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Today, the Metro Board meets for their monthly meeting, but today is especially important because they will be voting on whether or not to ask voters in November to raise the sales tax a half-cent to 8.75%. Despite opposition, namely from the San Gabriel Valley over the Gold Line Extension, it is expected to pass. However, the politicians in Sacramento have to pass a bill......

How do you fix the state budget? You take away money from two of the most important and already-lacking services in the state: transit and early education programs via voter approved set aside money for those type of projects. Not only that, money for local governments could be taken away too (that means less money to do the dirty work of the city and county such as hospitals). Of course, within his first hour of......

The next step in moving on from the honor system to the gated system in LA's subways and some light rails was announced today. $16.1 million in transit security funding was awarded to Metro by the state towards implementation of the gating system. 379 fare gates will be installed within the next 18 to 24 months. "The gates are expected to reduce the need for civilian fare inspectors and sworn law enforcement will also be......

AP Photo/The Los Angeles Times, Spencer Weiner Blackwater might be a more appropriate name for the future of some private firefighting business. Robert at Calitics has been looking into federal firefighter shortages during the recent spate of wildfires (over 1700 in total since June 20). He reports that there have been "deliberate staffing shortages have left the USFS [US Forest Service] unable to do vital off-season brush clearance, and left them without the staffing......

Metro put a press release this morning stating that a commissioned study shows 73% of LA County voters would pass the half-cent sales tax increase if the election were held today. To pass, it would need a two-thirds vote. But first, to get the increase on the ballot in November, it must be passed by Metro's Board this week as well as the State Senate.......

Gold Line Photo by Fred Camino/MetroRiderLA and Metro Subway photo by Kwasi B. Next week, the Metro board will vote on two very important issues. One will put a half-cent sales tax increase, that would raise funds for public transit, on November's ballot. The other is the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), a document guiding public transit in Los Angeles County for years to come. Gold Line advocates, who wish to see the line......

As gas prices rise and government coffers tighten, the city of Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus service is asking for Santa Monican's and the public-at-large's help for an issue that reaches far beyond the oceanside city's boundaries. The state is planning cuts to the transportation budget, something that already resembles swiss cheese. If passed, the proposal would wipe out 50% of transit funds by diverting half of gasoline sales tax to the general budget in......

LA County's sales tax is already one of the highest in the state, but in the name of fixing this traffic and transportation problem (in which money seems to be the cure, according to some), Los Angeles based state assemblyman Mike Feuer has gotten his legislation, AB 2321, passed. It allows the Metro Board to place a proposal on November's ballot asking voters to raise the sales tax by a half-cent. "That would take the......

Members of a Los Angeles City Council committee took 50 hours to deliberate, but finally put their stamp of approval on a $7 billion budget for the city. In the past weeks, news of proposed cuts to services and the elimination of several jobs have rippled through the city, causing anger and apprehension about what life would be like for some Angelenos under the new plan. However, some of the proposed cuts were reversed in......

In light of ongoing news about the city's budget crisis (a predicted $295 million dollar deficit), information about the number of people employed by the city who earn more than $100,000 is not sitting well with some. As reported in the Daily News, the newspaper conducted research and compiled a "review of salary data [that] shows more than 21,000 city workers take home $70,000 or more a year and more than 6,000 take home more......

Photo by delara-photos via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Attracting tourists to Los Angeles has never generally been a problem. The appeal of eternal sunshine, movie star sightings, and well-documented destinations means folks come here without much enticement besides a copy of US Weekly and a dream. Of course, parts of the city have more stigma than widespread appeal for out-of-towners, including the much-maligned San Fernando Valley (see: Clueless, Swingers, et al).......

Photo submitted by LAist reader Tom Godfrey Here's an interesting tidbit from Sherman Oaks. At the Valley's busiest intersection, Sepulveda and Ventura, you need to cross 17 lanes of traffic to get from one corner to its catty corner. Oy vey! Would this be one of those intersections slated for a diagonal crosswalk the Mayor spoke about last week? And for those who use public transportation and end up walking many of these large......

Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist A local state assemblyman has proposed a bill that could end up adding a fee to driver registrations or gas at the pumps in Los Angeles County. The West Hollywood based Mike Feuer, who sits on the state's Transportation committee, has put in AB2558 that would either add $90 to annual registrations or 9-cents per gallon of gas. It would raise $400 million a year for public transit projects. It's......

With government budget's dwindling (so bad, the Mayor took a furlough day yesterday), Southern California leaders met yesterday to discuss transit funding for the 25 million residents in the area. And they expect millions more to move in over the next 30 years. So how to pay for it? Here are some their ideas as reported by the Daily News: State transportation bills, if passed, could allow for bonds to be passed on the......

Governor Schwarzenegger announced today where some of the Proposition 1B, the $20 billion infrastructure bond approved by us voters in 2006, will go... right here in Los Angeles: 12 miles of bus lane on Wilshire Blvd. ($5 million) Expo Line ($73.5 million unevenly split between Phase I and II) 95 new natural gas busses ($50 million) Bus rehab ($27.5 million)......

City Councilman Jack Weiss and O'Melveny and Myers law firm partner, Carolyn Kubota, teamed up yesterday in a Daily News op-ed piece urging the need to explore funding public transportation in Los Angeles by private sources. Chicago did it with the Skyway and Denver with their transit plan. So why not us? They say everyone can agree on three things. One, a subway between downtown and the Westside is absolutely need; two, the subway......

President Bush may have passed a $460 billion defense bill, but he has vetoed a $150 billion bill that would have funded the Labor and Health and Human Services departments according to a report by the Daily News. It is also rumored that he will veto an upcoming $105.6 billion transportation bill. Congress is gearing up for a battle, with House Republicans upholding presidential vetoes and Democrats accusing their GOP counterparts of ignoring the......

Steve Hymon at the LA Times is asking if anyone out there has any ideas for funding the 'subway to the sea', which is estimated to cost around $5-billion. The scary thing about even just $1-billion is that it equals out to one thousand x one million. So to fund the Purple Line, you've got to dole out $1-million dollars five-thousand times over. Eek! So here is one crazy idea: Sure, simple math dictates......

It seems the Bush's appointed Transportation Secretary, Mary Peters, has something in common with Mayor Villaraigosa's appointed Department of Transportation head, Gloria Jeff: both are for goods movement, but not always for the people. Luckily, Jeff has not started any major wars with bicyclists like Peters' has, according to an article in Salon, with her current political rhetoric:In an Aug. 15 appearance on PBS's "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer," Peters spoke against a proposal to......

Guest Day Editor Zuma Dogg will be joining LAist with a few posts throughout the day. Read his introductory interview here and check out his site as well as Mayor Sam where he contributes. He also wrote an article in the current edition of the LA Weekly The city and state are basing some of their major plans on the fact that you are going to vote to approve more bond money out of your......

As we discussed last week, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is in Washington D.C. today telling the rest of America why LA and its surrounding area is getting ripped off from federal investment. If we get jammed in traffic, we can't deliver for the rest of the U.S. Here are some facts: This delegation is part of the kick off of Access Washington, D.C. 2007, a trip sponsored by the L.A. Chamber and Mobility 21. Southern......

In a civil war of words and politics (LA v. Rest of the Country), Mayor Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce will lead a delegation of Southern California business leaders and other regional officials to advocate for federal investment in local education, public safety and transportation. Their reasoning: SoCal's 18 million residents make up part of an economy that ranks 15th in the world. The population of 18 million is larger than......