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Morning BuzzLAX outages a mystery
Runway 25R never closed during yesterday's forty-minute ILS failure but controllers had to talk planes down, forcing flights to circle or be held on the ground at their departure airports. Breeze, Times
Ethics show at City Hall
The Ethics Commission today will (belatedly?) get a staff briefing on the City Council's term limits and ethics measure, which was put on the November ballot without input from the commission. It begins at 9:30 am and might be worth a listen.
Ensign Garcetti goes to camp
Remember in March when we told you that Council President Eric Garcetti had joined the Navy Reserve and received a commission? After the City Council recesses for two weeks on Friday, he heads to Pensacola for training and exposure to the barracks life.
High-rises likely to fail in quake, study says
A Big One on the San Andreas could knock down younger and older steel-framed buildings in the Valley, says a team of Caltech geophysicists. But a structural expert at UCLA pshaws the whole thing.
Orange Line numbers holding up
Riders seem to like the cross-Valley busway.
AFTER THE JUMP: Both sides cook the numbers, but Villaraigosa's star power is too much for foes of his school plan. Where 'Eat the Press' fits in the media blog world. Getting some blog bounce. Interviewing architects. Plus more, of course.
Politics
Calling them on their spin
Howard Blume and Doug Smith in the Times detail the claims and counter-claims in the LAUSD control debate and find that the mayor and the district both play fast and loose with the facts.
At town hall meetings, press conferences and private meetings, Villaraigosa's team distributes handouts based on factual material and research, but his presentation is skewed.
Through the prism of the mayor's statistics, L.A. Unified looks like the worst of the worst by every measure, including the dropout rate, student achievement, rate of improvement and the achievement gap.
What's missing is context.
Demos reluctantly side with Antonio
LAT Sacramento reporter Nancy Vogel says "Democratic legislators appear to be resigned to pass Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's bid for greater control of Los Angeles public schools based largely on his political star power and pressure from legislative leaders, in spite of misgivings about the plan's worthiness and legality." She goes on:
More opposition to the mayor's proposal fell away Monday when Villaraigosa accepted bill amendments to give the 26 smaller cities in Los Angeles Unified School District more influence over the choice of superintendent.
He also promised to amend the bill to give six southeastern Los Angeles County cities, including Bell and South Gate, veto power over the selection of a regional superintendent.
Privately, many legislators expressed concerns about the Villaraigosa-sponsored bill, which would give the mayor direct control over several clusters of low-performing schools in the 727,000-student district. Still, lawmakers are expected to pass the plan to avoid crossing Assembly and Senate leaders, who have made passage a priority, and in deference to Villaraigosa, a former Assembly speaker and potential governor .
Forcing a contract
The City Council is apparently going to impose a contract on the Engineers and Architects Assn., the City Hall union that has threatened to strike next week. Times, Daily News
Media
Where 'Eat the Press' fits in
Editor Rachel Sklar says "I don't think we are another media blog. We're certainly different from Gawker in our tone. Although like a lot of blogs, we try to have fun with it, try to crack a few jokes…I like to see it as a complement to what's out there."
Crossover effect
After my post yesterday about Todd Everett's blog entry on the LAT's TV book, Romenesko and Jeff Jarvis's BuzzMachine picked up items and Todd has been invited to tape a segment on KPCC.
Jonathan Bing's new gig
The former Variety editor will head the Los Angeles office of Freud Communications, a London-based PR agency.
Noted
Living off the land
Writer L.J. Williamson describes foraging for fruit, wild plants and even her first grunion in an L.A. Alternative story about eating off the grid.
Architect interviews
Curbed LA launched a semi-regular series of exchanges with "the architects, planners and thinkers who are shaping the future of this great city." First up is Lorcan O'Herlihy. Curbed also posted on the possible departure of Surfas from Culver City over an eminent domain dispute.
Today
'Television for affluent trend-setters'
By television they mean a website, CODE.TV. It is has been in New York since June and launches here today, promising to be the "first television network for wealthy 25-49 year old urbanites...who want and can afford a red-carpet style lifestyle...Insider information from chic, hip, expert hosts who take them inside the action and entertainment of the city's coolest and most exclusive new destinations."
Any excuse for a party
Tu Ciudad is gathering this evening at the Velvet Margarita Cantina for a toast celebrating the magazine's uptick in frequency to ten issues a year starting February 2007.
Around LA Observed
Earlier at News & Chatter
Romer and Canter 'all but concede,' taking Mary-Louise Parker to lunch, LAX loses its ILS again, David Blum gets Village Voice editor, and look who's playing Daniel Pearl.
On the blogs
Native Intelligence: David Rensin and his wife fall victim to the news tease — again. Those f**cks!
LA Biz Observed: New Delta nonstops from LAX to Latin America, and Morning Headlines.
SoCal Sports Observed: A video in honor of Snakes on a Plane.
Chicken Corner: Ric Salinas of Culture Clash answers Jenny Burman's questions.
Here in Malibu: Here comes the—sun?
LA Biz Observed: New Delta nonstops from LAX to Latin America, and Morning Headlines.
SoCal Sports Observed: A video in honor of Snakes on a Plane.
Chicken Corner: Ric Salinas of Culture Clash answers Jenny Burman's questions.
Here in Malibu: Here comes the—sun?
Our contributors
My turn: I taped segments about LA Observed and blogs more generally with Rachael Myrow of KPCC and Jay Kugelman of KPFK, will help introduce USC Annenberg graduate journalism students to the San Fernando Valley today at the Sagebrush Cantina, and on Saturday morning will be at The Derby in Los Feliz to help the Southern California Restaurant Historical Society pay homage to the Brown Derby legacy.