A critical agreement between Olympics organizers and LA is now 6 months late City Controller Kenneth Mejia called the delay "deeply troubling."

Blessings to LAist for staying on this very overdue agreement. Pretty wild that LA28 is selling tickets to an event and doesn't have a final deal in place with the host city!

Tom Steyer joins me on What's Next, Los Angeles. We talk about issues not getting enough attention: child welfare, gentrification, food deserts, job training, helping students working full-time to finish college, surveillance technology and more.

whatsnextlosangeles.buzzsprout.com/1414123/epis...

Dark money is creeping into LA's elections . . . more on the ULA saga . . . and a potential new progressive revenue stream for housing and basic services in the city of Long Beach.

On the latest LA Podcast. Listen below or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.

www.thinkforward.la/la-podcast-d...

Departure of Water and Power Podcast Episode · LA Podcast · March 30 · 1h 1m

Enjoyed talking Los Angeles water and power (and climate politics!) with @awalkerinla.bsky.social & @mikebonin.bsky.social on the LA Podcast! Covered Nithya Raman, Karen Bass, air quality, wildfires, AI, 100% clean energy and more: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

New bombshell mayoral poll from LMU’s Center for the Study of Los Angeles: Raman 32.5%, Bass 17%, Huang 16.6%, Miller 13.4%, Pratt 11.5%.

Nearly 48% of those surveyed said they prefer a democratic socialist for mayor:

lmu.app.box.com/s/i6jtszzmyo...

It’s wild to hear people suggest that all CA’s Latino, Black and Asian-American guv candidates should drop out to clear a path for 4 white ppl. Especially since one of the white guys – Mahan – isn’t polling better than the candidates of color.

link.latimes.com/view/652823f...

Los Angeles families are living in fear of being seized by unnamed, masked government agents, and LAPD -- instead of protecting them -- is suggesting that if your kids stay home out of fear of ICE, or if they dare skip school to protest ICE, they or you can be arrested.

Culver City has less criminal activity than a meeting of Trump’s cabinet.

Political earthquake. Nithya Raman is running for mayor.

Not only does this pose a serious threat to Mayor Bass, but it reframes the June primary in a way that benefits down ballot progressives in other city races.

Dems are pushing for body cameras to curb abuses by ICE.

Trump/MAGA are proud of footage of ICE's brutal murders. What good will body cams do?

The necessary fix isn't documenting ICE agents being abusive; it's ending the cruel, abusive unconstitutional secret police force.

Outside in the evening. An office building with video and the words "Palantir Powers Fascism" projected at top. Below, a crowd of people with signs and candles memorializing people who have died at the hands of ICE.

Happening now in Silicon Valley: marchers have surrounded the Palantir building and are holding a prayer vigil for victims of ICE, while video of ICE and Palantir crimes is projected on the building. #AbolishICE #ICEOut #Palantir #PaloAlto

Jim McDonnell, LAPD & the Olympic Imperative Chief McDonnell vision for LAPD is fundamentally incompatible with the reform-minded direction Los Angeles has been struggling toward for 50 years.

LAPD Chief McDonnell's refusal to enforce the "No Secret Police Act" is no aberration. It's reflection of a vision for LAPD that is fundamentally incompatible with the reform-minded direction L.A. has been struggling toward for 50 years.

mikebonin.substack.com/p/jim-mcdonn...

All eyes on Lindsey Horvath as this week's mayoral political roller-coaster ride continues.

Wow! Such a dramatic week in the LA mayor’s race. The deadline for candidates to declare is Saturday noon.

Here’s hoping Rick Caruso and Lindsay Horvath make their decisions by midday Friday, before we record this week’s episode of LA Podcast :)

Jim McDonnell, LAPD & the Olympic Imperative Chief McDonnell vision for LAPD is fundamentally incompatible with the reform-minded direction Los Angeles has been struggling toward for 50 years.

LAPD Chief McDonnell's refusal to enforce the "No Secret Police Act" is no aberration. It's reflection of a vision for LAPD that is fundamentally incompatible with the reform-minded direction L.A. has been struggling toward for 50 years.

mikebonin.substack.com/p/jim-mcdonn...

Labor unions urge Gov. Gavin Newsom, California lawmakers to rein in artificial intelligence National union leaders urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to protect workers as AI threatens to replace or surveil employees — and warned that failure to do so could hurt his presidential ambitions.

Labor unions urge Gov. Gavin Newsom, California lawmakers to rein in artificial intelligence

If you want to know who is calling for Casey Wasserman to resign from LA28 (and who isn’t), be following @awalkerinla.bsky.social

Calling for resignations: Supervisors Hahn and Horvath, Controller Mejia, CMs Soto-Martinez, Hernandez, Raman, Rodriguez, Padilla.

Compressed File Senate Testimony Chief Butler Chief Crawford YouTube video by Patrick Butler

This is video of his testimony, and that of retired LAFD Battalion Chief Rick Crawford:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ja8...

This is Butler’s written testimony:

www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/u...

Butler its sure to face criticism for cooperating with an investigation by a Senate committee run by MAGA figures on a DEI witch hunt. But unlike many firefighters, Butler is not MAGA. Not even close. He is a serious fire professional who was horrified by the city response to the fire.

Butler’s testimony is a damning indictment of LAFD leadership, although he does not name anyone specifically. The only name he mentions is that of Mayor Bass, whose decision to travel to Africa he sharply criticized.

Holdover Fire
“The Lachman Fire was never fully extinguished. It became a holdover fire—a well-known and predictable hazard in chaparral environments such as the Pacific Palisades. . . What followed was not unforeseeable. It was the expected result of leaving a holdover fire unmanaged."

Butler blasted a lack of citywide, multi-agency coordination.

“As a result, known vulnerabilities, such as evacuation complexity, infrastructure reliability10, water systems, and staffing surge capacity, were not sufficiently mitigated before conditions deteriorated.

Butler testified that the lack of pre-deployment ignored “decades of established training and operational planning for the Pacific Palisades.”

As a councilmember and a chief of staff, I represented the area for more than 17 years. Whenever there was a high risk of fire, we conferred with LAFD on deployment and Palisades was protected. No additional deployment for Palisades in January 2025 is shocking and unprecedented.

Butler’s report is damning regarding LAFD pre-deployment. He compares resources allocated to Palisades during times of high-risk in 2011, 2013 and 2014. Those incidents saw significant resources dispatched to Palisades.

In 2025? “No pre-deployment occurred in Pacific Palisades.”

Previously, Butler said, "forecasts of this severity triggered immediate escalation— large-scale pre-deployment, extended staffing, and full activation of emergency management systems. Forecasts were treated as operational decision points, not background information. That did not occur here.”

Butler slams the city’s leadership for failing to monitor the Lachman Fire, for ignoring protocols and for failing to prepare for the Palisades fire despite extreme weather forecasts:

The fire was “the predictable outcome of a breakdown in leadership, preparedness, and command discipline.”

Butler is an authority here. He was Incident Commander for several wind-driven wildfires, including in Pacific Palisades. He served in multiple senior LAFD roles before he left to become Fire Chief in Redondo Beach:

“My central finding is unequivocal: the Palisades Fire was preventable.”

I have not seen any local coverage of this: Patrick Butler, former Assistant Chief of LAFD, testified before the U.S. Senate last week, offering a damning indictment of LA’s (lack of) preparation for the Palisades Fire.

This is Butler’s written testimony:

www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/u...