Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Wednesday

Just how bad is it at the Department of City Planning?

So bad that developers can now stamp and approve their own applications.

3 long hours of waiting at LA City Planning can get awful darn boring, but sometimes you just might see something that makes it all worthwhile.

For those of you who follow bad City Planning decisions and the efforts by communities to enforce Community and Specific Plans, you might enjoy reading the latest appeal filed today by the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance.

I'd also recommend this newly submitted document from the Community Alliance for Open Space, a North Valley group that has filed suit against the City over Richard Alarcon's ridiculous truck driving school that he wants to place in designated Open Space.

Enviro activists and local heroes John Quigley, Andrea Bowers, Julia Jaye Posin and Travis Jochimsen are scheduled to be arraigned today on multiple charges following their fight to protect 249 old growth trees in the Santa Anita Wash north of Arcadia. The Department of Public Works thought it would be a great idea to rip down the trees and convert the woodlands to a dirt storage area. As the scheduled hour of destruction approached, John Quigley and Andrea Powers took the last ditch step of climbing up in the trees to try and stave off the bulldozers. After a day long stand-off, the Department of Public Works eventually leveled what had been a pristine wooded area. Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley now wants to jail the activists. Adding to the shenanigans is the bizarre conduct of Sheriff deputies at the scene who blocked access to press outlets trying to cover the story. LA Weekly has even more including video of a Sheriff's deputy making up the law as he goes along.



Break Out The Burkas! South Dakota goobers continue to trample a woman's right to choose as South Dakota's Republican governor, Dennis Daugaard, signed a law yesterday requiring a 72 hour waiting period and a mandatory consultation with an anti-choice stranger before an abortion can be performed. No exceptions for rape victims or incest survivors, of course.  By the way, South Dakota has one single Planned Parenthood clinic in the entire state. The ACLU has promised they will be fighting this one hard.