Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Monday

Valley Plaza, North Hollywood - Ghost Town

Class act by some Villaraigosa staffers at the Conga Room at LA Live.  Blanca Martinez-Navarro, a member of the Mayor's anti-gang staff, allegedly got into some sort of squabble with her husband, followed by the genius move of getting into with the police officers trying to break up the scene.  Suffice it to say, Blanca is now "on leave."

Leave it to the politicians to overreact to a tragic event.  In the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona and a recent rash of school shootings, Council President Eric Garcetti wants to overturn laws that allow folks to legally carry weapons in public.  Even if these laws pass, the wackos who shoot Members of Congress and the gangs who terrorize schools will still get, guns.  But this looks good in the papers!

After years of focus on new urbanism and downtown shopping, it appears that urban malls are back.  The Westfield Culver City Mall once known for gang violence and Hot Dogs on a Stick has remade itself a tad mare upscale and sees rents and retail sales booming.  However it's not the case everywhere as after many years, the owners of the legendary Valley Plaza Mall in North Hollywood want to switch gears from a retail development to production sound stages.