Last Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet of 2010

A group of public housing residents who had protested at the home of LA's Housing Authority head, Rudolf Montiel, and then found themselves evicted saw their evictions overturned by the agency Thursday. When the evictions first became public a few months ago, several members of the City Council expressed outrage.  In addition to overturning the evictions, the agency settle with the residents to pay their legal fees and provide computers onsite.

Councilman Dennis Zine will recuse himself from voting on an LAX contract because his girlfriend is an employee of one of the bidders.  Zine has been reportedly dating Veronica Becerra, who works for contractor Tutor Perini who wants a $270 million contract to build a utility plant at the airport.  Airport staff however have recommended to the Council the bid by a competing firm.

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Los Angeles Politics Hotsheet for Friday

I had heard this earlier in the day Thursday; Farmers' Insurance is moving it's massive headquarters operation from Simi Valley - where they've been housed since 1982 - to Woodland Hills.  It extremely rare that a large company like that moves from nearby pro-business cities to business unfriendly Los Angeles. However Farmers picked up some real estate in Warner Center when they bought 21st Century Insurance so it makes sense to move.  According to Mulholland Terrace the move caught the Mayor's office completely unawares.  Perhaps the folks at Farmers could join Councilman Dennis Zine at the new Warner Center Costco for a cheap hot dog.

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