Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
Villaraigosa as L.A.'s Nero
Urban scholar Joel Kotkin, no fan of the mayor anyway, writes that "As the city has continued to lose thousands of middle-class jobs in aerospace, manufacturing and high-end business services since 2005, Villaraigosa has basically stood by and fiddled. From February 2007 to February 2008, the county suffered the biggest percentage of job losses-- 0.7% -- of the 10 largest metropolitan areas in the country...Los Angeles is now surpassed only by a handful of the bigger Rust Belt economic basket cases, like Detroit, for the title of worst big-city economy in the nation." Sunday Opinion/LAT
Gina Marie Lindsey's week
The head of Los Angeles World Airports will explain her role in the Bechtel-DMJM contract switcheroo to the airport commission today and a City Council committee on Wednesday. LAT
Fox-11 'tattoos' Janice Hahn
Former Daily News editor Ron Kaye's blog take is that Chris Blatchford's story last week was "a devastating report, months in the works, about how Hahn screwed over two tough good cops and made a hero of Betty Day, the mother of a notorious family of members of the Grape Street Crips. The cops, Ryan Moreno and Chuck Garcia, are suing the city, claiming Hahn in collusion with LAPD brass forced them off the gang beat in Watts because of their aggressive attack on hoodlums and drug dealers." Ron Kaye L.A.
Also: My KCRW commentary on Special Order 40.
What to call the new police headquarters
Sounds as if there's no real push to keep the Parker Center name when the LAPD moves to 1st and Spring, but talk of selling the naming rights provokes some dismay — and jokes. Orlov/DN
If you wondered about that giant slide Downtown...
Steve Lopez did too and he found out what the contraption is looming over the cathedral. LAT
Times editorial gets it wrong
Friday's LAT editorial following up on the paper's investigative story about Santa Barbara Plaza in the Crenshaw area required a correction on Saturday saying that, no, Ayahlushim Hammond, while working for the Community Redevelopment Agency, did not transfer money from her area to a project her husband was directing. LAT
New York Times discovers L.A.'s taco trucks
Nearly 5,000 people have signed an online petition opposing the new law at saveourtacotrucks.org, where “carne asada is not a crime,” reports bureau chief Jennifer Steinhauer. NYT
LANG tech troubles explained
Josh Kleinbaum, newly re-christened as director of audience development, talks about some of the computer issues that plagued the Los Angeles Newspaper Group papers last week — but not the big one that interrupted pubishing. Reporter-G
Edgar winners
Susan Straight won an Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America for her short story "The Golden Gopher," which appears in the anthology L.A. Noir, edited by LAO contributor Denise Hamilton. Former prosecutor and candidate in L.A. Vincent Bugliosi also won in the factual category for "Reclaiming History: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy." Jacket Copy
Around LA Observed
Please note that Mark Lacter will be away from LA Biz Observed for a couple of days. Also, at SoCal Sports Observed, Jacob Soboroff thinks he sat behind the blogging Kamenetzky brothers at Sunday's Lakers playoff win, and Phil Wallace talks about the NFL eyeing the Nokia Theatre for its 2009 draft. And kudos to contributor David Davis for a thoughtful review of the late David Halberstam's new sports collection, in the Los Angeles Times Book Review.