City Councils

Trial judges are, on the books, elected officials, and even the vast majority of those whose names never appear on a ballot are subject to election challenge every six years. Should voters not call them to account for their performance, as they do with any other politician, on election day? Should they not encourage opponents to challenge incumbent judges? Or are judges different from members of Congress or city councils? Judges are most definitely different. The last thing we want or need in California is trial judges who sit on the bench with one eye on justice and the other on how any particular ruling is going to play with the public.

In his campaign to become Los Angeles city attorney, Mike Feuer has touted himself as someone who will work cooperatively with the mayor and City Council and avoid the squabbles that have marked the incumbent's tenure. During previous stints on the council and in the Legislature, Feuer repeatedly won over colleagues to approve pioneering laws on contentious issues, including gun control. But even some supporters say Feuer's stubborn, driven approach can also be antagonizing. Former colleagues describe the 54-year-old politician as a sometimes overly zealous - albeit intelligent - advocate for liberal causes.

The Monterey Park and Montebello city councils, which recently agreed to cooperate on projects involving the Pomona Freeway corridor and the Operating Industries landfill, will meet together at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Prime Cut Steak House in Montebello. In July the two councils adopted identical resolutions pledging to work with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency on cleaning up the landfill and planning the future use of landfill property.

Prosecutors are investigating allegations of voter fraud in Little Armenia, part of a Los Angeles City Council district where two candidates are waging a bitter battle for an open seat. According to a spokeswoman for L.A. County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, prosecutors are trying to determine whether backers of one candidate illegally filled out mail-in ballots for dozens of voters in the Armenian enclave in East Hollywood. The May 21 election will decide who succeeds Eric Garcetti, who is running for mayor.

Numerous city councils in the Southeast and Long Beach areas have selected new mayors and mayors pro tem in their annual reorganizations. The selections are approved by a majority of council members. The mayor's position is largely ceremonial in most cities, although the mayor presides over City Council meetings. The mayor pro tem assumes the duties of mayor when the mayor is absent or out of the city. City Mayor Mayor Pro Tem Artesia Mary Alyce Soares James Van Horn Bell Jay B.

Britain's ruling Conservative Party on Friday celebrated sweeping successes in the nationwide voting for city council officials held the previous day. The results come a month after the Conservatives fought off a strong challenge from the Labor Party to retain power in the national parliamentary election. Prime Minister John Major, the Conservatives' leader, declared himself "extremely pleased" with the outcome of Thursday's vote, which other Tory officials termed "spectacular."

The City Council this week chastised student officials at Saddleback College for dropping the Pledge of Allegiance from their meeting, but declined to pass a resolution on the subject. Although they angrily denounced Saddleback Associated Student Government President Jeff Haskell, who appeared before them, they voted 3 to 2 against telling another governmental body what to do. "This has nothing to do with the flag," said Councilman Joel T. Lautenschleger said.

As the alarmed messenger said to the king: "The peasants are revolting!" They may not be revolting, but they certainly must seem more annoying than ever to various city councils. In Tustin, 60 citizens stormed out of a recent council meeting, vowing to boycott city businesses over an annexation dispute. In Laguna Niguel, citizens have targeted the entire five-member council for recall. In Irvine, a slow-growth group called Irvine Tomorrow regularly does battle with the council.

It was "Rick Najera Day" on July 18 in Santa Ana, though folks might have missed the one-sentence motion on the City Council agenda to honor the local playwright and actor for his increasing the "awareness and appreciation of cultural diversity." Visitors to Anaheim might have been unaware that they happened upon the city during International Cat Show Day this month.

Voters in Orange County's municipal elections appeared to rack up a number of firsts Tuesday, with early returns indicating Orange would get its first female mayor, Santa Ana its first Latino mayor, and Anaheim its first Latino councilman. And in a surprise development in Fullerton, one of three councilmen ousted in a June recall election was heading for a reelection victory.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to provide $1.6 million to reverse a controversial new staffing plan at the Fire Department, handing a victory to the employee union that had branded it as unsafe. Over the weekend, the department began shifting 22 firefighters a day from engines to ambulances as part of a plan to improve response times and address an increase in 911 medical calls. On a 12-0 vote, the council provided the money needed to add 11 ambulances to the agency's fleet through June 30 while keeping fire engines fully staffed.

Los Angeles Fire Chief Brian Cummings rejected a request from members of the City Council to postpone Sunday's start of a controversial plan to shift dozens of firefighters to ambulance duty. Council President Herb Wesson asked Friday that the Fire Department delay the changes, which are designed to address an increase in 911 medical calls, for three days so lawmakers can consider the effects of the reassignments. The council has scheduled a hearing Tuesday to address what critics say are safety issues surrounding the new staffing plan.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to draft a law prohibiting the possession of large-capacity ammunition magazines, sparking lawsuit threats from two gun rights organizations. On an 11-0 vote, the council called for an ordinance labeling the magazines a public nuisance and "an immediate threat to the public health. " Although the state already has a ban on the sale and transfer of high-capacity magazines, residents can still legally own them. Before the vote, council members described the measure as a response to a series of mass shootings, including the massacre of 26 people - many of them children - at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December.

Federal agents searched the homes of Moreno Valley's mayor and City Council members and the offices of a major warehouse developer Tuesday as part of a broad public corruption investigation in a Riverside County town already singed by scandal. Agents with the FBI, Internal Revenue Service and local prosecutors served search warrants at the homes of Mayor Tom Owings and the four other council members and at the corporate offices of Highland Fairview, the company that has proposed a 41-million-square-foot warehouse center on the city's eastside.

The city officials who run Los Angeles International Airport have been trying for what seems like forever to move the north runway 260 feet closer to the boundary separating the airport from the community of Westchester. The move would put more space between the two main runways and allow pilots to use a central taxiway without risking collision. When the City Council takes up the matter this week, it should complete this chapter of the long, sorry saga of neighborhood versus airport and approve the north runway move.

The Los Angeles City Council approved a plan Tuesday to begin moving away from coal-fired energy, despite warnings from a Department of Water and Power watchdog that the shift could cost more than $650 million. Like many utilities, the city-owned DWP gets more of its power from coal than from any other source. But last month, after a lengthy campaign by environmentalists, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and utility officials announced a plan to end the city's reliance on coal two years ahead of a state-mandated deadline.

Los Angeles authorities said Tuesday they planned more vigilant security for the foreseeable future in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings. The violence sparked outrage by some Los Angeles leaders. L.A. Council President Herb Wesson called out those who planted the bombs Tuesday. "I don't know what these monsters believe that they are going to accomplish. But when we have horrific acts of violence like yesterday it only brings us closer as a nation," Wesson said in the L.A. City Council chambers.

On the official website for the low desert city of Indio, the letter "I" is a cherry-red electric guitar propped up with a stack of amplifiers - a nod to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which has edged out the date shake as the town's most famous homegrown product. With Coachella's 13th installment set to kick off Friday, Indio's civic leaders are attempting to rebrand the once-sleepy exurb as "The City of Festivals," an internationally known tourist destination. Last week, after more than a year of debate, the City Council voted 4-0 to allow Goldenvoice, the concert promoter behind Coachella and its country-music offshoot, Stagecoach, to expand its offerings from three to five weekends a year through 2030.