Huizar

Early on an October evening, their cars began filling a city parking lot on Breed Street, less than a block from well-lighted shops along Cesar Chavez Avenue in the busiest commercial corridor of Boyle Heights. The street vendors, arriving to sell carne asada, tamales, flautas and steamed tacos, once created a culinary destination known to draw hundreds of customers. But on this night, even as people lined up on the sidewalk, many of the vendors waited by their cars, some concealing their wares in foil-lined trays in their trunks.

The reason the bike lane on Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles is bright fluorescent green is so drivers and bicyclists alike can see it easily and avoid running into one another. However, the very conspicuousness of that color has brought on a collision between politics and business in the city. Bicyclists and downtown neighborhood groups are fans of the 1.4-mile stretch of green bike lane on Spring Street from Cesar Chavez to 9th Street. But location scouts and production managers who bring filming to the city's historic downtown core are not so happy.

Officials have closed a federal investigation into Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar's consulting work for a now-defunct nonprofit linked to organized labor. Huizar had received about $30,000 from the Voter Improvement Program for consulting services he performed in 2003 and 2004 while serving as an elected board member for the Los Angeles Unified School District, according to Huizar's public disclosure forms and sources close to the investigation. Huizar announced Tuesday that investigators had cleared him of further review, and sources with knowledge of the probe confirmed it. In a brief statement, Huizar said, "I will continue to hold myself to the highest ethical standards."

A former Huntington Park police officer has filed a $500,000 legal claim against the city of Los Angeles, saying he suffered "serious multiple physical injuries" after his car was hit from behind by a city-owned SUV driven by City Councilman Jose Huizar. David Ceja, 49, said his 2002 Saturn was struck by Huizar's 2008 Toyota Highlander on 1st Street in Boyle Heights in October. Humberto Guizar, Ceja's attorney, said that in the minutes after the accident, Huizar repeatedly asked that the matter be handled without alerting the Los Angeles Police Department.

The reason the bike lane on Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles is bright fluorescent green is so drivers and bicyclists alike can see it easily and avoid running into one another. However, the very conspicuousness of that color has brought on a collision between politics and business in the city. Bicyclists and downtown neighborhood groups are fans of the 1.4-mile stretch of green bike lane on Spring Street from Cesar Chavez to 9th Street. But location scouts and production managers who bring filming to the city's historic downtown core are not so happy.

A controversial condominium building proposed for an industrial area of downtown gained unanimous approval from the City Council on Friday. The 182-unit project -- which also includes more than 3,000 square feet of retail space -- would be located at 7th Street and Santa Fe Avenue. The city's zoning administrator had rejected the project, but Councilman Jose Huizar -- whose district includes the area -- asked the council to overturn that decision. The planning department and the Community Redevelopment Agency would like to keep the eastern downtown area industrial.

Re "Council OKs Mayor's Idea for Schools," Aug. 12 It seems that Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar is politically astute but a tad self-serving. It is interesting that the former Los Angeles Unified School District board member and president is supporting the mayor's faulty, half-baked plan. This in light of Huizar's record of running the school board in a status-quo, business-as-usual manner. If Huizar thinks the school board can be better run under a new plan, why didn't he initiate some leadership in that regard when he had the chance as a board president?

The sun had not yet risen when the first commuter train in nearly half a century set off from downtown to East Los Angeles, extending a new line of public transportation to some of the city's most underserved neighborhoods. At 3:40 a.m. Sunday the first passengers were train enthusiasts, students and workers for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which built the six-mile Gold Line extension. A few hours later, the neighborhood showed up. More than 50,000 people were estimated to have taken part in a festive day of celebration and free rides.

Spending in the hotly contested two-year race for Los Angeles mayor exceeded $33 million on Saturday, breaking previous records as unlimited outside money continued to play a dominant role in Tuesday's contest. Candidate super PACs and so-called "independent expenditure" donors, which do not have to abide by the city's campaign contribution limits, provided 41% of the $25.6-million total raised just for candidates Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti since the contest began in March 2011, according to campaign reports.

SAN FRANCISCO - The California Supreme Court gave local governments the power Monday to zone medical marijuana dispensaries out of existence, a decision that upholds bans in about 200 cities but does little to solve Los Angeles' years-long struggle to regulate hundreds of storefront pot outlets. The unanimous decision provided clarity for cities and counties that want to rid themselves of the dispensaries, which sprouted up statewide after a 1996 voter-approved measure that sought to authorize medical marijuana but lacked specifics in how it would be regulated.

A month ago, attorney Roberto Saldaña looked like a shoo-in to run the Historic Downtown Los Angeles Business Improvement District, a little-known group of property owners that pays extra taxes for such services as having sidewalks cleaned and litter picked up. The group's board of directors voted unanimously to make Saldaña, 34, its executive director. Its chairman, Boris Mayzels, described Saldaña as "by far the most qualified" for the job. Not long after they made their decision, however, Councilman Jose Huizar got involved, board members and business leaders said.

Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar came out Thursday against a $2-billion proposal to raze nearly 1,200 apartments in Boyle Heights and replace them with shops, offices and new homes — some of them in high-rises as tall as 24 stories. Appearing with tenant activists and historic preservationists, Huizar said he would fight efforts by Miami-based Fifteen Group to demolish the Wyvernwood apartments, which house an estimated 6,000 residents in 153 buildings. Fifteen Group is preparing an environmental impact report on its project, which would cover the 70-acre campus with 4,400 apartments and condominiums.

The nastiest race in the March 8 Los Angeles election boils down to one question, and it has nothing to do with the budget crisis, tax hikes or who is the better candidate. Even those who have closely watched the negative campaign between City Councilman Jose Huizar and his opponent, businessman Rudy Martinez, want to know: What made two friends become such mortal enemies? Martinez and Huizar have spent three months attacking each other in an Eastside district that takes in Boyle Heights, El Sereno and Eagle Rock, bringing up inquiries by the LAPD, the Los Angeles County district attorney and the FBI as they attempt to demolish each other's reputations.

When The Times endorsed Rudy Martinez in the contentious 14th Council District election and I followed up with a column about Martinez a few days later, a consultant for incumbent Councilman Jose Huizar chewed on my ear. It was only fair, he argued, that if I spent a day with Martinez, I should do the same with Huizar. Given that the 14th is one of L.A.'s most interesting districts and the race there has been the most heated in the spring council election, I agreed. Then something ominous happened: The two candidates, appearing at a forum on Feb. 8, promised to lay off negative campaigning.

Ray Regalado has watched the bitter political contest between Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar and businessman Rudy Martinez with disappointment, but not surprise. "It's a dirty race," said Regalado, 58, a physical therapist from El Sereno. "But it's what you come to expect in the 14th District. " The district straddles a diverse swath of the Eastside that includes the bustling streets of Boyle Heights, the laid-back cafes of Eagle Rock and the pricey hillside homes of Mount Washington.

The sister of a Los Angeles Police Department officer killed in the line of duty 32 years ago called on City Councilman Jose Huizar on Thursday to stop using her brother's badge as an issue in his March 8 reelection campaign ? and went so far as to record a telephone message for his opponent to send to voters. Karen Kubly, herself a retired LAPD officer, said Huizar should have notified her family before making the badge part of his campaign against businessman Rudy Martinez. Her brother, David Kubly, was killed in 1979 while trying to apprehend a robbery suspect.

Dozens of medical marijuana activists rallied outside Los Angeles City Hall last week, declaring war on an enemy. Their target was not the federal government, whose agents raided several local dispensaries in recent days, or neighborhood groups trying to shut down the city's estimated 700 pot shops. The enemy was fellow medical marijuana advocates. Three competing measures on the May 21 city ballot have divided L.A.'s lucrative medical cannabis industry, with each side accusing the other of trying only to protect profits, not do what is best for patients.

The Los Angeles City Council's 14th District takes in Eagle Rock, Highland Park, Mount Washington, El Sereno and a chunk of central Los Angeles, and it historically has featured some of the city's most fervid politics. It's where Richard Alatorre once held office, where Antonio Villaraigosa knocked off Nick Pacheco in 2003 and where Jose Huizar thwarted Pacheco's attempted comeback when Villaraigosa went on to be mayor. This year, for the second time in recent memory, it is supplying that great rarity: a credible challenge to a council incumbent.

The Eagle Rock businessman seeking to unseat Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar abruptly quit his post as a reserve police officer five years ago after investigators found he had a police badge ? one issued to an officer who died in the line of duty. Rudy Martinez, then serving as a volunteer at the Los Angeles Police Department, "refused to cooperate" with investigators and quickly resigned after he was asked about the badge, which was found by the employee of a towing company in 2004, according to a police report.