Local Government

A county that's home to 1.56 million poor people should probably do something about poverty, don't you think? According to the latest Census Bureau report, the number of people in L.A. County living below the poverty threshold of $10,956 for a single person or $21,954 for a family of four rose dramatically between 2008 and 2009. And if a million and a half people living in dire poverty isn't bad enough, consider also the hundreds of thousands of employed L.A. residents who are barely getting by. The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)

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.

The stimulus for this mill town turned artist's colony arrived in the form of green bills bearing sketches of herons, turtles and trees. A few dozen local businesses banded together this spring to distribute the Plenty -- a local currency intended to replace the dollar. Now 15,000 Plenties are in circulation here, used everywhere from the organic food co-op to the feed store to, starting this month, the Piggly Wiggly supermarket. Last popularized during the Great Depression, scrip, or locally created stand-ins for U.S. currency, is making a comeback.

Los Angeles County supervisors rejected a bid Tuesday from several Santa Clarita Valley school districts and a water district hoping to consolidate elections in a bid to avoid the kind of voting rights lawsuits that other local governments have been hit with. The measure failed on a 2-2 vote, with Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas abstaining. County election officials opposed the change, arguing that shifting the districts to November even-year elections would exceed their ability to conduct elections.

Chinese local governments have taken on $1.65 trillion of debt with little regulatory oversight, an official audit found, raising concern about how much of the money will be paid back. Some of the funds raised were improperly funneled into the stock market and the country's overheated real estate sector, according to the first-of-its-kind review by China's national audit office. About half the debt, which was measured as of the end of last year, was incurred after Beijing in 2009 allowed banks to issue a record amount of new credit to stimulate the economy.

In "Regionalism, Small Version" (editorial, Aug. 13) you persist in the conventional wisdom that maintaining multiple districts to deliver services (58 counties, 476 cities and nearly 5,000 special districts in California) is inefficient and would benefit from streamlining. The evidence is to the contrary. The presumption of duplication in spending with small jurisdictions cannot be shown empirically; small jurisdictions are not more expensive on a per capita basis. Opposition from some San Diego legislators to the San Diego Regional Government Efficiency Commission proposal for a "powerful, 15-member regional government" suggests that residents value local government and don't want to give it up. Finally, you're right on target when you talk about the potential for joint efforts among smaller jurisdictions as a solution to regional problems.

The verdict is in from yet another study of the fiscal snarl that hobbles local government in California, and the conclusion is no great surprise: It's a mess and needs to be fixed. The problem, of course, is how. The 34-member Speaker's Commission on State and Local Government Finance has offered some small but significant corrections that can be made now.

There is no government in this once-bustling port city on the southwestern tip of the Philippines. At night, the drug addicts, pickpockets and smugglers have virtual free rein on the docks. Even during daylight, there is, on the average, a shooting a day in the city's main market--sometimes over the price of squid, sometimes because of feuds among vendors. Potholes in main streets grow bigger by the week, and many city employees simply are not showing up for work.

Natural disasters have a way of exposing the weaknesses of Mexico's political system. The torrential rains and floods that hit central and Gulf Coast Mexico this month show how antiquated, inefficient and dangerous the system of governance is. The tropical storm that swept across the states of Puebla, Hidalgo, Veracruz and Tabasco earlier this month was devastating enough.

An overwhelming majority of Los Angeles County residents are satisfied with the neighborhood they live in and feel a sense of community, even as they feel disenchanted with their local government's performance, a new poll shows. The survey, by the Public Policy Institute of California and the School of Policy, Planning and Development at USC, found increasing frustration with government on both the county and city levels.

Many of the nation's 440 military bases were established in what were once sparsely populated hinterlands where soldiers trained without complaints from neighbors about the roar of warplanes and the sound of gunfire and explosions. Now, with urban sprawl pushing up against perimeter fences, the U.S. Department of Defense has quietly become a major protector of wilderness and ranch lands. Working with conservation organizations and local governments, its Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative has helped buy nearly $1 billion worth of land to create buffer zones around 64 military bases where development threatened to encroach on combat training.

SACRAMENTO - California's first attempt to run a park more than a century ago was a disaster. Over a campfire in the backcountry, John Muir himself urged President Theodore Roosevelt to rescue thousands of acres in the Yosemite Valley from the state's neglect - and it remains a national park to this day. The state found redemption after that rocky start, and went on to preserve 1.5 million acres of coastline, forests, mountains and historic sites,...

SACRAMENTO - Although many of California's cities and counties have been struggling financially, putting off road repairs, cutting back library hours and reducing police patrols, there is one way in which they have not held back: hiring Sacramento lobbyists. Local governments' spending on advocacy in the Capitol has surged in recent years, topping $96 million during the two-year legislative session that ended last fall - an increase of nearly 50% from a decade ago. The sum dwarfs the lobbying bills of the state's largest labor unions, big oil companies and other energy interests combined, according to the California secretary of state's office.

On the edge of the Mojave, music promoter Pasquale Rotella staged a rave about 11 years ago that ended with a coroner's wagon rolling down desert roads. Five people died of overdoses and drug-related car crashes during or shortly after the Nocturnal Wonderland concert at the Chemehuevi Indian Reservation in San Bernardino County. Watch: Video discussion The all-night party of electronic dance music was among the big raves to emerge from an Ecstasy-fueled underground of urban warehouses.

Eighteen years after Orange County crashed into the largest municipal bankruptcy, with a $1.6-billion trading loss, the collapse remains the leading example of foolhardy investments, Wall Street greed and lazy government supervision. That is an enduring legacy of Robert L. Citron, the soft-spoken but high-rolling former treasurer who died this week at age 87. His legacy, though, also includes the state Legislature's subsequent overhaul of investment rules, which were tightened to prevent budget-strapped local governments from ever becoming so reckless again.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- At least eight people, including a senior provincial official on a Taliban hit list, were killed Saturday when a powerful bomb ripped through a narrow street where a political meeting was being held. Bashir Ahmad Bilour, the minister for local government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was attending the meeting of the ruling Awami National Party inside a school in Peshawar's Qissa Qhwani Bazaar neighborhood when the explosion occurred. The blast wounded at least 22 people, gutted nearby shops and destroyed vehicles.

More than 20 cities have joined a group designed to give Orange County a unified voice in Southern California issues such as air quality, housing and state demographic mandates. The Council of Governments, sponsored by the League of California Cities, also will be a forum for elected officials to discuss ideas for making government more efficient.

GUADALUPE, Calif. - Vacant, century-old storefronts stand as bricks-and-mortar tombstones in this once-booming little farm town on California's Highway 1, where flatbeds piled with strawberries rumble by, rarely having to hit the brakes at crosswalks. Thrashed by the recession, officials here ran out of ways to cut expenses or boost tax revenue. So the town named after the patron saint of Mexico is throwing a Hail Mary. The mayor and City Council crafted a Nov. 6 ballot measure to change the city's name to Guadalupe Beach - even though the Pacific Ocean is nearly five miles to the west.

SACRAMENTO - The most nerdy, wonky and nap-inducing measure on the Nov. 6 ballot is Proposition 31. It's not a minor measure, exactly, but it's hardly monumental either. It might do some good, might do some bad. On the ballot, it's called: "State Budget. State and Local Government. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute. " Are you still with me? INTERACTIVE: 2012 California Propositions It's long and complex. To the average voter, I suspect, it reads like gobbledygook.