Yaroslavsky

I don't understand what the big deal is over campaign memos advising Yaroslavsky how to raise money and win the election. Doesn't Bradley receive the same kind of memos? Is targeting sources of funds really that new a concept? Let's get back to the issues, please. BOB SNIDER Santa Monica

If the Los Angeles mayoral election were held tomorrow, three candidates would be elbowing for the lead: City Councilman Eric Garcetti, City Controller Wendy Greuel and County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. That comes from a new poll, conducted by the Center for the Study of Los Angeles and based on interviews of 1,600 city residents. The results of the survey will be formally released this week. There are reasons not to give those results too much weight. It's almost a year until voters will cast ballots; not all the candidates who may run have entered; money is still being amassed; messages for the campaign have yet to be refined, debates held and advertisements aired.

I am the developer of the project on the previous Ship's property site to whom your article made reference. The article stated that the vacation of the alley bisecting my property was won as a result of the council office's support. The fact of the matter is that Yaroslavsky held the vacation file hostage for a long period of time resulting in frustrating delays and substantial additional project costs. To credit Yaroslavsky for assisting me in this matter is credit misplaced. K. HEKMAT Los Angeles

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors oversees a vast operation: It incarcerates thousands of inmates; it cares for children whose parents have abused or neglected them; it runs hospitals, clinics, beaches, harbors, parks and a welfare system. So it's no surprise that the board's meetings draw animated commentary. What is surprising is what those commenters want to talk about. At a recent meeting of the board, the first member of the public to comment was Eric Preven, who calls himself "The County Resident from District 3. " He used his allotted time to raise questions about the county's legal bills and to complain that a report about those bills had been delayed.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky shot a torpedo at NBCUniversal's $3-billion "Evolution Plan," saying he opposes the company's proposal to build housing on part of its famous back lot in Universal City. The supervisor asked Universal Studios President Ron Meyer in a letter to abandon plans to develop nearly 3,000 condominiums and apartments at the east end of the studio's property. Yaroslavsky's district includes Universal City. The addition of such housing would have "considerable downside to Universal and to our local economy," Yaroslavsky said in the letter, dated Tuesday.

I can't say for sure whether Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky will run for mayor in 2013. I don't even know with certainty whether he's already made up his mind and is just stringing the rest of us along. What I can tell you without any question, though, is that he's enjoying being asked. Before a well-connected group at the Palm last week, Yaroslavsky managed the neat trick of simultaneously insisting that he's still undecided and laying out the campaign he would wage if he jumped into the race.

The head of the region's largest labor group on Thursday accused three Los Angeles County supervisors of ignoring changing demographics for the sake of their political careers. Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, said Michael D. Antonovich, Don Knabe and Zev Yaroslavsky favor a redistricting plan that would make it more difficult to elect a second Latino to the five-member board. "Those three supervisors … are trying to hold onto a power structure that is outdated," Durazo said at a news conference.

For decades, Zev Yaroslavsky has thought he would make a fine mayor for Los Angeles. In three dozen years as a city councilman and then a county supervisor, he has built an extensive record and cemented a solid power base in the Westside and the San Fernando Valley that would make him a formidable candidate. But as Yaroslavsky weighs whether to jump into the crowded race, he finds himself in an awkward position — one that could haunt his political prospects. He has emerged as a high-profile and sometimes sharp-tongued critic of redistricting plans that create two Latino-majority districts for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

On a blistering day in Huntington Park, I walked into a barbershop and put the owner on the hot seat. I asked if he knew which member of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors represents the area. When Benjamin Hernandez said no, I asked if the name Gloria Molina rang a bell. Yes, he said, but he didn't know much about her. How about Zev Yaroslavsky? Never heard of him. There's a slim chance, I told Hernandez, that Yaroslavsky could replace Molina as the rep for the area.

In a blistering broadside, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky on Friday condemned proposals to create a second Latino district for the five-member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, making it extremely unlikely any such plan could pass and raising the possibility the politicians will fail to adopt new districts. Yaroslavsky, in a post on his website, called the two plans for a second Latino district "a baldfaced gerrymander that is completely unnecessary. " He decried the dramatic shifts of population that would result from new district lines, saying, "The scope of the fallout would be vast and swift, potentially undermining the ability of communities to speak with one voice as advocates for their common interests.

A push to increase Latino representation on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors changed course sharply Tuesday with the release of a new redistricting proposal drafted by board member Gloria Molina. Under a revised plan to create a second Latino-majority district, Molina, the only Latino to serve on the board in modern history, is suggesting that Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's current Westside and San Fernando Valley district be radically reconfigured. Yaroslavsky, a white Democrat, will be termed out of office in 2014 but might run for mayor in two years.

Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday condemned Sacramento's cost-cutting decision to keep some state prisoners in local lockups and have parolees be supervised by county agencies, asserting that both would lead to an increase in crime. While discussing a prisoner transition plan submitted by Sheriff Lee Baca, Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said he expected county jails to quickly run out of space if they must continue to handle the 7,000 low-level felons that courts normally send to state prison each year.