PLANNING WATCH / PLAN-IT LOS ANGELES

Will Joe Biden become the climate change President? Don’t get your hopes up. By Dick Platkin, CityWatchLA,  December 3, 2020 https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/cw/los-angeles/20855-will-joe-biden-become-the-climate-change-president-don-t-get-your-hopes-up Planning Watch:   Because Donald Trump has a well-deserved reputation for making the climate crisis worse, many pro-Biden pundits believed that Biden’s victory over Trump means the United States government will now take the climate crisis seriously.   They point to Biden’s appointment of former Secretary of State John Kerry as his climate change envoy.   Press reports indicate that Kerry’s first assignment will be orchestrating U.S. reentry into the Paris Climate Accords. But, before anyone prematurely pops the champagne corks, these are several reasons why the ascendancy of a Biden-led Democratic Party will barely impact the climate crisis.   True, Trump’s tantrums and tweets wi...

When it comes to its urban forest, Los Angeles is not a nanny state .   By Dick Platkin*   https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/cw/los-angeles/20808-when-it-comes-to-its-urban-forest-los-angeles-is-not-a-nanny-state   (Please note photos and comments in the published version.)   Even though Los Angeles has a nearly perfect climate, fall is best time to plant new trees and save LA’s existing trees.   Trees, after all, are nature’s way to combat the climate crisis by cooling heat islands and sequestering rapidly rising atmospheric carbon.   In addition, trees enhance rainwater absorption, provide shade, generate oxygen, buffer glare and noise, host urban wildlife, and are beautiful in their own right.   Historically, only five species of trees are native to Los Angeles, but due to LA’s semi-tropical climate, over 1000 tree species now grow here, and the City permits 150 tree species on its parkways (the city-owne...

HOME CWTV ARCHIVE ADVERTISE CONTACT FEATURED WRITERS 30 Mon , Dec Home NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS BE GREEN WELLNESS LA WATCHDOG Budget Advocates 420 FILE When It Comes to Its Urban Forest, Los Angeles is Not a Nanny State Dick Platkin 25 November 2020 ...

Updating the Hollywood Community Plan.   Tragedy in 2012 and farce in 2020.   By Dick Platkin*       https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/cw/los-angeles/20776-updating-the-hollywood-community-plan-tragedy-in-2012-and-farce-in-2020         If you forgot that history repeats itself , first as tragedy and the second time as farce, you only need to look at City Hall’s repeated efforts to update the Hollywood Community Plan.   Despite two decades of updating, Superior Court Judge Allan Goodman overturned the 2012 Update for being fundamentally and fatally flawed .   Judge Goodman offered these reasons :                                                 ...

Please be in touch to add or delete email addresses to this list.  If you want to subscribe to CityWatch (free), log on to www.citywatchla.com George W. Bush’s Political Insights Also Apply to “Progressives” in Pale Blue Los Angeles DICK PLATKIN     05 NOVEMBER 2020 PLANNING WATCH -Former President George W. Bush was ridiculed for mangling the famous aphorism,  “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Nevertheless, his insights still ring true. In the insulated world of prominent newspapers, legacy news networks, and their cable competitors, we frequently hear about the conspiracy theories that captivate much of Trump’s political base. Even the new Borat movie had a long segment with Jim and Jerry, two good-hearted Q-Anon believers who gave shelter to the hapless Sasha Baron Cohen in the midst of a Pandemic lockdown.  But political gullibility is hardly the monopoly of those wearing MAGA hats. For example, many of those who joined the anti-Trum...