In The Building LA: Purchasing Power: Leimert Park Merchants Come Together To Buy Their Building

By Tina Sampay and Matthew Gates | November 8, 2022 With Metro’s K-line expansion accelerating real estate speculation along the Crenshaw corridor, business merchants in Leimert Park are using group economics as a frontline defense against displacement. In September, four retail tenants – Akil West (Sole Folks), Anthony Jolly (Hot and

NBC Los Angeles NewsConference: Factions in New Los Angeles Governance

NEWSCONFERENCE: NOVEMBER 27, 2022 12:38 PM NBC4’s Conan Nolan talks with Reporter David Zahniser who covers LA City Hall for Los Angeles Times about how all the attention was on the mayor’s race, there were some interesting things happening down ballot contests, some examples are the city

LA Times: Inside the room: The entire L.A. City Council racist audio leak, annotated by our experts

BY: TIMES STAFF | NOV. 21, 2022 UPDATED 9:09 AM PT More than a year after it was secretly recorded and a month after it was leaked, a backroom conversation among three Los Angeles City Council members and a prominent union president continues to shake city politics. It has triggered

Congratulations to CD10 residents Mayor-elect Karen Bass and City Attorney-elect Hydee Feldstein Soto!

LA Times: Hydee Feldstein Soto claims victory in L.A. city attorney’s race

BY DAKOTA SMITH | STAFF WRITER NOV. 16, 2022 | UPDATED 2:45 PM PT Finance law attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto declared victory Wednesday in the Los Angeles city attorney’s race and will become the first woman to hold the office. Feldstein Soto said in a statement that the vote count

LA Times: Karen Bass elected mayor, becoming first woman to lead L.A.

BY JULIA WICK | STAFF WRITER NOV. 16, 2022 UPDATED 6:33 PM PT Rep. Karen Bass has defeated businessman Rick Caruso in the Los Angeles mayor’s race, according to an Associated Press projection Wednesday, making her the first woman and second Black Angeleno elected to lead the city in

OurWeekly: City Council questions controller Ron Galperin’s illegal suspension of Mark Ridley-Thomas’ salary and benefits

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles City Council unanimously adopted a motion by Councilmembers Curren Price and Marqueece Harris-Dawson during the Council’s Friday, October 28 meeting requiring the City Attorney to issue an opinion in ten days about the legality of the City Controller Ron Galperin’s action to withhold

MRT’s Compensation: A Matter of Justice

WHERE WE STAND Mark Ridley-Thomas’ Compensation Please click here for a powerful audio presentation. Denial of compensation to Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas’ is a civil rights matter that violates his right to due process, the City Charter, equal protection under the law, the presumption of innocence and fundamental values of fairness

MyNewsLA: LA Council Seeks Input on Legality of Suspending Mark Ridley-Thomas’ Pay

By: Contributing Editor | October 28, 2022 The Los Angeles City Council sought a report Friday from the city attorney on whether City Controller Ron Galperin had the legal authority to cut Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas’ pay and benefits after Ridley-Thomas was suspended from the council last year. Ridley-Thomas was suspended in

KBLA 1580: One-On-One with Black Los Angeles: A conversation with Tavis Smiley and Kevin de León

LA Mag: City Hall Scandal May Be Good News for Indicted and Unpaid Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas

Cityside Column: Efforts to get the suspended councilman his pay heat up, with prominent Black leaders getting involved By Jon Regardie – October 24, 2022 Two weeks into the Los Angeles City Hall meltdown, a few things are incontrovertible: Former City Council President Nury Martinez needs to pick a new line

Redistricting and the Behind the Scenes Battle for Council District 10

Editor's Note: It was one year ago this week that the racist plot to disenfranchise CD10 voters was hatched. These two CD10 leaders make it clear. By: Dr. Denise Fairchild and Pastor Eddie Anderson As caustic and hurtful as the racially motivated comments on the Martinez-DeLeon-Cedillo tape from

OurWeekly: National Civil Rights Leaders Weigh in on Ridley-Thomas, LA City Dispute

By Michael Bustamante | 6 hours ago Leaders of five national civil rights organizations including the National Urban League, National Action Network, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, and the NAACP called upon the City of Los Angeles to rectify what they termed a “gross injustice” to Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas

LA Focus: Sharpton, Jackson and National Civil Rights Leaders Call for Reassessment of L.A. City Council’s Handling of Mark Ridley-Thomas’ Suspension in Wake of Racist Tapes

OCTOBER 19, 2022 | By LAFocus In the wake of the explosive racist audio tapes that surfaced earlier this month of former LA Council President Nury Martinez and Councilmembers Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo, five national civil rights leaders—including Rev. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and NAACP President Derrick Johnson—

MRT’s Shadow Loomed Over Leaked Recordings

By JOHN E. SWEENEY, ESQ. 17 OCTOBER 2022 GUEST COMMENTARY - Although he was not in the room during Nury Martinez’s vile rants recorded and leaked to the public last week, the specter of Mark Ridley-Thomas (MR-T) loomed large over a conversation about power, politics and representation. The meeting

CBS News: Rev. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson question LA City Council about Mark Ridley-Thomas after racist comments leaked

BY CBSLA STAFF OCTOBER 17, 2022 / 1:10 PM / CBS LOS ANGELES Community leaders are calling on the Los Angeles City Council to reassess the handling of the suspension of councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas -- who was indicted on federal charges alleging corruption -- after audio leaked of racist comments made

Column: Racist L.A. audio leak shakes the foundation of labor unions: ‘I felt betrayed’

BY ANITA CHABRIA | COLUMNIST OCT. 15, 2022 UPDATED 6:58 AM PT The day before he crashed headlong into disgrace via the racist mess currently upending Los Angeles politics, former labor leader Ron Herrera was out stumping for Black candidates, including Karen Bass — speaking about the need for unity among

OP-ED: LATINOS AND ANTI-BLACKNESS—THE SILENT DIALOGUE THAT NEEDS TO BE DISCUSSED IN SCHOOLS

By Tyrone Howard | October 13, 2022 The recent uproar around racist comments by members on the Los Angeles City Council has reverberations that goes far beyond politics. Recent comments by former Los Angeles City Council president Nury Martinez speaks to an issue that plays out in the wider society and

Latino leaders could collaborate with Black communities. Why don’t they?

The two groups have different views on whether racism is systemic or not, our research finds. It wasn’t always this way. Analysis by Claudia Sandoval and Chaya Crowder October 14, 2022 at 7:00 a.m. EDT This week, a recording of Latino Los Angeles City Council members making

Anti-Blackness In Los Angeles: What’s The REAL Lesson Here?

Los Angeles never learns its race lessons. It would rather tolerate what Professor Derrick Bell called, “the permanence of racism” than change. ANTHONY ASADULLAH SAMAD | OCT 13, 2022 A racial bloodbath has broken out in Los Angeles, and as usual—African Americans are at the epicenter of it. Racism being

LAT: For Black Angelenos, recording stokes anger, fears of losing hard-fought gains

BY KAILYN BROWN, ANGEL JENNINGS OCT. 13, 2022 4:38 PM PT Watching the news in her View Park home, Helen Ray sat in stunned disbelief as she listened to the now infamous tape of three Los Angeles City Council members and a labor leader privately strategizing about redistricting. It

LAT: How all 15 L.A. City Council members have responded to the racist leaked audio

BY MATTHEW BALLINGER, KENAN DRAUGHORNE , SONAIYA KELLEY, STEVE HENSON OCT. 13, 2022 3:15 PM PT The Los Angeles City Council is in crisis. Secretly recorded audio revealed three council members — Nury Martinez, Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, along with a local labor leader who has now resigned — engaged

L.A. Focus Op-Ed: Guilty Until Proven Innocent? Unfair, Likely Illegal, and Downright Wrong

By Michael A. Lawson and Naomi Nightengale We all know Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas. The Councilman is a long-time leader in our community with a lengthy record of doing what he believes is correct and beneficial to his constituents, even when it isn’t popular. As an elected official, his history

Biden calls on Nury Martinez, other L.A. councilmembers to resign after audio leak

BY ELI STOKOLS - STAFF WRITER OCT. 11, 2022 UPDATED 1:40 PM PT WASHINGTON —President Biden believes Nury Martinez and other councilmembers should resign from the Los Angeles City Council over racist remarks heard in leaked recordings that were made public this week, a White House spokesperson said Tuesday.

LA City Council and City Controller: Judge & Jury In A Case Not Yet Heard In Federal Court?

BRIDGET GORDON 05 OCTOBER 2022 GUEST COMMENTARY - The decision to “suspend” Councilmember Ridley-Thomas last October 2021, continues to cast a growing cloud over the governance of the nation’s second largest city and the leadership of its fifteen-member City Council. Council President Nury Martinez continues to govern like a