MadProfessah Voting Guide: November 2022

 

Here are MadProfessah's positions on how I  have voted in the November 8 2022 California General Elections. This post will contain  endorsements information from other organizations like the Los Angeles Times,  California Democratic Party, East Area Progressive Democrats and the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. 

The 2022 General Election Ballot is quite long. Here are my endorsements (how I have voted) along with information about how others are encouraging you to vote. This link will take you to a printable two page version of this voting guide. Names with an asterisk * are openly LGBTQ+ candidates.

The information here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. YMMV.

LAist also has a very helpful voterguide here: https://laist.com/news/politics/voter-game-plan.

CITYWIDE RACES (Los Angeles)

COUNTYWIDE RACES (Los Angeles)

COUNTY JUDGES (Superior Court)

STATEWIDE RACES 
STATEWIDE JUDGES 

MadProfessah Voting Guide: June 2022 Los Angeles and California Primary Elections

Here are MadProfessah's positions on how I will be voting have voted in the June 7 2022 California Primary Elections. This post will contain  endorsements information from other organizations like the Los Angeles Times,  California Democratic Party, East Area Progressive Democrats and the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. 

The 2022 Primary Ballot is quite long. Here are my endorsements (how I am voting) along with information about how others are encouraging you to vote. This link will take you to a printable two page version of this voting guide. Names with an asterisk * are openly LGBTQ+ candidates.

Information about judges of the Superior Court were informed by these two documents by two informed insiders (a former Superior Court judge and Someone who works in the DA's office).

The information here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. YMMV.

LAist also has a very helpful voterguide here: https://laist.com/news/politics/voter-game-plan.

CITYWIDE RACES (Los Angeles)

COUNTYWIDE RACES (Los Angeles)

COUNTY JUDGES (Superior Court)

STATEWIDE RACES 

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Eric Bauman, Openly Gay Chair of CA Democratic Party, Resigns In #MeToo Furor

Eric Bauman, longtime chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and former vice-chair of the California Democratic Party under John Burton, was elected chair of the California Democratic Party in 2017 after a close and hotly contested election with Kimberly Ellis. He is the first openly gay man to lead the largest Democratic Party state organization.

This week Bauman was in the news again because he abruptly announced his intention to resign his position as party chair one day after multiple accusations of improper sexual comments and unwanted physical contact by Bauman were documented in a blockbuster Los Angeles Times story published on Wednesday November 28.

After the article came out Governor-elect Gavin Newsom and openly LGBT Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins were among the high ranking state Democratic politicians who called for Bauman's resignation.

I have known Bauman for years (and been to the annual holiday party at his house multiple times). I never witnessed any unwanted sexual comments but I would say that I have definitely seen him "tipsy." (It was a holiday party, after all!) Initially after word of the accusations were raised last week, Bauman had announced he would take a leave of absence to get treatment for "a problem with alcohol" but soon it became clear that in the current #MeToo era that response would be insufficient. I am somewhat surprised that these accusations of imroper behavior did not come to light last year when the internecine battle between the establishment party folks who backed Bauman and the progressive "Bernie-crat" folks who backed Ellis was raging.

REPORT: Many Los Angeles Area STEM Jobs In 2016-2021 Will Not Require 4-Year Degrees

Interesting report from the Center for a Competitive Workforce about a potential talent shortage in the Los Angeles county area in the near future. Many people think that STEM technical jobs require a 4-year degree, but this report says that there will be many "middle skills" job openings in the Los Angeles area that will not.

In the region there will be approximately 67,450 job openings over the next five years for the 20 occupations examined in the report.  But, according to the latest data available, from the academic year 2014-15, there were fewer than 27,000 career education award earners in the greater Los Angeles Basin. And only about 7,800 awards were conferred in programs training relevant to the 20 target occupations. 

If this trend continues without our region’s talent development systems and institutions responding in kind, especially the community colleges which are the primary suppliers of this middle skill talent, then the demand in the region will not be met over the next five years.

One key takeaway from the report is that local community colleges in Los Angeles will only provide 58% of the people with associates degrees or certificates that the area will likely need to fill these jobs in the near future.

Hat/tip to KPCC

POLL: 12% Of California Voters Are #LGBT

Equality California has released a poll which shows that 12% of California voters identify as LGBT. Interestingly, this number varied only slightly by geographical region in the state, from 10% in the Los Angeles area (11% in Los Angeles county) to 14% in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The poll discusses the margin of error:

The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. This means that 95 times out of 100, if a response to a given question to which all respondents answered was 50%, we could be 95% confident that the true percentage would fall within +/-4% of this percentage - or between 46% and 54%. As 12% of respondents in this survey answered “yes” when asked if they were a member of the LGBT community, we can infer that the sampling error specific to that response is +/- 2.4% or between 9.6% and 14.4%.

The poll's methodology of asking the question "Are you a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, also known as the LGBT community?" online may be an explanation for why they received such larger values than the more typical 2-4% number  that we have been more used to.

Pres. Obama Invites L.A. Teen With Perfect AP Calc Score To White House Science Fair

Cedrick Argueta, 17, is in the news this week because the Lincoln High School senior was one of barely a dozen students to earn a perfect score on his Advanced Placement Calculus AB exam. This is quite an achievement, since over 300,000 students take the exam every year. Even President Obama noticed and invited Cedrick to the White House Science Fair.

The Los Angeles Times reports about the reaction to Cedrick's achievement:

Cedrick — a quiet, humble student who is quick to thank his teachers and parents for his success — said he'll join the president at the fair “if his offer still holds.”
The White House Science Fair, hosted by the president, features projects, designs and experiments from students across the country and celebrates students who excel in science, technology, engineering and math.
Cedrick's story has made headlines around the world since his score was announced by the Los Angeles Unified School District last week. He is the son of Lilian and Marcos Argueta, both of whom came to the United States as young adults — she from the Philippines, he from El Salvador. Lilian, a licensed vocational nurse, works two jobs at nursing homes, and Marcos is a maintenance worker at one of those nursing homes.
“I'm speechless,” Lilian Argueta said Sunday. “I can't believe this is happening.”
Lincoln High School Principal Jose Torres said Cedrick's achievement was inspiring.

I love this story! Lincoln High School is roughly 2 miles from my house and as a professor of Mathematics I interact with students who have taken AP Calculus exams before coming to my college. And I have taught the material on this exam to my students many times. That Cedrick got every single point on the exam is quite amazing, and inspiring!

FOOD REVIEW: Providence (Melrose District, Los Angeles, CA)

The Other Half and I celebrate January 12th as the anniversary of the beginning of our relationship. Since we met in 1991 this year it was our 25th anniversary so we decided to splurge and made a dinner reservation at Providence, which is widely recognized as the best restaurant in Los Angeles. We then planned a trip to Maui (Hawaii) for the rest of the week to continue the celebration.

Here is a short photo essay on our Providence experience.

Amuse Bouche: nasturtium leaf with sushi rice and 

Amuse Bouche: wagyu beef masquerading as cigars or fancy Slim Jims

Even the bread, with butter and salt, was exemplary

maine lobster, orient charm eggplant, smoked sesame, miso

new bedford scallop, cauliflower, vadouvan

A5 Wagyu Beef (sweet potato, aged vinegar, parmesan)

troll-caught salmon, sunchoke, peas, black truffle

Dessert: Ganache chocolate with lemon paste and
glazed, roasted hazelnuts

Dessert: coconut/lemon drop, macaroon,
mexican chocolate with marshmallow

For our twenty-fifth anniversary, the Other Half and I wanted to do something special, so we made a reservation at Providence, widely regarded as the best restaurant in Los Angeles. Surprisingly, we realized it must have been well over five years since we had last eaten here.

Providence is famous for its 2 Michelin stars and its eleven-course and seven-course prix fixe menus, with exquisite wine pairings. The full eleven-course menu takes at least 3 hours to complete, but there is a 7-course version for $180 per person ($265 with wine pairing) while the four-course menu is $115 ($160 with wine pairing).

We decided that both of us would try the 7-course menu with one of us getting the wine pairing and the other not. The service was exceptional, and even the bread (brioche, sourdough or white) was memorable. The meal started with a comically long sequence of amuse bouches (there were five!) Particularly good were the wagyu beef cigars (pictured above) and the smoked salmon with potato crisp.

Among the courses, we decided to pay extra and upgrade the wagyu beef entree but although it is the highest cut of this beef available, it is really an acquired taste, one which I don't think I have acquired.

The favorite thing we ate that night in my opinion was the scallop, closely followed by the wagyu beef cigar and the chocolate dessert.

Overall, the dining experience was a memorable one, but with an overall cost of roughly three times the price of an evening at other excellent places like Union, Ledlow and Baco Mercat  think I would rather go to each of those once before I go to Providence again. However, I would strongly recommend it to commemorate an extremely memorable occasion, which it was for us.

Name: Providence.

Location: 5955 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038.

Contact: 323-460-4170.

Visit: January 12, 2016.

AMBIANCE: A.

SERVICE: A+.

VALUE: B+.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A (4.0/4.0)

QUEER QUOTE: Openly LGBT Los Angeles Supervisor Proposes PrEP Program

Sheila Kuehl is  widely known as one of the smartest politicians in California so it was great news when she was elected to be one of the five most powerful people in Los Angeles County last November. She is using her position to enact public policy that will positively impact her constiuents. Karen Ocamb of Frontiers Magazine reports that Supervisor Kuehl is going to propose that Los Angeles County find a way to implement Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (commonly known as PrEP) to low-income and at-risk individuals.

At next Tuesday's Board of Supervisors' meeting Kuehl is going to introduce this motion which is today's Queer Quote:

Recommendation as submitted by Supervisor Kuehl: Authorize the Interim Director of Public Health, in partnership with the Director of Health Services, to develop and implement a plan for a robust, comprehensive program to deliver Pre‑Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) throughout the County, considering a broad range of medical providers, including the Departments of Public Health and Health Services’ operated clinics as well as community‑based organizations and clinics, that can effectively provide PrEP to those at high risk for contracting HIV; instruct the Interim Director of Public Health to report back to the Board in writing within 30 days on the PrEP program implementation plan, including details on program target population, program elements such as robust public education and awareness campaign, the provision of technical assistance to local providers and service delivery elements, specific timeline and milestones for program implementation, program monitoring and evaluation of the plan, and the Departments of Public Health and Health Services’ financed investment strategy; and instruct the Interim Director of Public Health to develop and release a solicitation within 45 days to fully support private‑sector delivery of PrEP services to benefit uninsured and underinsured residents of the County at high risk for HIV infection.  (15‑2677)

The motion itself goes into far more detail about the necessity of the move and discusses the potential positive impacts it could have on the transmission of HIV in Los Angeles County. For example:

Since the FDA approved PrEP in 2012, Los Angeles County has become home to more PrEP demonstration projects than any other area of the U.S. These projects, including projects at multiple DHS sites, are designed to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and cost-effectiveness of PrEP as an HIV prevention intervention. These demonstration projects show that the delivery of this intervention is, in fact, feasible and that demand is high and growing, particularly among those groups of Los Angeles County residents most at risk for HIV. Outside of these demonstration projects, numerous Los Angeles County residents have been able to access PrEP through their private health insurance plans and Medi-Cal. Despite increasing local access to this intervention, however, many Los Angeles County residents at high risk for contracting HIV, who could benefit from PrEP, are still unable to access this service.  

Among the factors contributing to limiting access to PrEP are a lack of knowledge and awareness by consumers and providers, cost, and limited PrEP service delivery sites. The delivery of PrEP as part of a comprehensive public health HIV prevention strategy must include access for high risk uninsured and underinsured individuals in Los Angeles County, especially young African-American and Latino gay men, transgender persons and African-American and Latina women. For these reasons, the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV recommended, in an October 2014 resolution, that this Board authorize and expedite expanded access and comprehensive implementation of PrEP. 

I'm happy to see this moving forward. I wonder how this will spur other large urban jurisdictions with large HIV-impacted populations like New York City, Atlanta and Chicago to act similarly sooner rather than later?

MadProfessah Endorsements For March 3, 2015 Los Angeles Municipal Election

Finally, the moment you have been waiting for!  Here are MadProfessah's positions on how I will be voting in the March 3 2015 Los Angeles Municipal Primary Election, compared with endorsements from other organizations like the Los Angeles Times,  California Democratic Party, East Area Progressive Democrats and the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. For more information about judicial candidates, check out the LA County Bar Association.

The Ballot is quite short. Here are my endorsements (how I am voting) along with information about how others are encouraging you to vote.

L.A. City Council        MadProf   LA TIMES LA CO DEMS

District 14              MOLINA    Molina      Yes

Citywide Measures        MadProf   LA TIMES LA CO DEMS
Charter Amendment 1       NO        Yes        Yes
Charter Amendment 2       NO        Yes        Yes

Countywide Races          MadProf  LA TIMES  CA DEMS

Comm. Coll. Board, #1     VEGA     Hoffman   ---

Comm. Coll. Board, #3     KAMLAGER Kamlager  Kamlager

Comm. Coll. Board, #5     SVONKIN* Svonkin   Svonkin

Comm. Coll. Board, #7     FONG     Fong      Fong

Tune in later this week for the results... 

QUEER QUOTE: Sheila Kuehl Sworn In As LA County's 1st Openly Lesbian Supervisor!

Sheila Kuehl was sworn in as one of the newest "five little kings" of Los Angeles County on Monday December 1. Kuehl won a hard-fought election over Bobby Shriver on November 4th and becomes the first openly LGBT member of the powerful body, which is the head of the executive and legislative branch for Los Angeles County, a municipality with nearly 10 million residents (more than several states).

Kuehl, 73, was sworn in by her sister, Sacramento Superior Court judge Jerilyn Borack. Here's a  short excerpt of her remarks which will serve as today's Queer Quote:

And that brings me to this moment. After a two-year job interview, overseen by very talented people, and with all of your help, it brought together this amazing coalition on which we build. And this unique, this sprawling county speaks hundreds of languages and dialects that encompasses the richest and the poorest in America. To have the chance to assemble an outstanding team, to work as change-agents, through connection, through collaboration.
People say to me, what’s your agenda? OK, here’s my agenda: I want children, every child in the county—actually more, but we’ll just start with the county—I want them to be safe. I want them to be healthy. I want them to be educated. I want them to be able—without barrier—to fulfill their potential. That is a big job for the county. 

I want us to be connected from one end of the county to the other. I want you to be able to live wherever you want to live, that you can afford. I want you to work wherever you want to work. I want you to come down here and see a play. Or whoever, wherever you want to enjoy art, culture, food. I want you to be able to hop on a train, hop on a bus, hop on your bike—I don’t care what it is. It’s not a war between bikes and trains and cars and buses. It’s a system. And that’s what we’re going to make. 

And I don’t want there to be any more homeless people.

Go read the whole speech for yourself. It's really very, very good.

Hat/tip to Karen Ocamb for the picture and story.

SATURDAY POLITICS: Huizar-Molina Race For Los Angeles CD14 Heats Up

As you may recall, I live in Los Angeles City Council District 14 which is represented by Jose Huizar. Huizar is running for re-election in the March 3, 2015 primary and in this heavily Democratic region, winning that race basically would insure his position on the council until 2019 at least. I say "at least" because there is a movement to move municipal elections that typically happen in odd-numbered years (i.e. not in presidential or gubernatorial election years) and align them with those larger turnout elections. There are arguments both for and against this idea (for: having city and county races in the same year will mean that they will occur in the same time frame when people are thinking about other political races; against: the big money that dominates state and federal races will be used to swamp local concerns in local races).

However, Huizar is facing a strong challenge from Gloria Molina, the outgoing Los Angeles County Supervisor, who has been a political power center on the East Side of Los Angeles for decades, and at age 66 has decided to challenge an incumbent city councilman to get a job she held more than 30 years ago.

With the primary barely more than four months away, the two candidates are jockeying for endorsements and donations. On Thursday, both candidates (in addition to MadProfesssah) attended the endorsement meeting of the East Area Progressive Democrats in Eagle Rock, seeking that new club's endorsement. They were both greeted politely and asked probing questions by the audience, with Huizar getting a little testy when he admitted that the "municipal election schedule realignment" that he supports would end up in increasing the length of his own term in office. Molina announced her opposition to the plan, showing a keen awareness of her audience, because EAPD has come out strongly against the proposed plan to align the city's elections with the state's. In the end, though, neither candidate received the high threshold required for an official endorsement by the club.

Huizar has built a substantial lead in fundraising. In fact, he is approaching the record amount raised by any City Councilman in the history of Los Angeles, according to Downtown News columnist Jon Regardie:

This puts Huizar on a record-breaking path. I pored through the Ethics Commission’s online fundraising information, which has data on every city council election going back 11 years. In that time, the only person to raise more money during the primary was Antonio Villaraigosa, who scooped up $773,000 in 2003 when he beat incumbent Nick Pacheco. Of course, AnVil used that seat as a springboard to the mayor’s office two years later.  

Huizar is $38,000 short of the record, but still has more than four months until voters head to the polls in March. Curious fact: The next highest tally in a council primary was recorded by now-Mayor Eric Garcetti, who raised $683,000 for a win against Gary Slossberg in 2009. No, I don’t know who Gary Slossberg is either.

It's curious tat the two people to have raised more money than Huizar went on to become Mayor. Is that Huizar's ultimate plan? He is only 46-years-old now and the current Mayor will be termed out in 2021. Some people think the only reason Molina is running for City Council is to make a future bid for Mayor of Los Angeles more palatable. Maybe the people who are giving money to Huizar don't want to see that happen?

Anyway, I'm sure there will be twists and turns in this race as the March 3 date gets closer and closer.

Sheila Kuehl Elected1st Openly LGBT Member of LA County Board Of Supervisors!!

Sheila Kuehl made LGBT history again last night as the first openly LGBT person elected to the California legislature (way back in 1994) became the first openly LGBT person elected to the powerful 5-person Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Kuehl, 73, won a tight race against fellow Democrat Bobby Shriver to make history and cement a Democratic (and progressive) majority on the legislative and executive body which serves the 10 million residents of Los Angeles County, roughly the population of Ohio.

The current vote tally has Kuehl ahead 52.78% to 47.22%, 12,029 votes out of less than a quarter-million cast. This is a shockingly low voter turnout in the 3rd Supervisorial District which has about 2 million residents. There are still absentee ballots and provisional ballots to be tallied but Shriver has conceded the race and it is unlikely the result would change.

MadProfessah endorsed Kuehl very early and her win was an incredible bright spot in an otherwise very rough evening of electoral results for Democrats and progressives around the country.

Congrats, Sheila!

SATURDAY POLITICS: Molina Announces Challenge To L.A. Councilman Huizar

A political earthquake is reverberating around Los Angeles with the announcement that L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina is going to challenge incumbent Los Angeles City councilman Jose Huizar in the March 2015 municipal primary election.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

With less than three months before she is termed-out after serving more than two decades as a supervisor, Molina said she isn't ready to end her work as a public servant. The 66-year-old said she was concerned about the level of city services being provided in parts of Huizar's district, which stretches from Boyle Heights to Eagle Rock. She also voiced alarm over the lack of women politicians at City Hall. 

[...] 

Molina has been a major presence on the Eastside over the last 23 years, representing a district that stretches from East L.A. to Claremont. During a lunchtime interview in El Sereno, Molina said she was concerned about the financial health of the city. She also argued that parts of Huizar's district, particularly Boyle Heights, have not received enough attention from city officials. 

[...] 

Huizar spokesman Rick Coca responded with a statement from the councilman touting his work in the district, which includes El Sereno, part of Highland Park and most of downtown.  

“From revitalizing Broadway and helping create thousands of jobs downtown, to building new parks, to championing groundbreaking pedestrian-, bike- and business-friendly policies that are the model for the entire city, the service to Council District 14 constituents has never been higher and I look forward to continuing to serve as their councilmember for the next four years," Huizar said.

I happen to live in the 14th City Council District so I shall be watching this election quite closely. Some political observers say it will be beneficial to the residents of the district if a competitive electoral battle to represent us at the City Council.

SATURDAY POLITICS: John Duran Snubs Sheila Kuehl In L.A. Supervisor Runoff

In a pretty shocking turn of events, openly gay West Hollywood city councilman John Duran has endorsed Bobby Shriver instead of openly lesbian Sheila Kuehl in the run-off for Los Angeles County Supervisor. Kuehl placed first and Duran third in the June 3 primary election.

Karen Ocamb reports for Frontiers L.A.:

“A lot of our old assumptions are no longer true,” Duran told Frontiers on July 7. “The idea of the first gay this or that has run its course. We just had a lesbian Speaker of the Assembly replace a gay Speaker of the Assembly. We have a gay City Controller and gay City Councilmembers in L.A. and West Hollywood. It was a big issue in the 1990s, and we fought hard for it—to have LGBT people immersed in the power structure. Now we’re in it. We are it. Now how people vote is based not on whether someone is gay or straight—but on whether we agree or disagree with them—and that’s how it should be.” 

Duran said he decided on Shriver after having lunch with both candidates and participating with them in 25 debates. “In all those debates, I found myself agreeing with what Bobby was saying—in particular, his experience and how he perceives local government—and many times I was in disagreement with Sheila.”

This is a very disappointing development. John Duran is a friend of mine and I am stunned to read that he thinks that LGBT people have made so much progress that it is not important whether one of the most powerful important elected positions in the country (Los Angeles County Supervisor) should be filled by an openly gay politician. I vehemently disagree with this sentiment. Even if the person involved was not Sheila Kuehl, one of the smartest politicians ever to serve in the California Legislature (and who was the first openly LGBT member of that body), Duran would still be wrong. The fact that he is endorsing someone other than Kuehl when she is still in the run-off makes Duran's decision worse than wrong.

L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center Changes Name To Los Angeles LGBT Center

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center is one of the largest gay and lesbian organization in the world by budget. News comes today that it is planning a $25 million expansion and is changing its name to the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Longtime CEO Lorri Jean sent the following message to supporters announcing the change:

I want you to be among the first to hear some exciting news. As of today, the Center has changed its name to Los Angeles LGBT Center, a name which more accurately reflects the diversity of people we have always served. With this new name comes the new logo that you see on your screen. Every element of this logo is unique in color and shape—like the people we serve—but when they come together, they form a circle of community. 

But our new name and logo are only part of the news I want to share with you. 

Today the Center is launching a $25-million campaign to help fund an expansion that will more than double the number of our beds for homeless LGBT youth, provide more than 100 units of affordable housing for low-income seniors and young adults, create a new senior center, and much more.
When finished, the new building will form a unique campus with our arts, educational and cultural facility—The Village at Ed Gould Plaza—that's directly across the street from it and span more than one city block in Hollywood. It will also become the Center's new headquarters, facilitating a major expansion of health and medical services at our current headquarters (McDonald/Wright building). You can read more about the campaign and the new campus in the current issue of Vanguard. 

Demand for the Center's services has grown enormously over the last several years. Today we welcome more than 42,000 client visits each month! This increased demand has strained our facilities and programs beyond capacity, especially in our programs for youth and seniors. Our beds for homeless youth are always full and demand for the services of our Youth Center on Highland are at an all-time high. And the number of clients in our Senior Services department has tripled in the past three years! 

The Center has always risen to the occasion for our community—relentlessly finding ways to build the health and strength of LGBT people when few others had the interest or the ability to do so. Now that the demand for services and housing for LGBT seniors and youth is acute, it's time for us to step up again. 

I'm enormously grateful to the many donors who have already invested in this exciting new effort and I'm thrilled to let you know that we have already raised a record $18.5 million in pledges! This includes the largest gift ever given by a living person to an LGBT organization. Philanthropist Anita May Rosenstein has pledged $6.5 million, which will be made by the Anita May Rosenstein, Wilbur May and Anita & Arnold Rosenstein Family Foundations. 

The early success of the campaign is also attributable to six other pledges of seven-figure gifts, including a $2 million pledge by Ariadne Getty and the Fuserna Foundation and $1 million pledges by David J. Bailey and Ron B. Shalowitz; Jacinto Hernandez & Charles Callahan; Barry McCabe; Loren S. Ostrow & Brian Newkirk; William & Cindy Shopoff. 

We've still got millions more to raise and lots of work ahead, but with the continued support of the community, I know we'll be as successful with this campaign as we were with the last two capital campaigns that created the McDonald/Wright building and The Village at Ed Gould Plaza.

This is exciting news! I have been a longtime supporter of the Center and will continue to be so!

Taking Subway To Westside Getting More Likely In Los Angeles

Check out this picture of the proposed extensions to the purple and exposition lines which will mean that in the near future one can take the Metro to places that people will actually want to go.

Officials from Metro and the Federal Transit Administration signed a pair of agreements this morning in Washington D.C. for a $1.25-billion federal grant and a $856-million federally-backed loan to build the first phase of the Purple Line Extension subway under Wilshire Boulevard. We’ll post video of this morning’s event later. 

The agreements clear the way for construction activities to begin later this year on the 3.9-mile addition to the Purple Line, which currently terminates at Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue. The first phase of the project will extend the line to the intersection of Wilshire and La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Three new stations will be included in the first phase: at Wilshire and La Brea Avenue, Wilshire and Fairfax Avenue and Wilshire and La Cienega. 

The first phase of the project is scheduled for completion in 2023 with a project budget of $2.821 billion. The Metro Board of Directors is scheduled this summer to select a contractor to build the first phase. The subway is one of 12 transit projects funded in part by the Measure R half-cent sales tax increase approved by more than two million voters in Los Angeles County in 2008 (the measure passed with 67.93 percent approval).

This is very exciting news! Kudos to Mayor Eric Garcetti with moving forward with this. The next 3rd District County Supervisor will also be involved in making sure this project happens.

Hat/tip to L.A. Observed

SATURDAY POLITICS: Will L.A. Have An Openly Gay County Supervisor?

Hmmm! The plot thickens in the low-profile but incredibly important Democratic primary election for Los Angeles County Supervisor on June 3rd. The L.A. County Supervisor is one of the most powerful elected positions in the country, with each of the 5 Supervisors representing roughly 2 million Angelenos, more than several U.S. Senators. There are two Districts up for election this year, District 1 where Gloria Molina is being termed out and is likely to be replaced by former Congresswoman (and Obama Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis) and District 3 where 8 candidates are vying for the top two slots, with two openly gay candidates are serious contenders. MadProfessah has already endorsed Sheila Kuehl. Kuehl announced her intentions to run for this seat years ago and has had a historic political career as the first openly LGBT member of the Assembly and the Senate. Kuehl has also won the endorsement of the Los Angeles County Democratic Club and the East Area Progressive Democrats.

Last Sunday the Los Angeles Times picked John Duran over Kuehl in its endorsement for the 3rd District, possibly upending the race.

Kuehl, to be sure, has a strong record in those areas as well, and her knowledge of and experience in state government would be of great benefit to the county, which gets much of its funding and many of its programming guidelines from Sacramento. Of the two, though, Duran gets the nod because he is also the one most likely to lead the county toward new and better ways of thinking about and doing its business.

The primary election is less than two weeks away. Voting has been going on  by mail for at least two weeks already. Thanks to a stupid ballot initiative that passed in June 2012, California now has a "Top 2 jungle primary" which means that regardless of party, only the Top 2 candidates will be on the November ballot after surviving the primary. I have my absentee ballot and will be giving my endorsements next weekend.

It would be incredibly exciting if the top two candidates are openly gay, but most likely Bobby Shriver and either Kuehl or Duran will make the cutoff. If both LGBT candidates do make the run-off there will be an internal lesbians versus gays fight like we have not seen since the 2012 battle between Torie Osborne (Kuehl's former lover and longtime ally) and Betsy Butler (Duran's straight best friend who has served on the board of Equality California). In fact some say that Duran's entry into the Supervisor race is basically payback for some of the chicanery that occurred in the bitter fight in 2012 for the 50th Assembly District (where both their candidates lost and Richard Bloom ended up winning the seat).

Hopefully this time an LGBT candidate will emerge victorious, instead of bloodied and defeated.

Openly Gay Robert Garcia Takes Lead In Long Beach Mayoral Election

Municipal elections in Long Beach occurred yesterday and the results were somewhat surprising. The front runner, Bonnie Lowenthal, finished 3rd, missing the run-off. The top candidate was also the youngest, 36-year-old Robert Garcia, who happens to be openly gay. Damon Dunn, who placed second is only two years older, African-American and would be the city's first Black mayor if he wins the run-off.

The Long Beach Press-Telegram reports on the political earthquake that hit Long beach yesterday:

According to unofficial vote totals, Garcia, the 1st District councilman, had 25.4 percent of the vote, far short of the 50 percent mark required to win outright. Dunn had 22.3 percent. 

In third was Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, who received 19.6 percent of the vote. The result is the first election loss for a Lowenthal since Rep. Alan Lowenthal won election to City Council in 1992. 

Finishing the top five was 6th District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske, with 15.5 percent of the vote, and Long Beach City College Trustee Doug Otto, at 13.6 percent. None of the remaining five candidates reached 3 percent.

The run-off will be June 3rd, the date of the statewide primary election. Dunn raised the largest amount of money and appears to be aligned with the city's business interests while Garcia was endorsed by the outgoing Mayor, Bob Foster.

Los Angeles County Exceeds 10 Million Residents

Los Angeles is the largest county in the United States by population, officially exceeding 10 million residents according to the United States Census on July 1, 2013. According to Bloomberg news, the population of L.A. is greater than that of 43 states! Yet, the executive and legislative branches of Los Angeles county government are controlled by 5 people (no wonder they are called the "The Five Kings").

In fact, Los Angeles is bigger than the sum of the second and third largest counties (Cook: Chicago metro and Harris: Dallas Houston metro) combined. New York City consists of 5 mega-counties in close proximity, but no single one of them gets into the Top 5, although King County (Manhattan) and Queens County (Queens) are 8th and 10th, respectively.

Southern California has the 1st, 5th and 6th largest counties in the United States (Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange).

However, if you measure metro area population, the New York City area is still the largest, approaching 20 million, while Los Angeles metro exceeds 13 million (when you combine Los Angeles and Orange County).

Metro area Population  

1. New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. 19,949,502  

2. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif. 13,131,431  

3. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. 9,537,289  

4. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas 6,810,913  

5. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas 6,313,158  

6. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. 6,034,678  

7. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. 5,949,859  

8. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Fla. 5,828,191  

9. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga. 5,522,942 

10. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-N.H. 4,684,299 

Interesting list. Curious that Phoenix (Maricopa County) is not in the Top 10, and that even though Houston is the largest city in Texas, Dallas metro is the largest metro area in the Longhorn Lone Star State.

SATURDAY POLITICS: L.A. County Democrats Endorse Kuehl, Solis, Prang

The Los Angeles County Democratic Party has issued their endorsements in a series of high profile country races.

The LACDP has endorsed two openly LGBT candidates for two important positions: Sheila James Kuehl for County Supervisor (District 3) and Jeffrey Prang (Los Angeles County Assessor). They also endorsed progressive Hilda Solis (and former Secretary of Labor in the Obama administration) for County Supervisor in District 1 (the district I live in).

The County Supervisor positions are incredibly powerful. There are only 5 such positions representing the concerns of more than 10 million Los Angeles County residents, so they have more constituents than all Congresspeople and some United States Senators! Thanks to term limits, two slots are opening up, with the forced retirements of Gloria Molina (District 1) and Zev Yaroslavsky (District 3).

MadProfessah has also endorsed Solis and Kuehl in these races already.