Category: Opinion

Ballona Wetlands & Proposal for Alleged ‘Restoration’ Editor: Back in 1985, I submitted my first comments in regard to development proposals targeting the Ballona Wetlands. Three years later, I attended the “Restoring the Earth” conference at UC Berkeley at which David Brower, the most famous conservationist since John Muir (who was related to the Sierra Club and founded Friends of the Earth and Earth Island Institute) emphasized in his speech that while it is fine to rehabilitate some areas, it is especially important to “save the genetic wild pieces.” But the proposal for a half-dozen years of bulldozing and...

Medicare for All Act Editor: Those profiting off our disastrous health care system keep pushing patchwork bills and incremental change. But we don’t need more Band-Aids. We want real reform. We want Medicare for All. The grassroots movement for Medicare for All has — neighbor by neighbor, conversation by conversation — grown support to more than 70 percent of Americans. That number, combined with new leadership and a new Medicare for All caucus in the US House of Representatives, means that now is an unprecedented time to win this thing. Rep. Pramila Jayapal has introduced a new Medicare for...

Stop bulldozing of Ballona Wetlands Editor: As someone who has been studying and voicing concern for our LA Ballona Wetlands, I am frustrated by the enormous and erroneous signage posted by SoCalGas. Now we have two lawsuits that actually support a sane approach to revitalization and restoration instead of bulldozers aimed at the area and its animal inhabitants. When will the governor start to listen to the people who care for the wetlands instead of local organizations that have been co-opted by corporations that would benefit from a more destructive approach to restoration? There is a fully acceptable option,...

  Wear Your Mask Right! Editor: COVID-19 vaccine inoculation schedules are still in flux pending vaccine availableness, but promises have been made to jab the vulnerable over 65-year-old group in Los Angeles County starting Jan. 20. The cities of Long Beach and Whittier, with their own city health departments, are already doing it. Even after we get our two shots, there will still be a few weeks when we will be contagious if we’ve been infected. At least one-third of our LA population are potential carriers. Likewise, inoculated individuals cannot count on immunity until a few weeks after their second shot....