The economic stimulus bill passed by Congress last month gives a lot of money to so called shovel-ready projects. Those are infrastructure and construction plans that are ready to be built. But as Richie Duchon reports, not everyone on the receiving end of federal funds carries a shovel.
Listen to an audio interview with L.A. Controller Laura Chick.
The battle for the open City Controller seat in next month's Los Angeles municipal election is generating heat and attention, after departing Controller Laura Chick elevated the job's profile during her two terms.
Over the last eight years, Chick has brought the city controller's work out of obscurity through hard-hitting, high-profile audits of city government, including the recent exposure of the LAPD's failure to analyze 7,000 rape kits sitting on shelves in the department's freezers.
But the job of auditor and accountant for the city is a lonely one, according to Chick, who will leave office in July because of term-limit restrictions.
"I am not a lonely person, but the controller's job, in certain ways, is to stay aloof, objective, independent and apart from the rest of the city," Chick said. "You cannot win popularity contests in City Hall, because your job is to poke and prod and really nudge and annoy the status quo."
"I think that I have caused, through some of my audits, a real tightening up of the process by which decisions are made to award multi-million dollar contracts," she added.
Chick acknowledged, however, that she will be leaving City Hall with some unfinished business.
"In terms of reaching my goals of making this city a well managed city, I have not been fully successful. It's been slow-go. There's been not only resistance to change, but, very frankly, I have not had the political support that I have needed to implement change," said Chick.
The campaign for Chick's job as city controller has become one of the few competitive races before voters on the March 3 primary ballot. Three candidates have been campaigning for votes ahead of the election: 2nd District City Councilwoman Wendy Gruel; businessman and electrical engineer Nick Patsaouras; and businesswoman Kathleen Evans.
Grace Cristler was not Grace Cristler when she lost her home to the Sayre Fire that destroyed Oakridge Mobile Home Park a little more than a week ago. She was Grace Corrie then, and Cristler says if it were not for the fire that destroyed her home, all of her photographs, and a white bible she has had since she was 15, Cristler would not be married today.
"This is not a new chapter for us. It's a whole new book," said Cristler. "Since the fire, I lost my home and I got married."
Grace and Jim Cristler were married in a cousin's small living room a few days after the fire, a culmination of their friendship, which has spanned five years and numerous personal tragedies.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has approved a plan that allows up to 1,000 new oil and gas wells near Culver City over the next two decades.
Plains Exploration and Production, a Houston based oil and gas company, drills in the Inglewood Oil Field, surrounded by the dense residential neighborhoods of Inglewood and Culver City.
The company was forced to stop new drilling and exploration in 2006, when the odor of sulfide gas leaking from a deep well terrified Culver City residents and began a period of intense public scrutiny of oil drilling in the Baldwin Hills area.
Bert Thompson, the self-proclaimed Master Barber on Jefferson, hosted a party in his barber shop Tuesday night to watch Senators John McCain and Barack Obama debate for the second time.
Thompson manages Hair It Is, near the corner of Jefferson and Crenshaw on the west end of Jefferson Park. He arrived just as the debate was about to start. Thompson plopped down in one of his chairs and kicked his feet up to watch a few minutes of the debate.
Listen to an audio interview with L.A. Controller Laura Chick.
The battle for the open City Controller seat in next month's Los Angeles municipal election is generating heat and attention, after departing Controller Laura Chick elevated the job's profile during her two terms.
Over the last eight years, Chick has brought the city controller's work out of obscurity through hard-hitting, high-profile audits of city government, including the recent exposure of the LAPD's failure to analyze 7,000 rape kits sitting on shelves in the department's freezers.
But the job of auditor and accountant for the city is a lonely one, according to Chick, who will leave office in July because of term-limit restrictions.
"I am not a lonely person, but the controller's job, in certain ways, is to stay aloof, objective, independent and apart from the rest of the city," Chick said. "You cannot win popularity contests in City Hall, because your job is to poke and prod and really nudge and annoy the status quo."
"I think that I have caused, through some of my audits, a real tightening up of the process by which decisions are made to award multi-million dollar contracts," she added.
Chick acknowledged, however, that she will be leaving City Hall with some unfinished business.
"In terms of reaching my goals of making this city a well managed city, I have not been fully successful. It's been slow-go. There's been not only resistance to change, but, very frankly, I have not had the political support that I have needed to implement change," said Chick.
The campaign for Chick's job as city controller has become one of the few competitive races before voters on the March 3 primary ballot. Three candidates have been campaigning for votes ahead of the election: 2nd District City Councilwoman Wendy Gruel; businessman and electrical engineer Nick Patsaouras; and businesswoman Kathleen Evans.
Grace Cristler was not Grace Cristler when she lost her home to the Sayre Fire that destroyed Oakridge Mobile Home Park a little more than a week ago. She was Grace Corrie then, and Cristler says if it were not for the fire that destroyed her home, all of her photographs, and a white bible she has had since she was 15, Cristler would not be married today.
"This is not a new chapter for us. It's a whole new book," said Cristler. "Since the fire, I lost my home and I got married."
Grace and Jim Cristler were married in a cousin's small living room a few days after the fire, a culmination of their friendship, which has spanned five years and numerous personal tragedies.
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