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Bill Boyarsky

Bill Boyarsky

Ron Galperin backs Big Data to improve City Hall

Controller Ron Galperin is City Hall’s new numbers guy, hoping to bring the era of Big Data to the creaking bureaucracy. His plan is to use computers to analyze huge amounts of information as is now done by police departments, baseball teams, other businesses and, infamously, the National Security Agency.

A jail as a mental hospital

James Coley and Robert Warfield, case workers for the Integrated Recovery Network, walked into the Twin Towers Correctional Facility with purpose and confidence, exactly the qualities needed for talking to some of the approximately 2,500 mentally ill inmates confined in the downtown Los Angeles jail.

Eric Garcetti: Keep an eye out for seniors

The small turnout at the Los Angeles polls for the mayoral election on May 21 is cited as evidence that most Angelenos don’t care whether City Hall is open, closed or simply blown away.

Has Villaraigosa succeeded as L.A.’s mayor?

Years ago, I was complaining about one of our governors to a colleague, Jack Germond, an experienced and highly respected national political reporter. Germond, who had reported from many states, regarded my analysis with skepticism.

Steve Zimmer holds middle ground

After surviving opposition funded by the mayors of America’s two biggest cities, newly re-elected Los Angeles Unified School District board member Steve Zimmer says his win has preserved a “system of checks and balances” in running L.A.’s huge school district.

Eric Garcetti: up close

Someone in the audience asked the mayoral candidates about the county’s foster children program. Eric Garcetti answered in a particularly well-informed manner, mentioning that he and his wife have cared for seven foster children.

Remembering Carmen Warschaw

I first met Carmen Warschaw when I became a political writer for the Associated Press in the mid 1960s. I thought she was one of the most interesting, challenging people I\’d met on my new beat, an opinion that has not changed over the years. Carmen and her husband Lou — they were teenage sweethearts — became active in the Democratic party in their youth.

Howard Berman versus Brad Sherman, by the numbers

The biggest challenge in covering the congressional race between Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman lies in determining how to judge the two men and compare their performances in Congress.

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