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☆ A broke Chinese real estate developer left Los Angeles with empty, graffiti-covered towers and a billion-dollar bill
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-18 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Chinese firm started to build a massive tower plaza in Los Angeles but ran out of funds in 2019. The Oceanwide Plaza towers are now mainly used by graffiti artists and base jumpers. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . The nearly $4 million sum is just the beginning of a massive financial undertaking in the city, Fortune reported City Councilman Kevin de León said in recent council meetings.

Persons: —, Kevin de León, Fortune, De León, Mario Tama, Karen Bass, Donald Spivack Organizations: LA's, Service, Angeles City Council, China Oceanwide Holdings, LA Lakers, Getty, Business, Financial, Redevelopment Agency Locations: Los Angeles, Fortune, China, Hong Kong, LA's, Angeles

LOS ANGELES (AP) — City crews on Friday took an initial step toward securing an unfinished complex of downtown Los Angeles high-rise towers that have been vandalized with graffiti and used for dangerous social media stunts after the developer ran out of money. Workers began removing scaffolding protecting a temporary walkway that officials say said has helped helped trespassers enter the property. “They were able to hide inside the walkway area and tunnel their way in by tearing holes in the fence,” police Sgt. “We don't want that to happen here.”Photos You Should See View All 33 ImagesThe towers were going to house a hotel and luxury condominiums, but the project stalled in 2019 when the Beijing-based developer ran out of money, the Los Angeles Times reported. City Councilmember Kevin de León, who represents the area, has said a developer is needed to complete construction.

Persons: trespassers, Gordon Helper, “, Kevin de León Organizations: ANGELES, —, Workers, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Convention Center Locations: Los Angeles, Beijing, City

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California's wide-open U.S. Senate race shifts to Sacramento on Saturday as the leading Democratic candidates work to woo activists in search of a state party endorsement ahead of the March primary. The state's last two U.S. Senate races — in 2016 and 2018 — each featured two Democrats. The Senate candidates will each take turns speaking during a forum shortly before delegates cast their votes. An endorsement from the state Democratic Party can boost a campaign in a competitive primary, but it doesn't necessarily signal how the wider electorate feels about the race as party delegates tend to be more liberal. “The reality is, is that you can’t win the House if you don’t win seats here in California."

Persons: Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, Barbara Lee, Lexi Reese, Sen, Laphonza Butler, Dianne Feinstein, Butler isn't, Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, Porter, Lee, Kevin de Leon, Feinstein, “, Matt Barreto, aren't, Rusty Hicks, ”, Andrew Acosta, Hicks, Republicans John Duarte, David Valadao, Mike Garcia, Michelle Steel, Young Kim, ” Hicks Organizations: Senate, Democratic, U.S, Reps, California Democratic, Democratic Party, University of California, Democratic National Committee, U.S . Senate, U.S . House, Republicans, Representatives Locations: SACRAMENTO, Calif, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Israel, Washington, California, Gaza, Afghanistan, Central, Southern California

The distinction is politically significant as the public has become increasingly frustrated over homeless camps in Los Angeles and other California cities, seeing them as a blight on neighborhoods and a threat to public safety. Some critics were quick this weekend to suggest that homeless campers might have been responsible for the latest blaze, which shuttered a freeway traversed by about 300,000 vehicles daily. “It’s an ongoing issue, but I don’t want to conflate it with the source of this fire,” Mr. de León said. “We need to see where the investigation goes.”Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles similarly urged caution and asked the public to refrain from jumping to conclusions about who had set the fire. There is no reason to assume that the origin of this fire or the reason this fire happened was because there were unhoused individuals nearby.”

Persons: Kevin de León, Mr, de León, Karen Bass, ”, “ Locations: Los Angeles, California, Angeles

☆ Dianne Feinstein's 2024 Senate campaign raised just $558.91 at the end of last year. It may be the clearest sign yet that she won't seek re-election.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Sen. Dianne Feinstein raised less than $600 at the end of 2022, according to new campaign filings. Feinstein, who is the longest-serving Democratic senator and would be 91 on election day in 2024, has declined to say whether she will seek re-election next year. But altogether, her campaign — conspicuously named "Feinstein for Senate 2024" — reported having just $9,968.56 in cash on hand. For comparison, Feinstein raised over $16 million for her 2018 race against fellow Democrat Kevin De Leon. Last year, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer publicly declined to say whether he was confident in the California Democrat's ability to serve.

"It’s a direct hit to the Mexican population of Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights," Villalobos added. L.A. City Councilman Arthur Snyder during opening day ceremonies at Parque de Mexico in Los Angeles in 1978. A bust of Venustiano Carranza is among the missing sculptures at Parque de Mexico in Los Angeles. But only a few pieces remain today at the park, which is an extension of Lincoln Park in Lincoln Heights, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods and predominantly Latino. "Everyone goes and spends time ... at Lincoln Park, but Parque Mexico is kind of left alone especially as it’s gone into worse shape.

The councilman has defied demands for his resignation and attended last week’s meeting, amid vociferous protests, “to get back to work,” he told CNN’s Kate Bolduan before the meeting. Calls for de León’s resignation have continued since October, when audio of a year-old conversation between de Léon and fellow council members was posted anonymously on Reddit and obtained by the Los Angeles Times. Much of the conversation focused on maps proposed by the city’s redistricting commission and the council members’ frustration with them, but it also featured racist remarks about a fellow council member’s Black son and about Oaxacans. “I shouldn’t have said what I said,” de León told CNN on Tuesday, clarifying his remarks comparing White colleague Mike Bonin’s Black child to a designer handbag. De León pointed to his body of work, including his work on environmental issues and advocacy on behalf of undocumented immigrants.

The city's homelessness crisis, both an incubator for street crime and a corollary to skyrocketing housing costs, touches almost every facet of life in L.A., even when it's just a backdrop. Bass vowed Sunday to attack it head-on by declaring a citywide state of emergency, an idea that had been circulating through City Hall since at least 2015. Bass is promising a new day and inspiring L.A.'s guardians to forget about the bickering, at least for a moment. "Where there’s will, there’s women," she said. "And where there’s women, there’s forever a way."

☆ Los Angeles Police Investigate Altercation Involving Council Member
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Kate King | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Los Angeles police are investigating an altercation between activists and a City Council member became physical Friday evening. Kevin de León , the council member, has been facing calls to resign since October, when an audio recording was released in which he and two other council members, all Democrats, discuss how to redraw districts in a way that would be politically advantageous to Latinos while sidelining other groups, including Black Angelenos.

☆ Kevin de Leon: Video shows LA city councimember involved in a physical altercation months after involvement in racist conversation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Shawna Mizelle | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Washington CNN —Los Angeles city council member Kevin de León is facing renewed scrutiny after a video surfaced online Friday night of him engaged in a physical altercation with a community activist during a holiday event. De León said in a statement Saturday that he was acting in self-defense after being headbutted by Reedy. “Video footage clearly shows him and his supporters initiating this assault while Mr. Reedy stands with his hands up. Calls for de León’s resignation have continued since October when audio of a year-old conversation between de Léon and fellow council members was posted anonymously on Reddit and obtained by the Los Angeles Times. Much of the conversation focused on maps proposed by the city’s redistricting commission and the council members’ frustration with them, but it also featured racist remarks about a fellow council member’s Black son and about Oaxacans.

☆ LA City Council censures Latino members amid racism scandal
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council formally rebuked two members and its former president Wednesday for their involvement in a racism scandal that has led to days of protests, police and state investigations and shaken public faith in City Hall. Earlier, the council meeting was called into recess to allow police to clear chanting protesters. Council President Paul Krekorian warned the protesters they would not deter the council’s business. “We will continue to do the work of the people of Los Angeles,” he said. Krekorian, the president, and other council members have said Cedillo and de León must resign.

☆ Los Angeles police investigating whether council members were recorded illegally
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Phil-Helsel-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Phil Helsel | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles police are investigating whether audio of members of the City Council making racist comments was recorded illegally, the police chief said Tuesday. The recording from 2021 was leaked online and published by the Los Angeles Times this month. The 2021 meeting was attended by Martinez, council members Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, and Ron Herrera, the president of the powerful Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Protesters shouted over council members at their meeting Tuesday, demanding that de León and Cedillo resign, NBC Los Angeles reported. Martinez resigned as a City Council member Oct. 12, two days after she stepped down as council president.

☆ Latino leaders call for resignations over racist remarks while outlining 'principled path' to representation
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Edwin-Head-Shot-Copy.Jpg | Edwin Flores | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A group of Latino academics and civic leaders are insisting on the resignations of Latino members of the Los Angeles City Council after a recording of racist remarks was leaked, while outlining the need to ensure that the city's Hispanics are represented politically in a way that still strengthens race relations. "It is time to chart a principled path for the role an emerging Latino majority plays in our community." “The City of Los Angeles is overdue for institutional reform, especially reform that depoliticizes the redistricting process,” they said. The City Council is up for election on Nov. 8. In the letter, the group requested the opportunity to meet with City Council leaders.

☆ Latino LA councilman said he won't resign following uproar over racist remarks
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

LOS ANGELES — Embattled Los Angeles Councilman Kevin de Leon said Wednesday he will not resign amid an uproar over a leaked tape that revealed him participating in a meeting in which Latino officials made crude, racist remarks and plotted to expand their political power. The scandal already has led to the resignation of former City Council President Nury Martinez and calls from President Joe Biden for those involved to step down. The councilman also told KCBS-TV in Los Angeles that he would refuse to resign. “We don’t want him here because he’s racist,” said Loera, a salesman reviewing items at a local household goods shop with a view of downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles City Council members are among the highest paid in the country with annual salaries of nearly $229,000, and de Leon’s announcement also keeps his city paychecks coming.

☆ LA City Council member embroiled in racist audio scandal says he won't resign: 'There is a lot of work ahead.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

LA City Council member Kevin de León said he will not resign amid scandal over leaked audio. "No, I will not resign, because there is a lot of work ahead," de León said, invoking Los Angeles' homelessness problem. De León's decision comes just days after LA City Council member Nury Martinez resigned amid mounting pressure over the same audio. "People should not ask me for forgiveness, because I can't forgive them because it's not my prerogative," he said during a council meeting. Then-acting City Council President Mitch O'Farrell stripped de León and Cedillo of their committee duties earlier this week.

☆ Leaked L.A. City Council Audio Exposes the Racial Underbelly of Local Politics
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Will Swaim | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The ground shakes periodically in Southern California, but Los Angeles has rarely experienced a political earthquake as sudden and severe as the one that rocked City Hall this week. The leaked October 2021 recording, published first on Reddit and then by the Los Angeles Times, captures a shockingly candid conversation among City Council President Nury Martinez and Councilmen Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León . Ron Herrera , Los Angeles County’s top union leader, was also present. The four met to discuss how they might carve up the city’s voting districts to maintain Latino political power. Few of the hyperdiverse city’s racial and ethnic groups went uninsulted.

☆ Los Angeles’ Nury Martinez’s shocking anti-Black remarks hurt at the deepest level
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Amir Whitaker | Amir Whitaker Is Senior Policy Counsel With The Aclu Of Southern California. Before Joining The Aclu | Whitaker Represented Students | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Many of us in Los Angeles are still in shock from the recently leaked audio recording of politicians spewing racist and hateful language. It laid bare the true colors of four of the most influential Latinx leaders in the country, whose collective power affects nearly 4 million Angelenos. But this is Los Angeles, one of the most diverse cities in the world. Hearing a public servant in one of the most powerful seats in our city government fantasize about committing violence against a Black child was extremely troubling. I get anxious just thinking about having to explain to my Black child what they need to know to survive in America.

Some may want to see the explosive, racist diatribes of a handful of prominent Los Angeles City Council members as an unfortunate incident that will eventually fade away. But the reality is that such prejudice from Latino to Latino and Latino to other racial groups is not so uncommon. That was on stark display in the conversation among former Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez, council members Kevin De León and Gil Cedillo and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, who resigned Monday. "If you’re going to talk about Latino districts, what kind of districts are you trying to create?” she asks her colleagues in frustration. Zapotecs, or Indigenous people of Oaxacan descent, number about 200,000 in Los Angeles County, one of the largest Oaxacan communities outside Mexico.

☆ Former L.A. City Council president resigns amid uproar over leaked audio of racist remarks
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Antonio Planas | Antonio Planas Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The former president of the Los Angeles City Council at the center of a controversy over leaked audio of racist remarks announced her resignation from the elected board on Wednesday. “It is with a broken heart that I resign my seat for Council District 6, the community I grew up in and my home,” she said. No one expected me to win, but with the support of residents throughout the district I overcame that challenge and won the seat for Council District 6. In the leaked audio, Martinez likened the Black son of council member Mike Bonin, who was 2 years old at the time, to an animal. Since the Los Angeles Times first reported about the audio recording on Sunday, the controversy has grown into a national story.

☆ California attorney general to investigate L.A. City Council after leak of audio with racist remarks
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Antonio Planas | Antonio Planas Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

The California attorney general announced Wednesday his office will investigate the Los Angeles City Council to determine whether any laws were broken after an audio recording of racist remarks surfaced this week. Martinez has resigned as council president, and she announced she is taking a leave of absence from the council, according to NBC Los Angeles. Bonta said in the statement he was “deeply appalled" by the remarks from some of Los Angeles’ highest-ranking officials. A council meeting Wednesday was also met with a hostile crowd that disrupted the beginning of the meeting more than once. “The leaked audio has cast doubt on a cornerstone of our political processes for Los Angeles," Bonta said in the Wednesday statement.

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso insisted he's not white, but really Italian — and thus "Latin" — during an awkward debate moment Tuesday in the nation's second-largest city. Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso speaks at Emerson College Los Angeles on Oct. 7, 2022. The mayoral hopeful said he's, for decades, led efforts to bring more education opportunities and healthcare to Black and Latino communities in Los Angeles. "I connect with the Latino community but quite frankly my job as mayor is to connect with every community — the Latino community, the Black community, the Asian community, right? Caruso' "Latin" identity comment drew a harsh reaction, ranging from scorn to mockery.

☆ Los Angeles city official resigns amid furor over racist comments
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Tyler Clifford | Dan Whitcomb | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LOS ANGELES, Oct 12 (Reuters) - A Los Angeles city councilwoman resigned her seat on Wednesday, days after she stepped down as president of the body as pressure mounted after an audio recording of her making racist comments was made public. Democrat Nury Martinez, who represented Los Angeles' sixth district, faced calls to resign from local officials and U.S. President Joe Biden. A fourth person heard on the leaked tape, local labor leader Ron Herrera, has resigned from his position as president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Martinez was first elected to the city council in 2013 and became president in 2020. Martinez also disparaged Mexicans from Oaxaca and voiced her displeasure with Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, saying "he's with the Blacks."

☆ Los Angeles City Council member Nury Martinez resigns – but does not apologize – after explosive audio of racist comments leaked
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

LA City Council member Nury Martinez has resigned after she was caught making racist comments. Earlier this week, fellow city council members and US president Joe Biden called on her to resign. On Monday, Martinez resigned from her position as City Council president, but not the council itself, and taken a leave of absence as calls for her full resignation grew. Advocate groups from across Los Angeles spoke out at City Council meetings earlier this week, calling for all of the involved council members to resign. Earlier this week, Martinez offered a short apology for her words, according to KTLA.

☆ Crowd demands resignations at chaotic L.A. City Council meeting after leaked recording of racist remarks
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Antonio Planas | Antonio Planas Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

An outraged crowd converged on a meeting at Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday and demanded the immediate resignations of three Latino City Council members after an audio recording of racist remarks surfaced this week. Martinez has resigned as council president, and she announced she is taking a leave of absence from the council, according to NBC Los Angeles. Lori Condinus of the National Action Network Los Angeles was one of dozens of members of the public to speak. Martinez apologized and announced she was stepping down as council president in a statement Monday. “Therefore, effective immediately I am resigning as President of the Los Angeles City Council."

☆ Los Angeles official takes leave of absence as racist comments roil city
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Dan Whitcomb | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LOS ANGELES, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A Los Angeles city councilwoman day took a leave of absence from her post on Tuesday as a furor raged around her and two colleagues over racist comments she was heard making on an audiotape of their private conversation. Democrat Nury Martinez, who resigned her leadership post a day earlier, announced her leave of absence in a statement issued before the regularly scheduled council meeting. Herrera resigned on Monday night from his position as president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the Los Angeles Times reported. Martinez also disparaged Mexicans from Oaxaca and voiced her displeasure with Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, saying "he's with the Blacks." Martinez was first elected to the city council in 2013 and became president in 2020.

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