ARTICLES
TRANSPORTATION STORIES
THUNDER ROAD
State pumps millions into easing train and car traffic along the increasingly busy Alameda Corridor.
Pasadena Weekly - January 26, 2006
MONEY TRAIN
Why would a U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma come to L.A. to raise money? Perhaps because he holds the purse strings to critical federal transportation dollars.
Los Angeles City Beat - March 10, 2005
MOVING DOWN THE ROAD
Caltrans’ 700,000 square-foot tower owes its existence to earthquakes, union muscle, and a tincture of politics.
Pasadena Weekly - July 10, 2003
TUNNEL VISIONS
Caltrans may dig deep to find a way out of its 710 Freeway debacle.
(Part III of Corridor of Shame series)
Pasadena Weekly - May 22, 2003
THE UNTOUCHABLES
Slumlord Caltrans uses legal immunity to hold tenants and city at bay as long-needed repairs to homes the agency owns along the proposed 710 Freeway route drag on.
(Part II of Corridor of Shame series)
Pasadena Weekly - May 15, 2003
NO EXIT
Once stately properties that Caltrans bought 30 years ago to complete the still unfinished Long Beach Freeway stand as a testament of neglect by one of the most powerful agencies in California.
(Part I of Corridor of Shame series)
Pasadena Weekly - May 8, 2003
SOME MTA DRIVERS GET PHYSICAL
Attacks on riders not always punished.
Daily News of Los Angeles - June 24, 1996
A SOBERING RIDE ON LINE 420
Daily News of Los Angeles - June 2, 1996
SUBWAY TUNNEL WALLS AT RISK, REPORT WARNS
MTA officials say water-damage threat small.
Daily News of Los Angeles - April 11, 1996
MTA SPENT BIG TO SUGARCOAT TUNNELING
Critics say humbug to mitigation effort.
Daily News of Los Angeles - September 24, 1995
HOMES OWNED BY CALTRANS NOT KEPT UP, RECORDS SHOW
About 100 acquired for freeway extension aren’t in shape to be rented. Agency defends maintenance.
Los Angeles Times - April 26, 1995
CALTRANS MISSED SAFETY DEADLINE
Bridge contracts overdue.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune - February 4, 1994
PROBLEMS PILE UP ALONG METRO LINE
Report reveals 2,835 labor violations, lax supervision in new subway.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune - October 16, 1993
FREEWAY WORK: A PERILOUS PAYCHECK
San Gabriel Valley Tribune - September 4, 1993
TRANSIT COMMISSION AUDITORS CAST EAGLE EYE ON TUTOR’S COSTS
Los Angeles Business Journal - September 28, 1992
METRO RAIL COST-OVERRUN TAB ADDS TO CITY HALL FISCAL WOES
City already owes at least $100 million to LACTC.
Los Angeles Business Journal - March 16, 1992
LOS ANGELES PLAYS LEGAL HARDBALL WITH SANTA FE OVER RAILWAY LINES
Los Angeles Business Journal - October 21, 1991
ENVIRONMENTAL STORIES
UP IN SMOKE
Victims stunned by light sentence in multimillion-dollar smog-credit scam.
Pasadena Weekly - May 1, 2008
SMOKE SCREEN
After five years, Anne Sholtz has yet to be sentenced for her role in multimillion-dollar smog-credit scam.
Pasadena Weekly - March 20, 2008
SCORE ONE FOR TREES
To Keep the Mighty from Falling, L.A. Has Toughened Rules Protecting Oaks, Sycamores and Other Trees. Some Say It’s about Time. Other Predict Headaches for Homeowners.
Los Angeles Times - May 7, 2006
CLEARING THE WATERS
New charges point out dearth of prosecutions in chromium 6 cases of contaminated groundwater.
Los Angeles City Beat - November 18, 2004
IMPOSSIBLE CHOICES
While cleaning up solvents in L.A.’s water supply, did regulators pull another potentially deadly chemical into the pipes?
Los Angeles City Beat - July 8, 2004
DROPPING SCIENCE
Chromium 6 is a known carcinogen, but the implosion of a blue-ribbon panel of scientists means we still don’t know how much is safe in L.A.’s drinking water.
Los Angeles City Beat - June 3, 2004
TROUBLED WATERS
Chromium 6 is the poison made infamous by Erin Brockovich. Now it threatens the waster supply of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles City Beat - April 22, 2004
KEEPING THEIR DISTANCE
As investigative net tightens, creditors and friends of Anne Sholtz are keeping low profiles.
Pasadena Weekly - March 28, 2003
SMOKE AND MIRRORS
A Pasadena firm comes under suspicion for allegedly misappropriating millions for L.A.’s smog credit trading industry
Pasadena Weekly- December 12, 2002
DWP FAILED TO INFORM COUNCIL ON TAINTED WELLS, LAWMAKERS SAY
Chcik and Wachs criticize agency, which concedes it failed to fulfill its watchdog role on chromium 6 in water.
Los Angeles Times - September 15, 2000
CALLS FOR REDUCING CHROMIUM LEVELS IN WATER GO UNHEEDED
A state agency wants to raise the threshold for acceptable amounts in Valley wells. But not all agree the chemical poses a real threat.
Los Angeles Times - August 20, 2000
PAR FOR THE LANDFILL
Golf and other recreational uses are being developed for dumps after they reach their capacity.
Los Angeles Times - June 20, 2000
LEAD-PAINT CLEANUP STALLED IN BOYLE HEIGHTS
D.A. Garcetti can’t get the lead out at vast housing complex.
LA Weekly - December 27, 1997
LOCKHEED QUAGMIRE GROWS
Contractor wants Pentagon to pay hunk of toxic cleanup tab.
Daily News of Los Angeles - September 15, 1996
TOXICS LAW MAY HAVE SWAYED LOCKHEED CASE
Case involving state toxics law was ‘waiting to happen.’
Daily News of Los Angeles - August 26, 1996
LOCKHEED RESOLVES TOXIC CLAIMS
Residents near Burbank B-1 plant to receive $60 million.
Daily News of Los Angeles - August 4, 1996
ROCKETDYNE GETS HEALTH STUDY BEFORE PANELISTS
Daily News of Los Angeles - August 3, 1996
GARBAGE ALLIANCES ASSAILED
Grassroots Groups Say They Need Corporate Allies to Compete.
Daily News of Los Angeles - July 8, 1996
STEAM PLANT FUELED POLITICAL BLOW-UP
Daily News of Los Angeles - April 28, 1996
DEFUNCT STEAM PLANS DRAINING MWD
Customers to foot bill until projects are paid off – in 2024.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune -Jun 16, 1993
MWD PAID DEVELOPER MILLIONS.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune - April 24, 1993
MWD BOONDOGGLE
Water district lost millions in failed L.A. real estate deal.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune - March 31, 1993
AIR QUALITY AGENCY FALLS VICTIM TO EDIFICE COMPLEX
Los Angeles Business Journal - September 9, 1991
BARBECUERS ARE DOING A SLOW BURN
AQMD lighter fluid ban is hot spot of controversy.
Los Angeles Business Journal - October 1, 1990
REDEVELOPMENT STORIES
DYSFUNCTION JUNCTION
Will the Community Impact Report clear the way for new shopping?
Los Angeles City Beat - October 23, 2003
THE WHITE ELEPHANT
The Hollywood & Highland complex was touted as a return to Tinseltown glory, but it has proved unpopular and has already lost two-thirds of its value.
Los Angeles City Beat - September 4, 2003
A HOUSE DIVIDED
Heritage housing officials say woman who claimed racial discrimination was well- schooled in to make such complaints.
Pasadena Weekly - August 21, 2003
CITY FOR SALE
Counting the casualties of Pasadena’s precision-guided building boom.
Pasadena Weekly - April 10, 2003
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
For Pasadena Planning and Development Department head Richard Bruckner, pressure comes with the territory.
Pasadena Weekly - March 20, 2003
CRA’S FORGIVENESS PAYS
Profit-making businesses among beneficiaries of agency’s pardonable loans.
Daily News of Los Angeles - December 4, 1995
CRA LOANS ON RISKY GROUND
Agency says repayment takes back seat to ‘public purpose’ of curing blight.
Daily News of Los Angeles - November 12, 1995
HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD MUSEUM READS LIKE HORROR MOVIE SCRIPT
Daily News of Los Angeles - Fall 1995
L.A. FAST-TRACKING RECOVERY BILL SKIDS IN STATE LEGISLATURE
Critics charge developers will benefit, not inner city.
Los Angeles Business Journal - August 10, 1992
PRESSURE REPORTEDLY RISING TO OUST WOOD AS CRA’S CHAIRMAN
Los Angeles Business Journal - January 21, 1991
CRA CUTS $50 MILLION DEAL WITH DEVELOPER OF HOLLYWOOD PROJECT
Los Angeles Business Journal - September 24, 1990
GENERAL ASSIGNMENT &
POLITICAL STORIES
PREPARE FOR A QUAKE? L.A.’S TOO BUSY
Readiness is easy to achieve but residents remain complacent. Officials seek effective ways to educate.
Los Angeles Times - September 14, 2008
TAKING CARE
Financial, emotional, and physical pressures associated with caring for people take their toll in an increasingly needy society.
Pasadena Weekly - March 13, 2008
PUSHING OUT PISANO
After an interminable 31 years, a controversial czar of planning is leaving.
L.A. Weekly - May 3, 2007
TUNNEL VISION
Like many aging beauties, Pasadena’s Rose Bowl is most fetching from afar.
LA Weekly - March 15, 2007
PAID IN FULL
In life, former-Alhambra mayor Stephen Ballreich was a lovable underachiever adept at keeping secret his fondness for tempestuous women and after-hour gambling.
Pasadena Weekly - November 30, 2006
WHO KILLED STEPHEN BALLREICH?
After more than 14 years, recently disclosed evidence sheds new light on the unsolved murder of Alhambra’s former mayor.
Pasadena Weekly - February 23, 2006
STATE OF THE UNION
A series of recent sexual assaults have exposed the vulnerability of L.A.’s Union Station to terrorist attack.
Los Angeles City Beat - September 23, 2004
PAY TO PLAY L.A.
A look at L.A. airport contracts reveals the same system of sweetheart deals that has dogged the last three mayors.
Los Angeles City Beat - February 12, 2004
BRIDGE TO THE PAST
Few incidents can compare to the tragedies that occurred and the ensuing public dramas that played out after the day the Colorado Street Bridge nearly feel apart.
Pasadena Weekly - September 18, 2003
GOT YOUR BACK
Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center is the last chance for kids, gangsters, and other uninsured victims of severe spinal injuries. Now the county wants to shut it down.
Los Angeles City Beat - July 31, 2003
AIRPORT DIPLOMACY
Far away, deep in the county of San Bernardino.
Los Angeles City Beat - June 19, 2003
RIORDAN’S DOWNTOWN DEAL
The mayor’s first brush with City Hall netted him a windfall.
LA Weekly - April 4, 1997
CHIEF SAYS ‘SCOOPERS’ NOT SUPER
Daily News of Los Angeles - October 27, 1996
U.S. SCOLDS PASADENA POLICE OVER DRUG FUNDS
Purchase of five cars for senior officers with $120,000 in federal narcotics-seizure money is deemed a violation. City officials downplay the matter.
Los Angeles Times - May 29, 1995
ABUSE INQUIRY TARGETS PASADENA’S EX-CHIEF
The girlfriend of former Police Department head accused him of beating her but later recanted. He is now living in Virginia and has declined to comment.
Los Angeles Times - May 5, 1995
HIRED GUNS WAGE COUNTY LEGAL WARS
L.A. County pays more for outside legal help than the state; firms donate heavily to curry favor.
LA Weekly - January 13, 1995
FREQUENT FLIERS
Commissioners at Burbank airport take their opportunity to fly far, and for free.
LA Weekly - November 18, 1994
PARENTS QUEST FOR THE TRUTH
Military altered details surrounding son’s death.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune - October 2, 1994
COPING WITH DEATH
San Gabriel Valley Tribune - August 27, 1994
FBI PROBE FOLLOWS TANGLED PATH TO FIRM RUN BY EX-U.S. TREASURER
San Gabriel Valley Tribune - April 1, 1994
WOMAN MAKES HOME FOR HOLIDAYS IN HER CAR
San Gabriel Valley Tribune - December 25, 1992
IF CLINTON WINS, COULD L.A. CADRE GARNER KEY POSITIONS?
And would that make any difference for L.A. firms?
Los Angeles Business Journal - August 24, 1992
BUSINESS & DEFENSE STORIES
WHEEL N’ DEAL
The recent phenomenon has been greeted by some with jeers, but agents say it’s an opportunity for prospective buyers.
Los Angeles Times - April 27, 2008
NOT ON HIS WATCH
Empty homes attract criminal and squatters, but communities are fighting back.
Los Angeles Times - February 17, 2008
CRUSADER PUSHES FOR SIMPLER INHERITANCE RULES
Determined senior battles for state approval of a one-page form to bequeath property without the need for courts and lawyers.
Los Angeles Times - November 4, 2007
BUILDERS BULLDOZED BY THIEVES
This Labor Day holiday, while Californians gobble hamburgers and hot dogs in a farewell to summer, thieves who prey on housing job sites will be fattening up on Deere and Caterpillars.
Los Angeles Times - September 3, 2006
WHO’S BEEN USING MY BIN?
Park a large, lidless container in front of your house for construction debris or a seasonal de-cluttering and within days you may feel like your block’s unofficial trash man, if not its junk collector.
Los Angeles Times - July 23, 2006
AN OPENING TO THEFT
An open house leaves valuables at risk – even the contents of your medicine cabinet.The Los Angeles Times - March 19, 2006
HISTORY OF BOOM AND BUST
L.A.’S Ups and Downs are nothing new, and When One Industry Stumbles Another Arises.
Los Angeles Business Journal - January 6, 1997
CORPORATE POACHES SWOOP ONTO SOCAL TO STEAL AWAY FIRMS
Los Angeles Business Journal - July 20, 1992
SOME IDEAS ON WHAT TO GET A JADED POOCH WHO HAS EVERYTHING
Expensive toys and repast for your spoiled best friend.
Los Angeles Business Journal - May 4, 1992
LET’S HEAR IT FOR TOMMY’S (BURP)
But don’t ever try to copy its original world famous hamburgers or tacky ambience.
Los Angeles Business Journal - March 23, 1992
BUSINESSES REVOLTING AGAINST CITY TRUCK BAN
Warn that cost of deliveries, consumer goods may escalate.
Los Angeles Business Journal - September 30, 1991
IS LOCKHEED CORP. WORKING ON A NEW TOP SECRET, STEALTH SPY PLANE?
Experts cite military need and hidden defense budget.
Los Angeles Business Journal - May 20, 1991
QUICK, BE QUIET, BE ON TIME’
Lockheed Corp.’s secret brain trust emerges from war smelling like roses.
Los Angeles Business Journal - April 8, 1991
BATTLING ERUPTS OVER GULF WAR TROOPS PARADE
Los Angeles Business Journal - April 1, 1991
STATE, HOLLYWOOD CHAMBER NEAR DEAL TO RETAIN LANDMARKS CONTROL
Los Angeles Business Journal - February 3, 1991
THE FULL EMPLOYMENT ACT FOR SPIES
Peace Breaking Out Around Globe Encourages Spies
Los Angeles Business Journal - July 9, 1990
ODD MAN IN
Outsider Turned Coalition Builder Turned Political Pariah, Daniel Arguello Finds Himself at the Center of Alhambra’s Most Explosive Scandal
Pasadena Weekly - December 8, 2005
THE SURVIVOR
The strange and terrible saga of how Jerry Schneiderman escaped from a cold-blooded killer and became a royal pain in the ass.
Los Angeles CityBeat - April 15, 2004
RETURN OF THE NATIVE
Richard Alatorre’s rise from barrio golden boy to bad example and halfway back again.
Los Angeles City Beat - April 7, 2005
HIS WAY (Part II of Man Who Would be King series)
Pasadena’s Danny Bakewell, ‘The Godfather of South Central,’ always wanted to be rich, no matter what.
Pasadena Weekly - November 27, 2003
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING. (Part I of II)
He’s been called everything from civil rights crusader to shameless ‘poverty pimp.’ Chip Jacobs goes in search of the real Danny Bakewell.
Pasadena Weekly - November 20, 2003
GONE, BABY, GONE
The maddening, populist, civil libertarian, deal-making, district-loving and just plain weird career of City Councilman Nate Holden ends on July 1, leaving behind a new political scene that can’t tolerate his brand of bullish boosterism.
Los Angeles City Beat - June 26, 2003
MTA WATCHDOG MAKES INROADS ON MONEY TRAIN
Daily News of Los Angeles - January 29, 1996
WHAT DOES HE WANT (FIDEL VARGAS)?
At 26, the nation’s youngest big-city mayor has assembled the beginnings of a formidable power base, hut he has left political observers and constituents alike wondering about his next move.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune - August 28, 1994
NEW DAD: EVERYONE’S A CRITIC
San Gabriel Valley Tribune - June 1994
SHE SPEAKS LOUDLY AND CARRIES A BIG STICK - GLENDALE MAYOR VIRGINIA BREMBERG
Los Angeles Business Journal - December 23, 1991
ADDITIONAL ARTICLES BY CHIP JACOBS
Los Angeles Times - since year-2000 and full record
