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Bonin Announces He Will Not Run for Reelection Councilmember cites chronic depression in Wednesday announcement B y S am C atanzaro Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin has announced that he will not be running for reelection this summer. Bonin announced his decision Wednesday evening, in both a series of Tweets and a YouTube video. “I have decided not to seek reelection to Los Angeles City Council. This is a very tough decision for me, this is a very personal decision for me, it’s one I have struggled with and I have wrestled with a lot the past couple of days. But I make it today with a sense of clairity and a sense of confidence and a sense of purpose of what’s next,” Bonin said. In his announcement, Bonin said that the decision was ‘deeply personal”. “My decision is not political, my decision is deeply personal. I have struggled with chronic depression for a very long time, long before I ever ran for office,” Bonin said. “Over the past couple of years, this job has demanded that I focus my time and my energy on the negative and fight the negative, instead of creating the positive. And that has taken a toll on me. Physically, emotionally and spritually.
And it has taken a toll on my family. It is time for me to recharge. I need to focus on health. I need to focus on wellness. I need to spend more quality time with my family.”The announcement comes just a week after the Los Angeles City Clerk ruled that a recall effort against Bonin did not have enough verifiable signatures to move forward to trigger a May special election. Bonin would, however, have had to compete in the regularly scheduled municipal election on June 7. Bonin said that he was “confident” that he could have won a third term, but came to the decision not to run after the recall came to a halt last week. “Until this recall failed the other day, it was full speed ahead for my reelection. But once the recall died, it gave me an opportunity to finally sit back and reflect on what is right for me and what’s right for my family. And that is why I am not running for reelection,” Bonin said. The recall effort against Bonin was the second time Bonin has faced a recall effort. In 2017-2018, constituents launched an unsuccessful recall effort in response to increased congestion resulting from lane reductions championed by Bonin. This initial effort, however, was localized to the Playa Del Rey and Mar Vista areas. This latest effort, however, drew support from across the district from voters frustrated by Bonin’s handling of the homelessness crisis. Critics of Bonin have repeatedly pointed out his refusal to enforce the anti-encampment ordinance and take issue with his policies to deal with the unhoused issue. They claim that the encampments are
Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin. the cause of crime and violence in CD 11 neighborhoods. In his announcement not to run, Bonin said that he is not going to change course in his time left in office. “In the time I have left on Council, I am not
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going to sit down, I am not going to mellow out, and I am not going to shut up,” Bonin said. “I am going to keep on fighting for the housing and services we know can really end homelessness.”
Venice Street Most Ticketed Block in Los Angeles LADOT issues nearly 2,300 citations on 1600 Irving Court in Venice B y S am C atanzaro A Venice block was the most ticketed street in Los Angeles, a recent analysis on parking enforcement found. The Los Angeles Times last month published an analysis of parking ticket data released by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT). According to the Times, the most ticketed block in the city is 1600 Irving Court in Venice, where LADOT issued nearly 2,300 parking tickets. 1600 Irving Court, just off of Abbot Kinney Boulevard, is an alley containing dozens of parking meters. It was also Los Angeles’ most ticketed block in 2019. The Times analysis found that in 2021,
86 percent of the citations LADOT wrote on 1600 Irving Court were for expired meters, an offense carrying a $73 fine. The second most ticketed block in Los Angeles was Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills, with LADOT handing out most tickets there for stop and stand violations. Overall the Hollywood was the most ticketed area in Los Angeles, with 22.5 percent of the city’s citations for the year. Across the city, LADOT issued 1.3 million citations through the end of October. In 2020, the agency handed out 1.4 throughout the entire year, a decline from 1.9 million in 2019. The drop in 2020 was primarily due to the city suspending street sweeping citations in the wake of the pandemic. In 2021 the lead contributor to parking citations was street-sweeping violations which carry a $73 fine, with LADOT issuing 397,000 such tickets. Expired meters came in as the second most ticketed offense, with over 200,000 citations.