Renters, Revolt!

The website www.angryrenter.com gives appropriately angry voice to the plight of those of us who rent, and can't fathom why elected officials keep chipping away at renters' rights while rushing to bail out homeowners who gambled on risky loans.

Renters make up 32% of the national population and a whopping 60% of the people who live here in Los Angeles. But we have a disproportionately small voice in government, especially here in Los Angeles, where elected officials tend to take their marching orders from either developers or homeowners.

I'll have more on the plight of LA renters -- and the statewide assault on rent control -- in future posts, but right now I want to draw attention to Angry Renter, which has collected 46,000 signatures urging Congress to stop the bailout of homeowners and house flippers.

Madame Speaker

Today California made history. Assemblywoman Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, took the oath of office as Speaker of the Assembly -- the first African-American woman to lead a state legislative chamber in U.S. History.

Karen Bass rocks -- in every way. She is progressive, smart, eloquent, passionate, creative, hard-working, focused, and a lot more. The fact that Karen can serve only one more term is a proof of the stupidity of term limits. Given a choice, voters would surely elect Karen again and again and again.

Karen, 54, is no lifetime pol. She was elected to the Assembly in 2004 after years as a community organizer in South Los Angeles. A physician's assistant raised in the Venice-Fairfax area, left the medical field in the early 1990s to try to find solutions for drug addiction, gun violence and other social ills she witnessed in treating emergency room patients. The nonprofit group she founded, the Community Coalition, helped limit the number of liquor stores that reopened in South Los Angeles after the 1992 riots.

Karen is also a state co-chair for the Barack Obama campaign.

More coverage at the LATimes and LAist. The text of her acceptance speech is here.